Our Specialty is… Poor Health

We specialize in consultations to

(i) give the best,  current, evidence-based, personal, professional advice regarding the use of dietary ingredients, whole food, and state-of-the art information about a large group of agents and substances regarded as dietary supplements (see below for list); 

(ii) evaluate and offer practical and valuable guidance about choices concerning the many aspects of  lifestyle and self-care that impact upon health. There are many components to “lifestyle”. The purpose of this assessment is to optimize nonmedical aspects of things you can do yourself to restore and enhance health and well being;  

(iii)  provide information, both verbal face-to-face, and written, that will assist you in finding ways to solve your health issues, and take it from its scientific basis to things you can do that are practical, effective, and useful. As part of our responsibility in rendering such advice, we are extremely concerned with food/herb/nutrition/drug interactions, depletions, and other effects. The information provided is solely educational.

We seek solutions for health problems in novel ways, helping people who (a) prefer natural alternatives for health solutions because they are intolerant, allergic, or do not wish to take prescription drugs; (b) continue to suffer with poor health; (c) wish to protect or lower risk for particular health issues using lifestyle changes; (d) want to attain a higher level of health and functioning by achieving optimum health—beyond the absence of illness; (e) have had unsatisfactory experiences in the past, and seek a synthesized approach to their health. We are known for customization and fusion of refreshingly innovative, powerful, and sophisticated nutritional and other methods that produce results. Our track record is good: a considerable number of the people who follow our suggestions are pleased with the approach in relation to what they came for (2006-2010 records). Of course, every situation is different.

Among our varied services, we help find drug-free, natural solutions to health problems using nutrition, vitamins, minerals, supplements, amino acids, non-prescription biologicals, special formulas, herbs (American, Chinese, Ayurvedic, Indian, African, Tibetan, Island, South Pacific), natural extracts (liquid, solid, fermented, distilled, centrifuged, and/or purified), receptor sensitizers, bio-energizers, molecular mimics, homeopathic remedies, anti-oxidants and botanical anti-inflammatories, vitamin-like natural biochemicals, physical substances, organic food/substrate molecules, nutraceuticals, functional foods, derivatives of naturally-occurring minerals, glycerites, capsules, OTC hormones, biologicals, receptor sensitizers, receptor agonists and blockers, anti-mitotic agents, “special meals”, teas, salves, essential oils, syrups, elixirs, suppositories, unique preparations, lifestyle modification,  exercise, meditation, guided imagery, breathing training, wellness coaching, and other methods. There are over 800 powerful remedies we usually consider for immediate office use, and over 18,000 preparations we can access to help you. To place this in perspective, the average pharmacy contains 400 drugs, there are 1500 in the PDR Monthly Prescribing Guide, and 5000 are usually accessible.

Who may consider health management?

By “management” we do not mean medical management of disease. We are referring to what you can do yourself to assist your level of health. We are referring to health management, for what you eat and do affects how you think, act, feel, and thrive—in the main, your personal choices.

1. People who continue to experience nagging problems even though they are taking medications and/or nutrients;
2. People who do not understand why they are taking the things they are, or who have doubts;
3. People who take a number of agents, and are concerned about interactions, depletions, and side effects;
4. People seeking a higher level of health to attain peak physical and mental performance;
5. People who have been told “there is nothing wrong with you” after many consultations and tests;
6. People who have been told “there is nothing more that can be done for you.”
7. People who have questions or are confused about their health and seek definite answers and solutions.
8. People who are starting on a new road in life with more personal involvement in their health, and want some direction.

We do not diagnose disease…

Rather, we evaluate the entire person’s habits, the individual, and take action to relieve their health problems in innovative and noninvasive ways. We analyze the whole health picture through a directed protocol, and provide a definite plan to adjust one’s non-medical profile to restore, renew, and maintain health and happiness in people’s lives. In our analysis, we consider the possible  functional relationships between nutrients, lifestyle, and organ systems, and look for the fundamental defects causing health problems.  Whatever your situation, we most likely can enhance your level of health.

Plainly put, what we seek in you is lifelong health and vitality, rooted in the newly popular fields of naturopathy embodied by functional biology, in which health problems are managed not by treating the symptoms, but by balancing the seven basic underlying biological processes that control your health. We seek imbalances in those core processes, and then correct the abnormalities that cause them by giving you the necessary raw material to restore balance, in a sense allowing your body’s natural wisdom to heal.

We also provide you with highly-researched, practical information to guide you in your choice of: the foods you eat, the medicines you take, nutritional supplements, health remedies, and new choices/alternatives you never knew you had.

Our nutritional practice uses mainstream nutritional techniques with alternative ones blended in-”integrative nutrition”, if you will. This has also been call pharmaconutrition, or targeted  pharmacological nutraceutical intervention. Although some people use the term “alternative”, in most respects it is inaccurate. Rather than “alternative”, we believe this area is really a selectively neglected area of basic medical research that accidentally resulted from the way medicine has evolved in this country, certainly not by design or planning. Indeed, the voluminous research that underpins evidence-based “targeted nutrition” fills the basic science journals in medical school physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology, nutrition, immunology, oncology, and subspecialty journals. Indeed, it is as basic as is physiology.

We use only the finest quality, pure, pharmaceutical-grade preparations, and methods backed by science. Upon request, references to the basic science and clinical literature about any recommendation we make will be provided.

To us, health is not simply the absence of formal disease.

Health is a state beyond the absence of illness, and most times we go even further, seeking to achieve optimum health in our clients, mentally, physically, and spiritually. This means peak mental clarity and thinking, strength, endurance, ideal body weight and composition, high self-esteem, self-image, confidence, and happiness.

Almost without exception our clients have had conventional medical treatment, and we deliberately include that experience in our evaluation. The details of your health history and possibilities are reviewed during a long personal visit. After our intake, the research on the latest alternative options is presented to you and discussed. We take your input seriously; work with you as an individual, with respect and empathy, to solve your health problem. Your program is always individualized, since it has to work for you. In other words, we are health enhancement consultants.

Typically the person who visits us seeks a natural holistic approach to health, prevention, with a wide range of chronic problems, and wants results.

We provide consultations for many types of complaints. We also hear a lot about the unresolved nagging ones, such as fatigue, lack of energy, not feeling up to par, foggy thinking, vague discomfort, disability, infirmity, poor sleep, restlessness, increase or decrease in weight, moodiness, depression, confusion, indecisiveness, lack of strength or endurance, poor concentration, memory or focus, misery, indifference, weight gain, and lack of progress or dissatisfaction with their present health program, concern about menopause, aging-and more. For these “nagging” issues, you should already have seen your personal physician for his/her opinion and treatment first.

Most people who visit us are pleased with the fresh approach we offer, and they are delighted with the unique choices and pathways they can select and follow to restore their health, enjoying steady improvement day after day, with virtually no side effects. We are thorough, attentive, detailed, and effective in providing health solutions. Our consultations are in down-to-Earth language you can understand, and our protocols are evidence-based and state-of-the-art.

Please read more about our principles and philosophy by clicking on the first tab above. Then read more about what we do by clicking on the second, and also what people say about their experience with us. Additional health information can be found in other areas. Enjoy our collection of links with an array of tools and resources, and check our commentary on current health headlines and issues frequently. Best of all, call for an appointment and experience first-hand why our clients are so glad they came. We provide first-class, boutique service, and take the time to get results.

What we produce…

1. A full report giving total body fat, water, muscle, bone, visceral fat index, physique rating, resting metabolic rate, and daily metabolic rate;
2. Report of your BMI (body mass index), significance, and path to improvement;
3. Report of probability of nutritional deficiencies and the best of the foods and alternatives to correct them;
4. A functional analysis of how your body systems relate to each other, and the fundamental defects responsible for health problems; with a discussion you appreciate;
5. A comprehensive assessment of your entire health picture;
6. Choices of plans to help restore and maintain optimum health and performance;
7. A chart of all your health tools and plans, with suggestions and agreed upon path to optimum health;
8. Health advocacy in coordinating any allopathic and natural approaches, eliminating possible interactions, depletions, side effects, and unwanted results; meaningful reviews of records with regard to same;
9. Remarkably prompt follow-up and guidance through e-mails, messaging, fax, or phone calls, for questions, references, elaborations…
10. Return visit for comprehensive evaluation of progress, resolution of remaining issues, and further refinements to achieve your final results.

