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Dr. Alex Jimenez Presents: The Cause & Effects Of Cardiometabolic Risk

Dr. Alex Jimenez Presents: The Cause & Effects Of Cardiometabolic Risk


Introduction

Dr. Alex Jimenez, D.C., presents how the cause and effects of cardiometabolic risk can affect a person’s health and wellness. Cardiometabolic syndrome can affect any person through lifestyle factors and cause pain-like symptoms that can affect their well-being. We refer patients to certified providers that provide cardiovascular treatments associated with metabolic syndrome to relieve issues affecting the body while ensuring optimal wellness for the patient through various treatments. We acknowledge each patient by referring them to our associated medical providers based on their diagnosis to understand better what they are dealing with appropriately. We understand that education is an excellent way to ask our providers various intricated questions to the patient’s knowledge. Dr. Jimenez, D.C., utilizes this information as an educational service. Disclaimer

 

The Cause & Effects Of Cardiometabolic Risk

Dr. Alex Jimenez, D.C., presents: Now, as we enter this new era, many individuals are trying to find ways of managing cardiometabolic risk. So in this presentation, we will look at the number one killer in many modern countries; cardiovascular disease is defined as a cluster of conditions that affect the heart. Many factors are associated with cardiovascular disease that overlaps with metabolic syndrome. The word cardiometabolic hints that we will discuss something broader than cardiovascular risk.

 

The goal is to gain perspective on the old conversation about the cardiovascular risk associated with the circulatory system. We all know that the body’s circulatory, respiratory, and skeletal systems have different compartments that have different jobs to make the body functional. The problem is that the body operates in various systems independent of each other. They come together and interconnect like a web.

 

The Circulatory System

Dr. Alex Jimenez, D.C., presents: So the circulatory system helps transport blood vessels and allows the lymphatic vessels to carry cells and other items like hormones from one place to another. An example would be your insulin receptors moving information throughout your body and your glucose receptors being utilized for energy. And obviously, all other types of communicators govern how transportation happens in the body. Now the body is not a closed fixed circuit connected through the outside. Many factors can influence the body inside and outside that can affect the arterial wall and cause overlapping issues affecting the cardiovascular system. Now, what is happening to the arterial wall causing overlapping matters in the body?

 

When factors start to affect the arterial wall inside, it can cause plaque to form in the arterial walls and even affect the integrity of the outer walls of the arteries. When this happens, LDL or low-density lipoprotein could grow in size and cause a spike in cholesterol levels. To that point, when the body is dealing with poor lifestyle habits, it can influence the body to be at high cardiovascular risk. When the body is dealing will cardiovascular diseases at high risk, it can cause correlate to high blood pressure, diabetes, or metabolic syndrome. This causes the body to have muscular and joint pain in the back, neck, hips, and chest, to name a few, and can cause the individual to deal with inflammation in the gut, joints, and muscles.  

 

Factors Associated With Cardiometabolic Risk Factors

Dr. Alex Jimenez, D.C., presents: But, interestingly, it’s not until recently that institutions that govern our standard of care are taking this seriously, saying it needs to be a part of the guidelines because the data is so evident that how a person’s lifestyle matters when it comes to their health. The data can range from the correlation of how certain diets, like the Mediterranean diet, can change a person’s nutritional habits. To how stress is associated with cardiometabolic disorders. Or how much exercise or sleep you are getting. These environmental factors correlate to how cardiometabolic risk factors affect the body. By informing patients what is going on with their bodies, they can finally make small changes to their lifestyle habits. Now let’s look at how nutrition can impact a person with cardiometabolic risk profiles.

