Photo by Spocaj.

If you’re wondering why we’re so quiet on the editorial front lately, here’s your answer: we’re spending time with family, enjoying the weather, taking care of our gardens and traveling. Among other things. Our authors share their best tips for Summer.

Getting in the garden. Home gardens, box gardens, roof gardens, urban vertical gardens–gardening has really taken off this year. Bonus: it’s a wonderful way to de-stress with nature and produce your own food.

“When I land in New York each month to see patients, I hit the ground running! This summer I’m literally stopping to breath deeply and smell the flowers. I decided to stagger my days at the office and spend every other one with mom, learning the tricks of edible organic gardening. It’s proving to be one of the most relaxing, rejuvenating and best bonding experiences I’ve ever had!” – Christine Dionese

Photo by Liz.

Shedding a few. If you missed Spring cleaning, it’s not too late to de-clutter your space!

“I’m shedding my winter coat-literally! I’m taking the opportunity to clean my closet of clothes I didn’t wear over the winter (to donate of course). Less clothes = less clutter = less stress!.. Frees up some space for new sundresses as well!” – Laura Seery

Photo by Sharon J Pruitt.

Economizing with DIY baby food. Did you know that growing your own baby food can save a family an average of $600 per year? That’s a huge savings considering how much tots consume in their earliest years!

“I’m walking outside as much as possible, finishing home repairs and planting the garden. My husband and I are growing organic squash, pea and other plants to make baby food in the fall, painting our rooms with low VOC paint and reading a great book called the Eco-nomical Baby Guide by Joy Hatch. It’s all about how to be as green as possible with a new baby (cloth diapers, food safety, making your own wipes etc).” — Amy Chitwood

Photo by Pacdog.

Stay-cationing. Who says you need to fly across the world to relax? What you seek for relaxation and rejuvenation could be found in your very own back-yard!

“It starts on Memorial Day and extends to camping parties and hiking trips. I have to admit, the life of a student gets a little bit pricey, from buying groceries to packing for the trip. The solution: a “staycation.” Cook meals in your own kitchen and walk a few paces to serve and enjoy! Bring your camping trip to your backyard, set up a mini bonfire and roast s’mores. All that’s left? Put up a tent and spend the night with your kids beneath the clear sky. It’s affordable, less stressful and offers genuine bonding time with the family.” – Karla Mercado

Photo by zana stardust.

Basking in some rays. Get your Vitamin D, y’all.

“This summer I plan to sit in the sun to catch some Vitamin D!! With all the rain we’re having out here in Portland, I can’t wait to lay out on a blanket, raft down a river, go camping or bike around the city. Vitamin D is so important to our health, yet sunscreen blocks its absorption, so I will be sure to keep taking my supplements!” — Carrie Jones

Rejuvenate and Refresh!

We know you like being on the go, so remember to rejuvenate with some quality sleep and replenish and refresh by staying properly hydrated! Looking for a fun way to spruce up your water? Try Laura’s thirst-quenching naturally flavored water!

Have a healthy, fun-in-the-sun tip to share with the WellWire community? We’d love to hear from you in our comments section or at the WellWire Facebook page!

Photo by Mai Le.

Q: My son’s pediatrician just prescribed antibiotics for what she thought was bronchitis. I thought the antibiotic choice was strange since I was prescribed the same one weeks earlier for a stubborn urinary tract infection. I usually take herbs for infections and know that different herbs are used for different bacterias. Isn’t there a way to match antibiotics with particular bacterias as they differ? Jaycn L. Austin, Texas

A: Great question, the answer is yes! There is a procedure referred to as culturing bacteria for sensitivity that is employed in the lab to distinguish specific strains of bacteria from one another. Once the strain is determined, the proper antibiotic is administered to eradicate infection.

