Looking for Inspiration?

by Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

Every once in a while I love to share experiences from others that may lead to inspiring you to create change in your life. The story listed below is from a client that I have not seen in years. I reached out to him recently to simply check in to see how he was doing and his response simply left me speechless.

I really do not want to take much credit here as I only played a role at the onset of his journey, reviewing adrenal function, recommending a gluten free diet, Nutritional ID and focusing on his fundamentals of health.

Well, this gentleman took his health choices to a whole other level and as I mentioned, this is truly inspiring for us all.

Hello Glen,

I am doing well.  In the last 1-1/2 years I lost 140 pounds through healthy eating and exercise.  I went off Insulin injections, Insulin pills, Blood Pressure pills, Cholesterol (Statin) pills + most of my other medications 100% and my blood work is better than it ever has been in the past 15 years.  My last A1C was 5.7 without any insulin medication which is within a normal non-diabetic range.  1-1/2 years ago I was taking 34 units of insulin per day + 2 x 10mg pills with each meal.  I no longer eat any processed food, no sugar, no artificial sweeteners, no wheat or grains of any kind, no dairy (except for cage free organic eggs occasionally), no carbohydrates other than complex carbohydrates (primarily non-starchy vegetables), no bad fats (only coconut oil, avocado oil, olive oil), no corn, no soy, no peanuts, no genetically modified products of any kind, and no fruit other than berries, and an occasional apple.  I no longer miss any of the foods that I used to love including fried food, french bread and butter, pasta, pizza, ice cream, desserts etc.

I try to eat everything organic as much as possible including grass fed and grass finished beef on occasion, cage free non corn and non soy fed organic poultry, some low mercury wild caught fish, a limited amount of beans, a controlled portion of nuts and berries every day, and lots and lots of non starchy organic vegetables of all kinds, but primarily green in color.  For a special treat I eat several squares of 70-80% dark chocolate.  I limit my meat/fish intake to no more than 3-4 oz. per meal. I drink 4-5 quarts of alkaline water every day.  I also eat seeds every day (chia, hemp hearts, pumpkin, etc.).  I eat naturally fermented sauerkraut every day too, so with these three things added to my diet I get lot and lots of good natural probiotic antioxidants daily. 

I walk one mile each day, ride my stationary bike 5 miles/day, and go to the gym for an hour every day.  I also do Yoga, Tai Chi and stretching exercises on occasion.  1-1/2 years ago I was so out of shape, because I had neuropathy so bad I couldn't walk one block.  My traditional medical doctors told me nothing could be done for the neuropathy other than taking pain medication, but they were wrong.  I still have some large nerve damage from my stroke 18 years ago but my neuropathy has been completely gone since October 2013.  

I have learned so much in the past 1-1/2 years I feel I could write a book why we spend so much more than any other nation on medical care, and we just keep getting sicker and sicker.  The U.S. ranks #38 by the World Health Organization for the quality of health care and Cuba ranks #39.  What does that say about all of the money we spend on medical care in the United States compared to a third world nation like Cuba?  I am not totally against everything that our medical profession does; but I do think they grossly over prescribe prescription drugs, and recklessly perform surgeries when they are not necessary.  I believe in what ever works and now believe that drugs and surgery should only be taken as a last resort.  I also believe that there is a lot wrong with a lot of so called "health foods", but as long as a cure is natural and non invasive at least it is less likely to hurt you.  Every person needs to take responsibility for and control of their own health and do whatever works for them.

I am not a fanatic on any one specific type of diet either, and I believe that every person is different and what might work best today may not work best tomorrow even with the same person.  As long as you follow a natural whole food diet free of chemical additives that is what I feel is important.  I have gone from the SAD diet 1-1/2 years ago to a vegetarian diet,  to a vegan diet, to a whole food diet including limited amounts of organic meats and fish with nuts and berries for snacks and lots and lots of steamed or raw vegetables.  I seldom eat out at restaurants any more, and 1-1/2 years ago I probably ate half of my meals at restaurants or take out food,  with a majority of the other half of my meals some combination of different processed foods. 

