My Initial Health and Lifestyle Consultation

Here’s An Important Audio About Working With Us, So Please Listen Now

I would like to mention a few things which are important for you and they are in no particular order. Sometimes I just type what is in my head at the moment so bear with me.

1. This one is very important to me and to you!! If making major changes in what you eat and drink is something you are not willing to do, then I/we cannot help you. I know that sounds harsh . But it really is the only way that your personalized program is going to deliver the results you are after.

2. If you are not willing to spend a little change from your change jar on the nutritional supplements which your body probably needs, then your body (systems and sub systems) may not be able to heal itself.

3. You must understand that YOU are by far the most important part of returning your body and systems to a balanced state. We call that Homeostaysis. Our Lifestyle, Exercise, Attitude and Nutritional Protocols are not magic pills to instantly fix everything. We will however tailor your Coaching to fit your individual needs and concerns based on the answers to the Questionnaires below as well as make it irresistibly fun! You do want to have some fun don’t you?

4. You must understand fully that you have helped bring your body to the current state of “health” it is in. Sorry, but I had to write that last line….ultimately the choice really is yours. I will use our questionnaires and labs to identify ongoing sleep, digestive issues, food allergies, emotional and toxic stress issues as well as dietary challenges you may have. Often all of these go hand in hand, keeping the body from changing its metabolism and hindering its own immune function. Exercise alone is not the key as you have been lead to believe. More often than not, it’s usually making things worse.

5. Did you know that it often takes 15-20 years of being mistreated before the body begins to show major symptoms? This is especially true for diseases like Cancer, Arthritis, Heart disease, Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis, Diabetes, etc. Do not expect your body to be able to completely reverse these years of damage in just a couple of months.

6. Your body is an Extraordinary and Amazing “machine.” If you give it the correct ingredients and adequate time, it can work wonders for you.

7. Medical doctors are not the enemy. They were simply never taught the principles of fasting, nutritional supplementation, naturopathy, holistic lifestyle techniques or clinical based nutrition.

8.  IMPORTANT If you have not had your adrenal glands tested we may recommend that you do so depending on the outcome of your questionnaires. This is probably one of the most important things that we can do for you to help empower you to achieving exceptional results in our programs. Here’s why

FIGHT OR FLIGHT

These common symptoms are the result of our body’s general reaction to stress. To the degree that your body-mind as a whole interprets that it’s under stress, your body triggers its fight or flight reaction. In the short term, this reaction is healthy – necessary even. But when chronically triggered, the fight or flight reaction can be extremely harmful to your health. Let’s look at the effects of the fight/flight reaction.

In any part of our lives, whether it be personal or professional, every situation perceived as stressful activates the fight or flight branch of the nervous system (also called the sympathetic nervous system). The purpose of the system is to provide the body with a boost to protect itself during short periods of stress.

 Think of your ancestor, the caveman, fleeing from a bear whose path he innocently wandered across. The bear probably isn’t going to stalk him for days, so he doesn’t need to have the fight or flight system running constantly – just long enough to escape the immediate danger and return to his natural, relaxed state. In order to help us out in these brief times of emergency, our fight or flight system enacts the following biological changes:

• Increased consumption of bodily resources. This includes neurotransmitters, stress hormones, and energy stores – particularly stored glycogen from the liver.
• Shifting blood away from the internal organs to the skin and muscles of the body. This stops all digestive processes, and allows a readily available supply of blood, oxygen and blood sugar to provide energy to the muscles.
• Release of stress hormones. When a stressful event occurs, a sequence of hormones is released in the body, ending with a class of chemicals called These chemicals:

Elevate the heart rate and blood pressure to meet any immediate demands, allowing maximum opportunity to fight vigorously or to run as fast as possible for as long as needed to survive

Increase immune system performance for brief periods of time

• Increased sweat. Chronic stress results in sweaty hands and armpits. Because sweating is the human version of a radiator, this helps the body to stay cool and work more efficiently while running from that bear.

