The U.S. government’s dietary guidelines released last year allow people to get as much as 25 percent of their calories from added sugars. If it’s not immediately obvious why that’s a bad idea, a new study spells it out.

All that sugar is the fastest way to put yourself at risk for heart disease — and you can see the damage in just two weeks.

Forty-eight volunteers between the ages of 18 and 40 were asked to spend five weeks limiting added sugars to a single eight-ounce cup of fruit juice a day, bringing them all down to an equal level, sugar-wise.

Then, they were divided into three groups and given 25 percent of their daily calories from one of three types of sugar: glucose, fructose, or high-fructose corn syrup.

For the HFCS group, that’s the equivalent of 3.7 cans of soda a day for women and 4.4 cans for men — a lot of soda (and a lot of sugar), but still less than what you’ll find in a “Double Gulp” at your local 7-11.

After two weeks on this government-approved sugar high, the volunteers who had been getting their calories from fructose and high-fructose corn syrup had significant bumps in their levels of deadly triglycerides as well as a rise in LDL cholesterol.

They even had more apolipoprotein-B, a protein linked to plaque in the arteries, according to the study that will appear this fall in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

If that’s what two weeks of all that sugar will do to you, imagine what’ll happen to your body in two months, two years or two decades — if you even make it that far.

The study also offers more proof that you don’t have to eat fat to send your cholesterol levels through the roof. Sugar will do that for you all by itself. Natural fats, on the other hand, can actually help keep cholesterol levels under control as well as lower your blood pressure and blood sugar levels.

Yet the same government that wants you to eat more sugar is constantly urging you to avoid fat — putting you on a collision course with diabetes, heart disease, and a premature demise.

The lesson here: No matter what Uncle Sam says, no amount of added sugars are an acceptable part of the diet.

I know, you can’t always avoid them… and everyone is going to indulge here and there.

But as a daily ration? Forget it.

September 2008 PDF

Eat your way off diabetes
A drug-free plan that can slash glucose levels

There’s an old saying about digging your grave with a fork and a knife. As it turns out, that adage may be true: The single greatest contributor to your developing type-2 diabetes could be your food choices.

But who could fault you? With all the conflicting nutritional advice, it’s a wonder we don’t bump into ourselves trying to navigate grocery store aisles. Good fat, bad fat, good carb, bad carb—I talk with patients all the time who are on the road to type-2 diabetes, and who had no idea they were eating so poorly despite following these popular “guidelines.”

But I’m going to let you in on a secret I share with those patients—just as you can eat your way into type-2 diabetes, by making some better food choices you often can eat your way back to health again.

I’ve convinced many of my patients that drugs are not their only recourse in dealing with type-2 diabetes. I have a strategy that takes a lot more work than just popping a pill—but it’s worth it in the long run.

I’m going to show you how my plan worked for one of my patients, Jim, and how it can work for you too.

Facing down disease

Jim is a 52-year-old patient of mine. I met him when he showed up at our small, local hospital suffering from pneumonia. Turned out he also had new onset diabetes, with a sky-high fasting-blood-sugar reading in the 300s.

It didn’t get that way overnight. Diabetes is a long-latency disease, which means it was in the making for at least 10 years before coming on stage and sending Jim’s blood-sugar level into the stratosphere. But Jim did have one early warning: His father had diabetes too and ended up dying of a heart attack at 60. Heart disease is the most common complication of diabetes.

Jim wanted a fix that didn’t include a bottle of pills. He was open to making lifestyle changes, which, as you know, is the first thing I recommend. And guess what? It took less than six months to fix his blood-sugar problem without a drug in sight.

I’m going to show you how to do it too, but first it’s important to understand diabetes and the mechanics of how it affects your body.

Behind the curtain

Diabetes is defined as a fasting blood glucose (FBG) level of 125 or more. Prediabetes consists of having an FBG level of 100 to 124. In fact, a FBG of 90 or more merits attention.

Type-2 diabetes accounts for more than 95 percent of all diabetes in the United States. The main problem is insulin resistance (which means your cells are refusing to cooperate with the insulin in your body). The development of insulin resistance starts in your digestive system, which breaks down whatever carbs you eat into glucose (i.e. blood sugar).

Forget everything you think you know about carbs. We need carbs—they’re the most efficient fuel for energizing our bodies. The problems begin when we overdose on just one type of carb for too long.

Further, there are no such things as “good” and “bad” carbs—it’s just a matter of where they fall on the glycemic index (GI). The GI gives you a sense of how quickly the sugar in the foods you eat is entering your bloodstream as glucose and causing the trademark blood sugar and insulin “spikes.” You don’t have to give up your favorite carbs—you just have to practice moderation and balance. Get a good GI guide that shows you whether a food is high on the GI scale, then balance that selection with something that’s lower.

When you don’t pay attention to the GI scale, problems with insulin are bound to develop. Insulin is a hormone produced in the pancreas, and “insulin resistance” is just what the phrase implies: Your cells stage a rebellion, resisting the efforts of insulin to do its job and escort glucose into your cells, where it can be burned as energy. Next thing you know, you have a backlog of glucose idling its engine in your bloodstream. That excess sugar in your blood is basically a time bomb.

Reevaluate your food options

I hope that by now I have convinced you of the need to balance what you eat to keep your blood sugar in check. Jim had failed to do this for years and was experiencing the grave results. Like most of my diabetic patients, Jim thought he was making decent food choices, but he was wrong. Here are two dietary truths I share with my diabetic patients––and they tend to be quite surprised:

1) You must avoid “white death”: A lot of folks have taken up the “Fat is Bad” mantra and rushed to purchase “low fat” foods—which often are a mother lode of white sugar and white flour. “Low fat” should be read as “cheap, carbohydrate-rich, edible manure,” courtesy of the fat cats at Big Food corporations.

2) You need fat: I can’t emphasize this enough: Eat fat. Overall, fat consumption has decreased over the last 30 years (except for people who eat fast food daily). I think it’s no coincidence that as fat consumption has dropped in this country, diabetes cases have skyrocketed. Fats provide vitamins A, D, E and K, vitamins that protect your heart, your metabolism, and your immune and nervous systems. Fats support hormone production and electrical functions. They’re also the clean-burning energy source your body prefers.

But not just any kind of fat will do. Trans fats (a.k.a. hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated ones) are lethal. Here’s a mantra to memorize: Increases shelf life? Decreases human life. Trans fats are found in thousands of processed foods—mainly packaged baked goods, snack foods, salad dressings, margarines, and french fries (sad but true, I know). Trans fats will be here with the cockroaches when the world ends.

