Articles by Donna DiMarco

By Donna DiMarco

Hormones are a hot topic these days since the Women’s Health Initiative cut off their study before it was complete (after 5 years-instead of the planned due to overwhelming evidence that PremPro, a Premarin/progestin hormone replacement therapy, caused increased incidence of breast cancer, heart disease and strokes.

As a result of all the media attention, many women have stopped their hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in search of a safer, more natural method of avoiding hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, and all the other lovely symptoms of menopause. Hopefully, the days of blindly trusting the doctor to prescribe something to make us quickly feel better is behind us and women will be better informed so that they can play a part in deciding what risks, if any, to take regarding hormone replacement. The body does need a perfect balance of hormones to function properly, but at what cost? And should hormone-like substances be substituted for the real thing?

Estrogen is produced mainly in the ovaries, but some is also made in the adrenal glands; minor amounts are produced in other places as well. The ovaries also produce progesterone in the corpus luteum (the ruptured sac on the ovary from which an egg has erupted). Since we are born with a finite number of eggs and have been releasing one each month throughout our lives, the supply diminishes near menopause. Without the ruptured sac to produce a sufficient amount of progesterone, we become estrogen dominant. Unopposed estrogen (without progesterone) increases our chances of breast cancer. Also, the proper ratio (estradiol to progesterone) is important in preventing hot flashes and other menopause symptoms, not just the lack of estrogen. And most importantly, synthetic progestin won’t do.

More women have estrogen dominance than you would imagine, but many of them are given estrogen anyway. And, unfortunately, those who need progesterone are given progestin instead. Progestin is synthetic progesterone created in a laboratory to mimic the real McCoy. The molecular structure of progestin is just a tiny bit different than natural progesterone, just different enough to allow it to be patented and to make lots of money for the pharmaceutical companies. You see, most hormones start with a molecular structure similar to that found in the component of soy or wild yam; it’s called diosgenin. (It’s for this reason that soy helps with hot flashes) This molecule can be manipulated to conform to the structure of the hormone being prepared, not just progesterone, but others as well. If this molecule is identical to that found in the body (bio-identical) it cannot be patented since it is a natural substance, but if it is similar, yet with a unique structure, drug companies can name it, patent it, and rake in the bucks—providing it doesn’t cause obvious damage. These synthetic hormone structures look so much like the real hormones that they are able to enter the receptor sites and imitate some of the hormone’s functions within the body. But the body is not easily fooled and will eventually respond, often with disease. That’s what has happened with the hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in this study. Here are some differences in natural progesterone vs. synthetic progestin.

Progestins: increases sodium and water retention in body cells and cause loss of mineral electrolytes from cells, cause depression, Increase risk of birth defect, cause facial hair, cause thrombophlebitis, embolism risk, decrease glucose tolerance and cause allergic reactions

Progesterone: Protects against endometrial and ovarian cancer, normalizes libido, reduces facial hair while stimulating re-growth of scalp hair, improves lipid profile and new bone formation (progesterone is better than the drugs recommended for osteoporosis), decreases risk of coronary vasospasm, helps thyroid hormone action, eases symptoms of PMS, is essential for myelinization of nerves, restores normal sleep patterns, is a precursor of other steroid hormones, and is essential also male health.

Which would you rather have, the decision is truly yours? The Women’s Health Initiative Study used progestin along with Premarin, which is (pregnant mare’s urine) horse estrogen, not human. Ah, ah, ah! You can’t fool Mother Nature! She fights back. They tried to fool the body into thinking it had what it needed, instead it provoked serious responses– heart disease, cancer and stroke. The sad part of this story is that the same diosgenin can easily be converted into bio-identical progesterone- the kind the body can use. It is readily available in many of the creams sold in health food stores and is used by alternative practitioners with great success.

Medical doctors are solicited by the drug company reps; they are given gifts and incentives, provided with pre-printed prescription pads and lots of free samples, in order to promote the sale of the pharmaceuticals. It’s big business. Women often feel that if the doctor recommended a drug, it must be what’s best. As someone who acts as a consultant to medical doctors, that isn’t always the case. I have met many doctors who didn’t even know the difference between progesterone and progestins. In doctor’s defense, many of them are so overwhelmed with keeping up with the latest advances in their specialty that they have little time for in-depth study, so they accept the erroneous information they are fed (often by the drug companies. How many years have they been recommending Prem-Pro? Remember Fen-Phen? What about Thalidomide?).

