the parasite/anxiety connection · 2019. 11. 4. · phd, cns, single-handedly launched the weight...

Ann Louise Gittleman - The Parasite/Anxiety Connection www.theAnxietySummit.com May 6-20, 2015

© 2015 Trudy Scott All Rights Reserved of 28

The Parasite/Anxiety Connection

• How common are parasites and how do we become infected (even if we live in a first world country)

• How do parasites contribute to anxiety and depression and even schizophrenia

• Other symptoms of a parasitic infection • How to avoid being exposed to parasites • How to test for parasites and how do we get rid of the parasite/s

Trudy Scott: A very big welcome to you today. This is Season 3 of The

Anxiety Summit. I'm Trudy Scott, your host. I'm a food mood expert, certified nutritionist and author of The Antianxiety Food Solution. And I am beyond thrilled to have Ann Louise Gittleman here today to talk on "The Parasite/Anxiety Connection." Ann Louise, a very, very big welcome to you.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Oh, how lovely to be with you, Trudy. Trudy Scott: I am so pleased to have you share this information. A lot of

people don't make a connection between parasites and anxiety and a lot of people may be saying, "Well, why would we even be talking about parasites on an Anxiety Summit?" But as we're going to find out today, it is something that we need to consider.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Yes, indeed, and it's one of those hidden areas that I think is very

important for us to start recognizing because you can be easily tested for this particular parasite that I know that we'll be talking about - that is found to be very, very prevalent in many individuals, primarily women in this day and age. So I think



what you're doing is glorious and I'm hopeful that individuals who have not been able to find the underlying cause of their anxiety will just search a little bit deeper.

Trudy Scott: Great. And we always need to be looking for that underlying

cause because as we know, there can be many causes and parasites may be one of those. So again, really, really great to have you. So what I'm going to do is I'll read your bio and then I'll share a little bit about how I got to know you and some of your fabulous books and how they've helped me both personally and in my business and then we will go right into the interview.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Thank you. Trudy Scott: Highly respected as the grande dame of alternative health and

award-winning author of over 30 books, Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, CNS, single-handedly launched the weight loss/detox revolution in her New York Times bestseller The Fat Flush Plan. A Connecticut College and Teachers College, Columbia University graduate, she has been recognized as one of the top ten nutritionists in the country by Self magazine and was the recipient of the American Medical Writers Association award of excellence. Congratulations for that.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Thank you. Trudy Scott: Ann Louise forged new ways of thinking about obesity early on

in her career. She was the first to proclaim that obesity was caused by the lack of dietary fats and the wrong kind of carbohydrates in her book Beyond Pritikin (1988) where she predicted that the fat-free, carb-rich diet was creating weight gain, sugar cravings, fatigue and diabetes.

Always ahead of her time, Ann Louise has set the pace for new

health protocols over the last two decades with a myriad of breakthrough books including Get the Sugar Out, Guess What Came To Dinner? Parasites and Your Health, Your Body Knows Best, the New York Times bestseller Before The Change: How to Take Charge of Your Perimenopause, The Gut Flush Plan and The Fast Track Detox Diet and Fat Flush for Life.

A savvy and dynamic speaker, Ann Louise has appeared on

20/20, Dr. Phil, The View, Good Morning America and The Early Show. Her work has been featured in a myriad of national publications ranging from Time and Newsweek to Glamour, Ebony and Oprah Magazine.



Today, she continues to dedicate herself to carving out new

landmarks in holistic health and healing. Her latest book, the highly acclaimed Zapped (HarperOne, 2010) is a step-by-step manual for fortifying the body, detoxifying the home, and protecting yourself from the invisible hazards of electropollution.

And you can visit her site at annlouise.com and join her on

Facebook at @annlouisegittleman. Ann Louise, very impressive media appearances. I didn't know

you'd been on all those shows. That's wonderful. Ann Louise Gittleman: Thank you. Trudy Scott: And your books are absolutely fantastic and I can't wait to get

into the topic of "Parasites and Anxiety." But before we get started, I just wanted to say how big I am a fan of you and your work. I just think you're absolutely fantastic. I've got all your books. I love Beyond Pritikin. That was ahead of its time with the information about healthy fats when everyone was on the low fat and the zero fat craze. And I remember using Get the Sugar Out when I first started working as a nutritionist. And when I was working more with weight loss clients, I used the Fat Flush books and principles exclusively and I still use many of those principles to this day.

So from a professional point of view, your books are fabulous. I've got all of them and I think they're all fabulous. But one book was very significant for me personally and this was Before the Change: How to Take Charge of Your Perimenopause. I actually read this book before I became a nutritionist. I think it was my first introduction to you and it saved me. I read it and when I was having this terrible anxiety and the social anxiety and the panic attacks and the PMS had lasted for three weeks out of the month in my late 30s and it helped me so much. The big thing that I discovered was how the zinc, the vitamin B6 and the evening primrose oil helped my PMS, helped my overall anxiety and it made such an impact on my social anxiety. And it was years later when I was working in Julia Ross's clinic that I connected the dots and figured out that I've got this genetic condition called pyroluria and that was why those three nutrients – the zinc, the B6 and the evening primrose oil – helped me. So you have just got no idea how much gratitude I have for you and the work that you do, Ann Louise.



Ann Louise Gittleman: Oh, that's so sweet. That's so gratifying to hear. I know that you

are really forging ahead in so many areas and I had no idea that all of this was in the background. So it's thrilling and it's very heartwarming. Thank you.

Trudy Scott: You are welcome. And you're mentioned in the first chapter of

my book and I tell the story because it's so important that we learn so much from different people and we start to connect the dots. Initially, you said looking for that root cause and continuing to look until you find the answers and I think that's a message that I really want to get through to people. It may not be simple. It may be a convoluted journey, but looking for those root causes and finding them. Maybe parasites are one of your root causes, which is why we want to talk about it today.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Very good. Trudy Scott: That does lead us perfectly into our topic and the one book that I

didn't mention or repeat was your book on parasites: Guess What Came to Dinner? Parasites and Your Health, which is really a brilliant book. And it's so perfect for today's discussion: "The Anxiety/Parasite Connection." I started off saying that people may think, "Well, why are we doing this topic on The Anxiety Summit?" So let's just start with how common do we see a parasite problem?