The saturated fats we’ve been eating since the beginning of time in dairy and meat products are better—as long as they have not been tampered with. The mischief begins when hormones, antibiotics and pesticide residue enter the picture, which is why you need to choose organic dairy products and meat.

You have a picture now of what not to eat. Now I’m going to put the pieces together for you and show you a diet that can keep type-2 diabetes out of your life.

A blood-sugar-friendly diet

The diet I prescribe to patients looking to shed their type-2 diabetes requires discipline, but the results are worth it. Here’s a typical day’s worth of food and snacks.

Breakfast: Eat a couple of eggs (try boiling them and adding a pat of butter) plus an apple with chopped nuts. You’ll get the vitamins and filling proteins you need to avoid hunger and develop an ample supply of energy. Try a glass of unsweetened green tea as your beverage, which will give you a rich supply of antioxidants.

Many of my diabetic patients had been starting their days with over-processed cereals, skim milk and a cup of coffee. If you’re looking to avoid diabetes, this is a disaster. Skim milk consists of sugar and protein, and when combined with some fake-food dry cereal is guaranteed to spike blood sugar and lead to cravings by midmorning.

Midmorning snack: Instead of reaching for a doughnut at midmorning, opt for some walnuts, almonds or pecans, or a piece of cheese, plus a large glass of filtered water.

Lunch: For many people, lunch means a sandwich. That’s OK if you eat the right type of sandwich. Use one slice of very dense whole-grain bread from a local bakery, along with organic meats and cheeses. Add a big salad or a bowl of soup (which can include beans, whole grains and vegetables).

Afternoon snack: By late afternoon, grab some nuts or cheese again or some leftovers from lunch. No more potato chips, candy or soda pop.

Dinner: Your dinner should include a piece of fish, chicken or organic beef or lamb (from a pasture-fed animal) plus a plate piled high with vegetables (mostly the non-starchy green-leaf variety, such as bok choy, broccoli, kale or collard greens), and another salad. For dessert, try a piece of fruit—it’s a good way to savor a bit of sweetness without blowing your blood sugar sky high.

Tips and tricks

There are some simple tricks you can use to augment your diet—shake cinnamon onto your fruit and nuts, since cinnamon lowers blood sugar. Use apple cider vinegar on your salads, as research has shown that it significantly reduces blood-sugar and insulin levels after meals.

Take a good once-daily supplement. I recommend Every Man’s One Daily or Every Woman’s One Daily from New Chapter. Also, take a daily tablespoon of Carlson’s Cod Liver Oil for healthy vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids, both important for their favorable effects on inflammation and blood-sugar levels.

Finally, consider adding some Rhodiola rosea, one of a class of adaptogens that can aid in balancing the internal workings of your body. One study showed that Rhodiola can significantly reduce blood glucose.

Get some exercise and manage your stress. Building muscle and losing weight will improve your insulin sensitivity, and getting a handle on stress will lower your body’s production of cortisol, which fuels insulin resistance. Several times a day, take a 60-second time-out, during which you slow your breathing down to six breaths per minute. It’ll make a difference.

A home run

By sticking to my diet and making the necessary lifestyle changes, I have seen diabetic patients achieve remarkable results without drugs. After just six months, Jim lost 30 pounds and his fasting sugar levels went back to normal—under 100. (Remember: They were originally in the 300s!) His glycated hemoglobin reading dropped from 9.3 to 5.7. Glycated hemoglobin (hemoglobin A1C) gives you a three-month measure of your average blood-sugar. Although most doctors don’t wave the red flag until it’s over 7.0, anything over 5.8 suggests progression toward diabetes.

Jim’s results may seem remarkable, but I promise you they are not. If you’re looking to get your type-2 diabetes under control, stick to my diet. Clip this article and post it to your refrigerator door, then refer back to it often. Change what you eat and how you manage your life, and you will see improvements. With a little discipline, you really can eat your way to being diabetes-free.

Balance your blood sugar with magnesium

Nearly half of all Americans are not getting the 400 mg of magnesium per day needed in their diets. It plays a major role in insulin and glucose metabolism. Get it naturally from these sources:

• Whole-grain breads and cereals
• Beans: varieties include lima, black, and navy
• Avocados
• Pumpkin seeds
• Leafy green vegetables: includes Swiss chard, spinach, mustard and turnip greens
• Broccoli

Dr. Inglis recommends…

More great menu items for managing blood sugar

Breakfast

• Eggs with a banana-almond smoothie
• Whole oat groats and hulled barley (soak overnight) topped with nuts and berries

Lunch

• Salad: romaine lettuce and your choice of vegetables, topped with black beans
• Steamed bok choy and broccoli over brown rice
• Soup: navy beans, barley and a variety of vegetables with a side of hearty bread and a pat of butter

Dinner

• Whole-wheat pasta topped with organic ground-beef meat sauce
• Whole-wheat tortillas with your choice of black beans or organic ground-beef, cheese, and heavy on the veggies
• Grilled organic chicken breasts with steamed kale or collard greens with brown rice

Snacks & desserts

• Small plate of sliced pear or apple with a portion of cheese
• Baked berry or apple-betty made with a whole-oat, chopped-almond and cinnamon-rich topping

10 ways to stay eagle-eyed for life

Your vision provides as much as 80 percent of your sensory input. You want to preserve it at any cost, because it has an enormous impact on your quality of life. You have a couple of conditions working to erode your eyesight. Cataracts are the chief cause of vision loss in both developing and developed countries and are the leading cause of blindness worldwide. As if that weren’t enough, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) has become the bane of the “golden years,” currently affecting as many as 20 million elderly Americans.

Most physicians still believe that progression to either of these conditions is inevitable, and they’ll wait to intervene until you start exhibiting symptoms. This type of “reactive” medicine could cost you your eyesight. You’re better off focusing on a variety of proven prevention strategies, running the gamut from nutrition to lifestyle choices, that can help keep your eyes healthy.

Here are 10 areas you can focus on to help promote a lifetime of good eye health:

Use vitamins as a first line of defense

Vitamins A, B, C and E play vital roles in eye health. You can get plenty of these vitamins if you are smart about food choices. Numerous studies have shown that a good way to fill up on vitamin C, thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2) and niacin (B3) is with a whole-food diet. It should be a smorgasbord of vividly colored vegetables and whole grains. For vitamin E, I prefer to see patients supplement with food-based multivitamins (available from New Chapter or Mega Food) that include all four tocopherols. Get your preformed vitamin A (retinol) from cod-liver oil, up to 10,000 units a day for most folks. Higher doses may be risky for smokers, people with liver disease stemming from alcohol abuse, or women who are pregnant.

