028-My Interview with Dr Crinnion on Environmental Toxicity and our Mitochondria Part 1
by Dr. Soram Khalsa
Filed under Ask Dr Soram Podcasts, Featured
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On this podcast, I am delighted to have my friend and colleague Dr. Walter Crinnion, ND, back to talk about how environmental toxicants actually do their damage to the body.
This podcast is about our mitochondria, the little organelles which are the energy factories of our cells.
In this show I'm going to be asking Dr. Crinnion the following questions:
1. What are mitochondria and what do they do for us?
2. How can I tell if my mitochondria are working or are not working?
3. Are there certain diseases that are associated with mitochondrial dysfunction?
4. What kinds of things "poison" my mitochondria?
In preparation for this interview I reread Dr. Crinnion's excellent book called Clean, Green and Lean, which I encourage all of you to get and read. It tells you the practical steps to help keep your own body clean, and to keep the environment where you live and work, clean. This is especially important for people who already have a chronic illness such as diabetes, heart disease, or cancer. It is also very important for young families who are starting to have children which can be more easily affected by the chemicals in our environment.
You can get the hard back version of the book here
or the Kindle version here
In his book, Dr. Crinnion gives excellent suggestions for practical things you can do without needing to necessarily see a doctor. There are a few cases when it would be best to see a doctor who is experienced in integrative medicine and he clearly delineates those cases.
Dr. Crinnions 's website is located at Crinnion Medical
I really encourage you to read his recent articles about pesticides and their and the effects on child development.
Also mentioned in the podcast is the Endocrine Disruptor website (TEDX ), which shows how endocrine disruptors that are in our environment affect the development of the fetus in the womb. This is a most informative site. Please note it takes a few minutes to load as it is a very sophisticated site.
Also the dirty dozen list that we talked about-the fruits and vegetables with the MOST pesticides is here:
I'm delighted to announce that I am now starting to get my podcasts transcribed! I found an excellent transcription service and starting with this podcast, as you'll see below, all my podcasts will be available for you to read if you prefer that way of getting the information. At this time I'm not doing PDFs of the interviews. If you are interested in the PDF’s please do let me know.
As I've mentioned, leave comments below (you'll need to scroll past the transcript) and/or you can contact me at my voicemail hotline 310-499-0275 or by e-mail at questions@askdrsoram.com
Dr. Soram Khalsa – Dr. Crinnion Podcast on Mitochondria, Part 1
Well, greetings everyone. I am so happy to have my longtime colleague and dear friend Dr. Walter Crinnion, back with us today, to talk about a new subject. Dr. Crinnion is a professor at the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in Tempe, Arizona. He is the chairman of the Environmental Medicine Department there. He’s been on TV. many times; he practiced for many years in the upper Seattle area and has tremendous experience with chemically poisoned individuals and detoxing people to improve their health and well-being.
Most recently, he is the author of the wonderful book , “Clean, Green and Lean – Get Rid of Toxins that make you fat”. And today, we are going to be talking about another aspect of Environmental Toxicity and I am going to let Dr. Crinnion tell you about that:
Dr. Khalsa: So, Walter, welcome back to my podcast Dr. Crinnion. I am so honored to have you here.
Dr. Crinnion: Soram, it’s always such a joy to talk with you, and especially fun on these podcasts.
DR. KHALSA: I love it! So, today, Walter, we are going to talk about mitochondria, and can you tell us what mitochondria are? What do they do for us?
DR. CRINNION: Well, mitochondria are actually the little furnaces or engines in every cell of our body. They are the things that take our nutrients from the food we eat, the sugar and the fat, and take that and make it into energy. So each cell in our body can do its job. Then, we as a body, as a whole being, has energy, our brains work right, everything in our body works right when the mitochondria in the cells are able to reduce the energy so that everything works.
DR. KHALSA; Perfect, excellent explanation, and so why, since we are talking about Environmental Medicine, have you chosen to talk with us today about mitochondria? How does that affect us in regards to our exposure to environmental chemicals and toxicants? Where does that fit in?
DR. CRINNION: Well, you know Soram, we know that the Environmental toxicants pose a whole host of medical and health problems in people and over the last 10 or so years, a great amount of information has come out pointing to the fact that these environmental toxicants that are in the air, food, and water cause their damage to a great extent by poisoning the mitochondria.
DR. KHALSA: Oh wow, ok.
DR. CRINNION: So, solvents for instance, you know, kids sniff glue. It makes them high. Well, what is the mechanism there? It’s the mitochondrial damage in the neurons. So, the neurons in the brain do not work so they get this high. So, working with the mitochondria, understanding that and ways to protect it all becomes crucial in helping us protect ourselves from the classic health problems that our environmental toxicant load provides to us.
DR. KHALSA: Yes, and remind us what are the spectrum of health problems we see that are related to our exposure to environmental toxicants.
