Jonny Bowden's Blog, page 6

The Three Supplements Every Man Needs

OK, let’s get real for a minute: When it comes to health, women are generally way more knowledgeable than men.

Women make 80% of the health decisions in the family. They buy 70% of health, diet and self-improvement books. They’re much more likely to schedule doctor’s appointments and to be sure that everyone in their family is getting the kind of health care they need.

Men, it’s time to step up.

Ever since I wrote my blog post on being 70, I’ve heard from a lot of men “of a certain age”. Apparently, many of these men were inspired by my blog post. These guys aren’t willing to just go gently into the night, say goodbye to passion and romance, slow down and whither away. They don’t want to look and feel like old men when they hit 60. These guys want to know what it takes to be happy, active, passionate, involved and engaged as they round 50,60, 70 and beyond.

Some of these guys are only in their 40’s but want to be proactive—they want to do everything they can so that they feel as good in 30 or 40 years as they do right now. Others are in their 60’s and 70’s and want to do a course correction before it’s too late.

I actually think you guys are an underserved population. And I’m going to be talking to you a lot in the coming months.

So let’s start with something very simple: Three supplements every man needs,

especially if you’re over 50.

Omega-3’s

If I had to choose one supplement to take with me on a desert island, I wouldn’t hesitate for a moment before choosing fish oil. There’s really no other supplement I can think of that gives you a greater variety of health benefits. Omega-3 fats are one of the most anti-inflammatory substances on the planet. That’s important because inflammation is a “silent killer”, and a promoter of every degenerative disease we know of, from heart disease to cancer, from obesity to arthritis, from Alzheimer’s to acne. Inflammation is also one of the main sources of joint pain and muscle aches.

Omega-3’s have been shown to lower triglycerides and blood pressure, while improving mood and lifting depression. They get inside the cell membranes making it easier for cells (like brain cells) to “talk” to each other. Low levels of omega-3’s have been associated with learning problems, vision problems, attention problems and behavior problems. And they are one of the least controversial supplements on the planet- even mainstream medicine recognizes their enormous value in human health.

The omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil are EPA (eiposapaenoic acid) and DHA (docosaxhexanoic aicd). Any good, reliable fish oil supplement will tell you on the label how much EPA and DHA are in each dose. You should try for a minimum of 1 gram combined EPA and DHA daily, but that’s minimum-wage nutrition. Most nutritionist-doctors I know are much more likely to recommend 3-4 grams a day, which is what I personally take.

It’s easier to get that amount from liquid fish oil than from pills, though you can certainly do it with pills if you’re willing to swallow a whole bunch of them. An even more “painless” way to get a good dose is with Barlean’s swirls, which is omega-3s in a kind of “fruit compote” liquid which actually tastes pretty good. My favorite is the high potency key lime fish oil swirl– you can get on Amazon.

I usually just squirt a couple tablespoons worth into full into my mouth every day without even measuring it.

Vitamin D

Every day more research is coming in showing that we have completely missed the boat on this nutrient. The current RDA is for 400 IUs a day but that doesn’t begin to give us enough to get the incredible benefits of this underappreciated vitamin. Three quarters of the US population is vitamin D deficient(1), and study after study shows that low levels of vitamin D put you at higher risk for cancer, for weight gain, and even for depression.

Vitamin D has been shown to improve physical performance in older adults and improve scores on mental exams for Alzheimer’s patients(4). Levels of vitamin D in the blood can actually predict success with weight loss programs (5,6), and one amazing study showed that you had a greater chance of dying from any cause whatsoever if you had low levels of vitamin D in your blood. (7)

I personally take 6,000 IUs a day, and I live in southern California and spend a lot of time in the sun on the tennis court. At the very least take 2,000 IUs a day. If your blood levels are less than optimal (easily measured in an 25(OH)-vitamin D test), you’ll probably need 5,000 a day to bring them up.

Magnesium

Magnesium is a lot more than calcium’s partner (though it is certainly that as well, absolutely essential for strong bones). It’s needed for over 300 biochemical reactions, helps maintain muscle and nerve function, acts as a natural “calcium channel blocker” which helps protect the heart, is involved in maintaining healthy blood sugar and is essential for keeping blood pressure at a healthy level. It’s also very relaxing. If you can ever find an integrative medicine doc who gives vitamin drips, try getting one with a heavy dose of magnesium. You’ll sleep like a baby.

Surveys show that about ¾ of Americans don’t get nearly enough of this wonderful mineral, the fourth most abundant in the body. It’s found in fruits and vegetables and nuts, and if you’re going to take a supplement be sure to get at least 400mg—800mg would be even better. Magnesium glycinate is one of the best absorbed, and magnesium citrate can help you if you’re constipated. Magnesium oxide is the cheapest.

