Rich and I are so excited that TBSE 2006 will be our biggest and best in the history of the multi-day dental seminar! On November 16, 17 and 18, well over 3000 dentists and team members will be pulling into Las Vegas to be a part of the most incredible show in our profession. From the spectacular opening to the closing speaker, TBSE will be an event that is more like a “dental rock concert” than a seminar!

TBSE 2006 will all take place at one of the best convention hotels in the world… The Las Vegas Hilton! With its fabulous location and the monorail that has a stop right inside the hotel, attendees can get virtually anywhere they want to go within minutes! The speaker lineup will be the best ever, including names such as Dr. Howard Farran, Dr. Steve Rasner, and Dr. Sherri Worth (from The Swan). The non-dental speakers will be so incredible and have so much energy, they will be motivating dental teams to levels of success never seen before!

We will have our largest learning expo and exhibit area ever. And yes, Rich and I are planning some things that we guarantee you will NEVER see at another dental seminar in your life!

The bad news is that TBSE 2006 is totally sold out. We sold out earlier than ever (we were sold out in March!) and we have a very large waiting list. So although we are super excited about TBSE 2006, we actually feel bad that we cannot accept any more offices.

There are a couple of suggestions we will make to the offices that got closed out of TBSE 2006. First of all, make it a point to see me and Rich as we ‘perform’ our incredible “Love Dentistry, Have Fun and Get Rich” one day seminar coming to a city near you. Although it is not TBSE, most offices that attend tell us it’s the best one day they have ever spent at a dental seminar (if you could call it a seminar). Please feel free to check out our entire schedule right here on www.madow.com.

Secondly, do yourself a favor and get you and your team on the list for TBSE 2007. Although we do not have firm dates yet, it is practically guaranteed to be in Las Vegas in the fall. That’s all we can tell you for now! If you procrastinate, it is likely you may be shut out of TBSE 2007 and then you may do something very foolish such as signing up for an inferior seminar and that would be a damn shame!

So if you're coming to TBSE 2006, we can't wait to see you! If you got closed out, do something to get there in 2007!

I will now tell you what Mike, the guy in the health food store, told me. He told me that psoriasis is not simply a problem that is isolated to the skin, but it is actually a sign on the skin that something else is going on in the body. He said that the ‘something else’ is generally an overgrowth of Candida (yeast) in the gut.

Having said that, Mike told me that with some changes in my diet and a few dietary supplements, I could fairly predictably get rid of the Candida, and subsequently the psoriasis. Without any pressure whatsoever, he gave me some literature to take home to read.

When I got home, not only did I read what he gave me, but I did some extensive research on the internet. I had never heard this, but it did seem as though many people had the opinion that psoriasis is related to Candida and a gut that does not have the proper balance of “good bacteria.”

You see, we all have microorganisms in our colon. In a state of health, we should have plenty of the good bacteria, mainly in the lactobacillus family. The most well known and common one is called acidophilus. There are many reasons why one would not have the proper ratio of the good bacteria and possibly an overgrowth of Candida. The most common would be from taking medications, namely antibiotics. Now I am not an antibiotic user, but the literature said even if you have ever taken any type of antibiotic, you could mess up the good bacteria in your colon.

There were descriptions of many of the signs and symptoms of Candida overgrowth and psoriasis and other skin disorders were definitely on the list. What I needed to do was to take some supplements that would help clear the Candida and reintroduce the good bacteria into my colon. This whole thing was making sense and I also figured there was nothing to lose since I had tried about every type of skin cream on the market without much success.

So I went back to the health food store that very afternoon. I bought the suggested supplements that Mike had recommended. Basically, one was a ‘cleanser,’ that would get the bad stuff out. Another was a probiotic which reintroduces the good bacteria, and the last was a special fiber that keeps everything regular.

Then I read the list of foods that I needed to remove from my diet. This was going to be the difficult part. Just about everything that I loved I could not eat! But I was determined to not only give this a try, but to do it right!

Let me tell you what I was forbidden to eat. Bread, flour, sugar, fruit, peanuts, soy sauce, mushrooms, cheese, milk, alcohol, potatoes, white rice, miso, vinegar, salad dressing, fruit juice… the list went on and on!