DR. CRINNION; Well the major systems in the body that are damaged by the toxicants are first the brain. So a lot of neurologic things, like mood swings, the classic one are brain fog, where you cognitive abilities just don’t work like they used to, ability to think, understand, to remember. It can also lead to neurological diseases; Parkinson’s is a classic one associated with a lot of environmental toxicants. The immune system is also damaged, where you get a lot of allergies, asthma, and auto-immunity, can’t fight off infections, so you get chronic infections, chronic viruses, chronic fungi. The endocrinal/hormonal system lots of problems with that. Low thyroid, adrenaline balance, infertility is a big one, and diabetes is the new one so strongly associated with it. And overall the big symptoms that show up are fatigue, and mood problems. These are very, very common. So, those are like the big deals that go on. I guess we can mention some of the bone marrow cancers as well.
DR. KHALSA: Yes, yes there have been a number of articles which I have been accumulating which I hope that you and I can talk with on future podcasts about the role specifically of mercury with respect to damage to the auto-immune system. Recent studies showed within the Haynes evaluation the connection of mercury with auto-immune thyroiditis and also with anti-nuclear antibodies and anti-nuclear clear antibodies which are the hallmarks of lupus.
DR. CRINNION: Hmm, yes.
DR. KHALSA: So, these are becoming more and more visible to the general population now with these studies coming out. So, to go back to our mitochondria, how can I tell if my mitochondria are working or not working?
DR. CRINNION: Well, let me give you one example. Many people have probably experienced low blood sugar at some point…
DR. KHALSA: Yes, hypoglycemia.
DR. CRINNION: So, when you have hypoglycemia/low blood sugar you know, your brain doesn’t work right, you don’t have energy, you’re really tired, you’re cranky and all that. Well, that is the mitochondria in your brain cells, not able to function because they don’t have enough sugar to make energy. Well, it’s those kinds of symptoms, and the big ones that people complain of is fatigue. I don’t have enough energy. Well, what makes energy? The mitochondria are what make energy. And people who are obese, they have a lot of fuel, but they are not able to burn it.
DR. KHALSA: Yes, right.
DR. CRINNION: Why is stored instead of burned. The mitochondria are what burn it up. IF the mitochondria are not working, you are going to be overweight.
DR. KHALSA: That is so interesting.
DR. CRINNION: If you are having these kind of problems and there are some of the classic illnesses that are in epidemic proportions now, that are strongly associated with mitochondrial dysfunction. Obesity being one of them, and chronic fatigue, diabetes, is known to be mitochondria dysfunction. Parkinsonism is known to be mitochondrial dysfunction. In heart failure, the mitochondria in the heart is not working right.
DR. KHALSA: Yes, yes, it’s interesting.
DR. CRINNION: So, these are some classic presentations.
DR. KHALSA: Yes, and that’s why, for example, in Parkinson’s we know that if we give them intravenous glutathione, literally, their tremors stop for several days, or markedly reduced and glutathione is like one of the fuels that the mitochondria is using.
DR. CRINNION: It’s actually one of the few, I guess you would call it a nutrient that’s actually inside the mitochondria. It’s the only antioxidant present inside the mitochondria and it’s critical for the functioning of the mitochondria. Now the other nutrient in mitochondria is Coenzyme Q10 and that dosing Co-Q10 has also been shown to slow the progression of Parkinson’s.
DR. KHALSA: yes, indeed. High doses used.
DR. CRINNION: So, it’s mitochondria.
DR. KHALSA: yes, yes. And I don’t think that conventional medicine understands the ideology of why Co-Q10 helps in Parkinson’s but this certainly explains it. I think it is just used empirically by conventional neurologists. Great. So those are some good ways for us to be aware. Fatigue is certainly rampant in our society and everybody attributes it to stress but of course stress can affect our mitochondria as well.
DR. CRINNION: Yes.
DR. KHALSA: So, you’ve mentioned certain diseases that are associated with mitochondria dysfunction. What kinds of things poison the mitochondria?
DR. CRINNION: Well, the whole host of environmental toxicants that we’re exposed to, you know the CDR, the Center for Disease Control, has been doing ongoing studies about what are the toxicants that are in all of us. They are up to their fourth report now. It’s available right on the web at drcrinnion.gov
DR. KHALSA: Great
DR. CRINNION: And so what I did with the last report, Soram, the fourth report, is I just sat down and looked at all the toxicants that they are finding in basically everybody and I just go to Pub Med, the National Library of Medicine, the National Institute of Health, a database of all published articles and I would just put in the search. I’d do whatever the toxicant was that CDR found in everybody and then I would do AND mitochondria!
DR. KHALSA; Laughs
DR. CRINNION: And literally, all the ones that are in all of us have been shown in scientific laboratory studies that poison mitochondria.
DR. KHALSA: Wow! Wow, wow, wow. So all that is in the medical literature?
DR. CRINNION: Yes, the mitochondrial damaging these things is an overwhelming burden. We don’t have just one mitochondria poison in our body. We’ve got literally hundreds!
