Welcome you to DrTranquility's Health Blog,"Today's Health". We are so excited to bring this amazing content to you we hope you enjoy it and I remind you to breathe.
Our health is in our hands as Dr. Fred says and so is our well being. It's up to you to create the life and health that you want. It is so important to visualize your day,and life as well. Remember to be grateful for our good health, if you are currently ill think of the ways in which you are healthy and then say "Thank You"!
We must be proactive and stand in gratitude for what we do have that is positive and well.
If we feel ourselves slipping into negativity hit the reset button by taking a deep exhalation of those negative thoughts and feelings literally blowing them out of your mind and body.
Now, immediately visualize what we are grateful for as we begin a deep inhalation say thank you quietly to yourself.
I can't tell you how many times I do this exercise each day. It is far fewer times than it was when I first started to practice this exercise!
Feels good to breathe doesn't it!
My wish for each of you is that you breathe and are well and the knowledge that you ARE well!
Dr. Fred is here!
Dr. Fred Vagnini
DrTranquility Health Blog's Co-Editor in Chief. Dr Fred Vagnini aka Dr. V is a former Cardiovascular Surgeon, and an amazing wellness healer,who has The clinical practice of Dr. Vagnini has for 20 years been dedicated to aggressive preventive medicine through cardiac and diabetes risk reduction. He sees the anti-aging movement as a continuum of scientific progress that includes stem-cell therapy, genetic manipulation, and now:
PSSST Dr. Fred V has a new book on the way...don't miss your chance for a signed copy, we are going to work on Dr. V to see if we can't convince him to give us one. a DrTranquility Heakth blog exclusive for members only!
Adrenal Fatigue Underlies Many of Today’s Health Problems
"What is adrenal fatigue? About a decade ago, James L. Wilson PhD, a Doctor of Nutrition and Naturopathic Medicine from the University of Arizona, wrote a book on what he subtitled “The 21st Century Stress Syndrome.” It did not at the time make much impact on the physician community. Not surprising. Adrenal fatigue was first described by a physician in the 19th century; and this science has taken more than 100 years to trickle down to clinical practice. It is important to me because many of the people who come into my Centers with cardiac disease, diabetes or obesity are found to be afflicted with some aspect of adrenal fatigue, particularly since adrenal fatigue is a contributing factor in insulin resistance, weight gain and diabetes. I’ll explain.
Adrenal Glands
The adrenal glands, located just above the kidneys, release hormones that manage the function of every organ of the body. There are 50 of them, including epinephrine, cortisol, progesterone, DHEA, estrogen, and testosterone. One of them, cortisol, called the stress hormone, has the effect of normalizing glucose levels and supporting a healthy metabolism so that food is efficiently converted into energy and not stored excessively as fat. Cortisol also affects the heart and blood vessels, regulates blood pressure, and controls a steady function of the heart.
Here is a list of some of them: arthritic pain, respiratory infections, allergies, chronic fatigue, asthma, auto-immune disorders like lupus and multiple sclerosis.
Definition
Adrenal fatigue is defined as a deficiency in the function of the adrenal glands. Normally these glands secrete precise and balanced amounts of hormones throughout the body as the body signals a need. Because the adrenal glands are designed to be very responsive to changes in one’s physical, emotional, and psychological status, any number of factors can interfere with this function. Balance and precision are key for two reasons. One, too much demand on the adrenal function because of physical, emotional, or psychological stress can weaken its ability to deliver essential hormones. Second, cortisol secreted in excess will damage muscle and bone, slow down healing and cell regeneration. In the extreme, insufficient adrenal function is Addison’s disease: no hormone output at all; the victims must take hormones for a lifetime. There are intermediate, less than normal, hormone levels that underlie an array of symptoms that makeup adrenal fatigue. Dr. Wilson estimates that 80% of American adults suffer some level of adrenal fatigue at some time during their life. Advancing age is one of the factors slowing down adrenal output.
The Symptoms
The symptoms of adrenal fatigue are varied and quite common: fatigue, insomnia, weight gain, and depression. Therefore it is critical that the patient’s complaint be carefully analyzed. I always judge that when a patient comes into my office and says, “Doc, something’s wrong,” something is wrong. And I set out to discover what it is, even though preliminary assessments offer no clues. Effective are blood tests for cortisol and DHEA sulfate. When the adrenals are chronically overworked and straining to maintain high cortisol levels, they lose the capacity to produce DHEA in sufficient amounts. DHEA is a precursor hormone to estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone, and is necessary to moderate the balance of hormones in your body. Insufficient DHEA contributes to fatigue, bone loss, loss of muscle mass, depression, aching joints, decreased sex drive, and impaired immune function. The saliva test is also a practical and effective way to determine these levels. All of these tests are done at intervals in the course of a day, because there is a natural diurnal pattern to adrenal hormone secretion, adding to the complexity of interpreting the tests.
Patients found to have moderate adrenal fatigue are counseled to improve their diet, exercise regularly, identify stresses in their lives and eliminate them, plus get adequate sleep. This usually works. For more severe cases, I have succeeded with nutritional supplements.
A Treatment Regimen
At times I have recommended prescription You'll have to visit vagnini.com to see for more information!"
