Archive for the ‘blood sugar balancing’ Category

Lupus & Other Auto-Immune Conditions – A Naturopathic Perspective

Thursday, May 3rd, 2012

Lupus & Other Auto-Immune Conditions – A Naturopathic Perspective

Auto-Immune conditions such as lupus require balance throughout life.  Medically the options are limited:  harsh medications that don’t actually fix the underlying causes (and clog up the major organs of the body so they’re are more dysfunctional), but there is SO MUCH WE CAN DO to help to balance the body and keep the symptoms as minimal as possible.

1.  Look after your gut: 70-80% of the immune system  is in the gut – Lupus/Auto-immune conditions occur when the immune system is overstimulated into attacking certain tissues of the body.  In other words, the body can think that your skin, or your thyroid, or your ligaments and tendons are a virus or bacteria and then the immune system works hard to kill it!!  That’s why we feel so dreadful when an auto-immune system is in full swing.

Keys to looking after your gut:

Know your allergies/intolerances
Find out if you have DPP4 enzyme deficiencies
Are you gut enzymes working to break down sugars, carbohydrates, proteins and fats?
Is your pancreas balancing your blood sugar on a daily basis?
Has your body dealt with old viruses and viral particles?
Do you have leaky gut/gut permeability?
Is there heavy metal toxicity in the gut, that is shutting down the enzyme release from the gut?
Vitamin D deficiency is one cause of leaky gut – getting some sunshine daily?

2.  Decrease stress in your world: what are your major stress triggers?  Stress is one of the intangible causes of auto-immune conditions.  Stress can shut down your gut, overload your liver, make it really challenging to balance your blood sugar, increase your adrenal stress and shut down your thyroid and so much more.  Stress is huge and finding a way to deal with it daily it crucial with chronic health conditions such as auto-immunity!  Try the following:

Yoga and meditation
Kinesiology balancing to help eliminate old stress patterns and boost immunity
Relaxing Massage has been found to increase feel good hormones and lower pain levels
There are supplements that can be prescribed that help to destress the nerves, balance the hormones, boost feel-good hormones and more
Sleep – a good night sleep is so important to maintain good health, immunity and wellbeing

3.  Full Filter Detox: It is so important to keep your body’s filtering mechanisms as functional as possible throughout life.  The immune system is one of the filters – for the body to kick an auto-immune system into action, our filters can’t have been working properly…  The core filters of the body are the digestive tract (stomach, small intestine, large intestine), liver, immune system (crucial in cleansing the blood every second of every day) and the kidneys.  If these are dysfunctional it’s not hard to imagine our body will be filling up with toxins and our immune system will struggle!

Testing Processes we can do to keep on top of our health:
Live Blood Screenings:
with this fabulous technique we are looking at red and white blood cells – your red blood cells make up 1/4 of all the cells in your body – we can see instantly immune dysfunction, liver stress (fibrinogen), signs of leaky gut, signs of parasites and more…  Just 1 drop of blood.
Urine Tests: Multisticks and Urinary Indicans – these urine tests allow us to find out if we are digesting our proteins, if we have an underlying infection, if our kidneys are fully functional or struggling, if we have too much bad bacteria in the gut and more…  Simple.
Candida and Helicobacter Tests: are there underlying issues such as these causing problems that we don’t even know about?
Kinesiology for allergies/intolerances/energy mismatches/DPP4 enzyme deficiencies – find out what foods should be in your world and what shouldn’t.  There are so many intolerances where the only symptom is the auto-immune condition itself.  We can help you target your diet to be the best it can be.
Insulin Resistance Testing: we are one of the few places who test for insulin resistance.  Doctors check for blood sugar and don’t even think about diabetes until it’s through the roof.  This test finds pre-diabetic conditions early, and then we know how to fix it!

Madonna Guy ND
New Leaf Natural Therapies
Brisbane, Australia
3348 6098

So… your insulin resistance is too high – on the way to diabetes?

Saturday, November 12th, 2011

You know, I hear it in my clinic each and every day – my doctor’s checked my blood sugar levels and I’m totally ok…  Doug or I check their insulin resistance and it’s in the high risk for diabetes.  It’s damaging and inflammatory and it’s NOT OK!

What is insulin resistance?

It means that when you eat carbohydrates (anything that turns into sugar – grains, sugar, flour, fruits, starchy vegies (potatoes, pumpkin, carrots, corn etc) creates insulin which, instead of creating energy, increases inflammation and is NOT giving you energy…  Your cell membranes are either not functioning properly – not allowing insulin inside the cells OR the internal pathways within the cells are getting jammed and not allowing the energy production from insulin.

Is insulin bad?

No.  It is a crucial hormone – each and every cell in your body requires it to make energy.

Is insulin resistance bad?  What health problems does insulin resistance cause?

Yes!  When insulin isn’t getting into our cells it becomes a very inflammatory and dangerous hormone which has the ability to create:

  • blood sugar issues
  • dizziness
  • diabetes
  • peripheral neuropathy
  • dementia
  • memory issues
  • degeneration of the nerves in our hands, feet and brain
  • chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia
  • insulin, being a hormone, if out of whack can create an imbalance with any other hormone

How can I find out if I have insulin resistance?

We do a simple blood test (2-3 drops from your finger – the more hydrated you are the easier the test is!!!) which gives us the results in about 3-4 minutes.  Easy!

Are there supplements I can take to reverse insulin resistance?

Yes there are:  My favourite supplements are

  • Insulex; 6 daily which is for insulin resistance combined with lots of pain
  • Resist X; 4 daily which is for insulin resistance, sugar cravings and low energy (also helps girls gain a ‘waist’ over a period of time; contains ingredients such as korean ginseng, cinnamon and chromium
  • combination of these 2 if it’s really dangerous!
  • Krill oil works through increasing HDL cholesterol (good HDL levels are crucial for good hormone production and decreasing our risk of stroke, heart disease and diabetes) – there are many qualities of krill oil – be careful with supermarket brands
  • Shake It Extra – high protein meal replacement with the ingredients of insulex in the formula.

What foods should I avoid until my insulin resistance is within the ’safe’ range?

Anything that turns into sugar is very inflammatory and exhausting for your body to cope with when we have insulin resistance:

  • All grains and flours:  wheat, rye, spelt, rice, oats, barley
  • All fruits
  • All starchy vegetables:  potatoes, pumpkin, carrots…
  • breads, cakes, cereals (obviously – they contain the ingredients above)
  • sugar (yes, I commonly get ask if it’s bad)
  • alcohol – turns straight into sugar – and our body burns it down first, before anything else!

Starting to make a little sense??

Talk soon,

Madonna
Chief Clinician
New Leaf Natural Therapies
3348 6098 / 0417 643 849

HCG Programme/Diet with Very Low Cal Diet…my story…

Tuesday, September 13th, 2011

My name is Madonna Guy and started New Leaf Natural Therapies nearly 4 years ago, in Wynnum, Brisbane.  I’ve been a naturopath/kinesiologist for 16 years, have worked on repairing my liver, blood sugar levels, was vegetarian for 20 years, started eating meat again 2 years ago…  with all of my knowledge, my husband and I have always had to do around 40-60km per week jogging to maintain our weight (with the occasional once per week alcohol, 1/2 slice cheesecake, bit of chocolate).  2 of my naturopath friends both tried the HCG diet and lost weight.

My sceptical brain said things like “won’t we lose weight anyway if we are eating 500cals?” and “I’ll be starving – no way I can do it…”  You can imagine, I was trying to avoid it.  My friend Linda, however, lost 6kg off her butt (fluid as well as fat) in 10 days) .  wow.  Now, Linda has always responded very very well to anything she’s added into her world.  I seem to try every fat-burning supplement, detox programme (which we specialise in) take supplements for the thyroid, adrenals, liver, energy etc etc etc and yet I’ve always needed that amount of exercise to maintain my weight (and had put on around 7kg in the past 4 years anyway).

