Cholesterol has become one of the most misunderstood substances in the body. We have been taught to demonize egg yolks and saturated fats as a cause of heart disease. We compare our numbers at cocktail parties and brag when our total cholesterol numbers are lower every year. There are so many myths surrounding cholesterol and we want to clear up a few in this article so you don’t live in fear and do something unwise like taking a statin to manage your cholesterol levels.

At the Nourishing Wellness Medical Center, we believe in normalizing your cholesterol levels because cholesterol is vital to so many roles in your body. This soft, waxy substance is found not only in your bloodstream, but also in every cell of your body. Your liver makes about 75% of the cholesterol in your body. In fact, cholesterol is so precious that the role of your HDL is to scoop up the excess in your tissues and arteries and bring it back to have it recycled in the liver. The following are just a few of the essential roles of cholesterol.

The Many Vital Roles of Cholesterol

• Cholesterol is needed by almost every cell in the body.
• Cholesterol is a vital component of sex hormones – testosterone, estrogen and progesterone.
• It’s needed for the production of vitamin D from sunlight.
• Cholesterol is nature’s repair substance, used to repair wounds, including tears and irritations along the artery walls.
• It’s a key component of your brain and nervous system. Low blood cholesterol levels are associated with depression.
• Cholesterol plays a role in the utilization of serotonin, the body’s “feel-good” neurotransmitter
• Bile salts, needed for the digestion of fats, are made from cholesterol.
• Cholesterol acts as a powerful antioxidant to protect the body against free radicals
• Cholesterol, especially LDL-cholesterol (the so-called “bad” cholesterol), helps fight infection.

This last one is key to understand. Your cholesterol skyrockets after surgery or even after a dental procedure. Why? Because cholesterol is an anti-oxidant! It’s a key component of the inflammation process. Cholesterol is needed to replace damaged cells and heal damaged tissue. Remember that no cell can form without it. So if you have damaged cells that need to be replaced, your liver will be notified to make more cholesterol and release it into your bloodstream.

Here is an analogy to help you understand why cholesterol is in your blood vessels.

Think of cholesterol as the fire department needed to stop and heal the damage from the fires of inflammation. What is causing these fires of inflammation? Pro-inflammatory foods like sugar and refined, processed grains actually damage the tissues in your body.

Your body in its infinite wisdom will send cholesterol, packaged on LDL proteins to the source of the inflammation, where the cholesterol will help put out the fire. But guess what happens when we keep eating sugar and junk food? The fire never goes out, so cholesterol will form a clot.

Let’s review:

High sugar/high processed carb consumption → inflammation in the blood vessels from tissue damage →cholesterol crew packaged as LDL appears to repair and make new cells → inflammation doesn’t stop and cholesterol plaque will form → leads to cardiovascular disease.

Here’s how to reverse this situation:

Low-sugar/grain low inflammatory diet = less inflammation and need for cholesterol production in your liver→ healthy cholesterol levels and absence of arterial plaque

The good news is that there are practical ways we can eat to improve our cholesterol situation. Read more~

Doc and I see this time and time again. We educate our clients about the sneaky ways that sugar creeps into our diet and how to switch out gluten and refined grains with high fiber starchy carbohydrates like yams, quinoa and beans. It’s almost universal. When our clients put these ideas into practice, their weight drops off, cholesterol comes down, cravings disappear, energy goes up and many other health issues start to improve as well. Here are a few eating tips to help you get started.

Five Proven Tips to Normalize Your Cholesterol Levels …without Statins!

1.  Aim to reduce all processed carbs in your diet. If it’s white, refined or comes out of box-throw it out! I am talking about those chippy, snacky, addictive carbs that you can’t stop eating after thefirst bite. Aim for a diet that is low glycemic, high fiber and omega-3 rich.

• Eating tip: Replace crackers and pretzels or popcorn with a handful of dry roasted almonds.
• Try replacing 1-2 sandwiches a week with a trip to the salad bar. Go for a large salad topped with plenty of your favorite protein and beans. Just skip the croutons and bread.