Dr.Susan Eisen,DC Senior Editor for Alternative Health for DrTranquility.com
DR. SUSAN EISEN DC
Welcome Readers. This past month of September, I attended the Expo East in
Anyway, if the truth be told, my interest in going from the start was to do a little more investigating on the natural foods market. In my own practice, I have become a huge champion of food and our rights as citizens to be able to eat, enjoy, and purchase good nutrient dense food that will sustain us in a healthy way. In NYC where the Union Square Farmer’s Market sits not more than 14 blocks from my private office and where there is a dizzying array of pure organic foods, we are still a city and a nation on the run and finding healthy processed foods leaves us with little alternatives in avoiding some bad food choices.
My deeper study has found some disturbing things. Expensive foods that we think are better for us than others are just as chemically laden as the salty junk food snacks that we know are bad for us. So for the foreseeable future, my column will be all about food. Food that is healthy for you, food that is unhealthy for you, and foods that are deceptively unhealthy for you.
Clearly, we all have a pretty good idea of what foods are good and bad for us. A daily dose of fried foods, trans fats, heavily processed foods and foods high in fats – we know these to be bad for us. Many of us do make the extra effort to get more fruits and vegetables. So you ask, “What is the problem?” The problem is that most of the food that we purchase in the supermarkets, the local food marts, and even the largest national donut chain down the road is genetically modified. I will hope to explain to you what this means and how it can negatively affect your health and the health of your family and loved ones.
Genetically modified foods in a simple definition are foods that have been gene-spliced in some way to make them stronger or more resistant to drought and to pests. You say, “Ok, what is so bad about that?” The problem simply is that our digestive systems have not been hardwired to recognize some of these new fangled foods and we are not digesting the food in the way that nature intended.
I personally feel that genetically modified foods or GMO foods are the new scourge of our country. It is an insidious one which is deceptively difficult to recognize. So I will repeat what you have all heard before… READ YOUR LABELS. The less the number of ingredients in your food, the better it is for you. This sounds like good advice, but… unfortunately, there are many items on the store shelves that fit this description and can still be very unhealthy for you. Am I the only one who has noticed that no matter how hard we try to improve our diets and exercise more, we as a nation are just getting fatter?
To make this easier for you I am going to give you a list of ingredients that I want you to avoid like the plague for your ultimate WELLNESS!
INGREDIENTS IN YOUR PROCESSED FOODS TO AVOID!
HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP
Hmm! How could this be bad for me? It’s fructose, not glucose. Everyone knows that it’s glucose that is bad for you right? Too much will give you diabetes, etc. High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is a chemical which was designed to extend the shelf life of foods. It helps to give the Twinkie a one thousand year long shelf life. Stay away from it. It causes inflammation and probably worse. It is also made from GMO corn.
SOY
I regret to announce that the soy crop in our country is almost entirely GMO. Genetically modified foods do not digest well with symptoms like bloating and diarrhea.
SOY LECITHIN
Just another form of soy which is a stabilizer. In other words, it helps to bind things together which you may say is ok, but in culinary schools they never use this product. Nature has provided us with a natural binder – egg whites. It bears repeating, soy lecithin is produced through a lengthy and in my mind questionable process which makes any food it is in highly processed. It is also made from GMO soy crops.
CORN SYRUP
Once again, this is produced from GMO corn so as if HFCS wasn’t bad enough, they get you twice with a double punch of high fructose corn syrup and regular corn syrup.
Readers, if you do nothing else nutritionally for yourself this month, please try to avoid any foods with the ingredient list above. I know that you have heard it all before, but the only foods which are consistently anti-GMO are organic. For example, next time you are in the food store, pick up a container of ice cream – the expensive ones! You will be shocked to find the above listed ingredients. The only national organic ice cream company that is readily available (even in Wal-Mart) is Stonyfield. If you don’t see this brand in your store, ask the store manager to start carrying it. I have said this before, and it bears repeating, WE THE PEOPLE do have power.
One last thing, for all of the mothers in the house, Cows that eat GMO corn produce milk that is GMO which you are giving to your growing children. The only way to avoid this is to buy organic milk. You may shout out that it is too expensive! Organic milk does not go rancid. How many times have you had to pour a half a gallon of milk down the drain before it was used up? You will NEVER need to have that worry if you buy organic milk… so believe it or not, you will actually SAVE money if you buy ORGANIC MILK
Next month, I will go into further detail about gluten free foods and natural foods. I will also help you to navigate your way to an inexpensive organically rooted kitchen. In the meantime, here are some websites that you can review. Remember, organic foods are not allowed to be genetically engineered or contain GMO ingredients. Find out more about how to avoid GMO foods in the Non-GMO Shopping Guide of the second website listed below.
ANTI-GMO ORGANIZATIONS/WEB PAGES FOR MORE INFORMATION:
PBS http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/harvest/etc/links.html
Institute for Responsible Technology www.instituteforresponsibletechnology.org www.seedsofdeception.com
Cornucopia Institute http://www.cornucopia.org/
FOODS THAT ARE GMO WHICH YOU SHOULD AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!
Major Crops that are most commonly GMO:
• Corn • Soy • Cotton (Cottonseed) • Canola (the same Canola that we have been told is good for us)
Other Crops commonly GMO:
•
Foods which commonly contain GMO ingredients:
• milk from rBGH treated cows • meat raised on GMO feed • aspartame (Nutra-Sweet) • cheeses
• pharmaceutical drugs
Please feel free, readers, to email me if you have any further questions about the holiday table and cannot wait until November at Drsusan@drtranquility.com .
Eat in Good Health!
Susan
Next Month Natural Products Expo East!
