Children, ADHD, and Sensory Disorders


It is any parent’s greatest wish to see their children happy and healthy. There is nothing more joyful than seeing a carefree, innocent smile light up your child’s face. Read more

Leaky Gut and Autoimmune Disorders


Your gastrointestinal system is an incredible design. It contains endocrine (hormonal) and immune system cells. It cooperates with beneficial bacteria to break down food and protect against harmful pathogens. Read more

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Leaky Gut and Autoimmune Disorders

April 1, 2013 Dr. Barbara Kaiser, DC, CCWP Digestive Health, Healing, Immune System, Nutrition, Stress Leave a comment  

Your gastrointestinal system is an incredible design. It contains endocrine (hormonal) and immune system cells. It cooperates with beneficial bacteria to break down food and protect against harmful pathogens. Every 5 days, you replace the lining of your gastrointestinal system with new cells. This is the fastest turnover of any human cells. This is good news, because it means that the gut can heal quickly. But for many of us, gut dysfunction can lead to daily pain, avoiding foods that are good for us, and even chronic illness.

Your gut can be damaged by processed foods, alcohol, prescription drugs, antibiotics, over-the-counter pain relievers, toxic compounds, and chronic stress. Daily worry and anxiety raise your stress hormone levels, which damages the cells that line your gut. The gut lining is intended to be a strong barrier against pathogens and undigested foods. The cells of the gut lining must correctly identify and process everything that is allowed into our bodies, so that harmful compounds do not enter the blood circulation. The cells of the gut lining are the gatekeepers to the body. They determine how effectively you can turn food into cells, tissues, and organ systems. We’ve all heard, “you are what you eat,” and this is the truth!

The integrity of your gut lining directly influences detoxification processes, cellular energy, brain function, immune function, thyroid function, allergic reactions, and weight gain or loss. Poor gastrointestinal health is a key factor in the following illnesses:

  • Inflammatory bowel disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Arthritis
  • Cardiovascular disease
  • Hashimoto’s disease
  • Crohn’s disease
  • Rheumatoid arthritis
  • Ulcerative colitis
  • Alzheimer’s
  • Autism

Note that several of these diseases are autoimmune in nature. Autoimmune diseases are becoming alarmingly prevalent in this country, and have a drastic impact on quality of life. Newer research has shed light on how damage to the gut lining can allow substances to enter blood circulation and trigger autoimmune responses. Essentially, the gatekeeper has been destroyed, and the body’s first line of defense has become broken down. With the onslaught of foreign substances, the immune system becomes confused and hyper-vigilant. There is loss of control in the immune system, and the body begins to attack its own healthy cells as well as the invading substances.

Autoimmune disorders are often viewed as permanent, but newer research shows that they can be, to some extent, reversed. Identifying factors such as leaky gut, nutritional deficiencies, sources of toxicity, and chronic stress are critical to healing. Leaky gut testing is available to identify whether specific sugars, once ingested, enter the bloodstream and are excreted in the urine. If these sugars are present in urine, leaky gut (intestinal permeability) is likely. Diagnosing the problem is the first step to healing. Dr. Barbara Kaiser, DC, CCWP, specializes in cellular healing and health development in Eagan, MN. For more information and a complimentary consultation, call us at 651-757-5096. We are devoted to your healing!


Heart Health and Inflammation

March 21, 2013 Dr. Barbara Kaiser, DC, CCWP Aging, Medicine, Nutrition, Research, Wellness Leave a comment  

You should be aware of two studies on heart disease produced by the Cochrane Collaboration in the past 6 months. These good folks comb through medical research studies and look at the combined evidence. In fall 2012, they reported that for people with mildly elevated blood pressure, drug therapy had no impact on heart attack, stroke, or death. In fact, “about 9% of patients treated with drugs discontinued treatment due to adverse effects.” It appears that for people with systolic blood pressure 140-159 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure 90-99 mgHg, blood pressure-lowering drugs offered more harm than benefit. In early 2013, the Cochrane Collaboration reviewed 18 research trials and found that “of 1000 people treated with a statin for five years, 18 would avoid a major CVD event.” This means that less than 1% of people on statins received a great benefit. For many of us, drug therapy has limited results.

