Monday, March 23, 2015

Spring Clean Your Body Posted on March 24, 2015 by Dr. Carol Ann Fischer, BS, DC, ND

We are exposed to toxins from the foods we eat, the air we breathe, and the water we drink. In the U.S. alone there are 1700 new chemicals released every year. Only 45% of these chemicals have been tested for toxicity. Recent research evaluating the blood of newborn babies found industrial chemicals in their blood. These babies had not yet been exposed to the toxins in the air or water outside the womb. Testing showed their blood already contained toxins that they had absorbed from their mother. We do indeed live in a toxic world.

Without food most humans will die within a month, as long as they have water. Without water, the human body will survive only ten days. Water makes up 70% of the body, 90% of the blood, and 85% of the brain. The rule for water consumption is to drink one-half your body weight in ounces. Failure to drink sufficient water causes signs of dehydration that most people have learned to ignore.

Americans do not worry about dehydration. They think that dehydration is something that happens to travelers in the desert when they run out of water. Chronic dehydration is widespread today and does not have immediate symptoms. It affects everyone who is not drinking enough liquid.

Chronic dehydration has been masked by food or with drugs. Some symptoms and their common remedies are: Peptic Ulcer - Antacids; Craving Sweets – Sugar; Depression - Anti-depressant drugs; Allergies – Antihistamines. Dry mouth is a late sign of thirst for water on a cellular level. Saliva is produced even in chronic dehydration with a dry mouth, because it is a digestive enzyme.

If you have any of these symptoms: fatigue, constipation, digestive disorders, high or low blood pressure, gastritis or stomach trouble, respiratory trouble, acid-alkaline imbalance, excess weight and obesity, eczema, cholesterol issues, urinary infections, rheumatism, and premature aging, you may need to drink more water.

Drinking clean water is essential to good health. But which drinking water is the cleanest? You might guess bottled water, but it's not that simple. Bottled water is not necessarily cleaner than tap water. In fact, FDA purity requirements for city water systems are far more stringent than for bottled water companies. The plastic from the bottles can leach into the drinking water. Bottled water creates more pollution by filling our landfills with gazillions of wasted plastic bottles. Bottled water is often tap water that has been filtered once and then sold to the consumer.

Drinking more water is the first action that can be taken to cleanse the body of toxins. Detoxification is a natural process occurring on a continual basis in the body, and more water is the easiest way to help detoxify. Studies show that detoxification improves all the organs of elimination and results in increased health benefits. The best health insurance you can have is to do everything possible to cleanse your body to prevent sickness and disease. Besides increasing water consumption, there are detoxification diets and programs to help cleanse the body of accumulated toxins.

There are many different types of detoxification programs. Besides detoxification diets, there are detoxification programs that focus on specific organ systems: the skin, liver, kidneys, intestines, lungs, blood and lymphatic system. Even dietary changes (eating organic) and nutritional modification (decreasing intake of processed sugars) can be a mild form of detoxification.

If you are trying a detoxification program for the first time, it is best to start with a gentle cleanse. Detoxification diets can target different organ systems involved. In general, it is usually recommended that you begin with the intestines. If your bowels are not moving adequately enough to expel the toxins, there will be little benefit from detoxification.  Failure to have proper bowel elimination is a sign of dehydration. By focusing on the hydrating the bowels first to increase elimination, you will enhance detoxification.

Spring is the best time to cleanse your body. All native cultures around the world have spring rituals involving body cleansing to eliminate toxins that have been stored during the winter. The easiest cleanse to begin with is to increase your consumption of good healthy clean, hydrating water. There are many detoxification and cleansing programs available at TLC Holistic Wellness in Livonia to help your body become cleaner on the inside.  Call (734) 664 - 0339 for a no charge consultation with Dr. Linda Solomon, DC, CCWFN to learn what detox program would work best for you. Happy Spring Cleaning!




Disclaimer: The recommendations in this article are not to be taken as medical advice. Please consult a qualified health care practitioner to obtain your own stress and/or hormone evaluation, and for specific recommendations on your personal health issues.

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Running on Empty posted on 8 March 2015 by Dr. Carol Ann Fischer, BS, DC, ND

                                                Running on Empty                               

This phrase conjures up images of your car running out of fuel while you are driving, with no available gas station to fill up your tank. Running on empty also refers to a condition where you keep pushing your body to go, and it has no more available fuel to use. This is not a reference to making sure that you have eaten a sufficient quantity of food.  Running on empty refers to the reduced function of the hormonal system.

The job of the hormonal system is to activate your entire body and keep it going all day. A normally functioning hormonal system would enable you to easily jump out of bed in the morning. How many of you have to drag your body out of bed and get something like a cup of coffee in order to function? If you are tired in the morning and/or need caffeine to get going, your hormones are not doing what they should.

If you experience fatigue after lunch or midday, or reach for something sweet to eat to get some energy, again your hormones are not functioning well. Your hormonal system should be providing your body with energy to function throughout the day, and allowing you to relax and sleep at night. If you are having any difficulty getting to sleep, staying asleep or waking up frequently during the night, your hormonal system is out of balance.

In addition to fatigue, the other indicators of a hormonal system that needs help include, sugar and/or salt cravings, weight gain, pain, hair thinning or loss, cold hands and feet and feeling stressed or overwhelmed. Stress is one of the major reasons that the hormonal system fails to do its job.


Too much stress can play havoc with the hormonal system. Ongoing or chronic long term stress adversely affects the ability of your body to continue to make the hormones needed for daily function. The stress response of the body burns out over time causing fatigue, insomnia, altered mood, lack of motivation, poor digestion, decreased sex drive, irritability, depression, sugar cravings, chronic pain, inability to stay asleep, osteoporosis, weight gain, and more symptoms.

There is a natural solution to help repair hormonal imbalance regardless of the stage of hormonal function your body is in. Various alternative approaches to repairing hormonal imbalances range from dietary and lifestyle changes to natural hormone replacement therapy. 

Dr. Linda Solomon at TLC Holistic Wellness in Livonia is one of the few holistic wellness physicians who understands how to evaluate your hormones, and can help you rejuvenate your them. Remember, it is better to check your fuel levels now, so that your body doesn’t have to be running on empty in the near future. Call TLC Holistic Wellness at (734) 664 -0339 now to schedule a no charge consultation to see if your hormones need help.