Dear Friends

We have been going through a major IT upgrade (changing servers, software platforms, etc.) over the past week, as many of you have discovered when trying to log in and order, and were directed to call us for your orders at 425.451-3112. It’s all good and very exciting as when completed we will have the capacity to add many wonder-ful communication technologies to our website. So, hang in there for the duration and do give us a call for an order or a chat. We are truly looking forward to connecting with all of you.

Let us share with you our heart:

RMI (the Rocky Mountain Institute) is one of my favorites.  In this link they are presenting their vision and progress towards recreating/transforming our world wide energy system, called Reinventing Fire, into a system that is environmentally friendly, and ecologically sound.  As they say they are a grass roots, think-and-do organization. RMI demonstrates in this video the very effective use of video technology, highlighting their global activities.

As we all know communication is key for everyone so we can make the wholistic, healing changes in our world that we hold dear.  Our mission at BioImmersion is to promote food as medicine and to advocate a worldwide change in our ecological practices as exemplified in agro-ecology.  I also have taken the task, a research project as Dohrea would say, to help us all get to know who is out there that is doing the good work.

You, dear friends and practitioners, are a part of this hard working group that’s efforting to change the practice of health and medicine.  I think of this beloved work (to use Dohrea’s term) as connecting the dots.  Effective use of technology is key.  Do take just a few moments to connect with one or two of these wonderful groups (links)—it will fill your soul and encourage your own work.

Our new IT platform will give us these capabilities.  Enjoy!

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

Clinical Note:

This morning why not:

• 1 scoop Energy Sustain (organic millet, buckwheat, amarath, quinoa, chia)
• 1 tbl organic Brown Rice Protein
• 1 tbl Beta Glucan Synbiotic (good bugs and fiber including beet root).
• 2 caps Phyto Power (wildcrafted rosehip, blueberry, dandelion).
• 2 tabs  Organic Chlorella
• 2 caps Cruciferous Sprouts
• 2 caps of  Ultra Minerals
• 1 cup organic pear juice, diluted with water, to make a large delicious drink.
• 1 cap No. 4 Systemic Booster- Metabolic Balance (10 minutes before the drink).

The Last Quiz Answer:

Monkey and Bull discussing food.

• 7-Keto (3-acetyl-7-oxo-DHEA) does not raise blood steroid levels:  Total testosterone, free testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, estradiol, cortisol, thyroxin and insulin levels remain within normal range.
• 7-Keto promotes fat metabolism:  It is approximately 2.5 times as active as DHEA as an inducer of the thermogenic enzymes—mitochondrial glycerophosphate dehydrogenase and cytosolic malic enzyme.
• 7-Keto increases anti-inflammatory molecular levels:  It enhances interleukin-2 production by human mononuclear leukocytes.  Supports reduced inflammation.
• 7-Keto supports improvement in memory:  More effective than DHEA in improving memory in old mice.
• 7-Keto is safe:  The acetylated derivative of 7-oxo-DHEA (7-Keto), which is devoid of androgenic activity and is not metabolically convertible to estrogens or androgens, was found to be safe and well tolerated in normal healthy adult men at doses up to 200mg/d for 28 days.

• In a double-blind, placebo-controlled protocol 30 adults (28 women and 2 men; mean age 44.5 ± 11.5 yrs) with a mean body mass index of 31.9 ± 6.2 were randomly divided into 2 groups of 15.
• Group 1 received 7 Keto 100mg twice daily and Group 2 received placebo for 8 weeks.
• All subjects participated in an exercise-training program 3 times per week.  Each exercise session consisted of 60 minutes of cross-training (aerobic and anaerobic exercise).
• Each subject followed a diet of approx 1800 kcal/d.
• Participants underwent serum multiple-assay chemistry testing, as well as body composition, blood pressure, and dietary analysis at baseline, week 4 and week 8.

• Group 1 lost a significant amount of body weight compared with Group 2 (-2.88 kg vs -0.97 kg) over the 8 week period.
• Group 1 achieved a significant reduction in body fat compared with Group 2 (-1.8% vs -0.57%).
• The rate of change in body fat per 4 week interval in Group 1 was 3.1 times that in Group 2 (-0.88% vs -0.28%).
• Group 1 experienced a significant increase in T3 levels compared with Group 2 over the 8 week study.
• There were no significant changes in levels of TSH or T4 in either group.
• Additionally, no significant changes were observed in vital signs, blood sugar, testosterone and estradiol levels, liver and renal function, or overall caloric intake during the study.  No subjective adverse effects were reported throughout the study.

