Dr. Greenbean » Weight Loss

SOBs (stressed out bitches)

Dr.Greenbean — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 13:43:41 +0000

Are you an SOB (stressed out bitch)? Well, are you a mother? Are you a wife? Do you work your ass off all day to come home to another “job”? Are you ALIVE? Then you are an SOB. Woman today do so much, we run around like a squirrel on crack from sun-up to sun-down and then we want to curl up a die. But wait, you crawl into bed (finally) and then your spouse whispers “do you want to get it on?” Jesus Christ. Literally, we pray he either dies a sudden death or we do.

Well, SOBS, we all have stress in our life, no matter how perfect your little universe is. Stress affects us at a cellular level and changes our internal chemistry. After awhile, all these changes cause our adrenal glands to give up on us. I am not going to bore you with the science of it all…instead I am going to tell you the signs of adrenal fatigue and then what we can do about it. You might always be a SOB but you will feel good doing it!

The symptoms of adrenal fatigue or stress-induced-exhaustion are as follows:

Weight gain around the middle or hip area

Fatigue

Sleep disturbances

Depression/Anxiety

Low blood pressure

Low blood sugar

Changes in skin pigment

NO libido (sex drive)

Menstrual irregularities

Sensitivity to caffeine or other chemicals

Allergies

Basically, you just feel like shit and you don’t know why! If you go into any doctors office in the world and complain about the above they might test your thyroid, check for anemia, and then probably suggest an anti-depressant as treatment. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! That really cracks me up and pisses me off. Treat the cause not the symptoms people.

So let’s talk treatment…SOBs have to take charge of their own health to change it! We can’t get rid of stress but we can make our body tougher and more resilient to it. The results of treatment are slow but over time you will feel better and your body chemistry will change. Here are the treatment options I lay out for my SOBs:

1. Lower your cortisol (stress hormone) whenever you can. Whether that means breathing for 5 minutes, a massage, exercise, reading after the kids are in bed, drinking (no, just kidding), just relax and take some ME time.

2.B-Stress Complex–one or two per day with food. I give a liquid B-Stress formula that is like rocket fuel…it works! I have it as a product for sale on the site.

3.B5–I recommend an extra B5 per day.

4.Adrenal glandulars/herbal combination–I like a combo product that is POTENT. I use ADR and do 2-4 caps/day

5.Omega 3 oils–2000-3000mg/day (fish is best)

6. If testing (saliva is what I use) reveals a high cortisol at night—Seriphos (phosphatidyl serine) 2 caps/bedtime

7.If testing reveals low cortisol all day, I do prescriptive cortisol 2-4 times per day. This has to be prescribed by a qualified physician….

8. DHEA– 10-25mg/day if testing reveals low levels

9. Anti-oxidant support–resveratrol, Vitamin C, Vitamin E

10. Diet–Whole foods (which means no crappy processed food–lean proteins, fruits, veg, whole grains)

11. Magnesium citrate–500-800 mg/day

I promise that if all you SOBs make a committment to change by doing some of the above your body will love you for it. You will age slower, you will feel better, you will lose weight, you will SURVIVE! I, personally, treat my adrenals every day with my basic supplementation/wellness guidelines and then do more aggressive treatment once or twice per year to keep my stress in check. I may still be a SOB but atleast my body is reacting healthfully to the stress.

rgds

dr.gb

Yeastie beasties–Candida is among us

Dr.Greenbean — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:42:50 +0000

Yeast is Normal flora but sometimes grows overboard

Yeast overgrowth can be caused by eating too much sugar, genetics, ph changes, antibiotic therapy, dieting, stress…pretty sure that about covers everything life has to offer! I have a body yeast seem to love…couldn’t be my sugar addiction, could it? I really have to watch sugar and take probiotics regularly.

Symptoms of candidiasis are vague and vast. Itching anywhere (vag, ears, anus), bloating, brain fog, weight gain, constipation/diarrhea, depression, and anything you want to blame on the little fungus.

Treatment consists of a diet (explained below) and some probiotic therapy. I do use pharmaceuticals like nystatin, diflucan, or ketoconazole if necessary. The only natural thing that seems to have some efficacy is garlic….pure allicin or garlic oil capsules can work too. I usually combine a drug/herb protocol with the diet.

The Candida Diet

If you’ve tried to stay on it, even the words “candida diet” make you shudder. Yet, every day thousands of people go to search engines and type in those two infamous words hoping to find relief from Candida Yeast Overgrowth.

What is the Candida diet?

The diet itself seems simple. You can eat all the protein you want and lots of green vegetables and salads. What could be so hard? You may know the answer to that question already. It’s not hard -it’s impossible! Partly because of what you can’t eat, but mostly because You can’t slip-up once! Not even a little bit!
The idea behind the candida diet is to literally starve the yeast organisms living in your body. Starve them to death! Think of a bottle filled with grape juice containing a cake of yeast. But this particular bottle of grape juice has had all sugar removed. Will it make wine? No it won’t! Because the yeast needs some form of sugar to ferment. Sugar is the sustenance of yeast. This is how fully you must maintain the diet. Give your yeast no sugar of any kind.

The Candida diet only works if you can fully and completely eliminate sugars in all their forms. Grains (cereal, bread, pasta, muffins, etc.), fruits, dairy foods like milk and cheese and even sweet vegetables like carrots contain too much sugar. The carbs in these foods are quickly converted into sugars that will feed your yeast overgrowth.

