.webp)
Shocking news: millions of you are suffering from inflammation. Inflammation is related to all kinds of problems including arthritis, gout, diabetes, heart disease and more. What do we do about it? To heal inflammation, you need to treat the root cause rather than just the symptom. Did you know that you actually CAN heal yourself? Plenty of things in your own life that you control can make a world of difference, you just have to know what the problem is. Watch the video for information on what triggers inflammation and how to avoid it.
Let me ask you a question what is robbing your energy? Well how you live the choices you make everyday are probably hurting you more than you may know. Dr. Mark Stengler acclaimed Doctor, best selling author and lecturer known as America's natural doctor has created an easy to follow guide to retaining the vitality of youth naturally. Anyone at any age can have a high energy life. My recommendations will help most viewers achieve and maintain good memory, mood, and energy. Dr. Mark Stengler is the founder of the world renowned Stengler Center for Integrative Medicine in Encinitas California and has treated tens of thousands of patients including Olympic athletes Hollywood movie stars Fortune 500 CEOs and people just like you. Please join us for the A-Z Guide to Healing Yourself with Dr. Mark Stengler. Thank you.
I think I have shocking news for a lot of you. Actually the truth is millions of you are suffering from inflammation that's where you have damage occurring in your body your tissues or irritated your immune system is out balance. So for example let's say you have arthritis. You know you're getting pain, you're getting stiffness, immobility, that's related to inflammation. Whether you have osteoarthritis rheumatoid arthritis maybe even gout. The same thing with diabetes you with those blood sugar swings blood sugar imbalances you're having inflammation going on in your body. And that's one of the reasons why people have diabetes they're more susceptible to other diseases. Then we have heart disease. Without a doubt heart disease is greatly related to inflammation. You see when you have inflammation going on in your arteries and your heart that's causing damage. We need to stop that using natural therapies. So what we have to do is heal this inflammation treat the root causes rather than the symptoms. You see the truth is you actually can heal yourself. So let me talk to you about the triggers of inflammation.
Did you know that two thirds of the population have a vitamin D deficiency? So just by being depleted in this simple nutrient you're going to have more inflammation setting in in the body? What a simple thing to treat? But first you have to know its a problem. It can be easily tested with a blood test. And there's many other nutrients, if you're low on them, they will contribute to inflammation. Whether it be vitamin C vitamin E and the list goes on. And most Americans do have multiple nutritional deficiencies. Now here's probably a new one for most people and that's poor digestion. So think about this for a second. If you're not breaking your food down effectively you actually create metabolic toxins which get into your bloodstream get into your tissues and that can create inflammation. There's other reasons too for example hormone imbalance. Now I see that a lot. So let's say you're a menopausal woman and you have a low estrogen or low progesterone and you're going through the menopausal transition all of a sudden you're starting to develop arthritis. It's probably related to hormone imbalance. And with men we often see low testosterone for example one of the functions of testosterone is to keep inflammation down in the body.
Or, maybe you're like millions of Americans and you just have high stress levels for long periods of time and your stress hormones like cortisol or DHEA have become in balance and your body needs these hormones to control inflammation. They keep your immune system balanced. So it's critical to have the stress hormones balanced as well as all your hormones. And there's other reasons as well as to why people get inflammation. For example, chronic infections can cause inflammation. Toxins. You know we're bombarded by toxins in the environment. The food we eat the water we drink the air we breathe. Thousands and thousands of toxins. And so if you're getting toxic in your body that's going to create inflammation. Ok so these are all root factors you need to look at as to why you may be having inflammation and all the different conditions related to this inflammatory response. Now let's look at arthritis. You know a very very common condition in America. Obviously affects millions of Americans. And with arthritis you get pain in the joints some immobility you might get some swelling. And again, we've got to treat that inflammation to stop why it's occurring.
