Is shock therapy the answer to “cure” obesity?

10. August 2014 Lisa G (0)
The next obesity “fix” may be hitting the market known as "VBLOC therapy”.  This implanted device delivers intermittent electrical "blocking signals" to the intra-abdominal vagus nerve.  According to the manufacturer, the device "reduces sensations of hunger and produces satiety leading to weight loss.”

Seems to me like another classic case of conventional healthcare proposing surgery or medications to address the obesity epidemic. Pharmacologic treatment and bariatric surgery have been offered for years to win the battle of the bulge.  As a registered dietitian, who years ago begrudgingly counseled patients prior to undergoing bariatric surgery, I have seen countless people re-gaining all (if not more) of the weight lost after the first year of surgery. Same goes for pharmalogical interventions, such as Phentermine.  Sure it worked in the short-term.  But in every single case, when the medication was stopped, as it is not FDA approved for long-term use, the weight came creeping back.

My take on the releasing a significant amount of weight does not require going under the knife.  How about this instead? Address the cause of increase hunger and appetite.  This is a crucial missing link for many undergoing surgery or using medication(s) as a “solution”.  Not addressing the cause of increased hunger and ravenous eating behaviors precipitously results in rebound weight gain.  Rather than sending an electrical pulse to a nerve in the stomach, maybe the FDA should consider a Cureality-based nutrition program that is wildly successful stimulating a “side effect” of weight loss.  Wheat elimination offers a surgery-free option that reduces hunger and insistent drive to eat every few hours, thanks to freedom from gliadin driven appetite stimulation.  Weight loss is common experience due to reduced hunger and subsequent intake. Give it a try.  What else do you have to lose, but some love handles?

--Lisa Grudzielanek, MS,RDN,CD CDE
Cureality Nutrition & Health Coach

Are Your Beauty Products Toxic?

10. August 2014 Lisa G (0)
As a nutritionist and self-care advocate, I am very careful about what I put in my body.  Health benefits experienced through proper nutrition are well understood.  We avoid highly processed foods, wheat-based products, and sugary snacks because we know that are “unhealthy” for us.  But what about what we put on our skin?

An important piece of the health and wellness puzzle is not only what is on the end of our fork but on our toothbrush, slapped on our bodies and rubbed into our hair.  Skin is the largest organ and what we place on it on a daily basis penetrates the skin, enters the fat stores and contributes to the toxicity and adiposity of our bodies.  According to the Environmental Working Group, the average woman uses 12 beauty products per day, containing about 168 ingredients.  Yikes!

I’ve often held a high suspicious that endocrine disruptors such as parabens, triclosan, fragrance, and other punitive chemicals are a key suspect in the root cause of my endocrine disruption.  Interestingly, scientific evidence is now emerging to support this suspicion.

A few months back, I took a look at my hair, skin, and cosmetic products. I was shocked and horrified.  Parabens, an estrogen-mimicking preservative linked with endocrine disruption, was in dozens of products.  It reminded me of how I felt on that day years ago when I threw out all the products in my kitchen that contained wheat.  What are parabens not in?  Why was it in so many products?

In our next episode of Cureality Connections we will discuss key skin and beauty product chemicals to avoid along with other steps to take to attain beauty from within.

--Lisa Grudzielanek MS, RDN, CD, CDE

Top 3 Strength Training Exercises for Runners

28. July 2014 Amber B (0)
First and foremost, if you’re a runner and you’re not strength training you need to start.  This in and of itself could be an entire blog article.  But here I go with the synopsis. 

Strength training will indirectly help you run longer and faster.  Strength training exercises can improve your running mechanics, so that you run more efficiently.  Efficient running mechanics will lead to less wasted energy with each step and less injuries. 

Think about it.  You will take 80 to 90 steps per foot each minute you run.  If you have muscular imbalances that lead to joint mobility or stability issues you will move through an improper range of motion with each step. 

When you run for 30 minutes you take 2700 steps with each foot for a combined 5400 steps.  That could be 5400 steps of feet rolling in, rounded shoulders, wasted side to side movement or just pure pain.  Needless to say, when you are an endurance athlete it’s important that each step and every workout is adding to improved performance not to injury or fatigue.

The key to becoming a better runner is consistency.  For most runners, injuries are the biggest disrupter of consistent training.  Runners get a few good weeks or months of training, and then they are injured.   That means time off, loss of motivation, and a decrease in fitness. 

Strength training with proper form 2 to 3 times a week will reduce the onset of injuries and improve your running form.  Here are my top 3 strength training exercises for runners. 

Bulgarian Split Squat

You will need a bench, chair or stepper to perform this exercise.  Start by doing this exercise with just body weight and then progress.  The progression could include holding dumbbells, kettlebells or a barbell.  You can also make this exercise explosive. 




 
  • Place the to top of your back foot on.  If you are having a hard time with balance, flex your back toes and place them on the bench.   
  • Stand in a staggered stance about 2 to 3 feet wide.  This should allow your knee to bend while keeping your knees behind your front toes. 
  • Inhale as you begin to bend both knees. 
  • Focus on your back knee pointing straight down toward the ground and your body weight in your front heel.   
  • Keep your front kneecap inline with the 3rd toe of the front foot. 
  • Exhale as you straighten both knees to come back up to standing.  
Start with 10 repetitions on each leg and progress to 15. 

