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  • The Equal Opportunity Health-Wrecker

    By Nurse Mark

     

    It gets us all, sooner or later. No one is spared. The question is not “will it happen,” it’s when, and how hard will it hit when it does.

    It’s not a virus that we can harden our immune system against. It’s not a bacteria or microbe that we can avoid or wash away.

    In fact, it can weaken our defenses leaving us more susceptible to infections and disease of all sorts.

    It can be subtle and insidious, or it can be blunt and brutal. But the results are the same. Our health suffers.

    What is this scourge?

    Stress.

    “Meh,” you say; “of course I’ve got stress – and I deal with it. No biggie…”

    But it is a “biggie” and even though you think you are “dealing with it” it is causing a cascade of physical changes that can lead to serious health problems.

    Not only can stress be the mental or psychological stress that we all think of when someone says “stress” – like money worries, bad bosses, rush hour commuting, surly customers, overwork, family feuds, relationship problems, urban dangers – the list is endless – it can be bugs, bacteria, viruses and other nasties that infect us, causing physical stress.

    So deal with that, little miss “no biggie”!

    When we come under stress – whether mental or physical, our bodies react in a way designed to protect us. A set of glands – the pituitary, the hypothalamus, and the adrenal glands – get together to shift our hormone balance in a way that is meant to give us more energy to deal with emergency situations. The adrenal glands squirt out a whole bunch of cortisol in order to meet a danger or survive an injury – and in response to this flood of cortisol out blood glucose rises, our blood pressure increases, and our body’s resources are diverted away from less immediately important functions such as our digestion, our reproductive system, our immune system, and even bone formation.

    This is fine over the short haul – it’s necessary even – but when it goes on for too long it can be very damaging.

    Some of the long term effects of the high cortisol levels caused by chronic stress include:

    • Suppressed immunity
    • High blood pressure (hypertension)
    • High blood sugar (hyperglycemia)
    • Insomnia
    • Heart (cardiovascular) disease
    • Insulin resistance
    • Anxiety and depression
    • Carbohydrate cravings
    • Metabolic syndrome, obesity, and type 2 diabetes
    • Fat deposits on the face, neck, and abdomen (belly)
    • Reduced libido and suppressed fertility
    • Suppressed thyroid hormones
    • Impaired digestion, metabolism and mental function

     

    But Wait – There’s More!

    Not only does chronic stress and high cortisol cause those problems I just mentioned, many of those problems cause us to have increased cortisol levels!

    When we must deal with an infection caused by cortisol-suppressed immunity our bodies secrete more cortisol in order to deal with the inflammation.

    High cortisol levels result in insomnia. Lack of sleep is a stress that causes our body to respond with – you guessed it – cortisol.

    The insulin resistance, high blood sugar, and obesity caused by chronic stress and high cortisol result in increased body-wide inflammation – so what does our body do in response? Yep, that’s right – more cortisol to knock down the inflammation…

    There is also the suppression of the reproductive functions – meaning fertility or libido is impaired. This by itself might not be seen as a “stress” but when you are trying to conceive and can’t understand why nothing seems to be working it can be very stressful indeed. And then there is the stress of the parent who is badgering you with “why can’t you give me grandbabies…?” (OK – just kidding – but it does happen…)

    This effect is what is known to engineers as a “positive feedback loop” where the more something happens the more it makes that something happen – like a “runaway train” – and it is a very bad thing…

    So, what can be done?

    Let’s start with the basics:

    • If you are in a stressful situation and can possibly remove yourself from it, or it from you, then do it! Unless there is a compelling reason to continue to do so, like needing to tolerate a bad boss to keep your job, then why would you willingly expose yourself to negative stresses?
    • Make your health a priority – get proper nutrition (an Optimal Dose Multiple Vitamin is a great start), set a regular bedtime and get adequate sleep, set aside time each day for some vigorous exercise, and practice stress-reducing habits like meditation or prayer or relaxation. A sense of humor helps too!

