Real Food Challenge: 5 Steps To Give Yourself A Total Health Makeover

Gluten-free, paleo, raw, vegetarian, vegan — all the information out there on what you should and should not be eating can really be an overwhelming experience for someone who is trying to turn his life around and get healthy. "Where do I even begin?" is what I hear often from those looking to reclaim their health.

Many people have been eating the same way for years, and even the thought of trying to get healthy is too much to handle. It can be a daunting task to determine the right thing to do. For this reason, I've laid out five simple steps to give your body a total health makeover!

1. Throw out "food-like substances."

Go through your fridge and your pantry and if it doesn't grow from a plant, is a plant, or has lived on an organic farm, throw it out! The food industry spends a lot of money on marketing food to you, but not a lot on quality, nutrient-dense foods. The fresher the food the better, so limit the amount of boxed and shelf foods you have around. If it's not in your house, it will be harder to eat it. Throw out foods that cause the most inflammation in your body, like sugar or things that turn into sugar, like grains. Our culture is grain addicted, so this advice might cause you to break out in a cold sweat. But that initial reaction is exactly why you need to do it!

2. Read labels.

When you're in the supermarket, the periphery of the store is typically filled with the real food, so start there. Fill your grocery cart with a variety of these foods:

Healthy fats: extra virgin coconut oil, grass-fed dairy, avocados, organic eggs, raw nuts and seeds.

Organic produce: With the depletion of nutrients in our soil and the use of pesticides, buy organic fruits and vegetable when possible.

Clean protein: Chicken should be free range , fish should be wild caught, and beef should be grass fed.

The center of the supermarket is typically where you'll find the boxed, canned and bagged foods. If the food label is a paragraph of words you can't pronounce, skip it. Look for real food ingredients, the stuff you know your body runs on. Go local when possible, or visit a farmers market where you can find quality real food.

3. Make a meal plan and stick with it.

Now that you've filled your kitchen with real foods, make a simple meal plan using a variety of the different foods you bought to make things interesting. Try new things, and live on the adventurous side. You might like it! Once you've made a meal plan, stick with it. You've organized your weeks meals so you don't have to think much about them when you're in the middle of a busy week. If you plan ahead, you'll set yourself up for a deliciously healthy week. 

Read the entire article at MindBodyGreen!

Helping People Reverse Disease, Regain Energy, Lose Stubborn Weight And Restore Health, In Pittsburgh & Across The World Through Our Virtual Functional Medicine Practice. Dr. Will Cole: Your Source For The Future Of Natural Health. www.drwillcole.com

Why Diabetes Gets Worse Over Time In Spite Of Drug Treatments

Almost 26 million Americans have type II diabetes, and many don't even know they have it. This silent killer is a leading cause of heart disease and many other health complications. Once called "adult onset diabetes," this disease now affects a growing number of children's lives. Ravaging not only quality of life but quantity, diabetes shortens life span by up to 10 years. In 2012 year alone, The U.S. spent more than $245 billion on diabetes, which grew 41 percent in 5 years. By the year 2020 the diabetes epidemic is projected to have cost us around 3.35 trillion dollars over the preceding decade. This epidemic is not only looking to bankrupt the United States, but Europe as well. With billions being spent, you would expect an improvement, but it's estimated that by 2020, just a few years away, 50 percent of the United States will be at risk for diabetes.

Diabetics are given very little options in mainstream medicine. They are typically told to do three things: 1. Take this pill, 2. Lose weight, and 3. See you in six months. Left to fend for themselves, they are inundated with the endless amount of conflicting information marketed to people with this disease, consumers in a billion-dollar industry. In my experience, most people are well intentioned and try to do the right thing, but are overwhelmed with misinformation and propaganda.

At the heart of the propaganda machine is the pharmaceutical industry, which spends 19 times more on self-promotion than they do on actual research. The medications given are anything but magic pills, all having negative side effects and some being linked to bladder and pancreatic cancer. Not designed to heal, the medications typically have to be increased in dosages until no other option is left but to go on insulin. When nothing changes but your prescription list, it's really disheartening. When you're told to lose weight but are given medications that make you gain weight, it's discouraging. In short, no one is sick from a medication deficiency.

