My Alternative Medicine Experience

Yesterday I went to see a doctor who specializes in alternative medicine. After reading Dr. Mark Hyman's book (The Ultramind Solution) I had a good idea of what I needed to do. I was hoping that this doctor could reaffirm the concerns that I had and could help me move forward. He did.

The first thing we talked about was my bipolar medication. I am currently on Wellbutrin XL, Lamictal, and Abilify. My main concern in seeing him was the fact that my pharmacy had told me that the Abilify could cause diabetes. He said the reason for that is because Abilify increases your appetite and causes you to crave sweets and carbs (wow, he was right about that). He also said that Abilify was a very aggressive anti-psychotic and that if my bipolar symptoms were not that severe he wasn't sure whether or not they were necessary. He also said that Wellbutrin is pretty benign and that is probably why I was put on Lamictal because it was not working. The Lamictal then made me really restless and anxious so they put me on Abilify. This is a problem that most people with depression experience. They put you on one med and in order to counter it's side effects they put you on another med and so on and so forth. Before you know it you are taking 5 or 6 different things and not feeling any better. I was there at one point and am fortunate to only be on 3 different things right now. However, there is mounting evidence that anti-depressants don't work and that they usually only make things worse. (Which is why there are suicide warning lables on anti-depressants)

This doctor suggested that I work with my psychiatrist to slowly (and he emphasized slowly) wean myself off the medication. He said that if I quit cold turkey I might feel better at first, but then I would crash and could have a major crisis.

The doctor also mentioned that I should try supplements as I wean myself off the medication. He gave me a plan to follow and said that there was no harm in the supplements he was giving me being mixed with my meds. He said once I was off my meds if I needed more help with the depression then I could try neurofeedback. Neurofeedback and brain mapping, "...uses computerized EEG technology to identify areas of dysfunction in the brain and then trains the brain to correct them." (http://doctorvolpe.com/neurofeedback/) He said there was a lot of evidence towards it's success and it was best to do it when I was off the meds otherwise the results won't be as easy to distinguish.

Another problem I had come to see him about was my constant fatigue. I go to bed early and when I wake up I don't feel rested and a few hours after getting up I feel exhausted. He said that it could be my liver that needs to detox. He gave me a supplement to try and told me that in his experience, and in the experience of many of his colleagues, a lot of physical problems lie in the liver. He said once doctors start paying attention to the liver a lot of problems can me solved. Here is an interesting article written on Dr. Sandra Cabot's website (she is the one who created the supplement he gave me). http://www.liverdoctor.com/index.php?page=liver-detoxification.

So, I will start taking his supplements and see how I feel. He warned me that it might be a process. I might not feel perfect at first because my body will be detoxing a lot of waste and the plan he put together me may not be exactly right for me. So I will keep everyone posted on my progress. Oh and by the way, he also recommended a gluten free, dairy free diet with lots of protein, vegetables and good fats. More on that to come.

Red Rasberry Ketones

If you watched Dr. Oz yesterday(2/6/2012) you probably heard about "Red Rasberry Ketones." The RRK supplement is supposed to make your body "think thin." Here is a video that explains the science, seems the whole red rasberry ketone trick has been around for awhile!

Why Antioxidants? What are they anyway?

The most important antioxidants are vitamens C, E, Bioflavenoids, and Betacarotene. Anitoxidents can be found in fruits, vegetable, oils(olive oil, or sesame seed is the best), seeds, and nuts. In the majority of articles read although meat has some antioxidant properties, most of those properties can be found in other foods....that's why a mostly vegetarian diet is highly recommended. More about what meat does during digestion later(its not good). Antioxidants are said to be free radical scavengers in that they go around completing those outer shell electrons and in the process they have the ability to stay stable themselves, thus reducing the amount of free floating radicals in our bodies. Tissue saved!

 Another important factor about free radicals is that free radicals are a natural part of our immune system.  Free radicals attack viruses and illnesses, its when there are too many that our tissues and organs are damaged.

Free Radicals? Can Cost us our health.

Free radicals are not exactly free, except that they are free to roam around our bodies and reek havoc. Free Radicals are caused by many things, some natural and some from environmental factors. The environmental factors are the causes we need to exert some control over because of the long term consequences. Many of us expose ourselves to too much radiation(sun), pesticides, cigarettes, alcohol and other heavy metal toxins on a daily basis.