Let me give you a case example just to demonstrate this. I had a patient come to my clinic this past year to me with arthritis joint pains all over his body. He was taken over-the-counter pain medicines nonsteroidal and inflammatory drugs. These medications are not harmless can damage your stomach your intestinal lining, your liver, your kidneys, even your heart. So what do you do with a guy like this when he has inflammation all over his body? And we want to treat them naturally while knowing that his diet wasn't very good. Too many fast foods too much alcohol afterwork the occasional cigarette. What I decided to do with him was put them on a detoxification protocol for two weeks. To simply improve his diet getting in some more natural healthy foods increasing his water intake getting more sleep cutting down on the alcohol not eating out as much? And lo and behold he came in two weeks later. And yes all and I mean all if his joint pain was gone. And so you can get these kind of results too. They're not just unique to my patients but that is treating the root cause of someone's health problem. And he does need the pain medications any more. We don't have to worry about him damaging his internal organs.
Now here are some other things that will heal the inflammation that causes arthritis. And this probably is new news to a lot of you and that is eating a pH balanced diet. pH basically means how acidic or how alkaline your tissue or your blood is. And your body maintains a very narrow pH range in your blood and it can vary more in your tissues. But suffice to say with most Americans were too acidic and when you're too acidic you get more pain in inflammation. Okay. But the nice thing is we can control that with natural therapies starting with diet. So let me tell you how we do that. There are certain foods Americans eat a lot of which just cause acidity in the body more pain and inflammation. So things like meat, red meat, high amounts of salt, high amounts of sugar, for sure. Too many grains, especially refined carbohydrates, okay, alcohol. All these things are acidic to the body doesn't mean you can't have them. But on the other hand, we need to eat foods which are alkalinizing which reduce pain and inflammation. The plant foods. Fruits and vegetables. You see fruits and vegetables are rich in several nutrients which cause an alkalinizing effect in your blood and your tissues. For example, fruits and vegetables are rich in potassium. Potassium is very alkalinizing, okay. As well, these plant foods contain bicarbonate which is alkalinizing as well, and other minerals like calcium and magnesium. So really the key is to get a balance. Okay, you can have those acidic foods, but neutralize them with these plant foods. So really a simple way to summarize all this and get you into the pH zone is do this. You've got your plate half of your plate should be vegetables and fruits, mainly vegetables. A quarter of the plate protein and a quarter of the plate carbohydrates. Preferably complex carbohydrates like whole grains brown rice. Isn't that simple. Even within days your pain levels will decrease your energy levels will go up.
Now let me go beyond diet and exercise to help you with joint pain joint problems. Let me tell you about Collagen. Collagen it is a substance in the body which keeps your skin together like a you know helps your connective tissue it's like the glue keeps your skin and connective tissue together. And collagens are involved in the formation of your cartilage. So a very important substance. And as people get older some people have problems making enough collagen. Recent studies have shown collagen is 240% more effective than the combination of glucosamine sulfate and chondroitin sulfate. Also cold laser therapy. So basically we have the technology and a lot of the professional athletes have this done. And you can too by local practitioners. You basically concentrate the laser over the area of injury. You don't feel any pain you can't burn the patient. And what it does it naturally reduces inflammation and stimulates tissue healing. See we can use natural things with modern science and get great therapeutic effects.
Now let's move on to a very big topic and that's diabetes. Diabetes is an epidemic not just in the United States but around the world. It has exploded both in children and adults. Why is that? Well comes down to a couple of factors and they correlate to one another. That is what they're eating and a person's weight. Right. So as you put on weight it's harder for your body to maintain good blood sugar balance, and 70 percent of Americans are overweight. Here's another very important thing. One in four Americans has Pre-diabetes. So what do I mean, what do I mean by that? Well pre-diabetes is a stage right before diabetes. So your blood sugar levels are elevated but not at the level of diabetes. And what's going to happen. It's already starting to cause damage inside your body. You see when your blood sugar levels go up, your body responds by doing what? It causes the hormone insulin to be secreted by your pancreas to get that blood sugar in your cells. But the hormone insulin is inflammatory. So if you've got blood sugar problems and your insulin levels are going up it creates more inflammation that's when your blood sugar is not in balance. You can get joint pain. You can get brain problems. You can get heart problems just from your blood sugar problems. So it's important that we correct that.