Since you asked all is good on my end.  Thanks for thinking of me.

Jerry

I trust that you found this story as inspiring as I have and will use this as a platform to move forward into your desired state of health and happiness. As Jerry shared "all is good on my end."

If you have any comments and questions regarding this article, please leave a post below and we will address this personally.

 

The Adrenal/Ovary Connection

by Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

So how important is adrenal function to ovary function? Maybe comparable to peanut butter and jelly or cheese on pizza, you get the picture...

We'll take a look at this connection today to help you understand not only the importance of the connection but also provide some incite on balancing this if you find yourself challenged in this area.

The first factor to understand is that approximately 2/3 of estrogen type hormones are created in the ovaries for women, while most of the other 1/3 are actually produced in the adrenal glands. Let's take this one step further to understand that men and post menopausal women are almost completely dependent on adrenal function for estrogen type hormones.

It is important to understand that an array of hormones are necessary for optimal function in the body. These would include all the estrogen type hormones, pregnenolone, progesterone, different forms of testosterone, androstenedione, DHEA, cortisol and cortisone, just to name some of the key players. Interestingly enough, all of the hormones listed above are produced in the adrenal glands. Of course as you have learned earlier, the ovaries will also produce estrogen type hormones in premenopausal women and men will produce the bulk of their testosterone in the testicles until andropause.

So as you can see optimal adrenal function is definitely a key here. 

If you had not heard me mention the likelihood of adrenal insufficiency in the past, here is a simple stat that I have recognized in my career in the health field. Through my years I have reviewed over 4,400 adrenal test kits. Now mind you, people that come into my office have health challenges, so these 4,400 plus people are individuals that are dealing with either diagnosed issues or recognized symptoms. Well, out of those 4,400 adrenal kits, I have seen only 5 come back optimal. Yes, ONLY 5! So basically, this means that if you have a health issue, there is only about a 1/10 of one percent chance that your adrenals are functioning optimally. I don't know about you but those do not sound like good odds to me.

Let's now take this a step further into ovary function. As mentioned earlier, premenopause women will produce about 2/3 of their estrogen type hormones in the ovaries with most of the other 1/3 being produced in the adrenals. So if the adrenals are not working well and the adrenals play a direct role in the function of the ovaries, where the heck does the body produce estrogen hormones? Interestingly enough, I asked a client this today and she guessed correctly. In your FAT! So if you are not producing the optimal amounts of estrogen type hormones from your ovaries and/or adrenals, your body will pack on the weight just to maintain hormone balance. This is why women with poor adrenal/ovary function and post menopause women seem to carry extra weight that they simply cannot lose. This is simply because the body is using the extra fat for a necessary hormonal process.

Sounds like a frightening cycle, right?

Well, it doesn't have to be. It is relatively easy to test adrenal function. Here at Depke Wellness we almost always use a #205 adrenal test kit from a company called BioHealth to assess cortisol, DHEA, estriol, estradiol, progesterone, different forms of testosterone, melatonin and androstenedione. This provides us the necessary information to understand what is going on in your body from a hormonal perspective and there are even a few little clues about digestion here also. Once we have this information we can provide some feedback for supplementation to assist your body in resetting and balancing your adrenal function. 

Depending on your current adrenal hormone production assessed, recommendations will vary for assisting the body in resetting the adrenals but there are some overall adrenal supportive supplements you can starting taking right now. The three key factors on this level is the Prime Adrenal Support which is vitamin B5, zinc and vitamin C. These all have very strong supportive factors for your adrenal function. These are very helpful for those that are focused on maintaining proper adrenal function of for those trying to balance an early 
stage I adrenal insufficiency.

