William Davis's Blog: Dr. Davis Infinite Health Blog, page 83

Undoctored: Health Should Be (Almost) Free

Follow the current debate on “healthcare reform”–which has NOTHING to do with healthcare reform, but healthcare insurance reform, by the way–and you will hear comments about the escalating and uncontrolled cost of healthcare and how people need access to it.

What you will NOT hear is that fact that, because the healthcare system fails to deliver genuine health, real health is actually quite easy, straightforward, and inexpensive–nearly free.

We achieve a life of being Undoctored, not becoming a profit source for the healthcare industry, not being subjected to the predatory practices of Big Pharma and the medical device industries, by adopting a handful of simple practices that make, for example, type 2 diabetes or many autoimmune conditions just a distant, unpleasant memory.

Let me be absolutely clear: Undoctored is NOT about diagnosing and treating your own rheumatoid arthritis or fibromyalgia. It is about correcting the factors that are prevalent in modern life that allow such conditions to emerge–a big difference. Correct these factors–regardless of whether the starting label was irritable bowel syndrome, seborrhea, or depression–and the overwhelming likelihood is that you will no longer have these conditions within days to weeks (longer with autoimmune conditions). It means being freed of having to take three drugs for type 2 diabetes, a drug for acid reflux, a drug for “high cholesterol” (a semi-fictitious disease, anyway), two antidepressants, three blood pressure drugs, even drugs to treat some of the side-effects of other drugs. It means being freed of unnecessary endoscopies to investigate the dysbiosis caused by stomach acid-suppressing drugs, or drugs to treat “opioid-induced constipation,” or an electrophysiologic study that leads to implantation of an unnecessary implantable defibrillator.

The Undoctored strategies involve wheat and grain elimination with virtually no net increase in food costs, vitamin D supplementation with occasional monitoring of blood levels, omega-3 fatty acid/fish oil supplementation, iodine supplementation and achieving ideal thyroid status, magnesium supplementation, and efforts to cultivate bowel flora via probiotics (initially), prebiotics, and fermented foods. Total cost is a few dollars per month.

Compare this to the increasingly crippling costs of conventional healthcare: $10,000 per person per year. Just over $24,000 per year to insure a healthy family of four. New specialty drugs that are being priced at $100,000 or more per year. Hospitalizations that typically reach 5- or 6-figures and yield the majority of bankruptcies today, even if you start with healthcare insurance. Remember that healthcare is most profitable when health conditions are 1) chronic, thereby involving long-term treatment, not just a week or two, 2) experienced by people who have health insurance, and 3) can be delivered to the broad masses through, for instance, direct-to-consumer drug advertising.

This is why I say that, like freedom of speech, health should be free, or nearly free. You would be outraged if I told you that maintaining your freedom of speech is going to cost you $10,000 per year. But that is what we are charged–each and every American, infants on up–to fund the healthcare system while never actually receiving health in return. Healthcare does not provide health, but it is sure adept at monetizing health.

I know it sounds brash, but the Undoctored program has cracked the code on hundreds of health conditions. Not genetically-determined conditions like sickle cell anemia or cystic fibrosis, not injuries like a fractured femur or laceration, not infections like E. coli from tainted meat or spinal meningitis–these remain the domain of conventional healthcare. Undoctored is most effective for the hundreds of conditions that fall under what anthropologists all “diseases of civilization,” i.e., health conditions that are virtually unknown in people who do not consume grains, have rare exposure to sugar, live outdoors and exposed to sun, eat organs such as brains rich in omega-3 fatty acids, dig in the dirt for underground roots and tubers, etc. Adopt such practices while accommodating to modern conveniences and tastes and you, like a sub-Saharan member of the Hadza or a Peruvian highland Matses, will kiss goodbye to type 2 diabetes, acne, dandruff, eczema, depression, acid reflux, irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s, celiac, autoimmune hepatitis, cerebellar ataxia, temporal lobe seizures, migraines and many others.

You’ve got nothing to lose by giving it a try. You just might discover magnificent health and slenderness in the process.

Undoctored: Why Health Care Has Failed You and How You Can Become Smarter Than Your Doctor is available at major bookstores, Costco, Sam’s Club, and Amazon.

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Mind and mood effects of wheat and grain elimination

Eliminate wheat and grains from your diet and interesting mind and mood effects develop, including a sense of optimism, focus, and marked reduction in appetite.

