Category Archives: Hormone Imbalance

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XenoEstrogens Are Giving Us Cancer

My Chorale Pic
In this industrial age of plastics derived from petrochemicals found in oil, we have created a toxic environment, both external and internal, which none of us can escape, not even our pets. The toxin is a hormone-mimicking chemical known as “xenoestrogen” which is essentially a synthetic form of estrogen.
Now, estrogen is an essential hormone in the reproduction process. It fosters growth and cell-replication.  Its counterpart, progesterone, slows down and even stops the replication of cells. Too much estrogen, however, without an appropriate balance of progesterone to check cell-replication, can cause unbridled replication of cells. This unbridled replication of cells creates tumors and has come to be called “Cancer” in our time.  The following article speaks clearly to this modern-day epidemic brought on by our ignorance of xenohormones and the harm they have brought  upon our heads. It is taken from the website of “Forbidden Knowledge TV” to which I subscribe. Read and learn.
Cancer will afflict 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women in the US and 1 out of every 2 of those diagnosed will die from cancer. These numbers are set to nearly double by the year 2050, based on statistics collected by the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
It’s no exaggeration to call these numbers epidemic, on par with the 14th century bubonic plague (aka “Black Death”), which killed over 30% of Europe’s population.
My family has been ravaged by cancer. I’ll bet yours has, too. Are we supposed to believe that this hyper-acceleration of cancer rates is genetic?

With all of Monsanto’s biochemical wizardry, one would think that they could find another way to create pesticides besides dumping estrogen-mimicking carcinogens onto the world’s food supply.

In this video, Dr. Terry Grossman and Dr. Nick Delgado, discuss the relationship between cancer and these unnatural estrogens in our environment.

Decades of peer-reviewed research that has shown that harmful estrogen-mimicking chemicals are invading our bodies through pesticides, plastics (PCBs) and petrochemicals, among other vectors. Exposure to these “xenoestrogens” has been linked not just to cancers of reproductive organs but also of the breast, lung, kidney, pancreas, and brain.

Additionally, new research shows that all meats, even from animals raised without added hormones, free-range, organic, etc. are naturally very hormonal, such that today, most of us have accumulated up to 10,000 times as much estrogen in our bodies as our ancestors ever did.

The less severe consequences of exposure to these estrogen-mimicking envirotoxins (i.e., the preludes to cancer) can manifest as symptoms relating to both high and low estrogen, either of which can cause a range of problems for men and women.

A build-up of xenoestrogens can lead to gynecomastia in men (“man boobs”), as well as excessive accumulation of DHT (Dihydrotestosterone), a etabolite of testosterone, which binds to receptors in hair follicles and is the primary factor in male pattern baldness (which similarly affects some women). A little-known factoid is that men in their 60s and older often have higher estrogen levels than women of the same age group.

Exposure to these estrogen-mimicking envirotoxins can manifest as symptoms relating to both high and low estrogen. In women, excessive estrogen can lead to weight gain, migraines, depression, insomnia and a slew of other symptoms of hormone imbalance. Low estrogen in women can result in elevated blood pressure, heart disease and lack of libido, along with many other problems.

What can we do about this?

Dr. Grossman and Dr. Delgado agree that detoxification through sweat and our other excretions is important – as is the avoidance of   ingesting of these chemicals in the first place. This implies limiting or entirely cutting out our consumption of water in plastic bottles, meats, and other foods that can become laced with PBCs, especially when heated in plastic containers in a microwave oven.

Even with a strict vegan diet, the ubiquity of pesticides and other petrochemicals, which we are also inhaling from the air makes it impossible to avoid xenoestrogens completely.

Dr. Grossman recommends a diet rich in cruciferous vegetables from the Brassica family, such as cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale, collard greens, mustard greens, cauliflower, water cress, arugala, bok choy and broccoli, among others. These contain compounds which have been found to inhibit the development of cancer and its recurrence.

