AS much as is feasible, I will limit this conversation on Dr. Strand’s What Your Doctor Doesn’t Know About Nutritional Medicine May Be Killing You to Grape Seed Extract, a powerful ingredient in Restore LYF. This is for two major reasons. First, this is a script originally written for the product training of some of my friends on the chat group Incubating Diamond Life Earners. They are health lovers who always ask me for information about nutritional supplements on the market and have confined me, this time, to this one.
Secondly, I do not think I would have the space to break the bounds already set for me within the limits of time and space. Even while confining myself to Grape Seed Extract, would I have the priviledge of visiting the origins of its use in Alternative Medicine and some of the important scientific studies which made this possible?
Accordingly, I would strive to limit myself to about five case histories in Dr. Strand’s book in which Grape Seed Extract performed what we may term “wonders”. One was the case of a man who suffered from a deadly disease for which his doctor suggested chemotherapy. He declined the treatment and resorted to natural medicine. About one year after, his doctor saw him again and was surprised to discover that the patient, against all the odds, was completely cured.
Another case was that of a woman who, literally and clinically speaking, was going blind. She substantially regained her vision. This woman suffered from Multiple Sclerosis. Her legs and arms lost strength and she suffered from urinary and intestinal retention. She turn her back on her doctor’s prescription which she said made her life more miserable and turned to nutritional medicine. In these cases and many more, Dr. Strand was a Grape Seed Extract magician. He found it to be one of those natural substances which easily crossed the Blood Brain-Barrier to easily suffuse brain and nerve cells, protect them against Oxidative Stress which he said was of great value for the recovery of his patients in the treatment of neurological and other diseases.
A third case was a Driver’s. He, too, suffered from neurological problems which literally disabled his legs and made him wheelchair-bound. Grape Seed Extract not only gave him back his legs, he got his job back as well. The fourth case was Macular Degeneration or Central Vision Blindness. She abandoned driving, her passion, and thought her life was ending. Then, she met Dr. Strand who gave her nutritional supplements and a high dosage of Grape Seed Extract. In a few months, her vision was back to what it was six years earlier. Our last case here is that of a three-year- old asthma patient whose condition got worse on asthma medication but significantly improved on nutritional supplements in which Grape Seed Extract was a star feature.
Before I proceed, I would like to briefly introduce to you the product description of Restore LYF, which is made from two great antioxidant plant medicines, one of which is Grape Seed Extract. The product literature says:
“Restore LYF contains a unique, comprehensive and standardised resveratrol blend of powerful longevity polyphenols: Japanese Knotweed, Grape Skin Extract, Grape Seed Extract Powder, Concentrated Grape Extract Powder (without the alcohol content)”.
Next I would like to visit some of the cases Dr. Strand deployed Grape Seed Extract against.
Lupus
This is a degenerative inflammatory disease caused by attacks of the immune system not on germs but on the human tissues they are meant to protect. It may involve the brain, bone joints, the heart, skin, lungs and kidneys. When the attacks are well-known, the condition is often called Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. It saps the sufferer of energy and of life. Doctors still do not know what exactly causes the immune system to literally open fire on its friends and not on their enemies. Some believe it is a genetic problem. Others say environmental factors may trigger it in predisposed persons, and suspect that these factors include sunlight, infections and medications. In the 1990s, my extended family lost the teenage daughter of an Anglican Reverend gentleman who returned home, infected, from a holiday in the United States. She was so devitalised that she could not walk up the stairs of the family duplex home to her bedroom which, then, had to be shifted downstairs.
The doctors of this young woman in the United States gave a box loads of literature on this subject to bring home. I found two ideas in the literature interesting. One was called the Leaky Gut Syndrome. The other was Signalling Confusion. In Leaky Gut Syndrome, the absorbent layer of the intestine through which nutrients from digested food pass into the bloodstream have been so damaged by germs or toxins that their small “sieves” have widened enough to let abnormally large molecules through. These molecules are seen as “foreigners” by the immune system. The system, therefore, attacks whichever tissue or organ which accomodates them or grants them shelter. Thus, the immune system opens fire on these “foreign” bodies, quite in line with its call to duty.
The second assumption is that some factors have caused a signaling problem between the immune system and the rest of the body. Naturally, they are all expected “to speak the same language”. Afterall, they are all members of the 100 trillion or so cells which originated from a male cell fertilising a female cell to form a single cell, the Zygote, which continued to divide into several cells which differentiated themselves into various functions. Thus, the immune system ought to always recognise the eye or the kidney as a “friend” as they vibrate on the same frequency, speaking the same language as it were. So, why do they signal differently in a Lupus condition?
