Stone Turtle HealthNaturopathic Medicine and Massage Therapy for the Whole Family

With predictions of wet and windy La Nina months ahead, now is the time to prepare your immune system for the onslaught of viruses that cause colds and flu. At Stone Turtle Health, we have a wide variety of conventional and alternative options for cold and flu prevention.

Kids can get flu shots at our office, true, but we also offer an array of choices for natural immune support and safe, alcohol-free choices for dealing with nasty coughs, runny noses, and fevers if your child already has one. Common ingredients include kitchen spices that are known to have antibacterial and antiviral effects, like thyme, hyssop, garlic, and oregano, vitamins and minerals like vitamin B, C and zinc, as well as botanical medicines like astragulus, echinacea, and elderberry, all extracted in glycerine for alcohol-free formulations that are safe for children and pregnant women. 

If you can't make it in to the office, or it's the middle of the night, we've got a handy Handout on Home Remedies on this website that can earn you some relief from common symptoms, such as earaches, nausea and vomiting, cough and cold, fevers, and headaches. Perfect for getting a few more hours of sleep for you and your child. 

We're open until 7 at night on Tuesdays and Thursdays, as well as Friday and Saturday mornings to keep kids in school as much as possible. Please contact us today to schedule your child's flu shot, your immune wellness appointment, or your acute care appointment to keep your family healthy all through the year!

"Let thy food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. " This quote from Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine is one of my favorites. The Hippocratic Oath, "First Do No Harm" is commonly used in medical and naturopathic oaths taken by doctors and is the first tenet of naturopathic medicine. Personally, I just love food so much- the tast, the texture, the smell, the sight and sound of cooking and eating freshly prepared meals, the joy of sharing food, drink, and laughter with those closest to me- that it's a natural part of treatment plans that my patients and I create together.

That's why this blog post is a plug for Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. Whether you watch the show on ABC or go to the Jamie Oliver Foundation website to see what the Food Revolution is all about: check it out one way or another. See, Jamie's a chef from the UK who decided he was disgusted by what local kids were getting in their school lunches. He launched a program that changed the way school lunches were made in the UK and now he's come across the pond to help US schoolchildren and their families get educated about what goes into their bodies, how they can make healthier choices, and how they can make changes happen locally and nationally surrounding the food that we grow, process, distribute, and ultimately buy and feed to our families. The TV show is incredibly touching and enlightening in many ways as it shows kids the difference between real vegetables and what they're being served, empowers families to start cooking for themselves, and addresses institutional problems inherent in the school lunch and fast-food systems.

When I was in school, I worked on a project with a grandiose vision: in-school public health clinics (naturopathic, of course) that provided health care, vaccinations, exercise and weight-loss programs, nutrition education, school gardens, worked with the cafeterias on improving school lunch options, and served as hubs for family and community health. Although we would have been the only clinical provider in the city, we met roadblock after roadblock- parents concerned that their children might receive healthcare without their knowledge, shrinking budgets and fewer opportunities (plus stiffer competition) for grants, and other issues. Eventually, the project went on hiatus, but not before our collaborators, who were simultaneously working on a similar project elsewhere offered me a job as the lead physician. Three weeks after graduation, that project folded due to lack of funds. Maybe we were reaching too far, too fast, but a large part of my dream of becoming a naturopathic physician was to work with kids to introduce healthy lifestyle options and prevent many of the chronic illnesses that are epidemic in American culture, like obesity, heart disease, high cholesterol, diabetes, and ADHD. To teach them the joy of healthy, fresh food.

If the thought of what we put in our kids' bodies concerns you at all, if you worry that your child doesn't know what vegetables look like, if you just want to know how, what, or IF anything can be done to stop this downward spiral into poor health at a younger and younger age, please do yourself 2 favors: 1) Don't buy it if you don't know what's in it (tetrasodium phosphate? YUMMY!), and 2) Check out what other people (including some in your community) are doing to make a difference at Jamie Oliver's website. Many hands make light work.

