Do you know how much thyroid hormone is made and secreted per year in a healthy person? Interesting questions huh? How much could it be? We often think of hormones as these fountains of substances that get pumped out throughout our day every day. The truth is, a healthy thyroid will produce about 1 teaspoon full of thyroid hormone per year. 1 Teaspoon, 5 ml, 5 grams (give or take)! That is not very much!

Thyroid hormone has a strong influence over all of our 70,000,000,000,000 cells, each and every day and night. That is 70 trillion cells! Research focusing on tissue sensitivity and molecular biology illustrates that hormones have a massive amount of impact with a VERY little amount of actual exposure or direct contact. I think of it as if I was in a large banquet room eating dinner and a famous celebrity walks in. Very quickly the attention of each person in that banquet room will shift to see what the ruckus is and before long everyone in the room knows that celebrity is there. It doesn’t matter whether that celeb sits by them, talks to them, or even makes eye contact with them, they all become hyper aware of their presence. That awareness will stimulate some action of some kind from looking over, to sparking conversations, to thinking back to the movies the celebrity might have starred in. Some people and their table partners will get quite riled up about it, others will just note it an be on to the rest of their dinner, but everyone will have been affected by the celebrity’s presence.

We see a very similar behavior in our cells and tissues when a specific hormone like thyroid hormone shows up. Many cells will have direct contact with the thyroid hormone, some will respond and change via a direct stimulus while others will start to change their behavior from just the exposure or awareness that thyroid hormone is in the room. Some cells will start a chain of activities that spread from one area of the tissue to another like a whispered message telling every worker in the factory to step it up, the boss is on the floor. So whether the cells were directly stimulated by the thyroid hormone or indirectly through the presence and anticipation of the message of the thyroid hormone, the entire tissue, and at times organs, respond appropriately.

There are many points in the process of hormonal influence that contribute to the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the given hormone in general. The cells can improve receptor sensitivity to the direct contact with the hormone. There is tissue sensitivity to the “awareness” of the presence of the hormone and the consequent indirect, or priming response within the tissue. There is the conversion of the hormones back and forth from active to inactive forms throughout our system and body, as well as the ability to recycle or eliminate excess hormone. Then of course there is the hormonal gland or organ’s ability to respond to proper stimuli and produce the hormone and shut off production when needed.

What is the take away message? Hormonal response, balance, effectiveness and over all health has a tremendously strong energetic element to it. When hormones just show up on the scene it changes our body’s behavior and the amount of actual hormone needed to direct a response or function is very, very, very small. So small that to continue the analogy, just the rumor of the hormone coming starts the cells and tissues of our body to react and change. This is an amazing realization. Think what happens when we take synthetic hormonal medications or bio-identical hormones, how can that affect this incredibly delicate, sensitive process? Is more really better? It is a tough question.

I used to think of the body like a machine. No longer. I then thought of it as a living machine, as in bio-mechanics, or bio-chemistry. Now I realize it has more to do with bio-energetics than anything and the full, overall coordination, globally, and at the tissue as well as the cellular level and is crucial to healing and overall health and wellbeing.

I have a high level of respect for the dynamics of the body in health, healing and disease. So much so that the idea of a treatment, or symptom management seems ridiculous when trying to heal or improve one’s overall health, especially hormones problems, there simply is SO much more to consider.

Be humble my friends. Understand we are learning, and what we think today might not be what we know tomorrow. What your doctor says might be spot of or decades old and light years off what is actually going on. The answer? Learn all you can and process health care professionals concepts against your own knowledge and experience. If they can’t explain things in a way that makes sense to you, then either they don’t know the subject well enough or they are working with a false premise….aka, they are wrong.

Stay sharp out there, you are the final authority for you and the ultimate benefactor of your health decisions….good or bad. So step up and play your health CEO role for you and your family and remember, a little goes a long way!

Dr. Don

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The elephant in the natural health care room is that helping someone go from being clinically diabetic, or defined with high fasting blood sugar (over 125 and an A1c over 6.0), to having normal blood sugar and A1c ranges, does not free them from being physiologically diabetic.

