Can Food Help Chronic Pain?

Food affects every aspect of the human body. It is literally the fuel of the body. Every process, function, compound, etc. depends on a healthy diet. So when it comes to chronic pain, food plays an integral role. At Caring Medical, we recognize the role that food plays in chronic pain. On occasion we recommend that our chronic pain patients get Diet Typing to reveal the exact Hauser Diet that will help his or her body function at its best. In addition to Diet Typing, there are certain foods that can play a specific role in decreasing chronic pain. Specifically in decreasing systemic inflammation that can hinder the body’s immune system. Let’s take a look at some of them and see how they fit into the Hauser Diet.

 

Salmon

Salmon is a well-known source of omega-3 fatty acids. These essential fats are key players in inflammation. They are often labeled as “anti-inflammatory” in that they decrease systemic (“bad”) inflammation. They also aid the inflammatory process in the case of injured soft tissue, as in the inflammation that Prolotherapy stimulates. The fatty acids, specifically eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), dramatically improve the functional ability and diminish the pain in a myriad of diseases, including psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, gout, lupus, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis. Salmon is an excellent option for the Lion, Otter and Bear Diet Types.

 

Onions and Garlic

Onions and garlic are great staples for any Diet Type. They both possess anti-inflammatory agents that help with chronic pain. Onions also have the antioxidant quercetin that aids in inflammation. Both onions and garlic are the basis of tons of recipes; check some of them out in the Hauser Diet Book. We love roasted or sautéed onions as additions to any meal!

 

Blueberries

Berries are excellent sources of antioxidants and blueberries contain a strong antioxidant called anthocyanin. Blueberries are good for the Giraffe and Monkey diets and can be eaten in small portions on the Bear Diet. They are delicious as a snack or as toppings to oatmeal, yogurt and salads.

 

Sweet Potato

The beautiful orange color of sweet potatoes indicates its high amount of carotenoids, a powerful antioxidant that fights systemic inflammation. Sweet potatoes are starchy vegetables that are great for the Giraffe and Monkey Diets. The Bear and Otter diets can eat sweet potatoes in moderation and with the skin on. Try our sweet potato fries recipe, yum!

 

Ginger and Turmeric

Great cooking relies heavily on spices to create delicious flavor. Ginger and turmeric are fun spices that act as analgesics, or pain relievers. They also act as blood thinners in the prevention of blood clots. Ginger can be used in many Asian dishes and turmeric is a staple in Thai dishes. Both of these spices make great additions to any spice cabinet and are suitable for all five Diet Types.

 

For more information on chronic pain relief, check out the Caring Medical Blog, or follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

 

 

Spaghetti Squash with Vodka Tomato Cream Sauce recipe

Spaghetti Squash with Vodka Tomato Cream Sauce and Italian Sausage

Perfect for:
Lion Diet Type®
Otter Diet Type®
Bear Diet Type®
Monkey Diet Type®
Gluten-free diet

Not recommended for:
Giraffe Diet Type®, Candida Diet, Casein Free Diet

This recipe is a Hauser family favorite! For those of you who are counting carbs, this is a great recipe! Squash is a very healthy food, loaded with vitamins and fiber! This is a very easy recipe, so don’t let the ingredient list get you down!

 

What you’ll need:

• Large pot
• 2-4 quart sauce pan
• Skillet
• cutting board
• knife and fork
• mixing bowl

Ingredients:

• 1 spaghetti squash
• 2 Italian sausages (*can be omitted for vegetarian recipe), skin removed, chopped
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1-28 ounce can crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce (*we like sauce with garlic, roastedtomato, or basil added)
• 2-4 pressed garlic cloves
• ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
• ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
• ½ cup heavy cream, at room temperature, OR ½ cup sour cream
• ½ cup vodka
• ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Additional flavor enhancers**:

• 2 slices bacon, chopped into pieces
• ½ cup black olives, sliced
• 1-2 green onions, sliced
• 1 small can of crushed pineapple
• 1 cup of cottage or ricotta cheese

 

** I have made this with all of these added OR just a few added. YUM YUM!

This is a great dish for Fall – with all of the different kinds of squash available. Spaghetti squash is a great substitute for pasta and provides loads of nutritional benefits – vitamins, fiber, and beta carotene to name a few! This may seem like a lot of work, but once you make it once, you’ll find you can make it quite quickly! Give it a try!

