Fatty Liver and Dementia

Introduction

Fatty Liver can be caused by alcohol use, but it can also happen in people who don’t drink or use very little alcohol.

Called “NAFLD” (Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease”), it affects 25 to 30 percent of people in the US and Europe.

Recent studies link NAFLD with cognitive impairment and dementia. This can occur even with no other symptoms.

You may or may not develop symptoms from NAFLD. The most common symptoms are feeling tired or discomfort or pain in the upper right side of your abdomen.

However, your only symptom may be a loss of short-term memory and slowed-down thinking. Studies are showing that NAFLD may also cause Alzheimer’s Disease.

If you’re wondering what has happened to your previously sharp mind, this is a possible answer.

NAFLD should not be ignored in any case, as it can lead to cirrhosis, a severe and potentially fatal disease.

What Causes Fatty Liver?

Eating sugar, refined carbs (bread, cakes, rice, pasta, potatoes), and bad fats (fried foods, chips) creates a risk for Fatty Liver.

• The same process that causes Type II diabetes also can cause Fatty Liver Disease. If you’re “Pre-diabetes” or a diabetic, you’re at risk.
• High levels of fat (especially triglycerides) in your blood.
• Overweight

What to do about Fatty Liver Disease

As with most chronic illnesses, NAFLD has different causes in each person. If you want to get the problem handled, you’ll need to be tested to determine the exact problem causing your body stress and preventing it from healing. Go HERE to get started on this process.

DIY NAFLD Improvement:

(See article below for more information):

1: Lose excess weight–losing between 7 and 10 percent of body weight can improve other symptoms of NAFLD, such as inflammation, fibrosis, and scarring

2: Research from 2017 suggests that the Mediterranean diet may help to reduce liver fat, even without weight loss.

3: Exercise: It’s important to stay active when you have NAFLD. A good goal to shoot for is at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week.

4: Avoid foods with added sugars-Dietary sugars such as fructose and sucrose have been linked to NAFLD development.

5: Take an omega-3 supplement–A peer review study suggests that taking an omega-3 supplement may reduce liver fat.

6: Avoid known liver irritants–Certain substances can put excess stress on your liver. They include alcohol and certain over-the-counter medications.

7: Consider taking vitamin E--Vitamin E is one antioxidant that may reduce inflammation caused by NAFLD. Must take all components of vitamin E. This would include Mixed Tocopherols and Tocotrienols

8: Consider Herbs--A 2018 paper identified certain herbs, supplements, and spices that have been used as alternative treatments for NAFLD. Compounds that have positive effects on liver health include turmeric, milk thistle, resveratrol, and green tea.

I hope this helps!

Dr. Melodie Billiot

NAFLD and Dementia

Ronald Grisanti D.C., D.A.B.C.O., DACBN, MS, CFMP

A study from the journal Neurology revealed that nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is independently associated with cognitive impairment.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an umbrella term for various liver conditions affecting people who drink little to no alcohol. As the name implies, the main characteristic of NAFLD is too much fat stored in liver cells.

Dementia and NAFLD are two frequent conditions that share underlying risk factors mainly in the realm of metabolic disease.

The study from the journal, Neurology included 4,472 adults aged 20–59 years.

The participants underwent assessment of liver enzyme activity and hepatic steatosis by ultrasound. They underwent cognitive evaluation using the following computer-administered tests: the Simple Reaction Time Test (SRTT), the Symbol-Digit Substitution Test (SDST), and the Serial Digit Learning Test (SDLT).

Increased activity of the liver enzymes alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) correlated with lower performance on the SDLT, while increased alanine aminotransferase was also correlated with lower performance in the SDST.

The current studies suggest that NAFLD patients incur cognitive dysfunction.

Although if left untreated, NAFLD can lead to much more serious conditions, including cirrhosis and liver failure. The good news is that fatty liver disease can be reversed—and even cured.

8 Steps to Effectively Treat Fatty Liver Disease

1: Lose excess weight–losing between 7 and 10 percent of body weight can improve other symptoms of NAFLD, such as inflammation, fibrosis, and scarring

2: Research from 2017 suggests that the Mediterranean diet may help to reduce liver fat, even without weight loss.

3: Exercise: It’s important to stay active when you have NAFLD. A good goal to shoot for is at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week.

4: Avoid foods with added sugars-Dietary sugars such as fructose and sucrose have been linked to NAFLD development.

5: Take an omega-3 supplement–A peer review study suggests that taking an omega-3 supplement may reduce liver fat.

