What's the Root Cause?

The human body is an incredible machine. Did you know that you have something called the migrating motor complex (MMC) which is a pattern of rhythmic contractions that occur in your stomach and small intestine between meals? It starts 3 hours after you stop eating and lasts for 90 - 115 minutes.

Its purpose is to cleanse your stomach and propel undigested food, bacteria and other waste products towards your colon where you can then excrete them.

Disorders linked to a problematic MMC are SIBO, IBS and gut infections.

Treatment to optimize your MMC involves decreasing stress, waiting 4 to 5 hours between meals, having a 12-14 hour overnight fast, and normalizing vagus nerve function.

Hiatal hernia syndrome is associated with SIBO, IBS and gut infections. Plus it is also associated with an increased stress response and vagal nerve irritation. I thought the association was fascinating and wanted to share how treating Hiatal Hernia Syndrome in the way we do will also optimize your MMC.

If you need help optimizing your health please consider contacting us for a consultation: 727--335-0400.

If the symptom has occurred concurrently with heart palpitations or a panic attach, you've likely ended up in the ER or Urgent Care, worried for your life. Once tests have been done and you're told your heart and lungs are fine, you were likely sent home with the diagnosis of a panic attack. 

You know yourself; if you're not an anxious person, this diagnosis just doesn't make sense. You are now in the dilemma of knowing something is wrong but you're not getting any corroboration from your doctors.

Perhaps you've sought out a pulmonologist (lung doctor), only to be told that your lungs are normal.

What is it? The answer lies in your stomach. It sounds odd but your shortness of breath is coming from a spasm of your diaphragm which doesn't allow for normal air flow. The reason your diaphragm is spasmed is due to your stomach pushing up on it. And the reason your stomach is elevated and spasmed has to do with digestive imbalance that you may or not be aware of. 

Let's face it. Not being able to breathe normally is stressful. Add in some heart palpitations and/or a panic attack and it's down right frightening. You don't need to continue suffering. There's an answer and the treatment is natural - no drugs or surgery. 

Consider contacting us for a consultation and we can discover the true root cause of your breathing issues. 

Call 727-335-0400. We treat patients across the country.

Book your consultation: https://rootcausemedicalclinics.com/hiatal-hernia-natural-treatment/

The body fat you can’t see is making you sick!

We know that excess body fat is a problem, but I think you'll be amazed to learn of a type of body fat that only involves a small amount of fat yet it's the most dangerous when it comes to your health.

There are 3 depots or storage areas for fat. The first is subcutaneous which simple means beneath your skin. This is the fat you can see on your body, excluding belly fat.

You can develop a fairly large amount of subcutaneous fat before it "spills out" of the fat cells and starts to create a burden on your body.

Per Dr Robert Lustig, the amount is 22 pounds or 10 kilos. It takes that much subcutaneous fat to overburden your body and move you towards diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune disease and cognitive decline and dementia. The location of this fat is usually in the butt or thigh or even arms.

The second type of depot if visceral fat. This is belly fat and it takes about 5 pounds of this before the overflow burdens your body causing inflammation and leading to disease. The cause of body fat is stress. We're talking about chronic stress that elevates your hormone cortisol and causes you to lay down belly fat.

I review some strategies to deal with this type of fat in the video.

The third and most dangerous depot is liver fat. When your liver is overburdened, insulin rises and you get the diseases of inflammation mentioned above. Why is this the worst? Because it only take 1/2 pound of fat to overburden the liver and begin the cascade of inflammation. The cause of liver fat is sugar and alcohol.

I discuss the dangers of artificial sweeteners so don't substitute one for the other.

If you need help to diminish the fat levels in your body and to reverse the diseases of inflammation, my team and I are here for you.

Call us for a consultation: 727-335-0400.

Heart rate variability (HRV) is a measure of your body's adaptive capacity and resilience to challenge or stress. Specifically it is a sign of resilience of your autonomic nervous system - the part of your nervous system counterbalanced by the sympathetic, fight or flight nervous system. While the sympathetic nervous system gets you going, the parasympathetic is the rest, digest and relax part of your nervous system.

It is your vagus nerve, as part of your parasympathetic nervous system which slows your heartbeat and elongates the time between beat of your heart. The sympathetic nervous system does the reverse. You can think of it like your car - for an ideal driving experience you need to both accelerate and slow down as appropriate. 