     

    What else? Can’t we just take a pill and make all this bad cortisol go away?

    Not really – you see, we need cortisol for a number of healthy things – like maintaining our blood pressure so we don’t faint when we get out of bed…

    But there are some natural ways of supporting healthy cortisol levels, helping us to deal with stressors, and promoting relaxation and sleep.

    Here at the Wellness Club we have recently been having excellent results with two new products that are based on very old and traditional healing knowledge.

    Cortisol Manager is an herbal formulation that combines an effective dose of phosphatidylserine with stress-reducing ingredients and cortisol-lowering botanicals to help reduce stress hormones and relieve occasional sleeplessness. It is is a safe and natural formula that promotes relaxation and supports a healthy sleep cycle without the use of habit-forming ingredients. You can learn more here.

    Lavender has long been valued for it’s ability to promote relaxation and it was treasured by the ancients as a soothing, relaxing oil. Fresh lavender in the bedroom, or a few drops of lavender oil on the pillow have been traditional ways to promote rest and sleep, and up to now that has been the only way to get the beneficial effects of this wonderful oil.

    Today however you can experience the benefits of this calming, soothing essential oil in a convenient, easy to swallow coated softgel capsule – a new product, Lavela WS 1265 contains clinically studied lavender oil intended for the relief of occasional anxiety. You can learn more here.

    We have been trialing these two products with some select patients and we are very pleased with the results. But don’t take our word for it – here is what one of Dr. Myatt’s patients had to say about it in her own words:

    I’m an over achiever and was under a lot of stress from taking an online MBA class that was impossible to understand what the assignments wanted. Essentially with every passing assignment I began to feel more anxiety and stress leading to a knot of tension in the pit of my stomach and an inability to turn off my brain while trying to go to sleep at night. I had a five day break between classes to relax, but the feeling in my stomach and the tension in my body just wouldn’t dissipate. I didn’t get any relief until after Nurse Mark gave me some samples of Cortisol Manager and Lavela. I took each faithfully every day and it was around day five when the cycle of the knot in the stomach was gone. Leaving me to feel normal again. Whenever I begin to feel the least bit anxious and stressed over my online course work I turn to the Cortisol Manager and Lavela to calm my system down.

    Hope this may help other in trying out the supplements. Thanks for letting me sample the products in the first place. They have been absolute life savers for me.

    Faithful patient,

    Theresa XXXXXXXX

     

    Now, for Theresa to say she is “an over achiever” is a bit of an understatement. When Theresa first came to Dr. Myatt she already had an advanced degree – and she was, literally, a “rocket scientist” for NASA! Now Theresa is a busy single mom and a student again – no wonder she was having a little trouble – she has a lot of responsibilities to juggle and balance to keep her life working smoothly!

    We were very pleased to be able to send Theresa the samples that helped her and we can do the same for you. Please visit our Sample Products page to order these free samples. Please note that while the samples are free, we must charge for shipping – unless you include them with other items in an order.

    Why wait until your health suffers? Deal with your stress now, and let stress and chronic high cortisol be something that happens to “the other guy.”

    Visit our Sample Products Page here for your free samples of Cortisol Manager and Lavella.

  • Get a Good Night’s Sleep: Your Checklist

    By Dr. Dana Myatt

     

    Having a good night of sleep is essential for having a good day.

    Lack of sleep can cause mental fogginess and fatigue the following day. This in itself decreases mental clarity but it also decreases willpower. Perhaps this explains why lack of sleep is associated with weight gain. When a person feels fatigued, they often reach for junk food as a self-medicating “pick me up.”

    The real cure for all of this is to get back to sleeping well.

    It may take a few days and night of experimentation, but the long-term benefits of “sleep hygiene” are well worth the effort. Plus, a good night’s sleep naturally is MUCH safer than merely “doing a Mikey” (Michael Jackson) and drugging yourself to sleep. For a refresher course, you can learn about the extreme danger of sleep drugs here:

    Here is your checklist for sleeping soundly.

