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The secret was methylation, a biochemical process that takes place within your body. By methylating certain genes, you can turn off your genetic tendency to obesity and disease.
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How about the daily eleven thousand liters of air you breathe,
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MTHFR, the methylation master gene This gene initiates your ability to methylate, a key process that affects your stress response, inflammation, brain chemistry, energy production, immune response, detoxification, antioxidant production, cell repair, and genetic expression. When MTHFR is born dirty: Strengths: intensity, alertness, productivity, focus, improved DNA repair, decreased risk of colon cancer Weaknesses: depression, anxiety, autoimmunity, migraines, increased risk of stomach cancer, autism, pregnancy complications, Down syndrome, birth defects, and cardiovascular conditions such as heart attack, stroke, and thrombosis COMT, the gene whose SNPs help determine whether you’re focused and buoyant, or laid-back and calm COMT and its SNPs have powerful effects on mood, focus, and how your body handles estrogen, a key factor in the menstrual cycle, in fibroids, and in some estrogen-sensitive cancers. When COMT is born dirty: Strengths: focus, tons of energy and alertness, good spirits, glowing skin Weaknesses: irritability, insomnia, anxiety, fibroids, increased risk of estrogen-sensitive cancers, test anxiety, neurological disorders, migraines, PMS, impatience, vulnerability to addictions DAO, the gene whose SNPs can make you supersensitive to certain foods and chemicals When this gene is dirty, it affects your response to the histamine that lurks in various foods and beverages and that’s also produced by some gut bacteria, affecting your likelihood of food sensitivities and allergic reactions. When DAO is born dirty: Strengths: immediate awareness of allergens and trigger foods (so you can get them out of your diet before they cause serious long-term problems) Weaknesses: food sensitivities, pregnancy complications, leaky gut syndrome, allergic reactions, the risk of more serious conditions such as autoimmunity MAOA, the gene that affects mood swings and carb cravings This gene helps govern your levels of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin: key brain chemicals that affect mood, alertness, energy, vulnerability to addictions, self-confidence, and sleep. When MAOA is born dirty: Strengths: energy, self-confidence, focus, “highs” of productivity and joy Weaknesses: mood swings, carb cravings, irritability, headaches, insomnia, addictions GST/GPX, the gene(s) that can create detox dilemmas A dirty GST or GPX affects your body’s ability to rid itself of chemicals. When GST/GPX is born dirty: Strengths: immediate awareness of potentially harmful chemicals (before they have the chance to make you really sick), improved response to chemotherapy Weaknesses: supersensitivity to potentially harmful chemicals (with responses ranging from mild symptoms to serious autoimmune disorders and cancers), increased DNA damage (which increases the risk of cancer) NOS3, the gene that can create heart issues NOS3 affects your production of nitric oxide, which is a major factor in heart health, affecting such processes as blood…
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If you’re taking antacids, for example, you’re messing with many major genes, including MTHFR, MAOA, and DAO. If you’re taking metformin, a common medication for diabetes, you’re disrupting the function of your MAOA and DAO. Birth-control pills, hormone replacement therapy, and even bioidentical hormones can strain your MTHFR and COMT.
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Methylation involves adding a “methyl group”—one carbon atom plus three hydrogen atoms—to something (such as a gene, enzyme, hormone, neurotransmitter, vitamin) in your body. When this occurs, we say that the chemical compound has been methylated. What happens when this system fails? You have genes on when they’re supposed to be off, and off when they’re supposed to be on. A classic example is when methylation fails to turn off the genes that contribute to cancer. Not good.
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Methylation turns off many of the genes that can otherwise lead to chronic conditions—the scary kind that run in families. Depression, anxiety, heart disease, dementia, obesity, autoimmune conditions, and cancer all have a genetic component. With proper methylation, you greatly reduce your chances of developing these conditions, because methylation literally alters the instructions that your genes send out. For example, genes that might loudly shout “Depression!” or “Heart disease!” suddenly become muffled or even silent when they’re properly methylated.
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Many people struggle with the ups and downs of blood sugar. Their solution is to eat more often and to consume more carbohydrates. They soon become overweight and tired. Methylation to the rescue—by helping to create a key compound called carnitine, which enables your body to burn fat as fuel. Now your blood sugar is more stable, plus you’re burning fat instead of storing it. Methylation also helps you burn fuel as efficiently as possible, with further benefits to your metabolism, your energy, and your weight.
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To produce a strong cell wall, you need—you guessed it!—good methylation, which produces phosphatidylcholine, a key element in your cell walls. Do you take vitamins? Supplements? Without proper methylation, they won’t do you a bit of good. If your cell walls don’t work right, the nutrients can’t get into your cells; they just end up in your very expensive urine. You also need phosphatidylcholine to regulate the rate of cell death and to make healthy new cells, to replace the 2.5 million that die every second. Without enough new cells, you might develop pain, fatigue, inflammation, and fatty liver. Finally, you need phosphatidylcholine for your bile, a substance produced by your liver. Bile helps you absorb fat and regulates the bacteria in your small intestine. It flows from your liver into your gallbladder, so if your methylation is compromised, watch out for gallbladder problems.
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Brain and Muscle Health Methylation also produces creatine, a compound that both your brain and your muscles use as fuel. If you’ve got muscular aches and pains, feel rundown and fatigued, or can’t kick your brain into gear, poor methylation and low creatine might be the reason.
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Marvelous Methylation Methylation produces many key chemicals, including: ■ Phosphatidylcholine — to produce cell membranes, enabling your cells to absorb nutrients and repel harmful ingredients — to produce bile, which helps you absorb fat and fat-soluble vitamins, and which keeps excess bacteria from growing in your small intestine ■ Creatine, essential for brain and muscle function ■ Norepinephrine and epinephrine, for energy, attention, and alertness ■ Melatonin, for easing you into sleep ■ Carnitine, for fat burning and energy ■ Polyamines, for regulating your immune system Methylation reduces many key chemicals, including: ■ Histamine, which contributes to asthma, migraines and other headaches, insomnia, mania, allergies, and skin disorders ■ Estrogen, which at high levels can contribute to acne, irritability, heavy menses, and cancer ■ Dopamine and norepinephrine, which at high levels increase headaches, irritability, and stress ■ Arsenic, high levels of which occur in many common foods and beverages (including water, apple juice, chicken, and rice), contributing to muscular weakness, tingling, and brown spots on skin
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However, because folic acid resembles folate, it gets into your folate receptors, where it blocks natural folate from getting where it needs to—inside your cell. As a result, if you’re eating more foods containing folic acid than leafy green vegetables, the naturally occurring methylfolate struggles to get into your cells. And without enough methylfolate, your body can’t methylate. In this way, folic acid blocks methylation.
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In 1998, in what I consider an almost criminally ignorant move, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began requiring U.S. manufacturers to “enrich” the following foods in that way: ■ Bread ■ Cereal ■ Cornmeal ■ Flour ■ Pasta ■ Rice ■ Other grains
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Exercise is better for methylation than no exercise—but too much exercise isn’t good either. Why not? Because when you overexercise—exercise either too long or too intensely—you stress your body too much.
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And when you don’t methylate properly, you don’t make melatonin, a natural biochemical that helps you fall asleep—and
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Other Common Barriers to Methylation ■ Alcohol ■ Antacids ■ Heavy metals ■ Infections ■ Inflammation ■ Intestinal yeast overgrowth ■ Nitrous oxide ■ Oxidative stress (caused by free radicals) ■ Small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and other gut infections
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The Super Seven: A Snapshot ■ MTHFR supports methylation, a crucial process that enables more than two hundred of your body’s vital functions, including genetic expression. ■ COMT affects metabolism of dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine, affecting your mood, energy level, ability to calm down, ability to sleep, and ability to focus; it also affects estrogen metabolism, which governs your body’s estrogen levels and hormonal balance, affecting your experience of the menstrual cycle and menopause, and increasing your vulnerability to female cancers. ■ DAO affects your body’s response to histamine from food and bacteria, which in turn affects your vulnerability to allergy symptoms and food intolerance. ■ MAOA affects your relationship to dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin, governing your mood, energy level, and ability to sleep, as well as sugar and carb cravings. ■ GST/GPX enables detoxification, your body’s ability to rid itself of harmful chemicals from the environment and to expel harmful biochemicals produced by your own body. ■ NOS3 affects circulation, which helps determine your cardiovascular health and your vulnerability to heart attack, circulatory issues, and stroke. ■ PEMT affects your cell walls, brain, and liver, determining a wide range of health issues including pregnancy problems, gallstones, fatty liver, digestive problems, SIBO, attention problems, and menopause.
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Check each box if the condition has occurred frequently within the last sixty days or is generally true: MTHFR I suffer from headaches. I sweat easily and profusely when exercising. I take supplements with folic acid and/or eat foods enriched with folic acid. I struggle with depression. I have cold hands and feet. DAO I tend to suffer from one or more of the following symptoms after eating leftovers, citrus, or fish: irritability, sweatiness, nosebleeds, runny nose, and/or headache. I’m sensitive to red wine or alcohol. I’m sensitive to many foods or suffer from leaky gut syndrome. I generally feel better two or three hours after a meal as compared to twenty minutes after eating. I felt better during pregnancy and could eat more varied foods. COMT (slow) I get headaches. I find falling asleep a challenge. I easily become anxious or irritable. I suffer from PMS. I’m sensitive to pain. COMT (fast) I struggle with attention and focus. I’m easily addicted to substances or activities: shopping, gaming, smoking, alcohol, social media. I’m prone to feelings of depression. I often lack motivation. I feel an initial happy rush after eating lots of carbs or starchy foods, but feelings of depression return quite quickly. MAOA (slow) I’m easily stressed, panicked, or made anxious. I find it hard to calm down after becoming stressed or irritated. I enjoy cheese, wine, and/or chocolate but tend to feel irritable or “off” after I eat them. I’m plagued by migraines or headaches. I have difficulty falling asleep; but when I do, I tend to stay asleep. MAOA (fast) I fall asleep quickly but wake up earlier than I’d prefer. I’m prone to depression and a lack of desire. I find that chocolate gives me a great mood lift. I tend toward smoking or alcohol addiction (or excessive use). I achieve a better mood after eating carbohydrates, but that improved mood doesn’t help my focus or attention. GST/GPX I breathe air and drink water. (Yes, you read that right! This gene is at least a little bit dirty in all of us these days.) I’m sensitive to chemicals. I developed gray hair early. I have a chronic condition such as asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, autoimmune disease, diabetes, eczema, psoriasis. I have a neurological disorder that results in symptoms such as tics, tremors, seizures, or problems with gait. NOS3 I have above-normal blood pressure (higher than 120/80). I have cold hands and feet. I tend to heal slowly after an injury or surgery. I’m a type 2 diabetic. I’m postmenopausal. PEMT I tend to have generalized muscle pain. I’ve been diagnosed with fatty liver. I’m a vegetarian/vegan, or I don’t eat much beef, organ meat, caviar, or eggs. I have gallstones or have had my gallbladder removed. I’ve been diagnosed with small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). Scoring Create a separate score for each gene, awarding one point per question: ■ 0 points: Excellent! This gene…
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Compounds Methylated to Use ■ Phosphatidylcholine. Choline is a biochemical found in animal proteins. Methylate it, and you get phosphatidylcholine, which your body uses to make cell walls and to perform many other functions. ■ Creatine. Methylated guanidoacetate becomes creatine, which is absolutely crucial for brain and muscle function. ■ Melatonin. Methylated serotonin becomes melatonin, which you need to fall asleep. Compounds Methylated to Expel ■ Arsenic. When arsenic is methylated, it stops being active and your body can flush it out with the help of a superhero called glutathione. ■ Histamine. Histamine is a powerful immune-system compound that you want in just the right amount. Too much gives you symptoms such as a runny nose or insomnia. When histamine is methylated, your body can expel it. ■ Estrogen. Unmethylated estrogen is active, but methylated estrogen is expelled from your body. So methylation protects you from excess estrogen, which can cause PMS, menstrual issues, and the risk of estrogen-related cancers. These are just a few of the critical biochemical reactions that depend upon SAMe.