Ann Louise Gittleman: You know it's a good question. What I do know from the

research, Trudy, is that there are at least 48 states that have fought measurable outbreaks. And several years ago, there was one particular study that caught my eye. It was in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and it found that there were about one in three individuals, one in three, that had some type of positive test for infection with parasites. There was a nationally represented sample of about 3,000 people and in that, it was about 33 percent that were found to be positive for one or more infections. So I would say it's about one in three.

Years ago, there was a study that was done - in 1976 - which found that there was one in six. So it's twice as much as what we initially thought. And some people even feel that by the year 2025, more than half of the billions of people on earth will be infected with parasitic diseases. So it's a lot more common than what we suspect. Here in this country, we're not immune from parasite problems. But I think the connection to a variety of



health conditions is just now being studied and you have to really appreciate that we're traveling more than ever.

We've got all kinds of imported exotic foods. The use of antibiotics has dramatically increased and all of this has made our immune systems much more susceptible to opportunistic infections or microscopic invaders. And so that parasite/anxiety connection is one that I haven't recognized until recently. But it's definitely an underlying cause that must be checked out.

Trudy Scott: Great. And I'm glad you mentioned that we don't think that it

could be an issue. Maybe we haven't traveled outside the U.S. if we're living in the U.S. or maybe we're living in another Western country and we haven't traveled to a country where we would suspect that we might become infected with parasites. So a lot of people think, "Well, I haven't gone anywhere that's exotic," but the fact that we've got people coming here, we've got foods that are being imported, we've got our immune system going down. All of those factors are going to make the fact that it's much more common than we would realize and I had no idea that it was that common, 33 percent. What year was that first study that you mentioned?

Ann Louise Gittleman: I'm glad that you're asking. This study was around 2005, 2006. Trudy Scott: Okay, great. Ann Louise Gittleman: So it wasn't that long ago. And then, of course, it depends upon

when you're really testing for the parasites because many of them, depending upon their reproductive cycle, can't be found at certain times of the month. And so it may even be a lot more prevalent than that, which is what I highly suspect from all of the symptoms that people are now relating to me.

Trudy Scott: Okay, and that's a good point. It's not often easy to test for. It's

not often easy to identify. As you said, they have different cycles. So it can be challenging to actually pin down. How do we become infected by parasites?

Ann Louise Gittleman: [Laughs] That's the big question, isn't it? Well, you can become

infected through water. There are some very prevalent parasites that are found in water. That's where your Giardia, your Cryptosporidium can come into play. We have a lot of antiquated water systems in this country. Many of us camp out. Many of us are backpackers and so that is one of the ways in



which people can become infected. And I would say that giardiasis is probably a very underlying rampant problem in the country today because it's not killed by chlorination anymore and so it goes unkilled. It can easily be picked up by many of us that are drinking water, even if the water is filtered, unless you're using a special filter, which is a ceramic-based filter that is able to block out parasites. So water is number one. It's water contamination, even here in this country. You don't have to travel out of our borders to be contaminated anymore. That would be number one.

You can also get it from undercooked food, particularly fish, which I know is something that most of us don't want to recognize. But fish, certain types of fish, whether you're eating uncooked salmon or whether you're eating uncooked red snapper or any type of fish that is undercooked, very oftentimes is infected with certain types of worms. And so fish has to be very well-cooked, never in a microwave as a first form of cooking, but fish needs to be cooked very thoroughly. And I would say that undercooked meat would be another problem and certainly vegetables haven't been washed properly in water that's been filtered with a parasite-blocking filter. So you've got your two most important ways of infection: through the water, through the food.

You can get bitten by a mosquito and you certainly can get malaria from that. So it's through a vector, as they say, may be another way in which you can become infected from parasites. I also personally believe that our pets, our beloved pets, which is another area which is so unpopular to recognize, can be an area of infection, primarily because so many of these microscopic invaders are carried by dogs and cats. And we love our animals and we know how important they are in terms of our well-being. But they're also unexpected spreaders to some of these parasites. There are about 300 diseases which are transmitted by animals to humans. So we have to recognize that dogs are carriers of iardia, for example. And cats – and here's the clincher here; here's the kicker – can be the carriers of toxoplasmosis, which is probably the most anxiety-connected parasite that we know of in this day and age.



Trudy Scott: And we seem to see – well, we have seen the most research on toxoplasmosis and mood disorders. I that correct?

Ann Louise Gittleman: It is, but I suspect that all parasites are really culprits because

what we know is that they all emit a particular toxin known as the indole catabolites, and these make your liver and your kidneys overwork. And so they can always excrete the indole catabolites and they can quickly become very sluggish. People can become fatigued. You can create weight gain because of this, and you can be very irritable. So there's a lot of nervous system connection between all types of parasites as well, not just the toxoplasmosis. I have seen restlessness and anxiety, the result of systemic parasite infestation from pinworms in children that are hyperactive. Very oftentimes, these hyperactive kids don't just have ants in their pants; they're worming. They're carrying pinworms. And I've also seen problems with irritability and anxiety, nervousness, inability to go to sleep at night, intermittent awakening when people have a case of Ascaris, which is roundworm infection. Or even tapeworm, which is known to inflame the digestive tract and then hinders the absorption of very important minerals, fats, and other nutrients, including your vitamin B12 that is so important for the nerve endings as well as the entire myelin sheath. So I'm going to say that each and every one of them, although not as rigorously studied as the toxoplasmosis, may have some connection with some kind of general anxiety disorder. What we do know is that the toxoplasmosis, however, has been associated with at least twice as much generalized anxiety disorder as some of the other parasites that we know are out there and maybe because it's just been better studied.

Trudy Scott: Good to know about that. So I've got a few follow-up questions

that I'd like to address. Could you just repeat the – did you say indo – can you just repeat that word that you mentioned?