Prepare Squash:
Slice squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds with a spoon as you would a pumpkin. Then completely submerge both halves in boiling water and cook for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until the inside is tender to a fork and pulls apart in strands. (It is better to undercook if you are not sure). Remove, drain, and cool with cold water or an ice bath to stop the cooking. Then use a fork to scrape the cooked squash out of its skin, and at the same time, fluff and separate the squash into spaghetti-like strands into a bowl. Discard the skin.

Prepare Sauce:
Remove the skin around Italian sausage. Chop sausage into chunks and cook in skillet with heated olive oil until fully done. Remove excess grease from pan. Add tomato sauce and herbs and simmer. Add vodka and simmer over low heat until the mixture reduces by 1/4, stirring often, about 20 minutes. Stir the cream into the tomato and vodka sauce. Simmer over low heat until the sauce is heated through. Stir in the Parmesan cheese until melted and well blended.

If needed, reheat the squash strands by dipping with a strainer in boiling water just before serving. Top with Sauce. Serve immediately.

If you want to make this dish ahead of time, it works great as a casserole too. Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan. Mix the squash and the sauce together. Pour into 9 x 13 inch pan. Refrigerate. Heat in 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes until hot and bubbly.

 

Hauser Diet Success Story: Pain Relief, Increased Energy and Better Sleep for 28-year-old Pharmacist

The number of convenience food products that the food industry continues to create is astonishing. From microwaveable food and one-skillet meals to crackers and cookies – many people enjoy the quick preparation involved, or lack thereof. However there is one problem with all of these products, they are not real food. Since they are not real food, they lack many nutrients and contain many harmful chemicals and ingredients. For someone who is looking to obtain/maintain a healthy weight, enjoy great energy, sleep well, have great looking skin, have healthy digestion, avoid illness, and prevent disease, convenience food should be far from their plates.

 

Healthy eating involves not only eating right for their Diet Type, but also consuming fresh food. Why? The added chemicals in most convenience and pre-packaged foods are not found on any of the Hauser Diet Food Pyramids. They offer little-to-no nutrition to the human body and do not help our patients with their goals. In fact, they can keep a person from certain health goals.

 

Alice, 28, chronic pain and fatigue

Take the case of Alice, a young 28-year-old woman who came to see us for chronic pain and fatigue. She battled pain in her low back, hips, neck, and feet after a long day of standing. She was a pharmacist and spent her whole day on her feet and her lack of energy made it hard to get through the day. She got plenty of sleep close to ten hours a night but never felt fully rested. The pharmacy she worked for had a multitude of convenience foods, which she received a discount on, so her diet consisted mainly of these foods and she grazed all day long. Alice was in need of a change. Her friend who had come to see us referred Alice to Dr. Hauser. After her first visit with the doctor, Alice was off to get Diet Typing and food allergy tests done in our lab.

 

Her Hauser Diet Typing results showed that she was a fast oxidizer with acidic blood pH – Alice needed protein! Unfortunately the convenience foods that she grazed on all day long were full of high fructose corn syrup and bleached wheat flour, both terrible food ingredients but even more terrible for someone with acidic blood and fast oxidation. Alice was placed on the Hauser Otter Diet and worked with the nutritionist to come up with meal ideas that could fit into her lifestyle.

Alice came back two months later to report she had much more energy, her sleep had improved and her pain was almost completely gone. She even said that she had enough energy at night to do some laundry that was out of the question before Hauser Diet Typing.

 

Alice gave up soda, fig newtons, bread, and chips and had added salads with avocado and organic lunchmeat, grilled meat and vegetables, and occasional whole-wheat rolls. Her second visit consisted of reviewing her food allergy results and discussing a few more changes that Alice needed to make. Seeing the dramatic difference that the Hauser Otter Diet had made, Alice was ready to see how avoiding her food allergies would help her even more – which is what she saw when she avoided dairy and wheat which were the two strongest sensitivities her tests revealed.

 

 

We see dramatic improvements such as Alice’s all the time, especially when people go from eating convenience foods to fresh, whole foods. Eating right for your Diet Type requires fresh food and what a difference you will feel! Give us a call today to set up your Diet Typing appointment!

 

Our nutritional program assists our patients with chronic joint pain who are taking Prolotherapy treatments. For more Prolotherapy information or to make an appointment with a Prolotherapy doctor, call us at 708-848-7789

Shoulder Pain, SLAP Lesions and Diet

“Yes, the Prolotherapy worked wonders. . . And incorporating the diet seemed to be the final key.”  Read on to hear how Prolotherapy the Hauser Diet helped one patient with a labral tear in his shoulder.

 

 Andy came to Caring Medical because of a shoulder injury from boxing. He was 34 and had been a mixed martial artist since he was a child, but was no longer able to train or compete due to the severity of his sports injury. He had been doing physical therapy for a couple months with some improvement, but continued to have intense shoulder pain with many arm movements.