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First, the levels of homocysteine that most doctors consider “normal” are actually way too high. Most doctors consider 15 micromoles per liter or higher to be high. For me, anything above 7 micromoles per liter is high. So if your doctor is measuring your homocysteine levels, make sure you get the actual number so that you can judge for yourself. Second, sometimes your homocysteine levels are too low. If your homocysteine levels are below 7, you won’t have enough homocysteine for both methylation and making glutathione. However, the labs don’t necessarily tell you this—when you’ve got a low number, they just tell you that your levels aren’t “too high,” implying that they’re fine! Finally, you could have high homocysteine levels for lots of reasons—not only because you’re methylating poorly. And you could have normal homocysteine levels and still be methylating poorly. That said, you don’t want your homocysteine levels to be above 7, because however they got that way, high homocysteine levels block your Methylation Cycle. The higher your homocysteine, the more your cycle is blocked.
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What Makes MTHFR Dirty? ■ Inadequate methylfolate (methylated vitamin B9), methylcobalamin (methylated vitamin B12), or riboflavin (vitamin B2) ■ Exposure to industrial chemicals ■ Psychological stress ■ Physical stress ■ Hypothyroidism ■ Folic acid
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Key Nutrients for a Healthy MTHFR and Methylation Cycle Here are some of the key nutrients that your MTHFR and your Methylation Cycle need to work properly: Riboflavin/B2: liver, lamb, mushrooms, spinach, almonds, wild salmon, eggs Folate/B9: green vegetables, beans, peas, lentils, squash Cobalamin/B12: red meat, salmon, clams, mussels, crab, eggs (vegans and vegetarians, you guys have to supplement) Protein: animal sources including beef, lamb, fish, poultry, eggs, and dairy; vegan/vegetarian sources including beans, peas, lentils, broccoli, nuts, seeds Magnesium: dark leafy greens, nuts, seeds, fish, beans, avocados, whole grains
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the Choline Shortcut may work for a short time, but you can’t rely on it permanently. It’s an emergency shortcut that your body follows to protect your liver and your kidneys. Your primary Methylation Cycle, by contrast, supports all your organs and tissues, including your brain, eyes, uterus (and placenta), testicles, skin, and intestines, to name only a few. The shortcut route doesn’t suffice for them. Getting enough choline from your diet is important, but first and foremost, support your Methylation Cycle.
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■ In many cases, you’ll want to avoid cow’s milk dairy entirely. Food allergies and/or sensitivities to dairy produce antibodies that can clog your folate receptors. Goat’s and sheep’s milk products are usually fine—unless you have an autoimmune disease—and cow’s milk products may be okay after you’ve cleaned up your diet and healed your gut.
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The moral of the story? Ignore any standard lab reading of “serum folate” if you’re taking any type of folic acid supplement—either separately or in your multivitamin—or if you’re consuming significant amounts of folic acid in your food. (See chapter 2 for a list of foods “enriched” with folic acid.) These lab readings are meaningful only if you’re not consuming folic acid. (I provide additional information about folate testing in Appendix A.)
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COMT: The Basics Primary function of the COMT gene The COMT gene affects the way you metabolize estrogen, catechols from food and drink, and the stress neurotransmitters dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine. Effects of a dirty COMT Slow COMT. You may not be able to clear catechols, estrogen, dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine from your system. As a result, they remain in your system longer than they should, with a variety of physical and psychological effects. Fast COMT. You clear catechols, estrogen, dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine from your system too efficiently. As a result, they leave your system sooner than they should, with a variety of physical and psychological effects. Signs of a dirty COMT Slow COMT. Common signs include buoyancy, confidence, energy, enthusiasm, strong sexual function, estrogen issues (PMS, menstrual issues, fibroids, risk of female cancers), irritability, pain intolerance, sleep difficulties, trouble relaxing or powering down, workaholism, and sensitivity to caffeine, chocolate, and green tea. Fast COMT. Common signs include excessive sense of calm, good-temperedness, lack of sleep difficulties, effective stress response, pain tolerance, difficulty completing tasks, difficulty focusing, forgetfulness, lack of confidence or optimism, low energy, menopause/perimenopause challenges, and reliance on caffeine, chocolate, and green tea. Potential strengths of a dirty COMT Slow COMT. Potential strengths include altruism, energy, enthusiasm, exuberance, focus, generosity, and productivity. Fast COMT. Potential strengths include ability to relax, acceptance of others, broad focus, calm, high tolerance for stress, restful sleep, and a wide range of interests.
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Your stress neurotransmitters are methylated. —Methylated dopamine becomes norepinephrine. —Methylated norepinephrine becomes epinephrine. —Methylated epinephrine is ready to be expelled from your body by another set of enzymes.
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What Makes COMT Dirty? Slow COMT ■ Not enough SAMe ■ Low homocysteine levels ■ Excessive tea, coffee, and/or chocolate ■ Too much stress, causing a buildup of stress neurotransmitters ■ Excess weight or a diet high in animal fat, causing a buildup of estrogen ■ Overexposure to xenoestrogens in plastics, personal-care products, or home and garden products, again causing a buildup of estrogen Fast COMT ■ Too much SAMe
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If your COMT is dirty—either born dirty or acting that way—you could end up with a form of dopamine known as dopamine quinone, which is very harmful to the brain. Dopamine quinone has been associated with medications used to treat Parkinson’s disease and ADHD, as well as contributing to these diseases themselves, so you will want to consider your options carefully.
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When Levodopa raises dopamine levels, it puts a big strain on the COMT gene, thereby increasing dopamine quinone . . . which in turn makes the Parkinson’s worse.
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Furthermore, certain drugs can create extra problems for a child with a fast COMT. Methylphenidate, for example, can turn a fast COMT into a slow COMT—and then your child struggles with those symptoms. To make matters much worse, methylphenidate may increase not only dopamine but also dopamine quinone, which, as we just saw, is toxic to the brain and may result in Parkinson’s disease and other neurological disorders. The risks are just not worth it.
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Adderall is basically an amphetamine. It’s thought to make dopamine and norepinephrine more available to your brain. The problem is, if you use it too often, you get a rebound effect—your brain’s levels of dopamine go down, waiting for that next hit of Adderall to bump them up. Overall, you get dopamine depletion, plus cell death from the amphetamine. And yes, Adderall can also generate dopamine quinone.
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The occasional use of Adderall will indeed stimulate your dopamine levels, and if you use it only once every few months, you won’t notice any ongoing effects. Any more often, however, and you run the risk of long-term damage from dopamine quinone, especially if you have a dirty GST/GPX gene or if your body is struggling with an overload of heavy metals.
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So how does he manage to excel in school? How is he active and social and not bored and depressed? I know my biochemistry, and now so do you. You know that COMT’s job is to burn through several biochemicals, including dopamine. The key, then, is to help Tasman, with his fast COMT, make more dopamine. And it turns out that dopamine is made from protein—specifically, from the amino acid known as tyrosine, which is found in both animal and vegetable forms of protein.
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That final nutrient, magnesium, is especially important for your COMT to function properly. So if you don’t have enough magnesium in your diet—and about 50 percent of all U.S. residents don’t—you’re going to dirty up your COMT. Magnesium: dark leafy greens, nuts, seeds, fish, beans, avocados, whole grains Besides dietary insufficiency, there are two common reasons for magnesium deficiency: caffeine intake and the long-term use of a group of antacids called proton pump inhibitors (PPIs).
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For Both Slow and Fast COMT ■ Optimize your weight, because body fat creates estrogen, making it harder for your COMT to regulate estrogen levels. ■ Avoid as much as possible any contact between your food and plastic. Plastics are xenoestrogens, meaning that they mimic the effects of estrogen in your body. Your COMT is already struggling to optimize your estrogen levels. Why dump a lot of extra estrogen into your system? ■ The subgroup of BPA plastics are also xenoestrogens, so avoid them, too—even if they’re not in contact with your food. BPA can be found in a discouraging number of places—everywhere from the inside of cans to the outside of cash-register receipts—but do what you can to stay away from it. ■ Meditate at least a few minutes every day. If you’re overcharged, meditation will calm you down. If you’re undercharged, it will help you focus. ■ Go to bed and get up according to a fixed routine to help your body get the most refreshing sleep. If you’re wired, a regular bedtime helps cue your body toward sleep. If you’re scattered and unfocused, a regular bedtime helps create a routine that encourages focus. A sleep app such as Sleep Cycle can help. (See the Resources section.) ■ Avoid the herbicide Roundup, as it affects aromatase activity. (Aromatase is an enzyme that converts other biochemicals to estrogen.) Also avoid all nonorganic soy and soy products, which have likely been farmed with Roundup. More generally, limit your exposure to all herbicides, pesticides, and other endocrine-disrupting chemicals in your home, garden, and personal-care products, including cosmetics. Especially damaging are glyphosate, phthalates, and dioxins. ■ Eat as clean as you can. Buy organic produce, at least for the foods that are most likely to be exposed to industrial chemicals. The Environmental Working Group (www.ewg.org) has a list of foods—the worst offenders when it comes to toxins—that you should buy organic, and a list of foods that you can buy conventionally farmed. ■ To balance your estrogen levels, eat more beets, carrots, onions, artichokes, and cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, kale, brussels sprouts, cabbage). Bitter vegetables such as dandelion greens and radishes support the liver, which metabolizes your estrogen, so load up on them as well. ■ Be sure to eat a maximum of three times a day—balanced meals that each contain some protein, some carbs, and some fats. This way your blood sugar is balanced, and so are your moods. ■ Declutter your home, office, garage, yard, and car. The more “noise” you have around you, the more “noise” you have in your head. That’s the last thing you need! Keep things minimal and organized, and consider feng shui to order your environment. For Slow COMT ■ Monitor your stress levels throughout the day. Notice when you’re getting more revved up or tense than you enjoy being. Develop ways to slow down, even for a minute or two—take a few deep, slow breaths;…
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avoid leftovers—which increase in histamine the longer they sit (due to bacteria-producing histamine, which occurs even with refrigeration; freezing prevents this from happening, however)—as well as other high-histamine foods, such as cured meats, soured foods, dried fruits, citrus fruits, aged cheese (including goat cheese), many types of nuts, smoked fish, and certain species of fresh fish. Hunter could enjoy some of those foods—which he was relieved to hear—but I told him that we were going to find his sweet spot.
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One key function of histamine is to combat pathogens in your gut. After all, you never know what might be in your food or water. If a dangerous bacterium or a toxic substance is lurking there, histamine to the rescue! It stimulates your immune system to release killer chemicals that attack the dangerous invader and keep your body safe.
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Histamine also plays a role in gut motility—that is, the ability of your intestines to keep first food and then waste moving through.
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histamine helps your stomach secrete the acids it needs to digest protein.
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Well, when you eat protein, you ingest a compound called histidine. Then, in the process of digestion, certain bacteria turn that histidine into histamine.
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lot of histamine comes from high-histamine foods—foods that contain live bacteria (fermented foods, including yogurt, raw sauerkraut, kimchi, and pickles); and foods that were created by live bacteria (aged cheese, cured meats). Fruit juice, alcohol, and kombucha are additional sources of histamine. Bone broth is all the rage these days, and boy, talk about a histamine bomb!