No man is going to get instantly healthy by taking supplements, but then you knew that already, didn’t you? Nonetheless, taking these three on a daily basis is a darn good start!

Are Statin Drugs a Waste of Time?

Not long ago, a medical reporter friend of mine, Lynn Allison, asked me to comment on a recent article in The Daily Mail, the title of which was:

MORE experts claim statins are a waste of time.

The article went on to say that studies show that cutting cholesterol fails to slash heart risk. (That is correct.) It said that millions were being mislead about the side effects of the popular cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins (also correct). And that the side effects of these drugs were far more common than studies suggested. (That too, is correct.)

Lynn asked me for a comment. This is what I said.

This new article is a wonderful development, but not wholly unexpected. My book with cardiologist Dr. Steven Sinatra— The Great Cholesterol Myth— references dozens and dozens of studies which cast serious doubt on– or in some cases totally refute– the notion that cholesterol causes heart disease.

Dr. Sinatra and I listed several peer-reviewed studies that showed that more than half the people admitted to hospitals for cardiovascular disease have normal “bad” cholesterol (less than 100 LDL), and just under half had desirable levels of “good” cholesterol (more than 40 HDL). Not only doesn’t cholesterol cause heart disease, it’s a lousy PREDICTOR of it!

Yet the accepted “conventional” wisdom is that lowering cholesterol lowers the risk of heart disease. It does not. As i said on Dr. Oz, “Trying to lower the risk of heart disease by lowering cholesterol is like trying to lower the risk of obesity by taking the lettuce off your Big Mac”.

Interestingly, cholesterol skepticism is NOT a new position— George Mann, one of the principle investigators of the long-running Framingham study of heart disease— called the notion of cholesterol causing heart disease “the greatest scam ever perpetrated on the American public”.

And our book— The Great Cholesterol Myth— was hardly the first to point out the difference between the data and the recommendations. The Great Cholesterol Con, The Cholesterol Myths, Cholesterol Clarity, The Cholesterol Delusion, The Cholesterol Conspiracy and dozens of other popular and scholarly books have made the case before us, and undoubtedly others will continue to make it after us. An excellent review article— Saturated Fat and Cardiovascular Disease: The discrepancy between the scientific literature and dietary advice, published in the journal Nutrition (Feb, 2012) concluded that “results and conclusions about saturated fat in relation to cardiovascular disease, from leading advisory committees, do not reflect the available scientific literature”.

Finally, there’s the question of statin drugs and overmedication in general. The wonderful John Abramson of Harvard Medical School, has been speaking out for the better part of a decade on the overuse of ineffective medications, and has been particularly critical of statin drugs. Statin drugs have multiple serious side effects from memory loss to fatigue to loss of energy and libido, to serious muscle pain. Yet they are prescribed randomly to anyone with an “elevated” cholesterol level, even though study after study shows little benefit to lowering cholesterol. (Interestingly, in the Framingham study, those with the highest cholesterol actually lived the longest!) The studies the drug companies point to showing that “statins save lives” usually do not hold up under close examination. You may see a SLIGHT reduction in heart attacks but you will see a corresponding INCREASE in cancer and diabetes. And several peer-reviewed studies have shown a significant increase in diabetes among statin users.

And why don’t we know more about these statin side effects? Simple. Because doctors usually don’t report them.

An exhaustive study, by Dr. Beatrice Golumb at Stanford, showed that 65% of docs do not report statin side effects because they don’t believe their patients. (You can read the actual study here.) The average patient will come in and say something like, “Hey doc, ever since you gave me this Lipitor, I’ve been forgetting things left and right” and the doc will say, “No, Mr. Jones, that’s just the mild cognitive impairment that comes with age, nothing to worry about, definitely not coming from the statin drug”.

Meanwhile, statins (and lowering cholesterol) are a 31 billion dollar-a-year business.

As the great American writer, Upton Sinclair, once said: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it”.

Yes, Tonight Dear! Libido Naturally

You can never be too rich or too thin, they say. Nor too hot. The quest for potions, foods, herbs or supplements to increase a sagging libido is never ending. Erectile dysfunction (ED) affects 30 million men in the US and half the male population between 40-70. The introduction of Viagra raised drugmaker Pfizer, Inc’s profits 38% on the strength of huge demand, and was followed by the introduction of Cialis and Levitra, each hoping for a share of the approximately 1.6 billion dollar US market.

