The popularity of probiotics in the past 10 years has skyrocketed. A decade ago, most people would probably have given you a bit of a weird look if you asked them whether they were supplementing with probiotics. But now, with the scientific community increasingly proving that your gut health is critical to your overall health, probiotics are a hot topic.
Now, there’s all sorts of words like “good bacteria”, “bad bacteria”, “microbiome”, and “gut flora” bandied about. They sound important, but what the heck do they actually mean? And for that matter, why do you even need to know what they mean? Can’t you just grab any old probiotic product from your supermarket or health store shelves, knock a capsule back once a day, and move on with your life?
Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. There are plenty of probiotic products out there which will provide absolutely no benefit for your gut health, and others that may even do you harm. In order to get the most from your probiotic supplement, you first need to get inside your gut. Metaphorically, not literally – that would be pretty darn gross.
Why do I need to take a probiotic supplement?
Your gastrointestinal tract, henceforth referred to as your gut, is home to over 500 different species of microorganisms. This number of species is likely much higher, as scientists are still funding hundreds of new gut microflora strains every year. These microorganisms number in their billions. Billions, people!
Far from your gut being an incestuous infestation of disgusting microscopic bugs, we rely on these billions of microorganisms for our very existence. A 2012 study published in the Journal of Nutrition in Clinical Practice found that the bacteria in your gut form an intricate, living fabric of natural controls that affect body weight, energy, and nutrition. Another 2012 study, this time published in the Journal of Nature Reviews Neuroscience, noted that the gut microbiotia plays a pivotal role “in the regulation of anxiety, mood, cognition and pain.”
The take away from all these emerging studies is that the microorganisms that live in your gut are far more important than you think. They have the potential to influence almost every aspect of your health, so if things are unbalanced down there (and they probably are!), there’s no way you can ever be fully healthy.
Your gut is probably lacking in good bacteria
The reason I say that your gut microbiome (the “living community” of bacteria and yeast which resides in your gastrointestinal tract) is probably a bit sad is because modern society has it in for these useful little guys. For starters, evidence shows that a natural birth is critical for exposing newborn babies to certain beneficial bacterial strains which then go on to colonize their gut. As this article from Science Daily puts it:
Each individual’s community of gut microbes is unique and profoundly sensitive to environmental conditions, beginning at birth. Indeed, the mode of delivery during the birthing process has been shown to affect an infant’s microbial profile.
Communities of vaginal microbes change during pregnancy in preparation for birth, delivering beneficial microbes to the newborn. At the time of delivery, the vagina is dominated by a pair of bacterial species, Lactobacillus and Prevotella. In contrast, infants delivered by caesarean section typically show microbial communities associated with the skin, including Staphylococcus, Corynebacterium, and Propionibacterium. While the full implications of these distinctions are still murky, evidence suggests they may affect an infant’s subsequent development and health, particularly in terms of susceptibility to pathogens.
Essentially, if you had a cesarean birth, your gut is off to a very bad start. The next great blow to your gut health comes with antibiotics. Every time your doctor prescribed a round of antibiotics to kill of some pathogen in your body, it also killed off the good bacteria in your gut. Antibiotics are not selective, meaning they kill everything in your gut – good and bad.
Finally, there’s all sorts of other environmental toxins, prescription meds, and oral contraceptives which have been shown to take their toll on your gut health. Suffice to say that your population of beneficial bacteria is not what it should be.
Are the probiotics in fermented foods enough?
This one is a little more difficult to answer. For some people, the probiotics they receive from fermented foods may be sufficient to keep their gut happy and healthy, but only if they work hard at it. These people would need to have an already healthy gut biome, and they’d need to be eating a variety fermented foods per day. Examples of fermented foods include:
sauerkraut
kimchi
kombucha
kefir
kvass
All of which need to be raw and unpasteurized. These foods can be very expensive to buy, and are time consuming (but highly rewarding!) to make. Most people don’t want that kind of commitment. If you do, check out our easy DIY sauerkraut recipe.
If you’re not prepared to eat a range of different fermented foods every day, or if you have been exposed to a cesarean birth, antibiotics, or have serious digestive issues, you NEED to get your hands on a quality probiotic supplement. Here’s how.
Finding the best quality probiotic supplement
If you find the right probiotic supplement for your needs, your gut will flourish. Quality probiotic supplements provide billions of beneficial bacteria which actually re-colonize your gut and make it a happy place once more. If you’ve been suffering from digestive issues (diarrhea, constipation, stomach pain, gas, nausea, etc), you’ll likely notice the difference within a few days, if not immediately!
Cheap or poor-quality probiotics, on the other hand, use the wrong bacterial species or don’t allow those bacteria to actually take up residence in your gut. A classic example of this is acidophilus yoghurt – it might help your digestion when you eat it, but it’s effects are only temporary, simply because those bacteria aren’t designed to actually live in your gut.
This probiotic easily gets the thumbs-up from us, for a number of reasons. Firstly, it’s endorsed by Chris Kresser, a key figure in the health industry who I have a lot of respect for due to his obsession for reviewing the scientific literature and really knowing his stuff. If Chris says its good, its probably good.
Next, Prescript-Assist sources it’s beneficial bacteria from soil-based organisms – bacteria and other microorganisms which we would commonly have been exposed to before humanity developed a repulsion for getting dirt on its hands. These bacteria have been scientifically proven to live in the human gastrointestinal tract, meaning this supplement helps you to rebuild you gut population, rather than just temporarily bolstering it (as with many other probiotics).
Finally, Prescript-Assist also contains a humic/fulvic acid prebiotic which helps those good bacteria to thrive and flourish within their new home (your gut!). Essentially, it plants your seedlings, and gives them a healthy dose of organic fertilizer at the same time.
