Colorado Springs Functional Medicine

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Before You Take that Cholesterol Drug…

You may not have heard of some recent news that is happening across the pond in the mother country concerning taking statins.  You know statins as those drugs that are recommended to every man, woman, and child to “prevent heart attack due to all that pesky plaquing in the arteries.”  For the past 40 years, our national government has had a vendetta against the little waxy substance called cholesterol.  

statinsEven dietary changes are happening.  Hopefully it’s not another 40 years before they change the medical management of elevated cholesterol.  Before you decide to take a statin or if people you know and love are on statins, you may want to consider a couple things.

Type 2 Diabetes

Taking statins can increase your chance of Type 2 diabetes by almost 50%, while doing NOTHING to prolong the lives of those at a low risk heart attack.  In England, close to 8 million Brits take statins.  It’s closer to 25 million Americans taking the essential molecule blocking drugs.  Is it really working to reduce heart disease?

Researchers in Finland studied 8,749 non-diabetic men to see whether taking two of the most popular statins increased the chance of developing Type 2 diabetes.

They found those who took simvastatin or atorvastatin were 46 per cent more likely to develop the condition and those on higher doses were at even greater risk.

Last year, Britain’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence issued guidance making 40 per cent of adults eligible for statins.

It said anyone thought to have a greater than 10 per cent chance of a heart attack or stroke within 10 years should be offered the drug on the NHS.  It means virtually all men aged over 55 and women over 65 are encouraged to take statins to stave off fatal ­cardiovascular disease.

Back in 2013, the American College of Cardiology created new guidelines that would increase statin use in the states by an additional 13 million Americans.

If that study that involved 8700 people in Finland translates into 38 million Americans, we should see an increase in diabetes by at least 19 million Americans as well as a drastic increase in heart disease in the coming decades.

“Ironically diabetes triples the risk of heart ­disease for men and multiplies it by five for women, so the very drugs given to prevent heart disease may well be causing it in, potentially, ­millions of people.  Many researchers have been aware for many years that the true rate of side effects from statins have been hidden and under-reported.”

Dr. Malcolm Kendrick

Parkinson’s

Dr Kailash Chand, deputy chairman of the British Medical Association, was speaking following research which found those who take the cholesterol-lowering drugs are more than twice as likely to develop Parkinson’s disease in later life than those who do not.

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Investing with Purpose

This past weekend I finally finished one of my most favorite TV programs of all time, Breaking Bad.  I’m really excited because I just learned it may not be totally over with extra seasons being produced.

Walter WhiteIf you’re not familiar with the series, it’s about a high school chemistry teacher, diagnosed with lung cancer.  Long story short, Walter White became the greatest Meth cook in the southwest US amassing over $80,000,000…all in the name of helping his family.  It’s not the feel good story of the year as he has had to lie, cheat, steal, and murder to accumulate this wealth. The people that are most affected are the very reasons that he went into this shady industry.

If you’ve ever read anything previous, you may have seen me quote a statement that ‘contradictions lead to destruction.’  Walter White lead a life of contradictions that lead to destruction upon destruction of everything he valued in life.  He committed criminal acts to gain wealth all in the name of  supporting his family.

My question to you is, would you invest in Mr. White’s ultra pure blue Meth drug cartel to make a couple bucks to retire comfortably? Would you invest in ISIS so they can get buy up some more weapons and persecute and destroy more lives?  Would you look at Hitler and think, ‘that guy’s onto something, I gotta get a piece of the action?’  If you’re running in my circles, I bet the answer is easily, no.

You’ve probably heard that you are your greatest investment and asset and I don’t deny that.  But I want you to take a look at your actual monetary investments.  What type of investment vehicles are your IRA and 401K parked?

Are you cursing pharmaceutical companies for lying, cheating, stealing, and murdering yet have 80% of your retirement in funds with Merck, GlaxoSmithKline,  Novartis, Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson?  Then why not put your money in the local meth dealer?  It’s no difference.

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Homophobia for Homocysteine

Homophobia is defined as a ‘dislike of or prejudice against homosexual people.’  I would rather you turn your attention to a dislike or prejudice of another word with the ‘homo’ prefix in it…Homocysteine.  If you want to change your future health outcomes, I would encourage you to create homophobia for homocysteine. 