Calf Lowers

Use a stair or a stepper to perform this exercise.  Start by doing this exercise with just body weight.  The progression would include holding a dumbbell in one hand. 


 


  • Place the ball of your foot on the stair while holding on to the wall or railing.   
  • Rise up on the ball of your foot as high as your heel will go.  Make sure you have weight evenly distributed on all of your toes and that you are not rolling onto one side of your foot. 
  • Slowly, lower you heel back to the starting position.  Try counting 3 to 5 slow counts to ensure you really focus on lowering part of the movement.   
Do 10 reputations on each foot to start.  Work up to doing 20 reputations on each foot. 

Band or Cable Row

How many runners do you see hunched over logging long miles.  This exercise is for improved running posture, which can lead to improved respiration. 

To perform this exercise, use a band or a cable.  This exercise can be done with both arms or with just one arm. 





  • Stand in a staggered stance with relaxed knees.  Make sure your ribs on stacked on top of your hips to ensure good posture. 
  • Grab the handles of the band or the cable in the thumbs up position. 
  • Start the movement by protracting the shoulder blades.
  • Then bend the elbows straight back so that your biceps are close to your rib care.  Keep  your knuckles forward. 
  • To release, begin to straighten your elbows and bring your shoulders back to the starting position. 
Start with 10 repitions and work up to 20.  To increase difficulty, use a more difficult band or more weight on the cable system. 

Here’s to improving your running mechanics so that you can train more consistently.  Can’t wait to hear about the PR at your next race. 

How did Cureality get its start?

27. July 2014 William Davis (0)



In the Cureality program, we embrace information and strategies that empower you in health without drugs, without hospitals, without procedures. We convert your doctor from director of healthcare to your assistant in health. He or she is there when you need help, but you largely direct your own health future.

How did we gain the know-how, information, tools, even chutzpah to take on such an ambitious project?

It started around 10 years ago with the awkwardly named Track Your Plaque program. In fact, some of the current followers of the Cureality program are former Track Your Plaque members, having learned of the wonderful list of strategies that can be adopted to gain better control over, even reverse, coronary atherosclerotic plaque and risk for heart attack. They also learned that something special happens when you engage with other people with similar interests, all sharing ideas, insights, and resources to get the self-directed health job done. Over time, what started out as simply a source of better information for coronary health evolved into a self-directed coronary disease management program. We never set out to create something as wildly ambitious as a do-it-yourself-at-home coronary disease risk management program, but that is how it inadvertently turned out.

How we went from Information Provider to Health Empowerment Program

So we never intended to take on something so seemingly impossible as managing coronary risk on your own. But, because we armed people with such empowering, profound insights into better ways to manage their heart disease risk beyond “don’t smoke, cut saturated fat, be active, and take a statin drug”—the typical advice offered by doctors—they returned after an interaction with their doctors disappointed: doctors often declared such strategies unnecessary, or the doctor didn’t understand them—even when there were clear-cut clinical data already available to support their use. In other words, the patients—everyday people, not experts—knew more than their doctors. 

This flip-flop in the balance of knowledge made for some very interesting stories, like “Harold” (not his real name) who, having survived a heart attack and received a stent, was told by his doctor to cut his fat intake, eat more whole grains, exercise, take aspirin and a beta blocker drug, and reduce his cholesterol values with a statin drug. Upon learning all the additional information from the Track Your Plaque program, Harold returned to his doctor and asked “I’m not so ready to just go along with this idea of ‘reducing cholesterol’ to address heart disease risk. Because my goal is to gain as much control over coronary disease as possible, maybe even reverse it, I’d like to address some additional issues that I believe may be important. I’d like to have my advanced lipoproteins drawn to measure the proportion of small LDL particles I have, whether I have lipoprotein(a), an omega-3 fatty acid index and 25-hydroxy vitamin D level, and a thyroid assessment. Oh, and I believe I should also have an assessment of my inflammation status, perhaps a c-reactive protein and phospholipase A2, and my blood sugar status measured with a fasting glucose, insulin, and hemoglobin A1c.” Harold’s doctor was dumbfounded and speechless. Rather than reveal his ignorance, his doctor advised Harold that none of that was necessary, sending him on his way and telling him that he was fine.