These potent little babies pack a serious punch, and are endorsed by another of our health heroes, Mark Sisson. I like these probiotics as they’ve gone for high-potency, high-quality bacterial strains rather than just a vast number of low-return bacterial species. That’s what a lot of companies rely on to sell their probiotic product – “contains 150 billion trillion CFU’s!”, when really it’s about quality, not quantity. What’s the point in sending hundreds of billions of bacterial strains through your gut, if they don’t actually want to live there?
Primal Probiotics come with excellent reviews and plenty of information regarding their effectiveness and why they’ve selected certain strains. They’re also designed to survive the harsh environment of your stomach and make it through to your gut intact, which can’t be said for many other probiotic supplements.
Different strokes for different folks
While the above two probiotic supplements are a great start, everyone is different. With this in mind, if your body doesn’t respond well to them after the initial “adjustment” period (usually around a week), shop around and find a probiotic which is also well-respected and which suits your needs better.
Do you have a go-to probiotic supplement which you love? Tell us the difference that it’s made in your life!
If you’ve been doing your research, chances are you’ve figured out that conventional deodorant and anti-perspirants are highly toxic. Yes, yes, I know what you’re thinking – where does the mayhem end? Well, it certainly doesn’t end here, as these babies typically contain a heady concoction of chemicals which can do some serious harm in your body.
Common toxins found in deodorants and antiperspirants
Just to get you all riled up, here’s a quick list of toxic compounds commonly found in your average stick or spray-can of deodorant:
Aluminum: Used to block the sweat glands and keep sweat from reaching the surface of your skin. Preliminary research suggests that these aluminum compounds can be absorbed through the skin and cause changes to estrogen receptors in breast cells. The result, according researchers, is a higher risk of breast cancer with continued use of deodorants which contain aluminum.
Parabens: Used as a preservative to stop fungus or bacteria growing on your goods. Parabens are currently in the scientific hotseat for suspicions of contributing to breast cancer, due to their estrogen-simulating effect in the body
Propylene glycol: Keeps products from drying out. This nasty stuff was originally developed as a type of antifreeze, but is now being used in many deodorants and antiperspirants. There is no shortage of studies out there showing how propylene glycol is poison to our bodies, including this 2003 study and this 2007 study. Propylene glycol can cause dermatitis, kidney damage, liver damage, eye and skin irritation, gastrointestinal irritation, nausea, headaches, and central nervous depression. Seems like a great ingredient for your deodorant, right?
Triclosan: A synthetic compound used to kill bacteria on the skin (and inside your pits!). Triclosan has been shown to cause contact dermatitis, and has also been found to disrupt thyroid function.
The list goes on. Other nasty numbers found in your deodorant or antiperspirant include TEA and DEA, artificial colors and perfumes, and talc. Suffice to say that you need to throw those sweet-smelling cancer sticks out, ASAP.
Make your own healthy deodorant with doTERRA essential oils
You could shop around for hours, even days, trying to find a mass-produced deodorant that doesn’t contain any of these harmful chemicals. And even when you did, they’d probably have something else in them which is detrimental to your health. Admittedly, there are certain products out there which are legitimately clean, like this excellent natural deodorant stick from Green Tidings, but the cost of these products can add up over time.
When it comes down to it, your best solution is to make your own deodorant. Here’s a quick, easy set of steps to do just that. If you want to make your own deodorant bar, rather than just a paste that you rub on with your hands, add in some beeswax to harden things up.
Remember, you can buy doTERRA oils for much cheaper, wholesale prices if you sign up through our Thrive Primal doTERRA portal. More more information on how to get started buying cheaper essential oils, check out this article.
Also note that the Whisper blend is marketed “for women”, but the smell is definitely kosher for both men and women. As a man, I can confirm that it smells awesome and certainly doesn’t detract from my manliness!
Natural doTERRA deodorant instructions
There’s two ways you can do this recipe: the quick way and the fancy way. In our house, most of the time we opt for the “quick way” as we’re busy little bees. Essentially, this just involves leaving a jar of coconut oil somewhere warm (outside in the sun or beside the fireplace for a few minutes) and then mixing everything together in a glass jar. We don’t always use shea butter or cacao butter, but it’s nice to add them if you have the chance as they help to moisturize your pits. The “fancy way”, which admittedly will give you a better end product, is as follows:
Combine the coconut oil, shea or cacao butter in a double boiler, or simply a large mason jar inside a saucepan filled with 1 inch of water in the bottom. If you’re making a deodorant stick, add in the beeswax as well. I like simply melting everything in the mason jar, as it saves you having to clean hardened oils off a bowl at the end.
Bring the water to a boil, stirring ingredients constantly until they’re fully melted.
Remove oil mixture from heat and immediately add in the baking soda, arrowroot, and essential oils.
Give the mixture a good stir to ensure everything is fully incorporated. You need to make sure your oils are evenly spread throughout.
If you added beeswax for a deodorant stick, allow the mixture to cool for around 10-15 minutes at room temp. Once it hardens to a thick consistency, kind of like thick honey, carefully pour/scoop the mixture into an empty deodorant tube (you can literally just scoop out the old, nasty deodorant then rinse out with hot water) and leave overnight to fully harden. It’s better to wait until your deodorant mixture is thicker, so that you can make a mound inside the stick for ease of use.
That’s it! This should keep you and your family going for at least a few weeks, and sometimes a lot longer. If you didn’t make the deodorant stick, just scoop out a little with your fingers and massage gently into your pits.
It’s important to note that this isn’t an antiperspirant, so you will still sweat. But sweating is a healthy, natural bodily process – you need to sweat! And the good news that the longer you use this natural deodorant, the less you’ll sweat. Plus your sweat won’t smell bad, so you’re welcome.
If you start to develop a rash after a few days or weeks, don’t worry – if you’ve been using conventional, toxic deodorants for a long time this can sometimes happen. Doing an armpit detox like this one once a week until the rash goes away can make a big difference.
How did it go? Do you have your own special DIY deodorant blend? Tell us all about it!
