Insulin Resistance

Doctors refer the metabolic abnormality that causes escalating levels of insulin as insulin resistance which increases the risk of many medical conditions.

Headaches and Lightheadedness

Headaches, A Common Malady A common problem many people experience from time-to-time is a headache. We can still function through the day with a mild headache but they can sometime become so severe as to incapacitate a person.  There are many known causes of headaches but there are only a few that occur quite commonly …

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Carbohydrates and Urination Problems

Introduction Many patients commonly experience symptoms of urinary frequency, urgency or incontinence.  They may wake 2-4 times at night to urinate, have a sensation of needing to urinate but produce only a small amount of urine, have frequent or even the surprisingly urgent need to urinate during the daytime. Does this sound familiar?  Many of …

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French Fries Are The New Cigarette Of Health

Obesity is now a bigger overall threat to people’s health than smoking, according to results of the longest ongoing health study of adults in the United States. Obesity causes as much or more disease than tobacco, says the study, conducted by researchers from Columbia University and the City College of New York. It adds that …

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How Much Fish Oil Should I Take And Why?

Many patients I see  in my practice are taking fish oil supplements and don’t really understand why they are beneficial  but just that everyone seems to recommend taking them. Fish and certain plant and nut oils are common natural sources of omega-3 fatty acids.  Fatty acids are special molecules that have a wide array of …

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Tired Even After A Long Night’s Rest?

Waking still fatigued in the morning in spite of sleeping for many hours is referred to as ‘non-restorative sleep’ and is one of the hallmark symptoms of a variety of sleep disorders.  The most common sleep disorder is Sleep Apnea. Sleep Apnea causes abnormal breathing when asleep and leads to prolonged periods of low blood …

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Does Insulin Resistance Have Any Symptoms and What Is Metabolic Syndrome?

What are the Symptoms of Insulin Resistance? People may have Insulin Resistance for several years without noticing anything.  But in many individuals, Insulin Resistance causes a wide variety of common symptoms we often attribute to other medical circumstances. These symptoms often occur because of an imbalance of your autonomic nervous system. Common symptoms from autonomic …

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If I Have Insulin Resistance or Metabolic Syndrome, How Can I Make It Go Away?

What Causes Insulin Resistance and Metabolic Syndrome? The last 20 years has seen an epidemic rise in Obesity, Metabolic Syndrome and Diabetes Mellitus in the United States.  Extensive research has helped us to understand that the combination of high carbohydrate diets, lack of exercise and increased portion sizes has lead to this problem. Prehistoric humans …

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Stone Age Humans And The Introduction Of Carbohydrates

Modern humans evolved from our Stone Age ancestors that lived within a hunter-gatherer society whose main sources of food were animal meat and plants. The animal meat provided a significant source of protein and fat while the plants they ate provided a significant amount of vitamins, minerals and fiber. Scientists estimate that Stone Age humans …

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Why Do We Crave Carbohydrates And How To Control It At A Party

Many of my patients who are working on the carbohydrate restriction to improve their blood pressure, blood sugars, triglycerdies and weight often tell me that if they “fall of the wagon” and start eating high carbohydrates foods, they can’t seem to stop.  There are scientific reasons for this. Eating a diet high in carbohydrates results …

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How Fast Can I Expect To Lose Weight?

Patients that I assist with weight loss are frequently disappointed that they may averaging only 1-2 pounds of decreased weight per week.  They have a false sense of appropriate weight loss rates.  I figure this is from the relentless false and misleading advertisements of most weight loss programs they’ve seen or read about. When a …

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Don't Worry About Your Body Mass Index

BMI (Body Mass Index) is the international standard for gauging a person’s health. This number is simply calculated by taking your weight in kilograms divided by your height in meters.  Google any ‘BMI calculator’ to find your Body Mass Index number today. However, do not assume your overall health is in jeopardy just because you …

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Carbohydrates Increase Your Hunger

As our modern carbohydrate supply becomes more processed, our bodies are experiencing more rapid absorption and intense spikes of sugar into our blood streams.  The elevated blood sugar levels forces our bodies to produce higher and higher levels of insulin in order to maintain a normal level of blood sugar.  The degree to which our …

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Working Long Hours And Eating Junk Food

Parents who work long and odd hours are more apt to buy fast food and prepared entrees, says the study by Cornell University researchers, published in the September/October issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education.  And another coping mechanism is to skip some meals entirely. The survey study found that: About a quarter of moms …

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How Tortilla Chips Make Us Fat

The caloric density of foods that we’re exposed to has also changed dramatically in the last few decades.  The more manufacturers process the food, the greater the caloric density the food product often obtains. For example, let’s look at the number of calories per pound of corn and corn products: Fresh Corn – 490 calories …

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Is Obesity a Genetic or a Behavioral Disorder?

Clearly there are strong genetic influences on body fatness.  But what’s really inherited is the rank order of body fatness compared to the the people who have a lifestyle that’s similar to yours. If both your parents were 200 pounds, that does not mean that you are destined to be 200 pounds. But if both …

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Weight Loss Surgery Reduces Diabetes-related Death Rate

Weight loss (bariatric) surgery has been shown to reduce diabetes-related mortality by 88%. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that weight loss surgery surgery reduced the overall death rate by 34%, disease-related deaths and cardiovascular deaths by 48%, cancer-related deaths by 59%, and diabetes-related deaths by 88% in patients with …

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Which Has More Carbs, a Can of Coke or a Jar Sweetened Tea?

Surprise, a bottle of sweetened tea can have more carbohydrates than a can of Coke. I was browsing Costco the other day and jotted down the carbohydrate content of a few of the common brands of sweetened teas that were for sale and was surprised by their high carbohydrate content as well as their very …

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Why Full-Fat Salad Dressing is Better For You

Research performed by Melody Brown (see research article), demonstrates that after ingestion of the salads with fat-free salad dressing, the appearance of a variety of vitamins (carotene, ß-carotene, and lycopene) in the blood stream was very low.  Reduced-fat salad dressing resulted in a slight but small increase in vitamin levels. Full-fat salad dressing resulted in …

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Do You Have Autonomic Dysfunction?