Gout with John Mills, Director of Quality and Compliance for Highland Laboratories
Chances are you’ve probably seen someone suffering from gout and it can be extremely painful. Gout occurs when the body cannot adequately eliminate uric acid and uric crystals begins to accumulate in the joints. It’s most commonly known to occur in the big toe, but it can happen in other joints as well. If left untreated, it can lead to even more intense pain and joint damage.
Meet John:
On this week’s episode we speak with John Mills, who is currently the Director of Quality and Compliance for Highland Laboratories and the lead formulator for Highland’s products. He is also on the board of the NPA, a leading natural products industry trade association to assure quality dietary supplements across the marketplace. We speak with John and learn a little about the history of gout, one of the oldest identifiable diseases, the dangers of taking gout medication long term, the natural ingredients that can be used to combat gout, and some of the fantastic products Mt. Angel Vitamins has formulated to combat gout.
Some Questions We Discuss:
What is gout? (3:21)
What is uric acid and why can it build up to abnormal levels? (5:25)
What are some natural options to help with gout? (8:47)
What is the recommended dosing with Go-Out Plex Plus?
What’s the correlation between gout and inflammation? (19:02)
Some Key Takeaways From This Episode:
The idea then, is to try and control this overload of uric acid in your body. And there are a variety of ways to do that. (6:49)
The studies show that men who drink two or more sugary drinks per day have about an 80% increase in the risk of gout. (8:40)
There is a genetic predisposition that can lead to gout. (14:17)
If you don't have the appropriate magnesium levels to begin with you simply do not have proper body function. (31:41)
Products + Resources:
Thank you to this episode’s sponsor: Mt. Angel Vitamins
Get Social with John:
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL SHOW TRANSCRIPT
Brian Strickland 00:40 What's going on everyone? Welcome back to The Holistic Navigator Podcast, where we believe in the body's ability to heal itself. I'm Brian Strickland, the producer of the show. And today we're really excited to speak with John Mills. John is the director of quality and compliance for Highland Laboratories, the parent company in Mount Angel Vitamins, and lead formulator of Highlands products. John has a wealth of knowledge. And in my opinion, he missed his true calling in radio. But today John and Ed are going to be talking all about gout, some of the problems with medications that exist today, and some more natural options that may be able to help. So without any further delay, let me go ahead and turn it over to your host, Ed Jones.
Ed Jones 01:27 Thank you, my friend, Brian, and thank you for all you do for The Holistic Navigator. Yesterday is another piece to the encyclopedia that I'm putting together. And this one will be on gout. I know that if you've never had it, you've certainly probably seen people who have and you will obviously notice them hobbling around and squinting their eyes because they have extreme pain. And gout is something that I have had people ask me about for 40 years. Because you know, it is a medical condition. You can go have you should go to the doctor and get diagnosed. And in no way are we giving advice to do anything other than what your position is advising you to do. However, there's a whole world out there, that involves learning. And I know, I've said this on many of the podcast, I actually separate the world into two different classes of people these days, learners and non learners. And I'm really all about helping the learners, I will do anything for them. But the non learners, I have less sympathy for because if you're expecting the magic pill to fix everything from the normal, mainstream conventional mainstream medicine, it's going to have side effects generally. I mean, the third leading cause of death in this country by the New England Journal of Medicine is prescription drugs that are taking the proper way. And with gout, we have to have a toolbox and that toolbox will include what we will talk about today with a very, very highly regarded expert in the field, John Mills, who's with Mount Angel Vitamins. He's a director quality and compliance and formulator for this company. Welcome John to the Holistic Navigator.
John Mills 03:19 Thank you , Ed. Appreciate it.
