Intestinal/immunity:

PRObiotics can be VERY useful in these situations.
Quality brand suggestions include: Body Biotics, Living Stream Probiotics, Strata-Flora
I personally have used Body Biotics (formerly Nature’s Biotics) with great success and don’t mind saying so. Remarkable difference when taking it, and even a few weeks following. (Penicillin shot messed things up for me, bad. This is the stuff that turned me around.)

PREbiotics (which feed the good gut bacteria & encourage them to proliferate) can also be helpful. FOS is a common one. Inulin’s another. (Inulation is a good product to try. Cheap, good quality.)

LACTOfermentation products. I also highly suggest including some fermented foods in your diet (cabbage/sauerkraut, cucumber/pickle, other veggies, milk/kefir, yogurt, etc). Best to use some sort of home fermentation kit like Body Ecology, for ease & to be on the safe side. These foods are also another source of good bacteria. Plus they help to predigest some of the nutrients (and help it to last/keep it from spoiling a WHILE). The vinegar can also help with blood sugar.

Fiber. Lyle’s talked enough about this. Just use common sense and don’t overdo it.

Bladder/Pancreatitus/Diabetes:

Herbs (plant form or extracts, available in vegetable capsules, tea bags, liquid, or freshly-ground form; forget the compressed into a tiny hard pill stuff; most of that will never be absorbed). Certain herbs have been shown to really help. (I worked with a master herbalist as part of my internship last fall, so I got to see some pretty amazing results from people just drinking more water and taking a few herbs.) Anyway, am not going to make specific recommendations as I don’t like to use a 1-size-fits-all approach. It’s best to see an herbologist. There are thousands of different herbs (though not that many that are commonly known or used) to choose from. Hence, it’s best to consult a professional who can better identify just what you as a singe individual may need individually (often by 1st identifying your deficiencies). Just make sure you’re getting a good quality and sufficient quantity/amount. Avoid cheapo retail (Wal-Mart, CVS, GNC, etc) or ‘everything in the world packed into one bottle’ brands. See a quality provider and you’ll get what you pay for.

Diabetes (Blood Sugar):

Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils. Truly AMAZING short-term results (aka, blood sugar, pain, fever, congestion, etc; not things to do with actual nutritional deficiencies requiring minerals and such). For more info on this, email me.

I’m NOT selling ANYTHING. Just giving my personal experience on the subjects mentioned. If anyone wants more information (like good brands of essential oils to try), just email me privately.
Again, I’m NOT selling anything.

Additionally, I’m not anti-drug either. I believe drugs have their place. I just think they should be tried AFTER addressing diet, nutrition/herbs/essential oils, and exercise rather than beforehand. The same is true with herbs, essential oils, and ‘supplements’ in general. They are meant to ‘supplement’ your diet, not the other way around.

Rob

“Now, the typical counter-response to what I wrote above is that the percentage values are assumed to be based on some fairly average caloric intake. That is, if we were to put our 200 lb guy (150 g/protein required per day) on a more ‘average’ 2400 cal/day (12 cal/lb) and 30% protein, he will come out with a protein intake of 2400 * 0.3 = 800 cal from protein yielding 200 grams/day or 1 gram per pound. Yes, a little higher than the 150 g/day but not excessively so. And that’s fine, percentage based diets are going to be roughly valid within a certain caloric range. The problem is that isn’t always how they are applied and that’s certainly not how the percentages are typically interpreted.”

I like to use both g/lb and percentages as a guideline.

Fantastic articles by the way!

“Now, the typical counter-response to what I wrote above is that the percentage values are assumed to be based on some fairly average caloric intake. That is, if we were to put our 200 lb guy (150 g/protein required per day) on a more ‘average’ 2400 cal/day (12 cal/lb) and 30% protein, he will come out with a protein intake of 2400 * 0.3 = 800 cal from protein yielding 200 grams/day or 1 gram per pound. Yes, a little higher than the 150 g/day but not excessively so. And that’s fine, percentage based diets are going to be roughly valid within a certain caloric range. The problem is that isn’t always how they are applied and that’s certainly not how the percentages are typically interpreted.”