For those in stage II or III we are talking a whole other ball game. While it would still be important here to utilize the adrenal support a further step is need and this is due to the fact that these stages are also reflective of a "blown out" HPA axis, which stands for the hypothalamus, pituitary, adrenal axis. The job of this feedback loop is to bring your body into a relaxing state after a stressful event. I am sure that you "get" that we all have stress and honestly, stress is a necessary part of life. When the HPA axis is working properly your stress is balanced on a consistent basis, but when the HPA axis is not longer working instead of stress/balance, stress/balance, stress/balance, you end up with stress, stress, stress, stress....yikes!

You get the picture.

So once the HPA axis is "blown out" this needs to be reset and you can assist your body in resetting this feedback loop by using sublingual forms of natural pregnenolone and DHEA. I do caution you though. DO NOT use these randomly without proper testing and working with a practitioner that truly understands assisting your body in resetting the HPA axis.

Another key factor is too address the triggers that causes the adrenal imbalance in the first place. These would be:

• Chronic mental/emotional stress
• SAD or standard American diet high in sugar and processed food
• Food senstitivities
• Chronic inflammatory states
• Chronic infections (many of which are gut infections)

So in putting this all together to maintain proper hormone production throughout your life please be sure to maintain optimal adrenal function and absolutely stay on top of your triggers. 

If you are not currently a client of Depke Wellness and you would like to understand this deeper, we always offer a complimentary 20 minute phone or in office consult for new clients. Feel free to call our office at (949)954-6226 for this consult.


 



 

Before you exercise...

by Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

So it's getting close to bathing suit weather and we all know what that means. The bulky sweat shirts come off and expose the ten pounds of belly fat that somehow appeared through the winter that we have been conveniently hiding behind our loose fitting cloths. As we all know, we cannot hide this any more one we throw one the bathing suit that has been sitting there waiting for us all winter.

With this said, what is the one change that so many are people are going to be making soon? 

This change is going to be the countless people heading to the gym in "hope" of eliminating that winter 10 and looking lean and healthy in their swim gear. While I support exercise and movement as a fundamental of health, I would be willing to bet that many of you are going to engage in exercise that will have a detrimental affect on your health and perhaps be counterproductive in your goals of trimming your waistline. 

Here's why...

Here's a common scenario. You gain weight through the winter months and decide it's time to lose that nagging flab around the midsection. From here you may begin address this nutritionally, but still not losing the weight. Due to this you begin working out, perhaps starting with some walking and lifting weights. Still, no weight loss...ugg! So now you talk to a friend that works our regularly and they tell you the key is to push the cardiovascular activity and suggest 45 minutes of intense work on the treadmill or elliptical. Still nothing, and perhaps at this point you're even seeing your weight go up. Really? How frustrating can this be? It almost seems as the more you do, nothing budges.

So how can this be? After all, we have all been taught that it is simply about calories in and calories out right? Yes, this is what we have been taught but if this was true, you would lose weight very quickly with the above scenario.

What is one of the most important factors to define before you exercise. This factor is adrenal function and there are many reasons for this. Here is a list of factors that are directly tied into your adrenal function as tied into weight loss.

• Thyroid function
• Pancreas function
• Ability to regulate body weight and fat
• Metabolism of fat and protein
• Every level of detoxification
• Pro and anti-inflammatory states
• Cellular energy
• Blood sugar balance
• Quality of sleep
• Neural connectivity

Understand that all of these levels tie into weight loss and a significantly affected by adrenal function.

But there's more...

How you exercise is impacted by your adrenal function. First understand that out of 3 stages of adrenal insufficiency that we would recognize at Depke Wellness, most of our clients show up in a stage II or stage III response. So basically, this means that most have already blown out the hypothalamus, adrenal and pituitary axis. The job of this HPA axis is to bring your body into a deep state of relaxation after a stressful event. This state is essential for healing and maintaining a healthy weight.

Remember above we mentioned that you will likely be told that they have to kick up the cardiovascular activity? Well, here's the kicker there. If you are in stage II or stage III adrenal insufficiency and you are exercising in a way that raises your heart rate and maintains this elevated heart rate, you are actually worsening your adrenal function. So yes, the hard work you are doing is not only not helping you lose weight but it is actually worsening your adrenal function.

