Clever Tomatoes - Green Versus Red

Solanaceous veggies (fruits) like tomatoes and eggplant use nicotine from the stem and seeds to propel ripening.

With tomatoes, as the fruit ripens from green to red, nicotine declines practically to zero.

This chart demonstrates that decline in one variety, "Culina" tomatoes:

Neuroprotective Substances Found in Foods - A Starting Lineup

 

This table from a 2012 paper in the Open Pharmacology Journal lists compounds that show promise as neuroprotective.

 

I found and incorporated foods that contain all these elements (except estrogen, riluzole, and aspirin - which are drugs).

 

I discuss this in more detail in the book:

 

Ceylon Cinnamon - On Amazon :-)

A reader asked "Where can I get Ceylon cinnamon?"  (which is the preferred anti-Parkinson's cinnamon according to the study I cited in an earlier post)

I found it on Amazon.  Here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=ceylon+cinnamon&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=26898145509&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1087379182830225091&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_54egwf276t_e

I should say that I have been using the common variety and it is helping.

But I'll be trying "Full Ceylon Mode" soon for awhile.

God Bless,

Glen

Neuro-nutrition - Even Some Elementary School Students Are Taught - Why Not All?

Another reference I stumbled upon in my research was a website designed to educate elementary school students at a school district in Washington state (USA) about nutrition.  One segment, curiously had a short list of food precursors to neurotransmitters of all kinds.

I had never been taught this in school, I had never heard about this from my doctors, I had never even heard it from my mother. 

But yet, one school district in one small part of the United States was teaching it to their students - and doubtless saving, even improving their brains.

Why isn't everyone, especially our doctors, taught about brain nutrition.

In this slide, I excerpted the core website content:

Juice Production - The Bottles I Use

Many have asked what amber bottles I use for eggplant juice.

For the refrigerator, I us 64oz glass growlers like these:


http://morebeer.com/products/beer-growler-64oz.html

For the freezer I use opaque LDPE screw top plastic 1 quart containers like these (I let them sit on the counter overnight to thaw, then refrigerate):

http://www.amazon.com/Vestil-BTL-UVN-32-Narrow-Mouth-Polyethylene-Capacity/dp/B00B513ORE/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1414135116&sr=8-4&keywords=amber+ldpe+bottles

Color Vision Restored (A Religious Experience)

In April and May of 2013 I regained my color vision from the grip of tritanomalia (I call it "the blues").

I can't even describe the euphoria of seeing colors much more vividly and brightly.  And how perfect that it was spring at the time :-)

The experience was religous to say the least.  Here is a slide I made at that time with a paper on aquired color vision deficiency in Parkinson's.  There are also some bible verses that touched my heart while all this was going on:

God Bless,

Glen Pettibone

Early Recipes: Thinksicles

 

 

Having rejected sugar, one of the few deserts endulged last year.

 

I'd take the Aubergine yogurt recipe, add a little more mashed banana, and then spoonfuls of pure cacao powder to taste.  I spooned that into paper cups and placed popsicle sticks.

 

Once frozen, I would peel and enjoy.

 

Unlike any other popsicle, this one has some nicotine to help you think.

 

 

"Thinksicle"  :-)

 

 

God Bless,

 

Glen

 

Early Recipes: Green Tomato Capresi Versions

Here are a few fun recipes from when I started doing all this in 2013.

I made a lot of capresi arrangements to feature the green tomato with fresh mozzarella and salmon.  Here are several variants:

Left: With greenish-yellow heirlooms, smoked salmon, fresh mozzarella, berries, and carrot juice.
Lower center: With green heirlooms, smoked salmon, fresh mozzarella, capers, olives, balsalmic, and olive oil.

Below: With purple cauliflower and cajun sausage:

Neurology 101: Nicotinic Acetylcholingenic and Muscarinic Acetylcholinergenic Receptor Systems

Most of the brain is influenced by the acetycholinergenic receptor system, divided into two types: nicotinic acetylcholinergenic and muscarinic acetylcholinergenic.  Acetylcholine and either nicotine or muscarine (respectively) can activate these receptors, giving you success in moving, staying still, or thinking.  Acetylcholine is sourced both endogenously (made by your body) and exogenously (combined from acetic acid and choline in your diet).  Nicotine is only, and very commonly, sourced from your diet (Solanaceous veggies, etc.).  Muscarine is only availably from certain mushrooms and is not common in diet (so these receptors typically operate with only acetylcholine).

The diagram below illustrates that nicotine activates over half of your brain, and also your substantia nigra (for dopamine) and your locus coeruleus (for adrenaline).

Source:
https://www.cnsforum.com/educationalresources/imagebank/dementia_cholinergic/rcpt_sys_ach_dist

Neurology 101: How Your Dopaminergic Neurons "Cock And Load" With Nicotine And Acetylcholine

So your brain is designed to "cock and load" the dopaminergic neurons using nicotine (exogenously) and acetylcholine (both exogenously and endogenously). 

Think of it like a dispenser gun.  When these chemicals hit receptor sites on these neurons, they "cock open" the ion channel, allowing sodium and calcium to enter and potassium to leave - "loading" the gun.  Then when you get an impulse to move, be still, or think, the gun fires dispensing dopamine and transmitting the signal down the chain.

