The Dirty Dozen and the Clean Fifteen

Any naturopathic doctor worth their salt will tell you that eating organic food is in your best interest. You ingest far fewer cancer-causing pesticides (none, actually, if the food you eat truly is organic) and many more nutrients. Moreover, from an environmental standpoint, you're reducing the levels of pesticides that not just you, but all manner of plants and animals are exposed to.

Still, for many people, eating solely organic is a bit too much to ask for from the monthly budget. You want to be as healthy as possible, but the dollar can only stretch so far, right? Turns out that you don't have to sacrifice one at the expense of the other.

The Environmental Working Group has determined the 12 fruits and vegetables that have the most pesticide residue on them - the "dirty dozen." It's estimated that if you only eat the organic versions of these fruits and vegetables, you will reduce your pesticide exposure by up to 80%! So for your health's sake, purchase and eat these ONLY ORGANIC whenever possible:

1. Celery
2. Peaches
3. Strawberries
4. Apples
5. Blueberries
6. Nectarines
7. Bell Peppers
8. Spinach
9. Kale
10. Cherries
11. Potatoes
12. Grapes (imported)

On the other hand, there are the "clean fifteen" - the fifteen fruits and vegetables that you could buy conventionally (i.e., nonorganic) and eat without significantly increasing your exposure to pesticides. Here they are:

1. Onions
2. Avocado
3. Sweet Corn
4. Pineapple
5. Mangoes
6. Sweet Peas
7. Asparagus
8. Kiwi
9. Cabbage
10. Eggplant
11. Cantaloupe
12. Watermelon
13. Grapefruit
14. Sweet Potatoes
15. Honeydew

It's good to have this list available when you need it (like when you go shopping), so here's a link to a list you can print out and carry in your wallet.

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Do you have health issues that aren't being adequately addressed by conventional medicine? Naturopathic care may be the answer you're looking for. Visit my website for more information about naturopathic medicine, and begin your journey toward optimal health!

"Do you treat...?"

"Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."

-- World Health Organization, 1948

Quite often, I get e-mails from potential patients asking me if I treat X condition. They are happy to have received a diagnosis, be it hypothyroidism, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, fibromyalgia, diabetes, or whatever they have been labeled as having. At least these people know that what they are suffering has an official name, and thus a potential exact treatment, usually a drug of some sort. (Unfortunately, in many cases, these drugs are not effective, or have undesirable side effects.)

I also often get e-mails from patients who have a mysterious array of symptoms that are not easily pigeonholed into a diagnosis. They have run through a barrage of lab tests that indicate - at least on paper - that all their blood/urine levels are normal, or that there was nothing abnormal found on the imaging they received. These are the people who often come to me like Princess Leia, saying, "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope."

In either case, when working with patients, I generally adhere to a philosophy known as the naturopathic therapeutic order. It goes like this:

1. Remove obstacles to cure.
2. Instill a healthy regimen.
3. Support the body's natural healing process.
4. Support individual weakened or diseased organs or organ systems.
5. Address structural abnormalities.
6. Address the condition or pathology.
7. Suppress the condition or pathology.

Notice that in this therapeutic order, there is no emphasis on whatever condition a person has been labeled with until all other health-supporting priorities have been addressed. Often, an effective treatment protocol may include just the first three or four parts of this order, and the patient gets better. (Incidentally, treatment almost always includes patient education, so that not only does the patient get better, but he or she has tools they can use for the rest of their lives to help keep themselves healthy.)

This emphasis on creating health is often the rationale behind naturopathic doctors who say, "We don't treat conditions. We treat people (who happen to have these conditions)." This is not to say that naturopathic doctors do not understand these conditions; four years of excellent in-residence education with many classes in pathology, public health, and pharmacology (among others), ensures that they do. But patients are more than the labels of diseases they have been given. Addressing only these labels without addressing the fundamental causes of their diseases - the obstacles to cure, the less-than-optimal health regimens, the weakened organ systems - does a patient disservice. To address each patient wholly and to pursue the real cause of disease is the ultimate goal of a naturopathic doctor. Only by doing this can we achieve the true definition of health: complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

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Do you have health issues that aren't being adequately addressed by conventional medicine? Naturopathic care may be the answer you're looking for. Visit my website for more information about naturopathic medicine, and begin your journey toward optimal health!

SIGG Water Bottles and Bisphenol A

SIGG is a Swiss company that prides itself on manufacturing environmentally sound water bottles, made from either aluminum or stainless steel. Backpacker magazine has dubbed SIGG “The World’s Toughest Water Bottle” after putting a series of water bottles through a rigorous test, including being pummeled by golf balls shot from a cannon. Aluminum SIGG water bottles have been tested repeatedly to ensure that aluminum does not leach into the water.

