Occupy Health

Susan Downs, MD

Occupy Health provides leading edge health information to allow you to take proactive steps towards optimal health. We help you look under the hood to find the underlying contributing causes to illness. We also interview health and functional medicine experts to provide answers to questions and to arm you with questions for your health provider. Tune in to Occupy Health, broadcasting every Friday at 11 AM Pacific Time on the VoiceAmerica Health and Wellness Channel. read less
Health & FitnessHealth & Fitness

Episodes

Deep Dive into Immune Health
Oct 6 2023
Deep Dive into Immune Health
The immune system naturally defends and repairs but when there is an immune burden then defense takes a back seat - “repair deficit” or inflammation, acute or chronic sets in. This is a well-recognized cause/amplifier of chronic, degenerative, and autoimmune conditions. When defense takes precedence over repair in the immune system, increased intestinal permeability intensifies the defense work in the immune system. Partially broken-down food remnants get through impaired intestinal walls and set the stage for host hospitality to chronic infection and/or autoimmune, chronic degenerative illness. Delayed or late-phase food and other chemical sensitivities can also contribute to chronic low-grade systemic inflammation. With the world coming out of a COVID stricken few years, we need to devote additional emphasis on the state of the immune system. There is so much information that has been disseminated about this that it is time to make sense of it all. Knowing which cells to look at and which high sensitive tests to look at, is vital and can make a difference. Adequate personalized intake of protective antioxidants and nutrients, guided lifestyle modifications and actions that target improved acid alkaline balance ( Nature's pHarmacy) further allows the innate immune system to flourish, fight the inflammatory state and restore repair, providing relief from “repair deficit”. - our main focus in helping folks thrive in the 21st Century !
Is Food Our Friend or Our Foe?
Jan 27 2023
Is Food Our Friend or Our Foe?
We have to eat, or we die. Yet foods probably kill most of us, at least in developed countries. Cows make milk for their calves. Pigs have piglets to maintain their species, not to feed us. Wheat grows seeds to maintain its species too. So do cabbages. These foods are not designed for us. We just have to find foods that keep us alive, even if the long-term consequences are less than ideal. Why do so many people die of coronary heart disease? The evidence is strong that the toxic sugar, galactose, in milk contributes to narrowed arteries, and the membrane of the fatty globules in cream contributes to blood clots. The solution is to eat hard cheese. Why do so many die of cancer. There is good evidence that fructose, a sugar in fruit, sugar cane, sugar beet, and high fructose corn syrup, enables cancer cells to form new cancer cells, to enlarge tumours, and to spread to other sites in the body. Sugars seem to play a part in multiple sclerosis as well. If you buy a car, there is a manual that tells you what fuel to use in that model. Unfortunately, babies are born without manuals, and parents don’t know what model of baby they have. Some people with food and chemical sensitivity take decades to find out what model they are. Foods are vital, but can cause us major problems, and even kill us. Poor food preparation, like inadequate cooking of meat or dried beans, or fast modern bread baking, cause trouble. So of course do additives in foods, especially when they are combined in one meal. Then there are pesticides in foods, often many pesticides in one food. Food may be mouldy. Food handlers may transmit infections via the foods they touch. Contaminated water may be used to wash foods. Food packaging may contaminate foods with aluminum or chemicals that leach from plastic. We survive as long as we do, because we have complex immune systems, and multiple ways of making chemicals safe. We have to find a way of working with our bodies, so as to have a happy and productive life. Learn about wise food choices