Ed Jones 03:21 And you know, you and I have spoke before just the show, and I'm so respecting the amount of experience and knowledge that you have on, again, putting together a toolbox of safe nutritional options to help people to stay healthy and to get healthy when they perhaps are not in the best place. Now, again, going back to this gout thing, I don't think any of us need to really have a super definition. But it is the inability of the body to clear out excessive levels of uric acid. And it tends to be more in men than women. And it also goes to places like the big toe, it can go to other joints, the hands sometimes the elbow and other things. And what I want to talk to you today about John is is that of course the options that are more non drug and certainly safer. And, you know, I was looking into the drugs that people are prescribed. And Dr. Mercola made a big strong comment that the side effects of these drugs cannot be ignored. You know, in the short run is one thing but many of these are given to people on the recommendation to just keep taking them to control your gout and a physician named Dr. Robert McClanahan. He's a rheumatologist at North East Medical Group in New Haven, Connecticut, did a big study and he commented on the long term use of these drugs he says in strong bold print, strong data simply does not exist to recommend long term use of these drugs and the reason is the side effects. And you could fill a half a page but the main ones are anxiety confusion, a flu like symptoms constipation headache and and and, and. So John, let's talk about, tell us a little history about perhaps gout for people who don't really know that the fact that it's been around so long and that has some connotations to it that I actually didn't realize until you spoke about it.
John Mills 05:25 Well, to be honest with you, gout is one of the most one of the oldest identifiable diseases, it actually comes out of a Latin word, which means drop ghouta it was frequently called the Kings disease, because it was typically associated with individuals who were more wealthy, more fluent in western in European cultures. But what they found is the most interesting part of that is that it doesn't necessarily have to do with overindulgence or eating inappropriately even. There's very little uric acid or periods rather found in food. Most of the stuff is most of it, it's actually made in your body. So your liver makes a lot of the uric acid, your small intestines is another source for uric acid. And the body has a re uptake cycle for uric acid. Uric acid is kind of an oddball, when humans lost the ability to make ascorbic acid, when primates lost that ability, uric acid became a poor substitute for ascorbic acid in the body. But there is a problem, when we have a high level of it, we ended up developing these crystals, these crystals in as you already mentioned, they'll fall out, they they crystallize out in joints, typically areas of low, low circulatory capability, that's tend to be in the joint itself, they'll crystallize out in the synovial fluid causing problems in that respect. So the idea then, is to try and control this overload of uric acid in your body. And you can do that in a variety of ways. As you mentioned already, the allopathic medicines, the medicines, doctors recommending today, try to control that cycle. But it's not. I don't find it the most effective for individuals, there are some food groups, you can use some food, things you can do to help limit the uric acid cycle, or help limit the effects of that uric acid cycle in your body. Once again, amplify production of uric acid is only responsible for about 10% of the uric acid or the gout related issues. And 90% of the cases are directly a result of a renal insufficiency.
Ed Jones 07:37 That's a you know, that's interesting, because in a lot of conventional writings about things like they put, they almost like name something as a bad guy like cholesterol, and then uric acid, and it's like we need to bring in a exterminator and get rid of it all. But you know, uric acid, as you know, is a very strong antioxidant. And we want the right amounts, and we want to balance and the key is not that uric acids, the bad guys, the fact that something's caused our bodies not to do its job in its optimal fashion. And part of that is the renal which has kidney function and the inability to rid or balance the body of this particular uric acid. And, you know, one thing I want to make a comment about, at least food wise, is we do know that sugar and high fructose corn syrup and fructose is a almost direct pathway for formation of even more uric acids. And so the fact is that the studies show that men who drink two or more sugary drinks per day have about an 80% increase in the risk of gout. But so let's talk about all the people that I've seen for 40 years you know, they come and they say I am man I don't want to use the drugs because I feel that they're you know, have some safety issues. And what would be an option as far as you know, ingredients or what, what comes from the world of nature that not only we know works, but is actually found in in the PubMed research data today, what are the top names that you can scroll off?
John Mills 09:14 Well, the most important one in all of this would be celery seed. The celery seed extracts the volatile oil component in that contains an ingredient which actually encourages the kidneys to function appropriately. So, it helps to make maintain appropriate circulation, it helps to facilitate the uric acid excretion through the through the kidney process, and you're able to eliminate those excess that excess uric acid in the in the process. Another one would be another appropriate one would be something along the lines of boswellia serrata. an herb that comes out of India. There are specific enzymatic or or enzymatic inhibitors that are associated with that herb, certain portions of the buzzword like acids in general, will help with that respect. But there is one specific one, which is called an alpha keto boswellic acid. So that particular boswellic acid component from boswellia serrata is an incredible support to the conference cycle in the body that's actually helping control pain for you.
