ARE YOUR HORMONES out of balance?
Does your life feel like a song played badly out of tune?
If so, the problem may have to do with imbalances in your hormones, which are wreaking havoc on your body and mind.
There is one hormone in particular I am going to focus on today, and it could be at the root of your problems.
I will share with you 12 tips you can start using immediately to begin rebalancing your hormones and bring your life back into tune.
But first, ask yourself these questions:
- • Do your mood and energy swing up and down, making your life crazy?
- • Do you crave sugar or salt?
- • Are you overweight and putting on more and more belly fat?
- • If you are a woman, do you have premenstrual syndrome, painful or heavy periods, and a low sex drive?
- • Are you depressed? Do you sleep poorly?
- • Do you feel tired but wired?
- • Do you need coffee to wake up in the morning and a few glasses of wine to calm down at night?
If you answered “yes,” your hormones may be out of balance, and you are not alone …
In fact, this is how most Americans feel because we are living out of harmony with our natural biological rhythms. This is because small molecules in our bodies that we depend on to keep us in balance are running haywire.
These messenger molecules are involved in almost every function of the body, and they are critical to our well-being.
They are our hormones — messenger molecules of our endocrine system — and neurotransmitters – messenger molecules of our brain and nervous system.
Understand how and why these systems get out of balance and you will go a long way toward understanding why Americans are so tired, depressed, and overweight!
Our hormone and neurotransmitter system is another one of the core systems of the body that we must address to achieve vibrant health. That is why Balancing Your Hormones is Key #2 to UltraWellness.
In today’s blog — the second in this 7-part series on the 7 Keys to UltraWellness – I will explain why your hormones get out of balance, how to get them back in balance, how they work, and why so many of you feel miserable because of them.
The Four Major Hormonal Epidemics in America and Why They Are Making Us Miserable
All of our hormones and neurotransmitters work together as one dynamic system to help us maintain optimal health and keep us happy, focused, and peaceful. They are like a finely orchestrated symphony that must work together to keep everything in balance.
Between 80 and 100 million Americans suffer from insulin resistance. It is not exactly the same in everyone, but the ultimate consequences can be similar.
The command and control center for this process is in your brain. It is made up of the hypothalamus and pituitary glands.
This center sends signals to distant parts of the body to control everything from your stress response through the adrenal glands to your blood sugar balance through the pancreas to your thyroid hormone via the thyroid gland, to your sexual behavior and function through the reproductive organs. It also controls growth, sleep, mood, and much more.
In addition to these hormonal messengers you also have important brain chemicals called neurotransmitters, which send messages throughout your body to every cell, organ, and tissue and help you do everything from moving your arm to feeling happy or sad.
When your neurotransmitters or hormones are out of balance, literally everything in your body goes haywire.
There are four big epidemics of hormonal problems in Americans today that are sending millions of people out of balance: too much insulin (from sugar), too much cortisol and adrenaline (from stress), imbalances of sex hormones such as estrogen and testosterone, and not enough thyroid hormones.
Although all 4 of these hormone epidemics are important, today I want to focus on the most common — and therefore the most problematic — of these conditions: too much insulin.
Insulin Resistance: Awash in a Sea of Sugar
Let me tell you the story of a man who came to me. His story may be all too familiar to you …
James was a 46 year-old Wall Street executive who came to me for a cardiac stress test. He was a hard-driving, don’t-look-up type of guy who was convinced he was dying of heart disease.
Every afternoon, he would experience the sudden onset of sweating, a racing heart, anxiety, and shortness of breath — in other words, he thought he was going to die!
He was also thick around the middle. After taking one look at him and listening to his story, I said, “You don’t eat breakfast, do you?”
“And you feel tired after eating, so that is why you skip food during the day — to keep sharp for work,” I continued. “And when you feel like that, you go to the vending machine for a soda and get a quick sugar fix, and in a few minutes you feel better.”
Shocked, he asked, “How did you know?”
I explained to James that he was fighting with his genes and was insulin resistant, leading to wide swings in blood sugar that were responsible for his symptoms.
He couldn’t regulate his blood sugar because he pumped out too much insulin. And this was leading to every one of his symptoms …
When you eat too much sugar, flour, and white rice, your insulin levels spike.
