When we go to the doctor with symptoms of acid reflux, gas, bloating and heartburn, typically the diagnosis of high stomach acid is based purely on symptoms — not a lab test for stomach acid levels — resulting in a prescription for antacids, histamine type 2 receptor agonists (H2 blockers), Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPIs), or even surgery.

For many people, these drugs only worsen the problem.

Antacids reduce stomach acid temporarily, then more acid is automatically produced to bring the stomach back to its intended pH level. This only treats the temporary symptoms and does nothing to fix the actual problem.

H2 blockers block a substance in the body that encourages acid production in the stomach. They work more slowly than antacids and are intended to last for longer periods of time. On the down side, they stop production of pepsin, a digestive enzyme necessary for breaking down protein.

Proton pump inhibitors permanently block an enzyme that tells your stomach to produce acid.

All of these methods are linked to serious side effects and can even contribute to the root causes of continued chronic low stomach acid and other serious […]

You’ve heard that antioxidant foods and supplements can help fight inflammation and protect you from toxins, but the most important antioxidant is one we make in our own bodies: glutathione.

Unlike common antioxidant sources — vitamins C and E, beta carotene, turmeric, resveratrol, and foods such as blueberries, tomatoes, and red wine — you can’t take plain glutathione as it’s too hard to absorb. However, you can take glutathione precursors or special forms of glutathione that can be absorbed by the body.

Glutathione: the “master antioxidant”

Antioxidants are molecules that inhibit other molecules from going through oxidation, a chemical reaction that produces toxins called free radicals.

Free radicals are unstable molecules created as a result of natural biochemical processes. We can also ingest them via toxins in food, air, water, and even medication. Left unchecked, free radicals damage cells and contribute to the development of serious health problems.

While we need plenty of dietary antioxidants from varied and plentiful fresh fruits and vegetables, our most powerful antioxidant source is the glutathione our bodies produce.

In fact, glutathione is so powerful it’s referred to as the “master antioxidant.”

Two vital duties of glutathione

Two of glutathione’s most important duties are […]

Cholesterol, good fats, bad fats, and heart health

Conventional medicine is slowly admitting that instead of fat, sugar and refined carbohydrates are the biggest sources of high cholesterol. Excess sugars and carbs drive good cholesterol down and triglycerides up, leading to the small, dangerous particles that encourage plaque buildup in the arteries. This contributes to heart disease and insulin resistance, or pre-diabetes.

High blood sugar and insulin levels also drive chronic systemic inflammation, playing a large role in heart disease and most other chronic illnesses. Systemic inflammation arises not only from poor diet, but also from an inactive lifestyle, chronic stress, food sensitivities, chronic viral and bacterial infections, and more.

Recently busted cholesterol myths include:

• Statins: Recent research shows that statin benefits are likely due to their ability to lower inflammation, not cholesterol.
• Heart attack: 75 percent of those who have heart attacks have normal cholesterol levels.
• Age: In older patients, those with higher cholesterol have a lower risk of death than those with lower levels of cholesterol.
• Harvard research has shown that a high level of systemic inflammation ranks higher than high cholesterol for putting subjects at risk for heart disease.

Consume plenty of fats from healthy sources

Conventional medicine has touted a low-fat […]

People treat memory loss and Alzheimer’s as if they are unlucky genetic fates with no prevention or cure. But the truth is they start years before symptoms are diagnosable and you can do something about it. Your diet, lifestyle, physical activity, other factors all influence your brain health.

A 2014 study showed that 9 out of 10 patients were able to reverse their memory loss and experience significantly improved memory by implementing a program of dietary changes, regular exercise, specific supplementation, better sleep, and brain stimulation.

Results were so remarkable that some were able to return to jobs they left due to their worsening memory. In fact, the only patient who did not improve was one with late-stage Alzheimer’s — the brain is far too degenerated at that point to recover.

This study was the first of its kind to show memory loss can be reversed and the improvement sustained. But it takes work.

The researchers who conducted the study drew their inspiration from similar studies that showed diet and lifestyle changes improved the health in patients with diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and HIV.

Changes […]

You may have heard how important it is to heal a leaky gut, but it’s just as important to address permeable blood-brain barrier, or a “leaky brain.” Linked to a variety of chronic health issues, leaky brain is a surprisingly common problem that can be addressed with proper anti-inflammatory dietary and lifestyle modifications.

The protective barrier you never knew you had

The blood-brain barrier is a protective layer in the circulatory system of your brain, serving to filter and block harmful substances while allowing beneficial nutrients to pass into the brain and cellular debris to pass out.