As I’ve said, all of these features are really helpful for brief periods of time. But the stresses that we face in the environment of our modern world aren’t temporary like the startled bear that our ancestors faced. They can persist for long periods of time and thus our fight or flight systems stay active for durations that weren’t originally intended in their design. In fact, in the face of chronic stress, our fight or flight system can have the following negative effects on our body-mind:

• Radical swings in energy levels during the day as blood sugar levels change
• Progressively reduced energy levels over the long term
• Weight gain, including in particular the accumulation of fat around the middle in response to blood sugar fluctuations and hormonal stress
• Low Self-esteem caused by weight gain/body issues
• Self-identity issues
• Digestive troubles including gas and acid reflux
• Chronic constipation, common to approximately 90% of people worldwide today
• Strong, smelly body odor
• The persistence of glucocorticoids and other stress hormones in the body which trigger:

 Chronic elevation of blood pressure and heart disease, not to mention elevated triglycerides (fats)

Weakened immune system – the more stressed out the body is, the more susceptible it is to the cold or flu that’s going around

If the stress persists in your body-mind long enough, the over-production of stress hormones is also likely to lead to Adrenal fatigue. The adrenal glands are small glands that sit atop each kidney and manufacture your stress hormones and most of your sex hormones. As the adrenal glands fatigue, the body starts to suffer from:

• Low energy
• Poor recovery from physical exercise
• Diminished sex drive
• Accelerated aging
• Difficulty concentrating

Now that you’ve read this laundry list of symptoms, it probably comes as no surprise that fatigue is the most common reason for visiting physicians worldwide, and people just don’t feel WELL in so many areas of the wheel below. 

The Dictionary Definitions of Wellness Are:

1. the quality or state of being healthy in body and mind, especially as the result of deliberate effort.

2. an approach to healthcare that emphasizes preventing illness and prolonging life, as opposed the emphasizing treating diseases.

3. (British definition) the state of being in good physical and mental health

4. (Medical definition) The condition of good physical, mental and emotional health, especially when maintained by an appropriate diet, exercise, and other lifestyle modifications.

Looking at the definitions, if we’re going back to the very essence of the word ‘wellness’ it’s about being in good physical and mental health that results from ‘deliberate effort’ i.e. conscious decisions that emphasize optimum health over treating disease. It’s not doctors and hospitals fixing you. It’s about things you can do at home, in your everyday life, to prevent needing to arrive there. 

Looking at the definition I can see why so much of the wellness industry gets a bad name and why it has become associated with the ‘worried well.’ Because rather than treating illness and disease, the wellness industry is championing what you can do to boost your health and prevent becoming ill, before it happens. That’s a hugely attractive proposition. And a great concept in so many ways! The idea of being able to make lifestyle modifications that will help you avoid illness – particularly when packaged and branded as easy and simple – is a seriously sexy one.

The word Naturopathy is defined in Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary as: “A system or method of treating disease that employs no surgery or synthetic drugs but uses special diets, herbs, vitamins, massage, etc., to assist the natural healing processes.” In my practice here in Dallas, I will be educating, guiding and recommending rather than treating.

The word treatment is most often used in medicine in order to describe the prescribing, by a doctor, of one or more pharmaceutical drugs or surgeries (treatments) for a medical condition or to stop undesirable symptoms. I, on the other hand, do not treat symptoms. Your symptoms, along with your extensive questionnaires below and any labs your physician may have already ordered, will give me the information I need in order to determine what is actually going wrong. We will discuss what dietary and lifestyle changes, vitamins, minerals, herbs, gemmo-therapies, homeopathics, antioxidants, detoxification and chelation products or other specialty formulas will be needed in order to address your issues and help your body begin to heal.

Symptoms always go away on their own as the body heals so they rarely ever need to be suppressed by man (or woman) made chemical agents (prescription drugs). In addition to diet, herbs, nutrients, stress-reduction methods, etc. I will discuss with you the actual concepts of intermittent fasting, paleo vs. keto, homeopathy, drainage, detoxification, and many other healing modalities as they apply to your individual needs.

If you enjoy reading, I may be able to recommend books for you on the health topics of your choice. It is often beneficial for you to bring your spouse, partner, or other family member if this person will be involved in your healing process, or is living with you or preparing some of your meals. Skeptics are welcome, so please feel free to bring this important person (but do not force them to come) even if they are not a believer in alternative and complementary health modalities. Thankfully, what I do works, regardless of whether you believe in it or not. You will need to keep a one-week sleep, food and exercise diet log so that we can discuss what you may need to change with regard to your current food choices in order to support your healing process.

My rather extensive questionnaires below and symptom survey forms needs to be completed, and all of my paperwork must be mailed (not emailed) back to me, along with your sleep, food and exercise logs and any other paperwork I send you or you download. If you have had any blood tests or labs done within the past 18 months, make complete photo copies from your physician(s) and send them to me as well.

