Tag Archives: Yeast Infection

Questions & Answers

Estrogen: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

Estrogen has been very maligned for many years. Many people believe estrogen is a “bad” hormone, but if you have a healthy, balanced body, estrogen is perfectly fine.

The problem is that obesity has become the norm in many countries. The diet in these countries is high in saturated animal fat, which can cause estrogen problems.

Saturated fat influences certain types of intestinal bacteria to produce an enzyme called beta-glucuronidase. Beta-glucuronidase makes estrogen a lot more able to move through the bloodstream and into the body where it can create damage.

Estrogen is a proliferative hormone. It makes things grow. When in excess, estrogen has been linked with many different types of cancers. This is why you don’t want a whole lot of beta-glucuronidase activity going on in the body.

One of the reasons vegans and vegetarians tend to have a more streamlined body shape is that they have a more balanced estrogen and progesterone profile.

Further readings:

By changing the amount and types of fats that you eat, you can avoid estrogen problems. For example, lean protein and fish protein are god choices. Fish protein is often associated with an anti-inflammatory fat.

Beef fat, on the other hand, tends to trigger inflammation through a particular pathway.

In order to reduce the build-up of estrogens in the body, you need to be aware of xeno-estrogens (foreign estrogens). Xeno-estrogens are found in the diet as well as plastics like cling wrap. It’s not a good idea to use those types of plastics, especially on high fat foods, because artificial estrogens can get sucked into the fat.

Use containers with a lid rather than plastic wrap.

Dietary fiber can reduce estrogens levels. So can certain probiotics, particularly lactobacillus acidophilus, which has been linked with a reduction of both beta-glucuronidase and estrogen. I recommend having a bit of yogurt in your diet and taking lactobacillus acidophilus supplements.

The critical steps to keeping your estrogen at a health level are to keep at a healthy weight, eat the right foods, including plenty of fiber, avoid deep-fried foods, and cut back on alcohol.

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Questions & Answers

Fecal Microbial Transplant: What You Need To Know

I have been following the science of fecal microbial transplants for years.

I just saw on Wikipedia that it was first performed in 1958 in the States. Still, more recently since the 1980s, it’s been performed and probably likely pioneered by the Center for Digestive Diseases in Sydney, Australia.

After a medical conference in Sydney, I had some discussions with some of the doctors that work at the CDC. One of the doctors said that when they first started doing the pilot studies with a group of about 20 patients, after 12 months, all patients had exactly the same problem that they had prior to the transplant. So it’s not a cure-all. FMT was originally used particularly for Clostridium difficile, quite a nasty gut infection you can get, which can lead to some serious bowel problems. In fact, it’s now sort of become the standard treatment for C. diff in America.

My personal opinion on FMT is, in most cases, it’s not going to have much effect on the patient.
Doctor Thomas Borody from the CDC, for example, in 1988, had a successful attempt at working with a patient with ulcerative colitis (UC) with FMT. The patient went into remission for a considerable period and then relapsed. I worked with over 100 cases of UC in the last several years, and they had almost a complete remission for an extended period using no FMT whatsoever.

My clients were able to go into remission through stool testing, eliminating the main pathogens, rebuilding the gut with probiotics, and following an anti-inflammatory diet.

Fecal microbial transplant, in my opinion, is clutching at straws. It’s a last resort kind of thing that many people jump into, but now it’s sort of seen as a first resort. I think it should be reserved for rare and unusual cases where other avenues have been exhausted. In my personal opinion, it’s not required in 99% of cases.

Now, I’m probably going to get some comments back along the lines of, “I had successful FMT or I would’ve been dead years ago.” I’m sure there’ll be people out there like that, but you’ll likely be only 1% of patients with serious gut problems.

Further readings:

For 99% of people, it’s possible to get great results through regular stool tests, getting on top of leaky gut, addressing SIBO, and managing Candida.

