Is An Endocrine Disorder Behind Your Weight Gain or Weight Loss?

Diet or diabetes is not always the culprit when it comes to unexplained changes in your weight. Endocrine disorders can result from dysfunction originating in the peripheral endocrine gland itself (primary disorders) or from understimulation or overstimulation by the pituitary (secondary disorders). The disorders can result in hormone overproduction (hyperfunction) or underproduction (hypofunction). Rarely, endocrine disorders (usually hypofunction) occur because of abnormal tissue responses to hormones.

Weight Swings Are Associated With Endocrine Disorders

The symptoms that characterize endocrine disorders are either hyperfunction or hypo function.

In hyperfunction tissues because hypersensitive to hormones and the body’s antibodies react.  This can lead to conditions such as Grave’s Disease.  The person may become hyperactive and features may become distorted. A rapid heartbeat is also associated with hyperfunction.

The Endocrine System

In hypofunction, the endocrine gland is not stimulated enough by the pituitary gland. This leads to a conditions such as goiter or peripheral endocrine gland hyperplasia. Fatigue, loss of libido and weight gain are symptoms of hypofunction.

The main cause of hyperfunction is hormonal changes or dysfunction due to aging. The main cause of hypofunction are conditions such as tumors, inflections, vascular disorders or toxins.

Care and Treatment of An Endocrine Disorder

Usually hormones are prescribed to treat disorders of the endocrine glands. Hypofunction will be treated by hormone replacement therapy. Radiation, therapy, surgery and drugs treat hyperfunction in extreme cases.  The key to enrolling in the Healthy & Active program is to get your body back in balance so that radical allopathic methods are not needed to treat your heath problem.

The symptoms of endocrine disorders can be managed with hormone therapy ad a change of diet for the most part.  This is where the blood profiling that comes with the deployment of the Healthy and Active plan can help you get to the bottom of what is actually causing your weight gain, weight loss or even swings between the two and then help you find the diet that can best keep your particular condition under control.

For more information about the Healthy & Active Program please visit our website at www.healthy-active.com. You may also call us in Toronto at (41) 440-2217 and ask for Adrienne Wright Bulow or Dr. Michael Rahman or email us at adrienne@healthy-active.com.

It's Ethical to Eat In The Healthy & Active Way

Nowadays, eating  in the Healthy and Active way  could qualify as being a form of ethical activism. It defies the usual rituals of eating dairy, meat and eggs.  The farming and consumption of these products en masse has affected the balance every single one of us on every level from the personal to the local to the global.  Consumption of these foods has cost us our health, smaller businesses and contributed to pollution and global warming.

Eating Less Meat Is Better For the Planet

Farming animals is one of the main causes of water shortage in the western United States. Farming animals require between three and eleven times the water required to grow an equivalent s crop.

 

Sadly, more than 90 percent of the Amazon rain forest cleared since 1970, or about 45,000 square miles, is now being used by the meat industry, either for land for cattle to graze on or to grow crops to feed farm animals. The runoff from factory farms is laced with feces, bacteria, hormones, and antibiotics, which can dangerously affect our arable soil and drinking water.

Furthermore, farming animals causes almost forty percent more greenhouse gas emissions then all the trucks, planes and cars in the world. The digestive processes of farmed animals (including their excrement, which is 130 times that produced by the U.S. human population); combine to release astounding amounts of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide into the atmosphere.  This gaseous pollution, in turn, contributes to global warming.

Eating Less Meat Promotes Less Violence

When you become vegan you are also making a strong statement against violence and cruelty to animals. Close to 10 billion animals, (not including fish) are slaughtered every year for food.  Many of these animals are raised in inhuman conditions and slaughtered in ways that most of us could not watch for two minutes on a video.

In Texas alone, feedlots produce more than 14 million pounds of particulate dust that just flies into the air and is sits in the atmosphere. This musty mix contains biologically active organisms such as bacteria, mold, and fungi from the feces and the feed causing allergies and sickness. Enormous animal waste ponds also emit airborne poisons that can cause inflammatory immune problems in humans.

On top of that, the EPA has found that 80 percent of the toxic ammonia gas in the United States comes from the excrement of farmed animals.

Eating Less Refined Foods

Part of the Healthy and Active Lifestyle is eating less processed foods. In fact, eating none at all is preferable.

Reflect on the good you can do in the world if you decide to lead a lifestyle that is more healthy and active. It is not only good for you, it’s good for the planet.

Vegan Cocktail Croquette Recipes

Croquettes are a blend of ingredients  that are shaped into a ball or lozenge shape and then. covered with bread crumbs. These vegan versions make a delicious hot snack. Traditionally they are made from a mix of mashed potatoes, ground meat, fish and cheese but these versions use chickpea flowers, sweet potato, quinoa, peanut butter and other healthy ingredients in order to make a delicious treat.  As they are fried in oil it is probably best to only have these croquettes rarely or on special occasions if you are on a very low-fat diet.  You should also make sure that the ingredients in these recipes are compatible with your Healthy & Active Metabolism program diet in general.