But this left Harold with a sour taste in his mouth, having engaged in many online discussions with people who had followed conventional advice that resulted in more heart attack, more heart procedures—the conventional answers simply did not work. He also discussed his situation with people who had successfully obtained the additional information he sought, added it to their program and enjoyed dramatically improved health, including freedom from more heart attacks, heart symptoms, and heart procedures, as well as improved overall health. So Harold found an easy way to obtain the testing on his own. Within a couple of weeks, he returned to his online community and shared all his information. Within moments, he was provided useful discussion to help him understand the values, all leading to changes in nutrition, nutritional supplement choices, how and where to get the simple tools necessary, such as iodine and vitamin D supplements. He even entered his data, choosing which values he was willing to share with others, which remained private, allowing him to compare his own follow-up values several months later. Engaged in this process, self-directed but collaborative, he witnessed marked transformations in his health. Not only did he never again—over several years—ever re-develop heart symptoms nor require any more trips back to the cath lab, he lost weight, reversed a pre-diabetic sugar profile, improved his cholesterol values without drugs, got rid of the acid reflux symptoms he endured for many years, dropped his blood pressure to normal, enjoyed better mood, energy, and sleep. Slender, healthier, all accomplished without his doctor. 

Harold returned to his doctor for a routine follow-up. Slender, energetic, without complaints, on no drugs except the aspirin for his stent, the basic laboratory assessment his doctor ordered in front of him, his doctor admitted,” Well, I don’t know how you’re doing it, but these values look like a 20-year old substituted his blood for yours. They’re unbelievable. What drugs are you taking to do this?” “No drugs,” Harold replied, “I’m following a program to reverse heart disease, but it means doing some things that are different from conventional solutions.” His doctor closed their meeting with the signature response of doctors nationwide: “Well, I don’t understand what you are doing, but just keep doing it.”

Yes, Harold knew more about how to control heart disease than his doctor, more than his cardiologist. The cardiologist knew how to insert a stent or defibrillator. But deliver information that empowered Harold in all aspects of health from head to toe, while also dramatically reducing, perhaps eliminating, his coronary disease risk? As you now know, that is not what conventional healthcare does, nor is it interested in doing so, as it would relinquish control and threaten to cut off this hugely profitable revenue stream that drives “healthcare.”

Having managed to inadvertently create a self-directed coronary risk management program with such spectacular results and in probably one of the most difficult areas of all—heart disease—it became clear that a similar approach could be even more easily applied to many other areas of health, such as weight loss, bone health, cholesterol and blood pressure issues, diabetes and pre-diabetes, hormonal health, autoimmune conditions, and others. You can do it when empowered by safe, effective information, and supported by a community of sharing and collaboration. We don’t fire our doctors; they are there when we need them when, for instance, we get injured or catch pneumonia, or as an occasional resource. But doctors should no longer be able to get away with neglect, misinformation, or blindly directing you to the next revenue-generating procedure because you are empowered by the information and support you receive in Cureality.

As we get more effective in delivering this information and new tools to you, just imagine what we can accomplish in this new age of information and self-empowerment. The future for us is bright with ambitions for better interactive tools with Cureality expert staff, better ways to crowd source health answers, provide more engaging community conversation, all while the health insights that help accomplish our self-directed health goals get better and better. Each person that joins Cureality helps make this service more effective because your wisdom, insights, and experience are added to the collective knowledge. We are more powerful together than we are as individuals.

If you are already a Cureality Member, please add your comments and questions to the growing conversation. If you are not a Member, consider joining our discussions, as each new voice gets us closer and closer to better answers to take back control over health.

Sit Less and Move More.

21. July 2014 Amber B (0)


We sit way too much. Many of us have desk jobs where we sit for 8 to 9 hours a day. After we leave the office, we sit in our car to run errands. We follow that by sitting down to eat dinner. Our day ends by sitting on the couch to unwind by watching some television.

Many of us will be sitting a good 12 to 15 hours each and every day. Unfortunately the research shows that long hours of sitting can lead to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and even early death. Don’t be fooled that your workout is enough movement. You can still be active and sedentary.

How can you add more movement to your day? First, think about all the times you find yourself sitting during the day. Then come up with a creative way that you can get out of the seat and move your feet.

Here are a couple of examples:

Instead of driving everywhere, jump on your bike. The picture above is of the bike I use to go to work or run errands. Bike riding is great exercise, greener transportation and a great stress relief.

We spend a lot of time at work sitting in front of the computer or the phone. Prop your laptop on a bookshelf to create a standing workstation. You can also purchase a sit-stand workstation you can adjust throughout the day. Get a headset and stand during phone calls.

Walk during your lunch break. Walk to the coffee shop, the mailbox, and the dry cleaners. Get your errands done on foot or just enjoy a stroll outside.

Take a movement break every hour. Do some desk push-ups, squats or walk the stairs. Need to communicate with a coworker? Don't email, walk over and talk to them.

Human beings are meant to move, not sit in chairs all day. I want to challenge you to incorporate more movement into your day. I'd love to read your comments how you move more and sit less.

Have You Had Your Prebiotics Today?

11. July 2014 Lisa G (0)


Prebiotics and resistant starch may be the missing link to your digestive health. Indigestible fibers that allow healthy bowel flora to proliferate and thrive are often called prebiotics. They are also known as resistant starches, because they are resistant to human digestion. I recently had a client call the addition of resistance starch to her diet, “the missing link my body needed”.

A starch that resists digestion and reaches the large intestine becomes food for the healthy bacteria in the large intestine. These bacteria can break down and “feed on” the resistant starch thus providing the friendly bacteria with the fuel they need to survive.

