They’re Figuring It Out in the UK

In conjunction with International Women’s Day, the British Trade Union Congress (TUC) acknowledges that menopause represents an important work issue.  TUC has released guidelines for employers to improve working conditions for menopausal women. These guidelines ensure that employers are aware that poor working conditions can aggravate symptoms.  Poor ventilation, lack of access to cold drinking water, and high temperatures can make symptoms worse.  Menopause represents a significant life passage.  Programs for symptom relief such as the Hormone Restoration Program at the Sklar Center can make this passage go so much more smoothly.  Treating menopause will definitely make a happier work place for menopausal women and the people who work with them.  Read more…

Cut Your Risk of Cancer by 30%

Obesity is being recognized as the next big risk factor for cancer.  Many people realize that obesity is associated with increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and strokes, but don’t realize that it is a factor for increased risk of colon, endometrial, kidney, and esophageal cancer as well as post menopausal breast cancer.  According to an article in the Los Angeles Times Health Issue, obesity, coupled with inactivity, can increase cancer rates by 30%.  Since 1/3 of Americans are obese, this is a significant personal and public health issue.  The cause is probably inflammation.  Fat cells produce inflammatory chemicals which are at the root of all chronic disease including cancer.   The good news?  You can do something about this!  Get active.  Go for a walk.  Incorporate exercise into your daily routine.  Get an exercise partner.  Put it in your daily scheduler.  Read the L. A. Times article…

Get Outside and Exercise!

As if you needed a scientific study to remind you of the benefits of exercising out of doors.  This study from England showed the following: “Compared with exercising indoors, exercising in natural environments was associated with greater feelings of revitalization and positive engagement, decreases in tension, confusion, anger, and depression, and increased energy. . . Participants reported greater enjoyment and satisfaction with outdoor activity and declared a greater intent to repeat the activity at a later date.”  Find out more if you need to be convinced…

Mitochondria Not Hypochondria

Stress Affects Your Health

A recent article in Everyday Health connects stress and health.  As we know in Restorative Medicine, the adrenal glands are the stress response organs.  When the adrenal glands are called on to work overtime due to stress, our immunity is affected.  As this article shows, there is decreased immunity in some people who are stressed.  There can also be overactivity of the immune system leading to diseases like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis.  Keep your stress and immune systems healthy by doing relaxing activities like getting a massage or spending time with friends and family.  Treating Adrenal Fatigue helps to restore your health if you have been under excessive stress.  Read more about it…

News From the Wellness Makeover Queen! New Pants!

Hello again!  I know it has been a while since I have blogged, but you know how the holidays are.  I think probably the most exciting thing I have to share with you after 3 months on the Sklar program, is that I have had to buy some new pants because my work pants are all too big!  Dr. Sklar and I are still tweaking some of the doses of my hormones and supplements, but overall, I feel good and am sleeping better.  I have had the energy to get up early and work out before work, which I could never do before.  Thank you again, Dr. Sklar, for this opportunity and for your patience with allowing me to make a few changes at a time.  I am looking forward to seeing what effects being on the whole program now brings to my life and will share those in a future blog.

The More You Sit, the Worse Your Health

Sitting in front of a screen more than 4 hours per day has significant adverse effect on your health, especially if you are a woman.  Scientists tracked the health of 4,500 Scottish adults.  Exercising does NOT counteract the effects of prolonged sitting.  Enzymes responsible for breaking down and utilizing fat for energy decrease when we sit for long periods.  This results in high blood levels of fats such as triglycerides. This provides the link between inactivity and cardiovascular disease.  Sitting uses far less calories than standing and moving.  So if you’er settling down to watch an evening of TV, put a treadmill or stationary bike in fron the television instead of sitting.  Our modern day lifestyle is killing us.  We must take steps to counteract the harmful effects of it.  So, drag that old stationary bike out of the laundry room and put it directly in front of the television and USE IT!  Read the full article…

Flouride and Health

A new report by the US Department of Health and Human Services states that Americans are getting too much fluoride in the water supply, toothpaste and supplements.  They point to a condition called fluorosis as the reason to lower amounts of fluoride.  Fluorosis causes staining of the teeth, which is a minor cosmetic problem.  They miss the more significant problem, which is displacement of IODINE from the body.  Fluoride is in the same chemical family as iodine.  With increased fluoride, there is less iodine in the body.  This affects both breast and thyroid health.  Other causes of iodine deficiency are the bromine used in bleaching flour and the chlorine in our water supply.  This report from the US Department of HHS is jus the tip of the iceberg.   Read more here…

Women and Stress...

Breast Cancer and Diet

A recent study in mice lends additional evidence that dietary fat is connected to beast cancer incidence.  Breast cancer prevention is where  more efforts need to be placed.  The study showed that high fat, high cholesterol diets caused larger tumors to grow and increased the risk of metastasis.  Western women have 5 times the incidence of breast cancer as women in developing countries.  While there is undue emphasis placed on estrogen hormone replacement as a cause of breast cancer, more attention needs to be paid to dietary and environmental causes.  We have a tremendous of toxic burden of substances that act like strong estrogens in the body.  We have inflammatory factors such as diet and body fat that increase breast cancer incidence.  A complete anti-aging program works to lower inflammation and thereby lower incidence of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer.  Read more about Breast Cancer and Diet…