In Matt’s case as Dr. Strand calls this Lupus case note patient, the problem began with severe abdominal pains. A successful legal practice in Chicago was threatened. His doctors ran several tests and he went home with only painkiller drugs. He began to take nutritional supplements, but his condition did not improve much. He was weak and in pains. Finally, a specialist ordered a test called Antinuclear Antibody(ANA) which, against a count of 1:40 or less for normal, reported 1:640. The doctor prescribed chemotherapeutic drugs. But Matt rejected them. He pursued a more aggressive course of antioxidant Nutritional supplements which, this time, included Grape Seed Extract at 350mg everyday. When he turned up at the doctor’s for a review of his case months later, the ANA had crashed to 1:40, the normal.
Multiple sclerosis
Dr. Strand reminds us what causes illness or death is Inflammation of the tissues and organs caused by oxidative stress. Grape Seed Extract, which became his pet prescription in almost all conditions, is highly anti-inflammatory and antioxidants. Antioxidant are now known to destroy free radicals which are major causes of oxidative stress. In this condition, there is progressive degeneration of the sheath or covering of nerves in the brain and in the spinal cord. The symptoms may include blurred vision, muscle inco-ordination, speech impairment, severe fatigue and numbness. The causes are still guess work. More women than men are thought to be affected. Happily, this is not a disease prevalent in Africa and Asia where tropical sun, impacting Vitamin D, is thought to be protective. The Myelin sheath or cover of the nerves is like the plastic covering of electricity copper cables when the cable is impacted by water and oxygen, it may rust. Such may be fate of exposed nerves.
Dr. Strand mentioned the case of Evelyn, one of his patients, whose case he took up from another doctor who gave her Betaseron or “beta interferon”, a chemical that tries to build up the immune system, very offensive and difficult to tolerate. She gave it up after two months, as she “faced the possibility of sudden blindness”. Bowel and bladder retention led to several bladder and kidney infections. Her health declined despite the use of Alternative Medicine protocols. She switched over to more potent antioxidants and minerals about years after. These included “Grape Seed Extract and a natural nutrient called CoQ10”. As the narrative grows, Evelyn began “to feel better within weeks” and her long-experienced palpitations of the heart disappeared. Her doctor took her off medications for heart troubles. According to her doctor, Dr. Strand said: “I haven’t seen anyone with Multiple Sclerosis experience such results.”
Dr. Strand added: “Evelyn’s neurologist was speechless about her miraculous turnaround. He ordered a repeat MRI of her brain. To his amazement the white plaque spread throughout the brain that is so diagnostic of Multiple Sclerosis had significantly diminish. Here is strong evidence that the body is still able to heal itself when necessary nutrients are available at optimal levels”.
CoQ10 is another wonderful antioxidants. But, as said earlier, it would fall outside our purview, this review being for Restore LYF, which continues Japanese Knotweed and Grape Seed Extract in its arsenal.
Macular degeneration
The first time I saw a person challenged with this condition was in the late 1980s when I was Editor ofThe Guardian. An African American man who paid me a visit in the office looked at me all through not through the center of his eyes but through the corners of them. I would learn more about Age Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD) later on. Dr. Strand’s patient in this condition was Mavis. Her husband dead and her vision deteriorating for 14 years, Mavis met Dr. Strand in 1997. He gave her potent antioxidant and mineral tablets “along with high doses of Grape Seed Extract”. As he reports:
“Within a couple of months, Mavis’ vision began to improve. Her eyesight became clear and even her night vision got better. She was thrilled the next time she visited the local eye doctor because he confirmed the good news. In fact her vision that day was at the same level as it had been back in 1991, six years prior!”
