Archive for the Docs I Respect

As women we’ve been told to take varying amounts of calcium per day depending on where we are on the continuum. Dairy products help, leafy greens are full of it, and some nuts and legumes also contain calcium so eating a broad spectrum of whole foods is important.

When it comes to the supplements there is no shortage of confusion and options. Citrate, carbonate, lactate, gluconate, with K, with D? What’s the best ratio of magnesium to calcium? It’s enough to exhaust even this fan of research. When I’ve had enough of trying to sort it all out I find an expert to help. In this case, the Doc I rely on for all things bone related and keeping them healthy is Dr. Susan Brown, MD. She’s one of the experts for Women to Women International which is a site you should bookmark if you are not familiar with it. The information is all geared towards us, is reliable, safe, and mostly alternative vs pharmaceutical.

Dr. Brown has simple to follow recommendations at her website and in her books. If you aren’t inclined to read or don’t have time be sure to listen in to our interview on September 28th, at 3pm EST. She’s one of the 14 experts I’m bringing together to give you the latest info on being healthy, aging in good health and looking and feeling your best at midlife.

The most important thing to know is that food, supplements and even adding weight bearing exercise are important but not the whole picture. Learning about the acid/alkaline balance is critical to keeping calcium where it belongs–in the bones. Our lives are full of stress which creates acid as do high protein diets, consuming caffeine, alcohol, and soda.

Osteopenia, the dreaded diagnosis for women ages 35 and up, is a non–disease. When the mean by which all older bones are measured for density is a healthy, white, female in her 20′s, who stands a chance? Our bones will undergo structural changes and thin as we age. That’s not the problem. Flexible bones are what we are striving for regardless of how they may look in a dexa scan. The drugs so readily prescribed by docs around the country to “prevent fractures” create brittle bones–let’s not even talk about the side effects–the very thing we don’t want in a bone.

I invite you to take a look at Dr. Brown’s excellent pages of information–tons of it free–and see how your healthy bones program measures up. I don’t know about you but I’ve seen too many elderly women fall, break a hip, and basically kiss their independence goodbye. I will do all I can to avoid that happening.

If you haven’t heard, September is Midlife with a Vengeance month and I’ve got 14 amazing health and life professionals who have agreed to be interviewed live and spill the beans on midlife health and happiness.

Take a look to find out who the speakers are and what they’ll be talking about. Don’t forget to sign up, it’s free, and I know it is going to be life changing for many of us.

Here’s to your healthy bones.

PS here is what the good doc has to say about which type of calcium to take:

“As to which forms optimize both absorption and bioavailability, alkalizing calcium salts are the best calcium compounds known to date. These forms include calcium citrate, calcium citrate–malate, calcium ascorbate, and calcium carbonate. Calcium citrate and its relative, calcium citrate–malate (CCM), are sources that do not require hydrochloric acid (HCl) from the stomach for absorption, so the calcium in them is very bioavailable to the body and a good choice for people with low stomach acid. Calcium in the form of calcium citrate also appears to play a protective role against the formation of kidney stones, and does not appear to interfere with iron absorption from food. Calcium carbonate is often found not to be as well absorbed as citrate, but does alkalize well in the body if taken with food. (Calcium absorption from all forms is generally better when taken with a meal.)”

You can read more here:http://www.betterbones.com/bonenutrition/calcium.aspx

Well it’s official, my Midlife Women’s Mind and Body Experts Teleseries is fully loaded and hoping you’ll join us.

I’ve got quite the line up of men and women who are experts in the very things that show up and drive us crazy at midlife. Like what? Like our sudden mid-section spread, our fuzzy thinking, our mood swings, not feeling sure of what’s next, not having a plan for aging in good health, and on and on.

What’s bothering you right now? I bet there is someone in the line up who can offer help. You can view the speakers at the website.

You can also view the schedule. I’ll be interviewing the experts almost every weekday in September–not on the 10th as that’s my bro’s 50th and I’ll be celebrating with him. Each call happens at 3pm EST.