• In vitro the phlorotannins (polyphenol extracts) from Ascophyllum nodosum (kelp) and Fucus vesiculosus (bladderwrack) completely inhibited in a dose dependent fashion alpha amylase and alpha glucosidase with very low IC50 values compared to other plant polyphenols.
• In vivo in animals studies, the polyphenols and phlorotannins extract was able to reduce the normal increase in postprandial blood glucose seen 30 minutes after a meal by 90% and consequently reduced peak insulin secretion by 40%.
• Glucose absorption was prolonged in the treated group for 360 minute compared to less than 120 minutes in the control group.

The protocol tested which gave impressive results was to take 2 capsules before each of your two largest meals of the day.  But we also feel that 1 capsule twice daily will also give very good results.

The Last Quiz Answer:

This little beauty is an aardvark baby.

“Aardvark mothers give birth to one offspring at a time.  The pinkish, hairless newborn stays inside the burrow for about 2 weeks and then begins to follow its mother in her search for food.  The young first eats solid food at 3 months of age and is suckled until 4 months.

At about 6 months the young male becomes independent and goes off on its own, while the young female stays with the mother until after the next baby is born.  The young female may then dig its own burrow a few yards away from its mother but still joins her to forage for termites.” (African Wildlife Foundation)

Over 50,000 activists against the Keystone Pipeline marched pasted the White House this past Sunday urging President Obama to once and for all stop the pipeline.  It was the largest climate rally in US history. Thank you Bill McKibben and 350.org.  Check out this power website for addressing the human derived factors causing our climate change.

Also in case you missed this amazingly soulful song, lamenting the tar sand’s disaster in Canada which I put into last May’s Forward Thinking, I’ve reconnected the link for you here.  Don’t miss it this time!!!  Jennifer Bereza sings her heart out in her song—My Memory Forever.

                         ©2005 – 2012 BioImmersion Inc. All Rights Reserved

Dear Friends

How are recent analytical advances within the field of microbiology bringing our relationship with Mother Nature back centerstage into the practice of medicine?

Part and partial to the practice of medicine is accurately understanding our relationship with the microbial world—that unseen world that became visible through the world of Louis Pasteur.  His work in the late 19th Century brought germ theory into the field of medicine.  His focus was on bad bugs and that they must be killed—pasteurization and hygeine became good medical standards of practice. 

But, we have come along way since then.  NIH, through the Human Genome Project, in collaboration with scientists around the world, developed advanced analytical tools in order to map the human genome, and these tools became a platform through which they could take on the analysis of the microbial world that lives in us and on us—the human microbiome.  In 2007 NIH began the Human Microbiome Project with a goal of determining the core microbiome of a healthy human being.

In this week's Forward Thinking we will share the insights expressed by Gevers D, Knight R, Petrosino J et al. in their paper, The Human Microbiome Project:  A Community Resource for the Healthy Human Microbiome. (2012) PLos Biol 10(8): e1001377.  In particular, we will look at two new analytical tools used in the leading edge of human microbiology—High Throughput 16S Sequencing and Shotgun Metagenomic Analysis.  

The bottomline of what we are discovering in that good microorganisms in our gut and on our body are instrumental to our health and wellbeing.  They are partners in our physiological functioning, they are soldiers in our immune systems, they are crucial to our very survival.  To find out more about the tools to analyze who and what these microbial friends of ours are read more.

In the above diagram, taken from Govers D et al, we can see the two methods of analysis—on the left 16S rDNA Amplification and on the right Shotgun Metagenomic reads.  The challenge had been for microbiologist to see the microbes that live in the gastrointestinal tract for example—95% are unculturable outside of the body.  With these new technologies scientists are able to identify and study the bugs in sito.

The procedures are as follows:  First, you take a sample from one of the body sites—for example, the stool which is used for determining the bugs of the GI tract.  Then, researchers pop the cells open and get the total DNA content.  In some samples there will actually be human DNA in there mixed bacterial DNA because of the nature of the body site and how the sample was collected.  Finally, through the use of PCR primers, scientists can amplify (make multiple copies) of the 16S rRNA fragments so that we can sequenced for their bases.  This provides us with the bacterial fingerprint for each organism, for 16S rRNA sequencing takes us down to the species level of bacterial identification.  Much of the work now is to achieve a complete genomic mapping of the bugs in the gut.  The HMP consortium has already completed the sequencing of 1000 organisms, resident to the gastrointestinal tract.