So, my husband and I started HCG about 5 weeks ago now.  No exercise. RFM HCG Homeopathic drops.  10 drops 3 x daily.  No face creams.  No hair colouring (I was so looking forward to getting my hair coloured last week!).  I was planning on doing only 10 days like my friend Linda.  We loved the compulsory binge days…  a must do!  And then we kicked into the programme.

We were both hungry for the first week, Jason was quite weak, so we started having Metagenics ResistX in the morning – great for sugar cravings, insulin resistance (which he was) energy and pulling fat out of the bloodstream.  But we persisted.  And the resist X really helped with energy, weakness and need for food.  The hunger disappeared generally after about a week.

We did a VLA test (bio-impedance analysis) daily/every second day throughout the entire process.  At the end of 23 days for my husband and 27 days for me (you can’t count the 4 day period I had in there…bad timing) we had both lost around 6kg of actual fat and our VLA tests showed 1. we lost no muscle mass and 2. Jason lost no muscle quality, but I lost a little muscle quality.  That’s really quite amazing given the limited amount of food on the plan.

Every time we strayed from Dr Simeon’s programme, for example snow peas and zucchini – not on the programme, we put on fat.  When we had lamb – not on the programme – we put on fat.  So we learned very quickly to stick to the foods he trialled for 20 years.

By the way – no exercise for either of us throughout this whole month!

Consolidation: Once we hit consolidation – which is done for the same number of days as the drops are taken, we were both worried we would put on weight.  Jason was away for work for 2 days and had to eat out every meal.  But, he lost 800g while away (now that’s just weird).  My weight (as fearful predicted in my silly brain) kept going up.  I was 61.1 at end of HCG drops. next day 61.3, next day 61.5 next day 62.6 (we added too many new foods on that day for my body) so, I had to do a fasting-steak day.  Nothing but water, herbal teas, 1 coffee (no sugar/milk in tea coffee, but stevia is fine and I enjoy it) and then a large steak at night with either a tomato or an apple.  We went to Hog’s Breath, I had a large steak and green salad, and my weight was 61.2 the next day.  Fasting-steak day worked!  AND – no exercise.  Normally our weekend treats take us 3-5 days of exercise for us to get back to the weight we were before the weekend.

So far, so good!  I’ll keep you informed!!

Madonna Guy ND
New Leaf Natural Therapies
3348 6098 / 0417 643 849
healthteam@nlnt.com.au

You Can Cure Type 2 Diabetes…

Wednesday, September 7th, 2011

You Can Reverse Type 2 Diabetes

Please don’t let anyone tell you that type 2 diabetes has no cure, as this is not true. Type 2 diabetes is not terminal; you don’t have to live with it forever! Nearly 100 percent of type  2 diabetics can be successfully treated — eliminating the symptoms of diabetes, or the high risk of developing health complications — if you are willing to implement the lifestyle changes discussed below. These same changes will also drastically reduce your risk of the disease, so you can avoid developing it in the first place.

  1. Severely limit or eliminate grains and sugar from your diet, especially fructose, which is far more detrimental than any other type of sugar. This is extremely important! Drinking just one sweetened drink a day can raise your diabetes risk by 25 percent compared to drinking one sugary drink per month, so you really need to evaluate your diet and look for hidden sources of sugar and fructose. Artificially sweetened food and drinks should be avoided as well as they are incredibly toxic to our nervous systems causing problems such as dementia and depression.

    This also means avoiding most processed foods, as they are loaded with fructose. You may even need to avoid fruits until your diabetes is under control.

  2. Following my nutrition plan will help you do this without much fuss. It’s important to realize that nearly all type 2 diabetics need to swap out their grains for other foods, such as healthy sources of protein or vegetable-only carbohydrates.
  3. Exercise is an absolutely essential factor, without which you’re highly unlikely to get this devastating disease under control. It is clearly one of the most potent ways to lower your insulin and leptin resistance. Make sure to incorporate high-intensity Peak Fitness exercises. These types of exercises boost fat loss, promote muscle building, and help your body produce human growth hormone (HGH) naturally. Typically, you’ll need large amounts of exercise until you get your blood sugar levels under control. You may need up to an hour or two a day. Naturally, you’ll want to gradually work your way up to that amount, based on your current level of fitness.
  4. Avoid trans fats as they will actually worsen insulin resistance.
  5. Consume saturated fats, such as grass-fed organic meat, raw dairy products, avocados, and coconut oil. These saturated fats provide a concentrated source of energy along with the building blocks for cell membranes and a variety of hormones and hormone-like substances. When you eat healthy fats as part of your meal, they slow down absorption so that you can go longer without feeling hungry. In addition, they act as carriers for important fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K.

    There are more than a dozen different types of saturated fat, but you predominantly consume only three: stearic acid, palmitic acid and lauric acid. It’s already been well established that stearic acid (found in cocoa and animal fat) has no effect on your cholesterol levels at all, and actually gets converted in your liver into the monounsaturated fat called oleic acid.

    The other two, palmitic and lauric acid, do raise total cholesterol. However, since they raise “good” cholesterol as much or more than “bad” cholesterol, you’re still actually lowering your risk of heart disease.

  6. Get plenty of omega-3 fats from a high quality, animal-based source such as krill oil.
  7. Monitor your fasting insulin level. This is every bit as important as your fasting blood sugar. You’ll want your fasting insulin level to be between 2 to 4. The higher your level, the worse your insulin receptor sensitivity is. The recommendations mentioned above are the key steps you need to achieve this reduction. As the new leaf team to check your insulin resistance levels as well.
  8. Get enough high-quality sleep every night.
  9. Optimize your vitamin D levels. Maintaining your vitamin D levels around 60-80 ng/ml can significantly help control your blood sugar. In addition, recent studies have revealed that getting enough vitamin D can also have a powerful effect on normalizing your blood pressure, and reduces your risk of heart disease.

    Having optimal vitamin D levels can also prevent type 1 diabetes in your children if you are pregnant. It’s also vital for infants to receive the appropriate amounts of vitamin D in their early years for the same reasons. Ideally, you’ll want to do this by exposing a large amount of your skin to appropriate amounts of sunshine (or a safe tanning bed) on a regular basis, year-round. Your body can safely create up to 20,000 units of vitamin D a day this way. Just remember to get your levels tested regularly by a proficient lab to make sure you’re staying within the therapeutic range.

  10. Address any underlying emotional issues and/or stress. Non-invasive tools like yoga, journaling and meditation can be extremely helpful and effective.

Madonna Guy ND
New Leaf Natural Therapies
3348 6098

HCG Solution – effective solution to obesity!

Monday, August 8th, 2011

Weight Loss Protocols at New Leaf Natural Therapies

  • HCG Solution
  • Shake It Weight Loss Protocol
  • Blood Group Food Intake
  • Balancing of hormonal & endocrine issues….
  • 3348 6098  talk to us today!!!

Published in NEXUS Magazine, vol. 17, no. 4, 2010
AN EFFECTIVE SOLUTION TO THE OBESITY EPIDEMIC
An amazing low-calorie dietary protocol that utilises human chorionic gonadotrophin
(hCG) is having enormous success for overweight and obese people and offers a way
out of the global health crisis.
by Sherrill Sellman, ND © 2010
450 W. 7th Street #1502
Tulsa, OK 74119, USA
Email: drsellman@whatwomenmustknow.com
Website: http://whatwomenmustknow.com
A Costly Problem Worldwide
Look around. Notice anything? Our world is getting fatter…much fatter. Never
before in the history of humanity have such corpulent bodies walked the earth.
Overweight and obese men, women and children now make up the majority of the
population of most westernised countries. The USA (74.1 per cent), Australia (67.4
per cent),
New Zealand (68.4 per cent) and the UK (61 per cent), have the distinction
of being ranked in the top 25 most overweight countries in the world.1
The World Health Organization (WHO) now describes the prevalence of obesity as an
epidemic.
(Obesity is defined by percentage of body fat.

