[Daniel]

Hey ,

Thanks for showing! I’m only seeing one product though. It is a stainless steel pan, but when I take a look at the product materials, they mention that there is aluminium in it.

For that reason, I agree with you and wouldn’t call this a non-toxic pan.

[Daniel]

Hey ,

What awful news..! I’m really sorry to hear this. I wish you, your father and your family strength and luck!

Let us know how things went! 

[Daniel]

Hey ,

It is the environment of a fully functional stomach that changes and keeps H. Pylori in balance. If the environment changes, that could give rise to an overgrowth of H. Pylori.

When there is an H. Pylori infection present, the inflammation caused by the infection can damage the stomach lining. Usually, I like to help rebuild the stomach lining and address the infection before stimulating the acidity of the stomach. The acid, when the stomach lining is damaged, can irritate the stomach.

I know apple cider vinegar has some benefits. But it is still acidic in nature. There is anecdotal evidence that apple cider vinegar (ACV) helps with acid reflux. Studies unfortunately are hard to find. This 2022 review has this to say about ACV and acid reflux:
“ACV was used in the gum formulation mentioned above, and while subjects found beneficial effects in relief of heartburn and acid reflux, it is challenging to elucidate whether this effect was due to the ACV or the other ingredients.”

That doesn’t mean you can’t use it, that’s not why I’m sharing this. The research isn’t clear on it. The evidence for that is anecdotal.

Here are some tips if you like to use apple cider vinegar.
• Start low and slow by diluting 1-2 tablespoons with water to reduce the acidity and see how someone responds.  With ulcers, people can react really sensitively to apple cider vinegar and I would stop if someone doesn’t react well to it.
• ACV wouldn’t be my approach to fighting an H. Pylori overgrowth. Mastic gum, Matula Tea or some recommendations from this video are better backed up by research. And although ACV helps anecdotally with reducing acid reflux, fighting H. Pylori is more specific.
• We use different strategies to heal the gut lining, but they are also explained in the same video.

I was wondering what inspired you to ask this question. Is it something you like to use or recommend?

[Daniel]

Hey ,

I would just like the antifungal supplements to rotate the antifungal teas every 4-6 weeks. I personally like combinations as well. The reason for that is that sometimes one herb is very potent for fighting one form of mold (or a strain of a certain mold species) and less potent for fighting another strain.

You could choose a few different teas and rotate them every 4-6 weeks with another combination.

It is possible to choose your foods, herbs and supplements wisely and target multiple health conditions. I would advise you to prioritize only one health condition.

For example, in the case of high cholesterol, it would be great to have something that brings it down. Oleuropein (the active ingredient in olive leaves that has been related to cardiovascular benefits) could help reduce inflammation and inhibit LDL cholesterol oxidation (if you like to learn more, read this article).

If it makes the number of lifestyle choices very complex, I would prioritize one above the other.

It could very well be that just focusing on mold could bring cholesterol values down. A diet that would reduce mold would show much resemblance to a diet that helps balance blood sugars, which is a common root cause of elevated cholesterol levels.

More targeted mitochondrial support requires you to know how mitochondria are affected. An OAT for example can provide you this level of detail. I do believe the supplements mentioned in the video “Strengthen Defences – Mitochondrial Support” are pretty good. From that selection, I like Mitochondrial NRG from designs for health a lot since it has a wider combination of ingredients that can support the mitochondria in different ways.

Another product that I like for the same reason is Nerve Support Complex from Thorne (you can find it here). They rebranded the name, but it used to be called Neurochondria. It is a little higher in CoQ10 as Mitochondrial Support and it has a little more L-carnitine (which is necessary for fatty acid oxidation) and alpha lipoic acid (which improves mitochondrial function by boosting respiratory enzymes).

Mitochondrial Support has the benefit that it has a wider range of B vitamins, some magnesium and manganese (which is necessary to form the enzyme Superoxide Dismutase which helps reduce oxidative damage).

They are both good choices, but just support in a little different way.