Ann Louise Gittleman: The indoles, I-N-D-O-L-E, the indole catabolites. Trudy Scott: Catabolites, okay, indole. And are those like inflammatory

cytokines? Does it fall into that category? Ann Louise Gittleman: I believe they're related. These are toxins that are very hard for

the liver and kidney to excrete very specifically. And I don't know whether they're immune secreted, but we do know from



some of the research and literature that's out there is that they have the ability to make organs exceedingly sluggish. The other issue that I think is important to recognize in terms of general anxiety is that parasites acidify the bodily systems. So when you look at the natural by-product of parasites, usually it's an acid and that in and of itself can start to damage your organs. It breaks down muscle tissue and that can cause a very irritated central nervous system because of an inflammatory response. So I believe that these little critters or big critters, because they can either be a microscopic parasite from your amoeba to your Giardia, to your Blastocystis, to even a 15-foot tapeworm, have an enormous amount to do with your entire immune system. They are probably the most immunosuppressive agent of the human body. And we have found more than 130 different parasites right here in the United States, which are lurking somewhere in our water, in our food, and finally in us. And when they gain some kind of entrance into our system and our system is suppressed because we're on toxic overload or we're not taking care of ourselves properly, not getting enough sleep, we don't have enough probiotics in our intestinal tract or a lack of HCl, hydrochloric acid. Then these protozoas, then these larger parasites, these larger worms can then sap your energy. They can trap fat and even hinder digestion. So the problem with all this is that with so many different species that are around in this country, any lab, even the best of the labs that we have don't identify all 130 different varieties. They only identify a handful of the most common parasites.

Trudy Scott: Wow. Would you know, ballpark, how many they've identified?

Are they identifying half of them? Ann Louise Gittleman: No, not even half, which is a little disconcerting. They do a

microscopy test where they're looking at these parasites under the microscope. But some of these may be so exotic and so different that maybe that parasitologist doesn't really recognize what he or she is looking at. So I'm going to say that most frequently what we're looking at here in terms of parasite identification would be Giardia, Cryptosporidium, the Toxoplasma, the Entamoeba histolytica. We're looking as well at roundworm. We're looking at Trichinella. We're looking at tapeworm.



So that's about 7 or 8 and we've got 130 that are lurking somewhere out there, which means that doing a systemic periodic or seasonal parasite cleanse may be something that we should all integrate into our detox program because you can't get rid of these things using just a regular detoxification with some herbs and with a colonic, with a coffee enema. You have to be very specific and I know we'll talk about that a little later on in terms of the herbals that you use, in terms of the various different kinds of fibers that you use and so on and so forth to get these little critters out of your system.

Trudy Scott: Okay, great. We'll get into that in a bit. I've still got follow-up

questions from earlier. I wanted to just go back to some of the earlier comments you had because if I've got questions, I know people listening are going to have questions. So initially, you talked about undercooked food, particularly fish. So that would mean sushi would be problematic.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Oh, yes. [Laughs] Nobody likes to hear that. Trudy Scott: Nobody likes to hear that. You've talked about people having

low hydrochloric acid, and the immune system depressed. So there are going to be some people who are more susceptible to it. Some may be able to get away with eating some food that may be infected with it and manage fine. They can get rid of it or their bodies can deal with it. And yet some are going to be more susceptible, or do you think no one should eat sushi?

Ann Louise Gittleman: I don't think anybody should be eating sushi, but nobody is going

to like that. But because the problem is – and I've been around the block with this. My book came out initially, I think it was 1991, the first edition. So I've been hearing from people for over, gosh, now it's over 20 years, and you'd be surprised when we do a diet history or we do a travel history, usually, it's after the consumption of some sort of exotic food or undercooked food that these individuals have eaten, you know, where everybody gets sick. Sometimes it's not right away. It could be two to three weeks later.

So I'm going to say that sushi is a big culprit when it comes to some of these types of things. And you have to be very careful these days in terms of what you're eating and digesting because the other issue that I'm beginning to suspect and I haven't written about it, but I'm going to tell you on this very exciting Summit, Trudy, is that the huge,



huge lack of hydrochloric acid in our country, the lack of producing a sufficient amount of stomach acid to digest various types of protein may, in fact, be one of the reasons that so many of us are harboring one or more parasites in our system. And that, we know, is dramatically connected, number one, to age, and number two, to the depletion of three important nutrients that make up hydrochloric acid that we need for digestion and that would be number one: sodium. Number two would be iodine, and number three would be zinc. All three of which in good measure can be deficient in one or more cases with most individuals. So it's vitally important that your HCl is up to snuff. There are tests that you can take for that. And if you have an A blood type – this is another very interesting little factoid. But if you have an A blood type, years ago when many of our medical students were in med school, they were always taught that Type A blood was genetically hypochlorhydric. They're no longer taught that.. But if you do testing, you'll find that many individuals with an A blood type are just genetically not producing enough hydrochloric acid and so are not eating enough protein foods and really veered towards more of a vegetarian or vegan diet and that may be fine, well and good. However, they are not then breaking down other kinds of proteins, whether it's the protein nature of a parasite that's coming into their systems. So the HCl, is exceedingly important for those of us with an A blood type, which is the second most prevalent blood type in the country, as well as probiotics that are also important as your second line of defense in terms of your immune system, which lives in your gut. So I say HCl to the rescue followed by probiotics or the lack of therein may be some those underlying reasons that parasites are becoming so much more prevalent than we ever imagined.

Trudy Scott: Very, very interesting. And I'm so glad you brought up the topic

of salt because so many people are very aware of salt and they're thinking processed food salt but we're not talking about that kind of salt. We're talking about good quality sea salt – Himalayan salt that's got the minerals that has not got all the additives. And so many people are not getting enough of that salt. So I'm glad you talked about this. Now I've got a question for you – you said that having this lack of hydrochloric acid may not break down the protein portion of the parasite. That's very interesting. So the HCl is actually, if



you have enough, and you did have a parasite infection, is going to actually help you get rid of it?

Ann Louise Gittleman: It will help you prevent it. It's much more preventive, yes. It's

not just the protein, which is the essence, of course, if there's a parasite infection or worm infestation. But the reality here is that the HCl is very important for your overall immunity. It's very important for the digestion of acid-based minerals from iron to calcium and then it is very important for the production of pancreatic enzymes of which it is a trigger. So HCl is an underlying situation here or the lack of HCl that seems to be much more apparent in individuals. And for those of us that are 40 and above, we start to lose the ability to make our HCl so many that's needed in supplementary form. It's one of the first things that I test for when somebody says that they're parasitic, they can't seem to get rid of whatever they're doing. They're doing a parasite test and then they've got the parasite remedies, but nothing is happening and they still feel bloated and they still feel tired and they still feel anxious. And I say get some HCl and it usually works near miracles.