And that’s just the guys. While those drugs don’t work on women (believe me, they’ve tried), that doesn’t mean everything is OK with the gals. According to a recent survey reported by sexologist Laura Berman, MD, 43% of women reported having some kind of sexual dissatisfaction, and 1/3 of them specifically reported low sexual desire.

What’s up with that? And can food help? Read on.

Back in the 70’s, there was a famous erotic entertainer named Seka. When asked to name the most erogenous zone in the body, she wisely answered “the area between the ears”. Fact is, flagging libido can have a lot more to do with the brain than with the areas down below. Stress, lack of energy, fatigue, depression, anger and worry are all sexual appetite killers, and few foods- even the erotic staples like oysters and chocolate- are going to make much of a dent if your mind is somewhere else. On the other hand, sometimes a lack of desire (or the ability to perform) for men or women has a physical base. As often or not, it’s a mix of both- desire plus the ability to do something about it.

To make sure the body is able (assuming the spirit is interested), we have to make sure circulation is A-OK. Best way to improve overall circulation? Exercise. Almost any kind will do- as long as your heart is pumping, blood is flushing through your organs and oxygen is cleaning out the cobwebs in the brain. Exercise also raises feel-good chemicals in the brain called catecholemines, making it far likely that you’ll feel amorous rather than exhausted. Certain yoga postures are said to be fantastic for before sex, notably a shoulder stand for men and the butterfly pose for women.

Then there are the sexy foods. Though the reputation of some of these foods is based on folk wisdom and tradition, there’s good science behind others. Here’s my top seven list of foods that may increase libido naturally:

Almonds (or nuts) contain important fatty acids that help the brain work better.

Avocado: Not only are they a sensual delight, but they contain important fatty acids that help the brain and the heart.

Celery: Guys take note: celery actually contains a small amount of androsterone, a male hormone released in sweat that’s been known to turn women on.

Chili Peppers: Hot peppers contain capsaicin, which can stimulate circulation.

Chocolate: It’s no accident that chocolate is the gift of love. It contains phenylethylalamine (PEA) a chemical that’s raised in the brain when you’re in love. (Note: according to Daniel Amen, MD, author of “Sex on the Brain”,  cheese actually contains even more PEA than chocolate. It’s just not as romantic!)

Oysters: High in zinc, which is essential for male sexual functioning, oysters have been associated with sex since the days of Cassanova.

Figs: Figs are high in amino acids, and are believed to increase sexual stamina. Plus they’re sensual, juicy and sweet- perfect for “food foreplay”.

Nutmeg: According to Daniel Amen, MD, nutmeg is used in Indian medicine for enhancing desire. In one animal study, an extract of nutmeg had the same effect on mating behavior as Viagra.

High carbohydrate dishes like pasta are more likely to lead to snoozing than to romancing. Go with energy producing protein and vegetables, and leave the table just a bit hungry. Some foods, by sheer nature of their sensuality, can trigger thoughts of amour- think a juicy peach, for example, or even an avocado. Foods with luscious textures and tastes are always mood-enhancing. The sheer sensuality of eating them-especially with a partner over a romantic dinner- may lead to even more sensual delights later on.

To turn on the brain naturally, think of smells. Almond and coconut are always good bets, and make great scented candles. Lavendar has been shown to be one of the most universal turn-ons, as has- believe it or not- the smells of pumpkin pie and buttered popcorn for men, and baby powder and licorice candy for women.

Then there’s attraction- the ultimate aphrodisiac. It’s better than any supplement, food or potion. You can’t buy it, eat it or create it out of nothing, but if you have it- and the body’s capable- you’re in for a good time.

There’s no aphrodisiac on earth like romantic love.

Foods rich in omega-3’s (like cold water fish) are anti-inflammatory and help with circulation and blood pressure.

 

ED=ED.. fix the brain, fix the heart, fix the mood

Exercise

Choclate, oysters, red wine, arginine.

Supplements like horny goat weed or maca may help some men

Avoid blood sugar crashes- protein and vegetables is more likely to make you amorous than a huge pasta meal..

Get your circulation working- fish oil, protein

The Do-Something Principal

Practically everyone in the world has struggled with a lack of motivation.

 

As an author and speaker I hear it virtually every day. “I seem to have lost my motivation.” “I just can’t get motivated.” “I’m just not inspired.” “I know what I need to do, but I just can’t seem to do it.”

 

Can you relate?

 

Most of us can. But the question is, what do we do about it?

 

The problem lies in the fact that we think of inspiration, motivation and action as a linear progression. First you get inspired, you get motivated to do something, and finally, you take action. In this model, if you’re not inspired or motivated, you’re basically screwed.