Culturing for bacteria takes time and has been criticized by some seasoned professionals as stalling treatment. The argument some clinicians make is that they’ve seen so many similar cases, why waste time when they can simply treat? The value of culturing however that is often overlooked is that it also rules out whether or not the infection is of bacterial or viral origin. Consider earaches for instance. Most earaches and ear infections are initially caused by a virus. The bacteria can come later, but doesn’t always. The point is to properly distinguish bacterias from viruses to ensure the most precise care.

Although compounding research reveals antibiotic resistance continues to grow, antibiotic overuse remains a serious public health issue. Usually patients visit their health care provider wanting immediate treatment and answers. In response to an ailing patient before them, health care providers often prescribe antibiotics based upon the clinical presentation of signs and symptoms without culturing. This quick-draw approach to antibiotic use however contributes to the still growing issue of anti-biotic resistance.

Being your own advocate is the best advice I offer patients on this hot-button topic. Give your naturopath or Chinese health care provider a call to see if antibiotic use can be avoided. If it is in fact necessary, insist your provider culture the bacteria to best match the medicine with the specific strain. Remember, by protecting yourself and your family, you’re playing a larger role in preserving community health!

Got a question for us? Drop your tricky, random, wacky or plain confusing health question into the Suggest-O-Matic, leave a comment, or tag your tweet questions with #wellwire and our team of experts will answer them in this weekly column.

Christine M. Dionese L.Ac. specializes in integrative medicine, medical journalism and is the VP of marketing at WellWire LLC. Visit her wellness and lifestyle blog, Reaching Beyond Now.

When it comes to fashion and giving back to the environment, how do you know for sure that you are purchasing eco-friendly and sustainable products? If you ask me, it’s confusing to choose, let alone find, credible organic claims made by designers and brands. I love that there’s a label launching next year that the average consumer like myself will be able to easily recognize and trust: L.E.A.F. (Labeling Ecologically Approved Fabrics™).

WellWire sat down to chat with L.E.A.F. founder and executive director, Elinor Averyt and here’s what she had to say:

WellWire: Hello, Elinor! Thank you so much for giving us your time to do this interview. Can you tell us, in sum, what L.E.A.F. is all about?

Elinor: The overall purpose of L.E.A.F. is to provide the first comprehensive and unifying eco-labeling program for clothing sold in the United States.

WW: Tell us more about yourself, Elinor. Have you always been involved with the apparel industry? What is it about your own personality that you think inspired you to pursue this advocacy?

Elinor: Thank you for being interested. I started this project out of frustration with working on larger scaled societal issues at various non-profits in my 20’s and not seeing any definitive outcomes or results from pouring myself into these larger scaled problems.

I decided to take a step back and ask two questions: 1) What are the issues/problems keeping us stuck or sending us in negative directions as a society, and 2) What are catalysts we could put into place to help get some of these larger issues moving in new directions in a concrete, finite amount of time? Two issues that came to the forefront as continuing problems are both, 1) the lack of pervasive industry-wide accountability for depleting resources and pollution at a faster rate than the earth and its inhabitants can handle, and 2) the lack of pervasive consumer accountability for continuing this cycle by demanding low cost products (which are almost impossible to produce in environmentally and socially sensitive ways) and purchasing from companies creating problems in society.

The concept of eco-labels began to fascinate me as a potential, helpful solution to both of these problems to provide both marketplace inspiration to a given industry to clean up its ways, as well as to assist consumers with having an easier method to find and support the companies producing products in a more environmentally and socially sensitive manner.

That particular thought process is what basically landed me working on this project in the apparel industry.

WW: We understand that L.E.A.F. had just undergone its public review process. How can you describe the reception of the apparel industry and the general public to L.E.A.F.’s ideas? What was their primary concern, and how did L.E.A.F. respond to it?

Elinor: The public review was a success with over 150 participants. The premise of L.E.A.F. was generally received exceptionally well by the general public, and received with anticipated skepticism from industry stakeholders. You can see range of responses to the public review on our site, and you can access all comments and L.E.A.F. responses at the bottom of the home page.