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High-Histamine Foods and Drinks Here are some of the major histamine culprits: ■ Aged cheeses ■ Alcohol—all types, but especially champagne and red wine ■ Bone broth ■ Chocolate ■ Citrus fruits and juices (except lemon, which is well tolerated by most) ■ Cured meats: salami, some types of sausage, corned beef, pastrami, and the like ■ Dried fruits ■ Fermented foods, including yogurt, sour cream, kefir, raw sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles, and fermented vegetables ■ Fish, especially smoked or canned; and certain types of fresh fish, especially when raw (as in sushi) ■ Fruit juices ■ Soured foods—for example, foods marinated in lemon or orange juice ■ Tomatoes when raw; cooked are typically okay ■ Spinach ■ Vinegars (although some people do well with unfiltered, organic apple cider vinegar)
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If your bacterial balance is disrupted by any of these factors, you may end up with excess histamine in your gut. As a result, your immune system will produce too many killer chemicals and a bunch of unpleasant symptoms.
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What Makes DAO Dirty? ■ Too many histamine-containing foods. ■ Too many histamine-containing liquids. ■ Imbalanced microbiome. ■ Small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). ■ Disease or infection in the gut, caused by harmful bacteria, yeast (various Candida species), parasites, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, and the like. ■ Certain medications—antacids, antibiotics, metformin, and MAO inhibitors. ■ An acidic diet. ■ A high-protein diet. ■ Gluten. ■ Food sensitivities. ■ Emotional/mental stress. ■ Chemotherapy.
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And what else is going on while your gut is leaking? You guessed it: your body is generating extra histamine. The histamine is intended to calm the inflammatory process, but too much of it creates a vicious cycle, retriggering the immune system and causing the release of yet more histamine. All of this makes it hard for your leaky gut to heal, as well as dirtying up your DAO. So now you’ve got at least three vicious cycles (gut, immune system, histamine), each of which is making the other two worse—and further burdening your DAO. To make matters even worse, the DAO enzyme—whose job, we’ve noted, is to process histamine—lives in the cells of your gut wall. So if your gut wall is distressed, with fewer cells and less integrity, you’re going to have less of that DAO enzyme—and thus even fewer resources for processing histamine. This is why healing a leaky gut can vastly increase your tolerance for certain foods. Finally, with tight junctions, you have the DAO enzyme to process those foods.
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Notice, though, that I didn’t say Zyrtec or Benadryl lowers your histamine levels. You’ve still got high levels of histamine. They’re just not binding to the receptors that normally receive them.
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Here’s another problem with too much histamine in your gut: it causes acid reflux and heartburn. In fact, the class of antacids known as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) behave like antihistamines and block your histamine receptors. But, like antihistamines, antacids don’t lower your histamine levels; they just change your body’s response to histamine. I would so much rather you stopped eating high-histamine foods and cleaned up your DAO and other dirty genes. That’s a much better long-term solution than being hooked for life on Prilosec or Zantac.
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The two primary nutrients that your DAO gene needs to work properly are calcium and copper:
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Here are some other suggestions to support your DAO. You can start them right away, without waiting to begin your full Soak and Scrub: ■ Stop taking probiotics containing Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus bulgaricus. (You have to read the labels closely to discover specific ingredients.) In chapter 15, you’ll get some tips on which probiotics to take. ■ For women: Check your estrogen levels, especially if your histamine symptoms get worse around the time of ovulation—ten to fourteen days after your period ends. High estrogen levels can trigger your body to release more histamine. Be sure to follow the estrogen-balancing suggestions in chapter 6: avoid plastics; optimize your weight; and eat more beets, carrots, onions, artichokes, dandelion greens, radishes, and cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, kale, brussels sprouts, and cabbage). ■ Support your digestion so that you have adequate stomach acid, digestive enzymes, and bile flow. These are all essential to keep your microbiome healthy and pathogens out. (I’ll go into detail about how to do this in my discussion of the Clean Genes Protocol.) ■ Counter foods that generate acids with foods that help reduce acids. Make sure your meals are balanced. For example, if you’re eating a lot of protein, have a lot of steamed vegetables to go with it. If you have a little bit of kombucha, have some sprouted greens to go with it. Use the foods from the list above to balance foods from the High-Histamine Foods and Drinks list. ■ Optimize sleep and reduce stressors, because stress neurotransmitters increase histamine release. Effective sleep supports include meditating, using blue-light filters on computers and other screens, avoiding screens one hour before bedtime, sleeping in a dark room or in a good eye mask, and monitoring your sleep with such apps as Sleep Cycle or ŌURA.
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Your MAOA gene needs a steady supply of riboflavin/vitamin B2 to work its magic. It also needs a nutrient known as tryptophan, which is found in carbohydrates.
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Ever see a person who was under tremendous stress whose hair turned gray or white in a matter of days? That’s a real thing, and it’s caused by hydrogen peroxide—not applied from the outside, but produced from within. During times of stress, your body produces a lot of norepinephrine and dopamine, as we’ve seen. Your MAOA needs to remove them from your system—and a natural by-product of that process is hydrogen peroxide. That by-product is in turn removed by glutathione, your body’s prime detox compound.
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Here’s what makes tryptophan so complicated: there are two places it can go. The calmer you are and the less your body suffers from inflammation, the more of your tryptophan goes toward making serotonin. The more stressed out or inflamed you are, the more of your tryptophan goes toward making quinolinic acid, a substance that’s bad for your brain. In other words, stress steals your tryptophan. This is why, if you’re under a lot of stress or are dealing with chronic inflammation or have a chronic disease—which by definition is stressful and inflammatory—you crave carbohydrates. Your tryptophan is being stolen so fast that your MAOA acts dirty even if it wasn’t born that way. Remember, it’s not just the tryptophan. As your tryptophan levels drop, so do your serotonin levels. Suddenly you’re depressed, and you find yourself bingeing on chocolate and carbs just as Keisha did. What’s more, with your serotonin levels tumbling, you don’t have enough serotonin to make melatonin, so now you can’t sleep. Sound familiar? The key to keeping your tryptophan from being stolen is to identify your stressors and reduce the inflammation that creates and accompanies chronic disease.
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Key Nutrients for a Healthy MAOA For your MAOA to function properly, you need two compounds: riboflavin and tryptophan. Riboflavin/B2: liver, lamb, mushrooms, spinach, almonds, wild salmon, eggs Tryptophan: spinach, seaweed, mushrooms, pumpkin seeds, turnip greens, red lettuce, asparagus
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There are many types of GST gene, each with its own unique job. They reside mainly in the intestines and liver—but your microbiome also has its own GST enzymes. In fact, your microbiome is a key player in your body’s effort to get rid of xenobiotics, protecting you against chemical and oxidative stress. Think of your microbiome as your GST’s main backup—and make sure to protect it!
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Insufficient riboflavin/vitamin B2. Your body uses riboflavin to regenerate decaying, dysfunctional glutathione back into whole, functional glutathione. If you’re not consuming enough foods that are rich in riboflavin, your supply of glutathione can’t keep up. Without functional, healthy glutathione, you can’t remove industrial chemicals or hydrogen peroxide from your body. And your GST/GPX has to work harder to combat the chemical onslaught. ■ Insufficient selenium. In order for your glutathione to turn hydrogen peroxide into water, it needs selenium. Without selenium, your GPX enzyme can’t get rid of hydrogen peroxide. ■ Insufficient cysteine. Cysteine, found in many nutritious foods and made from your homocysteine, is the key ingredient in glutathione. And as you know by now, if your GST/GPX gene doesn’t have enough glutathione available, it can’t function at all.
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Overeating produces an inflammatory compound called methylglyoxal—which is commonly elevated in diabetics, people on a high-protein diet, and people following a ketogenic diet. Glutathione protects you by converting methylglyoxal into harmless lactic acid.
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Vitamin B12 is essential for preventing anemia, supporting your cells with oxygen, and preventing nerve damage. But it’s not enough just to consume B12. You need carrier proteins to transport it into your cells—and glutathione is the glue that helps B12 stick to the carriers. So if you’re low on glutathione, you can take all the B12 supplements you want and it won’t be transported to the places where your body needs it—thus your B12 deficiency will continue. Once again, glutathione is the key.
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Your Methylation Cycle depends on glutathione, as we saw in chapter 5. The moment hydrogen peroxide levels rise and heavy metals accumulate, your Methylation Cycle stops. If your GST/GPX gene is dirty, then your Methylation Cycle is dirty. Glutathione is the key to healthy methylation.
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In order for your brain to make dopamine and serotonin, you need glutathione on board. The moment your glutathione levels drop, your ability to make these vital neurotransmitters does, too.
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You also need sulfur to make glutathione. That sulfur comes primarily from dietary protein and cruciferous vegetables, including foods rich in cysteine (the sulfur-containing amino acid mentioned above).
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SUOX uses molybdenum, a dietary mineral, to eliminate sulfites from the body. A high-protein diet and/or high-sulfur supplement strains that gene.
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■ Eat a lot of fiber. Your microbiome loves fiber! Those gut bacteria eat the fiber that your own body can’t digest, and then they help your body detox. Fiber contributes to the production of detoxification enzymes, and it also binds to xenobiotics. Once fiber hooks up with those chemicals, it ushers them out through your stool. Problem solved! Exception: If you’re struggling with SIBO, you should not start eating more fiber. You’ll have to address the SIBO first.
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■ Sweat it out. Your body detoxes in four ways—breath, pee, poop, and sweat. You’re already breathing—and hopefully properly—so that takes care of that. You’re already hydrating, so that takes care of the pee. You’re eating lots of fiber—that takes care of the poop. Now let’s get you breaking a sweat at least two times a week. You’ve got lots of choices, from the energizing to the super-relaxing: sauna, Epsom salt bath, vigorous exercise, hot yoga, sex. If you go the sauna route, choose low heat so that you can stay in there longer and keep sweating.
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Grow broccoli sprouts and radish sprouts. I’ll warn you—the taste is quite potent! But you’ll get tremendous glutathione support. It’s the combination of sprout types that does it. Eating broccoli sprouts on the third day after they sprout gives maximum benefits.
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A dirty NOS3 means that you’re slow to produce new blood vessels. The scientific term for that formation is angiogenesis.
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when you have diabetes, your blood levels of insulin are high all the time. And, among other things, insulin pushes NOS3 to make nitric oxide. That’s usually a good thing, and in healthy people it remains so. But diabetes dirties up your NOS3 if it wasn’t already born dirty. So instead of making nitric oxide, your NOS3 makes superoxide, one of the most dangerous free radicals there
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A congested or runny nose has been identified as a possible contributor to high blood pressure. That’s because if you aren’t breathing in enough oxygen, you’re making your NOS3 dirty. Having a congested nose doesn’t mean you should run out and get nasal spray. It means you need to identify the source of the problem and remove it. Perhaps a dirty DAO? Or a reaction to dairy products? Another type of food or environmental sensitivity? Or perhaps the culprit is a dirty NOS3. Sinus congestion can be due to low levels of nitric oxide. We don’t want this minor breathing problem turning into high blood pressure.
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Mouth-breathing is a very ineffective way to oxygenate your body. And low oxygen levels lead to a very dirty NOS3.
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NeuroCranial Restructuring, a technique that involves adjusting the cranial plates through the sinuses, is an effective nonsurgical way to fix most deviated septum types.