 

There’s a better model.

 

What if motivation and inspiration were actually the result of action, not just the cause of it?

 

Here’s the deal. The mere act of taking action—any action—stimulates a cascade of activity. Your brain takes note of the fact that you’re taking an action and adjusts accordingly. Acting happy actually changes certain things in your body and brain that can be measured, like hormones, neurotransmitters and blood pressure. That’s true even when you aren’t actually happy, you’re just acting that way.

 

The writer and coach Mark Mason talks about something he calls the Do Something Principle, which is based the idea that when you’re stuck, you should just take an action.  Behavior has consequences. Taking an action isn’t just a result of your feelings; it’s also a big instigator of them.

 

Mason tells the story of an author who was interviewed once about his prodigious output. “How’d you write all this stuff?” the interviewer asked him.

 

Pay attention to the author’s answer, cause it’s genius.

 

“Two hundred lousy words a day.”

 

This dude essentially created an entire legacy of work by taking one small, almost insignificant action a day. What the writer was saying is that he took an action even when he didn’t feel like it, which is the total secret to overcoming “no motivation”.

 

I can relate—if I had waited to “feel” like giving up cigarettes twenty-five years ago, I’d be smoking as I write this. The most empowering, transcendental thing in the world is to be able to act even when you don’t feel like it. (To hear my extended rant on this, please download my free mp3, Motivation: Why You Don’t Need It.

The Do-Something Principle simply says take an action. It can be something as simple as drinking a glass of water, walking to the gym (even if you don’t go in), reading one page in a book you’ve been putting off reading, reading one page in a different book, writing 200 words every morning, writing the first page of a proposal, weighing yourself…doesn’t really matter.

 

The metric you’re going for here is action… not results. The kind of results you’re looking for will come later, in good time. Right now all you need to do is be concerned with taking one action.

 

I know for myself that when I don’t feel like writing—which is frequently the case—if I just make a deal with myself to do one action (like writing, for example, 200 words), two things will happen. One, I will feel more subtly empowered (‘cause I said I would do something and then I did it, and there’s nothing like making shit happen in the world to make you feel more powerful. Don’t worry about the “it” being small—the important point is you’re building an empowerment muscle that grows every time you say you do something and you do it).

 

The second thing that will happen—not always, but sometimes—is that I don’t stop at the 200 words. I know I can, ‘cause that was the deal I made with myself, but the mere act of crafting a few sentences gets my juices flowing, or gets me thinking about the topic and wanting to read more (and write more) about it.

 

I’m writing this article on a Saturday and when I started I didn’t feel like writing at all. So I made a deal with myself—just the first few sentences. Which I did. And I haven’t stopped yet, and probably won’t till the article is done because now I’m really into it. A small, unmotivated action actually produced inspiration and enthusiasm.

 

Which led to more action.

 

So if you’re stuck feeling unmotivated, here’s a challenge for you. Disempower the notion of “motivation”. It doesn’t have to rule you, you don’t have to spend your life waiting to “find” it, you don’t need to wait for inspiration to “strike” you like a thunderbolt from Zeus.

 

Just take an action.

 

Even if—or especially if—you don’t feel like it.

 

You’ll have a “win” in the short term…and a way better chance of winning the game.

 

 

The 15 Foods (and 5 Beverages) I Can’t Do Without

People often ask me to list my personal favorite healthy foods. Since the 10th anniversary, updated and expanded edition of The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth is coming out this June, I figured this would be..

Myths and Truths

Not long ago, a medical reporter friend of mine, Lynn Allison, asked me to comment on a recent article in The Daily Mail, the title of which was: MORE experts claim statins are a waste of time. The article went on to say that studies show.

Naturopathic Strategies for Pain Relief

Anyone who has ever suffered with pain knows how debilitating it can be, particularly when it’s chronic. Yet the conventional solution—strong, pharmaceutical medicines—are turning out to be worse than the problem. They certainly get rid of pain— but at what cost?