WW: What makes this certification different from the already existing ecological programs in the US apparel industry?

Elinor: Thanks for asking for clarification on this issue. L.E.A.F. is actually not an official ‘certification’ program. Instead, L.E.A.F. is an umbrella eco-labeling program that, once launched, will communicate to the US consumers where a product has reached certain environmental and social achievements and certifications. This will occur by L.E.A.F. vetting which certifications have been reached within a product’s journey through its life cycle process.

Currently, there are certification programs that also have a consumer facing eco-label at the end of their certification process. However, due to the complexities of the apparel supply chain, it is difficult for any one standard or certification to cover a full range of inputs, processes and social issues addressed by the apparel industry’s complex and expansive life cycle.

Therefore,  L.E.A.F. aspires to end eco-labeling confusion in this industry by providing one unifying and comprehensive label to the US consumer that is inclusive of the valid certification programs that exist for this industry and that communicates the overriding certification history of any given product.

WW: L.E.A.F.’s label involves compliance with fair labor, organic/sustainable fibers and environmental manufacturing. In your opinion, what is the biggest issue in America today out of these three, if it’s possible to choose just one, of course.

Elinor: Although these are three major issues facing this industry, there are actually many diverse issues and impacts associated with this industry’s practices that extend beyond these ones.

These particular issues were chosen to launch the program as they have the most comprehensive certification programs in place to date (although Transfair USA will soon be launching its Fair Trade initiative for clothing sold in the United States).

It is difficult to make such a determination as each environmental and social issue associated with this industry’s life cycle, as each issue and its impacts are very complex, and each issue also seems to have equally important impacts to address and improve upon.

WW: What’s new with L.E.A.F. these days? How has it developed since the review process and what is your team currently up to?

Elinor: After the public review process, L.E.A.F. explored the potentials of new ownership taking control of the project, but was not successful in finding the right parent organization to take control of this situation. L.E.A.F. is now back full swing as its own, freestanding, small-scaled, non-profit organization that plans to grow in an organic manner. We are currently taking a three-pronged effort to get this program off the ground and launched to the marketplace. Our goal is that you will see L.E.A.F. labels in stores Spring 2011!

WW: Since L.E.A.F.’s efforts are still in the works and hasn’t been introduced in the marketplace yet, what can you recommend to our WellWire readers when it comes to making sure that they purchase products that fulfill L.E.A.F.’s ecological and social categories? What are the most common signs to look out for (i.e., similar to FDA-approved labels)?

Elinor: Well, right now, this is still a tricky task. The only certifications that back the organic claims made by designers and brands are the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), and the Organic Exchange OE100 and Blended standards. If you see either of these certifications on a garment, you can trust the organic claim is valid. Currently, there are no consumer facing labels created by certification programs that communicate to consumers concerning social categories associated with this industry (i.e., fair trade and fair labor practices). I believe, however, Transfair USA will be launching their Fair Trade Certified™ program this fall 2010.

This is why L.E.A.F. aspires to launch as soon as possible, so that our program may hopefully serve in this capacity!

Karla Mercado lives in New Mexico and is the author of Balancing Tenderfoot. She is passionate about human medicine, nutrition, and writing.

Photo by Culinary Concepts.

As temperatures heat up, keeping hydrated is essential for your body’s internal mechanisms and to improve your external appearance as well. Water is the best beverage option to provide fluids without any of the negative affects of other drinks—caffeine, sugar, unnecessary calories and artificial dyes.

However drinking water, water and more water all day can get boring, quick.  Especially when soft drinks, sports drinks, fruit juices and even an ice cold beer are calling your name! So, to combat the urge for junky drinks, keep a batch of ice cold infused water in your refrigerator.