Yet we cannot afford to get sick! Every 30 seconds, someone files for medical-related bankruptcy. Our top killers are heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. We’ve seen almost no change in cancer death rates since 1971 (New York Times, Apr 2009). Chronic illness is 70% of medical expenses, but it is also about 75% preventable! This is great news! Cancer does not develop purely by dumb luck. Five fail-safe mechanisms have to break down.

Understanding inflammation is key to understanding chronic illness. According to Time magazine (Feb 2004), “Toxins, diet and infection can cause inflammation directly, or by triggering a gene that sparks your immune system to attack itself and drive chronic inflammation.” In the short-term, inflammation is a normal part of the healing response. Chronic inflammation contributes to disease by damaging cell membranes so fewer nutrients get in, wastes accumulate, and cells can’t “hear” hormones. This places us in a state of hormone resistance: Type 2 diabetes, thyroid disease, or weight loss resistance. Chronic inflammation has also been linked to heart disease, cancer, depression, Alzheimer’s, and autoimmune diseases. Our main sources of inflammation are bad fats (trans/hydrogenated and inflammatory fats like seed oils), sugars, and toxins (heavy metals, plastics, pesticides, and household cleaning products).

Your Heart Health To-Do List!

  1. Switch to good fats: Grass-fed organic meats, olive oil, coconut oil, and butter. Supplement with high-quality EPA/DHA “fish oil.”
  2. Cut way back on grains & sugars. Ideally, have 1 serving of whole grains daily (brown/wild rice, quinoa). Replace sugar with stevia & xylitol.
  3. Reduce toxicity in your home and your food. Switch to cleaner household products. Drink only spring or reverse-osmosis filtered water. Re-evaluate your use of personal care products.
  4. Get 21stcentury health testing, so you know what’s going on inside your body.
    1. Vitamin D, available as a fingerprick test. For optimal health, you need 50-80 ng/mL.
    2. Lipid peroxidation (Meta-Oxy) to measure oxidative stress and cellular damage.
    3. Nerve system testing to identify body malfunctions caused by accumulated stresses.

Top 3 Diet Changes to Make: 3 of 3

February 14, 2013 Dr. Barbara Kaiser, DC, CCWP Balanced living, Brain, Healing, Immune System, Nutrition, Wellness Leave a comment  

In previous posts, we discussed the importance of cutting way back on sugary foods, and switching the meats you eat. The third big diet change is to make peace with fat.

Since the 1950′s, fat has had a bad reputation as a killer. But just because “every knows it,” doesn’t make it the truth. Actually, I used to believe that fat was bad, but then I learned things like this:

  • About 60 percent of your brain is fat (hmm, you’ve got my attention with that!)
  • Fats help with brain function, absorbing vitamins and antioxidants, clotting blood, and building cells.
  • Fats have other surprising functions: for example, coconut oil has antiviral and antibacterial properties.
  • Trans fats, not saturated fats, are linked to heart disease and cancer.
  • In those African and arctic populations where the diet is primarily fat, meat, and milk, people are actually quite healthy!
  • Americans eat more fat-free, low-fat foods than any other country, but we are the world’s fattest population (because of all the low-fat, high-sugar foods).

Good fats are the most lacking nutrient in the American diet. These include the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA. These are “essential” fatty acids, which means that our bodies can’t make them from other sources, but need to ingest them directly. EPA and DHA are the key components of “fish oil,” but if the product label doesn’t specify the amount of EPA and DHA, don’t buy it – look for a manufacturer with better standards. ALA (alpha-linolenic acid) is another omega-3 fatty acid that has fewer functions in the human body, but the body can only convert about 5% of ALA  into DHA or EPA. This is why vegetarian sources of omega-3 fatty acids, like flaxseed or chia, are not the best choice. Speaking as a former vegetarian (or pasta-tarian), I know some people don’t like to hear that, but it’s the honest truth.