Is it a step in the right direction? I would say YES. Has having normal blood sugar values alone really changed their risk for all the complications that come from diabetes….not necessarily….and usually no. How disappointing to say the least!

High blood sugar in diabetes is the symptom, or the effect of the problem. The cause of the underlying problem is insulin resistance. With insulin resistance being the actual problem that leads to the chronic blood sugar problems, you need to think of the whole Diabetes issues differently.

Along the road to becoming diabetic, as in type 2 diabetes specifically, statistically someone starts with high blood (serum) insulin, or hyperinsulinemia, for about 7 years before they develop metabolic syndrome (3 out of the 5 metabololic risk factors of LOW HDL, HIGH Triglycerides, HIGH blood pressure, HIGH fasting blood sugar, LARGE waist circumference of 40 for men or 35 for women or larger), or pre-diabetes just having a fasting blood sugar of 100-124. They then progress with metabolic syndrome and pre-diabetes for about 2-3 years before they get diagnosed with full blown type 2 diabetes. That is if they get diagnosed early, some people go for years with diabetic blood sugar levels before they realize it or are formally diagnosed.

Once they officially get type 2 diabetes, the option of simply “managing” their blood sugar, naturally or with medication to keep it in “range,” will not make them any less insulin resistant at that point. Keeping their blood sugar under “control” does not mean they are no longer diabetic physiologically because of the insulin resistance.

Reversing insulin resistance is not a blood sugar game, it is a hormonal game. Blood sugar levels will follow the improvement of insulin resistance, but insulin resistance does not follow simply lowering blood sugar. Just as an example to put this in context, carbs as in sugars, grains, and starches (and yes veggies but not what drives this issue), only account for 23% of our body’s insulin response. Protein is responsible for 10%, fat 0%, leaving 67% of the insulin response to other mechanisms and combinations of biochemical reactions like hormones and feedback loops. A good example of this is the fast that when you eat or inject into your veins 50 grams of glucose your insulin goes up about the same. BUT, only a small percentage of the glucose from what you ate actually gets into your blood stream….yet it creates the same insulin response. Obviously other mechanisms at play here. Insulin is stimulated indirectly via stomach stretching and sensations, from our brain sensing anything sweet (even artificial, no sugar/cal sweeteners) and believe it or not, even from thinking about eating certain foods or smelling them. Here is a mind blower…..the bacteria have the ultimate say in how much glucose, when and at what speed actually gets into your system, but that is another post. So yeah, there is a lot more at play that simply looking at blood sugar, so think outside the glucose box.

When you focus on hormones, and attempt to lower insulin levels, you need to change your habits and lifestyle and do the things that are shown to improve insulin resistance like: lose belly fat as well as extra body fat, metabolic exercise, decrease insulin exposure, improve hormonal resistance, build cortisol resilience, re-balance brain chemistry and improve the food addiction cycle, and then……and this is the hardest part, as well as the least understood and practiced step…..you have to heal, repair and regenerate the liver and pancreas.

If you do all of this, then you have a chance of recovering from diabetes fully. Skip any part of it, and especially if you ignore the last part, then you have no chance to reverse this process and will remain physiologically diabetic (advanced insulin resistance) whether your blood sugar is in range or not, and believe it or not, whether you continue to eat carbs and sugar or not.

We must change how we are looking at things. This can be done, but there is no quick fix, no one size fits all gimmick, no short cuts, no box detox or cleanse, no shake mix and food list that will do this FOR you. After all, for most adults, it has taken at least a decade and a lot of negative efforts to do the damage we are talking about……the sad part is that we see kid developing this process earlier and earlier and without that 10 year progressive ramp up…..but that is a whole separate post.

So my friends, put on your hormonal glasses and look through the lens of insulin vs. blood sugar. Work on when you eat as much as what you eat, focus on how you move not just moving, prioritize your sleep, and if you are an American or live in a western country, live as if you have this already started, because it has, don’t wait until your system is so damaged that a doctor tells you. And of course, seek help from appropriate professionals who work with this to guide along the way.