When this happens, your cells become resistant to its effects. So you pump out more and more insulin, become even MORE resistant to its effects, and end up in the vicious cycle of insulin resistance.
Insulin resistance can cause energy and mood swings — AND it can take you down the slippery road toward high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, cancer, brain aging, dementia, and more.
But James is not alone in his problem with blood sugar control …
Between 80 and 100 million Americans suffer from insulin resistance. It is not exactly the same in everyone, but the ultimate consequences can be similar.
Most people with insulin resistance have extra fat around the middle.
(Quick Tip: Check your waist-to-hip ratio — the measurement around your belly button divided by the measurement around your hips. If it is greater than 0.8, you likely have insulin resistance.)
You may be tall, thin, short, fat, or any combination of these and still have insulin resistance.
The only way to know for sure is to take an insulin response test, which measures blood sugar AND insulin while you are fasting and 1 and 2 hours after you consume a 75-gram sugar drink.
Just measuring blood sugar alone isn’t enough. You HAVE to measure insulin — this is something that many doctors miss.
Insulin resistance is not a genetic defect, an error in our evolution, or a mistake by God. It is the result of the simple fact that we have strayed from eating in harmony with our genes. In other words, we do not fit into our genes.
Historically, we ate the equivalent of only 20 teaspoons of sugar a year as hunter–gatherers.
But just 200 years ago, we started consuming about 10 pounds of sugar per person per year — a 5,000% increase over our evolutionary ancestors!
As if that weren’t bad enough, we now we eat 150 pounds per person per year, or about 1/2 pound each day — that’s the equivalent of drinking 6 cans of Coke or eating 8 Snickers bars per day.
What’s worst, the average child consumes 34 teaspoons of sugar a day!
That means that we are now eating 75,000% more sugar today than our ancestors did.
This is ridiculous — no wonder so many of us are sick, fat, tired, and depressed!
We evolved in a world without supermarkets, convenience stores, or fast food restaurants. We had to work for our food and had limited access to refined foods or excess calories.
In fact, our genes are pre-agricultural — we only started farming 10,000 years ago and only started refining flour about 200 years ago with the advent of the steam engine-powered flourmill.
With the advent of 15,000 low-fat foods (which are also high-sugar, high-calorie foods) on the market over the last 15 to 20 years, we have created an epidemic of increasing obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. The scientific foundation for the low-fat movement was shaky from the start, and the consequences of that movement were the exact opposite of its intentions — we are now the most unhealthy generation.
Madison Avenue got ahead of medical science to the detriment of us all.
How Does All This Sugar Harm Our Health?
Well, our bodies normally produce insulin in response to food in our stomachs, particularly sugar. When we eat too much sugar we produce FAR too much insulin, and this leads to a variety of health problems.
We once thought that insulin’s only role was to help the sugar enter cells so it could be metabolized, transforming the stored energy of the sun (in plant foods) with the oxygen we breathe into the energy we use every day to run our bodies.
We were wrong.
Insulin has many other effects on the body. And when there is too much of it, the results can be catastrophic.
Here is what too much insulin really does to your body and health:
- • Now we recognize insulin as a major switching station, or control hormone, for many processes. It is a major storage hormone — fat storage, that is.
- • Insulin acts on your brain to increase appetite, specifically an appetite for sugar. Try as you might, as long as your insulin levels are high you will fight a losing battle for weight loss.
- • It increases LDL cholesterol, lowers HDL cholesterol, raises triglycerides, and increases your blood pressure. Insulin resistance causes 50% of all reported cases of high blood pressure.
- • It makes your blood sticky and more likely to clot, leading to heart attacks and strokes.
- • It stimulates the growth of cancer cells.
- • It increases inflammation and oxidative stress and ages your brain.
- • It even increases homocysteine because sugar consumption decreases vitamin B6 and folic acid.
- • Insulin also causes sex hormone problems and can lead to infertility, hair growth where you don’t want to grow it, hair loss where you don’t want to lose it, acne, low testosterone in men, and more. It also leads to mood disturbances.
