Endometriosis is an overgrowth of the uterine lining and can be very painful for a women.  The treatment is often a synthetic progesterone, or progestin called depo provera, estrogen blockers such as Femara, and surgery such as a hysterectomy.

Remember I said overgrowth.  Now let us look at the job of estrogen and progesterone.  In very basic terms, estrogen causes tissue to grow and progesterone directs the tissue to grow healthy and die healthy.

If we have an overgrowth of the uterine lining it can be due to “estrogen dominance” or a estrogen to progesterone ratio that is out of balance, favoring estrogen.

What causes estrogen dominance?  It often times is not too much estrogen, natural estrogen that is.  It can be environmental toxic estrogen, known as xenoestrogens that come in the air we breath, plastic bottles we drink out of, and more.  It can be that a womens progesterone is too low due to dysfunctioning ovaries, or high cortisol levels.  Then there is our liver and gallbladder.  These, in America with our Standard American Diet, refined foods, hydrogenated oils, are often in a sluggish state of action.  Hormones and metabolites get caught up causing excessive receptor stimulation, thus leading to the estrogen dominant effect.

Tremendous success has been found in dealing with nutrition and bio identical hormones to balance a womans hormonal issues, thus severly reducing symptoms of and even alleviating the condition of endometriosis, with out surgery!

As a follow up to Dr. Topouzians article on adding healthy protein to the daily meals, as well as other articles we have posted on hidden sugars, insulin resistance and diabetes, we would now like to bring light to a recent study that is suggesting that there is a corresponging increase of fatty liver disease with obesity and type 2 diabetes.

This study, published in the September issue of the jornal Obesity, is the work of Dr David Ludwig, director of the Optimal Weight for Life program at Children’s Hospital Boston, and collegues.

This study suggests that a diet rich in carbohydrates with a high glycemic index (GI) not only expands waistlines but may also lead ot fatty liver, a condition that results in liver failure and death.

Fatty liver is becoming especially common among children, said Ludwig.  Although many adult cases can be caused by alcoholism, that is not so in children, where between 1 in 4 and 1 in 2 overweight American children are thougth to be affected by non-alchoholic fatty liver disease.

That means millions of children are at elevated risk of getting full blown liver disease in adulthood, said Ludwig, who called it a “silent but dangerous epidemic.”

People, if we need any more confirmation on what the Standard American Diet (S.A.D.) is doing to the health of our society, this should do it.

Do we really have to wait until we can call these things epidemics?  Lets make the changes now!

R-n-A

Cataracts are a coudiness of the lens of the eye, which can cause partial or even total blindness.

Symptoms of cataract are cloudy or blury vision, colors may seem faded, one might notice a glare to headlights, lamps, or even sunlight might appear too bright.  Some people will notice a halo around lights.  Poor night vision, double vision, multiple images in one eye are all symptoms of cataract or other eye problems.

The common treatment and management of cataract is through eyeglasses, magnifying lenses and surgery.

Cataracts can often be linked to toxicity (heavy metals) or infection, deficient eye nutrients (especially antioxidants), low pH (deficient minerals), toxic liver, and weak adrenals and kidneys.

Nutritionally we like to recommend a range of nutrients that support a healthy eye as well as highly assimable and effective antioxidants.  In our QRA practice we test the occipital lobe, which will be a representation of antioxidants and eye health and often find a nutrient such as DHLA Nanoplex (dihydrolipoic acid) will strengthen this point nicely.

Further testing should be done for heavy metal toxicity as well as a possible underlying infection.  Once again we find the practice of QRA does this very well. Infections in the teeth/gums often relex to the eyes, so a through QRA examination of this area is a must. 

Remember, other areas of concern are the Adrenal/kindey area, liver, and intestinal region (linked to adrenals), so testing and strengthening these areas area a must.

Other special considerations for optimal eye and sytemic health is to eliminate foods with hydrogenated oil, avoid refined sugar and increase fresh organic vegetables/fruits,  and cultured foods such as kefir.

We have not written much on autism on our site as of yet, though you will be hearing a lot more from us.  Autism is a disease of our generation, growing by leaps and bounds while our conventional medical system is not only doing nothing about it, their practices are believed to be part of the cause.

Did you know there is a vaccination defense fund?  From every vaccination shot given, a portion of the cost (whether paid by the patient, insurance company, etc) is put into a fund to protect vaccine manufacturers from litigation.  So far billions have been awarded to affected families… And your Dr. will still tell you they are not a problem?  Or even have a closed practice to those who want to express their individual right not to vaccinate there children…unconscious acts from ignorant individuals.  There is a link to autism.

 On a recent Oprah Winfrey show titled, Jenny McCarthy & Holly Robinson Pete-Their fight to save their autisic sons (www.oprah.com) these two mothers spoke about the challenges and the victories that they have had to bring their children back to health.

We want to give tremendous kudos to Oprah and both of these mothers not only for bringing attention to this topic, inspite of phsicians and most of the medical establishment not listening, but for the tremedous work they have done for their own children.

