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About Dairy Allergies
Dairy allergies are the most common food allergy found. Many patients with dairy allergies tend to have, or have a predisposition to the following:
- heart or cardiovascular problems
- diabetes (adult onset)
- diabetes (childhood)
- asthma, airborne allergies, excess mucus production
- arthritic conditions
- ear infections in children
Dairy allergy is a protein phenomenon. It is the protein in the dairy products that the patient has an allergy to. Many people think they have a lactose problem, but most are allergic to one or more of the specific proteins in dairy products. Therefore, lactose-free milk is not a good alternative unless a patient has only a lactose deficiency and does not have an allergy to the milk proteins (rarely the case).
Digestion is one of the most critical processes that needs to be working correctly. Without proper digestion you can’t assimilate the nutrients and use them for your metabolic processes. The first part of digestion takes place in the mouth. This is where everyone can help their digestion, it’s called proper chewing. When the food enters the stomach, the stomach releases hydrochloric acid to help break down the food, especially proteins. According to “Guyton’s Textbook of Medical Physiology”, the pH of the stomach should be between 1.0 and 3.5. The older we get the less stomach acid produced (higher pH). If your pH rises above 4.5 this will not stimulate the small intestine to release secretin. Secretin causes the pancreas to release sodium bicarbonate into the small intestine neutralizing the acid food contents (chyme), therefore you end up with slightly acidic chyme in your small intestine that causes heartburn, and can ultimately lead to a duodenal ulcer. A simple test to see if this is causing your heartburn, is to mix a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in a couple ounces of water and drink it after you eat. If this stops the heartburn, then you know you have a low stomach acid level.
A lack of stomach acid has been associated with food sensitivities. A study of the use of medications to reduce stomach acid has been found to increase food allergies. The FASEB Journal, 2005 stated, “we have demonstrated that anti-ulcer drugs, such as H2-receptor blockers and proton pump inhibitors, promote the development of immediate type food allergy toward digestion-labile proteins in mice…Thus, the relative risk to develop food-specific IgE after anti-acid therapy was 10.5 (95% confidence interval: 1.44-76.48).” Medications will do this but if your body doesn’t produce it’s own stomach acid you will increase your risk of food allergies.
The most important way to balance hormones is to balance everything else. Hormones are very delicate by nature. For example: too little thyroid hormone will result in lower metabolism, fatigue. Too much hormone will result in feeling jittery, insomnia, and in extreme cases cardiac arrest. Too little estrogen will result in osteoporosis, and low libido. Too much estrogen can cause uterine fibroids, fibrocystic breast and increased risk of reproductive cancers. Too little testosterone will lead to decrease muscle mass and decrease libido. Too much testosterone will cause aggressiveness, increased prostate problems, and hair loss. Too little growth hormone will cause a decrease in muscle mass and accelerated aging. Too much growth hormone will increase your chances of Type II diabetes by six times, and increase the risk of prostate cancer. Too little insulin is diabetes, which in turn can cause blindness and limb amputation. Increased insulin will cause weight gain, high cholesterol, increased LDL, increased triglycerides, increased blood pressure, and increased risk of heart attack.
Cholesterol is the precursor to all our steroid hormones which include estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, cortisol, aldosterone, and DHEA. Eighty to ninety percent of cholesterol is made by the liver. Cholesterol is converted into pregnenolone which is then converted into progesterone which is converted into androstanedione which can be converted into estrogen or DHEA or testosterone. If the person has excess body fat, they will make an enzyme called aromatase which will convert testosterone into estrogen increasing estrogen levels. If a person has insulin resistance their body will produce two enzymes, one called 17, 20 lyase and the other17 alpha hydroxylase. These enzymes convert progesterone into testosterone which will can cause polycystic ovary syndrome, hair growth, loss of head hair, and infertility in women. The testosterone could then be converted into estrogen by the aromatase enzyme made in body fat, once again increasing total estrogen levels. High estrogen levels in men can cause prostate problems. In women high estrogen levels can increase the risk of reproductive cancers as well as uterine fibroids, fibrocystic breast, and endometriosis. According to the “Journal of Carcinogenesis” you can have 10 to 50 times the amount of estrogen in breast tissue than in your blood, therefore blood levels of estrogen may not indicate the tissue levels of estrogen. When you’re under stress your body will convert your DHEA into cortisol. This process has been named cortisol steal. When this occurs the body’s levels of DHEA, aldosterone, estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone will all decrease. This is how stress can cause hormonal imbalances in people.