Can you imagine a diet with no ice cream, sushi, beer, peanut butter sandwiches, pizza. I got rid of all of that stuff. I mainly ate vegetables, plain yogurt, almonds, yeast free bread with brown rice flour, meats, soups, eggs, fish. Everything had to be fresh because there is a lot of junk in processed food. I began reading a lot of labels and I learned how many additives are contained in the foods we eat.

I started going to the “healthy” food stores and buying a lot of organic foods. Organic foods do not have the additives that are so common in the popular foods we know of. They cost more but I was willing to play the game and give this diet a try.

It was difficult to keep this diet going at first, but after a while I started getting used to it. Even eating in restaurants was not too bad. I had to specifically let them know how I wanted my food prepared, but most restaurants were very willing to oblige.

Another thing I actually started doing was to eat smaller meals. Most people are definitely in the habit of eating everything on their plate. No one likes to waste food. To me, this just did not make sense. The human body is just not designed to eat a 16 ounce steak, a potato, bread, vegetables, and dessert in a single sitting. But we are trained that when a restaurant serves the food, we eat it all.

I would rarely make my portion of meat at any sitting any more than 4-5 ounces. Think of that as the size of a deck of cards. It probably sounds very small to you right now, as it did to me. But after a short amount of time adjusting my portions, now it seems perfectly normal. In fact, if I eat much more than that, I begin to feel sick.

Before you start thinking that these smaller portions would not work for you, let me tell you… I did not starve! I began to eat little “meals” between each of my main meals. The little meals would consist of some almond butter on rice crackers, nuts, turkey, or organic corn chips. I tried to drink a lot of water each day and the only other drink I ever had was unsweetened hot or cold tea. Green and white teas are my favorite.

Basically, what I am trying to tell you is that what I did was not difficult at all. Yes, it definitely took some discipline, but it was not difficult.

Very soon after I started this new way of eating, I started noticing some differences in my body. First of all, my skin took on a more vibrant appearance. My little areas of psoriasis did not immediately change much right away, but they certainly did not get worse and no other areas appeared.

Another interesting thing happened almost immediately. I forgot to tell you earlier that over the last fifteen years I have had a little problem with heartburn or acid reflux. This manifested itself as a terrible burning in the upper chest area. It was not often that I would get this, but when I did, it was extremely painful and I had to take antacids to feel comfortable. Normally it would wake me in the middle of the night, but sometimes it would present itself at a very inconvenient time when I would not have any antacids with me. Well, since I started the new diet, I have yet to have an episode of heartburn and as of this writing it has been seven months.

Something else began to happen very quickly. I have never considered myself to be overweight by any stretch of the imagination. I stand six feet, three inches tall and my weight has hovered around 206 pounds for the recent past. Although the textbooks labeled me normal, my feeling was that I would like to be about 195 pounds. I had discussed this with my physician down at The Cooper Clinic and she felt my weight was fine and with all of the aerobic and strengthening exercise I do, the only way I would really be able to get it down significantly would be to train for and run a marathon or similar extreme physical activity.

So without resorting to any of that, I am ecstatic to report to you that I have lost about 18 pounds in the last seven months. I now weigh a very comfortable 188, and I must tell you that I feel absolutely fantastic. My body looks good (I should say GREAT!) and I feel better than I have in at least thirty years!

So now that it’s been seven months, what about my skin? You may be curious about how I’m doing with my psoriasis that there is “no cure” for. OK, here’s the story. I would estimate that it is about 95% gone. I would be lying if I said that everything was perfect, because it is not and I do not know if it will ever be. I have a few very small areas of dry reddish skin, but if I did not point them out to you, I bet that you would never even notice them.

So I am very happy about that as well.

That’s my story up until now and I only think it will continue to get better. I have carefully added some of the ‘prohibited’ foods back into my diet. I have reintroduced fruits as I feel they are important. But I am very careful. I will never eat foods with white flour and sugar. OK, I realize there is hidden sugar in some foods and sauces. It’s probably impossible to cut out refined sugars 100%. Things such as desserts and soft drinks are TOTALLY out of the question. And I never eat bread or crackers in a restaurant. The only type of bread I will eat these days is one with whole grains and no yeast.

Little did I ever realize how important that day I walked into the health food store would be to me. Mike, the man in the store does not know this, but he changed my life forever. I think next time I am there, I should let him know!