Greetings Everyone,
Here is a simple little step by step video on how to use the neti pot.
Enjoy and Be Well.

Dr. Audette

Here is another reason why butter is better than margarine. Even for unorthodox uses!
Enjoy.

Ujjayi Pranayama breathing is a type of breathing exercise that helps to expand lung capacity, relax the nervous system (which lowers blood pressure) and rids the lungs of stubborn, difficult to expectorate phlegm.  This little video will help to illustrate how to do it for beginners.  Enjoy.

Be Well.

Dr. Audette

Here is a way that Coca-Cola could actually become more socially responsible, green itself up and even profit.  Enjoy

Dr. Audette

Miso soup is a very nutritional and easy to make soup that can be consumed daily as part of your health regimen.  The following video will show you how its done.  The ingredients can be bought at the following locations:

In Kitchener: Korean and Japanese Grocery (490 King St. W. 519-569-7199)

In Toronto: PAT Central Market (675 Bloor St. W. 416-532-2961)

Heisei Mart (3160 Steeles Ave. E. 905-305-7300)

Enjoy and stay tunes next month for another instructional video.

Be Well.

Dr. Audette

Hippocrates was prophetic when he made the statement that “All disease begins in the gut”. Cancer causing agents in food such as food dyes, aflatoxins (think nuts), pesticide residues, heavy metals, nitrites and artificial sweeteners, as well as non-food sources such as alcohol, tobacco and prescription drugs have become ubiquitous in our food supply. However, they all share one major thing in common. They all require bio-activation. Bio-activation most often requires an enzyme system to occur. These enzyme systems occur to the greatest extent in the gut micro-flora (the bacteria that inhabit the gastrointestinal (GI) tract). A balanced bacterial population in the gut tends to detoxify carcinogenic substances far better than an unbalanced one. In doing so, the load of carcinogens that get activated becomes much more manageable for the rest of the body’s defenses. In an unbalanced bacterial population, carcinogenic substances get activated to a much greater degree. When too much of these substances accumulate, cancer cells are much more likely to proliferate. Once cancer begins, the oral chemotherapeutic drugs that are taken, will likely add to this toxic load and put further strain on the immune system. Most often, pharmaceuticals of any kind undergo bio-activation and conjugation (transformation into a usable form) both in the gut as well as in the liver. However, the secondary and tertiary products that they are transformed into can sometimes be more toxic than the primary drug in question. It is for this reason that a well-balanced bacterial population in the gut is so important to health. So how does one get balanced gut bacterial populations? The most important way is to make fermented foods a regular part of your diet. Foods such as Kefir, Miso, Natto, Sourkraut and Kimchee are high in beneficial bacteria for supplying your gut with. Those big brand name yogurts such as Activia™ and Yoplait™ would be good as well if they didn’t have all of the added sugar and flavoring agents in them. Another way to ensure that you have a balanced gut is to severely restrict the amount of sugar in your diet, and keep the glycemic load (foods which score high on the glycemic index) lowered. This will lower the inflammation in your body (especially in your gut), not to mention make you feel better. Another problem, which is only starting to receive attention, is the fate of pharmaceuticals after they have left the body. They don’t just magically disappear with the flush of a toilet, but end up in sewage and eventually the environment. For those who live in the country, just remember that septic systems were never really designed to break down pharmaceutical drug metabolites into benign molecules, which may mean that they will end up in the environment as well. When your gut is healthy, you and the environment will be too. Then you will also be able to make David Suzuki “granola-disciples” green with envy.