 

 

Prior to seeing Dr. Hauser, Andy visited a sports medicine physician that diagnosed him with a Superior Labral Anterior and Posterior (SLAP) tear and recommended arthroscopic surgery as Andy’s only option for relief. A labral tear affects the labrum, a fibrocartilage structure within the shoulder that provides joint stability and serves as an attachment for ligaments and tendons of the arm and shoulder. A SLAP lesion is one in which there is a tear in the superior glenoid labrum from anterior to posterior. The typical orthopedic approach with SLAP lesions is to debride (cut out) the injured area and suture or tack down the flap that is left after the shaving. Andy was hesitant to go through with the surgery and wondered if it was really his only treatment option.

 

He did some research that led him to Caring Medical’s website and decided to schedule an appointment. When Dr. Hauser examined Andy he noted tenderness in his rotator cuff, which is a common finding in SLAP tears because of the increased pressure and strain placed on the rotator cuff as a result of the tear. He also noted a clicking noise in Andy’s shoulder with elevation, indicating that the joint was unstable. The recommended treatment for Andy’s shoulder was Prolotherapy with Platelet Rich Plasma (PRPP). PRP involves extracting platelets and growth factors from the patent’s blood and injecting those substances into and around the injured area to repair the structures of the joint. In our experience, tissues such as a labrum or meniscus can heal faster with PRPP because PRP enhances the fibroblastic events involved in tissue healing, while Hackett-Hemwall Prolotherapy stimulates repair of the surrounding structures as well.

 

Andy reported significant improvements in his shoulder pain and stability at each of his visits and was 75% better by his fourth treatment. After two more treatments he plateaued at 80% improvement. He told Dr. Hauser that he believed his immune system was not functioning properly because he continually had mild to moderate joint pains in various areas of his body over the years. Dr. Hauser decided it was time to look more closely into dietary factors related to Andy’s healing ability/immune system so that he could make a full recovery. In his case, we recommended Hauser Diet Typing with food allergy testing. The tests take a detailed look at which foods are best for your individual physiology. The Diet Typing revealed that Andy needed to be on the Monkey Diet, which is a low fat, high carbohydrate diet (65% carbohydrate, 20% protein and 15% fat). Andy also discovered that he had numerous food sensitivities. No wonder he was having joint pains and his shoulder wasn’t yet 100% improved. Andy was eating foods that he was allergic to on a daily basis. When a person does this, their immune system is compromised because it’s continuously mounting a reaction to the food the person eats every day. He was advised to follow the Monkey Diet and avoid his food allergies.

 

When we followed up with Andy a couple months later, he sent us the following email:

“Hello,

Diet is going fairly well considering. As predicted, I’ve lost quite a bit of weight through the process. Joint pain has pretty much faded. I regularly have little to no pain for most days; discomfort is a more accurate word. I’m slowly starting to build back the muscles around the shoulder, making good progress too. The idea is that I will start implementing more dynamic type activity once I feel strong and stable. But yes, the Prolotherapy worked wonders. And incorporating the diet seemed to be the final key. Really amazing how much diet has to do with it all, especially concerning food allergies. I still notice if I load on foods I’m allergic to, it almost surely results in a bit of shoulder pain. Unreal how that works. Please pass along to doc Hauser that I promote prolo to anyone with joint pain. Hard to believe that my sports doctors said surgery was my only option for recovery. Yikes!”

Another couple months after that, we received even more good news:

“All is well on this end.  Shoulder it in pretty good shape.  Lifting regularly and able to stay pretty active.  As long as I keep the diet in check with allergy foods, I seem to be okay.  Appreciate the follow up.”

We get emails and calls from patients like Andy all the time that are looking for a non-surgical approach for a SLAP lesion. In our experience, Prolotherapy with PRP is a great solution, and a healthy diet may be the finishing touch. If you are looking to get back to sports without surgery, we are happy to see you for an appointment. Give us a call.

How Does Food Affect Your Healing?

Just like the right type of fuel for a car, the right type of food for the body leads to proper functioning. Food fuels the body.

 

What would happen if you were to put diesel into your car? It certainly wouldn’t run correctly. If you put diesel into a truck, however, the truck would run just as it is supposed to. You’d laugh at any salesman who claimed that he had a gas that would work perfectly in any kinds of transportation, from cars to planes.

