NATUROPATHIC INSPIRATIONS

Treating Metabolic Syndrome

THE KEY TO A HEALTHY IMMUNE SYSTEM

I have always considered fall the season of fresh starts. Is this going to be the fall of “discipline” where I endeavor to eat less sugar, stop coffee, and exercise and meditate more? This article explains “metabolic syndrome” and how it predisposes the body to infectious diseases such as colds and flus, and how all of the above disciplines may contribute to your immune health.

Dr. Jeffery Bland, PhD, recently wrote a wonderful summary of Metabolic Syndrome, July 26 2020 on the Medium platform, describing it as the non-communicable disease (NCD) pandemic that has been on the radar of the World Health Organization, public health groups, and health providers in recent years. These NCDs have overtaken infectious diseases as the most significant global cause of illness and premature death.

What is metabolic syndrome?

Metabolic syndrome is technically not a disease but a constellation of proinflammatory conditions including hypertension, insulin resistance and obesity. Hypertension is classified as blood pressure readings over 135/85, insulin resistance is indicated in blood sugars above 6.1 and triglycerides over 1.7, but not yet classified as diabetes, and increased body mass index as measured simply by abdominal circumference greater than 35 inches for women and 40 inches for men. The comorbidities linked to metabolic syndrome are associated with altered immune function and chronic inflammation.

When did this state of altered immune function begin to be a global health issue?

In the early 80s in Japan where diabetes was not heard of, over the period 1988-2012 there was an exponential growth of obesity, hypertension, prediabetes, and diabetes. This was a trend that was spreading across the world: a global epidemic of metabolic syndrome. Today more than 30% of the North American population has metabolic syndrome!

What is the cause of chronic inflammation that is impacting populations in so many countries?

Dramatic changes in lifestyle, environment, diet, and stress cause metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is a state of lowered resilience to disease and one of the pathways involves “furin”. It is a protein that regulates various biochemical processes, both in times of good health and when a disease state is present. In people who have comorbidities that are associated with metabolic syndrome furin levels have been found to be abnormal.

How do we treat metabolic syndrome?

Many lifestyle, environmental, and dietary factors are

associated with abnormal immune function related to chronic inflammation and metabolic syndrome.

The Mediterranean diet — which is plentiful in fresh vegetables, fruits, whole grains, virgin olive oil, nuts, seeds, and fish that are high in omega-3 fats, while also low in sugar and processed foods — has been extensively studied for its positive influence on the comorbidities associated with metabolic syndrome and its ability to reduce chronic inflammation. This type of diet, high in phytochemicals such as flavonoids, quercetin, and luteolin, protects against infection. It also lowers “furin” and the resulting inflammatory cascade in the body during infectious disease processes.

Lowering cholesterol will make furin less vulnerable to being hijacked by infectious diseases. Exercise such as walking 6000-10,000 steps three times per week and replacing high fructose snacks and drinks with protein, low carb snacks and drinks will also lower inflammation. A comprehensive naturopathic treatment program may include nutraceuticals such as essential fatty acids, lipoic acid, chromium and turmeric.

How Can We Support our Innate Immunity?

Our first line of immune defense is called our innate immunity. Innate immunity is known to be heavily involved in chronic inflammation. In the May 2020, Journal for ISOM (International Society for Orthomolecular Medicine) the following nutrients are listed as supporting our innate immunity: Vitamin A, D, C, selenium, quercetin, zinc and magnesium. Studies have shown that improved physical fitness, reduction in obesity, and increased quality of sleep can all positively influence immunity and reduce the severity of viral infections

We are an immune compromised and unfit society experiencing a “Metabolic Syndrome Pandemic” as described by Dr. Scott M. Grundy, MD, PhD in his 2008 article. The good news is that with the awareness of what metabolic syndrome is, we know what to do. We just need the discipline to do it!

Contact Dr. Ingrid Pincott N.D. (Non-Practicing) at 778-560-4444 Contact an Naturopathic Physician near you at www.bcna.ca

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THE GREAT AWAKENING

You hear it all over… “The Great Awakening”. Is it a spiritual thing? Is it an awakening to what is really going on in our world, or is it a combination of both?

Let’s take a brief look at life, at our environment, at all the tragic things that are happening and have happened in history, and then, how throughout history it changes our outlook, our appreciation for each other, and how our love for our fellow human changes, and then how we realize what is truly important.

For years, I have said to my children, “There is always something positive that comes out of something negative. We may not see it at the time, but a little while down the road, we look back, smile and realize that was one of the greatest lessons in life”. Our tribulations are always our greatest success.

We, in North America, live in a very abundant world, a world of plenty of food and water, beautiful homes, and fresh air to breathe, or at least we used to… are times changing? What is happening with our weather patterns, what has happened to our food supply chains? And now China is speaking of being a nation unto itself. How many products in your home have a “Made in China” label on it? There is talk of other nations doing the same. What is going on?

Now let’s fast forward to today. Let’s start off with how we felt when we were all in lock-down when COVID-19 hit. How much did we miss the human interaction? How much did we miss those hugs from our parents, our grandchildren, our children, and close friends? Yet, we found ways to still show that love… through “Hearts in the Window,” through horn honking and pot banging in appreciation of our essential service workers, through birthday parade drive-bys, and on and on we can go… it awakened us to a new level of appreciation.

Then look at the tragic story of George Floyd. On the upside of this, look at how it is bringing forth a worldwide surge in a fight against racism… something that has been long past due!

Tragic world history has always changed our views on life. When Hurricane Irma, one of the nation's strongest recorded hurricanes in history, hit the Caribbean and Florida, people from all over the world traveled to assist these areas. Tragedy again opened our hearts to help out.

Now we have another storm hitting the western seaboard… raging fires ravaging through cities and forests, claiming lives. There are the hurricanes that are hitting the eastern seaboard. Drastic weather changes, pending food shortages, Black Lives Matter, what is this all about? The Great Awakening? Is there more to the Great Awakening? What are your thoughts on this?

What do we have to do to change what is happening with our planet? The answer lies within all of us, yet sometimes it is buried so deeply and there is so much noise from the outside mind and from world ego, that we can’t hear the message that is crying out to be heard. If we calm our minds and truly listen to our hearts, through love, there is always an answer. Look at how beautifully our planet started to heal itself, when everyone was in lock-down… no cars, no plains, no factories… the pollution was almost silent and look how quickly our atmosphere healed itself, how the oceans became clear, we just have to take the time and listen, take the time to love, take the time to go within, to reach into our hearts and feel what really matters through all these storms.

But how do we calm our minds through all these storms? How do we stop the mind chatter and go within?

Do you have difficulty in stopping all of that chatter? Would you like to find a solution that could fast track you to that inner silence? A Lucia No3 Light session can do all that and more – turning off the chatter and the outside world and accessing your inner world of calm and peace without resistance. As we are all so wonderfully unique, each person's experience is exclusive unto themselves.

Lucia works with the pineal gland and central brain of each client's neurological system.

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