Hi All,
I have created this blog post so that we can all have a forum for discussion as the detox program goes forward. Please use the comments option at the bottom of this post to leave your questions and comments. I will reply daily and post a little something myself. Please do share your cool food ideas so that we all my benefit from what you are doing.
Also if you go back a few blog entries you can also check out the comments from the detox I helpd last month. And one before that was an article on detoxing. They may be of interest.
Happy cleansing and have fun!
Jim Chialtas, L.Ac.
2/18/11
Hair loss in women: Stress or something more masculine?
It is quite astonishing really the number of women I hear of complaining of hair loss these days. It may not be massive hair loss mind you, but this is something that we tend to pay attention to. It is something that a great many men end up looking forward to if they like it or not, but for women, it is a whole other thing completely. Hair loss in a woman when it is bad can be a significant source of anxiety and poor self image. So what is going on? Why do I hear about it so often these days? Well, like many other medical conditions, hair loss has a lot to do with our lifestyle. It may just be possible that you are contributing directly to your hair loss every day without knowing it.
There are several common reasons for hair loss in women. Stress can certainly do it. I have known women who when stressed actually get bald spots which will eventually re-grow. Low thyroid conditions can certainly lead to hair loss and are particularly common in women. But the big one that I want to talk about today is hair loss due to elevated blood sugar, Insulin and Testosterone.
Yep, when a woman ends up with elevated Testosterone she will lose her hair. But why you ask does a woman get elevated Testosterone in the first place? I suppose that there could be some tumor somewhere producing it, but that is extremely uncommon. The most common reason is elevated blood sugar and/or Insulin. The way it goes is that when we eat sugar, or a lot of simple carbohydrates, our body responds by producing Insulin in an attempt to get that high blood sugar back down. The more sugar the more Insulin. It just so happens that Insulin, besides helping to lower our blood sugar, ends up turning on an enzyme in women called 17, 20 lyase which is found in the Thecal cells of the ovaries. This enzyme produces Testosterone. So the more sugar that is consumed, the more Insulin is produced and therefore the more Testosterone a woman will make. This will lead to not only hair loss, but can also lead to irregular periods, infertility, Polycystic Ovaries, unexplained weight gain, and unwanted hair growth on the face and chest for example. Add to that all of the health concerns with elevated blood sugar by itself as being the leading cause of heart disease and stroke and the fact that this can often times lead to full blown diabetes it becomes really important to pay attention to this hair loss. All cosmetic concerns aside for a moment, this is a sign of some serious stuff here!
At the very beginning of this article I said how astonishing it was to see so many of these complaints. But then when you think of it, how many people (not just women) do you know who head straight for Starbucks or similar establishment for their liquid dessert, first thing in the morning? If you really stop and add up all the sugar that we consume every day either by choice or consequence, it is easy to see how there could be so much hair loss going on. If this is a concern of yours, please, come in and get worked-up and see which one of these mechanisms are at play. You may not only be able to fix your hair, but you could be protecting yourself from much worse things than hair loss.
There are several common reasons for hair loss in women. Stress can certainly do it. I have known women who when stressed actually get bald spots which will eventually re-grow. Low thyroid conditions can certainly lead to hair loss and are particularly common in women. But the big one that I want to talk about today is hair loss due to elevated blood sugar, Insulin and Testosterone.
Yep, when a woman ends up with elevated Testosterone she will lose her hair. But why you ask does a woman get elevated Testosterone in the first place? I suppose that there could be some tumor somewhere producing it, but that is extremely uncommon. The most common reason is elevated blood sugar and/or Insulin. The way it goes is that when we eat sugar, or a lot of simple carbohydrates, our body responds by producing Insulin in an attempt to get that high blood sugar back down. The more sugar the more Insulin. It just so happens that Insulin, besides helping to lower our blood sugar, ends up turning on an enzyme in women called 17, 20 lyase which is found in the Thecal cells of the ovaries. This enzyme produces Testosterone. So the more sugar that is consumed, the more Insulin is produced and therefore the more Testosterone a woman will make. This will lead to not only hair loss, but can also lead to irregular periods, infertility, Polycystic Ovaries, unexplained weight gain, and unwanted hair growth on the face and chest for example. Add to that all of the health concerns with elevated blood sugar by itself as being the leading cause of heart disease and stroke and the fact that this can often times lead to full blown diabetes it becomes really important to pay attention to this hair loss. All cosmetic concerns aside for a moment, this is a sign of some serious stuff here!
