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David Brownstein, MD
A Holistic Approach to Treating Thyroid Disorders: The Iodine Connection
This talk will focus on how to integrate a holistic treatment plan to effectively treat thyroid disorders.  Dr. Brownstein will discuss the diagnosis and treatment of hypothyroidism and why conventional medicine misses more than 40 percent of the people suffering from hypothyroidism.  Furthermore, he will show you why it is impossible to treat thyroid problems without first ensuring adequate iodine intake.  Finally, he will show you the relationship between thyroid and adrenal disorders.

Natasha Campbell-McBride, MMedSci (neurology), MMedSci (nutrition)
Put Your Heart in Your Mouth: What Heart Disease Really Is and What We Can Do to Prevent and Even Reverse It
Many risk factors have been identified that are thought to contribute to the development of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. However, what people hear the most about are cholesterol and dietary fats. We have been waging a war on cholesterol and fats for the last 50 years. Yet, people in the Western world are having just as many heart attacks and strokes as before, despite following "heart healthy" diets. So, are we doing something wrong?
Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride will be talking about what heart disease really is, what causes it, how it develops and what nutrition really has to do with it.

Gut And Psychology Syndrome, Our modern epidemic: How to treat autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia and other learning disabilities naturally.
Dr Campbell-McBride will be talking about how and why learning disabilities and mental problems develop in children and adults, with particular emphasis on the role of gut dysbiosis in the etiology of these conditions. She will then go through a detailed nutritional protocol on how to treat them.

Paul Chek, HHP, NMT
Freedom from Addiction, Obesity & Disease Is As Simple As 1~2~3~4!
In spite of the most advanced modern medical facilities and technology ever, humanity suffers the highest rates of addiction, obesity and disease ever recorded; clearly something is wrong! In this lecture, Paul Chek shares his revolutionary, simple, and highly effective 1~2~3~4 system for overcoming addiction, which is most commonly linked to both obesity and disease. He also shows that what causes obesity and disease is essentially the same cause of addiction. Paul Chek's presentation is based on his 25-year career using holistic approaches to coaching people to health, success and happiness-- the creation of well-being. Paul shares the philosophy he uses to guide the education of all C.H.E.K Practitioners as they journey through their 5-year training program with him and weaves current advances in quantum physics, metaphysics, psychology, natural medicine and exercise technology together as one unified system for cultivating well-being.

Mary Cordaro, Environmental Specialist
The Healthy Home and Bedroom: Creating a Non-Toxic, Healing Haven with Bau-Biologie
Our homes are places for rest, retreat and regeneration.  According to the field of Bau-Biologie, if designed, built and furnished simply, thoughtfully and intelligently, our homes can help us restore our natural balance and connection with nature.  (Bau-Biologie, which means "building with life," is a field that originated in Germany. It is the study of how living and working environments affect both human and planetary health.)  For most of us, however, creating a healthy home environment is often unfamiliar--and sometimes overwhelming--territory. Where do we begin?  The key is in the bedroom: it's the most important room in the house, where we spend 1/3 of our lives and when we are most vulnerable. During sleep, our bodies must truly let down in order to regenerate and heal, so that our immune systems can better handle what we can't control during our daily lives.  For babies and children, it is particularly important that the developing immune and endocrine systems are supported, without interference from harmful pollutants commonly found in most homes. However, many of us who eat healthy diets and lead healthy lifestyles are unaware of the  short and long term health effects of high EMF's (electromagnetic fields), chemicals from furnishings and bedding, mold and other contaminants. Using the principles of Bau-Biologie, learn to create a healthy home and bedroom for you and your family, with easy solutions to get you started, including:

1. Why green materials aren't necessarily healthy and how to choose wisely
2. How to screen for mold and other contaminants
3. How to create a low-EMF home
4. How best to ventilate, and best types of air filtration
   

Tom Cowan, MD
What Causes Heart Attacks? Cardiotonics and the Heart
Building on his earlier lectures, which present the concept that "The Heart is Not a Pump," Dr. Cowan presents a novel theory of heart disease developed by Dr. de Mesquita, a cardiologist in Brazil. He will present evidence that heart attacks begin with acidosis of the heart, and not with the blockage of the arteries, and can be prevented with the use of certain cardiotonics such as digitalis, which strengthen heart function. The supporting role of cholesterol and adrenal function in heart health will be discussed, as will the role of cholesterol-lowering drugs.

