Weight Loss Series - Step 1: Understand the Problem

Understanding The Problem

The first step to understanding how to lose weight begins with understanding the problem. One of the challenges with long term weight concerns is Syndrome X or Metabolic Syndrome. Syndrome X. It is the existence of at least two of the following:

• Central Obesity. Here we are referring to that weight gain around the middle. This is the most dangerous place to gain and carry weight as it has been determined to cause heart problems and predisposes us to diabetes.
• Insulin Resistance
• High Cholesterol
• High Blood Pressure

We call this Syndrome X because these issues are linked together. For example if you have central weight gain, you are most likely pre-diabetic.

In 2005, people with diabetes were estimated to account for 7% of the US population, or approximately 20.8 million people.3 Of these 20.8 million people, 14.6 million have a diagnosis of diabetes, and diabetes is undiagnosed in another 6.2 million. Approximately 5-10% have type 1 diabetes, 90-95% have type 2 diabetes, and 1-5% have other types. Additionally, an estimated 54 million people have pre-diabetes. Pre-diabetes, as defined by the American Diabetes Association, is that state in which blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. It is presumed that most persons with elevated glucose levels approaching the level needed for the diagnosis of diabetes will subsequently progress to diabetes.

Where are we  headed?

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said that because of this  epidemic our current generation is the first one in history predicted to have a shorter life expectancy than the previous generation.This is true! And scary! But what can be done? Help is available with sound proven, medically supervised protocols. 

For more information contact Advanced Health Clinic

7 Steps to Healthy Hormones - Step 2: Fix Your Gut

Creating Healthy Hormonal Balance is a series of steps. After we have looked at LifeStyle Habits (see last week's post), we then want to look at our guts.

The digestive system is really the corner stone of our wellbeing, as it is involved in so many processes. New research is showing that your gut health plays a significant role in hormone regulation so if you have leaky gut or a lack of probiotics lining your intestinal wall it can also cause hormone imbalance.

If your gut health is poor, you can end up with impaired immune and nervous systems, and it can also wreak havoc with hormonal function throughout the body. This is because our gastrointestinal tract is loaded with neurons that release the same neurotransmitters found in the brain. This is why you have "gut feelings" and any upset to this equilibrium can throw your body and mood into chaos.

To adopt a new approach to the eating for hormonal balance, this can be done by starting with the "Four Rs" - Remove, Repair, Restore, and Replace.

          Step 1: Remove

 In this first step, remove the offending foods and toxins from your diet that could be acting as stressors on your system. This means caffeine, alcohol, processed foods, bad fats, and any other foods you think may be causing issues, like gluten and dairy. All of these all irritate the gut in some form and create an inflammatory response.

Step 2: Repair

 The next step is to begin to repair the gut and heal the damaged intestinal lining. You do this by consuming an unprocessed diet and giving your body time to rest by providing it with substances that are known to heal the gut, like L-glutamine, omega-3 fatty acids, zinc, antioxidants (in the form of vitamins A, C, and E), quercitin, aloe vera, and turmeric.

Step 3: Restore

 This involves the restoration of your gut's optimal bacterial flora population. This is done with the introduction of probiotics like Lactobacillus acidophilus andBifidobacterium lactis. A probiotic is a good bacteria and is ingested to help reinforce and maintain a healthy gastrointestinal tract and to help fight illness. In general a healthy lower intestinal tract should contain around 85% good bacteria. This helps to combat any overgrowth of bad bacteria. Unfortunately in most people these percentages are skewed and this allows for the gut health to drastically decline. The human gut is home to bad bacteria like salmonella and clostridium, which is fine as long as they are kept in order and don't get out of control.

Step 4: Replace

 This involves getting your bile salts, digestive enzymes, and hydrochloric acid levels to optimal levels to maintain and promote healthy digestion. This can be done by supplementing with digestive enzymes and organic salt to help make sure you have enough hydrochloric acid.

