Being “Fat” can and most likely will cause:

1. Cardiovascular Disease
2. Diabetes
3. Affect the Knees, hips, etc.
4. Chronic Lower Back Pain
5. Hormonal Imbalances
6. Hypertension
7. Sleep Apnea
8. Certain Types of Cancer
9. Osteoarthritis
10. Stroke
11. Increased Cholesterol
12. The list is almost endless.

Also, by not getting yourself in to an acceptable weight range, you are cutting 10-15 years off your life span, reports countless studies on obesity. To make matters worse, childhood obesity is running rampant, and literally called an epidemic by many physicians, psychologists etc.

The most common way of estimating your body fatness is utilizing the Body Mass Index method. This is a mathematic calculation using height and weight to determine the BMI, and is NOT the most accurate way of determining how much body fat you have. It will give you an idea though, of how much fat cell you have. The BMI formula is easy. Take your weight in pounds, multiply that figure by 703, and then divide that by the ‘square’ of your height.

For example:
Step 1. Weight = 300 lbs. so 300 x 703 = 210,900
Step 2. Height = 65 Inches so 65 x 65 = 4,225
Step 3. 210,900 divided by 4225 = 49.9 which is the BMI.

This is the most common classification of BMI. See where you are!

The BMI calculation is just an estimate. It cannot differentiate from fat cell to muscle cell. An NFL running- back like Maurice Jones Drew who is less than 6ft. and weighs 240+ lbs would be OBESE according to the BMI, when he actually has about only 7% body fat. He is all muscle……and not obese. (Notice I said % of body fat. More later on this.)

That is the “KEY”; accumulation of fat cell, the location of these fat cell deposits, is what really determines obesity and the development of disease states.

I have really gotten off target here, but explanation of BMI and its inherent inaccuracies, needed to be explained. For those of us who are not “Gym Rats” it may be close, but for the regular exerciser it could be wrong.

Now why are Americans so fat? Simply we eat too much, and too much of the wrong foods. We do not exercise enough. We have computers, TV’s, we mentally stress ourselves at work so we are too tired and sleep too much.

The primary reason though is found in our metabolic rate. This term refers to the rate of calories our body burns during normal activities. The average metabolic rate has declined significantly over the years, and I bet you can guess why?

OUR LOSS OF THE CORRECT HORMONES!

There are many hormones that affect metabolism, the most common ones being the thyroid and the sex hormones, primarily testosterone. The other sex hormones also need to be in balance for optimal results. In addition to hormone loss, the contamination of our environment with so many chemical pollutants causes our metabolism to go awry as well. Add to that the loss of natural vitamins from our food sources such as B-12 and other vitamins also affect our metabolic rate.

Now are you ready for the real “Gotcha?” The food industry adds what are called O.A.’s. What is an O.A.? Are you Ready for this? OBESITY ADDITIVES !!!!!!!

Yes, it is true, and proven in many studies, that much of what we eat has ‘obesity additives’ in the food so we eat more, and therefore BUY more – increasing their profits. Obesity Additives make the signal (a hormone) to be under-produced telling our bodies that we are still hungry! This hormone is designed by our body to tell us to STOP eating, that we have had enough. If we don’t have it we keep eating.

So add all of these factors below and see what you get:

1. Sedentary lifestyle.
2. Overeating in quantity.
3. Loss of fat burning hormones.
4. Environmental pollutants.
5. Obesity Additives.
6. Stress which = increased cortisol hormone which = increased fat storage.
7. No exercise.
8. Eating a diet primarily of sugars and carbohydrates.

ANSWER = BMI OF 50 !

So what are you to do? Most of the diet schemes out there may work to lose some pounds, but most commonly the pounds come back when the diet effort wanes and you go back to eating a Big Mac. The root cause of slowed metabolism must be fixed for permanent weight loss to happen. We can fix that part by regulating your hormones, and giving you the essential vitamins and supplements.

