Our Fat-Loss Programme

We work with many weight loss challenges in our clinic, and insulin resistance is huge!  We have a machine that tells us on the spot how ‘insulin resistant’ someone is.  This is a pre-diabetic condition which medically doesn’t get picked up due to the fact that it’s NOT diabetes.  Medically (and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with this) they are always waiting for tests to be bad enough to 1. put us on medication; 2. send us to a specialist or 3. operate.

I tell my clients all the time ‘thank goodness they didn’t find anything!!’.  Insulin resistance means that the cells are not taking in insulin easily and/or the internal mechanism of the cell which deals with insulin isn’t working.

One of my clients yesterday has been exercising his butt off, changing his diet and weight hasn’t come off.  Yesterday his insulin resistance was huge (about 6x maximum level for ’safe’ insulin levels - no wonder his body isn’t losing weight.  The small amounts of carbohydrates he’s having (fruits, rice crackers, bread…hmmm, and cereals) are simply storing as fat.  His body can’t handle them at the moment.

By the way, insulin is a very inflammatory hormone when out of whack - it can be a major cause of obesity, heart disease, diabetes and pain.

Luckily we have some fabulous products which help reverse insulin resistance.

Madonna Guy ND

Chief Clinician at New Leaf

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We’ve had such fantastic results with our Advanced Injury Repair programme, using frequency specific microcurrent, that we often feel like it makes no sense how well it works.  But it does!  The treatment has been developed in the U.S. over the past 100 years with improvements in technology that have allowed better and better results.  More recently Dr Carolyn McMakin has published several medical research papers which proves the anti-inflammatory and repair effects on the body.  As the FSM equipment is TGA approved in Australia, it has been through rigorous testing which have PROVEN the increase in cellular energy, the decrease in inflammatory hormones and the increase in the immune boosting capacity of the frequency specific microcurrent technology.

Madonna Guy ND

Chief Clinician at New Leaf Natural Therapies

Have you heard of SIBO??  Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth???  It’s been found that 80% of people with Fibromyalgia and 100% of people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome have SIBO.  It’s hard to detect medically and I find this statistic totally incredible.  It doesn’t surprise us at New Leaf since these clients generally require fairly big detoxification processes (gently and long-term).  The major filters of the body are nearly always exhausted (ph is too acidic, digestion not working, liver not filtering properly, and kidneys generally damaged…).  So get your gut checked out - it’s very easy to have candida, celiac, helicobacter & parasites checked for, and the process of ridding your body of these (NOT WITH DRUGS AS THIS CAUSES MORE ISSUES) will make a huge difference to your health, long term.

How to Get Rid of Stress - today I’ll give some Natural Pain Treatments that really work! Of course I say this with 15 years of naturopathic experience with a huge emphasis on nutrition and body work!

1.  Have you ever tried magnesium for stress and pain relief? There are many brands I find good (many are total rubbish - some simply are a waste of energy).  Why magnesium?  When we are stressed we chew up a huge number of minerals and vitamins at the speed of light.  We use heaps of magnesium, potassium and calcium, lots of B vitamins just for a start.  When our body is running on adrenalin, noradrenalin and cortisol we also can get quite acidic bodies (probably due to losing our minerals) which leads to chronic disease and chronic pain.  Our body used magnesium, calcium and potassium to help our bodies stay more alkaline, if we are deficient in magnesium and other minerals (like 70-80% of the human race) than our bodies slowly but surely start to be more and more acidic, which is linked to heart disease, cancers, arthritis and dementia!

Scary huh?  However, it’s easy to add magnesium.  I recommend a product called Metagenics Fibroplex or CardioX which both have an easy-to-absorb magnesium which gets into the cells pronto!  It makes us more alkaline, helps our nervous system heal faster, helps in reversing insulin resistance (a side-effects of long-term-stress) and much more!  It’s also excellent for Frozen Shoulder, Back and Shoulder Pain, Sciatic Pain and more.  It was originally developed for Fibromyalgia and it is fantastic for that long-term health problems! AND - if your body is magnesium deficient it can take up to 4 months at high doses to get enough into your system so that you’ve re-established levels in your muscles, bones, nerves and blood supply.