Imbalance of the quantity and type of bacteria species present in the gut contributes to gastrointestinal illness, blood sugar imbalance, obesity, mood disorders, and immune system challenges.

Green unripe bananas and plantains are one of best sources for prebiotic fiber content with 27 to 30 grams of fiber in one medium banana. Green bananas are essentially inedible. They are most easily incorporated into diet by blending into a smoothie.

One mistake frequently made incorporating prebiotic fibers from bananas is consuming bananas that are too ripe. Once the banana ripens the resistant starch is degraded and become a digestible starch. Thus, no longer a good prebiotic fiber source. In fact, the riper the banana becomes the higher the glycemic (blood sugar) response.

It can be difficult to find bananas that are very green. I made several trips to my local grocery store to find these bowel flora champions. I find it helpful to ask the produce clerk to take a look at the shipment that just arrived, noting the day the shipment arrives, for the best chance to gobble up these green beauties.

In an effort to keep green bananas green I tried a few strategies. One that sounded promising was wrapping the end of the banana to prevent the ethylene gas, which ripens the fruit, from dissipating. You can see from the image this clearly did not work. After a mere two days the green bananas were no longer green. What I found works best is placing the green bananas in the fridge. This halts the ripening process. The skin of the banana will turn brown, which is normal, but the fruit inside is still good. I’ve kept bananas in my fridge for up to 8 days and they hold up well other than the brownish black discoloring that develops on the skin. The banana will be firm and require a knife to cut the skin off the banana.

If you’d like to learn more about prebiotics and strategies to support resolution of common gastrointestinal complaints read the recently release Cureality Guide to Healthy Bowel Flora by Dr. Davis. This guide is one of the many valuable resources available exclusively to Cureality.com members.
---Lisa Grudzielanek, MS, RDN,CD,CDE
Cureality Nutrition Specialist

Something is Better Than Nothing

2. July 2014 Amber B (0)


This past weekend I attended a fitness conference with an amazing lineup of presenters. Even after 11 years in the fitness industry, I love attending these events. I’m a lifetime student always learning more and honing my craft.

I went to a presentation by Al Vermeil about joint mobility, not knowing anything about him. To my surprise, Al was the strength and conditioning coach for the Chicago Bulls and the San Francisco 49ers the years these teams won championships in their respective sports. That’s a pretty impressive resume.

Al was a great presenter, full of fun and practical advice. During his presentation, Al said the following statement:

“Every time you miss a workout, the next one is easier to miss.”

This statement really hit home because I’ve seen this time and time again working in the fitness industry and in my own life. One workout is missed, then an entire week of workouts are missed, then it’s been an entire month of never setting foot back into the gym.

It’s easy to get thrown off your workout routine when life gets busy and days get long. So what do you do? Do you just trash your workout plan?

The all or nothing attitude is common when it comes to making health changes. Either you’re following your plan 100% or you not. I’m here to tell you that doing something is better than nothing. Doing part of your workout or a mini workout is better than missing an entire workout.

The other day I had the choice to do something or nothing. I had a full day of work meetings, video, and family commitments. Here is what happened. I did shorter variation of my joint mobility routine. I followed that with a quick kettlebell circuit of 25 kettlebell swings, 12 kettlebell overhead presses, and 12 kettlebell goblet squats. I did three rounds of this circuit. That’s it! The following day, I got back to my regular exercise routine.

Be consistent with movement and you’ll always see improvements. That’s the magic of exercise. You'll get better if you just do it.

What’s the Problem with My “Healthy” Bowl of Oatmeal?

26. June 2014 Lisa G Nutrition, Oatmeal (0)


Food manufacturers have clever ways to market foods to us. Unfortunately, many foods that have a reputation for being healthy are no more than junk food disguised as a healthy food choice. I commonly see people under the influence of a “health halo” effect. This is due to strategic marketing efforts. People overestimate the nutritional value of a food that is labeled “good for you” or they underestimate the negative impact of a food because it contains a healthful ingredient, like flaxseed or fiber. In fact, a recent study from the University of Houston found that terms on food labels such as antioxidants, all-natural, and gluten-free often are used to give an otherwise standard food a "healthy" halo, and influence consumption from the well- intended consumer.

Case in point-- oatmeal. We’ve all heard about the cholesterol lower benefits from soluble fiber contained in oatmeal. It’s blasted all over packages with a paid endorsement from The American Heart Association. However, that’s not the whole story. Most people enjoy a cup of oatmeal with one to two tablespoons of added sugar and fruit such as a ripe, yellow banana. In other words, let’s enjoy a bowl of “send my blood sugar through the roof” high glycemic oatmeal. The glycemic index of oatmeal is 55, and instant oatmeal is 83. Top that with more table sugar, glycemic index 58-65 and better yet top that with a high glycemic, ripe banana with a GI of 62.

Preparing one packet of regular instant oatmeal with one tablespoon of sugar and a medium ripe banana five days per week would result in the sugar equivalent of more than 5 1/2 cups of sugar per month!

