Radio Naturopath Episode 402: Herbs and Foods for High Blood Pressure and Heart Health

This week in our series about cardiovascular health, we talked about herbs and foods that can lower blood pressure. A lot of foods have properties that are similar to calcium channel blockers, like the commonly prescribed amlodipine. Magnesium, eugenol from thyme, and celery seed all have constituents that has those properties! Other herbs are diuretic or nitric oxide enhancers, and still more reduce inflammation and aid with strengthening blood vessels. They all help!

Radio Naturopath Episode 401: Vaginal Dryness, Tick Repellent, Heart Healthy Foods

This week I talked about three topics. The first is one especially important to peri- and post-menopausal women, vaginal dryness. There are some simple things you can do to help, and not necessarily hormonal! The second is TICKS. My patients are coming in with tick bites and frank Lyme disease. We discuss how to prevent getting them on you, how to look for them, and natural tick repellents. The third is a long list of heart healthy foods! Lots of things that you can eat and generally help your heart to be healthier, and some that are actually studied to do great things like lower LDL, increase LDL size, raise HDL, lower triglycerides, improve endothelial function, and lower blood pressure. 

Radio Naturopath Episode 400: Starch, Sugar, Fat and Cholesterol; Two Newer Drugs

This week, I talked about how starch, sugar, saturated and hydrogenated fats affect cholesterol. It's not as simple as you think! Saturated fat is NOT shown to be that bad for cholesterol, and too much starch and sugar are what mostly raise it. Hydrogenated fat too! We help you sort through that. We also talk about two newer cholesterol lowering meds, bempedoic acid and the PCSK-9 inhibitors. Are they any better than statins? Hmmm.

Radio Naturopath Episode 399: More on Women and Cardiovascular Disease

This week I continued on with information about women and cardiovascular health. Lots of risk factors. I also spent some time on how microflora, the bacteria that live in your colon and the rest of your body, are correlated with cardiovascular health. There are certain species that are associated with lower risk, and the biggest thing is to have colony diversity. Eat organic!

Radio Naturopath Episode 398: More on Cholesterol, Cardiovascular Health and Women

This week, I talked more about cardiovascular health especially as it relates to women. Women can have different symptoms of cardiovascular disease than men, especially if they are having a heart attack. We try to help you understand the signs and symptoms! Lots of herbs for heart health. Also, some other cardiovascular markers.

Radio Naturopath Episode 397: Spinal Stenosis; CNPA Part 4: MK-4 and Osteoporosis, Mushrooms, HPV

This week we talked about back pain and spinal stenosis, and especially how helpful getting in the water for this kind of pain and lots of other musculoskeletal pain. I will take a deeper dive into spinal stenosis at a later date. 

We also reviewed the last few talks of the Connecticut Naturopathic Physicians Association. MK-4 for osteoporosis, MushWOMB medicine (that's mushrooms for women's health), help for human papillomavirus, and a little about homeopathy! What a great conference! I think we wrapped it up.

Radio Naturopath Episode 396: Aging in Men, Health Goals, Enviro Toxins, Stress Reduction

This week was Part 3 of CNPA Conference Redux! This week, the featured speakers were Geo Espinosa who spoke about aging in men; Carissa Fioritto who discussed health goal-setting and used redirecting from weight loss as an example; Kira Halak who discussed the toxicity of PFAS and other environmental toxins; and Doni Wilson who talked about managing stress and even the benefits of ayahuasca! Fascinating stuff.

Radio Naturopath Episode 395: Chronic Illness in Kids, Fascial Trauma, Lyme & COVID-19, PANS-PANDAS

This week, we talked some more about the amazing info I got at the CNPA conference. There is so much information it's going to take at least 3 or 4 shows to fit it all in! Debby Hamilton, M.D. talked about how the pesticide glyphosate can affect young nervous systems, as can electromagnetic fields. There was a great talk about how trauma can be held in our fascia, our connective tissue, and how to release it. Then Myriah Hinchey, N.D., who is expert in tick born illnesses, talked about the similarities between inflammation in COVID-19 and Lyme. Lindsay Wells talked about treating PANS and PANDAS, psychiatric syndromes usually in children that can follow infections with staphylococcus or streptococcal bacteria.  More to follow next week!

Radio Naturopath Episode 394: 2023 CNPA Conference: Allergies, Psoriasis, Acne, mTOR and Aging, MK-4 for Osteoporosis

This week, I am fresh from the 2023 Connecticut  Naturopathic Physician's Association Conference (CNPA). My brain is full and I'm beat! But now I know more and feel inspired, so here's a little bit of what I learned. It'll likely take a few shows to get through the information! This week: Todd Borne and allergies; Eugene Zampieron and psoriasis; Peter Bongiorno and mTOR and aging. Plus, MK-4 is the only form of Vitamin K2 studied to both increase bone density and prevent fractures. Thanks, John Neustadt!

Radio Naturopath Episode 393: Statins, Ezetimibe, PCSK-9 Inhibitors, Cholesterol and Health

This week I continued with my series on cardiovascular health. We explored how statin drugs work to lower cholesterol and how they cause detrimental side effects. We talked about another commonly used drug that also has side effects, ezetimibe. And there's the somewhat newer PCSK-9 inhibitors, which lower cholesterol by an alternate mechanism. For some people, they have less side effects, but not necessarily. We also began to discuss some of the natural ways to lower cholesterol, and some cholesterol testing besides the common LDL, HDL, and triglyceride testing that can go deeper into helping the decision on whether to medicate.