Office Information

• We are consulting specialists in health science, nutritional physiology, nutrition products, and holistic traditional naturopathy, but also function as a health manager, coordinator and wellness coach. We support optimum health, wellness, and help create the internal environment in which health, rather than disease, thrives. We do not “practice medicine”, write prescriptions for drugs, nor do we function as primary care, “conventional” physicians.
• All information provided is for educational purposes, including the material on our site, supplied through the office, electronically, and by snail mail. Medical diagnosis, treatment, prevention, injections, immunizations, and drugs are provided by your PCP. We empower you with what you need to ask the right questions, make personal decisions, and informed choices with respect to your own health management. How you integrate and mix various health services is  individual and is left up to you.
• After an intake interview by telephone or email, registration, health history, and specialized questionnaires will be emailed or snail mailed to you.  If possible, they should be returned prior to your visit. This allows us to do research on your issues. Most people come to us after seeing other practitioners.  The more detailed the information you give us, the more productive we can become in helping you.
• Appointment times are reserved for you only. We do not overbook, so you do not wait.  We ask that you reschedule appointments as soon as you know you will not be able to make the one you have. Office visits not cancelled within 36 hours will be charged at the regular rates. If you cancel the night before, or the morning of your appointment, this is too late, since we do not have “walk-ins.”
• Supplies, including nutrients and supplements are not returnable, due to sanitary and dating considerations.
• You are not obligated nor required to purchase any nutrients, supplements, or supplies from this office. However, we cannot guarantee nor comment upon any lack of improvement when brands of poor quality or unproven manufacturers are used.  We are able to give advice about contents of supplements from any source, as long as you supply a list of ingredients, and individual amounts of each are specified. Ordinary consultation fees apply to time spent discussing, researching, and reviewing such combinations.
• The initial visit is $160.00 and lasts one hour, consisting of a health history review, physical and nutritional assessment, a computerized dietary analysis and body composition, with both reports upon request. The dietary analysis will list the probability of deficiencies of nutrients and the foods necessary to provide them. A list and/or chart of recommendations targeted to your needs and goals are provided at the end of the visit. References to the pertinent literature and educational materials are usually provided for important issues as well. This visit is a thorough assessment, and in general, we review different plans for your health progress, explaining the advantages and disadvantages of proceeding in each direction. When you leave, you will have a health plan tentatively projected for several months, and a schedule of visit results, recommendations and notes.
• Return visits are $75.00 and last 30 minutes. Usually at least one follow-up appointment is scheduled to monitor your progress and make adjustments to your program.  We are results-oriented.
• Weight loss packages are $300 for the first and 4 follow up visits, payable the first visit in full. For a single consultation, rates are $140. for the first visit, $60 and up for follow-ups.
• Supplies, nutrients, supplements, additional time, reviews and other services are not included in the above.
• Fees are payable at the time of the visit. We accept credit and debit cards, checks, travelers cheques, and cash. We do not bill.
• Texas is one of the states in which  health insurance companies do not cover natural/supportive dietary services. Otherwise, we would gladly accept insurance.  A detailed receipt will be furnished to you.  Rarely, insurance carriers will apply expenses to deductibles. Expenses set up under a Health Spending Account will usually qualify. You cannot submit any expenses to Medicare or Medicaid.
• Additional time is $75.00 per half hour. This includes reviews of records and other material which you may bring, consulting and conferring with others if you so request, research time, email time, telephone call time, and time spent in evaluating and comparing products of your choice, except for rescheduling appointments. Time spent on your behalf for any reason is always charged as above. There is a minimum of $35.00 for telephone consultations, follow-ups and/or emails, and/or advice or service originating in faxes. Otherwise, short emails and telephone services are billed at $4.00/minute.
• Telephone and email consultations are available for those living in distant locations, or when travel or other commitments preclude an appointment.
• When written material and records are reviewed prior to the first consultation at your request and no appointment follows, there will be a fee for time spent in discussions, obtaining, and reviewing those records.
• We will accommodate any reasonable request that will elevate the level of your health, or help you to follow good health advice and practices.
• When agreed-upon recommendations are not followed, amounts and brands of items are changed or other alterations are made in programs, or follow-up appointments are not kept, we cannot be responsible for potential adverse consequences or lack of improvement, although we will certainly help you in any case.
• Our goal is not just to restore health, but have you achieve optimum health. Sometimes clarification of the importance of certain changes will help in motivation, or we can help in other ways.  Should you have questions and feel the answers are important, please call immediately.
• Shipping: usually shipments are sent USPS and tracked. We do not mark up costs—they are just passed-through. Handling is ½ the shipping costs, which is less than actual expenses. We will be pleased to send your items UPS or FedEx and/or insure them upon your request.
• If for some reason fees are not paid at the time of the visit, there is a billing charge of $35 per billing cycle.

What is Alternative Medicine?-An overview

Conventional medical care is also called “mainstream”, “allopathic”, “orthodox”, or “standard”. It is sanctioned by the government, recognized by insurance companies, and supported by the pharmaceutical and device industries. This form of Western medicine is the most accepted in this country. Emphasizing pathology and intervention, its greatest successes are in diagnosing and treating acute disease, and life support. Emphasis on disease and high technology, rather than on health and individualized care, results in an office visit which may be impersonal, with attention to a disease, not the entire human being. Recently, there has been great interest in other systems of medicine.

He who has health has hope… and he who has hope, has everything.
–Old Arab Proverb

Alternative medicine, according to the National Center for Alternative and Complementary Medicine (NCCAM), part of the National Institutes of Health, is any practice which is not used or accepted by conventional physicians. In their words, “CAM is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be a part of conventional medicine.”  It is also “interventions neither taught widely in medical schools nor generally available in US hospitals” and not usually covered by insurance. This distinction has blurred of late, since there are now physicians who do accept and practice certain ideas which were formerly considered alternative, and many hospitals now incorporate alternative and complementary medicine clinics.  Alternative medicine treatments are used instead of conventional ones.

Medical schools and “teaching” alternative medicine

On November 2, 2009, the Associated Press reported that the government has spent over $22 million to help teach about alternative medicine in medical schools.  Officials say that primary physicians, or “PCPs”, need to know how to discuss popular remedies. But behind the rhetoric, critics say that asking students to do this compromises them, because alternative medicine is a “pseudoscience.” Nonetheless, Dr. Joseph Jacobs, former head of the federal Office of Alternative Medicine, said “the real issue is not whether alternative medicine should be taught, but how.” The very creation and existence of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine makes  ”merging alternative and mainstream medicine ‘a central and overarching goal.’”

Complementary medicine refers to treatments used together with conventional medicine.  Many allopathic doctors are more comfortable with alternative techniques used in conjunction with their therapies.  Many believe that alternative medicine should frequently complement conventional care, and actively seek to work within the framework of existing, prescribed, orthodox treatment plans.  Some providers expand traditional goals in pursuing optimum wellness, mental sharpness (cognition), performance, and happiness, rather than just the absence of disease.

Patients should not have to choose between alternative and conventional medicine.  Integrative medicine is another term for complementary and alternative medicine, and refers to the blending of alternative and conventional medicine by the same doctor.  In one sense, all of medicine can be grouped together under the heading of “integrative.”  Many drugs with the greatest successes over time-aspirin, digitalis, and cancer drugs-were found and developed from plants.  Most hormones used in therapy were originally harvested, studied and replaced using natural sources, not synthetic.  Many gastroenterologists now prescribe betaine and probiotics, formerly considered “alternative”. Cardiologists are recommending CoQ10 and plant stanols, and ophthalmologists are prescribing antioxidants and fish oil for patients with acute macular degeneration, etc, etc. Alternative medicine has now affected nearly every conventional medical subspecialty. Mental imagery is now a standard preoperative technique before cancer surgery.  Nutrition and dietary interventions are often the first line in disease prevention and treatment guidelines, and can play a major role in therapy of most diseases.

The bottom line: there is no competition between conventional medicine and “alternative”—they are different sides of the same coin: health. Any perceived competition is a result of human interpretation and agendas. Cardiologists do not anticipate nor fear fish oil will replace statin drugs, nor do naturopaths expect statins to replace fish oil. Increasingly research suggests they enhance each other both at the molecular and clinical levels. More important, there are many diseases for which there are no answers from alternative or naturopathic medicine. For instance, there is nothing which can compare with modern invasive procedures in cardiology, surgery, etc.

