by Stephanie Carnes
OHN Contributor

A good after-Thanksgiving reminder: Eat smaller portions more frequently! Refraining from food to prepare for an extra large one is never a good idea when it comes to keeping your body in balance.

Since smaller quantities of consumed food are apt to flow through the digestive system without becoming toxic, it makes sense that we eat food in proportions that improve our digestive abilities rather than put a strain them. Eating every three to four hours is recommended.

Providing the body with a continuous supply of usable nutrients throughout the day allows individual body systems to function with efficiency. This way your blood sugar level will remain more consistent and spare your body from the typical unhealthy fluctuations you have been subjecting it to for years. A second key reason for eating every few hours is to keep the adrenal glands in top shape. When you eat infrequently, you force your body to run on adrenaline.

Modern living easily drains our adrenal glands. The adrenal glands, located one on top of each kidney, are stress glands that help us cope with internal and external stress factors, both physical and mental. It is essential to give the body adequate nutrition to lessen chances of adrenal exhaustion; and, in many cases, to assist the healing of the adrenal glands themselves. Persistent fatigue, a racing brain, an inability to “turn off” the feeling of being stressed out, as well as a lack of vitality, all point to adrenal exhaustion. The good news is that by keeping your blood sugar balanced, by eating small amounts of food often, and by eating animal protein throughout the day, you can keep your adrenal glands in a vital state of health.

Recognizing that we are all unique in our food needs, the actual size, as well as the ratio of macronutrients, (carbohydrates to proteins to fats), of meals consumed every three to four hours can vary. Eat what will keep you satisfied for three to four hours. If after a meal you have an adverse symptom or worsening of existing negative symptoms, including: specifically sweet cravings, hunger too soon after eating, lowered energy, worsening moods, and others, then you are not eating the correct foods in appropriate ratios at your meal.

If toward the end of your meal, you find yourself full and yet you continue to eat until you are stuffed, then you are not eating the right proportions of macronutrients. Start by cutting down on your carbohydrates, and keep in mind that the meal size and proportions can change as your body accommodates the cumulative effects of the Optimal Health Center Plan.

Given how much stress is inherent in modern living, “having” to eat every few hours can appear impossible. But it is important to remember that you are at an exciting point in your life where you are changing habits, and that this takes time!

Feel free to call or email our office with questions or for support in this venture.

SOURCE: Ten Days to Optimal Health (Amelong 2006)

Labels: adrenal glands, blood sugar, fatigue

by Stephanie Carnes
OHN Contributor

Upon waking, your body needs nutrients. During a good night’s sleep, your body has used up a rich supply of nutrients, helping it recover from the work of the previous day. Also, it has used nutrients to heal and rejuvenate stressed or damaged body parts. If you don’t take steps to replenish those expended nutrients, the body will resort to utilizing its reserved store of nutrients. You don’t want your body to have to run your day-to-day activities on those reserves. You want those reserves for times of crisis. You want those reserves for your own protection when others around you are sick, and of course, for graceful aging.

A useful analogy that we are all familiar with regarding our body depleting its reserves is osteoporosis. Calcium, an essential mineral for many bodily functions, is stolen from the bones when the body becomes too acidic. An acidic body is caused by many factors, including not eating breakfast, staying up too late, and eating processed sugar and flour. When the body doesn’t have the resources to counteract stressors, it steals from within itself to bring about homeostasis. Unfortunately, this imbalance often doesn’t show up for many years, until one actually has osteoporosis.

One of the most important things you can do for your health is to think about what you are eating and how it affects the balance of your blood sugar. Without breakfast, you start the day in a state of low blood sugar. Low blood sugar is always hard on the body. It can cause premature aging and adrenal exhaustion, and it pushes people towards binge eating of high carbohydrate foods. Binge eating of carbohydrates sends a person’s blood sugar into the too-high range. The subsequent effect is equivalent to riding a roller coaster all day long. The discipline of eating breakfast helps you eat better the rest of the day.