Fist steps? Lose weight if needed, get your fasting insulin under 5 and if you have a history of issues like 2, get that blood sugar under 90 and THEN look to work on healing your liver and pancreatic damage that has built up along the way in this process even if “standard” tests say you don’t have any issues in your lover or pancreas….by the time they can “see” it, you are in an uphill battle and it may be too late…..may be. Oh, and work on healing that chronic pain, see your chiropractor at least, since chronic pain DOUBLES your chances of developing diabetes on top of all this!

Context is everything, think about things differently and you will discover options you didn’t even know you had.

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Be well my friends!

Dr. Don

Message me if you have specific questions: [email protected]

We often hear about the human body’s desire or continued efforts to maintain homeostasis or balance. Homeostasis also spelled homoeostasis (from Greek: ὅμοιος homœos, “similar” and στάσις stasis, “standing still”), is the property of a system in which variables are regulated so that internal conditions remain stable and relatively constant.

The concept is after all rather intuitive, that the body likes to maintain a constant level of activity and health. The reality is that the ultimate homeostasis in a living body is death…..quite the paradox.

The functions of the body rise and fall. They adapt and change, they are either building themselves up and getting stronger, or breaking themselves down and recycling.

Hormones for example, are pulsatile in nature, meaning they are secreted then shut off, secreted and then shut off again due to different stimuli rising and falling throughout the day and night as needed. It is only when they are stimulated too frequently that we see an issue of over exposure and do we then run into problems like hormonal resistance as in insulin resistance, thyroid resistance (hypothyroid), or adrenal resistance leading to adrenal fatigue to name a few.

When there is constant hormonal activation we can also see that each hormone’s counter balance hormonal counter part gets thrown off, as in insulin suppressing human growth hormone or cortisol suppressing testosterone. Yet another way our system is thrown off via constant hormonal secretions is due to the “bullying effect,” I call it. Many hormones will change their active personality in the constant presence of certain other hormones. An example is when insulin is constantly circulating you start to see cortisol start to gang up with insulin to promote weight gain, oxidation and inflammation. Another example is when insulin and thyroid gang up and different thyroid states makes insulin either more resistant or over reactive, both causing weight and energy issues.

As it stands, when insulin is on the playground it causes fat gain and will trump all 8 of the other fat burning hormonal players as they run and hide from the bully. Then when insulin has one of it’s bully partners with it, like cortisol or thyroid hormone, then these usually powerful fat burning, feel good, hormones are even more reluctant to return to the playground and play.

This example is specifically using hormones to illustrate my point but the same model can be outlined for neurotransmitters in your brain and body affecting mood, mental clarity, memory, and hinder the warding off mental decline and dementia. The nervous system also works in a pulsatile fashion building to a point of potentiation as it transmits it’s nerve impulses and signals throughout the body. If there is too much build up or excitement, or if that excitement is prolonged too long in that brain neuron then the brain cell can actually die in an excitotoxic reaction just as too little stimulation can cause neuronal atrophy and cell death as well.

Enzyme reactions, cellular energy and repair, muscle contractions, even our sleep patters all change and vary frequently throughout the day and many moment to moment. A snapshot of any one alone could give you a very poor indication that something is off or wrong when really it is just in mid cycle or swing. It is the overall picture of health or function that people label as homeostasis, but there is much more to health than simply staying alive and the truth of the matter is the body appears to be always striving to move towards homeostasis but never actually gets there or it would die.

The key takeaway here is that your body thrives on variation. Variation in your diet, your workouts, your thoughts, energy, sleep, body temperature, and activity are crucial to a well functioning, healthy body. Using a long term plan with true health promoting goals that incorporate regular changes and encourages variables in all of your efforts will prime your body to stay in functional shape or what we know as health and wellbeing. Try and keep things constant, comfortable or the same for too long and your body will rebel, resist and start to break down causing all of your well intentioned efforts to backfire.

Ever do, “all the right things,” to lose weight, get in shape, or reduce stress only to see no change or get worse? Ever do “X” routine that helped you before only to not “work” this time? There is a reason for this, your body is different and you need to meet that change with more directed change to stay a head of it. In time, it will come around but you may have to do some healing and create some new habits and use some very new approaches to your wellbeing.

You can totally do this, but you do need a plan, time, and some consistent effort and change to earn back your body’s trust and health. So go for it! Try something new, make a plan, and give it an ever changing run, you will be happy that you did.