Your body’s fuel is food. When you put the wrong fuel in your body, it doesn’t run correctly. With the wrong fuel, your body can’t efficiently do the things it is supposed to do. That’s what we tell a lot of patients who are getting Prolotherapy and not healing. They are putting the wrong type of fuel into their bodies physiologically inhibiting their bodies to run correctly! The body can’t heal when it doesn’t have the right fuel to do so.

 

If this is true, why do so many people believe nutritionists who claim to have the one diet that will work for absolutely everyone?

 

Our solution? We recommend getting Diet Typed. Diet Typing personalizes a diet for you, and it tells you which type of “fuel” you need. The Diet Types are based on a few different factors; blood pH and oxidative rate being the two most important. Every person’s blood pH falls within a narrow range, large fluctuations would cause the body to shut down. But little fluctuations have the potential to change everything. The higher, or more alkaline, your blood pH is, the more carbohydrates must be consumed to keep the pH neutral. The lower, or more acidic, your blood pH is, the more protein is required to keep the pH neutral. The oxidative rate is simply the rate at which your body processes food.

These levels and rates are all tested, and the results play a factor in which Diet Type would best work for that person. The five Hauser Diet Types are:

The Lion Diet Type- The Lion Diet Type is 60% protein, 15% carbohydrates, and 25% fat. This Diet Type is recommended for people who don’t process carbohydrates very well. These people usually have abnormal blood sugar, high insulin, and acidic blood pH. Without balancing their food correctly, lions can have difficult side effects. Not only does their body not work correctly, but they are prone to mood swings. Lions’ bodies are incredibly unbalanced, and when a body is unbalanced, it is very, very hard to heal.

The Otter Diet Type- The Otter Diet Type is 50% protein, 25% fat, and 25% carbohydrates. The Otter Diet Type is the most common diet type. It’s designed to help balance blood sugar. Otters are very fast oxidizers, which is why they must eat a lot of protein.

 

 

 

The Bear Diet Type- The Bear Diet Type is 30% protein, 20% fat, and 50% carbohydrates. This is the diet that is recommended for people with normal blood pH and normal oxidative rates. This diet type is designed to get the maximum amount of energy from food. It offers a great variety of foods, and keeps the body’s levels in check.

 

 

The Monkey Diet Type- The Monkey Diet Type is 20% protein, 15% fat, and 65% carbohydrates.  The Monkey Diet Type is recommended for people with a normal glucose test, and a high blood pH. It’s designed to lower pH levels. Our bodies are designed to be balanced, which means neutral pH levels. Balanced pH leads to disease prevention, and a smoother, more streamlined system for your body.

 

 

The Giraffe Diet Type- The Giraffe Diet Type is 10% protein, 10% fat, and 80% carbohydrates. It is usually a vegetarian diet. Giraffes have alkaline blood pH and are slow oxidizers. This diet is usually recommended to people with autoimmune conditions.

 

 

 

Just as a car cannot function without the right fuel, a body can not function without the right food. Eating right for your body leads to better functioning and quicker healing. Trying to eat right for someone else’s body results in the body not working the way it is supposed to. Diet Typing holds the key to unlocking the right fuel for your unique body.

This is a diet that has full potential to will work for you, no matter who you are. If you would like to know more about the Hauser Diet, call 708.848.7789, or contact us here.

Bone Marrow Prolotherapy and Diet Work Together for Chronic Ankle Pain

MD is a 59-year-old woman who recently came all the way from Alaska to see our Prolotherapy physician, Dr. Ross Hauser. She had been suffering with chronic ankle pain resulting from a lateral sprain that occurred while dancing over three years ago. As the owner of a young men’s academy for “at risk youth”, MD was struggling to accomplish the numerous daily tasks that her job required because she could not walk more than 30 feet without severe ankle pain. Since her injury, MD regrettably had to give up all of the weight bearing recreational activities she enjoyed, such as hiking through the beautiful Alaskan wilderness. MD had previously seen an orthopedist and tried a cortisone injection, which did not relieve her pain. Her orthopod recommended a surgical ankle fusion or surgical implantation of a cadaver part, however, he told MD her other option was to just live with the pain, as he felt there was only a 50-50 chance that surgery would help. MD was not happy with that option and went searching for a solution.