Furthermore, the story many Americans are missing is all of that sugar intake, from their so-called “healthy” bowl of oatmeal, actually raises small-dense LDL cholesterol particles, increases blood sugar and contributes to insulin resistance, faulty gut flora, and belly fat.

How do we improve upon our bowl of oatmeal? Enjoy a bowl of hot coconut flaxseed cereal, eggs any variety of ways, or last night’s leftover salmon and vegetables.

The Cureality program provides tools, guidance, and support that does not follow the party line but rather offers nutrition solutions that address the underlying causes for proliferation of many chronic diseases.

Power in Numbers

25. June 2014 William Davis (0)


In his book, The Wisdom of Crowds, author James Surowiecki begins with the story of an ox judging competition in which 800 people—not ox experts nor breeders, just ordinary people attending a county fair—were asked to guess the weight of the ox. The competition was conducted by a scientist, Francis Galton, who held a low opinion of the intelligence of the average person, remarking that “the stupidity and wrong-headedness of many men and women being so great as to be scarcely credible.” He hoped to prove, by examining the various guesses, that the average person had no idea of how to judge the real answer. After all participants casted their written votes, Galton tallied up the total and averaged the result: 1,197 pounds—just one pound off from the real weight of 1,198 pounds. Few individuals actually guessed the correct weight themselves but, when the opinions of many were combined, the result was near-perfect.

Crowds can also be a source of irrational behavior, panic, and stampede. Witness any modern football or soccer game, for instance, in which fights break out over an issue as minor as a disputed call or a heckle. Or go back through history to the countless events when mass hysteria ruled, such as the Salem Witch Trials or Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds radio broadcast.

Let’s put aside examples of mass emotional chaos of the sort that causes crowds to stampede store doors on Black Friday. Let’s focus instead on conscious, considered, thoughtful opinions. We all accept that there are as many opinions on issues as there are people, not uncommonly with widely divergent views. But can we, as Galton’s famous experiment did, combine the opinions of many and come away with some fruitful insight—the correct answer? Just as the people participating in Galton’s experiment were not experts, so Cureality participants—a crowd-sourced collection of opinions—are not experts. If we were to poll everyone to identify their area of expertise or experience, it would likely include finance, the retail industry, raising children, or teaching—but not health. Yes, we have experts curating the direction of content, but we also crowd-source collective opinion.

Right now, Cureality is based on existing science, the philosophy of self-directed health, combined with guidance and community to help the participant along in the sometimes complex world of health questions. But as our processes and procedures improve, can we—like Galton’s ox weight guessers—come away with coalescent wisdom, answers to our health questions, near-perfect solutions to health conditions that have eluded the “experts” for centuries?

I think that we can. No, I know that we can. We enter a new age in information and harness the power of the crowd-sourcing of solutions, even when no single individual has the complete answer herself.

Use This Trick to Boost Exercise Motivation

23. June 2014 Amber B (0)


Are you been struggling to get your workouts in? 

Do you belong to a gym and find that you're not going?

Do you have exercise equipment sitting in your basement collecting dust because you find that you just can’t get yourself down there?

If you answered, “yes” to any of these questions you are not alone. Many people struggle with finding the motivation to exercise.

The problem here is that you have head trash going on. Head trash is that voice inside your head coming up with a million excuses that inhibit you from carving out a bit of time to take care of yourself.

Head trash will tell you that you’re too tired, even though a workout would give you a boost of energy.

Head trash will tell you that you’re too busy, even though you just spent a half hour on Facebook.

Head trash is barking at you to take care of others, even thought you know your health is important for you well being.

Head trash is a real conflict that can get in the way of our health and fitness goals. We start an exercise program with the intentions of a long-term commitment. But after the initial excitement wears off, we find our workouts occurring less frequently. Head trash begins to take over and soon we find ourselves not exercising at all.

Here is my secret for winning the battle over the head trash that keeps getting in way of your workouts. Tell yourself that you are only going to exercise for 10 minutes and evaluate if you want to continue. If you're truly too tired you can stop after 10 minutes. If you're truly too busy you can stop and move onto a task that needs your attention.

Making this deal with your mind that you are only going to exercise for 10 minutes seems reasonable. The head trash will become quite because your mind is convinced it has an out within 10 minutes.

I've used this 10-minute trick myself. I grind through the first few minutes, but then the magic happens. Once you hit the 10-minute mark your body takes over. Exercise feels amazing and your body is energized and enjoying the movement. You have tricked your mind to get over the hurdle of starting and now you’re in the exercise groove.

Try the 10-minute trick next time your head trash is getting in the way of your workout. You'll be amazed how your workout consistency improves.

How far wrong can cholesterol be?

How far wrong can cholesterol be?

17. August 2011 William Davis (32)
Conventional thinking is that high LDL cholesterol causes heart disease. In this line of thinking, reducing cholesterol by cutting fat and taking statin drugs thereby reduces or eliminates risk for heart disease.

Here's an (extreme) example of just how far wrong this simpleminded way of thinking can take you. At age 63, Michael had been told for the last 20 years that he was in great health, including "perfect" cholesterol values of LDL 73 mg/dl, HDL 61 mg/dl, triglycerides 102 mg/dl, total cholesterol 144 mg/dl. "Your [total] cholesterol is way below 200. You're in great shape!" his doctor told him.

