by Sean Croxton

Whack-a-Mole.

You know, the arcade game where a mole’s head pops up and it’s your job to smack it as fast as you can with a giant rubber mallet. Then as soon as you whack the mole, another pops up.

I used to love that game. I had crazy mole whacking skills back in the day.

It had been at least fifteen years (damn, I’m getting old) since I had even thought about that game. Then, a few days ago, I was reading Dr. Kalish’s new book The Kalish Method: Healing the Body, Mapping the Mind and came across what I consider to be the most genius analogy for our health care system…

We’re playing Whack-a-Mole medicine.

Think about it. We go see a doctor when we’re feeling some kind of symptom, only to be prescribed a medication that in no way addresses the actual root cause of what ails us.

Whack!

The medication may make us feel better for the moment, but eventually another symptom rears its ugly head and we find ourselves back at the pharmacy filling the doc’s next prescription.

Whack!

And then…well, you know where this is going.

When the root cause of any symptom is left unaddressed, the problem will continue to persist regardless of how many times you smack your symptoms with the medication mallet. In fact, your health will most likely worsen.

Dr. Kalish outlines how and why Whack-a-Mole treatments for weight loss, depression, fatigue, digestive complaints, and female hormonal imbalances simply don’t work in the long term. The weight eventually comes back (and then some). The antidepressants damage healthy brain cells and deplete neurotransmitters. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) increases the risk for a variety of different conditions including heart disease and cancer.

Moles! Moles! Moles!

Potentially deadly moles.

Of the examples Dr. Kalish gives, the one that resonated with me the most was that of medications for heartburn and acid reflux. One in twenty Americans are now taking some kind of acid blocker. Prilosec and Zantac are big business, with US sales totaling $13.9 billion a year.

Yes, these drugs block 90-percent of stomach acid production thus relieving symptoms. But since stomach acid is pretty darn important for digestion and immunity, relief may comes at a significant cost.

First off, it is the acidity of the food (chyme) leaving the stomach that flips the switches on the pancreas and gallbladder to do their jobs of breaking down nutrients in order to facilitate absorption. When stomach acid is low, absorption of vital nutrients like calcium and B12 is significantly reduced. The former may lead you down the road to osteoporosis and bone drugs. The latter leading to fatigue and antidepressants.

Whack! Whack!

We must also keep in mind that it is the acidity of the stomach that acts as protection from bacteria and parasites that may be present in our food and drink. A healthy stomach is sufficiently acidic to kill these critters. But when it is in a state of drug-induced hypochlorhydria (low stomach acid), the gates are wide open for unfriendly infections. In other words, you get gut bugs which bring their own set of symptoms including constipation and/or diarrhea, gas, bloating, frequent belching, and other fun stuff. And, of course, more prescriptions.

Whack!

What’s even more interesting is that it has been known for quite some time that heartburn and reflux are often symptoms of not enough acid in the stomach. This can be due to the presence of a bacterial infection called Helicobacter Pylori in the stomach. H. Pylori — which can be treated with antibiotics or more naturally with Matula Tea and lifestyle modifications — attacks the acid-producing cells lining the stomach walls. It also has been shown to be the cause of ulcers, for which these drugs are commonly prescribed.

According to David Healy, author of Pharmageddon, GlaxoSmithKline — the maker of Zantac — has known about this bacterial connection since Australian physician Barry J. Marshall discovered it way back in 1984. Writes Healy, “Marshall made overtures to Glaxo but found they had no interest in a cure for ulcers. The beauty of H-2 (acid) blockers was that once they began taking them, many patients remained on them indefinitely.”

Now that’s just whack.

I assume that most of us continue to play the Whack-a-Mole medicine game because we simply don’t know of any other options. Even in the year 2012, people’s eyes still glaze over when I bring up alternative approaches like naturopathic or functional medicine, both of which aim to address the root cause(s) of symptoms not suppress them.

I can go on and on about finding the root cause. I actually wrote an entire e-book about it. But if you’d like a primer on what functional medicine is and how it can help you forever eradicate what Dr. Kalish calls The Big Five — weight gain, fatigue, depression, digestive problems, and female hormone imbalance — listen to the podcast below. The doc and I recorded it with you in mind.

Stop whacking symptoms. Find the root cause, my friends!

Out.

Sean Croxton
Author, The Dark Side of Fat Loss

by Sean Croxton

Dr. Kalish is the man.

If there is anyone who can appreciate the beauty of balancing the brain naturally, it’s me.