7 Steps to Healthy Hormones - Step 1: LifeStyle

STEP 1: LIFESTYLE

Take inventory of your lifestyle to find out whether poor eating habits, lack of exercise, lack of sleep, your environment or stress may be affecting your hormone balance. Make a list of things you can change that will have a positive impact on your health. Pick one thing from the list and write down the steps you would need to take to make that change. 

In Dr. Christiane Northrup's Hormone-Balancing Food Plan, she asks patients to eliminate refined carbohydrates, such as sugar, white rice, bread, alcohol, and foods made with white flour, such as muffins, bagels, pasta, pretzels and other snack foods. 

If you reintroduce a certain food, do it one at a time, journal your symptoms, and see if you should stay away from that food permanently.

Endocrine Disruptors:

Your environment can also be the boogie man there to rob you of healthy hormonal function. Endocrine disruptors are the hidden toxins that are ruining everyone’s health. In men, endocrine disruptors enlarge breasts, reduce sperm count and increase the chance of prostate cancer. In women, they affect pap smears, encourage early onset of puberty and increase the chance of breast cancer.

In both sexes, they slow down the thyroid.

Endocrine disruptors are common in many traditional building supplies and environments, including polyvinyl flooring and wall coverings, wall-to-wall carpeting (a carcinogen magnet), high VOC paints, stains and sealants, and poor indoor air quality as a result of insufficient ventilation. 

Xenoestrogens are another invisible culprit; they hijack your natural hormones and have reproductive and developmental consequences. In a typical day, we are exposed to more than 700; in toothpaste, deodorant, sunscreen, food preservatives, the lining of cans that hold food, and many kinds of plastic.

You can start making positive changes to your lifestyle now. We have made it easy. Visit with our LifeStyle Educator to learn how you can make positive LifeStyle changes that will improve your hormonal health.

Take that first step!

Positive change happen one step at a time.

Schedule a visit with our LifeStyle Educator to set goals

and work on Healthy LifeStyle habits.

Winning At Weight Loss

WINNING AT WEIGHT LOSS

MARTHA'S VIBRANT LIFESTYLE PLAN

  

We want to help you discover "a whole new you," by losing weight and feeling great - creating greater health than you have known!

Read on to find out how we can help you!

Martha's LifeStyle Plan is based on a medically designed protocols that results in fat loss while sparing muscle mass. The protocols Holistic Nurse Practitioner, Martha Bray uses, are based on experts who have focused their

careers and research on nutrition with a particular emphasis on the treatment of obesity and obesity related issues such as: 

• Type II Diabetes
• High Cholesterol
• High Blood Pressure
• Sleep Apnea
• Acid Reflux

 Achieve better health through weight loss - NOW!

WHEN: TONIGHT, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3 - 6:30 P.M.

WORKSHOP FEE: $ 25

CALL NOW TO REGISTER: 801-447-8680

Martha's Minute: Food for Life

Nutrition 101

FOOD IS INFORMATION

If there were a drug that could turn off all the disease-promoting genes and could turn on all the health-promoting, anti-aging genes, would you take it?

In "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" (May 2007), there was a study done on nutrigenomics. The basic idea is that food is information, not just calories.

In this study, researchers from Finland took two groups people with metabolic syndrome (pre-diabetes) and gave each group a different diet. It was different ONLY in the type of carbohydrates they consumed for 12 weeks. The rest of their diet was identical — the same calories and the same amount of fat, protein, carbohydrate, and fiber.

The first group had wheat, oats, and potatoes as the source of their carbs.  The second group ate rye as their source of carbohydrate.   In Dr. Mark Hymen's book, UltraMetabolism, rye has some very special properties because it is slowly absorbed by the body and has phytonutrients that help you lose weight and improve metabolism.

After the 12 weeks, the researchers took a fat sample or biopsy and analyzed it to find out which genes were turned on or off.

So what happened?

In the wheat, oat, and potato group, 62 genes were activated that increased inflammation, oxidative stress, and the stress response, worsened blood sugar balance, and generally amplified all of the forces in the body that lead to obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease! It was a 100 percent effect — NO good genes were turned on.