We are advised by conventional sources of dietary advice that grains should dominate diet. Yet eliminating them yields some surprising benefits on the mind, mood, and health.

About Undoctored:

We are entering a new age in which the individual has astounding power over health–but don’t count on the doctor or healthcare system to tell you this.

We draw from the health information of the world, collaborate, share experiences, collect data, and show how to apply new health tools to achieve levels of health that you may have thought unattainable. We do all this at a time when conventional healthcare costs have become crippling.

The result: personal health that is SUPERIOR to that obtained through conventional means.

Undoctored: Why Health Care Has Failed You and How You Can Become Smarter Than Your Doctor

Available in all major bookstores, Costco, Sam’s Club, BJ’s Wholesale Club, and Amazon.

The post Mind and mood effects of wheat and grain elimination appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

Beware: What’s in that glass of water?

We are living in a dangerous era, a time when industrial compounds have proliferated to such an extraordinary degree that literally everyone is exposed to chemicals that cause potential harm to our systems. This includes the perfluorooctanoic acid residues from Teflon in your cooking, restaurant food, or groundwater. It can be caused by triclosan in antibacterial hand soaps and hand sanitizers. It can be due to polybrominated diphenyl ethers from the flame retardant in carpeting and clothing, contaminants in the water supply, and plastics that are everywhere and in everything, from cars to the lining of canned foods to water bottles. They are even in the rainwater and air we breath. Nobody, and I truly mean nobody, alive today has avoided exposure to these ubiquitous chemicals.

It’s unavoidable. Here are the numbers to prove it. The Environmental Working Group tested blood from the umbilical cords of newborns and uncovered 287 different industrial compounds, including mercury, 21 different pesticides, and components of industrial lubricants— this was in newborns, not 60-year-olds who had worked a lifetime in factories or other contaminated environments. Endocrine disruptive industrial chemicals can be detected in hair, urine, blood, liver, kidneys, and just about any other bodily fluid or organ. One recent study assessed individuals for the presence of perchlorates, a residue of synthetic fertilizers. Of 2,800 people tested, all 2,800 had detectable levels of perchlorates in their bodies.

Drinking water straight from the tap is toxic. Yes, most (not all) municipalities and cities do a good job of filtering water, removing most contaminants, but most also add chlorine (or, more recently, chloramine, which is more persistent and resists being boiled off) and fluoride, after filtration. Chlorine and fluoride are antibacterial in water, great for kitchen counters, but not for your gastrointestinal tract, where we want microbes to thrive. Consuming these chemicals reduces or alters the composition of bowel flora.

One way to help lesson this exposure is to drink filtered water. Filter drinking water to remove chlorine, fluoride, and other contaminants. If you use tap water to ferment vegetables, the chlorine and fluoride will block fermentation. Likewise, watering houseplants with tap water can kill off soil flora and thus cause them wither. To remove chlorine and fluoride, filter your tap water using a reverse-osmosis process and/or carbon filters. Filtered water is less likely to contain residues of prescription drugs that are making their way into our water supply. It is also added assurance against water contaminated with atrazine, perchlorates, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, arsenic, and lead from home plumbing. You can’t completely avoid the exposure to chemicals and toxins, but you can filter some out.

Note that water filtration is a modern necessity for full Undoctored health, but this makes it even more important to obtain magnesium by other means, as the good is filtered out with the bad. We will discuss this in further depth next week.

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I will be LIVE on the Undoctored Inner Circle Tuesday July 11th

I shall be LIVE again on the Undoctored Inner Circle Virtual Meetup on Tuesday July 11th at 3 pm Central/4 pm Eastern/2 pm Mountain/1 pm Pacific.

Let’s again discuss the Undoctored program: pitfalls, difficulties, and ways to succeed. The Virtual Meetup function allows us to meet as a group to discuss issues or questions via live video. In addition to our open discussion, I would like to discuss how the Inner Circle site is going to help fund and build our Undoctored movement, taking us closer to a world in which healthcare is (almost) free.

NOTE: A portion of the Meetup will be recorded for promotional uses. If you do NOT want to have your voice or video shared, please mouse over the left lower corner of your Meetup screen to turn off audio and video input (avatars for a microphone and video camera).