Women with more than 32
per cent of their weight from fat and men with more than 25 per cent are deemed
obese.)
People all over the world are getting fatter than ever. Once considered a
problem only in high-income countries, obesity is dramatically on the rise in low- and
middle-income countries. In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of an
emerging epidemic of obesity in the developing societies. In fact, the rate of increase
in obesity prevalence in developing countries can often exceed that in the
industrialised world. Indeed, the yearly rate of increase in overweight and obesity in
regions of Asia, Africa and South America is two- to five-fold that seen in the United
States.2
The statistics revealing the impact of this epidemic are staggering.
• Three quarters of American adults and nearly 24 per cent of US children and
adolescents will be overweight by 2015.3
• By 2030, over 86 per cent of American adults will be overweight or obese.4
• In America, obese people now surpass the number who are overweight.5
• One in 10 British children is likely to become obese by 2015.6
• In New Zealand, a 2006–07 health survey found that one in three adults were
overweight (36.3 per cent) and one in four were obese (26.5 per cent).7
• Excess weight has reached epidemic proportions globally, with more than 1.7 billion
adults being either overweight or obese.8
• WHO predicts there will be 2.3 billion overweight adults in the world by 2015, and
more than 700 million of them will be obese.9

People are getting so fat that new categories have been created to define accurately
the growing fatness of people.
Once the term “morbidly obese” described a small
segment of the population, but beyond this is now the “super-obese” category.
Almost 500,000 Australians are “super-obese”, a fivefold increase during the past two
decades. The super-obese have a body mass index of 50 or more and weigh upwards
of 200 kilograms. It is predicted that the ranks of the super-obese will double in the
next decade.10
This current health crisis has created a growing panic around the world, threatening
not only to overwhelm health care systems but also to create excessive financial
burdens on governments. For example, the health cost of obesity in the USA is as
high as US$147 billion annually, based on a new study from RTI International and the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.11 According to the latest research
published in The Medical Journal of Australia, the total direct cost of overweight and
obesity in Australia is A$21 billion a year, double the previous estimates.12
By far the greatest cost of obesity is its serious threat to good health. Obesity is
associated with more than 30 medical conditions including diabetes, high blood
pressure, high cholesterol and triglycerides, coronary artery disease (CAD), strokes,
gallbladder disease and cancers of the breast, prostate and colon. The non-fatal but
debilitating health problems associated with obesity include respiratory difficulties,
chronic musculoskeletal problems, skin problems, osteoarthritis, gout, sleep apnoea
and infertility. Obesity puts more stress on joints, which explains why the majority of
joint and hip replacements involve overweight people. The toll to one’s self-esteem
and self-image is immeasurable. No wonder that depression and anxiety are more
common in overweight people.13
While the costs to health and to government coffers are enormous, there is a booming
business to be made out of this health disaster. The profits of the weight loss industry
are overflowing. The overweight population is very big business. Americans spend
over $59 billion a year on weight loss programs.
In 2007, Weight Watchers’ products
and services alone netted over US$4 billion worldwide.14
In an effort to find a solution to this problem, the latest trend is seen in the growing
popularity of bariatric weight reduction operations like gastric banding, gastric bypass
and variants of these stomach surgeries. Demand for weight loss surgery is soaring,
with more than 100,000 procedures performed annually in the USA.15 It is estimated
that over the next few years the total number of obesity surgery patients in the United
States will exceed one million annually. The average cost is $20,000 to $30,000 per
procedure.16 According to a University of Washington study, as many as one in 50
people die within one month of having gastric bypass surgery, and that figure jumps
nearly fivefold if the surgeon is inexperienced.17
What’s Really Going On?
Obesity is a modern problem: statistics about it did not even exist 50 years ago. Yet,
in just several decades the growing corpulence of millions of people threatens not
only their health but also the health of future generations. Fingers point at the
“obesogenic” nature of western diets and lifestyles that promote the increased intake
of refined, high-carbohydrate, high-sugar-ladened and nutrient-depleted foods as well
as physical inactivity.
But, something else is amiss. Our bodies, especially our metabolism, seem to be
going haywire.
The paradox of this overweight condition is that some people are
getting fatter, even though they’re eating fewer calories and exercising more.
Healthier dietary and lifestyle choices don’t seem to be effective in shedding excess
kilos. They once were, but not any more. So, what is the problem? If we are truly
seeking a solution to obesity, we need to look elsewhere. Traditional weight loss
theories and dietary and lifestyle approaches are falling far short of stemming the tide.
Societies are drowning in fat.
This is exactly what a brilliant British endocrinologist, Dr. A.T. W. Simeons (d.
1970), realised. And he committed 30 years of his life to seeking the answer to the
underlying cause of obesity.

Dr Simeons was a graduate of the University of Heidelberg Medical School in the
1920s. He chose endocrinology as his speciality, which in turn led to a fascination
with tropical diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and leprosy. Simeons spent
several years in Hamburg, focusing on the diagnosis and treatment of such diseases.
In 1928, he travelled to central Africa to study these diseases personally.
In 1931, Dr Simeons accepted a post in India, where he spent the next two decades.
While there, he developed the use of the drug Atabrine, which became and remained
for years a mainstay of conventional antimalarial treatment. He also investigated a
new method of blood staining to better observe the malaria parasite. For his work
against malaria, Dr Simeons was awarded the Order of Merit by the Red Cross.
During World War II, he held several important Indian government posts, conducted
extensive research on bubonic plague and also developed model centres for the
treatment of leprosy.
After India became independent, Dr Simeons set up in private practice in Bombay and
was frequently consulted by the government. Destiny, however, would direct him
toward a very different mission.
In 1949, with his wife and three sons, Dr Simeons moved to Rome, where he worked
on psychosomatic disorders at the Salvator Mundi International Hospital. He was
regarded as one of the top research doctors in Europe.
Although much of his early work was concerned with the infectious diseases malaria,
leprosy and bubonic plague, psychosomatic disorders were another of Dr Simeons’
interests.
As he travelled the world, Dr Simeons became fascinated with the condition of
obesity, which was a relatively rare condition at that time. His research would lead
him to investigate the links between endocrinology, obesity and psychosomatic
disorders.

He studied every potential solution for obesity offered anywhere in the world. As
part of his thorough investigation , he researched the thyroid, pituitary and adrenal
glands, the pancreas, the gallbladder and over 100 other physiological functions. He
could find no direct correlation between obesity and these various glands and organs.
Dr Simeons finally concluded that the key to the obesity problem lies within the part
of the brain called the diencephalon, a complex of structures that includes the
thalamus and hypothalamus. It is particularly the compromised function of the
hypothalamus, he discovered, that is at the core of the problem.
According to Dr Simeons: “If obesity is always due to one very specific diencephalic
deficiency, it follows that the only way to cure it is to correct this deficiency. At first
this seemed an utterly hopeless undertaking. The greatest obstacle was that one could
hardly hope to correct an inherited trait localised deep inside the brain, and while we
did possess a number of drugs whose point of action was believed to be in the
diencephalon, none of them had the slightest effect on the fat centre. There was not
even a pointer showing a direction in which pharmacological research could move to
find a drug that had such a specific action.”18
While it was commonly believed that overeating causes obesity, Simeons found that
overeating is the result of a metabolic disorder
—not its cause.
Now that he had discovered the long-sought-after cause, Dr Simeons was in pursuit of
a solution. His “Eureka moment” came when he noticed that very thin pregnant
Indian women, although having a low-caloric intake while at the same time doing
demanding physical activity, delivered healthy full-weight babies. These pregnant
women could easily lose weight by drastically reducing their dietary intake but
without feeling hungry or in any way harming the child in the womb. After much
research, he attributed this phenomenon to the presence of a substance called human
chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG), which is made in high amounts in a woman’s body
during pregnancy.
He also reflected on the rare medical condition of young obese Indian boys, known as
“fat boys”, who were cured of their obesity with daily injections of small amounts of
hCG: they miraculously lost their ravenous appetites and reshaped their bodies to
normal.