6: Avoid known liver irritants–Certain substances can put excess stress on your liver. They include alcohol and certain over-the-counter medications.

7: Consider taking vitamin E--Vitamin E is one antioxidant that may reduce inflammation caused by NAFLD. Must take all components of vitamin E. This would include Mixed Tocopherols and Tocotrienols

8: Consider Herbs--A 2018 paper identified certain herbs, supplements, and spices that have been used as alternative treatments for NAFLD. Compounds shown to have positive effects on liver health include turmeric, milk thistle, resveratrol, and green tea.

Recovering from Anxiety & Depression Without Drugs

Anxiety and depression can mess up your life.

Mental health problems are not understood at all. Research hasn’t gotten to first base on any of them. Treatment is limited to controlling symptoms, and often the treatment is worse than the disease.

Origins of Anxiety & Depression

Over the past 27 years, I’ve had upwards of 6,000 patients suffering from anxiety and depression along with their other symptoms. At some point in their treatment with us, almost all of them have either improved dramatically or expressed that they no longer had the problem.

This sounds very promising (and it is), however I’ve never directly treated a patient for anxiety or depression.

I have become convinced that many mental disorders could be a result of physical health conditions. When the patient recovers physically, they also improve their mental problems.

There is a lot of science behind this. It’s well known that hormone and blood sugar problems can cause even severe forms of anxiety and depression. Specifically, thyroid problems often cause anxiety, mental lethargy and physical fatigue. Sex hormone problems can cause depression and bi-polar symptoms. Blood sugar problems can cause extreme irritability, anxiety and irrational behavior.

Despite the research evidence, medical treatment for mental conditions is always for the specific symptom, not for the underlying cause. A case in point is the DSM, the manual listing all accepted mental diseases and used to diagnose mental illness. The “diseases” in the DSM are all statements of symptoms, not possible causes.

When Depression Is Normal

Many patients have told me that they believed their depression was caused by a chemical imbalance in their brain.

However, no research has yet linked mental illness to brain chemistry (look it up… “belief” “suggest” “may result” “tend to” “strongly linked” but no actual science).

Depressed patients commonly have chronic illness, are often in constant pain, have no energy, can’t sleep, and have been told by multiple doctors that they should “learn to live with” their physical condition because there is no treatment for it.

So, I have asked the person, “Do you feel that you have much hope of achieving any of your goals in life, given your physical health problems?”

The patient thinks, and tells me that no, they’ve given up. I then have asked, “What emotional condition do you think would be normal for a person in your situation?” The patient will often start to laugh, and tell me, “Depression would be completely normal, I think!” They no longer worry about the chemical brain imbalances after this, either.

I agree, because I’ve observed that once a person recovers their physical health—they have energy, don’t hurt, sleep well, digest well—that they aren’t depressed anymore!

Mental Illness Medical Non-Solutions

In my experience (which is considerable), mental illness is often linked to or caused by physical health conditions. These health conditions are always chronic, and typically have no medical treatment.

Medicine treats symptoms, and chronic illness can only be addressed by helping the body regain its ability to heal itself. This is something that conventional medicine is not equipped to do.

So rather than find and improve the cause of mental illness and give the patient back their lives, medicine treats it as a symptom, the same as they do any other heath problem.

The result? Over 100 million cases of mental illness, many of which could be resolved completely, but instead will be drugged into some level of stupor for years, until their bodies become unresponsive to the drugs used.

It’s ugly.

I’m just so happy to be able to show the way out to so many of my patients who work hard to help their own bodies heal, both physically and mentally.

Roundup and Heart Disease

If you have a house with a yard, you probably know about Roundup.

The stuff is truly miraculous! Spray it on just about anything, and the unwanted plant shrivels up, dies, and doesn’t come back. It seems like nothing else comes close to being as effective.

Roundup and other products made with its active ingredient glyphosate are wildly popular commercially. Roundup is how power companies keep their transmission line rights of way clear. It’s why railroad tracks aren’t overgrown with weeds.

Growing crops is where Roundup is used the most. On farms, Roundup is used in combination with special genetically modified plants. Here is how this works: The farmer plants the special GMO seeds. Then, as the plants (and weeds) grow in his fields, he sprays the whole field with Roundup. The weeds all die, and the crop is unaffected (well, it doesn’t die anyway).

Trouble in Herbicide Paradise

Roundup was first sold in 1973 and is now THE MOST WIDELY USED HERBICIDE and is used in most countries.