The addition of what was, or still is, called an alternative technique to a patient’s treatment plan may add a rich dimension to his or her medical care. This is one of the reasons alternative medicine is becoming so popular in the last few years, and increasingly so. Alternative and complementary medicine is also less expensive over the long run, so that usage may again be additive with conventional medicine.

Natural medicine, or naturopathy, is a system of medicine within the field of alternative medicine.  It is the art and science of relieving ill health in harmony with the laws of nature.  Naturopathic Medicine, according to Lise Alschuler ND, is a system that restores health by following a set of specific rules. A fundamental assumption is that nature is orderly, and this orderliness is designed to result in an ongoing healthy life and well-being. This dependable orderliness is guided by a basic inner wisdom of the body. By supporting the processes the body itself uses to recover, full health returns quickly. By disrupting or blocking the body’s attempts to heal, full health remains elusive.

While naturopathy nearly disappeared during the mid-twentieth century because of the popularity of drugs and surgery, naturopathic medicine is increasingly recognized as effective, safe, less expensive (overall), and particularly suited to treatment of chronic diseases. Practitioners are licensed in 16 states, but not in Texas. There is considerable opposition to this movement, and criticism of limited clinical training, lack of hospital experience, with little exposure to many serious diseases and modern management among them. There is no training in many conditions, as noted by Arnold Relman MD, and no consideration of a wide number of  important diseases in standard naturopathic practice and textbooks. Resistance to accepting any natural remedy to manage disease remains high, despite an increasing database of evidence.

Naturopaths spend much more time with patients than allopaths, and the value of the bond that results is well recognized.

Preventive medicine is a well-established specialty within conventional medicine in the public health sphere.  Epidemiology is the study of those things affecting health and illness in populations, and what is found determines policies in public health and preventive medicine.  On a practical basis, nutrition and dietetics, habits, lifestyle are all factors of importance to both public and individual health.

Functional medicine refers to a newer view of the relationships between organs and systems in the body, de-emphasizing the symptom-drug, disease-prescribe reflex. Two informative and highly recommended videos from the Institute of Functional Medicine are available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQIkzTPcNlE and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzrMgN-FH34 

The Institute for Functional Medicine’s guiding principles are:

• Biochemical individuality describes the importance of individual variations in metabolic function that derive from genetic and environmental differences among individuals.
• Patient-centered medicine emphasizes “patient care” rather than “disease care,” following Sir William Osler’s admonition that “It is more important to know what patient has the disease than to know what disease the patient has.”
• Dynamic balance of internal and external factors.
• Web-like interconnections of physiological factors – an abundance of research now supports the view that the human body functions as an orchestrated network of interconnected systems, rather than individual systems functioning autonomously and without effect on each other. For example, it is  now known that immunological dysfunctions can promote cardiovascular disease,  dietary imbalances can cause hormonal disturbances, and that environmental exposures can precipitate neurologic syndromes such as Parkinson’s disease.
• Health as a positive vitality – not merely the absence of disease.
• Promotion of organ reserve as the means to enhance health span.

The complex interrelationships among some bodily systems, the environment, and the mind, spirit, emotions.

Functional medicine is anchored by an examination of the core clinical imbalances that underlie various disease conditions. Those imbalances arise as environmental inputs such as diet, nutrients (including air and water), exercise, and trauma are processed by one’s body, mind, and spirit through a unique set of genetic predispositions, attitudes, and beliefs. The fundamental physiological processes include communication, both outside and inside the cell; bioenergetics, or the transformation of food into energy; replication, repair, and maintenance of structural integrity, from the cellular to the whole body level; elimination of waste; protection and defense; and transport and circulation.  The core clinical imbalances that arise from malfunctions within this complex system include: 

• Global stress to the whole organism
• Mitochondropathy-mitochondrial energy depletion and disturbances
• Oxidation-reduction imbalances-oxidative stress within cells
• Detoxification and bio-transformational imbalances
• Hormonal and neurotransmitter imbalances
• Immune imbalances
• Inflammatory imbalances
• Digestive, absorptive, and microbiological imbalances
• Enzyme depletion or malfunction
• Glycation, carbonylation, and lipo-oxidation
• Mutation, or cancerous deterioration of cells
• Nutrient depletions due to drugs, lifestyle, and drug-nutrient/food-drug/drug-drug interactions and side effects
• Structural imbalances from cellular membrane function to the musculoskeletal system

Imbalances such as these are the precursors to the signs and symptoms by which are detected and labeled (diagnosed) as organ system disease. Improving balance–in the individual’s environmental inputs and in the body’s fundamental physiological processes–is the precursor to restoring health, and it involves much more than treating the symptoms. Functional medicine is dedicated to improving the management of complex, chronic health problems by intervening at multiple levels to address these core clinical imbalances and to restore each person’s functionality and health. Functional medicine is not a unique and separate body of knowledge. It is grounded in scientific principles and information widely available in medicine today, combining research from various disciplines into highly detailed yet clinically relevant models of disease pathogenesis and effective clinical management.

The complex interrelationships among some bodily systems, the environment, and the mind, spirit, emotions

Functional medicine emphasizes a definable and teachable process of integrating multiple knowledge bases within a pragmatic intellectual matrix that focuses on functionality at many levels, rather than a single treatment for a single diagnosis. Functional medicine uses the patient’s story as a key tool for integrating diagnosis, signs and symptoms, and evidence of clinical imbalances into a comprehensive approach to improve both the person’s environmental inputs and his or her physiological function.”

Functional medicine is, conceptually and practically, one of the most progressive and most well-received movements in the field of medicine and improved health care today. While founded by a PhD in nutrition, followers and members are interdisciplinary, united by the common beliefs outlined above.

Lifestyle Medicine (LM), according to the American College of Lifestyle Medicine,  is the use of lifestyle interventions in the treatment and management of disease. Such interventions include diet (nutrition), exercise, stress management, smoking cessation, and a variety of other non-drug modalities. A growing body of scientific evidence has demonstrated that lifestyle intervention is an essential component in the treatment of chronic disease that can be as effective as medication, but without the risks and unwanted side-effects.

The field of lifestyle medicine has been growing by leaps and bounds over the last two decades. In the 1999 landmark textbook entitled “Lifestyle Medicine,” editor James Rippe, MD, expressed the hope it would “open an entire new branch of medicine…”  This is embodied in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, whose sponsor is the Lifestyle Medicine Association. LM is becoming a preferred modality for not only prevention, but the treatment of most chronic diseases, including type-2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, hypertension, obesity, insulin resistance syndrome, and osteoporosis.

Although the practice of LM incorporates many public health approaches, it remains primarily a clinical discipline. Lifestyle interventions are typically outpatient services. Brief, intensive group interventions in a residential setting are often more effective and may be necessary for severe or intractable cases.

While LM interventions typically do not emphasize prescription medications. they remain necessary and essential in chronic disease.  As LM progresses, however, medication may require re-titration and reduction of doses prescribed before the lifestyle intervention. It is often necessary to lower insulin dosing in patients with diabetes who receive lifestyle interventions, and reduce dosing of anti-hypertensive medications for patients with hypertension. Others may also require a change of medications entirely. For example, a person with type-2 diabetes may be able to reduce the dose or discontinue insulin but need metformin, a thiazolidinedione (TZD), a sulfonylurea, or a related combination.

In some cases lifestyle interventions are more effective when augmented with appropriate medications, as with tobacco use where cessation is 2-3 times more successful when buproprion is prescribed with the lifestyle modifications.

The American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) is a national professional society for clinicians specializing in the use of lifestyle interventions in the treatment and management of disease. ACLM’s members are clinicians engaged in lifestyle medicine practice, teaching and/or research. Many serve on ACLM committees contributing to the organization’s role as a national resource of expertise in the use of lifestyle intervention for the treatment and management of disease. Discussion paper re developing new Lifestyle Medicine specialty.

Holistic medicine is an older term for alternative medicine, but is more closely related to natural medicine. The principles of holistic medical practice defined by the American Board of Holistic Medicine are incorporated into our beliefs as discussed earlier.  Key elements are caring for the whole person-body, mind, and spirit, and empowering people to achieve a condition of optimal health far beyond the absence of disease. This level of health comes from within, at least to a good degree.