Dr. Bernard and the entire staff at Pointe Medical Services/Live Well MD are committed to helping you lose weight permanently. Getting your body to an appropriate weight is one of the healthiest things you can do to improve your well being, longevity, disease avoidance, and enhance your self image which makes you feel good and happy. Dr. Bernard has developed several methods to HELP you lose weight. Notice the word HELP. If you follow these programs to a ‘T’ they will work.

We can show you the drinking fountain but we cannot make you drink as the saying goes. YOU have to be committed to follow our various programs for weight loss, stick with it and you will lose weight.

Well guys and girls, I have made this blog entry overweight! The BMI must be about 70! There will be more on obesity to come, but for starters, when you go to Longhorn Steakhouse for that steak dinner, order from the Kid’s Menu! Also drink water, not soda, sweet tea, (or forgive me) beer! And never, and I mean never have a bowl of ice cream before you get in bed, it will go straight to your belly and I do not mean your stomach…..

The one aspect that really gets to me is that most insurances do not cover what helps us significantly: Bioidentical Hormone Therapy. Get real folks, the government (Medicare) and most of all the other private insurances do not pay for substances that are exactly like what our body’s make. The Natural Hormones that we use are molecularly identical to what our own body produces, and they want us to purchase all the costs involved in using these natural substances?

Ask most people in the United States; “Who has the best healthcare in the world?”, and the majority would undoubtedly say America. Well that is true in some areas, but the reality is that the World Health Organization (WHO) has consistently ranked the U.S. around the 26th spot globally.

Bioidentical Hormone Replacement has been around for many years. Europe has utilized it for about 40-50 years. There are even some older physicians that have been using it in the U.S., unnoticed for the last 20 years or so. So what am I leading up to here? I am certainly not putting down our Healthcare system. We all know it is indeed very much in need of help. My motive is more along the lines of what you could or can do to try and lower the cost to you by urging insurance companies to cover hormone replacement as much as possible by writing, phoning, email, or whatever means you like asking for coverage of these hormones.

Possible reasons why hormones are not covered by most insurances:

1. Mainstream medicine does not consider andropause a serious enough syndrome to warrant treatment. If they do, they will only cover synthetic replacement as they are FDA approved. While symptomatic menopause has been recognized for some time, again treatment with synthetic meds has been the treatment of choice for many years despite the negative aspects of this type of treatment. The American Menopause Community now recommends using synthetic hormones “in as low a dose as possible for as little time as possible”! Do you want to take a medicine with that kind of warning?

2. It is very difficult or almost impossible to get natural hormones approved by the FDA for 5 primary reasons.

a. They are custom made and coming from natural ingredients, or ‘compounded’ so the exact makeup may differ from one pharmacy to another. These differences are not ‘bad’; it is due to the customization per patient. At Pointe Med, each compound is tested for sterility and concentration by our pharmacy.

b. The hormones are made from natural substances and no synthetic materials are added. Drug companies have no interest in doing research for the FDA approval or producing it as there is no profit for them. Since they cannot market it as a drug, they cannot make a profit.

c. The FDA and drug companies are both facing this exact same scenario in treating andropause/menopause/perimenopause. This is complicated even more so since there has been so much controversy over utilization of synthetic hormones for women (which are covered by insurances as they are FDA approved). The synthetic variety has been found to be harmful and mostly ineffective. The Women’s Health Initiative Study and many other studies have proven that they are cancer causing, along with other untoward effects such as blood clots and cardiac issues, just for starters. The WHO has declared them as definitely carcinogenic, along with birth control pills.

d. Ignorance of the standard medical community not understanding how BHRT works, the safety and benefits it provides your body, and the proven good results time and again. Resistance to change and/or using something natural instead of synthetic.

e. There have been no U.S. backed formal scientific studies (usually funded by the pharmaceutical companies) using the traditional double blind placebo controlled method. Successful studies of this type would gain FDA approval. They have been done in other countries.