Last summer, the state of Washington amended our medical marijuana laws to include naturopathic physicians and nurse practitioners as providers who are legally permitted to write "authorizations" for medical marijuana use for patients suffering from a few very specific conditions. Since that time, I have worked with a number of patients who have had qualifying conditions and turned away even more folks who may have been suffering from pain but who just did not qualify or did not have the documentation to back up their claims of having qualifying conditions. Authorizations basically state that the doctor has advised the patient on the risks and benefits of medical marijuana and it is the doctor's opinion that the patient could benefit from using it. The law explicitly states that doctors cannot help patients obtain medical marijuana. Oddly, it's not illegal for the patient to possess medical marijuana, but it is illegal federally for anyone to buy or sell it. There are dispensaries, etc out there, but I can't tell my patients where to go. It's just a "Here you go, now you are allowed to treat yourself. Good luck finding some medication!" kind of thing.

One of my patients from last fall showed up in my waiting room last week. When I last saw her, my patient was recovering from brain surgery to remove a prolactinoma with associated pituitary apoplexy. In English, she had a prolactin-secreting tumor in her brain that had been causing bleeding in her pituitary gland, a tiny gland that sits behind the eyes and regulates most of the hormonal signals in the body. She was maybe 100 pounds, soaking wet, appeared very dizzy and disoriented, and was relying on her family to take care of her. She was only 28 and after I saw her, I went into my office and cried. I didn't think I had been able to do anything for her and she looked like she didn't have much longer to live. I wrote her an authorization, thinking that I would have written someone who was suffering like that as many authorizations as there are days in the week if I thought it would have done her any good.

Cut to 6 months later. She had been in to her oncologist's office to get fitted for a radiation crown, to begin irradiating the tumor that they couldn't remove surgically. A few weeks ago, in preparation, she had completed some imaging. When she got to the doctor's office, with a plan to see him every 3-6 months for the foreseeable future, she was told that he couldn't do anything for her. They had checked and re-checked, sent out for a second opinion and finally determined that there were no errors- there was simply no tumor visible in any of her scans. She was told by her oncologist that she no longer had to worry about radiation, about coming in every 3 months to poison her body in an attempt to gain a few more months. He said to come back in a year for a re-evaluation.

When she walked into my office last week, I hardly recognized her. There was no disorientation, no dizziness. She had put on enough weight and had such a healthy glow about her that she now looks like any other young woman walking down the street on a sunny afternoon. My patient told me that the only change she had made to her medication regimen had been to start creating and consuming capsules of hemp oil and hash oil mixed with powdered marijuana leaf. She told me of her oncology visits, that her doctors had told her they were going to launch studies searching for a link between tumor regression and medical marijuana. Most importantly, she told me that she is determined to enjoy life, to live each day in awe of the beauty that surrounds her, that she can find in little, everyday joys. We cried together a bit, and she promised me that she will be doing everything she can to get her story told, to bring more research money to help other cancer patients. Before she left, I was the one thanking her.

The good news is, she's not alone. Norml's blog entry talks about other research, dating all the way back to the 70's.

Today, I had a great day. I got to do something small that I hope will make a big difference for someone in my community.

Back in January, I decided to donate $10 to the Ballard Food Bank for every new patient that month. I met the Food Bank's Executive Director, Nancy McKinney, at a Ballard Chamber of Commerce  After-Hours event last year and have been looking for an opportunity to help her organization as it continues to support members of the Ballard community, including some of my own patients.  I felt like it would be a great way to show my gratitude for my expanding business while helping a worthy community cause at the same time. The Ballard Food Bank distributed over 10.2 million pounds of food in 2010; over 27% of their recipients are elderly and over 14% are children. They do good work.

And they've recently moved. They're now in a beautiful and LARGE space on Leary Way, south of Market Street, in Ballard. The warehouse has been divided into an office/reception area, staff offices, a delivery area and a "shopping" area where clients can pick their food as if they were shopping in a grocery store. Clients are allotted a certain amount of groceries, depending upon the size of their family, and can shop once/week for fresh fruits and veggies, unlimited bread, canned goods, and even flowers (on occasion). This new design allows clients to have more control over the food they are given (instead of just getting a basket that someone else has prepared).

The core volunteers are friendly and helpful and the food bank is always in need of more. Peggy Bailey is the Volunteer Coordinator. She works with groups and individuals who want to help, in order to fill gaps in the schedule and support the core folks who are there on a regular basis. On our visit, we met a volunteer who is there 3 days a week! Now THAT'S dedication to your community!

