The Balanced Bites Podcast, Episode 63: dizziness, adrenal fatigue, Tourette Syndrome, HCG Diet

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Episode #63: Dizziness, adrenal fatigue, Tourette Syndrome, HCG Diet


Opening chat:
Updates on projects, events, and a few words on nut butter consumption and acne.
Topics:
1. Dizzy since a Paleo Challenge? [9:00]
2. Dizzy, could it be adrenal fatigue? [19:30]
3. Tourette Syndrome [30:45]
4. HCG Diet [36:05]
5. Gut healing [47:20]

Show Links:
Mary Vance’s post on HCG
How to Eat, Move, and Be Healthy – Paul Chek
Some of Liz’s supplement picks: ProbioticBile saltsEnzymesGeneral healing
Click here to download this episode as an MP3.
The episodes are currently available in iTunesStitcher & Blog Talk Radio.

1. Dizzy since a Paleo Challenge?

June says,
In the past month I have had mild bouts of dizzyness. It’s on and off…I notice it when I wake up and go from supine to vertical or sometimes vice versa, or during the day when I do same…I’m a Pilates trainer so am often demonstrating exercises to clients. It’s not all the time and there doesn’t seem to be any particular pattern. I had this about 3-4 weeks ago. My chiropractor said I had a virus. He gave me herbal supplements. It went away. Now it’s back. I feel like maybe I COULD have a virus….I don’t feel fabulous….I’m tired and my head feels like it’s in the clouds, though I”m not dizzy at the moment, but I was last night. The dizzyness is fleeting and it’s not debiliating….but noticable and annoying cause it’s not supposed to be there. Could this be a deficiency? Have you heard of this w/ Paleo?
I have been strictly Paleo for 6 weeks. My CrossFit gym is doing a 6 week Paleo Challenge which really helped me fine tune and get off sugar….before that, mostly Paleo for about 6-8 months. I’ve never felt better. I’m going to be 60 in January and am told I look 40 (thanks partly to my hair guy, partly to genes, partly to healthy diet and lifestyle). I’ve been gluten free for 7 years. I went gluten free to help my son who needed to try gf. I found it was so beneficial for me I never went back. I cut out most grains last September and dairy in January 2012. Sugar has been my nemesis, but now am sugar free as well.
I am currently strictly Paleo. Breakfast might be some kind of egg dish, or fried eggs, w/ bacon or sausage, avacado, fermented carrots (I’m mostly following your fat loss meal plan…not verbatum but trying to eliminate nuts, too much avacado, yams, etc for now. I could lose about 10-15#-ish. No snacks, breakfast holds me for 5 or more hours. Lunch would be some kind of meat and vegies….maybe salaad w/ steak or chicken, or maybe leftover dinner…yesterday lunch was chicken curry and an apple streusel muffin. Dinner was stuffed cabbage and sauteed greens. Apple for dessert. I’ve cut way back on fruit since sugar is an issue for me.
Last week I decided to have a bowl of pumpkin ice cream. MAN DID I PAY FOR THAT!!
BAD idea. I’ve also found that chocolate gives me a stomach ache…sweetened or not.
I occasionally use honey in my coffee. I drink a cup of decaf less then once a day…probably 4-5 times per week, w/ coconut milk.
Supplements- Designs for Health twice daily multi, 2 Omega 3, 2x per day, Vitamin D3 (my levels are normal…just got checked), Vit. E, 2 per day, Cal Mag (though I’m learning that I don’t really need it due to the amount of vegies I”m eating, and may not be absorbing what I take in cap form). I take my supplements AM w/ breakfast and PM before bed. I take .125mg of synthroid for hypothyroidism. Just had my tsh checked and it’s normal. I’ve never had dizzyness around thyroid issues and feel pretty normal in all other thyroid areas. (I took Armour thyroid for years and a few years ago it “stopped working”…so my doc (who never asks what I’m eating) suggested I go back to synthroid.
For exercise, I do CrossFit 3x per week. I teach 2 Pilates mat classes during the week(where I am doing many of the exercises w/ the class) and take one class from another trainer. I also am demo’ing Pilates exercises throughout the day to clients (I own a studio in El Cerrito).
I walk my dogs for 20-30 minutes once sometimes twice a day, at a “strolling” kind of pace. I don’t enjoy running though sometimes we do at Crossfit. The cardio I get is at CrossFit. I’m comfortable w/ the amount of exercise I get.
I really try to get at least 7 or more hours of sleep, but it’s often 6-7. It’s hard to function w/ 6, but sometimes I just can’t get to bed early enough. I know I can do better in the sleep department.