The Body's Feel-Good Chemicals: Natural Mimics in the Plant World
Rudolf Steiner once remarked that the world outside the human being is a mirror of the world inside us.  In many remarkable ways modern science has been able to prove that the plant world makes chemicals that mirror hormones or other substances made within us.  Often these chemicals can be put to healing uses.  Dr Cowan will explore some of these possiblities in this talk  

Debra Lynn Dadd
Improving Your Health with a Nontoxic Home
The average American home is filled with hundreds of toxic chemicals that are damaging to health and the environment. Debra will show you where these toxic substances are lurking in everyday consumer products, how they affect your health, and how you can feel better physically and mentally by eliminating these toxic exposures from your home.

Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN
Dangers of Weight Loss Products
The U.S. epidemic of overweight and obesity has fueled a $30-billion-per-year weight loss industry. Although some of these pills, potions, products and programs help people melt, burn and flush fat in the short run, ongoing consumption can lead to serious health challenges.  This lecture will expose the nutritional deficiencies, imbalances and toxicities of no-cal, low-cal, low-fat, low-carb and high-protein food products and drinks, including meal replacements, shakes and energy bars, and propose safe, healthy and effective weight loss strategies based on "real foods" and "whole food" supplements.

Subtle Energies and the Pioneering Work of Dr. Hazel Parcells
Dr. Hazel Parcells (1889-1996) liked to say that "If you want to be healthy, you need to trade your wishbone for a backbone and get to work." This lecture will cover Parcells' pioneering theories of diet and detoxification, her diagnostic techniques using the pendulum and healing work with light and color therapies, radionics, homeopathy and flower essences. Terminally ill at 39, Parcells healed herself and went on to 65 vigorous years of discoveries in nutrition and alternative medicine before her death at 106 years young. She broke all the rules of establishment nutrition by recommending red meat, raw milk, butter and eggs and was one of the first to warn of the dangers of soybeans, margarine, polyunsaturated oils and vegetarian diets. Dr. Parcells not only identified heavy metal toxicities, radiation and mutant microorganisms as contributors to ill health but came up with effective, non-toxic antidotes.  A "healer's healer," she was a proponent of body/mind/spirit medicine long before it became fashionable.
  

Dina Falconi
(with CLaudia Keel)
Wild Cuisine: Ancient Food, Ancient Wisdom
Explore the rich culinary, nutritional and medicinal traditions of our abundant wild flora. Learn to harvest, prepare and incorporate wild plants into daily meals. We will share recipes and techniques for salads, soups, quiches, pestos, condiments, drinks, tonics and more.

Eat Fat, Lose Fat
How to use coconut oil and traditional whole foods in this unique weight loss plan. Find out why coconut oil can be the dieter's best friend, the role of fats in promoting weight loss and the hidden factors in the American diet that cause weight gain.

Lynne Farrow, MA
The Perfect Storm,1970-2000: The Breast, Iodine Deficiency and Bromide Dominance
Breast Cancer rates rose from one in 23 to one in seven over the last 30 years. During this time, the nutrient, iodine, was removed from the food supply and the the "anti-iodine," toxin, bromide, was introduced widely into many consumer products. Stealth (unlabeled) bromide exposure from fire-retardants surrounds us in our daily life to a degree unacceptable in some other countries. The presentation will first explore how bromide dominance may function as the biochemical equivalent of global warming as iodine-deficient women reach the age for breast and other hormone-sensitive cancers. Next, we will explore how some forms of benign breast disease can represent a precancerous condition by examining research on iodine and the breast from 1954 to the present. Finally, we will show how at-risk breast patients have used iodine to improve or reverse fibrocystic breast disease.

Mark Kastel
The Corporate Takeover of Organic Agriculture: Who Really Owns the Organic Label and Controls Fresh/Local Food?
An unfriendly takeover is occurring in the organic industry with giant corporate agribusiness hiding behind the organic label's stellar reputation as they switch the production model over to factory farms, foreign imports and monopolistic practices. At the same time government regulators are partnering with agribusiness to mandate that all fresh food be sanitized or sterilized before sale—depriving consumers the right to choose in the marketplace and forcing high-quality local farmers out of business. Find out how consumers and farmers can join together to defend the integrity of the organic label and the market access to "authentic" food.