So, what could go wrong? Glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup) can enter your body by direct skin absorption, eating treated foods, or drinking contaminated water. The WHO (World Health Organization) classified glyphosate as a probable carcinogen in humans in 2015. Studies have shown that glyphosate disrupts the bacteria in your gut, creating a decrease in ratio to harmful bacteria because the bad guys have resistance to Roundup.

A growing number of studies find that glyphosate can mess up your heart’s electrical system, leading to life-threatening arrhythmias. SEE STUDY IN JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF CARDIOLOGY STUDY HERE.

Can I Ride Just One More Time??

Like a little kid on a merry-go-round, governments around the world KNOW they must ban glyphosate but want just a little more time before they finally act.

The US (currently using 1.8 million tons of glyphosate annually) has over 150 cities with local bans. However, the EPA still sticks to its declaration that “glyphosate is unlikely to be a human carcinogen.” So don’t look for any widespread relief soon.

Austria banned glyphosate in 2019. Germany is phasing it out by 2023. Nineteen countries are either regulating, banning, or in the process of doing this currently.

Protect Yourself

The GMO crops currently grown using Roundup are soy, corn, canola, alfalfa, cotton, and sorghum. Horrifyingly, wheat is under development.

Here’s what to do:

1. Avoid eating GMO versions of these crops. (Eat only organic versions)
2. Avoid eating meat from animals that were fed these crops. (Eat only organic versions)
3. Avoid eating dairy products from cows fed with these crops. (Eat only organic versions)
4. Don’t use Roundup or other glyphosate-based herbicides on your lawn. If you have a lawn service, make them show you an ingredient list of anything they spray.
5. Show this article to all your neighbors and see if you can get them to stop using Roundup as well.
6. Avoid walking near powerlines or railway rights of way or other areas that appear treated with weed killers.
7. Treat farmland for what it has become: dangerous. You don’t want exposure to the things they spray, and often you don’t want to eat the food they grow.

Do you have chronic health problems (possibly from toxic exposure)?

I may be able to help you.

Would you please take five minutes to fill out a health assessment survey and send it to me? I’ll review your information and have my assistant call you for any additional information and let you know if you might be a good fit for my clinic. It’s complimentary, no strings attached. Either I can help you or point you in the right direction to get help.

Don’t give up! You can recover your health if you persist.

DO NOT DRINK OUR WATER!

When you come to my clinic, PLEASE don’t drink the tap water.

Our tap water contains ten toxins in potentially unsafe levels, including nine carcinogens. (You can check out the water quality in your zip code HERE)

How to Have Safe, Healthy Water to Drink

1: Don’t drink tap water. Why not? Put your zip code into this search and see exactly.

2: Filter water that you cook with or drink. On a budget? You can use a carbon filter on your tap or a filtered water pitcher. Carbon filters (including those on filter pitchers) reduce many common contaminants such as lead, and the disinfectants used to treat tap water. Better (FAR better) is a reverse osmosis filter that gets most contaminants out.

3: Carry and store water in safe containers. Use stainless steel and (shatterproof) glass containers. Plastic can break down and release chemicals into the water.

4: Don’t trust bottled waters. Many “spring waters” are processed tap water, no matter what the label says.

An Ideal, Yet Practical Water Solution

In a typical residence, two water contamination problems need solutions:

Showerhead Carbon Filter

1: Drinking and cooking water needs to be as clean as possible but still contain natural minerals and electrolytes.

The best cost-effective solution is a reverse osmosis water filter. These filters look a bit like a rocket engine, with bottles and tubes in all directions. However, they are inexpensive ($250 – $700), not particularly hard to install (DIY or a simple handyman job), and fit under your kitchen sink. A bar tap on your sink dispenses the clean water for cooking and drinking. You can pick one up at Home Depot.

Strangely, DISTILLED WATER is not a healthy choice. See the article below, “Potential Risks of Distilled Water” for more information.

2: Water for bathing and handwashing needs to contain safe chlorine levels.

Chlorine is a necessary evil for tap water. Like water in your swimming pool, dangerous bacteria and fungus will grow in non-chlorinated water. The CDC says that four parts per million is the limit of chlorine in tap water. Because the danger of too little chlorine is much worse than too much, city water systems can err on the high side.

How to know if there is too much chlorine in your tap water?

• Tap water smells like a swimming pool. If your tap water really smells, it may have too much chlorine.
• Dry, itchy skin. If this is worse after a shower or bath, you should test your chlorine levels.