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the US is in the midst of an unprecedented opioid epidemic. Since 1999, the rate of overdose deaths that involved opioids nearly quadrupled, with over 165,000 people dying just from prescription opioid overdoses.(1,2,3)

And that’s just the hard stuff. Consider that 107,000 patients are hospitalized annually for NSAID-related gastrointestinal complications, and at least 16,500 NSAID-related deaths occur each year just among arthritis patients alone.(4). To put this number into context, it’s about the same number of people who die from AIDS every year. “If deaths from gastrointestinal toxic effects from NSAIDs were tabulated separately in the National Vital Statistics reports, these effects would constitute the 15th most common cause of death in the US”, says a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine. (5)

What’s particularly frightening is that that report was written in 1999. The problem has gotten exponentially worse since then.(6)

Even such common over-the-counter medicines like ibuprofen and aspirin are not without their problems. The excellent website GreenMedInfo has compiled a list of 71 studies that link aspirin to a broad range of side effects ranging from gastric ulcers to cerebral bleeding to H-pylori infections(7,8) and 24 studies linking Ibuprofen to adverse health effects that include anemia, DNA damage, hypertension, and miscarriage(9,10) There have been at least five studies that claim NSAIDs cause heart problems, and one—published in the journal Circulation—showed that NSAIDS can greatly and quickly increase the risk of death in those who have already suffered one heart attack. (11)

Tylenol (acetaminophen) has problems of its own. Acetaminophen is the leading cause of acute liver failure in the United States.(12). Ironically, the standard treatment for acute liver failure is N-acetylcysteine, a relative of the amino acid

L-cysteine, and a regular part of any licensed naturopathic doctor’s treatment arsenal (13).

While strong pharmaceuticals (like OxyContin and Vicodan) and over-the-counter NSAIDs (aspirin, Alleve, Motrin, Advil) certainly have a place in treatment protocols, they’re not the first choice of a naturopathic physician. Many herbs, botanicals, spices, supplements like fish oil and complementary treatments like acupuncture, have a long history of effectiveness in lowering pain and inflammation. Here is a sampling of some effective natural treatments for pain.

Omega-3s

“Fish oil is well-known for its anti-inflammatory properties”, says Michael Cronin, ND, a naturopathic physician in Scottsdale, Az., and past president of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians. A study comparing ibuprofen and the omega-3s found in fish oil (EPA and DHA) “demonstrated equivalent effect in reducing arthritic pain”. (14) The authors concluded that fish oil supplements “may be a safer alternative to NSAIDs” for some patients.

Curcumin

Curcumin is a wonderful example of a natural medicine. Curcumin is the active compound in turmeric, the bright orange spice used in Indian food and curries. It’s a powerful anti-inflammatory and has been studied for its beneficial effects on the pain of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis(15) and as an anti-inflammatory agent in neurodegenerative, cardiovascular, pulmonary, metabolic, autoimmune and neoplastic diseases.(16). Since curcumin is not terribly well-absorbed, it’s best to look for products that use the BCM-95 form of curcumin, such as Curamin by Terry Naturally, widely available in health and vitamin stores. Studies show that BCM-95 curcumin is somewhat better absorbed than the garden-variety kind.

Capsaicin

Capsaicin comes from hot chili peppers, and has a long history of use in the practice of natural medicine. It decreases substance P—a compound involved in the transmission of pain signals (17)—and has been shown to be effective in diabetic neuropathy, postsurgical pain, and Guillain-Barre’ syndrome. (18) Patients at the New England Center for Headache were able to significantly decrease the intensity of both migraine and cluster headaches after using capsaicin cream inside their nostrils. (19)

Spices, botanicals, and herbs

Many other spices, botanicals and herbs have a long history of medicinal use. The American Pain Foundation lists, for pain management, ginseng (for fibromyalgia), kava kava (for tension headaches), St. John’s Wort (for arthritis and sciatica) and valerian root (for spasms and muscle cramps.) Ginger contains potent phytochemicals which help flight inflammation. Feverfew, a medicinal herb, has been used as a headache remedy for centuries, as has butterbur. Some over-the-counter products meant to ease pain (like InflaTera or Zyflamend) are mixes of herbs and botanicals like turmeric, ginger and holy basil. Your naturopathic physician will be able to customize combinations of natural substances in the correct doses for your individual situation.

SAMe

SAME-e (S adenosylmethionine) is well known for its effect on mood, but it also helps with joint pain by reducing inflammation. One study showed that SAM-e was as effective as most NSAIDs in reducing arthritis-related achiness. (20)

Heat and ice

Heat and ice have long been used as traditional remedies for pain. Personal trainers are taught the acronym RICE for dealing with typical athletic injuries: Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. According to the University of Rochester Medical Center Website, heat and cold are the two most common types of nonaddictive, noninvasive, non-toxic pain-relieving therapies both for joint pain and for muscle pain. (21). Ice decreases blood flow to the injury (lowering swelling and inflammation) while heat opens up blood vessels, supplying oxygen and nutrients to the area and relaxing sore muscles.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture originated 3000 years ago in China, and has a long history of being used for pain. (22) Guidelines issued by the American College of Physicians recommended that acupuncture be considered as one of several nondrug approaches physicians should consider with patients who have chronic low-back pain. (23)