HRV, when healthy is the variation of time intervals between each heartbeat. Your heart should not beat like a metronome at a steady beat, but variations between the beats are ideal. Your HRV is influenced by physical activity, breathing, emotions and hormonal change.

The higher/healthier your HRV, the lower your risk of heart disease, the greater your emotional well-being, the better your recovery from illness and injury and the more enhanced your exercise performance.

You can go online to see what your HRV range should be based on your age. There are several devices that measure your HRV: apple watch, or Fitbit or Oura ring or Whoop band. If you don't have access to any of these you can try this exercise:
Sit comfortably and the do a 60 second sprint (if this is appropriate for your health status) and then sit back down and see how fast your heartrate slows back down and you can concentrate and easily get back to work. Was this easily done or did you have a hard time either revving up or slowing down? This will pinpoint the part of your nervous system which needs support.

If your resting heart rate (HR) is greater than 70 beats per minute it indicates your sympathetic nervous system is too dominant and your vagus nerve, a major component of your parasympathetic nervous system, is not signaling correctly.

This is correctable naturally. 

Hopefully you found this information helpful. Optimizing your HRV is something we help each individual to do based on their health history and what they're experiencing. It is very worth your while to get your HRV in a good range.

If you need assistance improving your health, reach out for a consultation. Call 727-335-0400.

Is you're a woman and losing muscle tone and strength I've got some good news for you. If you've been noticing a decrease in your muscle tone along with an increase in fat gain with age, this isn't inevitable, meaning you CAN do something about it.

Muscle protein synthesis, the repair and growth of muscle which is the opposite of muscle wasting and loss of strength is dependent upon protein.

In order to start building and repairing muscle you need protein, but specifically an essential amino acid, leucine, in the quantity of 2.5 to 3 grams 2x/day. Leucine, an essential amino acid, is the specific one you need to ensure you get enough of. Now, you don't want to take only leucine, but rather ensure the protein you're consuming has a good amount of it along with the other 9 essential amino acids. The 11 non-essential ones can be gotten easily as your body makes them.

As we get older we need more protein but less calories and more intense exercise - resistance training. That's a lot to confront but I'm happy to help you figure it all out. It turns out that we are less efficient at extracting protein from the food we eat as we age. Add that to a slower metabolism and it's critical for long-term health that we understand the nuances of aging and our strength of overall body composition.

So when designing protein intake with a mindset of adequate leucine, high quality protein and moderate to low calories you need to know some specifics.

Let's talk about a few common foods and how much you need to consume of each to get adequate leucine.
Whey protein isolate is number 1 with a single scoop providing great protein and leucine balance with only 100-120 calories.
Lean ground beef comes in second with 1/4 pound providing enough leucine at about 155 calories.
Salmon, about 7 ounces has a calories account of about 300 depending on the type of salmon.
Eggs are next but it takes 5 eggs to get adequate leucine with a calories count of 368.
Soy beans are 4th with less than 1/2 cup getting the leucine in but the calories are now mounting - 443 calories.
Pumpkin seeds require 3/4 of a cup with calories of 446.
Hemp seeds need more than a cup and calories are 573.
Peanuts require over 120 peanuts and 600 calories.

As you can see, while plant protein can still provide the needed leucine and balanced amino acids, we start "paying' for it in calories, so something to consider.

I hope this provided some valuable information for you.
If you need assistance in this area, please call my office at 727-335-0400 for a consultation.

There are a variety of symptoms that could be caused by an imbalance of your vagus nerve. Your vagus nerve is not only your longest cranial nerve, but it more parts of your body than you can imagine!

The symptoms of an imbalanced vagus nerve include:
- Heart palpitations
- Increased blood pressure
- Anxiety or Stress
- Acid reflux, bloating, gas, constipation, diarrhea
- Diseases of inflammation including heart disease, diabetes, cancer and autoimmune disease

Treatment of the vagus nerve is natural and gentle. No harsh drugs or surgery required.

To give you some more data about the vagus nerve, it works to balance your sympathetic, fight or flight nervous system. In fact it is the balance between the two which prevents the symptoms I list above from developing.

The sympathetic nervous system speeds up your heart; the vagus, as part of the parasympathetic nervous system, slows it down. 