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estrogen stimulates NOS3 to work better and to produce more nitric oxide. This additional nitric oxide is essential for forming new blood vessels, preventing blood clots, and increasing blood flow to the developing baby. If you have a dirty NOS3 during pregnancy, you’re at increased risk of recurrent miscarriage, congenital birth defects, and preeclampsia.
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Nitroglycerin promotes the release of nitric oxide—the compound to support blood flow.
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many doctors rely on nitroglycerine to treat heart issues, so do many others rely on a compound known as arginine, a type of amino acid found in both animal and vegetable proteins. Arginine does support a clean NOS3—but, like nitroglycerin, it doesn’t necessarily work if you’ve got a dirty NOS3. In fact, both nitroglycerin and arginine can make your heart worse if your NOS3 is uncoupled. An uncoupled NOS3 is one that’s operating with insufficient arginine and BH4. Instead of making nitric oxide, which your blood vessels can use, an uncoupled NOS3 makes superoxide, which we’ve seen is highly dangerous. Industrial chemicals damage BH4, but how do you end up with a shortage of arginine?
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Well, your body needs arginine for many purposes—not just to support your NOS3. For example, when your body is fighting an infection and is inflamed, genes directly involved in that fight need more arginine than usual. Those needy genes get it by “stealing” it from other genes, including NOS3. As less and less arginine is available to your NOS3, it stops making nitric oxide and makes superoxide instead. Superoxide damages BH4, so now you’re low in BH4, too. And since arginine and BH4 are both low, you’ve got even more superoxide being made by your dirty NOS3. A dirty NOS3 just got dirtier. As if that weren’t enough, certain types of bacteria in your microbiome also use a significant amount of arginine, further “stealing” it from your NOS3. Yet another reason to evaluate your microbiome.
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What should you do to support NOS3? There are three things you need to do—but you have to do all three, or none of them will work: 1. Supply adequate arginine. 2. Maintain a steady supply of clean BH4. 3. Keep all your other genes clean.
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How Your Body Uses Arginine Arginine supports the following essential functions: ■ Blood vessel dilation ■ Creatine formation ■ Infection fighting ■ Immune tolerance ■ Neurotransmission ■ Penile erection ■ Reduction in platelet stickiness
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You’ve already seen how bad folic acid is for your MTHFR and your Methylation Cycle. Well, it’s also bad for your NOS3. First, your NOS3 depends on a compound called NADPH, which folic acid also uses. So the more folic acid you consume, the more NADPH you pull away from supporting your NOS3. Second, as your level of folic acid increases, your level of BH4 decreases. Remember, folic acid is synthetic. Our body was not designed to process folic acid. We do process it—but at great cost.
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What Makes NOS3 Dirty? ■ Breathing abnormalities ■ Folic acid ■ High blood sugar ■ High carbohydrate intake ■ High homocysteine levels ■ High insulin levels ■ Infection ■ Inflammation ■ Lack of movement—sitting, standing, lying down ■ Low antioxidants ■ Low arginine ■ Low BH4 ■ Low estrogen ■ Low glutathione ■ Low oxygen ■ Microbiome imbalance ■ Mouth-breathing ■ Overeating ■ Oxidative stress (too many free radicals) ■ Poor methylation ■ Pollution ■ Sinus congestion ■ Sleep apnea ■ Smoking ■ Snoring ■ Stress ■ Tongue-tie
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NOS3 and Your Other Dirty Genes All your genes are continually affecting one another, as we’ve seen, but NOS3 is particularly affected by other dirty genes: ■ A dirty MTHFR increases homocysteine, which in turn increases the biochemical ADMA, a component of blood plasma. In turn, ADMA uncouples NOS3, leading it to produce superoxide. ■ A dirty GST or GPX decreases glutathione’s ability to remove xenobiotics and to eliminate hydrogen peroxide from your body. These harmful compounds reduce your levels of BH4, which then dirties your NOS3—and causes it to make superoxide. ■ A dirty PEMT decreases your ability to maintain strong cell membranes, which leads to inflammation. Inflammation pulls your arginine away from NOS3, which leads to a dirty NOS3 and causes it to make superoxide. ■ A dirty slow MAOA and/or a dirty COMT increases stress, which slows your methylation and raises homocysteine levels. As with a dirty MTHFR, this leads to increased ADMA, an uncoupled NOS3, and increased superoxide levels. ■ A dirty fast MAOA may increase hydrogen peroxide levels and thus reduce your BH4. Low BH4 levels lead to NOS3 uncoupling and increased superoxide levels.
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Making BH4 is a process that requires folate, magnesium, and zinc. You can’t get BH4 directly from food: you have to support your MTHFR so that your body produces BH4. Please do not take BH4 supplements unless you were born with a rare form of BH4 deficiency. Research has shown that taking BH4 has no benefit if oxidative stress is present. It absolutely does not address the underlying problem.
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Finally, your NOS3 needs plenty of oxygen—which you get from breathing. Now this seems obvious.
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explained that, for many women, estrogen stimulates PEMT to serve as a backup, synthesizing phosphatidylcholine even when they’re not eating enough choline. Before menopause, estrogen levels are higher and can often help compensate for a dietary shortage. During menopause, though, estrogen levels drop. This means that the PEMT gene doesn’t function as well as it used to.
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PEMT is related to a syndrome called fatty liver. If you have that condition, your liver doesn’t function well, partly because your PEMT isn’t moving triglycerides out of your liver. A dirty PEMT can also contribute to muscle weakness and aches and pains, as well as brain fog.
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Your cell membranes depend upon phosphatidylcholine. And those membranes are everywhere—surrounding every one of the 37.2 trillion cells that make up your amazing body. Each day, in an adult, over 220 billion cells die and have to be replaced. Every second, over 2.5 million red blood cells die and need to be replaced. PEMT is constantly helping to repair and regenerate the vast compilation of cells that is you, quietly behind the scenes.
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PEMT: The Basics Primary function of the PEMT gene PEMT, with the help of your Methylation Cycle, helps your body produce phosphatidylcholine, a key biochemical that you need for several important roles: ■ Phosphatidylcholine is the primary component of your cell membranes. Without enough of it, your cells are unable to properly absorb nutrients. You can develop malnutrition even if you’re eating a healthy diet—in fact, even if you’re overweight! ■ You need extra phosphatidylcholine during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Children who are still growing also need extra phosphatidylcholine. Basically, whenever your body is making a lot of new cells, you need a lot of this vital substance. ■ Phosphatidylcholine helps your bile flow smoothly out of your gallbladder to aid in digestion, thus keeping bacteria out of your small intestine. ■ Phosphatidylcholine also helps package and move triglycerides, a type of fat, out of your liver. Without enough phosphatidylcholine, you can develop a condition known as fatty liver. ■ In addition, phosphatidylcholine is essential for nerve function, muscle movement, and brain development. PEMT also helps produce choline when you don’t get enough of it from your diet. You need choline for a number of tasks: ■ To support liver function, nerve function, muscle movement, energy levels, and metabolism. ■ To make acetylcholine, a brain neurotransmitter important for learning and concentration. ■ As a backup pathway for the Methylation Cycle when you don’t have enough methylfolate (methylated vitamin B9) or methylcobalamin (methylated B12).
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Signs of a dirty PEMT Common signs include fatigue, fatty liver, gallbladder disorders, inflammation, muscle pain, malnourishment (due to nutrients not being fully absorbed by damaged cell membranes), pregnancy complications, SIBO, elevated triglycerides, and muscle weakness.
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You start to get sore muscles, for no apparent reason. Prolonged phosphatidylcholine deficiency increases the severity of muscle cell membrane failure. In time, your muscles become not only painful, but weaker.
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PEMT, Gallstones, and SIBO Besides cell membrane health, PEMT-triggered phosphatidylcholine is also vital for bile flow. Your gallbladder makes bile to aid in digestion and, with its antimicrobial properties, to protect you from small intestine bacterial overgrowth, or SIBO. If your phosphatidylcholine levels are too low, your bile flows sluggishly. Your gallbladder then begins to malfunction, potentially leading to gallstones, fat malabsorption, nutrient deficiency, SIBO, and chemical sensitivity. Gallstones are especially prevalent in pregnant women because of the high demands for phosphatidylcholine.
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How does a dirty PEMT contribute to fatty liver? There are two ways, both tied to PEMT’s role in producing phosphatidylcholine. First, if your PEMT is dirty and doesn’t trigger enough phosphatidylcholine production, you’ll have triglyceride trouble. You need phosphatidylcholine to move your triglycerides out of your liver, which is done via “very low-density lipids” (VLDLs) secreted by the liver. If you’re deficient in choline (and thus in phosphatidylcholine), your liver doesn’t make enough VLDLs, and so your triglycerides build up. Pretty soon, you’ve got way too much fat remaining in your liver instead of moving out into your bloodstream where it will be eventually transported and used as fuel by your mitochondria. Second, phosphatidylcholine is needed to make cell membranes. As phosphatidylcholine levels drop, your mitochondria become less able to burn fuel. When you can’t burn fat as fuel, you store it in your cells, where it causes oxidative stress. This stress further damages your mitochondria, which then burn even less fuel. Now you’ve got a vicious cycle that can’t repair itself until your cell membranes are healthy—and meanwhile, your body is storing fuel as fat.
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Limit drinking during meals. Have one glass of filtered water, goat’s milk, almond milk, tea, or—every so often—wine, but never any more than one glass. Don’t dilute your digestive enzymes. Doing so limits your ability to absorb what you’re eating. Trust me on this.
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Don’t drink cold beverages during meals. Room temperature or warmer is best. Cold temperatures require your body to warm it up thereby depleting you of energy. By drinking water that is cool but not cold, you are conserving energy. Sorry, no, you won’t lose weight by drinking cold water. Cold water may also cause stomach cramping and colic, especially if exercising.
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If you have a fever, don’t eat. Just hydrate with electrolytes. Of course, if you have a prolonged or high fever, you need a health professional to assist you.
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■ Overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria. — Blastocystis hominis, Helicobacter pylori, Clostridium difficile, and other bacteria are very common. Interestingly, if one person in your family has this type of pathogen, typically everyone else does, too. Using natural antimicrobials (see below) can help get rid of the pathogens, but they might come back if you’re stressed, have low stomach acid, use antacids, take antibiotics, or consume contaminated food or water. Effective antimicrobials include olive leaf extract, mastic gum, oregano oil, wormwood, neem, black walnut, garlic, and ox bile. It is best to rotate them rather than using a blend of them every day. This helps prevent resistance. — If you have gut pathogens, and most of us do, you should experience gas and bloating when taking an effective antimicrobial. Starting with a low dose after dinner is recommended. That way you’re less likely to have a large “die-off reaction”—all those bacteria dying at once can make you feel horrible. And if you do have the common die-off reaction—gas and bloating—you’ll have it while you sleep, which is easier than having it when awake. — Use gas and bloating as your guide to tolerance. If you take one capsule of an antimicrobial and don’t experience any gas or bloating, increase the dose the next evening. If that still doesn’t do it, stop using that product and switch to another one. — Saccharomyces boulardii is a beneficial yeast that helps eliminate harmful pathogens. You can take it one hour after taking antimicrobials. Because Saccharomyces boulardii isn’t killed by antibiotics, it’s a great probiotic to take while taking antibiotics. You should take it for only about three to six months and then stop, however. Restart it only if you begin taking antibiotics or have a particular need, such as a gut reinfection. — If you’re not seeing results, see Appendix A for lab tests that can help you determine which pathogens you have and what will kill them. — Restore your gut with probiotics after you’ve worked on eliminating pathogens. Consider replenishing with a blend without Lactobacillus first, such as a blend of Bifidobacterium probiotics. As with antimicrobials, after dinner is the best time to take probiotics. — If you have significant gut problems, work with a health professional.