First Appointment:

MD first visited Caring Medical in the winter of 2011. Dr. Hauser felt that MD’s condition was a little more serious than the average, “run of the mill” osteoarthritis case. Her MRI revealed that along with osteoarthritis MD also had avascular necrosis of the talus bone and synovitis in her ankle joint. Avascular necrosis is cellular death of bone due to interrupted blood supply. When this occurs in a joint, it can lead to destruction of the articular surfaces of the joint. Synovitis is a painful condition that involves inflammation of the synovial membrane of a joint. Because of these conditions, Dr. Hauser recommended Diet Typing and other blood work as he suspected there may a systemic problem contributing to MD’s pain. After some initial testing, it appeared that MD’s immune system was not functioning properly and further testing revealed that MD had an autoimmune condition called Scleroderma. In Scleroderma, the body produces antibodies against itself and attacks its own tissue. The disease often causes degenerative changes and scarring of the skin, joints, and organs.

Dr. Hauser recommended MD follow a strict Otter diet and herbal regimen with the goal of optimizing healing and reversing the progression of her autoimmune disease.  He also recommended MD receive Bone Marrow Prolotherapy to regenerate, the damaged cartilage, ligaments, and tendons of her ankle joint. MD received her first treatment that day and left with a new diet and supplement plan to facilitate full healing.

Progress Report:

When MD came in for her second treatment, two months later, she was pleased to report that her ankle felt stronger and more stable. She was able to be up on her feet for longer periods of time without pain and she could now walk about a half mile without pain. She was still following the Otter Diet and had noticed big increases in energy and an overall sense of well-being. She received another round of Bone Marrow Prolotherapy and returned home to Alaska. At her third visit, MD enthusiastically reported an even greater improvement. She was back to hiking 2-3 miles on hilly, uneven ground and she said that there were several days over the past couple months where she had absolutely no pain in her ankle.

She continued to follow the Otter Diet that Dr. Hauser had recommended and she continued to adhere to the prescribed herbal regimen. She said the diet was easy for her to follow because her energy was so much better since starting the diet and she felt the diet was also helping to heal her ankle.

Dr. Hauser ordered a couple follow-up blood tests at MD’s third visit to evaluate how her body was responding to the diet. MD’s blood test results had greatly improved after adhering to the diet as her blood sugars decreased and her blood pH was no longer acidic.  MD felt that the improvement she experienced in her energy and ankle thus far was truly remarkable and she plans to return in a couple of months for a follow-up appointment.

MD’s case is another great example of how diet works together with Prolotherapy to heal a severely degenerated joint.  If you or someone you know suffers from chronic joint pain, contact us today.  There are different treatment options that can be utilized depending on the extent of joint degeneration, such as Dextrose Prolotherapy, Platelet Rich Plasma Prolotherapy, or Bone Marrow Prolotherapy. The Hauser Diet is used to assist our patients in reaching complete healing maximum health.

 

Questions? Email drhauser@caringmedical.com. Or follow our blogs, Facebook page, and Twitter to learn more!

 

 

The Hauser Diet vs. The Dukan Diet

You have may have heard the news about a new fad diet: The Dukan Diet. Dr. Pierre Dukan developed this diet about eight years ago, but it was a well kept secret by numerous celebrities and millions of French women. Dr. Dukan has recently become famous because Carol Middleton, Prince William’s new mother-in-law, as well as Katherine herself were both on this diet in order to lose weight for the royal wedding.

 

Ironically, many Americans are following similar diets in hopes of weight loss, but the obesity rate in the United States is still at record highs. As a matter of fact, according to the fifth edition of the “F as in Fat” report, 16 states’ obesity rates have increased, and in six of those states the increase has happened for the second year in a row. Across the country, 66 percent of American adults are obese. Children and adolescents are nearly to that two-thirds mark. What can be done about this horrible epidemic?

 

There always seems to be a new “right way” to eat, a super-diet that is perfect for everyone. “Just follow this one rule and lose x-amount of pounds in one week!” Recently, the diet on everyone’s lips is the “high-protein” diet. One could make the argument that this fad comes from the Dukan Diet, whose philosophy involves a 10-day streak of consuming nothing except water and protein in the form of meat, fish, and eggs. The Dukan Diet has greatly affected the world of Hollywood, not to mention becoming very popular across Europe. The diet then has various steps to follow, gradually adding non-starchy vegetables, and then slowly adding carbohydrates with two splurge meals as long as one day a week is an all-protein day. The final phase is eating “normally” except for one all-protein day.

 

Health Claims of the Dukan Diet

The Dukan Diet is frequently compared to the Atkins Diet, although one main difference is an emphasis on eating healthier lean protein rather than high-fat protein. Some aspects of the Dukan Diet are beneficial. For one, protein is very good for you, and sometimes cutting carbohydrates can help lose weight, which is why there has been success with this diet. The rapid weight loss at the beginning of the diet it motivational. People tend to stick with a diet if they get immediate and visual results. Second, vegetables are very important after the first phase, which provides essential nutrients. Third, drinking a large amount of water is stressed, which is important in a world where soft drink consumption is much too high. And fourth, exercising is required in order to lose weight in the first phase, and the exercise requirement grows in the later stages.