2.  Cut back on meat and switch to grass fed meats whenever possible. Why grass-fed? The unnatural living conditions of animals in the modern meat industry prevent these animals from getting normal exercise and they are fed a diet of grains instead of grasses. This makes for an obese animal with the wrong kind of fat. This meat has an unnatural and unhealthy concentration of Omega-6 fatty acids that cause heart disease. Pasture raised animals allowed to eat their native diets of grass have:

• 2 to 10 times more omega-3s than grain-fed meats which have a high Omega-6 ratio
• 2 to 4 times more CLA- (conjugated linolenic acid) than the grain-fed meats. This fatty acid helps us burn more fat.
• More Vitamin E, Iron, CoQ10, Zinc and Carotenoids than grain fed meats

Eating tip: Try grass fed beef, lamb, bison or wild meats like elk, venison or boar. We buy ours from Whole Foods and for cheaper cuts for stews, we purchase it from US Wellness Meats. Doc Allen eats grass fed beef or lamb patty from US Wellness Meats at least 4-5 times a week and his recent levels of HDL and LDL continue to be in the excellent range. He also buys organic pasture raised eggs and eats the yolk. Aim to eat your eggs poached or sunny side up and lightly cooked instead of scrambled. This prevents the yolks from being over processed and oxidized. Buy the best eggs you can afford and enjoy the yolks, too!

3.   Fish Oils: Aim for 700-1000 mg of omega-3 fats (just add up your EPA/DHA levels listed on your  bottle.) Take this amount at least 2-3 times a day for a total of  1400-2000 mg/day. There are too many benefits to name, including a significant reduction in serum triglycerides. We highly recommend Thorne Super EPA because it provides 700 mg of EPA and DHA per gel cap at a good price.

• Supplement tip: We recommend you purchase a pharmaceutical grade of fish oils to ensure a pure product free of heavy metals and a higher level of EPA and DHA per capsule.  If you don’t like to swallow fish pills, then take a tip from Jeanne. Use 2-3 tsps a day of Lemon Flavored DFH Liquid Omega Marine. This can be added into a smoothie or Jeanne’s Green Smoothie or used in a salad dressing.
  

4.   Increase Soluble Fibers: So many studies have proven the cholesterol-lowering properties of soluble oat fiber found in oatmeal pectin found in apples or prunes, and lectins and guar gums found in beans.

Eating tip: We recommend you add the following daily to increase soluble fiber. Add 1tbsp of chia or ground flax seeds to your smoothies, salads or yogurt. For a boost of 8 grams of fiber/day, we recommend to our clients, 1 scoop of Medi-bulk or Paleofiber 10 minutes before meals with a glass of water to improve satiety. This way you feel more full on less food and have more fiber available to bind the cholesterol found in your foods.

5.   Use a natural statin like red yeast rice. A comprehensive review of 93 randomized trials including nearly 10,000 patients has demonstrated that red yeast rice reduced total cholesterol,LDL, triglycerides, and increased HDL-cholesterol. Studies have shown that red yeast rice extracts are well tolerated and effective in lowering LDL in patients with statin intolerance.

• Supplement tip: We recommend 1000-1200 mg at night for best results. Because red yeast rice can actually stop the production of cholesterol and CoQ10, you want to includeCoQ-10 in your supplements. That ‘s why we LOVE Thorne Choleast. It actually contains1200 mg of red yeast rice and 100 mg of CoQ10.  For a triple whammy approach to normalizing your cholesterol levels, take a look at our Healthy Cholesterol Kit, too.
  

In our practice, we have so many success stories about clients who put some of these ideas into practice and were able to wean off their statins without seeing a jump in their cholesterol levels. We KNOW you can do this if you pay more attention to the refined carbs in your diet and worry less about the egg yolks and healthy fats in your diet. We would like to hear from those of you that have been able to wean off statins. What have you tried that has helped you succeed in normalizing your cholesterol levels? Please share your tips with us!

References:

Brown L, Rosner B, Willett WW, Sacks FM. Cholesterol-lowering effects of dietary fiber: a meta-analysis. Am J ClinNutr 1999 Jan.;69(1):30-42.