Incorporate sulfur-containing foods into your diet

Glutathione is an eye-supportive antioxidant that works as a major free-radical scavenger in the human lens. It’s found in sulfur-containing foods like onions, garlic, avocados, cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, kale, Brussels sprouts, turnips, and cabbage), asparagus, and watermelon—all of which you should eat to your heart’s content. Glutathione boosters include alpha lipoic acid, MSM and N-acetylcysteine (NAC). Astronauts, who are exposed to high levels of oxidative stress-producing UV lights, supplement with as much as 3,000 mg of NAC per day. As for us earthbound folks, we can usually manage this need through nutrition.

Learn to love the yolk

Lutein and zeaxanthin are sibling carotenoid antioxidants found in abundance in leafy green vegetables and egg yolks. Because they’re fat-soluble, you’d be well advised to make sure your diet includes adequate amounts of healthy fats. Lutein and zeaxanthin are present in high amounts in the retina and lens—more so than beta carotene, found in orange-colored fruits and vegetables such as carrots. Folks with early cataracts or AMD should include 6 mg daily of supplemental lutein.

For extra supplemental lutein, Jarrow Formulas Lutein is an excellent, widely available choice. (Go to www.jarrow.com to locate a store near you.) For general prevention, getting 2 mg included in a multivitamin is recommended.

Get your amino acids

Taurine is an interesting amino acid, because it’s the only one that circulates freely on its own through your bloodstream and tissues. Capable of truly multitasking in the body, it helps stabilize biologic membranes in addition to being a useful mood stabilizer and a calmative and cardio-protective agent. It’s the most abundant amino acid in the retina and is known to protect the eye from toxins. For the eye, taurine deficiency is common in people with the retinal degeneration associated with AMD. Consider a supplemental dose of 1,000 mg daily. Taurine can be found naturally in fresh fish and meat.

Mine for minerals in your food choices

It’s not difficult to come up deficient in mineral intake—especially when you consider our food is being grown in increasingly mineral-depleted soil. But minerals are necessary for your eye health.

Zinc, magnesium, and selenium are key multitasking minerals, which means they work as cofactors in your body. The retina has some of the highest concentrations of zinc found in the body. Zinc is found primarily in meat, poultry, and fish and other types of seafood, especially oysters. Magnesium, which supports healthy blood flow to the eye, is found in leafy green vegetables and a variety of nuts. Selenium has been linked to cataract prevention. It’s found in whole grains, shellfish, and especially Brazil nuts—a couple per day can supply your daily requirement.

There’s no need to supplement with more than 200 mcg of selenium per day, as toxicity may kick in with regular ingestion of as little as 750 grams per day.

In one study, high-dose zinc sulfate (100 mg per day) significantly slowed the progression of AMD. While high doses of zinc can suppress the immune system, forAMD sufferers the benefits generally outweigh the risks.

If you don’t have AMD already, 15 to 30 mg per day in a supplement should be sufficient. Also, look for a supplement that includes 2 mg of copper, as supplemental zinc of 30 mg per day or more can reduce copper levels.

Eat more fish

A building block of every cell membrane in the body—and a key player in eye health—is DHA. It’s one of the two key fish-source omega-3 fatty acids that I recommend you look for when choosing an omega-3 supplement. It supports the health of your retinas, improves night vision and hand-eye coordination, and makes up 30 percent to 50 percent of the retinal photoreceptors responsible for light sensitivity. You can obtain it naturally in such fatty cold-water fish as salmon, mackerel, herring, and sardines. Go one better, and get at least 1,000 mg of DHA from cod-liver oil. In one study, the combination of fish-based omega-3 fatty acids (DHA and EPA) in conjunction with acetyl-l-carnitine (1,000 mg) and coenzyme Q10 (100 mg) improved and stabilized vision in the elderly.

Use time-tested herbs

Ginkgo, sage, bilberry and milk thistle all have a role in eye support. Ginkgo (160 mg twice per day) has been shown to increase retinal blood flow by up to 23 percent. Sage also improves circulation. Unlike ginkgo, which can be excitatory for some people, sage is calming. Herbalists recommend 2 grams orally twice per day. Bilberry jam was used by RAF pilots in World War II to help support their night vision. Bilberries (similar to blueberries) and bilberry jam can be tasty additions to your diet. Bilberry is also found in many combination eye-support supplements.

Your liver supplies important substances that aid in molecular repair of the eye, including glutathione (which I mentioned earlier). To help support your liver while it’s supporting your eye health, I recommend you take the time-honored milk thistle (150 mg two or three times per day) to boost liver function.

Be wary of drug-treatment effects

If you’re taking any medication regularly, play it safe and wear sunglasses whenever you’re outside. More than 300 common drugs are known photosensitizers, which means they lead to increased light sensitivity. Cholesterol-lowering “statin” drugs, such as Lipitor, can diminish glutathione production in the liver (and that’s just one thing they do to your liver). Tylenol may also be liver-toxic, even in small amounts (over 4 grams per day, and as little as 2 grams daily if you drink even moderate amounts of alcohol each day). Corticosteroids (e.g. prednisone and hydrocortisone) are known to raise the incidence of both cataracts and glaucoma.

The danger is most pronounced with the topical steroids used to treat eye inflammation and allergies. These medications are best avoided, so ask your eye doctor for an alternative.

Wear sunglasses

Taking medication isn’t the only reason you should don sunglasses. Excessive sun exposure and high altitudes have long been known to raise the frequency of cataracts and AMD. (Astronauts who go into space even once have a higher incidence of cataracts.) One study found that those who reported higher levels of sun exposure than their peers were able to cut their risk in half for developing deposits on their retinas (which signal degeneration)––just by wearing sunglasses. The damage from sun exposure is cumulative over a lifetime, so children especially should be encouraged to wear sunglasses.

Avoid lifestyle risks

There are many lifestyle-related risk accelerators that can lead to eye disease. These include smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, not exercising, having diabetes, high blood pressure, hypothyroidism, lack of sleep, poor nutrition and poor stress-handling skills. They all contribute to increasing your chance of developing eye problems.

Postmenopausal women have higher rates of AMD than do men. While hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may be beneficial, I wouldn’t recommend it simply for this reason.

Remember, you’re in control of your lifestyle. Make sure you eat plenty of fatty cold-water fish, leafy green vegetables like spinach and kale, and fruits like blueberries and grapes. Round out your food selections with nuts and extra-virgin olive oil. Finally, make sure you get a regular eye exam from a specialist. Ask your primary-care doctor how often you should get one, since individual need varies.

Finally, I recommend you consider taking a good, comprehensive eye-support formula. Mega Food has a well-designed botanical combination eye formula called Vision Strength. Another good product, though more challenging to obtain, is Ocuforce, from Designs for Health. It’s available through many health professionals and some related Web sites.

