Real Solutions

Last week I discussed Metabolic Syndrome and its link to a much greater risk of premature death related to cardiovascular disease, stroke, and diabetes.  The syndrome is characterized by five common risk factors that are all preventable with better choices and proper lifestyle.  As promised, this week I will discuss the real-life solutions for preventing Metabolic Syndrome and the diseases associated with it.

In the past I’ve written that solutions for health must be multi-dimensional.  It’s the same with preventing these disease states – you must do all the right things.  This is the very reason we brought the 8 Weeks to Wellness program to our office.  This program was designed specifically to address all the risk factors of Metabolic Syndrome.  The specific type of exercise and low glycemic diet address the increased blood glucose, waist measurement, and B.M.I. or obesity.  Stress reduction strategies are implemented along with the diet and exercise to help lower the blood pressure, elevated triglycerides and cholesterol.  The diet, omega 3 fatty acids from fish oil and increased lean muscle from exercise will all act to increase HDL (good cholesterol) levels.  Chiropractic and massage are necessary to restore structural balance and function as well as to reduce the aches and pains that often prevent people from doing these strategies on their own.

Believe it or not, eliminating the risk factors of Metabolic Syndrome and reducing the risk of al the associated diseases is this simple.  In our 8 Weeks to Wellness program, we see results routinely.  In fact, the latest research shows that appropriate lifestyle changes such as diet, exercise, and stress reduction are much more effective at addressing these risk factors than conventional prescription medications.  It’s really just common sense.  Metabolic Syndrome is a lifestyle syndrome that develops as a result of poor choices over time.  The only reasonable way to reverse this process is by learning to make the right choices consistently over time.  If you’re interested in learning more, please call our office to schedule an appointment or join us for our Dinner with the Doc on November 6^th (find details in the link below) regarding all these strategies.

Dinner with the Doc

Metabolic Syndrome

While I try to keep the focus of this column on wellness, sometimes we must understand the conditions preventing us from expressing our genetic design of health and wellness.  You may have heard it named Syndrome X, but the biggest threat to the health of Americans right now is a condition known as Metabolic Syndrome.  It is estimated that 40% of the American public over forty years old already suffer from this condition and 4 of every $10 spent on healthcare is related to this syndrome.

Metabolic Syndrome became widely known in the 1970’s.  A person who is diagnosed with it runs a much greater risk of dying early from heart disease, coronary artery disease, type II diabetes, and stroke.  The syndrome is characterized by a list of common risk factors including: blood pressure higher than 130/85, blood glucose over 100, triglycerides over 150, HDL (“good”) cholesterol under 40 for men and 50 for women, and a waist measurement around the belly-button greater than 40 for men or 35 for women.  A person with just three of these five risk factors will be given the diagnosis of Metabolic Syndrome and will carry the risk of early death due to these other diseases.

While doctors still resort to treating these risk factors with medications, all the experts agree that the cause of Metabolic Syndrome is directly linked to lifestyle choices as is the solution.  The simple fact of it is that even if you get your cholesterol, glucose, and blood pressure numbers down with medications, you still have the conditions!  Unless you make the appropriate lifestyle changes, the numbers will go back up if you should cease to take the medications.  You must address the ultimate causes of this syndrome and these diseases which are: lack of exercise, diets high in sugars, processed carbohydrates and grains, and chronic emotional stress.  Because this syndrome is such a major factor of our healthcare crisis, I will focus on the details of the appropriate solutions again next week.

A Health History

In addition to the keys to health and wellness, I tend to gravitate toward anything on the subject of longevity.  In an article titled, The Longevity Myth, the authors point out that the belief that life expectancy has grown much over the past couple hundred years is really a myth.  While average life span of the population has appeared to go up over the last century, it is not truly because people are living longer, but that not as many are dying at very young ages from disease such as meningitis and other childhood diseases that plagued society 100 years ago.

What I found very interesting in the article was a history of healthcare in our society.  Many people believe that advances in medical technology along with high-tech surgical and pharmaceutical interventions have increased our lifespan as a culture.  The authors go to great lengths to show that this is not true.  They admit that these advanced procedures will save individual lives in a time of a crisis such as a stroke or heart attack, but that the overall life expectancy of the average individual has remained around 76 – 78 years of age.

The only time that life expectancy has made a dramatic increase was between the years of 1900 and 1925.  While many might believe this shift was due to antibiotics and vaccines, it is not because they were not invented by this time.  The authors state, “The longevity gains between 1900 and 1925 have little to do with medicine and almost everything to do with lifestyle; particularly improvement in housing, sanitation, and nutrition.”  So again, it all comes back to lifestyle choices.  Remember that science shows us that the physical body is capable of living to around 130 years if we treat it right.  For the best breakdown of what lifestyle choices we should be making to increase longevity, I (as I have in the past) encourage you to read the book, Healthy at 100 by John Robbins, M.D.  This book is almost a cookbook for longevity, but just like the authors of The Longevity Myth, Dr. Robbins points out that life expectancy is a matter of lifestyle choices.

Thyroid Temperature Test

If you missed last week, I discussed the importance of your thyroid gland and shared the research documenting the importance of maintaining healthy iodine levels in your diet to maintain function of this critical gland.  I also shared that most Americans are deficient in iodine which can be related to many thyroid imbalances.  Thyroid problems are a major issue in our society (especially in women) and are likely complicated by poor lifestyle factors such as high stress, poor diet, and lack of exercise.  This week I’d like to share a simple screening test you can perform at home to see if you might have a thyroid imbalance.  I’ve used this test several times to pick up thyroid dysfunction even before it showed up consistently on a blood test.

Dr. Barnes developed this test in 1942 and it has most commonly been used to determine ovulation cycles by women trying to get pregnant.  But guess what . . . ovulation cycles are controlled by a hormone released from the thyroid gland.  The test measures basal (resting) body temperature which is controlled completely by the thyroid.  To do the test you need a thermometer, a pen and a paper to be kept in arm’s reach beside your bed.  Immediately upon waking, without even raising your head from the pillow, place the thermometer directly under your arm and leave it for 10 minutes.  If you don’t have a glass/mercury thermometer, you will have to record the reading on the digital thermometer every time it beeps over the 10 minutes and take the average at the end.  Try to avoid any arousal or movement while doing the test as it will affect the results.  You will want to do the test on at least five different mornings and try not to do the test around day 14 or 28 of the menstrual cycle.  Once you have five readings from different days, add the numbers together and divide by five to get an average.  This number should fall between 97.8 and 98.2 degrees Fahrenheit.  If it does not, and you have any of the thyroid symptoms I discussed last week, you might want to have a complete thyroid panel run with your doctor.