You've likely heart of the gut-brain connection. When it comes to the primary pathway whereby your body is communicating to your brain, the one from your gut (microbiome) to your brain is the most prevalent one used and it passes through your vagus nerve. Your microbiome is estimated to contain 80 to 100 trillion bacteria plus parasites, viruses and fungal species. Your body, as a comparison, contains 40 to 60 trillion cells. 

The relationship between your gut and your brain is very interesting. Your microbiome contains both beneficial and hostile bacteria and 70% of your immune system is housed in your gut to prevent hostile bacteria from gaining entry intro your body's bloodstream. But enough hostile bacteria create  toxins which produce lipopolysaccharides (LPS) and they overwhelm the immune system triggering inflammation and leading to the inflammatory diseases killing most Americans. 

Here's where the vagus nerve comes in: How responsive your body is to the early triggers depends on how burdened your vagus nerve is from other sources. In other words, a healthy vagus nerve will enhance immune function and your body will be robust in its response to the bad organisms.

Further, the vagus nerve can be involved in gastroparesis or slowed digestion. If you feel like your food just "sits there" in your gut for hours, this is a symptom of slowed digestion.

The vagus nerve also influences the release of enzymes from the pancreas, crucial to digestion of all types of food. 

Your vagus supports lung function - breathing and respiration. And the vagus is involved in detoxification through your liver and kidneys.

The vagus also manages fluid and electrolyte balance affecting your blood pressure.

Finally, your vagus nerve involves emotional regulation - how you perceives the world around you and whether you react to it feeling stress, anxiety, moodiness and more. The vagus nerve is like a sixth sense, creating homeostasis when functioning normally and emotional instability when malfunctioning.

I hope you've gained a new found respect for your vagus nerve! Simple exercises such as humming, belly breathing (box breathing), gargling, and other relaxation techniques can help take the edge off an imbalanced vagus nerve. 

There is also a vagus nerve stimulator the is quite affordable that you can use at home. Contact my office for more information on it: 727-335-0400. The device is simple to use but it would be part of a coordinated program, not a "magic pill" as it were.

Vagus nerve imbalance is common yet very treatable as part of a program that addresses gut and immune and hormonal health naturally.

If you'd like assistance improving your health, we're here for you. Contact us for a consultation. 727-335-0400

Your Shortness of Breath IS a stomach issue!

If you've suffered from labored breathing, air hunger, breathlessness and the like, you know how concerning it can be.  You may have difficulty getting a deep breath and find yourself breathing shallowly from your chest instead of nice belly breaths.

If the symptom has occurred concurrently with heart palpitations or a panic attach, you've likely ended up in the ER or Urgent Care, worried for your life. Once tests have been done and you're told your heart and lungs are fine, you were likely sent home with the diagnosis of a panic attack. 

You know yourself;  if you're not an anxious person, this diagnosis just doesn't make sense. You are now in the dilemma of knowing something is wrong but you're not getting any corroboration from your doctors.

Perhaps you've sought out a pulmonologist (lung doctor), only to be told that your lungs are normal.

What is it? The answer lies in your stomach. It sounds odd but your shortness of breath is coming from a spasm of your diaphragm which doesn't allow for normal air flow. The reason your diaphragm is spasmed is due to your stomach pushing up on it. And the reason your stomach is elevated and spasmed has to do with digestive imbalance that you may or not be aware of.

Let's face it. Not being able to breathe normally is stressful. Add in some heart palpitations and/or a panic attack and it's down right frightening.

You don't need to continue suffering. There's an answer and the treatment is natural - no drugs or surgery.

Consider contacting us for a consultation and we can discover the true root cause of your breathing issues. Call 727-335-0400. We treat patients across the country and internationally.

Book a consultation: https://rootcausemedicalclinics.com/hiatal-hernia-natural-treatment/

Heart rate variability (HRV) is a measure of your body's adaptive capacity and resilience to challenge or stress. Specifically it is a sign of resilience of your autonomic nervous system - the part of your nervous system counterbalanced by the sympathetic, fight or flight nervous system. While the sympathetic nervous system gets you going, the parasympathetic is the rest, digest and relax part of your nervous system.

It is your vagus nerve, as part of your parasympathetic nervous system which slows your heartbeat and elongates the time between beat of your heart. The sympathetic nervous system does the reverse. You can think of it like your car - for an ideal driving experience you need to both accelerate and slow down as appropriate. 