After a quick tour and some photos, we were on our way back to the office. I'm so glad we got a chance to visit and I look forward to finding more opportunities to help this GREAT organization.

 Times are tight for a lot of folks right now, but if you've got some spare cans, spare time, or a little bit extra in your paycheck that you want to put to good use- please consider the Ballard Food Bank- Neighbors Helping Neighbors.

Food bank with Nancy McKinney.jpg (866.71 kb)

Many of my pediatric patients come to see me after their parents are frustrated with conventional medicine. These kids might have a history of asthma that is getting progressively worse or more frequent, they might be suffering from eczema that seems to have been around since they were babies, they may have chronic achey ears, or they may suffer from seasonal allergies that make them miserable six months out of the year. Chances are, many of them are on asthma inhalers, steroid creams, frequent antibiotics, and still be treating symptoms with over-the-counter meds. To a one, their parents have been frustrated over their increasing symptoms and lack of effective treatment options for the underlying conditions.

In medicine, both Western and more holistic forms, there is something called the "atopic triad", which consists of asthma, seasonal allergies and eczema. Doctors find that middle ear infections (or otitis media) are an also-ran, cropping up in a number of children who exhibit atopic symptoms. Naturopathic theory suggests that all of these conditions have a common cause, or etiology, where an insult to the system expresses itself in multiple ways, in an attempt by the body to get it addressed. Many times, this initial cause can be as simple as introducing a food into the diet that is either an allergen for the patient or simply introduced before the body has an adequate way to process it.

For example, suppose an infant received cow's milk at the age of 3 months. If the baby's digestive tract was not fully functional, the larger proteins can cross the gut barrier and enter the bloodstream. Normally, the gaps between cells lining the gut are too tight for this to happen but if inflammation is present or they are not fully matured, proteins that would normally need to be broken down can pass into the blood whole. In this case, the milk protein meets some circulating immune cells and they, correctly, determine that it is a foreign protein. Now, immune cells are supposed to determine between foreign or host proteins, not determine whether a foreign protein is a friend or foe. If they do their job properly, they will create antibodies to the foreign milk protein as if it were a virus. One of the main jobs of the immune system is to cause inflammation in an effort to isolate the intruder until the rest of the immune system can arrive and fight it off. This inflammation includes gut cells, meaning that the gaps between cells remains "leaky", allowing more foreign food proteins to cross into the bloodstream.

Asthma, allergies, and eczema all have a strong inflammatory component to them. If that same child, whose immune system is diligently protecting her from milk protein continues to consume dairy products, the body might break out in a rash (the skin, lungs, and digestive tract are all major organs of elimination). The baby's doctor might treat the rash with a cortisone-based cream, reducing the surface inflammation and preventing itching, but not allowing the body to express the allergy. In naturopathic theory, this is called suppression and drives the body to express itself in a more serious manner, such as developing asthma or chronic middle ear infections. These can also be complicated by the immune system's major defensive mechanism of promoting mucus production.

In many patients, when we work on eliminating asthma or chronic ear infections, we see a resurgence of eczema as the body no longer has to resort to such extreme measures (asthma attacks, ear infections) to address allergens. If we do see eczema or another, supposedly past, manifestion occur, we know we are on the right track with treatment and are not suppressing the body's need to expel allergens or toxins. Once we determine the substance that the patient is responding to, we can eliminate it from the diet or environment and work on repairing the lungs, skin, and digestive tract. In some cases, patients can eventually re-introduce allergens into their diet once we have healed the digestive tract and calmed the immune system response.

I'm excited to announce that in the coming weeks, we'll be launching two new programs that focus on health education.

First, we are in the process of recording podcasts addressing health topics, such as diabetes and weight loss, in our new podcast. We're still trying out names for the show. If you've got suggestions for names or topics, send them to us!

Secondly, we're taking it on the road! Do you and your friends spend your time talking about common health concerns, like aging or child development? Would you like to have an expert answer questions on topics you're interested in? Stone Turtle Health and our associates are launching health education parties. Bring some snacks, have some wine, hang with your friends and get your health questions answered in the comfort of your own home. A safe environment to ask whatever you have questions about your family's health.