Resveratrol

Reseveratrol is a good example of a natural medicine that can be used in conjunction with conventional pain treatments, making those medicines even more effective (and, hopefully, reducing the amount of those medicines needed to be prescribed.) Resveratrol has been investigated for decades for its multiple beneficial effects on everything from aging to inflammation to insulin sensitivity. But in the last few years, it’s been recently noted that resveratrol preserves the pain-relieving effects of morphine (24,25), making a dose of that powerful (but potentially dangerous) medication last a lot longer so you need less of it. Resveratrol also seems to have the ability to lower substance P—a compound in the body that transmits pain impulses. (26) Animal studies show that resveratrol lowers neuropathic pain by balancing the release of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines. (27)

Summing Up

This is a far from complete list, but it should give you an idea of the range of available pain treatments that do not require toxic and dangerous drugs with their significant potential for addiction.

Though there are certainly MDs who are aware of some of these treatments, most are not. Naturopathic physicians, by the very nature of their training, are deeply familiar with all of them, and will develop an individualized, multi-modal, non-toxic treatment plan before reaching for the “hard stuff”.

_____________________________________________________________

REFERENCES

1) http://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/Factsheet-opioids-061516.pdf

2) CDC Vital Signs, 60(43): 1487-1492

3) CDC. Wide-ranging online data for epidemiologic research (WONDER). Atlanta, GA: CDC, National Center for Health Statistics; 2016. Available at http://wonder.cdc.gov.

4) Singh Gurkirpal, MD, “Recent Considerations in Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug Gastropathy”, The American Journal of Medicine, July 27, 1998, p. 31S

5) Wolfe M. MD, Lichtenstein D. MD, and Singh Gurkirpal, MD, “Gastrointestinal Toxicity of Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs”, The New England Journal of Medicine,a June 17, 1999, Vol. 340, No. 24, pp. 1888-1889.)

6) Frenk SM, Porter KS, Paulozzi LJ. Prescription opioid analgesic use among adults: United States, 1999–2012. NCHS data brief, no 189. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2015.

7) http://www.greenmedinfo.com/toxic-ingredient/aspirin

8) http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/ibuprofen-kills-more-pain-so-what-alternatives

9) http://www.greenmedinfo.com/toxic-ingredient/ibuprofen

10) http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/ibuprofen-kills-more-pain-so-what-alternatives

11) http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/115/12/1634

12) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2504411/

13) ibid

14) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16531187

15) http://www.lifeextension.com/magazine/2012/8/safely-manage-joint-inflammation/page-01

16) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2637808/

17) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15334652

18) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3048583/

19) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8495452

20) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12019049

21) https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentTypeID=1&ContentID=4483

22) http://ceaccp.oxfordjournals.org/content/7/4/135.full

23) https://nccih.nih.gov/health/acupuncture/introduction

24) https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120925114337.htm

25) http://spinalstenosis.org/blog/chronic-pain-relief-improved-resveratrol-morphine/

26) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3634096/

27) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26953646

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Do you have hypothyroid or Hashimoto’s?

The thyroid got a lot of attention in the media back in 2007 when Oprah Winfrey announced she had a thyroid condition which, she believed, was the cause of her inability to lose weight.

The problem is that over 90% of people conventionally diagnosed with hypothyroid are, in fact, suffering with something else: Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. Though related to hypothyroid, Hashimoto’s is actually a very different condition and requires a very different approach.

Hypothyroidism is a problem with your thyroid gland; Hashimoto’s is a problem with your immune system. In Hashimoto’s– as in all autoimmune diseases– the immune system gets confused and mistakenly attacks a part of your own body, kind of the metabolic equivalent of “friendly fire”. In this case, the immune system attacks the thyroid gland, ultimately destroying thyroid tissue and leading to a reduction in thyroid hormone.

Why do conventional doctors often miss Hashimoto’s? It has to do with the standard testing for thyroid function, a blood test called the TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone). When TSH levels are high, thyroid hormones are low, and conventional docs will generally prescribe synthetic thyroid hormone and consider the condition treated.

But the TSH test doesn’t tell the whole story- far from it. When your immune system attacks the thyroid, thyroid tissue is destroyed and thyroid hormones can randomly get dumped into the bloodstream. Even though your TSH levels may be “normal”, at any given time you might actually have elevated levels of thyroid hormones (with the accompanying symptoms of anxiety and increased heartbeat). “I’ve seen people mis-diagnosed with bipolar disorder, panic attacks, anxiety attacks—all because thyroid hormones can really put you on an emotional roller coaster”, says Dr. Izabella Wentz, author of Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis: Lifestyle Interventions for Finding the Root Cause.