Dr Simeons wondered if hCG could assist in opening the abnormal, secure reserves of
fat in non-pregnant women and possibly even in men. Under normal conditions, these
abnormal fat reserves are almost impossible to access and are only released as the
body’s last survival strategy during times of extreme starvation. However, Dr
Simeons found one very interesting exception: hCG signals the body to mobilise
these fat reserves. At his hospital, he experimented with this approach, using daily
hCG injections combined with a very specific 500-calories-per-day diet. After many
years of working with thousands of test patients, he perfected his “weight loss cure
protocol”. The results were astonishing. Almost 100 per cent of his patients were
losing approximately one pound (0.5 kilogram) per day while on the protocol. And
they were only losing the most difficult and resistant form of body fat, i.e., abnormal
stored fat.
Was hCG the key that could safely and successfully reset a dysregulated
hypothalamus?
Importance of the Hypothalamus Gland
The problem of fat storage, which results in being overweight and obese, seems to be
related to the master gland, the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is a collection of
specialised cells located in the lower central part of the brain, allowing
communication between the endocrine and central nervous systems. It is one of the
central elements of the brain and comprises the neuronal circuitry that controls
emotional behaviour and motivational drives. Without proper hypothalamic function,
the two systems fail to respond appropriately to each other’s signals.
The hypothalamus gland also produces secretions that are important to the
management of cardiovascular function, certain metabolic activities such as the
delicate maintenance of water balance, sugar and fat metabolism, body temperature
control, appropriate sleep programming, appetite and thirst responses. The secretion
of all hormones is facilitated by the hypothalamus. It is also involved in control of the
pituitary gland.
Hidden within the hypothalamus is a satiety centre that regulates appetite; it is
controlled by two chemicals that stimulate the surrounding hypothalamus to increase
metabolism, reduce appetite and increase insulin to deliver energy to cells rather than
to be stored as fat. Unfortunately, these systems can be easily compromised.
The endocrine system is an intricate “feedback” system in which hormones release or
suppress other hormones, controlling the way the body works. Balance is crucial
because an unhealthy gland could cause repercussions to cascade down into all parts
of the body.
It appears that our 21st-century lifestyle is a serious threat to a healthy, wellfunctioning
hypothalamus. An imbalance of the hypothalamus results in intense and
constant hunger, low metabolism, and accumulation of excessive and abnormal fat in
various parts of the body including the abdomen, hips, thighs and waist as well as the
knees, back and upper arms. This gland does not operate normally in people who are
fat. In fact, even the mildly overweight may also have an impaired hypothalamus.
The hypothalamus is adversely affected by stress and trauma, cycles of fasting and
bingeing, and a toxic diet of highly refined, low-fibre food contaminated with tens of
thousands of man-made chemicals and additives. However, there are even more
modern-day perils that take their toll. Toxic substances breach the blood-brain barrier
and enter into the hypothalamus and then into the pituitary gland, where they cause
dysfunction; for example, pervasive environmental oestrogen disruptors such as
nonylphenol (NP) and bisphenol A (BPA) have a direct adverse impact on the
hypothalamus.19
According to medical researcher Robert O. Becker, MD, electromagnetic fields
(EMFs) also have an adverse impact on the hypothalamus. “The sites of the greatest
change—the brain’s hypothalamus and cortex—were cause for concern. The
hypothalamus, a nexus of fibers linking the autonomic nervous system, is the single
most important part of the brain for homeostasis and is a crucial link in the stress
response. Any interference with cortical activity…would disrupt logical and
associational thought…”20
Noted researcher Dr Henry Lai stated: “The added stress of continual exposure to
wireless frequencies from use of mobile phones and other wireless devices further
challenges the brain.”21
In less than 30 years, almost 90 per cent of the planet and its inhabitants have been
engulfed by continuous exposure to unrelenting EMFs and wireless technologies.
Perhaps our delicate brain, especially the major controlling centre, the hypothalamus,
has finally reached the tipping point from exposure to the many unrelenting toxic
substances, physical and emotional stressors, and 21st-century technologies.
With compromised functioning of the hypothalamus, fat will continue to increase
whether one eats excessively, normally or minimally. No amount of dieting or
exercise will ever cause the stored fat reserves to budge. The plain, simple fact is that
this gland does not operate normally in overweight people and probably is
compromised to some degree in most people. In order to release stored fat reserves,
increase metabolism and reduce unrelenting physical hunger, the hypothalamus must
be reset in both women and men.
Not All Fat Is Equal
There are three types of fat in the body: structural fat, normal fat reserves and
abnormal stored fat.
Structural fat provides protection for the body’s major organs and joints and is not
burned for metabolism. Normal fat reserves are spread all over the body and are
reused for fuel when the body is faced with immediate nutritional or caloric
insufficiencies. These first two types of fat are needed for good health.
Abnormal stored fat, or adipose fat, is kept in storage under the skin and around the
organs as a “spare fuel supply” for severe nutritional emergencies. In the obese
person, it tends to collect in places like the abdomen, hips, buttocks, thighs, knees,
ankles, upper arms and neck. This is the fat that not only causes the body to be
misshapen but also causes other health problems.
Under normal dieting programs, the body will release structural and normal fat
reserves. It will also burn muscle and water. The very last fat that a supple body will
burn is abnormal fat reserves, since it is the body’s final survival strategy for a
severely malnourished body.
So, try as dieters might, all that bulging, distorting fat around the gut, hips and thighs
will never be touched. Instead, these people become gaunt, saggy and weak as they
lose their structural and reserve fat supplies…and further diminish their hypothalamic
functions.
Dr Simeons found that hCG keeps the structural fat and muscle intact while only
breaking down the abnormal body fat, using it as fuel and causing a person not only to
lose kilograms but also centimetres. With hCG, the body releases and transforms the
abnormal stored fat into 1,500–3,000 calories a day of energy and nutrition. The
more stored fat there is, the greater the daily fat loss.
Furthermore, Dr Simeons found that hCG maximises the functional capacity of all the
centres in the hypothalamus, including what he termed the “fat centre”, making it
possible for fat to be released from abnormal fat deposits and to become available as a
source of fuel to the body.
This discovery led him to write in 1954: “Someone suffering from obesity [who]
attempts weight loss through a low-calorie diet will first lose lean muscle tissue,
followed by protective visceral fat.” He wrote that “only as a last resort will the body
yield its abnormal reserves”, adding that “by that time the patient usually feels so
weak and hungry that the diet is abandoned”.22 This is the tragedy of those who
repeatedly attempt low-calorie diets that invariably fail.
Dr Simeons concluded that hCG, when reintroduced into the adult system,
recalibrates the hypothalamus gland—the part of the brain that regulates
metabolic processes. It helps unlock adipose deposits, making them available as a
fuel source when calories are not otherwise available, as when eating a low-calorie
diet. However, low-calorie diets cause the loss of lean muscle mass and structural fat,
while the hCG diet results in only the abnormal stored fat being released.
HCG to the Rescue
Human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) is a substance produced in huge amounts by
the placenta during pregnancy. It is the biggest glycoprotein substance (not
technically a hormone) present in human beings.
After its discovery, scientists tried to find a name for this substance, and when they
observed that the administration of hCG helped to provoke ovulation in
experimentation animals, they named their discovery “gonadotrophin”, which means
that it has an action on the gonads (testicles or ovaries), and “chorionic”, because later
it was found that it is produced by the chorium of the placenta.
The word “hormone” comes from the Greek, meaning “I act through distance”, and is
used to describe substances that, produced in one organ, have actions elsewhere in the
body. Thus, testosterone, thyroid hormones, oestrogen and insulin qualify under the
term “hormone”.
According to Daniel Belluscio, MD, Director of The Oral hCG Research Center in
