Ben Fuchs

Ben Fuchs is a nutritional pharmacist from Colorado. He specializes in using nutritional supplements when other healthcare practitioners use toxic pharmaceutical drugs.He is the founder and formulator of Truth Treatment Systems for skin care, host of The Bright Side syndicated radio show, a member of Youngevity's Scientific Advisory Board, health expert and frequent guest on Coast to Coast am with George Noory."The human body is a healing and regenerating system, designed divinely to heal & renew itself on a moment to moment basis." "Take charge of your biochemistry through foods and supplements, rather than allow toxic prescription drugs to take charge of you." ~Ben Fuchs

Mar

2014

Intermittent Fasting

By Ben Fuchs | Pharmacist Ben

One of the healthiest lifestyle strategies is easy and won’t cost you anything. In fact you’ll probably end up making money in the long run. I’m talking about intermittent fasting (IF), a healthy idea that has been practiced for thousands of years. Intermittent fasting turns on genes that stimulate growth, repair, and anti-aging, especially in combination with exercise. If done correctly it can help keep the body in fat burning mode. And, it’s got important effects on stimulating motivation , drive, and brain power. After all, when someone is young and ambitious we often say that they are…. ”hungry”.

In a famous experiment in the 1940’s, scientists from the University of Chicago showed that they could increase the lifespans of animals by up to 20 percent simply by denying them food every 3rd day. And in a review by that published in 2007 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers from U C Berkeley found that alternate day fasting could save lives by decreasing risks for heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, the three leading causes of death in the United States. Moreover, they found that it is important for the nervous system and the brain, improving cognitive function and providing protection from Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease, too.

And there’s an important insulin connection to the benefits of fasting. Insulin is a type of “master” hormone, in the sense that it upregulates many different cell activities; and it affects every single cell. The prime stimulus for insulin secretion is food. When we eat any carbs or protein, cells get drenched in insulin. And, in addition to feeding cells, insulin tells cells to divide and grow. Insulin turns on cellular activates. Biochemists call that up-regulation. While that’s important, it’s helpful only in the right context. If we’re not lifting weights and we’re not building muscle, exercising, etc., if we live the typical American sedentary lifestyle, this up regulation is not necessarily a good thing. Elevated blood fats, hypertension, skin problems like acne, psoriasis, cysts, growths and endometriosis are all possibilities if cells are stuck in overdrive from too much exposure to insulin.

Even worse, if we’re constantly eating and insulin is constantly being secreted, eventually cells become immune to insulin’s effects on cell nourishment and feeding. Unfortunately, you’ll still have enough insulin around to stimulate cell growth and division, and upregulate activates. Except now cells will be upregulated in a state of starvation that’s VERY, VERY BAD!! This unfortunate insulin issue is behind every single chronic degenerative disease you can name. Doctors call the various breakdowns in the body that are associated with dysfunctional messed up insulin Metabolic Syndrome, which means basically everything or anything can go wrong. High blood pressure, elevated blood fats and cholesterol, heart disease, cognitive breakdown, etc., eye diseases, and osteoporosis are all examples of Metabolic Syndrome symptoms that can be traced back to elevated insulin secretion.

Of course using nutrients to potentize insulin is always a good idea. Vitamins like niacin, thiamine, Vitamin A, and minerals like chromium, vanadium, and zinc can be helpful. And, you want to make sure you’re getting some regular exercise, too. But there is no quicker way to get insulin back in line and to improve longevity, increase muscle growth and generally slow down the aging process, than to reduce caloric intake and make it habit to fast once or twice a month.

Feb

2014

Subway to take out the Azodicarbonamide

By Ben Fuchs | Pharmacist Ben

Last week Subway announced that they would no longer add azodicarbonamide to their dough. Apparently the multi- syllabic, difficult-to-pronounce, food conditioning chemical, (which is used in shoe leather and synthetic belts as well as fake food), while considered safe by the FDA, breaks down to form a well-known carcinogen called urethane. In addition to being found in all manner of synthetic and rubberized non-comestible products, azodicarbonamide is used as a dough softener, which means it makes bread mushy and squishy allowing to be swallowed more quickly, presumably so we’ll eat more of the stuff. Food processors know that the faster a food slides down a customer’s gullet, the more of that food said customer is likely to eat. They call it “throat slip” and it’s these kinds of taste tricks and palatability plots hatched by food scientists that make indulging in fast fare such a risky proposition.

While it’s really nice for the folks at Subway to take out the azodicarbonamide (whose use is completely banned in Europe and Australia), there’s a lot of other chemicals added to their processed bread that should also raise a red flag. One of the worst is bromide, which supposedly gives bread an elastic quality that makes it seem more substantive than it really is. That way even though the stuff effortless slips down your throat you still think you’re eating something substantial and real. Bromide is a hormone disrupter that can negatively affect the skin, brain and kidney and is especially problematic for the thyroid gland. And according to a June 2012 article published in the journal “Cancer Cause Control”, bromide derivatives are associated with increased risks for stomach
cancer.