You can get a simple strip test for your tap water for $12 HERE (Amazon)

The best fix for chlorine is to get 95% of it out of your water. You do this with one of two solutions:

1: Showerhead filter. It screws onto your showerhead, costs $50, and lasts for years. This eliminates the hot chlorinated water you are soaking in and the chlorinated steam you are breathing.

2: Whole House Filter. This is a cartridge that is mounted (usually) where your water line comes into your house. It takes a handyman or plumber to install it ($200-ish), costs as little as $200, and lasts at least a year. Replacement cartridges cost $30 and can be installed (by you) in a few minutes. This cleans up all the water going into your house, usually including the water you use outside on your lawn.

Are You at Wits’ End With a Health Problem?

I may be able to help you.

Would you please take five minutes to fill out a health assessment survey and send it to me? I’ll review your information, then have my assistant call you for any additional information. Then, I’ll let you know if your case might be a good fit for my clinic. This assessment is complimentary, with no strings attached. Either I can help you–or point you in the right direction to get help.

Don’t give up! You can recover your health if you persist.

Potential Risks of Distilled Water

Ronald Grisanti D.C., D.A.B.C.O., DACBN, MS, CFMP

While distilled water is the purest type, it’s not necessarily the healthiest.

The distillation process is very effective at removing potentially harmful contaminants, but it also removes the natural minerals and electrolytes found in water.

If you drink distilled water, be aware that it may have some drawbacks. The lack of minerals could prove problematic if you aren’t getting them from another dietary source. In addition, the water might cause intestinal discomfort.

Along with unwanted impurities, beneficial minerals like calcium and magnesium are also left behind as the steam rises during the distillation process.

Distillation typically removes around 99.9% of all minerals found in tap water.

The lack of naturally occurring minerals in distilled water, such as sodium, chloride, and potassium, can negatively affect health. These minerals are known as electrolytes.

Therefore, your body is forced to give electrolytes to the mineral and nutrient-free water. With this, your electrolyte level will slowly decrease and eventually cause electrolyte imbalance in your body.

To sum up, if you drink distilled water consistently, you are putting your health at risk. It has insufficient minerals and nutrients that can protect your body against diseases and illnesses. Second, it can potentially lead to certain health problems such as bone deformities, digestive tract disorders, and even blood-related sickness.

I believe the best source of drinking water is spring water.

Of course, I expect some debate about my opinion but spring water from a reliable source has proven to have many health benefits.

Here are some valuable benefits:

• Balancing the pH of your body
• Natural source of necessary minerals

How to choose a good spring water brand?

The points to remember when choosing a water company are as follows:

• Determine how long they are in the business
• The source of water
• Does the water pass purification and tests
• Is there a water test report available (especially on their website)
• Does the bottle have the label of the brand?

Compliments from Functional Medicine University

A Way Out of Menopause Problems?

My sister-in-law was at my house a week ago and complained, “I just hate getting old” (she’s 53). She was discouraged that she couldn’t remember words and felt mentally sluggish.

I explained to her that this was a common symptom of menopause due to low estrogen levels. At first, she was excited by this information—something could be done about it! But then she realized she couldn’t take any estrogen with her breast cancer history.

The Toxic Soup

She’s not alone in wanting to avoid the use of hormones or drugs to treat menopause symptoms. A visit to your OBGYN with typical menopause symptoms can result in prescriptions for any or all of the following:

• Hormone Therapy: Estrogen is what works, but it can be a risk. So your doctor will probably prescribe the lowest dose over the shortest time. Many women are not interested in the risk and will pass on this.
• Vaginal Estrogen: Same story as hormone therapy.
• Low-dose Antidepressants: These SSRI drugs are prescribed for hot flashes and “mood disorders” caused by hormone imbalances. All of these drugs have side effects, and many are addictive.
• Gabapentin: A seizure drug repurposed as a treatment for night sweats.
• Clonidine: High blood pressure med repurposed as a treatment for hot flashes.
• Osteoporosis drugs: The most popular drugs build “bone density” by inhibiting the destruction of old or dead bone cells. This increases bone density but without increasing bone strength.

Surely there must be another, better way.

Why Hormones Go Whacky

Your hormones are a communication system in your body. Like bulk mail, trillions of molecules of your hormones plug themselves into “mailboxes” on your cells. Your cells then read the mail and know what your brain wants them to do.

Hormones are very specialized chemicals. Sadly, in our high-tech society, we use similar chemicals for pesticides, insecticides, drugs, plastics, etc. The molecules of these toxic chemicals in our environment are so identical to your hormone molecules that your body can’t tell the difference.