Holistic medicine emphasizes an approach to medical care the importance of all aspects of a person’s health: physical, mental, social, economic, and cultural. Like functional medicine, it is concerned with the integration or relationship between the parts, their interdependence rather than separation.  Principle concerns and core values of holistic medicine include

• RESPECT: effective, humane healthcare must consider peoples’ thoughts and feelings, their relationships and spiritual life, as well as their culture
• LIMITS OF TECHNOLOGY: healthcare cannot be based on the body alone. Although the application of technologies to biological faults can be immensely valuable, and indeed lifesaving, there is more to add
• PREVENTION: greater emphasis should be placed on creating health, on preventing disease and the deprivation and environmental decay that promote it
• OPEN-MINDEDNESS: healthcare, like Nature, should encourage diversity and creativity, recognizing that, like motherhood, there are many good ways of being and doing
• COMPASSION: being kind and caring towards others
• COMPETENCE: commitment to ongoing professional and personal development
• OWNERSHIP: self-care through education, researching all drugs proposed, diagnoses made, accepting personal responsibility and working to become healthy citizens
• FULFILLMENT OF GENETIC POTENTIAL: Viewing health as more than simple absence of disease, but an essential tool to fulfill one’s genetic potential-academically, socially, financially, and otherwise

Integrative Medicine, according to Dr. Kenneth R. Pelletier, Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Arizona School Of Medicine and the University of California School of Medicine in San Francisco, is the “evidence-based” combination of conventional with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for assuring the maximum therapeutic benefit for patients and practitioners. Under the 5 category taxonomy of the NIH National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine mentioned above, there are many areas of CAM where there is a substantial and growing body of evidence based on research and clinical practice.

To cite but a few representative examples, there are the domains of:

1. Mind-body medicine where such approaches constitute the most extensive body of CAM research documenting the efficacy of such interventions for the largest number of conditions for the greatest number of patients.
2. Acupuncture with 16 systematic reviews in the Cochrane Library demonstrating efficacy in conditions as diverse as depression, back pain, Bell’s palsy, dysmenorrhea, arthritis of the knee, and fibromyalgia.
3. Specific herbal interventions (www.herbalgram.org) and a growing sophistication regarding drug-herbal interactions (www.herbmed.org; www.healthyroads.com).
4. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) with several international NCCAM Centers of Excellence to focus on irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), side effects of cancer treatment, and allergic asthma.
5. Upwards of 50 ongoing research studies annually from the NIH-NCCAM. Among the many diverse CAM/IM areas being researched are dietary practices and supplements, chiropractic, homeopathy, naturopathy, electromagnetic effects, and Ayurvedic medicine, chelation, and spiritual healing.

Based on the 2006 Institute of Medicine report on CAM, it is clear that integrative medicine is part of a rapidly evolving era of genomics, international medicine, and evidence-based approaches.

Increasingly, evidence shows that partnership with patients through education, self-actualization, and their personal, active participation in health care produces significant improvements in treatment outcomes. In many countries incorporation of such ideas into insurance coverage is controversial, because social responsibility (benefits) may discriminate against people with poor health habits. A healthy citizen may resent having to pay for someone else’s diabetes expenses, since diabetes is a preventable disease. In the individual case however, there is little doubt that individual motivation and responsibility is valuable. In conventional medicine, poor health habits may sabotage even the best of health care, the classic example being the man who undergoes a triple coronary artery bypass, only to go back to his fast food diet and plug up his bypass veins. The truth is that most people’s diets one year after their diagnosis of such heart disease, and after surgery, are actually more atherogenic (artery clogging) than they were the year before! It is not surprising that USA Today said (10/18/2006)  ”…the underlying assumption is that [conventional] medical care not only works, it’s virtually magic… the reality is that [conventional] medical care doesn’t produce health by itself…” More and more people are embracing this concept, which has become popular among our youth, unfortunately not enough to slow our national weight gain. Producing health through lifestyle and natural means, nutrition, prudence, moderation, balance, elevated self awareness and health education is what this office is all about. These principles are simultaneously classical Greco-Roman, Biblical, and thoroughly modern.  Although many people believe the two approaches are competitive, they are actually two sides of the same coin.

Reflecting how modern and pertinent this philosophy is to national health and all of us today, on October 5, 2009, the American Holistic Medical Association sent an email to members with linking to a N Y Times editorial about current diets and lifestyle in relation to the crushing rates of chronic debilitating disease.

Copyright, Health Science Research, Inc. 2009. All rights reserved.

What are the 5 major types of alternative and complementary medicine?

1. Alternative medical systems are built on complete systems of theory and practice, evolving before and apart from conventional American medicine. Early Indian medicine, naturopathy, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), Ayurveda, and homeopathy are examples.
2. Biologically based systems use substances found in nature, such as foods, vitamins, herbs, and supplements, orthomolecular medicine, oxygen/ozone therapy, cell therapy, and chelation.  This includes a wide variety of agents that can be extracted or derived from natural products, such as food isolates.  Clinical nutrition actually falls into this category, as does botanical medicine.  The broader term here is biochemical therapy, in which changes occur through chemical processes at the molecular, cellular, or genetic levels.  A supplement we use to lower glucose, acting through a signaling chemical within the cell, would be an example.
3. Mind-body interventions use a range of techniques that enhance the mind’s capacity to affect bodily functions and symptoms.  Prayer, biofeedback, deep relaxation, guided imagery, meditation, prayer, mental healing, hypotherapy, support groups, yoga, and therapies that use creative outlets such as music, art, and dance fall into this group.  Many formerly alternative techniques have become mainstream, such as guided imagery used before cancer surgery, cognitive-behavior therapy, and support groups.
4. Energy medicine involves the use of energy fields, thought to surround and penetrate the body, to restore health.  Some therapies seek to change biofields through use of pressure or manipulating by placing the hands within the fields. Acupuncture, Reiki, qi gong, and therapeutic touch, and also light or laser therapies, diathermy, radiation and ultrasound treatments are examples. Bioelectromagnetically based therapies involve electromagnetic fields, such as pulsed, AC-, DC-, or magnetically-generated fields.  Lest people believe this is too peripheral for consideration, the Wall Street Journal ran a feature on successful electromagnetic treatment for depression, demand, and access for such therapies in early June, 2006.
5. Manual or biomechanical therapies are body-based and involve manipulation or movement of body parts.  Massage, chiropractic, and osteopathic manipulation are examples. Actually, physical therapy Feldeinkrais, and reflexology also belong in this group.

Who uses complementary and alternative medicine?

Greater diversity, increasing self-awareness, universal communication through the internet, and respect for independence and freedom of speech has paralleled the growing consumer demand for alternative medicine.

People want greater knowledge to exert control over their own health issues, and take individual responsibility for their well-being. There is greater openness to frequently-used and most useful therapies from the world’s many different healing traditions.

In 1990, it was found that Americans made more visits to alternative practitioners than to their primary care physicians, paid for out of their own pockets.  Obviously, the public wants and values these services.  Use of alternative services continues to grow at a rapid rate, making this “unconventional” medical approach a major force in health care.  Hospitals and medical schools have responded by developing integrative health care programs and alternative and complementary clinics. There are even residencies and rotations for house staff in integrative programs.  In Parade Magazine published in the Spring, 2006 issue, a survey indicated an astounding 84% of Americans took supplements or vitamins; over 40% used herbs, 42% meditated, 74% prayed, and 26% tried homeopathic remedies.  And in a 1994 survey, about 50% of doctors acknowledged they used alternative and complementary medicine themselves. Even a greater percentage now recommends alternative modalities to their patients. In a survey of physicians just reported, a majority of primary care providers indicated they would like to learn more about complementary and alternative medicine.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
From The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost (1874-1963)

An analysis in the Archives of Internal Medicine in late 2006 indicated that 1.6 million Americans used alternative medicine as of 2002 to help with sleeping, and, based upon projections, this would be over 2 million people today. In February, 2007, a paper in the American Journal of Medicine estimated that 20% of all patients used some form of alternative medicine. This same author noted that physicians avoided discussion of such matters, “possibly due to their lack of knowledge,” and called for greater educational efforts to improve patient care.

The government and Congress has recognized the need and public demand, and responded by creating a division of the National Institutes of Health called the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, NCCAM.  This body has assembled a unique staff to do high-quality research in alternative medicine, trains students, residents, fellows and practitioners, and supports ongoing initiatives in areas of need–and manages a substantial budget to do so.  They consult, conduct clinical research, and care for their patients at the new NIH Hospital in Bethesda, The NIH Clinical Center.