Let me tell you about a patient of mine by name of Carolee. She's in her mid 60s.She was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. That's the type of diabetes usually you're on medication not necessarily insulin medication from your doctor. So she came to see me I changed her diet, changed her exercise a little bit, got her on some blood sugar lowering supplements which I'll talk about. And she lost 60 pounds. She no longer has type 2 diabetes. She is on no pharmaceutical medications. Matter of fact she doesn't have pre diabetes. She has normal glucose levels. So again this system just unique to my patients doctors around the country are doing this and you can do it too. Let me talk you a bit more both diet. You know a recent study found that non diabetics at high cardiovascular risk when they ate a Mediterranean diet, you know what a Mediterranean diet is, you get fish lots of fruits and vegetables and some olive oil spices low to moderate amounts of lean poultry. And they found that these people followed the Mediterranean diet had half the incidence of new onset diabetes over four years compared to those on a low fat diet. Okay, so you often hear about the Mediterranean diet preventing and treating heart disease which it's very good for. But look it can have tremendous effects for your blood sugar balance. And it with a lot of people blood sugar problems to make it easier for them to get results much quicker. I use other natural healing agents. For example, chromium.
The mineral chromium has been shown in studies to lower blood sugar levels and people with diabetes. Even if you don't have diabetes and you get blood sugar swings chromium can help you. In the way chromium works as a mineral, it helps your insulin transport your blood sugar into your cell so can be burnt for fuel more effectively. Remember what happens if your blood sugar doesn't get into your cells to be burned for energy or by stores it is fat, right. So just a simple mineral helps a lot of people and for you people out there who crave sweets a lot. It really helps to reduce your cravings. I find that with a lot of patients. Now there is some very good soluble fiber supplements you can take now soluble fibers found in foods like legumes oatmeal for example. So when you have that with the food you eat it slows down blood sugar absorption into your bloodstream so your blood sugar levels don't spike and your insulin level doesn't go up. As well I use something called pine bark extract. And remember these things have studies behind them, and pine bark extract has been shown to lower glucose levels significantly in people with type 2 diabetes. And the other benefit is, it's great for naturally improving circulation which often is compromised in people with type 2 diabetes.
Now we all know that exercise is important in controlling your blood sugar levels right. I mean it just makes rational sense you're going to burn up blood sugar more easily. But here's a simple tip. If you have diabetes pre-diabetes here's a very simple tip. Most people aren't aware of. Just walk. It doesn't have to be vigorous walking, just walk. Light walking for 10 to 15 minutes after each meal. You'll find on average your blood sugar will not jump up 20 to 40 points like it typically does. It's just that simple. So in that we talk about something effecting millions of Americans and that's heart disease. Right. And remember heart disease is intricately tied into inflammation. So if you have inflammation in your arteries what happens you get plaque building up in your arteries you get plaque building up your arteries. You're going to have restricted blood flow to your heart and you can have a heart attack. Right. Or you can have a stroke. So we've got to address that inflammation. And remember heart disease is the number one worldwide killer of both men and women and more than one in four deaths in the United States are due to heart disease. But here's the thing. Most forms of heart disease, they can be prevented or treated.
So you can heal your heart disease. How do we do that? Well let me get into some very interesting areas here.50 percent of people that have a heart attack have normal cholesterol levels. You see the standard Lipid panel has been shown to have a 40 percent predictive value for coronary heart disease. Only 40 percent. But newer testing I'm going to talk about can identify up to 90 percent of people at risk for heart disease. You see, you have different types of LDL cholesterol. You don't just want the total amount you want to know the LDL density pattern. So you have pattern A, pattern AB and B. Pattern A is the best AB is kind of in the middle, and B is the worst. You need to have that tested. Why? Because you may think well my LDL cholesterol is in the normal range. But if you have the bad pattern the pattern B you can still form plaque in your arteries and there's things nutritionally you can do to change that. One of which is bring down your blood sugar level you actually can change patterns just by doing that. Okay? And by the way this kind of thing the next five to ten years it's going to be standard. But why wait work on your health now.