 

By having a conversation about nutrition, many people can see the impact of the standard American diet and how it can lead to a caloric increase in central adiposity. When conversing about nutrition, it is best to note what the person is eating, causing cardiometabolic risk issues in their bodies. Doctors work with nutritionists to devise a solution to implement the right amount of protein the individual needs, how much vegetables and fruits they can consume, and what food allergies or sensitivities to avoid. To that point, informing patients about eating healthy, organic, and nutritional food will allow them to understand what they put in their bodies and how to reverse the effects. Now each person is different as certain diets are for some people while others don’t, and it is also important that by advising patients about what they are taking in and consuming but also about timing. Some people do fasting to cleanse their bodies of toxins and allow the body’s cells to find different ways to consume energy.

 

How Nutrition Plays A Role In Cardiometabolic Syndrome

Dr. Alex Jimenez, D.C., presents: But did you know the quality of calories in the standard American diet can damage our intestinal lining, making it vulnerable to permeability, creating this very common scenario called metabolic endotoxemia that triggers inflammation? The quality and quantity of foods can disrupt our microbiome, leading to dysbiosis as a different mechanism of inflammation. And so you get this immune activation and dysregulation that makes a constant bath in which your genes are bathing. Inflammation can be good or bad depending on the severity of what is happening in the body. If the body suffers from an injury or deals with minor issues, inflammation can help heal. Or if the inflammation is severe, it can cause the intestinal wall lining to become inflamed and leak out toxins and other microbes into the rest of the body. This is known as a leaky gut, potentially leading to muscle and joint pain associated with obesity. So we want to broaden that conversation around nutrition because obesity impacts poor nutrition. It’s commonly said that we are overfed and undernourished as a human population. So we want to be able to mitigate the trends of obesity responsibly. And we want to bring in this larger conversation about social determinants of health. As the years go by, many people are more aware of how their environment and lifestyle play a role in developing cardiovascular or cardiometabolic conditions.

 

We must recognize that the human body lives in this social ecosystem that determines the health potential. We want to engage the patient to bring awareness to the most potent anti-inflammatory signal into their lives and their lifestyle choice. And we are not discussing fads like putting on spandex and going to the gym once a month; we’re talking about daily movement and how to reduce sedentary behavior associated with the cardiometabolic syndrome. We discussed how even the impact of stress could promote atherosclerosis, arrhythmias, and metabolic dysfunction in the body and cause various issues that can affect a person’s well-being.

 

Stress & Inflammation’s Role In The Body

Dr. Alex Jimenez, D.C., presents: Stress, like inflammation, can be good or bad, depending on the scenario. So stress can impact a person’s ability to function in the world as we dive into the systems biology dysfunctions that occur from acute and chronic stress and how we can help our patients. We must understand that we should put ourselves in our patient’s shoes by figuring out how to lower chronic stress to reduce cardiometabolic risk factors and improve quality of life.

 

So by not being so fixated on trying everything at once to reduce cardiometabolic risk factors, taking everything that we learn and incorporating it slowly into our daily lives can make a huge impact on how we look, feel, and what we eat can improve our well-being. Dr. David Jones stated, “If all we do is talk about this and all we do is know this stuff, it doesn’t do the full service we have as an intention for our patients.”

 

We must get ourselves from the knowing stage into the doing stage because that’s when results will occur. So by looking at the bigger picture, we can take back our health from cardiometabolic syndrome by focusing on where the problem is happening in our bodies and going to various specialists that can develop a treatment plan to lower the stress and inflammation in our bodies that can reduce the effects of cardiometabolic syndrome.

 

Conclusion

Dr. Alex Jimenez, D.C., presents: So if many people are dealing with cardiometabolic risks, they have these very common systems, biology dysfunctions, whether it’s related to inflammation, oxidative stress, or insulin dysfunction, are all happening under the surface. . In functional medicine, we want to go upstream in this new era of cardiometabolic health. We want to leverage the environment and lifestyle to manipulate the system’s biology so it can be in a favorable setting to allow the epigenetic potential of the patient to be at its highest expression of health. 

