Avoid Parkinson’s disease – maybe stop it....

Today's Post:  Tuesday, 3-25-2014

Parkinson’s disease causes limited mobility and even death in its later stages and makes your fine controlled movements shaky even in its early stages.

Moreover it can and has done this to notably vital people who are otherwise just as sharp as they were before they got it.

Michael Fox has long been one of my favorite actors.  His vitality and his massive success as someone shorter than his huge internal and mental size would indicate, I really, really like him.  I find him inspiring.

And, in his early movies he could move like a high level black belt at virtually everything he wanted to do.

He got Parkinson’s disease.  As you’d expect with his personality, he’s fighting it and has almost avoided having it limit him!

Amazing man.  But it’s a huge shame it happened to him.

Believe me it would be a huge shame if it happened to you.

The better news is we now know some ways to prevent it.  Extending some of them even has some evidence we may be able to stop it or reverse it.

Part I:

I had heard that Parkinson’s disease was much more common in farm workers who worked on farms that used pesticides and herbicides on the crops.

It seems that’s the tip of the iceberg.  A new study finds that if you get too much exposure to the wrong kinds of pesticides or herbicides at the wrong time or if you have a heredity that makes it harm you more easily, even far smaller exposures can cause you to get Parkinson’s disease.

The article on this research I found in Medical News Today said that if there is enough pesticide to work, even quite low contact with it by people, tends to produce Parkinson's disease.

This means that spending time on Golf courses or parks with lawns that have been sprayed, particularly when sprayed recently, is a VERY BAD idea.

It also means that being near farming fields where pesticides are being sprayed is a BAD idea as is drinking the water in those areas that tastes of pesticides.  And working on such a farm is a HORRIBLE idea.

When our daughter went to a local elementary school, one day when I drove her there it was quite windy.  Within half a block away, some fool was spraying insecticide or weed killer on a lawn.  About three fourths of it was blowing towards the school and its play yard.  I went ballistic and pointed out to him what he was doing.  I made it clear to him that if he didn't stop immediately and never spray again near a school on such a windy day, I'd call the cops and have him arrested!

Glad I did now.  I may have saved our daughter or some of her classmates from getting Parkinson's disease this research shows very clearly.

It also means that making a large special effort to eat only organic produce and minimizing your exposure to fats from animals fed grains that have been sprayed AND never using insecticides in your house or yard is also high desirable.

Organic produce is often but not always more nutritious than produce that was raised using pesticides and herbicides.  And, the sprayed produce does have relatively low amounts of residue left on it. 

Oops!  It seems that even at the low level you get from sprayed produce, if you have the wrong heredity or get a bit unlucky and eat something with a bit more residue than normal at a bad time, this strongly suggests eating sprayed produce might give you Parkinson’s disease.

So, the best policy is to go ahead and eat lots of produce.  But only eat the kinds that are organic to the very best of your ability.

Secondly, according to health writer John Robbins, most people get far more exposure to pesticides and herbicides from the fat of animals fed grains and other feed from plants that have been sprayed than they do from produce that is not organic.

It seems when the animals eat that feed, they bioconcentrate days or weeks of intake of herbicides and pesticides in their fat.

This is one of the reasons that the DASH II and Mediterranean diets or eating styles get such good health results.  Both of them slash the intake of fat from animals fed grain. Those fats are also horribly high in pro-inflammatory omega 6 oils from the grain that is not in their natural diets.

So, eat beans and nuts and organically grown mushrooms and wild caught fish and some meat or eggs or poultry or dairy from animals fed only grass or their natural diets.  Stop eating the fats of animals fed grains or feed from plants sprayed with pesticides or herbicides.

(Bonus, this also sharply reduces your exposure to GMO food because the grains fed animals that are sprayed with pesticides are almost all GMO grains!)

The only good news is that taking the supplement DMAE may be protective if you have done or do otherwise or get accidentally exposed.  I once saw a study that found a strong intake of DMAE prevented harm to the part of the brain that if harmed causes Parkinson’s disease.

I’m so glad I did!  That’s because DMAE is a precursor to choline.  And, choline has other nerve protective benefits AND increases HDL and so taking DMAE helps protect your heart too!

AND every effort you CAN make to avoid pesticides and herbicides near you or in your food will help.

Here’s the link to the Medical News Today article:

Low-level pesticide exposure linked to Parkinson's disease

http://mnt.to/l/4km2

Researchers say that exposure to pesticides, even at low levels, increases the

risk of Parkinson's disease. Individuals with a specific genetic variant may be

more susceptible.

II. Part two:

What might stop or reverse Parkinson’s disease?

First, follow the implications of the research and do as well as you can using the information in Part I to stop CAUSING Parkinson’s disease.

Second, take the supplement DMAE and take choline and consider eating whole eggs but only from chickens that are truly pasture fed.