DR. KHALSA: Yes
DR. CRINNION: The weight is overwhelming.
DR. KHALSA: Indeed, and we know from the environmental working group study that newborns are born with 280 of these chemicals in their bodies already that have been flowing through their system, while the mother was pregnant.
DR. CRINNION: Yes, yes! Leading to a whole host of problems. And knowing that the mitochondria prevent proper functioning of all our cells – immune cells, brain cells, the hormonal producing cells. Problems in those areas are what bring 90%-95% of your patients to you. When you are out driving and you’re wondering why people are driving so strange, well, they are loaded with solvents. They’re neuro-toxins. Their mitochondria are damaged.
DR. KHALSA: Yes, yes. That’s very interesting. To just divert for a second on newborns, I’m just thinking out loud with you for your perspective, so the babies do not have a formed blood-brain barrier in the womb or for the first six months of their life. So, all these toxicants that are affecting the mitochondria, can be affecting the mitochondria in the neurological tissue. That’s…
DR. CRINNION: Oh clearly are. The research has clearly shown that. I just did a little blog on my website, drcrinnion.com
DR. KHALSA: Good, I will put that in the show notes, Walter
DR. CRINNION: There was, the great journal, Environmental Health Perspectives, that I love so much,
DR. KHALSA: Yes, me too.
DR. CRINNION: they had three articles in a recent edition, all about exposure to a growing fetus, of organophosphate pesticides. Now, these are what we all have, when we don’t eat all organic foods.
DR. KHALSA: Yes, right.
DR. CRINNION; SO, if we are eating commercial apples, a peach, lettuce, potatoes, celery, spinach; their mom’s got organophosphate pesticides, which were developed in Germany, after WWI, for a nerve gas warfare agent.
DR. KHALSA: That’s interesting
DR. CRINNION: And these kids, these three studies in Environmental Health Perspectives, showed that the kids, who are exposed, inside mom, to levels that are commonly found, according to the CDR. CRINNION data, in US residents, come out with ADHD, lower IQ, mood disorders. And that’s just from mom eating an apple a day!
DR. KHALSA: From my point of view, that’s what’s been documented so far. And I am hoping that someday, they can take a look at that exposure, it’s called the expososome now. It actually has a name now, the amount of exposure we get from the environment, and if it has a relationship with the epidemic of autism.
DR. CRINNION: Mhmm, yeah.
DR. KHALSA: Because, I am very suspicious that there is a connection there. But, are you aware of any literature that has looked at that? I don’t think they have. It is harder to study autism.
DR. CRINNION: Yeah, I have not seen any articles about that yet that I remember. But, Theo Colburn, the great doctor who wrote the book , “ Our Stolen Future”, he’s got a new website, called TEDx, it’s for endocrine disruption, it’ll show you, it has a little interactive thing on there, it takes a while to load because it has a lot of information on there. It will show you prenatal exposure to a variety of compounds, and some of the end results. I have not looked on that site yet, for autism.
DR. KHALSA: Yes, yeah.
DR. CRINNION: So, I have not really looked at that.
DR. KHALSA: Yes, I don’t think that the literature supports that. But certainly, with this epidemic, and the recently announced market increase, 1 in 88 children, were born, are getting autism. There should be some forthcoming research. But it won’t surprise me if it’s tied in with the same mechanism.
DR. CRINNION: Oh, yeah, yeah.
DR. KHALSA: Yes
DR. CRINNION: Not at all.
DR. KHALSA: So, now, we are getting exposed to these poisons, our mitochondria are getting affected. Are there ways to protect our mitochondria?
DR. CRINNION: And that is an excellent question. And the answer is thankfully, yes. Again, it’s natural medicine to the rescue.
DR. KHALSA: Yes. Great.
DR. CRINNION: We talked a little bit about CO-Q10, and Glutathione being molecules that are in the mitochondria. There has been a tremendous amount to show that Glutathione replacement is one of the real big deals in helping mitochondria work right.
DR. KHALSA: Hmm mmm
DR. CRINNION: And protect them against this toxicant damage. So, that’s typically supplementing either the nutrient NAC enacetolcysteine or whey protein.
DR. KHALSA: Hmm mm
DR. CRINNION: Those are the two sources of amino acid cysteine, which you need, to make glutathione.
DR. KHALSA; Yes, it’s a precursor.
DR. CRINNION: Yes, if you have been around a lot of environmental toxicants then you have probably depleted your glutathione store. And so, you will have to make sure that you have an extra source of that. NAC is not that expensive.
DR. KHALSA: I know.
DR. CRINNION: If you are going to do that whey protein, you will have to do the higher quality, higher cost whey proteins that are manufactured under high pressure rather than higher temperature.
DR. KHALSA: Great and what dose of NAC and N-acetyl cysteine would you suggest?
DR. CRINNION: You know, in a lot of the studies they are using around 1500mg.
