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7 Common Symptoms Associated with Low Progesterone
Did you know that you have a natural anti-anxiety hormone?
Women have a hormone that is produced in the ovaries and the adrenal glands that is like valium bathing the female mind. It helps reduce anxiety and is known as the peaceful hormone. It also helps us sleep soundly through the entire night.
In men, this same hormone prevents testosterone from becoming estrogen.
What is this amazing hormone? Progesterone.
Progesterone acts on the gamma amino butyric (GABA) receptors in the brain (the same receptors sleeping pills, anti-anxiety medication and even alcohols act upon), producing a calming effect. GABA is the primary inhibitory transmitter in the brain. If you wake between 2am and 4 am wide awake, you likely have a progesterone deficiency.
Progesterone also affects the elasticity of our skin, memory, is anti-inflammatory, is a natural diuretic and helps normalize blood sugar. It also stimulates that cells that make new bone called osteoblasts. Translation, it keeps us looking and feeling our best!
Unfortunately progesterone leaves our bodies first and leaves us quickly. You can have a low progesterone level as early as your late 20’s! Many women (an men!) think that their increased irritability, loss of enjoyment of life and trouble sleeping is from their 24/7 lifestyle but it is likely more often due to a progesterone deficiency
Here are 7 common symptoms associated with low progesterone:
- Anxiety
- Waking at night
- Fibrocystic breasts
- PMS
- Bone loss
- Low libido
- Infertility or irregular periods
Here are 3 simple and natural things you can do to help your own body produce more progesterone
Vitamin C. A dose of 750-1000 mg has been shown in studies to raise progesterone.
Selenium. 200-400 mcg/day was shown to boost production of progesterone in an Italian study (It also helps the thyroid as well!).
The spices turmeric, thyme and oregano are also useful for progesterone. Use in cooking whenever you can.
Topical progesterone is also available over-the-counter.
If you find that it takes a bit more energy to keep your cool or that you are no longer sleeping through the night I encourage you to look to progesterone as a way to help. You can go to www.www.drtami.com and take a free hormone quiz to see where you might lie and what you can do with nutrition, supplements and lifestyle changes to feel even better.
Remember, fine is a four letter word. You deserve to feel FABULOUS!
Committed to your Vitality,
5 Exercises that Lower Stress
Many of us have heard that we should “reduce our stress”. But how many of us can fire our boss, have a toddler than can get his or her own dinner or move the project deadline. The sad truth is that stress is part of our 21st century life. The great news is that stress is like brushing our teeth. The food, which is like stress, occurs daily and gets all over our teeth in much the same way the inflammation from the stress hormone cortisol gets all over our cells. The solution is not to stop eating but to brush and floss the food off our teeth to prevent the decay and deterioration of our teeth and gums. We need to brush and floss our cells and clean the inflammation from the stress that has occurred that day.
Exercise has been shown to be an amazing way to decrease and more importantly, erase, stress. We also get the added benefit of the release of endorphins, the fee-good neurotransmitters, when we exercise.
Exercise also helps you move beyond the day’s aggravations through repeated motions that promote focus on your body, not your mind. By concentrating almost exclusively on the rhythm and beat of your exercise, you experience many of the same benefits of meditation.
Lastly, our bodies and the movements and positions we put them in have been shown to have a profound effect on hormones, including stress hormones. The hormones testosterone and cortisol have been shown to have the closest correlation with stress and stress management. Testosterone is the confidence hormone and cortisol is the reactive stress hormone. To best deal with stress you want to have your testosterone levels at their natural highest and cortisol levels low.
Here are 5 exercises that will help you with stress and your hormones:
1. Standing for 2 minutes in the wonder woman or superman pose. A study from Harvard showed that your levels of cortisol decrease by 25% and levels of testosterone increase by 20% just by standing in a confident pose for 2 minutes. This is something you can do before a stressful meeting or exam, before an interview or daily to be your best.
2. Walking, especially outdoors. Sometimes our exercise can be a stress all on its own. Many people need to work out less intensely to lose weight and to allow stress hormones to decrease. Walking is a low impact exercise and when done outside has been shown to increase your natural human growth hormone levels and decrease stress.
3. Yoga. Hatha yoga and other types of yoga have built in breathing and stretching which helps our muscles release tension and lower stress in our bodies. The philosophy of honoring where your body where your body is in the moment prevents additional stress from straining and overworking.
