Honey Honey… ahh Sugar Sugar

http://n.pr/15rzw1a

People have a love affair with sugar.  Americans especially can’t seem to get enough of this delectable sweetness dancing on their tongues.  Unfortunately, increased consumption of sugar generally leads to numerous health issues including heart disease, diabetes and of course, autoimmune issues.

If you have difficulties cutting out sweets completely, please try to use what I refer to as “analogs.”  Refer to my Healthier Food Options page for ideas.  Generally, some are just replacing sugar with stevia.  Instead of HFCS laden sodas, try some sweetened with stevia (ie: Zevia).  Agave syrup may be a good option.  Possibly even using natural fruits as sweeteners.  Gradually reduce intake of sugar or any type of sweeteners.

As always, please check with your doctor(s) regarding any health issues you may have and good healthy, natural options to improve your health.

Functional Medicine for Autoimmune Diseases

http://www.utne.com/mind-and-body/autoimmune-diseases-ze0z1309zcalt.aspx#axzz3JorTW8Cm

This article is written by a medical doctor, whose story is much like mine and quite possibly like yours.

Dr. Susan Blum was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, which is usually how autoimmune issues begin, and thought there must be a way to prevent dealing with autoimmune problems lifelong. She set out on a quest to find a way to reverse her issues.  This led her to discover Functional Medicine as a treatment option, and how it is still regular medicine but it gets to the cause of issues, not just treating symptoms.

After learning more about the true causes of autoimmune issues, she was able to use traditional medicine along with a healthier diet to reverse her condition.

Functional medicine: A new model of care? – FierceHealthcare

http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/functional-medicine-new-model-care/2014-11-03

A great announcement in the field of Functional Medicine came this month. The Cleveland Clinic is adopting this treatment approach with a new center at its hospital. It’s no secret that Dr. Mark Hyman is one of the main proponents of Functional Medicine. Therefore, it was almost expected that he would be who the Cleveland Clinic would partner with in this endeavor.

The Cleveland Clinic is world renowned for its fantastic medical care. Adding this will not only help even more people truly have the causes of their health issues treated (not just symptoms), but it will allow Functional Medicine to gain more credibility throughout the medical community as a sound medical treatment approach.

Mix of Gut Microbes “May” Play Role in Crohn’s Disease???

There was a recent article published in Cell, Host and Microbe where researchers took samples of intestinal flora in various parts of the digestive tract in many people with Crohn’s Disease and discovered that there are more “bad” bacteria and less “beneficial” bacteria in the intestinal tracts of those people.  They also stated that the use of antibiotics tends to create this problem and make it worse.

That is EXACTLY what the problem is with a lot of these autoimmune diseases.  Intestinal dysbiosis caused by overuse of antibiotics and exacerbated by poor Western diets.  Leads to inflammation, leaky gut, and possible autoimmune diseases.  There is no “may” to it.  It DOES play a role in Crohn’s disease and many others.

This is also why autoimmune diseases can be reversed!  Heal the gut – heal the disease.  Which is what I did over three years ago.

I will post a link to the NPR article that discussed this research study, and I will also post the medical research paper on my media page so you can read it if you would like.

http://n.pr/1kmln8f