Being skeptical because of the heart disease in his family, had a CT heart scan. His coronary calcium score: 4390. Needless to say, this is high . . . extremely high.

Extremely high coronary calcium scores like this carry high likelihood of death and heart attack, as high as 15-20% per year. So Michael was on borrowed time. It was damn lucky he hadn't yet experienced any cardiovascular events.

That's when Michael found our Track Your Plaque program that showed him how to 1) identify the causes of the extensive coronary atherosclerosis signified by his high calcium score, then 2) correct the causes.

The solutions, Michael learned, are relatively simple:

--Omega-3 fatty acid supplementation at a dose sufficient to yield substantial reductions in heart attack.
--"Normalization" of vitamin D blood levels (We aim for a 25-hydroxy vitamin D level of 60-70 ng/ml)
--Iodine supplementation and thyroid normalization
--A diet in which all wheat products are eliminated--whole wheat, white, it makes no difference--followed by carbohydrate restriction.
--Identification and correction of all hidden causes of coronary plaque such as small LDL particles and lipoprotein(a)

Yes, indeed: The information and online tools for health can handily exceed the limited "wisdom" dispensed by John Q. Primary Care doctor.
Tags :

Comments (32) -

  • Jan

    8/17/2011 6:36:25 PM |

    Time to stop bashing primary care docs, doc. Online sites are full of B.S.
    Show me the evidence that testing with CAC improves outcomes (Sure it predicts risks, not the same as actually preventing disease, especially in those at lower risk of CAD.)

  • Might-o'chondri-AL

    8/17/2011 8:11:19 PM |

    Hi Jan,
    Since you accept plaque showing up as being a cardio-vascular risk factor then if Doc reports he has treated some patients whose measurement of plaque has diminished using his protocol would you also accept the proposition that those patients have reduced one of their cardio-vascular risk factors?
    If Doc has patient records showing diminished plaque and therefore one less risk might that not be considered preventative due to his patient following his protocol ?
    As for those individuals with hypothetically lower risk of CAD (ex: the 63 year old low cholesterol example Doc gave) are they not going to undergo changes as they age ?  
    A primary care physician is valuable and yet older westerners are increasingly engaging specialists for good reasons.  Doc has a self-professed specialty tracking plaque  that he wants to impart; sure, his blogging tone may not always be mellow.

  • Jan

    8/18/2011 2:52:13 AM |

    Dear Might,
    Your comment is akin to those who report the association of statin use with lowered risk of MI. A correlation does not prove causation until valid  scientific research confirms.
    How do we know treating CAC lowers risk of MI until a study proves this? Docs have been wild to accept the association of statin use lowering cholesterol components as the mechanism of effectiveness for prevention of MI, ignoring studies in which dietary measures that did the same were ineffective. Just pointing out the need for caution in going so far as to treat a test without evidence that the intervention is working on the test findings (rather than something else).
    Perhaps there are studies that are underway or perhaps the evidence, er association, is just considered too strong, (Bradford-Hill criteria) to ethically justify a trial. My concern is for individuals who score in the lower range of abnormal. At what cost do we label and treat those?

  • joel oosterlinck M.D.

    8/18/2011 9:21:42 AM |

    just remembret the lyon heart study, by  Renaud & de Lorgeril demonstrating the efficacy  of mediterranean diet in lowering the risk of recurrent MI in French patients. although cholesterol levels were higher with diet than with statins. Dietary measures seem there to demonstrate  efficacy

  • Dr. William Davis

    8/18/2011 12:15:43 PM |

    Not only is it NOT time to stop bashing primary care docs, but it's time to begin accepting that their role is outdated. In fact, an average nurse practitioner or physician's assistant can do an equal, if not better, job than most primary care physicians. How health care is dispensed is going to undergo dramatic transformation, just as the business of travel agents and real estate have been transformed by rapid information exchange.

    In our program, we see virtually NO heart attacks. Not a randomized clinical trial, but watching heart attacks drop from a weekly event to almost never is good enough for me to not accept the status quo and continue to work along a path that, from every indication, works exceptionally well.

  • JC

    8/18/2011 12:49:19 PM |

    If high crab diets are considered unhealthy then why do some cultures like the rural Chinese live long healthy lives on nearly 100% crabs,mostly rice and vegetables?

  • majkinetor

    8/18/2011 2:16:50 PM |

    Isn't the best thing for calcium on wrong places vitamin K2 ?
    In my country doctors even prescribe it for calcification issues.
    Dose is around 100mcg/day for 6-12 mo.

  • Marlene

    8/18/2011 4:06:07 PM |

    Read Gary Taubes' "Good Calories, Bad Calories" to find several instances of other cultures eating the typicial high carb food yet seemingly stay within the healthy range.