    First, The Basics

    1.) Daily activity/exercise. If your only daily activity is jumping to conclusions while you work at your desk, you’ll find it much more difficult to get a good night’s rest. Do something daily that uses your entire body. Walking, biking, yoga, strength training are all good. Or go wash your car. Just be sure to engage in 20-30 minutes of full-body activity most every day of the week.

    Be sure not to exercise too close to bedtime as this can have a stimulating effect. Early in the day is best for circadian rhythm setting and for rest-of-the-day motivation, but any time before dinner will work. Just not right before bedtime unless it is gentle stretching or yoga.

    2.) Watch what you eat at night. If you are waking up between midnight and 3 a.m., your diet could be the problem. A dinner or late-night snack with simple carbohydrates or alcohol often triggers “reactive hypoglycemia” in the wee hours of the morning. As a result, the body releases adrenaline and BOOM! Being wide-awake, often with mind racing, is the result.

    If you have a dinner with high simple carbs (which I don’t recommend for many other reasons), be sure to include fiber, protein and fat which will cause the carbs to be released more slowly, thus preventing a middle-of-the-night blood sugar drop.

    3.) Regular bedtimes. Preferably 10 p.m. but no later than 11 p.m. “Night owls,” you’ve been warned. Regular bedtimes are important to good sleep for many reasons. Here are two of the most important ones.

    First, the body manufactures melatonin, a sleep-inducing hormone and potent antioxidant, during darkness but specifically during the hours of 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Being in bed with eyes closed during these times maximizes natural melatonin production.

    Second, our 24-hour “circadian rhythms,” which sets the pace for hormones released during a 24-hour cycle, is set by what time we go to bed and also what time we exposed to natural daylight in the morning. “Early to bed and early to rise” was actually very healthy advice.

    If you are used to staying up late, you can re-set your circadian rhythms by going to bed 1/2 hour earlier every night for a week. Turn back your bed time by 1/2 hour each week until you are at your target bedtime. And do get up at a regular time, usually just before or shortly after sunrise.

    It may take a few weeks to reset your natural circadian rhythms but the health benefit will be well worth your effort.

    4.) Evaluate your sleep space. You need a dark, quiet sleep space with a comfortable mattress. Noise, light or a bad mattress can all interfere with a good night’s sleep.

    5.) Manage nighttime urination. If you get up to urinate at night, try minimizing fluid intake after 6 p.m. This doesn’t mean don’t have fluids, but only drink what you need to take supplements, etc. and no extra unless you are truly thirsty. If you DO get up to urinate, go right back to bed. Don’t “spook around” the house. Don’t turn bright lights on. Don’t check email or eat a snack. You will find that you fall quickly back asleep if you minimize your “up time.”

    6.) Maintain good hormone balance. Hormone deficiencies can cause night sweats, hot flashes and lighter sleep in both women and men. If you are over the age of 40, maintaining good hormone balance should be a part of your successful aging process anyway.

    7.) Correct nutrition deficiencies. A lack of magnesium (a common dietary deficiency), protein (amino acids are needed for neurotransmitter production) or deficient digestion can all contribute to disturbed sleep.

    Next, The “Extras”

    If you have implemented all of the above and are still having trouble sleeping, then something “extra” (a sleep aid) might be in order. These should not replace the basics listed above, however.

    1.) Magnesium: These are plenty of great ways to take this to aid sleep. Try 200mg by mouth near bedtime. Or rub magnesium oil into your calves or elsewhere. Or soak your feet in hot water with epsom salts added before bedtime. Since magnesium is a relaxing mineral and also the most common mineral deficiency in the US, getting an extra dose at bedtime is often all that is needed to improve sleep.

    2.) Melatonin: 3mg at bedtime. Use either a sublingual or a timed-release formula. If you are deficient in melatonin (production declines with age), this will help, sometimes greatly. An additional health benefit is that melatonin is a potent antioxidant that crosses the blood-brain barrier, meaning that it provides good protection for the brain and nervous system.