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■ Leaky gut and gut inflammation. Either leaky gut syndrome or an inflammatory condition such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease contributes to a dirty DAO. None of these conditions will heal if you’re stressed, eating foods to which you’re intolerant or allergic, and/or have an overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria, yeast, or parasites. — After you’ve worked on eliminating the pathogens, consider using L-glutamine powder to heal your small intestine, which is where your DAO enzyme lives. If your small intestine is unhealthy, your DAO’s home may be in need of a remodel. Help your DAO enzyme by repairing its house. Start small, with 1 gram of L-glutamine powder. This supplement can increase irritability in some people. If that happens to you, stop using it for a couple days while you take some magnesium, vitamin B6, and niacin. Keep taking those supplements while you resume the L-glutamine. — A more effective option is to use a combination of L-glutamine, aloe vera, zinc carnosine, and marshmallow root.
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■ SIBO. Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth is associated with many causes, including antibiotic use, antacid consumption, constipation, low serotonin, sluggish bile flow, a diet high in refined foods, and excessive probiotic supplementation. Identifying the cause of SIBO is a must, or it will come right back after every attempt to treat it. — Ox bile in small doses can help support the elimination of harmful bacteria in your small intestine, which will also support your DAO. Start with…
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■ A system that’s too acidic. Your DAO likes certain conditions. If your intestines are too acidic, DAO won’t work well. If that’s your problem, taking digestive enzymes and betaine HCL may help support your dirty DAO. The betaine HCL triggers your pancreas to secrete…
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■ Food and drink high in histamine. Lower your consumption of dietary histamine (see chapter 7) until you’ve healed your digestion and gut. Once you’ve healed your digestive tract by eliminating pathogens and providing the nutrients it deserves, you may find that you’re able to eat histamine-containing foods again. — Beverage choice is especially important. The histamine in drinks or produced in response to them can overwhelm your DAO enzyme, creating such symptoms as headache, runny nose, itchy skin, tingling sensation, sweating, fast heart rate, and irritability. Reevaluate your consumption of the following beverages: — Juices and citrus. Greatly reduce or completely eliminate from your diet drinks that contain citrus. — Champagne and wine (especially red, but even white can be an issue). If you get headaches from wine, you may be experiencing sulfite sensitivity, discussed in chapter 9. Because sulfites interfere with absorption of vitamin B1, which you need for many functions, it’s no wonder they make some people feel bad. If you find yourself sensitive to sulfites, consider taking the supplement molybdenum. Look for molybdenum that isn’t bound to ammonia, as many are. Common capsule dosages range from 75 to 500 micrograms. If you get molybdenum in liquid form (at 25 micrograms per drop), you can experiment to see what works best for you. Many people are sensitive to sulfites even if they don’t know it. Trying some molybdenum early on may provide some incredible benefits. Just be aware that any supplement comes with potential side effects, and more is not necessarily better. If you take a lot of molybdenum for too long, it can drive up your uric acid levels and cause conditions such as gout. If you start to experience any negative effects, stop taking molybdenum and add in pyrroloquinoline quinone, commonly called PQQ. PQQ will help reduce the side effects from too much molybdenum. — Lime juice, tomato juice, and cocoa drinks. These can also put you over the edge with their load of histamine. You may be able to tolerate an ounce or so, and as you improve you may find yourself tolerating more and more. For now, though, be careful. Symptoms can appear rapidly—anywhere from within seconds to half an hour. — Histamine-containing foods aren’t as critical as beverages. Some people are able to tolerate a small amount of such foods, but a full serving puts them over the edge. Symptoms can be delayed, especially with food, so keeping a food journal is key. The app CRON-O-Meter or other programs can help you identify which foods you can tolerate.
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Undergrowth of bacteria that break down histamine. If undergrowth of histamine-tackling bacteria is the cause of your dirty DAO, you need to take probiotics to replenish those bacteria while avoiding the probiotics that might make your condition worse. — A combination of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus plantarum probiotics is fantastic at helping break down histamine. — Avoid Lactobacillus probiotics until you restore your gut, including Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus bulgaricus.
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Metformin slows the DAO enzyme, thereby…
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Aspirin and other NSAIDs and salicylates also contribute to increased histamine release. Instead of relying on these anti-inflammatory medications, look for natural ways to reduce inflammation. Low-dose naltrexone (LDN), a prescription medication, is quite well tolerated by many. Also, since inflammation…
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■ Copper. The primary nutrient that your DAO enzyme needs to work…
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■ Histamine blockers. A combination of stinging nettle, luteolin, bromelain, and quercetin works wonders to help keep histamine locked up and not troubling you.
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Vitamin C and fish oil. These nutrients help stabilize mast cells (cells that store and release histamine).
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Cell membrane supporters. Healthy cell membranes are needed to keep histamine inside individual cells. For ways to support your cell membranes, read Spot Cleaning Your PEMT
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Buffering agents. Sodium bicarbonate and potassium bicarbonate can be lifesavers if you eat acidic foods or are having a histamine reaction. Simply take a capsule or two with filtered water.
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Supplements for Your PEMT ■ Phosphatidylcholine. Support your cell membranes with phosphatidylcholine. Use a non-GMO, soy-free form, because soy is a common allergen; furthermore, most soy is GMO. Store liquid phosphatidylcholine in a cool, dry area, but not in the refrigerator (which would make it harder to pour). If you’re not a vegan or vegetarian, you can also find phosphatidylcholine in gelatin capsules. Taking phosphatidylcholine supplements can lead to feelings of depression, so be sure to follow the Pulse Method (again, see chapter 12) and fine-tune your dosage. ■ Creatine. Take creatine in order to conserve SAMe so that there’s more SAMe available to help make needed phosphatidylcholine.
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■ Sweating via a sauna, an Epsom salt bath, exercising, or hot yoga helps your body expel the industrial chemicals that burden your GST/GPX. ■ Eating fiber supports detoxification as well as binding and removing xenobiotics. It also bolsters the beneficial bacteria that support detoxification.
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Supplements for Your GST/GPX ■ Liposomal glutathione. This easily absorbed form of the supplement helps deliver glutathione directly into your cells so that they can bind to the compounds. Start slowly and work up. I recommend that you skip some days; consider taking glutathione a few times a week rather than daily. If you notice it helping, then move to daily and adjust as needed. ■ Riboflavin / Vitamin B2. You need this nutrient to regenerate damaged glutathione back into useful glutathione. Otherwise, your glutathione remains damaged and can contribute to further cell damage. ■ Selenium. Without selenium, you can’t use your glutathione to get rid of hydrogen peroxide. You can have all the glutathione you want—but without selenium, it’s “stuck.” ■ Detox support powders. There are a variety of detoxification support products available. If you use a powdered detox supplement, you can add it to a smoothie for a fast and easy breakfast or lunch.
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Supplements for Your Slow COMT ■ Adaptogens. Use adaptogens as described in Soak and Scrub (chapter 12). ■ Magnesium. A surprising number of people are deficient in magnesium. You should be getting some magnesium from your electrolytes, as mentioned in the Soak and Scrub chapter. If you want to supplement additionally with this mineral for its calming effect, magnesium glycinate chelate is a good form; it helps moderate anxiety and supports liver fiction. Three other effective forms are magnesium taurate, magnesium malate, and magnesium threonate. ■ Taurine. If you take high-quality magnesium supplements and still can’t get your magnesium levels high enough, you may have low levels of taurine, a mineral that helps with magnesium absorption. Low taurine levels are caused by many things, but one common reason is gut dysbiosis—an imbalance of bacteria in the gut. Spot Clean your DAO to help correct this issue. Consider working with your doctor to evaluate your digestive function with a comprehensive digestive stool analysis (CDSA). If you’re able to right your bacterial balance, you’ll support your taurine levels at the same time—and thus your magnesium levels will normalize as well. ■ SAMe. This can be a very helpful supplement, but only if your Methylation Cycle is working well. To find out, take a 250-milligram capsule of SAMe before bed. If it helps you fall asleep, great. Keep using it. If it makes your insomnia worse, then you might be low in methylcobalamin and/or methylfolate, or your Methylation Cycle might be blocked by heavy metals, insufficient glutathione, excess hydrogen peroxide, or some other factor. If insomnia worsens, stop taking the SAMe until your Methylation Cycle is back in balance—but meanwhile, if you’re now wide awake and staring at the ceiling, you can neutralize that insomniac effect by taking 50 to 150 milligrams of niacin. This will help break down the SAMe you just took and get it out of your system. ■ Phosphatidyl serine. This supplement can be a very helpful sleep aid, especially in conjunction with magnesium malate, niacin, and vitamin B6. ■ Creatine. When your body makes creatine, it uses up the majority of your methyl donors—those nutrients that support methylation. When you take supplemental creatine, you conserve methyl donors and SAMe, leaving your SAMe free for other things, like helping your slow COMT. Creatine has helped a number of people who are unable to take methylfolate, methylcobalamin, or other methyl donors. It is safe and well tolerated by many who are otherwise sensitive to supplements. Autistic children or those who are slow to speak do exceptionally well with creatine. We’re seeing children who have never said a word begin speaking with creatine supplementation. Be sure to drink a glass of filtered water when using creatine. I also often recommend mixing creatine and electrolytes with filtered water and drinking it from a water bottle or Thermos throughout the day and…
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Supplements for Your Fast COMT ■ NADH. If you’re slow to wake up in the morning, consider NADH with CoQ10. These two compounds supply your mitochondria immediately with fuel allowing them to produce your cellular energy, ATP. Typically, your body makes NADH through a long, involved process. You completely bypass this process by taking these. Take one tablet and let it dissolve under your tongue while you’re still lying in bed. This can literally wake you up in minutes. If you’re trying to quit caffeine—coffee or energy drinks—it’s a great nonstimulating replacement. The NADH with CoQ10 provides clean sustained energy compared to the spike and crash from caffeine. Never take with food. Always take upon waking in the morning or at least one hour away from food. ■ Adrenal cortex. If you can’t wake up in the morning or you feel that you’re just dragging through the day, adrenal cortex can be a huge help. Adrenal cortex supports your body’s ability to make the hormone cortisol. Those who have chronic stress may have lower levels of cortisol. Adrenal cortex helps us wake up as it is cortisol that helps us wake up in the morning. Take one 50-milligram capsule with breakfast. It’s a potent supplement, so definitely fine-tune your dosage via the Pulse Method. You may find that you need to take it only a few times a week. ■ Tyrosine. This supplement—a precursor to the neurotransmitters dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine—can be great for you, especially when taken in the morning and early afternoon. Do not take it within six hours of bedtime, though. ■ 5-HTP. While this supplement—a precursor to the neurotransmitter sertotonin—is mainly used for those with a fast MAOA, it may also be useful for those with a fast COMT. If you have a slow MAOA, be cautious. Higher serotonin levels slow a fast COMT, which is why I recommend that people with a fast COMT and a fast MAOA consider 5-HTP. However, do not take 5-HTP if you’re on an SSRI.
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Supplements and Medications That May Adversely Affect Your Slow MAOA ■ SSRIs. If you’re experiencing headaches, irritability, insomnia, discuss with your doctor that you believe the dose is too high or the medication is potentially not suitable for your genes. ■ Testosterone. Supplemental doses of this hormone can increase aggression, especially in people with a slow MAOA. Ask your doctor to reevaluate your testosterone dose and keep it as low as is medically necessary. ■ Thyroid medication. This type of medication can also increase aggression and anxiety in someone with a slow MAOA. If you experience such symptoms, talk with your doctor about adjusting your dose. ■ Tryptophan, 5-HTP, and melatonin. Consider stopping these supplements. If prescribed, discuss them with your doctor. All of these put pressure on your MAOA and slow it down. ■ Tyrosine. This supplement can put a burden on both your COMT and your MAOA genes and slow them down, so reduce or cut out your dose; discuss with your doctor if they’ve been prescribed. ■ Inositol. Like lithium orotate, inositol helps regulate serotonin. However, you can inadvertently burden and slow your MAOA with this supplement. Lithium and inositol act opposite to each other, so if you respond poorly to one, you should respond favorably to the other.