(The Undoctored Inner Circle is a paid membership site that includes features such as the live Virtual Meetup, webinars, the Undoctored Health Network video collection, Health Tool Product Reviews, and a Discussion Forum.)

To join, go to the Undoctored Inner Circle and sign in.

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I Ate One Cookie and Gained 30 Pounds!

Nobody gains 30 pounds by eating one cookie alone–but re-exposure to wheat/grains in people who are grain-free can ignite relentless, insatiable appetite that drives 20, 25, or 30 pounds of weight gain over the next months, all from a single “indulgence” such as a cookie.

Being grain-free on the Wheat Belly and/or Undoctored lifestyles frees you from this effect, giving you magnificent control over appetite and weight.

About Undoctored:

We are entering a new age in which the individual has astounding power over health–but don’t count on the doctor or healthcare system to tell you this.

We draw from the health information of the world, collaborate, share experiences, collect data, and show how to apply new health tools to achieve levels of health that you may have thought unattainable. We do all this at a time when conventional healthcare costs have become crippling.

The result: personal health that is SUPERIOR to that obtained through conventional means.

Undoctored: Why Health Care Has Failed You and How You Can Become Smarter Than Your Doctor

Available in all major bookstores, Costco, Sam’s Club, BJ’s Wholesale Club, and Amazon.

The post I Ate One Cookie and Gained 30 Pounds! appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

Prescription Drugs That Block Your Ability To Lose Weight

Many prescription drugs (and some non-prescription) block your ability to lose weight and have likely caused weight gain over the time you’ve taken them. As long as you remain on one or more of these drugs, weight loss is very difficult or impossible. Getting off these drugs is therefore key to restore your ability to lose weight.

The Undoctored lifestyle can free you of the “need” for many of these drugs. Have a conversation with your healthcare provider (who is typically unaware of this effect despite studies demonstrating weight gain) to discuss a change to a drug that does not block weight loss or—best of all—getting off the drug entirely. If he/she does not support your effort, find a new provider, one who empowers you in place of one who obstructs your health.

About Undoctored:

We are entering a new age in which the individual has astounding power over health–but don’t count on the doctor or healthcare system to tell you this.

We draw from the health information of the world, collaborate, share experiences, collect data, and show how to apply new health tools to achieve levels of health that you may have thought unattainable. We do all this at a time when conventional healthcare costs have become crippling.

The result: personal health that is SUPERIOR to that obtained through conventional means.

Undoctored: Why Health Care Has Failed You and How You Can Become Smarter Than Your Doctor

Available in all major bookstores, Costco, Sam’s Club, BJ’s Wholesale Club, and Amazon.

The post Prescription Drugs That Block Your Ability To Lose Weight appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

The next Wheat Belly Detox CHALLENGE begins Wednesday, July 19th!

The next Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox Challenge is scheduled to start Wednesday, July 19th!

Through my New York Times bestseller, Wheat Belly, millions of people learned how to reverse years of chronic health problems by removing wheat from their daily diets. Now, I have created an easy and accessible 10-Day Detox Program.

The Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox supplies you with carefully designed meal plans and delicious recipes to fully eliminate wheat and related grains in the shortest time possible. Perfect for those who may have fallen off the wagon or for newcomers who need a jump-start for weight loss, this new addition to the Wheat Belly phenomenon guides you through the complete 10-Day Detox experience.

In addition to this quick-start program, I’ll teach you:

How to recognize and reduce wheat-withdrawal symptoms,
How to avoid common landmines that can sabotage success
How to use nutritional supplements to further advance weight loss and health benefits

The Wheat Belly 10-Day Grain Detox also includes:

Inspiring testimonials from people who have completed the program (and have now made grain-free eating a way of life)

Exciting new recipes to help get your entire family on board

To join the Detox Challenge:

Step 1

Get the book. And read it (at least the first 5 chapters). Detox Challenge participants should be informed and active in order to get the most out of the challenge and private Facebook group.

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1JqzMea

Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/wheatbelly10daygraindetox-bn

Indiebound: http://bit.ly/1KwcFTQ

Or grab the course from Rodale.

https://www.rodaleu.com/courses/wheat-belly-10-day-grain-detox

(The PLATINUM level INCLUDES the book.)

Using the code DETOX saves you $20+ when you checkout.