 

Criticisms of the Dukan Diet

As with all fad diets, there are some downfalls. The “all you can eat” theme may make losing weight more difficult while an emphasis on correct portion sizes could help tremendously. The first phase completely cuts out heart-healthy fat, fiber, and essential vitamins and minerals, which makes the dieter lose out on these important biological components for the entire first phase of the diet. The weight loss of the first phase is mostly water weight, and eventually muscle mass, which is not what you want to lose. These losses can lead to dehydration, which can affect the overall health of the dieter. Eating meat as often as is required for the diet can get extremely expensive. Meat can be pricey, and the Dukan diet requires all-protein days throughout the phases. The constant consumption of protein may also become monotonous for some who would like a more diverse diet.

 

A short while ago, Dr. Dukan sued a Dr. Jean-Michel Cohen for libel after Dr. Cohen expressed his professional negative opinion of the diet, saying that it is dangerous and ineffective. Dr. Dukan ended up losing his libel case, and was fined 3,000 euros in damages for “abusive procedure”.

 

Compatibility of the Dukan Diet and the Hauser Diet

The theory of the Hauser Diet explains why this diet in potentially unhealthy for some but helpful for others. The main principle of the Hauser Diet is that there is not one proper diet plan for every person. Everyone has a one-of-a-kind physiology and needs a unique healthy diet plan to support that physiology. A low carbohydrate, high protein diet works for some people, mainly people who are fast oxidizers of have acidic blood pH. These people need the Hauser Lion or Otter Diets, which both have a high-protein content and low-carbohydrate content, like the Dukan Diet. With a low carbohydrate diet, these people will experience natural weight loss, better energy, and improved heart disease risk factors. However, there are some people who would experience great health risks if placed on a high protein diet. These people have slow oxidation and alkaline blood pH. They need a more vegetarian diet plan, such as the Giraffe or Monkey Diets. Some people, the Hauser Bear Diet Types, fall right in the middle and do best with a balance of protein and carbohydrates.

 

But how can you know what kind of Diet Type is right for you? With Diet Typing! Through tests of glucose insulin tolerance and hemoglobin A1c level, Caring Medical can reveal a person’s oxidation rate and snapshot of past sugar levels. Additionally a fasting venous blood pH measurement shows whether a person’s physiology is in or out of balance. The test results show the person what their correct Diet Type is, and how to follow their correct diet plan.

 

Simply trying a diet like the Dukan Diet because you have heard of successes and think that it may work is not the right way to choose a diet plan, and you may end up harming your body. With the Hauser Diet, you can monitor your progress by retesting your fasting blood sugar levels, Hemoglobin A1c, blood pH levels, cholesterol, blood glucose levels, and/or other labs in order to ensure you are moving in the right directing for YOU. The Hauser Diet can give you the confidence of knowing how to eat that will make you feel great and lose weight, naturally and safely.

 

An important part of losing weight is usually an exercise program. If you are avoiding exercise because of chronic pain, Caring Medical can help! Dr. Ross Hauser has given Prolotherapy treatments to everyone kind of athlete, from the occasional to professional, and relieved them permanently from their chronic pain. Click here to learn more about Prolotherapy!

New Research on Exercise Recovery

Can Beer Play a Part in Muscle Repair?

If you’re an athlete you know the importance of proper muscle recovery, especially after a big race or intense game, match, etc. It’s common for athletes to reach for ibuprofen or other non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs) to reduce the inflammation caused by intense exercise. What most people don’t realize is that inflammation is the body’s way of repairing tissue. Inflammation results from blood flow to damaged areas, therefore stopping the blood flow with NSAIDs can actually slow healing and recovery. The better way to recover is to consume foods and supplements that accelerate the inflammation process leading to quicker recovery.

A recent study published by the official Journal of the American College of Sports Medicine introduced an interesting source of muscle recovery: beer. That’s right, researchers studied non-alcoholic wheat beer and its effect on marathon runners. The main measurements were their inflammation markers and immune strength after running the Munich marathon. They concluded that consuming 1-1.5 liters of non-alcoholic beer (that’s approximately three to four 12-oz beers a day) in the weeks before and the weeks after strenuous exercise can decrease inflammation by 20-32%. They chose this beverage because of its variety of antioxidants called polyphenols. As they measured the amount of post exercise inflammation they found that beer did in fact decrease inflammation. So, should beer be a part of your recovery diet?