The best results from eating cruciferous vegetables require consuming 2 pounds (1 kilo) per day, which would be a challenge for anyone, so he also recommends the use of supplements containing the two key natural compounds found in this family of vegetables, DIM (Diindolylmethane) and Indole-3-carbinol, which alter the toxic forms of estrogen into their less toxic and beneficial forms.

Thanks to Standard Process Labs, we have an excellent product called “Cruciferous Complete” made up of kale (whole plant) powder and Brussels sprouts (whole plant) powder, both of which are loaded with these cancer-preventing compounds. Send me an email for more information about this product and how to purchase it.

Here’s to your health and healing,

Dr. Anthony Palombo, DC

Email: tpal70@gmail.com

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Balancing your Endocrine and Chakra Energy Fields

My Chorale Pic

ANNOUNCEMENT: The two-day workshop intensive in the philosophy, science and practical art of Attunement with Sacred Sound May 15-17, 2015 at Oakwood Farm Retreat Center in Selma, Indiana has been cancelled.  For details, please visit my HealingTones.org blog. What I will be teaching and exploring with the gathering of attunement practitioners and energy workers is my rationale and methodology of using sound as a carrier wave for healing energy, a topic which I will expand on in this blog post. Thank you for sharing what is central in my life’s purpose at this time.

The Rationale of Balancing the Chakras and Endocrine Glands

Why is it important to balance the energy fields of our bodies, specifically those of our endocrine and chakra centers? 

When we consider what these energy centers do to assist us in our day to day function as human beings in a social context that requires intelligent interaction between one another and with our environment, it becomes obvious that we need to have accurate feedback and appropriate response to what we perceive is going on around us in any moment if we are to have intelligent behavior.

THE CHAKRAS

From the standpoint of the feedback function of the chakras, for example, it is important that these spinning wheels of energy that bring us information about our environment – which, by the way, includes our physical bodies and what’s going on in them – be balanced and clear of static.  It’s also important that they be open and spinning widely enough so as to gather all the information coming into our fields. If they are spinning in a wobbly or constricted manner, then they are not capable of conveying important information to us.

The chakras feed information to us through our central nervous system. These spinning wheels of energy are grounded in the spinal chord through which they download their information to Central Command in the brain. The receptor for the brain is the hypothalamus, which lies at the base of the brain and acts as a mediator between the brain and the endocrine system. Its more immediate connection to the endocrine system is via the pituitary gland, which is suspended from the hypothalamus and rests securely and well protected in the sella tursica of the sphenoid bone that forms the floor of the cranium.

THE ENDOCRINE SYSTEM

The function of the pituitary gland is to receive information from the hypothalamus and then to produce and send hormone precursors to the other endocrine glands that trigger the production of hormones based on the need in meeting the environmental stressors with appropriate response, thereby enabling appropriate physiological function in the body as well as appropriate physical action on the part of the individual. If the information coming in through the chakras is not accurate, or doesn’t get through to the hypothalamus, then appropriate hormone response in the body and intelligent action in one’s environment will not be forthcoming. One will not be in position to act creatively but will rather react based on usual and customary learned behavior. Body chemistry will likewise be thrown off balance due to inappropriate hormonal response, or an entire lack thereof.

Now, there is an interdependent relationship between the endocrine system and the chakras, just as there is an interdependent relationship between the individual and his or her environment. One affects the other. What goes out energetically, for instance, through the endocrine glands affects the energy patterns of the chakras based on the law of pure physics that states for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.  What I send out energetically through my spiritual expression, which is enabled and empowered by my endocrine glands through which spirit operates, will bounce off my environment and return to me for appropriate handling.  All energy seeks its origin for healing and recycling.