Everyone gets a parasite at least once in their life. For most people, they’ll be exposed to hundreds, if not thousands, of parasites on a regular basis. That thought alone is enough to send many people running for the hills, or at least that “happy place” in their minds where parasites don’t exist.
But to assume you’re somehow immune to parasites is a poor assumption indeed. Either that, or you tell yourself that you’ve cooked your food thoroughly enough and religiously sanitized your hands to the point where there’s no chance that you could have some nasty little worms residing in your gut. Once again, big mistake.
This post comes after concluding 14 months of travel through some of the poorest countries on earth. As Liivi and I made our way down through Mexico and Central America, then immediately immersed ourselves in Southeast Asia for a couple of months to top it off, my mind was constantly considering the possibility that the next bowl of Vietnamese pho or undercooked Mexican tacos might be the one that introduced my body to an unpleasant concoction of parasitism.
Many people would respond to these suspicions by making a quick trip to the doctor for a diagnosis. That doctor may or may not perform a series of blood, urine or stool tests, but their prescription is almost always the same: a strong dose of antibiotics. And if you’ve been following our posts on Candida, you’ll know by now that antibiotics will RUIN your gut microflora and simply put you at greater risk of future parasite infections.
You could also seek out a functional medicine practitioner to get a more holistic take on your potential parasite problem, or even procure a reputable mail-order parasite testing kit, such as this Full GI Panel. The problem is, both of these alternatives are expensive, time consuming, and despite their reputability they’re often still quite unreliable in their results. Either the practitioner or the test might declare you “parasite free”, when really you’ve got a whole host of parasites that have dropped below the radar.
The way I see it, you’re much better off knowing what signs and symptoms to look out for, performing a simple parasite questionnaire, then going ahead and taking steps to expunge those uninvited parasites living in your innards. Even if you’re unsure, often embarking upon a simple at-home natural anti-parasite regime can do your body a lot of good, whether you have parasites or not. But first, lets wrap our heads around some of the more common parasites, and their usual symptoms.
Common parasites and typical symptoms
Enterobius vermicularis (pinworm)
Pinworm is a type of roundworm (nematode) with a huge geographic range. It is prevalent throughout much of the United States, along with many other parts of the world. It is estimated that around 209 million people worldwide are infected, with more than 30 percent of children throughout the world infected. In summary, there’s a very good chance you’ve got this little blighter hanging out in your large intestine.
The eggs of E. vermicularis spread to other people via fecal residue. In essence, people who go for a poo and don’t wash their hands properly are to blame. Nasty. And considering this pinworm can lay up to 15,000 eggs per night in your nether regions, it’s highly infectious.
Symptoms of pinworm include:
itching of the genitals and anus (sorry, but we had to go there)
sleep disturbance due to constant itching (particularly bad at night, when this parasite is most active)
in some cases, rapid weight loss, urinary tract infection, and appendicitis
Giardia lamblia
If you’ve ever considered taking a drink from what you thought to be a clean river, lake or stream on a particularly long hike, you’ve probably been warned off by somebody harping on about “giardia”. Hopefully you heeded their warning, because giardia is the second most common parasitic infection in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that more than 2.5 million cases of giardiasis occur annually.
Like pinworm, giardia is spread via fecal-oral contamination (put bluntly, when you get someone else’s poo particles in your mouth…tasty). Giardia is commonly water-borne because it is resistant to the chlorine in tap water, and even survives well in cold mountain streams. For this reason, it has earned the nicknames of “backpacker’s diarrhea” and “beaver fever”.
You can even get giardia from raw or undercooked foods, and animals such as sheep, cattle, dogs, rodents and beavers can pass it on and ensure it remains almost permanently in many water bodies.
Symptoms of giardia include:
diarrhea
malabsorption
indigestion
dramatic weight loss
fatigue
depression
in some cases, arthritis, particularly in the lower parts of the body
Ancylostoma duodenale, Necator americanus (hookworm)
A. duodenale is found in Europe, Africa, China, Japan, India and the Pacific Islands. N. americanus, as the name suggests, is found primarily in the Americas as well as the Caribbean and certain areas of Asia and the Pacific. These parasites used to be a real problem in America until the early 1900s, but hookworm is still widespread throughout the world.
As usual, the means by which these parasites get into your body is a rather disgusting one. Upon hatching, larvae feed on bacteria in the soil, then enter their human hosts via pores, hair follicles and even intact skin. They then travel through your circulatory system, climb into the lungs, and make their way eventually into your digestive tract. Here, they take up residence and begin the cycle all over again.
Hookworms like these generally don’t present any major problems aside from occasional gastroenteritis-like symptoms, or if the intestinal worm colony becomes too big (yuck!). The biggest concern, however, is blood loss. These worms use anticoagulant compounds that allow them to consume around quarter of a liter of blood per day. This blood loss can produce something called microcytic hypochromic anemia, which is often associated with iron deficiency. This hookworm infection may also result in “physical and mental retardation in children” – a rather frightening prospect, if you have your own little tikes to worry about.
Entamoeba histolytica
E. histolytica is the world’s second leading protozoan cause of death, close behind malaria. Of the approximately 50 million infective cases per year, an estimated 100,000 of them are fatal. That’s a pretty high mortality rate.
Infection by this parasite occurs via the fecal-oral route (ingested poo particles), typically due to poor food preparation hygiene, use of human waste for crop fertilization (more common than you might think!), and even “oral-anal sexual practices” (their words, not mine!).
Symptoms of this nasty little number include:
malaise
weight loss
severe abdominal pain
severe bloody diarrhea
fever
inflammatory bowel disease
colitis
Many of these symptoms lead health practitioners to mistakenly diagnose appendicitis, especially in children.
Aside from those listed above, there are plenty of other parasites floating about. Other common parasites found in the US include tapeworms (which can grow up to 60 feet long in the human intestine) and blood flukes (which mature in snails then burrow through human skin to infect the host).