These toxic molecules interfere with your natural hormones, creating stress that has been linked to hundreds of chronic diseases.

These toxins are called ENDOCRINE DISRUPTORS. Here is a link to the EPA’s Endocrine Disruption webpage.

My experience has been that these toxins are a significant factor in menopause symptoms.

An Effective, Non-Drug, Non-Hormone Solution

There are many imbalances that create menopause symptoms. Each woman’s answer is different. I do a great job of finding your problems and rebalancing your body so you feel great—even in menopause.

One of the techniques I use to help women with hormone problems is an acupressure treatment called “Systems Balancing Technique,” or SBT. I have been using this technique since 2001 and have helped thousands of women to improve hormone imbalances related to sex hormones, adrenals, thyroid, and many more problems.

How SBT Works

In 1. below, a natural hormone (letter) can’t get to the cell’s mailbox because it’s being blocked by a toxic chemical (ED stands for “Endocrine Disruptor,” a toxic chemical that mimics a hormone and fools the body).

SBT treatments bring the body’s attention to the ED molecule with the intention that the body will realize this isn’t a natural hormone and eject it from the mailbox.

In 2. below, the hormone letter can plug into the receptor site freed from being blocked by the ED.

Neither I nor anyone else can know what is happening inside the body on a molecular level. The explanation above is my “working theory” of how SBT works, but I have no way to know for sure.

However, the results I have obtained with this technique speak for themselves!

A Plan to Balance Your Hormones

If you’d like to find out if a non-drug, non-hormone solution could work for you, here are two possible actions for you to take:

Neither I nor anyone else can know what is happening inside the body on a molecular level. The explanation above is my “working theory” of how SBT works, but I have no way to know for sure.

However, the results I have obtained with this technique speak for themselves!

A Plan to Balance Your Hormones

If you’d like to find out if a non-drug, non-hormone solution could work for you, here are two possible actions for you to take:

Do You Have a Stubborn Health Problem?

I may be able to help you.

Dr. Melodie Billiot

Would you please take five minutes to fill out a health assessment survey and send it to me? I’ll review your information, then have my assistant call you for any additional information. Then, I’ll let you know if your case might be a good fit for my clinic. This assessment is complimentary, with no strings attached. Either I can help you–or point you in the right direction to get help.

Don’t give up! You can recover your health if you persist.

Are You Healthy? A Conclusive Answer

It’s commonly thought that poor health means a diagnosed disease or chronic symptoms.

This short quiz reveals a different way of looking at your health.

Health Quiz:

• Do you often think about your health and have some concerns about staying healthy?

• Do you wake in the night and worry about your health?

• Do you often think about what could go wrong or might be wrong with your health and how you might have to cope with it?

• Do you feel as if you have a shortage of physical or mental energy to accomplish what you need to get done? Do you sometimes avoid or stop an activity because you don’t have enough energy?

• Are you ever frustrated with your body and your health? Do you feel upset over digestive problems, joint pain, weight, lack of energy, hormone imbalances, etc.?

• Are you concerned about your mental condition: anxiety, depression, concentration, or frustration because you can’t think of words?

• Are you ever self-conscious or embarrassed about your body? This could be your appearance, or embarrassing problems such as burping, passing gas, or bad breath?

• Are you fearful about going to your doctor for a checkup or blood work because of what he or she might find?

New Definitions for Healthy and Unhealthy

You can feel fine, have great energy, have no diagnosed illness, and have normal lab tests. But if you are concerned and worried about your body, you aren’t truly healthy.

If you have more available attention for any activity, your chances of success with that activity go way up. More attention on your marriage, children, profession, hobbies, or that brand-new idea or project you just have never gotten around to (but you would if you had more attention available!).

Your Most Important Tool

Your body is the main tool that you use to live your life. Like any good tool, it should work in a way that doesn’t call attention to itself and just lets you get the job done. A hammer or shovel that hurts your hands isn’t a good tool. A body that hurts to walk is the same: a poor tool. A body that can’t be trusted not to break down in the future is also a poor tool.

How to Regain Your Attention (Your Life!)

Restored and Recovered Health is Possible

Thousands of patients have completely changed their lives with our help.

• They report thinking more clearly with better memory, concentration and focus. They say this saves them time and money, even making them better parents, spouses, friends and coworkers.
• Fear and anxiety about their health vanishes. They have new attention and energy to live their lives.
• Most importantly, renewed health gives a new sense of the future. They no longer feel damaged or limited by their health. They look and feel healthy and vibrant!
• … And so can you!

Your Plan to Increased Health and Attention