DR. KHALSA: Hmm mm, yes, that is what I have seen as well. And this is easily available at health food stores.
DR. CRINNION; Yeah
DR. KHALSA: and, also, for our listeners to know there are new companies now that are making lypospheric glutathione.
DR. CRINNION: Yes, yes, yes. And prior to these liposomal glutathione molecules, all the studies where people have taken reduced glutathione from the health food store doesn’t work. It doesn’t raise your glutathione. Your body has to break the glutathione back down to cysteine and so, then after the cysteine rises, and then you get glutathione. It’s cheaper just to take the cysteine. These new liposomal forms are looking very, very promising,.
DR. KHALSA: Yes, indeed. I have been using them in my practice for patients that have need for this and they are very, very effective. Maybe, Walter, why don’t you tell our audience what is liposomal.
DR. CRINNION: Well, I can’t tell you the actual stereo-chemistry of it, but it binds the anacetolcysteine within a lipid soluble or fat soluble sphere and that’s the best I can say.
DR. KHALSA: And they use Phosphatidyl Choline for that.
DR. CRINNION: Yes, and I don’t know how they make it.
DR. KHALSA: Laughs
DR. CRINNION: How they plug it in there that I do not know.
DR. KHALSA: And I am just going to correct you said, NAC. Actually, they are putting in a glutathione molecule.
DR. CRINNION: Oh yes, I am sorry. They also have a liposomal NAC; they have done it with Vitamin C. But yes, I think we were talking about glutathione. Thank you for the correction.
DR. KHALSA: Sure
DR. CRINNION: And that gets picked up with fat and your intestines are very good at sucking fat out of the intestinal lining, and that way it gets picked up intact. Otherwise, the reduced glutathione you have been taking is going get broken down because that is how you absorb amino acids. You don’t absorb whole amino acid combinations which are, in larger forms, called proteins. You break them down in to the component amino acid.
DR. KHALSA: Yeah. The way I explain it to my patients is the way you did. The glutathione is captured inside a little fat globule and these are all microscopic.
DR. CRINNION: That’s a great way to say it.
DR. KHALSA: And then the intestine sends it directly right to the liver because it is a fat molecule. The liver strips off the fat coating and bingo, the glutathione goes shooting in to our bloodstream.
DR. CRINNION: And the liver is the main place where the glutathione really gets made, put together the cysteine and other amino acids and the released in to the bloodstream for the rest of the body to grab and utilize and pull in to the cell.
DR. KHALSA: Yes, exactly, exactly.
027-Your Questions Answered-Immune Support, Thyroid and Vitamin D
by Dr. Soram Khalsa
Filed under Ask Dr Soram Podcasts, Featured, Vitamin D
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
In this episode, I am proud to announce that I have been chosen to receive the prestigious Daniel J Wallace Founders Award at this year's Lupus LA event on May 24. The event will be held at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel. This award is given to individuals who have exemplified excellence in their profession, and as a result of their work and service, have improved the health and well-being of our community and its citizens. I am indeed very honored to be the recipient of this award this year. To my knowledge it will be the first time that this award is being given to a Integrative Medical Doctor. Here is a link to the website.
I am also delighted to announce that the Pregnancy Awareness Organization is sponsoring an event in Los Angeles on May 6 at the Skirball Center. It is from noon to 4 PM. Ken Cook, the president of Environmental Working Group, and Alejandro Junger, and I will be on a panel entitled "Cleaning up for Pregnancy". We will discuss how to clean out before a woman gets pregnant. If you or one of your girlfriends are in the greater Los Angeles area and are thinking about getting pregnant soon this event would be most informative for you.
I then take several questions. We had a phone call voice message call from a gentleman in Canada inquiring about a person near to him with breast cancer. He was asking about a product called MGN3 and its benefit for use in people with cancer. I reply to his question and explain that supporting the immune system is only one part of getting to the underlying causes of breast cancer. I also emphasized that integrative medicine is NOT a replacement for traditional medicine in the treatment of breast cancer.
He also asked about a possible consultation with me professionally. For those of you who are interested in seeing me as a physician, you may contact me directly at the clinic at 310-274 6200 or you can contact me by e-mail at my office at drkhalsa@khalsamedical.com.
I then take a question from Ross regarding vitamin D2 versus vitamin D3, and I explained that I prefer using vitamin D3 in all my patients.
I then reply to Natalia who has written to me from the UK, regarding her daughter and the difficulty of getting her vitamin D level up. I gave several suggestions including repeating her vitamin D blood test another lab as well as checking on the quality of the vitamin D that she is giving her daughter to get her levels up. I also talk about diagnosing celiac disease in her daughter and what to do if there is an absorption problem with the vitamin D taken orally.