At the very beginning of this article I said how astonishing it was to see so many of these complaints. But then when you think of it, how many people (not just women) do you know who head straight for Starbucks or similar establishment for their liquid dessert, first thing in the morning? If you really stop and add up all the sugar that we consume every day either by choice or consequence, it is easy to see how there could be so much hair loss going on. If this is a concern of yours, please, come in and get worked-up and see which one of these mechanisms are at play. You may not only be able to fix your hair, but you could be protecting yourself from much worse things than hair loss.
2/8/11
February is Heart Health Month!
Heart Disease is something that I have written about many times before, but it being Heart Health Month I felt it only appropriate to reintroduce some concepts that we might not otherwise be fed by the mainstream outlets. That’s right folks, there’s more to heart disease than the TV commercials, magazine ads or even our doctors are telling us. I want to provide for you here a list of concerns that can pose serious threats to your heart health. And please take note that I don’t mention cholesterol… Nope, we hear enough about cholesterol already. (By the way, the cholesterol lowering drugs called Statins are some of the most widely prescribed drugs today, yet only 50% of the people who die from heart disease have elevated cholesterol! The other 50% have normal cholesterol. So where is the legitimacy in lowering cholesterol? And if the drugs are so good why doesn’t the ratio shift away from 50/50?) Ok, so that’s my little rant, now on to the good stuff.
Our Guts:
• Pretty much all of the current literature on all the major health problems can be traced back to inflammatory molecules floating around our body wreaking havoc. This is not disputed in either the mainstream or alternative worlds. And where might you ask does this inflammation come from? Not from a swollen ankle that’s for sure! Nope, it primarily comes from our guts. Inflammation along the lining of our stomach and intestines produces systemic inflammation which works to inflame our arteries, making them “sticky,” and more easily susceptible to plaque and vascular disease. An inflamed gut equals inflamed arteries and probably eventual heart disease. It is important to figure out what is inflaming your digestive tract and fix that for any lasting heart health to be had.
Our Guts… Yeah there’s more:
• Besides the inflammation there are often some pretty interesting bugs living in our guts that can leak into our blood and infect the lining of our arteries. This is a really quick route to vascular disease. There is one bacterial infection in particular which is known to infect the lining of our arteries called H. Pylori. It originates in our gut and can be passed by kissing, sharing drinks, food, etc. It is perhaps the most common communicable disease in the world. But finding this bacterial infection and killing it is a really important heart health concept that I assure you goes unchecked in your doctor’s office. And something which no Statin drug can address.
Homocysteine:
• Homo what now? Yes, Homocysteine. This is a little molecule in our bodies that when elevated not only promotes heart disease, but even before that works to injure our brain health. This is not new stuff folks, and it is a wonder to me why it is not part of a routine blood work up for heart health. Somehow our medical system is just stuck on the cholesterol model for heart disease. Let’s leave the 80’s behind us and get with the times. If you haven’t had your Homocysteine levels checked, please get in touch with me and let’s do just that. It is a simple and cheap blood test. Well worth it!