Hauser Diet Commentary:

We don’t deny that diet plays a huge role in muscle recovery, but we would caution anyone considering using beer for this purpose. Yes, beer contains various polyphenols but it isn’t the only source of polyphenols and it can affect an athlete’s physiology in adverse ways.

Diet Typing for Muscle Recovery

The main premise of the Hauser Diet is that everyone has different physiologies that have different dietary needs. Proper diet can keep blood sugars stable, leading to maximum energy and health, as well as keep venous blood pH balanced that leads to properly functioning metabolism. Beer has a detrimental effect on a person with a carnivorous physiology such as an Otter or Lion and even a Bear, leading to blood sugar crashes and decreased energy production. It may be ok for people with Monkey or Giraffe physiology, but we still recommend fresh food and supplements as sources of polyphenols and other antioxidants to help with tissue recovery.

Antioxidants for Muscle Recovery

Exercise itself causes damage to cells. As cells are damaged free radicals are released and travel through the body destroying things and decreasing connective tissue repair. Athletes need antioxidants for repair. Fresh foods such as vegetables, fruits, oils, fish, and etc. all contain antioxidants. Proper diet, according to your Hauser Diet Type, and various supplements are the best ways to access these antioxidants. As for the polyphenols found in beer, you can also find them in various berries, grains and herbs. So stick to your Hauser Diet Type and be sure to get a variety of foods in!

Enzymes for Muscle Recovery

Supplements are excellent for recovery. We recommend that everyone take a high quality multivitamin, but there are many more that can help. Enzymes help accelerate the healing process and can be taken in supplement form. All Prolotherapy patients are Caring Medical are put on a specific supplement regimen to reach maximum health and recovery. For more information on becoming a Prolotherapy patient, click here.

Your body is a machine that needs regular fueling and upkeep. It takes work to keep it running smoothly, especially after you have taken it out on a long road trip! Fresh organic food is the best fuel, so eat up!

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more on the Hauser Diet! 

Hormones and Diet for Severe Fatigue

When you hear the word “diet” what do you think of? Most people think of weight loss or fitness, but there is so much more that diet encompasses. Take a Bill, a recent patient of ours who came to us in hopes of figuring out exactly what was going on in his body. Take a moment to read his story:

Long Term Fatigue

Ten years ago Bill was working a stressful job that entailed 15-hour shifts. On his days off he would often sleep 24 hours to recover. One day he collapsed on the job because he was severely fatigued. He ceased work and went to see his doctor. After eight months of testing Bill was left with no answers. He continued his job but was constantly fatigued and could not put in the effort he used to. He was eventually referred to a psychiatrist, again no results. At one point he tested positive for mononucleosis, more commonly known as mono, and elevated liver enzymes. He saw two specialists and recovered from mono but still felt weak. In an effort to increase his strength he started karate, a favorite pastime of his, but collapsed shortly after beginning. Once a healthy Tae Kwan Do instructor, Bill now had severe fatigue and experienced stabbing pain in his legs whenever he exerted himself physically. After years of no relief he found Caring Medical on the internet and made an appointment to come see us.

Natural Medicine for Low Energy

During Bill’s first visit we listened and documented his story and past health history. Dr. Hauser met with him and explained that he needed to take a look at Bill’s physiology to see what is going on inside Bill’s body. Dr. Hauser recommended a full range of hormone testing, Diet Typing and food sensitivity testing. Bill decided he wanted to start with hormones and headed to our lab to have the following levels checked: cortisol, testosterone, progesterone, estradiol, DHEA, insulin-like growth factor 1, aldosterone, vasopressin, pregnenolone and an adrenal panel. After Bill’s visit with Dr. Hauser and our lab, he was exhausted and felt his fatigue come on full force. He was ready for some answers to his fatigue.

When his results came back Dr. Hauser asked Bill to have two more lab tests done – a glycosylated hemoglobin test and a fasting insulin level – before he returned to the office. He did so and came back for a follow-up where Dr. Hauser explained that his testosterone level is low and that his vasopressin and aldosterone levels are low. He started Bill on a testosterone cream and referred him to an endocrinologist to test for diabetes insupidus.

The endocrinologist ran more tests on Bill and found that Bill was severely deficient in Vitamin D, but was did not have diabetes insipidus. He started Bill on a once-a-week 50,000iu dose of Vitamin D. Bill continued with his testosterone treatment and added the Vitamin D.

