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Welcome to:
"My
Health Corner!"
My
patient’s say to me, “Dr. Purcell, thank
you for listening, and taking the time to understand
what I am going through, I can’t believe that
you really care about those details, I didn’t
even think that they were important.” And my
response is, “Yes, I absolutely care and the
answers to the questions you seek are in the details.”
When discussing natural medicine the one point that
no one can dispute is that each one of us lives in
our body 100% of the time. In this way, there is no
one person or specialist out there who understands
our symptoms better than we do. The challenge is placing
ourselves in front of a practitioner who is able to
listen, dissect the details, and assemble them into
a specific plan for us in order to reach our health
goals. As a Naturopathic doctor, I am an expert in
understanding how the body works, why symptoms exist
and how to regain health naturally and efficiently,
without drugs or surgery. It is important for me to
listen so I can develop a plan specific to each persons
individual needs and coach them along until the level
of health they desire is achieved.
The
success of this type of medicine speaks volumes and
can be repeated patient after patient. Why does it
work? It’s holistic. Taking the whole body,
the whole life, the whole picture into consideration
to develop the most specific, linear roadmap to health
for each person. Health success stories rarely come
from a single magic bullet; they most often come from
multiple organ systems that require some fine-tuning.
In this way health is restored, and life is enjoyed.
Some
of the most dramatic ways that I have seen life be
dramatically improved are through amelioration of
chronic pain, boosting energy, restoring sleep, and
significant weight loss. Any reversal of disease is
absolutely remarkable, however the dramatic shift
that occurs in these conditions allows patients a
new lease on life. An ability to shed that old skin
and step into a fresh one, a second chance. As we
kick off summer I wanted to shed a different perspective
on diets and dieting. Read on for the details.
With Much Respect for You,
Dr.
Andrea Purcell, N.D.
Costa Mesa, CA 92627
Telephone (949)
722-6797 |
Look
Great for Summer, Feel Great all the Time!
Out of all the success stories on weight loss that
I see, there are a few common elements that make it
so worthwhile for me and the patient.
*The excitement!
The desire to go shopping, feeling good in ones own
skin, waking up in the morning without self-loathing,
the ability to shop in “regular stores”,
to try on clothes, and enjoy looking at oneself in
the mirror. Feeling more social, attractive, having
more energy, the list goes on and on.
*The Freedom!
The ability to do things one couldn’t do before.
Two of my patients went on to run ½ marathons.
Another arrived in my office using ski poles for balance,
now after losing 80+ pounds, she almost runs down
the hallway to my office. To be social, laugh, interact
in life. Feelings of self-doubt, self-consciousness
completely disappear, it is like a being released
from a long hard winter, a re-birth. It is so beautiful
and fulfilling to be a part of.
*The understanding.
Each person has specific elements in their life that
have contributed to their struggles with weight. Recognizing
the patterns and what the proper, healthy choices
are to correct the patterns is the success of maintaining
weight loss long term. One of my patients realized
that her trigger was sugar, once she had some she
needed to have more, another realized that her patterns
started from when she was a child using food to comfort
her, another couldn’t get her thyroid regulated
which was causing her to store excess fat, another
ate because of dissatisfaction in her marriage, another
starved herself all day and overate at night after
work, the list goes on.
THE
DOWNFALLS OF DIETING IN THE U.S.
The greatest problem with the concept of dieting in
the US is that we think we can “diet”
and then go back to what we were doing before. This
is an erroneous assumption. The system of eating that
we were following before wasn’t working, which
is how we got to become overweight in the first place.
I want to distinguish between “Dieting”
and a proper “Diet.”
Diet comes from the Greek work Dietitia and means
‘way of life”. Establishing healthy diet
and lifestyle is the foundation of health. This is
regardless of a person’s weight, size or shape.
The patterns
of how we eat can be broken down into 3 categories.
1) Our eating style(do you eat breakfast, do you graze
throughout the day, do you eat on the run, do you
eat your kids leftovers, do you stuff yourself in
the evening.)
2) The food choices we make (fast food, organic, vegetarian,
healthy snacks, hormone free, vegetables.)