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Healthy Low-Carb Barbecue Sauce

Here’s a recipe for a Low-Carb Barbecue Sauce I modified slightly from the original I shared in the Wheat Belly 30-Minute Cookbook.

You may have noticed that nearly all commercial barbecue sauces at the supermarket contain high-fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, or sugar as primary ingredients, converting your tasty barbecued ribs or chicken into a toxic sugar exposure.

This low-carb version yields 8 grams net carbs per 1/4 cup due to the carbs from tomatoes and the bit of molasses. (The molasses is optional, but does add some extra depth of flavor.) Spread on ribs, chicken, or burgers that contain zero carbs, and you can enjoy your barbecued dish without any concern over sugar exposures.

(The speckles in the photo are mustard seeds from the stone-ground mustard I used.)

Makes 3 cups

1/4 cup olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 shallot, minced

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 can (28 ounces) tomato puree

2 tablespoons molasses

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons mustard

1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 tablespoon Virtue Sweetener (or other natural sweetener equivalent to 4 tablespoons sugar)

In medium saucepan over medium heat, heat oil, then add garlic, shallot, and chili powder and stir for 2-3 minutes.

Stir in tomato puree, molasses, vinegar, mustard, pepper, salt, onion powder, sweetener and mix frequently for 15 minutes, reducing heat to low if mixture comes to a boil.

Remove from heat and cool before storing in the refrigerator.

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Deja Ewww: Beware Grain Re-exposures

If you’ve been grain-free for at least several weeks living the Wheat Belly or Undoctored lifestyle, any re-exposure to grains can be a very unpleasant experience. It’s NOT just a matter of calories or carbs, but re-activation of intestinal inflammation, abdominal pain, joint pain, migraine headache, and mind/emotional effects.

Be aware of these re-exposure phenomena and avoid them.

About Undoctored:

We are entering a new age in which the individual has astounding power over health–but don’t count on the doctor or healthcare system to tell you this.

We draw from the health information of the world, collaborate, share experiences, collect data, and show how to apply new health tools to achieve levels of health that you may have thought unattainable. We do all this at a time when conventional healthcare costs have become crippling.

The result: personal health that is SUPERIOR to that obtained through conventional means. We are Undoctored.

Undoctored: Why Health Care Has Failed You and How You Can Become Smarter Than Your Doctor

Available in all major bookstores, Costco, Sam’s Club, BJ’s Wholesale Club, and Amazon.

The post Deja Ewww: Beware Grain Re-exposures appeared first on Dr. William Davis.

The Age of the Personal Clinical Trial

We have arrived at what I call “The Age of the Personal Clinical Trial.” We now have the ability to collaborate, ask questions on health, then obtain answers within days to weeks, all on our own.

Let’s say, for example, you or a loved one has ankylosing spondylitis and are experiencing progressive back pain, as your spine is essentially becoming “frozen,” severely limiting your ability to bend and twist. You suspect that vitamin D restoration may play an important positive role. You therefore collaborate with, say, 30 other people with the same condition (through one of the Undoctored online tools, such as the one we are setting up on the Undoctored Inner Circle website) to take 10,000 units of gelcap vitamin D. Everyone agrees to rate their pain and stiffness at the start (e.g., 0-10), then at 90 days. After 90 days, you assess the response and you will have a good idea of whether benefit was experienced. (I predict that it will because I’ve seen this play out in several people.)

Imagine the power of this new concept of the Personal Clinical Trial as it is put into the hands of people who desire answers to health questions. Because we use tools such as nutritional supplements, other health practices such as exercise or meditation, and consumer health tools, we don’t experience the dangers of conventional drug or device clinical trials.

This is the healthcare of the future: Undoctored and determined by individual desire for health, all achieved at low cost and with little waste of time.

About Undoctored:

We are entering a new age in which the individual has astounding power over health–but don’t count on the doctor or healthcare system to tell you this.

We draw from the health information of the world, collaborate, share experiences, collect data, and show how to apply new health tools to achieve levels of health that you may have thought unattainable. We do all this at a time when conventional healthcare costs have become crippling.

The result: personal health that is SUPERIOR to that obtained through conventional means. We are Undoctored.

Undoctored: Why Health Care Has Failed You and How You Can Become Smarter Than Your Doctor

Available in all major bookstores and Amazon.

The post The Age of the Personal Clinical Trial appeared first on Dr. William Davis.