We should avoid the cheap, popular seed oils like canola and soybean oils. These are oxidized and harmful by the time they get to the store shelves. PUFAs (polyunsaturated fatty acids) are healthful in their natural state, when they are protected by the plant or seed that contains them. When PUFAs are isolated in a bottle, they are easily oxidized by light and heat, so storage and cooking make them unhealthy. Oxidized fats (just think of them like metal – oxidized metal is rust) are linked to chronic inflammatory conditions like joint pain, chronic fatigue, heart disease, diabetes, weakened immunity, even cancer.

Cooking with fats requires using them at the right temperatures to minimize oxidation. For frying at high heat, use coconut oil, expeller-pressed naturally refined grapeseed oil, high oleic naturally refined peanut oil, high oleic naturally refined safflower oil, and naturally refined sesame oil. Medium-heat fats include butter, ghee, extra virgin naturally refined olive oil, naturally refined walnut oil, and expeller-pressed naturally refined peanut oil. Oils from fish, flaxseed, hemp, and unrefined EVOO/safflower/sesame should not be heated.

The truth is not always convenient, but think of this: your family’s health is worth taking the time to read labels. Make the switch from bad fats to good fats over the next 60 days.


Top 3 Diet Changes to Make: 2 of 3

January 16, 2013 Dr. Barbara Kaiser, DC, CCWP Aging, Balanced living, Digestive Health, Healing, Nutrition, Wellness Leave a comment  

Last posting outlined the top three diet changes to make:

1. Eat less sugary foods.

2. Change the meats you eat.

3. Replace bad fats with good fats.

Let’s cover the second diet change this week.

Change the meats you eat. Many studies link commercial meats with cancer and heart disease. This is not because eating animals is unhealthy, but because we have changed what these animals are made of. Cows are genetically designed to eat grass. Grass-fed cows have a healthier range and amount of fatty acids, like omega-3 fatty acids. Commercially raised cows are fed grain instead of grass because they put on weight faster. Coincidentally, the same thing happens to humans who eat too many grains.

It is a widely held belief that saturated fats are bad and cause heart disease. But it is not the meat, it is what humans have done to it. Certain saturated fats are essential for brain function and cell function. Between 2009-2010, several Harvard studies showed that higher levels of vegetable oils contributed to atherosclerosis. The same studies also showed that consuming more meat actually reversed atherosclerosis and type 2 diabetes.

AVOID: commercial meat, eggs, and poultry

CHOOSE: grass-fed meat, wild game, organic eggs and poultry

Natural food stores will carry healthier meat and animal products, but they do cost more in the store. In the Midwest, it is easy to find a farmer who will sell their products directly to the consumer, at a significant cost savings. Go to eatwild.com or americangrassfed.org for directories.

Next posting will cover the third dietary change to make: replacing bad fats with good fats.


Top 3 Diet Changes to Make: 1 of 3

January 9, 2013 Dr. Barbara Kaiser, DC, CCWP Aging, Balanced living, Digestive Health, Healing, Nutrition, Wellness 1

If you’re making New Year’s resolutions, consider these three diet changes. It is easy to get bogged down with thinking you have to do everything perfectly. This can trip people up when they commit to a diet, slip off-track, and declare their attempt a failure. First of all, if you did something differently, even for one day, it is not a failure! Congratulate yourself on making positive changes, no matter how long they last. That being said, if you’re going to make changes in your diet, start with these three things. They are very high-value changes that give you the biggest benefit.

1. Eat less sugary foods.

2. Change the meats you eat.

3. Replace bad fats with good fats.

Let’s start this week with the first change, eating less sugary foods. Sugar is a life-sapping anti-nutrient when taken in at typical “American diet” levels. High sugar intake is linked to obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. These diseases are our main killers. Sugar elevates insulin, which leads to premature aging and degenerative diseases. Sugar actually takes more from the body than it gives. In other words, to convert sugar into energy requires vitamins and minerals, which refined sugar lacks. That is why it is an anti-nutrient.