There are 11 sites on the estrogen molecule for detoxification, and each has three types of estrogen, therefore the body has 36 different types of estrogen. The three primary detoxification sites are the 2 hydroxylation pathway, the 16 hydroxylation pathway, and the 4 hydroxylation pathway. The 2 hydroxyestrogen’s are good for you promote health and actually fight cancer. The 16 hydroxyestrogen’s are 30 times more mitogenic (causes cell division), and therefore increase the number of cells to potentially turn into cancer. The 4 hydroxyestrogen’s are 30 times more carcinogenic and therefore greatly increase the risk of cancer. In our environment there are thousands of synthetic estrogens, these come in the form of plastics, pesticides and other chemicals. These synthetic estrogens are detoxified through the 16 hydroxylation pathway. Alcohol, smoking and hydrogenated fats are detoxified through the 4 hydroxylation pathway. Indole 3 carbonol which can be found in cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and brussels sprouts all increase the two hydroxylation pathway and therefore promote hormonal balance. Once an estrogen has been detoxified, if it becomes oxidized, it then becomes a quinone, which is also carcinogenic, and this is why we need good antioxidant status.
Isoflavones found in soy, helps modulate hormones. Black cohosh is also an excellent estrogen modulator. Chasteberry is an excellent progesterone modulator. Saw Palmetto is excellent for prostate health, and Primiline is excellent for testosterone support.
Food sensitivities are very common in our society, although most people don’t know if they have any. One of the best ways to discover your food sensitivities is to do a food elimination diet. You do this by removing a food from your diet for a minimum of six weeks (120 days is best), then reintroduce the food and see how you feel. Some of the most common food sensitivities are: gluten, wheat, dairy, corn, soy, and chocolate, but it could be any food.
Food sensitivities have been associated with some diseases. A study on multiple sclerosis, published in Neurology 2001 states, “The authors describe 10 patients with gluten sensitivity and abnormal MRI. All experienced episodic headache, six had unsteadiness, and four had gait ataxia. MRI abnormalities varied from confluent areas of high signal throughout the white matter to foci of high signal scattered in both hemispheres. Symptomatic response to gluten free diet was seen in nine patients.” This study shows that 9 out of ten patients diagnosed with abnormal brain MRI’s diagnosed with M.S. showed dramatic improvement with a 30 day gluten free diet.
Dimentia is has been linked to gluten allergies. Lancet 1999 stated “High levels of circulating antigliaden antibodies (gliaden is a protein sub fraction of gluten) were found in 57% of patients with neurological dysfunction and early stage dementia.
According to the European Journal of Gastroenterology 1998, “celiac disease patients (a gluten allergy) have a ten times increase of auto immune thyroiditis.” If you have autoimmune thryroiditis, but you don’t have celiac disease, it’s a safe assumption that you have a gluten sensitivity and it should be completely eliminated from the diet.
Type 1 diabetes has been associated with a dairy sensitivity. The New England Journal of Medicine, 1992 states, “Studies have suggested that bovine serum albumin is the milk protein responsible for the onset of diabetes… Patients with insulin- dependent diabetes mellitus produce antibodies to cow milk proteins that participate in the development of islet dysfunction… Taken as a whole, our findings suggest that an active response in patients with IDDM (to the bovine protein) is a feature of the autoimmune response.” According to Diabetes, June 2000 “high level consumption of cow’s milk during childhood (
A lack of stomach acid has been associated with food sensitivities. A study of the use of medications to reduce stomach acid has been found to increase food allergies. The FASEB Journal, 2005 stated, “we have demonstrated that anti-ulcer drugs, such as H2-receptor blockers and proton pump inhibitors, promote the development of immediate type food allergy toward digestion-labile proteins in mice…Thus, the relative risk to develop food-specific IgE after anti-acid therapy was 10.5 (95% confidence interval: 1.44-76.48).” Medications will do this but if your body doesn’t produce it’s own stomach acid you will increase your risk of food allergies.
Immune function is very important to sustain life. If your immune system is set too high, you may develop allergies or an autoimmune disorder such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and Crohn’s. If your immune system is set to low you may develop infections or cancer. Approximately two-thirds of your immune system is located in your gut. It is the gut associated lymphoid tissue and the mucosal associated lymphoid tissue. When you have dysbiosis you can severely stress your immune system.