Infused waters originated from the Spanish aguas frescas, or sweet waters infused with fresh fruits or vegetables.  Most people have been lucky enough to enjoy “spa water,” or water infused with sliced cucumber or citrus fruits, while waiting for a massage or facial.  These infused waters have a very light, refreshing flavor that’s decidedly not just water, but not as heavy as a juice. It’s also surprisingly simple and practically free, looks beautiful in a pitcher and will be sure to impress your guests this summer. Here’s how to create this refreshingly light beverage yourself:

1. Thinly slice fruits or vegetables.
2. Tear fresh herbs to release the essences and aromas.
3. Add ingredients to a pitcher of filtered water and refrigerate (anywhere from 2 hours to overnight—the longer it sits, the more intense the flavor will be).
4. Pour over ice, garnish with a slice of fruit or a sprig of herbs, and enjoy!

Mint, basil and lavender are all great additions to spice up your water.

My favorite combinations:

• Strawberry-Basil Water (great bright red/green color contrast, and an amazing sweet, complex flavor)
• Cucumber-Lemon Water (oldie-but-goodie! Drink this on a super hot day and you’ll never go back to plain water again!)
• Pineapple-Mint Water (a fun, tropical flavor, pairs well with Southeast Asians foods like Thai and Vietnamese)
• Citrus-Lavender Water (envision a tall glass in the  late afternoon on your back porch—perfection! Of course lavender is also known for it’s calming/relaxing properties)

Infusing Tips:

• You can invent your own recipes for fruit-infused water with whatever you have on hand, or what’s ripe at the time.
• Infuse with various herbs from your garden and even flowers (check here to make sure they are safe first).
• If you’re watching calories or carbs, avoid high sugar fruits like tangerines and mango and opt for lemons, limes and blackberries.
• On the go and need a bottle?  Don’t have time to infuse yourself? Check out Hint flavored bottled waters.

Laura Seery creates memorable events for San Diego's most discerning eaters at Culinary Concepts Catering. A graduate of University of California, San Diego and a self-taught chef, Laura enjoys writing for her blog about all things delicious, nutritious and green.

Chip Sammons and Allie, his 11 year old rescue.

This is a continuation of a conversation I recently had with pet food expert, Chip Sammons. He is owner of Holistic Pet Center in Clackamas, Oregon. In this part of the interview, what to do to keep your pet optimally healthy from the raw food diet and dental care, to fleas and free-feeding. Read the first part of the interview here.

What do you think is optimal nutrition for a pet?

Optimal nutrition is based upon the pet’s ancestral diet. Dogs and cats have very short digestive tracts and have not evolved to digest grains so we use grain free products. A lot of dogs and cats suffer from dermatitis and other allergy symptoms so you should really avoid feeding them beef, corn, wheat, soy and yeast. Some dogs and cats do okay with corn but others do not.

When we look at the ancestral diet of a cat or dog, we know that they most efficiently digest protein and fats, not carbohydrates. Cats and dogs were not eating any grains. They definitely weren’t farming. They definitely foraged for some vegetables and fruits, but definitely not wheat, corn, etc.

Before the modern grain-containing pet food, cats and dogs didn’t get obese, didn’t get diabetes, didn’t get thyroid disease.  Some estimate that 60% of overweight pets are because of too much grain consumption. People tell me that they don’t overfeed their pet too much cat or dog food, but overfeeding often sneaks in as too many unhealthy treats. Many pet treats found in the store contain a lot of what’s on the “avoid” list like artificial ingredients and lots of grains.

So for our store, we avoid the primary list of artificial ingredients, find products that use real meats and no by-products, and don’t use wheat or corn.

Do you recommend free-feeding?

We don’t recommend that you leave food out all the time. It’s best for your pet physiology and pancreas that they eat only twice per day. It’s also best for your pet’s sense of security that they know they will get food twice per day at a specific time. Pets don’t like to have to guard their food and worry about it all day long. If they know that at a certain time in the morning and certain time in the evening they are getting fed, its much less stressful. What a lot of pet owners who free-feed don’t notice is that most dogs and cats don’t nibble throughout the day and will actually choose on their own to only eat early in the morning and then again in the evening. Leave clean fresh water out all the time and pick it up 20 minutes before eating to preserve your pet’s healthy stomach acidity.