If you do find yourself in a stage II or stage III adrenal insufficiency you still want to exercise but this should be via anaerobic training. So this would include weight training with heavy weight, low reps and rest in between sets. This would also include a casual walk, casual bike ride, gentle flow yoga, stretching and another huge benefit from burst training. I use burst training myself and recommend this at different times of the day for my clients depending on where there adrenal function is. 

While I cannot say enough about burst training, I am far from an expert with this but thankfully in the upcoming adrenal summit I have interviewed one of our worlds leaders in burst training, Dr Josh Axe. Make sure you register for the complimentary for Adrenal Summit and not only enjoy the interview on burst training and adrenal function with Dr Josh Axe but also the 12 other experts listed below. 

So in the end, before you exercise, properly assess your adrenal function.

Dr Daniel Kalish, DC

Adrenal Summit Launch 

Dr. Thomas O'Bryan, DC, CCN, DACBN
Gluten Sensitivity, Celiac and Adrenal Function

Dr Peter Osborne

Gluten Cross Reactivity and Adrenal Function

Dr Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS

The Cortisol/Insulin Connection

Dr Josh Axe
Exercise Effects on Adrenal Function

Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

Inflammation Effects on Adrenal Function

Linda Clark, M.A., Certified Nutrition Consultant (CNC)

Detoxification, Toxicity and Adrenal Health

Sue Ingebretson

Stress and the Emotional Impact on Adrenal Health

Dr Robert Janda, DC

Infection and Adrenal Function

Manny Aragon

The Structural Body and Adrenal Health

Lynda Buitrago, MS

The Thyroid/Adrenal Connection

John Lewis and Jeffery Zavik

Obesity, Sensitivity and Adrenal Function

Dr David Fletcher

Chiropractic Care and Adrenal Health

Glen Depke

Adrenal Summit Conclusion

The experts that we have for your enjoyment and education are the leaders in their field and actually the experts "experts". This event is going to create a paradigm shift and the needed education for our culture to understand adrenal fatigue, the impact this has on our health and happiness and more importantly, what we can do about this. Visit the Adrenal Summit for further information and registration for this complimentary event.

Chemical Sensitivity

by Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

Chemical sensitivity used to be for the select few chronically ill but these days, I am seeing

chemical sensitivity on significant levels for so many of my clients both young and old.

So why is this becoming such a huge issue?

Why are so many children seemingly starting off life with these sensitivities?

Is there one cause or many causes?

Is there hope for those with chemical sensitivities?

Today I will answer these questions and more but to shed a little light at the beginning, there is hope for those that are chemically sensitive! 

Let's start by defining this simply by looking at life's events. Imagine that you walk into an office the was freshly painted and newly carpeted. For most people, walking into this office would bring nothing more than a simple recognition of the odor telling you that the carpet is new as well as the paint. For the individual that is chemically sensitive though, this chemical expression can be maddening, almost to the point that they have to run out of the office.

So why is it that one person simply responds with recognition while another is running out of the office?

I would like to say there is one easy answer for all but one answer for all does not exist. The good news is that there are a combination of areas to look at ASAP that can be addressed to assist the body in responding to these chemicals in a less dramatic fashion, with the eventually goal of a release of chemical sensitivity.

Here is the list of what typically has to be addressed with those suffering with chemical sensitivities.