4. Dancing. You can dance in your living room, go out dancing or take a class. Moving your body to music is very beneficial for stress erasing. The focus is on the music and movement and there often is no room for anything else. Additionally, studies showed that people that did ballroom dancing twice per week had a lower incidence of dementia.
5. Breathing. Many people don’t think of breathing as an exercise. We do it all day every day. But doing intentional breathing exercises daily is the most powerful stress reduction tool I know. Breathing deeply and allowing your belly to expand stimulates that the parasympathetic nervous system which is in charge of rest, relaxation and rejuvenation. Try the following: breathe in through your nose for the count of 4, hold your breath for the count of 7 and exhale through your mouth for the count of 8. Take three of these breaths before each meal and before going to bed. You will be amazed at the change in how you feel.
We think of relaxation as not doing something. The reality is that when we relax by watching TV or spending time on our iPads we are just merely not adding more stress, but it is not erasing stress. It is not brushing and flossing our cells. You need to do something to turn on relaxation and it can be as easy as breathing.
One more important thing is to remember that some of us exercise too much and/or too hard. Exercise can be a significant stress on our adrenals and if you push too hard while suffering from adrenal fatigue the result will be fat accumulation around the belly and you will not see the muscle definition you are working for. Work smarter, not harder.
Share on my Facebook wall to tell me what you do to turn on the relaxation response.
Committed to your Vitality,
Dr. Tami
Health Secrets: Episode #001 – Sleep and Your Hormones
In this episode of Health Secrets with Dr. Tami we explore sleep.
The secret to waking energized lies in not just how many hours of sleep you get, but when you start your sleep cycle, and if you reach all 5 stages of sleep.
Tune in this week to find out why and learn exactly how to get the best sleep of your life!
7 Signs You May Have a Vitamin D Deficiency
Vitamin D deficiency is an epidemic in the US but most people have no idea that they are deficient or why it matters.
Aloha! My family and I take a vacation to Hawaii once per year and being in this sunny place got me thinking about all the grey skies and the vitamin D deficiency that goes along with living in Seattle, Wa.
There are few “vitamins” that are more important to your health than vitamin D. The National Health and Nutrition Examination survey found that 50 percent of children aged one to five years, and 70 percent of children between the ages of six and eleven are deficient or insufficient in vitamin D. It is also estimated that 95% of those over the age of 70 are deficient and deficiency is prevalent in all those that wear sunscreen.
Vitamin D is actually a hormone. It is involved in over 2000 reactions in your body and studies have linked a deficiency to cancer, MS, osteoporosis, depression, heart disease and more!
The only way to know if you are deficient in vitamin D is with a blood test. However, there are some signs and symptoms that indicate you might have a vitamin D deficiency and should get tested sooner rather than later.
- You have Darker Skin
If you have darker skin you need as much as 10 times more sun exposure to produce the same amount of vitamin D as a person with pale skin.
- You feel “Down”
Serotonin is the hormones associated with feeling happy and rises with exposure to bright light and falls with reduced exposure to sun.
- You are 50 or older
As we age our skin does not make as much vitamin D in response to the sun. Additionally, our kidneys, which convert our vitamin D into an active form our bodies can use, also become less efficient.
- You wear sunscreen
Don’t get me wrong, I want you to wear sunscreen. My second board certification is in cosmetic medicine and the research is clear that sunscreen prevents skin cancer and aging of the skin. We have a thinning and absent ozone so we need to protect our skin. I also know the importance of vitamin D so you need to get your vitamin D from supplementation, not by increasing your risk of skin cancer in the sun.
- Your bones ache
Many studies indicate that many people go to their doctor for aches and pains and end up with a diagnosis of fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome. These are very real illnesses but many of these diagnoses are mis-diagnoses and are actually a vitamin D deficiency. Also, vitamin D will improve the symptoms of those that do have fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome. When you have a vitamin D deficiency it can causes a defect in your body’s ability to put calcium into the collagen matrix of your bone. This results in throbbing, aching bone pain.
- Head Sweating
Babies who have head sweating has long been an early sign of vitamin D deficiency. This is not uncommon as vitamin D is not in breast milk.