What can you do? Take control of your own health. Become empowered with knowledge to make intelligent decisions as to how your healthcare progresses. Take the time to learn about alternative methods. The body has the uncanny ability to heal itself if given the materials to do so. Learn how to give it what it needs.

One of the best ways to empower yourself is to read any of the books by Dr. John R. Lee, M.D. John is most noted for his dedication to teaching medical doctors about the difference between natural and synthetic hormones. His books include : “What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause”, or “…Peri Menopause”, and his latest “…Breast Cancer”. Susan Love, Betty Kamen and Christine Northrup are also good providers of reliable information about women’s health issues.

Your next step should be to test your hormone levels. This could be done by a simple saliva test without a prescription (except for New York and California). Saliva is used instead of blood because it measures the free form hormone, that which is not bound to protein but available to do its work. Blood tests measure bound hormone only.

Check with your health practitioner or go to www.salivatest.com and check out what ZRT Labs has to offer. They will send you a simple collection kit so you can spit in a tube first thing in the morning and mail it to them with a check. Your results will be returned with an explanation of what it means.

Now comes the hard part, take your results to a practitioner who can help you balance your hormones naturally. Your practitioner can have a compounding pharmacy make up any combination of NATURAL estrogens or progesterone. Your prescription should be based on you and your hormone levels as well as your clinical information; it should not be a cookie-cutter formula handed out to all equally. This should be done only AFTER exploring all pathways to find out why you are not producing the hormones yourself. Often it is a simple remedy and HRT is not needed.

Diet is important. Try to give your body what it needs to make hormones naturally. Essential fatty acids are important to hormone production so forget the fat free diets, instead, consume nuts, seeds, avocado, olive oil, salmon, mackerel, etc. Small amounts of soy can help with symptoms. Please don’t over do it since studies link soy to other complications. Avoid dairy, since cows are often given hormones to maintain milk production. Eat plenty of cruciferous vegetables for their ability to encourage “good” hormone ratios.

Avoid plastics and pesticides whenever possible. They too have a similar structure to estrogen (xenoestrogens) and are linked to breast cancer (some studies have also linked them to homosexual behavior in animals, hmmm!). Avoid tight-fitting bras, especially with under wires. Some believe that the restriction of lymphatic flow can cause breast cancer; no bra is best.

Always check your breasts monthly and have an annual exam at your gynecologist. Be sure to have a baseline mammogram, but remember that x-rays CAUSE cancer, so don’t be too quick to have your breasts irradiated too often. Early detection is NOT prevention or protection. If they detect it, it’s too late–you got it already.

Take cancer-fighting supplements- antioxidants and a multi vitamin-mineral to make up for what may be lacking in the diet. Let your body do its job. We all have abnormal cells in our bodies. But if we help our bodies’ function at optimum level, it will destroy those cells. If it has to spend all its energy detoxifying junk food and toxins, it has hindered ability to keep us healthy. Give it a try, health is easier to attain than you think. Just care enough about yourself to do it.

Donna

By Donna DiMarco, CN, LNC.

Most of us have been brought up thinking that milk is the perfect food and that without it our diets would suffer. Every mother insists that her child drink his milk to have strong bones. And many of us remember when we were encouraged to drink a little milk or cream to sooth an ulcer. How much of that is really true?

If we’d really listen to our bodies we’d realize that milk causes a variety of problems. Lactose intolerance is the deficiency of lactase, the enzyme needed to digest milk sugar, which causes diarrhea and flatulence. Mucus production increases and then the mucus lines the digestive and respiratory tracts setting up a perfect environment for bacterial and yeast growth. This excess mucus may hinder important nutrient absorption in the digestive tract.

Studies have indicated a strong tie between milk consumption and juvenile diabetes. Experiments have clearly demonstrated more hostile and aggressive behaviors in those who consume milk. Due to the size of the milk protein molecule, it often triggers allergic reactions.

The high protein content in dairy actually leads to the body losing calcium in the urine, rather than placing it in the bones. One of the two sugars that compose lactose has been linked to ovarian cancer and even infertility. Autistic patients show remarkable improvement when taken off dairy and gluten. Many children who are plagued by constant ear infections, asthma, and eczema, clear up when milk and dairy products are removed from their diet. Children who are raised dairy-free rarely need tubes in their ears. Postnasal drip and stuffy nose is often gone forever when dairy is totally eliminated. Many psoriasis and arthritis sufferers show remarkable improvement after eliminating dairy.