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Supplements for Your Slow MAOA ■ Riboflavin. Consider taking 400 milligrams of riboflavin to help support your slow MAOA. ■ Lithium. Consider 5 milligrams of lithium orotate, a supplement that helps calm the activity of excess serotonin.
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Supplements for Your Fast MAOA ■ NADH. If you’re slow to wake up in the morning, take NADH with CoQ10, as was suggested for a fast COMT. Dissolved under your tongue while you’re still in bed, a tablet wakes you up in minutes. As was noted earlier, this is a great wake-up solution if you want to quit caffeine. ■ 5-HTP. At 50 milligrams per day, this is typically an effective supplement for a fast MAOA. If after a couple of weeks you don’t notice enough improvement, try a larger dose. If you’re not staying asleep at night, consider a sustained-release capsule to provide small amounts of 5-HTP continuously throughout the night. However, do not take this supplement if you’re taking an SSRI. ■ Inositol. Start with a small dose to regulate serotonin and improve mood, and increase as tolerated. ■ Melatonin. This supplement might help you sleep at night. ■ Liposomal curcumin. Consider taking this great anti-inflammatory one to three times daily. This helps slow the Tryptophan Steal that we discussed earlier, thereby conserving tryptophan for your fast MAOA.
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Supplements for Your MTHFR ■ Riboflavin / vitamin B2. This is a nutrient that MTHFR needs to work properly. The most active form is riboflavin-5-phosphate (R5P). A daily dose of 20 milligrams is typically enough for most people; however, as much as 400 milligrams may be needed for others, especially those struggling with migraines. ■ L-5-MTHF or 6S-MTHF. These are both quality forms of methylfolate. Many people do well with just a multivitamin containing 400 micrograms of MTHF. If you feel no change with 400 micrograms, try more. However, don’t make a huge jump; try doubling the dose. Many health professionals go straight to higher doses of 7.5 milligrams or above. While this might provide initial benefits, it can cause significant side effects within days. Because this nutrient is so powerful, tuning in to your body as you implement the Pulse Method is of utmost importance. Another option is to use liposomal MTHF. That way you can regulate the dose and deliver the MTHF right inside your cells. (See the Resources section on my website.) ■ If you’re taking 5 milligrams or more of methylfolate and don’t notice a response, one of these might be the reason: — You have folate receptor antibodies and they’re blocking your folate receptors. (See Appendix A for more about tests that can determine whether this is true.) — You’re still consuming folic acid, and it’s blocking your receptors. — You’re deficient in vitamin B12 so your methylfolate is trapped and can’t be used. — You’re using an inferior supplement containing D-methylfolate instead of L-methylfolate. If the supplement does not specify L-methylfolate or 6S-methylfolate, it may have the inferior D-methylfolate form. Your body does not use D-methylfolate. Ask the manufacturer. — Your Methylation Cycle is blocked for other reasons, such as heavy metals, oxidative stress, infections, or medications. Caution: If you experience anxiety, irritability, runny nose, joint pain, insomnia, or hives, you may be taking too much MTHF. Stop taking it immediately and take 50 milligrams of niacin every twenty minutes, until your side effects disappear (for a maximum of three times). However, if you have low blood pressure of 90/60 or lower, be careful: the niacin might further lower your blood pressure.
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Sauna is great at stimulating your NOS3—especially on a twice-weekly basis—so
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Supplements for Your NOS3 If you’re inflamed, have high homocysteine, or are fighting a known infection of any type, I recommend first reducing your homocysteine and fighting the infection before supplementing for NOS3. In addition, make sure to clean your other dirty genes before addressing NOS3. ■ Ornithine, beet root powder, or citrulline. If you’re generally healthy, increasing arginine levels via these supplements may be all you need. (I’m not a fan of directly supplementing with arginine, as you read in chapter 10.) ■ PQQ. This is a must to keep your nitric oxide healthy and keep it from turning into superoxide. If you’re exercising hard or tend to get significant postworkout soreness, take one of these capsules after working out. Those with fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue should do very well using PQQ. ■ Liposomal vitamin C and liposomal glutathione. These supplements help keep your nitric oxide happy and prevent it from turning into superoxide.
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■ Identify hidden infections. — Mouth. Root canals, diseased gums, and throat are all frequent sites of infection. If you have bleeding gums, bad breath, or bad teeth, you likely have a persistent infection in your oral cavity or a chronic infection elsewhere that’s causing poor dental health. Work with a biological dentist—that is a dentist who takes a whole-body approach—to fix this problem. — Nose. Your nose is a frequent site of mold and infection. Ask your doctor to swab your sinuses and nostrils to check for infection, especially if you have chronic sinus issues of any type. — Gut. Even if you don’t have digestive issues, you might have fullbody symptoms from imbalanced bacteria. Ask your health professional to order a comprehensive digestive and stool analysis (CDSA) to find out. — Blood. Get bloodwork done to find out how your immune system responds to various pathogens. That will help you identify any viruses or bacteria you may be harboring. — Urine. A urinalysis can provide insight into a recurring bladder infection, as well as immune system markers. ■ Identify hidden sources of chemical exposure. — Mouth. If you have a lot of old fillings, you may need to discuss having them replaced with a less toxic substance by a biological dentist. — Urine. Your kidney is a wonderful filter. There are great lab tests out there that can quickly evaluate hundreds of chemicals via your urine; they can also identify heavy metals. Once you know your contaminants, you can tackle their removal. — Blood. Blood tests can identify heavy metals, carbon monoxide, and other problematic compounds that your doctor can then help you eliminate from your body.
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General Lab Tests ■ Complete blood count with differential (CBC with diff) (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp) ■ Thyroid panel: TSH, free T3, free T4, reverse T3, thyroid antibodies, TBG (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp) ■ Serum ferritin (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp) ■ Vitamin D: 25 OH vitamin D3 and 1,25 OH vitamin D3 (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp) ■ Lipid peroxidation (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp) ■ Fasting serum insulin (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp) ■ Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp) ■ High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp) ■ Methylmalonic acid (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp) ■ Holotranscobalamin (Dr. Lal PathLabs) ■ Advanced cholesterol panel (VAP) (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp) ■ Urinary organic acids (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp, Genova Diagnostics, Great Plains Laboratory) ■ Red blood cell (RBC) fatty acids (Doctor’s Data, Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp, Genova Diagnostics) ■ Chronic infections panel: viral, bacterial, Lyme, parasite, mold (DNA Connexions, Full View test; LabCorp; Medical Diagnostic Laboratories) ■ Comprehensive digestive stool analysis (CDSA) (Genova Diagnostics, Doctor’s Data, Diagnostic Solutions [GI-MAP])
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MTHFR ■ Check for folate receptor antibodies. If you want to know whether you have antibodies to your folate receptor, this is the test. It can offer a good baseline check that helps you monitor treatment. If you do have antibodies, your remedy is to heal your leaky gut; stop taking folic acid; stop consuming cow’s milk dairy products—even in tiny amounts that might be hidden in other foods, like an omelet or a baked good; consume natural folates in your food and supplements; and calm your immune system. (Iliad Neurosciences) ■ Request a fasting test for serum homocysteine. Have a normal dinner and then have this test the next morning before you have breakfast. Then follow up a month or so later, being sure to eat the same type of dinner and have the blood drawn around the same time of day the next morning. This way you get a more accurate comparison. (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp) ■ Measure your serum folate. As I explained in chapter 5, this test is not very useful because of all the folic acid that you might (often unknowingly) be consuming. However, if your reading is high, you might be suffering from one or more of the following conditions: SIBO, folate receptor antibodies, low B12, and/or a blocked Methylation Cycle. If your reading is low, you need to supplement with active folates such as folinic acid and methylfolate while increasing your intake of natural methylfolate in the form of leafy green veggies. (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp) ■ Test for unmetabolized folic acid. This test wasn’t available at the time of writing, but I’m pushing hard to have a lab develop it. This would be a true folic acid test—one that doesn’t confuse (unhealthy) folic acid with (healthy) folate. ■ Schedule a methylation panel. This test checks homocysteine, cysteine, methionine, SAMe, SAH, and SAM:SAH ratio. This provides a useful baseline to see how your Methylation Cycle is doing. It can’t tell you why it isn’t working right, but it definitely shows whether it is or isn’t. (Doctor’s Data) ■ Check for an intrinsic factor deficiency. If you’re consuming vitamin B12 yet your levels are still low, you may have antibodies against the stomach cells that absorb this vital nutrient from your diet. Check using the intrinsic factor test. (Specialty Labs, Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp)
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COMT ■ Check your estrogen levels. Use a procedure known as estrogen fractionation to see all three types of estrogen and their components. You can also order the urinary hormone DUTCH test, which is quite accurate for estrogen. The DUTCH test is the easiest and best way to see how your COMT is working. If the catechol estrogens are elevated, that’s a sign that your COMT isn’t working as well as it should be. (LabCorp, Precision Hormones) ■ Assess urinary neurotransmitters or urinary organic acids to evaluate neurotransmitter breakdown. If homovanillic acid (HVA) is low, that can be a sign of low dopamine production or slower breakdown. (Great Plains Laboratory, Genova Diagnostics, Doctor’s Data, Neuroscience) ■ Measure your tyrosine levels. If tyrosine is high, it could be because you’re eating a lot of protein or you’re supplementing with tyrosine. If your tyrosine levels are high and you’re feeling anxious, reducing tyrosine-containing supplements or reducing protein intake a bit can help immensely. (Protein intake should be around one gram of protein per two pounds of body weight per day.) If your tyrosine levels are low, it could be because you aren’t eating enough protein or you aren’t absorbing your protein. You need to support your digestion if you’re eating plenty of protein yet your tyrosine is low. (Doctor’s Data, LabCorp, Quest Diagnostics) ■ Screen for endocrine-disrupting chemicals via a test that measures glyphosate, DDT, phthalates, and other environmental chemicals. A toxic chemical profile (for example, GPL-TOX) can help you determine how much effort you need to expend toward reducing your “body burden” of endocrine disrupters. (Great Plains Laboratory) ■ Measure your intracellular RBC magnesium levels. Magnesium deficiency is common, so you ought to check your intracellular magnesium levels. You can’t get your magnesium levels up without taurine, so if your lab results show a low reading, supplement with both compounds. (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp, Specialty Labs)
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DAO Lab testing for histamine levels is challenging, since the life of histamine is only one minute. Rather than relying on labs to determine what’s going on with your DAO, you’d be better off avoiding histamine-containing foods for a few days and noting whether you improve. Then recheck by eating some histamine-containing foods and observing whether your symptoms return. Checking the amount of DAO enzyme via lab testing simply isn’t reliable, according to research. However, here are some related labs that you might consider: ■ Measure urinary histamine. This is a decent marker of your overall histamine status, because it checks the histamine levels of your stomach content. If elevated, that could be a sign of food allergies or infection. (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp, Specialty Labs) ■ Measure plasma histamine. This lab test isn’t the best marker, because within minutes after you’ve consumed high-histamine foods, your blood levels of histamine can return to normal. If this test shows that your plasma histamine level is elevated, that’s useful information. If not—and if you believe you have a histamine issue—you might need to redo the test within half an hour of eating. (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp) ■ Get a comprehensive digestive stool analysis (CDSA). This test will help you detect the presence of pathogenic bacteria that increase histamine. If such pathogens are found at high levels, you’ll want to rebalance your microbiome by decreasing their presence while replenishing other types of bacteria through specific probiotics. (Doctor’s Data…