Trudy Scott: So tell us how you test for HCl status. Ann Louise Gittleman: HCl status is tested most accurately with a Heidelberg test, which

is provided for by most functional medicine doctors. And it's a test whereby you are swallowing a little radioactive microbe or it's a little transmitter, which can then transmit the amount of HCl that you're producing during certain baking soda challenges. It's something that I did. It was the hardest test, by the way, Trudy, that I've ever done and I was found to be majorly hypochlorhydric.

Trudy Scott: Wow. I've never done it. Ann Louise Gittleman: It's an experience you'll want to repeat. Trudy Scott: Oh, really? Go ahead. Ann Louise Gittleman: When I did it, which was a year or two ago a string was holding

this little transmitter and the transmitter, which was then tied into, of course, a computer so I could see the levels of my secretion, which were just about nil until the 59th minute. It's a very difficult thing, specifically if you have a very strong gag reflex. My understanding now, however, is that individuals can do this test where it just passes through the fecal matter and so you don't



have to be there with a string out of your mouth. It took all of my willpower not to go into an anxiety attack.

Trudy Scott: Wow. What do you think about doing the HCl challenge where

you have someone start off with one, say, 500 milligrams of the hydrochloric acid per meal and then see if they notice a burning sensation; and then they go to two, if they don't notice a burning sensation; and then three, up to five per meal. And then as soon as they notice that burning sensation, then they cut back and that's the dose of hydrochloric acid until they start to build up their own levels. Do you use that one at all?

Ann Louise Gittleman: I do and I write about it. I wrote about it in Gut Flush and I think

that's helpful. Being the research person that I am, I wanted to know exactly what was going on with my system. And for those that have a serious problem, I'd like to know exactly how much and when, once you take the hydrochloric acid. And by the way, what I learned from this particular challenge is that the HCl should be taken after you've eaten about three or four bites up to the middle of the meal.

Trudy Scott: Good to know. Ann Louise Gittleman: It's the most successful time and then take your more alkalinizing

pancreatic enzymes after the meal. Trudy Scott: Okay. Excellent, good to know. And then can you share some

tips for how to increase your own production of HCl or other tips that you can use to improve production?

Ann Louise Gittleman: Sure. Interestingly enough, there have been some studies that

have connected chamomile tea with an increased production of hydrochloric acid. So one to three cups of chamomile tea, maybe right before your meal, maybe helpful. A little bit of apple cider vinegar, which I adore in water, maybe one to teaspoons in eight ounces of water that you take throughout your meal, can be very helpful. And then the other way that this can be helpful is even with a little bit of lemon juice. A little bit of lemon juice in hot water can also be quite helpful.

Trudy Scott: Excellent. Now I had one other question about the way we can

get infected. You talked about the fact that you may have some parasites on the vegetables and it may be that you don't have it on the vegetables, but you wash it in water that may be contaminated. Can you just talk about what is a good filtration



system that we would want to use to make sure we're not getting exposed to parasites in our water?

Ann Louise Gittleman: You need a filtration system that not only blocks heavy metals,

chemicals, and radioactive isotopes, but you need one that blocks parasites, particularly a .9 micron pore size. So you need one that really can block the teeniest, tiniest parasite, which I believe is still Cryptosporidium. And those are particular filters that I know one of my fulfillment companies produces or at least distributes and I think it still goes by the name – it's either the Doulton or the Crown water filtration system, but it is a ceramic-based filter.

Trudy Scott: Okay, great. So we could share a link to that so folks could go

and look at that. Is that something that you're saying you've got available, that's something that you recommend?

Ann Louise Gittleman: It's the only thing that I will use because it's the only filtration

system with a small enough pore mesh size that will block parasites.

Trudy Scott: Wonderful. Ann Louise Gittleman: Yes, and that's through the Uni Key people and I'm very happy to

give that to you and we can certainly link directly to that. Trudy Scott: Okay, great. We have a speaker blog that goes with this

interview and I'm going to include a link to this particular product because I want to provide good resources for folks. I'll also provide a resource to some of those studies that we've talked about and we're going to talk about. So this will be great. Thank you so much.

Ann Louise Gittleman: You're welcome. Trudy Scott: Great. We started to talk a little bit about Toxoplasma and I want

to share a really good article that you sent me that we will also include on the blog. It was a really good Scientific American article called "Toxoplasma's Dark Side: The Link Between Parasites and Suicide." I'm just going to mention a few things that were in the article, a few things you've already alluded to. But basically, they've discovered a link between parasitic infection and suicide. Researchers in 2006 linked Toxoplasma infection to neuroticism in both men and women. And then also Torrey Fuller, he's done a lot of research on schizophrenia and Toxoplasma, and in 2003,



they found a very interesting study showing that women with high levels of the Toxoplasma parasite were more likely to give birth to children who later became schizophrenic. So very, very interesting research.

Ann Louise Gittleman: And birth defects. Trudy Scott: Really? Wow. Ann Louise Gittleman: Yeah. And initially that was what we were concerned about with

toxoplasmosis. The connection to anxiety has come a little bit later, but this is very important information.

Trudy Scott: And I'm very familiar with the work of Carl Pfeiffer and he did

all the research and worked with schizophrenics in the '50s and the '60s. Pyroluria, which is this genetic condition where you've got high social anxiety is very common in schizophrenics. So yeah, we've got overlaps as well even though he wasn't looking at parasites in those days. So we are seeing a lot of things coming together here, which is really, really important. The other thing that I thought was interesting is that you talked about the indoles and the inflammation and we've seen so much research connecting inflammation with all kinds of mental illnesses. So that is definitely one way that it impacts how we feel.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Very definitely. And did you read the information about the

cytokines and that the cytokines can actually penetrate the blood brain barrier?

Trudy Scott: Very interesting. Ann Louise Gittleman: I found that really fascinating and by so doing, when you start to

penetrate the blood brain barrier, then you're altering major neurotransmitters. So this particular article is a real keeper. For those in your listening audience that are working with those of us that are anxious and can't find a link, this would be well worth exploring.