- Digestion issues
Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin and if you have gut or digestion issues it is likely that you are not absorbing fat soluble vitamins efficiently.
Here is what to do
Vitamin D optimal range is 50-100 ng/ml. You definitely don’t want to be “normal” when it comes to vitamin D levels. Be sure to ask for vitamin D 25-OH test. I had a patient that was told by her primary care physician to stop taking her vitamin D after seeing her blood test results. The problem was that he tested for Vitamin D2, which has been shown in studies to be a much weaker form of vitamin D and is not recommended as a test or a supplement form. Her real vitamin D level was 29, showing she definitely needed to take vitamin D supplements to prevent diseases and to treat her osteoporosis.
Most of my patients take 5000-10,000 IU of vitamin D but this is when they are being monitored by blood testing. I strongly recommend you get your vitamin D tested. Ask your primary care physician to test this or call us at my clinic (877-8-VITALITY)and we can set up this test for you anywhere in the US.
Vitamin D is our happy and healthy vitamin and can be taken with or without food and never upsets your stomach.
Committed to your Vitality!
Supplements pulled off shelves after investigation
Navigating the World of Supplements Safely 💊
The news concerning stores like GNC pulling supplements off the shelf is exciting to me. That might sound strange to you but supplement safety and efficacy is something I am passionate about. I take time with each patient I see to teach them how to choose the best supplements.
You see vitamins, minerals and herbs are not considered a food or a drug, therefore there is no governing body or organization that oversees the production and safety of them. We are literally at the mercy of the companies that make these supplements to “do the right thing”.
The most recent story by CBS and now the story in the New York Times is not “news”. There have been many studies on the safety and efficacy of supplements. I highlight the story of the 2009 study in my book The Hormone Secret that showed that supplement doses did not match what's on the label at all. In fact, it was anywhere between 4%-110% difference!
The current investigation is different though. It did not study the dosing, but looked into the DNA of what was in the pills, ie: they were looking for contamination. What they found was shocking: powdered rice, wheat and ground up house plants. Yikes!
The companies given a subpoena in New York and have removed the supplements from the shelves – but only in the New York stores! What about all the other stores and all the other supplements that are not what they say?
I use vitamins, minerals and herbs as medicine. They are prescribed in doses that are supported by research to do what they are needed to do and only use manufacturing companies that get third party tests and have verification of that testing. I have gone one step further in my OCD fashion and require the companies I use to verify the source of the ingredients.
I do this because: a) I use these supplements for myself and my family. b) because anything that is powerful enough to do good could also do harm and c) I want to be your short cut. Researching all this is time consuming so I have done the work for you.
This seems like the perfect time to introduce you to my own line of supplements. It took me almost two years to formulate and create these with great manufacturing companies so that you can have confidence that you are getting medicinal grade supplements that are safe and effective. (As a special bonus you will get a 15% discount with your first order. Keep reading to learn more!)
Please meet:
Essential Female Boost, a daily pack to meet your hormone and multivitamin needs.
Click Here for Essential Female Boost
Testosterone Boost – a daily pack in increase testosterone production with herbs and specific vitamins for those that don’t want to take testosterone or are taking testosterone and want to maximize the effects safely
Click Here for Testosterone Boost
Adrenal Boost – Adrenal Fatigue is one of the most common conditions I see in my clinic and healing it can involve taking 3-4 different bottles of supplements. I created one pack that includes what you need.
If the supplements that I have created don’t meet your needs look for the stamp USP or GMP on the bottle to ensure quality and safety.
I hope this helps you navigate your way through all the stuff that is out there!
PS I really want you to try my supplements (they are like one of my babies) so I have created a 15% coupon for anyone that wants to purchase their first month supply (they come in convenient one month boxes). Just use the coupon code save15 at checkout. Click Here.
PSS If you subscribe to our monthly program we will send you a box each and every month and you save 10%! When you checkout there will be an option to select that says “every month.” Choose that and automatically save 10% off each 30 day supply.
5 things being a professional ballet dancer taught me about my body
Many of you may not know that my first career was dancing professionally in a ballet company
Many of you may not know that my first career was dancing professionally in a ballet company. I grew up in a very small logging town in Canada where the town physician did house calls and treated the entire family from birth throughout life. My father was a stone mason and my mum was a stay at home mum making wonderful home -made food for us, though I did not appreciate it at the time.