Dr. Sidney Baker say’s that the role of the nervous system is to survey the external environment and then to elicit an appropriate response, he then says the role the immune system is to survey the internal environment and then to elicit an appropriate response. If we consider that the neurotransmitters in the central nervous system also affect every single cell as well as the immune system, and that everything that affects immune system also affects central nervous system, we can conclude that the immune system is a circulating nervous system. This is what is called psychoneuroimmunology. The premise behind psychoneuroimmunology is that every thought that we have produces neurologic and immunologic changes. The conclusion is that negative or stressful thoughts create a sick body, while positive, happy thoughts create a healthy body.
There is research associating specific infections with the onset of specific diseases. The Journal of Rheumatology states, “Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) affects approximately ½ million people in the U.K. and some 96% of them possess HLA-B27, while the frequency of this antigen is about 8%…Clinical studies have showed that AS patients during active phases of the disease, had increased quantities of fecal IgA antibody levels against Klebsiella microbes.”
Womens Health
Women’s Health
Disclaimer:
Stress is one of the major causes of women’s health issues today.
Women are more stressed out than the human body can handle. Being a mother, a wife, a professional, and/or being physically fit can be very stressful. To avoid the build up of stress, we need to realize that the body does need rest and that we may need to lessen our work load or rearrange our priorities. Too much of anything can have serious negative effects. If you revaluate your work load and balance it a little better you reduce the stress and come to a place where your body can be manually supported so you can endure your everyday life without some of the life threatening consequences.
So what are some of the major health concerns for women? Every day I see women who come into my office who are concerned about weight gain, thyroid problems, hormone imbalance, infertility, and cancer. Would it surprise you to know that all of these can be directly or indirectly related to stress? This is why I always recommend that every woman who seeks my help does a salivary adrenal stress test, which we offer in our office. The adrenal gland is a gland that rests on top of your kidneys and deals directly with all the stress in your life. Once the test results come back we begin to recommend interventions and treatment plans to help repair your adrenals and balance out other systems in your body that may have been pulled out of line in response to stress.
Here are a few things you can do to decrease your stress. Before going to sleep lie in bed and visualize all the stressful moments of your day; a angry co worker an undisciplined child etc. Do your best to use all your senses to get you back to this moment in time. When you are back there again relive this situation with it having a funny outcome i.e. your co worker with a clown face. You should literally crack a smile or laugh then you can move to the next stress until you have visualized them all in a funny way. Next contract every muscle you can think of one at a time starting from the tip of your head and down to your feet. Contract them for two to three seconds, relax and then move to the next one. Do this two to three times and then start breathing deeply, concentrating on seeing your stomach move not your chest. Once you feel your body relax and release the tension you are ready for bed shut everything of and go to sleep.
See Dr. Ozzie Newsletter, Vol. 1 No. 1 for specific Women’s Health Issues.
To set up an appointment with Dr. Ozzie, please contact him at:
Functional Medicine & Wellness Center
2653 Sagebrush Drive, Suite 230
Flower Mound, Texas 75028
CITYPLACE FITNESS
2711 N. Haskell Avenue, 3rd Floor
Dallas, TX 75204
214.395.7264 ● 972.899.8146
Stress Management
Disclaimer:
The key to managing your stress is to know your stresses.
What a hot topic – who isn’t stressed these days?
There are three main stresses that the body encounters – structural, chemical and mental. Everyone suffers from one or more of these stress and this adds up to one unhealthy nation. For over 10 years I have been developing different techniques in my office to counterbalance all three.
Structural Stress:
First of all let me provide a brief example of all three stresses. Structural stress occurs when the body’s structure is when the muscles or joints are not functioning properly. This could be caused by sitting at a desk all day at work, which may cause body stiffness, , getting into a car wreck, or just by playing sports. In order to counterbalance this stress, one should see a chiropractor. Through numerous studies performed by governments from worldwide have proved that chiropractic care is by far the most cost effective, least invasive and most importantly safest way to deal with structural stress. Chiropractors are not limited to spinal adjustments. If you have any muscle or joint pain or discomfort anywhere in your body chiropractic care is you best choice.