Until we can clean up the planet and our acts, we do have inexpensive, stop-gap ways of dealing with metal-induced health problems, even mental health problems, with safe, detoxifying and immune-nourishing alternatives to more-conventional slash, poison, and burn approaches. The most toxic of metals poison sulfur biochemistry. When protein and sulfur-containing amino acids in our food and bodies become deficient or poisoned by toxic metals, our bodies try to make the critical amino acids from others, which then get trapped in toxic intermediates. Knowing why these are toxic allows us to use key vitamins and minerals to help alleviate these toxicities.

A New Look at Thyroid Function: Debunking Myths and Tuning the Thyroid for Optimal Energy and Mental Health.
Thyroid problems including hypothyroidism, Wilson's Syndrome, Hashimoto's thyroiditis and other thyroid diseases affect at least six million American men, women and children. (Estimates range from at least 13 million to about 30 million when including the undiagnosed for all thyroid conditions.) Conventional western medicine's treatments of the last sixty years have met with only marginal success, probably because drugs for hyperthyroidism were designed for only a fragment of the wrong enzyme, and drugs for hypothyroidism ignore poisoning of thyroid hormone's activation by accumulated toxins. This lecture will expose the flawed research that led to the development of thyroid drugs for the wrong enzyme, why these drugs predictably increase the risks of thyroid tumors and cancers, the inadequacies of standard laboratory assessments and simple diagnostic solutions, the complexities of natural thyroid hormone replacement, the initially surprising but now shockingly obvious L-homocysteine connection, and and the burden that accumulated toxic metals and other environmental and metabolic poisons place upon proper thyroid function. The right amino acids, vitamins, fats, and other nutritional factors, while avoiding environmental estrogens and other substances that poison both the thyroid and thymus, help to optimize the biosynthesis and controlled activation of thyroid hormone. These nutrients can improve regulation of thyroid function and hormone production for better thermal regulation, better utilization of food for energy, better mental health and an overall healthier life.

Mary L. Morris, BA, CRT, RPSGT
The Night Shift: Rebuilding the Body Factory through Quality Sleep
Did you sleep well last night? Are you sure? This session will discuss some of the causes and symptoms of poor sleep and how they impact your health. It will include topics on the anatomy of sleep; how stress, food, and nutrition affect quality of sleep; and strategies for improving sleep-related health issues.

Richard Morris
When the Fat Hits the Fire: Practical Strategies for Weight Control with Real Food
This session will discuss the nuts and bolts logistics of transitioning from a processed food diet to one rich in nutrient-dense whole foods. Topics include the Total Food Index, eating away from home, fearless cooking and the truth about exercise for weight loss.  Attendees will discover how they can enjoy the benefits of weight loss, increased energy and productivity, better sleep, and most of all, how to live a life unburdened.

The Nutritional Cure for Alcohol and Drug Addiction
Addiction to alcohol and drugs, including tobacco and caffeine, has become a major problem in the U.S. since the 1980s. Conventional treatment can claim less than 10 percent success rates because it ignores the critical nutritional needs of recovering people. Programs that provide wholesome diets have been shown to have greater success, and studies of addicts treated with amino acid and other nutrient supplements show dramatic improvement in mood, craving, and relapse rates. Why? Because these nutrient therapy strategies effectively target the neurotransmitter deficits, blood sugar instability, and other biochemical imbalances that cause addictive cravings in the first place. Methamphetamine addiction, currently our most virulent problem, is particularly responsive to this approach, but all addicts respond well to the pro-recovery diet and nutrient supplementation discussed in this lecture.

Beverly Rubik, PhD
Heart Rate Variability: A New Vital Sign
Heart rate variability (HRV) is a newly accepted clinical test that gives a measure of the resilience and dynamic range of the heart and autonomic nervous system. It is used mainly in holistic medicine to monitor stress and certain disease states and conditions. In short, the greater the HRV, the healthier the heart is with less chance of a heart attack. HRV was used to monitor a variety of patients and others, before and after various interventions, including yoga, qigong, meditation, phototherapy, nutritional supplementation, prescription drugs of various types, and smoking. A variety of cases will be shown. Data from a study on yoga and heart rate variability will also be shown. Yoga and other Eastern practices are seen to improve the heart and autonomic nervous system balance.