I don’t care for the commonly prescribed Bausch and Lomb Ocuvite products, although they were used successfully in studies. Unfortunately, they contain inferior forms of zinc and vitamin E. Your eyes deserve the best. Getting the best products may cost a little more, but good eye health is well worth the price.

Setting the record straight on vitamin E

It seems as though the medical community thrives on creating confusion—one day something is good for you, and the next it isn’t. The reason for this is often a simple one: The “studies” that some mainstream docs cite as gospel are frequently funded—or at least influenced—by special interests. One of the things I’m here to do is help you separate the genuine medical information from the bunk—and a lot of the information that has emerged lately on vitamin E is pure bunk.

Vitamin E is classified as an antioxidant that pgle

rotects fats found in human tissues from free-radical damage. It stabilizes cell membranes, regulates vitamin A, protects red blood cells, and helps control cell division, which could possibly confer an anti-cancer benefit. So why is it getting a bad rap?

A great deal of attention has been focused on vitamin E and heart-disease prevention, and doctors often cite two prominent, negative studies. In one, a review of 19 clinical trials concluded that long-term use of 400 IU or more of vitamin E per day was associated with a small 4 percent increase in overall risk of death. In another study, people with heart disease who took 400 IU daily developed heart failure more often than did those taking a placebo—5.8 percent vs. 4.2 percent. I cite these two studies because doctors will often use them as “proof” that vitamins are no good.

Risk-benefit analysis

But here’s what you won’t hear: Both studies had serious methodological flaws. Both studies—like the vast majority of vitamin E clinical research—used only the alpha-tocopherol form. Researchers seem to have fixated solely on this one form because it’s more potent in humans than are the other forms. This is a classic example of an archaic, limited-reductionist approach.

Another thing you won’t hear is that the benefits of vitamin E far outweigh the “risks” found in these flawed studies. High-dose supplemental vitamin E (usually 400 to 800 IU daily of the alpha-tocopherol variety) has been used to treat a wide variety of complaints. It speeds the healing of burns, provides immune-system support (particularly for the elderly), and has been known to benefit patients suffering from leg pain due to poor circulation, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and age-related macular degeneration (for more on eye health, go to page 4). I hate to think that people suffering from these conditions are being scared away, quite unnecessarily, from vitamin E.

Let’s face it—vitamin E has been an important dietary staple throughout history. We know from the research of nutrition expert Dr. Weston L. Price in the 1930s that many pre-industrial, primitive diets around the world supported excellent health and vitality. And those diets were rich in key vitamins, including vitamin E.

Food sources for vitamin E include wheat germ, nuts and seeds, whole grains, egg yolks, and leafy green vegetables. Foods that feature vitamin E often contain other nutrients that help support its function, including selenium, unsaturated fats, sulfur-based amino acids, and antioxidants like vitamin C and beta carotene.

Here are my common-sense recommendations: If you’re going to use vitamin E to treat a condition (the way you would use a drug), use a full-spectrum product with all four tocopherols and tocotrienols, such as Carlson E-Gems. (Go to www.carlsonlabs.com to locate a store near you.)

Other full-spectrum products include New Chapter’s Vitamin E and Standard Process’ Wheat Germ Oil Fortified™. I highly recommend either, as it would be reasonable to expect overall health benefits from a food-based product.

CAUTION: Supplemental vitamin E in higher doses over 400 IU has blood-thinning effects. Usually desirable, this could actually pose a hazard to people on the blood-thinning drug Coumadin (warfarin).

Vitamin E––naturally

• Sunflower seeds
• Almonds
• Peanuts
• Spinach
• Kiwi
• Broccoli
• Mango
• Wheat germ

Your Questions Answered

When your heart takes a hit, you can fight back

Q. I’m 62 years old and have been told I have congestive heart failure. I have a history of high blood pressure and am now on three drugs for it. My doctor tells me I had one or more silent heart attacks in the past because my heart isn’t pumping normally. My ejection fraction is 35 percent—whatever that means. I’m now taking a water pill, Lasix, to help the swelling in my legs and feet. I’ve finally quit smoking and have become serious about my diet and weight, but isn’t there something more I can do? I don’t want to live on Lasix the rest of my life.
––A. Potts, Charlotte, NC

A:The short answer is yes—there’s plenty you can do. In particular, there are specific nutrients that can help your heart to pump more efficiently.

First, let’s talk about your ejection fraction. This number reflects how much blood is being pumped out per heartbeat. Based on your heart’s ejection fraction, you’ve lost 25 percent to 30 percent of your heart’s strength. So now there’s back-up pressure in the vessels leading to your heart. As a result, fluid is pushed out of these blood vessels into tissue—mainly in the lungs and liver but also in the legs and feet. Another name for visible swelling due to fluid build-up is edema. All this waterlogged tissue is what the term “congestive” refers to.

When your doctor took his assessment, he probably saw a combination of things. One most likely was an abnormally thickened left ventricle, which is common in patients who have been dealing with high blood pressure for years. Another may have been some degree of damage from a silent heart attack. In a heart attack, the vessels serving the heart are blocked, preventing blood from delivering essential oxygen to the hard-working heart muscle. You end up with irreversible damage—a permanent scarring. A silent heart attack can happen in the absence of symptoms and occurs in up to 25 percent of cases.

And in case you weren’t aware, your heart is an energy hog. Many folks with CHF are functionally deficient in key nutrients required to produce energy in the heart muscle. These key nutrients are magnesium, carnitine, coenzyme Q10 and ribose. Many people with congestive heart failure are also deficient in vitamin D and vitamin B2 (riboflavin).

For vitamin D, ask your doctor to check your 25-hydroxy vitamin D level. Make sure it’s between 40 and 60 nanograms per milliliter, which for most folks will require 1,000 to 2,000 IUs of D3 daily. Most folks with CHF have some degree of vitamin D deficiency.

Here’s a roundup of nutraceuticals that you should consider adding to your daily regimen. They’ll help support and energize your heart.

1) Magnesium: Any form but the “oxide” version is good, so look for citrate, glycinate, orotate, or lactate. Take 400 to 800 mg daily.

2) D-ribose: Take 10 to 15 grams. It’s a huge energy-restorer and will help you to feel better than ever. I recommend you take a look at the product from Valen Labs (www.valenlabs.com). It includes both ribose and magnesium, which is also an effective treatment for chronic fatigue ass puociated with CHF.

3) L-Carnitine: 2,000 to 3,000 mg a day.

4) Coenzyme Q10: Take 100 to 300 mg in the gel-cap form. I put my wife’s grandmother on this while her ejection fraction was 40 percent. It increased to 50 percent after coenzyme Q10 treatment.