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MAOA ■ Have a urinary organic acid test showing your 5-HIA. If your 5-HIA levels are high, then you’re burning through your serotonin too quickly. If your 5-HIA levels are low, your body may not be breaking down your serotonin well, or you may have low levels of serotonin building blocks such as tryptophan and vitamin B6. (Great Plains Laboratory, Genova Diagnostics) ■ Measure your tryptophan levels. If your urinary or blood levels of tryptophan are high, that might mean you’re consuming a lot of carbohydrates or that you’re not able to turn tryptophan into serotonin. This inability can be caused by a slow MAOA. (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp, Great Plains Laboratory, Genova Diagnostics) ■ Evaluate your vitamin B6. If these levels are low, your ability to make serotonin is reduced, dirtying your MAOA. Inadequate vitamin B6 is one factor that leads to increased concentrations of xanthurenate and kynurenate in urine. You can measure these compounds—and thereby infer your B6 status—through urinary organic acid testing. (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp, Great Plains Laboratory, Genova Diagnostics) ■ Evaluate your vitamin B2. If your vitamin B2 levels are low, your ability to…
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GST/GPX Glutathione levels are measured by your health professional in order to understand how well your body is handling free radicals and to evaluate the overall state of your antioxidant potential. Basically, the higher your glutathione levels, the healthier you are, while lower glutathione levels correlate to ill health. ■ Measure RBC glutathione peroxidase. This marker demonstrates how well the GST is working based on levels of xenobiotics and/or hydrogen peroxide. This can be an expensive test and is difficult to find. (Genova Diagnostics) ■ Evaluate lipid peroxidation. Test results demonstrate the degree of damage to cell membranes. (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp) ■ Measure RBC glutathione. This will help determine levels of glutathione in your red blood cells. (Doctor’s Data, Genova Diagnostics) ■ Evaluate urinary organic acid markers for riboflavin deficiency. This result tells you whether you’re able to recycle your glutathione. Elevated levels of any of the following acids denote a possible riboflavin deficiency: succinic acid, fumaric acid, 2-oxoglutaric acid, or glutaric acid. (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp, Genova Diagnostics, Great Plains Laboratory) ■ Evaluate selenium. This is done via a blood test. Too much selenium is toxic, and too little means you lack a key cofactor, so yet again, you need balance. I’ve seen people whose selenium levels rose too high after they got an intravenous infusion of various nutrients, including selenium. Make sure that your doctor isn’t giving you too much—and that you aren’t taking too much via supplements. (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp)
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NOS3 If you have a history of cardiovascular issues in your family, or if there are indications that you have a dirty NOS3, keeping an eye on your labs is important: ■ You want your homocysteine to measure around 7. ■ Your lipid peroxides should be low. ■ You need your Lp(a) (an inflammatory type of cholesterol) in normal range, as well as your hs-CRP. (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp) Checking for bacterial, viral, and mold infections is also key, because any infection will use up your arginine and increase your cardiovascular risk. As you may remember, you need arginine to help support your NOS3. Here are some labs to consider: ■ Measure blood amino acids. This checks your levels of arginine, ornithine, and citrulline so that you know whether your NOS3 has the nutrients it needs to function. (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp, Doctor’s Data, Genova Diagnostics, Great Plains Laboratory) ■ Evaluate your ADMA. This can be an expensive test, but if your ADMA levels are elevated, that shows clearly that your NOS3 isn’t working well. (Genova Diagnostics, Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Heart Lab) ■ Measure your homocysteine. If your homocysteine levels are elevated, you can assume that your NOS3 isn’t working well. (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp) ■ Measure your lipid peroxides. Again, if these levels are elevated, you can assume that your NOS3 isn’t working well. (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp) ■ Consider a comprehensive digestive stool analysis (CDSA). This test evaluates your microbiome for the following bacteria: Streptococcus (or Enterococcus) faecalis, Mycoplasma, Bacillus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Halobacterium, Spirochaeta, and possibly Clostridium. If present, these are consuming your arginine, causing a shortage that might be harming your NOS3. (Diagnostic Solutions [GI-MAP], Genova Diagnostics, Doctor’s Data) ■ Evaluate fasting insulin. If these levels are elevated, then your NOS3 might be having to work extra hard. As a result, instead of making nitric oxide (good), it might be making superoxide (bad). (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp) ■ Assess serum nitrite and serum nitrate. Checks your levels of nitrites and nitrates. These can be high or low during times of inflammation, infection, or cardiovascular issues, so assessing them can be useful. (Quest Diagnostics) ■ Measure estrogen levels. If your estrogens are low, as assessed by the DUTCH test, your NOS3 may not be working well and you’ll need to figure out how to support it. If they’re elevated, your NOS3 might be working too hard; in that case, you need to reduce them. (Precision Hormones) ■ Schedule a sleep study. If you snore or are constantly tired, consider a sleep study. Evaluating how you sleep and breathe at night could save your life. Sleep apnea is common. The causes of this disorder are many, but first you need to suss out whether you have it. A good place to start is at-home sleep testing, which isn’t as thorough as in-office testing, but not nearly as…
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PEMT ■ Get a serum choline test. If your serum choline levels are low, you know that your PEMT is stressed by working hard to produce choline. (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp) ■ Measure creatine phosphokinase (CPK). This compound is elevated when you’re deficient in phosphatidylcholine, so measuring CPK is a useful way to evaluate muscle membrane damage and potential injury to muscles, heart, or brain. (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp) ■ Evaluate DHEA-S. This compound is commonly low; when it is, that deficiency contributes to muscle weakness. (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp, Precision Hormones [DUTCH test]) ■ Measure your ALT. This is a liver enzyme. Elevated, it demonstrates that the phosphatidylcholine levels need to increase. (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp) ■ Evaluate lipid peroxides. If these are elevated, then you know that cell membranes are being damaged and your body needs more phosphatidylcholine. (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp) ■ Measure TMAO. If these levels are elevated, it may be due to choline or phosphatidylcholine supplementation. Order a comprehensive digestive and stool analysis (CDSA) to determine what’s going on. It’s important to avoid dairy products if these levels are high. Higher TMAO levels are associated with poor metabolic control (potentially leading to diabetes) and with kidney issues. (Cleveland Heart Lab) ■ Measure GGT. This is an early marker of fatty liver. (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp) ■ Use the fatty liver index calculator. This tool has been developed to help identify fatty liver early—a great aid for you and your health professional. (Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp) ■ Take the SIBO breath test. This can help determine whether you have SIBO. (Commonwealth Laboratories) ■ Measure your fasting insulin. This is a great way to see how well your metabolism is doing. If your fasting insulin is elevated, significant lifestyle, environmental, and dietary changes are needed. ■ Measure your LDL and HDL cholesterol, as well as triglycerides, via an advanced cholesterol panel (such as VAP). People who are deficient in choline typically also show reduced blood concentrations of LDL cholesterol. Further indications of PEMT trouble include low HDL and high triglycerides. (Quest Diagnostics) ■ Measure estrogen. Because your PEMT is stimulated by estrogen, low estrogen levels will slow down PEMT function—unless…
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Laboratories Cleveland Heart Lab: http://www.clevelandheartlab.com Commonwealth Laboratories: http://commlabsllc.com Diagnostic Solutions: https://diagnosticsolutionslab.com Direct Labs: http://www.directlabs.com DNA Connexions: http://dnaconnexions.com Doctor’s Data: https://www.doctorsdata.com Dr. Lal PathLabs: https://www.lalpathlabs.com Genova Diagnostics: https://www.gdx.net Great Plains Laboratory: https://www.greatplainslaboratory.com Iliad Neurosciences: http://iliadneuro.com LabCorp: https://www.labcorp.com Mayo Clinic: http://www.mayoclinic.org Medical Diagnostic Laboratories: http://www.mdlab.com Precision Hormones (DUTCH test):…
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Opus23 (https://www.datapunk.net/opus23). This company is available to health professionals only. It was developed by Dr. Peter D’Adamo, a brilliant naturopath and the author of Eat Right 4 Your Type. Opus23 offers a powerful suite of tools to dig deep into a patient’s raw data from uBiome or 23andMe. Consider recommending it to your practitioner.
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Promethease (https://promethease.com). This online DNA reporting tool uses your raw genetic data to evaluate your SNPs. It provides a lot of SNP information but doesn’t discuss how the genes are affected by your lifestyle, diet, or environment. The results can be overwhelming; they’re very much about predicting your chances of disease rather than giving you actionable information for health. I would recommend using this tool in addition to StrateGene—but only when you’re emotionally prepared for this type of information.
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Here are some useful resources related to mold and indoor air quality: ■ DIY Mold Test. This is an easy-to-use test kit that you can use initially to evaluate whether you have mold. It’s widely available (e.g., hardware stores and http://www.amazon.com), and it comes with an expert phone consultation. ■ The American Lung Association (www.lung.org). This association is a great resource for learning about potential problems and solutions for your indoor air. ■ Indoor Air Quality Association (http://www.iaqa.org/find-a-pro). This all-inclusive organization focuses on air quality and solving indoor environmental problems, including issues around construction and remodeling, research, school contamination, storm damage, and mold. ■ National Association of Mold Remediators and Inspectors (https://www.namri.org/index.php). Whether you’re searching for a reputable mold-removal company, or seeking knowledge about mold-removal services generally, the National Association of Mold Remediators and Inspectors provides essential information for your residential or commercial property.
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Air ■ Alen Air Purifiers. Quality air purifiers that also look beautiful and are compact. https://www.alencorp.com ■ Alen Air Dehumidifiers. Well-made dehumidifiers that will keep your air dry, and thus less likely to be full of mold and dust mites. https://www.alencorp.com ■ Essential oils. Highly concentrated plant oils that nurture physical and emotional well-being. There are many types of essential oils to choose from. You have to be careful of the source, though: you’re looking for organic oils, ideally produced not via solvent extraction but by steam distillation or fractional distillation. Keep essential oils out of the reach of children, because they can be toxic if improperly used. A great resource is the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy. https://naha.org
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Water ■ 10 Stage Countertop Water Filter by New Wave Enviro. A water filter that does a great job and is inexpensive. This was my first water filter, and we still use it when we travel. (Yes, we take a water filter with us, along with a wrench, so that we can tap in to the hotel or timeshare sink and get filtered water.) https://www.newwaveenviro.com ■ Akai Ionizer from High Tech Health. An option that lets you keep the acidic water for cleaning and watering your plants while you drink the alkaline filtered water. We used this device for fourteen years. Mention “Dr. Lynch” to receive a discount. (Disclosure: For this one, I do receive a commission.) http://hightechhealth.com ■ Berkey Water Filter. A quality water filter that removes many compounds, including fluoride (if you choose to get that add-on). http://www.berkeyfilters.com ■ Premium Shower Filter by New Wave Enviro. A product we’ve installed on all our showerheads at home to filter the chlorine out. Try this, and your skin and lungs will thank you. https://www.new waveenviro.com ■ Rainshow’r Bath Ball. A product that I used for a long time but eventually stopped using because, although it does remove the chlorine, it’s big, bulky, and develops mold. However, if you replace it often, and let it dry out after the bath by hanging it, you should be good to go.