2. Dizzy – could it be adrenal fatigue?

Hi Diane and Liz,
I love your podcast! Thank you so much for not only giving out such solid information, but doing so in an incredibly down-to-earth manner. I really enjoy listening
I guess I should start with my question, and then get into the details: I generally feel pretty good throughout the day, but I often get spells of lightheadedness, slightly blurred/unable to focus vision, and even vertigo-like imbalance (mild, not severe). This mostly happens either when I am sitting and concentrating for long periods of time (working at my desk, long drives) or even when I am out running. I also get occasional chest tightness/mild pain. I do not feel so dizzy or have fainting spells that I feel unsafe, but I am still concerned. This has also been going on for years. About 3 years ago I felt similarly and went to the doctor. They took my pulse when I was lying down (I have a slightly below average resting heart rate) and then when I stood up my pulse SKYROCKETED. They said this was because I was “severely dehydrated” and put me on an IV. Ever since then I have worked to make sure I drink enough water, cut down my coffee consumption (8-16 oz / day, vs sometimes 4-5 cups) but I still get these sensations almost daily. Until now, I have learned to live with them an have remained unconcerned (figured maybe it was due to stress?).
That is until I began learning about Paleo and some of the symptoms the diet can help with. I began learning about Paleo for lifelong health reasons, but after reading about Adrenal Fatigue I began to question whether that is what I have been experiencing. While I do not showcase all of the symptoms, the ones I do have seem to fit, and I was especially struck when I read about the differences in blood pressure when standing vs sitting vs lying down in relation to adrenal function.
So my questions are: does this seem like adrenal fatigue? Could it be purely dehydration as my doctor suggested? If it is adrenal, how should I go about FINALLY feeling better?
Thank for all you do, Sophie

3. Tourette Syndrome 

Michelle says,
For the past six weeks I’ve become obsessed with learning as much as possible about the reasoning and research behind the Paleo diet, and also unlearning the “conventional wisdom”. My husband and three kids ages 9, 12, and 13 eagerly followed along as I transformed our kitchen (but only because I told them they didn’t have to–reverse psychology never hurt anyone), and we all look and feel better as a result. I picked up my first two copies of Practical Paleo at Costco after about three weeks in, and have since purchased three more to give away. It is such a terrific resource and makes it easy to help my friends clean up their own lives. Thank you.
My question is about Tourette’s Syndrome. I have heard bits and pieces about helping Tourette’s through diet, but nothing really substantial. So my question is: Do you have any resources for helping a child with Tourette’s? I can only imagine there must be a huge correlation between diet and this neurological issue, but can’t find more than bits of data. I convinced my sister-in-law and her family to give Paleo a try for thirty days because my 12 year old nephew has Tourette’s (since about age 7) and some ADHD issues. They have resisted medication so far, but their doctor is useless. His only suggestion is to wait it out–that he might grow out of it. While that might be true, it doesn’t really help them right now. Switching his diet seems the most logical first step, and he’s been doing great for almost two weeks now (I bribe him!) The rest of their family knows they will not go back to their old habits because they see huge benefits in onl y a few days, but my nephew has a really strong sugar addiction and is really concerned about Halloween, and can’t wait until the 30 days is over. They notice that many of his ADHD symptoms are better and that he is more calm and focused, but his tics are still the same. I know that if his tics start to subside even minimally he will be motivated to continue, so any tips you can give us would be super helpful. He has eggs and sausage or bacon for breakfast, rolled lunchmeat, fruit, and carrots and maybe some nuts for lunch, and snacks and dinner is usually a recipe from Practical Paleo (they LOVE the book!) He’ll smell the doughnuts the Sunday School teacher brings in, but eats an apple instead, but only because he thinks he’ll be able to eat doughnuts again when the 30 days are up. No supplements yet.