Fortunately, balancing blood sugar and correcting insulin resistance are well within our reach.
Scientific advances of the last few decades show us how.
While some medications can help with insulin resistance, such as Glucophage, Avandia, and Actos, they have side effects and are only a Band-aid unless they are used along with a comprehensive nutrition, exercise, and stress management plan like the one described below.
Resetting Your Metabolism for Optimal Blood Sugar
My goal is to make your metabolism more efficient, to make your cells more intelligent and cooperative, not resistant. In other words, you will need much less insulin to accomplish the task of balancing your blood sugar.
You can achieve this by resetting your metabolism of sugar and insulin.
To do this you have to eliminate the things that are knocking you out of balance, and provide your body the things it needs to reestablish optimal balance and thrive.
Here is what to do:
- • Stop eating flour and sugar products, especially high-fructose corn syrup.
- • Don’t drink liquid calories in juice and soda. Your body doesn’t feel full from them, so you eat more all day.
- • Stop consuming all processed, junk, or packaged foods. If it doesn’t look like the food your great grandmother ate, stay away.
- • Stop eating trans or hydrogenated fats.
- • Slow the rate of sugar uptake from the gut by balancing your meals with healthy protein (nuts, seeds, beans, small wild fish, organic chicken), healthy carbs (vegetables, fruit, beans, whole grains), and healthy fats (olive oil, nuts and seeds, avocadoes, fish oil).
- • Eat plenty of soluble fiber (30 to 50 grams a day).
- • Eat smaller, more frequent meals.
- • Make your cells smarter by giving them an oil change with omega-3 fats, which help fix cell membranes so that they can more readily receive the messages from insulin.
- • Move your body: Exercise improves your cells’ ability to work better, respond to insulin better, and burn sugar faster.
- • Relax! Stress reduction also helps improve blood sugar control.
- • Make your cells more efficient by increasing specific nutrients, such as chromium, vanadium, magnesium, vitamin E, biotin, the B vitamins, zinc, bioflavonoids, and some newer compounds including alpha lipoic acid, arginine, and carnitine.
- • Herbs may also be of benefit. These include Panax ginseng, ginkgo biloba, green tea, fenugreek, gymnema sylvestre, bitter melon, and garlic.
Just balancing this one hormone — insulin — can have wide-ranging effects on all your other hormones and brain chemicals and is a great place to start on your path to vibrant health.
Just try these suggestions for 1 week and see how you feel — you may be shocked at how quickly your body can recover.
Now I’d like to hear from you …
What do you think can be done to cleanse our food supply of so much sugar?
Do you believe the corn industry’s ads on the safety of high-fructose corn syrup?
How can we protect our children from consuming massive amounts of sugar?
Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.
To your good health,
Mark Hyman, MD
What are your thoughts on coconut oil?
No I do not believe the corn industry ada on the safety of HFCS. What a butch of hooey.
We need to limit the amount of juice and sodas are children consume, as well as white flour, and other high glycemic index foods. Don’t buy sugary cereals. Just keep them out of your house.
I need help with breakfast ideas since I am allergic to eggs and milk protein. Any ideas?
My mother does eat this way and has for years and she still has insulin resistance. Are there other reasons behind this?
I suggest readers try really tasting high fructose corn syrup. Nothing will help you eliminate it from your diet faster! It tastes dreadful! I am not suggesting coke in your diet; however, if you can find Coca Cola made in Mexico with sugar and compare it to Coca Cola made in the US with corn syrup, you will be able to immediately discern the difference. Alternatively, you might compare vanilla ice cream made with sugar to one of the many brands made with corn syrup. The third option, is to just taste corn syrup from the bottle and compare it to honey or maple syrup. So, if you are going to splurge on something sweet, at least choose something that tastes satisfying!
Can hormone replacement therapy cure kidney disease? My kidney function is stable, but my urine protein has been increasing. Any other recommendations?
Thank you, Henry, for your message and your interest in Dr. Hyman’s work. Your question and constellation of symptoms represents a complex medical condition. Questions regarding conditions like these cannot be answered in a responsible manner via the Internet.