Buenos Aires, Argentina, who for most of his medical career has been devoted to the
study of the hCG method for weight loss: “…hCG has been found in every human
tissue, also in males and non-pregnant females. Investigators are very intrigued
regarding the presence of hCG, for example in lungs, liver, stomach, etc.”23
Dr Simeons developed a very specific protocol for the use of hCG along with a
precise dietary plan. The program must be followed meticulously. People who need
to lose 15 pounds (7 kilograms) or less require a 23-day protocol. And the protocol
can also be used for up to 40 days to lose 34 pounds (15 kilograms) at a time.24
When hCG is given in conjunction with a very low caloric diet, a condition is
simulated in the body, “tricking” it into acting as though it were dealing with an
emergency starvation situation. As a result, the hypothalamus signals the release of
stored fat reserves. Since about 1,500–3,000 calories of stored abnormal fat is
transformed into energy and nutrition, there is a safe but rapid loss of fat, over a
pound or more (0.5+ kg) a day (the more fat there is to lose, the more rapid the fat
loss).
More remarkable is the rapid resculpting of the body as the abnormal and distorting
fat reserves literally melt away, revealing a new contoured shape in the areas of the
body that have been most resistant to change. The abdomen becomes flat, the hips
and thighs return to normal proportions, and fat pads in the back, upper arms and
knees disappear. At the same time, the body becomes more toned and the skin more
radiant. As abnormal fat reserves are transformed into energy and nutrition, people
report an abundance of energy and rarely, if ever, feel any hunger.
The best thing about hCG is that it is undeniably safe. Remember, pregnant
women can experience high levels of HCG with no negative effects. The
small amount ingested during the weight loss program comes with absolutely
no adverse side effects.
The introduction of hCG is the key to Dr Simeons’s program. Normal low-caloric
dieting causes cellular metabolism to slow down, so in the long run the
weight returns while bone density and muscle mass decrease. By using hCG
with his low-calorie diet, extra fat is mobilised for energy and the rest is eliminated.
This low-calorie diet is vital in preventing the immediate refilling of emptied fat cells.
You benefit by preferentially getting rid of excess fat without affecting bone and
muscle.
Other Health Benefits
It is now widely recognised that the main function of the fat cells is to act as a
reservoir of energy, as triglycerides, but it has also been implicated in the sex
hormones metabolism. The fat cell is one of the most metabolically active tissues all
over the human body, nearly tripling the blood circulation of any other organ.
As the body releases and literally dissolves excess fat cells, people notice many health
benefits. There is a reduction of inflammation, which is generated by excess fat, and
aches and pains disappear. Also, people report that their hip and knee pains improve,
since for every pound of excess fat there is 4–5 pounds of pressure exerted on hip,
knee and ankle joints.
According to Dr Simeons: “The most important associated disorders and the ones in
which obesity seems to play a precipitating or at least an aggravating role are the
following: diabetes, gout, rheumatism and arthritis, high blood pressure and
hardening of the arteries, coronary disease and cerebral hemorrhage.”25
People following the hCG protocol discover that their blood sugar and blood pressure
levels return to normal range, their moods and sleep improve, sugar and carbohydrate
cravings disappear, and their triglyceride and cholesterol levels normalise. However,
it is important to monitor these levels regularly, especially if you are on medication.
Always seek the advice of a medical doctor, preferably one who is familiar with hCG.
Perhaps the most significant benefits of the hCG protocol are improvements in the
metabolism and resetting of the hypothalamus. After you complete the program,
which lasts 6–12 weeks depending on how much weight you decide to lose, and make
the appropriate changes to diet and lifestyle, the new set point will hold. For people
who are obese, several rounds of the hCG diet will be necessary.
“Every disease has a beginning,” notes Dr Belluscio. “Those 10 pounds that someone
cannot seem to lose can also be seen as the beginning of a progressive disorder called
obesity. This initial stage may last a number of years. Although the disease is not
mature and the body may not be noticeably distorted, the dangers are clear. As the
body ages and the metabolism slows down, the pounds can naturally pack on,” he
warns. “Even at 10 pounds overweight, people are gambling with their health. Those
10 pounds signal the potential onset of hypertension, coronary artery disease,
diabetes, osteoarthritis, and cancer—all the increased risk factors that come with
obesity.”26
Dr Simeons published his research in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet in
1954.27 As a result of his stellar reputation, his meticulous research and outstanding
results on thousand of patients, medical doctors around the world flocked to his
technique. Exclusive clinics that catered to the rich and famous were established
throughout Europe, and are still in existence today.
Yet, fearful of ridicule or more nefarious agendas from multinational corporations and
the medical orthodoxy that were not favourable to a safe fat-loss cure, Dr Simeons
was most protective and secretive of his protocol. While there have been detractors to
Dr Simeons’s work, some studies that have seemingly proven his protocol ineffective
were discovered upon further investigation to have been flawed in some manner.
Recent research conducted by Dr Daniel Belluscio has demonstrated consistent results
with hCG. Records show that his clinic has used the oral hCG approach on 6,540
patients to date. This reliable and effective method for obesity management has been
validated by appropriate double-blind studies.28
According to Dr Belluscio: “Results are not surpassed by any other modality of
obesity therapy.”29
HCG can benefit everyone. Whether you are struggling to lose a stone (over 6 kg) of
menopausal belly fat or are seriously overweight or obese, as long as you follow Dr
Simeons’s hCG program precisely, in conjunction with his specific low-caloric diet,
then success is guaranteed.
The tremendous successes with the loss of stored fat reserves, as well as the many
remarkable health benefits that accompany the resetting of the master gland, have
proven to medical practitioners and patients alike that this is an effective solution to
the obesity epidemic.
A Personal Journey on hCG
As with so many women, the mid-life middle spread snuck up on me. I knew I had
just emerged from two years of major life changes with their accompanying stresses.
However, I was not at all prepared for my doctor’s rather blunt comment. Rather
tactlessly, he said: “What has happened to you? You look like you are six months’
pregnant.” Now, I knew I had been carrying some extra cortisol-induced weight
around the midriff, but I guess denial is a wonderful thing. I really didn’t think I
looked that overweight. Stepping onto his scale ripped the veil of illusion from my
eyes!
Whether we like it or not, the older we get the less efficient our body becomes at
detoxifying, maintaining a dynamic metabolism, balancing hormones and managing
blood sugar. All of these issues can add to ever upward creeping weight. Popular
drugs also play their part: HRT, antidepressants, statins and blood pressure
medications list weight gain as a side effect!
I have not been immune from this obsession with body image. There have been times
when I was thin, and times when I was fat. I dieted and fasted and cleansed and
starved and exercised until I was blue in the face! Over the years, I cleaned up my
nutritional regime. I basically ate a gluten-free, sugar-free, soda-free, processed-foodfree,
organic food diet. I exercised. I made the extra effort to manage my stress
levels. I took my nutritional supplements. I balanced my hormones (naturally). I
went to sleep at a decent hour (going to bed after 11 pm and getting less than seven
hours’ sleep increases weight gain).
I thought I was doing everything right, but my weight loss was stalled. I couldn’t get
it to budge. So it’s no wonder that my doctor’s comment was such a blow to my selfimage
and my fruitless efforts!
One day, a chance comment about a new kind of weight loss program changed my
life. I was introduced to hCG , human chorionic gonadatropin—an obscure hormone
that I had never heard of before.
I used to believe that the thyroid would help with fat loss. However, according to Dr
Simeons, that is not the case. In fact, the thyroid plays no part in releasing the fat that
causes us to be overweight or obese. This was quite a revelation to me!
Dr Simeons wrote in his book, Pounds and Inches: “When it was discovered that the
thyroid gland controls the rate at which body-fuel is consumed, it was thought that by
administering thyroid gland to obese patients their abnormal fat deposits could be
burned up more rapidly. This, too, proved to be entirely disappointing because, as we