Bruckert E, Rosenbaum D. Lowering LDL-cholesterol through diet: potential role in the statin era. Curr. Opin.Lipidol. 2011 Feb.;22(1):43-48.

Enig, M and Sally Fallon, “The Skinny on Fats,” The Weston A. Price Foundation,http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/skinny.html#10

Fallon, S. and Mary Enig. “Dangers of Statin Drugs: What You Haven’t Been Told About Popular Cholesterol-Lowering Medicines,” The Weston A. Price Foundation.

Havranek EP. Primary prevention of CHD: nine ways to reduce risk. Am Fam Physician 1999 Mar.;59(6):1455-63,1466.

Hooper L, Kroon PA, Rimm EB, et al. Flavonoids, flavonoid-rich foods, and cardiovascular risk: a meta-analysis ofrandomized controlled trials. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2008 Jul.;88(1):38-50.

Click the video of Jeanne making Healthy Kale Salad!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ingredients

• 4-6 cups kale, loosely packed, sliced leaves of Italian black (Lacinato, “dinosaur,” cavolo nero) midribs removed
• juice of 1 lemon
• 3-4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• salt & pepper, to taste
• 2/3 cup grated Raw Hard cheese such as Manchego, Pecorino Toscano or Parmesan
• Fresh chopped apples

Instructions

• Whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper to taste
• Pour over kale in serving bowl and toss well.
• Add 2/3 of the cheese and toss again.
• Let kale sit for at least 5 minutes. Toss again, and top with remaining cheese and chopped apples
• Will keep well in fridge for 3-4 days.

Drinking gr een smoothies is a basic habit that will lead you down a path toward more vital energy and that youthful glow you desire. And it will just ripple from there…

Think of this drink as an anytime of the day beverage and make enough for at least two glasses and enjoy the many detox and bone building benefits! This drink is one of the easiest ways to get 5-6 servings of greens and vegetables into your diet!

Click this link to see Jeanne makes her Favorite Green Smoothie

Basic Recipe:

Greens: Use 1-2 cups of greens: kale, parsley, beet tops, arugula, cilantro, baby spinach, carrot tops, celery sprigs, cucumber, any leftover herbs or lettuce leaves, swiss chard or a combo of any of these veggies or greens

A Fruit Source: ½-1 apple, cut into cubes (Options: substitute a half a pear, banana, frozen pineapple or berries for the apple)

1 whole lemon or lime –juiced.  This offers alkalinity even with the refreshing acidic flavor, or add ¼ cup of bottled lemon or lime juice

A dash or two of sea salt (optional)

2-3 cups water

A Fat source: This addition of fat adds satiety from the fiber found in the seeds or the fat soluble vitamins to help you absorb the minerals found in the greens.  Don’t skimp on this addition!  Choose from any of the following:

• 1 Tbsp of ground flax seed meal or whole chia seeds
• 1/4 of a fresh avocado
• 1 tbsp of raw tahini or nut butter like almond butter
• 1 tbsp of coconut oil
• 1 tbsp of liquid fish oil (I use the DFH lemon flavored Marine Omega Oil)

Blend well and enjoy the emerald green goodness!!

Let me know if you take on the 5 Day Green Smoothie Challenge.  This means, you aim to drink your greens drink every day for 5 days.  Warning!  Some clients have been known to feel spontaneously happier and healthier after slurping down this green goodness.  Results may vary.

P.S.  If you’re a little skeptical about taste: Just use ½ peeled banana and green spinach only. Put banana in the blender, add a bit of water (enough to make them blend, but not too watery), and press the button until they’re blended. Then add a big handful of spinach, poke it down into the mixture a little, and blend until well combined. After a few days, you will be ready to graduate to other flavors listed above.

• Homemade broth is rich in calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and other trace minerals.  The minerals in this broth are easily absorbed by the body. This provides wonderful benefits to boost your immune system. Bone broth also contains glucosamine and chondroiton – which are thought to help mitigate the deleterious effects of arthritis and joint pain.  Rather than shelling out big bucks for glucosamine, chondroitin and mineral supplements, just make bone broth and other nutritive foods a part of your regular diet.

