JULY 8, 2021 MUSHROOMS FORAGING

There are many individuals who do perform mushroom foraging. Those mushroom foragers practice good harvesting practices . I have found that these forgers ( one which I am not …yet) know mushroom safety. There are some basic guidelines which I want to share with you

1. Learn the land. I think to know this you must be familiar with the edible and poisonous mushrooms of the area you are foraging. You must know how to identify them There are many books on this subject as well as attending some courses.

2. Know the risks. I do not think anyone should experiment with eating mushrooms that you don’t know. The effect of ingesting a poisonous mushroom can be lethal but can vary from individual to individual. In the North America there are no poisonous mushroom that can be absorbed through the skin—they must be eaten

3. If you know the mushroom you are foraging you must always COOK your mushroom Never eat a mushroom without cooking it.

4. Be prepared for your foraging. Have all the proper tools- a knife, pen and wax paper( or paper bag) a pen for labeling, a basket, and the very important Mushroom field guide

5. Always take the whole mushroom not just the cap or the stem

I feel this is a great hobby I have been studying the mushrooms of Connecticut as I am preparing to go mushroom foraging in the near future

Until tomorrow…

JULY 7, 2021 TO WEAR OR NOT WEAR A MASK

The question is “ To wear or not wear a mask” Since more individuals are being vaccinated is it necessary to wear a mask. ? There have been new criteria about the use of a mask. I know for a fact that Metro North commuters must wear a mask when in the station or on the train . This is also true on NYC transit subways and buses. I haven’t heard the latest on riding in a cab. There is a recent study published on the use of face masks. Most studies are focused on the protecting the wearer.

The negative effects of mask use was not reported. Among the adverse effects of mask wearing was difficulty breathing, facial irritation or discomfort. Some other effects reported were headache and warmth. Of course there is interference with communication or facial recognition. Mask contamination and misuse of wearing was noted.

Regardless of all of this—I feel mask should be worn of those individuals whom are not vaccinated. For those vaccinated it will be a personal choice. I will still chose to wear a mask. That is my decision

Until tomorrow…

JULY 6, 2021 PARASITES

Recently I read an article about parasites in the United States. There are more parasite sin individuals in third world countries. In medical school we learn about all these parasites but rarely see in clinical practice. I did Infectious Disease for a time so I saw more than the average clinician. The study looked at 916 species of intestinal parasites infecting 916 patients of the 2,896 in the study. About 36 % were from California.

The most common parasite was Blastocystis hominis. I see this to be a very common parasite, The other was Cyptospridium parvum. During the height of the AIDS epidemic more parasites were seen due to the number of immunocompromised patients at that time.

Most of patients whom I have suspected parasites were seen by Dr Kevin Cahill. He is the foremost parasitologist whom I had the pleasure of meeting when training at Lenox Hill Hospital. He is no longer practicing as he has retired. I want to personally thank Dr Cahill for his years of dedicated service to diagnosing and treating parasites. Unfortunately there are very few if any other clinicians who could take his place. He did anoscopes on all patients quickly making a diagnosis. There are many medications that are used. Many are ‘ tough’ on the system with many side effects. I have always used herbal remedies as wormwood, berberine, black walnut, cloves and pumpkin seeds for most patients.

A new book called On Parasites and Men has been recently published by Dr Omar Amin

Until tomorrow…

JULY 2-4, 2021 HEALTHIEST FRUIT

It is the summer and the fruits are on the fruit stands in New York City , and in the farmers market. What is not to like about fruit- they are sweet, and delicious and easy to add to your dietary lifestyle There are 2,000- different types of fruit. Each fruit brings a different medicinal and health benefit and a different set of its contents. I love fruit. Over the years I have been accustomed to eating all types of berries. I often write about different berries on my blog

Let’s start with apples. Not only were apples the first topic in Michael Pollan’s book, The Botany of Desire, but they are full of fiber especial pectin. Apples are a good source of Vitamin C and polyphenols. Apples have bene studied and lower your risk for heart disease, obesity and stroke. Easily obtained, but many are genetic variants of the original apple planted by Johnny Appleseed.

I cannot taut the benefits of blueberries. They are high in anthocyanins which have antioxidant as well as anti-1nflammatory properties. The best in addition to blueberries are mulberries, black berries, elderberries and chokeberries. Due to anthocyanins, there can be a 5 % reduction in the development of diabetes.

In general, Americans eat less fruit than Europeans. There is great benefit from consuming bananas, mango, papaya, dragon berries and lychee.

For those that are pre diabetic/ or diabetic be careful of the fruits that are high glycemic fruits. Eat your fruits

Until tomorrow…

JULY 1, 2021 MILK

MILK. There are pros and cons when we discuss milk. We know it a source of nutrition for newborns, greater for older infants and the backbone of nutrition for growing children. However, is it safe? Is pasteurized and homogenized milk the best. When I read “ The Untold Story of Milk by Naturopathic Doctor Ron Schmid my opinion changed. I started to read the literature especially by the Weston A Price Foundation. I started to give my own children raw milk. If you do not know this here are the facts: The FDA regulations on raw milk is a clear NO. Many states have made the sale of raw milk illegal and New York is one of those states. There are many clear cut benefits to raw milk : it contains enzymes as lactoperoxidases which are removed from pasteurized and homogenized milk. In addition there are bioactive components as immunoglobins that can provide passive immunity. I have always known that discussion of raw milk is a hot topic.