5) Vitamin B: Obtain this important vitamin through a whole-food diet that includes bananas, chicken breasts, tuna, liver, and beef tenderloin (from organic sources).

6) Food-based multivitamins: Use of multivitamins is the easiest way to give your body much of what it may be lacking. New Chapter (www.newchapter.com), Mega Food (www.megafood.com), and Standard Process (www.standardprocess.com) all carry multivitamins that I recommend highly.

7) Heart-healthy omega-3s: Take 2,000 to 3,000 grams of fish oil that includes DHA and EPA. (You’ll need to add up the amounts on the label.)

I owe a huge thanks to Frank Sinatra, M.D. (not to be confused with “Ol’ Blue Eyes”), an integrative cardiologist who spells this all out in his excellent book The Sinatra Solution, which I consider recommended reading for anyone suffering from CHF.

By the way, you may be able to eliminate the need for Lasix entirely and reduce—or even eliminate—the need for your blood-pressure medications with the right combination of these supplemental nutrients, exercise, and a whole-food diet.

December 2007 PDF

Redefining “normal”: Is your doctor aware of these emerging markers of heart-health risk?

The medical mainstream clings to measuring cholesterol levels as if they were the last life raft in the sea of civilized medicine. It seems as though too many doctors have been programmed to believe that cholesterol numbers are the defining criteria for the presence or absence of heart disease. The truth of the matter is that this pigeonhole approach has made them miss the bigger picture.

This national obsession with cholesterol isn’t really a surprise when you consider who’s helping to drive it—the drug companies. Cholesterol drugs aren’t just another product in their profitable inventory. Lipitor alone is a $13 billion plus-per-year payday for its maker, Pfizer, and that’s hardly small potatoes.

But your cholesterol number is just one of the many pieces making up your heart-health puzzle. No matter what the clever ad campaign says, there’s more to protecting your heart than just solely focusing on lowering your cholesterol levels. Here’s an eye opener for you: Nearly half of those who suffer from an initial heart attack have normal cholesterol levels. I remember one night when I was on call in our little 24-bed hospital. I had admitted two patients with heart attacks, and both had rock-solid, normal cholesterol levels. One of the patients was even on Lipitor.

So much for the grand herald of heart disease. It’s time to set aside the snapshot approach to your heart health, because it’s just not enough. The last thing I want is for you to have a heart attack when you thought you were in the clear, all because you were told your cholesterol level was normal.

And there are some surprising links to heart disease that tend to get brushed aside in favor of the cholesterol fanfare.

Cholesterol’s conniving instigator

I’ve talked before about the insidious nature of inflammation. It’s a chameleon, quietly blending in with and playing in the background of numerous disease processes. Those diseases get the medical limelight once onstage—but no one finds the underlying cause to be glamorous enough to give much attention. And it’s the very thing we should be keeping a close eye on.

Inflammation is how your immune system spells “confusion.” That turmoil results in a barrage of beatings to the rest of your body, changing the role of the immune system from protector to a destructive force. And where your heart’s concerned, ongoing inflammation aggravates any existing plaque, making it more likely to break open and block an artery, causing a heart attack.

Inflammation also injures the lining of the blood vessels that supply nourishing blood to your heart. That injured lining provides a birthing ground for the formation of cholesterol-laden plaque, which can eventually break open and cause a heart attack.

The best measure of inflammation is the highly sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP) blood test. Let’s focus on three main factors that feed the inflammation beast: blood sugar, insulin and fat cells. Too much of any of them is a bad thing. Too much fat, especially centered around your middle, promotes inflammation. Even a 10 to 20 pound weight loss can make a big difference.

Insulin lowers blood sugar by pushing it into your cells where it gets burned up as energy. Diabetes occurs when your pancreas can’t make enough insulin to get the job done. By then, both your insulin and blood sugar levels are too high. Even before diabetes happens, there’s a period—often years—where your blood sugar may look “normal,” but you’re making too much insulin for your own good. High levels of insulin suppress your blood sugar levels. Your body’s cells try to resist insulin’s efforts to push sugar into them from your blood. This is called “insulin resistance.” Genes are a factor but the main causes are a lousy diet, excess body weight and too little physical activity.

High insulin levels—even in the presence of “normal” blood sugar levels—are a menace: They contribute to the formation of atherosclerotic plaque, promote the oxidation of LDL cholesterol into its more harmful form, and increase the likelihood that you’ll form artery-blocking clots. They also make you retain water and sodium, which elevates blood pressure and boosts blood triglyceride (TG) levels—adding to your risk of heart disease.

This is an intricate, dynamic interplay between insulin and cholesterol, and that’s a big reason why snapshot cholesterol levels barely scratch the surface.

Let’s be clear: Cholesterol is actually an important molecule in your body, serving as a building block for your hormones. It’s also an integral part of your cell membranes and works as a repair molecule. Cholesterol is doing all sorts of things, depending on what your body needs. But when inflammation gets in the mix, it basically instigates cholesterol to misbehave.

For example, high blood-sugar and insulin levels tell your liver to package up LDL “bad” cholesterol, also created in your liver, into apo-lipoprotein B-100, Apo B-100 for short, where it can accumulate on your artery walls as dangerous plaque.

On the flip side, you have apolipoprotein A1(Apo A1), which packages up your HDL “good” cholesterol and carries it away from the artery walls and back to your liver. There, it gets broken down and eventually excreted through your bowels. So the balance between cholesterol influx (into the artery wall) and efflux (back to the liver) is a key factor in what’s really going on with cholesterol and how likely it is to cause heart trouble.

Is your cholesterol fluffy?

Heart-disease risk involves more than just how much Apo B and Apo A1 are in your system. It’s a classic case of when size matters, and I’m talking specifically about your LDL and HDL particles. If you have small, dense LDL particles, they’re more likely to insinuate themselves into your artery walls. Once implanted, they’ll form that highly undesirable and potentially artery-blocking plaque. LDL particles that are large, buoyant––fluffy, even—are much less likely to do so.

But having large particles is not the best-case scenario when it comes to your HDL. When HDL particles are smaller, they’re more agile and can transport that much more cholesterol back from the artery walls to the liver where it gets broken down, which is a good thing.

To recap: Large LDL particles = more benign, and small HDL = more helpful.

These should be your particle-size goals. (I’ll be explaining how to find out what yours are in a moment.) It’s important to know that your LDL and HDL numbers can look perfectly normal on standard blood tests—without particle size having been taken into account. If you happen to have the more dangerous particle-size patterns, you could very well be a heart attack waiting to happen. Once again, so much for “normal.”