The other one I'm not talking about is HDL cholesterol. See I see patients they come in and they say, well my HDL cholesterol it's really good it's in the normal range that a high number that's great. And yeah that is good. But let's look at your breakdown HLC of different HDL particles. HDL one, number two number three. And number two is the most protective. So what I see is some patients, there total HDL is good but they have low HDL 2 cholesterol. And it's HDL 2 which is most protective against heart disease takes the cholesterol out of the arteries back to your liver. So very very important. And you can use the B vitamin. B vitamins niacin for example is very effective. Niacin does what? Well it lowers your total cholesterol, lowers your LDL, increases your HDL, but it helps those particles I'm talking about that LDL density pattern and increase in that good HDL too. And you know it's used in conventional medicine as well, there's just so many good studies on it. Also, you need to improve the levels of omega 3 fatty acids. You see studies show people with the lowest levels of omega 3 fatty acids, you know those fats like in cold water fish, salmon, sardines, trout, for example even walnuts people with the lowest levels have the highest rates of sudden heart attacks. Why would that be? Well, remember these omega 3 fatty acids they naturally thin the blood, they help your heart to beat with normal rhythm, and they decrease inflammation in your heart and your arteries. Ok so powerful powerful food medicines. As well, good old Vitamin C. It's been shown to cut the risk of heart disease by 45 percent. That's been shown in a UCLA study.
But what if you're one of these people who have genetically high cholesterol it doesn't mean you can't use natural agents to normalize your cholesterol? I do it with patients all the time. Because remember the statin drugs, yeah can really lower your cholesterol levels quite significantly. But what are the risks with those? Well, muscle damage, liver damage, kidney damage. And by the way it can also hinder your memory studies show. So why don't we try natural approaches first before going onto those drugs? So what I use with patients for example I'll use red yeast rice extract, and I find with patients we can normalize their genetically high cholesterol levels within two months. A new study in the American Journal of Cardiology showed that red yeast rice extract cut the risk of dying from stroke or diseases like cancer by 48 percent, and lowers your risk of dying from a heart attack by 37 percent. Do you know of any drug that can do that? So you don't see these on the drug ads on TV but look at and that's in our mainstream medical journal for cardiologists.
Let me tell you about a testimonial I got from a patient. And this is how it reads." I have had elevated cholesterol for over 10 years and I've been on four different statins. They gave me severe leg pain. After reading an article by Dr. Stengler I took his advice and add red yeast rice, Coq 10, and a thyroid supplement to my daily regiment. In three months my cholesterol dropped from 269 to 202 and my LDL dropped from 164 to 102. I feel great and have no side effects. See, it can be done. Let me give you some other powerful ways to reduce the chances of developing heart disease and reverse damage. Okay. Magnesium. You know the mineral magnesium a lot of people are alone in America, they really are. Because you get magnesium in what? Whole grains and some vegetables that a lot people aren't eating and stress burns up magnesium and blood pressure medications burn up your magnesium. A lot of people are low on magnesium and you need it for the heart to contract with good strength and normal regularity. Also coenzyme Q10 coenzyme Q10 is a nutrient you actually found in the body and your heart cells need it to produce energy so important. Also CoQ10 reduces blood pressure gives you more energy in yourself. It's a great supplement so if you currently have any form of cardiovascular disease you should be on coenzyme Q10 without a doubt. Also Vitamin K you don't hear much about it but Vitamin K is critical for your arteries. As a matter of fact studies have shown, people have the lowest levels of vitamin K are more apt to develop plaque in their arteries. You see Vitamin K has an anti inflammatory effect and it keeps, it keeps calcium from building up in your arteries. Very very import. Get that green vegetables of course and also some nice fermented foods for example like natto traditional Japanese food you can get in health food stores. Of course you can always supplement. You can get multivitamins you can get it by itself. You wouldn't use it though if you're on a blood thinning medication. Of course you need to get regular exercise, everyone knows that, and use stress reduction techniques regularly, Okay keep that stress down. Coming up I'll show you how rebalancing your hormones can reduce stress depression and fatigue and increase your sex drive energy and improve your memory.
