A Thyroid Thing

Thyroid disease has quickly become one of the most common health problems faced by Americans.  An underactive thyroid gland is known as hypothyroidism and is thought to afflict anywhere between 10-40% of Americans.  However, I’ve heard experts say they believe that subclinical hypothyroid is present in nearly 80% of women in the U.S.  This means they have signs and symptoms and are headed toward full blown thyroid disease but are not to the point that it would be diagnosed by blood tests.  Depending on the source, there are multiple causes for thyroid gland dysfunction, but the good news is there are a few things you can do to prevent or even reverse damage to this vital gland.

The thyroid gland can go either overactive or underactive, and both conditions are a problem, but the majority of all the thyroid problems are on the underactive or hypo-side of things.  Hypothyroid is classified by numerous symptoms including: increased weight, fatigue, ringing in the ears, dry skin, course hair, constipation, sensitivity to the cold, morning headaches, frequent urination, slow pulse, hair loss, inability to sweat, and a general lack of get-up-and-go.  Blood testing is the standard for diagnosis, but many times in the early phases of dysfunction these tests will come back as false negatives while the problem is still progressing.  This is particularly true when only the basic blood thyroid hormones are checked and not the full panel.  Many people believe that one of the reasons for dysfunction of the gland is related to the chloride and fluoride in our drinking water and eating brominated flour.  The thinking on this is that these elements are known to displace iodine in your body and the two basic thyroid hormones responsible for your metabolism are made largely of iodine.  Similarly, we do not get much iodine in our diets particularly in this part of the country.  This has been known for nearly a century and was classified as the Great Lakes Effect because culturally, the Midwest simply does not eat as much ocean-caught seafood that is rich in iodine.  Another cause of the dysfunction is toxicity.  Part of this is thought to be from pesticides as I reported on a few weeks ago, but other research shows that heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, mercury mess with thyroid function as well. 

If you’re already dealing with thyroid problems, I would check your blood iodine levels and look to supplement with iodine, but I would also get with a doctor who checks for heavy metals and is able to perform chelation to detoxify and remove these metals.  You do not want to attempt this on your own – look for a doctor of Integrative Medicine to assist with this process.  If you’re just looking to avoid thyroid problems or worry due to a family history, I’d do a regular detoxification at least once per year, I’d still check my iodine levels and I would recommend sticking to a whole food diet while maintaining adequate levels of exercise and practicing some form of stress reduction technique such as meditation or yoga as, like with everything else, lifestyle factors play a role in thyroid function too!

Butter is Back

Do you remember back in 1977 when, in an attempt to reduce cholesterol and deter heart disease, the government released their “Dietary Goal for the United States?”  As a result, eggs were replaced with egg beaters, whole milk with skim milk, butter with margarine, and we entered the era of low fat yogurt, oatmeal, cheese, hot dogs, salad dressing, crackers, cookies, and just about anything you could think of.  Well, I remember and it made sense because fat was bad and the government spent $150 million on a study to prove it to us.  However, if you saw the recent article in Time magazine, you know that after nearly four decades, this experiment was a failure.  Americans are fatter and sicker than ever and still 1 in every 2 of us will die of heart disease.  The biggest difference since the no-fat agenda was introduced is that type 2 diabetes has risen 166%.

The thinking on fat started to turn in the 1990’s with people looking at the Mediterranean diet and recognizing that fats from vegetables like olives, and in fish like salmon, or even the fats from nuts and seeds could actually be protective against heart disease.  This began the era of good fats versus bad fats and the perception that the saturated fats were the enemy.  Unfortunately, a study of all the research on this published in 2010 concluded that “There was no significant evidence that saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.”  Modern research shows that because the saturated fat found in red meat raises both the bad, LDL cholesterol and the good, HDL cholesterol in essentially equal amounts this makes the saturated variety of fat a “cardiovascular wash.”  The same research shows that there are two kinds of LDL particles.  There are large fluffy ones found in most forms of fat that seem to have little effect on cardiovascular disease.  But there are also smaller, dense LDL particles that seem to stick to the arteries and cause cardiovascular disease.  These small, sticky LDL particles are found largely in processed carbohydrates such as breads, pastas, chips, crackers, cereals, and white rice.  All the war on fat seemed to do was decrease our saturated fat intake from milk, beef, eggs, and butter moderately while increasing our calorie intake from corn products by 198% and increase our intake of high-fructose corn syrup by a whopping 8,853%!

My take on all of this is the same it’s always been.  When you replace real food with fake food you will always pay the price and disease will be the result.  While the recent article from Time is advocating a movement back to butter, red meat, and whole milk in place of all the fake oils and low fat processed carbs, the only question I have is where is that butter, red meat, and milk coming from?  You are what you eat is just as true from the rest of the animal kingdom.  If we’re eating the fat from animals that were fattened up on grains and hormones, this is not the same as animals that were permitted to graze in the fields and mature naturally.  It costs a little more, but try to find eggs and meat products that are organic and free range.  Likewise, try to find fish that is ocean-caught and not farm-raised.  You do this while at the same time reducing your intake of processed carbohydrates and increasing your fruit and vegetable intake and your cardiovascular risk factor will go down as they intended way back in 1977.