However, certain circumstances can break down the blood-brain barrier and cause it to become hyper-permeable, or “leaky.”

When unwanted substances enter the brain, they can cause brain inflammation linked to conditions such as:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Brain fog
• Headaches and migraines
• Cognitive impairment
• Alzheimer’s
• Parkinson’s disease
• ADHD

Schizophrenia and other psychological disorders

What causes a leaky brain?

More and more functional medicine patients are becoming familiar with leaky gut. If you have leaky gut, chances are you have leaky brain too as similar mechanisms cause it.

Leaky gut and leaky brain frequently occur together as […]

Few things can make a person feel worse about themselves than being stuck in procrastination. These folks are constantly plagued by not reaching their potential and disappointing themselves and others. However, procrastination is not be the personality flaw everyone believes it to be —research shows the fear center in a procrastinator’s brain is actually larger than in the brain of a doer. This means a functional neurology approach can help you rehabilitate procrastination.

Scientists scanned the brains of 264 random men and women in a recent study. They then had the subjects fill out a questionnaire to determine whether they were procrastinators or doers.

They found that subjects who struggled with procrastination had a larger amygdala than the doers.

The amygdala is the control center for fear and emotion, meaning procrastinators aren’t lazy and unambitious as many assume, but rather fear can immobilize them when it comes time to initiate a new task.

In fact, a larger amygdala is linked to more anxiety in both children and adults. The larger the amygdala, the greater the anxiety.

Because the amygdala is connected to memory centers, past experiences can influence […]

We know exercise is good for the brain, but the kind of exercise you do and how often can determine its mental health benefit. Hint: More is not necessarily better.

A study that tracked more than one million people over three years found parallels between certain types and frequencies of exercise and mood benefits.

The most important thing the study showed is that any type of exercise is better than none when it comes to helping you feel and function better.

Regular exercise, even just walking or housework, reduced the number of “poor mental health” days in a month by more than 40 percent. However, some forms netted bigger gains than others.

The best ways to exercise to improve your mood

Here is what the study found in terms of types and frequency of exercise for the most improvement in your mental health:

• The forms that have the most impact on mental health include team sports, cycling, and aerobic exercises.
• Yoga, walking, and household chores provide more benefit than doing nothing.
• Running does not show the most benefit to mental health compared to other exercises.
• Team sports […]
  

If you shy away from fats for fear of heart disease, you aren’t alone, you may be surprised to learn that carbohydrates, not fats, are the culprits in heart disease.

For decades scientists and doctors have blamed dietary fats — especially saturated fat — for heart disease. We’ve been advised to stick to a low-fat, high-carb diet based on grains to keep our hearts healthy.

We now know this advice was based on outdated observational studies. As it turns out, none of the studies truly linked high-fat diets to heart disease, and numerous recent studies have debunked the theory.

In fact, the low-fat, high-carb diet promoted for decades by organizations such as the American Heart Association, the National Cholesterol Education Program, National Institutes of Health, and by the U.S. Department of Agriculture may have actually played a strong — yet unintended — role in today’s epidemics of obesity, type II diabetes, lipid abnormalities,  and metabolic syndromes.

Limit carbs, not fat, for heart health

For most people, it’s carbohydrates, not fats, that are the true cause of heart disease.

Since 2002, low-carb diets have been studied extensively […]

Most everyone has heard of SAD, or Seasonal Affective Disorder, when winter brings on chronic blues. But if you feel better in winter than summer, you may have summer SAD, also called reverse SAD. While the jury is still out on the causes of summer SAD, there are ways to get through the season with more energy, better sleep, and improved mood.

Although both winter and summer SAD and summer SAD share symptoms of sadness and anxiety, they diverge in potential causes and remedies.

Winter SAD commonly involves sadness and anxiety, sluggishness, weight gain, oversleeping, cravings for high-carb foods, social withdrawal, and a loss of interest in typically enjoyable activities.

While summer SAD also causes sadness and anxiety, it differs from winter SAD by causing the following:

• Agitation and irritability
• Weight loss
• Insomnia
• Feeling overheated at night
• Loss of appetite
• Increased suicidal ideation
• Increased sex drive

While five percent of the population suffers from winter SAD, researchers estimate roughly one percent suffer from the summer version, and women with summer SAD outnumber men two to one.

Both are considered major depression with seasonal patterns.

Spring and summer depression can be especially […]