Can't sleep, no energy?

by Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

So many people are dealing with a cycle of poor sleep and lack of energy through the day, to the point that we could almost consider this an epidemic.

The interesting aspect of the sleep is that many individuals are not even aware that they are not sleeping well, so let's define this first. Optimal sleep is going to be somewhere between 9:30 and 10:30PM depending on the time of the year and waking near the time that the sun comes up. You would of course fall asleep very quickly and the sleep is unbroken  and if you happen to wake to use the bathroom, you will quickly fall back into a deep sleep. At the conclusion of the optimal nights sleep, you will wake ready to rock and roll and take on your day. So ask yourself, does your sleep pattern look like this?

If it does not, you have some work to do. We'll chat about that in a bit.

Since most of you are not hitting and optimal sleep cycle what do you think this is going to effect throughout your day? If you guessed energy, you are right on. This is not just physical energy though, this is also mental energy, emotional energy and even what some would consider either vibrational or spiritual energy. I don't know about you, but I want this to be at the most optimal level that I can. Most of us are attempting to play a really big game in life but if we are doing this with poor sleep and energy, the game we're playing is severely limited.

If you are the person we are talking about here, what's the next step? First off I will share that based on my thousands of clients at Depke Wellness, a poor sleep cycle is generally either a digestive issue or a hormone issue. Let's look at hormones first.

When I am testing adrenal panels with my clients, I am not only looking at the typically cortisol and DHEA, I am also looking at other end result hormones, one being melatonin. Let's first understand that melatonin levels and cortisol levels should be an exact opposite. With this said, when melatonin is high, cortisol will be low and likewise. So if we see a low night time melatonin, we would typically recognize an elevated night time cortisol. This would tell us that if we could lower the night time cortisol, we would most likely see the melatonin go up simply due to the natural hormone rhythms of the body. This would then be defined as a sleep issue that has a deeper hormone tie as the core.

With this said, what if the night time cortisol is actually optimal, yet the night time melatonin is actually low? This is when we would look at this as a digestive issue.

My first point to make, it we do not recommend melatonin if melatonin is low. We are not saying that those that make this recommendation are wrong, we'll just say that we are different, and here's why. This is the natural flow from food consumption to melatonin.

• Proper consumption of protein
• Optimal digestion
• Proper breakdown of the amino acid L - tryptophan (essential amino acid)
• Most of this L - tryptophan moves toward assisting B vitamin production and absorption but this also goes down this sleep cycle
• Production of 5 - HTP from L - tryptophan
• Production of serotonin from 5 - HTP
• Finally the production of melatonin from serotonin

So you can see that while taking melatonin may actually help with sleep but it still leaves so many other deficiencies in the body. So if the night time melatonin is low along with a normal night time cortisol, this tells us to work on digestion.

Here are some of the basic levels to understand to enhance digestion.

• Take 3 to 5 deep belly breaths prior to your meal to ease any stress
• Chew your food thouroughly
• Take your Prebiotic/Probiotic Formula daily
• Take your Prime Enzyme Support with each meal
• If stomach acid is low take a Prime Stomach Acid Support after your meal
• You may want to also assess potential food sensitivities 
• If digestion has been a long term chronic issue, you may also want to look at the potential of pathogens

If we go back to the beginning here though, to understand if your sleep and lack of energy issue is either a hormone or digestive issue, assessing adrenal function as well as end result hormones is a must.

If you do not have a deep understanding of adrenal function, it's holistic effect on the body and it's underlying triggers, be sure to take a look at the Adrenal Summit. This is a complimentary event that will answer your questions and provide further information by the industry leaders listed below.

Dr Daniel Kalish, DC

Adrenal Summit Launch 

Dr. Thomas O'Bryan, DC, CCN, DACBN
Gluten Sensitivity, Celiac and Adrenal Function

Dr Peter Osborne

Gluten Cross Reactivity and Adrenal Function

Dr Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS

The Cortisol/Insulin Connection

Dr Josh Axe
Exercise Effects on Adrenal Function

Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

Inflammation Effects on Adrenal Function

Linda Clark, M.A., Certified Nutrition Consultant (CNC)

Detoxification, Toxicity and Adrenal Health

Sue Ingebretson

Stress and the Emotional Impact on Adrenal Health

Dr Robert Janda, DC

Infection and Adrenal Function

Manny Aragon

The Structural Body and Adrenal Health

Lynda Buitrago, MS

The Thyroid/Adrenal Connection

John Lewis and Jeffery Zavik

Obesity, Sensitivity and Adrenal Function

Dr David Fletcher

Chiropractic Care and Adrenal Health

Glen Depke

Adrenal Summit Conclusion

The experts that we have for your enjoyment and education are the leaders in their field and actually the experts "experts". This event is going to create a paradigm shift and the needed education for our culture to understand adrenal fatigue, the impact this has on our health and happiness and more importantly, what we can do about this. Visit the Adrenal Summit for further information and registration for this complimentary event.