With all this information, why would anyone want to consume milk and milk products? Advertising. We have all seen the moustache commercials and I’m sure you remember “Milk: it does the body good!” The dairy farmers have their own agenda since more and more people are eliminating milk.

Humans were made to consume human milk with just the right combination of calcium, magnesium, and other nutrients to nourish a human body. Cow’s milk, however, has a large protein molecule necessary to produce the massive muscles of a cow or a bull. Cows walk quickly after birth, so their milk has a calcium content necessary to quickly strengthen the spindly legs of a calf to hold the rapidly enlarging body. Humans don’t even crawl for a few months, so we really don’t need that much calcium concentration early in life. Baby calves, on the other hand, don’t even drink cow’s milk after a few months but they continue to grow and develop strong, large bones, and I have yet to see a cow with osteoporosis (check out the soup bones at your butcher’s). But how do they keep their bones strong? They eat green grass. Now, I’m not telling you all to hit the St Augustine and do away with your lawn mower, but we can eat greens in a more palatable form: vegetables. Vegetables, especially organic ones, have the perfect calcium to magnesium ratio for humans, and the calcium is in a useable form.

Many of us drink calcium rich foods but neglect the magnesium that is necessary to use the calcium properly. The Standard American Diet (S.A.D., how appropriate!) falls short of the recommended five daily servings of fruits and vegetables. Without magnesium, the calcium may do us harm. Have you ever craved chocolate? Do you get muscle cramps or charley horses? Do you fall asleep but wake up in the middle of the night wide-awake? Are you constipated? Do you suffer from menstrual cramps? Do you have high blood pressure? These can all indicate a lack of magnesium and/or too much calcium. I frequently see people with too much calcium in their bodies yet suffer from osteoporosis, mostly due to a magnesium deficiency.

Let me encourage you to eat more fresh fruits vegetable and make them organic whenever possible (one study showed that organic tomatoes had 40% more magnesium than conventional tomatoes). Do not use canned vegetables since the processing, the salt, and the aluminum from the cans make them poor choices. Fresh is best, but frozen is a good compromise. Eat a variety of colors for the nutrient value. French fries and creamed corn are not considered vegetables so don’t even try to count them.

Get off the dairy. There are now many products in the health food stores to your dairy products with, like soy, for example. There is much research indicating that some soy in our diet might protect us from heart disease, help prevent breast cancer, and reduce menopausal symptoms, but don’t go overboard. Do everything in moderation. In addition to soy, milk substitutes are presently made from rice, a combination of rice and soy, almond, hazelnut, hemp, oat, potato and pea, and tofu, which is made from soy. They come in a variety of flavors including plain, vanilla, chocolate, and carob, and some are fortified with calcium (for those who feel they need an extra amount in their diet just in case). Other products available include cheese-like mozzarella, cheddar, Swiss, jalapeno, Parmesan, cream cheese, and a variety of yogurts and ice cream. With so much to choose from, we can continue to eat the foods we enjoy without the threat to our health.

Make some smart choices. Listen to what your body is telling you. Try eliminating all dairy for three full weeks. Notice how you feel. After the three weeks, go back to eating dairy and notice the difference in your symptoms. Your body won’t lie to you, just give it what it naturally needs, eliminate the things that make it work harder, and it will serve you well for many years to come.

Donna

By Donna DiMarco, CN,LNC

Pour 1/2 cup of sugar into a measuring cup. Imagine adding that to your food intake every day. Sounds pretty ridiculous, doesn’t it? This is approximately how much sugar each person consumes every day here in the United States. Studies have demonstrated that in 1994 the annual sugar consumption per each individual was approximately 149 pounds. It has increased considerably since then. If I am not eating my share of that 149 pounds of sugar, some of you are consuming it for me in addition to your own.

Sugar consumption can add up quickly when you consider that 12 ounces of your favorite soft drink contains about 10 teaspoons of sugar, an ice cream sundae contains 19 teaspoons, 10 jelly beans contain more than 6 teaspoons of sugar, and even your so called “healthy” fruit-flavored yogurt contains more than 7 teaspoons of sugar per container. It is said that 21 teaspoons of sugar knock out 92% of your immune cells. This leaves us vulnerable to succumb to sicknesses like the casual cold, or AIDS, or everything in between.