Often times healing does not happen overnight and one needs that Health Warrior Attitude to keep pushing through, despite the obstacles that present themselves.

We will have follow up posts on autism, what people can do, until them we encourage you to read the transcripts from the show.

In Warrior Health,

Robert and Amy

Did you know that the United States is the second largest consumer of refined sugar, second only to Germany.  How often do you hear news stats on our obese society, and morbid metabolic issues such as diabetes and heart disease.

The biggest factor to the metabolic syndrome that we face as a society is insulin resistance.  Insulin resistance is the body’s inability to effectively manage blood sugar through the use of insulin.

One of the biggest factors is this over consumption of refined sugars.  Now, let us begin, refined sugar is not a food and it should not be consumed.  It is only a manufactured poison, a darling of the packaged food industry that is addictive, cheap to incorporate in to faux food products, basically killing our society for profit. 

What we want to address is the hidden sources of sugar that can promote the same dramatic effect on our health.  When you think of sugar, you tend to think of the “obvious suspects”- the table sugar you use in your coffee, candy, soda and deserts.  The reality is, if you eat most prepared food (snack foods, frozen TV dinners, canned soup, packaged cereals, bread, frozen waffles, crakers, tomato sauce, condiments such as ketchup and steak sauce) you are eating sugar.  Once you start reading food labels, you will be amazed to see that various forms of sugar (sucrose, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, fructose, dextrose, turbinado, maple sugar, etc.) are common ingredients in prepared food.  Organic, so-called “natural” sugar or honey is no better.  Some experts estimate that many people may unknowingly be eating between forty to sixty teaspoons of sugar a day in their food. 

What is of major concern is the high rate of consumption of high fructose corn syrup, or fructose, a cheap, very sweet sugar which is finding its way into more and more prepared foods and even nutritional food products (often by leading nutraceutical companies–READ THE LABELS!!)

Although fructose is low on the glycemic index (a misleading tool that rates the conversion to glucose) it can cause serious health problems.  The major problem is that it promotes the insulin resistance mentioned above and promotes FAT STORAGE!  It actually causes more damage inside your body than glucose, which is found in table sugar, though we are not recommending table sugar (combo of fructose and glucose)as an alternative.

Stay tuned for follow up articles on alternatives to sweeten up your life.

 In health,

 R-n-A

This is a follow up to the previous posts that we have made about adrenal fatigue and stress.

 We mentioned the role that the adrenal glands play in our overall health as well as supporting us in reistance to measures of stress.

Aside from major emotional life stressors, and for that matter, the day to day hustle and bustle that tends to knock us down (the “tiger” always chasing us), did you know physical traumas can be an assault on our adrenal glands?

What kind of physcial trauma?  There are many.  You will see in coming articles how the meridian systems of our body work together.  In our clinical nutrition practice through QRA (Quantum Reflex Analysis) we recognize this.

For example, an ankle sprain can reflex to (block the energy flow) to the adrenal glands, leading them to not accept the inherent capability of the body to heal itself.  Very commonly we see surgeries or traumas as well to the abdomen and sexual organ area’s.  Hernia surgeries, hysterectomies, appesiotomies, c-sections, gall bladder surgeries, etc have shown to block off such cohenerent healing energy.

What do we do about it?  Nutrients still work, the problem exists that over time, toxins build in the trauma area and the body begins not to recognize it.  The body now mis-reads the area and doesnt always send the proper nutrients to that area so we inevitably have to use higher amounts of nutrients.

To bypass and fix this issue we utilize mudpacks, medical grade detoxification mud that we individually test for each individual.  This detoxifies the area, re-polarizes it to allow the inherent healing capabiltiy to ensue.  This with lifestlye stress management, appropriate focused nutrients and healthy diet, can get you on the path to adrenal healing faster than any other program we have come across.

In Health,

 R-n-A

Now we want to look at what can we do to repair our adrenals?

First of all lets talk about lifestyle techniques.  Mediation, prayer, tai chi, yoga, and various relaxation techniques should be considered.  Remeber its the over stimulation and lack of control in life that suppresses the actions of our adrenal glands.

Basic nutrients that have been shown to support adrenal activity are vitamin C, Magnesium, B vitamins (especially b4) are the main ones to help build the adrenals.

Adaptogens are complex’s or single nutrients that will allow the adrenals to kick back so they can ride on autopilot as well as help support a consistent enery throughout the day.  Examples are cordyceps (our favoriate), licorice, ashwanganda, ginseng, and rhodiola.

Glandulars are used when adrenal outflow has been even more compromised.  This would be those whose lab tests represent this or possibly have great energy drops throughout the day.

When adrenal outflow is severly comprimised a doctor might consider putting an individual on cortef, which is kin to replenishing the normal cortisol levels in the system.  This should be carefully monitored if chosen to do so.