Next, in regards to Shotgun Metagenomic Analysis, scientists take the original sample and just shear it into little pieces.  Then, they sequences the DNA fragments into genes. The low hanging fruit that comes out of the shotgun approach is that you can get the entire gene content of the sample which allows you to map those genes back to the known metabolic pathways that exist in a bacterial cell.  This gives you an idea of the metabolic potential of a given sample.  This allows you to do a basic metabloic reconstruction of the sample.  How well does it metabolize carbohydrates, or polysaccharides, amino acids, etc.  You compare from sample to sample to get an idea of the different metabolic pathway potentials of a give sample. 

How does all of the above relate us to Mother Nature?  Mother Nature is the biosphere. The biosphere is the tree of life.  Within the tree of life we are the branches of the evolutionary process and the microbial world our foundation. You could say we are its offspring.  The Human Microbiome Project is making it visibly clear just how marvelously connected we are to the microbial world.  We all Mother Nature, the microbial world and ourselves are one.

A very big hug to you all and Happy Holidays from Dohrea and me!
 

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

Clinical Note:
 

The Last Quiz Answer:

You might think that this beauty is related to the above creature above.  But it is not, not even in the same family.  This is one of the loveable Meerkats of South Africa.  There has been lots of TV series on these critters, so I'll keep this short and sweet.  Meerkats live in all parts of the Kalahari Desert.  They are of the mongoose family.  The creature above is of the primate family and lives in Madagascar.  Give me its name and I'll send you a free product.   

This is the season for giving and in this article collected by The Global Oneness Project called Radical Generosity, Paul Van Slambrouck explores the diversity of gift economy projects around the globe.  It is very thought provoking and inspiring.  Everyone can do it, all can participate.  Check it out.

                         ©2005 – 2012 BioImmersion Inc. All Rights Reserved

Dear Friends

In 2003, the probiotic market in the U.S. was valued at $952 million.  Five years later it had grown by 160% to one billion, 527 million.  By 2015 it is projected to be at $3.1 billion.  Definately a growth industry, and rightly so.

The awareness that a healthy gut flora is manditory for a truly healthy body and robust longevity, and the consensus that a good probiotic formula can facilitate the building of a healthy gut flora has spread from beyond the holsitic medical community to the hollowed medical research centers of the National Institute of Health (NIH). 

In 2008, NIH established the Human Microbiome Project (HMP) to study the significance, in health and in disease, of the vast number of microbes that intimately associate themselves with our human bodies.   HMP is focusing their research on four major dwelling places for these human associated microbial communities— the ecosystems of the GI tract, the respiratory tract, the urogenital tract (in women), and the skin.

The gastrointestinal tract (from the mouth to the anus) is the largest and most diverse of the microbial ecosystems, comprised of 100 trillion organisms (mostly bacterial), that is 10 times more one-celled microbial organisms in the lumin of our gut than the total human cell mass of our body, which is at 10 trillion.

Where doctors had previously isolated only a few hundred bacterial species from the body, HMP researchers now calculate that more than 10,000 microbial species occupy the human ecosystem. Moreover, researchers calculate that they have identified between 81 and 99 percent of all microorganismal genera in healthy adults.

HMP researchers also reported that this plethora of microbes contribute more genes responsible for human survival than humans contribute. Where the human genome carries some 22,000 protein-coding genes, researchers estimate that the human microbiome contributes some 8 million unique protein-coding genes or 360 times more bacterial genes than human genes. (MacDougall, R. NIH Human Microbiome Project defines normal bacterial makeup of the body.  NIH News, June 13, 2012)

Actually, each human gene is capable of producing three different proteins where as each bacterial gene only can produce one protein, so that helps the totals a bit for human derived proteins—now its 66,000 to 8,000,000 bacterial proteins.  As they say it is mind blowing.

Just think, genes produce proteins, and proteins are the building blocks of metabolic pathways, enzymes, receptor site molecules, messenger molecules, structural molecules, neurotransmitters and hormones.  The new understanding is that the collection of proteins that run our bodies comes not only from our human cells but also from our microbial selves, our own unique microbiome.  The sum total of our human cell genome and our microbial genome is called our metagenome.  Our gut is awash with proteins from our human cells and microbials cell.