If you want more information or have suggestions for either of the above new programs at Stone Turtle Health, please feel free to email us via the Contact page.

It's time to take a leap! The New Year is upon us and it's time for change, expanding into our dreams and reaching for success In that vein, I am curtailing my hours in Bellevue and expanding them here in Ballard. In addition to my normal full days on Tuesday and Thursday and my half-day on Saturday, I will be in the office on Fridays from 9am-1 pm.

Because of my desire to continue to serve the community that I live in, these expanded hours come at the same time as a new promotion that we are offering at Stone Turtle Health in the month of January. For every new patient visit in January, I am donating $10 to the Ballard Food Bank, a local non-profit that has been serving Ballard families since the mid-1970's. I am a strong believer in the healing power of food and support their mission wholeheartedly as they provide sustenance to local families in need. If you are a current patient, please pass on the word to your friends and family to increase our donations in the month of January.

February will see Stone Turtle Health celebrating its third anniversary in business, and our second anniversary in the Ballard Wellness Clinic. Look for more blog posts about reflections on an anniversary and February anniversary specials soon!

Wishing you and yours a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Dr. Katie Baker

We're entering the time of year when many people get up and dressed in the dark, drive to work in the dark, and then drive home in the dark, after sitting all day in an office with fluorescent lighting. Many of us are exhausted all the time, regardless of our sleep habits. We need sun, really need it. Our bodies use sunlight to activate vitamin D, which is used in so many chemical reactions, from absorbing calcium in the digestive tract to supporting immune function and brain health. Without vitamin D, we find ourselves lethargic, depressed, with poor digestion, low back pain, and not functioning at our best mentally.

In the state of Washington, something like 80% of people are clinically vitamin D deficient, the highest rate in any of the 50 states, including Alaska. Washington also has the highest rates of MS, depression, and certain kinds of cancers. Not only that, but in many cases, people who test within the normal range (lab values between 30-100 are a typical normal range), may still not be getting enough vitamin D to adequately absorb all their dietary calcium. Values greater than 50 are necessary to properly absorb calcium, which is used in bone health (as we all know), brain function and also in muscle contraction and relaxation (skeletal, smooth, and cardiac). Without adequate absorption, our bodies begin to break down bone cells to release calcium, leading to osteopenia and, in some cases, osteoporosis. This bone damage begins in our 20s and women are particularly susceptible although it can happen to men, too. Weight-bearing exercise, such as walking or weight training, is also important to help maintain healthy bones, but without the calcium to lay down over the lattice of bone cells, bones become brittle and more prone to fracture.

 The vitamin D test is a very simple, cost-effective blood test that can be performed at any time of day (you don't have to be fasting) and is covered as a standard laboratory test by almost every insurance plan. Supplementation with vitamin D is an essential tool for getting through the dark winters of the Northwest and should be done under a doctor's care. Most over-the-counter supplements are either in a poorly absorbable tablet or are in insufficient dosages to have any significant effect on vitamin D deficiency. It is a fat-soluble vitamin that should be taken with food to aid in its absorption. Adults, pregnant women, and children all have varying recommended dosages and should seek professional testing and advice from their family naturopath before beginning supplementation.

And the most important caveat: Don't use tanning beds to try to ramp up your D levels. They project both the vitamin D- enhancing UVB light as well as the skin cancer-inducing UVA. Stay out of the tanning beds!

An article in the Telegraph, a prominent UK newpaper, states that the rate of throat cancer in men over 50 has increased by over 67% since the mid-80s. Being overweight is a significant risk factor for adenocarcinoma, the type of throat cancer studied by Professor Janusz Jankowski, a Cancer Research UK funded clinician at the Barts & The London School of Medicine & Dentistry in England.

The full article on increased rates of throat cancer  goes on to state that, while it is the 9th most common cancer in the UK, it is the most difficult to detect and treat, with only an 8% survival rate after 5 years.

Since cancer seems to be a bogeyman for so many people (wherease diabetes, heart disease, and other sequelae of poor lifestyle choices and obesity seem to elicit a resigned shrug), maybe this article, and the study, will garner more widespread attention to the difficulties ahead for overweight and obese people and help to motivate changes in lifestyle, diet, and exercise.