Remember, quality nutrients are a must, you can find more information in our consumer awareness guide..Are Your Vitamins Making You Sick?

In Health.

R-n-A

Alright, aside from symptoms of adrenal fatigue, are there any testing that can accurately diagnose for more refined treatment?

You bettcha! 

Historically the most common way to test someones adrenals would be through a morning corisol blood draw reading.  Where this is very accurate it is not the most convientent, you get pricked by a needle, and you are only testing one time during the day.
What would offer more accuracy would be testing 4 times a day, though having a blood draw this often would be really inconvienant.  Healthy adrenals should have cortisol levels high enough to get someone up in the morning and gradually decrease during the day until bedtime where it is not too high to prevent someone from sleeping.

The best way to measure these levels would be via saliva testing.  A saliva test allows you to accurately measure in the convience of your own home or office saliva hormone measurements of both dhea and cortisol in the morning, afternoon, early evening and at bedtime.  This in turn gives a very complete profile of how a persons adrenals are working throughout the course of a day.

An interesting note, one study revealed that 80% of breast cancer patients had a corisol profile exactly the opposite of healthy levels, i.e.- low in the morning and gradually increasing to high at bedtime.

In our practice we begin with QRA (quantum relflex analysis) a form of kinesiology to get a reading on ones adrenals.  This goes off of the strong or weak premise.  If they are week, we test them on what nutrients and at what dose will make them stronger.  The same goes if they are overactive.

For more information on adrenal fatigue we recommend a great book adrenal fatigue by Dr. James Wilson, and information on saliva testing, ZRT has a great website at www.salivatest.com. 

There are many symptoms that can be linked to adrenal fatigue, you might have a few, or you might have many.  Signs, symtoms and consequences of stress and adrenal fatigue are:

Lack of stamina and energy, weight gain, alcoholism and drug addiciton, low thyroid, decreased sex drive, chemical intoleraces, excessive fears and apprehensions, emotional fragility, sleep disturbances, decreased immune system, issues with blood sugar (often low), excessive use and cravings of high fat, sugary foods and caffeine, problems with bone metabolism (osteoporosis), hormonal imbalances (pms, menopausal symptoms), and so much more.

Do you see any of these symptoms in you?  If a few have just started popping up it is time to get proactive and begin implementing measures of stress management and nutritional supplementation NOW!  If you have many of these and have for a long time, wait no more, find yourself to a qualified practitioner to diagnose and treat your problems before they get any worse.  Remember the above are mostly symtoms, symptoms that can lead to much worse issues later on. 

You will see later on recommended measures that you can take to support your adrenals and in our book, Secrets to Conquering the Inner Game of Health, you will find our recommends section where you can find such qualified practitioners as well.

Be patient though, stress is accumulative and it normally does not happen overnight.  It has been building for years and we cannot expect to cure it overnight.

A very intersting point was made by Dr Pamela Smith in her latest book, Demystifying Weight Loss, A concise guide for solving the Weight Loss Puzzle, that the most stressfull jobs are; construction worker, secretary, laboratory technician, waiter or waitress, machine operator, farmer, house painter, mid-level manager, and forman/supervison.

What do all ofthese jobes have in common?, she states.  LACK OF CONTROL!

In our next post we will recommend our general recommendation on nutritional supplements and stress management techniques to support and conquer the adrenal fatigue.

In Health,

 R-n-A

It is our belief that adrenal fatigue is prevelant in a large population of our country and our culture..it’s almost fashionable.

Because of the depth and importance of this topic we will be giving this to you in 2 or 3 parts.

Adrenal fatigue, one of the most under addressed health imbalances, practically ignored by the allopathic medical system, has broad ranging ill affects to your health.

The adrenal glands are two little glands that sit in the region atop of the kidney’s.  They are the glands that keep us alive and get us out of trouble in times of stress.

The issue is that we were “designed” to handle stress in a fight or flight response.  Take for example long ago, hunter gatherer, foraging for food and hunting animals.  But there comes that tiger ready to pounce, we need these little glands to orchestrate the chemical equation to get us the heck out of there. 

But then we get away, tiger is gone, and we can re-equilibrate ourselves and our adrenals get to kick back out of hyper mode.  Nowadays though, the tigers are always on our backs; responsibilities, bills, over-committing, etc.  Because of this our adrenals get overworked and depleted in the important hormones that they produce.

What hormones am I speaking of?  Cortisol and DHEA.  As our bodies go through an initial element of stress both cortisol and DHEA increase in response.  As the stress continues the body does all it can to protect cortisol so cortisol begins to steal from DHEA and DHEA begins to decrease.  Finally the body has exhausted its sources from DHEA and possibly other hormones such as progesterone and testosterone and it can rise no longer.  Cortisol then finds itself in the basement.  This is when you cannot peal yourself off the sheets to get up in the morning, lack of energy, stamina and motivation.

In the next additon we will speak of what other symptoms there are for adrenal fatigue and the impact that it has on ones health.