Health Articles

Ovarian cysts can be uncomfortable, even painful.  They are not typically considered a serious medical condition, and until they interfere with normal life activities or fertility, they most often go untreated.  When they are treated conventionally, suppressive hormonal therapy is typically administered.

As a Naturopathic Doctor, whether “life-threatening” or not… an ovarian cyst is an indicator of a health imbalance.  Bandaging that imbalance with suppressive therapy falls short of treating the cause and providing real health.

When cysts are simple, often the underlying cause is that of poor estrogen metabolism in the liver.  Eventually estrogen reaches the liver and breaks down.  It is the path that estrogen “chooses” in the liver that determines health or disease.

When a woman suffers from PMS, ovarian cysts, fibrocystic breasts, bad mammograms, uterine fibroids or endometriosis – she may be breaking her estrogen down in an unhealthy way in her liver.  Re-directing that activity can deliver health and reduce risk going forward.

Read more: Ovarian Cysts – Causes and Solutions

In my Naturopathic practice, I have patients who are 40+ and doing everything right, yet packing on the pounds with every passing year. In treating them, I have developed a simple, Naturopathic strategy that has helped my patients re-set their metabolism while improving their overall health and preventing chronic degenerative illnesses – all without hormones or risky side effects.

What’s the root cause of this age 40+ weight gain?

Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP). ATP is the basic unit of cellular energy – the unit that allows all energy-dependent cellular function to occur in a healthy manner – and is a core-level and basic component of every greater tissue, organ and function in the body. As levels of this important "unit" degrade, so does the health of every organ, system, our metabolism and our vitality.

Read more: Healing the Aging Metabolism

Food Allergies… can’t live with ‘em, can’t seem to live without avoiding every food under the sun.  And just when you figure out how to replace wheat and dairy with spelt and soy… well, soon enough you are allergic to spelt and soy.  What is that?!?!

It is annoying, that’s what it is!

Food allergies are part of total digestive ill-health.  When the digestive system degrades so far… it is called “Leaky Gut.”  Leaky gut is associated with so many health problems, it is difficult to list them.  Easily associated are:  Allergies, multiple chemical sensitivities, delayed food sensitivities, (not Type I Anaphylactic allergies that close airways), chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, joint pain, headaches, foggy mindedness, eczema, acne… the list goes on.  People that are challenged in this way have so many problems, they get tired of hearing themselves list them!

Further, it is socially isolating to have food allergies and so many health challenges.   People don’t believe, they don’t understand and so many social settings are built on food.  Having pain and fatigue makes it hard to even leave the house to engage socially and then once there, the judgemental comments from well-meaning friends and family, almost make it not worth going at all.  I know.  I have been there.

Read more: Fix your Food Allergies… for Good!

“Estrogen can fight cancer?  I thought it caused cancer.”

This is the puzzled question I get from my patients when we discuss healthy estrogen metabolism.  When you figure out how estrogen breaks down in the liver, you quickly learn that while the type of estrogen you take makes a big difference - what your body does with that estrogen, makes all difference in the world.

Whether you take it or you make it… estrogen must break down in the liver.  Once in the liver, it faces different pathways or opportunities for breakdown.  It can break down in a healthy good way or it can choose a bad path.

When estrogen breaks down in the healthy good way, it makes substances that balance hormonal symptoms (such as PMS), resolves hormonal challenges (such as bad mammograms, lumpy breasts, ovarian cysts, and abnormal menstrual periods) and that prevent and fight cancerous changes in the body.  These substances are shown to be protective for estrogen sensitive tissues (breast, ovarian, uterine and cervical tissue) as well as lung and colon tissue as well.

Read more: Estrogen – Fights Cancer?!