• Adrenal function - While your adrenals basically play a role in the whole of your being, they also play a direct role in chemical sensitivity due to the impact they have on the mucosal tissue lining (immune systems first line of defense), every level of detoxification, immune system regulation, the pro/anti inflammatory response and your overall neural connectivity. Since I have never seen someone with chemical sensitivity that does not have an adrenal issue, this is a great place to start.
• Inflammation - Chronic inflammation also known as an NF-kB state, is typically one of the significant factors behind chemical sensitivity. Understand that the NF-kB state will likely cause immune system dysregulation which in turn will often lead to chemical sensitivity. Addressing both the triggers for inflammation plus the inflammation itself is a key.
• Gluten or cross reactive intolerance - If you are consuming foods the you body is intolerant to, this is an issue in regard to chemical sensitivity. This is due to the fact that intolerant foods that are not addressed lead to digestive disorders, neurological imbalance, immune system disorders, inflammatory states, adrenal imbalance and poor blood/brain barrier function. ALL of these play a role in chemical sensitivity.
• Gut/brain/immune connection - If your gut/brain connection is suffering on any level due to pathogens, intolerant foods, stress, brain trauma and/or poor diet this will generally lead to immune system issues and chronic inflammation which is turn will contribute to chemical sensitivity.
• Poor blood/brain barrier function - Barrier function occurs in your gut, lungs and brain. The barrier that pertains with chemical sensitivity is the blood/brain barrier. This barrier keeps toxins from entering the brain via blood flow. If this barrier is not healthy, toxins will cross into the brain and create chemical sensitivity.
• Poor liver/colon function - The liver takes on the detoxification of approximately 80% of the toxins in your body. This will take place via a phase I and phase II liver detoxification. To simplify, phase I converts fat soluble toxins into water soluble toxins for eventual release via the colon. Once this phase I occurs it is essential that these are released via the colon because this phase I conversion actually makes the toxins more toxic. Yes, you heard that correct, your body's conversion of these toxins actually does create a higher level of toxicity. With that said, if you do not have healthy bowel movements (2 per day or more) you are actually releasing this toxic load back into your body and round and round you go. All this creates a significant toxic load and can be a big part of chemical sensitivity.
• Poor drainage - Often when we talk about detoxification, we forget the most important part. That part is drainage. To detoxify without drainage can lead to a toxic overload in your body and chemical sensitivity. See above while understanding that drainage is so much more than just your colon. Lymph, kidneys, skin and lungs also play a role.

While there may be some fringe areas to address beyond these listed above, most will find a significant release of chemical sensitivity symptoms or even a complete elimination of these symptoms by addressing these areas.

I also wanted to talk about one other area of chemical sensitivity that is so important and that is with children. With younger children, this is typically tied into food intolerance, the gut/brain connection and/or poor blood/brain barrier function. Addressing these first will often show relief for you children.

To take this a step further, let's look at the main reasons so many kids seem to be born with these chemical sensitivities. The fact is that this starts with the health of the parents upon conception and the health of the mother throughout pregnancy. Please understand the importance of a healthy gut/brain/immune system in the mother which will coincide with a healthier gut/brain/immune function with your child. Often women are living with an undiagnosed autoimmune reaction or every a full blown autoimmune disease. These challenges are easily transferred into the developing child and unfortunately this occurs far too often. With this said, make sure that a part of your family planning includes optimal health for both parents and have confidence in the gut/brain/immune health for the future mother. Doing this can release years of frustration down the road for both parents and children.

One other factor to consider is the high amount of chemicals that are in our environment via the air we breathe, water we drink, foods we eat as well as chemicals on cloths or products we put on your skin. These areas can be improved on every level also to take away some of the chemical load thrown at us on a daily basis.

• Air we breathe - Take a look at this article on air purifying plants for your home and office.
• Water we drink - My general recommendation is a Reverse Osmosis filtration system that includes a minimum of 4 filters. You can also purchase a portable aquagear system that will filter tap water at any time. Great for traveling or regular use. Learn more about AquaGear.
• Foods we eat - Consume whole natural and organic food whenever possible. Processed foods and a sugar are a part of a toxic lifestyle.
• Chemicals on your body - Use natural cleaning products and do not put anything on your skin that has a chemical base. There are many natural products that you can use on your skin available today. Here is a link to some of these natural products. Remember that your skin will easily soak up your toxic exposure.

In the end, recognize that once you are chemically sensitive this does not have to be a life long struggle for you. Take the necessary steps to live a life free of these sensitivities. It will be more than worth it!