The raw food diet thing is probably the most controversial and debated subject in the pet food world right now. What’s your take on this?

I think the best diet you could feed your dog or cat is a well balanced raw food diet and the worst diet you could feed your pet is an imbalanced raw food diet. A lot of people try it, but the don’t do enough research to find out what the balance should be. A common mistake is for people to think that an all meat diet for their dog is healthy. Dogs will die with an all meat diet. Also, a raw food diet is not the same as feeding from the table. Dogs don’t do well with a lot of cooked foods or spices. A comprehensive well-balanced raw food diet is better than any bagged or canned food, but it’s the most challenging way to feed a pet. It also takes a lot of time.

The second best way to feed your pet is a using a frozen or dehydrated raw food diet. You don’t want to cook the frozen or dehydrated raw food, because heat destroys the raw food’s natural vitamins and enzymes making it less nutritious. I was one of the first retailers to have a frozen raw food section in my store. I used to buy hundreds of pounds of kidneys, livers and meat and make the food for my customers. Today, there are pet food makers that do this and I sell their products pre-packaged. I sell the best five frozen raw food diets. These are complete balanced diets.

The third best option is a dry kibble grain free diets. These somewhat match the balance of protein and vegetables in the form of dry food. We have the best three dry and canned grain free diets for dogs and cats. The problem with any consumer product is that there are a lot of other people trying to make grain free diets, but they don’t have the knowledge base on how to make a truly healthy and balanced diet.

What do you recommend for pet dental care?

The American Veterinary Dental Society (AVDS) came out with a study about 10 years ago that found that dry dog food is only responsible for 5% of tartar reduction. Their recommendation was to use some sort of dental cleaning chewing device. An example of this would be a natural and toxin free raw hide, raw bones, or Nylabone. Basically it would be something that would mimic your dog chewing on a stick – a dog toothbrush found in the wild. Another option is brushing their teeth from the time they are a puppy or kitten. This is a really good way to bond with your pet.

Let’s move on the subject of fleas. Is there a way to avoid poisoning our pets?

I wrote a book titled Flea Control: A Holistic & Humorous Approach. The purpose of the book was to help people understand how to control or eradicated fleas without resorting to poisoning their pets. Many of the conventional veterinary flea control methods involve using topical poisons or pesticides on your pet or in your home or yard. A conventional flea collar, Advantage (Imidacloprid), or a flea bomb are all insecticides and poisons to humans and pets. These are neurotoxins with serious side-effects that persist on your pet and in your house for weeks getting absorbed by all members of your household, humans and animals.

What are some of the signs of an adverse reaction to some of the spot-on treatments?

Death, convulsions, seizures, shaking, vomiting, drooling, and more. The problem is many people apply these flea control chemicals to their pets and usually don’t notice the connection. They just think that their dog or cat is getting sick. The CDC got so many adverse reaction reports to these flea control chemicals that now the EPA is investigating the topical spot-on flea and tick control products for safety. The EPA has made recommendations for clearer labeling.

My book educates pet owners on the life cycle of fleas and how they can stop flea reproduction not only on their dog, but also within the home and yard. There are stages of the flea life cycle in which it is much easier to eradicate fleas than other stages. Diet also plays a factor in making your pet a desirable place or host for fleas. In the book, I teach pet owners how to have natural flea control without using harsh and toxic chemicals. I teach people how to take a holistic approach by treating the cause of why fleas reproduce in homes and on pets. I like to remind pet owners that just because it says the flea control product is naturally derived; it still may harm their pet. Natural is not always safe.

Gibran Ramos, L.Ac. completed his six year training and internship in Naturopathic and Chinese Medicine at National College of Natural Medicine. Mr. Ramos helps patients transform their lives and optimize their well-being at Northwest Natural Medicine in Milwaukie, Oregon.