If you would like information on becoming a patient at The UltraWellness Center please see “How to Become a Patient” at http://www.ultrawellnesscenter.com. That site is designed to give prospective patients a comprehensive source of information about The UltraWellness Center. You may also feel free to call The UltraWellness Center at (413) 637 9991.
Regardless of becoming a patient at The UltraWellness Center, it sounds like you need to consult with a doctor. Please seek medical attention for the issues that you outlined in your message.
Wishing You the Best of Health!
Good article Dr. H. Thanks.
1. I don’t think anything can be done to cleanse the food supply of sugar because people are addicts and money is being made by greedy businesses. We have to, as individuals, stop purchasing junk food. But I doubt it will ever happen.
2. I do not believe the corn industry’s ads on the safety of hfcs for a minute. Wouldn’t be surprised if many do believe them but the type of people who read your articles will be smarter.
3. Feed your children at home with recipes made from scratch. If they don’t like fruit make fruit salads with berries and banans. Don’t give them candy or pop ever. Jamie Oliver has the answers.
People need to stop buying and consuming junk. They need to realize deeply that in order to feel whole and good they need to eat whole and good food. Food that is not processed, that doesn’t have a shelf-life and is full of additives. HFCS like partially hydrogenated oil is to be avoided if we want to be healthy. Of course, the industry that produces it would like us to believe it was healthy and no worse than sugar cane – they want to make money and will do what they can to do so. If it comes in a box, a package, wrapped up nice and pretty be sure to read the ingredients list and choose carefully with full knowledge of what you are putting in your mouth and that of your children. While it may seem convenient to buy ready-made dinners how convenient will the hospital stay and bill be later on? If your grandparents wouldn’t recognize the food, chances are, you should not be eating it. People need to get back to the basics and buy a variety of vegetables and fruit, fresh fish and organic meat, eggs, grass-fed beef and learn how to cook simple tasty dishes with herbs and spices that fill those who eat them with health and love.
i have Type 2 DM and have just started a 3/4 raw diet with only 1 cooked meal a day.i take turmeric and fenugreek twice a day-feel a little better but not better with eliminating meds-still trying!Thanks for your info!
Hi Dr. Hyman,
I plan on following you tips to rebalancing my system and will let you know how I feel after a week but have a question in the mean time. There appears to be two schools of thought on meal frequency: one that advocates frequent small meals and another that suggests ~3 larger meals a day. The less frequent plan is intended to be less stressful on your system and therefore it will promote a healthier system but you are advocating the more frequent, small meal option. Is there any reason, besides weight loss/maintenance that you advocate this plan? I personnally follow your plan as this is how I have always been and am more that way since I became a vegetarian.
What do you think can be done to cleanse our food supply of so much sugar? If the food and drug administration weren’t afraid of losing money, we wouldn’t be in this situation. We can simply take out so much sugar or just make foods more healthy by taking the time to make healthier products and foods.
Do you believe the corn industry’s ads on the safety of high-fructose corn syrup? no not for a minute, its actually disgusting how they insult our intelligence and don’t care about falsifying information.
How can we protect our children from consuming massive amounts of sugar?
Change their diets like I have. I buy wheat bread, buy distilled or purified water, eat more vegetables ( organic when I am working or can afford it), I hardly ever eat beef ( maybe once every 2 months), I am not perfect but my body does feel better. I take herbs. I was diagnosed with diabetes about 6 months ago. I immediately started research on herbs for it. I found something to take before eating food and something to clean my pancreas that would also get it back to functioning on its own. Now I feel great and I don’t need medications. Mandanapalas.com is where I found the herbs (diabetguard and triphala). The site is from India but it is great.