What I've Seen

Just recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that 110,000 Americans die as a result of obesity each year, and that one-third of all cancers are directly related to this excess weight.  In fact, obesity now leads to more doctor visits than smoking. Studies show that the number of overweight or obese people has nearly tripled since 1980. Virtually every health problem that afflicts our population is connected in some way to this obesity epidemic proving we truly are what we eat.  However, if you’ve ever dealt with excess weight, you know that weight loss is not always that easy.

In theory, weight loss should be as easy as, eat less, and exercise more.  However this isn’t always the case.  Many times, exercise is not enough, despite the numerous other benefits of physical fitness.  If you’ve ever tried calorie counting, you know that not all calories are created equally.  While most of the experts are agreeing that highly processed grains and sugars are the primary problem, there are numerous other factors that contribute to weight gain and inhibit our best efforts for weight loss.  If you’ve been following this column, you know that inadequate sleep, incomplete exercise routines, toxicity, stress, and hormonal imbalances can all contribute to weight loss difficulties.

The one thing I’ve learned from our many customers that have committed to our 8 Weeks to Wellness program over the last 3 years is that the ones who get the best results in regard to weight loss are the ones who perfect their diets.  We’ve had men and women lose up to 40 pounds in just eight weeks when they get the diet right!  I’ve heard experts say that adhering to the right diet is 70% of weight loss and exercise is just the other 30%.  But for some people, even this isn’t enough.  I’m a huge advocate of undergoing a detoxification before even attempting a weight loss program because the fact is that toxins are stored in fat cells and when you start dumping the toxins into the blood by burning fat, your body will naturally prevent further loss in order to protect itself from the toxic burden.  Many times this type of detoxification should be done for up to 30 days in order to get results.   For other people, cortisol levels from chronic stress are the barrier that must be overcome.  In these cases, physical exercise coupled with stress reduction techniques such as meditation or yoga are imperative to reverse the trend.

In the end, this obesity trend must be reversed.  My advice is get with a professional to help determine where the problem originates from and take a multi-dimensional approach to correction.  Whatever approach is determined appropriate, give yourself about 90 days to make significant changes.  Feel free to contact our office for advice or attend our Eat Well class for instruction on a low glycemic diet.

A Three-Legged Stool

When it comes to health challenges and even wellness goals, I find that people often put all their eggs in one basket.  What I mean is, we try just one thing and if that doesn’t work, then we try another one thing.  Unfortunately, most people neglect their health until they get sick and then their one treatment consists of drugs without regard to the side effects or what lifestyle factors ultimately caused them to get sick in the first place.  This is true even though the New England Journal of Medicine has determined that 80% of our health problems should have been prevented through proper lifestyle.   I even find the same phenomenon with people seeking chiropractic care – they simply want to get adjusted without concern of what caused their problems or what else they can do on their own to improve their outcomes.  But there is a much better way.

Chiropractors deal with misalignments of the spine called subluxations that place pressure and tension on the nervous system.  Just like other health problems, subluxation is caused by excessive amounts of physical, chemical, and emotional levels of stress beyond what the body can adapt.  In fact, for a bone to become misaligned, there must be an imbalance of the muscles that are designed to keep the bones aligned, and at least five ligaments of the spinal joints will have been compromised as well.  The number one complaint about chiropractic care is that people respond and do well while they’re under active care, but when care is reduced the problems begin to come back.  Realize, this is not a chiropractic problem; this is either a stability or lifestyle problem.  In terms of stability, most people have imbalanced or weak muscles from sitting too much or doing the same activities over and over causing some muscles to be over-developed and others to be under-developed.  This phenomenon creates inherent stress on a joint and makes it very difficult for people to “hold their adjustments.”  In physical therapy, they would rehab those muscles to stabilize that joint.  My concern with this is what if the joint was imbalanced to begin with and we’re strengthening an improper structure?  In the past, as a chiropractor, I used to believe that all I had to do is restore the alignment and movement of the joint and the body would take care of the rest.  I have learned this is not true when that joint is supported by weak or imbalanced muscles.  When you restore alignment and strengthen at the same time, it’s a win-win.  In terms of lifestyle, I hope it’s only common sense that if I go back to the same faulty lifestyles that caused my problems to begin with, of course my symptoms will return.  This is why the physical, chemical, and emotional components must all be addressed.  When people address their physical stressors and begin to exercise, when they clean up their inflammatory diets, and when they work at reducing stress in their life through exercise, meditation, or other techniques, this is when health is truly restored.

We need to look at health as a three-legged stool where physical, chemical, and emotional well-being makes up the foundation.  When any one leg is compromised, the whole thing suffers.  We live in a world of numerous demands and stressors that complicate healing.  Whether we’re talking about a chiropractic problem or any health problem, you need to look at healing as a multi-dimensional process where you will likely need to make changes on more than one level to achieve real results.