This is because of a group of fatty acid derivatives called eicosinoids. Eicosinoids are short-lived, hormone-like chemicals that our body makes from essential fatty acids in response to noxious stimuli (eg. trauma, infection, or irritants). These chemicals are responsible for the redness, pain, swelling and heat associated with inflammation. Since these signals are made on demand, eicosanoids are made from the essential fatty acids that are stored in the body. Interestingly, the specific eicosinoid that is made depends on which of the two essential fatty acids are used and not on what the stimuli is.

The first essential fatty acid is linoleic acid. This omega-6 fatty acid is abundant in safflower, sunflower and corn oils. Animals convert linoleic acid into another fat called arachidonic acid. Arachidonic acid, also an omega-6 fatty acid, is then converted to a group of pro-inflammatory eicosinoids that cause inflammatory reactions such as blood vessel constriction, immune activation, muscular contraction and fever.

Alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid, is the other essential fatty acid in the diet. The highest concentrations of alpha-linolenic acid in food are found in chia and flax seeds. Walnut, hemp, canola and soybean oils all have some amount of alpha-linolenic acid. Just as with linoleic acid, animals convert alpha-linolenic acid into a different omega-3 fat for storage: eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) . EPA is considered the active ingredient in fish oil supplements. The eicosanoids produced from omega-3 fatty acids are generally considered anti-inflammatory.

Because these fats are stored in the cells of animals, they have the ability to travel up the food chain. Animals that have a diet high in linoleic acid, such as animals raised on corn, will have higher amounts of arachidonic acid, compared to animals that have a diet high in alpha-linolenic acid.

Both omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids are essential to our health. However, for people who experience chronic inflammation reducing their intake of omega-6 fatty acids, while increasing their intake of omega-3 fatty acids has proven to be a useful way of reducing symptoms.

Shifting towards the digestive tract, fat intolerance is the generic term for difficulty digesting any dietary fats. The gallbladder and the pancreas are responsible for mixing and breaking the fats we eat, while the small intestine is responsible for absorbing the digested fats. If any of these organs are not working properly, the end result is undigested fats entering the colon. Fats in the colon are broken down by colonic bacteria, which causes foul smelling, explosive diarrhea. People with a fat intolerance will generally report that greasy food will fairly quickly elicit a trip to the bathroom.

Dr. Phil Grasso is a naturopathic physician with a focus in cancer treatment and HIV/AIDS management. Dr. Grasso believes that it is crucial to combine the best practices of conventional medicine with the best practices of complementary and alternative medicine, especially when dealing with life-threatening disease. Only through a team approach, with each health care provider bringing his or her expertise, can medicine truly provide innovative care.  The goal of treatment should not be merely to extend life after diagnosis, but to help each person to thrive.

Dr. Grasso is accepting new patients at Oswego Progressive Medicine and Portland Integrative Health and Sports Medicine.

 

In food sensitivities, a different antibody, IgG, is involved.  IgG activates a much larger and more sophisticated portion of our immune system, when compared to IgE, which causes a greater variety of symptoms, over a longer period of time. Most people with a food sensitivity have some type of digestive complaint, but not always.   The classic picture of Irritable Bowel Syndrome – gas, bloating, diarrhea and constipation – can frequently be attributed to an underlying IgG reaction.  Food sensitivities can also play a role in major digestive diseases, such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.  Because of the overall immune activation that happens in food sensitivities, body wide symptoms are also fairly common.  Joint pains, difficulty breathing with exertion, and even migraines can all be associated with food sensitivities.

Unlike food allergies, symptoms of food sensitivities typically develop a few days after the exposure.  The most common triggers (ie. milk, wheat, corn, soy and eggs) are also common in most diets.  Together these facts make tracing food sensitivities more difficult.  The two most effective methods for determining a food sensitivity are IgG testing, a blood test, and an elimination or hypoallergenic diet.  After a period of avoidance, most people can consume the foods they are sensitive to on a limited basis.

Gluten, a protein in wheat, spelt, rye and some oats, is the culprit behind one of the most serious reactions people can have to protiens, celiac disease.  In celiac disease, the antibodies that form in response to gluten also react to lining of the digestive tract.  For people with celiac, an exposure to gluten triggers the immune system to attack their digestive tract, which leads to a host of severe digestive complaints.  Celiac disease, can be screened for using a blood test for the specific anti-bodies, although a definitive diagnosis involves taking a piece of the small intestine and looking at it under the microscope for specific changes.  The treatment for celiac disease is a life-long avoidance of gluten and all gluten containing foods.

The final way the proteins in our food can negatively effects our health is through our nervous system.  Some proteins in foods are able to directly affect our nerves. Casein, a protein found in milk, and gluten are both classic examples.  These proteins bind onto our endorphin receptors.  For most people, eating the protein causes a slight sense of well-being and relaxation.  For sensitive individuals, they cause constipation, irritability, mood swings and difficulty concentrating.