• Homemade bone broths are often rich in gelatin.   Gelatin is an inexpensive source of supplementary protein.   Gelatin also shows promise in the fight against degenerative joint disease.   It helps to support the connective tissue in your body and also helps the fingernails and hair to grow well and strong. Finally, it provides the substrates and matrix for healing the tissue in the gut.

• The flavor benefits of broths far outweigh the packaged/ canned varieties!

• Bone broths are remarkably inexpensive to make.  By using the bones from leftover roast chickens matched with vegetable scraps you’ve saved, you can make a gallon of stock for pennies.

Homemade Bone Broth
The measurements on this do not have to be exact.  You can use ANY leftover vegetables to make a stock and can replace the chicken bones with beef bones (marrow bones, knuckles, etc.) to make beef, duck or lamb stock.

Ingredients:

1. Carcass from at least one chicken, duck, turkey or marrow bones from grass fed meat
2. 10-15 sprigs each of fresh dill, parsley, thyme. whole peppercorns, fresh garlic,  leftover vegetables like carrots, celery, roots like parsnips or turnips, leeks
3. Water to cover
4. 1-3 Tbsp of apple cider vinegar ( this supplies the acid to break down the cartilage and bones)

Directions:

• Fill large stock or crock pot with vegetables, herbs, garlic, vinegar and cold water to cover bones.  Simmer on low for 8-12 hours.
• The only attention the pot may need is to skim the foam or “impurities” off of the top every once in awhile.  It’s an optional step, but produces a clearer broth.
• Once finished, pour the entire contents into a large fine meshed strainer suspended over a very large bowl or pot and save the solids and bones for your dog or cat!
• Allow the broth to cool and pour into separate individual containers.  Refrigerate. A great bone broth will produce a nice gelatin after refrigeration.  This makes anywhere from 4-5 quarts.

Healing teas such as Tulsi or green tea help immuity through hydration

With crazy holiday obligations, travel and perhaps less deep sleep, our immune system may be less than optimal.  According to the CDC, the flu season generally peaks anywhere between December and March depending on where you live.  Now is the time to take action and support your immune system before flu season hits.  And this doesn’t include the CDC-recommended seasonal flu vaccine!

Should I be concerned about flu vaccines?
We hear this question over and over again year after year. To us, the choice is clear. Absolutely, you should be very concerned about injecting yourself, or your children, with a foreign substance that contains a toxic combination of chemicals and harmful additives. These additives have unknown and even lasting consequences such as cognitive or behavioral impairment.

Basically, the flu shot is an educated guess as to what specific virus may be that year’s flu epidemic. If the manufacturer is wrong, the vaccine provides no protection at all.  It’s estimated that the flu vaccine is effective only 11% of the time.  Like those odds?  Doc and I don’t!

4 Essential Ways to Boost Your Immune System, without a Flu Shot

1. Optimize your Vitamin D Levels: As daylight hours grow colder and shorter, incidence of the common cold, flu, and respiratory infections spikes upwards.  Scientists have identified reduced vitamin D levels in winter months as a prime suspect for this increase in infectious disease cases.

Vitamin D from all sources (sunlight, sun lamps, or supplements) reduces the incidence of respiratory infections.  When Russian athletes were given sun lamps to stimulate their vitamin D synthesis, they experienced 50% fewer respiratory infections and far fewer days of absence.

Adults with the lowest vitamin D serum levels are 11 times more likely to develop respiratory infections.  When 60,000 IU per week (about 9200 IU/day)  of vitamin D were  administered (for six weeks) to adults with frequent respiratory infections, the result was a complete disappearance of such infections in the following six months!

Recommended Dosage: Your optimal vitamin D status can greatly improve your winter immunity.  Make sure you supplement until you get your Vitamin D levels up to 60-75ng/dl. We have had great success with improving our clients Vitamin D levels using DFH Vitamin D Supreme. This product provides a clinically useful dose of Vitamin D3 at 5000 IU per veggie cap along with Vitamin K which is needed for absorption.