Dr. Don

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Put your fat to work to lose more weight.

Body fat is made up of fat cells, or adipose tissue. This tissue is not just some benign energy storage bank that irritates us when we look in the mirror, it is actually an endocrine gland.

Body fat plays a big role in a lot of our basic body functions. The added tissue houses miles of blood vessels that can make our heart work harder and contribute to blood pressure issues. Fat tissue also plays a big part in sequestering toxins from our body and storing them in the fat cells, this is why when you skip meals you can feel sort of shaky, nauseous, anxiety or energy swings, it is actually a detox reaction and not actually low blood sugar symptoms. We call it toxic hunger.

Fat cells are also players in insulin and can add to insulin resistance, fat cells produce 1/3 of our body’s cortisol, and fat cells are very sensitive to estrogen and testosterone as well.

Most body fat is made up of white adipose tissue. There are small pockets of Brown Adipose Tissue (BAT) in a few distinct parts of your body (about a tablespoons worth or a little more ideally) that are very temperature sensitive and will help regulate your body thermostat. Since raising and lowering of body temperature takes a lot of energy and hormones, that BAT can be a major endocrine player and alter your metabolism.

Here is the secret, there are small amount of BAT cells mixed into your white adipose (body fat) tissue as well. A constant exposure to insulin will make those BAT cells shrink to almost undetectable levels. When our body temperature stays constant all day and especially all night, constantly warm, then the BAT in those small distinct deposits shrink and the BAT (in the white tissue) in the presence of insulin shrinks even more and ceases to be metabolically active.

This is a potential BIG DEAL. I have written about how heat acclimation, raising the body temp up then back down multiple times can stimulate Human Growth Hormone, (HGH), which helps keep insulin low, burn white body fat, build muscle and keep us youthful looking and feeling.

Now we also know that by sleeping in a cooler room, 66 degrees Fahrenheit, and exposing the skin to colder temperatures throughout the day will actually bring back our BAT (when insulin is low as well) both physically and metabolically. This means it can help with hormonal action and has been shown to burn 250 extra calories per hour during your heat acclimation.

If you have any desire to lose weight or keep your metabolism top notch, including efforts to make sure your body fat work for you might just add the momentum your have been looking for.

1. Cut back insulin producing foods
2. Sleep in a cool room
3. Raise that core temp up and down
4. Get quality sleep

Give it a try and let me know how it goes for you!

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Sugar helps keep cortisol levels high. YUCK!

The brain will make it’s own cortisol, about 1/3 of the body’s total cortisol amount. Each brain cell can make cortisol within the cell, actually stemming from the genetic compartment of the nucleus where the DNA lives.

Cortisol in is anti-inflammatory…. just think of prednisone, a corticosteroid medication, it is just synthetic cortisol. When we burn sugar for fuel it produces 50 times more free radicals than when we burn fat. The increase and constant exposure of free radicals contributes to oxidative stress (rust so to speak) and that leads to cellular inflammation.

Chronic cortisol exposure from sugar burning or stress leads cortisol to gang up with insulin and increases insulin resistance keeping circulating blood sugar high and compounding the issue and adding to many more chronic disease states.

Here is the real kicker….since this happens inside the cell your blood levels and saliva levels (where they check for high cortisol) may not reflect this issue.

Even worse is that intracellular raised cortisol levels can increase an enzyme that opens the door for fat gain and builds resistance to losing fat. Couple that with high insulin levels from Insulin Resistance and weight gain is inevitable and very hard to lose.

This is a simple attempt to describe a complex process, so my suggestion to reduce your sugar/grain intake to help off-set this cascade of health and weight issues is an oversimplified one, but an effective first step nonetheless.

There really is no way around it, refined sugar and grains are simply bad for us, beware!

Dr. Don

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Cortisol. People call it the stress hormone. It is really the anti-stress hormone. The how you deal with stress hormone. The conquer the challenge you are facing right now hormone. Historically it was reserved for life or death issues, as in the fight or flight response.

When this fast action hormone gets secreted it suppresses your standard go to action hormone testosterone in men as well as women. Cortisol throws off other hormones and plays a role in all chronic, degenerative diseases of today as well as depression, anxiety, insomnia, chronic fatigue, mental decline, ruins our libido and sex drive, and lowers our quality of life.