Take DHA and get regular exercise.

Those things tend to cause the release of the brain cell and nerve growth and repair hormone BDNF.

Take 15 to 45 mg a day of zinc but NOT more with 2 mg of copper to balance it if you haven’t a disease causing you to never ingest copper.  It seems that zinc tends to prevent misfolding of brain and nerve proteins which has been shown to be how nerves and brain cells are damaged.

Then there is another step that HAS tested in some cases to reverse MS.  It might do the same for Parkinson’s disease.

(I think I found the original article in NewsMax.)

Stopping MS Through Diet has worked.

This is a combination of the Paleo diet and the massive amounts of vegetables diet.

She did not continue the related supplements.  Her idea was that the foods that they came from had the co-factors needed to make the nutrients most effective.

In her experience it was effective to do it all with food only.  But the supplements DID initially help.

And, many people will only approach her eating style and not have her massive motivation.  So keeping the supplements is likely sound for most people.

That said, it is clear that the closer people can eat to her recommendations, the better off they will be.

(Clearly making sure that all the produce is organic will make this protocol far more effective.)

There are so many bad things in what most people eat that are NOT in this eating style, and it reversed damage to motor nerves.  In addition, the health value of these vegetables is severely underrated. 

This may well mean that combining this diet with exercise and choline and DHA to repair and grow new nerve cells might also reverse Parkinson’s disease.

Diet That Stops Multiple Sclerosis      Wednesday, 05 Mar 2014 04:55 PM     By Vera Tweed

In 2000, Terry Wahls, M.D., a professor of medicine at the University of Iowa, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Using her natural determination and medical knowledge, she fought the crippling disease in every conceivable way, and eventually won – regaining her health. She now helps others do the same.

“I’m incredibly blessed to have had my illness,” she tells Newsmax Health. “It motivated me to relearn basic science and nutrition.” As a result, she developed a groundbreaking diet that has virtually cured her and is helping others who suffer from MS, other neurological diseases, and traumatic brain injuries.

Immediately after her MS diagnosis, Dr. Wahls sought out the best medical treatments available, including all the latest drugs – but they didn’t work. After seven years with the disease, she was nearly bedridden, no longer able to sit up unaided and confined to a wheelchair.

Despite such severe disability, she continued working and relentlessly studied the available research about nutrition and her disease. And she found the mechanism underlying MS and other neurological diseases, such as Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and Alzheimer’s: malfunction in mitochondria. These are tiny components in every cell that manage energy production, and are especially important for brain and heart function, as well as overall health.

Digging deeper, Dr. Wahls identified 31 nutrients critical to mitochondria and to nourishing neurotransmitters. With this knowledge, she designed and adopted a very specific diet. Less than six months later, she was walking unaided and began riding her bike. A few months after that, she completed an 18-mile bike ride.

“It’s a very structured hunter-gatherer diet to maximize vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients per forkful,” she says. Grains and dairy products are not on the menu, but each day’s food includes the following items into three meals:

·         Plate of leafy greens, such as kale

·         Plate of sulfur-rich vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, and onions

·         Plate of at least three different-colored non-starchy vegetables (not corn or potatoes)

·         Fish or grass-fed meat

·         Berries

·         Organ meats, at least once a week

·         Seaweed, at least once a week

·         Bone broth (recipe below)

Many of Dr.  Wahls’ patients have had the same type of dramatic recovery she experienced by using this diet. “In the last two years I have gone from being in a bed, to a wheelchair, to a walker, to a cane, and now nothing,” said Jake Nelson, a mechanical engineer. “In fact, you can hardly tell I even have MS.”

Dr. Wahls continues to be in remission, leading a very active life. She trains doctors, carries out clinical research, treats patients, and travels nationwide to give lectures. She provides menus and many recipes in her book, Minding My Mitochondria, and more insights at terrywahls.com.

Dr. Wahls’ Broth for Neurological Health

Drink a cup of this homemade bone broth once a day, recommends Dr. Wahls, and use it in place of fat for sautéing and stir frying – 3 tablespoons per pan. It’s very rich in nutrients, good for your joints and neurotransmitters, and adds flavor with less fat and calories than oils or butter. The vinegar helps draw minerals out of the bones. The seaweed is an excellent source of iodine and other trace minerals.

Ingredients:

Any type of meat bones, saved from previous cooking, or mussel and clam shells

Vegetables, such as celery, parsley, or carrots

Large stock pot or soup pot half full of water

2 to 4 tablespoons of vinegar

1 tablespoon dried powdered kelp or dulse, or part of a whole leaf

1 packet plain gelatin

Combine all ingredients except gelatin and simmer for at least 2 hours (ideally 24 hours). Add water if needed. Strain and discard vegetables and bones. Dissolve gelatin in the broth.