2.  Let’s briefly look at diet - the D word!!!  What does diet have to do with stress??  So Much!!!  Doctors really miss the boat here - there are connections with every hormonal  issue in our bodies… if we are not getting enough good fats (fish, avocados, LSA - linseed, sunflower and almonds) for essential fatty acids), green leafy vegetables for anti-oxidants and minerals, healthy organic and free-range meats, eggs and dairy products for protein, than we don’t have the ingredients to make our hormones.  If we eat too many carbohydrates - grains, starchy vegetables (potatoes, pumpkins, carrots - yes carrots!), sugars - natural and refined) than our body releases a lot more insulin, which increases adrenalin and cortisol (our stress hormones), makes us more acidic and throws our blood sugar levels into chaos.

As a general rule of thumb, for a long and healthy life, we need to have approximately even amounts, per meal of:  Fats + Protein = Carbohydrates…  Sound easy??  If we need to lose weight, we need to use the Keto Diet see www.ketodiet.com.au

What is truly amazing about Dr Jeffrey Bland is that he’s been doing research in both medical and natural therapies for 40 years.  He is 64 years young and feels the best he’s ever felt in his life.  Attending a congress recently where Dr Bland was a key speaker (along with other renowned health experts) they basically proved that natural therapies along with lifestyle intervention and dietary intake are the key parameters which improve our health long-term and help us live longer.  Nothing else offers that level of health and vitality. 

They spoke often at the seminar about the Blue Zones in the world.  These are areas in the world where people live longer, are happier and have a sense of purpose and wellbeing, often without any medical intervention or chronic disease.

1. Move (find ways to move mindlessly, make moving unavoidable)
2. Plan de Vida (know your purpose in life)
3. Down Shift (work less, slow down, rest, take vacation)
4. 80% Rule (stop eating when you’re 80% full)
5. Plant-Power (more veggies, less protein and processed foods)
6. Red Wine (consistency and moderation)
7. Belong (create a healthy social network)
8. Beliefs (spiritual or religious participation)
9. Your Tribe (make family a priority)

Got your list going about goals for the future???

More coming soon …about Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, Celiac Disease and Leaky Gut Syndrome.

Madonna Guy ND, Wynnum Australia

I have always known that depression, pain and aging were linked.  I found this article, which also confirms current medical opinion on the issue.

Depression, Pain, and Aging

Jordan F. Karp, M.D., and Charles F. Reynolds III, M.D.

The prevalence of persistent pain increases with age. Painful conditions such as fibromyalgia, chronic low back pain, osteoarthritis, and neuropathic pain are frequently comorbid with depression. When comorbid, these conditions slow the treatment of each other, worsen physical and psychological disability, and increase caregiving burden. Anatomic, neurochemical, and psychological similarities lead to high rates of comorbidity. Anxiety, disordered sleep, fatigue, and cognitive impairment are frequent “cotravelers” with depression and pain in late life; these conditions require vigilant screening and treatment. Psychiatrists should be familiar with current analgesic prescribing patterns and be able to effectively collaborate with primary care physicians and physical therapists to optimize treatment outcomes for patients with these complex problems.

Madonna’s comments:

I’m impressed that psychiatrists are aware and working with the combination of Depression and Pain, two of the problems we treat most in our clinic.  Obviously one could ask, is it the chicken or the egg - which came first, but it doesn’t really matter.  I regularly have clients in with pain problems and the only drug they’re taking from the doctor is an anti-depressant.  One side-effect is exhaustion, so it just adds to their depression and often the pain is still there anyway!  Another side-effect is often weight gain, since anti-depressants slow down the entire metabolism of the body and so we burn less calories so without any other changes to dietary intake, weight gain is exceptionally common.

People are often of the anti-depressant pain and depression merry-go-round for several years.  These conditions slowly worsen, extra drugs are added to the mix and other symptoms develop: insomnia, fatigue, digestive disorders, hormonal problems and liver issues are quite common.  Not to mention the toxic side effect of the drug cocktail that they now find themselves on…  aging badly is then inevitable! 

There are many nutrients, herbs and supplements that can help in such a massive way!  I’ll blog about this soon…   Natural Pain Treatment for Depression, Pain and Aging.

Madonna Guy ND

New Leaf Natural Therapies

Your Natural Health Care Specialists!