There are thousands of these receptors on every neuron.  The higher the concentration of these chemicals near the neurons, the more receptors are hit, cocked, and loaded. Diversity and plurality of these chemicals hitting on individual receptors opens the channels wider, "loading" bigger doses.  Over time, through "long term potentiation" you build more receptors if you keep hitting them well below toxic levels.  Then the signal gets stronger and stronger.

So even IF you MAY have dead neurons, you CAN improve over time by regularly exercising the surviving neurons in this way.  More receptors, more neuro-transmitters, more hits. Half as many twice as good is just the same as you were.

See a scientific diagram I made below, and another one even a chimpanzee can understand. 

(I especially loved the picture, borrrowed from the Jane Goodall website of the chimpanzees eating large, raw eggplant :-)

God Bless,

Glen Pettibone

Powerful Food - Fast And Easy On Travel - Hotel Room Shrimp Breakfast

So recently I found out I have an IGG (delayed, inflammatory) allergy to eggs.  This made it difficult to find a choline source for breakfast at the hotel while traveling.

Lately, while on business travel when I need a fast breakfast in the morning to make an early appointment, I stop into a grocery store the night before and pickup a shrimp cocktail box.  I douse the shrimp with hot sauce (which has acetic acid and peppers), turmeric, and cinnamon.  Then the hotel usually has plain oatmeal (barely contaminated with wheat) and coffee.  Since I eliminated wheat,  I found it's good to have one or two servings of oats as a source of chromium, which helps your body tolerate glucose.

So here's what I did this morning, I added sliced Chinese eggplant:

Circadian Rhythm: My Walk In The Sun Today

Ideally, I take a long walk towards the sun in both the morning and the evening.  I plan for 8 hours sleep,  and I take melatonin at night.  I dose it until I'm drowsy the next afternoon then back off 1mg that night.  It varies based on time of year and my health.  If I wake up too much at night I take more.

I explain more about this in the book.

Here's one from my 6pm walk at a park in Long Beach, CA today:

Link to Brief on Dr. Susan Searles Nielsen's Paper Linking Solanacae Consumption to 30% Reduced Parkinson's Risk

Dr. Nielsen's paper didn't address eggplant, which typically has even higher total per serving nicotine than peppers, but the May 9, 2013 paper did establish the benefit of Solanacae.

I started with eggplant, peppers, green tomatoes, and baked potatoes in February 2013.  I saw huge improvements in the first 3 months, then slower since.  By April 2013, I was off all medication until June, when I added back about 7 % and I've been there ever since.  At first I couldn't eat very much of the peppers, so the lion's share was 64oz of raw eggplant juice and the eggplant yogurt.  The eggplant took away all my acid reflux though.  After about 6 months, I could tolerate a lot more peppers.  I could "build a fire" on any meal.

I think a follow up study is being entertained to include or focus on eggplant.  Here is the link to her article:

http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/05/08/do-peppers-reduce-risk-of-parkinsons/

Allergic Inflammation Linked to Greatly Increased Risk of Parkinson's Disease

It is becoming increasingly apparent that Parkinson's is either caused or worsened, all or in part, by sources of inflammation.

A recent article in Science Daily showed that if you have had allergic rhinitis in your lifetime you are three times more likely to develop Parkinson's:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/08/060808091749.htm

Prior to adding the Solanceous foods (which I am not allergic to) into my diet, I was allergic to almost all environmental sources: pollens, molds, animals.  Strangely my diet seems to have completely wiped out all of my environmental allergies.  I don't yet know why.

I didn't know until just this month that I am allergic to eggs, yeast, and coconut.  So I've had to switch from eggs to foods like shrimp and soy lecithin for choline, eliminate yeast entirely and be diligent about skin hygiene, and switch out the coconut oil to flax seed oil (and I am planning to try MCG oil).

Perhaps the solanine and chaconine in eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, and potatoes are especially antimicrobial to yeast and that in part explains why I do well with them. Quitting bread and alcohol may also have helped me due to the yeast-allergy factor I have.

I do know that eggplant is very hard to ferment. 

My new friend "Aunt Bean" ( http://www.favabeans.parkinsonsrecovery.com/contact-aunt-bean) has been trying to ferment eggplant samples since we began discussing the book - and apparently the ferment won't kick.  I've also noticed that my eggplant juice doen't seem to ferment.

Of course Permutter and others are reporting allergy or sensitivity to gluten to be a huge factor:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/549400-gluten-sensitivity-parkinsons-disease/

So all of you be vigilant, you might be allergic to almost anything in your environment, your food, or even the microbes around you.  Visit a medical or naturopathic doctor and get tested for the whole panel of environmental and food allergies. 

You might even be allergic to eggplant.  Here are some warning signs and symptoms.

http://www.wisegeekhealth.com/what-are-common-symptoms-of-an-eggplant-allergy.htm

God Bless,

Glen Pettibone

Link to Sunday Connections, September 28, 2014 (latest I hosted)

Here's the link to the most recent Sunday Connections which I hosted September 28:
http://app.getresponse.com/click.html?x=a62b&lc=tFyz5&mc=BR&s=z0swvv&u=ssK&y=c&

Glen

European Parkinson's Disease Association Adds the Book!

The European Parkinson's Disease Association honored the book with a spot on their website at:

http://www.epda.eu.com/en/resources/pd-resources/?entryid2=30526&q=0~supermarket~

I am so very honored.  I hope the book will help ease the suffering, provide hope, and urge the cure.

God Bless,

Glen Pettibone