Before you exercise...

by Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

So it's getting close to bathing suit weather and we all know what that means. The bulky sweat shirts come off and expose the ten pounds of belly fat that somehow appeared through the winter that we have been conveniently hiding behind our loose fitting cloths. As we all know, we cannot hide this any more one we throw one the bathing suit that has been sitting there waiting for us all winter.

With this said, what is the one change that so many are people are going to be making soon? 

This change is going to be the countless people heading to the gym in "hope" of eliminating that winter 10 and looking lean and healthy in their swim gear. While I support exercise and movement as a fundamental of health, I would be willing to bet that many of you are going to engage in exercise that will have a detrimental affect on your health and perhaps be counterproductive in your goals of trimming your waistline. 

Here's why...

Here's a common scenario. You gain weight through the winter months and decide it's time to lose that nagging flab around the midsection. From here you may begin address this nutritionally, but still not losing the weight. Due to this you begin working out, perhaps starting with some walking and lifting weights. Still, no weight loss...ugg! So now you talk to a friend that works our regularly and they tell you the key is to push the cardiovascular activity and suggest 45 minutes of intense work on the treadmill or elliptical. Still nothing, and perhaps at this point you're even seeing your weight go up. Really? How frustrating can this be? It almost seems as the more you do, nothing budges.

So how can this be? After all, we have all been taught that it is simply about calories in and calories out right? Yes, this is what we have been taught but if this was true, you would lose weight very quickly with the above scenario.

What is one of the most important factors to define before you exercise. This factor is adrenal function and there are many reasons for this. Here is a list of factors that are directly tied into your adrenal function as tied into weight loss.

• Thyroid function
• Pancreas function
• Ability to regulate body weight and fat
• Metabolism of fat and protein
• Every level of detoxification
• Pro and anti-inflammatory states
• Cellular energy
• Blood sugar balance
• Quality of sleep
• Neural connectivity

Understand that all of these levels tie into weight loss and a significantly affected by adrenal function.

But there's more...

How you exercise is impacted by your adrenal function. First understand that out of 3 stages of adrenal insufficiency that we would recognize at Depke Wellness, most of our clients show up in a stage II or stage III response. So basically, this means that most have already blown out the hypothalamus, adrenal and pituitary axis. The job of this HPA axis is to bring your body into a deep state of relaxation after a stressful event. This state is essential for healing and maintaining a healthy weight.

Remember above we mentioned that you will likely be told that they have to kick up the cardiovascular activity? Well, here's the kicker there. If you are in stage II or stage III adrenal insufficiency and you are exercising in a way that raises your heart rate and maintains this elevated heart rate, you are actually worsening your adrenal function. So yes, the hard work you are doing is not only not helping you lose weight but it is actually worsening your adrenal function.

If you do find yourself in a stage II or stage III adrenal insufficiency you still want to exercise but this should be via anaerobic training. So this would include weight training with heavy weight, low reps and rest in between sets. This would also include a casual walk, casual bike ride, gentle flow yoga, stretching and another huge benefit from burst training. I use burst training myself and recommend this at different times of the day for my clients depending on where there adrenal function is. 

While I cannot say enough about burst training, I am far from an expert with this but thankfully in the upcoming adrenal summit I have interviewed one of our worlds leaders in burst training, Dr Josh Axe. Make sure you register for the complimentary for Adrenal Summit and not only enjoy the interview on burst training and adrenal function with Dr Josh Axe but also the 12 other experts listed below. 

So in the end, before you exercise, properly assess your adrenal function.

