About 1 in 10 people in the US now suffer from some sort of autoimmune disease. And this level has been rising fast over the last couple of decades.

It’s rising fastest amongst adolescents, where the number has tripled in the last 3 decades.

In 1988-1991 an estimated 22 million people between 12 and 19 years old had an autoimmune disease, and in 2011-2012 it rose to 41 million.

But it affects adults as well, generally manifesting somewhere between the ages of 15-45. And about 75% of those affected are female.

These are conditions such as Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Crohn's disease, Fibromyalgia, Hashimoto’s, Ulcerative Colitis and a host of some 80 others.

And other conditions, such as Lyme disease, can trigger autoimmune conditions.

These can cause low thyroid, muscle pain or fatigue, stiff or painful joints, and exhaustion and lethargy. Or they can attack specific organs or nerve cells, and even the skin.

But what is an autoimmune disease? What's happening in the body when someone has one?

Perimenopause and Menopause are two parts of a transition a woman goes through when their body comes to the end of its reproductive ability.

It usually occurs sometime in a woman’s 40’s or 50s, but can occur earlier.

Perimenopause is the start of this transition, when her menstrual cycle starts to fluctuate as the amount of eggs she has in her ovaries starts coming to an end.

Then, when she has not had a menstrual cycle in 12 months, we say menopause has begun.

This whole transition is a period of somewhat intense hormonal fluctuations, somewhat different for everyone, that ends with very low production of key hormones, and generally lasts around 7 years. Though it can be as long as 14 years.

During this transition a woman can experience extreme hot flashes and sweats as hormone levels fluctuate erratically, poor sleep, poor mood, brain fog or inability to make decisions, weight gain to one degree or another, headaches, bone loss and muscle loss, reduced libido, low energy and much more.

So understanding exactly what is occurring here, what causes it, what can make it worse and what we can do about it is quite important.

Let’s dive in.

Did you know that factors such as diet, exercise, toxins, sleep, stress and more can affect how able our DNA are to make new, healthy cells?

This is a huge factor in aging.

If our DNA can't make new cells properly, but instead makes "faulty" cells, then, as our body is nothing but cells, over time our body begins to slowly degrade.

We see it in our skin, our strength, our energy levels and our overall health.

This is half of what we call "aging."

But it doesn't have to be this way. This is a created situation.

And we can reverse it.

If we want to actually increase longevity, increase lifespan and increase overall health and ability during the entirety of that lifespan, then we need to define what we’re talking about. 

Even more, we need to compare the current “norm” we’ve become accustomed to… to what not only can exist, but does exist in other places today.

A person should be able to live past 100 years old, with high energy levels, strength and mental ability, doing what they want without the need of twenty different drugs to keep them going, and then pass away peacefully.

And not only should that be the case, but in places outside of our “modern world” — called Blue Zones — it is the case. Quite routinely.

Let's dive in.

There is a lot of debate today about how much protein is too much.

And this includes what causes protein toxicity, something that overloads our kidneys and liver, affecting our overall health, and which can be more severe with those who already have issues with their kidneys, liver and insulin levels.

It’s basically consuming more protein than our body can use at the time.

But that’s a very general description, and doesn’t help us to determine how much is too much, or even tell us how this happens.

Saying: “You’re eating too much protein,” is both too general, but also incorrect.

Too much of which type of protein? Because different proteins, consumed in large amounts, cause different effects.

To understand protein toxicity, what causes it, and ensure we aren’t consuming too much protein, we need to take a step backwards.

Because with anything that doesn’t seem to have a direct answer, there is some missing piece of information.

And in this case it’s a big one: there is no such thing as protein toxicity.

You see, our body doesn’t use the protein we eat.

It uses the building blocks that make up the protein, the amino acids.

And unless we look at these, we don’t actually know what protein toxicity is or what causes it, and we don’t know how much protein is too much.

Because what we’re talking about when we say Protein Toxicity is actually Amino Acid Toxicity.

It doesn’t come from eating too much protein, it comes from eating too much of the wrong kinds of proteins that contain too many of the wrong amino acids.

And that can cause real issues.

Let’s dive in.

Everyone wants soft, healthy, firm skin. Especially as we get older.

This is so much the case that about $17 Billion is spent on skin care products yearly.

But much of these products, while providing results in the short term, actually cause worsening conditions over time, increasing the "need" to use them.

This is due, in many cases, to some very toxic ingredients used in many of them.

These include hormone disruptors, formaldehyde, chemicals also used as plastic softeners, carcinogens, allergens, solvents and even neurotoxins.

So, while these products may contain ingredients that seem to help on an immediate basis, over time many of them are causing the issues they claim to address.

Let’s see what's actually happening here and what we can do about it.

Today, approximately one in three Americans experience skin issues of various sorts: clogged pores, breakouts, redness, and irritation of different kinds.

And while this number has been growing for the last few decades, it’s sped up in recent years.