When we take eating seriously, we ingest a higher quality, and more appropriate quantity, of necessary nutrients.

Essential Guideline

Eat breakfast within a half-hour of waking. Eating breakfast is a key part of the OHC plan! Your breakfast should consist of ¼ to one whole piece of fruit, followed 5-10 minutes later by non-starchy vegetables, fat, and protein. Not eating breakfast is a major factor in jeopardizing health.


SOURCE: Ten Days to Optimal Health (Amelong 2006)

Labels: blood sugar, breakfast, osteoporosis

by Stephanie Carnes
OHN Contributor

Coffee can be very hard on your body. It makes the body overly acidic, kills the healthy microbes in your gut, and tends to throw your blood sugar off balance. An addiction to this beverage is a sign that your adrenal glands are already exhausted, and coffee drains those glands even more. All of these imbalances make it hard for the body to truly rest, and they make it hard for the individual to know what their limits are.

Many people find that coffee is almost impossible to give up because it is one of their most important and essential daily rituals. People need rituals that allow them to feel that life is good and that they can handle the chores of day-to-day life. Unfortunately, for many this contentment comes with their daily cup of coffee. If this is the case with you, you will want to find a coffee substitute like green or herbal tea, at least for a period of time. Go out and get yourself a lot of different teas, experiment and have fun!

Besides the excess sugar or NutraSweet found in soda, studies demonstrate that phosphorus, a frequent ingredient of soda, can deplete bones of calcium. Phosphorus, which occurs naturally in some foods and is used as an additive in many others, appears to weaken bones by promoting the loss of calcium throughout the entire body. With less calcium available, the bones suffer by becoming more porous and prone to fractures and osteoporosis.

Additionally, alcohol contains elements of fermentation that can be dangerously stressful and damaging to the liver, which is our major filter of toxins as well as the major organ of digestion. Alcohol also damages glandular/immune organs, connective tissue and the nervous system. For those of you who find it hard to give up alcohol, twelve step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous are welcoming and have healing tools that do work. Your life will be greatly enriched by doing the emotional and spiritual work of the steps.

You may be putting undue strain on your digestive and detoxification systems if you are over-consuming these beverages. It is recommended to eliminate them from your diet all together if you have chosen to embark on the Optimal Health Center detoxification plan.

For more information on Kristina Amelong’s Step-By-Step Guide to Nutritional Therapy and Cleansing, please view the source below.

SOURCE: Ten Days to Optimal Health (Amelong 2006)

Labels: addictions, blood sugar, caffeine, calcium, NutraSweet, osteoporosis

by Stephanie Carnes
OHN Contributor

Kefir is a yogurt-like lacto-fermented beverage with a slightly fizzy taste that is made from kefir grains. It has thirty times more probiotic cultures than yogurt including lactobacillus, acidophilus and bifidobacteria. Kefir’s live yeast and bacteria cultures can colonize in the intestinal tract to control and eliminate destructive pathogenic microorganisms and increase good bacteria and micro-flora. 

• Glass Jar with a plastic lid
• 3-quart plastic strainer with small holes
• Wooden spoon or plastic spatula
• Kefir grains

1. When your grains arrive, immediately transfer them to a glass jar and add one cup of milk (Note: the milk can be cold). The lid should be loosely fitted. Place the jar on a shelf or your counter at room temperature. 
2. Swirl the jar at five second intervals whenever possible. Swirling breaks up the grains and exposes more surfaces to lactose. Grains multiply at a rate of 10 percent per day in the summer and 5 percent per day in the winter.
3. Approximately 24 hours after you have started your kefir, your product will be very thick. It may start to separate into curds and whey. As the grains multiply, fermentation will accelerate. You’ll want to strain your kefir when you see a separation beginning to take place.
4. Use the spatula or wooden spoon to push your grains into a clean jar to start a new batch. Do not place grains into a jar that is warm from a dishwasher. Store finished kefir in the refrigerator and enjoy!