  • Jan

    8/18/2011 4:22:12 PM |

    Trust my care (or a family members care) to a NP or PA who does not have the capability of complex medical decision making - no thanks. NP's actually are complimentary to physicians with different skill sets. So glad to know your level of knowledge about them. PA's are nothing but junior medical students with enormous salaries. Working 9 to 5 - oh, yeah!

    I'm certain your referral network of primary care docs would be interested in your belief system.

  • Joe

    8/18/2011 4:49:51 PM |

    Dr. Davis:
    I don't know if you've seen this new video yet, but I think you'll want to.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vr-c8GeT34&feature=player_embedded
    If you do watch it, I have a question. This doctor thinks sugar (by itself) plays a huge role in causing plaque to rupture and cause heart attacks, etc. If after watching the video you agree with him, would you please tell me how (biologically) it does this?
    Thanks!

    Joe

  • Might-o'chondri-AL

    8/18/2011 8:51:08 PM |

    Hi Jan,
    True correlation does not necessarily equate to causation. As for statins, it seems that statins act to lessen inflammatory processes; and it is this dynamic, rather than numerically lowering cholesterol, that is a crucial way that statins correlate with reduced risk. Which, to me,  seems to further support Doc's contention here in this posting that  low cholesterol levels doesn't  tell one if they have abnormal plaque (ex: patient above with "exceedingly high" score) .

    I will accept Doc's data, as given ,that very high plaque is a 15-20% risk factor since many other published sources cite even carotid plaque as a risk factor . As far as who to test for what, and when, I am not qualified to make recommendations. I do know that time can remodel some cellular dynamics and the aging cardio-vascular system is vulnerable to alterations.  Doc's got my attention because no one at all in my paternal male ancestral line lived past their late 50's due to heart problems and I am 60; while my 61 year old brother already was hospitalized from transient ischemic attack  .

  • Might-o'chondri-AL

    8/18/2011 9:33:17 PM |

    Mediterranean diet's efficacy for heart health is probably due to the % of poly-amines per calorie consumed and of course isn't in keeping with Doc Davis' detestation of modern wheat (among other protocols). As we age our poly-amine levels decrease and Mediterranean diet supplies lots of poly-amines.

    Poly-amines ( molecules inelegantly named spermine, spermadine and putrescine) are all anti-inflammatory, especially spermine; in our body we synthesize poly-amines from arginine. Mediterranean diet's high poly-amine levels spares the amount of arginine our body uses in synthesizing poly-amines; and thus we can more readily produce the vaso-dilator signalling molecule NO (nitric oxide) from body's arginine. NO is valuable to keep oxygenated blood reaching the heart muscle cells; NO keeps vessels from constricting dangerously.

    Poly-amines lower inflammation and in the context of age associated problems the less low grade inflammation the better.  Inflammation leads to defectively functioning cells and molecular processes; with time the  over stimulation of immunological responses (both innate and adaptive immunity) leaves the body burdened with unknown clones of T cells (both memory and effector types). Eventually the build up of  T cell clones limits new variants and what occurs is more macrophages circulating; once an over abundant macrophage stage reins the body is essentially always in low grade inflammation , and prone to various age associated pathology (including cardio-vascular).

  • Dr. Johns

    8/19/2011 12:25:40 AM |

    @jan....
    A vast majority of primary care doctors are extremely limited in their abilities to treat/advise patients for CVD risks. They don't understand nutrition, effects of supplements upon serum biomarkers, nor effective diagnostic testing for heart disease.
    CAC is a much better biomarker for who is at greater risk of CVD than serum markers:
    http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-08/jhmi-sfc081611.php

    I seriously doubt even 1:100 primary care docs see studies like the aforementioned one.
    And I seriously doubt the one doc would understand it....
    Dr. John

  • Gene K

    8/19/2011 1:48:19 AM |

    An interpretation of the same study for a broader audience just appeared at http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20110818/is-calcium-test-the-best-way-to-check-for-heart-risk.

  • Thomas White

    8/19/2011 2:09:49 AM |

    I'd accept a bashing of physicians in general.   But to single out primary care physicians - overwhelmed with paperwork and patients with multiple problems, and vastly underpaid and underappreciated, and continually put down by "Partialists" - Really ? Cardiologists are superior? Really ?

    Forget my support and admiration henceforth.

  • Might-o'chondri-AL

    8/19/2011 5:43:43 AM |

    CRP (C-reactive protein), an inflammation marker surrogate, does not directly correlate with whether there is coronary artery calcium (CAC), or the degree of CAC severity. CRP is also subject to variables of race and age, so it loses some potential as a predictive marker. Yet looking at CAC along with CRP is considered useful for complex insight into a patients pathology.

    Analysis of the Multi-Ethnic Study  of Atherosclerosis (MESA) involving 6,800 men & women seems to indicate that inflammatory markers (ex: CRP) relate to the physiology of pathological processes other than CAC laid down; possibly because plaque undergoes morphological changes over time. The CRP level is proposed, by some, to relate more to the stability of plaque from rupturing and the incidence of blood clotting in a thrombosis.