Our adult bodies harbor 10 times more microbial cells than human cells. Their genomes (the microbiome’s) endows us with physiological capacities that we have not had to evolve on our own and thus are both a manifestation of who we are genetically and metabolically and a reflection of our state of well being. (NIH)

This brings us  to the door of the probiotic product world, a door that we will open over the next couple of weeks.  In the last few years alone there has been alone 482 peer-reviewed papers published regarding  lactobacillus and human health, catalogued within the US National Library of Medicine at NIH.  Stay tuned.
 

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

Clinical Note:
 

The Last Quiz Answer:

Check out the Orangutan Foundation International. There mission is to support the conservation, protection, and understanding of orangutans and their rain forest habitat while caring for ex-captive orangutan orphans as they make their way back to the forest.

Furthermore, OFI educates the public, school children, and governments about orangutans, tropical rain forests, and the issues surrounding orangutan and forest conservation and protection.  Our support can help them save the orangutans, and save their magnificient jungle habitat in Borneo.
  

I went to The 350.org National Tour opening last Wednesday night in Seattle at the Benaroya Hall.  There were 2000 people there.  I'm way in the back right corner.  It is a critically important movement.

On Thursday they were going to Portland, Friday to Berkley, Saturday to San Francisco and Palo Alto and Sunday to LA. This week they will be doing the East Coast.  

The Lecture is entitled Do The Math.  It is very important for you to go if you can. Check out their calendar and agenda.  Here we are:

P.S.  Have you wondered what Al Gore is doing?  Well wonder no more.  Beginning this evening, Wednesday night Nov. 14th at 8:00pm EST, Gore et al is rolling out The Dirty Weather Report International.  It's 24 hours of non stop commentary on the world man-made weather crisis.  Tune in on line by going to Climate Reality Project.org.  If it's Nov. 15th, it is happening live right now.
                   
                     ©2005 – 2012 BioImmersion Inc. All Rights Reserved

Dear Friends

Over the next several months we are going to be taking a close look at some very exciting food derived secondary metabolites that are proving to be of utmost importance for our health, wellbeing and longevity—they belong to the leading edge of new scientific research.

What are secondary metabolites?  Why are they important to our health?  How are they key to getting your patient truly well?  This discussion will provide you with the big picture, a view that allows you to see the forest from the trees so-to-speak, next, we will examine the trees, the second metabolites, individually. Stay tuned.

We will also be looking at six new Therapeutic Foods—products that are two years in the making. More on that in the coming weeks.

We are very excited about our remodeled website which we will be turning on in the next couple of days.  You’ll find it very user friendly—clean, clear, crisp, uncluttered and full of useful information. I hope that we will meet at the site next week!
Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell
Clinical Note:

The Last Quiz Answer:

The average life span in the wild for a giraffe is 25 years.  They’re around 6 feet at the shoulder, and 19 feet to the top of their head.  They weigh up to 2,800 pounds.  They are big creatures.  They can run as fast as 35 miles per hour for short distances and can cruise comfortably at 10 mph.  Their tongue is  21 inches long.

Female giraffes give birth standing up.  Their young must endure a five foot drop to the ground at birth. These infants can stand in half an hour and run with their mothers an incredible ten hours after birth.

Dear Friends,

Last week Dohrea and I were in Hawaii, lovely Hawaii—Maui to be exact, and brought back with us a wonderful treat for your delight, a few seconds of Maui’s heavenly sounding ocean.

On the surface Hawaii looks and feels great, seems healthy to the casual tourist, but we know better, one only needs to look closer.  Scientists estimate that unless we take immediate action we could lose up to 70% of coral reefs by 2050 (The Nature Conservancy, 2012).  Hawaii has already lost much of theirs.  The coral reefs are the tropical rain forests of the oceans, home to most of its species.  This is just the beginning of the nightmare.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch flows from southern California, to Japan, just barely missing Hawaii to its south—for now.  It is twice the size of Texas, a river filled with plastic debris.  Just like the acidification of our oceans that is killing our coral reefs, the warming of our planet which is melting our glaciers and raising sea levels worldwide, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch River is filling our oceans with a 100 million tons of plastic garbage that finds its way into the bellies of young birds.  It is the result of our unconscious, thoughtless consumerism that’s littering our planet with toxic waste.  This young albatros (in the picture to your right) died not on the shores of Laguna Beach but in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, on Midway Island.  An island that should be a tropical paradise but has become a garbage dump for cigarette lighters and plastic bags, all courtesy of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch River.  Ten thousand dead birds can be found on Midway.  This tragedy is chronicled by photographer Chris Jordon’s film, Midway: Message From The Gyre. Click on this!  You’ll get some great information and links.