I think Dr. Hyman has hit the nail right on the head because I’ve made these changes and I’m so much healthier and happier. I believe the FDA is owned by the government and they feed us foods full of sugar, salt, artificial preservatives and flavors and have recently added a new one in the form of natural flavor. There is absolutely nothing healthy in natural flavor. Its actually flavors made from man made chemicals instead of synthetic chemicals. When ever we’re ingesting any chemicals, they are dangerous to our health and the way our body’s live and function. The government is very happy with us eating these nasty, unhealthy products so we end up at the doctor and on multiple prescription medications. Eventually we’re all hooked on fast food because it’s so addictive. Before we know it we need prescription drugs to try and fix our unhealthy problems and more surgeries over time. Then before we know it we need more of the prescription drugs to counter act the ones we’re taking which are causing other multiple problems. If people do not see any common ground, you are in denial!! Junk food is extremely addictive and attacks all of our bodies a little bit differently. If you grow and eat your food or purchase it from a local organic farm, stop eating anything processed and drink plenty of water, you’ll definitely see a complete change in the way your body, mind and soul react. Make this change for yourself now. This is the most important thing you can do for yourself today!! Its all so very simple.
Hey, a link to this was posted on a friend’s Facebook page…
And I found that your eating/lifestyle recommendations are pretty much what I’m doing already (thanks to the help of a local private practicing nutritionist) — so encouraging!!
I can personally a-test that consuming ample amounts of soluble fiber each day, as well as protein (in small portions throughout the day), and the avoidance of processed foods and sugar has been instrumental in resolving chronic issues such as:
Head aches
Sinus infections
Irritability
Nausea
Anxiety
I still have some other health issues I’m working on resolving, and I believe eating as I have been is what is making all of this attainable!!
Dr. Hyman ~ THANK YOU for always being a pro-active and caring Doc.
These are very do-able tips for all range of people. Keeping in mind that we are better at little steps than the big leaps. Much gratitude.
I have been pleased with eating chia and have a new company that specializes in this wonderful nutrient dense miracle seed. It really keeps it simple.
After a recent trip to the grocery store, where I saw a local hospital dietician giving a group of patients a tour of the Nabisco aisle, explaining that low sodium and reduced fat options are the right choices, it became very clear to me: as long as mainstream nutritionists and dieticians are preaching USDA/FDA standards, our nation’s health problems will only escalate. Need I mention this dietician herself was thick around the middle?
I believe the corn industry’s ads claiming HFCS is safe are unconscionably, purposefully misleading and should be illegal.
We have been very fortunate that our children’s school has no hot lunch program and no vending machines. The brown bag is a good way for parents to stay in control. If funding for schools is a top priority, schools will not invite soda manufacturers to vend on campus in the first place. Those machines are there because people don’t want to pay higher taxes.
Question for Dr Hyman and staff: considering the human diet at one point did not include much grain if any, is grain truly a necessary element of the human diet?
Hi Jennifer, thank you for your message. That’s disturbing about the grocery store, this is why we have to take charge of our own diets. Grain is not necessary, but whole grains are healthy for you. Unless one has an allergy to them they are a good part of your diet.
Wishing you health!
Great article, a few questions though:
1) How much is too much sugar, flour, white rice, etc? It is impossible to never eat out again or not have cake at a wedding or birthday party. Is there an amount (a few bites, one slice, etc) that the body can handle without totally spinning it out of control? Is there a supplement one can take before an event to slow the absorption of such substances (like glucomannan or apple pectin)?
2) Now that HFCS has been “outed”, I’m seeing all different kinds of sugars on labels (cane, palm, beet, etc). Are any of these other sugars better or ok, or are they just as bad for our insulin response?
3) You list a few nutrients and herbs above that can help with insulin resistance, can they all be found in one of the supplement kits on your site?
Been battling the imbalance for 30 years. Little to no carbs, lots of nuts, fruit and colorful vegies. (and a large contingent of supplements, all from reputable sources such as LEF.org) Still, I have a gut that will not go away and a general dis-ease having low energy and an accumulating fog. Am doing better than my siblings and (deceased) parents but would love to have a few really good years before I go to be with my Creator.
Sugar level refuses to drop below 100 even on a 5 day water fast. Never could figure that one. Last few years have brought carbuncles on the neck and scalp. Several holistic Drs had no clue. At this point I want to get better or move on as I am tired….. Rat poison is starting to look good to me.
Have traveled far and wide to visit the gurus of holistic health and spent way too much money to no avail on supplements, waters, ointments, unguents, ozone, infrared and you name it……. and i’ll be 58 next month!