In the rye group, 71 genes were turned on that prevent diabetes, lower cholesterol, reduce inflammation, and improve blood sugar control. This was a 100 percent GOOD gene effect.


So back to our initial  question - If there were a drug that could turn off all the disease-promoting genes and could turn on all the health-promoting, anti-aging genes, would you take it?

You won't see ads on TV telling you to eat more whole-kernel rye bread! The good news is you don't have to see your doctor, get a prescription, nor buy a drug (not to mention all the side effects that come with the drug) to get these benefits. You can simply start adding some rye to your diet!

Here are some findings from a few other key studies that are worth noting:

– Supplementing with conjugated linoleic acid (a special fat from meat and dairy fats) caused a modest loss in body fat. It also may prevent cancer, heart disease, and inflammation.
– Long-term fish consumption protects against arrhythmia or irregular heart beats.
– Eating a diet high in monounsaturated fats from olive oil can help reduce blood pressure while a high refined-carbohydrate diet can increase blood pressure.
– Combining fish oil supplements with regular aerobic exercise helps improve body composition and reduce heart disease risk factors (lower triglycerides, higher HDL).
– Women need more choline (a nutrient that is needed for cell membrane formation and to make the neurotransmitter acetylcholine necessary for brain function) after menopause or are at risk of liver and muscle damage.
– If women with HIV are given a multivitamin, they have less anemia and their children also have less anemia.  Anemia in HIV is associated with a much faster rate of disease progression and death.
– In Bangladesh, where arsenic poisoning is common, giving folate, vitamins B12 and B6, choline, and niacin reduced the toxic effects of arsenic.
– People who eat more meat and saturated fat have a higher risk of skin cancer.

So what are we to learn from all these studies?

If you hear from your doctor that eating better and taking supplements has no “real” scientific evidence to support it, ask them if they have read the “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition” lately.

It is also interesting to note that the main medical journals publish mostly positive studies on drugs and mostly negative studies on nutrients, foods, and herbs.

So we encourage you all to beware when someone tells you there is no research to back up the use of food or nutrients as the primary mode of treatment of disease and prevention of chronic illness. The evidence is overwhelming — just ignored.

(The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, May 2007, Compliments of Dr. Mark Hymen, Kallio P, Kolehmainen M, Laaksonen DE, Kekalainen J, Salopuro T, Sivenius K, Pulkkinen L, Mykkanen HM, Niskanen L, Uusitupa M, Poutanen KS. Dietary carbohydrate modification induces alterations in gene expression in abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue in persons with the metabolic syndrome: the FUNGENUT Study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 May;85(5):1417-27)

The 5 Early Warning Signs of Metabolic Syndrome

The 5 Early Warning Signs of Metabolic Syndrome

Metabolic syndrome is a critical turning point for your health. This cluster of conditions includes any 3 of the following: central obesity (“apple” body), low HDL “good” cholesterol, and/or high blood pressure, blood sugar, or triglycerides. A diagnosis of metabolic syndrome is a red flag that you’re more likely to develop type 2 diabetes or heart disease—or both. At this crucial point, healthcare providers often recommend lifestyle changes (healthy eating, exercise, stress management, nutritional and medical food support) to help manage or reverse metabolic syndrome and the risk to more serious diseases.
You can also reduce your risk to metabolic syndrome. There’s no need to wait for a metabolic syndrome diagnosis to take action. Simply pay attention to the warning signs. Any single risk factor above—especially belly fat—is an obvious signal that you could be on your way to metabolic syndrome. But there are also 5 other early warnings that may mean you're at greater risk:

1.    Do you crave or eat a lot of carbohydrates (fast foods, sugary treats)?

2.    Do you get little exercise?

3.    Have you noticed a progressive weight gain (“spare tire”)?

4.    Do you have a family history of high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, or early heart disease?

5.    Have you experienced a decline in energy or increased stress?

It’s never too early to protect your future health. Set up an appointment today so we can discuss how you can reduce your risk to chronic illnesses or come to my workshop the first Thursday of the Month at 6:30 p.m. Call to register today: 801-447-8680