Donuts:
• Ok, not donuts per se, they are just easy to pick on and they bring to mind a guilty pleasure. But what I am talking about here is proper blood sugar control. Donuts of course would work to sabotage this effort so avoid them at all costs! Diabetics usually die of heart disease by the way. But people with poor blood sugar control, either high or low, will have an increase in heart disease risk. Remember inflammation? Well this is one way to be inflamed in a big way. Please people, eat your breakfast. Make it a high protein and/or high fiber content meal. Snack on healthy things every couple of hours and don’t let yourself get too hungry. Avoid too much simple stuff and sugars. This is all basic info, just remember to take it seriously. Oh, and cardio exercise. Please include this in your regimen. It will help your heart in a many number of ways, but will certainly help you balance your blood sugar.
So I think that about covers the most of it for now. I really could go on for hours informing the public about all of the other stuff we aren’t told pertaining to heart health. We don’t hear much about these things because they don’t translate directly into Statin drug sales. Just remember next time you are seeing one of those ads (and that should be in about five minutes or so) that there is much MUCH more to it than what we are told. Remember, if you follow what the mainstream says about heart disease you only have a 50/50 chance to make it out alive! And I for one don’t like those odds. Get in touch and we can have a look and do what your insurance company should be providing for you as a matter of basic health care.
Our Guts:
• Pretty much all of the current literature on all the major health problems can be traced back to inflammatory molecules floating around our body wreaking havoc. This is not disputed in either the mainstream or alternative worlds. And where might you ask does this inflammation come from? Not from a swollen ankle that’s for sure! Nope, it primarily comes from our guts. Inflammation along the lining of our stomach and intestines produces systemic inflammation which works to inflame our arteries, making them “sticky,” and more easily susceptible to plaque and vascular disease. An inflamed gut equals inflamed arteries and probably eventual heart disease. It is important to figure out what is inflaming your digestive tract and fix that for any lasting heart health to be had.
Our Guts… Yeah there’s more:
• Besides the inflammation there are often some pretty interesting bugs living in our guts that can leak into our blood and infect the lining of our arteries. This is a really quick route to vascular disease. There is one bacterial infection in particular which is known to infect the lining of our arteries called H. Pylori. It originates in our gut and can be passed by kissing, sharing drinks, food, etc. It is perhaps the most common communicable disease in the world. But finding this bacterial infection and killing it is a really important heart health concept that I assure you goes unchecked in your doctor’s office. And something which no Statin drug can address.
Homocysteine:
• Homo what now? Yes, Homocysteine. This is a little molecule in our bodies that when elevated not only promotes heart disease, but even before that works to injure our brain health. This is not new stuff folks, and it is a wonder to me why it is not part of a routine blood work up for heart health. Somehow our medical system is just stuck on the cholesterol model for heart disease. Let’s leave the 80’s behind us and get with the times. If you haven’t had your Homocysteine levels checked, please get in touch with me and let’s do just that. It is a simple and cheap blood test. Well worth it!
Donuts:
• Ok, not donuts per se, they are just easy to pick on and they bring to mind a guilty pleasure. But what I am talking about here is proper blood sugar control. Donuts of course would work to sabotage this effort so avoid them at all costs! Diabetics usually die of heart disease by the way. But people with poor blood sugar control, either high or low, will have an increase in heart disease risk. Remember inflammation? Well this is one way to be inflamed in a big way. Please people, eat your breakfast. Make it a high protein and/or high fiber content meal. Snack on healthy things every couple of hours and don’t let yourself get too hungry. Avoid too much simple stuff and sugars. This is all basic info, just remember to take it seriously. Oh, and cardio exercise. Please include this in your regimen. It will help your heart in a many number of ways, but will certainly help you balance your blood sugar.
So I think that about covers the most of it for now. I really could go on for hours informing the public about all of the other stuff we aren’t told pertaining to heart health. We don’t hear much about these things because they don’t translate directly into Statin drug sales. Just remember next time you are seeing one of those ads (and that should be in about five minutes or so) that there is much MUCH more to it than what we are told. Remember, if you follow what the mainstream says about heart disease you only have a 50/50 chance to make it out alive! And I for one don’t like those odds. Get in touch and we can have a look and do what your insurance company should be providing for you as a matter of basic health care.
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