Be Well
Dr. Audette

Damn baby! You still look’in mighty fine!  I never knew that you were so talented!  Not only does your industry make a killer profit (both literally and figuratively), but you are insanely addictive too.  I sure know that I felt your love.  But I also know that since I broke up with you, my immune system got stronger, my joint pain went down by half, my anxiety levels plummeted and my concentration got better.  I know that we’ve had our good times and you will always be my first love (hell, we got together when I was just a toddler) but I think its time for us to both move on.  It’s not you, its me.  Lets face it, when I’m with you, my LDL, triglycerides, tooth decay, ulcerative colitis and adrenalin all go up (not to mention my weight).  The only things that seem to go down are my vitamin E, libido, tissue elasticity, my IQ and my eyesight.  I know that they say that love is blind, but I didn’t realize that I’d feel so old before my time with you.  And when I thought that it couldn’t get any worse, I found out that you’d been stealing my copper (which will help me fight off anemia and arthritis), chromium (which keeps my blood sugar stable so I don’t become diabetic) and magnesium (which helps my muscles relax and keeps my heart healthy).

Lets face it, all loving relationships are based on trust and you had only given me doubts.  In fact, if I didn’t know better, I’d say that you deliberately had it in for me as not only were you stealing from me, but you were also profiting from it.  After all the tax breaks that my friends and I gave you (like setting up your industry’s offices in the Caymans), all the business opportunities we gave you (like when we introduced you to the food processing industry so that you could be everywhere), and all the people we got to slave away working for you for next to nothing (like all of the children in Haiti who harvest you with scant pay).

The part of you which initially turned me on was your fructose.  Then after it consumed my cellular ATP (cell energy molecules) and caused lots of my cells to die, I realized what a vampire you actually are.  Those dying cell’s DNA and RNA then began breaking down into purines, then uric acid, which is why you gave me gout.  Talk about a bad date!

When I first got to know you, you were so sweet.  I guess infatuation truly is deception.  But I’m happy to say that I am so over you.  I feel better, look better and have been taking care of myself.  Don’t bother asking if we can still be friends as, to be honest, I’m better off without you in my life.

Yours no more,

Dr. Audette

Be Well.

When I was a kid in grade school I used to love science experiments. I would imagine myself as the mad scientist concocting various chemicals in a foaming beaker and uttering the “mooohahaha!” laugh I’d seen on TV so many times. Then came courses in lab safety and a dashing of all my delusions of mad scientist grandeur. When I happened upon the explanation of how margarine was made however, I had a Timothy Leary flashback moment going back to my innocent youth described in the above sentences.

It turns out that there is some real “MAD” science behind this goo that is masquerading as a food. Firstly, they take a poly-unsaturated fat (preferably one of the cheapest ones like soy, corn, cottonseed or canola), which is liquid at room temperature, and most likely already rancid from the extraction process, and mix them with tiny nickel oxide particles. These particles act as a catalyst for the reaction. The reaction takes place with hydrogen gas at high temperature and mixed with soap like emulsifiers and starch to give it a proper consistency. It is then steam cleaned at high temperature in order to remove any abnormal odors. At this point it is grey in color, so, it must be bleached, then dyed yellow and flavoring agents added so that it will resemble butter. It is then compressed into tubs and marketed as a health food. Before it was allowed to be dyed yellow (thanks to intense lobbying by the margarine industry), it was actually dyed orange or bleached to white. Scary eh?

The other day, I happened to see the new Becel margarine adds on TV that claimed it to be a heart healthy substance, capable of saving all the women in my life from heart disease and stroke. My first feeling was bewilderment, followed by shock, then stunned disbelief. No, I wasn’t having a Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) or stroke, just a Saturday Night Live “Really!” moment. The “as part of a healthy diet…” segment, which is carefully inserted into the sales pitch with surgical precision, always gets me thinking. Exactly what “part” that might actually be? The science fictional part methinks.

Also, while plant sterols may lower cholesterol, they don’t come from a chemical plant, but from veggies, which are also a source of fiber, trace minerals and nutrients. Therefore, take these margarine adds with a grain of science fiction.

Be Well.