 

By providing the right tools for the patients, many functional medicine doctors can educate their patients on how to take back their health a little bit each time. For example, a person is dealing with chronic stress, causing stiffness in their necks and backs, making them unable to move around. Their doctors can devise a plan to incorporate meditation or take a yoga class to ease the stress out of their bodies and become mindful. So by gathering important clinical information about how a person is suffering from cardiometabolic, many doctors can work with their associated medical providers to devise a treatment plan to cater to each suffering from symptoms associated with cardiometabolic.

 

Dr. Alex Jimenez Presents: Treatments For Hormonal Dysfunction & PTSD

Dr. Alex Jimenez Presents: Treatments For Hormonal Dysfunction & PTSD


Introduction

Dr. Alex Jimenez, D.C., presents an insightful overview of how hormonal dysfunction can affect the body, increase cortisol levels, and be associated with PTSD in this 3-part series. This presentation provides important information to many individuals dealing with hormonal dysfunction associated with PTSD. The presentation also offers different treatment options to reduce the effects of hormonal dysfunction and PTSD through functional medicine. Part 1 looks at the overview of hormonal dysfunction. Part 2 will look at how various hormones in the body contribute to body functionality and how overproduction or underproduction can cause drastic effects on a person’s health. We refer patients to certified providers that incorporate various hormone treatments to ensure optimal health and wellness for the patient. We appreciate each patient by referring them to associated medical providers based on their diagnosis when it is appropriate to have a better understanding. We understand that education is an excellent and inquisitive way to ask our providers various intricated questions at the patient’s request and knowledge. Dr. Alex Jimenez, D.C., utilizes this information as an educational service. Disclaimer

 

A Look Into Hormonal Dysfunction

Dr. Alex Jimenez, D.C., presents: Now, looking into the exciting didactic here, we will discuss something rare but important to understand when looking at these steroid pathways. And this is something called congenital adrenal hyperplasia. Now, congenital adrenal hyperplasia can occur in the body through an inherited enzyme defect or 21 hydroxylases that can cause a severe decrease in the adrenal production of glucocorticoids. When the body is suffering from congenital adrenal hyperplasia, it can cause an increase in ACTH to make more cortisol.

 

So when the ACTH increases to make more cortisol in the body, it could lead to muscle and joint pain if it is not treated immediately. We also often think cortisol is bad, but you must have some congenital adrenal hyperplasia when you have the 21 hydroxide deficiency. To that point, your body is not making enough glucocorticoids, causing you to have a high level of ACTH. When there is hormone dysfunction from various environmental triggers, it can cause the hormones in the body to overproduce unnecessary hormones. For example, if you have too much progesterone, it can’t go down to the pathway to make cortisol due to those missing enzymes. It can be converted into androstenedione, causing people to become virilized.

 

What Happens When The Body Doesn’t Create Enough Hormones?

Dr. Alex Jimenez, D.C., presents: So when patients become virilized, they’re not making any cortisol; it is important to do hormonal therapy to decrease the ACTH stimulation to get the hormone levels back to normal When this happens, it diminishes the stress inside the body system to make more androgens. In the female body, however, progesterone has no peripheral conversion of steroids to be produced except during pregnancy. Progesterone comes from the ovaries and doesn’t get to be produced in the adrenal glands. Progesterone is excreted mostly in urine as many different breakdown products tend to be higher than normal due to that 21 hydroxide deficiency.

 

So now, let’s talk about androgens in premenopausal women. So the major androgens come from the ovary, the DHEA, androstenedione, and testosterone. At the same time, the adrenal cortex produces glucocorticoids, mineralocorticoids, and sex steroids to make some testosterone and about half of the DHEA hormone. The body also has peripheral conversion responsible for DHEA and testosterone production to normalizing hormone levels. This is due to all the different tissues that have these enzymes to make these various hormones in different concentrations. Premenopausal women are most likely to lose more estrogen after removing their ovaries. This causes them to lose DHEA, androstenedione, and testosterone production in their bodies.