Suitably concerned? You should be. Which isn’t to say that you should break out in a cold sweat. But a smattering of health concern occasionally is a good thing.
Before we proceed, it’s important to remember that you will never fully eradicate all parasites from your body. Our bodies have evolved to coexist with parasites, and completely removing anything which can be considered parasitic will present it’s own host of problems.
Take Candida, for example. This yeast, when it overgrows due to stress, antibiotics and excessive sugar consumption, can be very damaging to your health. However, Candida is actually a necessary component of our immune and digestive systems, and protects against heavy metal poisoning by metabolizing heavy metals and removing them from the body. Remove Candida, and you could suffer from heavy metal poisoning.
The main thing to remember is that for animals (including humans) which are healthy, parasites don’t pose a problem. It is when our bodies become weakened due to poor diets, antibiotics, drugs, stress, and so on that parasites can become stronger and take over our bodies. For these natural remedies to work, then, you need to also get your health under control.
One of the best ways to do this is to place yourself on a health protocol such as the one we’ve put together here. While the protocol is designed for getting Candida under control, it is excellent for dramatically improving your health in general. Otherwise, spend some time reading through some of our other posts here on Thrive Primal.
Black walnut
While I couldn’t track down any scientific studies relating to the parasite-preventative qualities of black walnut, there’s bucketloads of anecdotal evidence. The dried, ground hull of the Black Walnut contains a number of compounds which have been associated with parasite die-off. These compounds include organic iodine, juglandin, juglone and various other juglandic acids. Black walnut has purportedly been used for hundreds of years to expel various types of parasites, including ringworms, tapeworms, pinworms, and malaria.
Even if it hasn’t been scientifically linked to anti-parasitic effects, black walnut has received plenty of attention elsewhere in the health community. With this in mind, you should consider taking a black walnut supplement regardless!
Oregano essential oil
Unlike black walnut, oregano has received plenty of scientific review with regards to parasites, and the results are very promising. In one study, oil from Mediterranean oregano (Oreganum vulgare) was administered orally to 14 patients who had tested positive for several different internal parasites. After 6 weeks of 600 mg emulsified oregano oil daily, there was complete disappearance of all 3 different parasites in many of the patients. For the others, their parasite count diminished considerably, and those suffering from associated gastrointestinal issues also improved markedly.
In another study, the anti-parasitic effect of oregano and thyme essential oils were tested on the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, a protozoan similar to Entamoeba histolytica. Here, I’ll paraphrase, as the technical mumbo jumbo becomes rather convoluted: “extract of oregano essential oil inhibited epimastigote growth (IC50/24 h = 175 μg/ml) and also induced trypomastigote lysis (IC50/24 h = 115 μg/ml)”. The conclusion? “Oregano and thyme essential oils are effective against T cruzi”.
Garlic is a proven anti-parasitic, and from what I’ve seen it punches well above the rest. Garlic can slow or even fully eradicate more than sixty varieties of fungi and twenty types of bacteria and viruses. It owes this parasite-killing power to it’s high concentrations of both allicin and ajoene. Ajoene has been strongly associated with fungal spore die-off, while allicin is a powerful antimicrobial agent which selectively kills off parasitizing organisms in your body while leaving the beneficial bacteria well alone.
This study indicates that garlic oil “has broad-spectrum activity against Trypanosoma, Plasmodium, Giardia and Leishmania”. Another study indicates that the high concentrations of allicin found in garlic have been found to:
exhibit antibacterial activity against a wide range of harmful bacteria, including various strains of E. coli
prevent fungal activity, including Candida albicans
prevent parasitic activity, including major human intestinal parasites like Entamoeba histolytica and Giardia lamblia
exhibit strong anti-viral properties
Clearly, you need more garlic in your life. Whether thats from garlic essential oil, allicin supplements or just straight whole garlic consumption (you’d need a lot of this last option to make any real difference against parasites), is up to you.
Clove essential oil
Perhaps second only to garlic, cloves are dynamite against parasites. Cloves contain eugenol, caryophyllene, and various tannins which exhibit powerful antimicrobial properties. These compounds can enter the bloodstream and selectively dispatch microscopic parasites, along with their larvae and eggs. Cloves have been proven in the treatment of malaria, tuberculosis, cholera, scabies and a range of other parasites, viruses, bacteria and fungi.
As this research paper indicates, clove essential oil has been shown to have powerful effects on several microorganisms and parasites. These include pathogenic bacteria, herpes, various Staphylococcus strains, and even hepatitis C viruses.
Another study examined the anti-parasitic activity of clove, basil and yarrow essential oils against the common parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. While it was found that all three of the oils were effective against the parasite, clove was by far the most effective.
Finally, a 2011 lab analysis of clove essential oil found that it had strong anti-Giardia (remember that “backpacker’s diarrhea I talked about earlier?) properties. Some of the study findings are as follows:
clove essential oil, and specifically the eugenol in clove oil, have anti-Giardia activity and inhibit cell attachment
clove oil promotes cell swelling, resulting in cell membrane destruction
clove oil induces an autophagic death process in Giardia cells
clove essential oil and eugenol have no toxicity on mammalian cells (meaning there’s no nasty side-effects!).
By far, the best way to get your anti-parasitic dose of clove is via topical application of the essential oil, or ingesting it as directed.
Wormwood
Wormwood has long been recognized as an effective natural treatment for certain types of parasites. It’s anthelmintic (medicinal anti-parasitic) properties were highly valued by many ancient cultures, and it continues to be used today in many parts of the world for the same reason. It’s apparent that if something continues to be used as an anti-parasitic treatment for so long, there must be some truth to the claims. In fact, many modern farmers still use wormwood for the de-worming of horses, cows and sheep…so why not humans as well?
It’s thought that the key anti-parasitic constituents of wormwood include bitter substances like sesquiterpene lactones, and an essential oil which contains a high concentration of terpenes. One study found that an in-vitro wormwood aqueous extract demonstrated strong anti-parasitic effects on the nematode Trichostrongylus colubriformis, and that the thujone in wormwood amplified this effect.