If you fix things up earlier, they don’t become serious problems down the track, requiring things like FMT. Now, as I mentioned, there will be rare, genetically-linked cases that may benefit from FMT.

Several years ago, I had a young client from the UK who had a very dysfunctional GI system. I tried many things with her and couldn’t get the result I was looking for. The parents had plenty of money, so they flew the girl to Sydney. The girl had FMT, and for three months, it was all hunky-dory. This girl thought she was cured, but then, bang, straight back to where she was. 30 grand later, she’s back in the same hole she was in the beginning.

Ultimately, the solution for this young lady was probiotics. Once we found the correct probiotics for her, literally within a month, she was back at university again. It’s as simple as that, okay? This girl spent a lot of money going to all different clinics, tried all of the different types of antibiotics, many different things, but in the end, it was just probiotics that fixed her up.

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Questions & Answers

Serotonin And The Gut: What You Need To Know

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that has an impact on both the brain and the gut. It comes from the amino acid tryptophan and can be released as a result of vagal stimulation.

Most people have heard of Prozac, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) used to treat depression. SSRIs are given to people to help flood their brains with serotonin. That’s one of the reasons most people think of mood problems when they hear the word serotonin.

SSRIs prolong the life of serotonin in the body by preventing it from breaking down in synaptic junctions.

However, serotonin does more than regulate the mood.

Serotonin also impacts the libido. It affects the heart by increasing vasodilatation and vasoconstriction via certain biochemical pathways.

Serotonin impacts bone, uterine contractions, and the digestive system.

Further readings:

The GI system contains 5-HT receptors. These receptors uptake serotonin. We all need to have a good supply of serotonin to maintain optimal gut function.

Serotonin has a particularly beneficial impact on the migrating motor complex (MMC). The MMC is responsible for moving food through the digestive system, which helps regulate appetite and digestive control. Having a sufficient supply of serotonin will help maintain a healthy weight and reduce cravings.

The MMC also has an impact on bowel function. It ensures that stool is not too firm or too loose. This is why people with terrible problems with constipation or diarrhea often also have a serotonin imbalance.

Serotonin also helps ensure that the amount of stomach acid you have isn’t too little or too much. Serotonin is even helpful when it comes to nausea and vomiting because it helps regulate the relevant pathways.

And, don’t forget, serotonin is important for the prevention of leaky gut.

Clearly, serotonin is a chemical that plays a pivotal role in human health.

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Questions & Answers

Fecal Microbial Transplantation: What You Need To Know

Fecal microbial transplantation (FMT) doesn’t always work out.

Why does this procedure sometimes fail?

You got to remember, you’re putting a donor’s fecal matter into your body, so there is potentially a clash.

It’s a little bit like getting someone else’s kidney or getting someone else’s eye. In those cases, people are often on life long anti-rejection medications.

In the case of fecal microbial transplantation, there could be warfare between the new and host microbes.

But, in my opinion, the main reason this procedure “fails” is that many people consider it to be a “cure-all.” The patient gets the transplant and then returns to their nor1mal lifestyle. Often this lifestyle includes a poor diet, too much stress, and other unhealthy habits. In other words, the patient didn’t make sufficient changes to the other variables that impact gut health.

Further readings:

This is what one of the doctors at the Center for Digestive Diseases told me personally when we were having dinner. In his opinion, the reason why 20 patients failed in their pilot test a few years ago is that none of them made sufficient diet or lifestyle changes.

That’s why all 20 cases failed to achieve the desired results.

When you get an FMT, you need to follow an extremely healthy diet for a long time. You may even want to look at the donor’s diet. Find out what the donor was eating and drinking to see if you can promote a compatible gut microflora.

For example, if the donor is vegan, it’s probably not a good idea to be eating steak three times a week.

Think logically about what you’re doing once you have a FMT.

A FMT may not be the be-all end-all, but if you make sufficient changes, it may well make a positive difference to your health.