SO WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Have you ever heard that old expression “The squeaky wheel gets the grease?” That is what you can do……..be squeaky! Contact your insurance company, your local and/or national politician, congressman, senator, governor or even President Obama too! Tell them your stories. A strong emotional letter relaying the positive side of BHRT in quantity will be noticed. (By the way, one unofficial study/survey suggested that most senators and congressional women use BHRT!) This has to start as a grass roots effort, and it has already begun. BHRT is the fastest growing area of medicine currently. If you all can keep the ball rolling…….who knows, maybe the powers to be will become intelligent and get these valuable natural non-synthetic hormones approved entirely by the FDA. Then and only then, will insurances be required to cover them.

The sobering thought to all of this is, until that day comes, thousands of women will be prescribed an ineffective, cancer causing, synthetic medicine that has been proven to be a carcinogenic, like Premarin or Prempro. The prescribing MD and patient both believe that these medicines are fine. They are not, and many will contract breast cancer due to the composition of these medications, and most men will go untreated as well.

Be angry at our government! Let them know you do not want any of these synthetic medications on the market! They are unsafe, killers, and the government, FDA, and many physicians know this!

You may think the BHRT we supply is expensive. Well, compared to a $10.00 co-pay or even a $30.00 co-pay for brand drugs, our hormones are costly. Dr. Bernard and the Pharmacy have cut the costs of making (compounding) the hormones as much as can be allowed. There are significant costs in machinery, pharmacists, pharmacy staff, obtaining the raw material, etc. but a business can only price down so far. A profit has to be made or we would not be here to supply you with the care and treatment that you receive.

You can have an impact on health care! Compose a short letter and put one in the mail every week to whoever represents you. Just make copies and mail, or keep a draft and email out every other day. Quantity is the answer here. Once approval is granted, and it will be at some point, then YOU will have the $10.00 co-pay for which you are paying much more for as it is now. Take charge of your healthcare and also the health of all of us! Just as the cost may be a hardship for you, many people cannot afford it at all.

As Nike used to say………JUST DO IT! We would much rather keep costs down and enable all to get the remarkable results that Natural Hormone Replacement gives.

Your body makes cortisol to help it store fat reserves should you need energy later, primarily meant to act like that when we were cavemen, but cavemen we are not. It causes weight gain as the fat stores increase.
Our challenge today is STRESS ! Stress under constant pressure initially causes overproduction and increased weight, but after a while the constant stress we feel in everyday life, whatever the source, causes the adrenal glands to shutdown production of cortisol. Your cortisol level dips low, but unfortunately the built up fat stores remain. It is important to know that we have to have cortisol. Without it in your body’s hormonal system, it could cause death.

STRESS really does a number to our bodies, in many ways. In respect to adrenal fatigue the most common signs are:
• Tired for no reason?
• Having trouble getting up in the morning?
• Need coffee, colas, salty or sweet snacks to keep going?
• Feeling run down and stressed?
• Crave salty or sweet snacks?
• Struggling to keep up with life’s daily demands?
• Can’t bounce back from stress or illness?
• Not having fun anymore?
• Decreased sex drive?
• Feel depressed and do not know why?

Sounds a lot like most other things……doesn’t it? How do we tell the difference from all the other “fatigue” related syndromes? It’s all in the hormones and in the ability of the physician, and it can be a ‘part’ of your whole unbalanced hormonal system.

As the name suggests, its paramount symptom is fatigue that is not relieved by sleep but it is not a readily identifiable entity like measles or a broken finger. You may look and act relatively normal with adrenal fatigue and may not have any obvious signs of physical illness, yet you live with a general sense of unwellness, tiredness or “gray” feelings. People suffering from adrenal fatigue often have to use coffee, colas and other stimulants to get going in the morning and to prop themselves up during the day.

This syndrome has been known by many other names throughout the past century, such as non-Addison’s hypoadrenia, sub-clinical hypoadrenia, neurasthenia, adrenal neurasthenia, adrenal apathy and adrenal fatigue. Although it affects millions of people in the U.S. and around the world, conventional medicine does not yet recognize it as a distinct syndrome.