The subjects we’ll be covering over the course of the month are: bone health, heart health, how to keep a full mane of hair, inner peace no matter what, how to break through mental and physical blocks, weight loss, what works and what doesn’t in the exercise realm at this age, and more and more.

If you can’t make the calls live–oh, by the way, they are free–you can listen to a replay line for up to 48 hours after the live call. Got schedule conflicts? Upgrade to VIP status. You’ll get recordings of all the calls + some live calls after the series is over to see how you are doing implementing what you learned. I’ll be the host of those calls and only VIPs will have access to them. There are a few more goodies if you upgrade so why not take a look. We all know we have the best intentions to show up and listen live but life gets in the way. What if the one person you missed held the key to your feeling better, looking better, doing better in your business, etc? Don’t risk missing that nugget, grab an upgrade now.

At the very least take a look at the website, it contains all the information you need to make a decision about joining us. Right below the header there are tabs that will take you to all the different bits of info you need such as, Meet the experts, WIIFY–what’s in it for you, Speakers schedule, and FAQs.

Hope to be with you during September. In case you wonder why I’m doing this it’s simple. Part of my mission is to help midlife women feel better, feel great, live fully expressed. You need your health and your sanity to do any of that and I bring the people I feel have some answers, resources–in short, help. I love sharing what I’ve learned and have the experts I learned from tell you themselves.

I’m so looking forward to this and I’m planning on making this an annual event. Got someone you think I should consider for next year? Drop me an email.

Dr. Julian Whitaker MD has a bit of a rant on the subject of invasive heart disease procedures vs non-invasive remedies in his newsletter this month. He has been practicing medicine for over 30 years and has a wellness clinic in California where he practices all of the alternative medicine and therapies he preaches about with great success.

So I wanted to pass along some of his information on these procedures and keep someone off of the operating table who might not have to be there.

Dr. Whitaker titled his article “A Saner, Gentler Approach to Heart Disease.” Any surgery–especially those which use general anesthesia–is potentially dangerous. Bypass surgery–which I have been in an OR and witnessed–is hours long, complicated and carries with it a long painful healing process. Not only is the chest “cracked” to make room for the surgeon, a vein must be harvested from the leg which leaves a long incision to heal as well. If this is an unnecessary surgery, who in their right mind would have it anyway?

Dr. Whitaker points out that “patients with serious heart disease who are treated without surgical intervention have an annual death rate of under 2%. It’s hard to improve upon a survival rate this high (over 98% per year.)” He goes on to say, (I love this line) “Bottom line, surgery is not going to save the life of someone who isn’t going to die!”

In the ’80s a study involving 780 patients, half of whom had bypass surgery and half of whom had drug therapy, showed no statistical difference in the mortality rate of either group regardless of how many arteries were bypassed.

The business of bypass surgery generates one billion dollars per year, nice. How this happens is in part intimidation by the white coats whose business it is to get people onto operating tables. Countless unnecessary surgeries are performed because a patient has not been told of options. Dr. Whitaker’s clinic has treated thousands of people who said “No” to surgery and “yes” to alternative practices, supplements and lifestyle changes. Taking on lifestyle change is not as sexy as a hospital gown and a scar dividing you down the middle but it’s a story I’d rather tell than the one about the bedpan and the stitches.

20 years ago I worked for one of the best heart surgeons in the country at the time. He hired me to help him create an award winning quick healthy food restaurant. And we did, Daily’s Fit & Fresh. Why? Because he believed that 70% of the patients he operated on didn’t need the operation and he wanted to teach them the importance of eating well and living well. He was way ahead of his time and his colleagues all thought he was nuts. So this idea that bypass surgeries are not needed in a large number of cases is not new.

So let’s spread the word. If you or someone you know is facing this horrific surgery get a second opinion from a doc who practices complimentary medicine. Take a look at the Whitaker Institute–no I’m not an affiliate. I’m just passionate about helping people avoid the pain and almost certain life altering results of a surgery they may not need. You can reverse heart disease, diabetes, and all of the attendant side effects of those illnesses through what you put in the pie hole and how much you move it move it.

If you need help, drop me a line and we’ll talk options.