Hi,
You mention taking out flour and sugar products. However, in your Staff Recommendations section you recommend gluten-free bread products from Ener-gy and Sami’s bakery. These are flour/sugar products right? They contain rice flour, tapioca flour and refined fruit sugars/syrups. Can you clarify if you actually recommend these products or if they’re just better substitutes for wheat/cane sugar products?
Hi Laura, thank you for your comment. These breads are healthy alternatives for people who like to eat bread.
Wishing You the Best of Health!
i have had vitlligo since I was 5. Now 44. Four years ago diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder (celiac Sprue). Obviously been having an autoimmune disorder since 5 and not even knowing it. Now have Hoshimoto, hyperplasia, low RDC, taking b-12 injections… when is it going to stop??? How can I stop the distruction of my body. I eat clean, exercise, but am being defeated by this disease. Help!!! I want to live!!
Hello! I have major hot flashes every hour to where I sweat from head to toe, turn red all over, and my heart starts pumping heavily for about three minutes. Then I get cold and have the jitters. I am 53 and am on Armour Thyroid. I also take vitamins and exercise about 2-3 x per week. I think I might have gluten sensitivities. I am just trying to get healthy. What are your thoughts?
Hi Tresia,
Thank you for sharing your health concerns. We can see how upset these symptoms could make someone and we hope you receive the proper care soon! Yes, gluten is always a great food to avoid as it may potentially aggravate and promote inflammation in your body, disturbing hormone balance. However there might be more to the story and we would advise you to work with a functional med provider to receive the appropriate care necessary and balance your hormones. To locate a doctor who practices functional medicine like Dr. Hyman, go to http://www.functionalmedicine.org and scroll down to where it says “locate a practitioner” and enter your zip. Progress accordingly from there.
As far as diet, ensure you are off caffeine, alcohol, refined sugars, food allergies (such as gluten! corn, dairy, soy, yeast etc. might be an issue too) and inlcude foods with HIGH amounts of fiber in every meal. Try to strive for 35g or more daily. While this sounds like a lot it can be easily achieved by focusing on eating a lot of nuts, SEEDS (chia, flax and hemp are great!), green veggies, cruciferous veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, bok choy, kale etc.), whole grains in moderation (brown rice, quinoa, amaranth, teff, millet etc.) and fresh fruit (wild blueberries, apples and other lower glycemic fruit preferred.)
Take some flax seed oil (2-3 tsp) and fish oil( 1-2g/d) (pure, high quality!) which can also help with the hot flashes and ease some of the hormone discord.
Of course, it is always prudent to speak with your medical provider before starting or stopping any medical care plan, including supplements. We hope you find some relief soon!
In good health,
Lizzy
I started raising my own New Hampshire Red chickens and two pecking ducks last March 2011. I eat fresh eggs every morning and since I can’t afford to buy meat I sometime eat 2 eggs, three times a day. I eat all kinds of beans, lentils, peas with my meals everyday, I grow my own summer and winter squahes and I enjoy Acorn, Butternut, Buttercup and Tennessee Sweet Potatoe squash now all winter long. All four are from 4 different species so they will not cross pollinate with each other. the Acorn will cross pollinate with summer squash, pumpkins and gourds if they are c. pepo, so that is a problem. I may just stick with the other three, so I can have my dark green zuchinni too. I also bought an Excalibur dyhrator and dried tomatoes, zuchinni, watermelon (sweet and chewy candy, yummm), etc and I snack on the dried veggis in between meals to help curve the sweet cravings. I find that parasitic cleanses help to detox the body and I now am using Dandyblend herbal beverage, which is a coffee substitute, (I haven’t had coffee in a long time as it causes pancreas relapses), and it is a dandilion and Chickory root blend and it cleanses the kidneys and organs, etc. I also use natural supplements to replenish what my immune comprimised system cannot absorb. I need a rooster so I can have fertile eggs for meat chickens too. Some of my hens are quite large. Is is worth the money I spend on feed to have fresh eggs. I also dehydrated 9 dozen eggs with their yolks so I can use the powder for egg drop soup and baking needs. The egg production slows down in the winter and speeds up in the spring and summer. I am on a limited income so It is hard for me to buy fresh fruits and organic foods. I did have fresh sugar baby watermelons three times a day up to around october and november which also is a good cleansing fruit. I planted the melons in 4 or 5 different beds, at different times so I would have melons longer than the usual harvest times. Well, that is just the beginning. I want to raise Nigerian Dairy goats too, for health goats milk and I also make cream cheese from milk, using kefir grains. the Whey can be used in the garden too, using 2 cups of whey per 1 gallon of water.