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Questions & Answers

Laboratory Tests: What You Need To Know

To start with, let’s talk about medical tests that the medical doctor’s going to do.

A lot of these tests are performed, really, to see what kind of illness or sickness you have so then they can correct that sickness or illness. However, these tests can also be used to monitor your health, so you don’t get sick int the first place.

A lot of these markers we’re going to talk about will point you in the right direction to what needs fixing up.

Blood tests can be divided into several categories: lipids (fats in the blood), inflammatory markers, blood sugar markers, thyroid test, kidney and liver tests, homocysteine, and vitamin and mineral markers. There’s also the CBC (complete blood count).

Lipids: These tests include HDL (good cholesterol), LDL (supposedly the bad fats), and triglycerides (influenced by the amount of sugar and carbs in your diet).

But, remember, about 50% of people who have heart attacks, for example, don’t have elevated cholesterol. Don’t let anyone tell you that if your bad cholesterol is slightly elevated, you need to go on a statin drug immediately.

One question I ask people is, “Have you had a relation very close to
you who is passed away, 50 or younger, with a heart attack or a stroke or an aneurism, anything like that?”

If they say, “Yes, absolutely,” or, “My grandma did,” or, “My auntie,” or several people, then we definitely have deeper look into the whole blood fat

Inflammatory markers: These markers include c-reactive protein high-sensitivity c-reactive protein and ESR (erythrocyte sedimentation rate).

CRP is a protein in the blood that elevates with inflammation. We know there’s a fire, but we don’t know where the source of the fire is.

Related articles:

Knowing there’s inflammation is useless unless you know where the inflammation originates.

The high-sensitivity c-reactive protein relates more to cardiovascular
inflammation in particular. If hsCRP is elevated, it’s a pretty good indication of a cardiac issue.

Inflammation is considered the mother of all diseases. It’s one of the key things that pushes a person into cancer, diabetes, or heart disease, or
neurodegenerative disease.

Guess where most inflammation starts with people, in the gut.

Blood sugar and related: Measuring blood sugar is important for people who are pre-diabetic, have adrenal problems, live a high-stress life, or have hypoglycemia.

Hemoglobin A1C measures blood sugar stability over six weeks.

Fasting insulin levels is important to measure in anyone who has blood sugar problems.

Cortisol is a stress hormone that can significantly impact blood sugar. Salivary cortisol can be a useful test in those situations.

Thyroid tests: Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) is an important investigation in certain circumstances. If TSH is borderline, I do further tests, including T3, T4, and thyroid antibodies.

If the patient has a clear cut thyroid issue, I will also measure their iodine levels. The iodine challenge test is the best one for measuring this mineral.

Kidney function tests: Creatinine clearance and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) give an indication of kidney function.

Your kidneys decline in function, by default, as you get older. That’s why the big thing is to drink water all the time, less caffeine, and less alcohol.

Liver function tests: Liver function tests include AST, ALT, GGT, and alkaline phosphatase. GGT can be elevated if people are drinking significant amounts of alcohol.

It’s especially important to test liver function if you’re taking pharmaceutical medications.

B12 levels: This is an important test that I have ordered for innumerable patients.

Vitamin D: Vitamin D level is an important test that often gets overlooked. I have seen people change their lives once they corrected a vitamin D deficiency. Anxiety disappeared, sleep improved, and chronic diseases went away.

Homocysteine levels: Homocysteine is a naturally occurring compound. It is usually broken down through the methylation cycle. If it doesn’t break down, the levels can become high and cause problems.

CBC: This test measures red blood cells, white blood cells, and hemoglobin levels.

Electrolytes: Potassium and sodium are useful markers for adrenal fatigue.

Iron markers: Ferritin, transferrin, and iron saturation are important markers.

You may want to get it tested, for example, every three to six months. You can record the results in a spreadsheet and keep track of changes over time.

Common sense.

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