Trudy Scott: Absolutely. And what we said earlier that this one focuses on

Toxoplasma gondii, which is one of the parasites that is connected with cats, that we can likely make extrapolations to some of the other parasites and mood problems based on the mechanism of action. I'm going to share another study that I pulled. It is a 2011 study called "The Role of Parasites and



Pathogens in Influencing Generalized Anxiety and Fear in the Mammalian Central Nervous System," and they also talk about how the parasites can alter neurotransmitter communication and how they can also alter hormones. So we've got many mechanisms of action on how these parasites can actually affect us.

Ann Louise Gittleman: It's fascinating that we're working and going into the mental

health arena. I'm much more familiar with the immune dysfunction, the chronic fatigue, the sleep disturbances, the teeth grinding, the problems with the irritable bowel, the anemia, the joint and muscle aches and pains, the gas and bloating, the constipation, the skin conditions. And it's amazing that I never, until recently, made that leap. So I really have you to thank for it in terms of this anxiety/parasite connection. You're to be commended, Trudy.

Trudy Scott: Oh well, thank you. And it's so interesting that you mentioned all

those symptoms because I would expect that a lot of anxious people could have those symptoms, and the interesting thing is one person can be affected by parasites and not have mood problems and another person may and they may have digestive problems. The same way gluten can cause mental illness and/or could cause digestive issues. So it's so interesting how these different root causes can give different people different symptoms. And that's where it gets tricky to try and figure out what the causes are and how to address that. But the big thing is that knowing that these possible root causes exist so you can explore them.

Ann Louise Gittleman: That's the issue - knowing how to ask the right questions. I'm

glad that you brought that up, which is one of the reasons that I created a little quiz. It's kind of like a parasite questionnaire, so to speak, that would be helpful for people. And even answering yes to one of the questions, and there are tons of questions, could make you a host to one or more parasites somewhere in your system.

And let me also say, because I don't want to forget to say this, that if you are taking an annual blood test, sometimes you can find the parasitic connection in the white blood cells. Sometimes what we have seen is that a high eosinophil count can be connected to the allergic response created from a parasite. So you've got the eosinophils to look at. You also have the monocytes to look at. If there's a higher level than normal in



anything over four or five, with some of the parasitologists, is considered high, then we know that there may be worms present. So you can find it in your blood if you know where to look and how to decipher some of these tests.

Trudy Scott: Excellent. I'm so glad you mentioned that because I will look at

blood work that my clients have or have them get their doctors to do this, and it's a clue together with the questionnaire that yes, this may be going on. And I think that a big distinction here that we need to make, Ann Louise, that people may not know is that it may not be outside the normal range, the high or the low that's on the lab work; it's just going to be higher.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Than optimally healthy. Yes, so you can never look at the ranges

and consider those to be are healthy. They're really the averages of an unhealthy population. I don't disagree with you at all. So there are many, many roots to the parasite, again, if you know where to look. And I think the other thing to be concerned about is that regardless of what's happening, the presence of any parasite – and I mentioned this; it's worth mentioning again – will depress immune system functioning. And then it will activate the immune response, but sometimes this can eventually lead to immune system exhaustion. So sometimes you don't even see the markers that you would expect to find.

Trudy Scott: Okay, good point. And then going back to the blood work, the

other thing that I look for is very low white blood cell count, which may indicate a chronic infection. So that's another clue.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Well, let me tell you something about that, if I may, because I've

studied with some very well-known parasitologists. When you see a low white blood count – and it's something that I evidenced when I came back from the Middle East many years ago – it's usually a symptom of virus. But what we have learned is that some of these more toxic or some of these more – "exotic" is the better word. Some of these more exotic parasites can actually carry a virus.

So you've got to really do your research, get rid of the parasite, and sometimes it takes the natural remedies, which I know we're moving towards and sometimes it takes something a little stronger. But whatever it is, you have to be very diligent and watch the cycles because the moon cycles have an enormous amount to do with your success in getting rid of these uninvited guests.



Trudy Scott: So tell us more about the moon cycles and then I want to go back to your parasite questionnaire because I don't want to forget about that.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Oh, it's such an interesting questionnaire because, again, just

answering one question correctly out of maybe 50 could mean a parasite problem. Well, it's something that I learned from many of the folksy herbalists, let's say. And this was many years ago when I worked with a woman who was very well-known in the field and had a whole system of parasite removal. And she considered herself a medical herbalist and she told me that the most successful time to get rid of parasites is four days before the full moon, during the full moon, and afterwards. She said that these are water-bearing animals; they become more activated during the moon cycles. And I never forgot that and so it's a little test that I did. This was way back in the '80s. I was the director of nutrition at a detox center in San Diego. And I did parasite testing and I did it right around the full moon to see if we got a better recovery rate. And low and behold, it was about 30 percent higher during that full moon period. And so in order to explain that to my clients, I couldn't quite say we need to do this around the full moon. I would just talk about certain days of the month that I thought were the best because I'd be sending in all the samples at the same time. So there's not real science that I know of that can talk about this underlying mechanism, but I know that it works. So if we want to do whatever we can to just assure beneficial results and outcome, that may be something very, very helpful, Trudy, to keep in mind.

Trudy Scott: Very, very interesting. So my follow-up question to that would

be: I'm assuming it would be better to do testing at that time because they're going to be more active? And then also to be using the protocol at that time, or would it just be the testing that we would do at that time?

Ann Louise Gittleman: I would do the testing – well, you know something, you could do

both quite frankly. Depending upon what you were interested in doing, the testing for some people is not comfortable. It's a little pricey, and so it depends. It truly depends. The testing not only tests for parasites, by the way; it will test for bacteria. It will test for different kinds of fungus, different kinds of yeast. It will test for digestive markers, inflammatory markers. It will test for food



allergies and it does also test for worms and it tests for a variety of the protozoa. And we use stool antigens or saliva antibodies.

Trudy Scott: Very, very good. So now we think we've got – we may have

parasites. So there's two ways we can approach it. One is to do this questionnaire and I'd like to go back to that, but then I want to talk a little bit more about the testing because I know you have a test that you use that you have very good results with. So let's first talk about the questionnaire. I know that you're going to be offering this 50-page report on "Parasites - Still The Greatest Masqueraders of All Time." Is the questionnaire in that, or could this be a questionnaire that you could make available to us as well?