Chip Sammons and Allie, his 11 year old rescue.

The rain is coming down hard as I drive up to the humble storefront of Holistic Pet Center in Oregon City. Chip Sammons greets me and takes me to his office. His desk is wedged between shelves of veterinary, nutrition, dog, cat, biology, animal physiology and anatomy books, and stacks of file folders containing what I soon find out are thousands of articles of research studies on pet health. On the wall are pictures of his family and himself with many different dogs and cats. This man loves pets.

How did you become a pet food expert?

I had a Boxer 40 years ago who died of cancer at only 4 years of age. I felt that part of the death of this dog was my fault and I wondered if I could have done anything differently, like fed the dog differently. The veterinarian said, “No, and all foods are about the same.”

At this time, I didn’t know much about dog food, but his answer just didn’t seem right to me. This drove me to research the pet food industry. What I found out, horrified me. I found out it was legal to use certain ingredients including the bodies of cats and dogs who had died of cancer. These were called the 4D meats or the dead, dying, diseased and disabled meats of animals and pets that had been euthanized.

Is this practice of using the 4D meats still legal?

It is still legal to use meats from euthanized animals who were sick and/or dying in pet food! The first big news investigative exposé was the 1990 two part article by San Francisco Chronicle staff writer John Eckhouse. He was the first journalist to make the word renderers better known. In his article Mr. Eckhouse explains how millions of dead cats and dogs are sent to rendering plants every year to be processed into pet food and cosmetics. Even though the pet food companies were, as they claimed, “recycling,” the rendering process involves using harsh carcinogenic or cancer causing chemicals to breakdown the nutrients that make their way back into pet foods. Chemicals that persist from the rendering process include creosote, phenol and euthanizing agents like pentobarbital, and pesticides from flea collars.

Photo by muahace_dc.

What would be the ingredients to avoid when you’re looking at pet food labels?

It‘s a very similar to what you look for on food you’re buying for your family.

• Artificial preservatives
• Artificial colors
• Artificial flavors
• Nitrates
• By-products
• Sugars

These are the ingredients that cause cancer in pets. I was concerned with what could cause cancer.  I never intended to open a pet store, but in 1988, I opened Holistic Pet Center as a place people could buy quality and healthy pet food. My dream was to make a store in which people could purchase and thing and not make a bad decision. The exclusion list was the absolute criteria for anything I carried in my store. All products are safe and not cancer causing. Even twenty-two years later, I still use the same criteria for the products in my store. It’s a simple concept, but a very good way to ensure health and quality.

What is natural flavoring?

Natural is a tricky word because it doesn’t have a definition. Natural flavoring can mean almost anything. Sometimes it means natural and sometimes it doesn’t. I know what it means because I talk to the individual manufactures.

What are some of the signs and symptoms pet owners can look for if they are suspecting a food intolerance or allergy?

Some signs of a possible food related problem are redness on the belly, licking the feet, hot spots at the base of the tail, eye discharge, scratching on the chin, or “my dog/cat is constantly itching or scratching.” Another common phrase I hear is, “My dog has continual ear problems,” or I often have people ask, “Do you have something for my dogs ears?” My first question for pet owners who’s pets have these symptoms is, “What kind of food are you feeding them?”  Our experience is that when you get a pet on a more hypoallergenic formula that the problematic allergic symptom natural goes away.

Why are grains used in pet food?

When Ralston-Purina first made pet food and cereal, they used extruders. Extruders are long machines that compact the food, dehydrate it, and sometimes even bake or cook it, so that by the end of the line out pops kibble or cereal flakes. The only way to make the kibble stick together and not crumble into dust was to use some glue food substance. In the case of kibble and cereal flakes, gluten from certain grains was used in 1954 to produce the first dry dog and cat food. It took almost forty years for the first no grain dry pet food to come out in 1993.