Adrenal fatigue can wreak havoc with your life. In the more serious cases, the activity of the adrenal glands is so diminished that you may have difficulty getting out of bed for more than a few hours per day. With each increment of reduction in adrenal function, every organ and system in your body is more profoundly affected. Changes occur in your carbohydrate, protein and fat metabolism, fluid and electrolyte balance, heart and cardiovascular system, and even sex drive. Many other alterations take place at the biochemical and cellular levels in response to and to compensate for the decrease in adrenal hormones that occurs with adrenal fatigue. Your body does its best to make up for under-functioning adrenal glands, but it does so at a price.

How common is adrenal fatigue? Although there are no recent statistics available, Dr. John Tinterra, a medical doctor who specialized in low adrenal function, said in 1969 that he estimated that approximately 16% of the public could be classified as severe, but that if all indications of low cortisol were included, the percentage would be more like 66%. This was before the extreme stress of 21st century living, 9/11, and the severe economic recession we are experiencing.

Treatment is relatively simple. After identifying the culprit, restoration of a cortisol like hormone is taken, and levels monitored. There are also adrenal stimulators, proprietary blends of natural substances that work to stimulate adrenal production. They are often very successful. You can also be proactive and use techniques to de-stress your life, as one of many other methods.

Don’t worry! We always check your cortisol level on an initial screening. Also if we and you do not see the results we expect to, that is increasing your energy level, we would look at this much under-diagnosed culprit again.

I have had some time off out of necessity, with a brief bout of pneumonia! Yes, even we in the anti-aging, anti-oxidant, balance-your-hormones-for-good-health profession do get sick at times. Fact is health workers have one of the highest transient illness rates than any other profession. The studies say it’s because a lot of you folks carry in all these little critters that jump on us health workers and a week after curing your chest cold we get it! It’s a hazard of our profession, and not your fault at all!

But Hey, I feel great now. Do you feel great? I mean do you feel great most of time, say 80% of the time?

O.K., here is the real matter at hand now…….Let’s get right to it.

”Are you happy with your sex life?”

Be honest now, do you really get all the sex you want? Think about it. How was it when you first met your mate (or mates) and how is it now? You are not alone if the amount of your “encounters” has significantly dropped.

Studies have shown that women have a significant drop in their sex drive by about 86% when “the Change“ occurs. Man’s constant change of life also dulls his desire significantly. He just blames it on hard work and being tired. Yeah, headache time.

Intimacy is an extremely important part of a relationship, without it most couples will not stay together. In study after study, financial problems are always cited as the first cause of divorce, followed by sex, whether it be infidelity or most commonly the lack of intercourse due to the lack of energy, motivation, desire, or even ability.

The culprit? The key to unlock this door, and you might have guessed it, is the hormone testosterone. Testosterone, commonly referred to as “T”, is the necessary hormone here. Yes, emotionality is needed too, it is very important. In a long term union you have to have significant love and affection.

With the hormone testosterone though, men start losing it at a young age in today’s polluted world, and women, (yes women have testosterone also), lose the ability to produce naturally just like men (in much smaller amounts) and can also lose it by surgery, i.e. hysterectomy and/or ovarian surgery, etc. Men are not free of the surgical threat either. Men who have had a vasectomy produce the lowest testosterone levels we see in the lab reports.

Again, I need to emphasize that ‘T’ is not what the media has made you believe. Testosterone is an essential hormone for good health, in the correct physician monitored amounts. People do abuse it, and they are the ones that have given the media and many of us a bad public impression of ‘T’. Testosterone not only enhances your libido, but has many other healthful effects our bodies need such as:

1. Increases metabolism to help lose weight.
2. Helps to prevent bone loss, or osteoporosis prevention.
3. Improves mental focus, ability to multitask.
4. Decreases cholesterol levels.
5. Lessens depression by increasing norepinephrine in the brain, much like an anti depressant medication.
6. Maintains and rebuilds muscle loss.
7. Improves your self-image & confidence.
8. Many studies suggest it is cardio protective.
9. Helps to maintain memory.
10. Many studies suggest increased longevity, diabetes prevention, a possible connection to the prevention of prostate cancer, and even a connection to the prevention of mental dementia such as Alzheimer’s.