Ed Jones 10:22 That's so interesting. And you know, the thing is, because you are the formulator, for Mount Angel, and that you have such experience, you know, as well as I do that, just, you know, the name celery seed extract really doesn't help people because is you have to get a product that has the active ingredient, still within the product, and it's still potent in order to achieve the results you want. And you're talking about these volatile oils, and 2.2% and all of this. Most companies don't get down to the nitty gritty like you and Mount Angel do as far as truly putting the, the best of the best in these products. Because so often, you know, I see people every single day, and they'll bring in a bottle of something and says, you know, I've been taking curcumin, and it doesn't seem to be working. And you know, it's almost embarrassing sometimes when you look at some of these labels that are so non disclosing what's actually in the product as far as active ingredients. And the fact is, I don't even know whether it's good or bad because they're not telling the truth. Your label on this. And the product there is Mount Angel's called Go Out Plex Plus, and it is a formula that is containing in one particular bottle without having to buy separate ingredients, the right kind of ingredients like the right celery the right boswellia and a couple other things you can mention. And so I'm not wrong in this am I that the devil is in the details, and that we need to the buyer needs to be informed and a little bit suspicious out here in the marketplace.
John Mills 12:02 Absolutely. If you're not, if you're not seeing what you need in the label, if they if it's not a full disclosure label, then you do want to have some concerns about that I absolutely agree with you.
Ed Jones 12:12 Well, the thing is, you know, we live in such a massively information filled world that we all have seemingly falling into analysis paralysis on a lot of topics, because there's simply not enough time in an individual's day to truly research things. And so what I've come to conclude in my own life, I love to look deeply into certain hot topics in my life. But I cannot do this across the board. And so I've learned to trust certain companies in order to know that they will do the homework, they will be the gatekeeper. And as long as I'm dealing with certain reputable companies, then I feel you know, very safe, and also know that I don't have to spend excessive efforts. And that is true of certainly the ones I have seen from Mount Angel, you have done a wonderful job. Let's get again, this if you want to talk more about the Boswellia and celery seed and the other thing that a lot of people certainly the most common thing is Cherry. Tell me more about that.
John Mills 13:13 Well tart cherry has a really unique property associated with it. One of the first things that I learned about tart cherries especially did and this is specifically the Montmorency cherries, the the tart cherry, that's the one they use, they call pie cherries, that's the one you really want. That particular one has a Cox two inhibitor associated with it also. So it is it's something which is of benefit, but you have to drink on the order of ounces of the of this of this tart cherry juice in order to receive any kind of a benefit along with that.
Ed Jones 13:44 So thing is John that, you know, first off, most people don't like the taste of that bitter cherries. Secondly, it has too much sugar in it.
John Mills 13:52 Well, when people make cherry pies, yeah, they put way too much sugar in it when they try to sweeten the juice. So it's more palatable Yes, there's way too much sugar in it. And anytime you start increasing the sugar load, you start creating that problem associated with gout. You increase your uric acid production at that time it feeds them the necessary ingredients, the necessary components of your small intestine to generate the uric acid that you don't want to make. So that is a real big issue. You know and really to go back to that a little bit, it's not the over and it's not so much the overindulgence in, in these negative foods. The problem arises also in that there is a genetic predisposition in the majority of the population that's where the largest that's where the largest population of gout suffers live. There is a genetic predisposition. There's a polymorphism of the of these specific genes that are associated with uric acid excretion. So they're accumulating it. It's a normal process to have this uric acid as you've already mentioned, the normal process to to have it in your body. You need it in your body to some degree, but it's the overproduction of it and the the inability to eliminate it. So the idea is you want to do things that will help you eliminate it. And that's where that celery seed extract comes into play. If you have the right volatile oil component present in that, then you will get then it will definitely support your kidney function definitely help you get rid of that excess of uric acid. We have individuals who tell us this all the time from using our product.
Brian Strickland 15:32 Hey, everyone, we wanted to take a quick moment and tell you about our sponsor for this week's episode. Mount Angel believes that your wellness is much more than just physical. It's emotional, social, financial, and spiritual. And they provide simple solutions for your wellness by incorporating only the best ingredients in their products. Whether you're looking for a great multivitamin, or any other dietary supplements, you'll find comprehensive formulations to address your needs. For more information and to see their whole line, visit mtangelvitamins.com. Mt Angel, simple, proactive wellness.