But this is just the beginning of our discussion, isn’t it?  There is so much more to say.  The US currently has more that 85,000 chemicals in commerce.  There are approximately 2500 high production volume chemicals which are manufactured at a rate of more than one million pounds annually with nearly 45% of these chemicals lacking adequate toxicological studies to evaluate their health effects on humans and wildlife.  Most of these toxins find their way eventually to the oceans. Three-quarters of the earth’s surface is covered by oceans and one-half the worlds population live within a stones throw of the oceans.

Here’s Maui’s beautiful ocean’s song to us.  Just click on the picture:
Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com


Clinical Note:

“….everything on the earth has a purpose, every disease an herb to cure it, and every person a mission.  This is the Indian Theory of existense.”  Christal Quintasket (1888-1936) Salish.

We are presently, through our collaborating partners, making major inroads into relationships with the Native People of Alaska and the First Nation Peoples of Canada. Their elders intimate knowledge of the traditional use of the native plants is beyond exciting.  It is enlightening.

And, their attitude towards life, as expressed by Chief Seattle, bring healing to our souls:  ”Teach your children what we have taught our children, that the earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth.  If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves.  This we know:  the earth does not belong to man—man belong to the earth.  This we know.  All things are connected like the blood that unites one family.  All things are connected.”

The Last Quiz Answer:

This little collection of young female goats is part of a 400 head herd of organically raised goats. They are very tame, very curious and well loved.  They have a laid back life style, migrating through different meadows for their food. Each goat is free of pesticides, herbicides, growth hormone and antibiotics. They produce a wonderful, high quality, nutricious milk and colostrum. We are working on our business agreement with their parents, who are very wonderful people.  Will share soon.

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a very important environmental group to get to know.  For 50 years TNC has helped protect environmentally precious areas in the world using the simplest possible method.  It buys them.  It buys land at market prices, making it offlimits to environmentally damaging uses, such as development  or logging. (Made to Stick 2007)

Dear Friends,

What does activisim have in common with the Phyto Power? Read on.

The 13th Annual Westen Price Foundation Conference is coming up on November 9th thru the 12th in Santa Clara. It’s entitled, Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts.  Here’s the link: check it out.

If you are not familiar with the Westen Price group, it is definately an important group for you to get to know.

The Foundation is dedicated to restoring nutrient-dense foods to the American diet through education, research, and activism.  They believe in organic and biodynamic farming, pasture feeding of livestock, community supported farms, including the establishment of universal access to clean, certified raw milk and a ban on the use of soy formulas for infants.

A new book by the Center for Ecoliteracy has just come out, August 16th, 2012.  It’s entitled:  Eco Literate:  How Educators are Cultivating Emotional, Social and Ecological Intelligence. Here’s an excerpt:

A tender and exquisitely planned teachable moment opens our new book, Ecoliterate, coauthored by renowned psychologist and bestselling author Daniel Coleman and the Center’s Lisa Bennett and Zenobia Barlow. Ecoliterate introduces an integration of emotional, social, and ecological intelligence that advances student success and helps engage young people in today’s ecological challenges. It offers inspiring stories of educators and other leaders from the Arctic to Appalachia and New Mexico to New Orleans who are using these capacities to creatively address food, water and energy issues. Reviewers are calling the book powerful, eloquant, and a treasure and urgently important.

Click here to read furthers excerpts from the Introduction.

When one asks how do I get involved in hands on training to be a positve activist, these are the two groups, Westin Price and Eco Literacy, that fill the bill.  Here’s one more:

This organization comes right from my own neighborhood—the San Juan Islands, in Washington State.  On beautiful Orcas Island resides one of the premier permaculture sites in the world—The Bullock’s Permaculture Homestead. You can go for just an afternoon tour, or even sign up for an intensive week long stay and practical training in permaculture farming methods. I must confess that I haven’t been up there myself, and I have no good excuse. I will take pictures when I go for all of us!  I promise.  From all I’ve heard it is a phenomenal place.

So we’ve gone, in the last couple of weeks, from introducing you more fully to our new Phyto Power, a product built with wildcrafted berries and herbs derived from the wilds of Alaska, to looking at hands on opportunities with life changing farming communities like Bullock farm and seminars like those of the Westin Price Foundations and the Center for Eco Literacy.