Although when we think about bread most of us have a warm fuzzy feeling, (throughout history a warm loaf has come to represent home, health and happiness) between emulsifiers, softeners, conditioners, flavor enhancers, sweeteners, improvers and preservative our 21st century modern version of the stuff represents less the staff of life and more the sickle of death.

Lest anyone think “whole grain” bread is any better than the squishy, soft, white, processed, “play” dough you get at a fast food joint like Subway, you might be interested to know that in reality there’s no such thing, at least from a legal perspective. Whole grain actually isn’t really made with any whole grain. It’s a composite, a processed pastiche of various proportions of the germ, (the good stuff) highly nutritious backed with minerals and vitamins, the bran (that’s where the fiber is), and the starch (the insulin spiking, diabetes causing sugar).

According to an article published last week in the Journal Food and Nutrition Research, while the term indicates the inclusion at least some of each of the three components, there are no standards legal or otherwise, and significant variances exist in how much of the good stuff has been used in a particular loaf of bread. The authors of the article proposed what they considered to be the “most comprehensive definition of the ‘whole grain’ term to date”, which take into account various factors including grain types,
pseudo-grains (which according to the authors include quinoa and amaranth), and milling procedures; all of which impact nutritional value. Unfortunately, the proportion issue, that is how much of each particular grain component is in a given loaf of bread, is a subject that is not addressed by the proposed definition and guidelines.

Feb

2014

Destroying Cancer Cells

By Ben Fuchs | Pharmacist Ben

Cancer is a sign of a body, tissues and cells that have been abused for decades. And, because cancer cells are OUR very own cells (dysfunctional, delinquent, and perverted as they may be), anything that “kills” cancer cells is in essence suicide medicine that ultimately kills the very body it is supposedly healing! That’s why chemotherapy is such a miserable experience and is rarely effective. The idea of using supplements to address what is essentially a trashed out biological system (I don’t mean to be mean or graphic, but think putrid, fetid, stinky landfill) is naive and simplistic, and like trying to eliminate the horrific smell of a sewage dump with a stick of incense. And herbal formulas like Hoxsey, Essiac and Cantron (which bills itself as an “amazing bio-electrical wellness formulation”) etc., while generally non-toxic, are not much more effective.

Healthy cells become cancer cells as a survival mechanism in response to long-term deprivation of oxygen and energizing nutrients which leads to an inability to produce energy AND eliminate toxins. The net result is a starved, suffocated, and toxic cell and ultimately multiple cells, then tissues and organs. The hallmark signs of a cell gone cancerous, i.e. rapid chaotic growth/division and the greedy utilization of sugar and nutrients, represent a cell’s desperate attempt to survive under conditions of toxicity, nutrient deficiency and oxygen deprivation.

Because this process takes many years to develop, reversal while certainly possible (according to medical researcher Anthony Campbell www.acampbell.org.uk over 20 research articles on spontaneous remissions are available on Medline), for the most part effectively addressing the scourge of cancer requires converting the body’s biochemical environs to a state that is non-conducive to carcinogenesis. Thus, hawking herbs and supplements or dispensing medical poison to “cure” the condition by (supposedly) destroying cancer cells is ignorant at best and exploitative and predatory at worst. Not that there aren’t charlatans and hucksters everywhere who will be glad to exploit the sick, scared, desperate, innocent, and gullible by selling “magic” cancer-“killing” formulas. As always Caveat Emptor (let the buyer beware)!

On the other hand, using supplements (especially intravenously), food/diet, oxygenation, and other health strategies are important for providing the body with what it needs to maintain its health, vigor, immunity and defense systems. This includes the use of vitamin C, glutathione-building NAC and glutamine, organic cold-processed whey protein, fermented foods, probiotics, and essential fats. Also, The Mighty 90 essential nutrients, fasting, CRON (Calorie Restriction Optimum Nutrition) Diet, laying off sugar and processed supermarket and restaurant foods are also advisable.

Bottom line: if you are dealing with cancer or any other degenerative state, rather than thinking of killing or curing, consider supplementing and making lifestyle choices (including spiritual, mental and emotional techniques) and doing what it takes to create a healthy body and biochemical environment in a manner that is no different than addressing the needs of a well body that is not confronted with a disease condition.

Feb

2014

Essential Sugars

By Ben Fuchs | Pharmacist Ben

Sugar is pretty interesting stuff. It is also misunderstood. For one thing, we all love how “sugar” tastes, but we don’t necessarily love its effects. And that presents a problem. Despite it’s well-documented health hazards, because we love the stuff, no matter how much we try to abstain, when it comes right down to it, turning down that apple pie a la mode or peach gelato, as much as we’d like to, can be pretty difficult, and at times impossible. That’s because our brains (our brainy cells which are fueled by the sweet and sticky substance) are hardwired to love sugar! On the other hand the downside of sugar ingestion, which includes weight gain, diabetes, eye disease, hypertension, jitteriness, and anxiety, well–those we would rather do without. Thus the love-hate relationship we have with what is generally referred to as “sugar”.