So what's the solution? Read the entire article at MindBodyGreen

Helping People Reverse Disease, Regain Energy, Lose Stubborn Weight And Restore Health, In Pittsburgh & Across The World Through Our Virtual Functional Medicine Practice. Dr. Will Cole: Your Source For The Future Of Natural Health. www.drwillcole.com

Why Going Gluten Free Can Be Unhealthy

Gluten free has gone mainstream. The multibillion dollar gluten-free food industry has exploded over the last few years, to the point that you now can go to just about any restaurant or grocery store and find a gluten-free alternative for whatever food you seek. From gluten-free breads, pastas and pastries to gluten-free shampoos and lotions, "gluten free" has become ubiquitous in our culture.

A recent survey from market research firm the NPD Group finds that America is cutting gluten in a big way. The survey estimated that around one third of US adults wanted to decrease or eliminate gluten from their diets, a record high. It's undeniable that for a growing number of the population, gluten-free foods are the best thing since sliced bread — so to speak.

Gluten, the protein that is found in grains such as wheat, rye, spelt and barley, can be highly inflammatory for a lot of people. Gluten exposure triggers a 70% increase in intestinal permeability (leaky gut syndrome), and spikes inflammation in the body for as long as six months.

Gluten affects people in extremely different ways. From the horrible autoimmune attacks of celiac disease and the allergic responses from a wheat allergy, to the estimated 1 in 20 Americans who have a gluten sensitivity, gluten is the center of a lot of research when it comes to chronic, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.

With that said, "gluten free" is not synonymous with healthy. The major problem, in my opinion, is that the gluten-free alternatives that millions are eating with good intentions are highly inflammatory themselves. For example:

Gluten-free grains: Gluten-free foods typically contain corn, oats and rice. The problem is that these grains can all have potentially damaging inflammatory effects on the body

Pseudo-grains: Quinoa and amaranth are two other ingredients used in gluten-free foods. These foods are high in saponins, which act as a defense mechanism for plants, and can cause gut inflammation and contribute to leaky gut syndrome.

To read the entire article, go on over to MindBodyGreen!

Helping People Reverse Disease, Regain Energy, Lose Stubborn Weight And Restore Health, In Pittsburgh & Across The World Through Our Virtual Functional Medicine Practice. Dr. Will Cole: Your Source For The Future Of Natural Health. www.drwillcole.com

5 Reasons Thyroid Medications Aren't Working For You

 

 

Millions of Americans struggle with low thyroid symptoms and are told at their doctor's office to take medication and return in three months. Welcome to the standard model of care. 

The problem is that many people still have persistent low thyroid symptoms, even when taking the thyroid medication. People live with debilitating symptoms like fatigue, depression, anxiety, hair loss, weight gain and skin problems, and receive very little help from mainstream care.

Thyroid medication normally comes in the form of a synthetic T4 thyroid hormone. T4 is the main thyroid hormone that your body produces naturally, but it needs to be converted into T3 for it to be used actively in the body. I wrote an article for MindBodyGreen that explains in detail the many different causes of low thyroid symptoms that aren't tested for in the standard model of care. Since that article was first published, I've been able to talk to hundreds of people all over the world who are on thyroid replacement hormones and are told they're “normal,” even though they still have symptoms. These people know that how they're feeling is anything but normal.

Because thyroid physiology is so complex, there is rarely, if ever, a “magic pill” that cures the problem. The overwhelming majority of people struggling with low thyroid symptoms are having some sort of autoimmune response. This means that their immune system mistakes the thyroid as an enemy and attacks it. This immune dysregulation can cause systemic inflammation in the body. Inflammation is a normal response to an injury, but when the source of the inflammation, in this case an autoimmune response, isn't addressed, the vicious cycle of systemic inflammation is never broken.

The underlying issues of an autoimmune pattern and inflammation have to be addressed to restore the patient’s health. It's only when you deal with underlying issues like these that you can allow the thyroid hormone to be effectively used in the body. 

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With that in mind, let’s go over five reasons why your thyroid medication may not be working over at MindBodyGreen.

 

 

Helping People Reverse Disease, Regain Energy, Lose Stubborn Weight And Restore Health, In Pittsburgh & Across The World Through Our Virtual Functional Medicine Practice. Dr. Will Cole: Your Source For The Future Of Natural Health. www.drwillcole.com