Here is the simplified explanation without too much biology. The molecules in our cells are held together by the bonding of atoms.  Molecules are atoms that fit together like a puzzle and complete each other(see picture). When the electrons in the outer shell of an atom become weak and let go of the electron that completes its shell, it causes the atom to look for another electron to complete the circle, and to make it stable again.When the outer shell of an otherwise stable molecule is broken, it is called a free radical. Many times in order to complete the circle of electrons it breaks apart another atom's outer shell trying to snag that electron that it needs. When this happens again and again, it  causes a snowball effect, lots of broken bonds, hence more free radicals. Can you see how if free radical damage is allowed to continue the damage to our cells and tissue could be extensive and ongoing? We do have a weapon against free radicals, but that is another blog!  Tomorrow, how antioxidants can help......yay! Click here to read more.

Are all Calories Created Equal?

So, what is a calorie? Are fat calories equal to carbohydrate calories? Nope, not the same!


A calorie by definition is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree celsius from an initial temperature(just leave it at that, it gets complicated), at 1 atmosphere pressure. Here is a link if you want more splaining! http://www.answers.com/topic/calorie


Ok so that's the science of it. Bottom line, that heat is expended in energy by our body at a certain rate ... sometimes fast...sometimes slow, but generally the faster the better.  To burn calories faster we have to move! Thats a blog for another day.

Today I just want to talk about fat calories vs. carbohydrate and protein calories. Many of todays diets are based on how many grams of fat we should have daily(about 30%) and how many grams of carbohydrate and protein we should consume daily .  For instance a gram of fat has 9 calories, whereas a gram of protein or carbohydrate only has 4 calories. In case your interested alcohol has 7 calories per gram. So, if you are reading a label on the back of a packaged food, it really helps to know how to calculate how much of that food's calorie make up comes from fat, that is if you are watching your fat grams, which I believe we all should. When you are looking at a label just multiply the number of fat grams by 9 and you will know how many calories are from fat.. On this label it comes out to 108 which is not what is stated on the label....hmmmm. Why is that you ask? Because according to the FDA they don't have to be exact on the labeling, they are allowed to "round it off." So when something  says O grams of fat, it's not necessarily so. If you want to know the exact rules you can go to the FDA website here.  Happy label reading!

Bison? Tastes just like chicken!

Ok so it doesn't take like chicken....It tastes a lot like beef,
 has more iron than beef, and less fat and cholesterol than chicken..
Those Chik-fil-A cows should be saying "EAT MORE BISON."
 Bison, by nature beats out pork and salmon as well when it comes to fat, calories,
and cholesterol. Bison is a wild animal and feeds on wild grains and grass, 
so it's  never given antibiotics or growth hormones.


Contrary to popular belief a bison is not a buffalo. The main bison population exists primarly in North America. Whereas the two main Buffalo species reside in  Africa and Asia, they are the African cape buffalo and the Asian water buffalo.
Bison are called "buffalo" casually  because they resemble one another and are from the same family, but there are distinct differences as you can see in the pictures. The National Bison Association encourages the term "bison" to differentiate between what is considered the American Buffalo(bison) and the true Buffalo. For more information about bison in America, how it is manufactured, nutrition, and how to prepare click on this link.



Bison







Buffalo









The UltraMind Solution by Dr. Mark Hyman

In the last post I mentioned a young journalist who dealt with bipolar and how he overcame it. He reccomended several books on the topic of how nutrition can effect your symptoms. One of these was "The UltraMind Solution" by Dr. Mark Hyman. The journalist mentioned how if you don't read anything else, you should read this book because it will change your life. So, I got the book, read it, and I have to agree with him. It is a true eye opener.
The book not only talks about how nutrition and certain supplements can help your body, but he gets specific. He gives case studies as examples in almost every chapter about clients who come in and are over weight, tired, and suffer from some mental health issue that often included depression, early dementia, alzheimers and even autism. He goes over their treatment plan and then discusses in the book the reasoning behind it and how it can help you. He gives you health "quizzes" so you can see what areas you are deficient in. Some of these include inflammation, zinc, magnesium, hormones, and thryroid. He makes the case for the fact that many of our physical ailments all stem from an "inflammed brain" that we have aquired through unhealthy eating and the exposure to environmental toxins. He even gives you a solid plan on how to get your body back to its balanced normal self. He also offers advice on supplements and why they are important (mainly because no matter how good we eat we are still not getting all of the vitamins we need). Another great thing about this book is that he offers a 183 page companion guide for free off his website. www.ultramindsolution.com/guide.


There are so many things I can talk about when it comes to this book and I will attempt to discuss a few of them (like how our gut is our second brain and why conventional medicine doesn't work). In the meantime, I strongly suggest that you buy this book and read it. If you are skeptical you can find the book on Amazon and read the first few chapters. Trust me, you'll be hooked!