Sugar cane plantation ready for harvest, São Paulo State, Brazil – By Mariordo , via Wikimedia Commons

But, unbeknownst to many, there’s a whole other side to the subject of sugar! The chemical that most of us know as “sugar” and the substance that is so problematic is actually a special type of sugar called “glucose”. And, as it turns out, glucose is just one version of 8 different sugars that are collectively, if not entirely accurately, referred to as “essential”. These 7 other essential sugars aren’t very tasty or sweet, but importantly, they provide lots of health benefits.

One of these essential sugars is called N-acetyl glucosamine (NAG) from which the arthritis-fighting nutritional supplement glucosamine can be derived. NAG can be especially helpful for skin health. The body can use it as a raw material for the production of the skin’s natural moisturizer hyaluronic acid. It can help prevent and reduce fine line and crow’s feet formation by activating collagen making cells. It may even be used topically to help lighten dark spots and improve other visible signs of skin aging, including thinning and wrinkled skin. And, its digestive system supporting properties can help improve immune system health and reduce the entrance of skin destroying inflammatory factors through the small intestine. In fact under conditions of digestive distress, especially leaky gut syndrome, it’s likely the body will divert NAG away from the skin to help repair the gut lining. That means less NAG available for keeping skin youthful, moisturized, and robust.

Good food sources of NAG include aloe, shitake mushrooms, and cartilage. And, If you’re interested in using N-acetyl glucosamine, it’s available in a supplement form; try a daily dose of 500 or so mg. Or, If you want to use NAG topically, anti-aging skin health benefits can be derived by applying it directly onto the skin. Try making your own skin lightening and tightening toner by putting the contents of one or two 500mg capsules of NAG in a cup or two of distilled water or aloe vera gel. Pour a little on cotton pad and rub it gently on your face 4 or 5 times a week.

Jan

2014

Half an Avocado

By Ben Fuchs | Pharmacist Ben

This past November’s issue of the highly regarded publication ”Nutritional Journal” has a cool article about avocados. It quotes a study (entitled, somewhat awkwardly, “A Randomized Crossover Study to Evaluate the Effect of Haas Avocado Intake on Post-Ingestive Satiety and Insulin Levels and Subsequent Energy Intake in Overweight Adults “!) that compared the effects of adding a fresh avocado to a lunchtime meal to the effects of eating a standard non-avocado-including lunch. Scientists were looking to see how avocado consumption would influence blood sugar and insulin responses, and satisfaction and further food intake. The researchers, from the Department of Nutrition at Loma Linda University found that participants who added half an avocado to their lunch reported a significantly decreased desire to eat by 40 percent over a three hour period and 28 percent over a five hour period compared to their desire to eat after a standard, non-avocado-containing lunch. Even more significantly, their satisfaction was long lasting. Three hours after eating participants reported increased satisfaction by 26 percent. And the avocados didn’t throw off blood sugar. According to Dr. Joan Sabat who led the research team “…there was no increase in blood sugar levels beyond what was observed after eating the standard lunch”.

So what is it that makes avocados so satisfying? Well, aside from the fiber and the nutrients which are always satiety-inducing, probably the most hunger busting element of the succulent green fruit are the fats. Avocados are among the plant world’s most lipid-dense products, containing significant amounts of both saturated and unsaturated fats. According to the USDA, 1 cup of avocado contains over 4 teaspoons of fat. What’s more, it’s got nearly 3 grams of protein (about as much as half an egg) and nearly 25 percent of the RDA of Vitamin C. And, next to zero calories derived from sugar! Considering that kind of nutritional payoff, it’s no wonder that avocados have been farmed for millennia. They’re one of the oldest cultivated fruits; Central American farmers have been growing them since 8000 BC.

The most common avocado is the Hass variety, it comprises over 75 percent of the US avocado crop, which is located and largely concentrated in California, Florida and Hawaii and boasts business of nearly half a billion dollars annually. Other varieties include the oversized Florida Fuerte avocado that’s less fatty and gram for gram lower in calories than the venerable Haas, and the cocktail avocado which is pitless, and as tasty and delicious as it is difficult to peel and hard to find.

Did you know you can prevent avocados from browning by sprinkling the flesh with a little lime or lemon juice?
Use lots of Celtic Sea Salt on raw, fresh avocados. The salt and avocado fats will act synergistically to amplify the distinctive tastes and subtle flavors of the rich, buttery fruit.
Can’t wait to eat your hard avocado? You can hasten it’s ripening by putting it in a paper bag. The bag will trap ethylene oxide, a ripening-inducing gas that is emitted by the tasty fruit as it ages. Make sure you keep the bag in a dark cool area and you check your avocado regularly or you may end up making guacamole!