Ann Louise Gittleman: It's a good question and the 50-page report was actually a slide

presentation that I did for the IAC group several years ago. So we could do either. I do believe that the parasite questionnaire, some of the questions may be on there, but certainly not all of them. I can tell people that it's found in its completion in Guess What Came to Dinner?" But we can get that to your people. I think that might be very interesting.

Trudy Scott: Okay. And maybe you could do a blog first and put it on your

blog and then we'll just link to your blog. That way, people can come back and read more about you and check out other articles on your great blog.

Ann Louise Gittleman: Oh, we can do a blog post on travel, water, food, pets, workplace

problems, some of the symptoms and so on and so forth. Yeah, it's very interesting and you'd be surprised at which kinds of symptoms are truly connected to these parasites.

Trudy Scott: Okay, great. So we'll definitely make sure that's available. Ann Louise Gittleman: Yes, please remind me. Thank you. Trudy Scott: I will. Thank you. And we'll talk more about the 50-page report

when we get to the end of the interview. So let's talk about the testing. So you mentioned that it's very comprehensive and it's going to check for all these other markers. So do you have a specific test that you use?

Ann Louise Gittleman: It is an expanded GI panel. We use the Diagnos-Techs people

because they give us the best real outside feel. I think it's a very outstanding laboratory. It's constantly updating its research and I have real good access to their parasitologists on staff. So we've



been very pleased with their service. And we have found interestingly enough, more toxoplasmosis lately. We see a lot of toxoplasmosis. We also see lately for some reason, more Blastocystis, which is another protozoa that used to be considered a fungus or a yeast and is now considered pathogenic. And we see a garden roundworm variety of roundworms; sometimes we see tapeworms.

And we certainly find a lot of food allergies. We see a lot of gliadin allergies. We see a lot of soy protein allergies, egg albumin and milk. So we test for some food allergies, too. It's very interesting. And I'm always disappointed if we don't find something in somebody's stool sample that will point to an underlying cause of why they're not feeling well. I'm disappointed when somebody sends us a myriad of symptoms and we don't quite find anything and sometimes it's just the time of the month because they have very erratic hatching in terms of some of the eggs and the parasites. You need a male and female sometimes if it swarms in the same area. There are all kinds of variables that come into play when it comes to parasite recovery. But the good news is that we can also see some of the bacteria, like H. pylori, for example, and C. difficile that is also becoming really prevalent. So some of these toxic pathogens and bacteria that need to be analyzed and found out also can be revealed through this test whereby people may not have overt symptoms. So it's a terrific diagnostic test.

Trudy Scott: It is. And we've got dysbiosis, which is this imbalance when

you've parasites, and we may be more prone to have some kind of bacterial imbalance as well.

Ann Louise Gittleman: It's so true. It just gives rise to a whole hosts of problems from

the yeast to the bacteria to the small intestine bacterial overgrowth. You name it; it's all part of it. It's all the same internal ecology. So getting that body ecology in balance is really very key, which is why the HCl that I mentioned is so important and a really strong or really effective probiotic.

Trudy Scott: And I'm glad you mentioned the probiotic because we've got so

much research now looking at good gut flora and how important that is for mental health. We've got this term "psychobiotics" and



how the good bacteria produce GABA and produce serotonin, and having that good gut flora is so important. Part of that is repopulating the gut with the good bacteria, but then also getting rid of the parasites and the bad bacteria. So it's a balancing act that we need to do.

Ann Louise Gittleman: It's a major balancing act. Life in this day and age is a balancing

act. It could be the beginning of another Summit, Trudy, but it's very true and we don't want to make people paranoid, but we do want to let them know that this underlying situation may be at the very root of what's going on. So it's certainly worth a cleanse. It's worth a try at the questionnaire and certainly doing something that will get rid of parasites once or twice a year. I think it's almost imperative, especially if you travel a great deal.

Trudy Scott: And that's a really good point: doing this annual cleanse once or

twice a year. I think that's really important. What do you think about testing family members? If one family member is found to have something, would you recommend other family members be tested?

Ann Louise Gittleman: Yes. And all of the old-time parasitologists that I had the

privilege of working with made sure that the entire family member or partner did the same kind of parasite cleanse. So if you're treating the child for pinworms, the parents oftentimes were also treated. Yes, very much so.

Trudy Scott: Okay. Now before we get onto some of the products and the

nutrients that we need to use to get rid of the parasites, I wanted to just talk about prevention. Now you said that you're seeing Toxoplasma gondii showing up a lot, which causes toxoplasmosis. This is related to cats and cat litter. Is there something that we can do to try and reduce our exposure?

Ann Louise Gittleman: Well, you know something, what we're finding is that a lot of the

Toxoplasma that we're locating may be from undercooked meat. It may not even be cats.

Trudy Scott: Oh. Ann Louise Gittleman: Yeah. I think that there's some misunderstanding that it's just

from our little kitty cats. That being said, you really need to make sure that things are cooked properly and that you're digesting them properly. Boy, this is like an infomercial for HCl and probiotics. That's where a good digestive enzyme comes really into play. And in terms of the cat and handling your cat, I



think one of the reasons that we always used to tell pregnant women to wear a mask and to stay out of the kitty litter is still pretty important. I think we need to just be very careful when we change the kitty litter.

Trudy Scott: So what's that that you’re saying? Wear a mask? It’s airborne?

Would it also be an issue with catching it? Would wearing gloves help?

Ann Louise Gittleman: Gloves and masks could be very helpful, yes, especially if you're

a little immunosuppressed. That may not be appropriate for everybody mind you, but if you're immunosuppressed, I think that could be a very important preventative measure.

Trudy Scott: Okay, good to know. So now let's talk about what do we do to

get rid of the parasite or parasites? We may have more than one. Ann Louise Gittleman: Yeah, you could. I mean, sometimes one to four is what we're

finding in many individuals. Well, there's your cleanse, staying away from certain foods that make the parasites more viable. They love dairy. They love milk. Milk is, I think, the parasite's favorite food. Years ago when I studied with my original teacher, Dr. Parcells, she formulated a program, which was a goat milk cleanse, because she felt that the parasites came out from their nooks and crannies and just loved to drink milk and then she killed these parasites.

