2015 is rapidly disappearing and the new year brings the reminder of fresh starts and things to be done. One of the most common resolutions or goals people set forth is to drop a few, a lot or a ridiculous amount of pounds. I want to start off with words of advice, warning, encouragement and education.
First and foremost, beware of anything that promises quick results. Crash diets, fad diets, hundred dollar shakes or pills from some secret just discovered herb are as useful as a city full of politicians. Unfortunately weight loss is a “crockpot” process, there is no microwave way to get there. The question always arises – is it just calories in versus calories out, or is it more complicated. The true answer is “YES.” Sometimes it is just math, but more often there are a few more complicating factors. The adrenal gland, the thyroid gland, adiponectin and leptin all play a crucial role in weight loss success.
I feel it is of the utmost importance to get information and understand our mind’s and body’s state before we try to institute change. If things aren’t all lined up for success – any change will be a struggle. Deciding to eat healthy, lose weight, quit smoking or get out of debt are all fantastic ideas; however, if the mind and body aren’t right the odds of success are slim. I am a firm believer of getting information and data to understand our current condition. Starting off with knowledge is empowering, and it gives us a decisive advantage for victory.
Leptin is a hormone that we test for at ARIM. It is a master fat controller from the “gut” which communicates with the brain and regulates all things fat. Leptin has the ability to slow our metabolism, keep us hungry, make any food we eat get stored as fat or worse – do all of the above. If you have leptin resistance, the approach to weight loss has to be completely different from any other weight loss solution. The interplay of stress, adrenal fatigue, thyroid dysfunction and leptin offer a serious obstacle to our health.
The Mediterranean diet and Green Food diet offer healthy and safe ways to eat. I always suggest Paleo diet for snacks, or the ocassional light day of eating. Lastly, Mean Green Juice – made at home with a juicer from scratch offers a great way to introduce gentle detox/cleansing into a healthy way to eat. Juicing also offers weeks worth of micronutrients in a days worth of time. If you would like to discuss in depth weight loss concerns, diet options and get tested for leptin resistance please make an appointment. I look forward to a successful 2016 – and here’s to your health and sucess in the future.
What are “statins?” These are the group of medications that lower cholesterol by inhibiting a liver protein called a reductase(HMG CoA). They were derived from the herbal medication red yeast rice. The family members include pravachol, zocor, lipitor and crestor. So why the title – “statin lie?” These medications have been around since the late 1950’s and were part of initial research into ways of lowering cholesterol and heart disease. During the research several components of cholesterol were discovered, and some were set aside for various reasons. Also during that time, the inability to determine or measure cholesterol particle size did not allow researchers to get a complete picture of cholesterol metabolism and its function.
Fast forward 20 years to Houston, Texas, and Dr. Michael DeBakey – the father of cardiac bypass surgery. In a journal article published in 1979, Dr. DeBakey stated in over 1700 cardiac bypass patients he found no association between the patient’s cholesterol levels and the amount of plaque and atherosclerotic disease present at time of surgery. So no matter what the cholesterol numbers were, patients either had disease or they didn’t. What was causing the plaques and blockages then? As I mentioned, some of the cholesterol components discovered were conveniently forgotten or set aside as non-causes of disease. So what is the real problem? And why the lie?
Statins as a group have been known to cause abnormal liver function, muscle aches and breakdown(rhabdomyolysis), fatigue and even depression. They are toxic to some patients within hours of taking them and can lead to permanent liver and kidney disease. They also generate $30 Billion a year for the pharmaceutical industry, that staggering dollar amount may be reason enough to ignore their efficacy and run commercials during the Super Bowl. While the statins change the total number of the cholesterol, they do little to decrease inflammation and cholesterol particle size. If you listen closely to the commercials they state statin medications do not decrease the incidence of stroke, heart attack or death; so why prescribe them? Just to give some background, there is HDL(helper or good) cholesterol, LDL(lousy or bad) cholesterol, ApoB(fluffy sticky bad) cholesterol, sdLDL(super dense hard pellet bad) cholesterol, triglycerides(pieces of fat that shuttle sugar in the body) and lastly Lp(a). Excuse the grammar but that’s the best I could do. Most physicians do not look at a complete cholesterol profile, and when they do they often do not understand the interplay of all the components. The testing at our clinic allows us to measure and breakdown each part of the cholesterol panel, measure vascular inflammation and thus really manage the problem. Statin drugs do not effect the triglycerides very much and do nothing to Lp(a).
Lp(a), most physicians even cardiologists, have never heard of such a thing. This very special cholesterol component was discovered in the early 1960’s, and was largely ignored by the cholesterol researchers and big pharma. It is a genetic problem, either you have Lp(a) or you don’t. Unfortunately it is a really bad guy – it causes marked inflammation and is a direct factor in the cause of strokes, vascular disease and heart attacks. Lp(a) can really only be effected by natural vitamins, amino acids and dietary changes. There is no financial gain to be had there, and perhaps that is why medical students are not taught about it. Treating disease naturally, and with the help of medications occasionally, is better for all involved. Lp(a) is responsive to B complex and C vitamins, omega fish oils and amino acids given at higher than normal doses. It is something that can be measured with a simple blood test and treated.
What is CoQ10 and why is it in this blog? CoQ10 is a mitochondrial energy source – the mitochondria are the power plants of every cell in our bodies. The mitochondria in all of us is inherited only from our mothers – dad’s mitochondria attached as the tail of the sperm, exhausts itself getting to the egg at conception. So we can trace all our maternal lineage thru mitochondrial DNA. Anyway, there are two common CoQ10’s – ubiquinone and ubiquinol. This is where I ask that you always purchase your supplements from me or get my advice before spending hundreds of dollars on junk. UbiquiNONE is the cheaper and more common CoQ10(think box store shelves), the saying is you get “NONE” of it. It is not very absorbable by our body and is in fact a waste of money and effort. UbiquiNOL is really the only choice – you get it “ALL” and it works. Statins and even the herbal red yeast rice will deplete your cellular storage of CoQ10, and you will be tired and lethargic over a period of time. So replacing CoQ10 is a must for anyone undergoing cholesterol treatment.