[Daniel]

Hey ,

If understand you correctly I believe you like to try Betaine HCl low and slow. Just in case you’re considering the product from the label you shared.

Is it by any chance ‘Digestive Enzymes Ultra’ from Pure Encapsulations? Just asking, because this product is plant-based or rather based on yeast fermentation. Often Aspergillus is used to produce these enzymes. They might not be the best choice if you’re dealing with mold as well.

[Daniel]

,

You’re right. Pepsin is made in the stomach and starts protein digestion there. Protease assists when food passes through the stomach and prepares it for absorption in the small intestines.

[Daniel]

Hey ,

HUT stands for ‘Hemoglobine Units on Tyrosine Basis. It’s a procedure to determine the proteolitic activity of proteases. The test is based on what happens when these proteases do when they are exposed 30 minutes of a hemoglobin substrate at a certain pH level and a certain temperature (pH 4.7  and 40°C).

The other units are also units that tell you how effective these enzymes work under certain conditions.

For example DU is a unit that tells you something about how well this enzyme converts starches to dextrin molecules. It’s short for Alpha-amylase Dextrinizing Units.

HUT numbers are usually somewhere between 30.000 and 60.000 for most supplements.

As far as I can asses, the lipase (the enzyme that breaks down fats to fatty acids) has a good value as well. I’ve seen numbers varying from 300 to 1100 FIP. 3000 looks pretty good.

Glucoamylase, which is an enzyme that helps break down starches to glucose. Good values would be above 10 AGU.

Lactase is the enzyme that helps break down lactose.  If you’re lactose intolerant the amount of lactase might not always be sufficient. I don’t think you are worried about that, but if you like to learn more you can find more information here and the other link I will share.

From what I can asses from the label is that this product is pretty potent.

If you like to learn more about the other enzymes, this reference could help you. I warn you, you might need a few digestive enzymes to digest this article as well.

[Daniel]

Hey @,

In addition to Bernadette’s excellent suggestions, I would like to add that having well-formed bowel movements at least once per day (preferably 2-3 times per day) and drinking enough water are simple and powerful basics to optimize opening the drains.

All the other options in the movie Bernadette mentioned are powerful as well but in order of operations: if these basics aren’t right, optimizing these would be on top of my priority list.

If some form of constipation is at play, there is a program available (right here) that you could follow.

[Daniel]

Hey ,

I can feel your worries and I’m sorry to hear! Let me help you by giving you what could cause this. If you are worried, I would go to a doctor and do at least a check-up. A doctor could help you determine what is at play. Sharing these results can help Bernadette and me to find a natural path to address the root cause.

UTI
Frequent urination can have different causes. The most common one would be a urinary tract infection (UTI). A UTI can also cause your urine to become clouded. In some cases, blood can even be seen in the urine. Most of the UTIs are caused by an infection of the bacteria E. coli.

Other symptoms you might experience are:
• Pain or pressure in the abdomen, the pelvic floor or the lower back
• Pain when you pee
• Pain during sex.
• Fever/chills
• Urinary incontinence.

For some rapid relief, I usually recommend my clients the next things:
• D-mannose at 1000mg, 2x/day to counter an existing infection.  
• Uva ursi at 2-3x/day, the maximum recommended dose on the supplement label.  Uva ursi is not safe for everyone by the way: it is not recommended for children or individuals with liver disease (but you can still use the d-mannose on its own which is often quite effective!)
• Uva Ursi is more effective when the urine is alkaline. If you’re taking supplements like vitamin C it would be a good idea to stop them temporarily. Some foods can make the urine more acidic as well. Avoid for the time being the following foods as well if you like to use this supplement: soda, coffee, black tea, cow dairy foods (especially cheese), too much animal protein, and grains.