Let’s say you have eaten this diet perfectly for 3 months and at a birthday party you take a small piece of cake (just to be social). Up to this point the yeast in your body had been well on its way to dying off but now it has just been fed! Congratulations! Your yeast is now alive and reproducing again. You are now back to day one on the Candida diet. Will you start over again from scratch?

This is the “impossible” part. You simply must remain perfectly on the diet for 6 months to eradicate your yeast overgrowth. Sometimes 3 months plus a drug/herb protocol is enough…but diet only therapy is 6 months.
Also, there is concern that eating only protein sources and green vegetables is not a healthy diet for you long term. It’s one thing to eat “low carb” but another to eat almost none as demanded by the Candida diet. I start to allow fruit (one piece per day) or some carrots/beets at the 3 month mark.

You will lose weight and detox with this strict diet. I have tried it myself…it about killed me (not literally but I lasted about a month before deciding to do pharmaceuticals)! Good luck and remember your health will benefit…

Rgds

Dr.J

LOW ENERGY AND the HORMONE CONNECTION

Dr.Greenbean — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:47:06 +0000

How many of you out there have the complaint “low energy”? I hear it everyday in my practice…My goal is to find the CAUSE of the fatigue. Is it medical? Is it mental? Does it change? When is it worse/better? etc….you get the idea.

The most common medical issues that cause low energy are hormonal issues. I see a ton of perimenopausal and menopausal gals and their low energy can be due to LOW ESTROGEN. Heck, the night sweats caused by low estrogen can interupt sleep and cause the fatigue the following day. Low estrogen in general does cause fatigue in some women. Low testosterone can also cause a “lack of endurance” type feeling. It is worth it to get these hormones checked and rule out an issue.

Another hormonal issue that causes low energy is a slow thyroid. Hypothyroidism is present in 1 out of 5 women. I diagnose it every day….The lab ranges on testing really suck! I use an ENDOCRINOLOGISTS range which has much narrower ranges. Sometimes just the patients symptoms tell me they have a thyroid problem that needs treatment. I treat with both prescriptives and natural products (available on the site). So if you have a sluggish metabolism, poor immune system, constipation, dry skin, thinning hair, fatigue, cold hands/feet, and/or low body temp you need to get tested. Demand a TSH, free T4, and free T3 thyroid panel…..

Low adrenal function can cause fatigue too! Man, hormones really are important! If you are a stressed out person with fatigue your adrenals could use some help. Look in our adrenal section for great natural products to help. Most people benefit from adrenal help!

I hope you understand the importance of HORMONAL BALANCE in your ENERGY. Yes, nutrition, exercise, ruling out allergies, blood sugar and other issues can cause fatigue but I bet the number one cause of low energy is HORMONAL IMBALANCES!

Weight Loss success…rewarding for you and the physician.

Dr.Greenbean — Sun, 31 May 2009 22:08:41 +0000

What is the single most important thing that determines health? Well, I will tell you it is not genetics, best doctors, luck, or anything other than…………..A HEALTHY WEIGHT. What does that mean? If you believe in BMI’s then it means a healthy BMI for your height…If you are like me, I think it depends on how you feel and percentage of fat on your frame! I know some curvaceous gals that love their bodies and their labwork is perfect….their BMI is a bit high but who gives a rip….self-confidence is also key to good health.

I have been doing weight loss stuff for 10 years in my practice. I have recommended everything from anti-candida diets, to liver detox, to low carb, to low acid, to you name it…I have done it. I get so sick of people not losing weight or losing then gaining it back!! How frustrating!

It truly is physics…calories in and calories burned. I can’t watch what each client puts in their mouth and monitor exercise through a nanny cam….I have wanted to at times. For example, I had a gal that wanted (and needed) to lose 15 pounds. It would help her blood pressure and her ability to fit into her wardrobe. She did a diet diary for me and I found several interesting things. First, skipped meals…Second, a smoothie for breakfast that was atleast 600+ calories (that was half her calories for the day and she didn’t even eat anything yet). After fine tuning her “I eat healthy” diet, she lost 15 pounds and thought it was miraculous. I do believe some people just don’t have a clue what they are actually putting in their mouths. She also said she exercised 6 days per week….I learned that she did yoga, walked a few miles here and there, and worked in the yard (none of these are true cardio exercise to burn calories or fat). Yes, any activity burns calories but if you are trying to lose weight you need to up the “burn factor” .

I have been prescribing HCG to my clients for the last 2 years. It is a strict diet with hormone injections. Sounds crazy but it is based on research from the 1940’s….It is a detox, a hypoallergy diet, and best of all it fricking works. It lasts 6 weeks so it isn’t overwhelming to commit to, it is very cut and dry, and it is a heck of a jump start! I have had several people lose over 100 pounds (in multiple sessions) and many others lose 25-40 pounds the first session.

What amazes me is that peoples personalities change after losing weight and feeling empowered. My formerly frumpy fat moms are now sassy hot bitches! My chubby men clients are now masculine chic magnets. (All of this of course is in the head of the beholder…again self confidence ROCKS!) This weight loss stuff, no matter the diet, is the most rewarding thing for me as a physician…..I bet for YOU as a patient too!

Please check out my weight loss section on the site!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!