now know, these abnormal deposits take no part in the body’s energy turnover—they
are inaccessibly locked away. Thyroid medication merely forces the body to consume
its normal fat reserves, which are already depleted in obese patients, and then to break
down structurally essential fat without touching the abnormal deposits. In this way, a
patient may be brought to the brink of starvation in spite of having a hundred pounds
of fat to spare. Thus any weight loss brought about by thyroid medication is always
at the expense of fat, of which the body is in dire need.”30
Are you sceptical of such a program? Who wouldn’t be. Most people have tried diets
galore, only to be disappointed in the end.
Dr Simeons’s original program required a doctor’s prescription to purchase daily
subcutaneous self-administered injections of hCG. There is also an oral form of hCG
and it, too, is only available on prescription from a medical doctor.
However, I learned that there is another effective hCG option: an hCG homoeopathic
remedy, taken daily as oral drops. Homoeopathy is a 200-year-old healing approach,
based on the emerging science of energy medicine that imprints the energy of a
substance without using the actual physical substance. The body is literally able to
read the information and create the desired outcome.
Homoeopathic hCG has the same effect as the medically prescribed hCG versions.
So, I decided to give it a try.
Using the hCG homoeopathic drops three times a day for 23 days and following Dr
Simeons’s protocol of eating specific foods in specific amounts for a specific period
of time, I embarked on this experiment. The best part of all is that this program
requires no specific exercise routines, expensive eating plans or special dietary
formulas.
Now, for most of us, stepping onto a scale to weigh in is an extreme, masochistic act.
However, on this hCG program, it was closer to a religious experience. I would step
onto the scale in the morning and discover that a pound of fat had literally
dematerialised from my body overnight!
But it wasn’t only the fat: it was also the inches. My old clothes were literally falling
off me. I wasn’t hungry at all. My energy level was off the chart. Before my very
eyes, I saw my body transforming. The midriff disappeared and my hips and thighs
are the thinnest they’ve ever been since my 16th birthday—an accomplishment I never
thought possible. And wonder of wonders, my muscle tone improved.
During this 23-day protocol, I lost 15 pounds (6.75 kg) and two dress sizes! I have
since done another 23-day protocol and my total weight loss has been 25 pounds
(11.25 kg) and four dress sizes. And I now have a totally flat tummy!
The entire program as created by Dr Simeons requires 23 days on hCG followed by a
maintenance phase of another three weeks of a low-carbohydrate, low-sugar diet. The
complete program is required not only for fat loss and resculpting but also for the
resetting of metabolic functions.
The most impressive part of this program is that by resetting my hypothalamus and
metabolism, my weight has not varied by more than a pound (0.45 kg) in several
months. It appears that Dr Simeons was right. By improving metabolic functioning
on the hCG program, there is a greater likelihood that this new weight loss is here to
stay.
Since venturing into the hCG world, I have assisted over 200 of my patients on this
protocol. Every single one of them has been successful, even those who were
severely obese and had given up hope of ever becoming “normal”. Men seem to have
a fat-loss advantage over women; they are much bigger losers on this program.
However, the good news is that everyone can be a big loser!
Not only did my patients lose pounds and inches, they all gained health benefits: joint
and knee aches and pains disappeared, blood sugar levels returned to normal, blood
pressure was lowered, sleep improved, energy increased, skin tone rejuvenated and
food and sugar cravings disappeared.
It’s not often that a weight loss program can deliver such fabulous results. In fact,
there is no other weight loss program that I know of that can safely release long-term
fat reserves or reset the hypothalamus for ongoing weight maintenance.
Could the discovery of Dr Simeons really be the solution to the growing obesity
epidemic with all the accompanying chronic health problems?
According to Dr Simeons: “Obesity problems are perhaps not so dramatic as the
problems of cancer, but often cause life-long suffering. How many promising careers
have been ruined by excessive fat; how many lives have been shortened? If some
way—however cumbersome—can be found to cope effectively with this universal
problem of modern civilised man, our world will be a happier place for countless
fellow men and women.”31
I have no doubt that in our diet-crazed world of people desperately seeking solutions,
this is the ultimate program for fat loss and body-resculpting while at the same time
helping to rebalance the functioning of the master gland, the hypothalamus.
Fortunately for an overweight world, Dr Simeons’s discovery has finally offered a
safe, affordable and effective solution for this global obesity crisis.
About the Author:
Sherrill Sellman, ND, is a naturopathic doctor (Board certified in integrative
medicine), an educator, a women’s natural health expert, psychotherapist and
journalist in the field of women’s health. She is also a much sought after international
lecturer, the host of two weekly radio shows, and a senior editor and contributing
writer to numerous health publications. She is the best-selling author of Hormone
Heresy: What Women MUST Know About Their Hormones and What Women MUST
Know to Protect Their Daughters from Breast Cancer. Dr Sellman is a scheduled
speaker at the 2010 NEXUS Conference in Queensland, Australia, on 24–26 July.
For more information, visit http://whatwomenmust know.com. To see the complete
version of Dr Sellman’s article, go to
http://whatwomenmustknow.com/freereports/hcg.
Endnotes
1. Epidemiologic.org, “Most Overweight Countries in the World: Ranking”, 20
February 2007, http://tinyurl.com/54rms8
2. Janiszewski, Peter, “An emerging obesity epidemic in the developing world”, 29
April 2009, http://tinyurl.com/y49pl2y
3. Wang, Y. and M.A. Beydoun, “The Obesity Epidemic in the United States”,
Epidemiologic Reviews, doi:10.1093/epirev/mxm007, published online 17 May 2007
4. Liang, Lan, PhD, et al., “Will All Americans Become Overweight or Obese?
Estimating the Progression and Cost of the US Obesity Epidemic”, Obesity 2008 Jul
24;16(10):2323-30
5. ibid.
6. Devlin, Kate, “One in 10 children in England ‘will be obese within five years’”,
The Telegraph, UK, 15 December 2009, http://tinyurl.com/yj2×5pu
7. New Zealand Ministry of Health, “Obesity in New Zealand”,
http://www.moh.govt.nz/obesity
8. Deitel, M., “Overweight and obesity worldwide now estimated to involve 1.7
billion people”, Obesity Surgery 2003; 13:329-330
9. CIO Foundation, “General Overweight and Obesity Statistics”, 26 December 2009,
http://www.ciofoundation.org/overweight.html
10. Stark, Jill, “Surgeons fear rapid rise in super obese”, Sydney Morning Herald, 17
January 2010, http://tinyurl.com/yg3kj9z
11. CDC, “Study Estimates Medical Cost of Obesity May Be As High As $147
Billion Annually”, 27 July 2009,
http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/2009/r090727.htm
12. Colagiuri, S. et al., “The cost of overweight and obesity in Australia”, Med. J.
Australia 2010 Mar 1; 192(5):260-64
13. ibid.
14. http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Weight_Watchers_
International_(WTW)
15. “Matrana, Marc R., MD, MS and William E. Davis, MD, “Vitamin Deficiency
After Gastric Bypass Surgery: A Review”, SMJ 2009 Oct; 102(10):1025-31,
http://tinyurl.com/2c7zm7s
16. “Duodenal Switch Surgery Cost”, http://www.yourbariatricsurgeryguide.
com/duodenal-switch-cost/
17. Morales, T., “Gastric Bypass Surgery Gone Bad”, CBS News, 21 January 2005,
http://tinyurl.com/5ckrp
18. Simeons, A.T.W., Pounds and Inches: A new approach to obesity, Rome, 1967
(privately printed)
19. Elobeid, M.A. and D.B. Allison, “Putative Environmental-Endocrine Disruptors
and Obesity: A Review”, Curr. Opin. Endocrinol. Diabetes Obes. 2008 Oct;
15(5):403-08, http://tinyurl.com/2chrwfn
20. Becker, Robert O., MD, and Gary Selden, The Body Electric: Electromagnetism
and the Foundation of Life, William Morrow, 1985, pp. 284-85
21. Lai, Henry, Dr, “Neurological Effects of Radiofrequency Electromagnetic
Radiation Relating to Wireless Communication Technology”, paper presented at the
IBC-UK Conference, 16–17 September 1997, in Brussels, Belgium,
http://www.mapcruzin.com/radiofrequency/henry_lai1.htm
22. Simeons, A.T.W., “The action of chorionic gonadotropin in the obese”, The
Lancet 1954 Nov 6; 267(6845):946-947
23. Belluscio, Daniel Oscar, MD, http://www.oralhcg.com/english/in7.htm#1
24. Simeons, 1967, op. cit.
25. ibid.
26. Belluscio, op. cit.
27. Simeons, 1954, op. cit.
28. Belluscio, Daniel Oscar, MD, “Utility of an Oral Presentation of hCG (Human
Chorionic Gonadotrophin) for the Management of Obesity: A Double-blind Study”,
at http://www.hcgobesity.org/hcg_obesity_study.htm
29. http://oralhcg.com/english/in2.2.htm
30. Simeons, 1967, op. cit.
31. Simeons, 1954, op. cit.