About 6 years ago, my own chronic anxiety and depression issues finally led me to the doctor’s office, where I literally begged for a prescription fix.

I had done some reading up on Paxil (an SSRI) and just knew that it would help me snap out of a funk.

Instead, the doc wrote me prescription for Prozac, a drug that, at the time, I had associated with “crazy folk” who were one step away from jumping off a bridge. (I know better now, of course.)

I didn’t want to be a member of Prozac Nation. I wanted my damn Paxil! It was cooler than Prozac — even the great NFL running back Ricky Williams took Paxil, and he led the league in rushing that year!

The following day, I took the leap and dropped my first Prozac down the hatch. I will NEVER forget that day.

I popped my first pill in the morning before heading to my personal training job. I didn’t really notice anything different, figuring that the effects would take a few days to kick in.

Then, during my final session of the day — fortunately my client Beth was a psychologist — I started feeling a little…weird. The colors in the room became brighter. My balance was suddenly off. And I started hyperventilating.

I couldn’t get enough air, it seemed.

Slowly shuffling over to a corner where the rest of the gym members wouldn’t see me, I took a seat on the floor, breathing deeply and trying to calm my body while under Beth’s watchful and understanding eye.

After a few minutes, I started feeling a little better. I walked outside where there was plenty of air, and I called a friend to come and pick me up. There was no way I was going to drive myself home.

I was scared sh*tless!

I thought I was in the clear, my odd little episode had come to an end. But no sooner than 5-minutes after stepping outside, it came back. This one was worse than the first. I remember going back inside of the gym to find someone who could help me get to the on-campus Health Services building (I worked at SDSU at the time).

A hyperventilating mess, we finally made it to Health Services where I breathed into a brown bag until my symptoms subsided once again.

I had never had a panic attack in my life. Funny that it took a tiny green and white pill — intended to balance my mood — to give me my first and second on the same day.

That was the last time I ever took Prozac.

My doc was convinced. Prozac wasn’t for me.

I went home with a prescription for Paxil.

Although Paxil didn’t send me into any Prozac-like episodes, it had its own problems. My first week on the drug was interesting to say the least.

First off, my appetite was gone for the first 5 or 6 days. The only thing I could eat was Lucky Charms. Weird, I know.

As if the whole Lucky Charms thing wasn’t strange enough, my attraction to women literally took a hike. Women just weren’t women anymore. To be frank, boobs and booty just weren’t doing it for me. It was as if my “man switch” got turned off for a week. All I could do was cross my fingers and hope that it would flip back on more sooner than later.

It finally did, but not without a few sexual side effects that I won’t get into here.

Just use your imagination.

Anyway…after a week of adjusting to my new medication, I actually started to like it. Despite a bad case of the all-day yawns and this weird tingling feeling I would have upon waking, Paxil wasn’t that bad. I went from being down-in-the-dumps to being one happy dude in a matter of weeks. I literally had no emotion but happiness. I called it my Paxil Glow.

The glow actually had me going out with friends and participating in life again. It was during this time that I learned that people weren’t so bad after all, and that I actually has a personality underneath all of my shyness.

There’s a bright side to everything, I guess.

Deep down I knew that I couldn’t stay on Paxil forever. At some point, I would have to ditch the glow and figure out how I could boost my mood naturally. And to be honest, being happy all the time just isn’t as cool as it sounds. I wanted to feel real emotions again.

So, through my reading I figured out that my previous anxiety and depression issues had more to do with my low-fat diet, exercise addiction, and a poor outlook on life than anything else.

By adding more fats to my diet, cutting back on the chronic cardio, and immersing myself in personal development books, I was finally able to ditch the Paxil Glow cold turkey with zero side effects.

No, I wasn’t as uber-friendly as I was before. But those irritating yawns were gone. And all of my body parts started functioning normally again (if you know what I mean.).

Happiness no longer followed me around everywhere I went, but I was very happy to feel a little anger, sadness, and “blah” every now and then.

Life felt real.

The reason I am telling this story is because although my experience with Paxil had its perks, it was also marred by a litany of unnecessary trials that I would have never had to experience if I had known what I know now about natural treatments for depression and anxiety.

Treatments that don’t make you have a panic attack while at work.

Treatments that won’t have you eating marshmallow rainbows for a week.

Treatments that keep all of your body parts working…

This is why Dr. Kalish is the man.

Instead of resorting to prescription drugs — riddled with side effects — as a first option, he thinks “natural first”.