While there appears to be less scientific research of wormwood when compared to oregano, garlic and clove, there are a number of studies illustrating the effectiveness of wormwood against malaria. This study found that wormwood extract could inhibit the growth of malaria parasites in mice, while another found that cure rates were 74 percent after 7 days of wormwood treatment in human patients with uncomplicated malaria.
You can buy wormwood as an organic extract or in pill form (apparently the extract tastes pretty nasty!). But in my opinion, if you’re going whole-hog on these parasites, you might as well get the black walnut wormwood complex and kill two birds with one stone!
Thyme essential oil
As mentioned earlier, a study which compared the anti-parasitic properties of both oregano and thyme essential oils found that, while both were effective, thyme was the most powerful of the two. Considering how much acclaim oregano essential oil has received for it’s anthelmintic properties, this is certainly saying something.
On looking into the literature further, it became apparent that thyme essential oil has received a lot of attention for its anti-parasitic application in horticulture and pest control, but very little with regards to humans. Still, considering the number of studies confirming the effectiveness of thyme oil in killing a range of parasites, it stands to reason that it would also be effective for protecting our own bodies against infection. Make sure you do your dosage research before you start chugging it back by the gallon, though!
I use doTERRA’s thyme essential oil. It’s generally more expensive than some of the other brands, but it’s much higher quality. And if I’m putting oils into my body, I need to know they’re top notch.
Fennel essential oil
According to anecdotal evidence, fennel is believed to be a strong anti-parasitic. Fennel seed essential oil is used to flush parasites and their waste from the body, and has also been historically used to treat Candida overgrowth. Scientific review of this herb with regards to parasites is sadly lacking, however.
That being said, Dr Axe seems to think fennel is worth getting your hands on. According to him, fennel essential oil can help to heal wounds, relieve digestive issues and constipation, provide a host of antioxidants, and aid in weight loss. So even if it doesn’t directly attack parasites, it will certainly help out elsewhere!
This is another purported anti-parasitic natural remedy which lacks any scientific basis. But I’m well aware that just because a product hasn’t been studied, doesn’t mean that it’s not effective. And the anecdotal evidence suggests that it certainly is effective against parasites, their eggs, and yeast overgrowths like Candida.
Diatomaceous earth is a naturally occurring substance that is high in silica, which our bodies use to create hair, nails and skin. While diatomaceous earth is beneficial to us, it’s particles are so small that they can get in between the joints and exoskeletons of parasites and literally kill them on the spot. Thus when you ingest diatomaceous earth, it flushes out all those parasites living in your digestive system, and simultaneously removes heavy metals and other toxins from your body.
The reason why I’m inclined to believe these claims is that diatomaceous earth is still widely used in the agricultural sector for pest control. Farmers and food manufacturers swear by it, and if it can kill pests on food and plants, why not in our bodies as well?
Make sure you only use food grade diatomaceous earth, and take it easy – one to two tablespoons per day is enough. Here’s a reputable food-grade diatomaceous earth product.
Main points to remember
As discussed earlier, parasites are more likely to be a problem for you if your health is lacking. Improve your health, and you’ll dramatically improve your chances of overcoming them. One of the best ways to do this is to clean up your diet, but also to get plenty of high intensity exercise (sweating helps expel toxins and removes the by-products of parasites from your body), and try to keep stress to a minimum where possible. And don’t forget to get plenty of sleep!
If you’re looking to stock up on essential oils for your parasite cleanse, you can save a lot of money by signing up to doTERRA through Thrive Primal. For more information, click here.
If you’re keen to learn more on the subject, Paul Check is one of the world’s leading experts on parasites. He’s put together a series of DVDs and other resources to help people identify their problems and find a harm-free solution. Click this link to find out more.
And finally, if you’re unsure whether you’re suffering from a parasite infection, it’s always best to consult a medical practitioner first. If you’re on other medications, it’s also good to consult your doctor to determine whether the natural remedies listed above will clash with them in any way. Remember, we’re not doctors, we’re just here to provide useful information and helpful tips!
In a perfect world, you’d only be eating organic produce. Heck, in a perfect world, there’d be no such thing as “non-organic” produce, period. I’ve always found the term “non-organic” a little hard to wrap my head around anyway, seeing as produce is, by definition, organic in nature.
Literary conundrums aside, there’s a bigger dilemma at play here: you can’t always buy organic. It could be the crippling price of organic fruit or vegetables which has you passing them by at high speed, headed for the considerably cheaper chemical-enriched produce aisles. It could also be that your local supermarket simply doesn’t have the incentive or resources to source a good range of organic produce.
Whatever the reason, there’s a good chance that you’ll be munching on a non-organic apple one afternoon, or steaming up some non-organic broccoli for the family dinner one evening. And while you’d be commended for at least eating whole foods in the first place, you’re still ingesting a heady concoction of toxins. These toxins are largely due to pesticides sprayed onto the surface of those fruits and vegetables to protect them from insect and animal attack, and keep them looking blemish-free.
While the reasoning behind such an action is perhaps understandable, the result is not: the chemicals in these pesticides remain in the skin and flesh of the produce, and when ingested they pass into our digestive system and pollute our bodies. The result is a higher risk of developing a wide range of diseases and health conditions, from hormonal imbalance, to neurological disorders and even cancer.
As we recommended in our article on buying the healthiest fruit and vegetables, the logical first step is to turn to the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen lists. These are an excellent starting point for paleo, primal and simply health-conscious shoppers, as they give an indication of which produce is ok to buy non-organic, and which fruit and veggies you should be prepared to fork out the big bucks for and buy organic. I also just stumbled across this consumer reports guideline, which lists 48 conventional fruits and vegetables available in the US and guides you through which varieties to go for, and which countries have the lowest-risk produce.