2. Keep Silvercillin Spray handy: DFH Silvercillin is a highly effective, broad-spectrum antimicrobial composed of pure silver complexed with purified water. Silvercillin utilizes a technological breakthrough allowing for the production of a silver particle small enough to enter a single red blood cell, enabling the silver to travel through capillaries, the tiniest blood vessels in the body, and deactivate viruses at the cellular level. Also, Silvercillin uses technology that permanently distributes the mineral into the structure of the water, so it will not fall out of solution or suspension.

As a result, the pure silver in Silvercillin has been shown to provide a whole host of health benefits, from killing drug-resistant bacterial strains to inhibiting viral replication and stimulating stem cell production. It can be safely used both orally and topically with no known side effects.

Recommended Use: As a dietary supplement, take 5 ml (approx. 6 sprays) orally per day when you have any signs or symptoms of cough, flu, sore throat, or sinusitis and for general immune system support. We keep it on hand in the office or you can order Silvercillin from our website. We have a special 20% off introductory price to acquaint you with the healing benefits of this product.

3. Take Oscillococcinum® at the first sign of the flu: The sooner you start treating flu-like symptoms, the better the chances for a quicker recovery.  A recent study showed that 63% of patients who took Oscillo at the onset of flu-like symptoms showed clear improvement or complete resolution of their symptoms after 48 hours!

I highly recommend Oscillococcinum because it does not have the side effects, such as drowsiness, or any potential interactions with medications or conditions that may prevent a person from taking traditional OTC drugs containing antihistamines and decongestants. It’s safe, it works quickly, and is easily taken by all family members.  We have it available in our office or you can order it from our wellness pharmacy.

Oscillo is regulated as a drug by the FDA and is supported by published clinical studies and has been used for more than 65 years throughout the world.

Recommended Use: At the first sign of flu like symptoms, take a vial of Oscillo under your tongue and repeat every 2-4 hours until you feel better.  You can also take one vial a week for 8 weeks for general immune system support and flu prevention.

4. Drink plenty of fluids, especially warmer fluids.  This seems so basic but when we are stressed, we often forget the basics. Remember, with the drier air inside and out, winter can be a particularly challenging time to stay hydrated!  Consuming adequate fluids supports all of your bodies’ functions including the immune system. Make soups and broths (hit this link to give Jeanne’s bone broth recipe a try! ) and have them throughout the week.  Drink more herbal teas like ginger, green or Tulsi daily.

Contrary to popular belief, good health cannot be obtained through vaccinations. Being injected with an unknown substance which contains ingredients foreign to the human body is not the best idea, particularly when there are simpler solutions that are much safer and effective in warding off the flu.

Doc Peters and I prefer homeopathy and other forms of natural medicine because these items don’t suppress symptoms like over-the-counter (OTC) decongestants and antihistamines.  Rather, they work with your body by sending it a signal to help re-balance itself. This season, add Vitamin D, Oscillo and Silvercillin to your home wellness pharmacy and feel the difference in your health and well-being!

Now we’d like to hear from you. What are your favorite natural remedies to prevent and treat your colds and the flu? What preventative measures do you take during the winter season to protect yourself?

What were the symptoms/issues that led you to contact the staff at Nourishing Wellness?

I was having hot flashes and PMS  symptoms which wer impacting my ability to get a good night’s sleep.  I would wake in the morning feeling overall sluggishness and lack of energy. I wanted to get my life back in balance!

Through your evaluation, what did Nourishing Wellness Medical Center identify as your issues? Through comprehensive hormone and neurotransmitter testing, Doc Peters found that I had the following issues:

• • Suppressed TSH and T4 thyroid levels
  • Hormone imbalances including Low DHEA and Cortisol levels which were impacting my adrenals.
  • Neurotransmitter imbalances such as low Serotonin, Gaba and Dopamine which were impacting my sleep and my ability to think clearly and in a focused way.
  • A very low Vitamin D level

When it comes to the medical care provided by Nourishing Wellness Medical Center, what stands out in your treatment that was most helpful for you?