I started taking ballet when I was nine and by the time I was fifteen I had moved to Seattle, was renting a room with a family and dancing in the professional division of Pacific Northwest Ballet. This was the beginning of my dance career and the start of a complete change in the way I treated my body. No more wholesome food made from scratch by my mother. A new relationship to food and my body began and changed and evolved to what it is today.
Here are the 5 most important lessons I have learned about my body
1. Pain and fatigue are messages.
Dancing on pointe, contorting our bodies into un-natural positions often led to pain. Frequently I did not know if a pain was an injury or part of the process of pushing myself. Either way I pushed on, which at times resulted in serious injury. The body is an amazing machine designed to do wonderful things but also sends messages when things are not right. I now know that pain or fatigue are my body’s way of telling me to rest so it can do the repair and recuperation it needs. We all push ourselves in various ways. Listen to your body when it is tired, hungry or hurt. Our body is designed to be in balance if we give it what it needs and get out of the way sometimes.
2. Whatever you focus on, grows
In ballet we are often focused on what is wrong and try to make it better. The trouble with this is that our brains are literally trained by repetition. If you focus on what is wrong all day at work, you will find all the things that are wrong in your relationships, yourself and your life. Positive Psychology has shown that you can train your brain to see positive or negative by what you focus on. I have learned that nothing is ever all bad (or all good) but I choose to change the channel of my brain to the positive station whenever I can. Writing down specific things you are grateful for has been shown to make people more happy. Start a gratitude group and email each other for accountability. Whatever you do makes a difference.
3. Habits are more important than talent
There are many dancers with innate talent but unless they work hard and develop it, it will not flourish. Ballet is a series of repetitions in order to create improvement. The repetitions become habits over time. This repetition was fantastic training for medical school. I often say that the reason I did so well in my medical training was not because I was the smartest, it was simply because if I did not understand after reading it the 10th time, I would read it an 11th! All success is simply a series of repetitions done until it is a habit. It is that way with nutrition, exercise, work and more. Given enough consistency, you can do more than you think.
4. Food is information, not just simply fuel
The focus of being thin when dancing in a ballet company is real. The foods I choose were based upon the least amount of calories with no thought to how the food would feed my cells and give me the strength to be my best. Diet Tab and an apple were a common lunch. But nutrition is so much more than calories in versus calories out. The nutrients in food literally create all the cells, organs, chemical and hormones that affect how you look, feel and function. I have adopted the 80/20 rule. Eat 80% nutrient dense foods throughout the day to feed your cells and then allow 20% to feed your satisfaction. You will find your energy, sleep and mood will improve by focusing on the information of the food rather than just the calories.
5. Self care is not self-ish
Taking care of yourself is important and not indulgent. Getting a massage, cleansing your skin with a luxurious skincare that smells wonderful, going for a walk, these are all things that heal your adrenal glands from the stresses of the day and allow you to re-charge. Even doing small things add up over time.
My body is strong and healthy at almost 50 and has forgiven me for all the abuse I put it through. I am grateful for the education and awareness I have. I spent so much of my life “getting by” on bad nutrition, “getting by” on too little sleep and too much stress.
Please share with me what you have learned and what you still want to learn to make this part of your health journey the very best it can be.
It’s your life. Your Health. Your turn. I am grateful for the opportunity to help guide you along the way.
Is Self Care Self indulgent? 3 things to Vitalize your life right now.
Do you ever find that you feel a bit guilty doing things for yourself? Every day I have the privilege of listening to women in my clinic and I often hear their struggle with stress. Most often the stress has to do with obligations at work and/or caring for family. Though the details are often very different, there is always one consistent thing, taking care of yourself often goes to the bottom of the list.
I had an interesting experience this week. We are finishing renovations on our home in order to
have my parents stay with us (they are in their 70’s). I literally was craving something beautiful after all the dust and noise and chaos of the construction. As I was shopping for groceries I saw a gorgeous orchid planter. By the end of my shopping I had decided to purchase it. As I was checking out, the cashier asked if I would like a gift card. I told her no, that it was for me. She responded with a surprised look on her face and said “Good for you!”
That got me to wondering… Why is buying yourself flowers such a unique and surprising thing?