For example, if I express anger through my emotions, that angry energy – besides dissipating the connecting substance between spirit and form – conditions and may even shatter the energy fields of my chakras, making them incapable of accurately receiving and conveying information back to me about the actual conditions around me. My actions, then, cannot be other than irrational and inappropriate. If, on the other hand, I do not react in anger to conditions around me but withhold judgment and maintain a calm emotional and mental inner state, then my chakras will reflect that calmness and be available to me for accurate perception and reception of information coming to me from my environment. I will then be in position to respond appropriately and act intelligently toward events in my world.

ATTUNING AND BALANCING THE TWO SYSTEMS

If I have been stressed out by interactions with impinging environmental stressors and have acted or reacted inappropriately, shattering my energy fields with incoherent and erratic energy, it is not a sign of weakness but rather of wisdom and strength to seek outside help in bringing harmony and balance back to my endocrine and chakra centers. This is the purpose of such spiritual practices and modalities as attunement, sacred sound, meditation, deep breathing and other such aids in creating a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere in one’s energy field.

PREVENTION AND PROTECTION

In the way of prevention and maintenance, one can trust the radiation of love through one’s spiritual expression to act as a shield against incoming erratic and disturbing energies. This is all based, of course, on the ancient knowledge and wisdom of maintaining a balance between the yin and yang, masculine and feminine energies. It starts with unconditional love and acceptance of myself and others and of conditions the way they are.

The Psalmist expresses it in terms of the Lord being one’s “shield and buckler.”  The Lord is one’s inner divine Self, whose radiance in expression through the outer human self establishes a hedge of protection around the body temple, through which nothing can enter that defiles, works an abomination or makes a lie, in the words of St. John in his Book of Revelation (21:27). These are tried and true words that resonate with the attunement practitioner’s motto: “Let love radiate without concern for results.” This does not say “without results.” Love never fails to produce results, one of which is protection from harm.

I trust that you learned something important reading this post. I also hope that you consider seriously the possibility of coming to my workshop in May and experience first hand the value and magic of Attunement with Sacred Sound. Until my next post, 

Here’s to your health and healing,

Anthony Palombo, D.C.

Visit my HealingTones.org blog for details about the workshop and for inspiring reading in the archives. 

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Depression: Its Causes and Cures, part 1: The Blood Sugar Connection

Tony Pics for SA Book Over the last three days, I’ve had 277 visitors to this blog.  This sudden surge is likely due to a reader and fellow blogger reblogging my blog. The post that piqued her interest was one I published back in January under the title “Cancer Cure and the pH Factor.”   I am duly impressed. You might find her blog interesting as well.

Let’s talk about depression and its causes and cures. Orthodox medicine treats the brain for depression. The underlying cause of depression, however, has less to do with the brain and more to do with the body — especially the gut, as we will see. The brain may control the body’s functions via the central nervous system, with the help of biofeedback through the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. But the brain is nourished by the body and is only as healthy as the body.  

CAUSE AT A DEEPER LEVEL

Depression is fundamentally about the suppression of energy.  In a certain sense, it is a spiritual event. All energy is love. Love is all that IS. Energy expresses through form, and when that expression is thwarted, suppressed or shut down, pressure begins to build behind the dam of resistance to whatever is trying to find expression, which is love or joy.  The expression of love and joy allows for release of this energy. Elation is the result. On the other hand, suppression of love and joy prevents the release of this energy. Depression is then the result.

This is a simplified explanation of the essential dynamics of depression at a core level, and must be kept in mind as we consider the various causes of resistance that results in depression.   There are at least four areas that need to be taken in consideration when searching for the cause of a person’s depression: 1) blood sugar, 2) the liver, 3) the gut flora, 4) the endocrine glands (hormonal response to stress).  These four areas overlap in most cases of depression, so I will be addressing more than one area at times. I will cover the entire territory in two or three consecutive posts.

DEPRESSION AND BLOOD SUGAR

Blood sugar imbalance is highly suspect in cases of acute  and chronic depression. Low blood sugar — clinically known as hypoglycemia — deprives the cells of energy they need to function. This includes brain cells, which depend on sugar for energy entirely. A classic symptom of low blood sugar is sugar cravings.  If you crave sugar or shake if you miss a meal, you can be sure that you have hypoglycemia.  Hypoglycemia, of course, can lead to diabetes if not corrected. So, let’s look at hypoglycemia, how it can cause depression, and what one can do to reverse this dis-ease.