The Human Biofield in Health and Healing
The biofield is the vital force or subtle energy, the quintessence of life that is central to integrative medicine and all indigenous healing. It extends from the human body into the surrounding space and entangles each person with one another, the biosphere, and even the cosmos. The biofield is thought to be at the scientific basis of many types of therapies, including energy healing, energy psychology, homeopathy, and "energy medicine" devices. The latest scientific concepts of the biofield and ways to measure it will be discussed. Dr. Rubik will show methods used at her laboratory, including the Gas Discharge Visualization (GDV) camera; electrical conductivity measurements of the acupuncture points; and the Polycontrast Interference Photography or PIP scans. Images of the biofield before and after energy healing and other therapies will be shown.

Jack L. Samuels
MSG'S Effects on Neurological Function
A review of neurological problems associated with MSG, what is known about how they occur, and what is being done to alleviate such problems. Mr. Samuels will also offer some ideas about what concerned individuals need to do to protect themselves, and how they may take action to encourage full disclosure of MSG on processed food labels.

Jeffrey Smith
Don't Put That in Your Mouth!
If you haven't already removed GMOs from your diet, get ready to make a change. Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) have been linked to thousands of toxic and allergic reactions, thousands of sick, sterile and dead livestock, and damage to virtually every organ and system studied in lab animals. Scientists who discovered problems have been fired, threatened and gagged, and reporters and critics have been silenced. Now you can learn the problems, find out how to protect yourself, and take powerful measures to help end the genetic engineering of our food supply.

Dr. Beverly B. Teter, PhD
(with Mary Enig, PhD)
The Two Faces of Trans Fatty Acids
Trans fatty acids (tFA) have recently been shown to have definite metabolic effects, many of which are considered harmful. They have specific effects on milk fat production, blood lipid classes, cell functions, and gene expression. Recent papers have described metabolic differences between the effects of tFA produced commercially from those naturally formed by ruminant digestion. In addition, two isomers found abundantly in rumen fats are capable of being converted into conjugated linoleic acids (CLAs), one of which is very anti-carcinogenic.

Theresa Vernon, LAc
Metals and the Mind
Heavy metals, both essential nutrients such as iron, copper, zinc and manganese, and toxic metals such as mercury, aluminum, cadmium and lead, have powerful effects on the mind and body. Even essential metals can reach toxic levels due to chronic nutritional imbalances and the effects of stress. Widespread mercury exposure and zinc/copper imbalance are important but relatively unknown causes of chronic mental and emotional problems as well as chronic illness. The nutritional balancing of essential metal nutrients and the proper elimination of toxic metals can be achieved with dietary and supplement programs which support the body to naturally release excess metals and overcome nutrient deficiencies and bio-unavailable nutrients.

Louisa Williams, ND
Dental Obstacles to Mental and Emotional Health: How Malocclusions, Failed Root Canals and Other "Dominant Foci" Chronically Undermine Our Mental and Emotional Well-Being
A picture is truly worth a thousand words. And nowhere is this more true than in the bright eyes and radiant smiles of the traditional peoples Dr. Weston Price photographed in the early 20th century. In stark contrast to the obvious vitality and aliveness seen in these individuals with excellent facial and cranial bone development, however, is the distress and agitation typically seen in the faces of those he photographed who ate a more "modern" and refined diet. But Dr. Price didn't stop there. He also endeavored to correct the dental and bony malformations he observed in his American patients. In fact, he actually cured a case of mental retardation in one dramatic case by simply expanding the palate of a 16-year-old Down's syndrome patient. This cranial expansion so enhanced brain functioning that this patient's IQ changed from that of a four-year-old to that of a low-normal but functional teen in less than a year.

Unfortunately, narrowed faces and airways, crowded teeth and dental malocclusions--"bad bites"--have become even more prevalent today. And to add further insult to injury, this lack of full physical and mental development is often later compounded in one's teenage years by the classic orthodontic protocol: pulling four to eight teeth and then putting on braces and headgear. This archaic practice only further undermines growth and development, and limits the potential for future optimal health and happiness.
 