Dr Daniel Kalish, DC

Adrenal Summit Launch 

Dr. Thomas O'Bryan, DC, CCN, DACBN
Gluten Sensitivity, Celiac and Adrenal Function

Dr Peter Osborne

Gluten Cross Reactivity and Adrenal Function

Dr Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS

The Cortisol/Insulin Connection

Dr Josh Axe
Exercise Effects on Adrenal Function

Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

Inflammation Effects on Adrenal Function

Linda Clark, M.A., Certified Nutrition Consultant (CNC)

Detoxification, Toxicity and Adrenal Health

Sue Ingebretson

Stress and the Emotional Impact on Adrenal Health

Dr Robert Janda, DC

Infection and Adrenal Function

Manny Aragon

The Structural Body and Adrenal Health

Lynda Buitrago, MS

The Thyroid/Adrenal Connection

John Lewis and Jeffery Zavik

Obesity, Sensitivity and Adrenal Function

Dr David Fletcher

Chiropractic Care and Adrenal Health

Glen Depke

Adrenal Summit Conclusion

The experts that we have for your enjoyment and education are the leaders in their field and actually the experts "experts". This event is going to create a paradigm shift and the needed education for our culture to understand adrenal fatigue, the impact this has on our health and happiness and more importantly, what we can do about this. Visit the Adrenal Summit for further information and registration for this complimentary event.

What you need to know...

by Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

...about adrenal function.

Adrenal Fatigue

I have to share an immense level of excitement that I have for all of you. The "Adrenal Summit" is being released soon and this is the missing link of understanding in regard to health and happiness in our culture. It seems that the only subjects that get significant attention these days are subjects covered in conventional medicine. Well, conventional medicine does not talk about adrenal function, therefore there is little information available on this subject.

First, you may wonder why conventional medicine does not discuss this significant health issue. The reason is simply because there is not a drug for adrenal fatigue. I am not bashing conventional medicine for this but understand that the model of symptom, diagnosis and prescription does not work if the prescription is not available.

You may also ask, if this does not have a prescription response, is this really a problem? That's an easy answer and actually a big fat YES! I have personally reviewed over 4,300 adrenal test kits in my career and have only seen 5 come back healthy and balanced at the onset of a new client. Yes, ONLY 5! In fairness, people that visit Depke Wellness have health issues, so understand that if you have a health issue, the likelihood that your adrenals are balanced is about 1/10 of one percent. I don't know about you, but those seem like very poor odds to me.

Since so many have not heard of adrenal function let's first look at the symptoms you may feel if your adrenal function is imbalanced.

• Fatigue
• Body aches
• Unexplained weight loss
• Weight gain in your midsection
• Low blood pressure
• Lightheadedness
• Loss of body hair
• Poor mental clarity
• Poor sleep patterns
• Blood sugar instability
• Inflammatory conditions
• Poor immune function
• Toxicity
• Digestive challenges
• Thyroid, pancreas or ovary dysfunction
• and so much more...

The symptoms and health issues are typical for those in a stage II or stage III adrenal insufficiency but phase I is actually quite different. In stage I, you likely feel like you can take on the world. You'll probably say things like "it doesn't matter what life throws at me, I can push through everything" or "stress actually stimulates me and helps my focus and productivity" or even "I can burn the candle at both ends and even in the middle." During this time, your adrenal glands are over producing cortisol to address your chronic stress. Understand though that this is nothing but stimulation of cortisol and can be compared to drinking a pot of coffee or eating sugar for energy. Yes, it's energy but not an optimal production of energy. Staying there long term will eventually push you into later stages of adrenal insufficiency and ultimate the symptoms and health challenges listed about.

With the understandings shared above, I want to get back to why I am so excited for you. Our upcoming adrenal summit is a collection of 13 leaders in their perspective fields as tied directly into adrenal function. The other exciting part is that this summit is going to be free for your enjoyment and education!

Let's take a quick look at who is sharing and what they are sharing.