We all have pre-cancerous changes in some of the cells in our body. It’s our immune system that isolates and destroys those cell aberrations so as to keep them from developing further into a full-blown destructive disease. Limiting sugar intake allows our immune system to work more effectively. Dr. Nancy Appleton’s book entitled Lick The Sugar Habit, lists 75 illnesses or disorders related to sugar consumption. Keep these sugar-content numbers in mind every time you reach for a can of soda or that Danish instead of a nutritious breakfast.

Learn to read the labels before you buy. You may be surprised at what you find. There is sugar hidden in lots of foods, some you may have never even thought of, like ketchup, tomato sauce, and salt. Yes, check your saltbox to see if the second or third ingredient isn’t dextrose. (Any word ending in “ose” is a carbohydrate, like maltose, sucrose, fructose, galactose, lactose, and so on.)

Sometimes we focus on looking for the wrong ingredients. Remember when so many of us were caught up in finding fat free and low-fat foods that we neglected to consider the sugar content in what we were eating? We thought we were reducing our cholesterol. In fact, we were making it worse. We thought that since it says “fat free” it must be good for us. It wasn’t. The sugar content was not in big, bold letters on the front of the box like the words “FAT-FREE” were. It was marketing and many of us fell for it. Studies indicate that a high-carbohydrate diet (sugar) increases our chances of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and other diseases. More diseases are linked to high sugar consumption than high fat and protein consumption.

Table sugar is derived from corn, beet, or cane, and it isn’t naturally white. It is made white by removing the nutrients from it. The brown part that is removed is sold as molasses, which is high in iron, potassium, and other nutrients, but how many of us use molasses on a regular basis? Processing leaves us with sweet, white granules composed of two simple sugars, fructose and glucose. Nature had it right to begin with, in its natural form raw sugar contains copper, zinc, manganese, cobalt, chromium, and magnesium. All are necessary for proper digestion and utilization of carbohydrates. Problems with sugar begin when we refine it to make it white. This strips it of all essential minerals, which then forces the body to provide them by drawing from its own resource pool (mineral stores within the body). If excessive refined sugar consumption continues, these resource pools become depleted and are not available for other normal body functions.

A good example of this mineral depletion was demonstrated in a study performed by Dr. William Philpott. He found that during the autopsies of people who died of coronary artery disease, no detectable amount of chromium was found in their aortas; but chromium was clearly evident in those who died of accidental death. This implies that chromium, which is needed for carbohydrate metabolism, plays an important part in the prevention of arteriosclerosis and heart disease. It is important to note that cardiovascular disease can readily progress if chromium supplies are depleted due to excessive sugar intake.

Dr. John Yudkin concluded from his research that someone taking in 120 grams of sugar a day (24 teaspoons) is approximately five times more likely to develop a myocardial infarction (heart attack) than someone taking in less than 60 grams of sugar per day (12 teaspoons).

Should we eliminate all carbohydrates? No. Carbohydrates are needed to fuel our brains. It provides an energy source for the body demands as they occur. But if we consume more carbohydrates than we expend, the residual will be stored as fat for future use. The amount of sugar needed by the body at any given time is merely 2 teaspoons. This can be easily obtained by proper ingestion of unrefined grains, fruits and vegetables.

Our bodies were wonderfully designed to convert sugar from fat or protein if needed. We can limit our carbohydrate consumption and increase our energy output by regular exercise and physical activity. In addition to helping our cardiovascular system, it will help us lose weight, since the body takes the stored fat and converts it into carbohydrates to meet its need. If sugar consumption is consistently high, the body loses its ability to convert it from other nutrients.

Because fructose is absorbed 40% as quickly as glucose, it has been a favorite especially among diabetics. This quick rise in the blood sugar level would appear to be more desirable. But Dr. J. Hallfrisch concluded, that fructose causes an increase in serum cholesterol, triglycerides, and low-density lipoproteins (the bad guys), even more than sugar does. So watch the fruit juice consumption. It’s always better to water it down a bit. Increasing fiber in the diet will aid elimination, reduce cholesterol, and prevent rapid rises in blood sugar (another reason why eating whole, fresh fruit is more beneficial than drinking fruit juice since blood-sugar levels raise more gradually).

Some good suggestions for breaking free from sugar addiction are included in Dr. Appleton’s book, Lick The Sugar Habit. She suggests eating

more unrefined complex carbohydrates to help maintain blood sugar levels; eat raw, crunchy veggies for snacks; brush your teeth when a sugar craving comes upon you (this will usually satisfy it due to the sweetness of the toothpaste); when an urge to eat sweets occurs, wait at least 30 minutes to see if it will pass.