I was delivering a recent workshop on the Thyroid and I was asked, “if you could only test for one value, what would it be?”  This was difficult to answer as your lab values interconnect so much and to base anything on one value is lazy and ignorant.  But to play the game with the audience member, I said I would test for homocysteine, not an analyte directly used to measure thyroid function.

Here’s why.

Homocysteine, when in a nice range of 4 – 8 umol/L  is a good thing.  This range is definitely tighter than what you see on a standard lab panel of 0 – 15 umol/L.  Why do I like a tighter range?  Because of what homocysteine indicates and contributes to when it’s elevated and I don’t want to wait until it’s outside the ‘normal’ ranges before action is taken.

homocysteine_metabolism

 

Homocysteine is actually a middle step in the formation of the amino acid cysteine, which is a precursor of one of the most power antioxidants in your body in glutathione so to be low is a bad thing as well.  Homocysteine is actually a good thing.  But often times too much of a good thing has the opposite desired effects.  

Homocysteine is one of those scenarios but takes it up a level too.  Homocysteine has been called the single best indicator of your longevity and quality of life.  It’s not just an indicator of many disease processes like cardio-vascular disease, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Auto-Immune disease, diabetes, Hypothyroid, Osteoporosis, liver disease, hormone imbalance, autism, and anemia, to name a few, but a massive contributor to them.

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Getting worse before getting better? Here’s why?

Many times when people undergo treatment for something, they experience getting worse before getting better.  I’m not talking about the obvious chemical poisoning like with chemo therapy.  I think most people realize why they get worse before getting better.  It’s literally poison.

What I’m talking about is when you start doing things that are good for you; adding purity and sufficiency into your life.

To understand this, you have to look to the nervous system.  The nervous system coordinates EVERYTHING in your life.  Every second of every day your nervous system is organizing life to keep you functional and going.  It doesn’t matter if you’re awake, asleep, happy, sad, drunk, or in the middle of running a marathon.

Your nervous system is organizing and coordinating how to best respond to temperature change, oxygen levels, heart rate, pulse, neurotransmitters, nutrient assimilation, waste excretion, communication, and thousands upon thousands of other stimuli each and every second of the day.  All this is happening subconsciously; you don’t have to think about any of it.  All this is happening while you’re consciously reading this post.

Pretty freakn’ amazing, right?  As conscious as you are of life’s busyness, if you had to juggle what your nervous system juggles consciously, we would all be in a mental wards or no one would live past the age of 5 because we would probably forget some major function to coordinate.

The more we add more stimulus from physical, chemical, and emotional inputs, the more our nervous system has to juggle.  No wonder people can’t concentrate, can’t sleep, and medicate themselves to ‘just keep going.’

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Creating Division

The single best way to create division is to make decisions.  The problem people run into is that their decisions are creating division in their own life affecting the matters they value.

I’m sure you have heard the quote, “You can please some of the people all of the time and you can please all of the people some of the time.  You just can’t please all of the people all of the time. “

EVERYTHING

If you fall into the category of trying to please everyone all of the time you risk many health factors coming your way.  You risk living life at an unsustainable speed for too long and risk the many consequences of this form of busyness.

Decisions have to be made but there’s a sure fire way to make sure you’re making the right decision.  The right decision is one based on enhancing and supporting your personal values.  I have talked about this in how to choose the right doctor.  If you and your doctor have differing views on why people get sick, you will have differing views on how to get your health better.  It won’t be a productive working relationship.

How do you know what you value?  There’s a couple ways to figure out what you value.

Assessment #1.

Take 5 minutes with a piece of paper and a pen.  Imagine you had a new born baby that you were going to raise until adulthood.  At the age of 18, your child is taken away from you and placed as leader of the free world.  The only influence on that person’s life up to age 18 was you.  His/her leadership is a direct reflection of the values you taught that child. 

On the piece of paper, write down every single characteristic you would want your child, now the leader of the world, to exhibit in his/her leadership decisions.