Dr Daniel Kalish, DC

Adrenal Summit Launch 

Dr. Thomas O'Bryan, DC, CCN, DACBN
Gluten Sensitivity, Celiac and Adrenal Function

Dr Peter Osborne

Gluten Cross Reactivity and Adrenal Function

Dr Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS

The Cortisol/Insulin Connection

 

Dr Josh Axe
Exercise Effects on Adrenal Function

Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

Inflammation Effects on Adrenal Function

Linda Clark, M.A., Certified Nutrition Consultant (CNC)

Detoxification, Toxicity and Adrenal Health

Sue Ingebretson

Stress and the Emotional Impact on Adrenal Health

Dr Robert Janda, DC

Infection and Adrenal Function

Manny Aragon

The Structural Body and Adrenal Health

Lynda Buitrago, MS

The Thyroid/Adrenal Connection

John Lewis and Jeffery Zavik

Obesity, Sensitivity and Adrenal Function

Dr David Fletcher

Chiropractic Care and Adrenal Health

Glen Depke

Adrenal Summit Conclusion

The experts that we have for your enjoyment and education are the leaders in their field and actually the experts experts. This event is going to create a paradigm shift and the needed education for our culture to understand adrenal fatigue, the impact this has on our health and happiness and more importantly, what we can do about this.

 

Vite Frute Cocktails

by Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

While I am not going to ever recommend drinking alcohol, we have to be real, people drink alcohol. In all honesty, I enjoy a cocktail myself every now and then.

The challenge is often the type of alcohol that we drink or the ingredients that are used in cocktails. Personally, I have food sensitivities to gluten, corn, sorghum and yeast. So basically this eliminates beer, gluten free beer yeast and most cocktails from and alcoholic beverage choice. Beer is eliminated due to the gluten content, gluten free beer is eliminated because it is typically made with sorghum, wine is out because of the possibility of yeast in secondary fermentation and most premixed cocktails due to the use of high fructose corn syrup. So with this said, you can see that my alcohol choices are limited.

With that said, I wanted to share of a product that I found recently that was enjoyable that actually fit into my alcohol restrictions. This product is the Vite Frute Cocktails but Veev. I have tried two different flavors, lemonade and cosmopolitan. These use agave nectar rather than high fructose corn syrup, organic ingredients and Acai liqueur. Looking at the bottle of the lemonade cocktail you can actually see residue of the whole fruit that is used to make this product, which is a site to enjoy.

Let's take this a step further here and talk about taste and enjoyment. As mentioned, I have tried the lemonade and cosmopolitan and they are both enjoyable. They taste crisp, clean and a hint of sweetness without an overload of a high sugar taste. These would be perfect on a hot summer day or simply enjoying with a group of friends.

So while I still do not recommend drinking alcohol as a health building practice, when you do chose to indulge, at least do this with a product and company that offers you a high end, organic and natural product. Vite Frute Cocktails from Veev is that company.

I also want to share that the best time to indulge is after you have consumed a healthy meal. After all, alcohol is absorbed right through the stomach lining, so and empty stomach and alcohol is not a good mix.

Enjoy your indulgence!

Results, results, results...

by Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

It is hard to believe but the 2014 six week "More Than Just Weight Loss" program is now complete. While we wait for the results of the completion assessments to come back, I have some results to share with you.

Here are the results of one of the participants to share with you and when the overall results

Before

are in, I will of course share these with you.

The person I will share with you today lost 10.5 pounds in body weight and 5 inches in their stomach. Yes, this was in 6 weeks. Not only was this in 6 weeks but there was no restriction on calories or how much food you can eat. Not only was the weight loss and inches lost a positive but the symptom improvement of 80% for this person is also such a significant factor.

For those that are not familiar with the "More Than Just Weight Loss" program, this is a program that covers all of the areas listed below.

• Anti-inflammatory
• Establishing a healthy gut/brain connection

  

  After

• Anti-parasitic, yeast and fungal
• Gut rebuilding
• Immune boosting
• Liver detoxification

During this entire program you have a focus on reducing inflammation and boosting your immune system function. Added to this in the first week, you will assist in reestablishing the gut/brain connection. In weeks two and three you are also working on the anti-parasitic, anti-yeast and anti-fungal program while also reestablishing the gut lining. Finally in weeks three thru the end you are also focused on improving phase I and phase II liver detoxification. And remember as mentioned earlier in this paragraph, you are working on an anti-inflammatory and immune boosting protocol thru the entire program.

So what does this look like? Well, just take a look at the pictures and you can see for yourself. You may even wonder to yourself, was this person also working out like a fiend through the 6 weeks? Actually they shared that their exercise had actually dropped during this time, so these results are actually with less physical activity.

All of the protocols listed above are tied into supplemental programs but there is also a very important nutritional component to this program. As mentioned earlier, there are zero caloric and food quantity restrictions on the program but you are eliminated all of the highest potentially inflammatory foods during this time. You can not only eat as much as you want but you are instructed to not allow yourself to get overly hungry during this program.