But despite all these efforts, you’re probably still going to end up with some non-organic bits and bobs. This is when a good DIY pesticide wash comes in handy. And it doesn’t have to be a super fancy-schmancy thing you buy from some online health food stores for a million bucks. All it takes is some water, vinegar, and a little bit of patience. Doesn’t seem so bad, considering your health is at stake, right?
Fill a large stainless steel, ceramic or glass bowl with 4 parts water to 1 part white vinegar.
Submerge any fruit, vegetables or other produce that you'd like to clean within the solution. Use a plate or something heavy to keep the items below the water, and leave for 20 minutes.
Take out your fruit or vege, rinse well with tap water, and you're good to go! Simple as that. Make sure you discard your cleaning solution each time.
This recipe was created by Liivi Hess, ThrivePrimal.com
You’d think that after dunking your fresh produce in vinegar for 20 minutes, it’d taste pretty strong. But surprisingly, there’s very little hint of vinegar on the food afterwards, and often what vinegary aftertaste does make it through actually complements the native taste of the produce quite nicely.
While you aren’t going to rid your fruit and vegetables of every molecule of pesticide with this vinegar wash, you’ll banish most of it. And in my opinion, less chemicals, no matter how much less, is definitely a good thing.
If you scour the alternative health cyberspace from time to time, you’ve probably seen the occasional furtive mention of a mysterious thing called glutathione. It seems to be slowly but surely gathering steam, with many people now convinced that it is the one and only “master antioxidant”, king to all the rest. Kind of the like the “one ring to rule them all” of the supplement world.
What’s the deal? Should you be immediately jumping on the glutathione band wagon? Let’s find out.
What the heck is glutathione?
If we’re getting just a little bit geeky, glutathione is more accurately known as L-glutamylcysteinylglycine among academic circles. Glutathione is a tripeptide consisting of 3 bonded amino acids – glutamate, cysteine, and glycine.
Glutathione is generated by cells in our bodies for the rather important purposes of protection and survival. Glutamate makes up part of our brain cells, glycine promotes metabolic processes, and cysteine acts as a moderator in the manufacture of intracellular glutathione.
The roles of the individual amino acids in glutathione are wide-ranging. Critical functions associated with this tremendous trio include detoxification, cell protection from free radicals, elevated energy production, immune support, and healthy brain function.
In addition to being an all-round, cure-all-ailments sort of compound, glutathione is unique in that, unlike other antioxidants which operate from within the blood on the outside of cell membranes, glutathione works from the inside out. This means that it operates from within the cells to protect the mitochondria, expel toxins and boost immune system function. Kind of a big deal, as it happens.
A growing body of clinical trials, along with substantial anecdotal evidence, indicates that supplementing with glutathione can dramatically boost energy levels, noticeably slow the signs and effects of aging, and increase brain activity and focus. In other words, it appears as if it can make you have more energy, live longer, and think smarter. Perhaps there is some substance to the claims of it being the “master antioxidant”.
Why you need more glutathione in your life
Our body naturally produces glutathione in the liver, however studies indicate that glutathione levels in the body decrease as we age. This process of glutathione decline begins at around age 20, and increases exponentially from then on.
Interestingly, studies which tested apparently “healthy” people over a wide range of ages found that the decline occurs with time even if the health of the individual does not itself decline. This is what leads experts to believe that glutathione production is directly linked to aging – suggesting that the less glutathione you have, the more your body ages. But more on that later.
While glutathione naturally declines with age, it’s decline in our bodies can be significantly increased by a number of factors, namely stress, diet and nutrients. In the western world, stress levels tend to increase after a person reaches adulthood, with the introduction of stress-inducing activities such as work, commuting, relationships and debt placing chronic pressure on our minds and bodies. Unsurprisingly, free radical damage greatly increases as a result of this exponential rise in stress, and with that natural decline in glutathione production, we no longer have enough of this free radical-fighting antioxidant to keep up with the oxidative damage to our cells.
The average diet of the modern man is one rich in hydrogenated fast foods, gluten, chemicals from pesticide-laden produce, growth hormones and antibiotics from factory-raised animals. All of these inflammatory, nutrient-poor dietary inputs can place additional pressure on the liver (the organ which naturally produces glutathione) and starve the body of the fuels it needs to produce glutathione in the first place. The elasticity of childhood dampens the effect a poor diet can have on our glutathione production (hence why we don’t see the decline until after age 20), but as we age our ability to roll with the poor-diet punches diminishes.
Finally, our body’s ability to absorb vital nutrients declines as we age, while our exposure to environmental toxins continues to build – things such as heavy metals can remain in our deep tissue and accumulate over time, rather than passing through our system. This increasing state of nutrient depletion and toxic accumulation offsets glutathione production and impedes the processes which promote healthy concentrations of glutathione inside our cells.
How to get the most from your glutathione supplement
Based on the growing body of research surrounding this mystical compound, the more glutathione you have, the better off you are. I’m convinced that it’s the closest thing to anti-aging that modern research has unearthed so far, as it is so small that it can work from within your cells, protecting them from the oxidative damage of free radicals, which are the primary agents of aging.
Yes, glutathione levels appear to naturally decline with age, but luckily there’s certain things you can do to halt this decline and preserve your health. The first thing you can do is to increase your intake of certain whole foods and high quality food products which can provide some of the glutathione precursors, such as sulfur and amino acids. These foods include onions, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and grass-fed, minimally-processed, organic whey protein.
The second step is to supplement. Usually, the mantra of Thrive Primal is one firmly grounded in the belief that if you live the right lifestyle and eat the right whole foods, your body should have everything it needs to achieve optimum health. In 99.9 percent of cases this is true, but in this instance it appears that even lowering stress levels and amping up your consumption of sulfur- and amino acid-rich foods will only make a small difference. To really make a difference, you need to get out the big guns – pure glutathione supplements.