Using simple urine tests, inexpensive amino acid supplements, as well as diet and lifestyle modifications, Dr. Kalish has helped thousands of people sidestep the allopathic approach to mood disorders by way of identifying and correcting specific deficiencies in the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine.

On last night’s episode of UW Radio, Dr. Kalish and I discussed the following topics and more:

* How a simple urine test can take a snapshot of your brain chemistry.

* How neurotransmitter deficiencies impact weight gain, sleep, fatigue, and cravings.

* How the amino acids supplements 5-HTP and L-tyrosine balance the brain by way of increasing levels of serotonin and dopamine, respectively.

* Why taking 5-HTP alone — without balancing it with l-tyrosine — can lead to dopamine deficiency, and vice-versa.

* Whether it is safe to take amino acids while on medications for depression, anxiety, or ADHD?

* Really cool cutting-edge science on OCT2 receptors and how the opening and closing of cellular gates in the brain and kidneys impact brain chemistry. ((See video below))

* How damage to nerve cells via recreational/prescription drugs, environmental toxins, and neurotoxins impact cellular communication and mood.

* The connection between your brain and gut — and how increasing serotonin via amino acids can improve gut function.

* The effect of caffeine consumption on serotonin production

* How sex hormones are tied in with brain chemicals.

* A simple way to increase the long-term efficacy of Alzheimer’s drugs.

Dr. Kalish was truth-bomb-dropping machine last night! The feedback has been off the charts. This is certainly a show you don’t want to skip.

If only I had been privy to this information before I paid that Prozac-dispensing doc a visit back in 2006…

But, hey, everything happens for a reason.

Please send this show to your friends and family who may be suffering from mood issues. Everyone deserves to know that they have options.

Click the PLAY button below to listen to Dr. Kalish’s podcast or click HERE to download the show on iTunes. And if the show leaves you thirsty for more info, click HERE to receive a FREE Treating Depression Naturally class taught by the man himself.

Enjoy!

Sean
All of My Parts are Working Fine Now!

by Sean Croxton

My exploration into the human brain continues.

Last night I was hanging out in my bathtub (yeah, I do that once in a while) reading a book called Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert. You can imagine how geeked out I was to learn that humans are only species with the ability to prospect. In other words, we can look forward in time and consider the future. Which means that we do whatever the heck we can do to control the future. We believe that this sense of control makes us happy. And when we lose this control, we freak out. I’m sure you can relate.

Why is prospection exclusive to humans. Well, it’s because we have ginormous frontal lobes in our brains. In fact, a frontal lobotomy — or chemical/mechanical destruction of the frontal lobe — would not affect you much. The only major side effect of such a procedure would be the inability to think into the future. The ability to prospect is gone.

I found this interesting because a lobotomy was, at one time, a common and effective treatment for anxiety. What do people typically feel anxious about? The future!

No frontal lobe, no future. Anxiety gone!

Trippy, huh?

Anyway, our last video was about impulsive overeating and its connection to decreased activity of the prefrontal cortex, the front one-third of the brain responsible for planning.

Today, we’re discussing another type of overeater called the compulsive overeater. This individual may have increased activity in a part of the brain located deep within the frontal lobe called the anterior cingulate gyrus (ACG). Increased activity in the ACG may be due to low levels of brain serotonin.

Dr. Daniel Amen and I discussed this type of overeating in THIS PODCAST a couple weeks ago.

Proven and natural ways of increasing brain serotonin are supplementing with 5-HTP, l-tryptophan, or St. John’s Wort, as well as using the brain-boosting spice saffron.

But before you head out to the local supplement store to grab some 5-HTP, be sure to check out THIS PODCAST with Dr. Daniel Kalish.

According to Dr. Kalish, serotonin and dopamine are antagonistic — when one goes up, the other goes down. This can cause a problem down the road.

Load up on information, and then decide what is best for you!

And enjoy today’s video.

I’m out!

Sean Croxton
Author, The Dark Side of Fat Loss
Host, The Paleo Summit

by Sean Croxton & Dr. Daniel Kalish

Truth bombs are droppin’ today!

Check out this clip from last week’s UW Radio show with Dr. Daniel Kalish. In this segment, the doc explains how the use of antidepressant medications can deplete serotonin levels in the brain over time.

He also talks about why the medication Abilify is needed when serotonin levels drop too low from use of SSRIs.

Please note that Dr. Kalish is not against the use of antidepressant medications when used properly.

To learn more about how you can boost neurotransmitter levels naturally with amino acids, click HERE to listen to the entire show.

Enjoy!

Sean Croxton
Author, The Dark Side of Fat Loss