Well I sort of got off track, but with a reason. Testosterone replenishment is not only given to improve your sex life, or give you the ability and desire, but primarily for many proactive health reasons. The restoration of your libido is an extremely good side effect. REMEMBER, it is a natural hormone we make and are robbed of earlier in life. Due to the extension of our life’s expectancy by continually improving medical treatment, makes it even more critical that we replace ‘T’ to enjoy our “Golden Years” in the bedroom as well!

One last thought. I cannot count the number of couples, married, divorced, who came to us for this particular problem, “SEX”. I am very happy to say that most couples have been reunited happily once all of their natural hormones have been replenished to the appropriate levels, especially testosterone.

“The ‘Love’ hormone in so many ways.”

The human body is an amazing work of art. It is composed of multiple parts, systems, organic and mineral substances, boundless energy, neurological synapses, electrical impulses, cellular metabolism, and on and on. If all of these functions happen in a gloriously systematic order a body will feel good, happy and healthy. If any one piece of this synchronism gets frayed, burnt, attacked or disrupted in any way, the body will pay for it. That you can count on.
You may not feel or recognize what has gone haywire; you may not even really feel a “symptom”. You do recognize that things are not the way they used to be. Most commonly, these sometimes subtle changes are just passed off as part of getting older. “That’s what is supposed to happen,” or “I passed 40 now, I’m supposed to get tired more easily, gain weight, thought and memory not as clear, libido, libido what is that?” or “That’s what life is, growing old.”

Oh Really?
It does not have to be that way.

Dr. Bernard has developed a “Program”, consisting of multiple aspects, all of which are designed, when followed, to promote a quality life and to eliminate as many of the hazards that lead to your body being out of ‘Sync”. IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT YOU DO YOUR PART AND FOLLOW THE SUGGESTIONS AND DIRECTIONS WE GIVE YOU TO MAKE IT HAPPEN:

1. Replenish your natural hormones to appropriate levels (and stay on them….every day) This is Number One.

2. As prevention minded medicine, all the routine screening tests should be done to assure there are no major parts that have gotten ‘downgraded’ already.
Mammograms, Colonoscopy, Chest X-Ray, etc. You may be asked to do a Cardiac Stress Test or a test for Sleep Apnea.

3. Weight. Get your weight under control. Most of this effort comes from you in diet control. We do have multiple methods to assist you, from HCG to Protein Shakes, to alternative or prescription diet aids, Diet Plans and metabolism boosters.

4. Quality Sleep. A good quality ‘Deep’ sleep is essential every night. Sleep Apnea is a real ‘sleeping’ giant out there that could be holding you back from total wellness. It may just be adjusting your schedule so you get 6-8 hours of quality sleep each night, or it could be sleep disordered breathing.

5. Exercise. As Nike used to say “JUST DO IT!” Most people don’t like to exercise, many do. You don’t have to overkill here, just walking 2 miles 3 times a week is sufficient. But naturally, the more you do the better.

6. Eating as Organic as your budget will allow. Also stay away from plastics, just don’t use them. Period.

7. Use supplements, Vitamins, Anti Oxidants, etc. They do help, and not in a small way. The processed foods and environmental pollutants we are exposed to every day in ways we do not see, take their toll, slowly but surely pushing the hands of time forward.

This post wasn’t intended to expose the trade secrets of Dr. Bernard’s ‘Program’, because as you can see, it is all things you know, or have heard, or know you should be doing. It is simple common sense. This is merely the basics of the program. There is a tremendous amount of research and coordination that goes on behind the scenes.

However, the original intent of this blog was to encourage everyone to stick with the program. If you do, success is virtually 100%. Watch that diet! Do that exercise! Take the supplements. Do that sleep study!

JUST DO IT!
Maybe I have accomplished that.