The interesting factor for so many in the program is the experience of new food choices and recognizing how poorly you may react to food choices that you had made with consistency in the past. I actually talked to one of the program participants that shared that almonds are a very high reactive food, yet prior to the program, she ate them all the time and potentially in excess. So many of us are doing this on a regular basis and simply not understanding to inflammation, gut/brain issues, immune challenges and so much more that this is causing.

This program often creates some deep incites for its users that have the potential to last a lifetime. This is due to the fact that you create an awareness of what the food you eat is actually doing to you.

This years program was also a bonus because of the weekly blogs. If you want to review what was discussed during this time, feel free to type "2014 More Than Just Weight Loss" into the search box on this blog and you will have weeks 1 thru 6 come up as well as the completion blog. You'll see what we were eating through this time, some of our successes as well as some of the challenges that will also come up for some. I can also share that the blog for this is not only one of my favorite parts of this program but it is also invaluable to many of the program participants.

I also feel that it is important to share that results do vary from person to person. Many will have results greater than the subject today, but many will also have results that are not as high as today's example. But in the end, we always learn more about ourselves and we can move forward with this information in an empowering way. Just the other day I spoke with a program participant and we were discussing an actual lack of weight loss. This was relatively easy to pinpoint a heavy metal toxicity that was hindering the weight loss, which in turn provides this person with some very important next steps to be taken. Some people in the program found out that they have some very deep and chronic gut issues that will need further repair. Others realized that they likely have some serious adrenal challenges this need to be assessed, while others are now questioning their blood/brain barrier integrity. But you see, when we feel that we do not find success, yet you deepen your awareness of what is truly going on, this is still success and often success at the highest level.

These are all the reasons I am always so excited to offer this program every year. This year, I am going to leave the program open all year. The blogs will be ongoing for each week and the recorded webinars will always be available for new participants. This is simply too good to only let out only once per year. After all, it's almost swim suit weather!

Anyway, shouldn't we all have the opportunity for "More Than Just Weight Loss"?

Recognize that this is so much more than just weight loss though. If you are challenged with any of these health conditions below, this program is essential for you.

• Conditions tied into chronic inflammation
• acid reflux/heartburn
• acne
• allergies/sensitivities
• Alzheimer’s disease
• asthma
• atherosclerosis
• autoimmunity
• bronchitis
• cancer
• celiac disease
• chronic pain
• Crohn’s disease
• cirrhosis
• colitis
• dementia
• dermatitis
• diabetes
• dry eyes
• edema
• emphysema
• eczema
• fibromyalgia
• gastroenteritis
• gingivitis
• heart disease
• hepatitis
• high blood pressure
• insulin resistance
• interstitial cystitis
• obesity
• joint pain/ arthritis/ rheumatoid arthritis
• metabolic syndrome (syndrome X)
• myositis
• nephritis
• osteopenia
• osteoporosis
• pain
• Parkinson’s disease
• periodontal disease
• polychondritis
• psoriasis
• scleroderma
• sinusitis
• Sjögren’s syndrome
• spastic colon
• systemic candidiasis
• tendonitis
• UTI’s
• vaginitis

If you want to learn more about the "More Than Just Weight Loss" program and the benefits this program this may provide for you, follow this link.

Once all the final completion assessments come in, I will post the results in the 2014 More Than Just Weight Loss - Completion blog. I cannot wait to share the average results as well as our most astounding results with you.

2014 More Than Just Weight Loss - Completion

Congratulations to everyone for reaching the conclusion of the 2014 More Than Just Weight Loss program! You've enjoyed the benefit of reducing inflammation, supporting immune function, reconnecting the gut/brain connection, anti-parasitic, fungal and yeast protocols, gut restorative and last but not least liver detoxification. That's more than a mouthful!

This is bittersweet because you have been such an awesome group and I have truly enjoyed interacting with all of you. Thank you for that!

With that said though, this is truly not the end but only the beginning. If you remember way back before you even signed up for the program, we discussed the 6 weeks as a long enough period for most to create new, healthier habits that you can move forward into the rest of your life.

As you are continuing these new habits, I will continue to monitor the completion blog to assist you on this level. So do not be afraid to reach out for direction.

Thank you all once again!

Wellness for the World,
Glen