Brain degeneration
The doctors of David gave him a few days to live when his condition got to terminal stage. It was similar to multiple sclerosis and known as “progressive, degenerative, demyelinating disease of the brain”. He was a driver in Utah, United States. He started developing vertigo and began to lose control of his bowels and bladder. Vertigo is a condition in which some people say they feel as though they are spinning around. Some cannot balance their gait. When they walk, some say their feet appear not to touch the ground, to float or to land on surfaces which have the texture of cottonwool. In the case of David’s, his legs were getting weaker, and he was often falling whenever he walked. He became wheelchair-bound. When he was given only one or two weeks to live, David and his family began to make funeral plans and to bid family and friends “goodbye”. He became bedridden, but did not die. Months later, he began to try nutritional supplements of antioxidants, minerals and small doses of Grape Seed Extract. In five days, he slept less and had more energy, getting out of bed once in a while. On Mother’s Day, his children sat him on his wheelchair and pushed him to a shop where he bought presents for his wife and mother. He got stronger by the day. Someone told him Grape Seed Extract was a powerful antioxidant easily absorbable by the fluid around the brain. He remembered a film he watched entitled: Lorenzo’s Oil. A little boy in the film suffered from a disease similar to his. The boy was called Lorenzo. David was surprised to learn that what helped Lorenzo out of his trouble was a great deal of Grape Seed Oil. He increased his dosage of this oil. The pain in his leg reduced and he could walk again as the lower limb gained strength. His doctors were amazed when he went to take his driver’s license examination…and passed. His doctors stopped the morphine prescription for pain. This was yet another of many beautiful Grape Seed Extract stories told by Dr. Strand.
Asthma
The patient was three years old. His doctor gave him Albuterol medications. He could not tolerate the medications, could not sleep well because of heart palpitations and was so weak that, according to Dr. Strand, “he was unable to run, play ball, or participate in even the simplest activities”. Additionally, Adam frequently had cold and breathing difficulties.
Dr. Strand adds:
“The most frightening time came on Adam’s fourth birthday. He had developed a cold and quickly became very ill. He began to run a 105-degree temperature, and an x-ray in the ER revealed a severe case of pneumonia and out-of-control asthma. The birthday boy was fortunate and survived this serious illness, but it left him even weaker and his underlying asthma remained a severe problem.
“Adam continued to have problems tolerating the medication the doctors prescribed, though they were doing everything possible for him. Their answer wasn’t good enough. His father began to look into other possible therapies that might help his son. He remembered that it had been early summer when they decided to experiment with a potent chewable multivitamin to see if it might help. He recalls in that summer Adam would stay near the edge of the swimming pool, barely venturing out into the water. By the end of the summer, Adam was swimming the full length of the pool. Within 60 days, Adam changed from a child who could virtually do nothing physically to one who could keep pace with other children. Adam also started playing baseball and eventually even soccer. Infact he qualified for a traveling soccer team over the following four years.
“Adam was not only able to play, but he excelled in the sport. (As a physician, I must say soccer is probably the most difficult sport for an asthmatic to play). He was able to discontinue most of his medications and needed his inhaler only occasionally. Adam is now 13 years old and continues to be very active in sports. Adam continues to take a potent multivitamin and has added a little grape seed extract and extra Vitamin C to his supplement program. It must be amazing for parents to see their child go from being basically disabled to being normally active. How simple and yet profound is the potential life-changing effect of nutritional supplements.”
The book
The Grape Seed Extract stories in this book recommend to us not only that we should add this herbal medicine to our regular use of food supplements from time to time but should also pull us by the shirt collar to buy Dr. Strand’s book, What Your Doctor Doesn’t Know About Nutritional Medicine May Be Killing You, and make it a prime feature of our health libraries.
Conclusion
Shakirat Adeoti, introduced to me in the 1990s by Mrs Dorcas Akintoye, offered me experience in working with whole Grape Seed for healing. She was 33 and a microbiology graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University. She had cancer in both breasts. She sat in the car when Mrs Akintoye brought her to the offices of The Comet newspaper in Ijora, Lagos, where I was Editorial Director/Editor-in-chief. I came down to see her from my third floor office. The following year, she came up all the floors with food for all my office staff on my birthday. In those days, we did not have Grape Seed Extract in its present form. We crushed grapefruit seeds and soaked them in hot water to infuse the nutrients in the water. Adeoti took chemotherapy for one year on this supplement but it did not appear to severely affect her. Her energy grew. Her skin did not blacken. Her hair did not fall. Her records are at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Lagos. Adeoti died later because, after one year, she began to respond negatively to the chemotherapy. How I wished she listened to me and Mr. Dotun Akintoye that she decline chemotherapy one year after the first course.
Ladies and Gentleman, although Dr. Strand may not know about us at Aim Global/Earn For Life for who this product training is meant, and although he may not have heard about Restore LYF, we are his disciples in respect of Grape Seed Extract through his work. Get a copy of his book, What Your Doctor Doesn’t’ Know About Nutritional Medicine May Be Killing You, and mould yourselves to become the doctors of tomorrow in fulfilment of the vision of Dr. Alexis Carrel, who once said:
“If the doctor of today does not become the dietician of tomorrow, the dietician of today will become the doctor of tomorrow”.