HRV, when healthy is the variation of time intervals between each heartbeat. Your heart should not beat like a metronome at a steady beat, but variations between the beats are ideal. Your HRV is influenced by physical activity, breathing, emotions and hormonal change.

The higher/healthier your HRV, the lower your risk of heart disease, the greater your emotional well-being, the better your recovery from illness and injury and the more enhanced your exercise performance.

You can go online to see what your HRV range should be based on your age. There are several devices that measure your HRV: apple watch, or Fitbit or Oura ring or Whoop band. If you don't have access to any of these you can try this exercise:
Sit comfortably and the do a 60 second sprint (if this is appropriate for your health status) and then sit back down and see how fast your heartrate slows back down and you can concentrate and easily get back to work. Was this easily done or did you have a hard time either revving up or slowing down? This will pinpoint the part of your nervous system which needs support.

If your resting heart rate (HR) is greater than 70 beats per minute it indicates your sympathetic nervous system is too dominant and your vagus nerve, a major component of your parasympathetic nervous system, is not signaling correctly.

This is correctable naturally. 

Hopefully you found this information helpful. Optimizing your HRV is something we help each individual to do based on their health history and what they're experiencing. It is very worth your while to get your HRV in a good range.

If you need assistance improving your health, reach out for a consultation. Call 727-335-0400.

If you have acid reflux or GERD and also suffer from heart palpitations, this data is for you.

Back in the early 1900s, Ludwig von Roemheld coined the Roemheld Syndrome where he described a cluster of cardiovascular symptoms (think heart palpitations, tachycardia, dizziness, vertigo and elevated blood pressure) that were stimulated by gastrointestinal (gut) changes. The gut symptoms included gas, bloating, constipation, hiatal hernia and more.

Roemheld explained how gut imbalance compresses the vagus nerve (your longest cranial nerve) slowing your heart. The slowed heart then stimulates the "fight or flight" part of your nervous system in order to prevent your heart rate from diminishing too much. The result is heart palpitations, sometimes elevated blood pressure and/or tachycardia.

The patient's heart is fine. You may have experienced this after an ER visit where you have worried you were having a heart attack. But the heart is not diseased.

It is worth noting that Roemheld lived in the early 1900s and today his Syndrome is considered obsolete, which is why your doctors give no credence to the association between gut imbalance and heart symptoms.

Even more annoying is the direction to doctors stating that once the heart tests normal, the next step for the patient is a psych evaluation. If you've ever been told it's "all in your head", you now know why.

Call 727-335-0400 to book a consultation. Check out the website here: https://rootcausemedicalclinics.com/hiatal-hernia-natural-treatment/

We know that being hydrated is a good idea, but where did the recommendation for 8 glasses of water come from?
How much water do we really need and does it affect your weight?

Drinking water causes your to burn more calories for about an hour. We can be strategic and us this data, but let's look at some more research first.

A study had individuals drink 2 glasses (1/2 litre) of water before a meal and they burned 24% more calories despite being completely inactive during the time evaluated. Participants lost 2-5 pounds per month over the several months they were observed.

Another study had participants either drink 1 glass of water before a meal or no water. Those who drank the water ate 24% less calories at their meal and were completely satisfied as compared to the control group who ate more.

A very exciting study out of Germany published in April 2023 in the Journal Children evaluated what happened when some secondary schools had water fountains installed. In addition to the presence of the fountains, the children were educated as to the importance of drinking water. The control group consisted of several other secondary schools that didn't have the fountains installed and similarly received no pro-water education.

The results were rather outstanding. The children, followed for a year, drank, on average an extra 1.1 glasses of water AND their obesity risk dropped 31%! 

It turns out the 8 glasses of water recommendation stems from a 1945 dietary paper that included not only how many water an individual drank but also the fact that food contains water. Watermelon is  more than 90% water. Many fruits and vegetables also contain high percentages of water and even animal protein contains some. Therefore, the recommendations were misunderstood to mean ONLY water consumption as a beverage instead of including food sources

Where does that leave us? The sweet spot seems to be about 5 1/2 glasses of water with the rest coming from a healthy diet.

Those who need more water include the following:
If you suffer from UTIs (urinary tract infections)
Constipation
Kidney stones or cysts - these individuals are often recommended to consume up to 12 glasses.
A pregnant or nursing woman
Diarrhea.

If you're having trouble losing weight, feel free to reach out for a consultation.
For appointments, call the front desk at 727-335-0400