Flash forward to today, we pump cortisol at high levels and steadily throughout our day, every day. But very few of us are fighting or flighting.

Here are some actions that have been shown to elicit an acute cortisol reaction:

Poor Sleep
Refined Sugar/Grains
Alarm clock going off
Cell phone alerts
Checking email
Microwave oven proximity
Running late
Driving
Mild dehydration
Financial distress
Arguments/bad relationships

There is a price to pay. Today we see epidemically low levels of testosterone and the series of problems with other hormones that testosterone helps regulate. It is a mess.

But stress is part of life right? Not the stress we deal with. Modern lifestyle stress is invented. It will not harm us, kill us, eat us, nor do we need to run it down to feed ourselves or our family. We have created the stress associated with much of what we deal with on a daily basis. We have created the social construct that keeps us swimming in cortisol. What is worse we have taught this to our children and convinced them it is real and should be accepted as such.

There are many proven ways you can redefine your physiological, psychological reaction to perceived stress, here are a few:

1. Quality Sleep
2. Being physically fit
3. Mental Conditioning
4. Avoiding chemical exposure (contact or ingestion)
5. Periodic Fasting
6. Breath Work
7. Meditation
8. Body work
9. Goal setting
10. Positive social activities

With Cortisol, like any hormone, high peaks are an issue but pale in comparison to steady, constant, exposure. Peaks are what happen to us, are events in life we have a hard time controlling, but the continual secretion combined with the slow dissipation of cortisol from our system creates the constant exposure from the “stress” we have accepted and produced ourselves.

Get clear on what is really important in life. Let go of what is not. Work on your body and mind. Involve your children, form your tribe or join one you like, because it takes a tribe, not a village, it takes a choice not a status quo. You can do this. After all what is the alternative?

Don’t worry, be happy my friends!

Dr. Don

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How Your Breath Stokes Your Fat Burning Metabolic Fire!

Did you know your lungs are powerful metabolic organs? Have you ever wondered where your fat goes when you “burn” it off? When I used to ask patients this and I would hear a lot of interesting answers from it evaporates, or it melts in sweat, to we pass it in the bathroom.

Well, here is how it works. Depending on what metabolic fuel you have set your body to run on, whether you are a SUGAR BURNER or a FAT BURNER, the given fuel source as glucose or fat (triglycerides) are liberated from food or stores in your body, or both, and get broken down into a form that can travel through your blood stream and get into your cells to “burn.”

As that fuel “burns,” it gives your cells, tissues, and organs the energy to move, detox, breath, and function. Yes, each individual cell “breathes,” so to speak. Each cell takes in the fuel, breaks it down for energy, and processes out the by-products. Some of those by-products get neutralized and pass through and out of our body in our urine, bowels, and sweat, yet the majority of it passes through our lungs. In fact, 84 percent of the fat that is lost turns into carbon dioxide and leaves the body through the lungs, whereas the remaining 16 percent becomes water.

Here is the point: there is a feedback mechanism that can turn up or slow down your fat burning and expelling process. Believe it or not, it is your rate and efficiency of breathing during a workout. We breathe out carbon dioxide because it is toxic to us, so your body will not let it build up much at all. Therefor the faster you can rid it from your lungs the more the body will be able to process by breaking down more body fat. Oh, and by the way, this process is completely calorie independent….the whole calories in vs. calories out concept……it is just a vague guess, don’t bank on it.

Remember, this is a metabolic process and your metabolism is not run by calories. Hormones control your metabolism, and although specific foods, chemicals, and nutrients will affect your hormonal responses, pure calorie count does not.

So, how can I use this info to help me burn more fat? Breathe! You will expel the most fat with a varied intensity model, or what we call metabolic workouts. Burst, peak, HIIT, all fall into the Variable Output Exercise model that we use and teach.

Here is the key: Pace and anticipate your breathing. When you workout with a high intensity it is not about getting more air in to your lungs that makes you huff and puff as much it is about getting that toxic carbon dioxide out. So, start paced deep breathing during your workout BEFORE you feel you need to. For example, within the first few minute of my workout I will start my paced deep breathing, belly breathing pacing at 3-4 seconds in through the nose and 3-4 out through the mouth.