Integrated Detoxification Specialists – Not your average clinic! Madonna Guy ND

Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011

Digestive Tract Cleansing – Fact or Fiction

What Does it REALLY MEAN to cleanse your digestive tract?

What does a well functioning digestive tract mean?  It means we have no symptoms of constipation or diarrhoea, bloating, burping & belching, acid reflux, heartburn or indigestion or bad breath and have good immunity and well balanced blood sugar.  Is this you?  Even if you have no symptoms (the classic cast-iron stomach for example) we often find issues such as parasites, oxidative stress or leaky gut and allergies.  When we do live blood analysis (hemaview) and urinary indicans testing (amount of gut dysbiosis/bad bacteria being released through the urine) these are the tests that let us know how long it’s going to take to cleanse the digestive tract – and it’s not as easy as it sounds.

I had a client once (with allergies, hayfever, reproductive issues and anxiety) who had a great looking live blood analysis when we first did the test.  There was very little sign of parasites, leaky gut or liver stress.  Knowing the health history, I would have expected the live blood to have looked worse.  What we did was give her a detox pack which cleanses mucoid plaque from the intestinal walls.  I’d have to say it’s better than colonic irrigations due to the fact that it pulls mucoid plaque (hardened oxidised bile) from the stomach, small intestines as well as the colon (large intestine).  Colonic irrigations only work a maximum of 70% of the colon, whereas this is the entire digestive tract.

Once we completed the mucoid plaque cleanse (it’s simple and very effective for the mucoid plaque release for most people – but some people need to do it several times as the hardened oxidised bile can turn into ‘concrete’ in the intestines which takes some time to loosen…  ) we had another look at the live blood analysis and it was totally different – we found huge signs of parasites, leaky gut and liver stress.  So what happened?  Basically this hardened oxidised bile/ mucoid plaque creates a barrier between the intestinal wall and inside the digestive tract and lots of nasties live behind it, it creates a heated, toxic environment which nourishes parasites, fungus and candida.  So, once we released these mucoid plaques, it allowed the release of these stored parasites, fungus, candida.  Then we got to work clearing the next layer for this client!

So, when practitioners either 1. don’t have the technology to show you how good/how bad things are (and therefore are doing purely guesswork) and 2. don’t have the knowledge/products/techniques in order to move through the processes (many clinics do not specialise in detoxification) or 3. believe their training that two week detoxes are all that’s needed and wonder why their clients never have the results they’re after – clients suffer.  Seminars which teach detoxification often simplify things.  Training in naturopathic college simplifies things.  I assume it’s more popular to tell people it’ll take 2-6 weeks for a full, integrated detox, less cost, less time, simpler – but really – it’s doesn’t help clients, the industry or anyone’s health long term.

There is no health problem that exists that can’t benefit from an integrated four-filter cleanse.

Call us today to find out how your digestive tract is doing…  Ask for a urinary indicans test and a live blood analysis.  We can also screen (blood) for candida, coeliac disease testing and helicobacter pylori testing.

Our Foundations of Health Programme was designed for a 9 month integrated detoxification programme.  We have a special offer at present where if ALL of the Foundation of Health Testing Processes are completed, as well as an initial Foundations of Health Consultation – mention this New Leaf Blog and recieve 50%off.

Madonna Guy ND
Naturopath, Wynnum, Brisbane
07 3348 6098 / 0417 643 849
healthteam@nlnt.com.au

Weight Loss and the Paleo Diet… as researched by Loren Cordain…

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

Weight Loss and the Paleo Diet

Hunter-gatherer societies and other less Westernized populations routinely exhibit superior health markers, body composition and physical fitness, when compared to western populations. Indeed, our hunter-gatherer ancestors were lean, healthy, fit and free of the signs and symptoms of most diseases of civilization.

The evolutionary template thus tells us that to achieve optimal health, body composition and physical fitness we should try to emulate our ancestors’ diet and lifestyle.

People who follow the Paleo Diet lose weight without counting calories, measuring portions, or going hungry. There are many reasons why this way of eating naturally leads to a lean body composition. Here are some of them:

1. The Paleo Diet is higher in protein than most Western diets. High protein diets are more effective at reducing hunger than reduced-calorie diets that people typically follow when trying to lose weight. Protein has a two to three times greater satiety value than either fat or carbohydrate, so people spontaneously eat less when they consume more protein. In fact, 3 of the 4 intervention studies with a Palaeolithic type diet have shown exactly that!

2. Protein has a higher thermic effect than carbohydrates or fat, which means it requires more energy to metabolize than the other macronutrients

3. A high-protein diet (especially one that contains high amounts of the amino acid leucine) will help you maintain your muscle mass, which is very important in terms of fat loss.

4. The second reason the Paleo Diet favors fat loss is its low glycemic load. The glycemic load is a measure of how quickly a given serving of a certain carbohydrate containing food raises blood sugar levels. By focusing on fruits and vegetables as the main carbohydrate sources, The Paleo Diet has a lower glycemic load than most cereal based diets. Hundreds of scientific studies show that high glycemic load foods cause hormonal and blood chemistry changes that increase appetite and promote fat gain.

5. The Paleo Diet has a lower omega 6/omega 3 fatty –acid ratio than most so called healthy diets. Emerging evidence suggests that omega 6 fatty acids may promote obesity and that adding omega 3 fatty acids to your weight loss program may lead to more fat reduction and less muscle loss.