I received a very interesting question from Veena in Tanzania about autoimmune thyroid disease. It is very difficult for her to get blood tests of vitamin D there, and I've advised her to take 2000 units a day which we know to be safe for all adults if they cannot get a blood test. I also refer her to my video on YouTube which in 1 min. gives you full information on replacing your vitamin D. I also talk about autoimmune thyroid and its newly recognized relationship with levels of Mercury. I talk about the treatment of autoimmune thyroid which is also called Hashimoto's thyroid.
Please send me your questions at questions@askdrsoram.com or you can phone in your questions to 310-499-0275.
I also appreciate your comments below and look forward to our continuing dialogue.
026-BPA, Endocrine Disruptors, Autism and Your Health
by Dr. Soram Khalsa
Filed under Ask Dr Soram Podcasts, Featured
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
In this episode I talk about the current controversy regarding BPA, also known as bisphenol A. The FDA just rejected a petition from the Natural Resources Defense Council to ban BPA in food packaging.
BPA has been found in the urine of more than 93% of Americans tested. It is a synthetic estrogen that was developed more than 70 years ago and has been widely used since the 1960s specifically to make polycarbonate plastic for things such as baby bottles. It's also been used to line metal cans such as soup cans. It can be found in dental sealants and eyeglasses as well as a coating for cash register receipts and hundreds of other household items.
BPA is an “endocrine disruptor” (EDC) and as such disrupts our endocrine system. It is been linked to neurological defects, diabetes, breast and prostate cancer, and heart disease.
Just recently Campbell’s Soup company announced that they would be removing BPA from the inner lining of their soup cans. This was brought about by pressure from consumers.
See this site for more information:
I then go on to talk about the exciting new article that was published in Endocrine Reviews. This article showed that even low doses of environmental chemicals which can disrupt our hormone system can have serious effects on human health. The researchers say that this points to the need for basic changes in how chemical safety testing is conducted.
Currently safety data is evaluated by giving animals high doses of chemical compounds and seeing if they get cancer or die. This study changes all that. In this article, by reviewing over 800 other articles it is recognized now, that you do not need high doses- and specifically very low doses of these environmental chemicals -can affect our body leading to chronic disease. This ability of a chemical in a very low potency to affect our system is called "Hormesis", because these chemicals are acting like a hormone on our body.
In this new report, researchers, who were led by Tufts University’s Laura Vandenberg, concluded after they studied hundreds of studies that health effects "are remarkably common" when people or animals are exposed to low doses of endocrine disrupting compounds. The authors of the article concluded that scientific evidence "clearly indicates that low doses cannot be ignored." They point out a wide range of health effects in people from fetuses to aging adults including now known links to infertility cardiovascular disease, obesity, cancer, and other disorders.
In the article they wrote "Whether low doses of endocrine – disrupting compounds influence human disorders is no longer conjecture, as epidemiologic studies show that environmental exposures are associated with human diseases and disabilities."
They go on to say that "current testing paradigms are missing important sensitive endpoints for human health. The effects of low doses cannot be predicted by the effects observed at high doses. Thus fundamental changes in chemical testing and safety determination are needed to protect human health."
Here is a link to an audio interview with Dr. Vandenberg the chief researcher of this article. I really encourage you to listen to it.
Here are links to other websites where the article is reviewed and discussed.
Original article here
In this podcast I then go on to discuss (which is most probably related to the article I just discussed) the burgeoning epidemic of autism. In the year 2000, 1 in 150 children was diagnosed with autism. In 2008 the FDA has just announced that one in 88 children is now diagnosed with autism. Even more shocking, the data currently is that one in 54 boys or almost 2% of all boys are being diagnosed with autism.
On April 2, 2012 World Autism Day was held in New York City to push for official recognition of autism as a national public health emergency and to analyze the federal health authorities’ failure to respond.
http://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism/waad
I encourage you to look at the Autism Action Network website which you can find here.
I had intended to get to some of your questions on this podcast but time did not allow. I will be answering your questions that you've e-mailed and phoned in, in the near future in my podcast. Thank you for sending them and being patient!
Please write your comments below or send me an email at questions@askdrsoram.com. I really want to know what your thoughts are about all this and how you or your family may have been affected by all this.
I also want to invite all my listeners who are thinking about getting pregnant, (or your family and friends who are thinking of getting pregnant) and who live in the greater LA area to a Pregnancy Awareness Month (PAM) event being held at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles on May 6, 2012. My friends and colleagues Ken Cook and Alejandro Junger and I will be talking about “Cleaning up for Pregnancy”. You can get more information about this event here.
I hope to see you there!
025- Part 2 of my interview with Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz, M.D.
by Dr. Soram Khalsa
Filed under Ask Dr Soram Podcasts, Featured
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
.jpg "025 Part 2 of my interview with Suzanne Gilberg Lenz, M.D.")
This is part 2 of my interview of noted Ob-Gyn Dr. Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz.
We pick up in part 2 of the interview talking the nutrients she recommends during pregnancy. Brain development and Essential Fatty Acids during pregnancy and nursing are reviewed.