Even more, accelerated aging of the skin: fine lines, wrinkles, dryness or flakiness, and skin sagging is occurring earlier than normal, with many in their twenties now experiencing it.

While there are several factors involved, and some include the skin care products being used today, there is a much larger factor bringing this on: the health of our gut.

When we have harmful bacteria or candida in our body, or toxins and even gluten coming in, our immune system produces what’s called an inflammatory response.

And this, when it gets to our skin, can cause all sorts of trouble.

It can cause breakouts by increasing oil production and clogging pores.

It breaks down collagen and elastin, the proteins responsible for keeping our skin firm and smooth. 

Then, as these proteins degrade, the skin begins to sag, and wrinkles or fine lines appear.

It also causes skin to lose its ability to retain moisture effectively, leading to dryness, flakiness, and irritation.

But, as much of this is caused by the health of our gut, no amount of skin creams, oils or regimens will be able to fix it as they’re addressing the end result, not the cause.

And the cause, if not itself addressed, will just continue the problem.

If we want healthy, radiant skin that stays clear, soft and firm for the longest amount of time, then we need to address our gut.

So let’s dive in.

We’ve all heard of gluten.

We’ve heard that it can be bad for us, not bad for us, mildly bad for us, etc.

But what is it really and what does it actually do?

Gluten is a mixture of proteins found in many grains, processed foods and commercial drinks that contain two specific proteins called gliadin and glutenin.

And for anyone sensitive, whether they know it or not, these can cause specific inflammatory responses throughout their body, most of which they never connect to the gluten they consumed.

It can cause stomach aches and IBS.

It can create a constant swelling of the stomach that we may confuse with excess body fat. So we try to exercise it off, but without any results as it isn’t body fat, it’s swelling caused by an inflammatory response.

When it gets into our blood stream it can affect any part of our body where it lands, or our whole body, as it will create an inflammatory response wherever it goes.

It can create aches we don’t understand, tiredness or lethargy, an overstimulated immune system, and even (by landing on healthy cells) lead to our immune system mistaking our own cells for harmful bacteria and so attacking them.

It can cause skin issues: redness, dryness, skin patches and more.

And it can cause a redness and/or puffiness in our face that we can’t seem to get rid of, and even spots of hyperpigmentation or pimples on our chin.

With all of this, it’s important to understand what it is, how and if it is affecting us, why, and what we can do about it.

So let’s dive in and see.

When our digestive ability is weak, we don’t get all of the nutrition contained in the foods we eat. This is because food, including proteins and minerals, must be fully broken down by stomach acid in order for our body to be able to use it.

In fact, poor digestion of protein is one of the largest causes of muscle loss as we age: our digestive system isn’t working as well as it was when we were younger, and so not enough protein is being broken down for our body to use.

But it’s not just our cells that need this nutrition.

Specific bacteria in our colon are responsible, in whole or in part, for the creation of the neurotransmitters serotonin and GABA, the happy, calming neurotransmitters.

Did you know low levels of thyroid can bring on not only low energy and weight gain, but also depression and even brain fog?

This can make thinking, problem-solving, and just coping with the everyday stresses of life, much harder.

With the rise in hormone-blocking toxins in our environment, processed foods and processed sugars, and the low amount of protein most of us consume, low thyroid is affecting more and more people, especially among women and the elderly.

In this article we dive into what thyroid is, how low thyroid occurs, how it affects our mood, mental alertness, and our ability to think and cope with the problems of everyday life and what we can do to raise it.

We know that toxins are harmful.

They stress our nervous system, create inflammatory responses in our body, raise cortisol levels, disrupt our hormones, accelerate our aging, contribute to many conditions we see in society today, and even cause trouble for our unborn children, disrupting the process by which both their nervous systems and immune systems form.

In short, they cause our bodies a great deal of stress.

And this stress passes on to us, to our anxiety levels and our mood, whether we know it or not. 

As of 2022 there were an estimated 350,000 chemicals used in the world, most of which get into our water supply.

That’s a fifty-fold increase since 1950.

And, according to the CDC, less than 100 of them are regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act.

But how do these toxins stress our body?

How do they affect our stress levels and mood?

How do they create inflammatory responses?

And how can we prevent this?

Our body's ability to relax, de-stress, recover, and sleep deeply is heavily determined by one area of our body overlooked more often than almost any other — our Microbiome.

This colony of trillions of bacteria living in our large intestine helps produce the calming, relaxing, cortisol-lowering, and sleep-giving neurotransmitters GABA and serotonin.

These bacteria have more to do with our overall health, calmness of mind, nerve function, ability to sleep, ability to burn fat and build muscle, and even our hormones than you might think.

This colony, made up of about 500 different species of bacteria, is called the Microbiome.

But these bacteria, while being fully separate from us, act as if they were an organ unto themselves within our bodies. And what they do, amongst each other and in coordination with the cells in the lining of our colon, is truly extraordinary.