What Do We Actually Do?

Visiting our office…

We take a careful health history, system by system. Searching for the factors behind the development of your presenting problems, what modified them, and its natural history, we gain insight into your individual constitution.

We analyze your responses to past and current nutrients and supplements for quality issues, and medications for interactions in great detail.  Dietary, nutritional, and environmental history is emphasized, as are social and relationship histories and emotional/stress factors.  We look for mind-body connections in the development of your illness(es).

• Together with bioscientific knowledge of the problem, we construct a framework of the fundamental processes that brought about your problems. Functional changes within and  between organs (improper signaling), the contribution of such things as inflammation, oxidation (biological rusting), allergy, immune system status, glycation (due to sugar), deficiencies, interactions, and depletions of nutrients, hormonal imbalance (glandular sluggishness), toxicity, digestive malfunction (dysbiosis), organ malfunction, food sensitivity, harmful effects of stress, cancer risk, consequences of impure water and air, and balances between parts of the (autonomic) nervous system are the types of processes we consider. We think in terms of biomarkers for inflammation, clotting (thrombogenicity), tissue (heart, brain, kidney) injury, cell mutation, oxidative stress, and risk. This assessment is made in terms of providing support for those systems, and promoting healthy transition.  We blend old and new concepts in visualizing the factors pertinent to your health problems.
• Metabolic typing
  Your nutritional status is evaluated. This includes an assessment of all dietary needs–vitamins and supplements, but particularly phytonutrients that are not ordinarily classified in these categories.
• With your input, our next step is formulation of goals, and the actions required by the various nutrients, herbs, formulas and other preparations at our disposal to allow you to regain your health and wellness.
• We then present you with the possibilities, the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches about how supplements can help you. You actively and fully participate in the decision of what path to take to restore optimum health. At every step, we consider depletions, and potential interactions of  foods, prescription drugs, herbs, and/or supplements.
• We assist in choosing the products with potential to help you. This is an important step, for there are many preparations available to achieve a particular purpose, each differing in contents, quality, purity, concentrations of ingredients, procedures used in making the product, particle size, shape and form, inactive ingredients, and other factors related to chemistry, such as acidity. Low quality supplements usually do not contain what they state they have, are not be available to the body, or are not be absorbed, due to low bioavailability. There is just no sense in using an inferior product for any health-related matter. There is also the question of delivery of the product, its taste, etc.  All these are considered and personalized for you when we see you.
• We then monitor your progress through telephone, e-mail, and office visit contact.  Follow-up visits are just as a necessary when using alternative methods as they are in conventional medicine, since adjustments may be needed.
• Your nutritional status must be monitored, since each person is different in their responses. We are results-oriented, and want you to be well in as short a period as possible.

In conclusion, we help you find natural alternative to support your health and promote wellness. We function as scientists performing health consultations and wellness management. Because of the value we place in providing evidence-based education, we are also biomedical informacists. We artfully blend modern, cutting-edge methods of evaluation and management with natural, ancient, and traditional methods.  We use a paradigm that is founded on a rational balance of tradition, science, and respect for Nature’s accomplishments in the total realm of the universe.

In biology, which includes the human body, rarely does one single mechanism control a function or outcome. Rather, there are multiple, interrelated forces that control a function, a system of checks and balances.

In health science,  blocking a specific enzyme to stop a chemical reaction that is “causative” may produce a desired result. Even there, different agents may act at different steps along a problem pathway. When several forces that control a function are attacked, the results are likely to be much more effective.

For this reason, our approach is multimechanistic, modifying several different levels simultaneously. The value of adding directed dietary products, changing nutritional intake, and other lifestyle adjustments together is likely to be more effective than making adjustments in just one alone. In a recent Policy Statement On Healthcare Reform, Its implementation, and Future Innovations, May 28, 2009: National Conference of Pharmaceutical Organizations; 2009, one of the main recommendations was that “behaviors that promote health and wellness should be encouraged.”

For these many reasons, we like to say, if you seek improved health but are not getting results, see us.

Goals

Our programs are designed to support and help you achieve these goals:

• Strengthen the immune system
• Restore energy and reduce fatigue
• Decrease inflammation
• Improve endurance and performance
• Insure mental sharpness and memory
• Reverse chronic disease processes
• Promote recovery from illness and surgery
• Normalize body weight and keep it there
• Relieve muscle and joint pain
• Prevent degeneration of body systems
• Eliminate toxins from the body
• Slow processes which lead to aging
• Balance relationships between the glands
• Relieve depression and moodiness
• Increase amount of restoring, quality sleep
• Restore sex drive and potency
• Minimize allergic processes and symptoms
• Strengthen bones, teeth, nails and hair
• Maximize feelings of well-being and vitality

The purpose of all this is to enable you to enjoy life more, be less stressed and more productive, a better companion to your loved ones and friends, and be happy.

What about food and nutrition? Eating to heal.

In this country most people die from heart disease, the kind that follows  fatty deposits within the inner linings of the arteries. One American dies every 38 seconds from cardiovascular disease (American Heart Association, as of December, 2009 data).

In a classical study in the New England Journal of Medicine, 23 March 2006, researchers concluded that moderate reductions in “bad cholesterol” levels in the blood could shrink the incidence of coronary heart disease by 80%. Proper nutrition is capable of significantly lowering these levels. Research also indicates several dietary maneuvers and supplements are capable of  lowering cholesterol levels as well.

The Nutrition Committee of the AHA has issued dietary and lifestyle recommendations. Some things to do are

• Keep weight down through calorie limitation, wise eating, and activity
• Increase fruit and vegetable intake, especially the kind with more antioxidants and phytochemicals
• Eat whole-grain, high fiber foods
• Add little sugar to the diet
• Consume two servings of fatty fish, high in omega-3 fatty acids, twice or more weekly, with children and pregnant women avoiding mercury-contaminated fish
• Consume no more than 2300 mg of sodium daily if you are healthy, and
• Consume no more than 1500 mg of sodium daily if you are middle-aged, African-American, or have high blood pressure, now over 25% of us
• Eat lean meat, fat-free dairy, and replacing meat with vegetable alternatives, so that saturated fat intake is <7% of total calories, and trans fat in take is <1%.
• Make selections when eating out to lower portion size, total and saturated and trans fat intake, and lower sodium and sugar intake.

AHA’s recommendation to cut intake of added sugars
A new (August 2009) Scientific Statement (See Health Links on this site for  link) published in Circulation, a Journal of the American Heart Association, makes strong recommendations about limiting sugar intake.  Added sugars are sugars and syrups added to foods during processing, preparation, or at the table. Just as with fat, within minutes after consuming sugars (any source, even honey), there are a number of inflammatory molecules released that are harmful to your metabolism and arteries, thereby raising your risk for cardiovascular disease.

Summary:

• An upper limit for added sugars should be less than half your discretionary calories, based upon US Dietary Guidelines, 2005.
• Most American women should consume no more than 100 calories of added sugars per day; most men, no more than 150 calories. This is equivalent to 6 teaspoons of added sugars a day for women and 9 for men. The last 2001-2004 NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) found that the average intake of added sugars was 22.2 teaspoons per day or about 355 calories.
• Added sugar, fats, and alcohol in the diet put on weight, which drives chronic diseases, and they should be reduced.
• Sugary drinks, such as soda pop and non-carbonated drinks are the major source of added sugar. A 12-ounce can of regular soda contains about 130 calories and 8 teaspoons of sugar.

Scientific evidence shows that the current epidemic of obesity, overweight, and diabetes is related to intake of sugary beverages.

Additional Scientific Statements have also been issued by the AHA, most recently on omega-6 fats.

These recommendations are basic essentials, but do you understand them sufficiently to put them into effect tomorrow? We can translate this into plain English for you and write out a plan that you can actually follow to achieve the weight control, overall superior health, protection against inflammation, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, that the AHA intends. We monitor you and make sure you do what is necessary to achieve happiness through health. This is only part of what we do—put guidelines like these to work for you. Actually, we go much further, using multiple guidelines and information from many sources, trying to achieve all the results outlined in the sections above.

In general, we favor fresh, whole, organic foods.

Hippocrates said “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food”, but Maimonides added, “Let nothing which can be treated by diet be treated by any other means.”