Then we move on to talk about bio identical hormones for menopause. We review the herbs that are helpful for menopause. What is the definition of bio-identical? Dr. Suzanne defines it.
Is it risky for a menopausal woman to take bio identical hormones? This depends on several factors in the woman’s life and personal history.
Dr Suzanne definitely recommends bio identical hormones for women that want to take hormones at menopause. She reviews the new data from the Women’s Health Initiative that women with low risk for breast cancer actually had a lower risk of breast cancer when they took the horse hormone brand Premarin.
Furthermore I am happy to learn that a new study of hormone replacement in women who had breast cancer is also in progress, to help with symptoms including bone loss.
Yam cream is NOT bio-identical hormones. The risk of soy derived hormones containing GMO’s is also a consideration.
The typical menopausal woman may be having hot flashes, heart palpitations and not able to sleep. This can really affect a woman’s quality of life.
Also sexual and vaginal health is also relevant in thinking about hormone replacement in women. Most menopausal women do need vaginal estrogen to keep their vaginal lining healthy.
I ask Dr Suzanne if she thinks estrogen causes breast cancer and she gives a great answer.
Progestin vs Progesterone is discussed and Dr. Suzanne explains the difference. The estrogen/progesterone balance is very important for a menopausal woman’s (really all ages of women) health.
How can we benefit by looking beyond our comfort zones and beyond conventional medicine to create wellness and balance? Dr. Suzanne gives great answers to this very important question. She reminds us “We are part of Nature”!
To close, we talk about Dr Suzanne’s converting her 70 year old LA house to a “green” house with the help of a great architect she knew. She describes the materials they used to make this transformation. From paint to air filtration she describes what they did.
Her parting advice, which I agree with, is to find a practitioner who you can partner with and start simple in improving your health and go step by step.
You can learn more about Dr. Suzanne from her practice website
Soon, her own website will be up as well
www.thedrsuzanne.com
You can reach her on twitter @askdrsuzanne
And on Facebook
Please put your comments in the box below or send me an email at questions@askdrsoram.com
024- My interview with noted Ob-Gyn Suzanne Gilberg Lenz, M.D.
by Dr. Soram Khalsa
Filed under Ask Dr Soram Podcasts, Featured
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
.jpg "024 My interview with noted Ob Gyn Suzanne Gilberg Lenz, M.D.")
I am delighted to have on this podcast my colleague and friend, Suzanne Gilberg-Lenz M.D. Dr. Suzanne applies integrative medicine to Obstetrics and Gynecology , the way I apply it to Internal Medicine
Dr. Suzanne is fully trained in Ayurvedic Medicine and uses it in her practice. We talk about “what is Ayurveda” and how does it compare with Traditional Chinese Medicine. Ayurveda is one of the oldest healing systems and comes from India.
Ayurveda means the science of life and is directly related to Yoga.
We talk about the main modalities of treatment that are used in Ayurveda. And she points out that lifestyle management is a big part of Ayurveda.
Marma therapy is part of Ayurveda and is analogous to acupressure in Chinese medicine.
Dr. Suzanne brings in many aspects of integrative medicine to her practice and works closely with other integrative practitioners and that is how I met her. She provides a safe environment for women to talk to her about their lives and health.
We discuss how she uses Ayurvedic medicine in Obstetrics. The idea that “you are not in control” is a big lesson during pregnancy and we discuss this. Pregnancy lets a woman learn to let go! We talk about yoga and safe yoga practices during pregnancy. I am happy to see that Vitamin D is part of her basic prenatal blood panel.
We talk about Vitamin D in pregnancy and the prevention of diabetes in children and I mention the study by Elona Hyponnen and Vitamin D in pregnancy and early life in the prevention of childhood diabetes , which is becoming epidemic.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11705562
Dr. Suzanne teaches the Ob-Gyn residents at Cedars Sinai about the use of integrative medicine so they are familiar with it.
We talk about the use of safe supplements and lifestyle in obstetrics.
Then we talked about treatment of endometriosis. And the use of high dose vitamin D for menstrual cramps.
We then discuss HPV and the use of Green tea Extract topically and even orally for the treatment of HPV (Human Papilloma Virus). She may do some research with Cedars Sinai on this.
I ask her about the HPV vaccine, its effectiveness in preventing cervical cancer and its limitations. Pre-cancer vs dysplasia. Guardisil vaccinations do not guarantee never getting an abnormal pap test. We talk about why.
The role of boys and men in spreading HPV is discussed and now boys are getting the Guardasil vaccine as well.
Head and neck cancers are now connected to HPV contracted during oral sex, as well.
In the next podcast we will finish our interview with more information on bio identical hormones, menopause, and breast cancer.
You can learn more about Dr. Suzanne from her practice website
Soon, her own website will be up as well
www.thedrsuzanne.com
You can reach her on twitter @askdrsuzanne
And on Facebook .