Mineral supplementation can replenish some of the deficiencies, but this should be done under the supervision of a nutrition counselor, but only after proper evaluation has taken place. Start today to make some smart choices in your eating habits. Begin replacing the refined sweetened snacks with some healthy, raw veggies. Pass on the donuts and danish and eat a good breakfast. Get regular exercise, which will strengthen your cardiovascular system. Begin with walking every day, get plenty of fresh air and sunshine, and be sure to read labels so you can limit your sugar intake.

You can do it!

Donna

  By Donna DiMarco, CN, LNC

Do you love yourself? Do you love yourself enough to take care of your health, to change a bad habit, to prevent disease? Do you love yourself enough to physically be healthy to stay around another few years with a good quality of life? If you said “no” to any of these, you may want to search deeply for the reason you feel you are not worth the effort.

I’m going to talk about how we might give ourselves the ultimate gift of love: health. What is it? What if I lost it already? Is it gone forever? How can I keep from losing it in the first place? What can I do naturally that might help? I hope to help you to make that first step, simply and safely. Do YOU love yourself enough to do some of it? I’m going to take you through some simple steps to better health. Keep copies of these articles to provide a sequential direction toward wellness. These are the same things I do for my clients and if you accept the challenge, you will be empowered to be your own nutritionist—without the fee!

What is health? The answer is simple; it is the absence of disease, degeneration and symptoms. In other words, total functionality of your body. Many people accept the nagging backache, the frequent headaches, the lack of energy, lack of libido, stuffy nose, gas, constipation, stiff joints, etc, etc. I frequently hear people tell me that they never realized how many “little things” they tolerated unconsciously until they discover they are gone. I bet if you tallied every little symptom, you’d be amazed at the length of the list.

Some people already have a disease, like multiple sclerosis or cancer. Does that mean they are lost? No way, it means there are different degrees of health. The diabetic may still take insulin, the MS patient may still be in a wheelchair, or the cancer patient may still need to have a cancerous growth removed. But there are things we can do to speed up healing, reduce or minimize the symptoms, or delay the advancement of the disease.

Many people aren’t aware of how important their dietary habits are. So many clients may have a stuffy nose, or watery eyes find quick relief by eliminating the one or two foods they eat the most on a daily basis. This list often includes: sugar, dairy, wheat, coffee, and yes, soy. “But I thought soy is so good for us?” Even the good things can have a negative effect if we consume too much of them; soy is hidden in many foods in the form of soy oil and lecithin.  I suggest you rotate your foods every other day. That means if you eat whole-wheat toast one morning, you won’t have a hamburger on a bun for lunch, or pasta for dinner, or some brown gravy thickened with flour the following day.

How much dairy do you consume? “Well I never drink milk”, you reply. But how about the cream in your coffee, the cheese you snack on, the pancakes made with added milk, and that luscious milk chocolate that we so often crave? Are your bagels spread with cream cheese? Is there milk in your mashed potatoes?

Keep a food diary of everything you eat for a week. Scrutinize it for patterns of a single food. Use a colored highlighter to signify wheat and a different color for each food you are checking. See if one or two colors appear each day. That would be the food to eliminate. Cut it totally from your diet for three weeks. Note your symptoms before you begin, then check your symptom list after three weeks of offending food elimination. Is there any change? Look at yourself carefully. Are you still bloated after a meal? Can you wake up a little more enthusiastically and energetically? Are your bowels better? Are you taking as much allergy medicine? The results will reveal what your first step should be.

Are you worth the effort it will take to keep that food out of your diet for a while? If you just proved to yourself that you feel better by just eliminating that food for three weeks, why would you want to go back to eating it again regularly? Are you not worth being symptom free? Yes, you can occasionally eat the offending food, but that should only be once or twice a month, and never on consecutive days, and only after abstaining from it for a month.

This is not a food allergy, but a sensitivity. It’s the body’s way of saying, “Notice, I can’t handle any more wheat, dairy, or whatever” By eliminating a particular food you are giving the body a rest from working so hard to detoxify it. You literally give your body a vacation. When you add supplements that aid digestion, detoxification and/or elimination, you are helping it rest and recover even faster by doing some of the work for it. Very often certain supplements are only necessary for a season until the body is recuperated enough to go back to work with full steam.

How about it? Do you love yourself enough to begin this journey to wellness? Will you do these few simple tasks, will you eliminate at least one food that you eat every day? Are you worth it? I think you are, join me!

Donna