While a plethora of glutathione supplements are available in drug stores, health food stores and even supermarkets, most of them make little difference in your body. This is due to the fact that their proteins are easily broken down by acids in the stomach, meaning they’re completely denatured and effectively useless by the time they reach the liver.
For this reason, you need to look out for glutathione products which guarantee that the proteins don’t get denatured by your stomach acids. This can include products which use compounds to bind the glutathione to acid-resistant peptides, or straight bonded cysteine, which can make it through your stomach intact and team up with glutamate and glycine afterwards to build glutathione. Make sure you really do your research here, otherwise you’ll be throwing your money away.
With this in mind, I’ve tracked down two very rare supplements which appear to do just that. This clinical glutathione ($47 on amazon.com) appears to be very well reviewed and promises to have a much higher success rate of reaching the liver intact than other conventional glutathione supplements.
The second choice is made by Bulletproof Executive, and in my opinion is the clear winner in terms of reliability and quality. They’ve used a protective coating of essential oils and other compounds around the inner capsule, which contains the actual glutathione, to ensure that it makes it through to your liver unscathed. I haven’t tried it yet, but I certainly intend to very soon. You can get it through the Bulletproof Exec site, but shipping is often quite crippling there, so I’d recommend getting it on Amazon for $50. Here’s the link.
It’s not that you don’t understand or agree with why it matters. You’re sold on the merits of eating whole foods, raising healthier kids, avoiding toxins and chemicals, getting fit, and using alternative remedies.
But sometimes it’s a whole lot easier to say than to actually do, right? Believe me, I’ve had the same struggles and questions as you. What on earth do you eat (and especially, what do you feed your kids)? How do you afford to buy healthier products? And where do you find the time to make and do all this stuff?
I know what it’s like to feel that healthy living shouldn’t be this hard, and it shouldn’t have to cost so much, either! Don’t you ever wish someone would just tell you exactly what you need to know and how to make these changes for less?
Because when you have the right info and tools at your fingertips, it all comes together so much more easily.
You know what to cook for your family. You’re more confident in choosing natural alternatives. You find ways to save money without comprising on what’s important to you.
You learn to replace store-bought products with DIY options that actually work and are easy to make. You feel better (and even look better, too). Healthy living becomes less stressful and more enjoyable.
That’s why Stephanie and her team have put together the popular Ultimate Healthy Living Bundle for the fifth year in a row (hurray!). They’re amazed at how many families are saying “yes!” to their health (over 64,000 and counting!) and taking them up on this super short opportunity to get a complete library of natural living resources for one teeny tiny price.
What’s included in the Ultimate Bundle?
You sort of need to see it to believe it, but the package includes 83 digital products and it’s worth over $2,400!
For the cost of a small bag of groceries, you’ll get a complete healthy living library to help you:
prepare whole & delicious real food
get the toxins out of your house for good
understand and use natural remedies
breathe new life into your exercise habits
learn about important women’s health issues
raise exceptionally healthy kids in an unhealthy world
plus learn about gardening & homesteading, meal planning, weight loss and so much more!
Plus, it comes with over $250 worth of bonus offers including:
1. Bloom Naturals – $15 gift certificate toward any product ($15 value)
2. Perfect Supplements – $15 gift certificate toward any Perfect Brand product ($15 value)
3. TriLight Health – $15 off select TriLight products ($15 value)
4. MadeOn Skin Care – FREE BeeCool Muscle Balm Stick and Natural Lip Balm Combo (value $15.25)
5. The Maca Team – FREE Organic Gelatinized Yellow Maca Powder, 8 oz. ($15.44 value)
6. Primal Life Organics – FREE 1-ounce jar of Dirty Mouth Toothpowder ($15.97 value)
7. Get Kombucha – FREE 2-week supply (15 ml) of Kombucha Pro: Liquid Probiotics (value $29.99) AND/OR a FREE 1-ounce bag of 8. Get Kombucha’s Custom Organic Kombucha Tea Blend (value $15.99)
9. Orglamix – FREE Mineral Eye Shadow Trio ($18 value)
10. Experience Life – 4 FREE digital guides (value $29.99)
11. Grove Co. – FREE Mrs. Meyer’s 64 Load Laundry Detergent, Mrs. Meyer’s Fabric Softener, 60 Day VIP Trial, and FREE shipping with a $20 minimum purchase for new customers ($32.66 value); FREE 1-year VIP Membership ($39.95 value) for existing customers
12. Meal Garden – 6 months of Meal Garden FREE (value $35.70)
Besides being so incredibly helpful and inspiring, one of the things I like best about the bundle is the price. By offering the bundle for a short time only, they’re able to give you access to over $2,400 worth of high-quality eBooks, eCourses and printables for a whopping 98% off!
How to get your hands on the goods
Here’s how it works:
Visit their website, take a quick look at all the goodness that comes in this package, then click the green “Buy now!” button to go through their simple and secure 3-step checkout process.
You’ll receive an email with a login to their online access portal, where you’ll begin downloading your eBooks, signing up for your eCourses, and redeeming your free bonus offers.
Use their Getting Started Guide to pick the topic you want to tackle first and start making healthy changes!
The most important detail, though, is that this bundle is available for just 2 days! After Thursday night, December 29th, the sale ends and you’d have to buy all of these products individually.
It’s even backed by a full money-back happiness guarantee, so you can make sure it’s right for you.
No one should have to put off a healthier lifestyle because it costs too much or they can’t get the help they need.
Get what you need for your healthy lifestyle. Learn more or get your bundle HERE.
(Psst… the bundle goes away at 11:59pm Eastern on Thursday, December 29th, so don’t wait!)
As soon as this bundle is released, I intend to get my hands on one effective immediately. Having been given an insider’s sneak peak a few weeks ago into what it contains, I’ve been doing my research…and it’s ridiculous how astronomical the savings are. Many of the publications are one’s which I’ve been working up to buying anyway, and on average just two of these ebooks would amount to the full price they’re asking for this bundle!