Chemical Stress
Chemical stress is caused by what we ingest through food, water and air. There are over 10,000 chemical additives in our food supply. The average American ingests 14 pounds of additives, 158 pounds of sugar, and 8 pounds of salt per year! This is way more than the body’s organs were designed to handle. We are constantly ingesting heavy metals such as mercury, lead, arsenic, and many more everyday again through the air we breath, water we drink and food we eat. At the Functional Medicine & Wellness Center, we have specially-designed programs to help patients rid their bodies of these toxins, also known as detoxification. (Please do not attempt to detox on your own seek the help of a trained Physician as detoxing can be extremely dangerous if not done correctly.) Something you can do at home is eat as much raw organic fruits and vegetables as possible. Eat organic free-range chicken, beef and fish when possible. Drink reverse osmosis purified water and eliminate your intake of all soda, diet soda and heavily processed foods.
Mental/Emotional Stress
Mental/Emotional stress is the most common of all three stresses Mental/emotional stress stems from issues dealing with family, romance, work, and/or finance. Many of use often think that because this stress is not physical that it has no bearing on our bodies. In a recent study, it was been proven that the same receptor sites for the neurotransmitters in the brain are all on your immune system as well. Meaning that the thoughts you think have a direct impact on your health and your immune system. This is why someone who has a huge mental burden, such as the loss of a loved one, can become ill within a very short period of time.
Another example is that of sports psychology and mental imagination study where they attached electrodes to an Olympic athlete and mapped the muscles that fire when they are actually doing an event. While mentally imagining this event with the electrodes attached, they noticed that the exact same muscles fired at the exact same time. In my clinical experience this mental/emotional stress component left unaddressed can be the most debilitating and disease causing of all the stresses. In our office we have developed specific techniques to counterbalance the negative effects that may include acupressure with mental focusing along with homeopathic supplementation when necessary.
To set up an appointment with Dr. Ozzie, please contact him at:
Functional Medicine & Wellness Center
2653 Sagebrush Drive, Suite 230
Flower Mound, Texas 75028
CITYPLACE FITNESS
2711 N. Haskell Avenue, 3rd Floor
Dallas, TX 75204
214.395.7264 ● 972.899.8146
Neck pain and headaches are the most common and most successful things chiropractors treat.
Any type of pain or headache can be a sign of a toxicity. Another trigger, especially with migraine headaches, can be caused by a food intolerance. It is stated that 90% of all migraine sufferers have a dairy allergy. It has been my experience that if a migraine sufferer can withdraw from dairy for at least eight weeks and get past the first few days of withdrawal symptoms, they will see a significant decrease, , in the intensity, frequency and duration of their migraines. In some cases this is the answer to the problem and the migraines will stop completely and as long as the patient stays away from dairy the headaches will never return.
To assist in the process of withdrawing any food intolerance from the body, we encourage detoxification[1]. Any and all raw organic fruits and vegetables with organic lean sources of protein will help promote detoxification. In addition to a lean diet, one can also utilize shower-hydrotherapy, saunas, dry skin brushing, bathing in Epson salts as well as other baths that can be found on my website under home detoxification ideas.
Another major stress that can induce neck pain and headaches is structural stress. I have seen numerous times over the last 10 years patients who have had a physical trauma happen to them some time in their life, such as a car wreck or a sporting accident, that is the sole reason for their neck pain and headaches. Many times these traumes go untreated or not properly treated and proper joint and muscle function is not restored which leads to your pain and headaches. There are numerous receptors in the shoulders, neck, jaw, and cranial bones that can lead to neck pain and headaches when not stimulated correctly. There are many techniques we use in our office to gently and easily restore proper motion thereby regulating the stimulation of these receptors. A lot of people may not realize it but any problem with jaw motion can lead to pain. If you have been told that you grind your teeth by your dentist or if your jaw pops, clicks or locks up, you have a jaw problem that may be leading to your pain or headaches and we can help.
If you experience neck pain or headaches or both please call our office and set up an appointment.
[1] Any detoxification process should include physician supervision.
