January Events

A lot of wonderful events are on my January calendar, so kick off the New Year by taking some strides towards good health!

Wednesday, January 9, 7 p.m.: Detoxification Program
Meadow Hill Wellness Center offers a ten day detox program every January to help shed those toxins and unwanted pounds we gained in December. I will be supervising the program. For more information visit www.meadowhillwellness.com or call Kaeti at Meadow Hill at (443) 433-5535.

Tuesday, January 15, 7 p.m.: Smoking Cessation Program
Experience an unprecedented combination of natural therapies to support your efforts to quit: acupuncture, hypnotherapy, and homeopathic treatment for tobacco cravings, as well as nutritional and lifestyle counseling on restoring health and preventing illness and weight gain in the wake of years of tobacco use. Better yet, the price for the program is less than one would ordinarily pay for any one of these therapies alone. Contact Meadow Hill Wellness for more information at (443) 433-5535.

Wednesday, January 16, 7 p.m.: The Stress/Weight Connection: Natural Solutions, a free lecture at Premier Fitness Club on how cortisol levels affect weight gain and loss, and the best approach for weight loss for stressed-out people. To reserve your place for this free event, call Meadow Hill Wellness at (443) 433-5535

Sunday, January 20, 12-3 p.m.: Ladies' Day Brunch, a monthly special event at Meadow Hill Wellness. Ladies choose two services for one low price, and enjoy tea, mimosas, quiche and other edibles. Among the services offered are naturopathic consults, hypnotherapy, swedish massage, sea salt foot scrubs with reflexology, life coaching, and shiatsu. (443) 433-5535

Wednesday, January 23, 7 p.m.:Natural Solutions for Cold and Flu Season, a free lecture at Meadow Hill Wellness Center designed to help you keep yourself well during this difficult time of the year. Both prevention and natural treatments in the realm of nutrition, homeopathy, botanical medicine, and hydrotherapy will be discussed.

posted by ValerieNix @ 5:19 PM  

September Events

Many lectures are on my schedule this month, most of them free!

Tuesday, September 18 at 7 p.m.
Meadow Hill Wellness Center of Annapolis will host "Save Your Family" night, a free event on children's health at which I will give two talks. The first talk will be on the role of rest, play and daydreaming in children's physical and mental health, and the second will be on creating your own natural medicine first aid kit. For more information you can call Meadow Hill at 443-433-5535.

Saturday, September 22 at 2 p.m.
I will give a free lecture on natural medicine options for multiple sclerosis at True Relaxation in Centreville. Please call to reserve your space at 410-758-0822.

Monday, September 24 from 6:30 to 9 p.m.
I will be giving a class at the Anne Arundel Community College Women's Institute entitled "Vitamins and Herbs for Women's Health". You can register for the course by calling the AACC noncredit registration number: 410-777-2325. You can also register online at http://www.aacc.edu/noncredit/online.cfm. The fee is $40.

Wednesday, September 26 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
I will be giving a free lecture on preventing cognitive decline at Meadow Hill Wellness Center. We will cover all the most common causes of cognitive decline in the elderly and different non-drug interventions. Please reserve your space by calling Meadow Hill at 443-433-5535.

posted by ValerieNix @ 4:18 PM  

Managing Cholesterol

Recently the standards for normal cholesterol were changed from <200 to <180. More Americans are on statin drugs than ever. Is keeping cholesterol as low as possible with statin drugs the answer?

First of all, let's get an understanding of cholesterol's role in the body with some basic biochemistry:

1. 85% of cholesterol is made in the liver. The enzyme Coenzyme Q reductase is responsible. Coenzyme Q reductase is also responsible for making Coenzyme Q10 a powerful antioxidant that is part of the energy cycle in the cell and protects the heart, brain and kidneys from free radical damage. Statin drugs such as Lipitor and Crestor also inhibit the body's production of Coenzyme Q10.

2. Cholesterol is the first step in building steroid hormones. Estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, cortisol, DHEA and aldosterone are all made from cholesterol. Without cholesterol none of these hormones could be made. Cortisol, in particular, is necessary for basic life functions and extremely low cortisol levels can be fatal.

3. Cholesterol is used to make Vitamin D. The body requires cholesterol to make Vitamin D, which is actually a hormone that allows you to absorb calcium to strengthen bones and helps prevent cancer, regulate mood, and promote normal immune function.

4. Cholesterol is necessary to make bile. Most of the cholesterol your liver makes is used to produce bile, a substance that the body uses to digest fats. Bile is like a detergent; it breaks up the fat into smaller globules so that it can be broken down further and digested. It makes sense, then, that increasing one’s production of bile will lower cholesterol. We'll return to that topic later in the article.