All this should point to the importance of getting a thorough evaluation. Any treatment for an autoimmune disease like Hashimoto’s should take a hard look at food sensitivities, diet, stress, sleep, digestion, nutrient deficiencies and inflammation, all of which can cobble the immune system in significant ways.

Take stress, for example. When you’re under stress, your body secretes a hormone called cortisol, which can actually save your life in an emergency. But cortisol has a dark side. High levels of cortisol directly impair the functioning of the immune system, so a treatment plan for Hashimoto’s should always include a plan for managing the stressors in your life. Constant stress weakens the immune system at exactly the time you need to be strengthening it.

Diet matters as well. In a study published just this year, Italian researchers put 180 overweight people with Hashimoto’s on either a low-carb diet or a low-calorie weight loss diet. After only 21 days, those on the low-carb diet saw a significant drop in their thyroid antibodies, while those on the low-calorie diet saw their thyroid antibodies rise. In this study, diet reduced thyroid antibodies by a whopping 40% or more.

Deficiencies of nutrients—particularly selenium— can have a big effect on both thyroid hormones in general and Hashimoto’s in particular. Several studies have shown significant reductions in thyroid antibodies after supplementation with 200 mcg of selenium.

Hashimoto’s can be managed with the right treatment plan– your life can be put back on track. (Just ask the well-known biohacker, entrepreneur and athlete Dave Aspery– inventor of Bulletproof Coffee– who’s had Hashimoto’s all his life.)

But first it needs to be correctly identified. Because naturopathic physicians are trained to look well beyond the standard TSH test, they are uniquely qualified to identify and treat difficult and multifaceted conditions such as Hashimoto’s. (You can find a licensed naturopathic physician at the Institute for Natural Medicine website here.

The way conventional medicine treats Hashimoto’s—as a thyroid problem rather than an immune system problem—is one of the big systemic screw-ups of conventional medicine, akin to treating heart disease as a statin deficiency, or treating obesity as a problem with calories.

If you’ve ever suspected you’ve had an underperforming thyroid, or you know anyone who does, you owe it to yourself to watch the 9-part documentary series, “The Thyroid Secret” where you will hear interviews with some of the leading lights in functional and naturopathic medicine. You’ll come away learning about the thyroid, about autoimmune disease in general, and about why conventional medicine rarely gets it right when it comes to conditions that can’t be fixed by a single pill.

The Accidental Date

I have a lot of single women friends, almost all of whom have tried online dating, almost none of whom have had any luck with it.

Well, actually that’s not true. They’ve had plenty of luck, just none of it good.

If you know anybody who’s searched for love online, you’ve probably heard the horror stories. Guys who might have—on a good day two decades ago– resembled their profile picture. Divorced guys living in the same house as their “ex”. People who tell you what great listeners they are as they talk non-stop about themselves for three and a half hours. Should I continue?

One of my best friends has been dabbling in these waters for years. She’s someone who, for as long as I’ve known her, has longed for a committed relationship but has been unable—for whatever reason—to connect with the right person. She lives her dating life going from hopeful to disappointed.

Then, one day, she decided she was done with “dating”.

But it wasn’t for the reasons you might guess.

She wasn’t dropping out of the dating world because of frustration or hopelessness.

She was dropping out of the dating rat race because she had found something better—herself.

My friend has always been a very conscious, mindful and spiritual a person in the most generous sense of those words. She is thoughtful and reflective, and extremely self-aware. And what she had finally come to discover was that she actually liked being single.

She hadn’t thought she was supposed to like being single—but she did.

She looked at her life and saw that it was pretty damn good. She lived ten yards from the beach. She had dogs that she loved and cared for. She had a career doing the thing she had wanted to do since she was 7 years old and now, 40 years later, people were actually paying her to do it. She was healthy and fit and in the prime of life. She had a great son who adored her. She had incredible friends. She liked and cherished her alone time.

Now you wouldn’t necessarily know this since you don’t know my friend, but believe me when I say that this inventory of blessings was not “sour grapes”. What my friend had discovered was true joy in the pleasures of daily life and in the pleasure of her own company. And not in a way that was narcissistic, but in a way that was celebratory.

She no longer had to pursue something that she thought she needed to be happy—she already was happy.

Some time passed.

Recently, I heard from her.

She had gone to a meet-up group that hikes in the Santa Monica mountains. She loves hiking, she loves the Santa Monica mountains, and she had been to that meet-up group a number of times and always had a great time.

Except this time, because the weather had been kind of iffy, no one showed up.

Except one guy.