Dr. Phil Grasso is a naturopathic physician with a focus in cancer treatment and HIV/AIDS management. Dr. Grasso believes that it is crucial to combine the best practices of conventional medicine with the best practices of complementary and alternative medicine, especially when dealing with life-threatening disease. Only through a team approach, with each health care provider bringing his or her expertise, can medicine truly provide innovative care.  The goal of treatment should not be merely to extend life after diagnosis, but to help each person to thrive.

Dr. Grasso is accepting new patients at Oswego Progressive Medicine and Portland Integrative Health and Sports Medicine.

 

To be clear, such participation is likely not a ‘doing.’ Rarely do we consider being quiet, listening to ‘the still, small voice within,’ and practicing ‘simply being,’ as a form of participation with life. We assert, however, that not only is that a powerful form of participation, but, also, that action from any other place will not lead us to true joy.

For example, I want a new partner. I believe that a new partner will make me happy. He will be richer, better looking, perhaps even more spiritual. (Fill in your conditioned blanks.) If I search for this new Mr. Right from the perspective that who I am with is Mr. Wrong and that I won’t be happy until I find the ‘real’ Mr. Right, then I will be forever caught in the loop of longing, searching, perhaps finding – and if so, the satiation is bound to not last which will throw me back into the longing. Or, perhaps I simply never find the real Mr. Right, leaving me to be bound by the world of longing and …‘but… if only’s.’ Meanwhile, ‘the still, small voice within’ whispers something else. Meanwhile, the deepest heart’s desire is, once again, silenced and overlooked.

When we are still, when we can see what’s underneath our conditioned mind’s overlay, we begin to get a sense of a different kind of desire. Awareness Practice not only shows us how to access what’s underneath, but it teaches us how to train our attention to focus on it. It is then that we touch into the longing that is both a call and a response — all in the same instant. For example, you may get in touch with a deep desire to experience unconditional love. Or the desire to ‘simply be.’ Or the
desire to be free. Such desires arise within a context in which the need is already met.

Such need has nothing to do with the world of life content. It will not be met when ‘I have a new car, or live in a new place, or change my job.’ Nor can the need be rejected by the power of content, which we cannot control (although the conditioned mind will yammer on about the ways that we, in fact, can, thus perpetuating our world of longing.)

This need, this deepest heart’s desire, is a reflection of who we are at the core of our being. Because we are conditioned to have our attention on the content, say, my example of ‘a new partner,’ we miss the process of ‘longing to experience love more deeply.’

What do we mean by ‘the desire arising within a context in which the need is already met?’ Your experience of unconditional love is what calls you to unconditional love. If you hadn’t experienced it, you wouldn’t have a taste for it. It is your experience of ‘simply being’ that calls you to ‘just be.’

When we are in touch with what our deepest heart’s desire is, underneath the holograms of content, we can begin to practice moving though the world from this essence. Because this essence is a reflection of who we are at the core of our being, we can practice learning to live our lives from a direct experience of who we actually are, rather than the illusion of what we ‘should’ be or ‘wish we were.’ It is that manifestation – living life from the source of who we are, without confusion, that leads to joy.

For what could be more joyful than moving through the world, participating with life, from the awareness that who you authentically are is precisely the experience that you’ve been hoping to find? From such a place, we can participate with life by developing an ability to not get in the way of life, via all our conditioned shananagins – ie. ‘trying to be right, seeking control, incessant craving.’ From this new place we participate by resting in the awareness that we are what we’ve longed for. We are what we’ve sought. Once there is clarity about such needs being inherently met, we can fully realize that anything is possible and thus go about whatever task is at hand motivated by our joy, rather than our suffering.

Caverly Morgan has been devoted to Zen Awareness Practice for the last sixteen years, during eight of which she lived and trained at a silent Zen Monastery. She is the founder and director of One House of Peace, a nonprofit organization that began as a small meditation center in Sacramento, CA, and has recently expanded into Portland, OR, where Caverly maintains her own spiritual practice while offering the gift of practice to others.

Caverly currently teaches workshops throughout the country, including regular workshops in Portland, Sacramento, and Charlottesville, VA. Caverly also sees clients, who wish to bring a practice of consciousness into their lives and/or deepen their spiritual pathway, on an individual basis. In working with students, she is known for addressing the questioner, not merely the question. Her unique combination of humor and clarity, along with her unwavering commitment to consciousness, provide the foundation for the work of transformation that she practices and offers to the world.

One House of Peace now offers ‘Peace in the Schools’ to teach students how to achieve their full potential through mindful practice. Students learn to pay attention to their internal daily-life experience and cultivate understanding and compassion for themselves and others.

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