Dr. Audette

Despair was making some cookies in the kitchen to serve to the Japanese at a banquet. In walked Destruction, who offered to help with the mixing of the dough. Into the mix he added an earthquake, a tsunami, a nuclear meltdown and aftershocks. Despair continued by adding panic, anger and lies from the authorities. Gradually as they mixed the ingredients together, the dough began to smell revolting just as they had hoped it would. After they finished mixing it, they decided to let it set on the kitchen counter and go for a pint down at their local pub.
As soon as they had left, Compassion broke into their apartment and decided to ruin their plan by adding some cooperation, empathy, generosity and finished off with a teaspoon of hope. Then, Compassion mixed the dough just enough to hide the added ingredients before leaving. After having several pints and laughs at the expense of others, Despair and Destruction returned home and cut up the dough into cookies to bake. Once the oven heated up, they put them in and let them bake. In half an hour or so, they took them out of the oven. “These don’t smell half as bad as I’d hoped they would” Despair remarked to Destruction. “Don’t worry, I’m sure that’s because you probably just overcooked them.” He replied. “I’ll bet they are really nasty in the middle.” He continued. “Yeah, your probably right. Shall we set them on the banquet table?” she asked. Destruction nodded.
When the banquet started, they both looked in through a crack in the door in anticipation of the mayhem they would cause. The cookies did a tremendous amount of damage, causing much suffering and woe at the banquet. Yet, people seemed to be helping each other. Everyone was cooperating, sharing and comforting their neighbor. Strangers were helping other strangers, and although the suffering was palpable, it seemed that hope shined. “Something is wrong!” said Despair. “Did you mistakenly add something positive to the dough?” she asked. “No I didn’t. Maybe you didn’t add enough panic or something.” Destruction retorted. “Perhaps we should eat one to see how it tastes.” Despair mused. They each took a bite from a cookie and immediately collapsed in anaphylactic shock. All it really took was that teaspoon of hope.

Be Well and Happy Easter

Dr. Audette

A few germs were waiting at the doorknob for their ride to work and started talking just to pass the time. “So what sort of work do you do Chlamy” asked Rhinovirus. “Well, I tend to like infecting the conjunctiva of the eyes, then, if I’m lucky, cause blindness” responded Chlamydia Trachomatis. “How much red tape incubation period until your ball gets rolling?” Rhino continued. “Usually, around 2 to 9 days of waiting around.” “How about you, Rhino?” Chlamy asked. “I make my way into the upper respiratory tract via the sinuses and mouth, then cause a mild head cold with a runny nose, and if I work really hard, a slight fever after only 3 to 5 days” Rhinovirus replied. “Boy you guys sure aim low don’tcha?” interrupted Chickenpox. “What makes you so great?” they both responded. “Well…first I start off with causing a fever with malaise, then go on from there to develop into ugly looking fluid filled vesicles all over the body that are intensely itchy. If the person that I infect scratches off the scabs before they crust over and fall off, they get a scar for life.” Chickenpox smiled, then continued “ but then I get really interesting. After my primary infection subsides, I go and hang out near the spinal cord ganglions and bide my time until the person gets stressed out and run down enough that I can come out again as Shingles. I get to be even more nasty my second time round, by causing blisters, intense pain and occasionally paralysis. Not bad eh?” Chickenpox concluded. “Rhino, Chlamy, you guys shouldn’t bother getting too impressed” said Staphylococcus Aureus. “all you guys are mostly self limiting and something as simple as high dose Vitamin C tends to inactivate you.” He continued. “I, on the other hand am responsible for tons of hospital born infections, and my big brother MRSA can even cause amputations to happen!” “In fact, since my big bro is virtually immune to most antibiotics, the only thing that can really put a dent in his infections is Manuka honey, and what ER doc is going to remember that little bit of medical folklore?” “Not to mention that you viruses are far more susceptible to hand sanitizers like Purell™ than we are. All we need to do is clump together and form a slimy biofilm to protect ourselves.” he finished smugly. “Whoa boys, check it out! Surfs up!” said Rhinovirus as he saw the big hand reaching for the doorknob. As they all started surfing, Chlamy noticed that they were heading for the washroom, then realized that they were all doomed. When the others noticed they all screeched simultaneously “Aaaaaaaaaaah! Soap!”

Be Well.

Dr. Audette