My hope and prayer for all of us is to let nature come back into our lives, to develop a love affair with the natural world.

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note:

“….everything on the earth has a purpose, every disease an herb to cure it, and every person a mission.  This is the Indian Theory of existense.”  Christal Quintasket (1888-1936) Salish.

We are presently, through our collaborating partners, making major inroads into relationships with the Native People of Alaska and the First Nation Peoples of Canada. Their elders intimate knowledge of the traditional use of the native plants is beyond exciting.  It is enlightening.

And, their attitude towards life, as expressed by Chief Seattle, bring healing to our souls:  ”Teach your children what we have taught our children, that the earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth.  If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves.  This we know:  the earth does not belong to man—man belong to the earth.  This we know.  All things are connected like the blood that unites one family.  All things are connected.”

The Last Quiz Answer:

A young Gelada Baboon, resting.  He lives in the Ethiopian mountains as a part of a troups of approximately 400 baboons.  Geladas are a gentle species of baboon and it is possible to sit amongst them and not be harmed.  They are a large baboon, with adult males looking like a cross between a lion and a poodle.  Geladas are the most vocal of all the primates and can make 27 distinct noises.  They are very social animals, organized into harems with one dominant male and 4 to 6 females and their offspring.  Believe it or not they even raise feral dogs as pets.  Have a look!

During the past few months, there has been much emphasis on the crucial role that the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform will have for the future of European agriculture.  Public interest is growing, but to help foster greater understanding of the significance of the reform and the gravity of the decisions being made not merely for agriculture but quality of life in general – Slow Food and other civil society groups are organizing a public march starting in mid-August and culminating in Brussels on September 19 with a conference at the EU Parliament.

Dear Friends,

Well, we are back from an eight day trip to the eastcoast: three days in New York City seeing our friends, and five days in the Washington DC area for Dohrea’s PhD program.  In this week’s newsletter both Dohrea and I will share with you a part of our adventures and discoveries in the realm of organic living.  Here’s Dohrea:

It is Monday afternoon in NYC; the temperature is high, humidity higher, and everyone is dressed with minimal clothing, wears huge sunglasses, and large hats. It is indeed summertime, a perfect season to further green our life. The warming trend is obvious over here in NYC and even more so in DC, where we will spend the whole week, me in seminars for my PhD (air-conditioned environment), and Seann, connecting with wonderful physicians like yourselves, and visiting special organizations who work towards the betterment of our earth.

Greening, as we all know, is our duty.  So, what we eat, drink, and of course use around the house (clealing products), our cars, and our personal grooming products, are all a part of the causation of the de-evolution pattern we are endeavoring to change. On a nice Sunday afternoon in Brooklyn (hot of course), Jessa Blades from Blades Natural Beauty taught us all about greening our personal and beauty routines. The experience was enlivening, and our time together deepened our resolve to not only green ourselves but help others think through the process. Check out Jessa’s blog, and share this great resource with your patients, they will thank you!

Here is a picture of Jessa and I, sitting and playing with a variety of beautiful products, all healthy, all fortifying, made by individuals and companies who care about our plant and us.  We think about cleaning and purifying our earth, changing farming methods, buying and supporting organic farms, and now, we need to think of supporting those who are working hard to bring us wonderfully thoughtful green personal products to keep our bodies humming in health. We learned from Jessa about individuals who are partnering up with different indigenous people in many parts of the world to harvest, sustainably, ingredients that create intelligent and profoundly active products for our skin, hair, and nails.

Jessa’s dream is to create a shop that carries many products that are locally unique to NYC, as well as bring products from different places around the globe. As you know, we believe in supporting organic/green local and global talent while we develop and encourage others to think about energy efficient life style. Take a closer look at this beautifully arrayed table: we have organic oils, creams, lip colors, sun screens that are rated well (you do already know of the Skin Deep rating system), powders, and even exceptional deodorants—all healthy, all beautiful—and each product has a story that is worth knowing.