At ARIM we use cutting edge and novel testing for all these components, it is a simple blood draw just like at any physical. We use Singulex testing lab to get the best information for our patients and devise the best and most appropriate treatment plan. Knowing what to do with the information and how to guide patient therapy with it is what sets us apart from the rest. Please like us on Facebook and leave a positive Google review. Hope to see you soon.
I just wanted to write down a few quick thoughts about multivitamins and other specialized nutraceuticals. First realize as a consumer that the FDA does not truly regulate anything from a “natural source.” In addition, the FDA has to respect the privacy of the company’s formulas and blends as “corporate formulas.” Often a vitamin company will label things as “proprietary blends” – this allows them to keep the exact composition of their pills a secret, and only lists the ingredients in the pills but no amounts “*”. The integrity and professionalism of the company is really the driving force for their products. What I mean by that is literally – no one is making natural vitamin and supplement companies accountable for the things they produce. So is your vitamin really full of all those things, and does it really add up to 50mg or 5000 units – or any of the other things promised?
I have done side by side comparisons with many of the things available over the counter(OTC) with the brands I carry in my office. Often the OTC supplements have sugar, fillers and inferior ingredients – and they have a lot of them. The cost of these OTC supplements can be higher than truly reputable companies, and are often from a short lived company looking to make a quick buck or a mass producer looking to fill every shelf at a chain retail store. Once again the old saying,”You get what you pay for,” is so true. The quality nutraceuticals can cost a little more, but you will need less of them and get better results. Why skimp on the most important person you know – YOU.
There is no single magic supplement, I wish it were that easy. We often end up with 5-10 supplements for our daily needs. I have taken nutraceuticals for more than 20 years, and obviously am a huge believer in them. With our American diet of processed foods and things stored in plastic containers, proteins injected with hormones, etc. – we find ourselves defending our health against chemicals that drain, leech and bind our minerals and nutrients. I encourage you to look into Orthomolecular, Life Extensions and Standard Process. These companies have you in mind and strive to provide the best for my patients. They also quality test and publish research in credible journals of nutrition as verification of their science driven products. I would be pleased to do a consult for you to clean up the bag of supplements and streamline it into the best and most cost effective regimen. God bless.
I wanted to extend a quick thank you to all my established patients and all the new patients that have found their way to our clinic. I have been genuinely touched by the kind words and well wishes sent my way. The truth about all this is – I could not be happier to be back practicing general medicine and integrative medicine in an environment that is supportive and open to new concepts. As you know, there are several facets to medicine as a “healing art.” I am far from traditional, but can use the full spectrum of western medicine and dashes of holistic, functional and herbal medicine to help myself and my patients.
Let me ask you a simple question,”Do negative thoughts enter your mind?” Of course they do. What we do with those thoughts and how long we let them linger in our consciousness is critical. Here is a simple exercise for our mind and spirit – cast out the negative thoughts. Sounds simple enough, but trust me it is a mega-challenging exercise harder than any crossfit routine. Unfortunately, or not, for our human mind it is open to all the environment. The upside of our “open mind” is we are receptive to nature, art, music, good sounds and positive things. We also unwillingly allow the negative into our minds.
Now – for the exercise. So knowing we are permeable like sponges to all energies and thoughts, I challenge you with purging your mind of any negative thoughts for three days. This exercise is amazingly difficult. I am not speaking only of negative thoughts about yourself, but of other people and daily situations. So even if things really aren’t going your way – no negativity. You will find the bad thoughts magically “pop” into your mind. The challenge is to eliminate them from your conscious mind as quickly as possible, and replace them with something positive or an old positive experience. The negative thought will then be forced into your unconscious mind, where guess what – it will still try to damage the mind and spirit.
The negative mind – is never resting or healing. So Dr. Sanchez – if the negativity just moves what’s the point? This is where it really gets interesting. Our mind is a vortex of energy, thought, emotion, creativity and so many indescribable things. Our human mind is tirelessly working every second of our lives and even for a few after our body has died. The unconscious mind will try to make your thoughts, wishes and desires come true. So if you fill your unconscious mind with negativity and let it work – you will still have negative energy flow your way. This is where the power of meditation, positive thinking and sheer force of thought come into play.
The final part of the exercise is to write down three to seven hopes, dreams, goals or positive changes you want to make in your life. Write this list down on several pieces of paper, post-it notes or whatever. Place these notes in all kinds of places, especially those places where you will be alone for a few minutes. I have used the car, desk drawer and “taped to a water bottle” with extreme success. The idea here is to repeat these positive things over and over again, until they predominate the unconscious mind. These good thoughts will keep your unconscious mind occupied and help the negative thoughts disappear forever. The mind will then drive you toward the positive things and bring the positive energy your way. This is a corner stone of Napoleon Hill’s classic best seller, “Think and Grow Rich.”
So say lots of “please’s” and give lots of “thank you’s.” I’m positive you can do it.
We are thankfully nearing completion and the opening of ARIM-SA. The clinic is absolutely beautiful and has caught the attention of several of the local architects and builders. I would like to thank SK&A Architecture Firm and Marksmen Contracting for helping me put together my vision – and being so professional in understanding the clinic is very much a physical representation of how I practice medicine. I expect the best of myself in the practice of medicine, and I want my patients to feel welcome, comfortable and pampered in my professional home. Thanks to all – and God willing the next few weeks will fly by.
