Healthy Aging & Taking Back Control of Our Health
Late Summer Health Topics:
Time just marches on, and here we are, coming up on fall, the start of school, and a new season. Fall seems like a thoughtful time of year—even more so than the actual beginning of a new year. Perhaps it’s because fall naturally gives us an opportunity to take stock and realign with what is important in our lives and our health. Maybe it’s a time when we feel more capable of making changes that can be harder to make at other times of the year.
Lets take a moment to consider the changing landscape of the healthcare system. As you may have noticed, it isn’t going particularly well. Healthcare premiums are at an all-time high, and Medicaid is facing significant cuts at the end of this year. Some insurance companies and healthcare organizations are also making major changes to their coverage and services. It is mind-boggling to watch. Essentially, the entire system is facing enormous financial pressure, and we are beginning to see the consequences.
A lot of people are dropping their traditional healthcare coverage, switching to health-share companies, or choosing plans that primarily cover catastrophic inpatient events while paying cash for office visits as needed. For some people, this makes sense as it allows them to pay directly for the kind of care they want rather than having every aspect of their healthcare experience dictated by an insurance company, or a provider who feels restrained by the company to do the minimum labs and imaging assessments. Right now there is an opportunity to begin to take back a measure of autonomy in our healthcare.
The current “doctor’s visit” often involves a cursory history that can feel more focused on the provider’s agenda, who is actually documenting what the insurance company requires of them. That typically takes up most of the visit time, and the patient’s questions are left until the end, when there is no time left.
When people pay cash for one-on-one healthcare visits with the provider of their choosing, it decreases the overhead of the practice, costs less to deliver that care, which in turn allows them to charge less. Eliminating the middleman and the incredible administrative costs associated with insurance can open the door to a wider range of healthcare option. And, it creates the possibility of a more direct relationship between the patient and the provider, and a deeper level of continuity of care.
This leads to the next topic: when we take back more authority over our care, we also take on a new level of responsibility for our own health.
That responsibility involves the choices we make every day—our diet, sleep, movement, stress management, relationships, and all the other things that contribute to our overall well-being. No matter what age you are, good self-care practices can be some of the most important actions we take to influence our long-term health and potentially reduce our dependence on an increasingly expensive healthcare system.
And of all these things, perhaps one of the most important—because it can be harder to do many of the others well without it—is eating healthy, living, whole foods. Food truly can be medicine, but food can also contribute to poor health. Every food choice we make—or don’t make—has the potential to move us in a positive or negative direction.
Ultimately, taking responsibility for our health isn’t about being perfect. It’s about becoming more aware, making thoughtful choices, and recognizing that the small decisions we make every day can have a profound impact on how we feel and how we age.
And so for this fall, especially if you are in your 40s or 50s, make a plan to invest in your health. It might be time to schedule an appointment to speak with a wellness provider, not because their is something ‘wrong’, but to create a viable plan to promote healthy life patterns that can help keep you feeling energetic, strong and vibrant as you age.
Just as a reminder if you would like to pass this on to any interested parties, the following is a list of special care that is provided here:
Metabolic health and wellness
Bio-identical Hormone Therapy and Menopause care. (This now includes Bio-Identical Hormone Pellet Therapy)
Holistic Weight Loss and GLP-1s if desired.
IM Nutrient Therapy.
Lower Cost Labs for Cash Pay Patients
Peptide Therapy. We are implementing more peptide treatment protocols and therapies as they become legally available to providers.
Supplement recommendations for specific health concerns.
One more thing, some notes about gluten sensitivity and inflammatory properties. You don’t have to look for for study after study on the pro-inflammatory nature of American gluten products. If you have a moment some evening, go to Google Scholar and enter: Gluten and Immune Dysregulation or Dysfunction, or Gluten and Autoimmunity, And just take a peruse the results.
Here is an abstract from a 2024 study: Gluten is a Proinflammatory Inducer of Autoimmunity
‘Gluten has multiple harmful effects that compromise human health, not only in gluten-dependent diseases but also in non-gluten-affected chronic inflammatory conditions. After consumption, the indigestible gluten peptides are modified by luminal microbial transglutaminase or transported through the gut epithelium to interact with the highly populated mucosal immune cells. As a disruptor of gut permeability, gluten peptides compromise tight junction integrity, allowing foreign immunogenic molecules to reach internal compartments. Gliadin peptides are distributed systemically to remote organs, where they encounter endogenous tissue transglutaminase. Following post-translational deamidation or transamidation, the peptides become immunogenic and pro-inflammatory, inducing organ dysfunction and pathology. Cross-reactivity and sequence homology between gluten/gliadin peptides and human epitopes may contribute to molecular mimicry in autoimmunity induction. A gluten-free diet can prevent these phenomena through various mechanisms. As proof of concept, gluten withdrawal alleviates disease activity in chronic inflammatory, metabolic, and autoimmune conditions, and even in neurodegeneration. We recommend combining the gluten-free and Mediterranean diets to leverage the advantages of both. Before recommending gluten withdrawal for non-gluten-dependent conditions, patients should be asked about gut symptomatology and screened for celiac-associated antibodies. The current list of gluten-induced diseases includes celiac disease, dermatitis herpetiformis, gluten ataxia, gluten allergy, and non-celiac gluten sensitivity. In view of gluten being a universal pro-inflammatory molecule, other non-celiac autoinflammatory and neurodegenerative conditions should be investigated for potential gluten avoidance.’
ANOTHER STUDY: Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity Triggers Gut Dysbiosis, Neuroinflammation, Gut-Brain Axis Dysfunction, and Vulnerability for Dementia
‘The non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) is a chronic functional gastrointestinal disorder which is very common world wide. The human gut harbors microbiota which has a wide variety of microbial organisms; they are mainly symbiotic and important for well being. However, “dysbiosis” - i.e. an alteration in normal commensal gut microbiome with an increase in pathogenic microbes, impacts homeostasis/health. Dysbiosis in NCGS causes gut inflammation, diarrhea, constipation, visceral hypersensitivity, abdominal pain, dysfunctional metabolic state, and peripheral immune and neuro-immune communication. Thus, immune-mediated gut and extra-gut dysfunctions, due to gluten sensitivity with comorbid diarrhea, may last for decades. A significant proportion of NCGS patients may chronically consume alcohol, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and fatty diet, as well as suffer from various comorbid disorders. The above pathophysiological substrate and dysbiosis are underpinned by dysfunctional bidirectional “Gut-Brain Axis” pathway. Pathogenic gut microbiota is known to upregulate gut- and systemic inflammation (due to lipopolysaccharide from pathogenic bacteria and synthesis of pro-inflammatory cytokines); they enhance energy harvest, cause obesity, insulin resistance, and dysfunctional vago-vagal gut-brain axis. Conceivably, the above cascade of pathology may promote various pathophysiological mechanisms, neuroinflammation, and cognitive dysfunction. Hence, dysbiosis, gut inflammation, and chronic dyshomeostasis are of great clinical relevance. It is argued here that we need to be aware of NCGS and its chronic pathophysiological impact. Therapeutic measures including probiotics, vagus nerve stimulation, antioxidants, alpha 7 nicotinic receptor agonists, and corticotropin-releasing factor receptor 1 antagonist may ameliorate neuroinflammation and oxidative stress in NCGS; they may therefore, prevent cognitive dysfunction and vulnerability to Alzheimer’s disease.