Importance of nutrition to health

 The phrase “you are what you eat” is entirely true. As a child develops, growth of every organ depends upon the nutrients available. As an adult, the constant turnover of tissues demands a continuous supply of nutrients for maintenance, repair and re-growth of all components of the body. Lack of one or more nutrients inevitably causes malfunction and eventually, physical distortion of cells and tissues. Your appearance, strength, feelings, immunity (susceptibility to infections), movement, thinking, virility and sex life, repair and growth, muscle and bone health (and height), heart function, elimination by the kidneys, ability of the liver to detoxify and metabolize foods, and every other aspect of your health is determined by your nutrition. Nothing happens in the body without proper nutrients. Many times when nutrition is inadequate, but not severe enough to cause overt “disease”, such as rashes and organ failure, it may still cause trouble, in the form of nagging symptoms, such as dullness, or fatigue, or even mild reduction in IQ or cognition in a developing child, so that he or she does not reach full academic potential.

Scope of nutrition concerns

Nutrition is concerned with energy production, the digestion, absorption, and utilization of what is eaten, water and acid-base balance, gene-nutrient and nutrient-drug interactions, food intolerance and allergy, malabsorption, and adaptation. It covers carbohydrates, fats, proteins, minerals, vitamins, fiber intake, special vitamin-like substances, deficiencies, and inherited problems in each of these areas. Fitness and sports performance, as well as the course of pregnancy and aging, are strongly dependent upon nutrition. Food preparation, safety (food borne diseases), supplements, nutraceuticals, detoxification and genetic abnormalities are part of nutrition.

Nutrition affects disorders in every organ and tissue. Inflammation and oxidation, involved in so many diseases, as well as enzyme function and their deficiencies, are also subjects that nutritionists study. Nutrition may be used to prevent or treat disease, to support an ill person, or to optimize health. Obesity, cholesterol, triglycerides, osteoporosis, diabetes, intestinal diseases, and intake of alcohol and its consequences, are intimately connected with abnormal nutrition.

Just as poor and inadequate nutrition may cause ill health, enhanced nutrition can be an important part of the treatment of most diseases: coronary artery and other heart diseases, lung problems, gastrointestinal illnesses (including feeding through the veins and tubes), kidney abnormalities, cancer, blood diseases, neurological disorders, infections and parasitic infestations, hormonal alterations and abnormal sexual function are all affected by nutrition geared to assist in healing.

All organizations, from the most conservative, including the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, National Institutes of Health, to the most alternative, acknowledge the central role of nutrition in creating and maintaining optimum health, as well as the power of nutrition to help the ill.

Inseparable nature of nutrition and disease or wellness

Most chronic illnesses in Western societies are due to degenerative, chronic diseases: atherosclerosis, cancer, lung disease, stroke, and diabetes, all operating with obesity and high blood pressure together. Proper nutrition can reduce the development of atherosclerosis and heart attacks to a mere fraction of what it is today. At a minimum, forty percent of cancers can be prevented by nutrition and lifestyle changes, and estimates go quite higher. Elimination of smoking could lower the impact of lung disease to a pittance. Over twenty percent of all strokes can be eliminated through improved nutrition and other lifestyle changes. Diabetes itself and its deadly complications are preventable diseases and might be cut 85% through nutrition interventions. Many cases of hypertension, and the heart failure it produces, could be prevented by proper nutrition and lifestyle changes earlier in life, and certainly nutritional improvements may lower the number and/or dose of drugs needed to control blood pressure once it has taken hold. Finally, with perhaps 15% of adolescents and 69% of our adults overweight, we are in the midst of an epidemic and crisis of gargantuan proportions which threatens to break our national budget within several years from the expense of medical complications. Remember, 35% of us are obese, over 44% have high cholesterol levels, one in five has heart disease, over one in five has diabetes (nearly 1 in 5 Americans also have the metabolic syndrome, a step away from diabetes)-and-93% of us are deficient in one or more essential vitamins and minerals. The way things are going, nearly 10% of the entire population will be diabetic in 21 years.

The incidence of diabetes and sugar intolerance is increasing sharply in our society, and the suffering and economic burden affects us all. Developing the illness is equivalent to aging fifteen years. Improved nutrition may prevent, improve, or reverse many of these problems.

What we do concerning nutrition

We apply nutritional basics and health science so that you can maximize health potential. The view of food choices benefiting health goes back to Hippocrates. We take a nutritional history, review eating habits and patterns, do a computer analysis of possible deficiencies from a statistically validated food frequency questionnaire and program, measure BMI, % body fat, muscle mass, total body water, bone mass, visceral fat index, analyze your food diary, and assess nutritional status and individual needs, which are unique in each of us. Basal metabolic rate and calories expended to maintain your present weight are calculated. Together with any special studies, we consider nutritional strengths and weaknesses, which come from your personal genetics, backgrounds, and our environments. Each of us has particular concerns which may alter our nutritional status.

Note: The Food Frequency Questionnaire is a well-respected method of dietary analysis which has been studied extensively at Harvard School of Public Health. Reproducibility and validity of these FFQs are high when compared with multiple 1-week diet records and biochemical markers. After analysis of your food frequency record, we can review what nutrients you need to replace or adjust with confidence.

We usually suggest dietary and nutritional improvements, but also offer guidance on digestion and absorption support, promotion of colon health, avoidance in consuming or inhaling toxins or allergens, and advice on natural detoxification. We provide published information about the potential impact on health.  We will also touch on the various specific  properties of certain foods—which may provide support for certain bodily systems—and those which you need to avoid. Without a doubt, we will talk about salt and sugar, fat and protein, and types of carbohydrate best for you.

Are supplemental nutrients necessary?

In an ideal world, when people chose the world’s healthiest foods over 90% of the time, and those foods contain all the nutrients that they should have in them, meaning they are grown in nutrient-rich soil, not stored or delayed in delivery to your supermarket, and if we also make sure our diets are optimally balanced, moderation and prudence are always followed, you do not have any chronic health problems, do not take any prescription drugs that deplete your body of nutrients, you are also not exposed to excessive pollution and other toxins, oxidative stress, which may raise your requirements — and, other aspects of your lifestyle are controlled (weight, exercise, and sleep) — sure you might not need supplements.  Except possibly for vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids, calcium and magnesium, which are apart from the above.

But only about 7% of us actually do what we should, as mentioned above. This means for all of us in the 93%, we do need supplements to bring us up to par. And as time passes, age-related changes are inevitable, health issues arise, stress affects us all as our obligations increase, restful sleep becomes a memory, unless our memories are hazy too. Then there are things out of our control-food contains fewer nutrients than they once did, and in fact the safety of our food supply is always in question.

For these reasons, as a practical matter, many people consider supplements helpful, if not absolutely necessary, to maintain optimal health. Dr Mark Hyman, author and prominent member of the Institute of Functional Medicine, emphasizes the need for supplements as basic to the health of many organs and systems in the body. Basic nutrients include vitamins A, B (all), C, D, E, K, B-related biotin, choline, inositol, and macrominerals, trace minerals, essential amino acids, essential fatty acids, and numerous polyphenols and other phytochemicals.

If sophisticated blood and urine tests for vitamins and minerals are done, as you age more and more abnormalities are likely. We do not mean simple levels of nutrients in the serum. We mean doing the tests that are more likely to reveal the true picture. Most times, sophisticated functional biochemical evaluations (see the special report on nutritional biochemistry) are needed, which are not performed.

The following chart illustrates the typical evolution of our lives. In the chart below, the curve in black shows how health declines with age, leading to one or more of the common degenerative, inflammatory illnesses that usually disable, impair, or eventually do us in. On the other hand, the blue line illustrates how personalized, targeted  nutritional intervention may potentially shift the curve of ill health upward and to the right. This new curve is one of restored and renewed health, with improved quality of life, full cognitive function and memory,  and greater survival and happiness as a result of personalized nutritional intervention using pharmaceutical grade supplements.

He who takes medicine and neglects diet wastes the skill of the physician.
-Chinese Proverb

In the Presidential Address at the 2007 American Heart Association’s  Scientific Sessions, Dr. Eckel asked “How important is nutrition and physical activity [in preventing and treating heart disease] in this modern era?” And he quickly answered that it is extremely important, with the potential to reduce the incidence of heart disease by up to 90%!

To return to What we do, at the end of your visit, we will discuss the widespread misinformation about certain aspects of nutrition with you, as discussed in the media and on the internet, which may be pertinent to your health.