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Auto-Immune Roller Coaster

At a workshop I gave over the weekend I had a woman come up to me afterwards to ask about her auto-immune disorder.  She ate amazingly clean but was still having many ups and downs with her progress and symptoms.  I could tell in the first minute of this conversation that she was someone that always had to be in control of her life.  

So I asked about her home life and marriage.  “They’re great but my husband and son won’t do what I tell them to improve their health.”  

Would you say you are often frustrated and irritated by their lack of drive to seek health like you do?  She said, “yes, they just don’t get it.”

rollercoasterI said, that’s why your symptoms go on roller coasters.  You like control and the easiest thing to control is what you put in your mouth.  You can’t control other’s motivations, especially grown men and children.

Your immune system has 2 basic branches.  TH1 and TH2.  Simplistically, the TH1 side is more responsible for the symptom side of sickness like coughing, runny nose, fever, vomiting, diarrhea, etc.  The TH2 side is more for antibody formation.

In times of stress (physical, chemical, emotional, social, and spiritual), your body, via Cortisol, will suppress the TH1 side.  It’s not going to be efficient to your survival if you have to stop and throw up or stop to fill your pants if there is a lion chasing you down.  Short term, no problem.

Long term, you suppress your first line of defense (TH1) enough to the point that the antibody side (TH2) gets over enhanced and makes your auto-immune progress up and down.  I know this first hand.

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Finding the Right Doctor…Here’s How.

I get emails and messages every week from people complaining about their doctor.  I get very similar stories each time.

“I want to know nutritional strategies to help my condition but all they do is recommend is a stupid low fat diet.”

“I told them I don’t want medications and all they recommend is drugs.”

“They told me if I don’t get my kid vaccinated, they will kick me out of their office.”

As much as I sympathize with these complaints, it’s not really the doctor’s fault.  As the consumer, you have to do some homework about that doctor you are trying to develop a relationship with more than just looking up if they are covered by your insurance.

There’s a lot of doctors that are covered by your insurance that will do you far more harm than help.  After all, our healthcare system is the 3rd leading cause of death in our country.

Your insurance has covered everything that hasn’t worked for you so far.  What makes you think using your insurance has anything to do with your health outcomes?  Your attitude, your diet, your sleep, your physical activity, your environment, your stress levels are all things that get you better. And guess what?  None of those are covered by your insurance.  No wonder you’re sick.  – Dr. Sachin Patel

You don’t go to a Muslim mosque and get pissed because they didn’t talk about Jesus.   You don’t watch an R rated movie and get complain because there was too much violence and profanity.  So why do you get frustrated stepping into an MDs office and them wanting to prescribe you drugs or give you horrible  nutrition and lifestyle advice?

Contradictions lead to destruction.  The contradiction at play with these destructions is your health outcomes.  We see this pretty evidently with the results of our healthcare system.  Lots of access and interventions, not much health production.

If you take anything away from this post, just remember, ‘contradictions lead to destructions.’  To avoid destruction, you have to clear up contradictions.  To clear up those contradictions, you need to assess your own philosophy and see if that matches the philosophy of your doctor.  If you try and engage this conversation with your doctor and they don’t have time, that probably answers your question.

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Heart Smart…Really?

It’s February and with no surprise, the media is all over ‘heart disease’ awareness campaigns.  But if you keep following what the media (and your doctor) push, you will probably get what most of Americans are going to get.

What are Americans going to get?

How about 1 in 3 will die of CardioVascular Disease (CVD)? How about a death from CVD every 40 seconds?

How about every 40 seconds someone has a stroke and about every 4 minutes someone dies from a stroke?

They like to say deaths have decreased from CVD by 31% from 2000 – 2010.  How about an almost 30% increase in heart related surgeries from 2000 to 2010?  I’ll give it to modern medicine for saving your life in the immediate danger but if our healthcare system was truly about health, you shouldn’t be laying on the OR table in the first place.

How about 920,000 Americans having a heart attack this year?  How about 1/2 of those will show no prior symptom?  How about 1/2 of those silent heart attacks have a first symptom of death?