Diet and Low Energy

Seven months later Bill decided to come back for Diet Typing and sensitivity testing. He had seen about a 20% improvement in energy but was ready to reach 100% recovery. He told us that it took about three months for the testosterone to build up enough in his body to feel a difference. He had a little more energy and strength with less fatigue and pain. We knew that Diet Typing would provide great results since his current diet was high in processed foods, common culprits of low energy. The only fresh food he ate was multiple servings of fruit and fruit juice each day.

His Diet Typing results showed that he was in danger of developing diabetes and he had acidic blood pH. He would need to dramatically decrease his fruit intake and follow the Otter Diet for balanced blood sugars and venous blood pH. He would also need to avoid his food sensitivities – pineapple, dairy and eggs – to keep his energy levels high and his inflammation and pain down.

Three months after starting the Otter Diet and continuing on his testosterone and Vitamin D supplementation Bill was starting to feel normal again. He told us he had more energy, was never tired in the afternoon anymore, and felt like his overall health had dramatically improved. Imagine feeling this way after 10 years of horrible fatigue and pain! Bill was so grateful for his long-awaited recovery and we were thrilled to see him walk out of our office as a new man.

It’s amazing all that diet can change and improve! Caring Medical truly believes in the power of food to heal. To learn more about the Hauser Diet be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter. And for more information on diet and chronic pain give us a call as 708-848-7789.

Hip Pain and Weight Problematic for Active Patient

Athlete seeks pain relief and weight loss

 

We recently heard from a patient who was thrilled with the results she had from Prolotherapy and Diet Typing. Liz was a 61-year-old former tennis player who had previously given up the game due to chronic pain. Her hip started hurting shortly after a knee surgery about 5 years ago. Afgter one surgery done she wanted a non-surgical option for her hip. She saw an orthopedist who diagnosed her with coax profunda after reviewing her X-ray. He sent Liz to physical therapy but she did not have any relief. He then recommended a cortisone shot but she refused to get the shot and went looking for other options.

Hip Pain and Prolotherapy

By the time she came to Caring Medical her hip pain had turned into a constant dull ache with stiffness and burning. She had pain while standing and found it difficult to stand up from a seated position. She wasn’t able to workout as intensely as she wanted to and had watched her weight creep to 170 pounds. At 5’5” she was overweight and needed help.

After a physical examination our Prolotherapy doctor Dr. Ross Hauser diagnosed Liz with joint instability in her hip. He told her he could heal her hip pain with Prolotherapy. He also recommended Diet Typing as a way to increase her healing potential and for weight loss. Liz decided to start with Prolotherapy injections and think about diet later. Her first treatment consisted of 55 injections to her right hip. Dr. Hauser advised her to exercise to increase blood flow and strengthen her hip. He told her to be sure to include the BOSU ball and one-legged standing as a part of her activity.

By her second visit Liz was feeling slightly better. She was able to play golf on her vacation and was happy with her level of pain, but she was ready to get 100% better. She received another round of Prolotherapy injections and left with the same exercise instructions as before.

Diet Typing for Weight Loss and Healing

By her third visit she was starting to notice a considerable decrease in her hip pain and she was ready to tackle her weight. Before her third round of injections she headed to our lab for Diet Typing and food sensitivity testing. Dr. Hauser prescribed the Otter Diet to Liz and treated her hip for a third time.

Liz met with our nutrition coach who was able to further explain the Otter Diet. Liz had been following a low-calorie vegetarian diet but her elevated blood sugar levels showed that the diet was doing a lot of harm. Liz would need more protein and fat in her diet to prevent these high blood sugar levels. She would also need to cut back on her alcohol intake. She had two or three glasses of wine each night and with the Otter Diet we advised her to stick to one every few nights.

Further Diet Changes with Food Sensitivities

A few weeks later Liz received her food sensitivity results. Turns out Liz was sensitive to dairy, egg whites, gluten, almonds and turmeric. Our nutrition coach worked with Liz to come up with meal and snack ideas and she was off to begin her new diet. Within three weeks she noticed a difference and felt less bloated, even her rings fit better. Her friends could tell and difference and were proud of the changes she had made.

Long Term Results

Now, six months after her last Prolotherapy treatment and Diet Typing Liz is back to tennis, pain free and just a few pounds away from her ideal body weight. She was thrilled with the results and extremely happy to have found Caring Medical. Now that her constant hip pain is gone she can’t imagine how she made it through each day, she feels like a new person! And we’re sure it feels great to be active again.

If you are like Liz and are battling chronic pain that is keeping you from your active life, give us a call. You don’t have to watch your weight or you health slip away from you. You can find the right healthy diet and be relieved of your pain. Give us a call today to learn more about your specific situation.