AVOID: white bread, white pasta, white rice, fruit drinks, soda, flavored yogurt, ketchup, sucrose, glucose, fructose, rice syrup, corn syrup, maltodextrin

CHOOSE: whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, sprouted grains, stone ground grains, brown rice, wild rice, quinoa, whole oats (not quick-cooking), stevia sweetener

On average, each American consumes 120 pounds of sugar per year, compared with 5 pounds in the early 1900′s. It is ideal to limit grains to 1-2 servings per day. Many of us are “addicted” to sugary foods. Cutting down significantly on refined sugars will likely produce headaches, shakes, fatigue, stomach trouble, and mood swings. These symptoms should dissipate in one week. For most of us, easing away from sugary foods is more practical. Start by having one grain-free meal every few days, then increase to one grain-free meal daily.

Children will benefit from this change in diet by having less sickness, improved behavior, better sleep, and potentially better grades. Adults will notice steadier energy levels, better concentration, and improved ability to lose weight.

We’ll address the second and third dietary changes, meats and fats, in future postings.


Acid Reflux: A Power Problem?

July 19, 2012 Dr. Barbara Kaiser, DC, CCWP Aging, Balanced living, Bone Health, Chiropractic, Digestive Health, Healing, Medicine, Nutrition, Spine, Stress, Supplements, Wellness 1

Acid-stopping medications are intended to provide short-term relief of heartburn and acid reflux symptoms.  Medications interfere with your stomach’s acid-producing mechanisms, or they neutralize acids that have already been produced. Over the long term, suppressing stomach acid can contribute to chronic illness. Strong stomach acid is required to break down proteins, fry pathogens like bacteria and parasites, and ionize calcium so it can be absorbed and made into bone. Medical journals have noted that long-term use of acid-stopping medication increases the risk of osteoporosis, bone fractures, parasitic infections, and pneumonia.

In most cases, the root cause of heartburn and acid reflux is low stomach acid, not stomach acid overproduction. When stomach acid is low, food sits in the stomach and ferments. This produces more acids, which then back up into the esophagus, causing heartburn symptoms. A major overlooked cause of digestive problems is the available power to the digestive tract. Your digestive tract is a muscular tube that contracts rhythmically to mix food and propel it from end to end. Muscular valves, such as between esophagus and stomach, need to contract at the right time, with the right strength, to keep food digesting efficiently. If nerve disturbance is present, it can prevent the muscles of the digestive tract from doing their job. Chiropractic care corrects nerve disturbance and strengthens the body so it can follow its innate program for health. Your body knows how to work properly, once normal nerve function is restored.

We have been told that stress makes our stomachs pump out too much acid, causing heartburn and ulcers. Yet any physiology textbook tells us that when we are overstressed, the digestive process is suppressed in favor of an adrenaline-fueled “fight or flight” response. Your body cannot be in a state of repair and regeneration while it is in a defense mode. Chronic stress prevents the lining of the digestive tract from regenerating itself. We cannot digest well when we are stressed! Holistic health practitioners understand that if your digestion is weak, the foundations of your health and well-being are compromised. Being unable to digest food is not a normal part of growing older – it is a serious malfunction that must be addressed!


Being Politically Incorrect is Good for You!

May 9, 2012 Dr. Barbara Kaiser, DC, CCWP Balanced living, Healing, Nutrition, Research, Wellness Leave a comment  

“Man can certainly keep on lying… but he cannot make truth falsehood. He can certainly rebel… but he can accomplish nothing which abolishes the choice of God.” – Karl Barth, 20th century Swiss theologian

Why are we getting sicker? Is it the truth that we are unlucky, the victims of bad germs or bad genes? Or is it that we have errors in our current owner’s manual? You know, the book of knowledge on how to be healthy. Things that “everybody knows.”

Let’s focus on diet myths. If you ask someone what a healthy diet is, they most likely will say: Low-fat! No eggs or butter! That is the public health message we’ve been bombarded with for more than 50 years. In those 50 years, have we gotten healthier or sicker? Less obese or more obese? Do our children have better development, or increased developmental delays?

