Remedies

Probiotics and Prebiotics can Improve Health of Celiacs

probiotics gluten celiacCeliac disease is a complex inherited digestive disorder that affects I in 100 persons worldwide. This condition involves a unique immune response within the digestive tract to gluten, a protein found in the grains of wheat, barley, rye and oats.  All persons with celiac disease, regardless of age, race or gender, are susceptible to intestinal damage when they eat food containing gluten or its derivatives. The treatment for celiac disease is a strict gluten-free diet that stops damage and allows recovery.  Probiotics and prebiotics should be incorporated into the diet to improve the quality and balance of intestinal bacteria that inhabit the colon.

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Tips for Overcoming Social Anxiety

1. Validate your emotional experience. Don’t tell youself that you shouldn’t feel the way you do or that how you feel is stupid.  Talking negatively to yourself will only increase your anxiety because negative self talk is not effective in changing emotions.  Say to yourself, “It’s okay that I’m nervous.  It makes sense.  Despite that, I can do this!” Approaching, not avoiding is what helps us deal with intense negative emotions.  It helps us learn that despite their presence, they are Read More »

Health in Depth: Muscle Weakness in Celiac Disease

Muscle weakness is the lack of muscle strength to perform physical work that we should be able to do, such as lifting objects, climbing steps or simply walking or getting up from a chair. Muscle weakness is different from muscle fatigue, which is the lack of energy to continue physical work once begun. Muscle weakness is also different from lassitude, or chronic fatigue, which is the feeling of tiredness or exhaustion but without loss of muscle strength.

Muscle weakness is common in celiac disease. It may stem from one or more nutrient deficiencies, associated disorders or complications. This article addresses only nutritional causes of muscle weakness resulting from malabsorption and/or loss of minerals from diarrhea or vomiting. Read More »

Americans Spend Over $25 Billion Each Year on 8 Pharmaceutical Drugs That Deplete Nutrients

Lipitor raked in more than $5 billion for pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer Inc., during 2009 according to Drugs.com

Nexium Depletes Nutrients

Are drugs making you sick?

Sales of the 5 leading drugs for mental disorders topped $12,750,023,000, while Nexium and Prevacid totaled 7,523,382,000.

All eight of these drugs deplete nutrients. 

 

Revenues of the Top 8 Selling Drugs of 2009

Lipitor: lowers cholesterol – $5,363,193,000

Nexium: acid reducer – $5,014,827,000

Prevacid: acid reducer – $2,508,555,000

Seroquel: antipsychotic – $3,117,591,000 Read More »

Can Medicine Make You Sicker? Common Drugs that Deplete Nutrients

medications that cause nutrient deficienciesWhether due to malabsorption from an undiagnosed syndrome like celiac disease, poor diet or defective activation of nutrients, many people are not receiving or utilizing the nutrients their bodies need to thrive.

The human body is tough. You can operate at sub-optimal levels for years or decades before a clinical symptom becomes apparent or is recognized as resulting from a deficiency.

Unfortunately, this recognition frequently comes only after symptoms have become so severe as to significantly impact your health.  Until that point, medications and surgeries are more likely to be used as treatments, neither of which correct the underlying cause of the deficiency.

In fact, many drugs exacerbate nutrient depletion.  So, while they may improve your symptoms in the short term, they can cause more harm than good in the long term.

Many prescription and non-prescription medications can deplete nutrients by any of these ways:

1. Preventing normal digestion and/or absorption, so nutrients cannot get into the body.

2. Interfering with nutrient transport and/or use in the body, so nutrients cannot Read More »

MEDICAL RESEARCH: “Probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG enhances gastric ulcer healing in rats.”

Editors’ note: This animal study investigating the effects of Lactobacillus rhamnosus, a strain of probiotic bacteria, on ulcers of the stomach lining of rats demonstrated that bacteria placed directly into the stomach significantly and according to dose reduced gastric ulcer size.  If the results of this animal research are reproduced in humans, it would demonstrate that probiotics may hasten recovery for people suffering from stomach ulcers.  The bacteria did not affect the function of normal gastric mucosa but normalized those with abnormal changes during ulceration.

“Probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG enhances gastric ulcer healing in rats.”

Lam EK, et. al.

Department of Pharmacology, The University of Hong Kong, China.

European Journal of Pharmacology. 2007 Jun 22;565(1-3):171-9.

Background: Probiotics are widely used as functional foods which have been advocated for the maintenance of gastrointestinal microflora equilibrium and treatment of gastrointestinal disorders. However, studying the role of probiotics in peptic ulcer disease is limited. The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of a probiotic strain Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG on gastric ulcer and to elucidate the mechanisms involved.

Methods: Gastric kissing ulcers were induced in rats by acetic acid (60% v/v). L. rhamnosus GG was given intragastrically (directly into the stomach) at 10(8) cfu/day or 10(9) cfu/day for three consecutive days after ulcer induction. L. rhamnosus GG successfully colonized in the gastric mucosa especially at the ulcer margin. It also significantly and dose-dependently reduced gastric ulcer area.

Results: L. rhamnosus GG successfully colonized in the gastric mucosa especially at the ulcer margin. It also significantly and dose-dependently reduced gastric ulcer area. Cell apoptosis to cell proliferation ratio was strongly decreased and accompanied by significant up-regulation of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) and B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) protein expression at the ulcer margin. Angiogenesis was also significantly stimulated together with the induction of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression. Furthermore, L. rhamnosus GG up-regulated the phosphorylation level of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGF receptor) without altering the total EGF receptor expression.