    3.) Lavender: Long used in hospital medicine in Europe, the aroma of lavender reduces anxiety and induces sleep. Dosages of pain-relieving drugs can often be reduced just by adding lavender (scent) to the pillow. That’s powerful stuff!

    To use, put 2-3 drops of lavender essential oil on a cotton ball and slip in inside your pillow case. Or use lavendar herb in a little “pillow” under your sleeping pillow.

    Or try “Lavella,” an encapsulated form of lavender with good clinical studies showing it effective in reducing anxiety. We have free samples at Wellness Club and we’ll be happy to send a sample with your next order

    4.) Kavinace: 1-2 caps at bedtime. This is an amino acid formula that is highly effective for many. It is one of our best-selling sleep aids. Begin with only 1 cap, that may be all you need.

    Experiment with the above suggestions. If your sleep doesn’t get a lot better in short order, consider scheduling a brief consult with me. We’ll put our heads together to see what is causing the disruption.

    As you know, sleep is most important to both your daytime energy AND your clear thinking. So let’s “git ‘er fixed”!

    To your good night’s sleep,

    Dr. Myatt

  • Does This Diet Pill Really Work?

    By Nurse Mark

     

    Garcinia Cambogia: Your e-mail inbox is probably just as cluttered with spam advertising for garcinia cambogia as mine is.

    It’s promoters make wild promises of amazing weight loss (“Lose 8 pounds in a week – without dieting!), boosted metabolism, suppressed appetite, and “All Natural Weight Loss” – with no calorie counting, and “No More Crazy Dieting!”

    Wow – if this is for real then we have an amazing discovery here… So, is it really for real?

    We’ve looked into this for you – and the answer is…

    Maybe yes, maybe no.

    Sorry, I know that isn’t the nice, clear-cut answer you were hoping for, but it’s the best we can give you. So read on.

    Because this is considered to be a “weight-loss” product, breathless overstated hype has become the norm in it’s promotion. The Mighty Dr. Oz has weighed in on his infomercial television show (come now, you didn’t really think his show had anything to do with medicine did you? It’s an infomercial from start to finish!) and outright B.S. is being used to sell this supplement in many cases… (OK, OK, – before you fire off a letter to me taking me to task for using bad language, B.S. stands for Bad Science in this case!)

    So what is this stuff, really?

    Garcinia Cambogia is one of a family of 50 or so tropical fruit-bearing trees.

    The fruit of these trees is harvested and processed to extract the active ingredient, Hydroxycitric acid (HCA) which is a derivative of citric acid that’s found in a variety of tropical plants including Garcinia cambogia and Hibiscus subdariffa.

    Well, darn – that took the magic and mystery out of it, didn’t it!

    And wait – don’t get all “natural” on us – many of the forms commonly available really aren’t produced from the fruit of these trees – there just isn’t enough fruit to satisfy  the demand.

    No, much of the HCA you’ll find on the shelves of your local stores is actually created in huge factory laboratories, using genetically modified bacteria to produce a commercially viable form of HCA. It pays to read the label…

    Enough of all that – get to the punch-line: Does the stuff really work?

    Like I said earlier, yes, and no.

    Yes, there are a number of animal studies that demonstrate it’s effects on weight-loss, fat loss, and appetite suppression.

    No, there are no definitive, conclusive human studies to show a positive effect toward those things – but there have been numerous studies that prove the safety of HCA and strongly suggest it’s effectiveness.

    Yes, there are plenty of anecdotal reports that seem to indicate that at least for some people HCA is a helpful and effective part of an overall weight-loss program.

    No, it is not a “magic bullet” that will allow you to “lose 8 pounds a week with no dieting, no calorie-counting, no exercise, and no will-power!”

    Why is it so popular if it’s not really proven?

    Good question!

    Could it be popular because the Mighty Dr. Oz gave it his Golden Blessing?  Or the “Shark Tank” television promotion? Or any of hundreds of other hucksters and snake-oil salesmen eager to profit from people’s gullibility and desperation in wanting an easy solution to the difficult problem that overweight poses? All these promoters seem happy to offer HCA as a “magic bullet” – a fast, easy, no-effort, one-pill solution.