So, the Paleo Diet has many advantages.  Loren Cordain has written several books on the subject discussing these and many more topics of interest to health conscious human beings…

Madonna Guy, Naturopath, Brisbane
New Leaf Natural Therapies
3348 6098

Foods Causing Inflammation and Pain: New Research!

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

Are Foods Making us sick, causing us pain?!  Time to take a new look at research from around the world!

I’ve just returned from a anti-ageing & obesity congress on natural medicine, we had speakers from around the world, experts in their fields, researchers in inflammatory processes of foods (and the body), and basically we found that over 30 years, research has been done looking into prevention of many health issues:  diabetes, cancer, heart disease and auto-immune diseases… with changing the foods we eat, or negating the inflammatory effects of foods.

There are links with really specific genes interacting with certain allergenic foods – these activate our genetic ability to create disease, unfortunately at this stage there is no medical test which finds these connections, however, the  following have been found to create issues:

  1. Grains, especially wheat and gluten containing foods cause ‘leaky gut’.  Every time we eat wheat and gluten, our gut isn’t as strong as it should be and ‘food particles’ are released into the bloodstream creating inflammation.  Inflammation causes pain and disease.  Wheat and gluten are not good!
  2. Saponin and lectin containing foods also create leaky gut and inflammation.  Studies were done to find out which foods had the highest amounts of these substances: pretty much all grains contain these in differing amounts, but soy scored the highest andd rice, amaranth, wheat, barley, oats all contained these substances.
  3. Dairy milk creates insulin resistance, a pre-diabetic condition.  It is also linked to short-sightedness and acne.  Interestingly, in our clinic when we’ve improved the insulin resistance in clients, their eyesight often improves, they see things much more clearly.  So kids drinking milk, getting acne and needing glasses has now been linked to being a pre-diabetic condition.  Insulin in big amounts is very inflammatory!  At the very least pop in to our clinic and have your insulin resistance checked out!

So basically we found compelling research that the health conditions killing people these days:  cancer, heart disease, diabetes, obesity are very much linked to the food choices, including many ‘healthy’ choices, so once again, food needs to be individualised.

What to do?

The Paleo Diet/Mediterranean Diet/Keto Diet/Shake It Diet

These diets consistently help the body heal and repair.  They all have:

  • plenty of high quality proteins: meats, fish, eggs, low-fat hard cheeses, nuts and seeds
  • plenty of good quality vegetables (3 handfuls per meal) and fruits (best are the berries, lots of colours, only 1/2 cup per day)
  • plenty of fluids such as herbal teas, dandelion coffee, purified water
  • limited grains
  • limited dairy milk
  • limited coffee, tea and alcohol

And then we’re looking at reducing inflammation each time we eat…  For example, we could take a couple of purified fish oil capsules such at MetaPure EPA/DHA each time we eat, or some high potency gut bacteria such as Ultra Flora Immune.

So, that’s it for today,
Have a great one…
Madonna Guy, Naturopath, Brisbane, Australia
4BC & BayFM Naturopath
3348 6098/0417 643 849

Hormonal problems, PMT, sore boobs & bad tempers…we can help!

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

New Leaf Natural Therapies is a specialist naturopathic clinic in Wynnum, Brisbane.  Our clinic specialises in hormonal balancing…  everyday there’s news about breast cancer, cervical cancer, ovarian cancer and medically, the news isn’t good.  And yet, New Leaf Natural Therapies team of naturopaths have great success in treating hormonal problems and hormonal imbalances!

What are the symptoms of hormonal imbalances in women? It is a gauntlet of symptoms that women face each month when their hormones are out of whack…  everything from tender and sore breasts, mood swings ranging from irritability and bad tempers to sugar cravings and chocolate cravings, blood sugar highs and lows, bloating, constipation and diarrhoea, back pain, leg pain and much, much more.

What are the causes of hormonal imbalances in women?

1.  Liver dysfunction: The longer the PMT/hormonal swings last, the worse the liver function is.  In the first part of the cycle, oestrogen is metabolised through the liver.  Symptoms in the 2nd half of the cycle (2 weeks from the first day of the period) are due to the liver not coping with the hormones in part 1…  When we can’t deal with our oestrogen, the liver converts it into a ‘dodgy’ form of oestrogen which is pre-cancerous.

2.  Stress:  the body prioritises hormonally, every second of every day.  Stress hormones are the highest priority  for the body to deal with day in, day out.  Stress hormones deplete the nutrients we need to create oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone, therefore stress is a major causes of hormonal imbalances and cancers such as breast cancer, ovarian cancer, uterine cancer and cervical cancer.

3.  Poor nutrition, bad diets, high levels of tea & coffee, soft drinks...  Hormones are made of nutrients, nutrients come form our foods.  Therefore if our diet is out of whack (people think they’re eating well, but they often are simply unaware of the dangers in their diets…) then we not only don’t get adequate nutrition, but poor diet depletes good nutrition from the body, the bones, the nerves and the muscles.

4.  Drug residue: we have found that drug residue left over from pain drugs, anesthetics, the oral contraceptive pill, operations, dental work, create toxicity on the cell membranes which can stop hormonal balance.  We deal with these simply, yet effectively!

So we can help you with hormonal imbalances, mood swings, tender breasts and and cancers of the female reproductive tract. Talk to us about our hormonal programme which saves you $$$ whilst we help you correct your hormonal imbalances.  Talk to us soon!!!

Madonna Guy
Naturopath, Wynnum, Brisbane
New Leaf Natural Therapies

Blood Sugar Balancing: 5 Keys to Preventing Diabetes

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

Blood sugar imbalances create so many problems for people today: but it is possible not only to prevent diabetes, but also in beginning the process of reversing diabetes.  We see so many people who have the beginning symptoms of sugar cravings or dizziness when it’s been a few hours since they’ve eaten.

What are the symptoms of blood sugar imbalances?

  • needing to eat regularly
  • dizziness if you haven’t eaten in a few hours
  • hungry within an hour of eating
  • sluggish liver – inability to lose weight, poor energy
  • (or hungry all the time)
  • mood disorders
  • hormonal imbalances such as PMT & PCOS
  • headaches and migraines
  • chocolate cravings

There are 5 keys to preventing diabetes:

  1. eat a protein snack every 3-4 hours: meats, nuts, cottage cheese, cheese, tofu
  2. eat fish for your dinner 3 x weekly along with salmon/sardines for lunch 3-4 x per week.
  3. maintain a healthy weight and/or work towards a more balanced BMI (body mass index)
  4. use products which balance your blood sugar: for example, we utilise products such as Metagenics Insulex, Resist X, Fibroplex, Meta Oil
  5. exercise regularly: 30 minutes daily (minimum) has been shown to balance blood sugar and help our cells to function -  usually blood sugar balancing is also about having insulin resistance, therefore the cells simply can’t take in insulin into the cells, and energy creation can’t happen effectively inside the cells.

Our solutions for blood sugar balancing:

  • We have a weight loss programme (and a payment plan to save you money) to start the process of fat loss.
  • We have a chronic pain programme (if pain is the reason exercise is difficult) which helps to reverse chronic pain conditions.
  • We have a hormonal balancing programme (and a payment plan to save you money) to balance all of the hormones in your body.  Hormones are everything!  Nothing happens in your body without a hormonal component.  Nothing!
  • We use frequency specific microcurrent and infrared saunas to detoxify the cell membranes to detoxify insulin and allow the insulin to be utilised the way that it should.

So there are many ways we can help you, here at New Leaf Natural Therapies for your hormonal imbalances.  See us today!

Madonna Guy, Naturopath
Wynnum, Brisbane