Monday, June 25, 2012

Prime Enzyme Support

by Glen Depke

Digestive enzymes are one of the more significant keys to optimal health!
Prime Enzyme Support


To understand this, let me first discuss optimal digestion. The proper flow of digestion looks like this:
  • Eating in a relaxed state
  • Chewing your food thoroughly
  • Predigesting your food in the upper third of your stomach based on natural enzymes in raw foods, some enzyme activity via your saliva and/or supplemental digestive enzymes
  • Further in the stomach this predigested food is then further broken down with naturally produced stomach acid
  • Once released from the stomach into the small intestine, your pancreas will release pancreatic juice which contains further enzyme activity and bile released from your gallbladder to aid in emulsifying fats
  • Properly broken down food will then be absorbed and assimilated through the villi in the small intestine to reach the blood stream
  • Anything left over will move from the small intestine into the colon
  • The contents enter the colon as a liquid, while the colon will absorb much of this liquid leaving you with the bulk recognized as you release your bowel movement
  • All this should occur in 18 hours or less
I could lay this out in a much more comprehensive description but I at least wanted you to understand the basics.

So what role does the Prime Enzyme Support play in optimal digestion?


Let's first recognize that most people eat cooked food. When we cook the food above a temperature of 118 degrees, the enzyme activity is completely destroyed. Supplemental enzymes such as the Depke Wellness, Prime Enzyme Support, simply puts back the enzyme activity that we destroyed by the cooking process. Without the use of digestive enzymes for those that are consuming cooked foods, the predigestion that occurs in the first third of your stomach is significantly decreased, thus creating so much hardship for the rest of the gastrointestinal tract to follow.

With this in mind, you can understand the importance of digestive enzyme use with every meal you consume. Since most that are reading this article consume cooked food, this is vital for you.

I can share that personally, I take a Prime Enzyme Support with each and every cooked food meal that I consume.

Based on my years of practice I recognize that the toughest foods to breakdown properly are flesh protein, fat, beans and some vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower and Brussel sprouts.

Another factor to address is the fact that most digestive enzymes on the market are vegetarian based. This means that we are often trying to break down animal proteins and fats with vegetable based enzymes. It does not even make sense to write this.

The Prime Enzyme Support contains the necessary animal based enzymes to break down your animal proteins and fats as well as a specific enzyme to assist with those pesky beans, cauliflower, broccoli and Brussel sprouts. This is also containing all the needed enzymes found in other quality formulas and as an added bonus there is a small amount of pepsin and betaine HCL due to the fact that most in our culture are also suffering from low stomach acid.

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Why would you use the Prime Enzyme Support?
Prime Enzyme Support
  • Bloating
  • Slow digestion
  • Flatulence
  • Gassy (belching)
  • Acid reflux
  • Sluggish colon (less than 2 bowel movements daily)
  • Poor mental clarity
  • Poor memory
  • Immune dysfunction
  • Frequent illness
  • Food cravings
  • Caffeine cravings
  • Sugar cravings
  • Weight gain
  • Unhealthy weight loss
  • Poor exercise recovery
  • Any digestive, immune or brain challenges
  • ...and the list goes on
Supplement Facts:

Pancreatin 4X................100mg
Protease.......................10,000 USP Units
Amylase........................10,000 USP Units
Lipase...........................2,000 USP Units
Ox Bile..........................100mg
L-Glutamic Acid...............100mg
Pepsi.............................100mg
Papain...........................50mg/600,000 USP Units
Bromelain......................2,000 M.C.U.
Betaine HCL...................100mg
Alpha Galactosidase........100 A.G.S.U.

90 count bottle

Recommended dose: 1 capsule per meal

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Sunday, June 24, 2012

One Man's Food is Another Man's Poison

by Glen Depke

Here is the most common nutritional question I get from clients.

What's the best diet for you?
  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian
  • Zone
  • South Beach
  • Macrobiotics
  • Atkin's
  • Paleo
  • and the list goes on
The answer is, none or any of them.

Understand that there is no "one size fits all" meal plan. Hippocrates was spot on when he shared about 2600 years ago, "One man's food is another man's poison." This is just as true today as it was at that time.

I can remember years ago when I first started in the natural health business, I used to teach and practice mainstream nutrition. You all know what that looks like. Eat a lot of vegetables, fruit, whole grains while cutting back on fat and red meat, all while juicing every day. I was always so confused with this because following that plan, I had to eat all day to maintain my energy. When I say all day, I actually ate about 6 meals per day and not little snacks.

How the heck could I be doing everything right, yet feeling so dissatisfied?