Blood sugar is regulated by the endocrine system, specifically the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland, and the adrenal glands. The Islets of Langerhans in the pancreas play a non-regulating role of taking blood sugar and attaching an insulin molecule to it as an escort into the cells where is can be used as fuel. The liver is also involved, as it’s a storehouse for hormones, glucose, iron and several other important nutrients, not to mention its primary function of detoxifying the blood stream of metabolic waste, which includes unused hormones. We’ll come back to that later, but first, let’s look at the three chief endocrine regulators, which make up a family of endocrine glands called the HPA Axis. Here’s an excerpt from CNS Forum explaining the chemistry involved in depression:

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in

depression

In depression, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is upregulated with a down-regulation of its negative feedback controls. Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) is hypersecreted from the hypothalamus and induces the release of adrenocorticotropin hormone (ACTH) from the pituitary. ACTH interacts with receptors on adrenocortical cells and cortisol is released from the adrenal glands; adrenal hypertrophy can also occur. Release of cortisol into the circulation has a number of effects, including elevation of blood glucose. The negative feedback of cortisol to the hypothalamus, pituitary and immune system is impaired. This leads to continual activation of the HPA axis and excess cortisol release. Cortisol receptors become desensitized leading to increased activity of the pro-inflammatory immune mediators and disturbances in neurotransmitter transmission. (Click on picture to enlarge it for easier reading.)

HPA_DPN_DPN_3

If you had a difficult time following the sequence of events, don’t sweat it, so did I. Body chemistry is a miracle that, like all miracles, cannot be fully grasped by the human mind. What you just read above is someone’s explanation based on a somewhat limited understanding of the complexity of human endocrinology.  As a brilliant colleague, Dr. Janet Lang, once put it in a seminar on functional endocrinology, the endocrine glands are a family and behave like one. We might think we gain understanding of them by taking them aside and studying their function and behavior.  Put them back with their siblings and their behavior changes as they interact with them.  So, we need to understand and treat them as part of a family and not as isolated hormonal glands. (This is why blood tests for thyroid function, for instance, are virtually useless in gaining an understanding of this gland’s output. Saliva tests are far more accurate.)

Now I’ll give you the simplified explanation along with what can be done to correct this one cause of depression using food supplements and herbs.

THE HPA AXIS 

The hypothalamus acts as a mediator between environmental activity and hormonal response to that activity.  Environmental activity is perceived through your five senses and sent via your central nervous system as information to the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus receives, interprets and evaluates this information, then sends signals to the pituitary gland in the form of hormonal precursors that solicit a response in this Master Gland that results in the production of stimulating hormones — such as TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone), ACTH (adrenocorticotropin hormone), and FSH (ovarian follicle stimulating hormone), etc. These hormone precursors are sent to the appropriate ductless hormonal glands in the body via the bloodstream, which then produce hormones that will trigger an appropriate response in body cells , depending on the type of activity being called for. 

The environment, by the way, includes the internal terrain of the physical body as well as the mental and emotional terrain and the activities therein.  An example of the physical terrain’s influence on the HPA Axis would be poor nutrition and toxicity resulting in a health crisis.  An example of the mental and emotional influence on the HPA Axis would be arousal of the stress fight or flight response simply by thoughts about your seemingly impossible situation in life, be it your health, your job, your marriage or relationships, or any number of stressful life situations.  Think about it long enough while doing nothing about it results in chronic stress. It also frustrates and confuses the hypothalamus, which hypes up its secretion of CRF precursors to the pituitary, and exhausts the adrenal cortex causing the pituitary to hype up its production of ACTH to stimulate the exhausted adrenal glands.  So you can see how these glands act in concert with one another and not on their own. 