Did you know that before 1920, coronary heart disease was rare in America? At this time, we were eating lots of butter, eggs, and meat from pastured animals. Mid-century, we replaced animal fats with vegetable oils, and we changed our animals’ feed from grass to grains like corn and soybeans. So the chemical makeup of your steak today is completely different from your great-grandpa’s steak! And by the way, you are much more likely to die of coronary heart disease than your eggs-and-bacon-everyday-for-breakfast ancestors. Of course, these facts are politically incorrect.

You are what you eat.

Get this book! Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats, 2nd edition, by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig, PhD. In the first 70 pages, the book describes the roles of fats, carbohydrates, proteins, milk, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, beverages, and food allergies. The authors did their research. That is, after all, what PhD’s tend to do. They took a global view of what people eat and how it relates to their health. The people who ate local,organic foods based on animal products and produce are unquestionably healthier than the populations who ate low-fat, high-sugar, grain-based (food pyramid, anyone?) diets. This cookbook will show you how to prepare tasty meals while preserving the healing properties of foods.

Truth hurts, but ignorance will kill you. Being politically incorrect is good for you!


Top 10 Solutions for Stress

March 21, 2012 Dr. Barbara Kaiser, DC, CCWP ADHD, Balanced living, Brain, Chiropractic, Digestive Health, Healing, Nutrition, Stress, Supplements, Wellness Leave a comment  

Aside from making you grouchy, stress can damage your body. High levels of stress hormone can damage your brain and your digestive tract. Signs of stress overload include fatigue, insomnia, food cravings, weight gain, muscle & joint pain, anxiety and focus issues, lowered libido and weakened immunity.

Top 10 drugless solutions for stress:

  1. Eat breakfast every day to maintain steady blood sugar levels through the day.
  2. Eat protein and fat with every meal or snack to maintain steady blood sugar.
  3. Get enough omega-3 fatty acids, which are building blocks for your brain.
  4. Take adrenal gland (stress-handling gland) supporting supplements if needed.
  5. Prepare for sleep by turning off lights, using an eye mask, and creating a ritual.
  6. Plan for fun activities; even a 5-minute break can help to re-set your mood.
  7. Exercise regularly with intensity to decrease stress hormone levels.
  8. When you talk to yourself, use empowering words: I choose, I will, I can. A daily gratitude journal can help you shift the words you use.
  9. Perform pattern interruptions – breathe deeply, walk for 5 minutes, or snap a rubber band on your wrist when you feel overwhelmed or anxious.
  10. Get adjusted to reduce the effects of accumulated stress on your body and brain.

Excess stress affects both muscle tension and nerve function. This creates patterns of distortion in your body and makes you use more energy for normal daily tasks. When you re-set your nervous system through chiropractic adjustments, your life starts to work better because your body and brain are working better.


Top 10 Things You Need to Know About Vitamin D

February 9, 2012 Dr. Barbara Kaiser, DC, CCWP Aging, Babies, Balanced living, Bone Health, Brain, Children, Healing, Medicine, Nutrition, Research, Supplements, Wellness 3 Comments

Would you trust a nutrient with 3000 cancer studies under its belt? In 2009, a very ambitious research team reviewed these studies. Here’s what they found: we could prevent 100,000 people worldwide from developing cancer every year, if we increased our vitamin D intake. They identified ten different ways that vitamin D fights cancer. What a productive little multitasker!

Everyone should know these things about vitamin D:

  1. About 70 percent of Americans are deficient in vitamin D. “Deficiency” means a blood level less than 30 ng/mL, which is based on preventing bone disorders like rickets.
  2. Vitamin D deficiency has no typical symptoms. Like blood pressure, you need to have it measured.
  3. Many chronic illnesses are connected to vitamin D deficiency: heart disease, Alzheimer’s, depression, Type 2 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, chronic colds and flu, and several types of cancer.
  4. Your skin produces vitamin D from cholesterol if you are exposed to sunlight, but sunscreen will stop you from making vitamin D.
  5. The most recent preventive medicine studies suggest that a blood level of 50-80 ng/mL is associated with much lower risk of chronic illness.
  6. In the northern United States, it is almost impossible to get enough vitamin D from sunlight and foods alone.
  7. Children can easily take vitamin D supplements in liquid form.
  8. You need vitamin D to get calcium from food into your blood, and you need vitamin K2 to transfer calcium from your blood into your bones.
  9. You can request a vitamin D test at your annual physical.
  10. Vitamin D can also be measured in a 5-minute appointment, taking two drops of blood from your fingertip.