Thankfully the answers were provided for me. I was exposed to a system of Metabolic Typing and eventually became an Advanced Metabolic Typing adviser. Of course I was the first person that completed this assessment and low and behold, I was a classic protein type. Understand that a protein type would actually eat red meat, lager quantities of fat, lower amounts of fruit and only specific vegetables. My first day on my new meal plan, I went from 6 meals per day to only 3 and honestly, the amount of food that I eat these days for the whole day, often is similar to what most people would eat in just one meal. Yet I get to enjoy high amounts of energy, physically, mentally, emotionally and vibrationally.

So of course I suggest that everyone follow the protein type plan, right?

Absolutely not!

I only suggest the meal plan that is right for you, according to what I refer to as your Nutritional ID.

To check in on the evolution of my nutritional career, it started with mainstream nutrition. From there I was trained in Metabolic Typing and used this system for several years. At one point when I was working with Dr Mercola back in the Chicago area, I was honored with the task of creating the system of Nutritional Typing that is still used online and within Dr Mercola's clinic. Since moving to Southern California more than 3 years ago, I had developed my own system to assess individual nutritional needs called Nutritional ID.

So what is Nutritional ID all about?

Eating according to your Nutritional ID is about consuming the correct foods for yourself as an individual to maintain the highest energy physically, mentally, emotionally and vibrationally throughout your day with the smallest quantity of food. This enables your body to use high amounts of energy to generate the highest levels of health and happiness.

Sound like a plan, right?
  • Who doesn't want more energy? 
  • Who doesn't want to eat less and enjoy more?
  • Who doesn't want to lose weight and gain strength without cravings and caffeine?
  • Who doesn't want to move closer and closer to health and happiness?
Well, if you don't want this, no need to read further, but I know better.

If you would like to assess your personal Nutritional ID visit this link provided for you. This is a complimentary assessment to understand your individual basic starting point as either a Veggie Type, Mixed Type or Protein Type.

This is just the beginning and not the end.

It is not enough to simply know your Nutritional ID
  • Being a Veggie Type does not mean eating as a vegetarian or vegan. 
  • Being a Protein Type does not mean eating all the protein and fat you would like. 
  • Being a Mixed Type does not mean simply eating a little bit of everything.
All Nutritional ID meal plans are directing you to consume protein, fat and carbohydrates but those that are recommended all pertain to using what is right for you. This along with eating them in the direction for optimal results is such a key.

You may think that eating a salad made from red and green leaf lettuce with tomato and cucumber, topped with a small chicken breast and a small amount of olive oil, is a very healthy meal. 

Not so fast!

That's a healthy meal for only one of the three Nutritional IDs.

So be sure that once you know your Nutritional ID, you actually take the next step and minimally get your basic Nutritional ID Meal Plan.

This will include:
  • Your personal meal chart
  • Meal plan usage instructions
  • Five days of recommended meals
  • Shopping list
  • Recipes
I understand that finances are still tight for so many, so the basic Nutritional ID meal plan is only $9.97. There are more advanced plans available but having at least the basic Nutritional ID Meal Plan is a key.

If you have any comments or questions, please leave them below for myself or my staff to address personally.



Monday, June 18, 2012

The Great Mercury Debate

by Glen Depke

First off, I really hope that there is not a great debate in your mind on the potential damage that mercury toxicity can cause. Mercury is a known neurotoxin and for those the are not familiar with the definition of a neurotoxin, here it is; a substance that damages, destroys, or impairs the functioning of nerve tissue. Also remember that your autonomic nervous system is the master regulator of your entire body. 

Obviously this is important.

Believe it or not, there is still a debate ongoing on the dangers of mercury. While there is already a host of information in regard to mercury available on the Internet, I wanted to give you some first hand client and personal situations tied into mercury toxicity. I will also share some opinions on why mercury seems to be huge challenge for some, while seemingly non challenging for others.

Enjoy!

First my story. I had a seizure when I was 17 and went though all the conventional testing to understand what caused the seizure. Everything came back negative and it was left as a rare occurrence that was not likely to happen again. 

Well, it did not work out that way.

I continued to have seizures and of course more testing, while still coming back negative. At this time I was put on medication and instructed to abstain from alcohol use. I started to take the medication but was not convinced that alcohol was and issue until I had another seizure while on the medication. At this point, I took the advice of the doctors and stopped drinking any alcohol at all. Much to my unpleasant surprise, I still has seizures on medication and off alcohol. You could probably imagine how distraught I was with the continuing seizures.

This is when I took matters into my own hands and also looked for the advice of some alternative health practitioners. While I quickly recognized that there were many simple fundamentals of health that needed to change, it was brought to my attention by a holistic dentist that the 9 silver amalgams (mercury fillings) that were in my mouth were potentially creating a mercury toxicity and playing a significant role in my seizures. 

From there I followed through on focusing on my fundamentals of health and eventually had all 9 silver amalgams replaced with composites. Under the direction of alternative practitioners, I followed a detoxification protocol and was eventually taken off all my seizure medications.