Dandyblend herbal beverage is Gluten and Caffaine free, which is why I decided to try it. It has Rye and Barlet grain in it but the way it is processed, removes the Gluten.
first, thanks for the article. I’m hoping I can start eating right again by the end of this week.
second, I think the US government and the lobbyists, Congress, and big business in this country do not give a hoot about citizens anymore. they worship the god called profit. I don’t even have trust left for the AMA which is really quite sad, isn’t it?! they are allowing GMO’s in our food – and insects – as well as allowing foods that contain GMO’s to be secret from consumers. Not to mention the corn subsidies and whatever-else is going on behind our backs. Nope, I do not trust any big organizations, corporations or government in the United States at all anymore.
I would absolutely move to Europe or Canada if I could.
I eat a very healthy diet with no processed sugar and rarely any healthy sugars. I eat organic, whole foods and drink no caffeine or alcohol. I do moderate daily exercise. I avoid all allergenic foods and have brought my c-reactive protein down into normal range. However, I have belly fat, unstable blood sugar, panic at night, pulsing in my body (cortisol) depression and anxiety and now my triglycerides are high. I do have some chronic stress and possible environmental toxins in my body. Can stress and or toxins be the culprit when my diet is so good? I am so frustrated that I feel so poorly when my diet and lifestyle are so healthy.
I have been asking question about my Thyriod problem and haven’t received any answers. My gland was removed. I would like to know what kind of vitamins I can take. And I would like to know if i can take the B6 and B12 shoots. I experenice leg and muscle pain. I have asked my doctors and they want to say that I have arthritis. I really don’t want no second quest answers I really need to know since I have to deal with this problem. And I so have problems with my hair texture. I hope someone can answer my question please.
Hi Clorice,
We are glad to hear from you and sorry your question was not addressed earlier. For immediate attention on your personal health queries you will need to either check out:
1. Functional medicine providers like Dr. Hyman, go to http://www.functionalmedicine.org and scroll down to where it says “locate a practitioner” and enter your zip. Progress accordingly from there.
2. One of our qualified nutritionists: http://store.drhyman.com/Store/List/Coaching-Programs
3. http://store.drhyman.com/Store/List/UltraThyroid
4. http://drhyman.com/a-7-step-plan-to-boost-your-low-thyroid-and-metabolis-776/
In good health
Lizzy
Hi Dr. Hyman – I am always hungry and eat small meals all day. Also gluten intolerant and live on sweet pototoes, brown rice, turkey burgers but I miss my bread and want to know what I can have for a snack at 4PM. I always eat graham crackers, but they have sugar in them – Would rice cakes and almond butter be a better choice. I am also post menapausal for ll years not overweight, but always fatigued. please help me with some ideas. thanks patty
Hi Patty,
Thank you for sharing your concerne re: snacks. Yes! Try rice cakes with almond butter and see if that helps. The graham crackers most likely have gluten in them so they will not be of much help. But not to despair, there are plenty of healthy snack options available! You can make or purchase raw nut/granola bars. These are a great snack made from gluten free whole grains such as millet or amaranth or puffed brown rice, raw nuts like almonnds, pecans, brazil nuts and pumpkin seeds and a bit of honey. You can mix altogether and bake at a low temp, slice in bars and take for an on the snack or in raw state, roll into balls and have cookies! Other ideas, avocado and lemon on seaweed snacks (good for your thyroid!), rice crackers with tapenade and veggies, gluten free toast with avocado or almond butter, sardines on crackers, a mini meal (think about what you would have for lunch and make a small version or keep half of your lunch and eat it around 3-4pm)
Whatever you do it is important that your afternoon meal has some protein in it to stabalize blood sugar and keep you satiated for the next few hours before dinner time! This is why we call it a meal, not just a snack!
In good health
Lizzy