Balanced Hormones and Health - Bioidentical Hormones For All Ages » Patient Education

Affordable healthy eating!

Meaghan — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 17:57:34 +0000

Want to eat better but feel like it is unaffordable? Trust me, I know how you feel! This amazing post from Neurogistics gives you seven great superfoods that even a shopper on a budget can afford. Click here to read the whole article!

Use of antidepressant to treat hot flashes raises concern

Meaghan — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 18:06:47 +0000

Talk about scary! Many doctors are currently prescribing anti-depressants to treat hot flashes in menopausal women. Anti-depressants are serious drugs used to treat anxiety and major depressive disorders. They are not created to treat these specific symptoms.

Overall, 55 per cent of the women in the drug group versus 36 per cent taking a placebo reported a decrease of at least 50 per cent in “hot flash frequency,” according to the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

But the prospect of large numbers of essentially healthy women being treated “off label” with psychiatric drugs for symptoms of menopause is making critics uneasy.

“You’re looking at something that is actually a drug for a fairly serious psychiatric disorder that is being used for something that is a normal part of menopause,” says Barbara Mintzes, an assistant professor with the Therapeutics Initiative at the University of B.C.

The new study involved 205 healthy women, aged 40 to 62, with moderate to severe hot flashes who were randomized to receive 10 or 20 mg a day of escitalopram or a matching placebo. The frequency and severity of hot flashes or night sweats were recorded in daily dairies. The researchers looked at the total number of hot flashes or night sweats in a 24-hour period; the women also rated their “hot flash bother” on a scale from one to four – none, a little, moderately or a lot. To read the whole story from Canada.com, click here!

A True Detox: There is a Difference

tracyg — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 01:40:15 +0000

A true detox is not a starvation diet, nor is it an all-liquid diet. The body needs amino acids derived from proteins to detoxify, and without sufficient protein, the body will go to the lean muscle mass as a source of the needed amino acids. This result in a false sense of weight loss that has actually created a poor body composition, lowered your metabolism and limited your ability to detoxify effectively.

A true detox is a two-phase process, and the BH2 program is designed to support the two phases of detoxification. First, it unlocks or unbinds the toxins from your tissues and then breaks down the toxins into a form that then can be eliminated from the body.

Most detoxification products and programs fail to give the body the critical nutrients and amino acids necessary to break down those toxins so they can be eliminated. This results in headaches, fatigue and flu like symptoms. These are actually caused by the body’s inability to manage the unlocked toxins effectively. In this unbound state, these newly liberated toxins are quite unstable, increasing the potential for increased free radical activity throughout the body.

Healthy Mom, Happy Baby

webmaster — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 01:38:45 +0000

It is estimated the 20-30 percent of women who’s bodies genetically do not properly convert folic acid. When the body does not convert enough folic acid, we put our developing baby at risk of neural tube defects and put ourselves in danger of developing a number of age-related illnesses, such as heart disease, stroke and Alzheimer’s. This is a very good example of why it is vital that you not underestimate the importance of prenatal vitamins.

There are four things to consider when considering your prenatal vitamin regimen:

Prenatal vitamins should have all of the vitamins that a pregnant women and her baby need. More than twenty different vitamins aid in the development of the baby and the overall health of the mother. Calcium, iron and folic acid are essential to the development of the baby in addition to a number of other vitamins, minerals and Omega-3 fatty acids.
Iron is essential. Anemia is common during pregnancy, but even a mild drop in iron counts can be dangerous. Pregnancy is defined by a very strenuous demand on your blood supply. Your blood supply will increase by up to 50 percent so your body can appropriately handle the delivery of oxygen and removal of waste from your cells and those of the developing baby.
Consider the dangers of malnutrition. We often think of malnutrition of being something that happens to people in third-world countries. Pregnancy and pregnancy-related nausea demand much from the body. It is often difficult for a woman to get all of the food needed for both mother and child. During the course of her pregnancy, the mother needs to take in an additional 75,000 calories to promote fetal growth. Keep in mind, that’s not “eating for two,” but more in the range of an additional 300-400 calories a day. The recommended nutrient to calorie ratio is higher during these months, so it is vital that vitamins carry the nutritional burden.
Supplement to prevent neural tube defects. Specifically, supplement with folic acid, choline and DHA. Neural tube defects, the result of a folic acid deficiency, are the cause of major health concerns such as spina bifoda. In addition, the brain, 60 percent of which is fat, is particularly vulnerable to disruptions in fatty acid metabolism. Therefore, fatty acids are vital to proper brain development. Choline is vital for the neurological development of the baby, as well as the rest of the nervous system and the systems that govern sight. Docosahexanoic Acid (DHA) is an essential omega-3 fatty acid that is an important component of all cell membranes. A deficiency during pregnancy could result in learning disorders.