Trouble falling asleep is a common complaint and one that is typically easy to fix without pharmaceutical medication.  One cause can just be from a lack of melatonin being produced by the pineal gland.  Melatonin is a hormone like substance that helps regulate sleep/wake cycles.   It has the opposite cycle as cortisol which is known as a ‘stress’ hormone.Some people take L-tryptophan amino acid which is converted into the serotonin and then melatonin to help them sleep.  (It can also improve mood as serotonin is a ‘feel good’ neurotransmitter).  Some people take a supplement with melatonin which is also a very powerful antioxidant.

The more light in our bedroom, the less melatonin we produce.  If you have trouble sleeping then it is best to sleep in a totally darkened room.   The moment a light goes on in a room and hits our eyes then our melatonin levels drop.   Darkness is important for good sleep.

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When buying olive oil I often wondered how there could be so many brands at such different prices.   If you go into Whole Foods the unit price cost per gallon can vary dramatically.  Trader Joe’s sells its ‘organic extra-virgin’ olive oil quite inexpensively.     In addition, one can see distinct color variations between oils in clear bottles.  What does this difference mean in terms of phytonutrients, taste and integrity? Read the rest of this entry

PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) is a female endocrine disorder where too much androgen hormone (testosterone) is being made in relations to estrogen. It affects up to 10% of all women. It is thought that improper insulin regulation is a common cause and shows up in girls as young as 9 years old through post menopausal women. PCOS is one of the main causes of infertility, but PCOS is a symptom of an underlying endocrine imbalance not the reason for the infertility.

Common symptoms of PCOS include:

• Irregular or no menstrual periods (for women of reproductive age)
• Irregular ovulation, with or without monthly bleeding
• Acne
• Excess hair growth on the face and body
• Thinning scalp hair
• Accumulation of un-ruptured follicles on the periphery of the ovaries (mislabeled as “cysts”, often called polycystic ovaries)

It is not necessary to have all of these symptoms to have PCOS. In fact it is not necessary to have “polycystic ovaries” to have PCOS. PCOS manifests itself differently in each woman.

I believe that Chinese Medicine is the best medicine on the planet to deal with PCOS and any hormonal imbalances. Using acupuncture, herbs and nutrition we can regulate the hormonal levels sometimes within a few cycles.

There have been a couple of recent studies which show what has been known clinically for 2000 years. Below are some of the articles written about the studies:

• Acupuncture and Exercise Relieve PCOS In this 16 week study from 2009 the once a week acupuncture group had fewer menstrual irregularities and a significant drop in testosterone. Here is another article regarding this study.
• Acupuncture relieves PCOS better than exercise alone - In this similar study to the one above the acupuncture group had more menstrual regulation and a higher drop in testosterone than the exercise group.

In addition these studies only used acupuncture and exercise. There was no dietary intervention or herbal medicine used as treatment. Once we add in these modalities the success rate increases dramatically!

So if you have been diagnosed with PCOS absolutely consider using Chinese Medicine as a treatment modality.

Yours In Health,

George Mandler CNS LDN LicAc

For so many years when people tell me they use honey in their tea or other foods I always question to make sure it isn’t honey from a plastic squeezable bear.    I am surprised how many people use inexpensive ‘honey’ from a standard grocery.   You get what you pay for.  

There is a great new article from the Food Safety Network entitled “Tests Show Most Store Honey Isn’t Honey”.  Please read it to learn about what was found in store bought honey.   The results aren’t sweet.

We all have food sensitivities to some degree. If and when they manifest as overt symptoms is very space and time dependent. Genetically engineered foods will only increase the likelihood that people will become more sensitive to foods (the technical term is a loss of oral tolerance) as potential antigens from one food/chemical is spliced into a completely different food.

We must stop the madness of Monsanto and other pharma giants from controlling all seeds.   (for more info click here).

Please sign this petition to request labeling on Genetically Engineered foods.   We have a right to know if we are eating a genetically altered food.   The ignorance so many so called experts display when they say there is no harm with GE foods is baffling.   I had constant battles with my biochemistry professor about this.  Hopefully he has opened his eyes to the dangers.

If more food is clearly labeled “Genetically Modified” there will be less demand and less madness.   Obama has already let Alfalfa seeds slip on through, now the government wants to not inform people if they are eating GE foods. Please sign, this is important for future generations.

Yours In Health,

George Mandler LDN LicAc

In the last few weeks two awfully designed studies regarding vitamin supplementation created some negative headlines around choosing to supplement.

One study published in JAMA wrongly concluded that “vitamin E” increases the risk the prostate cancer.  Problem was they weren’t using Vitamin E, just a portion of it.  The use of only 1 portion of the Vitamin E class of molecules (in this case alpha-tocopherol) leads to other well documented deleterious consequences.  This study was a faulty design with faulty assumptions whose mistake was made countless times in studies over the past 20 years regarding Vitamin E metabolism.  But for some reason previous data was ignored.  There are additional faults with this study and the hyperbole conclusions spun by the mainstream media ‘health writer’ pundits is extraordinary.   I’ll blog on this soon. Read the rest of this entry

Interesting how chocolate is often associated with ‘love’ and ‘heart’ given its known benefit on the cardiovascular system . A review study just presented in Paris – a city that is renowned for its love of food and chocolate – showed that individuals who ate the most chocolate had a 37% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and a 29% lower risk of stroke compared with individuals who ate the least amount of chocolate. Read the rest of this entry

This abstract below looked at the absorption of Vitamin D as it relates to the type of fats we consume.  It also only studied people 65 and older so we can only conclude this applies to seniors, however we can make an assumption that it may apply to everyone.   The bottom line is that you don’t want to take Vitamin D with say just some fish oils.  You need some good fat.   Olive oil, sesame oil, coconut, avocado would be great fats to have with Vitamin D.

This is important to know as I some people will just take a vitamin D with a fish oil in the morning.   The absorption will be much lower this way than taken with a complete meal.

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It has been known that cereals that contain oats, soy, corn are most likely contaminated with pesticides and/or genetically modified if they do not have the USDA Organic label. I typically do not recommend cereals with a lot of grains such as Kashi because of the potential food sensitivity issues.  So many grains eaten at once increase the likelihood of an immune response stemming from a food sensitivity.   But now the Cornucopia Institute has released a new report explaining how ‘natural’ cereals that are not so natural.   The full text is below and a good read…..or if you do not want to read the 4 minute video is here. Read the rest of this entry

There is so much data about the correlation with milk and chronic diseases. There was a lot of press about A1 vs A2 types of milk and the correlation with heart disease about 7 years ago. Now there was just another study released that correlated milk intake in adolescence with prostate cancer which is what prompted me to write this post.

I am not going to go into much detail here, but there is the no-milk.com website that contains a plethora of references.

I think it is unfortunate that so many people believe that pasteurized homogenized milk that can come from many cows in one carton is healthy.   Perhaps raw milk from organic grass fed cows can be healthy for people that are in a ‘deficient’ state.  Or milk from goats or other animals not in feedlots (as some ‘organic’ milk is!).

But we really need to think about drinking milk.  Small amounts are probably OK as the dose can make the poison in most cases.  (except IgE allergies which there are many to milk products).  But drinking a glass of milk is just not a smart idea.

Here is another good article: http://www.chelseagreen.com/content/one-type-of-milk-may-cause-diabetes-the-other-doesnt-which-do-you-drink/