5. Cholesterol travels around the body in packets of fat and protein called HDL’s and LDL’s. A person’s HDL (“good cholesterol”) level reflects how quickly cholesterol is leaving the body; a person’s LDL (“bad cholesterol”) level reflects how quickly cholesterol is entering the cells of the body. One of the quickest and most reliable ways to bring up your HDL's is to exercise.

In short, cholesterol has important functions in the body, and we need a certain amount of it in order to be healthy.

So when does cholesterol become a problem?
Cholesterol becomes a problem when it is oxidized. Oxidation is caused by sunlight, oxygen, heat, and free radical damage; think of what happens to iron in an oxygen-rich environment. When scientists studied arterial plaques to see what they were composed of, they found proteins, fats, and oxidized cholesterol, but no normal cholesterol. These plaques reduce blood flow to the heart and brain and are at risk for becoming unstable and causing a heart attack or stroke.

Of course, reducing your total cholesterol will reduce your risk of plaque formation, but even if you have low cholesterol, if it is being oxidized, you have a problem. And if you have high cholesterol, making the changes necessary to prevent oxidized fats from entering your bloodstream can be a big help.

So, you might ask, what else has to happen in order for plaques to form?

There has to be damage or irritation to the blood vessel wall. Plaques are actually a kind of band-aid that is attracted to an area where the vascular wall has been injured. If there is no injury, the chances of a plaque forming are much lower. The two most likely causes of injury to a vascular wall are inflammation and insulin.

Preventing this damage is just as important as keeping your cholesterol down. In fact, many of the dietary changes that have been found to reduce the risk of heart disease actually work through these other avenues rather than by reducing cholesterol. Dietary changes that reduce one's overall levels of inflammation and insulin can help prevent heart disease for this reason. "Syndrome X" or "Metabolic Syndrome" is a condition in which insulin levels are high, despite the fact that a person's blood sugar is normal. This syndrome is known to increase one's risk of heart attack or stroke, and there is a blood test which can measure insulin levels: fasting insulin. However, a simple tape measure can give you some indication of whether you might have elevated insulin levels. A man's waist/hip ratio should be 1/1 or less, and a woman's should be 0.9/1 or less. If your ratio is over those numbers, you may have elevated insulin.

Simple ways to reduce risk of heart disease:

1. Spend time in the sun. As mentioned earlier, your liver produces most of your cholesterol, and some of it is utilized to make Vitamin D. Sunlight is necessary for this process to happen, so spending time outdoors is a good way to “use up” some of your body’s cholesterol.

2. Eat bitter foods. Bitter flavors stimulate the liver’s production of bile—thus using up the body’s cholesterol. The most beneficial foods for this purpose are bitter greens such as collards, kale, chard, turnip greens, mustard greens, and dandelion greens. Some spices such as garlic and ginger also stimulate bile production.

3. Consume soluble fiber. Soluble fiber binds to the cholesterol that the liver releases into your gut, preventing it from recirculating. Before statin drugs were invented, one of the most popular cholesterol-lowering drugs was cholestyramine, which did exactly the same thing. Soluble fiber is present in large amounts in apples, peaches, plums, bananas, whole oats, ground flax seeds, peas and beans, carrots, yams, sweet potatoes, squashes, and many other fruits and vegetables.

4. Consume insoluble fiber. Insoluble fiber prevents constipation, which can cause cholesterol to be reabsorbed from the intestine. Some common sources of insoluble fiber are psyllium, celery, cauliflower, green beans, nuts and seeds, whole grains, and the skins of most fruits.

5. Exercise. Exercise specifically raises HDL’s, which means that it causes cholesterol to move out of the body more quickly. Of course, it also strengthens the entire cardiovascular system so that it can more easily withstand any disease process.

6. Consume lots of “good fats” on low or no heat. Mono-unsaturated and polyunsaturated fats actually help protect cholesterol from oxidation, thus preventing heart disease regardless of your total cholesterol level. These fats tend to be very unstable in high heat and will become trans-fats, or “bad fats”, so cook them on low heat if you’re cooking, They include olive oil, canola oil, walnut oil, grapeseed oil, avocadoes, raw tree nuts and seeds, and wild-caught fish.

7. Get plenty of antioxidants in your diet. Supplements are certainly better than nothing, but most research demonstrates that dietary antioxidants are more valuable. The antioxidant vitamin E, in particular, helps prevent oxidation of cholesterol. Vitamin E is found in nuts, vegetable oils, fish, and whole grains, among other sources.

8. Avoid trans-fats. The FDA has recently required food manufacturers to list the amount of trans fats per serving in their products. Avoid them altogether if you can. They tend to be found mostly in processed foods like chips and baked goods, pancake and other powdered mixes, and creamy foods like margarine and dips. These fats are already oxidized and will greatly increase plaque formation in your body.