Chickpea Croquettes

Makes 8 croquettes

1 cup organic chickpea flour

¾ cup hot water

1 organic lemon, juiced

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cracked black pepper

1 15 ounce can organic chickpeas

4 organic scallions, chopped

1 organic carrot, grated

1 habanero, minced

4 organic garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons of cilantro leaves, chopped

2 tablespoons coconut or olive oil for frying

In a large bowl combine flour, lemon juice, water, salt, pepper and cumin.  Stir until well combined.  Add the chickpeas, carrots scallions, jalapeno, garlic and cilantro.

Heat olive oil over medium heat. Scoop patty-sized of the chickpea mixture into the skillet. Cook three or four minutes and flip over to cook completely.

Serve with your favourite sauce.

Red Quinoa and Sweet Potato Croquettes

Makes 12-14 croquettes

1 cup organic, gluten-free vegetable broth

½ cup red quinoa, rinsed

1 cup organic sweet potato, mashed

1 organic scallion, chopped

½ teaspoon natural organic peanut butter

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ cup gluten-free bead crumbs

3 tablespoons coconut oil or olive oil for frying

In a saucepan, boil sweet potato cubes until soft. Reduce the heat to low, add in the quinoa, cover and let simmer for 15 minutes and then turn off the heat and let sit for another seven minutes.

Mash sweet potatoes with a masher and then, in a large bowl combine the potato and quinoa.

Roll into spheres and then flatten into patties   Lightly grease a flat-bottomed sauté pan over medium heat and then fry until golden brown.

Serve with your favourite dipping sauce.

Saffron MIllet Croquettes

Makes 6 large croquettes

1 small red oniom

1 clove garlic

1 carrot

1 parsnip

1 zucchini

1 cup cooked millet

pinch of salt

Several saffron threads, crushed

2 tablespoons coconut oil or olive oil for frying

Crush the saffron between your fingers and add to the millet.  Stir.

Dice vegetables and mince the garlic. saute the vegetables until they are soft and then mix the cooked vegetables into the millet.   

Run the millet mixture through the food processor until finely processed.  Form six equal-sized  croquettes.  Cook in heated oil until nicely browned.

As croquettes can be oily it is advisable to pat them dry with a paper towel before serving.

For more information about the Healthy & Active Program please visit our website at www.healthy-active.com. You may also call us in Toronto at (41) 440-2217 and ask for Adrienne Wright Bulow or Dr. Michael Rahman or email us at adrienne@healthy-active.com.

Rules for Optimum Healthy Eating

If you want to reduce inflammation in your body, experience weight loss and be healthier in general it is highly advised that you try the Healthy & Active Lifestyle Program in which a blood profile is taken and the foods that are best for you to consume are provided to you in a list. The blood profiles that are taken in the HAP program are then used to define your metabolic type as well as identify your body’s best fuel sources.

Although you are basically prescribed which foods to eat and which foods to eat for optimum health, here are some general rules for the healthy sourcing and preparation of foods that apply to everyone, no matter what your metabolic type happens to be.

Avoid mature moldy cheeses to halt inflammation.

#1  Avoid eating canned foods. Fresh foods are best always.

#2. Avoid eating ready made meals that you buy prepared in your grocer’s freezer as the older the food, the worse it will be as a source of fuel for you plus older food can trigger histamine reactions and inflammation.

#3 Avoid consuming ripe and fermented foods such as older cheeses, dried fish, alcoholic drinks and yeast products of all kinds.)

#4 The less food is handled by strangers, the healthier it will be for you because it will be less bruised, less contaminated and more likely to be from a local source.

#5  Do not allow meats to linger outside the refrigerator

#6  Make sure your preparation area is always kept clean but not poisonous with applied cleaning products that might have toxins

#7  Make sure all meat that you purchase is as fresh as possible to avoid pathogens

#8   Skin chicken before you cook it to reduce fat and pathogen intake

#9   Spelt and corn-based pasta can be more tolerable for some people and prevent inflammation but be sure to refer to your HAP list of recommended foods to make sure this is true

#10  Drink coconut milk to hydrate yourself but be sure that the coconut milk does not have loads of added sugar. 

#11  Do not try to eat slightly rancid cream cheese or dips as this can cause histamine levels to rise and provoke inflammation

#12  Stick to non-citrus juices that are watered down or served with ice to prevent inflammation reactions in the body

It is also a good idea to avoid foods known to raise histamines and cause bloating and inflammation.  These include -

• Alcohol
• Pickled foods
• Mature and soft cheeses
• Smoked meat products
• Shellfish
• Beans and pulses
• Most nuts but especially walnuts and cashew nuts
• Chocolate and coca
• All wheat based products
• Vinegar

You do need to participate in the HAP to find out what the metabolic types are and how you can be assisted with a recommended eating plan.

For more information about the Healthy & Active Program please visit our website at www.healthy-active.com. You may also call us in Toronto at (41) 440-2217 and ask for Adrienne Wright Bulow or Dr. Michael Rahman or email us at adrienne@healthy-active.com.