Please put your comments in the box below or send me an email at questions@askdrsoram.com
023-Your Questions Answered !
by Dr. Soram Khalsa
Filed under Ask Dr Soram Podcasts, Featured, Vitamin D
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
I have gotten a lot of questions from my listeners and devote this podcast to answering many of the questions. I plan on doing a podcast on a regular basis to answer your questions, so keep your questions coming!
As mentioned in the podcast, my at-home finger stick vitamin D blood test can be ordered in the store at my website HERE:
In this podcast the following questions were addressed:
• What forms of vitamin D are tested in my at-home vitamin D test kit?
• Is my vitamin D product vegan, and what is it made from specifically?
• A lady whose 12-year-old daughter has symptoms including weakness of the muscles in her legs, extreme mood swings, depression, tiredness, and psoriasis – like skin rash.
• I answer question about the dosage is recommended in my Hay House interview for normalizing your vitamin D level using 50,000 IU of vitamin D per week.
• I answer a 47-year-old lady’s questions about using vitamin K with her vitamin D
• I talk about the difference between vitamin D2 and vitamin D3.
• I answer questions about the use of Vitamin D for a lady with Multiple Sclerosis.
I will have a complete transcript of this question and answer session up by next week.
As always, leave your comments below and you may send me questions at questions@askdrsoram.com
To your good health !
022-My Interview with Ashley Koff RD on Integrative Nutrition for Optimal Health- Part 3 of 3
by Dr. Soram Khalsa
Filed under Ask Dr Soram Podcasts, Featured
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
.jpg "022 My Interview with Ashley Koff RD on Integrative Nutrition for Optimal Health Part 3 of 3")
In part 3 of my interview with Ashley Koff, R.D.,we talk about calories and how Ashley really pays attention to the nutrient value rather than calories and she calls meals “Eating Occurrences”. Eating occurrences are not what we normally consider a meal but eating every 3 hours rather than gigantic meals all at once.
This is the opposite of “backloading” which is eating small all day and then having a gigantic dinner with snacks the rest of the night. This prevents people from saying “ I can go all day without food but then at 3pm I need my sugar.
Ashley’s 4 tenets for healthy eating are
1.Quality,
2. Quantity,
3.Frequency and
4. Nutrient balance.
Food allergies are then discussed and the role of GMO’s in contributing to this. Our bodies are getting all sorts of things in modern food that it does not know how to deal with. This causes the body to become less efficient and irritated. Food intolerances are a wake up call –Your body is telling you it is so irritated that is not accepting the food you are putting into it.
So we use a simple bland diet for a while to clear the cobwebs so to speak and then try the foods again. Often you will be able to eat many of the foods that you thought you were allergic to.
This gut irritation can be part of what causes elevated HS-CRP
–C Reactive Protein which is great marker for inflammation and Ashley uses this regularly as a marker for gut inflammation. In traditional medicine, instead of looking at the gut and diet as a way to lower the inflammation, the patient is given a pharmaceutical drug to lower it.
The difference between a vegan diet and a whole food plant based diet is important to understand.
Ashley notes that Research is “Me-search”!
We also talk about the EWG and their safe cosmetics database as a place to start. Be aware that the packaging will only tell you what you want to hear. Whole foods do not require labeling!
I also ask Ashley her answer to “What is the one thing we could all do to improve our energy and as a result our health today. She gives a great answer!
How do get started? Start with right where you are now and it will grow.
To find out more about Ashley, check out her website or find her on facebook and twitter
Ashleykoffapproved on Facebook
@ashleykoff on twitter.
You can find her book Mom Energy: A Simple Plan to live Fully Charged which you can get here
Or here as a kindle book.
You can get her book on Recipes for IBS here
or on Kindle here
Please leave comments and questions below or email me at questions@askdrsoram.com
021-My Interview with Ashley Koff RD on Integrative Nutrition for Optimal Health- Part 2 of 3
by Dr. Soram Khalsa
Filed under Ask Dr Soram Podcasts, Featured
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
This is part 2 of my interview with Ashley Koff RD on the importance of good diet for our health
We talk about her two books, Recipes for IBS and Mom Energy: A Simple Plan to Live Fully Charged which she wrote with Kathy Kaehler, who is a celebrity trainer.
25 million people have IBS and that is why Ashley wrote a book on the dietary approach to helping patients with IBS. Ashley wanted her book to be called Digestive Wellness and that is what it is really about.
In her new book Mom Energy: A Simple Plan to Live Fully Charged. In this book she talks about how fatigue is one of the main complaints in our society. She talks about how people are confusing MORE energy with Better energy. We want to learn what a good baseline energy for us. Her book is much more than just the mother with children but really anybody who needs to give out a lot of energy.
She points out that in the name of being a mom, women are often rewarding themselves with food. She talks about the importance of being selfish so that you can take care of yourself and that you can then take better care of your children and family. In our society the idea being selfish is regarded as negative, but that is not really the way it should be. This will let women be better in their own lives and better for others.
