Natural Ways And Treatments For The Most Common Medical Problems

Learn some natural ways and treatments for the most common medical problems. Check out the article we found over at Precision Nutrition.

Wondering about natural treatments for high cholesterol? Blood pressure? Diabetes? Autoimmune disease? Thyroid? Lots of clients come to us after being diagnosed with something new (and scary). We help them eat, exercise, and supplement to turn things around.

On the face of it, what we do at Precision Nutrition — helping people lose weight and look and feel their best — must seem like lots of fun.

In many ways, it is. We help our clients work healthy eating and exercise into their lives in ways that work for them, and then 12 months later I get to share their inspiring nutrition-coaching stories, full of challenges, doubts, perseverance, and triumph — along with their amazing before and after shots.

I’ll admit, those aspects are really exciting.

But most of our clients come to us for a reason that’s much more serious than wanting to look better.

Sure, I like helping people get into shape and improve their daily habits. But honestly, giving people the information, accountability, and support to address these types of health problems through nutrition and other lifestyle choices is far more exciting to me.

Because this is the kind of stuff that truly changes — or even maybe saves — lives.

Here are the guidelines for dealing with these health problems naturally.

High cholesterol

Cholesterol is a fat-like substance that has a lot of important roles in the body. In other words, we need it.

But when you have too much cholesterol, the lipoproteins carrying it can get caught in the artery walls, combining with calcium, fat, cellular waste, and fibrin (a material involved in blood clotting) to form the plaques that cause clogs.

It’s important to know that high cholesterol isn’t just one thing: You could have high total cholesterol, high LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, and/or high triglycerides (another measure of fat in the blood).

So, why’s it high? Well, sometimes high cholesterol is genetic. Other times it’s from eating too much saturated fat (from animal foods) and not enough plants.

What you can do about it

Statin drugs and other blood lipid lowering chemicals are often seen as a quick fix.

Yet these drugs can come with side effects like memory loss, difficulty concentrating, lowered exercise tolerance, muscle pain, and depression — which, ironically, make it pretty tough to prioritize lifestyle changes that could turn your health around.

While these meds may be needed in many cases, revamping your diet can be a powerful supplementary — or even alternative — treatment.

If your LDL cholesterol level is between 160 and 190 and you don’t have heart disease, diabetes, or other risk factors, Dr. Nadolsky says, ask your doc about lifestyle changes you can make before going on meds.

If your LDL level is above 190, most doctors will insist on a prescription — unless they can trace your levels to an obvious diet choice (for example, more than one of Dr. Nadolsky’s patients have seen cholesterol go down when they rein in their Bulletproof Coffee habit).

Using these lifestyle strategies can help you avoid meds (or reduce the amount of time you’re on them).

Diet

When body fat goes down, cholesterol and especially triglycerides go down.

So if you’re overweight, consider changing your habits to get to a healthy weight. (Luckily, most people see benefits from even a little weight loss, perhaps just a few pounds. You don’t have to become an underwear model to be healthy.)

Dr. Nadolsky says a diet based heavily on plants is a good bet.

This will help you:

• lower your saturated fat intake, which alone can help lower cholesterol (the biggest saturated fat culprits: processed foods and animal products); and
• get more vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and healthy fats, which have their own positive effect.

You don’t have to give up meat completely. Just add more plants.

Some ways to get there:

• Add one serving of vegetables and/or fruits to each meal. Look for colorful plants (such as dark leafy greens, orange carrots, or purple berries), and add a handful or two to each meal.
• Look for whole grain substitutes where possible. Think wild or brown rice instead of white; sprouted bread instead of white bread; or oats instead of your regular breakfast cereal. Adding these whole grains may lower your risk of clogged arteries by 30 percent.
• Add a serving of legumes. Foods like beans, lentils, and chickpeas not only taste good; they’re high in fiber, which binds to cholesterol in the digestive tract.
• Add nuts, seeds, fatty fish (such as salmon), avocado, and olive oil. They contain healthy fats, which lower LDL and raise HDL (“good” cholesterol).

If you have high triglycerides, try lowering your sugar intake. Since your liver uses sugar to make triglycerides, less sugar means less excess blood fat.

Exercise

Working out — especially a combo of cardio and resistance work — helps lower cholesterol by:

• helping you lose body fat (remember: less body fat equals less blood fat);
• changing certain enzymes that can decrease your triglycerides; and
• helping lower stress (which also contributes to poor cholesterol profiles and CVD).

If possible, do a little something every day. Even a 20-minute walk after a meal can tidy up triglycerides.

Work up to about 5 hours a week, and try to do a mix of low- and high-intensity activity, including weights, intervals, and low-intensity cardio. All activity — whether in the gym or not — counts!