SOURCE: Ten Days to Optimal Health (Amelong 2006)

Labels: acidophilus, bifidobacteria, kefir grains, lacto-fermentation, lactobacillus

by Stephanie Carnes
OHN Contributor

Raw dairy foods from grass-fed cows may be our healthiest source of nourishment at this point in history. It is high in enzymes, vitamin A, vitamin D, and Activator X, along with many other nutrients. Even if you have an excellent diet, if you don’t have these nutrients in high enough quantity, you will not absorb your fats, your minerals, or your water-soluble vitamins.

Here are three ways raw milk can help you gain optimal health:

1. Sufficient vitamin D is lacking in commercial dairy products and needed for proper calcium absorption. Additionally, sugar consumption and stress can both pull calcium from the bones. The best sources of usable calcium are found in raw dairy products. 
2. Also found in raw milk is lactose, or milk sugar. This is the most important carbohydrate for the colon flora. Just as yogurt or kefir-making bacteria thrive off the lactose in milk, so do our own internal bacteria thrive with lactose. If you really want to keep your intestine full of healthy bacteria, drink at least one cup daily of raw milk from pasture-raised cows or goats.
3. You cannot be healthy without an adequate dietary intake of lipase, the fat-splitting enzyme, which assures that the fats and oils can be taken into the cells. Raw milk products are a tasty and easy way to ingest large quantities of lipase.

Microbiologist Lee Dexter says that raw milk not only is safe but may be healthier than pasteurized milk. The former USDA employee sells raw goat’s milk in Texas, where it is legal. Lee Dexter has reviewed numerous cases worldwide and has written a lengthy report on raw milk. She said most comments made by epidemiologists and public health officials on the dangers of raw milk are opinions and “are not based on scientific fact.” She said statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention clearly show that “people drinking pasteurized milk are four times more likely to contract a food-borne illness” than those who drink raw milk. Dexter said “challenge tests,” in which raw milk was inoculated with pathogens and examined later, showed that the pathogens were destroyed. “Raw milk contains its own immune system,” she said.

When discussing the healthfulness of raw milk, it is crucial that the farmer assures the health of the cow. Historically, this has not been done, which is why raw milk has gotten such a bad name. However, raw milk is a safe food. It has been commercially available in California for decades with not a single adverse affect.

For more info check out this Raw Milk Resource Guide.

SOURCE: Ten Days to Optimal Health (Amelong 2006)

Labels: calcium, lactose, osteoporosis, phytic acid, raw milk, vitamin d

by Stephanie Carnes
OHN Contributor

Colon hydrotherapy, colonics, and colon irrigation are an age-old health practice that gradually and soothingly cleanses the colon using water. The colon is what most people call their “gut” or their “stomach.” When your “stomach” hurts, you are often really referring to your colon. Your colon is located in the lower abdomen, underneath your ribs and between your hips. It lies in this region like an upside-down U, or at least it ought to. The colon begins where the small intestine leaves off at the cecum and is about five feet long in adults.

The Colon Needs Help

You may be asking, “Doesn’t it clean itself? We don’t clean any of our other internal body parts.” Actually, we do! We clean our teeth and gums. Just as we brush to maintain the health of our teeth and gums, it is plain good sense to wash our colon. As with the mouth, our colon is harmed, often without our awareness, by our daily choices. We live on a planet that has us regularly creating and ingesting substances that, while passing through the colonic barrier, often damage it, causing Leaky Gut Syndrome. Thus, we risk losing our good health. Preventing harmful bacteria and yeast, environmental toxins, and undigested food particles from circulating in our bodies is a key role that the colon plays in keeping us healthy. By using colon cleansing to clean the colon, you strengthen the integrity of your colon, just as brushing strengthens the integrity of your teeth and gums.