It is imperative to use only pharmaceutical-grade supplements. There are thousands of manufacturers in the United States, and many discount products are suspect. Consumer’s Union found very little (or no) CoQ10 in some brands being sold in grocery-supermarket clubs a few years ago. Some manufacturers use low-grade vitamin C contaminated with toxic arsenic and lead. A survey of DHEA in local stores showed that some of them contained only 10% of the potency on the label. Calcium preparations are also sometimes contaminated with lead. A study of several brands of SAMe showed 2 that contained no SAMe at all, one that used the wrong kind, and several had much less than 100% potency. Some brands of ginkgo and green tea extract contain lead, and some companies skimp on chondroitin in combinations with glucosamine. Supplements bought in drug store chains, local health stores, and even national vitamin store franchises may not be pharmaceutical grade. Some don’t disintegrate as they should for proper absorption. We only use pure, authenticated, potency-tested products of exceptional quality — which you can trust.

Deficiencies are found on every nutrition survey

It’s no secret that most of us do not eat properly and as a result deficiencies and symptoms are common. A continuing food survey of food intake showed the following percentages of women over 20 who failed to consume the recommended intake in nutrients. This is the RDA intake, the minimum needed to prevent obvious disease, which is not nearly the amount needed for optimal mental and physical performance:

Women over 20:

And in a larger study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, over 70% of people did not even meet two-thirds of the RDA for one or more nutrients. Surveys consistently show that inadequate intakes of vitamins and minerals are common in the United States. The USDA reported that the most common deficiencies were in vitamins A, E, B₆, calcium, magnesium, iron (especially in women), and zinc. From other studies, add folate, chromium, copper, and others to the list. Despite that fact that the US Government ordered folic acid fortification of food in 1998, as of October 2006, a report in the Amer J Public Health reported that folic acid deficiency was still not sufficiently corrected in the population and constituted a health hazard. The USDA’s Healthy Eating Index reports that 90 percent of American diets score “poor” or “needs improvement” when rated for nutrient intake.

Not many of us actually take in the 4700 mg of potassium (minimum) we are supposed to. And now, we are in the midst of an epidemic of vitamin D deficiency, as reported in Time and Newsweek. This is of particular concern, since a number of published basic science and epidemiological studes suggest that vitamin D helps protect against a number of cancers. If we just look at older folks, the number or people with serious deficiencies become staggering.

Nutrients most important to women include calcium, vitamin D, iron, folate, magnesium, omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil and flaxseed), flavonoids and other antioxidants, soy, and olive oil (an omega-9 fat).

In an ideal world, where people eat all the right foods, in the right amounts, often enough (broccoli everyday, anyone?), there would be no need for supplements. None of us live in that ideal world, and fewer than 7% of us even meet minimum food requirements and get enough exercise. As a result, many authors suggest that people may suffer with nonspecific symptoms constantly, which include lack of energy and motivation, fatigue, depression, poor concentration, loss of interest in sex, moodiness, weight gain, loss of skin tone, lack of organization, fuzzy memory, even poor complexion, and poor hair and skin health. Mark Hyman, MD, author of Ultra-metabolism, remarks that a surprising number of people, only after they get well, realize that for a long time they accepted feeling poorly. They thought it was normal to be that way, when they were actually ill for a significant period of time.

The landmark “Life… supplemented” Healthcare Professionals (HCP) Impact Study, November, 2007, found that more than three quarters of U.S. physicians (79 percent) and nurses (82 percent) recommend dietary supplements to their patients. The study also shows that an almost equal number-72 percent of physicians and 89 percent of nurses-personally use vitamin, mineral, herbal and other supplements either regularly, occasionally or seasonally, which is a higher percentage than the 68 percent of adults in the general population who report they take nutritional or dietary supplements. These physicians and nurses realize that in today’s world, it is difficult to take in enough nutrients to meet the body’s need and function properly. The American Medical Association, Harvard Health Letters, and other authorities recommend a multivitamin supplement, and Harvard School of Public Health, as well as many other erudite nutritionists add a calcium, magnesium, vitamin D supplement as well. Surprisingly, although women report they understand the value of taking multivitamins more than men, men actually do take them more often.

Finally, in a significant study reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology online in August 2009, taking a multivitamin consistently lowered incidence of heart disease 16%, and vitamin E taken for 10 years lowered the death from heart disease by 27%.

In a recent study sponsored by the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), it was found that 72% of physicians, and 89% of nurses, take supplements.

Benefits of optimum nutrition (information condensed from the literature)

The potential benefits of optimum nutrition are many, and may include:

• Mental alertness, clarity
• Peak physical performance
• Stable moods
• Lifting of depression, fatigue
• Greater and sustained energy
• Improved concentration and focus
• Weight control with better appearance
• Accelerated learning
• Fuller memory
• Greater productivity
• Reproductive and sexual health
• Enhanced resistance to disease
• Proper healing
• Greater muscle mass
• Increased capacity to handle stress
• Healthier body composition
• Improved self-image and self-esteem
• Sound sleep
• Improved bowel habits
• Less illness
• Lower health costs
• Decreased chances of accidents
• Cleaner, smoother skin
• Greater happiness
• Improved sugar handling by the body
• Lower triglyceride (fat) and cholesterol levels
• Relative protection from developing
  - Diabetes
  - Heart disease
  - Cancer
  - Osteoporosis
  - Stroke
  - Other degenerative diseases, such as AMD, gout
  - Deficiency syndromes
• Fewer allergic symptoms, if any
• Reduced need for prescription drugs
• Healthier levels of hormones
• Improved internal efficiency in hormone metabolism
• Longer life
• Reduced blood pressure
• Protection from dementia (Alzheimer’s Disease)
• Better vision
• Sharper reflexes
• Better hair and nail health
• Lower risk of becoming disabled
• Stronger, denser bones
• Less pain experienced
• Protection from fatty liver
• Improved capillary and blood vessel function
• Fewer arthritic symptoms
• Greater emotional health
• Renewed interest in sex and relationships
• Greater musculoskeletal efficiency
• Greater and more complete recovery from injuries
• Wellness of newborns (women only!)
• Correction of abnormal body clock settings, sleep-wake cycles (circadian rhythm)
• Improved ability to repair genetic material (DNA)
• Faster recovery from stroke
• Less asthma and fewer allergic symptoms

We help you with a plan to correct any deficiencies, and move on to better health and wellness. Note: if you are interested in weight management, please see the section UNIQUE SPECIALTIES and/or contact us for separate information.

Nutrition and heart disease

In this country, most people die of heart disease, the kind that comes from deposits within the inner linings of the arteries. In a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine, 23 March 2006, researchers concluded that moderate reductions in “bad cholesterol” levels in the blood could shrink the incidence of coronary heart disease by 80%. Proper nutrition is capable of significantly lowering these levels. There are several supplements that are available to lower cholesterol levels as well.

The Nutrition Committee of the AHA has issued practical and evidence-based dietary and lifestyle recommendations. Some things to do are

• Keep weight down through calorie limitation, wise eating, and activity
• Increase fruit and vegetable intake, especially the kind with more antioxidants and phytochemicals
• Eat whole-grain, high fiber foods
• Add little sugar to the diet
• Consume two servings of fatty fish, high in omega-3 fatty acids, twice or more weekly, with children and pregnant women avoiding mercury-contaminated fish
• Consume no more than 2300 mg of sodium daily if you are healthy, and
• Consume no more than 1500 mg of sodium daily if you are middle-aged, African-Americans, or have high blood pressure, now over 25% of us
• Eat lean meat, fat-free dairy, and replacing meat with vegetable alternatives, so that saturated fat intake is <7% of total calories, and trans fat in take is <1%.
• Make selections when eating out to lower portion size, total and saturated and trans fat intake, and lower sodium and sugar intake.

The AHA has also released a number of recent Scientific Statements, among them on on omega-6 fats and another extremely important one on sugar intake. Sugar, a pro-inflammatory molecule adding empty calories to diets, is a significant factor in driving overweight and obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

These recommendations are basic essentials, but do you understand them sufficiently to put them into effect tomorrow? We can translate this into plain English for you and help write out a plan that you can actually follow to achieve the weight control, overall superior health, protection against inflammation, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, that the AHA intends. We monitor you and make sure you do what is necessary to achieve happiness through health. This is only part of what we do—put guidelines like these to work for you. Actually, we go much further, using multiple guidelines and information from many sources, trying to achieve all the results outlined in the sections above. Wellness coaching and beyond.