 

PTSD & Hormonal Dysfunction

Dr. Alex Jimenez, D.C., presents: Now testosterone is carried by SHBG just like estrogen, and many factors that change SHBG are important to testosterone and estrogen. Interestingly, testosterone can decrease SHBG in small amounts to allow the body to have free testosterone, which causes a physiological effect. When it comes to testing for testosterone levels, many people don’t release that when their testosterone levels are elevated, it could be due to low SHBG. By measuring total testosterone in the body, many doctors can determine if their patients are producing too much androgen, which is causing excessive hair growth in their bodies, or they may have low SHBG levels due to hypothyroidism associated with obesity or elevated insulin.

Now when it comes to PTSD, how does it correlate to hormonal dysfunction and affect the body? PTSD is a common disorder many individuals suffer from when they have been through a traumatic experience. When traumatic forces begin to affect the individual, it can cause the cortisol levels to rise and cause the body to be in a state of tension. PTSD symptoms can vary for many individuals; thankfully, various therapies can help lower the symptoms while bringing the hormone levels back to normal. Many healthcare professionals will develop a treatment plan that can help reduce the symptoms of PTSD and help hormone levels function in the body properly.

 

Treatments To Regulate Hormone

Dr. Alex Jimenez, D.C., presents: Stress in the body can affect the musculoskeletal system by causing the muscle to lock up, leading to issues in the hips, legs, shoulders, neck, and back. Various treatments like meditation and yoga can help lower the cortisol levels from fluctuating higher, causing the body to deal with muscle tension that could overlap with joint pain. Another way to reduce stress in the body is by working out with an exercise regime. Exercising or participating in an exercise class can help loosen up the stiff muscles in the body, and keeping a workout routine can exert any pent-up energy to relieve stress. However, treatments to balance out hormones associated with PTSD can only go so far for many individuals. Eating nutritional, whole foods with vitamins and minerals can help regulate hormone production and provide energy to the body. Dark leafy greens, fruits, whole grains, and proteins can not only help with regulating hormone production. Eating these nutritional foods can also lower inflammatory cytokines that are causing more harm to vital organs like the gut.

 

Conclusion

Incorporating a healthy diet, an exercise routine, and getting treatment can help many individuals dealing with hormonal dysfunction associated with PTSD. Each person is different, and the symptoms overlap with hormonal dysfunction associated with PTSD and vary from person to person. When doctors work with associated medical providers, it allows them to develop a treatment plan catered to the individual and enables them to regulate their hormone production. Once the hormone production in their bodies is regulated, the symptoms causing the person pain will get better slowly but surely. This will allow the individual to continue on their wellness journey.

 

Disclaimer

Coleus forskohlii and Metabolic Syndrome

Coleus forskohlii and Metabolic Syndrome

Do you feel:

  • Aches, pains, and swelling throughout the body?
  • Weight gain?
  • Your waist girth is equal or larger than hip girth?
  • An increase in weight even with a low-calorie diet?
  • An increase in fat distribution around the chest and hips?

If you are experiencing any of these situations, then you might be experiencing metabolic syndrome and might considered using Coleus forskohlii.

With the world population being obese or even overweight, especially in the United States. One of the most common disorders that mostly everyone has from being obese, and it is called metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions that happens to many individuals that can create many complications to the body, and most individuals who have metabolic syndrome would have an apple or pear-shaped bodies. With many supplements and natural foods helping the body, there is a supplement that can help the body combat metabolic syndrome and can be combined with a specific diet to make anyone who is obese or overweight lose the extra pounds.

What is Coleus forskohlii?

forskolin-small-molecule-esibio

One of the supplements that have been known to help combat metabolic syndrome is Coleus forskohlii. Coleus forskohlii is a plant supplement that is found in parts of India, Thailand, and Nepal. While being part of the mint family, Coleus forskohlii has been used in traditional folk medicine that has been known to treat asthma and various ailments that the body may encounter. Studies have found that Coleus forskohlii extract may be able to aid in weight management; however, there have been limited studies on this extract. The Coleus forskohlii has been known to extract the critical markers for obesity and metabolic parameter for overweight and obese individuals who might benefit from this supplement.