Jessa Blades knows people from all over the world who love our earth and this love is communicated through the joy she brings into teaching people where to find and how to use organic, active products. She spent two hours teaching us how to green our personal routines and then taught me a few great application techniques (make-up) to look natural (and as I requested—glowing!). Simple routines, wonderful products to work with, and superb results—well worth the time. You can find Jessa if you live in NY or close by, and there are many eco-chic experts you can get in touch with or bring into your clinic to teach your patients about personal care. Check out this article at Glamour (yes, Glamour, is it not great that they are starting to advertise green living?) “70 New Reasons to live Green” and meet 70 eco-concious women whose mission is aligned with greening the earth. We respect their efforts and hard work.  Here is what these activists think:

What else can you do this year? Keep up the great green work—and try one new thing, or two or three (find dozens of easy ideas at glamour.com). Every little bit helps. Talk to others about what you’re doing; Mother Earth needs as many friends as possible. To inspire you even more, take a look at our 70 eco go-getters. They’re grassroots activists, CEOs and celebs, ages 17 to 66. Some run big-gun groups; others are building greener lipsticks and totes. But they’ve all recognized the same thing: “Future generations depend on our vigilance. We must care,” says Lisa Jackson, head of the Environmental Protection Agency. “Time and again, we’ve faced the frustrations of righting past wrongs.” So here’s to the environment—and greener years ahead. Virginia Sole-Smith

You have already met Annie Leonard who created the Story of Stuff Project. Review her Story of Cosmetics and offer this link to your patients: The Story of Cosmetics. It is a pleasure sharing our journey with you—I wish you a joyful summer!! And now, off to DC for my seminar, back to my books, and papers.

And, back to me:

We hit the motherload of culinary organic dinning in DC, but before I get into this jewel of a find, I must tell you about a very, very good organic/vegan restaurant in NYC—The Caravan of Dreams.  Their food is to die for!  It is Dohrea’s most favorite place to eat.  Here’s a quote from their website:

Founded in 1991 by Angel Moreno, a Spanish expat in New York [and he's a Sufi], who saw the restaurant as an opportunity to combine his passions for food, health, music, and community. It’s a place where Angel and others are reaching out to countless people and developing new ideas for a greater world, that all have at its core the Caravan of Dreams tenet: around good food and health, music and dance, and friends and family and lovers, lies the wellspring of happiness.

Now on to DC.  My instruction from Dohrea and one of her cohort, Susan, was to find a good organic restaurant that we could bring their special group of around six fellow students.  I found Restaurant Nora.

Nora Pouillon is a pioneer and champion of organic, environmentally conscious cuisine. Born in Austria, Nora promotes and embodies healthy, sustainable living. Her inspiration in the kitchen comes from her parents who understood the value of simply prepared seasonal foods. When Nora came to the US, in the late 1960s She was disturbed by the amount of processed and chemical-laden foods Americans were eating. That’s when Nora began her search for seasonal and organic food and her crusade for healthier living.

Nora made a lifetime commitment to nutritionally wholesome food, balanced eating and sustainable living that is based on the premise that you are what you eat, drink and breathe, and that it is important to take responsibility for one’s own health. Her approach also includes a daily exercise routine that strengthens and focuses the body and mind.

Nora opened Restaurant Nora, in 1979 and was immediately recognized for her ability to create not only healthy but also delicous organic dishes. In 1999, twenty years later, the restaurant became the nation’s first certified organic restaurant. Only three other restaurants have since achieved this goal.

We had a wonderful evening.  The food was perfect for all—from paleo to vegan.  Restaurant Nora is eloquent, and was packed with all kinds to very interesting people.  Needless to say, we were very pleased and proud  of our organic family—thanks to Nora.

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note:

What is the Therpapeutic Foods Paradigm?

Our bodies are so bombarded with pollution, pathogens and stress that they desperately need to be fed real food, sustaining food, energizing food, organic food with high actives.

Even if we eat seven servings of fruits and vegetables a day, it’s good but it is not enough, we need powerful organic food, food that doesn’t add more pollutants to our body burden, but food that impacts our bodies therapeutically and makes them strong.

Here is the link to read further about the Therapeutic Foods paradigm.

Also, read about the World Today, the reason we need to fight for a clean environment.

The Last Quiz Answer:

Flying fish make the tropical waters spanning the globe their home.  During my two year living in Micronesia I witnessed their amazing feats of flight.  One always wondered what was lurking under the water’s surface that was chasing them—tuna, mackeral, marlin, swordfish, or the more scary thoughts of possible hunting baracudas and sharks.  Flying fish can cover an amazing distance in flight, having been recorded of flying over the distance of three football fields.