As your exercise progresses the nose seems to not be able to keep up, that is OK, but keep the belly breathing going the best you can and start to force air out. Think of it like you are forcefully blowing out a candle during your workouts or during your recovery time in-between. I hope this makes sense; we are planning on building a video series on our Variable Output Exercise model and give examples of this technique, so keep your eyes out for it.

So, if you are at the gym, solo, or with workout partners, don’t hold back, start huffing and puffing EARLY and keep it going and you will stimulate more fat to be broken down and liberated from your body. Pretty cool huh?

Try it out; let me know how it goes.

Dr. Don

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Ever Get Unusually Hungry After A Workout?

I know you do, even if just occasionally, seems everyone does at some point and others seems to experience it regularly.

For most people, we have found that this sensation of hunger really isn’t the need for food, but rather a false hunger sensation created by the hormone cortisol, AND it can be prevented in most cases.

Every time we exercise we go through the process of burning more fuel to provide the energy we need for our workout and as we do we produce more waste by-products at the same time. This is completely normal and should be expected. Think of it like this; if you are heating your home with a wood burning stove and at night it gets colder than during the day you need to stoke that fire with more wood (fuel) to produce more heat (energy) to meet your needs. The more wood you burn the more ash and soot you produce, seems logical right? The same is true in your body when using extra fuel during workouts.

No matter which fuel you are burning during your workout, sugar or fat, your needs will go up and result in more metabolic ash being produced. One particularly ugly by-product of this process is the formation of free radicals that can oxidize your cells and cause cellular inflammation. This process starts INSIDE your cells and can spread to the outside and into your muscle or body tissues producing low grade systemic and local inflammation.

Inflammation can be a big problem since most people are swimming in it due to stress and other health and lifestyle issues. But it is completely natural and the body has it’s own answer to this problem, a natural anti-inflammatory that is released first inside your cells, then your body tissues, called cortisol or what people call the stress hormone. This low grade level of cortisol from exercise, is not enough to cause anxiety or bigger issues but can raise your over all cortisol exposure and when any insulin resistance is present, will gang up with the insulin and compound both issues.

When this happens, and it really doesn’t take a lot to do this, the low grade cortisol reaction can trigger false hunger. That hunger after you work out is really a low grade cortisol reaction, more like a mild anxiety sensation that is OFTEN interpreted as being hungry, and yes, even though it is not true hunger eating will resolve it, but handling false hunger with eating will make the whole issue worse and cause other problems over time.

What is the answer? An anti-inflammatory diet, extra anti-inflammatory supplements BEFORE you workout as well as upping your anti-oxidant nutrient intake. This will neutralize the free radical production from exercise as it happens and prevent the inflammation that stimulates the cortisol from occurring at the levels that can produce false hunger after working out.

So what does that really mean?

Here is what I do:

1. Whole food, high fat, moderate protein, unlimited vegetable carb, LOW processed carb diet.
2. One teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, 2 teaspoons of omega 3 fish oils, 1 hour (if possible) before my workout. If it is an early workout, right before bed the night before.
3. 800 mg of natural mixed vitamin E 1 hour (if possible) before my workout. If it is an early workout, right before bed the night before.
4. 300 mg of buffered vitamin C in water with
5. 150 mg of magnesium before the workout and sipped during if desired.

Reducing overall cortisol exposure by true stress resilience efforts, proper sleep, reduced toxin exposure, and convert over from being a chronic sugar burner to an efficient fat burner will all help in your efforts as well. Not just for false hunger after workouts, but post workout soreness, and over-all health, healing, and anti-aging efforts.

Hunger in general is a rather aberrant sensation when you have a healthy lifestyle, but especially after a workout. Don’t be fooled by this false hunger and make the mistake of feeding it with some post-workout shake, meal, or snack when you don’t need it.

Give it a try and let me know how it goes for you!