Price was not only a pioneer in orthopedic (as opposed to orthodontic) holistic dentistry, he was also a leading advocate of the "focal infection theory," which was quite fiercely debated in the early 1900s. Price found that infected root canals could act as a chronic "focus of infection," and demonstrated that they could cause distal symptoms in all areas of the body. Other common focal infections include the tonsils, sinuses, genitals and what the Germans have termed "scar interference fields." Tonsil foci are particularly instrumental in triggering mental and emotional symptoms, including obsessive-compulsive tics and other manifestations commonly seen in Tourette's, the hyperactivity of ADHD, and what has been described as "therapy-resistant" anxiety and depression.
 
In this session, Dr. Williams will cover the causes and effects of bad bites, along with tips on how to recognize whether you have a significant enough dental malocclusion that would require the skills of a holistic orthopedic dentist. She will also describe the most typical signs and symptoms of dental and tonsil focal infections, as well as the most conservative and efficacious treatments for both children and adults. Additionally, participants will learn a simple therapeutic home protocol for their scar interference fields to help reduce the insidious effect these scars can have on mental and emotional well-being. 

Bus leaving the hotel at 8:30 and drives to Three Stone Hearth,
1 Boulevard Dr, Berkeley, CA- arrives at 9:30 am Pick up at 3:00 pm and go back to the hotel arrives 4:00 pm

Max of 12 people

Cost $90 Includes Lunch

Three Stone Hearth is a Community Supported Kitchen in West Berkeley that prepares nutrient dense foods on a weekly basis for Bay Area families. In this tour, you will get to see the facility, learn about the operations of the kitchen, meet the worker-owners, and spend a few hours pitching in and working on a culinary project with kitchen manager Porsche Combash. No need to bring knives or aprons, these are provided. The day will conclude with a communal, nourishing lunch.

Drakes Family Oyster Farm, Stubbs Vineyard, Clark Summit Farm -

During the course of the approximately hour-long tour of Drakes Bay Oyster Farm, given by oyster farmers Kevin & Nancy Lunny, you will learn about the cultural, historical and ecological importance of this small family farm. You will be shown how we grow both our "cluster" oysters and "single" oysters doing all processing right on the farm in California's last operating oyster cannery! You will be informed about our struggle to continue to operate in Point Reyes National Seashore beyond 2012. And, naturally, you'll finish the tour with a tasting of a freshly harvested Drakes Bay Oyster on the half shell!

8:00 Bus Leaves Hotel and goes to Drakes Family Oyster Farm-17171 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, Inverness, CA

Leave farm at 10:45 and go to Stubbs Vineyard Tour 1000 Marshall
Petaluma Road, Petaluma, CA
Planted in 1996 amid the fogbound hills of West Marin, Stubbs Vineyard
is a perfect site for cool-climate viticulture.

We produce small quantities of handcrafted Pinot Noir and Chardonnay
wines in the Burgundian style.

Stubbs Vineyard is the only certified organic vineyard in Marin, is off
the grid, and is family run, with renowned winemaker Dan Goldfield. We
welcome you to visit our 11 acre vineyard.

Leave Vineyard at 1:20 pm and go to Clark Summit Farm Tour 30201 Hwy 1, Tomales, CA

Leave Farm at 3:00 arrive back at hotel 4:30

Cost $70 Max 55 Includes Lunch

9:00 am at hotel

9:00- 12:00 Demonstration on how to make cheese with Katherine Mowbray
This will be a demonstration to show how to make 10 litres of fresh unpasteurized milk into Cheddar Cheese. Katherine Mowbray will explain
the principles of making firm pressed cheese which can be stored for
months.

Quark, which is a soft cheese that needs to be eaten fresh and Ricotta
will be made from the whey as a byproduct of the Cheddar.

Participants will understand the basic principles of cheese making and have the confidence to go home and have a try at making their own cheese themselves.

12;00 - 1;00 pm Lunch on your own

1:00 - 4:00 pm Demonstration on crock pot cooking with Jessica Prentice
Slow and Low: Nourishing Food from the Slow Cooker

Time to dust off your Crockpot! Slow-cookers are amazing tools for preparing nourishing traditional meals at home. This low-temperature approach is ideal for dissolving gelatin, rendering fats, braising pastured meats, and intensifying flavors. This class will introduce you to making broths, soups, stews, lard, ghee, and even porridges and other dishes using a home slow-cooker. Taught by Jessica Prentice, author of Full Moon Feast and co-owner of Three Stone Hearth Community Supported Kitchen.

Cost $45