LDL’s brutish buddy

Lipoprotein(a) doesn’t get much press but should. It’s a nasty little particle made in the liver that attaches itself to cholesterol particles, aiding and abetting their building up in your artery walls. High levels are inherited and can be present in the face of perfectly “normal” cholesterol levels. I often see elevated levels in someone with a family history of early heart disease and normal cholesterol levels.

Bill, a patient of mine, comes to mind. When I first began treating him and took an extensive medical history, I asked him about any family history of heart disease. He looked puzzled a moment but then sat back and replied, “Well, my dad had his first heart attack when he was 48. We always thought he was healthy as a horse up ‘til then. Normal cholesterol. He didn’t smoke and was skinny as a rail. He even chopped wood all his life! The heart attack came as a real shocker.”

Niacin and estrogen will lower levels some. Niacin in particular has been found to lower LDL and triglyceride levels, raise HDL levels, and have a positive influence on lipoprotein(a). If your lipoprotein(a) level is elevated, your best bet is to get aggressive about addressing all of the risk factors of heart disease that we’ve talked about. Let’s start with the first step.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a few tests

Right off the bat, you need to get clear on what your numbers are. Here are the things you need:

(1) Glucose and insulin testing After an overnight fast, you’ll be given a blood test that will measure your fasting insulin and blood sugar levels. A level over 90 could mean diabetes, unless you start making changes today. A fasting insulin of 5 to 6 is ideal. Anything over 10 spells trouble down the road. Measuring both glucose and insulin two hours after a 75-gram drink of sugar water can be useful, especially if your fasting numbers are borderline.

(2) VAP test This one will let you know how much Apo B and Apo A1 are in your system and also analyze your LDL and HDL particle sizes. The ideal ratio between Apo B-100 and Apo A1 is 0.7 or less. Go to www.thevaptest.com to learn more. Similar tests are available from Berkeley Heart Labs (www.bhlinc.com) and SpectraCell (www.spectracell.com). Check the fine print of your medical insurance coverage to be certain you follow their lab-work guidelines.

(3) Highly sensitive C-reactive protein On this test that measures inflammation, less than a 1.0 is ideal. Anything between 1.0 to 3.0 is borderline, and the higher it runs over a 3.0 spells a corresponding increase in risk for heart disease.

You can also use your triglyceride (TG) level as a rough guide to both LDL particle size and how well your HDL is working. A high TG level is bad news, another risk marker of heart disease. An ideal level to aim for is under 100. A low ratio of TG to HDL is also desirable. If it’s over 4-to-1, your risk of heart disease will increase. Shoot for a ratio of 2-to-1 (e.g. a TG level of 100 and an HDL level of 50).

A few folks inherit high TG levels—I’ve seen them well into the hundreds and even, in very rare cases, higher than a thousand. There’s also an inherited pattern of moderately high TG levels (over 200) and low HDL levels (less than 40) that often accompanies diabetes. So be aware not just of your numbers but what they mean.

I have my numbers…now what?

There are some natural remedies you can use to get your numbers in alignment. To lower your TG levels, try niacin, which is good old-fashioned vitamin B3. As a bonus, it’s also one of the few agents that’ll boost HDL. As you raise your HDL level, it’ll go to work to clean up your LDL. The higher doses needed for this purpose, 500 to 2,000 mg per day, are doses one might take when using it as a drug rather than as a supplement. Take it before bedtime.

It can cause flushing and has some potential liver toxicity, so use it under the supervision of a health-care professional. A “natural” form of niacin, inositol hexaniacinate, is essentially flush-free with a much lower risk of liver problems but is generally much less effective at moving the numbers in the right direction. It’s certainly worth a try, though. If it works, you’re in business—without having to try high-dose niacin and risking the side effects.

The truth is, most of you can normalize your TG levels with diet, exercise and fish oil. That same regimen will confer an overall anti-inflammatory effect. This is the very thing we started out looking at as a risk factor. Adopt a healthy whole-food diet, eliminating all the processed foods loaded with high-fructose corn syrup and trans fats (aka hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated fats). As for fish oil, you’ll want to take 2 to 3 grams total EPA and DHA (check the figures on the label and add them up yourself). It can also boost HDL levels, lower Apo B-100 and help maintain healthy blood sugar levels. I like a product from Nordic Naturals. Go to www.nordicnaturals.com to locate a store near you that carries their products. You can also look for Carlson, Spectrum, or Jarrow products.

Top 10 paths to a cast-iron healthy gut

Do you want to feel better all the time and have a healthier immune system? Then gird your gut for the task, because it does play a central role—literally and figuratively.

A poorly functioning gut can’t even begin to adequately process the 40 to 60 tons of food you’ll consume in a lifetime. It already works overtime to sort out the good stuff from the bad.

When your gut doesn’t perform well at this so-called “barrier” function, the result is an overloaded immune system and a surge in inflammation throughout your body. That will put you at risk for a whole host of chronic degenerative diseases that plague modern societies. The list includes heart disease (for more on heart disease, see the front-page article of this issue), diabetes, arthritis, dementia and cancer.

Many of my patients complain of suffering from heartburn. It’s a common misconception that heartburn is simply the result of too much stomach acid. But as you age, you produce less stomach acid—slowing down your digestion. Also, the protective mucosal layer of the esophagus and stomach can thin out—increasing the likelihood of heartburn symptoms and ulceration.

Heartburn is a common symptom (along with bloating) of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Stomach acid backs up into your esophagus when the valve between your stomach and your esophagus doesn’t close properly. It’s associated with one of the fastest-growing cancers in this country—esophageal cancer. Acid has no business visiting your esophagus, because it will burn your esophageal lining.

As you might guess, I’m not a big fan of acid-blocking medications like little purple pills. These weren’t originally intended for long-term daily treatment except for certain rare disorders. Yet they’ve somehow transitioned into a daily habit for millions of Americans, no doubt to the never-ending delight of the drug companies.

A typical lazy response: Band-aid a symptom and ignore the underlying causes.

What you need is to strengthen your gut—and you’ll be happy to hear that it doesn’t require sit-ups. These are my top 10 picks—and common-sense suggestions—for building and protecting your mucosa, for improving your digestion by breaking down food more efficiently, and for promoting healthy gut bacteria.

Flora friendly

Your gut hosts a population of bacteria, or flora. They’re a varied lot, made up of both healthy and disease-causing bacteria that must live in a balanced state for optimum health. Common gut-flora strains that aid in digestion include the Lactobacillus and Bifidobac-terium groups. Here’s a fact you can wow your friends and neighbors with: Over 70 percent of your immune system is located in your gut, where all of the sorting goes on for everything you put in your mouth. And in order to promote the health of your immune system, you need a zealous population of healthy bacteria—probiotics (meaning “for life”). They also act against candida albicans, the overgrowth of which results in candidiasis (or “thrush”). Probiotics also protect against food-borne toxins, enhance the absorption of vitamins and minerals, and support toxin removal from the colon.