If you’ve got any questions, feel free to leave a comment and we’ll get back to you ASAP. In the meantime, check out this video for some healthy living inspiration!
It’s kind of a no-brainer, but I suggest you check out what’s on offer and make your own decision!
It may sound a little ridiculous, but it’s highly likely that your shower is making you dirty. Even dirtier than before you stepped in, that is.
That’s because most showerheads are overlooked during routine household cleans (even the obligatory “Spring clean”), and are in fact an excellent place for the growth and proliferation of harmful microbes. Even if you have a filter on your shower, most are only designed to remove chlorine and inorganic compounds from your water, not nasty microscopic pathogenic invaders.
Research shows that the most common harmful microbes which inhabit your shower heads are “atypical mycobacteria” otherwise known as nontuberculosis mycobacteria. These little gremlins are naturally found in low concentrations all around us, in the water and soil (keep it cool, if you start looking around wildly people will think you’re a bit wacky), but can be suspended in the air by the process of evaporation or mist. Once in the air, these nasty little numbers can enter your lungs and start creating trouble.
Under normal conditions, our exposure to atypical mycobacteria is minimal, with their low concentrations in water and soil presenting little risk of infection. The conditions created in that innocent-seeming showerhead, however, are ideal for the colonization and rapid spread of this bacterial strain, meaning exposure levels are sharply increased and putting you at risk every single time you step into the shower. While various things around the house can harbor these pathogens, shower heads have been shown to have by far the highest concentration of these troublesome critters.
Atypical bacteria belong to the same family as those which cause tuberculosis (hence the name “nontuberculosis mycobacteria”, to differentiate them from their more dangerous cousins), and while they aren’t life-threatening, they can cause all manner of health problems. These include skin infections, lung infections, sinus problems, lymph node infection, and other negative interactions on your skin and in your bloodstream. People with a weakened or compromised immune system are particularly at risk, or those with open wounds or pre-existing skin conditions (such as dandruff or eczema).
And just because you’re healthy doesn’t mean you’re not at risk. All it takes is a bad sleep, a stressful day, a pre-existing cold or flu or too much exercise to put you in the danger zone. At this point, your immune system lacks the strength to fight these bacterial strains from entering your body through the water vapor you breathe in while showering, and you can quickly begin to show symptoms like coughing, difficulty breathing, fever, or general weakness and lethargy.
How to clean your shower head
Luckily, the solution is a simple one. Make cleaning your shower heads part of your regular cleaning routine, at least once a month but preferably every 2 weeks. You can remove the showerhead completely, sit it in a large bowl, then pour white vinegar into the bowl until the showerhead is fully submerged. Leave it there for a couple of hours, get rid of the vinegar, and reattach the showerhead. It’s that simple!
But if that wasn’t simple enough, there’s an even easier way. If you’ve got some large ziplock bags lying around, half fill one with white vinegar, secure the bag to your shower head with a sturdy rubber band, and leave in place for 2-3 hours, making sure the vinegar completely immerses the shower head. As with before, throw away the vinegar and repeat at least once a month to keep those nasty mycobacteria at bay!
Having spent 5 weeks hopping around Thailand recently, my latent passion for curries has intensified somewhat. Passion for certain curries, that is – my mouth is simply unable to find enjoyment in some of the more spicy curries, namely the ominous green curry. Now, you’re probably thinking “but I thought red curries were the hot ones?”, but it turns out that the opposite is true, with green curries being crammed with Bird’s Eye chillies to give them a particularly vicious kick. It’s probably a color thing – traditionally, the color red symbolizes warning and conjures up visions of heat and, incidentally, spicy red chillies.
But I digress. Red curries are great, and in particular the ever-popular Panang curry, otherwise known as “Phanaeng curry” and “penang curry” – take your pick! Panang curry is a personal favorite of mine as it has a deliciously rich, nutty flavor that lends a pleasant sweetness and has just the right amount of spicy zing. I find that ordering Panang curry from restaurants, however, can be kind of hit and miss – especially in Western restaurants, where they can lose their zest and become a bit bland.
Your best bet is to make your own – this way you can control the heat, make sure there’s plenty of good ingredients, get lots of healthy saturated fat, use good-quality meat, and ensure no nasty vegetable oils make their way into your meal (as they tend to do in your average restaurant dish). I’ve used chicken in this recipe as it makes for an amazing curry, but you can substitute chicken for any meat of your choosing, including beef, lamb, pork, fish or shrimp! Enjoy!
3 lbs boneless free-range chicken breasts, cut into medium chunks
2 medium red bell peppers, seeded and sliced lengthwise
¼ cup fresh organic basil leaves
Instructions
In a large frying pan, mix together the coconut milk, curry paste, lime zest, lime juice, fish sauce, and red pepper flakes (if you can't handle too much heat, play it safe and start with just 1 tsp red pepper flakes).
Simmer over low heat, stirring regularly, until paste is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 20 minutes.
While the sauce is simmering, prepare the non-paste ingredients. In a saucepan, cook the onion in the butter/ghee/coconut oil over medium heat until translucent and slightly brown. Add the chicken and cook on medium-high until each piece is white and cooked through. Remove from pan and set aside. Add the bell peppers to the saucepan and cook over medium-high heat for around 10 minutes, until softened and slightly browned. Remove pan from heat and set aside.
When the curry sauce has thickened, add the chicken, bell pepper and onion mixture to it. Stir to mix together the ingredients and simmer for 5 minutes on low heat. Add the basil, turn off the heat, and leave for 3-4 minutes minutes.
Serve warm over white rice or cauliflower rice. Garnish each serving with a few fresh basil leaves and squeeze a little fresh lime juice on top.
This recipe was created by Liivi Hess, ThrivePrimal.com
How did your Panang chicken curry turn out?
We’d love to know the results of your foray into Thai cuisine! Did you add too much spice or too little? Do you have a secret ingredient that you like to add to get that curry taste explosion?