Kidney Stones
A kidney stone usually will not cause symptoms until it moves around within the kidney or passes into one of the ureters. (The ureters are the tubes that connect the kidneys and bladder)

Kidney stones can also cause the urine to look cloudy. typical other symptoms that might present are:
• Severe, sharp pain in the side and back, below the ribs
• Pain that radiates to the lower abdomen and groin
• Pain that comes in waves and fluctuates in intensity
• Pain or burning sensation while urinating

Most kidney stones are made of calcium and oxalate (approximately 80%). If this is the case, removing oxalates from the diet will help. Foods that are high in oxalates are for example peanuts, black tea, rhubarb, spinach, beets, Swiss chard, chocolate and sweet potatoes. However…

Gut microbes can also produce oxalates. If you have an overgrowth of certain bacteria, the oxalates might be endogenously produced. Balancing out the gut will help resolve this problem.

To make sure calcium is brought to the right spots in the body, we need vitamin K2 and magnesium will help. If kidney stones are causing urination, these supplements I usually recommend my client. If you have however other kidney problems, magnesium is not a good idea.

The citrate in lemon juice can be helpful as well. Just squeeze 1/2 a lemon 2x per day in a glass of water. The citrate binds to the calcium and this makes it easier for excretion. The citrate will also prevent the calcium from precipitating out into crystals.

Insulin resistance/Diabetes
We do have a full course about this topic, but if you experience symptoms that are mentioned in this movie or this one, it is more likely that your blood sugar balance isn’t optimal. This can cause frequent urination as well.

STI
Some sexually transmitted infections (STIs) will produce an inflammatory response in the body, which can result in an excess of white blood cells that cloud your urine. These infections can also cause frequent urination.

Stress & anxiety  
High cortisol levels can cause frequent urination as well. Stress hormones can impact the nervous system, and cause the muscles to tense up. If the muscles put pressure on areas like your blade and abdomen, this can cause frequent urination as well. It is however less likely to have cloudy urine as a result of this.

Pregnancy
If you’re pregnant, this could cause frequent urination as well. Just as with stress, cloudy urination isn’t likely in this case.

Let us know if you need any help!

[Daniel]

That’s great! I belief these belts are also effective because of compression. The belt works by gently pressing the contents of the hernia back inside the abdomen.

I’m glad this can bring you some relief !

[Daniel]

Hey ,

Don’t worry about being missing in action… although it’s good to see you back!

With dietary strategies, there is always a trade-off to consider. If you’re trying to balance out the microbiome and there is an overgrowth, some of the gram-negative bacteria will die off if you’re consuming antimicrobials.

Coconut oil is such an antimicrobial. LPS, which are part of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, get released when these bacteria die off. If your load of LPS is high or the amount of white blood cells is low and the LPS get into circulation, this can cause a reaction in your body.

That doesn’t mean coconut oil is bad, but some people might need some gut healing first before they start working with antimicrobials like coconut oil.

This is why we like to support the immune system (like for example with vitamin D, vitamin A and Zinc) and advice people to address increased permeability of the gut lining (leaky gut) with supplements like zinc L-carnosine, bone broth, vitamin D (which is necessary to keep the doors closed between the cells in the gut lining)

I’m not exactly sure to which study Kiran refers. Maybe this one where the effects of different oils were examined on how that would influence endotoxin transport. In this study, they saw that saturated fats, that were transported on ‘cabs’ much like LDL and HDL in the gut called chylomicrons increased absorption of endotoxins.

However… this research was done on pigs. 24 pigs were divided into 4 groups (and one group was a control group). The 3 other groups were given fish oil, vegetable oil and coconut oil. They did see an increase in LPS in the blood of these pigs, but it’s hard to do statistics on a group of 6.

Another factor to consider is the natural diet of a pig. Although pigs are omnivores and in theory eat everything, they prefer vegetables – and a low-fat diet – if they have the choice. It’s hard to estimate how pigs will deal when they are given more fat.

I do think the research is interesting. I’m not sure what research Kiran is referring to. But chances are this study was done on animals since most of this type of research is done on animals.

Back to humans!

Coconut oil might increase LPS since it is antimicrobial. If you might experience symptoms, it can be a good approach to reduce antimicrobial foods so the body can deal with the current situation in the body first.

