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Example of Category Blog layout (FAQs/General category)
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Candida treatment options with diet and supplements
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Candida is a general term for the overgrowth of yeast in a person's digestive tract. This may or may not be associated with local yeast infections in the mouth (thrush) and genitals. The important thing for you to understand is that this yeast is opportunistic, so it will grow excessively when you lack the necessary defense mechanisms in your gut to keep it under control.
The most common reasons for Candida are - dysbiosis, recent antibiotic use, recent infection, a compromised immune system, or a poor diet. Each of these factors can contribute to an overgrowth of yeast.
How can you tell if you might have a Candida problem? The symptoms vary, but you will typically notice a decrease in energy levels and cognitive function (brain fog). Your allergies may seem worse, and you may have gastrointestinal symptoms.
While some mild cases of Candida respond well to an anti-Candida diet, many require further treatment in the form of supplements or prescription medications.
If you think you might be at risk for Candida overgrowth, please give Dr. Noah a call today, so we can get you on the path to recovery.
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Weight Loss through Blood Sugar Management
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Weight loss is one of the most popular health topics in the media today. America continues to be extremely overweight, despite the volumes of material written on the subject. You have likely heard many opinions on how to lose weight. Here are just a few of the fads:
- a NO Carb diet to lose weight
- a fat-free diet
- a high protein diet
- exercise is the only solution
- exercise doesn't help at all
- eat right for your metabolic type
- glycemic index eating
- calorie counting
... and the list goes on.
You will quickly notice that diets tend to be extreme, and are therefore hard to follow. Also, by being extreme, they exclude all other approaches. I am here to tell you that there is an element of truth in most popular diets, but the key is taking the best information from each one and making it work for you. If you start an extreme diet tomorrow, studies have shown that you are not likely to be on the same diet several months down the road. The reason is that you must approach your diet as a lifestyle, rather than a quick fix to your weight problem.
The only way you will keep those pounds off is if you adopt new lifestyle habits that will become part of your normal life. This is the only long-term solution, and it requires careful planning to help you find modifications that work for you.
Let me also clarify some major points about diet and weight loss.
Exercise does help! Whenever you exercise, you are going to burn calories. Your actual weight might not change drastically, but you should really be monitoring your body composition. Please remember that unless you have your blood sugar regulation under control, losing weight through exercise will be much slower.
Let me then discuss this issue of blood sugar regulation, since it is likely the most important aspect of any weight management program. When you eat a high glycemic meal (a load of carbs and sugars), your body reacts by releasing a ton of insulin. This insulin tells your body to store the massive amounts of sugar that is now in your bloodstream. If you are not exercising, then the storage places in your liver and muscles are probably already full. So, where do you think the sugar will be stored? That's right, it is going to be bundled up into little fat cells. Now contrast that with eating a meal with the proper balance of carbohydrates, protein, and unsaturated fats. This balanced meal will result in much less insulin release and at a slower pace, allowing your body time to use the glucose.
As you can see from this short explanation, a balanced diet that optimizes ratios and includes exercise is your best approach to long-term weight loss. I hope you will also notice how this incorporates several aspects of the major diet trends in the media.
Losing weight will effectively decrease your chances of developing many chronic and degenerative diseases. If you would like advice on controlling your weight, please don't hesitate to contact our Boise office at 208-672-0100.
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Fibromyalgia Syndrome - Symptoms and Treatment
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Even 10 years ago, you never heard the term fibromyalgia, but now everybody knows at least one person who has been diagnosed with this condition. Is it because we weren't looking before, or that our population is getting sicker?
You should first understand that most conditions that include the term "syndrome" as part of their name have been designed to explain a certain set of symptoms. There is usually a list of criteria that must be met in order to diagnose the person with one of these syndromes - chronic fatigue syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia syndrome, etc. This essentially means that your doctor. doesn't know what is causing your symptoms, but only that they fit into a certain diagnostic mold. In the case of fibromyalgia, you must have a certain number of tender points throughout your body that are persistent despite rest.
I don't deny that patients may have the symptoms that match a diagnosis, but I choose to utilize functional medicine to determine the underlying cause. This involves looking carefully at your blood and lab work along with any symptoms to determine what physiology is going wrong in your body. By doing this, we can help uncover the culprits behind your symptoms.
Some common issues I look for in fibromyalgia patients are: dysbiosis (an imbalance in the healthy bacteria of your gut), adrenal gland fatigue or weakness, vitamin and mineral deficiency, side effects from prescription drugs, sluggish thyroid gland, autoimmune conditions, anemia, and more. Some simple lab tests help me quickly narrow down what areas to focus on first.
If you have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia syndrome, and have yet to experience any relief, please get in touch with Dr. Noah in Boise, ID today.
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Sciatica - Safe and Effective Chiropractic Treatment and Relief in Boise, Idaho
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Let me first warn you that many of the people that claim they have sciatica, actually do not. True sciatica means that the sciatic nerve is being irritated somewhere along its path. You will hear many people with low back pain saying that they have sciatica, when really they could have a number of other things going on without any real irritation to the sciatic nerve. Please realize that the term "sciatica" is used to describe the symptoms one experiences when the sciatic nerve is irritated. The symptoms include - sharp electrical pain down the back of the leg (often clear into the foot), numbness, weakness, tingling, or lack of motor control in your leg. Because you have a sciatic nerve on each side of your body, you are likely to only experience these symptoms on one side. If you are having symptoms on both sides, a more thorough examination for central canal stenosis, or other serious conditions, should be performed.