3) How we use food (emotional eating, caffeine, sugar,
carbohydrates, comfort, consuming more or less when
stressed.)
Our entire relationship with food centers on these
three things. Therefore in order for us to be successful
in maintaining weight loss we need to recognize where
we are making unhealthy choices and focus on correcting
them in the long run. Notice that I said maintaining
not achieving weight loss. There is a distinction,
there are many ways to lose weight and how we lose
it determines how successful we will be in maintaining
it.
The maintenance is the key to long-term success. Lets
take a look at some of the common programs in the
United States.
UNHEALTHY
WEIGHT LOSS
Prepacked Food Diets: Nutrasystem, Jenny Craig, South
Beach Bars, Slim Fast, weight watchers meals.
*Weight loss at the expense of overall health and
wellness
*Filled with preservatives, toxins, chemicals, processed
foods void of real nutrient value
*This sets us up to trading one condition for another:
Lose weight, but increase risk for cancer, cardiovascular
disease, arthritis, kidney, liver etc?
*Very focused on calories, not based on quality of
food, or the proper breakdown of Protein, Carbohydrate
& Fats.
*Smaller portions of unhealthy processed food, which
maintains our addictions to sugars, and carbohydrates.
*Lack of coaching on addressing a person’s eating
patterns. Long-term eating habits stay the same.
Starvation/ very low calorie diets:
*Without food, body slows down metabolism as a protective
mechanism for survival
*Placing yourself in “starvation mode”
just makes your body function less optimally, all
non-essential organs slow down
*Thyroid: during starvation, body converts the active
thyroid hormone T3 to a metabolite rT3, less active
hormone for energy, fuel, circulation, hormonal control,
and metabolism
The causes of Yo-Yo Dieting:
The reality is: Most diets are doomed for failure
from the start.
They are too complicated for long term and everyday
life (points, calorie/carb counting, and so on). They
are too strict, too expensive; leave us hungry, tired
& moody.
They have a detrimental effect on metabolism, hormones,
cortisol levels, blood sugar, and other bodily function.
The initial weight loss is muscle instead of fat.
The metabolism becomes slowed down so that the same
amount of calories you ate before may make you gain
weight.
The end result is that even at the same weight, you
are FATTER than when you started! Now isn’t’
that a kicker!
THE
ACTION PLAN:
1) Choose single ingredient foods such as: chicken,
fish, whole grains, nuts, seeds, vegetables, and olive
oil.
2) No processed foods
3) Be able to pronounce all ingredients in a label
4) If you need a fancy machine to make the product,
it’s not a simple food anymore.
5) Eat protein at every meal.
6) Drink water. Lipolysis or fat burning cannot happen
without proper hydration. Many toxins are fat-soluble.
When you start to burn fat, you inevitably release
toxins into circulation. Having ample water intake
promotes elimination instead of re-absorption
Dehydration breeds’ constipation, which causes
bloating and GI disturbance and can ultimately impairs
lipolysis and weight loss.
Our body does not always distinguish thirst from hunger.
Before assuming you are feeling hungry, try drinking
a glass of water, it may be what you actually need.
7) Eat like a king for breakfast, a prince for lunch
& a pauper for dinner.
8) Portion size is important. Women should be eating
less than men. Women have less muscle, slower metabolisms,
less testosterone, lower caloric requirements. Women
should never match their husband’s portions.
HOW
WE CAN HELP
We are experts in understanding how the body works;
we uncover and remove “obstacles” impeding
progress, and correct imbalances. We perform a comprehensive
intake and evaluation, including functional laboratory
assessment, to uncover any underlying medical conditions.
We develop an individualized treatment just for you
to correct imbalances and restore health
We address conditions commonly interfering with weight
loss including:
Thyroid Imbalance, Hormone Imbalance, Adrenal Fatigue,
especially Cortisol Imbalance, Hidden Food Sensitivities,
Nutrient Deficiencies, Absorption Problems and Impaired
Gastrointestinal Function. Best of all we have 2 exceptional
weight loss programs that really do change patient’s
lives for the better.
OUR
CHALLENGE!
Are you ready to get committed?
Grab a friend and Take part in our “Bikini in
No Time” summer offer…… |