Even gut flora get support

Prebiotics are undigestible fibers found in fruits and vegetables. They support probiotics in their role of maintaining gut health by promoting their growth. Fructooligosaccharides (FOS) are a commonly mentioned type of prebiotics. You can ingest them naturally from many foods, including garlic, onions, Jerusalem artichokes, asparagus and chicory. And it seems that as a country, we’re not getting enough. The average daily ingestion of prebiotics is about 2 grams, but 5 to 6 grams are recommended. A good supplement comes from NOW and it’s called Inulin Prebiotic FOS, available in many vitamin and health food stores or via the internet.

Increase your acidity

As I mentioned, gastric-acid production decreases as we age. Add to that the regular administration of antacids, anything from self-prescribed TUMS to power prescription meds like Nexium, Prilosec and Prevacid, we’re further aggravating the situation. Let’s be clear: You need stomach acid. It’s necessary for the initial breaking down of food in the stomach. It’s also required for the normal release of pancreatic and biliary enzymes and for aiding the availability of nutrients. Large proteins only partially broken down can pass into systemic circulation, provoking a generalized inflammatory response. Digestive enzymes are therefore beneficial, improving digestion, helping to treat a slew of conditions ranging from GERD to eczema, and even having the potential to prevent age-related macular degeneration (ARMD). You can get these digestive enzymes in a formula. Look for one that includes at least protease (100,000 USP units), lipase (20,000 USP units), and amylase (100,000 USP units). Take 2 to 3 tablets just before meals. Betaine HCL is commonly used to promote increased stomach acidity, best under the supervision of a health-care professional. Here’s a natural way to fend off meal-related symptoms such as heartburn: Simply slow down your fork transit and take the time to chew your food thoroughly. It’s called “drinking your solids and chewing your liquids.”

Myth-busting

There’s a common misconception that stress promotes acid secretion, burning the holes in your stomach that we call ulcers. The fact is, stress provokes hormonal changes that cause your digestion to slow down and the protective mucosal layer of your stomach to thin out and break down. Most of us don’t make enough stomach acid—again, especially as we age. Adequate stomach acid is necessary for the proper absorption of nutrients like calcium and magnesium, for protein digestion, and for control of harmful bacteria.

Gut killer without conscience

Antibiotics have been used irresponsibly for years, sparking the advent of resistant super-germs. They wreak havoc on the normal balance between healthy and unhealthy gut bacteria, disturbing immune-system function. If you ever do need an antibiotic, take a high daily dose of a probiotic. I recommend 10 to 20 billion colony-forming units. This will protect against diarrhea. There’s one potentially fatal bowel infection associated with antibiotics, called C. difficile colitis. A probiotic yeast, Saccharomyces boulardii, is especially helpful against it. Frequent antibiotic use in women may be a factor in breast cancer. Not to mention, all of those antibiotics freely prescribed by pediatricians for ear infections, which can cause long-term compromise of the immune system in kids.

Toss these gut shredders

Don’t let these seemingly benign pills fool you: They’re all potential statistic makers. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil), naproxen (Naprosyn, Aleve), celecoxib (Celebrex), and indomethacin (Indocin) are respon- sible for an estimated 15,000 deaths per year. They compromise the integrity of the mucosal lining of your stomach, provoking ulcers and bleeding. Amazingly, few people outside of the medical profession are aware of this. It’s a rare day in the hospital when I don’t have to care for an elderly patient, usually from a nursing home, who has suffered gastrointestinal bleeding due to NSAIDs. Daily use is also inviting other problems such as heart attacks and kidney failure. Intermittent use—a few times per month, for example—for no more than a few days at a time should be OK for most. But there are safer options. Fish oil is a great remedy: Take 2 to 3 grams total EPA and DHA of it daily.

Take your bitters

The substances found in bitter-tasting plants help stimulate gastric acid, aid the flow of bile in the liver and repair the gut wall. The value of a bitter “digestif” before a meal has been recognized and practiced for thousands of years by many cultures. Strangely, it’s a flavor left out of most American diets—to our detriment. Examples would be dandelion and mustard greens, escarole and chicory. There’s also a fine tonic called Swedish Bitters, widely available in most natural food stores. You can also get it online at www.swedishbitters.com.

Apply a soothing gut glue

Demulcent is just a fancy word used to describe some useful old-time favorites: licorice and marshmallow. I’m referring not to the candy store variety, but specifically to the remedy versions, deglycerinated licorice (DGL) and marshmallow root. These are soothing, mucilaginous (“gluey”) substances that quell gut inflammation. They help build and support a healthy mucosal layer. Regular licorice has an “aldosterone-like” effect. (Aldosterone helps regulate your sodium and potassium levels.) It can cause salt retention and high blood pressure in some people while in others it’s useful for exhausted adrenal glands, but best used only under the care of an experienced practitioner. DGL doesn’t cause the retention or a blood-pressure problem. It’s great for healing ulcers, though.

Mellow your middle with this Mediterranean native

This broad-leafed succulent plant, native to Mediterranean climates, has been used for thousands of years in many cultures, spanning from ancient Egypt to China. It has a gel rich in tonifying polysaccharides (a type of carbohydrate), which contains some of that famous healing component. It can also function as a soothing demulcent and is excellent for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), heartburn being the main symptom. Be sure to use an aloin-free gel formulation, which most are. Aloin is a powerful, cathartic laxative that inevitably causes diarrhea.

Mucosal mender

One study showed that when you give a powerful NSAID like Indocin (indomethacin), gut permeability increases threefold. But zinc carnosine, taken in a dosage of 37.5 mg twice per day over a five-day period, prevents this. It protects the gut and stabilizes and heals its mucosal lining. It’s excellent for healing ulcers as well as treating “leaky gut” syndrome. (Leaky gut syndrome can be caused by NSAID and antibiotic overuse—surprise, surprise.) Two high-quality products are Zinlori by Metagenics (available only through certain healthcare practitioners—go to www.metagenics.com to locate one) and PepZinGi by Jarrow (www.jarrow.com and also available in grocery stores and pharmacies).

By the way, no smoking is allowed. You can add GERD and stomach ulcers to the long list of diseases in which smoking is implicated.

FORGOTTEN CURES
This plant grows in dense thickets, and could make your hair do the same

Patients come to me with a variety of health concerns. There are some with quite serious illnesses but others who have simply the nagging little annoyances that any of us can be afflicted with from time to time.