Our office carries the world’s premier vitamin D supplement with 3000 IU per serving of vitamin D. The formula also includes vitamin K2, vitamin A, and a blend of immune-supporting, anti-inflammatory ingredients such as turmeric, beta glucan, and grape seed extract. We also provide fingerprick testing for vitamin D.

What gets measured gets managed. How are you managing your family’s plan for creating wellness?


Cholesterol, Statin Drugs, and Heart Disease

January 18, 2012 Dr. Barbara Kaiser, DC, CCWP Aging, Balanced living, Brain, Digestive Health, Healing, Hormonal Balance, Immune System, Medicine, Nutrition, Research, Supplements, Wellness 1

In 2004, the National Cholesterol Education Program issued guidelines calling for Americans to lower their LDL cholesterol to less than 130 mg/dL. In 2006, a review of the literature found that there was no strong evidence to support the NCEP recommendations. The review noted that dropping LDL cholesterol below 130 mg/dL showed no decreased risk of cardiovascular death in elderly people, and that having high HDL was protective when LDL was around 130 mg/dL.

Every cell in the body needs cholesterol to make the cell membrane flexible and waterproof. Cholesterol is needed for tissue repair. It is the main building block of vitamin D and several hormones which are essential for normal body function. Cholesterol is also a powerful antioxidant.

Statin drugs interfere with the liver’s ability to synthesize cholesterol. There is a sequence of 32 distinct biochemical reactions to produce cholesterol, and statin drugs stop this sequence at the third step. The tenth step produces CoQ10 (ubiquinone), which is an antioxidant that all cells need to produce energy from glucose. The heart, since it beats constantly, has the highest requirements for CoQ10. Heart failure is one of the side effects of CoQ10 deficiency. CoQ10 also maintains the integrity of the cellular membrane, which has recently become known as the true brain of the cell. To offset for this side effect, studies indicate 200-600 mg/day of CoQ10 should be taken with a statin drug. Step 30 of the cholesterol synthesis sequence produces a compound that synthesizes vitamin D from sunlight, so statin drugs keep your body from making its own vitamin D. Statin drugs also inhibit nuclear factor kappa B (NFKB), which is a part of the immune system that helps fight infection and cancer.

There are no studies that prove significant improvements in overall mortality for women, or for people over age 65, who take statin drugs. The statin drug companies distort the statistics on mortality. In a study where 100 patients take statin drugs, 2 will have a fatal heart attack, while 3 of 100 people taking a placebo will die of a heart attack. To prevent a single heart attack, 100 people must be treated with statin drugs. The absolute risk reduction is an unimpressive 1%. The drug companies, however, promote statin drugs according to the relative risk reduction, which is a 33% reduction.

In studies on rodents consuming a similar relative dose of statin drugs prescribed to humans, the rodents developed cancer. Statin drugs raise a person’s risk of polyneuropathy (nerve damage) by 1600%. Signs of polyneuropathy include pain, tingling, numbness, weakness, and difficulty walking. The degree of symptoms is proportional to the duration of statin drug usage. Statin drugs are also known to cause myopathy (muscle damage) which is characterized by muscle wasting, weakness, and fatigue.

Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to be 44% more effective than statin drugs in reducing death from heart attack and stroke. Omega-3 fatty acids have also been shown to be 32% more effective than statin drugs in reducing all causes of death.

These facts have been brought to you by the world’s leading medical journals. You want references? We’ve got ‘em!

About the author: Dr. Barbara Kaiser, DC, CCWP, is a wellness-certified family chiropractor at Vital Life Chiropractic in Eagan, Minnesota.


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