    Could it be because of a recent increase in availability and profitability created by the synthesis of this once rare substance? It is interesting to note that it’s within the last few years that we have been bombarded with endless sales pitches – and the synthesis and mass-production of HCA began in earnest around 2006… coincidence? You decide.

    So is it really worthwhile?

    Yes. We believe that for those people that find it to be effective it is very worthwhile.

    And how do you know if you are one of “those people”? Try it!

    The safety of HCA is unquestioned when taken as directed, and when used as one tool in a well-thought out weight loss program it gets very good reviews from a lot of people.

    Be sure to read the label. Unless you are satisfied to use a product synthesized from GMO bacteria the label should specify that it is derived from the dried rind of Garicinia cambogia fruit. If it doesn’t specify that then it’s probably synthetic.

    Click here for more information about Super CitriMax – the quality HCA supplement that Dr. Myatt recommends.

     

    References and additional reading:

    Premarket Notification of Synthetically Produced HCA http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/95s0316/95s-0316-rpt0270-04-Appendix-A-Research-Paper-vol202.pdf

    Safety and mechanism of appetite suppression by a novel hydroxycitric acid extract (HCA-SX). Mol Cell Biochem. 2002 Sep;238(1-2):89-103. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12349913

    Descriptions of Studies and Clinical reports of appetite suppressive effects of HCA – from the FDA: http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/95s0316/95s-0316-rpt0270-21-Section-3-Appetite-Suppression-vol202.pdf

    Heymsfield, MD; [et.al] Garcinia cambogia (Hydroxycitric Acid) as a Potential Antiobesity Agent – A Randomized Controlled Trial. Steven B.  JAMA. 1998;280(18):1596-1600. doi:10.1001/jama.280.18.1596. http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=188147

    HCA from GMO bacteria: Takashi Yamada, Hiroyuki Hida, Yasuhiro Yamada. Chemistry, physiological properties, and microbial production of hydroxycitric acid. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. July 2007, Volume 75, Issue 5, pp 977-982 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00253-007-0962-4

    Hydroxycitric acid – Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroxycitric_acid

    Garcinia – Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garcinia

    Gatta B, Zuberbuehler C, Arnold M, Aubert R, Langhans W, Chapelot D. Acute effects of pharmacological modifications of fatty acid metabolism on human satiety. Br J Nutr. 2009 Jun;101(12):1867-77. Epub 2008 Dec 16.

    Preuss HG, Rao CV, Garis R, Bramble JD, Ohia SE, Bagchi M, Bagchi D. An overview of the safety and efficacy of a novel, natural(-)-hydroxycitric acid extract (HCA-SX) for weight management. J Med. 2004;35(1-6):33-48.

    Lowenstein JM. Experiments with (-)hydroxycitrate. In: Burtley W, Kornberg HL, Quayle JR, eds. Essays in Cell Metabolism. New York: Wiley Interscience, 1970, 153–66.

    Roy S, Shah H, Rink C, Khanna S, Bagchi D, Bagchi M, Sen CK. Transcriptome of primary adipocytes from obese women in response to a novel hydroxycitric acid-based dietary supplement. DNA Cell Biol. 2007 Sep;26(9):627-39.

  • "Life Happens"

    By Dr. Dana Myatt

     

    “Life happens.” Knowing that unexpected things happen and knowing that you can and will deal with them is all that is really important.

    At our quarterly Realty Executives meeting last week, our speaker was Jason Schechterle, a Phoenix police officer whose stopped patrol care was hit from behind by a cab doing over 100 miles per hour.

    The impact turned his patrol car into a thousand-degree fireball, trapping him as it consumed the vehicle. It should have killed him. But through a series of small miracles, he lived. His face looks like a candle that has been melted, and that is after 52 surgeries.