It could be that saturated fats, like coconut oil, increase LPS absorption. To what degree is hard to say. However, in healthy humans, this is probably not a big issue since LPS concentrations are usually low in human blood. Compared to pigs, the human diet contains more saturated fat and this is usually not a problem.

Food for thought!

[Daniel]

Hey ,

Yes, there is! Thorne has a product that I often recommend. It used to be called biogest, but these days it’s called Advanced Digestive Enzymes. You can find it here!

[Daniel]

Hey ,

After pregnancy, the body needs to recover from sharing nutrients with the growing foetus. Women who breastfeed are still sharing nutrients with their babies and might need to pay extra attention to their nutrient intake. This means that these women often need more minerals like iron, folate, and vitamin B12 to rebuild their red blood cells lost after delivery.  While breastfeeding these nutrients are shared with the baby as well together with other nutrients like calcium and iodine.

Iron
Iron-rich foods like meat and poultry can provide these nutrients. Plant-based sources like lentils, leafy greens and other legumes. Nuts & Seeds can also provide iron in your diet. Pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, flaxseeds, cashews and pine nuts are particularly rich in iron.

The enzymes in the stomach that free up iron from food need vitamin C to work. This is why vitamin C increases iron absorption. Citrus fruits like oranges, kiwis, lemons and grapefruit are high in vitamin C. Bell peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower are also good sources of vitamin C. Vitamin C does get destroyed by heat. Make sure that you don’t overcook vitamin C rich foods.

Acerola Cherries and Rose Hips are incredibly high in vitamin C. If you like these foods, you can add them as well.

Folate
When you’re breastfeeding, the need for folate goes up as well. Folate is important for growth, making DNA and creating healthy red blood cells for as well the mother and her newborn child. Folate-rich food sources are for example leafy green vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts.

Zinc
A good amount of pregnant mothers use more zinc and deplete their stores during pregnancy. Especially if you’ve noticed some hair loss during your pregnancy, this can be an indication of an increased need for zinc. If you like to get zinc out of your diet, then beef, turkey and seeds (pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds and sesame seeds for example) are good food sources that contain zinc.

Choline
The need for Choline becomes is also increased during breastfeeding. Choline can be found in dairy and protein food groups, such as eggs, meats, beans, peas, and lentils.

Protein
Protein need becomes higher as well. In this study from 2020, they recommend an intake of 1.7 to 1.9 grams of protein per kg bodyweight (3–6 mo postpartum). This is higher than the current recommended the current Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) of 1.05 g protein/kg/d.

Iodine
Iodine is an essential mineral needed for the production of the thyroid hormone, and to ensure your baby’s brain and nervous system develop properly. If you like to know if iodine is something you’re low in, then I recommend you to watch this video. A little bit of kelp granulates can provide you with enough iodine since it’s very rich. This video contains some other foods that are high in Iodine.

Vitamin A
The need for vitamin A increases as well. Vitamin A is an important nutrient for growth and the immune system as well for mum and the baby. A rule of thumb is that yellow/orange vegetables (carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin) usually contain more beta-carotene, the plant-based precursor for vitamin A. Leafy greens and tomatoes are also great sources of carotenoids.

Vitamin D
In this study, it was concluded that taking vitamin D by mothers who breastfed their babies also positively influenced the serum levels of the babies. The researchers saw the best results in the group taking 6400 IU of vitamin D daily.

Water
Hydration is also important. Breastmilk is around 80% water and the need for it increases when you’re breastfeeding. Make sure your urine looks light. This is a good rule of thumb.

Omega 3 fatty acids
For the development of the baby omega 3’s are important as well – especially for the brain development of the baby. The fatty acids that are most important are DHA and EPA which are found in marine food sources. I usually recommend a supplement when it comes to ensuring adequate intake of DHA and EPA

Prenatal vitamins
A prenatal multivitamin can help you to ensure you’ve got all vitamins and minerals on a daily basis. If your diet is healthy and has an accent on leafy greens, orange vegetables, legumes, nuts & seeds, meat and poultry you might not need a prenatal vitamin. You still need to pay attention to protein sources, omega 3s, vitamin D, choline and the intake of water of course.