SIGG water bottles also have a plastic coating on the inside that prevents them from building up a smell or residue. According to their website, these bottles “exceed FDA requirements and have been thoroughly tested to ensure 0.0% leaching – so they are 100% safe.”

However, on September 7, 2009, the CEO of SIGG, Steve Wasik, publicly apologized about not disclosing that the plastic linings of the popular SIGG stainless steel water bottles contained bisphenol A (BPA). This came as a surprise and a disappointment. SIGG has marketed itself as a great alternative to plastic water bottles. Many consumers who chose SIGG water bottles did so intentionally to avoid further exposure to BPA.

I have already written about the links between BPA and many diseases, including breast cancer, obesity, and diabetes. In my video, I even show a SIGG water bottle that I drank from regularly. It’s a shame that Wasik did not feel that BPA exposure was not a pertinent issue for the consumers who chose SIGG water bottles. He has risked the trust of these consumers and the stability of the company. But to his credit, he has apologized numerous times, and has taken action accordingly.

SIGG began to produce water bottles with a lining that does not contain BPA in August of 2008. The company has also offered a voluntary exchange program for anyone who bought a water bottle prior to August 2008, and who would prefer to have a BPA-free water bottle. This exchange program will be effective until October 31, 2009.

Whether or not the lining does leach contaminants of any sort, it appears that BPA may not be necessary to make an effective lining for water bottles. And this can only be good for the health of consumers.

Ideally, you should drink from water bottles that are BPA-free. Even better, consider avoiding plastic water bottles across the board. Pure stainless steel water bottles (SIGG does sell these) and even glass containers are still the best, healthiest, and most environmentally sound water bottles around. But as an acquaintance pointed out, glass may not be the best choice for children due to its being relatively fragile. So stick with stainless steel for children, and go with either for adults.

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Do you have health issues that aren't being adequately addressed by conventional medicine? Naturopathic care may be the answer you're looking for. Visit my website for more information about naturopathic medicine, and begin your journey toward optimal health!

Water bottles: plastic vs. glass

As I mention in this video, it is prudent to stay away from plastic water bottles that leach out bisphenol A, or BPA. For those of you who are curious about which water bottles those are, they're the ones that seem virtually indestructible - the prototypical Nalgene water bottles. Ironically, Nalgene water bottles were originally marketed as water bottles that would not leach plastic byproducts. They once were seen as the environmentally sound brand. Oops.

So what is the big deal about BPA? Studies have linked it to a number of estrogen-sensitive conditions: obesity, breast cancer (even the CDC acknowledges this), premature onset of puberty in girls (the average age of menarche, or a woman’s first menstrual cycle, has dropped by at least one year, if not more, over the past 50 years or so), gynecomastia (development of breast tissue in males) and birth defects. BPA was actually used as a estrogen mimicker in lab tests during the 1930s before diethylstilbestrol (DES) replaced it as a stronger estrogen substitute. (Babies were exposed to DES when their mothers took it to prevent miscarriages. Unfortunately, we discovered that “DES daughters” experienced a greater risk of vaginal and cervical cancer, infertility, and pregnancy complications. It was subsequently taken off the market years ago. But I digress.)

Which plastics leach BPA? Apparently, the hard plastics (like Nalgene) that are imprinted with the number 7 inside the recycling symbol are the ones to avoid. According to this website, plastic #7 is a catch-all for “miscellaneous plastics.” This includes Tupperware. Often, plastic #7 is not recyclable.

There are a few arguments against studies showing the dangers of BPA. First, some studies have shown that BPA doesn’t really increase the risk of, say, cancer. These studies, though, don’t take into account the synergy that occurs when other compounds interact with BPA, and the combination can be particularly dangerous. (Also consider that adipose tissue, or fat, in itself tends to favor the production of estrogen. Being obese may also act synergistically with BPA. With obesity being rampant in society today, this issue becomes even more vital to address.) One could also argue that these studies have all been performed on rats and not humans. Unfortunately, humans are often more sensitive to toxins than rats, particularly when fetuses are exposed to them. BPA is no exception. (And who would willingly undergo a study that exposes them to a potentially carcinogenic substance?)

Stick with glass water bottles if you're looking for an environmentally sound alternative to plastic water bottles. If you want to get something more stylish and perhaps more resilient than glass, there are many companies that sell excellent metal water bottles. Like glass, these water bottles do not leach out harmful substances, and they are completely recyclable after being used. They just cost a bit more.

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Do you have health issues that aren't being adequately addressed by conventional medicine? Naturopathic care may be the answer you're looking for. Visit my website for more information about naturopathic medicine, and begin your journey toward optimal health!