Dr. Don

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Stress can often feel very similar to hunger. Think of a time when you were acutely hungry and the last time you were highly stressed, or felt any anxiety. Like most people you might likely report feeling a physical sensation and discomfort in your stomach region, may feel irritable, light headed, a bit jittery, your heart rate can fluctuate up or down or even get mild headaches. Not only can these two sensations feel the same, the stress response, or the cortisol (stress hormone) reaction, when triggered on a lesser level will often be interpreted as hunger and can drive people to eat.

The catch is that you can calm these hunger/stress sensations and symptoms by eating. Just know handling things this way has a very high price. Many people, when they start to feel the effects of stress begin to look for food. They mistakenly feed their false hunger, their stress reaction to feel better and basically start a cycle of self medicating with food.

Our stress hormone, cortisol, has a very tight relationship with insulin, or the hormone that controls how we feed the cells of our body and gain body fat. When these two powerful hormones team up it can be very hard to tell them apart and they can compound your urge to eat to silence them.

So what does that cycle look like? Stress creates a cortisol reaction, you think it is hunger, you eat, and you feel better. When you eat, you raise insulin, insulin and cortisol gang up, you get both a stress response and drive insulin resistance, making you hungry again. One can drive the other pushing you to not only eat, but crave the lowest quality, easiest hit of food energy you can get in the form of sugar, grains and processed carbs. Which in turn produce free radicals that trigger cortisol and raise insulin and promote insulin resistance and weight gain.

This process and cycle is particularly powerful when you suffer from poor quality sleep. Just one night of disturbed sleep will increase insulin resistance as well as raise cortisol levels, fueling these high powered processed food cravings, and lead to a near universal over-eating at each meal the following day….if you don’t know how to break the cycle that is.

When ever you feel junk food cravings or believe you are hungry at a time that doesn’t seem to fit your eating patterns, the first thing you can do is take a 8-10 minute leisurely walk. Random cravings and off eating time hunger can easily be a stress reaction from cortisol in disguise. Historically, when we triggered our stress hormone cortisol it was followed by physical action to fight or flee. In today’s world we trigger our stress reaction all day long and don’t move our body to dissipate those hormones and they can build up and run havoc on our health, energy levels, weight, and mood. Studies show that just taking a slow walk for around ten minutes can effectively help burn those stress hormones out of our system, reduce insulin resistance, satisfy our false hunger and cravings without food, as well as keep our mind sharp and anxiety low.

Walking and breathing are about as fundamental to our life experience as anything. Don’t let these seemingly, “too easy,” stress and hunger crushing mechanisms go to waste. Your mood, tension levels and belt line will thank you for it!

Dr. Don

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What is a “Wellness Tribe?”

“Did he say tribe?”

“Yes he did.”

Why a Tribe? Why not a group, community, or family?

There is something more primal about a tribe. There is a deeper connectedness that is associated with a tribe. Your tribe is of like mind, similar in vision, and comparable in commitment.

Far too often we hear the line, “It takes a village to raise a child.” I disagree. A village, or a community, is not tight enough for the fabric I see needed to support my children and family as they grow and learn.

The members of a tribe are not there by proximity, they were not born into the group, but rather they chose it. Choice is a powerful thing that we hold great respect for and cherish in all aspects of our lives and a tribe represents a clear choice.

Members of a tribe seek out those they wish to associate with. Each member of a tribe weaves their own strengths and abilities into the larger mission of the tribe they gravitate to and make it and each member of that tribe stronger.

My tribe is made up of people who “get” and appreciate me. Each and every tribe member is free to leave at any moment and that raises the value of their presence to the rest of the tribe and helps keep others accountable and in the moment where exponential growth lives.

You are attracted to be a part of a tribe. You don’t join it like you might a community or a group. A tribe does not give you status or make you better, it just shows that you want something more, and you want to become better.

A tribe is not something you put your faith in but rather something you trust because it makes sense to you, right here, and right now. The tribal connection is a feeling, a knowing, and represents a commitment to others and to yourself that many are looking for, but not all.

So, yes, you heard me right, I am looking to build a tribe. I am hoping to be part of your tribe and hope you can find a home here in Your Wellness Tribe with all of us.

Welcome my friends, you have come to the right place, it is great to have you with us. Great things are in process, come play with us!

Drs. Don and Dana Clum

YourWellnessTribe.com….tell a friend.