Things to avoid
• Stimulants like coffee and some caffeine-containing teas
• Alcohol
• Sugary foods and processed foods
• Allergy-Causing Foods

I hope these recommendations will help!

[Daniel]

Hey ,

If you like to prevent wrinkles, it helps to know how wrinkles get there in the first place. Obviously, wrinkles are part of the ageing process, but some factors can speed up ageing and there are some things you can do to reduce wrinkles.

What causes wrinkles?
As you know collagen and elastin are proteins responsible for maintaining the skin’s firmness, elasticity, and structure. As you age, the production of these proteins gets harder, leading to the loss of skin elasticity and the formation of wrinkles. Inflammation can make the formation of collagen harder and contribute to acceleration of the formation of wrinkles

Another factor that speeds up the formation of wrinkles is UV radiation. UV radiation from the sun damages collagen and elastin fibres in the skin, leading to premature ageing and the development of wrinkles. This process is known as photoaging.

When you become older, your skin naturally loses fat and moisture, causing it to become thinner and more prone to wrinkling.

How to reduce the formation.
Note that this part is more focused on the slowing down of wrinkles. Below I will give you some tips on what you can do to reverse the line depth which forms the wrinkles.

Reduce inflammation and follow an anti-inflammatory lifestyle
As I mentioned, the formation of collagen can be slow downed by inflammation. Making sure your serum vitamin D levels are in the optimal range can reduce inflammation. This handout goes in depth about vitamin D supplementation. Getting enough of the omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA will help as well.

If you’re insulin resistant, this can increase inflammation as well (here is a list of signs & symptoms to look out for)

Vitamin C is an antioxidant which not only reduces inflammation but it is needed for the formation of collagen. I usually aim for 2x 500 mg of vitamin C per day with my clients. Make sure that the ingredient label doesn’t has the ingredient calcium ascorbate which is calcium attached to vitamin C.

UV Radiation
We need sunlight for vitamin D production, but unfortunately, too much exposure increases damage to collagen and elastin fibres in the skin. Avoiding the sun in the middle of the day can reduce that damage.

Make sure your hydrated
Having good cellular hydration decreases wrinkles and line depth. This sounds easy, but besides drinking enough water, there are more factors that you need to get right to have good cellular hydration:
• Make sure you get enough electrolytes. This recipe here shows you how to make sole, which is an excellent source of electrolytes. On the topic of water and hydration, we also have a video. Just click here!
• Stress hormones influence electrolyte balance as well. This video contains a list of signs and symptoms of stress hormone imbalance. If you’re experiencing these signs and symptoms, in the adrenal balance course you can find more information on how to bring back balance. Stress hormones don’t only react to emotional stress. Infections, chronic pain, hyperglycemia, not enough sleep, feeling exhausted and many other factors can impact stress hormones as well.

Supplements
Aloe vera consumption has been shown to reduce line depth as well(see this study). Retinol (vitamin A) is important for healthy skin, but it also helps reduce wrinkles according to this study.

Rosehip oil and cacay oil are natural oils that you can apply topically and they contain a derivative of retinol called Tretinoin which is helpful with photoaging caused by the sun. Rosehip and Cacay add a soothing, calming, anti-inflammatory action with no side effects like some other retinol creams can have.

Resveratrol has been shown to reduce wrinkle formation as well (Click here if you like to see the study)

Hyaluronic Acid is a supplement that has been shown to reduce wrinkles as well. In this study, they showed that oral consumption was effective at doing that.

I hope I gave you some tips that you could use. Let me know if you have further questions!

[Daniel]

Hey ,

You’re right. Collagen powders can contain some heavy metals. Natural Force Collagen is tested for heavy metals by a third party and is a safe choice. You can find the test results here if you like. If skin health is your goal, a marine-based supplement will help since it has more type 1 collagen.

Is there anything, in particular, you are focussing on? Would you like for example to have some tips about anti-ageing? Or are you more focused on skin problems like dry skin, rashes or other skin problems?