I need copies of the actual labs (but not any X-rays or scans) Not just the numbers. I need to receive all your completed forms and labs, if you have any, AT LEAST four days (more is preferable) prior to our scheduled appointment. Please allow 5 – 6 hours for your initial consultation so that you will not feel rushed at the end.

Most often, the consultation will run somewhere between 3 and 4 hours, but it is important that you not need to dash out if it goes over 4 hours, as we may be discussing some important things that need to be covered. If it will be a consultation for more than one person, such as a couple or a parent and a child, allow at least two more hours, so yes, you may be here all day for a dual consultation. This might sound like quite a lot of time, however, it will pass very quickly as there is a great deal of information to be discussed. Bring a snack if you will need one so you don’t get hungry.

We will stop for a while for you to eat. Please bring all of the nutritional supplements of any kind that you are currently taking. Not empty bottles or labels) At this point, I would like to mention some things which are important for you to fully understand. These are not in any particular order and are all of equal importance to your program. If making major changes in what you eat and drink is something you are not willing to do, then I cannot help you. If you are not willing to spend some money on the nutritional supplements and better quality food which your body needs, then your body may not be able to heal itself.

You must understand that YOU and the changes I will teach you to make, will be the most important part of your wellness program. You need to accept that you have helped bring your body to its current state of “inadequate health.” It often takes many years (or decades) of being mistreated, before the body begins to show major symptoms. This is especially true for diseases such as Cancer, Arthritis, Heart disease, Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis, Diabetes, neuropathies, chemical sensitivity, etc. Do not expect your body to be able to completely reverse these many years of damage in just a few months. Your body is an extraordinary “machine.” If you give it the correct ingredients and adequate time, it can work wonders for you.

Medical Doctors are Not the Enemy. They were simply never taught the principles of naturopathy or clinical nutrition or any true forms of preventive medicine.

If you can accept these concepts, then you should have what it takes to begin your guided journey toward better health. Always feel free to ask many questions along the way. Always remember that you are doing this for yourself. You will reap the benefits of your hard work as improved health. I will do everything within my power to help you get there. I will not wish you luck, because luck has nothing to do with it. Will power, patience, perseverance and a desire to get healthier are the key requirements.

Since I am generally booked up between five and eight weeks or more in advance, please do not wait too long to schedule your appointment. I rarely get cancellations since that would put the appointment of another 1 to 2 months, but they do occur.

Complete your sleep, food and exercise logs, lifestyle and health questionnaires and the other forms, and return them to me as soon as possible.

 CLICK ON THE RESULTS FORM IN THE MIDDLE BELOW TO SEE SAMPLE.

Adrenal Stress 5 SIGNS YOUR ADRENALS ARE FRIED

(AKA ADRENAL FATIGUE)

You may have heard of adrenal fatigue. It’s something people are becoming increasingly aware of, as the media is throwing the term around more frequently, but I find that many people really don’t know what it is, or just how detrimental it can be to our overall health. Not to mention – how did you get it and what can you do about it… Your adrenal glands are two little walnut size glands that sit adjacent to your kidneys. (Your kidneys are also known as ‘renal’ glands. So, adjacent to renal glands = ad-renal. See what they did there?) Adrenal glands are sometimes call ‘stress glands’ as they produce an important hormone called cortisol (the ‘stress hormone’) in response to stress. Many people put cortisol and stress in the same basket and think both are bad, when in reality, it’s the stress that’s bad. We need the cortisol in order for our body to adapt to the harmful effects of stress. 

When our cortisol is elevated, we know that stress is to blame. When we have ongoing, chronic stress on the body (which can be mental/emotional, mechanical or chemical stress) that is unresolved, these little walnut glands will eventually become fatigued. They are doing their best to produce enough cortisol to counter these harmful effect, but they just can’t keep up. Meanwhile, our hormonal balance has gone out the window, cascading into any number of symptoms and degenerative disease.

Here’s 5 Common Signs That Your Adrenals May be Totally Pooped.

1 – Sex? Meh…

A reduced libido is a common sign of adrenal fatigue. Your cortisol has intimate connections (pun intended) with your sex hormones, i.e. testosterone. When your body is pumping out all that cortisol in response to that unresolved stress, sex hormones take a back seat (pun not intended).