We Live in a Polluted World

We don’t eat well, and even those who do “eat well” tend to eat more sugar and starch than is healthy. We tend to be dehydrated. We live in a polluted world and absorb that pollution into our bodies everyday. We, as a culture, overuse antibiotics. Many women are taking birth-control substances that increase the overload state of the colon. More and more people are on prescription medications that cause constipation. We tend to be undernourished. We are under a tremendous amount of stress in our fast-paced lives. All of these tendencies lead to a breakdown in colon health.

Why Colon Hydrotherapy?

As the colon struggles to do its job, so does the liver. In order to have a healthy liver, most of us need to help our bodies eliminate the incredible amount of waste and toxins that are in our bodies. Colon hydrotherapy plays a crucial role in this process, because when we cleanse the colon, we substantially diminish the toxic load in the entire body. With fewer toxins, the entire body experiences less stress and can devote more energy to healing and maintaining a healthy state. For more info check out Good Reasons for Colon Hydrotherapy or Colon Hydrotherapy Overview.


SOURCE: Ten Days to Optimal Health (Amelong 2006)

Labels: colon cleansing, colonics, detoxification

by Stephanie Carnes
OHN Contributor

Did you know that just one teaspoon of refined sugar paralyzes 50 percent of your white blood cells for five hours (Journal of Natural Medicine Vol 1, No 9, pg.5)? And that’s if you’ve had no more than a teaspoon of sugar. Sugar reduces the ability of white blood cells to destroy foreign particles and microorganisms, and this negative effect starts within less than 30 minutes. It lasts for over five hours, and typically your white blood cells show a 50 percent reduction in their ability to destroy and engulf foreign particles.

If you are preparing for or engaging upon a detoxification plan, you especially need those valuable white blood cells to help you cleanse, heal, and strengthen your body. Also, when blood sugar levels rise too rapidly, a message is sent to the intestinal tract to slow down because glucose is absorbed mostly in the first part of the small intestines. When you eat sugar week in and week out, it causes the digestive tract to stop moving.

Sugar causes the body to become overly acidic. The body cannot function soundly in this pH range. The small intestines and the stomach cannot protect themselves well against the hazards of acid. The small intestines were designed to function in a slightly alkaline environment. In order to regain a healthy balance, our body will use up important alkaline minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and potassium. A common sign of excess acidity due to the consumption of sugar is heartburn. Over time, all bodily systems become worn out.

Whenever you are eating a food with sugar, you must create a balance to the sugar with large amounts of minerals. Foods made by nature, like an apple or a banana or maple syrup or raw honey, contain minerals along with the sugars. This gives the body its needed tools to effectively metabolize the sugar. A candy bar hasn’t the nutrients to assist the body in handling the toxicity of sugar.

You must also have an abundance of micro flora living in your digestive tract to both retain minerals in the intestines and to “eat up” those sugars while they are being processed before entering into your blood and your cells. The micro flora are there to process the sugars and still maintain a body in balance.

Sugar Alternatives 

For the sweet flavor in your diet, try Stevia or vegetable glycerin instead of granular sugars. Stevia is an herb from South America. It is not toxic like sugar and it works well in tea and in many dessert recipes. Because it does have a bit of an aftertaste, similar to that of artificial sweeteners, it might take some getting used to. The key is to start with a very, very small amount and, if needed, to increase the amount gradually, as Stevia is 200-300 times sweeter than sugar.

Vegetable glycerin is derived from coconut and is another easy substitute for sugar. It is a clear liquid and works like honey. Glycerin has 80 calories per tablespoon.

Raw honey can also be an excellent food for many people. However, raw honey is high in carbohydrates and can easily imbalance your blood sugar levels. Until you know your sen­sitivities to sugars, by following Ten Days to Optimal Health, it is not recommended that you use raw honey. Once you have a greater understanding of your strengths and weaknesses, raw honey may be a nutritious food for you.

SOURCE: Ten Days to Optimal Health (Amelong 2006)

Labels: honey, Stevia, sugar, vegetable glycerin