Menopause = 39,100,100 hits
Male Menopause = 2,520,000 hits
Low Testosterone = 3,980,000 hits
Overweight = 52,700,000 hits
Obesity = 83,200,000 hits

HYPOTHYROIDISM = 9,240,000 hits

I am actually quite surprised that Hypothyroidism polled so low. Realistically, you could add the rest of the hits as a sum number creating a grand total of 240,300,000 hits. That might be more accurate of the interest in Hypothyroidism, as many of those 240 million have some degree of Hypothyroidism. Medicine in general does agree that the thyroid gland is quite important, considerably under diagnosed and undertreated. Many natural hormone specialists even consider that a slowing underactive thyroid may be the spark that sets the fire of hormonal imbalances in many cases.

The thyroid produces hormones that regulate body temperature, warmth, metabolism, increases energy, and lowers cholesterol. It even helps with hair thinning, dry skin and thin nails; just some of its functions. These primary hormones are called T3, Triiodothyronine, and T4, Thyroxine.

Quite a while ago I told the anecdotal story of the origins of the TSH test. This is still the standard test by most physicians to evaluate the thyroid. If you read my earlier blog entry, you will understand why it should not be.

The standard treatment by “experimental” physicians has been the use of Synthroid, generically named Levothyroxine. From the official web site of Synthroid, it is defined as “a synthetic T4 identical to the body’s T4”. That is fine and dandy, but what about T3? Where did it go? After all, it is the ACTIVE thyroid hormone.

Well, follow this story:
The thyroid gland initially produces thyroid hormone as T4 as a “storage form”.
As it circulates this storage thyroid hormone T4 is converted by an enzyme to the ACTIVE thyroid hormone T3 and it goes to work. Aging, pollutants, and other factors, causes decreased production of T4 and the conversion process of T4 to T3 slows as well. The end result is that your body has less T3, the primary ACTIVE thyroid hormone. At the cellular level, the mitochondria are weakened by the lack of T3. It is needed for the mitochondria to burn oxygen and produce ATP which is our body’s fuel. End result, lower metabolism, lower energy, weight gain, and all the varied symptoms of Hypothyroidism, from constipation to miscarriages. Since so many of these symptoms are not intense, seem unrelated to the thyroid, they are tolerated or even looked at as normal, ’part of growing old’. The underactive thyroid T3 starved body does not get treated, or the Experimental Physician orders a TSH and finds it in the normal range, and says take 2 aspirin and call me in the morning. Actually they never say the “call me in the morning” part anymore.

So where is T3 anyway? That is the sad part of the story. It is readily available as Armour Thyroid, Westhroid, and also known as desiccated pig thyroid. Yep, again we humans are a lot like pigs! It is a natural product and not a synthetic or experimental drug, and therefore was not well known until recently. Simple replenishment of T3 with regular monitoring of the level or amount you have in your body to keep it in the appropriate range and amazing things happen! Things like normalcy and resolution of all the various symptoms of Hypothyroidism.

As the evolution of natural (bioidentical) hormone therapy progresses, so does the diagnosis and treatment of hypothyroidism. This is under considerable debate, and many studies are being performed. I just Googled Hypothyroidism Studies and got 5,130,000 hits!

The moral here is that it looks as though, and we know from years of experience, as well as traditional studies on Armour Thyroid, that it is the appropriate and correct treatment for Hypothyroidism. This debate is growing by the day but is complicated by economical, industrial, pharmaceutical, conventional medical thought, and even by insurance companies or governmental agencies such as the FDA.

Knowing there is effective and safe treatment out there is not the major problem. The major problem now is in recognition of the symptoms of Hypothyroidism, improvement in the diagnosis, so effective therapy can be given, resulting in improved general health for all those who need it.

Next up about the thyroid; just what are the many symptoms and how is treatment judged and given. Stay Tuned.

The nutritional, vitamin supplementation, antioxidant business has boomed into a multibillion dollar industry. There are thousands of products to choose from, and just as many businesses that will take your money and run! These nutritional additives are desperately needed by our bodies, but what ones? How do I know I can trust this product? Most of the supplements are not covered by health insurances, since insurance companies only pay for sickness. This can become quite costly……. A lot of dollars spent perhaps on something that you do not see or feel the results of.