Since we know sciatica describes your symptoms, the next logical question becomes - "what is causing this irritation to the sciatic nerve?" There are many sources for this insult to the nerve and its roots. Here are a few of the possibilities - disc bulge, disc herniation, lateral canal stenosis, degenerative disc disease, chemical inflammation from the surrounding joints and muscles, myofascial entrapment, or a hypertonic muscle that is compressing the nerve.
It is this last issue of hypertonic musculature that I would like to expand upon. Between 10 to 15% of the population have an anomaly of the sciatic nerve where it courses through or splits over the piriformis muscle in your gluteal region. Trigger points, hypertonicity, or inflammation of the piriformis muscle in these individuals can lead to symptoms of sciatica.
The bottom line for you as a patient is that the only way for you to get relief from your sciatica is to have a thorough examination that determines the cause of this irritation. Chiropractic, combined with physical rehab, have been shown to benefit patients with sciatica. Many of our patients benefit from muscle work, nerve flossing, physiotherapy, and chiropractic adjustments.
If you live in the treasure Valley and are suffering from symptoms of sciatica, please call Dr. Noah today! 208-672-0100
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Food allergies are an increasingly hot topic among patients. Many people wonder why there is such an increase in food allergies lately. I believe there are several reasons why we are seeing such an influx of food allergy complaints.
1) We now have better diagnostic testing to detect food sensitivities properly.
2) Many of our foods are now genetically modified, so that our body has a tougher time digesting them.
3) Many foods that aren't certified organic have chemicals and pesticides added to help cut the losses by farmers. Our bodies can react to these chemicals.
4) Our heightened awareness of this problem focuses more attention to the detection of food sensitivities.
5) The Standard American Diet (SAD) has deteriorated to the point that we see many problems with our digestive system. Since most of your immune system is located in your gut, and this is where the food absorption takes place, we are seeing an increasing amount of reactions to food. Leaky gut syndrome (gut permeability) allows the larger proteins from foods to be absorbed by our bodies, which then treat these large molecules as a foreign entity and attack it (which can lead to an autoimmune disease where your body attacks itself as in MS, Hashimotos, Grave's, Addison's, Celiac, Type I Diabetes, Lupus, Sjogren's, etc...).
Allow me to warn you about some of the confusing terminology surrounding food allergies. Many people, including healthcare practitioners, use all of the following terms loosely to describe a similar problem - food allergies, food sensitivities, food intolerances, and food toxicity.
You should understand that the body has many ways of dealing with an allergen. The three major pathways are through one of the following immunoglobulin responses (which can be classified into two categories):
Immediate Allergic Response:
1) IgE - this is the traditional "food allergy" where a person may have an anaphylactic reaction requiring immediate attention. An example of this might be a peanut allergy. The response by your immune system is typically immediate and severe.
Delayed Immune Response:
2) IgG - this is the delayed response by your body's immune system in response to particles of food that your body sees as an allergen. Because of the delay, you probably aren't even aware of this reaction.
3) IgA - this is another delayed immune response. The difference between this response and that of IgG is that this is mediated by the areas of your body with mucous membranes - lungs, mouth, gastrointestinal and urinary tracts, and breast milk.
To be more technically correct, I would classify an IgE mediated response as an "allergy" and the IgG/IgA responses as a food sensitivity or intolerance. However, both of these are a stress on your body and an insult to the immune system. Because of the immediate response to an IgE reaction, most people are aware of their allergy. The IgG and IgA responses on the other hand, often go undiagnosed and can lead to many chronic symptoms. It is for this reason that I highly recommend a quality IgG and IgA food allergy profile for my patients suffering from related symptoms. In addition, many people have had allergy testing for environmental sources, but not food sources. The problem with this is that you can't control what's in the environment here in Boise, but you can control what you take into your body. Doesn't it make sense to know what foods your body is reacting to, so you can avoid them or at least eat them in moderation?
What symptoms might indicate an underlying chronic food sensitivity? Here is a short list - autoimmune conditions, constipation, nausea, diarrhea, bloating, gas, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) asthma, itchy eyes, chronic ear infections, chronic sinus infections, cough, skin rashes, urticaria (hives), eczema, headaches, sinusitis, bedwetting, ADD, ADHD, anxiety, depression, joint pain, nasal polyps, psoriasis, migraines, pharyngeal irritations, post nasal drip, and more...
The next question becomes - what are the common culprits for food sensitivities? There are are many foods, chemicals, additives, and microbes contaminating food that can all lead to a food sensitivity. The list is enormous, but let me try to list the big players here - dairy (casein, lactose), gluten (wheat, barley, rye, oats, spelt, kamut, triticale...), corn, soy, chocolate, tree nuts, citrus fruits, vegetables from nightshade family, monosodium glutamate (MSG), food additives, preservatives, colorings, flavorings, plasticizers, sulfites, dyes, prescription medications, etc...
To recap, if you have some of the symptoms mentioned on this page, you should seriously consider having a food allergy laboratory test performed. Since you are in control of what you take into your body, this is a wonderful form of preventative medicine to safeguard yourself against the possibility of further health complications. Many patients see a serious improvement in health just by avoiding their most severe allergens.
If you suspect food allergies in your self or someone you love, please call Dr. Noah today to 208-672-0100 to schedule a free consultation.
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