Ask Your Doctor If Getting Off Your Butt Is Right For You

TV Drug Ads – Are You Kidding Me?
First, what’s the percentage of TV commercials that are drug ads?  Casual observation leads me to guess at least 1 in 4 ads are for drugs.  Second, the disclaimers that the advertisers are required to verbally state in the commercial are nothing short of mind boggling.  The list of potential adverse effects reads like a list of torture ‘research’ at a Nazi concentration camp: “serious, even life threatening, allergic reactions, swelling of the face, mouth, lips, gums, tongue or neck, suicidal thoughts or actions, hair loss, diarrhea, vomiting, fainting, ringing in the ears, loss of appetite, bleeding from the ears” (ok, I made that last one up – sorry).  Third, I love the names given to drugs: Levitra, Lipitor, Lyrica, Celebrex, Celexa, Cymbalta.  This is one area where my hat goes off to the drug companies – they almost always come up with cool sounding names for their drugs.  Fourth, at the end of the commercial there’s always the  ‘Ask your doctor if Pooease is right for you.’  [That's the name I came up for a laxative product - as you can see, I won't be hired as a drug naming marketer - my other choice was Pooflow.]

As the medical community in general and drug companies in particular continue to exploit every symptom by labeling it a ‘condition’ for which a drug can be sold, our culture is moving relentlessly toward a the belief that our bodies won’t function correctly without chemical intervention.  In what has been a very short 250 years (or eight generations), we’ve moved from living successfully (i.e. healthy) within our environment to now thinking that we need a drug to alleviate suffering caused by anything from misplaced freckles to leg cramps.  What happened?

Well, what’s happened is we’re actually wild animals stuck in captivity and like nearly all animals removed from their natural environment, we’re not doing so well in captivity.  Yes, most people don’t have tigers or cholera to worry about but we’re not paying attention to how our modern lifestyles are depriving us of what we need to be healthy.  Then, when our health suffers as a result of this disconnect, we don’t look to what’s causing the deficiency or toxicity within our environment or lifestyles, we look to the great drug lord in the sky for relief. It’s pathetic.

The Trifecta of Health
The solution is simple but difficult, of course – but then again, don’t the most vexing problems in life fit that bill. To win the war for your health, you have to fight three battles:

1.  Start doing what’s right
2.  Stop doing what’s wrong
3.  Continuously get better at #1 and #2

Start Doing What’s Right:

• Eat pure whole organic foods.
• Drinking optimal amounts of pure water each day.
• Move moderately to intensely every day (that’s move, pant and sweat)
• Get optimal sleep.
• Manage your mind, stress and attitude.

Stop Doing What’s Wrong:

• Stop eating nutrient-poor processed foods.
• Stop allowing toxic industrial chemicals into your body.
• Stop wishing you had more; want what you have.
• Stop doing things that take time away from doing what’s right.

Continuously Get Better
Each month, each quarter, each year, improve; don’t strive for perfection, aim for progression.

Ask your doctor if getting off your butt is right for you.

You can do it.

Yours in health, Dr. Paul

PS.  I must admit, I didn’t come up with the brillant title to this post.  Dr. Stephen Franson came up with the idea of having a TV ad on Super Bowl Sunday with the slogan Ask your doctor if getting off your butt is right for you – Bonfire Health, You Can Be Healthy.  Don’t you just love it!

Gene Drug Therapy and The Home Depot Syndrome

The Home Depot Syndrome
Have you noticed how nearly all home repair projects turn out to be more complicated than you expected?  They almost always take more time and more skills than you expected and, invariably require at least two trips to Home Depot and quite often, a new tool (no, I’m not a ‘tool head’)?

In recent years the mapping of the human genome (the DNA code manual for human physiology) was completed to well-deserved enthusiasm and celebration.  That lead to confident assertions by the biotech industry that ‘gene therapy’ drugs that would give medical science the ability to prevent and/or reverse many diseases were right around the corner.

Genetic Drug  Therapy Strike Out
Well, as it turns out, just like us home improvement wizards, genome drug therapy researchers also suffer from Home Depot Syndrome.  Although scientists have mapped out the 3 billion sequences that comprise human DNA and despite the bio-tech industry’s over-hyped promises and the billions of dollars invested in gene therapy research over the past 10 years, they’re still standing in aisle 14 scratching their heads looking for someone in an orange apron to come to their rescue.  Here’s how writer John Freedman summed up the progress on gene therapy to date in a recent article in Fast Company magazine:

“… so far, [genetic research] has given the medical world no more ability to treat or predict most illness than knowing that Al Qaeda is camped out in Waziristan has allowed the U.S. government to clean up terrorism or predict where it will strike next.” [read article]  

The brash promise from the bio-tech industry was that once the human genome had been mapped, it would be, if not necessarily simple, just a matter of time before identifying particular DNA segments with specific diseases would lead to drugs that could manipulate those segments creating the ability to prevent or cure virtually all diseases.  The genetic drug researchers, like us goofy homeowners underestimating the complexity of our home improvement projects, thought that having the human genome map completed, they’d been provided with a ‘paint by numbers’ instruction manual to manipulate the gene ‘switches’ themselves that trigger the disease process.

‘At first, a lot of people had the hubris to think, Oh good, this will be even easier than we thought. We’ll just stick all the gene code in an Excel spreadsheet and work with them there’, John Sninsky, vice president of discovery research for Celera, the first company to sequence the genome, is quoted as saying in the article.