Self-esteem is as important a piece of the total health picture as, say, eating right or getting plenty of fresh air and exercise. One thing that some of my friends and patients are concerned about is hair loss. And while some decide to embrace their hair loss—one of my patients has taken to shaving his head in a “Mr. Clean” tribute, others want their hair back.

The main cause of over 95 percent of the hair loss in men is what we call androgenic alopecia. A key factor is the excess conversion of testosterone to a form called DHT via an enzyme known as 5-alpha-reductase. The well-known drug finasteride (Propecia, Proscar) blocks this enzyme. Studies have shown it reduces DHT levels in the scalp and encourages hair growth. As a result, it is FDA-approved for male hair loss.

But who wants yet another prescription to take? I’ve heard a few anecdotal reports through a friend about using saw palmetto for this very purpose—and it seems to work. So, I decided to do some research.

Normally, saw palmetto is associated with treating prostate problems. It has a long history of use in treating mild to moderate enlargement of the prostate, called benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH). However, it may work in a similar fashion on the 5-alpha-reductase enzyme.

Finasteride is a drug with considerable side effects, including erectile dysfunction and loss of libido (making loss of hair seem almost mild in comparison). It may also encourage an especially aggressive form of prostate cancer. Not many men want to sign up for these types of problems and are obviously reluctant to risk them by taking this drug. Though I do have to say that for some guys, when it comes to their hair—all bets are off. So it’s important to find a safer solution.

Very little research has been done to date, but the good news is that there has been some. One small study was done with 19 male participants ages 23 to 64. All of these gentlemen had mild to moderate androgenic alopecia. Each of them received 200 mg of saw palmetto plus 50 mg of beta sitosterol, a plant sterol that is used both to treat high cholesterol and BPH. In the prostate, the exact way it operates has yet to be understood. At any rate, at the end of the study, 60 percent of the participants showed improvement. Obviously, larger studies are needed—and I suspect we’ll begin to see more.

What this means for you, however, is this. It’s worth a try for three months. If it works for you, you’re in business—no side-effect-laden prescriptions needed. Go ahead and include the beta sitosterol if you wish, though, from the research, it’s unclear whether it helps or not. Saw palmetto is pretty inexpensive and easy to find on store shelves. (I like the widely available, high-quality product made by Nature’s Way.) We don’t yet understand all the reasons as to why it works for some individuals and not for others. But it’s safe (certainly safer than finasteride), and here’s a bit of a bonus to go along with it: Some men report that it boosts their libido. That should be a little extra incentive for you to at least give it a three-month trial period.

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED
Mysteries that have been known to work miracles

Q.I’ve heard that spirituality can promote good health, but I’m wondering if that’s not just a “new age” idea. On occasion, I’ll feel a little anxiety, but not so bad that I want to take a drug for it. I’ve been thinking that I should try doing something spiritual, maybe even going back to church, just to find that natural sense of calm I used to enjoy. I’m intrigued by people who are quite spry even after having conquered various physical ailments that would fell most. I notice they all tend to have a strong spiritual core in common. What’s your take on this?
––A. Spruce, Reno, NV

A.You’re not alone in your curiosity. There’s a remarkable story that has been developing about the connection between spirituality, faith and living a longer, healthier life.

It seems that modern medicine—with all its bells and whistles—still leaves something to be desired, literally. Healing is a multilayered practice, and I believe we’ve only scratched the surface of fully understanding all there is to know—if it’s even fully knowable.

There’s an impressive history in our religious traditions of rituals that have been conceived of and practiced for thousands of years that promote good health.

These rites run the gamut: Prayer, meditation, meaning-making (finding meaning for your life), deep breathing, music, communal worship, forgiveness and compassion. That’s a buffet of options and it provides an opportunity for truly complementary medicine.

That’s not to say that there aren’t many wonderful miracles provided daily by medicine. Thank God that today we do have so many options available to us and that we don’t live a thousand years ago (at which time I may have only been able to offer my patients a good blood letting!)

Medicine is powerful, but it seems that the majority of practitioners in the medical field feel we must make a choice: That we somehow can’t mix high-tech gadgets with things that we can’t necessarily see or quantify but many of us believe—and some of us even know from personal experience —works.

And you can’t practice medicine for too long without running up against a case that you just flat-out can’t explain. It’s not in the medical books, and there’s only one way to describe it (I’ve even heard seasoned medical professionals refer to it this way): a miracle.

Your body is a marvelous system that continuously works to repair and regenerate itself. There are mind processes that, though we can’t see them, have effects on our bodies. They can be measured in our brain waves, as seen in studies done with meditation. Prayer is a similar mind-and-body process, though the “how-it’s-done” part of the equation may be different.

Scientists have long been curious about this whole subject. More and more research has been done, con-firming what has been known through faith, intuition, insight and personal practice for ages.

I am especially interested in the role that I see faith and participation in a worship group plays in my patients’ health. Research actually suggests something that is already believed and practiced by many: That gratitude, forgiveness, worship with a group and having a belief in a higher power are associated with reduced risks of depression and anxiety problems.

Also, these very things form the foundation of addiction and recovery programs—helping folks create positive intentions that take them down the path to recovery and provide deeper meaning in their lives for support.

Prayer has also been associated with a reduced risk of heart disease. In folks facing a chronic disease or terminal illness, spiritual beliefs and practices have been associated with greater life satisfaction, a greater degree of content-ment, and diminished pain and anxiety. There’s also evidence that attendance at religious services improves the likelihood of living longer, even after taking into account such common health risks as smoking and high blood pressure.

There’s a phenomenon called “self-efficacy”, which is the ability of people who are determined to get better or lick a certain health problem to actually find a way to do it—just as you mentioned. I see this over and over in my own practice. It’s often associated with a firm belief that we have had the primary tools for achieving repair and healing all along—it’s just a matter of practicing with them.

Now, that’s what I call a positive attitude—and it goes a long way in the healing process. Hey, how many people believe in the power of pharmaceuticals and the best wishes of the drug companies? But they’ll laugh off these phenomena just because they can’t see them, touch them, or shake them out of a bottle—much less explain them.

As the research continues, I imagine the topic will remain a controversial one for some time. In the meantime, I encourage you to attend to your spiritual side—defining what that means to you. It’s a personal decision, whether it be learning to meditate, adding regular prayer to your daily ritual, or going back to church as you mentioned. You’ll be amazed by how any of these practices can bring you results that you thought were available only in a prescription bottle.

The text contained herein does not constitute medical advice. Health Revelations advises that you consult your own physician before acting on any recommendations contained within this publication.