    The inflammatory marker of Interleukin-6 (IL-6) anti-bodies seems to be better than CRP and fibrinogen for correlating an individual's trend toward CAC. Thus the cytokine IL-6 is a better indicator of sub-clinical atherosclerosis; Doc likes to cut to the chase, eyeball the plaque and track it with current technology ( that is not available worldwide).

  • David

    8/19/2011 6:16:33 AM |

    Is it typical for someone with such low ldl and high hdl to have such a high CAC score? Had he previously had a higher LDL and then been placed on a statin?

  • TT

    8/19/2011 12:36:37 PM |

    The energy expenditure of the rural Chinese is very high.  They don't drive, they walk, or ride bicycles.  They don't sit in office from 9am to 5pm, they work hard in the rice field from 5am to 9pm.  They can eat anything without gaining weight.
    For the urban Chinese, it is a different story.  They have the same life sytle as ours, and they are getting heavier every year.  More and more people become diabetic, even young kids.

  • Dr. William Davis

    8/19/2011 1:51:32 PM |

    K2 is indeed a fascinating nutrient. There are extensive discussions about it on the Track Your Plaque website.

  • Dr. William Davis

    8/19/2011 1:53:33 PM |

    Thanks, Joe. I watched the entire thing and was impressed with Dr. Diamond's grasp of the issues.

    I'm going to post this on the main page because I think his overview was extremely effective.

  • Dr. William Davis

    8/19/2011 1:55:24 PM |

    Sorry you see it that way. This was a comment directed at the system of primary care in general.

    I reread the post and I didn't see the name "Dr. Thomas White" mentioned anywhere. If you choose to feel slighted in some way, that's your choice.

  • Kent

    8/19/2011 3:20:32 PM |

    Jan, I would certainly trust my care (or a family members care) to a NP or PA who looks outside just the pharma driven medical journals which primarily support a diagnose & drug philosophy.  And I'll take an NP or PA who actually uses some common sence rather than being a puppet given to the pushy drug rep.

    I live in a family of MD's, and they have made it clear as to their terribly limited training and knowledge they gain from med school on the level of building and supporting the body from within.  Example, I have an Aunt that is currently suffering from stage 4 cancer. Due to the chemo treatment that she's instructed to not spend time in the Sun. Her Dr. has not even checked her for vitamin D levels. This is not the exception, but the norm when it comes to common sence treatment, pathetic.

  • Joe

    8/19/2011 6:56:14 PM |

    Okay, Dr. Davis.  I'll be looking for it. When you do, please take a moment and explain how you think that sugar might be responsible for plaque rupture.
    Thanks again!

    Joe

  • steve

    8/19/2011 7:06:59 PM |

    Sugar is just one part of the equation.  As Dr. Davis has covered on this website, small LDL is also a villian and needs to be minimized as much as possible.

  • Might-o'chondri-AL

    8/19/2011 8:05:24 PM |

    Hi Joe,
    Thanx for the video ... maybe the following answers you.

    Regarding sugar: see 59:33 into presentation, where diagram shows "sugar" blurb  - lecturer is using compact word sugar to represent how glucose's glycation end products alter the artery and make the artery vulnerable. It is not a molecule of sugar acting all by itself; lecturer explains slide when talks of how glycation is a problem (another of  Doc Davis'  peeves).

    Follow up at 1:01 into presentation: see diagram's top left  where the various adverse influences on artery  are specified as "modified lipoprotein", "hemodynamic insult" (includes, but is not limited to blood sugar's  glycation end products affect on artery), "reactive oxygen species" (ROS) and "infectious agents".

  • Thomas White

    8/20/2011 12:22:15 PM |

    Thank you for all your hard work and dedication to your web site and education.

    I apologize for cluttering up the discussion with a personal statement.

    TRW

  • Joe

    8/20/2011 4:13:56 PM |

    Thank you, Might. I guess I'm going to have to do some research on glycation before I can fully understand what you're saying above.

    I didn't even notice the PowerPoint Presentation that was included with Dr. Diamond's video presentation.  Sigh.

    Thanks again!

    Joe

  • Jim

    8/20/2011 7:55:03 PM |

    AMEN! Right on target.

  • Louis

    8/23/2011 2:05:01 PM |

    I don't know if you're aware of the differences between calculated test that most doctors use and NMR that Dr. Davis uses. When your diet consists of mostly carbohydrates leading to chronic high blood sugar level, it tends to raise your SMALL DENSE LDL level but calculated cannot measure it accurately. It often greatly underestimate it.  Dr. Davis has covered it many times. Dig through his website for it.

  • Louis

    8/23/2011 2:16:27 PM |

    Optimal vitamin D level helps lower IL-6. It can be a big problem with black people as they tend to have the lowest vitamin D level of any races. Dr. Cannell mentioned that in his new book called Athlete's Edge Faster Quicker Stronger with vitamin D with the hope that the word about vitamin D would spread out faster if more and more professional athletes started using it to gain some advantage over opponents much like what East Germany and formerly USSR used to do in 1960 and 1970s at the Olympic games and other world events.

  • live-healthcare

    8/27/2011 4:31:48 AM |

    Yes Joe i have seen the video you linked. That's right i also think the same.

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