Trudy Scott: Very interesting. Ann Louise Gittleman: Oh, it was quite a cleanse, let me tell you. I put all my clients on

it. We had about 100 people all at one time in my hometown of West Hartford, Connecticut, de-worming on the milk diet. And what you would do is every two hours, you'd drink an eight-ounce glass of goat milk. And it could be regular milk, but somehow she preferred goat milk. And then we would kill the little buggers or the big bugs with special herbs that she had concocted that contained some garlic and cayenne and slippery elm and maybe one or two other major herbal killers. And people got rid of all kinds of things, Trudy. They bring the remnants of what came out to my office.

Trudy Scott: Lovely [laughs]. Ann Louise Gittleman: So this was what we did way back in the '70s.



Trudy Scott: Very, very interesting. And are you still using that protocol today?

Ann Louise Gittleman: No. I use another protocol, which is my colon cleanse. Trudy Scott: Okay. Tell me a little bit about some of the ingredients in that. Ann Louise Gittleman: My colon cleanse is two ingredients: the Para-Key, which is a

pill that contains cranberry and wormwood and slippery elm and pomegranate and peppermint; and then the Verma-Plus, which contains some centaury, which is very important to remove hooks and suckers from the intestinal tract; male fern; as well as some black walnut and wormwood. And you take this at a very systemized procedure where you take a little bit of liquid in the morning and then in the evening and you take the pills before each meal. It's very effective for two weeks on, five days off, two weeks on, five days off.

Trudy Scott: Excellent. So sorry, repeat that. Two weeks on – Ann Louise Gittleman: Two weeks on, five days off. Two weeks on, five days off. You

give your system a little rest because these are potent herbs. I mean, you are actually killing something and we want to remove them and get rid of them in the system. You're neutralizing them. So we give the liver a little rest between courses. Sometimes it takes three months to get rid of these things because they can reproduce.

Trudy Scott: So you would recommend once you get on a protocol like this,

you would retest maybe three months later to make sure that they have been eliminated?

Ann Louise Gittleman: Either retest or do the protocol one week out of the month or

three days out of the month. And there you go and I do it around the full moon.

Trudy Scott: So you yourself will do it around the full moon, just

preventatively, each month? Ann Louise Gittleman: Oh, yes, I do, and I have my clients do the same. Trudy Scott: Very interesting. That makes a lot of sense and then you can do a

full-blown protocol once or twice a year if you felt like you needed to do that or if you maybe had parasites in the past and you think you might be susceptible to them.



Ann Louise Gittleman: You can. And with this particular program that we formulated it's been the pioneer of the parasite protocols. So we've had a lot of experience in dealing with all ages and stages of life of both the individual and the parasite quite frankly. The Verma-Plus gets rid of the larger parasites, including the tapeworms, the Ascaris, the threadworms, the Strongyloides, and it will also get rid of human rope worm. That's where that centaury is so magical. And then the Para-Key is an all-natural botanical blend, which gets rid of the protozoa and the one-cell little buggers that are in the system. So we go after both of them at the same time.

Trudy Scott: That's a broad spectrum protocol that gets rid of many different

things. Very good. Now in the Verma-Plus, you mentioned black walnut and wormwood, and I'm familiar with those. And what is the one beginning with the "C" that you said? Can you repeat that one?

Ann Louise Gittleman: It's centaury, which was used by the North American Indians. Trudy Scott: Can you spell that for us? Ann Louise Gittleman: Yes, it's C-E-N-T-A-U-R-Y. Trudy Scott: Interesting, I'll have to check that one out. Good to know. Ann Louise Gittleman: It's marvelous. And what's so interesting about this, is that

centaury is also a Bach flower remedy that you may be familiar with – the 38 remedies that were developed by this immunologist back in the late '20s, early '30s. And it was used for people that can't say no that, I think, has become parasitized. They've given away their power.

Trudy Scott: Wow. Ann Louise Gittleman: And yeah, there is something to be said for those Bach flower

remedies. This is something for all of your listening audience to check into. And this particular herb that we have found, this centaury that the North American Indians used to use, is a particular herb that gets rid of parasites that have wormed their way into your body. And it gets rid of their hooks and suckers and all of the ways in which they have impacted your system and has parasitized you. So that's a nice little comparison there.

Trudy Scott: Very interesting. Assuming someone did the diagnostic stool test

and they found that they also had some kind of bacterial



infection, would this deal with the bacteria as well or just specific for parasites?

Ann Louise Gittleman: No. It's specific for parasites. For the bacterial problem, if we

have C. diff, for example, that may mean something different; maybe some Saccharomyces boulardii, and that may need a huge amount of probiotics. If we've got H. pylori, we look at mastic gum, we look at DGL, we look at aloe, we look at zinc-carnosine, we look at a number of other things. Now everything is really looked at very specifically. I've not found this to be particularly helpful for bacteria, although some of those natural botanicals could be considered natural antibacterials and I haven't seen it as specifically helpful for virus.

Trudy Scott: Okay, good to know. Well, I appreciate learning about new

ingredients and new products, and these sound fabulous. I'm looking forward to looking into them some more. I'll make sure that we include these on the blog as well so if folks want to dig deeper and look into some of these, they'll have access to them as well. Thank you for sharing those.

Ann Louise Gittleman: You're welcome. Trudy Scott: So I think this has been absolutely great and I think this is over.

I'm disappointed because it's been so fantastic. I had mentioned your 50-page report. We'll make sure to include a link to that on the speaker page and on the blog page. We appreciate you sharing that. And we'll make sure to include links to some of the products we've talked about – certainly, the water filter and some of the research that we've talked about as well. And I just want to say thank you so much for sharing your expertise on this topic and ask you if you've got any final words of wisdom that you would like to share.

Ann Louise Gittleman: I would say that if you're not finding the underlying cause of your

anxiety, of your chronic fatigue, or you're overweight, that there may be some kind of invisible culprit that's packing on the pounds. And so it behooves all of us to just flush out these bugs once or twice a year. Take a test if you need to have that scientific verification. But in olden days, the Europeans would always do a parasite cleanse around the springtime and I think it's a good idea that we just start integrating something like that with specific foods, whether there be more pumpkin seeds, whether there be some papaya or even pomegranate and even a tea made from mugwort, which is specifically anti-parasitic.