Once the amalgams were removed, my overall health was balanced and I detoxified the mercury, I was seizure free and able to enjoy a good glass of wine with absolutely zero concerns of ever having a seizure again.

While I know that there were many aspects of my health that needed to be addressed, I am very confident that one of the biggest challenges for me was the mouthful of mercury fillings. My known neurotoxin.

Another example is a patient that I saw back in my days at Dr Mercola's office. I had a woman walk into my office in her younger 30's actually walk in as if she was an unhealthy 80 year old woman. Once she began to share her story, I quickly recognized that this woman was a picture of health just a short time ago. She was very proactive in taking care of her own health, which in the end, caused her some major challenges.

You see, she ran across some information on the Internet sharing the dangers of silver amalgams and wanted to be proactive by having them removed. Without understanding the importance of proper extraction, she went to her usual dentist, who actually put them in, for removal. To make the long story short, she was exposed to high levels of mercury poisoning due to a less than optimal procedure in removal and she paid the price. 

Because this women was very lean and small, the mercury did not have much fat tissue to store this neurotoxin, so it ended up in her connective tissue and nervous system tissue, thus creating extreme pain and discomfort.

Thankfully after actually fattening her up (I know, it sounds odd) and working through a healthy detoxification process, we were finally able to get some of the mercury out of the connective and nervous system tissue to either exit the body or at worst move it to a less symptomatic storage in fat tissue. Once the detoxification process was over we were able to assist her in losing the fat that was put on and she had her life back.

Sometimes what you don't know, can actually kill you. Thankfully not the case here.

So let's be clear, mercury is a known neurotoxin and no level is really healthy for you.

There is one more point to make though. 

Why is it that once person can be overly reactive to mercury toxicity and another little to no reaction?

I find that some of my clients have a poor blood/brain barrier function that leads to these challenges. Understand that when you have a toxin in your tissue such as mercury, the body can move this to the lymphatic system. From there, this is moved into your blood for removal via the skin, lungs, kidneys via your urine and liver via the colon.

The problem though when the blood/brain barrier is not functioning properly, the mercury can move from the blood into the brain and cause a whole host of challenges. Thankfully there is a simple and extremely cost effective way to assess and address this blood/brain barrier.

If you have any comments or questions to this article, post them below and I will address this personally. 

Toxic Effects of Excess Mercury


Cardiovascular System
Excessive ingestion of Mercury can cause Angina.

Ears/Hearing
Mercury toxicity can be an underlying cause of Tinnitus

Excretory System
Mercury accumulates in and damages the Kidneys.

Immune System
Mercury weakens the Immune System by depressing Helper T-Cells.
Excessive exposure to Mercury causes Hodgkin's Disease (a form of Lymphatic Cancer).

Metabolism
Exposure to Mercury (or its vapors) can cause Fatigue
Mercury stimulates the production of Free Radicals
Mercury damages the Liver.

Musculoskeletal System
Mercury increases the risk of Arthritis.
Exposure to Mercury can cause Muscle Tension

Nervous System
Exposure to Mercury causes impairment in Abstract Reasoning ability. 
Exposure to Mercury can cause Aggressiveness
Exposure to Mercury can cause Anxiety
Exposure to Mercury can cause Apathy
Exposure to Mercury can cause decreased Attention Span
Mercury concentrates in and damages the Brain:
- Mercury damages the Blood-Brain Barrier.
- Mercury concentrates in and damages the Cerebral Cortex.
Exposure to Mercury can cause impairment of Concentration
Exposure to Mercury can cause Depression
Exposure to Mercury can cause Drowsiness.
Mercury can cause Epilepsy.
Exposure to Mercury can cause Hallucinations
Exposure to Mercury (or its vapors) can cause Headache
Exposure to Mercury (or its vapors) can cause Insomnia
Exposure to Mercury can lower Intelligence
Exposure to Mercury (or its vapors) can cause Irritability
Exposure to Mercury can cause impairment of Learning ability. 
Exposure to Mercury (or its vapors) can cause Memory impairment. 
Mental Retardation can occur as a result of excessive exposure to Mercury. 
Exposure to Mercury is associated with poor (“bad”) Mood
Mercury can cause Multiple Sclerosis (MS). 
Exposure to Mercury can cause Nervousness
Mercury can cause Numbness
Exposure to Mercury can cause Speech Impairment (in the form of slurred Speech). 
Exposure to Mercury can cause Tremor

Respiratory System
Mercury concentrates in and damages the Lungs.

Sexual System - Females
Exposure to Mercury during Pregnancy increases the risk of Birth Defects.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Number One Marker of Longevity

by Glen Depke

So who wants to live a long, healthy and happy life into their 100's?

Now I know what some of you are thinking, "I don't want to live that long." Even if you do not have a goal of becoming a centurion, don't you want to live a long, healthy, vibrant and healthy life regardless of what age you check out? Of course you do!