What is ash content on a pet food label? Why is this listed on pet food?

Ash is not an added ingredient. Ash is literally what you would end up with if you burned the food. If the pet food has more by-products, there will be more ash. You want to look for the lower the ash content, the better. In fact if you are considering a good quality pet food, you shouldn’t have to look at ash, because it will have a low ash content. In other words, there will be very little by-products.

What are by-products?

By-products are anything other than meat. By-products include, according to the AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials), beaks, feathers, hair, hides, hooves, feet, eyes, bones, etc.

Photo by Hamed Saber.

Are organ meats considered by-products?

Yes. This is where my expertise for evaluating pet food products comes in handy. I actually have visited almost all the pet food manufacturer facilities to see what exactly the put in their food. Organ meats are considered by-products, but the ancestral diets of cats and dogs did include organs. In fact many scavengers and predators prefer organs for the nutrient density. Organ meats are great.

A lot of the good companies use organ meats in their by-products. The problem is the FDA does not allow the differentiation between by-products from animal parts like beaks and feathers, and by-products from organ meats. This lack of a clear by-product definition is a result of the FDA not allowing any one company the ability to claim something that other companies could not claim. Organ meats cost a lot more than chicken beaks. If a company lists kidney and liver on the front of the package, their ingredient list has to list it as by-products.

What other things should pet owners look for on labels?

So just to recap:

• Nothing from the primary list like the artificial colors, preservatives, and flavors;
• No by-products
• No sugar. In fact cats don’t even have a sugar or sweetness receptor. Sugar can be listed as sugar, fructose, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose.
• No nitrates. Nitrates were actually banned by the FDA in the 1950s but the FDA never enforced the ban in pet and human food.  We all know that and it has been shown that nitrates cause cancer. The meat industry said that it would cause a major nutritional deficiency because people would not buy meats if they were grey. Nitrates is used to keep meat red in the grocery store. Also, the meat industry argued that if meat were not kept artificially red, truly decaying grey meat would not be easily discernible and many more people would get sick and die.

Look for part 2 next week as Chip and I discuss the controversial raw food diet, natural flea control, and dental care for your canine’s canines.

Gibran Ramos, L.Ac. completed his six year training and internship in Naturopathic and Chinese Medicine at National College of Natural Medicine. Mr. Ramos helps patients transform their lives and optimize their well-being at Northwest Natural Medicine in Milwaukie, Oregon.

Photo by rioncm.

Next time someone tells you to watch your cholesterol, consider this: low-cholesterol diets have actually been shown to cause hormone-imbalances, obesity and diabetes. The emphasis on a low-fat diet reduces the intake of fat and causes an increased consumption of carbohydrates and trans fats. For women, lack of adequate levels of cholesterol in the body can be a real issue of hormone imbalances.

Why cholesterol is the most important molecule in the body:

• It is the main component of cell membranes and plays a major role in the endocrine system.
• It serves as precursor (a chemical compound that makes another compound) in the synthesis of steroid hormones, vitamin D, and bile acids.
• It is vital for hormone-making (estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, aldosterone, cortisol, and DHEA)
• It is necessary for rescue-work (cholesterol plaques are formed when there is injury to the blood vessel wall)

Is there such a notion as low-cholesterol? Absolutely. But if you do not have enough cholesterol, you will not be able to make the hormones you need! In these cases, it is critical to explore the hormone imbalances all of which play an important role in the body’s hormonic orchestra.

If you have low cholesterol:

• Increase your consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids, primarily omega-3‘s (salmon, sardines, coconut oil, avocados
• Avoid low-fat, low-cholesterol diets and foods
• Consider having your other hormones checked

Dr. Igor Schwartzman practices naturopathic medicine with a strong emphasis in women's health, hormone imbalances, and thyroid disorders at Whole Family Wellness Center in Portland, Oregon. He is a co-founder of WellWire.com.