Late night television has infomercial after infomercial. “Buy this product and get 2 free!” or “Guaranteed to melt the pounds right off!” or “These tablets are amazing, you will feel 20 years old again!” It goes on and on. Naturally most of these products are ‘snake oil’ and you should fall asleep watching these infomercials, one of the treatments for insomnia we utilize!

As with most anything, there are good supplements and there are ‘snake oil’ supplements. We are in the healthful business that is preventing illness, where good and appropriate supplements are most definitely needed. Our current environment can cause us to become ill or have other life altering things happen due to the lack of appropriate nutrition, vitamins, or other supplements that have been proven to be beneficial. We evaluate many products but only recommend those that are healthy and will perform as advertised.

There are products that will help you lose weight, age more gracefully, restore energy without harmful effects, or provide the required anti-oxidants our bodies sorely need to fight all the pollutants, i.e. free radicals, we encounter every day. There are approved vitamins and minerals that take the high road and help the body function healthfully, instead of taking the low road to bad health by not taking advantage of these vitamins and supplements. Yes, they may cost a few dollars, and in today’s financial troubles a few dollars is important. In the long run though, “At the end of the Day” when age 65 rolls around; you will want to feel healthy and alive, full of energy.

Yes, hormone balancing is the critical step, the one we cannot do without for good long term health. The supplements, vitamins, etc. that we recommend are the next step to prolonged good health. For example, did you know the body does not make Vitamin D or Calcium? They have to come from external sources. Yet both are needed for good bone health and many other things. They come from Supplements. I am not going to name all the additional products we recommend as they are various and individualized to each client’s situation of health. Be assured though, that what is recommended has been researched thoroughly and is worth it. They do work to promote good health, energy, weight loss, and all the other claims the late night infomercials repeatedly drum unto your head.

We recommend using nutritional & vitamin supplementation for the defense of, or the assault on your body from our environment, as well as hindering the inevitable process of aging. It takes work to be healthy and feel good at age 65 or so! The attack on us is real, and the products we use have been proven to be beneficial. I believe I am now going to research “Virgin Himalayan Salt Crystals”. Really! I have read that they are mined from the Himalayan Mountains and have been untouched by industrial civilization. They were frozen well before our pollutants had a chance to invade the salt. Salt being an essential part of our body, replenishing your body’s saline (salt content) with clean Himalayan salt crystals reportedly does miraculous things. We will see!

My friend was not offended naturally, as she is reaping the benefits of hormonal restoration and balancing since she understands how and why it works and its safety. What did offend me, and does every time I see natural hormone replacement referred to in the main stream media as radical, snake oil, untested, not FDA approved, or my favorite innuendo, “Maverick” therapy!

Whenever these types of comments and articles attempt to discredit NHRT, I quickly remember the words of one of the founders of NHRT in the U.S. In the Introduction of one of his more famous books, “The Miracle of Bio-Identical Hormones” by Dr. Michael Platt, and I am paraphrasing here, stated; “It would seem to me that I am not the one using Experimental or Alternative Medicine by replacing what was natural in the human body. The physicians who hand out chemical mixtures that are totally foreign to the human body would be the ones using Experimental or Alternative Medicine!” I am always calmed when that thought comes to me.

I want to make myself perfectly clear here, as these statements could be taken out of context or interpreted in the incorrect manner. I am not in any way discrediting the miraculous discoveries, scientific development and the successes of modern medicine. There have been tremendous advances, cures and treatments developed by what is commonly referred to as Conventional Medicine. Beginning with Aspirin, (Hmmmm, that was used as early as 400 B.C. derived from the bark and leaves of the willow tree) to Penicillin, the first real antibiotic (Hmmmmm, derived from a naturally occurring fungus) to the incredibly complex chemical formulations used in today’s medical world that treat, cure, and save countless lives. These scientific achievements should be supported wholeheartedly with the hope of more success as time marches on.

But, when words such as radical are used to describe the completely natural treatment of Menopause, Andropause, Hypothyroidism, etc., it is quite erroneous. History has shown us that medications that have withheld the test of time were derived from natural substances. There are many more medicines, currently used, that originated from natural sources, in fact way too many to bore you with.