The simple analogy is that on an airplane you are advised that if the oxygen masks drop down you are to put it on yourself before your children so that you can properly take care of them.
Ashley talks about how she met with an oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Center in New York who always advises his cancer patients to eat only organic but he does not eat organic himself at home!
I find this very often in my practice that people do not pay attention to these things until they reach a crisis point.
We talk about which diet Ashley recommends to her general clients. She recommends a Qualitarian diet which is a diet that uses high quality foods that are not loaded with pesticides, or sugars, or preservatives.
The idea of what I can and cannot have should always be based on what is best for your body. Somebody on a vegan diet could be eating sugar and caffeine all day and be very unhealthy. Not everybody should be on the same diet. But synthetic, processed, poor quality food does not work for anybody.
You have to play an active role in order to be a “Qualitarian”. With this diet you have to be knowledgeable about nutrients. This is important thing to know if you are vegetarian or vegan in order to avoid belly fat.
We need to get complete protein but you do not have to eat meat to do that but just a variety of foods to give you the full Amino Acid balance.
We also talk about how it is ironic that cows are vegans and yet we eat their meat in order to get our full protein! They got their full proteins from eating a variety of grasses that carried the full amino acid balance, so why can’t we? And of course in fact we can!
To find out more about Ashely, check out her website or find her on facebook and twitter
You can find her book Mom Energy: A Simple Plan to live Fully Charged which you can get here
Or here as a kindle book
You can get her book on Recipes for IBS here
or on Kindle here
Please leave comments and questions below or email me at questions@askdrsoram.com
020-My interview with Ashley Koff RD on Integrative Nutrition for Optimizing Health
by Dr. Soram Khalsa
Filed under Ask Dr Soram Podcasts, Featured
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
.jpg "020 My interview with Ashley Koff RD on Integrative Nutrition for Optimizing Health")
Ashley Koff RD is a registered dietitian that I have worked with in my office for over five years. Often I give my patient's special diets in order to help improve their health. This can range from a "leaky gut" diet to a diet to reduce overgrowth of yeast in the digestive tract.
As a physician, I often do not have the time to go over the details of the diet and certainly do not have the time to help them with direct menu planning. I'm very fortunate to have Ashley working with me to help implement the diets that I prescribe for patients. As a Registered Dietitian, she is able to sit down with the patient and go over the diet and menu planning in detail and answer all their questions because of her familiarity with all the integrative medicine types of diets that we use.
In this first part of my interview, Ashley and I discuss what is the difference between a registered dietitian and nutritionist?
We then go on to talk about why a doctor would refer her a patient and what her role is working with the physician such as she does with me. We talk about how she helps my patients. And how she allows email follow-up for her patients. She helps people find what works for them with diet not just a rigid following of a program on a piece of paper.
Ashley works with me and other physicians around the country and helps our patients “implement” the diets the doctors prescribe.
On my next podcast I will talk with Ashley about her new book Mom Energy: A Simple Plan to live Fully Charged which you can get here
Or here as a kindle book.
We will also discuss her other book Recipes for IBS.
Ashley’s website is here
Follow her on facebook atAshleykoffapproved
And on twitter @ashleykoff
Please leave comments and questions below or email me at questions@askdrsoram.com.
019-Ask Dr Soram – Dr Crinnion and Phthalates Part 2
by Dr. Soram Khalsa
Filed under Ask Dr Soram Podcasts
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Happy new year to all my listeners and readers and lets make this a year of Enlightened Medicine, Conscious Living and Compassionate healing.
In this part two of my interview with Dr. Walter Crinnion we continue to discuss the ubiquitous phthalates, and how Conscious Living can help us minimize our exposure to them.
We talk about several studies that have shown it is easy to reduce your phthalate burden. And a book that shows how the authors were able to reduce their own levels. The book is Slow Death By Rubber Duck
or you can get it on Kindle here
We also talk about Metametrix which is a laboratory where your doctor can order a test kit to measure your phthalate levels. We also talked about the dirty dozen at the environmental working group. The link to the environmental working group's safe cosmetics database is here.
The article about metabolic disruptors that I mentioned in an interview can be found here.
The link to the Naturopathic Medical Association is here.
The link to Dr. Crinnion's book Clean Green and Lean, is here.
or get it on Kindle here
And Dr. Crinnion's website is here.
I can recommend a wonderful air filter for your house. It is the Rabbit filter and you can buy it at this website. They've given me a discount code for my listeners which is SK1259 and if you apply it, you will get a discount of $30.00 off when you buy an air filter.
I look forward to hearing your comments about these two interviews with Dr. Crinnion. Have you changed your lifestyle as a result of this information? Have you read the ingredients on your personal care products? Have you found phthalates in your products? Have you changed the way you cook or make or buy food and the wrapping that is around it as result of this podcast?
You can leave a comment below or you can drop me an e-mail at questions@askdrsoram.com. I look forward to hearing from you.