    He said he was speaking in Chicago a couple of weeks ago and people were staring, not knowing who he was or what the back-story was. So he told them, “I’m from Phoenix. We all look this way in the Summer.”

    “Why?” you might ask yourself, “is Dr. Myatt telling me this?” Because his message applies to me and you and every human on the planet.

    His story is incredible and this man is a blazing testimony (all puns intended) to the power and resilience of the human Spirit. His message was simple. WE ALL HAVE CHALLENGES. Some are bigger than others. But our challenges are a small part of our outcome, maybe 10%. And the other 90% is HOW WE CHOOSE TO DEAL WITH WHAT LIFE DEALS US. (that’s my phraseology, but that’s basically what he said).

    Learn More about Jason Schechterle and his amazing story at his website Beyond The Flames.

  • Vitamin D – For Successful Dieting?

    By Nurse Mark

     

    Vitamin D, once thought to have little more importance than for the prevention of rickets, is proving to be more valuable and even vital to our overall health and well-being with each passing day.

    We have long maintained here at The Wellness Club that Vitamin D is far more than just a “vitamin” – it is actually a mis-named hormone with a wide-ranging variety of effects in our bodies.

    Now it turns out that low Vitamin D levels are strongly associated with overweight and obesity, and that improving Vitamin D deficiency improves dieting success.

    Dr. Shalamar Sibley, a researcher in the University of Minnesota Medical School conducted a clinical study that looked at the relationship between Vitamin D levels and obesity and the success of weight loss efforts and said:

    “What is suggested here is that if you start out with an inadequate vitamin D level, it’s possible that this might inhibit or impede your ability to lose weight on a reduced caloric diet,”

     

    The researchers found that pre-dieting Vitamin D levels predicted weight loss success and that for every increase of 1 ng/mL in level of 25-hydroxycholecalciferol (the precursor form of Vitamin D) dieters lost almost a half pound more over the course of their diet. Further, for each 1-ng/mL increase in the active or “hormonal” form of Vitamin D (1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol), dieters shed nearly a quarter pound more.

    The researchers also found that higher baseline vitamin D levels gave greater losses of abdominal fat.

    “Our results suggest the possibility that the addition of vitamin D to a reduced-calorie diet will lead to better weight loss,” Dr. Sibley said.

     

    So, what’s our take-home message from this?

    Vitamin D deficiency is common in the US population. Overall, 41.6 % of Americans are Vitamin D deficient, and that number skyrockets to 82.1% of African Americans and 69.2% of Hispanics.

    Obesity has become an epidemic in America – more than one in every 3 Americans are obese, and again Blacks and Hispanics are disproportionately affected.

    Vitamin D testing is available and is relatively inexpensive for the valuable information that it provides. Please learn more about a simple at-home Vitamin D test here.

    Vitamin D supplementation is cheap – mere pennies per day – and can be started while awaiting the results of your Vitamin D levels test. Learn more about inexpensive and effective optimal-dose Vitamin D supplements here.

    Can we promise you that taking Vitamin D will help you lose weight?

    Don’t be silly – of course we can’t promise that! You can only lose weight if you consume less energy (calories) than you need, forcing your body to turn to it’s “money in the bank” (fat stores) for energy.

    But it is very clear from this research that Vitamin D deficiency plays a greater role in obesity that we ever suspected, and it is also quite clear that improving levels of Vitamin D leads to greater fat loss over the course of a weight-loss diet.

    Finally, there is every other reason to ensure that your Vitamin D levels are plentiful – since Vitamin D deficiency is linked to many other health conditions, including high blood pressure, cardiovascular problems, kidney disease, and a higher risk of cancer including breast and prostate cancers.

     

    References:

    Causal Relationship between Obesity and Vitamin D Status: Bi-Directional Mendelian Randomization Analysis of Multiple Cohorts. Published: February 05, 2013DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001383
    http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1001383

    Vitamin D and weight loss, University of Minnesota, December 18, 2009
    http://www1.umn.edu/news/features/2009/UR_CONTENT_165066.html