Perhaps I am too concerned with semantics of the English language, but I think not. It is this incorrect ‘name calling’ that will make many people shy away from NHRT and go in favor of Experimental Medicine’s “Black Box Warning” synthetic hormones for treatment. It is my hope that these descriptive names do not hinder the continued growth of the safe and effective treatment that NHRT gives.

Well, enough of trying to be funny. There is a message to this blog entry. I heard a news report today, reported in Men’s Health, stating that the majority of men take better care of their cars and trucks than they do their own body! Really! The difference was statistically significant. More than two thirds of random men polled stated they would rather take their car to the mechanic than go to a doctor visit. That part is just hard to understand. If you don’t have a ‘Dad’ that is in good health, he doesn’t have a car, or have the ability to take care of it…….

OK, here is the pitch. Give your father a tie, a new shirt, key chain, or bottle of red wine. He deserves it. Along with it though, give him the insight to get his motor tuned. Give him the encouragement, even if he feels good or even great, to visit his doctor and get that yearly check up. You know his 280Z, BMW, or Mustang GT gets more attention and money put into it than a simple doctor office visit.

There are so many things that can be happening to your Dad’s health that can go unrecognized. Anything from heart problems, hypertension, diabetes, sleep apnea, hypothyroidism to yes, here it comes, LOW T (testosterone). Our bodies, his body, gets so used to the slight changes happening as time goes by, that Andropause goes largely unrecognized and untreated. As we are finding out now, LOW T can be the culprit behind many disease states, and at the very least, the precursor to the development of a ton of health issues that can be avoided with testosterone replacement and other appropriate hormone testing and replenishment.

That’s it. HAPPY FATHER’S DAY! Enjoy the day and your children, and hopefully you will listen to their request to get that medical checkup. They love you, and they will love you even more (and perhaps for a longer time) for getting your oil changed.

Well friends, you are right! One of the most insidious results of hormone loss is the slowdown of your body’s metabolism. Keeping your metabolic rate up is one of the key goals in hormonal balancing. As long as your metabolism is slowing down, you will have the results above. When we get the metabolism revved up again, weight loss will occur, as long as you control the amount of ‘fuel’ you put in. Before I go any further, a quick definition of metabolism;

“The chemical processes occurring within a living cell or organism that are necessary for the maintenance of life. In metabolism some substances are broken down to yield energy for vital processes while other substances, necessary for life, are synthesized.”

Our natural hormones are necessary to encourage or keep our metabolism revved up. Without them weight gain happens, fatigue sets in, and along with all those factors very often depression, lack of motivation, lack of exercise. This all leads to weight gain for most individuals.

Your rate of metabolism can be measured. A very simple test called “Resting Metabolic Rate” or “VO2” is done simply by breathing into a machine that measures your exhaled oxygen. Then by computer wizardry, it can calculate your caloric burn, or metabolism. A simplistic chemical equation would be:
glucose + oxygen = water + energy + CO2.
We utilize this device to monitor Hypothyroid treatment, as well as how well the natural hormones are revving up the metabolism.

There are many other things that can affect the metabolic rate. Our bodies are very complex, and as we are finding out now in the Integrative – Age Management area, we need to have precise levels for optimal results. Some of the other associated metabolic “Brakes” are things like:

1. Sleep Apnea
2. Hypertension
3. Diabetes
4. Cardiac disease
5. Insufficient vitamin intake
6. Certain medications
7. Inappropriate caloric intake

Knowing your metabolic rate is a very valuable tool in your quest to shed those pounds that have slowly (most of the time) invaded your body. It gives you a gauge on how much caloric intake to eat every day to enable weight loss, and if done serially, can monitor and see the increase in your metabolism as your hormone balance, thyroid, or other conditions are corrected.

The VO2 test is one that in most cases will be covered by medical insurances. Even if it doesn’t we only have a minimal charge for this service. Please ask about it at your next visit, or on your initial visit.