2 – Highs and Lows through the day

You may be the type who jumps out of bed, all cylinders firing, and then crashes right after lunch, or maybe the total opposite. Or perhaps you drag your feet from dawn until dusk, all the while awaiting the awesome burst of energy you’ve come to love right around midnight… Our cortisol follows a diurnal circadian rhythm – meaning that when we have healthy adrenals, it produces cortisol in a clear pattern. Higher in the morning, and lower in the evening. Among many other things, this also regulates energy levels through the day. Healthy adrenals will keep your energy levels consistent throughout the day, and tuck you nicely into bed at around 10pm.

3 – Carb and Sugar Cravings

Cortisol helps regulate carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism. It also raises blood sugar (the right way) for energy. When your cortisol is low, your body is going to get that blood sugar burst one way or another. Fried Snickers Panini – here I come!

4 – Sleep is for Babies

When that circadian rhythm is out of whack, it will inevitably cause sleep issues. Higher than optimal cortisol at night will keep you tossing and turning for hours. On top of this, it is often an indicator of some nasty things happening in the gut – bugs, parasites, you name it. If you have gut dysfunction, your body is also having a hard time producing your ‘sleep hormone’, melatonin. Many people don’t realize that around 75% of this hormone is actually produced in the gut. So, high cortisol + low melatonin = long nights of watching infomercials is on your agenda.

5 – The bathroom is either your best friend, or one you rarely speak to

Cortisol dys-regulation can cause all kinds of problems with your digestion, from an over-active bowel, to one that is a major underachiever. In the presence os stress, digestion is slowed so that the body’s energy reserves can be put to use in more urgent affairs. Bloating, constipation, diarrhea, gas – you name it. Long term, unresolved stress will be a major enemy to your gut. The importance of gut health is something I’ll need to write about soon, but suffice to say for now, it is lately being dubbed your ‘second brain’ for excellent reason. You must look after it.

 What You Need to Know About Hormone Testing

By now you might be thinking that your adrenal glands are about to pass like kidney stones the next time you pee, so I think it’s only fair to tell you how to get them checked out.

The first thing you should know is that a blood or urine collection that your doc will likely run, is virtually useless. These will measure your total cortisol output of the last 24 hours (or less). Unless you have something called Addison’s Disease, you doctor will tell you that everything looks just honkey dory.

The only way to effectively look at adrenal function, is to not just look at the total amount, but also look at the circadian rhythm. The way we do this is using a saliva sample, collected at 4 different times throughout the day, as you can see from the picture at the top. In this test, we can also look at the ratios of cortisol to DHEA, and also levels of 5 other hormones (including your sex hormones). Only in doing it this way, will we get a truly accurate assessment of your adrenal function, and what kind of stress you might be dealing with (and how well you are dealing with it). Your HPA glands produce hormones that help your body to cope with stress and maintain health. Under chronic stress these glands become fatigued, impairing hormone production and balance. To resolve stress-related symptoms and health problems, the HPA hormones must be balanced. Absent laboratory testing, misdiagnosis is understandable given the disparate sources and symptoms indicative of HPA exhaustion. An incorrect assessment usually results in symptoms being treated while the root cause remains undiagnosed.

It is Now Possible to Assess the Health of Your HPA Glands and Pinpoint Hormone Imbalances Using the Functional HPA Stress Profile.

(Takes us about two weeks to get your results)

Here is the labs I use testing explanation.

The New Age of Stress Assessment

I use Bio Health Labs….For nearly 20 years, BioHealth has been a leader in salivary hormone testing, providing specific profiles for assessing cortisol, DHEA(S), melatonin, progesterone, estrogens and secretory IgA. Without doubt the most popular of these profiles have been those centering around the “adrenal stress index” or “adrenal fatigue test.” Until recently, this is how the tests were named. But advances in science pushed us to take the lead on evolving with the new ideas, as well as the research and detailed approaches taken from test kit all the way to reporting. We are able to use these labs to assess and help you tremendously! 

Adrenals are two walnut-sized glands located just above the kidneys. They are the workhorses of the endocrine (hormone) system. The endocrine system is a group of glands and tissues that release hormones directly into the blood or lymph systems, exerting specific influences on a large number of organs and tissues. Each gland is divided into two parts: the outer cortex and the inner medulla. The adrenals cortex produces the primary indicators of the Chronic Stress Response—cortisol and DHEA.

 Do You Have It?