9. Avoid sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and simple starches. These will raise your insulin levels and damage the arterial walls, leading to plaque formation. There’s a reason why diabetics are prone to heart disease.

10. Avoid sodas of all kinds, even diet sodas. A recent study determined that subjects who drank at least one soda a day, whether regular or diet, had an increased risk of heart disease by up to 50%. As yet, there are only theories as to why even the diet sodas increased risk, but the study was well done and there are many other reasons to avoid sodas, anyway.

So what would an ideal diet for preventing heart disease look like? It would contain many servings of fresh vegetables and fruits, beans and whole grains, raw nuts for a snack, with a fair amount of wild-caught fish, and plenty of olive oil or other vegetable oils. Of course, very few people eat this way, but it’s important to remember that these foods have a beneficial effect, because it’s easier to make dietary changes by adding something positive than by thinking about depriving yourself.

I'm including an (incomplete) list of some supplements that have research demonstrating that they lower cholesterol, but please consult your qualified medical practioner before taking any new supplement.

Some dietary supplements that have been shown to reduce cholesterol:

Soluble fiber: apple or grapefruit pectin, glucomannan, ground flax seeds

Insoluble fiber: psyllium seed husks are by far the most popular

Garlic: garlic has many health benefits and cholesterol lowering is one of them

Guggul: this is an extract of the myrrh tree

Niacin: one must take very high doses of this and there is an unpleasant flushing effect

Tocotrienols: these compounds are related to vitamin E and in one study reduced
cholesterol by 20%

Artichoke: also has benefits for indigestion and high insulin syndromes

Red yeast rice extract: most brands no longer contain the active ingredient, due to a lawsuit by the manufacturers of statin drugs. There are some physician line brands that contain the active ingredient, but it should be taken with Coenzyme Q10.

posted by ValerieNix @ 7:50 PM  

Monthly Free Lectures

Every month, I give a free lecture on a different health topic at my practice locations. This month the topic is allergic conditions, with particular emphasis on allergic rhinitis (hay fever), conjunctivitis, and eczema.

The format of the lectures includes explanation of the physiology and causes of the conditions, including the naturopathic perspective on the condition. In the second portion of the talk, I describe some of the safest and most effective options natural medicine has to offer for the health issue, including any concerns, contraindications or side effects.

I've been doing these lectures for a few months now, and gotten very positive reviews from the attendees. They are generally about an hour and a half long, depending on how many questions people ask.

The final lecture this month is at Natural Healing in Severna Park, this Thursday the 28th of June. If you're interested in attending, I recommend you give them a call to reserve a spot, as we have limited space. Their contact information is:

Phone: 410-544-6445
560 Ritchie Highway
Severna Park, MD 21146

Next month's topic will be cholesterol and other risk factors for heart disease. The monthly schedule is as follows:

2nd Saturday of the month: at True Relaxation in Centreville, 2 p.m.

3rd Wednesday of the month: Natural Healing in Annapolis, 6:30 p.m.

4th Thursday of the month: Natural Healing in Severna Park, 6:30 p.m.

Reliable information on natural health is hard to find, much less for free, so take advantage of these lectures!

posted by ValerieNix @ 7:15 AM  

Fetal Ultrasound May Not Be Risk-Free

Ultrasound diagnosis has long been considered a safe and essentially risk-free method of determining whether a growing fetus is healthy. However, a recent animal study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that ultrasound waves may prevent some cells of the fetus' nervous system from migrating to their appropriate place. The implication is that, at least to a minor degree, brain damage may ensue.

It's important to remember that the results of animal studies cannot automatically be extrapolated to humans, and the benefits of diagnostic ultrasound far outweigh any known risks. However, having unnecessary ultrasounds has become somewhat of a fad in recent years, as this article points out. Celebrities have home ultrasound machines and make multiple images to create "scrapbooks" of their fetus' development, and they've made such things popular. They may be causing that fetus unnecessary harm.

If we take a moment to think about it, we'll realize that any medical procedure or treatment undoubtedly carries with it a risk of harm, whether known or not yet known. It's always best to follow medical advice and do what is necessary to stay healthy, but these procedures were not designed or meant to be used as a toy.

More research needs to be done on this topic; indeed it should have been done much sooner, since this is a procedure that has been in use for many, many years. But now that a potential for risk has been discovered, there will be more research published, so keep your eyes on the news if you're planning on parenthood.

posted by ValerieNix @ 11:13 AM  

The Sublime Artichoke

Aside from the food section in the newspaper, you don't see much in the press about this plant, but it's extremely useful in a number of common complaints we have here in the United States. It's especially helpful at this time of year, when many of us have spent the previous two months eating too much food, drinking more than we usually drink, exercising less than we usually exercise, and consuming things we don't normally consume.