The Story of Change just came out this week on Wednesday and here is the link.  As our world spins into greater pollution, greater inequity, greater starvation and chronic illness, and moves ever closer to the next mass extinction, there is, believe me, hope!  And, Anne Leonard, is one of those points of light—enjoy this link and pass it on.

Dear Friends,

Our ultimate goal as activists is for the whole world, every last person, to be fed with local organic food. I assume most of you would subscribe to such a goal. Some will ask you: Why organic food?

Last friday I opened up a new account for BioImmersion with a local community bank. As I was explaining our business model to our new team of bankers, I was asked the question, “Why is the focus on organic food so important for you?” It is a very good question.

My first thought is the known fact (to us in the holistic medical industry) that organic food is simply better food for our bodies, higher in nutrient values, less poisons, better for our health—a focus on the therapeutic value of food. My second wave of thoughts, which I shared with them (and surpised myself, as it is technical), had to do with the soil—it builds the soil, makes it healthy, increases the organic matter (the humus) in the soil, gives the soil more body, less vulnerable to erosion, provides a healthy environment for worms, microorganism and insects, all partners in making for healthy plants. Without healthy soil, we can’t grow healthy plants and without healthy plants we can’t grow healthy humans. Additionally, healthy soil pulls CO2 out of the atmosphere, reducing global warming. The fact of the matter is that if we only use organic farming methods around the world, we would not have a greenhouse gas crisis, the food chain would be properly supplied, and a billion people would not be starving as they are today. The chronic diseases pandemic that plagues the worlds today would be a thing of the past.

The foregoing stimulated quite a discussion, one of our new bankers said that he was a marathon runner. The net result is that they are very excited to have our business and work with us and be a part of the vision for a healthier planet.

It is well established that when cultures destroy their soil through faulty agricultural practices, the offending human cultures whither away. Good soil is foundational and a priori to our existence. Our industrial agricultural practices of today are destroying top soil worldwide at alarming rates. We need to gather ourselves to work with nature, not against her—our survival depends on it.

Fortunately, the forces for working with nature, for learning from nature are mounting and it is time for all of us to join in and become activists for this change. Here’s are three heavy weights with links to their website and more:

• La Via Campesina is the international movement which brings together millions of peasants, small and medium size farmers, landless people, women farmers, indigenous people, migrants and agricultural workers from around the world. It defends small-scale sustainble agriculture as a way to promote social justice and dignity. It strongly apposes corporate driven agriculture and transnational companies that are destroying people and nature.
• Biomimicry 3.8 is the global leader in biomimicry innovation consulting, professional training, and educational program and curricula development. Our mission is to train, equip and connect engineers, educators, architects, designers, business leaders and other innovators to sustainability that emulates natures 3.8 billion years of brilliant designs and strategies.
• Permaculture is an ecological design system for sustainability in all aspects of our lives. Permaculture teaches us how to build natural homes, grow our own food, restore diminished landscapes and ecosystems, catch rainwater, build communities, take care of waste and much more. The philosophy within permaculture is one of working with rather than against nature, and of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than premature and thoughtless action. Permaculture design techniques encourage land use which integrates principles of ecology and applies lessons from nature. It teaches us to create settings and construct ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and the resilience of natural ecosystems. In the spirit of sustainability, it also teaches us to allow natural and designed ecosystems to demonstrate their own evolutions.

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note:

What is the Therpapeutic Foods Paradigm?

Our bodies are so bombarded with pollution, pathogens and stress that they desperately need to be fed real food, sustaining food, energizing food, organic food with high actives.

Even if we eat seven servings of fruits and vegetables a day, it’s good but it is not enough, we need powerful organic food, food that doesn’t add more pollutants to our body burden, but food that impacts our bodies therapeutically and makes them strong.

Here is the link to read further about the Therapeutic Foods paradigm.

Also, read about the World Today, the reason we need to fight for a clean environment.

The Last Quiz Answer:

The elephant shrew (Elephantulus rufescens) is a lightning-quick mouse-like creature that makes its home in the shrublands of Kenya. Four inches is length from snout to rump, these busy little creature are always hungry, and running through their maze of interlinking trails in their hunting grounds. They are monogamous, often time choosing for their home the abandoned burrows of rodents. Their foods are worms, termites and other insects. They are the food of snakes, and lizards. In the video clip, a sengi runs for its life from a hungry lizard—with a successsful outcome for the sengi.

Permaculture is making its impact in Africa. Here are two links to permaculture education in South Africa and another in Tanzania..