Today marks the beginning of my 6th week on the New ME Diet's Fat Loss program. Exactly nine days prior to that, I began doing weigh-ins for a local company's corporate weight loss competition. Exactly two days prior to that, I decided to weigh myself. On the fancy fat-measuring scale. While my weight was within the low end of my "normal" range, the fat percentage was through the roof. As I leafed through the instruction manual, seeking out justifications for a "miscalculation", it dawned on me that the scale might be right. If I was comfortable enough using its measurements for the company participants, why did I think I was immune to its cold, objective calculations?

Knowing that I have relatively healthy eating habits (aside from the occasional seven course meal at my favorite Italian restaurant), I knew it had come to this: If I wanted to lose weight, I needed to move. The thought of exercise conjures up images of being dragged around the track an extra lap because my gym teacher didn't believe I'd gone the full mile. Of working out with a personal trainer who would mock the way I was doing exercises rather than asking why I was favoring one side or correcting my form in a positive way. Of all the dread and embarrassment that came from being the misfit who didn't know the rules to games everyone else seemed to know how to play. Of being picked last for kickball, the cliche of cliches. Exercise was Not My Thing.

So, I turned to my social network, including Facebook friends who would cheer me on and hold me accountable and to my live friends who could be counted on for support when we got together for salads, not dessert or for tea, not beer. And to my family which, given the delectable manner of cooking they participate in, can't really be faulted for not understanding what on earth had come over me when I refused free-form cherry cheesecake, homemade gravy, and other tortures.

In particular, one former classmate of mine, Dr. Jillian Sarno-Teta, a naturopathic physician and bodybuilder, has been my rock. And she's responsible for introducing me to the program that has turned my "normal" weight on its head. Jillian's husband and brother-in-law (both also naturopathic doctors) have co-authored the best-selling "The New ME Diet" and are the creators of the Metabolic Effect 10-Week Fat Loss Program. Jillian was kind enough to get me started with some tips until my book arrived.

My goal: to drop 20 pounds in 10 weeks. This would put me where I was after my 3 month session with a personal trainer back in 2004. In the first week, I dropped a few pounds, but the main difference was in my waistline: 1 1/2 inches in the first 4 days. Since the beginning, my waist measurement has dropped a total of 3 1/2 inches and my weight has dropped over 10 pounds. I've been sleeping like a log and the exercise takes only 30 minutes 3 times/week (walking 30-60 minutes on off-days). Initially, I had to squeeze time into my day, but now that I'm sleeping better, my body has been waking me up naturally (without exhaustion) a good 30 minutes earier, giving me plenty of time to work out before getting ready for my day.

I spent the first 3 weeks standing in front of the mirror, just making muscles and admiring myself. Not out of any sense of vanity, but more out of a sense of wonder and playfulness. If I could have done this so easily, what else could I accomplish? Could I actually grow a few inches? (Answer: well, technically, no, but working out the kinks in my spine and improving my posture has me back to a "real" 5'9"). Could I really lose weight by eating 6 meals a day, all of them containing meat?

The past 2 weeks, I've been incorporating my "reward meals", mainly to make social interactions easier. The first was a yes to fettucine in gorgonzola cream sauce (no to dessert), the second on a date where I had pretty much what I would have eaten anyway (meat and vegetables), but with a coconut daquiri, beans and rice, and plantain fritters with garlic sauce. I've also been getting more creative with my planned meals, expanding from the simple chicken breast with broccoli and sweet potato or salmon burger with sauteed mushrooms and spinach to orange-chili glazed chicken stir-fry and cumin-scented turkey burgers with baked sweet potato fries.

Since I've been so happy with this program, Stone Turtle Health has become an affiliate clinic (Metabolic Effect is based in one of the Carolinas, I can never remember which one). I'm looking forward to providing my patients with free weekly weigh-ins and free entrance to my monthly Healthy Shopping on a Budget classes as part of their enrollment fee into Metabolic Effect's Fat Loss Program. I'm looking forward to having more partners in crime and creating a support network of patients to provide long-lasting changes in their health.