Conclusions: These findings suggested that L. rhamnosus GG enhanced gastric ulcer healing via the attenuation of cell apoptosis to cell proliferation ratio and increase in angiogenesis. Regulators of these processes such as ODC, Bcl-2, VEGF and EGF receptor are likely to be involved in the healing action of L. rhamnosus GG for gastric ulcer.

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Author Information: Cleo Libonati, RN, BSN
Cleo Libonati is president/CEO and co-Founder of Gluten Free Works, Inc. She is the author of Recognizing Celiac Disease and the Gluten Free Works Treatment Guide.

Swiss Researchers Find Zinc Prevents and Cures Acid Reflux Better Than Drugs

acid reflux remedy zinc

Sores from acid reflux

Researchers in Switzerland have made the welcome discovery that the essential nutrient zinc effectively inhibits gastric acid secretion in humans.

The researchers were investigating whether zinc could lead to a rapid and sustained increase of stomach pH (more alkaline) in both animals and humans and provide a rapid acid suppression therapy. They demonstrated that zinc offers a new and prolonged therapy for Read More »

Remedy Round Up: Liver Cleansing, Acid Reflux, Gas, Social Anxiety and Probiotics

We have an assortment of remedies for you today covering a variety of ailments!

  • How to Cleanse Your Liver
  • Acid Reflux Remedies that Work and Drugs to Stay Away From
  • Excessive Gas and How to Get Rid of It
  • Tips for Dealing with Social Anxiety
  • Using Probiotics to Improve Health

Natural Liver Support Cleansing Products

The liver is involved in thousands of biochemical mechanisms making it second only to the brain in importance and complexity. Natural health practitioners are also acutely aware of the detrimental effects on the liver of modern living, with its chemicals, excessive fat intake, pesticides, hormones, and stress. This suggests that we as a culture are in need of liver support. You should consider liver support supplementation if you:

Read more….


Swiss Researchers Find Zinc Prevents and Cures Acid Reflux Better Than Drugs

Researchers in Switzerland have made the welcome discovery that the essential nutrient zinc effectively inhibits gastric acid secretion in humans.

The researchers were investigating whether zinc could lead to a rapid and sustained increase of stomach pH (more alkaline) in both animals and humans and provide a rapid acid suppression therapy. They demonstrated that zinc offers a new

Read more…


Problems with Acid Reducers and Acid Reflux Fixes that Work

Acid reflux affects millions of people every day.

Heartburn is the major symptom of acid in the esophagus, characterized by burning discomfort behind the breastbone (sternum). Findings in gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD)  include esophagitis (reflux esophagitis) — inflammatory changes in the esophageal lining (mucosa) —, strictures, difficulty swallowing (dysphagia), and chronic chest pain. Patients may have only one of those symptoms. Typical GERD symptoms include 

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Celiac Disease & Excessive Gas in the Digestive Tract: What it is and How to Get Rid of It

It’s a fact. Everyone produces gas. Ordinarily, most people produce about 1 to 3 pints of gas in a day. Gas is normally painless, creating a feeling of fullness until it is passed.

But sometimes pain is experienced, and when it does it can be either dull or sharp, leaving us feeling bloated or tender in places. It can be localized in one spot, or felt throughout the abdomen.

About 50% of people with celiac disease complain of chronic discomfort from gas at the time of 

Read more…


Tips for Overcoming Social Anxiety

1. Validate your emotional experience. Don’t tell youself that you shouldn’t feel the way you do or that how you feel is stupid.  Talking negatively to yourself will only increase your anxiety because negative self talk is not effective in changing emotions.  Say to yourself, “It’s okay that I’m nervous.  It makes sense.  Despite that, I can do this!” Approaching, not avoiding is what 

Read more…


probiotics gluten celiac

Probiotics and Prebiotics can Improve Health of Celiacs

Celiac disease is a complex inherited digestive disorder that affects I in 100 persons worldwide. This condition involves a unique immune response within the digestive tract to gluten, a protein found in the grains of wheat, barley, rye and oats.  All persons with celiac disease, regardless of age, race or gender, are susceptible to intestinal damage when they eat food containing gluten or its derivatives. The treatment for 

Read more…

Natural Liver Support Cleansing Products

The liver is involved in thousands of biochemical mechanisms making it second only to the brain in importance and complexity. Natural health practitioners are also acutely aware of the detrimental effects on the liver of modern living, with its chemicals, excessive fat intake, pesticides, hormones, and stress. This suggests that we as a culture are in need of liver support. You should consider liver support supplementation if you: Read More »

Fibromyalgia and Gluten

christie bessinger gluten free works

Have you been told that along with Celiac Disease or Gluten Intolerance, you also have Fibromyalgia? If you have, you’re not alone. What exactly is Fibromyalgia? Well, there are certainly a lot of theories out there about what it is, and how it should be treated. Up until recently, it was considered an “invisible disease” (much like Celiac), and doctors would often diagnose it if they couldn’t find anything else wrong with you. In other words, instead of telling you, “you’re a hypochondriac,” they would say, “You have Fibromyalgia,” and give you an anti-depressant like Cymbalta, to help ease your symptoms.

Thankfully, with more and more people (especially women), complaining of similar symptoms, Fibromyalgia has finally gotten recognition as a legitimate disease. Some of the typical symptoms are Read More »