4. HCG Diet

Suzanne says,
I recently ran into a friend who went on the ‘HCG diet’ last year. She confided in me that she hasn’t had a period in six months and feels that there may be a connection to the HCG ‘supplement’. It’s been over 12 months since she was on this program and has since regained a little weight back. (I’d say she’s within a healthy/ideal body composition. Perhaps slightly higher body fat % then ideal). As far as I know, she consumes a nutrient dense, whole foods diet with limited consumption of potential damaging foods. She does yoga as her main form of movement, no chronic cardio here.
As a nutritional consultant, I can not wrap my head around this ‘diet’. Just another quick fix? How did we get so disconnected? Where’s the intuition here? I digress…
I am shocked, actually with my peers and other health practitioners that have embraced and promoted this diet. Of course you’re going to lose weight on 500 calories a day, But at what cost? What are the potential long term ramifications of this diet? on our metabolism? endocrine health? Any derangement going on here? I apologize if you’ve already covered this. I could not find it in a search. But if you would, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this one. As always Ladies, keep up your amazing work and spreading the good word. You are inspiring more than you know!
Thanks, Suzanne
PS. Diane, Practical Paleo has become an invaluable tool for me and my clients
Liz- I look forward to your upcoming book too!

5. Gut healing

Madison says,
Hello! I have a question for you today about 3 things regarding the paleo diet, but I’ll make each one of them as short as possible!
Okay, here are my questions:
1. I want to try paleo because I feel like grains like quinoa is still bothering my stomach. I’m worried about getting enough to eat though, because many paleo foods are off limits for me. I can’t eat eggs, vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, sweet potatoes bother my stomach (beans also hurt it, but that’s okay because paleo doesn’t include those anyways)… and I can’t digest fat. Seriously. Whenever I eat any type of nut, avocado, coconut, oil, or even tuna (with a small amount of fat– like 1 gram!) my stomach starts getting bubbly and rumbling. I usually get stomach pains shortly after and have terrible gas for days. I know that fat is very important, and I take flaxseed oil (about 3 grams of fat worth daily) and digestive enzymes (because I have a lipase deficiency) with every meal to help me cope. Still no fat. Will my fat digestion improve after going Paleo? What are some things that I can do to help me digest these foods properly?
2. My naturopath said that I have candida, which I’m sure you get a lot of questions about. She wants me to go on a basic Atkins diet, which I think would be even tougher for me than paleo because of the high levels of fat. Have you heard of anyone having success with candida and a paleo diet? Any tips?
3. My dream would be to one day be able to eat some of the foods that I was allergic to again. Do you have any inspirational stories of people reversing, or improving their food allergies from going paleo.
Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions!
Backstory: I took antibiotics for my acne for 4 years and severely messed up my stomach. Now I’m allergic to wheat, eggs, milk, peanuts, tomato, celery, rye, pork, yeast (in yogurt) and probably something else, but I can’t remember right now! Haha. I was suffering from severe stomach cramps, pain, bloating, weight gain, fatigue, nausea. It all started suddenly last December and after finally finding a naturopath who could help, I’m feeling better. I am currently taking probiotics, adrenal caps, magnesium, buffered vitamin c, choline, digest (a digestive enzyme) and allergy drops. The only things that I eat that are non-paleo are quinoa flakes, stevia, and brown rice protein powder.
Exercise wise, I walk a lot and do some toning exercises a few times a week. The last time that I tried to run and do heavy-cardio work I actually gained weight and was craving carbs all of the time. I gain weight really easily!
I sleep normally. I don’t have a problem with sleeping, but as a college student (aged 18) I could probably go to bed a little earlier!!
Basic day of food… I know it includes grains. That’s why I am thinking of shifting!
Breakfast: Banana, protein powder, quinoa, pure stevia (digestive enzyme, vitamin c, adrenals, magnesium, choline, flaxseed)
Lunch: tuna, lettuce, cucumbers, grapes, green beans (digestive enzyme, flaxseed, choline, adrenals)
Snack: apple, quinoa, pure stevia
Dinner: grilled chicken, steamed zucchini, lettuce, grapes, cucumbers (sometimes, but rarely rice) (digestive enzyme, choline, flaxseed)
Snack: quinoa and pure stevia, fruit (digestive enzyme, vitamin c, probiotics-50)

Thanks for listening!
Liz & Diane
 

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