Ed Jones 16:15 Well, and I have had some great feedback too, on these ingredients when they're properly used even by themselves if people know what they're doing. But then again, that's just too much homework. And you've already done that for people. So we're going down. It's just a few things here. And I'm totally want to educate people real quickly that you know, the things like your celery seed, the Boswellia and the tart cherry, which I love, because it's in a capsule, which means there's no sugar to it. And then tell me about bromelain, Why would someone want that? And what is it?
John Mills 16:45 Well, I I put bromelain into this particular formula for two reasons. The predominant reason is that it does have some anti inflammatory properties, it does support your body's rebuilding of muscle structures, it does help your body's circulatory system to maintain itself. But then the secondary reason is that it encourages the uptake of the rest of these nutritional components. So it whenever you put bromelain A protease of any kind in with a product in with a material, you can put it in a food, it increases the nutritional uptake of all those ingredients in that food. And we have two uptake enhancers in this product. So it's it's it's doubly designed to encourage uptake and encourage incorporation in your body. The second one is a black pepper extract called bioperine.
Ed Jones 17:34 Oh, that's the man that has been added to many different herbal products for the increase in absorption. So John let's say someone does have a big flare up, they're not feeling well, and they don't want to use drugs. Do you have two different dosing? Or does everyone take the same thing?
John Mills 17:52 No, I don't really recommend that as a normal maintenance dose, you'd want to take two capsules a day, if you want to take it one in the morning, one of the evening, that's fine in divided way, if you are, or you can take both at the same time in the morning, if that's what you're wanting to do. If you're starting to have any kind of an issue, I normally recommend taking twice that much. So you would take two morning to evening at that case, if you're really wanting to be aggressive with it, you could go as high as six or even eight a day. I don't recommend taking more than eight though. There is a when you're using celery seed extract, there is a sensitivity to UV light, when you get above eight capsules a day.
Ed Jones 18:31 Really? I did not know that.
John Mills 18:32 There is and that's true for everyone. If you eat a lot of celery, you can increase your UV sensitivity.
Ed Jones 18:37 Wow, I'll have to remember that because I am a fan of celery seed for myself in order to help optimize my blood pressure. And I think it's just been wonderful for a lot of people to do that. And again, it's about the quality product. Anything else you want to say about the Go Out Plex plus with Mount Angel. And because I wanted to ask you also about chronic inflammation.
John Mills 18:59 Sure, when we talk about inflammation if you're like sure.
Ed Jones 19:02 Well, you know if people have listened to me on my podcast, and I do appreciate all of that. And you know, I'm trying to put together at least 50 chapters so we can have a good encyclopedia for reference for anyone who values my 40 year experience of watching, learning and helping hopefully 10s of 1000s of people with advice anyway. But I constantly go back to the fact that chronic inflammation is at the root of almost every disease of aging that we do not want to get and I use the analogy and I think I've done this at least once on The Holistic Navigator is easier in person, but I have these shoes calluses on my hands and the reason they're callous is because I do a lot of chin ups in the gym. And so the body is trying to to create by way of fixing chronic inflammation in my hands. So what does that do? It builds up a protective layer. Well, that is what plaque is in the arteries. That is what Alzheimer's is in the brain, that is what arthritis is between the joints. It's simply the body trying to do something in his innate wisdom, but because we're not really offering the body, the kind of fuel and the kind of lifestyle that it should be offered, it's going overboard, and then it's creating disease, which is, of course, you know, we don't want that aging diseases. In fact, the greatest risk factor of our life is aging and father time, and is in just hoping it to go away will not work. So saying all that about my chronic inflammation, that's why I recommend the diet that I do, which I lean toward keto is what I recommend, you know, the very creative supplement protocol that I have come up with for myself, I do take 72 pills a day. No one needs to take that don't think you do. But all that said and done. One of the products that I'm hugely confident in is another one by Mount Angel called Inflameze. And it is one that you formulated to be a type of natural anti inflammatory, is that correct?
John Mills 21:10 That is correct with this particular product. And I just mentioned this briefly that Go Out Plex Plus is definitely focused on gout related issues. uric acid support. Inflameze is an ancillary support to that because inflammation is a natural byproduct of gout and gout related issues. But inflammation sits aside from that is a separate category of things to look at. So if you do have a gout related issue, you definitely want to look at Go Out Plex Plus, but then if you want to support the part of that inflammation side, or if you have other inflammatory related issues, then inflameze is that product you want to look at.