Cancer and Inflammation

by Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

Today we will dive into the intimate relationship between cancer and inflammation. Before we do this, let's look at some simple stats.

This year alone, over 1.7 million Americans will be told that they "have" CANCER and 33% of those people will die. Every 30 seconds somebody is diagnosed with cancer. And the numbers continue to grow worse with each passing year, despite more medical inventions and technology promising early detection.

How about not partaking in this statistic? 

If this is your goal, you will definitely want to learn more about the inflammatory tie into cancer. Recognize that when I talk about inflammation I am discussing longer term chronic systemic inflammation. I am not referring to acute inflammation due to injury.

When you are living with long term chronic systemic inflammation, this would be referred to as an NF-kB state. Often clients will ask me what this stands for so here you go. This is a nuclear factor kappa beta state. I know, this does not help at all. To define this further will likely create the clarity you are looking for. NF-kB is a protein complex that controls the transcription of DNA. 

Sounds rather important in regard to cancer?

When an individual is living with chronic inflammation this leads to immune system dysregulation. Immune system dysregulation can and will hinder the body's apoptosis. We discussed this briefly a few weeks ago. To review, apoptosis is basically cellular suicide. Understand that the way your body was created, if a cell because "broken" that cell is actually programmed to commit suicide. This will inhibit that "broken" cell from becoming another "broken" cell and so on and so on. If apoptosis is not functioning properly due to immune system dysregulation, which is caused by chronic inflammation, this "broken" cell will continue to replicate. The long term result of this would be a major contributing factor to cancer.

I do want to be very clear that I am not saying that inflammation is the only cause of cancer but this is a major contributing factor as mentioned above.

Now that you understand the role chronic inflammation play in cancer, what causes the chronic inflammation? The main causes of chronic inflammation are listed below.

• Food intolerance such as gluten and similar cross reactive foods
• The standard American diet high in processed foods and sugar
• Chronic infection
• Chronic stress
• Chemotherapy
• Obesity
• Alcohol/drug addiction 

So the key to addressing cancer is addressing inflammation and the key to addressing inflammation is working on the areas above. Start by assessing your likelihood of gluten intolerance by taking this complimentary gluten assessment.

Focus on reducing your sugar and processed food intake as much as possible. There are also two tests that we would recommend with regularity to address the underlying factors of inflammation. Once is a Cyrex Labs Gluten Cross Reactive Food test and the other is a comprehensive stool collection kit to assess the likelihood of a chronic gut infection. We find gut infections to be a challenge with about 75% of our client base and an even higher percentage that are living with gluten and/or cross reactive intolerance.


It is also important to note that your adrenal gland function also play a significant role in your immune system regulation as well as inflammatory states. Trying to accomplish your inflammatory roles without assessing adrenal function and addressing this with a proper adrenal protocol, will hinder your progress. If you have heard me talk about adrenals before, remember that here at Depke Wellness, we have reviewed well over 4,000 adrenal test kits and have seen only 4 come back normal. In fairness, we work with health challenged individuals, but if you have a health challenge you have almost a 100% chance of living with an adrenal issue. Check your adrenal function now.

Once you have addressed these areas, you can then work on the chronic inflammation. This cannot be taken lightly though. The chronic inflammation needs a strong "kick in the head" to be eliminated. This "kick in the head" involves a specific combination of supplements, with proper dosing to assist the body in shifting out of the chronic inflammatory state.

Once you have addressed all the common causes of chronic inflammation to the best of your ability and you have begun an adrenal balancing protocol, you are ready to provide the strong "kick in the head" in regard to inflammation. This would have to be addressed one on one. When you feel that you are ready to accomplish this task, reach out to Depke Wellness at (949)954-6226 to set up your complimentary 20 minute phone consultation. 

Don't be a statistic in the cancer and inflammation world. Address the underlying factors of inflammation and keep your immune function and apoptosis is full function.

If you have any comments or questions in regard to this article, post these below for us to address personally.