What stood out the most is the team consistently looking at my whole health picture and not just an individual component.  This encompassed medical test results, work/life balance, exercise, nutrition, relationships, etc.  They encouraged a holistic strategy including a referral to a great D.O. who helped me with my spinal issues.  Once stabilized, they provided constant monitor- ing until successful results were achieved. For example, my thyroid issues are now resolved.  My TSH went from .025 up to 2.37 and my T4 improved from .65 to 1.10. In addition, my stress and sex hormones are all back in balance.

What recommendations would you offer to other women who need help with the PMS  issues that got you through the tough times?

My sense of humor.  I often times found myself having crazy mood swings where one minute I’m crying at an Eggbeater commercial and the next I’m attacking my husband like an out of control pterodactyl!  I just had to stop, listen to myself and say I love menopause and all the joys that come with it.  Don’t take it seriously try to laugh about it.  My favorite part is when a hot flash appears out of nowhere while I am sitting in a meeting and sweat is pouring down my face.  Now THAT was a pleasant experience!  If anyone noticed I’d make a joke of it and move on.

Today is a great day to celebrate moving towards more sustainable ways of eating by giving consideration to these 6 Food Day Principles. Scroll down to the end and take a l0ok at the Meatless Monday recipe I intend to serve Doc Peters and my son tonight,too.

1. Reduce diet-related disease by promoting safe, healthy foods
2. Support sustainable farms & limit subsidies to big agribusiness
3. Expand access to food and alleviate hunger
4. Protect the environment & animals by reforming factory farms
5. Promote health by curbing junk-food marketing to kids
6. Support fair conditions for food and farm workers

And if you are a woman, breast cancer is the type of cancer you are most likely to get.

There are many approaches you can take to prevent breast cancer (or any cancer), including the dietary changes and lifestyle modifications we recommend here at our site.

However, if you already have breast cancer or you are young (in your 20’s) and have a strong family history of Breast Cancer,   you need a radically different strategy for screening. You may think that mammograms are the ideal screening tool to give you a warning stage before the cancer becomes far more difficult to treat. Unfortunately, this is not always true.

That’s why we don’t recommend mammograms, despite what you may hear from other medical sources. They expose your body to radiation that can be 1,000 times greater than a chest x-ray which makes you vulnerable to further risks of radiation-induced cancer.

Here’s our diagnostic recommendations: Schedule a Breast Thermogram to Find Out If You Have any Inflammation in your breast tissue Before it becomes an Issue.

What is a Thermogram? This tool creates a digital map of your body that illustrates heat patterns — patterns that may detect some condition or abnormality. It uses a scanning-type infrared camera that measures your body surface temperature, presenting the information as a digitized image. These thermal images (called thermograms) are analyzed for abnormalities that may be signs of disease in your body.

And unlike most diagnostic tests, thermal imaging is:

• Not painful…
• Non-invasive…
• Quick – your multi-image exams usually take less than 30 minutes…
• Plus, it: Makes no contact with your body — with no body part compression (such as what you might experience with mammograms)
• Emits absolutely NO radiation

How are Thermographs Different From Mammograms?

Mammograms look at anatomical changes in the breast, as they detect masses or lumps in the breast tissue. On the other hand, thermograms look at vascular changes in the breast, as they detect blood flow patterns, inflammation and asymmetries.

Thermograms benefit all women. They may be particularly useful for young women who want to monitor their breast health before the recommended age of 40. Actually, your breast cancer prevention should start as early as possible.

Here at Nourishing Wellness Medical Center, we prefer not to over-prescribe too many diagnostic tools, drugs and procedures, because many of them do nothing to help you prevent disease and enhance your health. So realize,  that when Doc Peters endorses thermography he has looked at the benefits for you — and found them significant.  Even if you’re feeling OK today, it’s good to have a baseline thermogram done now, so you’ll have something to compare to if anything ever pops up down the road.

So if you’re female, please don’t go the mammogram route. Consider thermography part of your annual health prevention regimen every October.

If you live in Los Angeles, we recommend Dr Diane Jordan DC to perform your Thermogram.