Ed Jones 21:49 And so I know that you know, and the most listeners are really ahead of the game, you know, diet, exercise, sleep, there's a lot of pieces to this puzzle of aging gracefully, and, you know, putting disease, at least two to three decades further down the road. Because today, people at 40 are getting things that people at 70 used to get and it keeps just increasing because of our toxic lifestyle. But I don't really believe that we can be optimal past 40 years old, as far as inflammation unless you do all the right things and take something like your inflammation, which curcumin is always been the hot topic. I don't think anything other than CBD has kind of been probably more discussed. And the thing about curcumin is it probably has more potential to help long term health than almost any other plant in the herbal kingdom. The catch, again, is the devil is in the details. And I've seen so many brands that I know is not working, what what makes a brand or ingredient work opposed to not working and what is in your product?
John Mills 23:01 Well, as you mentioned, curcumin is a key ingredient to addressing inflammatory related issues in the body. The problem with curcumin is that it's notoriously insoluble. So to get it actually to a point where it will be absorbed by your body. That's the challenge. And there's been a number of attempts in that respect, they'll put enhancers with it, they'll put liposomes with it, they'll put a variety of different absorbers with it, because curcumin is fat soluble. So in order for you to absorb it, you have to have something in your diet, or something associated with that curcumin to make it absorbable by your body. In this particular case, we're using a trademarked material called curcuwin, which is 46 times more absorbable than curcumin by itself. And at least eight times more absorbable than curcumin has been treated with any kind of an enhancer. So that's that's really the trick. And the key to inflameze is to assure yourself that you're getting something which your body can absorb and use.
Ed Jones 24:07 Well, because if it can't get to the cell, I don't care if we're talking about food supplements or even drugs, then it's worthless. And you know, I tell people, this little story about the fact that in the country of India, they have their list of issues with health, but one of them that they seem to have a lot less of is Alzheimer's. And one of the theories is because they eat so much curry over there, that it's helping to protect the brain, which it is doing, I do believe but here's the deal. When other people eat the curry that most of the time they can't get the same blood levels because all people in India cook it with fat and the cooking up fat with curcumin or tumeric which is the same the same thing will then almost create a little canoe that's going to carry it into the cell and then create the positive change. And in fact, I don't I haven't read this in a public study. But there is a lot of people who say when they do autopsies on people in India, that their brain actually takes on the color of curcumin because of their huge amounts that they're eating. Well, that's pretty impressive that would show that is certainly being carried through the body because the brain barrier protects everything. So on this inflameze by Mt Angel would, how many would a person take or how many can they take, because I'm not always a person who thinks more is better actually have come to that place where it's all about balance. It's not about massively dosing. However, there are certain things that I know on the label that I do desire to take more than its listing. Can you tell me more about that?
John Mills 25:46 Definitely, the curcumin material that we're using is recommended to be taken at a level of 250 milligrams daily, that's one capsule of our imflameze. The studies that were done, in this particular case, we're looking at healthy volunteers, healthy individuals that took the product. Now you normally don't expect too much of an improvement with healthy healthy individuals. But in this particular case, they found an increased plasticity associated with their arteries. There, it actually allowed their body to carry more blood throughout the book throughout the body, their circulation improved in a healthy individual. So in this particular case, 250 milligrams is the studied dose in this now, I happen to take not the gazillion capsules and tablets that you take daily. I only take maybe 80 of those 80 or so I personally take two inflameze every day. And I really like the effect it has in my body. I feel better, I feel more mobile. I'm 62 years old this year, and I'm able to get out and yesterday morning, got out and did a two mile walk right off the bat first thing in the morning, without any discomfort at all. So that's the idea behind this particular product is that it helps your body perform at levels that you expected to perform at.