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Breathing It’s not easy. Breathing is a skill that we take for granted, yet most of us do it absolutely wrong. Below are resources to help you become a breathing master: ■ Neti Pot. A device to help rinse mucous from your sinuses and allow air passage through your nose. Ideally, use warm filtered water and a pinch of sea salt. I like to use this in the shower, as it’s easiest there, and morning—my shower time—is when I’m most often congested. It can be used over the sink as well. ■ Xlear Sinus Spray. A big help when your nose is congested. Use a spray or two of this in each nostril (perhaps a few times a day) to help break up the mucous so that it can be blown out. http://www.xlear.com ■ Pranayama breathing techniques. Taught in many yoga courses, likely near you. In addition, you can find some exercises posted online, thanks to Yoga Journal. http://www.yogajournal.com/category/poses/types/pranayama ■ Buteyko. A Russian breathing method that’s used to treat asthma,…
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professionals trained by me in how best to treat dirty genes. http://www.drbenlynch.com ■ American College for Advancement in Medicine (ACAM). A group dedicated to bridging the gap between conventional medicine and complementary or alternative medicine. http://www.acam.org ■ American Academy of Environmental Medicine and Naturopathic Academy of Environmental Medicine. Health professionals who specialize in how to remove mold, industrial chemicals, or heavy metals and are expert in understanding allergic and sensitive reactions to environmental conditions. http://www.aaemonline.org and http://www.naturopathicenvironment.com ■ Institute for Functional Medicine. One of the fastest-growing integrative medicine organizations worldwide. http://www.functionalmedicine.org ■ Medical Academy of Pediatric Needs (MAPS). An outstanding organization for children with chronic disease or autism. http://www.medmaps.org ■ American Association of Naturopathic Physicians. Licensed NDs listed nationally or through their local state association websites. http://www.naturopathic.org; see also state websites such as http://www.wanp.org and http://www.calnd.org ■ International Society for Orthomolecular Medicine. An organization that the famed Linus Pauling and Abram Hoffer were part of. http://www.orthomolecular.org
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Fertilizer and Soil Amendment ■ Hendrikus Organics. The absolute leader in natural soil health and restoration. The difference in your landscape and vegetable garden will be dramatic. https://www.hendrikusorganics.com
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Food Storage ■ Stasher. Silicone bags that are the perfect replacement for reusable (and “dirty”) plastic bags. Great for the fridge or freezer, too. https://stasherbag.com ■ Bee’s Wrap. A long-lasting, user-friendly natural product to keep your…
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Housecleaning ■ CitraSolv. For wiping things down that need extra support. https://www.citrasolv.com ■ E-cloth. Great cleaning cloths that don’t require solvents/chemicals to clean with. https://www.ecloth.com ■ Ecover. Good, clean dishwashing tablets. us.ecover.com ■ Norwex. Cleaning cloths that don’t require solvents/chemicals to clean with. Especially great for mirrors. https://…
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■ CitraSolv. Great for spot cleaning. https://www.citrasolv.com ■ Molly’s Suds. A great laundry detergent that comes in scented or unscented. https://mollyssuds.com ■ The Simply Co. A great laundry detergent powder. https://thesimplyco.com ■ Wool dryer balls. Use in place of smelly and wasteful…
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Weeds ■ Propane torch. A classic tool for open areas that need weeding, such as driveways and walkways. ■ “Hula” hoe. The best type of hoe for fast removal of weeds. ■ Pitchfork. The best way to weed a bed. Stick the pitchfork in the soil, tilt back, and remove the fork. Do this…
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Personal-Care Products The chemicals found in typical personal-care products aren’t suitable for you or your genes—so which products can you use instead? As I noted above, my friend Suzi of the highly recommended GurlGoneGreen.com has kindly put together a list of her favorite clean-green products for me so that you can have some gene-friendly options. Bath Products ■ Acure Body Wash for Kids. A body wash that makes a fantastic bubble bath. https://www.acureorganics.com Cosmetics ■ 100% PURE. A huge line offering everything from makeup to skin care. Their lengthening mascara is a great option. https://www.100percentpure.com ■ Crunchi. A great clean makeup line. Love their mascara, primer, foundation, and blush. https://crunchi.com ■ Dusty Girls. Love their bronzer, blushes, and BB cream—all budgetfriendly. (BB cream is a type of foundation that’s not as heavy as normal liquid foundation but not as light as tinted moisturizer.) http://dustygirls.com ■ GIA Minerals. Love their mascara and eyeshadow selection. https://www.giaminerals.com ■ Hynt Beauty. Great all-around clean makeup line. Love their eyebrow cream, mascara, and concealer. https://www.hyntbeauty.com ■ Ilia Beauty. Great lipsticks and lip crayons. https://iliabeauty.com ■ Kjaer Weis. Great foundation, blushes, and lip products. https://kjaerweis.com ■ Lily Lolo. A great all-around makeup line. Love their mascara, eyeshadow palettes, eyeliner, and BB cream. https://www.lilylolo.us ■ RMS Beauty. One of the first natural makeup lines. Great easy-to-wear products, especially their Un Cover-up, Lip2Cheeks, and powders. https://www.rmsbeauty.com…
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Deodorants ■ Green Tidings. Great, effective natural deodorant. http://www.greentidings.org ■ Primally Pure. Effective and budget-friendly. Sensitive formula available. https://primallypure.com ■ Rustic Maka Pachy. Comes in a variety of natural scents and is budget-friendly. https://www.rusticmaka.com ■ Schmidt’s. Effective and budget-friendly; sensitive formula available. https://…
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Hair Products ■ Acure. Budget-friendly shampoos, conditioners, and styling products. Can be found at Whole Foods, health stores, and online. https://www.acureorganics.com ■ Flourish Organic Hair. A variety of hair-care products from shampoos and conditioners to styling products. Budget-friendly. http://www.flourishbodycare.com ■ Green & Gorgeous Dry Shampoo. Available in options for light and dark hair. https://gandgorganics.com ■ Hairprint. A very clean hair dye made from food-grade ingredients. https://www.myhairprint.com ■ Herbivore Sea Mist Spray. Hair texturizer and sea salt spray. https://www.herbivorebotanicals.com ■ Innersense Organic Beauty. Natural salon-quality shampoos, conditioners, and styling products. Their shampoo and conditioner are especially great for color-treated hair. https://innersensebeauty.com ■ Josh Rosebrook. The best natural hair spray and the best spray volumizer (“Lift”). Created by a stylist. https://joshrosebrook.com ■ Primally Pure Dry…
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Hand Creams ■ 100% Pure Hand Buttercream. Comes in a tube and moisturizes with no greasy residue. https://www.100percentpure.com ■ Osmia Organics Vanilla Shea Hand Cream. A great hand cream that doesn’t leave behind a residue. Smells amazing. https://osmiaorganics.com ■ Shea Terra Organics Mini Shea Whippers. Come in cute jars and are wonderfully hydrating and clean. https://…
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Hand Soaps ■ Kosmatology. Best hand soap out there!…
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Lip Balms ■ Henné Organics. Great lip balm—really smooth formula—and great lip exfoliant. https://henneorganics.com ■ Hurraw Lip Balm. Great lip balm packaged in tubes; available in a variety of flavors. https://hurrawbalm.com ■ Kari Gran Lip…
Location 6622:
Perfumes ■ Florescent. Luxury perfumes that come in spritzer form. https://florescent.co ■ Josh Rosebrook Ethereal Botanical Fragrance. A truly luxurious natural fragrance. Makes switching to a nontoxic fragrance easy. https://joshrosebrook.com ■ Lotus Wei. Plant-based scents that come in a variety of application methods, from roller balls to spritzers. Products help with moods. https://www.lotuswei.com ■ LURK. A ton of natural scents to choose from. https://lurk made.com
Location 6629:
Skin-Care Products ■ Acure. Body and facial skin-care products that are budget-friendly. https://www.acureorganics.com ■ Dr. Bronner’s. Great castile soaps for use as body washes; DIY cleaning recipes also available. https://www.drbronner.com ■ Josh Rosebrook. A line based on herbs and plant power. https://joshrosebrook.com ■ Kahina Giving Beauty. A skin-care line based on argan oil. kahina-givingbeauty.com ■ Kosmatology. Great body washes, facial products, and scrubs. Budget-friendly. http://www.kosmatology.com ■ Leahlani Skincare. This skin-care line is not only effective and clean, but offers something for every skin type. Also budget-friendly. https://www.leahlaniskincare.com ■ Laurel Whole Plant Organics. A skin-care line based on herbs and flowers that’s 100 percent raw, organic, and unrefined. https://www.laurelskin.com ■ Live Inspired Organics. Best scrub and body butter. http://www.liveinspiredorganics.com ■ Marie Veronique. A skin-care line based on science and research. It offers something for every skin type. https://www.marieveronique.com ■ May Lindstrom. Great facial masks. https://maylindstrom.com ■ Maya Chia Beauty. A superb antiaging line that uses chia seed oil as the base for all formulations. https://mayachia.com ■ Osmia Organics. Best bar soaps. Great body oils as well, and facial products. https://osmiaorganics.com ■ True Botanicals. This skin-care line has studies backing its potency and results. Great for those who suffer from acne at any age, and a great antiaging line. https://truebotanicals.com
Location 6652:
Sunscreens ■ Babo Botanicals SPF 40 Daily Sheer Facial Sunscreen. Sheer and lightweight. http://www.babobotanicals.com ■ DeVita Solar Body Moisturizer Mineral Sunscreen SPF 30+. Effective and budget-friendly. http://www.davita.com ■ Loving Naturals Adorable Baby Sunscreen SPF 30+. Great for babies and kids, with simple ingredients. https://lovingnaturals.com ■ Suntegrity Mineral Sunscreen. Sunscreen and self-tanners. http://www.suntegrityskincare.com ■ Raw Elements Sunscreen. The cleanest sunscreen out there. Comes in a variety of formulas, from stick to tube to tin form. https://rawelementsusa.com
Location 6670:
Saunas A sauna is an absolute must-purchase item unless you have access to a gym with a great sauna. The saunas below are all of great quality, though they look different and the heaters are a bit different. I’ve negotiated significant discounts for you. I do receive a commission for recommending these saunas. ■ Sunlighten Saunas. Beautifully designed, low electromagnetic frequency (EMF), and built with high-quality, safe materials. Heaters are full spectrum—near-, far-, and midrange. Sunlighten also has a one-person sauna just big enough for you to lie down in. Mention “Dr. Lynch” to receive a significant discount. http://www.sunlighten.com ■ HighTech Health. Constructed with high-quality, safe materials and low electromagnetic frequency (EMF); designed for individuals with multiple chemical sensitivities; easy to set up and move as needed. I owned a three-person HighTech sauna for ten years. HighTech offers very low-EMF-emitting heaters, good air circulation, light therapy, and a setup for music. Mention “Dr. Lynch” to receive significant savings. http://hightechhealth.com
Location 6738:
■ CRON-O-Meter app. Track what you eat and how much of it. This app shows you in real time how much more you should eat for the day, broken down into protein, fats, and carbs. It also has settings for various diets, such as Paleo or Ketogenic. If you want to lose or gain weight, it adjusts for that as well. I learned a lot about my eating by using this app. Available on the app store of your phone. https://cronometer.com ■ HRV4Training. A great phone app that tracks your HRV via your cellphone camera. http://www.hrv4training.com ■ Nutrient Optimiser. Ties in with CRON-O-Meter to inform you what you should eat, what you shouldn’t eat, and what you should eat more of—with the goal of getting all your nutrients from food. A fantastic program designed by Marty Kendall. https://nutrientoptimiser.com
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