The Benefits of Coleus forskohlii

With Coleus forskohlii, studies have found that this supplement can aid in weight loss by creating two enzymes to help the body burn fatty acids. These two enzymes are known as lipase and adenylate cyclase. Studies have found that these two enzymes help free fatty acids, and when that happens, the fatty acids can be used as fuel, while reducing body fat without affecting the lean muscle mass. Although this safely helps the body, coleus forskohlii needs to be accompanied by a calorie deficit.

There are benefits for individuals that are obese or overweight. When they take coleus forskohlii as a weight-loss supplement and do a calorie deficit, they can:

  • Suppressing appetite
  • Help reduce the efficiency of digestion
  • Increase the metabolic rate in the body

There are even more benefits of Coleus forskohlii that have been skyrocketing as this supplement been receiving in the public eye as people are looking for ways to lose weight. Some of the benefits of taking Coleus forskohlii are:

  • Treating asthma
  • Preventing the risk of cancer
  • Prevent congestive heart failure by improving the heart strength
  • Lowers blood pressure

Many studies have also shown that Coleus forskohlii can even help reduce body fat in obese men. There have been two studies that show the results of people taking Coleus forskohlii to help reduce their body fat and boost their hormone levels. One study showed how obese men took Coleus forskohlii for twelve weeks. The results show that Coleus forskohlii can alter the male’s body composition while increasing bone mass and testosterone levels in males.

While another study showed how the effects of Coleus forskohlii supplementation on the body composition of mildly overweight women, what is surprising is that with these two different studies, Coleus forskohlii needs enough evidence that requires more research. It shows that Coleus forskohlii does not cause weight loss for many obese individuals; however, Coleus forskohlii can help improve body composition in men and help prevent women from having weight gain. Many more studies have conducted different results, but the results almost have the same reactions on how Coleus forskohlii is the solution for weight loss. However, they all agreed that this supplement does help the body composition on individuals.

Conclusion

With more and more future research about Coleus forskohlii, it is essential to know that using Coleus forskohlii alone will not help losing weight. This supplement is just part of a massive lifestyle change for anyone with metabolic syndrome. By eating the right foods, taking supplements and vitamins, exercising regularly, and having a good night’s sleep, these changes can help anyone lose weight and make them feel good. When bad lifestyle choices and dysfunction enters the body, causing unnecessary illnesses, it can cause a person to develop chronic problems. By adding Coleus forskohlii into the body, it can help dampen the effects of metabolic syndrome. Some products can help the body’s system by providing support to the metabolic system while containing hypoallergenic nutrients, enzymatic cofactors, metabolic precursors, and phytonutrients that the body needs.

The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal, and nervous health issues or functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We use functional health protocols to treat injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Our office has made a reasonable attempt to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We also make copies of supporting research studies available to the board and or the public upon request. To further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to ask Dr. Alex Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900.


References:

Arnarson, Atli. �Does Forskolin Actually Work? An Evidence-Based Review.� Healthline, 29 May, 2017, www.healthline.com/nutrition/forskolin-review.

Fletcher, Jenna. �Does Forskolin Work? Uses, Risks, and Benefits.� Medical News Today, MediLexicon International, 12 Sept. 2017, www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319370.

Godard, Michael P, et al. �Body Composition and Hormonal Adaptations Associated with Forskolin Consumption in Overweight and Obese Men.� Obesity Research, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Aug. 2005, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16129715.

Henderson, Shonteh, et al. �Effects of Coleus Forskohlii Supplementation on Body Composition and Hematological Profiles in Mildly Overweight Women.� Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, BioMed Central, 9 Dec. 2005, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2129145/.

Litosch, I, et al. �Forskolin as an Activator of Cyclic AMP Accumulation and Lipolysis in Rat Adipocytes.� Molecular Pharmacology, U.S. National Library of Medicine, July 1982, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6289066.


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