For example, artichoke as an herbal supplement has a protective effect on the liver when it's exposed to toxins--alcohol, for example. It also stimulates the flow of bile from the liver, which allows cholesterol to be excreted, and assists in the digestion of fat. Because artichoke has this effect, it's been shown to be very helpful for people who have indigestion, whether it's caused by digestive weakness or liver disease.

Artichoke also helps to lower LDL ("bad cholesterol") levels in people who have high cholesterol, and lowers their LDL/HDL ratio. This effect leads to a lower long-term risk of heart disease and stroke.

Two other compounds in artichoke, inulin and oligofructose, are carbohydrates that have a number of healthful effects on the body. Inulin and oligofructose have a normalizing effect on insulin levels, which tend to be high in us sugar-obsessed Americans. High insulin levels will cause a person to gain weight around the middle and have a higher waist-to-hip ratio, higher risks for heart disease, and of course, a higher risk of developing diabetes. While a healthy, low-sugar diet with plenty of whole fruits and vegetables, good fats and lean protein is the best way to prevent diabetes, artichoke can help. Because it tends to lower insulin levels, artichoke may help people with a high waist-hip ratio to lose weight, if they're also on a good weight loss program.

Finally, inulin and oligofructose from artichoke have been found to have a positive effect on the immune system, too. The effect is called "immunomodulating," which essentially means "balancing". This effect can be particularly helpful for people who catch a lot of colds and flus in the winter, among other things.

As with any supplement, food or drug, there are contraindications and cautions one must consider before taking it. Artichoke should not be taken by people who have biliary (bile) duct obstruction or who know they have gallstones. It should also not be taken by pregnant or nursing women or people with a liver disease unless they've consulted a qualified health care practitioner. Also, some people with allergies to the Asteraceae/Compositae plant family, including ragweed, may have an allergic reaction to artichoke.

Dosages varied in many of the studies that were the source of this information, but a typical over the counter dosage of artichoke is 300-400 milligrams two to three times per day.

Have a happy New Year, and good luck with your New Year's resolutions!

posted by ValerieNix @ 9:54 AM  

Homeopathy and Recent Research

In the United States, homeopathy is often considered the "black sheep" of the alternative medicine family. This state of affairs is, unfortunately, related more to the politics of medicine than it is to questions of efficacy and safety. For a very interesting perspective on the history of medicine in the United States, I would recommend you read Dana Ulman's "A Condensed History of Homeopathy".

To the western mind, highly diluted substances would intuitively seem to have little or no effect. Here in the U.S., we tend to think "If a little is good, more is better", and the idea that a treatment may be subtle and safe, as well as highly effective, is foreign to us. However, in medicine, that is not always the case.

A couple of recent international studies of homeopathic remedies illustrate this seeming paradox quite well. In September of this year, the Amla Cancer Research Center in India compared the actions of the herb Ruta graveolens and that of a homepathic, or highly diluted, R. graveolens in the 200C potency, against several different tumor cell lines. Both versions of the plant destroyed tumor cells and prolonged the life of the animals tested. The important point to note is that in homeopathic terms, a remedy in the 200C potency has been diluted so many times that are no longer any molecules of the plant left in the remedy. Despite that dilution, it still had significant cytotoxic effects against tumor cells compared to placebo--effects that were equal to those of the gross herb.

Another study published in Homeopathy journal in October utilized two homeopathic remedies against Plasmodium, which is the parasite that causes malaria. Malaria is still one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and much research on effective and inexpensive treatment methods is being done. In this study, homeopathic Eupatorium perfoliatum and Arsenicum album both inhibited the proliferation of the Plasmodium parasite by over 60%. Both remedies were prepared in the 30C potency, which is, like the 200C, so diluted that there is no longer any of the original substance in the remedy.

These results are truly amazing, considering that they defy our preconceptions, based on Newtonian physics, that chemical actions may only be caused by gross amounts of substances within the body. And, although the methodology of any study may be faulty, the results of these studies are particularly significant because they cannot be explained as placebo effect, since both studies utilized single cells rather than human beings.

Although we still do not understand the mechanism by which homeopathic remedies create their effects, these remedies are in good company. The same can be said of many prescription medications that are on the market today. Some examples include Depakote ( a psychiatric drug), sulfasalazine (a drug often used for inflammatory bowel disease), and Dovonex (a dermatologic drug). Not knowing the mechanism of action of these medications does not keep us from utilizing them if they are indicated; nor should it be an argument against utilizing homeopathic treatment, especially since the risks of homeopathic treatment are so much lower than they are with medications.

I'll be discussing homeopathy more in the future on this blog, but for those of you who would like a general description of this modality and a resource for more information, please visit the website of the National Center for Homeopathy at http://www.homeopathic.org.

posted by ValerieNix @ 10:43 AM