Interview with Voicewize Blog!

I was recently interviewed by Voicewize Blog about reflux.  You can find it at this link:  http://blog.voicewize.com/2011/09/14/alternative-reflux-treatment/

What a Naturopathic Physician Eats

With the onset of summer, I have been feeling almost too lazy to cook these days.  Thankfully a patient came by with some fresh vegetables today and the veggies inspired me.

For breakfast I had some strawberry kefir, a fiber bar, mixed summer melon and my big mug of double bergamot Earl Grey tea.

For lunch I was going to have a leftover broasted chicken thigh and some jojos, but then my patient came by with fresh picked lettuce, radishes and chives.  I added some green onion, sunflower seeds and ranch dressing.  Delicious and much more colorful than the brown-yellow food!

It was spelt rotini pasta with a tomato, garlic, basil and ground beef sauce for dinner.  Along with that were steamed squash, broccoli, carrots and cauliflower.  I sprinkled some good Parmesan cheese over all of it.  Some garlic bread completed the meal.

I haven't had dessert yet, but I'm leaning toward that Little Debbie Nutty Bar I have stashed away in the cupboard, with a cup of some sort of relaxing, non caffeine tea.

For not really feeling like cooking today, I think I did a pretty good job.  I probably needed more protein in my meals and will wake up hungry in the morning.

What did you eat today?

What a Naturopathic Physician Eats

For breakfast I had double bergamot Earl Grey, fresh pineapple, fresh mango, Activia yogurt and a home made banana nut bread made from Pamela's gluten free baking mix.

For lunch I had an organic hamburger with swiss cheese, baby carrots, celery sticks and a lovely salad of butter leaf lettuce, green onion, baby cukes, avocado, cherry tomatoes and ranch dressing. 

For dinner we had New England clam chowder with corn and garlic bread.  I did not make the clam chowder, it came from a can.  (I know, you're shocked, right?)

I felt satisfied all day.  Mr. Inappropriate and I are trying hard to get more servings of fruits and veggies into our daily diet.  I can do the veggies well, but rarely eat fruit.  However, the fresh fruit for breakfast really works for me.

How have you been doing with your daily intake of fruits and vegetables?

Common Sense Health: Introduction

So many people ask me questions about new age type ‘cures’ such as crystals or energy work such as reiki or detoxification regimens for particular problems.  After a while, it gets old because most people have not worked on common sense type things to fix their problems before trying some things that can be kind of ‘out there’.  It’s probably that most people want to just take a pill to take care of their health problem, to have a magic bullet.

Common sense is not a science.  It is more about what ‘everyone’ feels to be true.  There is an interesting article at Wikipedia on common sense:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_sense

I’ve been wanting to write about this lack of common sense, that people are not working on the building blocks of health before they use subtler types of cures.  I feel that the building blocks of your health can be determined by the following questions:
    1.    How much sleep are you getting?
    2.    How often do you have a bowel movement?
    3.    How much water are you drinking?
    4.    What types of food are you eating, how often and how much?
    5.    What types of body movement do you do on a regular basis?  
    6.    How is stress affecting your life?
    7.    Do you have good friends you can talk with,  be yourself with?
    8.    Is your spiritual life supporting you the way that you need?

These questions are separated out for focus, but they all interact with each other.  Stress and anxiety may make it difficult to sleep.  If you are not drinking enough water, it can cause constipation.  If you’re not getting enough sleep, you may not want to go exercise.
This being said, I am not saying that things like energy work or homeopathy or crystal healing don’t work, because they often do.  I just think that it is better for your health overall to address the questions above before diving into the fine tuning.

In the interest of not having a Borg cube of text, my next post I’ll write about sleep and sleep optimization and separate the topics out into eight posts.
Questions? Comments?

Supporting Your Thyroid

I hate to tell you this, but, by the time thyroid issues show up on blood tests, it may be too late to treat it only nutritionally or with lifestyle changes.  You may be on a thyroid hormone prescription for the rest of your life.
That being said, I am a naturopathic physician and I like to treat the whole person.  There are many varieties of thyroid hormone issues.  According to the book by Datis Kharrazian, “Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms”, there are six types of hypothyroidism with only one needing just the prescription thyroid hormone.
It is usually a woman that enters my office with thyroid problems.  If possible, besides testing TSH, Free T4, Free T3 and antibodies, I also test estradiol, progesterone, DHEA, testosterone and cortisol throughout the day.  We usually have a talk about stress levels, and anti-inflammatory and hypo allergenic foods, which usually means gluten, dairy and citrus free diets.  Depending on the results of testing, history taking and ability of patient to afford supplements, the patient and I come up with a treatment plan that is individually theirs.
I may prescribe bio-identical hormones, things that help increase or decrease cortisol, mid-day naps, funny movies, body work, liver detoxification and supplements.
Here’s where I give you the legal talk:  Healing approaches mentioned in this blog are for educational purposes only.  They should not be used as replacements for conventional medical treatment without guidance from a trained medical professional.
The supplement I recommend to most patients, besides a good multi vitamin/mineral, is fish oil.  It is a great anti-inflammatory, is good for brain function and mental health, and is good for heart health.
The second most recommended supplement to patients that live in the Pacific Northwest is Vitamin D3.  We don’t get enough of it, even in the summer.  It helps with thyroid, depression, the immune system and myriad other conditions.  It’s important to get a blood level check so that you don’t over do it.
Although Kharrazian doesn’t recommend it, I often will give iodine and tyrosine to my thyroid patients if an iodine patch is absorbed quickly (less than 12 hours) through the skin.  Kharrazian believes that iodine can start auto-immune problems.  I personally haven’t seen this in my patients, but I probably will tell my Hashimoto’s patients to not take these type of supplements.  This would include kelp and other sea vegetables.
If you have elevated cortisol, I usually recommend deep breathing and phosphatidyl serine.  If you have low cortisol I recommend Isocort, B vitamins, zinc and selenium.
If you have heart burn, abdominal bloating,  or bowel issues, we will talk about your diet, try digestive enzymes, probiotics and sometimes liver support.
Datis Kharrazian’s book,  “Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms”, has some new ideas for me.  He tests for immunological markers such as interferon, interleukin, TNF and so on to determine if one part of your immune system is more active than the other and then supplementing to restore balance to the immune system based on the results.  I will probably order some of these tests for patients that are not doing well on what we have been doing so far.
What I’m trying to get at is that there is no “ONE WAY” of treating thyroid issues.  The treatment is wrapped up in what else is going on with the WHOLE person.  Is the person stressed out, having digestive issues?  That will be one treatment.  Is the person diabetic or anemic?  Those are other treatments.  Is the person menopausal?  A combination of everything above?  The treatment plan will take into account what is going on with the individual.
Don’t be disappointed.  In future posts I plan to talk about diabetes, digestive issues and more.  You’ll get to hear about all sorts of supplements for specific issues along with lifestyle changes.  Do you have anything specific you would like to hear about?