HELPFUL NUTRITIONAL AND HERBAL SUPPORT

If you know your have sugar handling issues — either hypoglycemia or diabetes — then you can help your body restore balance in this area so that energy can be released to the cells of the brain. This is treating the underlying cause of one form of depression. Here are my recommendations: 

  1. First of all, the liver needs to be detoxified, which means the pathways in the liver need to be opened up to allow chemical processes to work their miracle on metabolic waste, mainly devitalizing it and eliminating it from the body. There are some very excellent nutritional protocols that can accomplish this in just 21 days. They include St. John’s Wort, garlic, beet tops, cruciferous vegetables, herbal detoxifiers such as Schisandra fruit, Rosemary leaf, Milk Thistle seed, and herbal toners and tonics such as Globe Artichoke leaf, Dandelion root, just to list the few main herbs. All these nutritional and herbal remedies are available in product formulations from Standard Process and Medi-Herb, partners in providing health professionals with exceptional and highly effective wholefood supplements and Australian herbs.  You may contact me for professional guidance and product procurement. 
  2. Secondly, the endocrine glands that make up the HPA Axis and the brain need nutritional support and herbal nourishment. Some of the main products in this protocol are Hypothalmex, Paraplex, E-Manganese, Drenamin, Adrenal Complex, Min-Chex, and Niacinamide B6.
  3. Thirdly, your sugar-handling systems need support. Products by Standard Process include Diaplex to nourish the pancreas, Cataplex GTF for chromium to facilitate sugar consumption at the cellular level, Gymnema to balance blood sugar, Inositol for brain fuel, Zypan for digestion of proteins, and Protefood to provide the 8 essential amino acids needed to utilize the amino acids in your food after proteins are broken down by your digestive system. (Details on products are available on Standard Process‘s website.)

DIETARY CONSIDERATIONS

  1. Hypoglycemia conditions need frequent meals and snacks.  Five small meals daily is the recommendation. Some protein needs to be included in these meals and snacks.  Nuts are a good source of protein and are much better than sugars and carbohydrates as they help raise blood sugar without spiking insulin.
  2. Eliminate all processed foods and refined carbohydrates entirely from your diet. 
  3. For Type II Diabetes (a.k.a. insulin-resistance diabetes), refrain from sugars and starches entirely for 30 days. Eat only foods that are low on the glycemic index. The rationale here is to free up insulin receptor sites on the cells by cutting back on insulin production by the pancreas, which occurs every time you eat sweets and starches. It will take approximately 30 days to use up the sugar-laden insulin floating around in your blood stream. The cells are really not “resistant” to insulin, they simply have no room left to receive any more sugar-laden insulin . . . thus the need to stop spiking insulin. A liver detox could be done at least once a year.
  4. For Type I Diabetics (a.k.a. insulin-dependent diabetes), the best you can do is give ample support to your body’s sugar handling systems and, of course, observe a diabetic diet. You would be wise to eliminate all refined carbohydrate and processed foods from your diet. Nutritional therapeutic support could be incorporated into your daily regimen of meds, especially for the insulin-producing B cell in your pancreas which may be able to be regenerated if they are not entirely burned out. The protocol would include Diaplex, Cataplex GTF, Gymnema, Cataplex B and Inositol. A liver detox could be done at least once a year. 

The products recommended above are only available through licensed healthcare professionals. You are welcome to consult with me by email or by phone for a modest fee, as well as to order products. 

(Note: These blog articles and recommendations made therein are not intended to diagnose or treat any disease and are not to be construed to preclude appropriate medical attention.)

In my next post we will consider the impressive role the gut flora plays in depression and health in general. Until then, here’s to your health and healing.

Anthony Palombo, D.C.

Email: dranthonypalombo@live.com 

See my second blog, HealingTones.org, for inspiring articles on handling sacred energy. Recently I’ve been writing about our Electromagnetic Universe and the Body Electric.