Years ago I was a health care writer for a magazine called Radius . I also was a health care columnist for other magazines at that time as Instinct . When I answered a question on Raw Milk by a reader I didn’t know it would cause such a stir. It caused such a stir that I was dismissed from the magazine, Radius. I don’t think Radius magazine is still published. As Bette Midler would say “ I’m still here. Raw milk discussions are political in nature. I stay out of the political arena. I speak the truth from the data. Laws vary from state to state in regard to raw milk sales. The death rate from raw milk consumption is .0005 % from infection from consuming raw dairy over a 50 year period. This is the data. Seems very very low

I believe raw milk should be sold in certain states as New York. I often wonder how an individual can sell clams, oysters , mussels from his truck on a highway driving to the Hamptons, but raw milk cannot be sold ? The rate of Hepatitis A from the clams is higher than any infection from raw milk !! Just a thought

Until tomorrow…

JUNE 30, 2021 HEARTBURN

Heartburn affects more than 60 million Americans every month. It can be described as a painful, burning sensation that occurs on the lower chest area. There are many causes. There are also many treatment modalities. Some of the conventional treatment modalities have side effects which render it impossible to continue the treatment

The muscle, the lower esophageal sphincter gets weakened with acid reflux and this is why people experience heartburn. We do know that diet plays a pivotal role in this disease. There are foods that relax the lower esophageal sphincter ( LES) allowing food to escape into the esophagus and this cause heartburn

Some of these foods are high fat foods . It is disappointing as some of these foods are beneficial to the body. Some of the high fat foods also stimulate the release of CCK, a hormone called cholecstokinin which relaxes the sphincter causing more reflux.

I used to use a lot of the mint herbs for which there are many. Mints has caused some relief but there is evidence that it can cause heartburn A study found that consuming peppermint tea increased the risk of heartburn by two fold. Other foods that causes heartburn are citrus juices, chocolate, spicy foods, onions and salt. Some of these foods have other health benefits. I fee; getting an allergy or sensitivity test for foods using Ig G testing can be beneficial We offer Ig G allergy testing in both our Connecticut and New York City offices.

Once the test is performed you can start to eliminate these foods and the foods lowering LES and stop heartburn. I use slippery elm, raspberry and meadowsweet teas to ease the bring as well as deglycherrized licorice ( DGL) Aloe vera gel can also help

Until tomorrow…

JUNE 29, 2021 LYME DISEASE

Lyme disease is one of the fastest growing insect borne infections in the United States. More than 450,000 people each are diagnosed with Lyme Disease. For me, personally and professionally this is not a new infection I have been dealing with my son who has had Lyme disease and other tick borne infections since the age 13

I was featured on Remedies - a 9 part series on integrative approaches to various disease. In the part on Lyme I was with Stephen Buehner- author of Healing Lyme. The ‘ out of the box’ approaches to Lyme are not new to me. I have using out of the box treatments for many years. I have been using herbs as Cat’s Claw, Wormwood, Japanese knotweed , Andrographis and many more for years. In a John Hopkins study in 2020 it was found that both Cat’s Claw ( Unicaria tomentrosa) and Wormwood/sweet Annie ( Artemesia annua) were effective in killing Borrelia - and even more effective than the conventional antibiotic , doxycycline.

I have used intravenous treatments, and bee venom therapy to treat my son. Both very very effective. If your health care practitioner doesn’t use or know the other treatments he/ she should refer to a health care practitioner than uses those treatments. I have referred many of my patients to Harold Robbins for ozone therapy. The early detection and treatment of Lyme gives the patient the best chance. Unfortunately many patients have chronic Lyme or chronic persistent Lyme syndrome. More conventional physicians should recognize this and use proper Lyme labs to perform testing

Until tomorrow…

JUNE 28, 2021 INTRAVENOUS VITAMIN C

i have been using intravenous vitamin C in my medical practice for more years than I can recover. We administered IV Vitamin C at the office of the late Richard Ash, MD as well as at the Atkins Center for Complimentary Medicine on East 55th. At the Atkins Center we had a whole floor dedicated to intravenous therapies. Dr Atkins and myself prescribed high dose vitamin C to many patients. So it was not surprising to me when I read about two small studies using Vitamin C in COVID patients.

In both studies it was found that vitamin C decreased the mortality rates in patients with severe respiratory disease due to COVID 19. These were small studies- one being 56 patients and the other 150 patients. There will always be those that are skeptical about the use of Vitamin C for COVID as well as other chronic illnesses .

If given properly there are very few if any drawbacks to IV Vitamin C. The osmolarity must be calculated as well as the health care practitioner knowing the patient’s creatinine as well as cardiac status.

Until tomorrow…