And if you don’t think your health is at risk, how about your wallet?  Since we are shifting to a universal health care system, your taxes go to paying $315 Billion dollars every year.  Don’t think your tax dollars are paying for it?  In 2010, it was estimated that over 2150 Americans died every day of CVD.  That equates to about 785,000 deaths/year in 2010 (today it’s estimated closer to 1 million).  ONLY 150,000 came from people younger than 65.

What rite of passage does a 65 year old have in this country?  They qualify for Medicare, the government funded health plan.  How does the government fund a health plan?  Through your tax dollars.

One of the ways that the media via the government and heart association try to change your behavior is to drill into your head that cholesterol is the enemy and is an early warning sign of CVD and should be controlled…or you will die.

A UCLA study analyzing heart attack patients nationwide found that 75% of the heart attack victims had LDL (supposed bad cholesterol) within the safe limit.  The researchers analyzed data from 136,905 patients whose lipid levels upon hospital admission were documented in the AHA data base. This accounted for 59 percent of total hospital admissions for heart attack at participating hospitals between 2000 and 2006.

UCLA

The deadly irony is that the researchers conclude that maybe cholesterol isn’t low enough?  How about opening your mind to the possibility that the cholesterol – heart disease connection is about as solid as the Iraq War – Weapons of Mass destruction connection?

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Butternut Squash Soup…so creamy without the cream.

This is one of our favorite recipes, especially on cold winter days.   We were made this recipe by our friend Becky when our youngest was born.

Butternut Squash Soup…so creamy without the cream.

About 90 minutes prep/cook time.

 

Paleo Recipes

Ingredients:  

1. Coconut Oil (enough to cook veggies and coat squash)

2. 1 Medium butternut squash, halved lengthwise, de-seeded.

3.  Salt and Pepper to taste

4.  1 Medium onion, chopped

5. 2 stalks celery, chopped

6.  2 carrots, chopped

7. 2 garlic cloves, minced (or more if you like garlic)

8. 6 cups chicken broth or veggie broth, divided

Directions:

Preheat oven 400 degrees.

Oil sliced surface of squash with coconut oil and sprinkle salt and pepper on top.

Roast squash for about 45 minutes or until tender.  Allow to cool so you don’t burn your hands when scooping out contents.  Scoop out squash from the shell and put aside.

In large pot over medium-high heat, add coconut oil, celery, onion, carrot, and season with a pinch of salt.  Saute until tender (about 10 minutes).  Add garlic and saute for 2 minutes.

Add the squash and stir.

Add 4 cups of broth and bring to boil.

Reduce heat to low and cover and simmer until soft (about 30 minutes).

Remove from heat and puree with blender.

Add additional broth to get desired consistency.

 

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Find Rest Before Rest Finds You – Breaking Busy

I’m a couple weeks late to the ‘New Year, New You’ talk and hype.  I have done this purposely.  You have gotten it and are getting it from every media source.  The majority of the messages these past few weeks and every time this year is that ‘YOU SHOULD DO SOMETHING to better your life.’  This year, I want you to focus on NOT DOING.

In my 5 pillars, I discuss that most people are running from bears on a daily basis.  The ‘bears’ are stressors physically, chemically, and emotionally.  These stressors are things categorized as Deficient and/or Toxic to sustain health.

One of the biggest Toxicities we have in life is being busy.  If you ask my staff, I hate the word busy.  I cringe when people say, ‘I know you’re busy….”  Busy means to be ‘foolishly active.’  My 1 and 3 year old are busy and that’s ok.  Their role right now is to experience life and the world around them for the first time.  They have no responsibilities to provide for themselves or our family.

breaking busy

Busyness has become a weird standard of measure of our attempt to keep up with the Joneses.  It’s a currency gaining more prestige than the latest iPhone, car, or NFL games attended.   The more I meet with people, hear their story, examine them, analyze lab work, and schedule them, busyness might be the #1 bear attack that causes the 5 pillars, which led them to their condition they are seeking help.  We try to cram more things into the same amount of time each day, often looking back at the day wondering what we actually got accomplished.

The solution?  We feel we didn’t accomplish that much so it means we have to do MORE.  Since we can’t add time to our day, we have to add speed.  The top reason for speed is to obtain things you don’t really need to impress people you don’t really like.

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