To set up an appointment with Dr. Ozzie, please contact him at:
Functional Medicine & Wellness Center
2653 Sagebrush Drive, Suite 230
Flower Mound, Texas 75028
CITYPLACE FITNESS
2711 N. Haskell Avenue, 3rd Floor
Dallas, TX 75204
214.395.7264 ● 972.899.8146
Exercise and Fitness
Disclaimer:
One of the biggest things that I have noticed about exercise and fitness over the last 10 years is what little people know about their current health status before they start an exercise and fitness plan. I’m not talking about the physical assessment you may do at a gym when you consider height, weight, body fat, and blood pressure. I am talking about an individual person’s chemical makeup (blood, urine and saliva as well as body composition). If you don’t know where you are starting from how do you know how to get to where you are going? In my professional experience, this is one of two reasons most exercise programs soon plateau or just don’t work at all.
The first problem is that most diet and exercise programs concentrate on the scale and not the overall body composition. All to often I see someone lose weight but actually lose muscle mass and water which makes them more unhealthy then when they started. We want you to lose weight but we want you to lose fat not muscle or water. The reason for this is because higher muscles mass equates to higher metabolism so when you get the weight off you keep it off. Another problem in today’s world is that almost everyone is OVER stressed. Being stressed causes your Adrenal gland in to go into a “fight or flight” mood which increases Cortisol and shunts everything away from your sex hormones like estrogen and testosterone.
There are three phases of adrenal deterioration: 1) alarm, 2) resistance and 3) exhaustion. The first two phases will see an increase in Cortisol and the third will see a decrease. This sets off a tidal wave of complications initially it will raise your blood sugar levels causing you not only to become fatter and increase cholesterol which increases your chances of heart attack or stroke but it will also make you insulin resistant increasing your chances of diabetes. Second if you have your heart rate too high when you are working out and you are in one of these phases you will make this situation worse. I believe two tests are imperative if you want to maximize your time, money and effort in achieving your fitness goals. One is something called an electrical Bioimpedance Analysis and also an Adrenal stress index panel which are both offered at our office.
To set up an appointment with Dr. Ozzie, please contact him at:
Functional Medicine & Wellness Center
2653 Sagebrush Drive, Suite 230
Flower Mound, Texas 75028
CITYPLACE FITNESS
2711 N. Haskell Avenue, 3rd Floor
Dallas, TX 75204
214.395.7264 ● 972.899.8146
Diet and Nutrition
Disclaimer:
Understanding the crossroads of diet and disease, and the role of nutrition in both the creation and elimination of disease, is both practical and instructing. It is practical in the way that it is the most powerful clinical tool in preventing and treating disease. It is instructive because food plays a key role in every biological process in our body. That being said it is interesting that today’s current diet is the main agent of chronic degenerative disease in our time, such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer’s, etc. However, when clinical nutrition is used by a trained physician it has the ability to prevent, reverse and even cure these diseases.
One major problem with our food supply today is that it is not nutrient dense like it was 50 to 75 years ago. The second major problem is that we consume way more toxins today then ever before. What does this mean to you? It means that the foods we eat that eliminate these toxins cannot keep up with the amount of toxins you are taking in causing your body to degenerate faster. One solution is to eat pure organic foods in their raw state if possible – but, even doing this may not be enough. This leads us to something called nutriceuticals: high dose vitamins, minerals and herb therapies that are specifically designed to target the promotion of specific biological processes in your body. Thereby supporting and stimulating the processes needed to repair your body and support your body in the fight against disease.
In my years of clinical experience I have seen very few, if any, people eat their way out of a disease. What I mean by this is that one can maintain and support their current health or lack of health status. If one wishes to improve their health or support their bodies fight against a disease, they need to implore neutraceuticals. The combination of which can be extremely potent. I have seen miracles modern western medicine could only dream about when one assumes healing power of the human body.
It is extremely important to also understand that one person’s poison may be another one’s medicine. There have been countless times, I have had patients complain about constipation and their primary physician is telling them to eat more fiber and grains, causing the condition to worsen. What the doctor didn’t take into consideration is that everyone has a bio-chemical uniqueness and this person had a food intolerance or even allergy to wheat/gluten and was the very reason they were constipated in the first place. So, although this may be good advice for some it was terrible advice for another. There are some very simple and inexpensive tests that we offer our office that can diagnose many of these common food sensitivities/food intolerances.
To set up an appointment with Dr. Ozzie, please contact him at:
Functional Medicine & Wellness Center
2653 Sagebrush Drive, Suite 230
Flower Mound, Texas 75028
CITYPLACE FITNESS
2711 N. Haskell Avenue, 3rd Floor
Dallas, TX 75204
214.395.7264 ● 972.899.8146