Adrenal Testing Do I Need It?

 Download The File Above, Fill it Out and Send Me The Results When You’re Done

• Your Adrenal Testing 205 AE…MY COST $295.00
• Dim light Melatonin Bio Markers. My Cost $249

 

 

Melatonin is a key biomarker for measuring circadian rhythm. In healthy individuals, production of melatonin follows predictable cycles and is suppressed by exposure to daylight. In the evening, melatonin production in the body is expected to rise about 2 hours before the onset of sleep. This is called Dim Light Melatonin Onset (DLMO). 

DLMO-220-Example-Reports See The Sample Report Click On Example (LEFT) Knowing the timing of a patient’s nocturnal melatonin secretion reliably evaluates the sleep-wake cycle to determine alignment or misalignment (phase delay or phase advance) from a typical 24-hour entrained circadian clock. Temporal shifts on the phase response curve can indicate abnormal sleep-wake patterns and provide clinicians with important data for sleep disturbance assessment.

Contact Me Here For A Free Q&A Phone Call If You Have Questions.

Questionnaires, What Do They Look Like? 

Take a Look at Them, Download, Fill Them Out and Snail Mail Them

Them to Me a Week Before Our Appointment Together

• Comprehensive-Health-and-Lifestyle-Questionnaires
• Comprehensive Sleep-Food-and-Exercise-Diaries
• HLC1_Primal Nutrition_Pattern_Questionnaire
• Ingo’s Patient Health Survey Here For HAQ
• Health Appraisal Questionnaire For Sleep, Digestion, When and What You Eat, Stress_Questionnaire
• Adrenal Testing Do I Need It?

1. Answer each question with the response that is best for you. I recommend that you make two copies of each because it is my hope that you will be testing again as you progress. It is extremely important to answer the questions accurately and honestly as possible. There are not right or wrong answers. Supply the response that most accurately describes you, not what you think you should answer.

2. When answering the questions, forget everything you have been told about what you should eat and should not eat. Answer the questions based on your gut instincts to how you would prefer to eat if you could eat whatever you innately desire.

3. Total up your scores for each questionnaire. There are numbers in parentheses after each answer add up the number corresponding to each of your responses to get your total score for the sections

4. Graph your scores on the appropriate graphs that came with that section or set of questionnaires.

5. Calculate your total score by adding up the scores for each section in boxes.

You are welcome to complete and return them immediately if you wish. Some people have made themselves very unhappy when they forgot to get their forms in at least 7 days early and I had to re-schedule their consultation generally 1-2 months later at my next available time slot. By the way, your appointment may be rescheduled as many times as your hectic life requires or even transferred to another family member, as long as you give me a minimum of 7 days notice so that I have adequate time to fill that spot in my calendar.

Appointments are only scheduled by phone and not by email. I accept Visa, Master Card, Discover, checks and cash. You will also receive access to my Prime Time Health Series here on this website.  After your long and comprehensive initial consultation here at the office or online, subsequent office visits are $90 unless they exceed 60 minutes at which time I charge $25/quarter hour. I often don’t add additional charges if the visit only goes over by 15 minutes. You must complete all of my forms, as specified in the directions that I send out, and mail them back so that I receive them preferably 7 days prior to your consultation. You are welcome to complete and return them immediately, I RECOMMEND THIS HIGHLY.

Some people have made themselves very unhappy when they forgot to get their forms in at least 7 days early and I had to re-schedule their consultation. Please note that the $150.00 deposit is not refundable, since it is also payment for the 3 hours of my time to review and prepare your presentation and recommendations. You may rescheduled your appointment as many times as your hectic lifestyle requires or even transfer it to another family member, as long as you give me a minimum of 7 days’ notice so that I have adequate time to fill the changed appointment spot.

Please note that I would like you to keep the 7 day diet log BEFORE watching our Prime Time Health, Making Health Your Hobby…healthy eating webinar series here on this site.  I NEED to know how you generally eat, not the new diet you may begin after you learn a great deal of new information from my video.

DUAL CONSULTATIONS. If a second family member (2 is the maximum due to time required) has their initial consultation at the same time (I call this a dual consult), that second family member, usually a spouse or child, is an additional $400.00 instead of $600.00. There is a small time savings when having 2 consultations together and I pass this along as a $200.00 discount.

You can then expect to spend most of the day in my office, so bring food. I will supply plates, utensils,  and water.