 |
Staying Healthy Today With Kirk Hamilton
August 11, 2009
Staying Healthy Today Interviews...
Last week (August 5, 2009) we posted Dr. Jeanne Drisko's interview, "Integrative Medicine - What Is It and Why Does Medicine Need It?" Dr. Drisko is the director of the University of Kansas's Medical School's Integrative Medicine Department.
Some take home points from Dr. Drisko's interview...
- The importance of evaluating gut ecology in overall health. If the gut does not have balanced quantities of bacteria and fungi, inflammation of the gut lining can occur (intestinal permeability or bacterial translocation) leading to distressing symptoms in your body anywhere. She uses a stool exam which uses DNA technology.
- There is great variation within companies in the reproducibility of IgG food testing for delayed food sensitivities. Dr. Drisko uses a closed well system designed by the late allergist Dr. Vincent Marinkovich.
- If ‘Integrative or Alternative Medicine' just uses natural therapies to replace drugs to treat disease and doesn't implement basic lifestyle changes involving diet, exercise and mind/body practices then the disease care model will continue and health care will continue to be too costly and fail.
- Compared to her previous life as a traditional practicing physician she looks forward to going to work every day and thoroughly enjoys working with her co-workers and taking care of patients in this integrative approach.
- When asked about 5 things she would like to see people do daily to live a wellness lifestyle Dr. Drisko said: 1) Younger people should eat three meals a day of whole foods and don't skip breakfast, and eat and prepare meals at home. 2) Learn how to get a good night's sleep. 3) Practice being less frantic in the day. Really slow down, breathe from your stomach, fill the lungs up with good air, breathe slowly. 4) Enjoy family, enjoy relationships. Find joy in life. 5) Take one day off per week and do not work.
This week's interview (August 12, 2009) will be with Dr. Joel Fuhrman author of the best selling book Eat To Live, and his most recent 2 volume set Eat For Health. One of Dr. Fuhrman's primary points of emphasis is that to really be healthy, live with vitality, and prevent or reverse chronic disease you must eat the most nutrient rich foods per calorie as the major foods in your diet. True health is expressed in this equation - Health = Nutrients / Calories. The most nutrient dense foods from high to low are: green vegetables, raw vegetables, non-starchy cooked vegetables, fresh fruit, beans/legumes, cooked starchy vegetables, whole grains, raw nuts and seeds, fish, fat-free dairy, wild meat and fowl, eggs, refined grains, full-fat dairy/cheese, refined oils and sweets. He also talks about food addiction but coins the term "Toxic Hunger." http://www.drfuhrman.com/
Chronic Nose Bleeds...8 Simple Things You Can Do
Recently I had a young adolescent male come in for a sports physical to start playing football for the first time. The boy was in a good state of health and the only complaint the mother shared was chronic, morning nosebleeds. When I took a dietary history (What do you eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner? What do you snack on? What do you crave? What do you drink?) it became obvious that this young boy consumed a lot of dairy products daily. I only asked him to do one thing. Eliminate all dairy products. Within 2 days his mother told me his nose bleeds had stopped. For more than 25 years I have seen food intolerance, specifically dairy products, be a frequent cause of chronic nose bleeds.
A family member mentioned to me recently when having a nose bleed that he had been having more of them lately. He is under a lot of stress, has had a past history of inhalant allergy, some food intolerances and G.I. complaints that responded in the past to a low allergy regime, basic supplements, probiotics and an antifungal trial. My suspicion is that his overall allergic load was flared-up causing more inflammation and ‘friability" in his nasal mucus membranes making them more susceptible to bleeding. The goal is to reduce the inflammation of the tissues in the nose and heal that tissue so it doesn't spontaneously bleed.
Here are 8 Simple Things You Can Do For Chronic Nose Bleeds...
- Check your medications. If you have added aspirin to any cardiac medication regime, or with any anti-inflammatory pain medications (ibuprofen, prednisone etc.) be careful. Ask your doctor if you can use a baby aspirin (81 mg versus 325 mg).
- If you add fish oil to any medication list, especially if there is aspirin, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (i.e. ipuprofen, etc.), or an anti-coagulant like coumadin already being taken, bleeding can occur. High dose fish oil can sometimes, though rarely, do it alone. When I see bleeding and fish oil it's usually when the fish oil is added on to the aspirin or coumadin. So what's the real problem? The fish oil or the aspirin or coumadin. Most professionals blame the fish oil - I think incorrectly.
- Eliminate possible food intolerance. Eliminate all dairy products at least, or eat off the BED Diet (Basic Elimination Diet) for one month.
- Use a humidifier at night.
- Environmental control of the bedroom (www.nationalallergysupply.com).
- Do a saline sinus rinse daily with salt water.
- Take dietary supplements daily - vitamin C 1-4 grams, vitamin A 5-10,000 IU, zinc 20-30 mg, copper 2-3 mg/d/d, bioflavonoids or quercetin 500-1000 mg/d.
- Take any high quality oil (i.e. vitamin E) and put it on a Q-tip and gently swab the inside of the nose after doing a sinus rinse, once or twice per day.
Food intolerance is a frequent cause of daily nose bleeds, especially in a young person. Dairy is a classic culprit. Also chronic inhalant allergy.
Until next time Stay and Be Well
Kirk
Your Subscription:
[SUBSCRIPTIONS]
|
|