Ed Jones 27:09 And you know, when you're 20, those are not part of your internal conversation. But I can tell you from reality, and I think all of us know that. If we just sit back and hope that we're going to age gracefully, gracefully, it probably will not happen, we have to take an active role in educating ourselves in the proper wisdom and knowledge. And, again, I always want to not sound like I'm attacking conventional mainstream medicine, because the people in that system are wonderful, highly trained, very intelligent, caring human beings, they're in a broke system is the problem. So their toolbox simply doesn't have within it. The options to help people with these conversations, the ones that are everywhere today. And the grassroots efforts to move into a world of more functional holistic medicine cannot be stopped regardless of the forces that oppose it. Because it's common sense. It just simply is this you actually don't have to have multiple degrees to know that if you're growing food in a farm, and all of a sudden, the foods start wilting and they're not producing and they're they're not feeding the family. What do you do you look in the soil, you go and see what is out of balance, maybe the acid alkalinity, maybe it's not enough water, maybe the nutrients are not there, maybe there's some chemicals or past that's going on, you bring balance back to the soil, and things will radiate again with with health and vitality and the same as applies to us. That's why the right diet, the right supplements, the right prevention, not just taking supplements when Oh, I'm feeling bad are nice. I'm for sleep or some No, this is putting everything back in the soil again. Does that make sense to you, John?
John Mills 29:02 Absolutely. You have to be proactive in that whole process. If you're if you're not proactive, then you're going to be reactive and reactivity doesn't work.
Ed Jones 29:12 Exactly. And the system in place today, the mainstream conventional loves people who want to react because they're ready to capture you as fast as possible and, and run you through the gamut of whatever's and, and that's just not what I want. I don't know about you.
John Mills 29:27 Well, you know, it's interesting, you mentioned that there are a lot of good people in in the current medical program, medical system, and that's absolutely true. My doctor, my personal doctor, when I first started going to her, she was one of those individuals but since then she's me with working with her and explained to her why I'm taking the supplements that I take, um, she has come full, full circle on this whole process. And today when I go in and say this is the problem I'm having, she says, well don't you have something in your company that you can take? And And my answer is well, yeah, I guess I do so that I go back and I look again at what I have and work on that first, he wants me to take supplements first. And that's a progressive doctor.
Ed Jones 30:12 And you know, I've had the same exact experience, because I do a radio show every week where they are actually sponsored by hospital. And I have my co host is a physician, Chief of Staff actually in the city. And he has so come around. And I have two and a couple of regards. I mean, I want to learn what I can on the other side, because they offer some things that have evolved in the past only few years, as far as procedures, not really drugs, that, you know, it needs to be known. It really does. And so I'm like you, we're all helping each other hopefully, to with a helping hand. So one last thing, I know that and you tell me whether you like this or not, when people do ask me again about you know, they're feeling terrible with gout, just to go really quickly back, I am a big fan of apple cider vinegar, if it's the good one. I'm also a fan of castor oil packs, where you coat the body part that's hurting you wrap it in saran wrap, then you put a little towel over it and then a heating pad for 30 to 40 minutes. I have seen that work wonders even to the level of an appendicitis attack. Thirdly, very much involved in believe in the magnesium as far as supplementally and applying it to the places that hurt and I love the magnesium oil, or the cream. I like it better than Epson salts and those kind but absence fine, but the oil stays on longer does that are those reasonable options?
John Mills 31:41 Absolutely. But one thing I'd like to point out with regard to magnesium, magnesium is the single most important mineral for enzymatic activity in the body. And there's nothing that happens in the body without an enzyme being involved in some way or another. So if you're not, if you don't have the appropriate magnesium levels to begin with, either applied externally or internally, you simply do not have proper body function.
Ed Jones 32:06 Wow, that's such an important point and a great ending to this show. Because if we have something that has 300 plus different functions, and we're deficient in it, can you imagine your car if all of a sudden 300 things, they didn't quit working, but they were not working up to efficiency? It would it would not be a pleasant day to be in your car. John, I want to thank you for all your wisdom and information on sharing it on the Holistic Navigator. And we will be partnering again because of your great expertise and your wisdom on nutrition and whole you know the holistic view of this and you know the thing is you also have common sense it you know, with some of people in our industry get a little bit too far out there and you know that they're not willing to embrace the full picture and you are I that's the kind of person I love to talk to and have on the holistic navigator. So thank you, John, with Mount Angel Vitamins. Thank you. It was a pleasure being here. And remember, Hippocrates said, whenever a doctor cannot do good, make sure he doesn't do harm. Thank you so much.
Brian Strickland 33:17 The information on this podcast and the topics discussed have not been evaluated by the FDA or any one of the medical profession and is not aimed to replace any advice you may receive from your medical practitioner. The holistic navigator assumes no responsibility or liability whatsoever on the behalf of any purchaser or reader of these materials. The holistic navigator is not a doctor nor does he claim to be please consult your physician before beginning any health regimen.