‘We don’t know what most genes do, and we certainly don’t know what the variations are in most people. The idea that we can design custom drugs around genes, or change genes, is just silliness and science fiction.’ says Craig Venter, who founded Celera.

The genetic research industry has resigned themselves to the harsh reality that the interaction of genes is extraordinarily complex which has in essence, invalidated virtually all gene therapy strategies to date.

“Even the very presence of a given gene is a rabbit hole of confusion.  Genes can be “turned off” so that they might as well not be there, or partly turned on so that they contribute only weakly to the disease risk.  I can find the switches, but I don’t know what they do. There are switches for the switches, and switches for those switches. It’s endless.’ Nadav Ahituv, Ph.D, a geneticist at UC San Francisco Medical Center is quoted as saying in the article.

The Verdict’s In – Part II:

“And the situation is unlikely to improve much anytime soon” the article states.

So, where does that live us mere genetic mortals? Right back to where we started: eating and moving the way our healthy ancestors ate; engaging in the lifestyle behaviors that science has conclusively proven will flip all those genetic switches to produce health and stave off disease.  Eating, moving and thinking in the manner our genes were molded to thrive on 100,000 years ago: daily moderate to intense exercise, whole foods in the form of organic vegetables, nuts, seeds, fruit and nature-fed animals (in case that went over your head – grains, dairy and grain fed animals weren’t on the menu when our current genome was formed 100,000 years ago – more on that subject later), and finally, an emotionally nourished, supported and rested mental state absent of chronic stress – that’s what our genes want and need.  

Our genes don’t need drugs, they need life.

“In the vast majority of cases, individual genes apparently don’t influence your destiny as much as, or at least any more than, your behavior does. So lose weight.  Get some exercise.  Trade in the cheeseburgers.  Breathe clean air.  And for God’s sake, don’t smoke.  It’s pretty much the same advice your great-grandfather got from his doctor.  I bet it’s the same advice your great-grandchildren will get from theirs.”  Freedman concludes in his insightful article.

Science has proven this beyond a shadow of doubt – health is found in the self checkout line, not at the customer service counter.  You can be healthy.

Yours in health, Dr. Paul

The Holiday “Red Zone”

In football jargon, when your team is within twenty yards of the goal line it’s called the Red Zone.  The only thing more disheartening to a football fan than when their team makes it inside the 20 yard line but fails to score is if their team fumbles the ball away to the other team.  Both fans and coaches will go ballistic if their team loses possession from a fumble or an interception inside the 20 – turnovers are never good in football, but when they occur inside the Red Zone, it’s often a game changer.

Fumbling in the Red Zone:  Sugary Desserts
For our health, the ‘Red Zone’ is the holiday season - the time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. As it is, the seasonal change from Fall to Winter is hard on our immune system and it’s the beginning of cold and flu season. Without a doubt this time of year is made worse by the abundance of unhealthy food choices that overwhelm us during the holidays. From people bringing baked goods and candies into our work to the numerous parties and family celebrations that seem to be anchored around Christmas cookies, pies and cakes.

The Double, No … Triple Whammy
This is not an idle threat – not only is sugar bad for our health, but pies, cakes, cookies and crackers are made with refined flour which acts just like sugar when digested. So pies and other holiday “treats” create a ‘double whammy’ of sugar and refined flour, both of which cause rapid increases in blood glucose levels, resulting in decreased immune function. And finally, as a ‘triple whammy’, eating nutrient-poor sweets cause us to not eat or ‘displaces’ the nutrient-dense foods we should be eating for our health in general and the immune system in particular.

Sugar Decreases Immune Function
It’s long been known that sugar intake causes decreased immune system function. Studies have shown that the immune system is weakened substantially within minutes of eating refined sugar; the more you eat, the more your body’s insulin response system is compromised. The body’s cell-mediated immunity, uses specialized white blood cells called neutrophils to attack tumors, viruses and bacteria, is decreased when there is elevated blood glucose, which is caused by eating refined carbohydrate foods such as sugar and white flour. [Sanchez A, et al. Roles of sugars in human neutrophilic phagocytosis. Amer J Clin Nutr 1973; 26:1180-1184. (view article)]

What’s more, not only are we more susceptible to getting colds and flu, even our body’s ability to fight cancer is compromised when we eat sugar. [Ely JTA, Krone CA Glucose and cancer. J New Zealand Medical Assoc. 2002; 115(1159). (view article)]

Don’t Fumble – Hold Onto the Ball
So, how does one avoid the temptation of all those seemingly “yummy” foods? First, we must own up to the fact that “A little won’t hurt” is a lie – sugary foods will hurt your body, and the more sugar you eat,  the more it hurts your body – yes, it’s cumulative (in case you were wondering, that’s how people end up overweight, with heart disease, diabetes and cancer). Second, if the temptation is happening at work where holiday cookies, cakes, candy canes, etc. are everywhere, be sure to pack nutritious snacks and lunches to take to work – if you have strong ‘fall back’ foods, you’ll be less likely to indulge. Third, if you’re headed to an office Christmas party or some other holiday celebration where you know there’s going to be ample opportunities to indulge in an array of ‘disease foods’, one of the best strategies is to: (a) eat healthy before you go to the party; (b) when you get to the party, focus on eating the veggies and other healthy, nutrient-dense foods first, that way your appetite will be satiated before hitting the desserts.

You can do it!

Yours in health, Dr. Paul