Two More Steps You can take to Enhance Breast Health:

1) Enhance your estrogen metabolism and detoxification pathways

One of the strongest associations with breast cancer concern higher levels of circulating estrogens in a woman’s body, particularly after menopause. Leading-edge research suggest breast health is partially determined by how well we convert and excrete estrogen metabolites in the body. This means effectively transforming both the estrogens that naturally occur in our bodies and xenoestrogens, or those that your body encounters through your diet and environment. Some sources of xenoestrogens include plastics and hormone or anti-biotic fed meat. We now know that heavy exposure to xenoestrogens can increase some women’s risk for developing breast cancer. Most environmental toxins and our own toxic hormone byproducts are flushed out through the gut and liver, but if toxins like xenoestrogens build up, they can block natural elimination and provoke a cascade of health issues, including weight gain, inflammaliktion, and hormonal imbalance, which can in turn, increase your risk of breast cancer

Tip: Reduce your exposure to all plastics and chemicals. Switch to drinking your water out of a Sigg bottle or glass bottle. Don’t microwave your meals in a plastic container. Switch to using all natural cleaning supplies to less your toxin load on your body.

2) Eat Your Greens and Cruciferous Vegetables for Toxin Elimination

Aim to eat a serving of either greens or cuciferous vegetables every day. Why? The active ingredients in these foods supports hormone balance and detoxification in the liver, gut and the lymphatic system of the breast. A study presented by Sherwood and colleagues, showed that women who eating 4 servings of vegetables a day excreted threefold more estrogen in their feces, had lower urinary excretion, and had 15-20% lower plasma estrogen levels. The above studies show a positive correlation between high plasma levels of estrogen and consumption of fat, as well as, a negative correlation with consumption of high fiber diet.

Eating Tip: Aim to buy a few servings of cruciferous vegetables each week such as cabbage, brussel sprouts, broccoli, and cauliflower. If you don’t eat enough of these vegetabes and are at risk for breast cancer, we highly recommend adding in the supplement  DIM (Diindolylmethane)  to your regimen to provide the nutrients that can break down these toxins in the liver and lymph.

Click here to learn more about how Designs for Health Dim can support your breast health or call Cassi at 310-373-7830. We always have a few bottles on hand to send you,if desired.

As a Functional Doctor/ Dietitian team, we are interested in the root cause of your symptoms.  We ask the questions such as, “Why is your insulin or homocysteine so high?  What is really going on in your body ?” or “Why are so many people on statin drugs and heart medication as precautionary measures?”

Sometimes it’s because their doctors aren’t gathering all the information they could gather, early enough. Almost every doctor today sends for cholesterol levels, but there are a few other basic blood tests that, when done yearly as part of your maintenance plan, can give you a hint of a heart attack or inflammatory condition in the making.

We encourage you to have your doctor order the following tests.  A good doctor schooled in integrative healthcare will use the information from them to guide you to your goal of staying healthy, and youthful, in this toxic world.  These are just a few of the test we recommend:

1. C-Reactive Protein: C-Reactive Protein is a marker of inflammation. When it is elevated, it means your inflammatory system is “turned on” making you a candidate not only for heart disease but for all the other conditions now linked to inflammation.  Work with your doctor to figure out why it is turned on:  is it from nutritional deficiencies, a hidden infection (such as parasites), or another insult somewhere in the body?
2. Blood Insulin Levels: Insulin is an essential hormone secreted by the pancreas in response to eating carbohydrates.  Insulin facilitates the transport of carbohydrates and sugars from the bloodstream into the cells.  Once inside, sugars are used by the cells to make energy. This blood test measures fasting insulin and is helpful in the diagnosis of insulin resistance and Type II Diabetes.  Excess insulin is inflammatory and is defined as levels equal to or greater than 15 µIU/mL;  however, at Nourishing Wellness Medical Center we believe the optimal level is less than 10.
3. Fibrinogen: Fibrinogen, a protein synthesized in the liver, is an important component in the normal process of blood clotting.  As part of the coagulation cascade, fibrinogen is converted to fibrin and, along with platelets, helps to form a stable fibrin clot.  This is an independent risk factor for heart disease and ischemic stroke.  An elevated blood level of fibrinogen increases your risk for clotting possibly leading to heart attack or stroke .
4. Homocysteine: Homocysteine is a waste product of the processing of proteins that is toxic when not effectively cleared by the liver.  High blood levels can directly damage the delicate endothelial cells that line the inside of arteries.  This can result in cardiovascular inflammation, blood clot formation, and arterial plaque rupture.  Research indicates that homocysteine levels may be elevated in patients with depression if folic acid (which normally helps break down homocysteine) levels are depressed.  High levels usually respond to detoxification programs and Vitamin B supplementation.  Although some labs consider homocysteine levels of up to 15.0 µmol/L as normal, we believe this is too high for optimal health.  We recommend keeping homocysteine levels < 9-10 µmol/L.
5. Vitamin D: More and more evidence links the lack of Vitamin D to heart disease as well as depression, osteoporosis and cancer.  Since we now protect ourselves from the sun so much, we have become significantly Vitamin D deficient, and the consequences are devastating.  Early detection of low levels will help you modify your diet, take supplements most likely and get more sun.  We like levels to be around 60-75 ng/dl.
6. Nutra-Eval Blood and Urine Test by Genova: This amazing test measures four critical areas of metabolism:  gastrointestinal function, cellular and mitochondrial energy metabolites, neurotransmitter metabolites, and functionally important organic acid metabolites of amino acids.  It also provides an overview of core nutrients in five key areas:  antioxidants, B vitamins, digestive support, essential fatty acids, and minerals.  Finally, it measures red blood cell level of eight heavy metals.  In this test, amino acids are measured in a convenient first-morning urine collection.  How would you like to design a supplement regimen tailored specifically for your needs, instead of blindly taking every vitamin or other supplement making the news? The Nutra-Eval test measures organic acids and blood levels of key nutrients such as magnesium, zinc, B vitamins, CoQ-10 so you know when you are in balance, or how to remedy to get back in to balance. Here is a sample report: http://www.gdx.net/core/sample-reports/Metabolic-Analysis-Sample-Report.pdf.  This test costs  $169.00 copay and is covered by most PPO insurance plans. We use this test in the Nourishing Wellness Medical Center when clients come to use with chronic fatigue syndrome or energy issues, or complicated symptoms that are puzzling and we want to get a better idea of what is really going on in the body. It is a great functional test to determine what areas to target in a challenging case.

If you are interested in getting the Nutra-Eval Test, call our office and speak to Jeanne Peters, Nutrition Director of Nourishing Wellness Medical Center at 310-373-7830. A test kit can be sent to any where in the US and a nutrition consult can be arranged once your test are returned to our office.

Here’s what some of our participants said after doing this program:

“I just had to take the time to say THANK YOU for a wonderful experience. After a few days on the program, I noticed that I had more clarity in mind. Kind of like getting rid of some of the fog; hard to explain. Additionally, before the detox I usually woke up in the morning having to blow my nose from allergies. I was never sure if it was from my eating habits or the environment. After the 3rd morning, I woke up not having a runny nose and itchy eyes. Quite a wake up call, indeed. About two weeks into the detox, I attended a birthday party thrown for me so I had a beer and a glass of wine and of course birthday cake. The next morning, I must have gone through a half box of Kleenex. As for my eating habits, I believe I am forever changed by the experience in terms of consciousness eating rather than unconsciously putting whatever looks good in my mouth. Also, I really like the webinar format wherein you don’t actually have to be on the call but can access it at your leisure. That really helped as I did have some conflicts.” Miki Hashimoto, Torrance, CA.

“Tim and I lost that stubborn belly fat and had more energy and we were not as focused on “eating” which is really a good thing. Tim lost 12 lbs. and I lost 7 lbs. The shakes and Amino caps were very easy to use and Jeanne’s online presentations were full of helpful information that helped our path to success.” Tim and Kay Bostwick, Hartsville, SC.

It’s no joke. What you eat (and what you don’t) can make a larger impact on your life that you’d ever guess.

Join the Free Seminar today!