Since becoming a centurion is a goal of mine (actually 105 years old is my goal), I have done much research on those that live past 100. Interestingly enough, there are so many differences. Some drink, some do not. Some eat a lot of vegetables, some don't eat many at all. Some work out, some do not. Some abstain from alcohol consumption, some drink. Some have never smoked, while others smoke until the day they die.

How can there be so many differences and is there a factor that unites all of them? Well, there is one factor that is consistent.

They have all figured out or stumbled upon what works to maintain a low insulin level. This is a huge key for overall healthy, happy and vibrant longevity. 

LOW INSULIN...

Do you know what is even more interesting than this? 

Typically speaking, most conventional docs never even assess insulin levels. Most are only looking at glucose for all the answers with blood sugar. The problem with this though, is that glucose can remain somewhat normal for long durations of time while insulin levels are going off the charts. You don't want your insulin levels off the charts.

So what's off the charts though?

Even if you are lucky enough to have a doc that is looking at insulin, the conventional ranges are necessarily getting you on track. Most labs will suggest that your insulin levels need to be less than 12 and perhaps suggest that 10-11 is an intermediate risk. Often it is suggested that optimal would be somewhere between 3-9.

Let's take this a step further though.

To me, it is important to look at insulin per individual rather than an overall picture. Remember, we are all biochemically different and labs as well as most else require this approach. When I am looking at insulin levels, I always take into account the persons Nutritional ID. Basically this is your biochemical individual need for nutrition. When I look at your Nutritional ID, I would then assess insulin differently for each.

Protein Type insulin as <=2
Mixed Type insulin as 3/4
Veggie Type insulin as 5/6

So to know your optimal insulin level, it is imperative to understand your Nutritional ID. Follow this link to assess your Nutritional ID.

Once you know your Nutritional ID, you can make a proper assessment of your insulin levels. If your insulin is above the optimal level, you can simply eliminate the caution foods or secondary foods from your Nutritional ID meal plan as a way to assist in finding this optimal insulin level. There is a quick and easy way to get your Nutritional ID meal plan at price of less than $10.00. Use this link to get your basic Nutritional ID meal plan and begin the journey toward an optimal insulin level.

So one thing that is important though is to ask your doctor to check insulin the next time you are having a blood draw. If you do not have a blood draw coming up soon, your not comfortable asking your doctor for this or if you do not regularly visit a doctor, you can use outside services to assess insulin for yourself. You can visit Walk-In Lab to order your insulin test online and they will direct you to a blood draw location in your area. This test is only $29.00 yet vitally important for your health, happiness and longevity. Walk-In Lab is an incredible online company that puts testing at your finger tips without breaking the bank.

So what health challenges arise from excessive levels of insulin?

Once you read this list below, it will be easier to recognize the importance of understanding your Nutritional ID and finding your own personal optimal level of insulin.

Aging Process
Excessive Insulin production accelerates the Aging Process

Cardiovascular System
Excessive Insulin production increases the risk of Atherosclerosis:
- Excessive Insulin production decreases the breakdown of Fibrin, increasing the likelihood of abnormal Blood Clotting.
- Excessive Insulin production increases lesions in Blood Vessel walls.
Excessive Insulin production increases the risk of Heart ailments.
Elevated Insulin levels increase the risk of Ischemic Heart Disease
- Elevated Insulin levels increase the risk of Heart Attack
Elevated Insulin levels can cause Hypertension

Immune System
Elevated Insulin levels can cause Colon Cancer
Elevated Insulin levels can cause Endometrial Cancer

Metabolism
Excessive Insulin production causes a build-up of Cholesterol deposits.
Hypoglycemia can be caused by Insulin over-compensating for high Blood Sugar levels and lowering Blood Sugar to the extent that Hypoglycemia results.
Excessive endogenous production or release of Insulin can cause Insulin Resistance (via a negative feedback mechanism).
Elevated Insulin levels increase the risk of Diabetes Mellitus Type 2
Excessive Insulin production increases the production of endogenous Triglycerides that are stored in Adipose Tissue and contribute to Obesity
- Insulin promotes the uptake of Glucose and Fatty Acids from the bloodstream for storage in Adipose Tissue (particularly in Visceral Fat in the abdomen and around the body’s organs).

Nervous System
Excessive Insulin production or release causes the down-regulation of Beta-3 Adrenergic Receptors, causing them to become less sensitive to stimulation by their Agonists) - this process may explain the ability of excessive Insulin to cause Obesity.

Insulin Activates these Potentially Toxic Substances

Enzymes
Insulin activates Delta-5 Desaturase

Insulin Interferes with these Substances

Hormones
Excessive Insulin production or release inhibits the release of DHEA (Dehydroepiandrosterone).