In general, we favor fresh, whole, organic foods.

Hippocrates said “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food”,
but Maimonides added, “Let nothing which can be treated by diet be treated by any other means.“

Why follow up?

Why do we ask you to revisit?  The art of the follow-up…

It is just as necessary for a follow-up visit to our office as it is for other health services. Often allopathic (conventional) doctors are unfamiliar with nutritional methods, products, and what we do here.  Since we are very familiar with conventional medicine, it is often up to us to do more when it comes to coordinating care. This is particularly true when it comes to potential interactions of drugs and drugs, drugs and food, drugs and supplements, and even when it comes to side effects of prescriptions. In addition, conventional medical visits are extremely short, and many lifestyle and nutritional issues are not reviewed. In addition, many lifestyle and nutritional issues are neglected in busy lives. Health is complex, and ultimately, comes back to personal responsibility and the practitioner. Health is more than trying 6 prescription drugs in a row, to “see” how you do with each of them sequentially. We review your personal lifestyle and assist you in being certain it keeps you in the best shape possible, minimizes future health mishaps, and optimizes your physical and mental well-being.

A face-to-face assessment is absolutely necessary. Subtle changes in cognition, attention span, energy levels, and in fact function of all organ systems may be apparent to a skilled examiner, but often not to the person involved. Sometimes it is necessary to ask probing questions to decide about a health issue, and whether complications have arisen that are not obvious. Part of the “art” in biomedicine is also observing body language and voice tones when clients/patients are personally present. Many studies confirm the absolute advantage of a face-to-face visit before a provider, and that is why medical organizations, oversight guidelines, savvy consumers, and insurers insist upon them. Telephone and email exchanges are wonderful for brief follow-ups, but the gold standard is the actual visit, one on one.

Example one: A woman was concerned about  shoulder and hand weakness and stiffness, and sought a consultation about natural relief. However just looking at her fingers and palms revealed she was extremely pale, confirmed by her eyelids… she was bleeding actively from her stomach, due to her own use of aspirin and ibuprofen, was referred to her PCP immediately, and eventually had endoscopy by GI.  After she was finished with that, we did find natural substances that helped her hands considerably.

Example two: A gentlemen had been to the health store, and was given a number of items and was told it was a good “substitute” for what we had given him. Over the next 3 months, his health suffered, and the improvements we made were gone. After review of the “substitutes,” during a follow-up visit, it turned out he was sold supplements that had nowhere near the amounts of what did him so much good before, and the quality was so poor, it was a waste. In addition, there were 4 ingredients in each of the supplements that were duplicated—also a poor arrangement, since doses of each could not be adjusted alone. He never looked at the labels, and after reading some information about quality in supplements, resumed the correct doses, again improved markedly, and was thankful. In addition, another problem had arisen, and we were able to suggest a remedy that he said worked in just a couple of days.

What we do during that revisit:

1. Take additional health history about your health developments since the previous visit, and re-discuss details of the main “problem list”, and new issues, symptoms, or signs that may have arisen
2. Review new research in the medical literature which apply to you, how they fit in, and make appropriate changes
3. Find out the progress on prior recommendations, including barriers to adherence which often present themselves
4. Adjust amounts (dose), type, and form of agents nutrients, herbs, and other modalities used for best absorption and results
5. Assess changes in body composition and vital signs since previous visit
6. Refine plan for greater improvement
7. Adjust lifestyle approaches to remaining health issues
8. Review diet diary and/or typical dietary intake
9. Answer questions and give supporting scientific reasons and references for our courses of action
10. Amplify and review other information which you may have gathered in the interim from other providers, periodicals and the internet
11. Review potential interactions and depletions
12. Discuss trends and the significance of health records received since the previous visit
13. Negotiate changes and additions to the health optimization plan to bring even greater success
14. Review interfacing—past and upcoming—with other health practitioners, and provide suggestions
15. Coordinate changes in your condition and cae with what your PCP and subspecialists do
16. Provide a revised written chart of all therapies, both conventional (allopathic), naturopathic, nutritional, herbal, dietary, physical, with commentary, to give a holistic, panoramic view of your status
17. Review all vitamins, supplements, antioxidants, anti-inflammators, and other agents with both prescription and OTC drugs and dietary constituents to be certain there are no interactions, nutritional depletions, or potential adverse effects
18. Provide personalized handouts, and reinforcing, motivating reprints from the medical literature

Our attitude

Our beliefs and general principles

Our Beliefs

• The body has great power for self-healing. Mother Nature has been perfecting biological systems for many millions of years, whereas humans have been studying medicine for a tiny period of time.  Mother Nature has inherently given our bodies extensive means to detect and correct abnormalities associated with disease.  With proper nutrition, water, pure air, the right kind of activity and other support, in the overwhelming majority of instances, the body will heal itself.  In fact, over 95% of illnesses are self limited, and will resolve without medication or intervention of any kind.
• There is an essential connection and interaction between the structural, biochemical, and mental/emotional parts of us. An abnormality in one of these components leads to abnormalities in the others.
• Each of us is unique. We are genetically, biochemically, structurally, and emotionally different from one another. Not strikingly, but just enough so that each of us also responds differently to changes we may encounter. One size does not fit all when it comes to health.
• Health depends upon a harmonious interaction of our physical, mental and spiritual selves with our environment and nature in general.
• Suppressing and interfering with our natural healing powers, rather than supporting them, leads to prolonged illness, deterioration, and degeneration.
• In health, there is a dynamic equilibrium in the body called homeostasis.  In disease, homeostasis is disrupted, and must be restored.
• For health, humans need proper nutrition, pure water, clean air, sunlight, exercise, rest and relaxation, and human connection.  Social and cultural influences must be considered. The majority of illnesses humans suffer from today are the result of lifestyles and habits that do not follow the needs mentioned above.
• Prevention is far preferable to treatment, after the horse has already left the barn.
• Natural methods, which are gentler and safer, are preferable to synthetic medications for many people and situations.
• Identifying and eliminating the cause of an illness is more important than just masking or eliminating the symptoms.
• Education of the healthy and ill is essential, so he or she may fully understand the choices available, and actively participate in healing.
• Restoration of health must be done on a cellular level by improving nutrition, supporting biochemical processes which are not functioning up to par, circulation, innervation, and elimination with support and detoxification.
• The fewer prescription medicines one takes, the better. One should take only those indicated, no more.
• Acute disease processes are different than chronic ones.
• Understanding illness from the cellular level up, we actively pursue the latest biochemical findings regarding how the body works, and the dynamics of nutrition, botanical medicines, natural therapies, energy therapies including homeopathy, and related areas.
• In both health and disease, it is best to view the body as integrated systems of molecules, cells, tissues, and organs, and work with the relationships between those systems.

Our Beliefs,  Applied

• First, do no harm.
• Support the body’s own healing processes, which are considerable.
• Use simple techniques first, before more complex ones, which tend to have undesirable side effects.
• Lower the burden of the “load” on the weak link. Often, when there are several contributing factors to a health problem, reducing the load of an offending factor may significantly improve the overall condition.
• Ultimately, the essence of health lies not with doctors, practice guidelines, treatment algorithms, hospitals, clinic administrators, insurance companies or their medical reviewers, researchers, pharmaceutical companies, business, or the government.  It rests with each one of us as individuals, in making the lifestyle choices that determine our quality of life, health, physical vitality and mental status, and destiny.
• While basic science, research, and theories are wonderful, we are most concerned with clinical outcomes and results in producing optimum health.
• A long-term healing relationship with people, with exchange of information, ideas, feelings, and meanings, results from compassion, respect, and integrity. They are essential to build confidence and trust. Compassion and empathy are among the highest forms of wisdom.
• Being healthy means more than visiting the doctor when needed.  The healthy life involves many different choices that we each make daily,  most subconscious. Food psychologists, for instance, find that Americans make over 200 decisions about food every day.
• The components of personal “ownership” or responsibility for our own health are, in different proportions for each of us: health education and wisdom, prudence, balance, moderation, purity, prevention, resilience, belief/faith/hope, enhancement, strength, inner peace, empowerment, preservation, among others.

We are Fellows or members of the American Public Health Association, Royal Society for Public Health, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine, National Health Federation,  Integrative Medicine Alliance, International Association of Medical and Therapeutic Specialists, and Healing Centers United.