Insulin Sensitivity is Key to Long-term Mental Health

One of the major manifestations of obesity is poor sensitivity (or responsiveness) to the hormone insulin. It's this insulin sensitivity issue that drives the "brain fog" that I see so frequently in patients that come to see me. This recent study confirms this fact and should motivate people to manage insulin better so they can enjoy the rewards of clear thinking.

Insulin should be thought of as a fat-storing, brain-fogging hormone. A necessary hormone for life, it's role was best demonstrated when we were hunters and gatherers by allowing the storage of energy (as fat) so that we did not starve when we went 3-5 days between meals. The problem is that in a society where calories are excessive and everywhere, we never use the energy stores and continue to drive insulin up every single day.

Avoiding processed foods (any food in a package) and refined sugars (drink unsweetened tea and water) by making sure that your diet's main focus is: vegetables, fruit, beans/lentils, raw nuts and non-breaded fish/meat will ensure that your insulin levels remain relatively low. This keeps your insulin sensitivity more balanced in a way that the brain fog and fat storage mode stay at a minimum.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101019171813.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

Hormone Replacement News: Read the fine print

So the coverage regarding the new findings in hormone replacement therapy (HRT), will strike fear in all women. The report is that women taking HRT had more advanced breast cancers and were more likely to die. Ready for the key piece of information buried in the study:

The treatment studied was the most commonly prescribed hormone replacement pill, Prempro, which contains estrogens from horse urine and a synthetic relative of the hormone progesterone.

These are the major issues with the conventional hormones: they are not chemically similar to the hormones that women have naturally. The fact is some women need hormone replacement for relief of menopausal symptoms. Regardless of whether bio-identical hormones are used or not the rule is still lowest dose for shortest duration. But for women who need hormones, this study should help support the need use bio-identical hormones so that the body knows what to do with them and not hormones from horses or synthetics.

It should be noted the importance of monitoring hormone levels during the course of therapy. Several studies have discussed the advantage of saliva for this monitoring as it is a better approximation of tissue levels of hormones. I have a number of cases, and they keep piling up of women who feel terrible and are taking large doses of hormones, as their doctors keep increasing the dose and finding normal blood levels. One of the main drivers of this is the fact that often lifestyle measures, like a whole foods diet and stress management never get implemented or suggested, it is much easier just to increase the hormone dosage. In these cases, checking the saliva hormone levels show significant toxicity as it just keeps accumulating in the tissues leading to fatigue, weight gain, water retention and cognitive changes.

Bottom line is that women who are having menopausal symptoms should be working with providers that use bio-identical hormones, focus on all other aspects of health like diet, sleep, and stress and will monitor the saliva levels regularly to ensure appropriate balance in being reached.

New Nutrition Labels?

The Institute for Medicine proposes new labels on food. New labels "should highlight only four things: calories, saturated fat, trans fat and sodium, the report says".

I think this is good step, but I would make some additional recommendations to food labelling:

- eliminate the loophole that allows the industry to claim a food is trans fat free while still having trans fat (as long as they have less than a certain amount per serving)

- list grams of fiber

-regular serving sizes to some standard and actually list both per serving and per box/bottle/package numbers. everyone drinks the whole bottle anyway, the ought to know what they are getting without doing math

-put any sweetener whatsoever in bold type

Any other ideas? Please share in comments....

http://tinyurl.com/2574l5t

Find a physician, not a general

"Superior doctors prevent the disease.
Mediocre doctors treat the disease before evident.
Inferior doctors treat the full-blown disease."
Huang Dee Nai-Chan 2600 BC; 1st Chinese Medical Text.

Not only does my work in integrative medicine have me on the front lines of big pharma-created "syndromes", like chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia and irritable bowel (these are real for patients, but are not formal syndromes), but I get to see the worst of our sickcare system. I continue to see patients who are not only suffering from frustrating and often debilitating chronic symptoms, but they have largely been disrespected and pushed away by physicians they put trust in.

See most patients still believe that physicians still provide what the ethics of medicine requires us to: "consideration, compassion and benevolence for our patients". They come to the doctor with the expectation that they will get to tell their story and be heard. That they will enter into a discussion with their doctor about the risks and benefits of certain tests, therapies and alternatives. That their physician will help them, as a patient, make their own best decision for themselves and be comfortable making that decision.

Unfortunately the healthcare experience for many is quite the opposite. The doctor gives a patient an order that is expected to be followed or else. Patients that don't follow these orders are branded non-compliant and often excused from the practice. Is this the way this partnership was meant to be? A dictatorship that takes no account as to the desires or means or belief systems of the patients we are to care for? The natives are getting restless with this approach and they should. I often apologize to my patients for my profession and hope to show them a new way, a team approach where the patient, armed with the evidence and my experience can make the best decision for themselves.

I believe healthcare was meant to be a partnership with patients where providers use their talents and knowledge to help them make the best decision to promote their health often in the face of disease. They don't give orders, they give advice. They provide patients with a toolbag of ideas and options for bettering their health and well-being. They never give them a guilt trip if they made a different decision than the provider would, or sought a second opinion.

There are many reasons why our current system has become this frustrating, dictatorship experience, but it is no excuse. There are models of care being developed and good practitioners willing to partner with patients to help them make the best decisions, and actually take the time to hear them and provide this guidance. You should go find one.