So there are specific herbs that you can use and it really has never hurt anybody to do more garlic, more thyme and more cayenne that are specifically anti-parasitic. There are many different ways to clear the system so that you don't have to guess what came to dinner.

Trudy Scott: Perfect, perfect ending. And I'm glad you mentioned the foods

because obviously, those are really important. I'm a big fan of pumpkin seeds for many, many reasons and obviously, that would be great to include in this instance. And the other thing I did forget to ask is that in the one product you mentioned – the Para-Key – you have cranberry in there, and I know from your Fat Flush books, cranberry is always a favorite of yours. Tell us a little bit of why cranberry is in there. We can't leave that one out.

Ann Louise Gittleman: No. The reason that cranberry has found its way into the

Para-Key formula is because many years ago, I learned from an herbalist, when all of these things were being formulated, that cranberry contains a unique blend of four organic acids, many of which helps to digest parasites in the system. So I use it for its digestive ability. It will clean out the lymphatics and hopefully keep your pH balance as well.

Trudy Scott: Love it. And it's a wonderful ingredient for incorporating on a

weight loss program. I know it's a big part of The Fat Flush Plan. And is that the same reason why you included it on The Fat Flush Plan?

Ann Louise Gittleman: Well, it's included on Fat Flush because it cleans out the lymph

because all of those digestive enzymes can kind of clean up the fatty globules that are floating around in your system that we now call cellulite. But in this particular case, it will help to digest worms and protozoa worms; I'm fairly certain about the protozoa. I believe it will also help maintain your pH so you don't get exhausted when you're detoxifying because so many herbs are too alkalinizing and it makes you very fatigued. So it balances your own pH in addition to the Verma-plus. And then if you follow the anti-parasitic diet of no sugar, no processed foods, no gluten, then you're in business.

Trudy Scott: Excellent. Well, this has been fabulous. Thank you again for a

really, really great interview. And for enlightening us and thank you again for all the work that you've done over the years. You truly are the grand dame of alternative health. You really are.



Ann Louise Gittleman: Thank you. Trudy Scott: Thanks, Ann Louise. Thanks very much for being here and thank

you, everyone, for joining us on yet another fabulous interview on The Anxiety Summit Season 3. Do join us for other great interviews and be sure to check out Ann Louise's great books and great resources that we will share on the blog and the speaker page. Thanks, everyone. This is Trudy Scott signing off.

Here is the speaker blog: http://www.everywomanover29.com/blog/anxiety-summit-parasite-anxiety/ Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, CNS, author of The Fat Flush Plan and Guess What Came to Dinner

Highly respected as the grande dame of alternative health and award-winning author of over 30 books, Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, CNS, single-handedly launched the weight loss/detox revolution in her New York Times bestseller The Fat Flush Plan. A Connecticut College and Teachers College, Columbia University graduate, she has been recognized as one of the top ten nutritionists in the country by Self magazine and was the recipient of the American Medical Writers Association award for excellence.

Dr. Ann Louise forged new ways of thinking about obesity early on in her career. She was the first to proclaim that obesity was caused by the lack of dietary fats and the wrong kind of carbohydrates in her book Beyond Pritikin (1988) where she predicted that the fat-free, carb-rich diet was creating weight gain, sugar cravings, fatigue and diabetes.

Always ahead of her time, Dr. Ann Louise has set the pace for new health protocols over the last two decades with a myriad of breakthrough books including Get the Sugar Out, Guess What Came To Dinner? Parasites and Your Health, Your Body Knows Best, the New York Times bestseller Before The Change: How to Take Charge of Your



Perimenopause, “The Gut Flush Plan”, The Fast Track Detox Diet and Fat Flush for Life.

A savvy and dynamic speaker, Dr. Ann Louise has appeared on 20/20, Dr. Phil, The View, Good Morning America and The Early Show. Her work has been featured in a myriad of national publications ranging from Time and Newsweek to Glamour, Ebony and The Oprah Magazine.

Today, she continues to dedicate herself to carving out new landmarks in holistic health and healing. Her latest book, the highly acclaimed Zapped (HarperOne, 2010) is a step-by-step manual for fortifying the body, detoxifying the home, and protecting yourself from the invisible hazards of electropollution.

Visit her website annlouise.com and join her on Facebook at @annlouisegittleman

Trudy Scott, CN, host of The Anxiety Summit, Food Mood expert and author of The Antianxiety Food Solution

Food Mood Expert Trudy Scott is a certified nutritionist on a mission to educate and empower anxious individuals worldwide about natural solutions for anxiety, stress and emotional eating. Trudy serves as a catalyst in bringing about life enhancing transformations that start with the healing powers of eating real whole food, using individually targeted supplementation and making simple lifestyle changes. She works primarily with women but the information she offers works equally well for men and children.

Trudy also presents nationally to nutrition and mental health professionals on food and mood, sharing all the recent research and how-to steps so they too can educate and empower their clients and patients.

Trudy is past president of the National Association of Nutrition Professionals. She was recipient of the 2012 Impact Award and currently serves as a Special Advisor to the Board of Directors. Trudy is a member of Alliance for Addiction Solutions and Anxiety and Depression Association of America. She was a nominee for the 2015 Scattergood Innovation Award and is a faculty advisor at Hawthorn University.

Trudy is the author of The Antianxiety Food Solution: How the Foods You Eat Can Help You Calm Your Anxious Mind, Improve Your Mood and End Cravings (New Harbinger



2011). She is also the host of the wildly popular Anxiety Summit, a virtual event where she interviews experts on nutritional solutions for anxiety.

Trudy is passionate about sharing the powerful food mood connection because she experienced the results first-hand, finding complete resolution of her anxiety and panic attacks.

The information provided in The Anxiety Summit via the interviews, the blog posts, the website, the audio files and transcripts, the comments and all other means is for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for advice from your physician or other health care professional. You should consult with a healthcare professional before starting any diet, exercise, or supplementation program, before taking or stopping any medication, or if you have or suspect you may have a health problem.

the parasite/anxiety connection · 2019. 11. 4. · phd, cns, single-handedly launched the weight...

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