So they decided what the heck, they’ll go on the hike anyway, just the two of them. And they did.

It was terrific. They connected. They talked. They had a great time. There was chemistry. They exchanged numbers.

My friend called me up to say, “I just had an accidental date”.

Indeed.

Now I can’t tell you that this story ends like a Nora Ephron 90’s rom-com, because I don’t know the “end” of the story, and that’s not really the point anyway. The point is not the result-the point is the process.

Standing still. Breathing deeply. Loving and appreciating where you are and who you are.. Letting go of need and desperation and replacing it with acceptance and gratitude.

It’s a basic tenant of almost every spiritual practice that when you let go of your attachment to the result, that’s when the good stuff shows up.

I wonder how many of us never get the chance to have an “accidental date” because we’re too busy looking.

I wonder what wonderful and magical things might come into our lives if we only stopped searching so hard for them……

……….and just allowed them to happen.

Are Statin Drugs a Waste of Time?

Not long ago, a medical reporter friend of mine, Lynn Allison, asked me to comment on a recent article in The Daily Mail, the title of which was:

MORE experts claim statins are a waste of time.

The article went on to say that studies show that cutting cholesterol fails to slash heart risk. (That is correct.) It said that millions were being mislead about the side effects of the popular cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins (also correct). And that the side effects of these drugs were far more common than studies suggested. (That too, is correct.)

Lynn asked me for a comment. This is what I said.

This new article is a wonderful development, but not wholly unexpected. My book with cardiologist Dr. Steven Sinatra— The Great Cholesterol Myth— references dozens and dozens of studies which cast serious doubt on– or in some cases totally refute– the notion that cholesterol causes heart disease.

Dr. Sinatra and I listed several peer-reviewed studies that showed that more than half the people admitted to hospitals for cardiovascular disease have normal “bad” cholesterol (less than 100 LDL), and just under half had desirable levels of “good” cholesterol (more than 40 HDL). Not only doesn’t cholesterol cause heart disease, it’s a lousy PREDICTOR of it!

Yet the accepted “conventional” wisdom is that lowering cholesterol lowers the risk of heart disease. It does not. As i said on Dr. Oz, “Trying to lower the risk of heart disease by lowering cholesterol is like trying to lower the risk of obesity by taking the lettuce off your Big Mac”.

Interestingly, cholesterol skepticism is NOT a new position— George Mann, one of the principle investigators of the long-running Framingham study of heart disease— called the notion of cholesterol causing heart disease “the greatest scam ever perpetrated on the American public”.

And our book— The Great Cholesterol Myth— was hardly the first to point out the difference between the data and the recommendations. The Great Cholesterol Con, The Cholesterol Myths, Cholesterol Clarity, The Cholesterol Delusion, The Cholesterol Conspiracy and dozens of other popular and scholarly books have made the case before us, and undoubtedly others will continue to make it after us. An excellent review article— Saturated Fat and Cardiovascular Disease: The discrepancy between the scientific literature and dietary advice, published in the journal Nutrition (Feb, 2012) concluded that “results and conclusions about saturated fat in relation to cardiovascular disease, from leading advisory committees, do not reflect the available scientific literature”.

Finally, there’s the question of statin drugs and overmedication in general. The wonderful John Abramson of Harvard Medical School, has been speaking out for the better part of a decade on the overuse of ineffective medications, and has been particularly critical of statin drugs. Statin drugs have multiple serious side effects from memory loss to fatigue to loss of energy and libido, to serious muscle pain. Yet they are prescribed randomly to anyone with an “elevated” cholesterol level, even though study after study shows little benefit to lowering cholesterol. (Interestingly, in the Framingham study, those with the highest cholesterol actually lived the longest!) The studies the drug companies point to showing that “statins save lives” usually do not hold up under close examination. You may see a SLIGHT reduction in heart attacks but you will see a corresponding INCREASE in cancer and diabetes. And several peer-reviewed studies have shown a significant increase in diabetes among statin users.

And why don’t we know more about these statin side effects? Simple. Because doctors usually don’t report them.

An exhaustive study, by Dr. Beatrice Golumb at Stanford, showed that 65% of docs do not report statin side effects because they don’t believe their patients. (You can read the actual study here.) The average patient will come in and say something like, “Hey doc, ever since you gave me this Lipitor, I’ve been forgetting things left and right” and the doc will say, “No, Mr. Jones, that’s just the mild cognitive impairment that comes with age, nothing to worry about, definitely not coming from the statin drug”.

Meanwhile, statins (and lowering cholesterol) are a 31 billion dollar-a-year business.

As the great American writer, Upton Sinclair, once said: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it”.