Women are the care takers of the world but if we do not nurture our own health and our own souls we will not be our best to give to the people and things we love.
Here are three simple things that you can do to improve your self care and increase your own Vitality.
- Make it an appointment. Any activity that you do that is just for you – put it in your calendar as an appointment. Everything that is important in your life you write down and mark as an appointment. We often leave our meditations, exercise, going for a walk etc to the end of the day, if we have time, if we have energy, and if we remember. Prioritize the things that will make you thrive.
- Treat yourself. One of the reasons I think coffee, eating sweets, smoking and other “vices” are so difficult to give up is that they are miniature treats. Swap those things that rob your health and vitality for other “treats”. Buying tulips in the spring, a new nail polish or a new mug to drink your morning tea or coffee can bring a smile to your face. These are very inexpensive ways to say yes to your own special-ness.
- Stop and ask yourself why you are not making self care a priority. Do you feel it is selfish? I had one patient that told me it was her job to take care of all the details in the family because she did not work outside the home, even though that left her little time to actually be with her family.
Say YES to yourself, it will lead to more happiness, I guarantee it.
Click Here to Take the Hormone Quiz!
Top 10 Foods for Boosting Immunity
Americans catch nearly 1 billion colds each year, and between five and 20 percent of people in this country will contract the flu, but there are certain foods that can help build your immune system and protect you from certain illnesses. Here are my top 10 picks for the best foods to give your immunity an extra boost!
- Chicken soup. Your mother was right. Chicken soup is one of the best foods for fending off sniffles. The liquid is helpful for fighting viruses and clearing nasal congestion. The broth is also believed to be anti-inflammatory. Some studies have found that commercial organic chicken stock is as effective as homemade, so keep some on hand for those sniffles that may sneak up on you in the winter season.
- Garlic. Want to give that chicken soup an even more powerful immunity boost? Add some garlic! Garlic is known to have anti-fungal, anti-viral, anti-septic and anti-inflammatory properties. Sneak it into your morning eggs, beans for lunch and in a flu-buster smoothie.
- Hot tea. People who drank 5 cups a day of black tea for 2 weeks had 10 times more virus-fighting interferon in their blood than others who drank a placebo hot drink, in a Harvard study. The amino acid that’s responsible for this immune boost, L-theanine, is abundant in both black and green tea. Decaf versions have it, too.
- Cauliflower. Cauliflower is rich in glutathione, a powerful antioxidant that is helpful for warding off infections. Cauliflower is also full ofSulforaphane which has been shown in studies to improve blood pressure and kidney function too!
- Ginger. Ginger is not only be warming on a cold day, but can help promote healthy sweating, which is often helpful during colds and flus. Ginger has been found in the scientific research to help balance the immune system to restore it to proper functioning. It has also been found to enhance the protective functions of the immune system. I like to cut up ginger and slice lemons and place it in a mason jar then fill with honey. This is my “tea” when feeling like I am coming down with something.
- Eggs. Eggs are an excellent source of protein, which is important for supporting a healthy immune system. Eggs also contain zinc and selenium, two of the most important minerals for boosting immunity. I call them God’s travel food!
- Honey. Thanks to its antimicrobial properties, honey not only soothes sore throats but can also kill certain bacteria that causes an infection. Honey can also help improve the digestive system where 1/3 of your immune system is located.
- Mushrooms. Several species of mushrooms such as shiitake, maitake and reishi mushrooms possess properties that stimulate the immune system. The polysaccharide content of these mushrooms may stimulate various immune system components, thus helping your body to build immunity.
- Yogurt. Increase your intake of fermented foods like sauerkraut, miso, and Greek yogurt, which boost your overall wellness by promoting intestinal health. Acting as probiotics (which can also be taken as supplements), fermented foods aid digestion, improve immune function, and increase vitamin B levels, all helpful in warding off sickness.
- Salmon. Salmon and other cold-water fish like tuna, mackerel and halibut are excellent sources of vitamin D. Vitamin D is an important nutrient for immune function. Lack of vitamin D also has a strong correlation with risks of influenza and tuberculosis as well as asthma.
I hope this helps you find ways to help you heal your body naturally and feel more energetic and happier sooner.
Healthy is contagious, pass it on!
PS
Vitamin D is one of the most common deficiencies in North America. Your level should be 60-100 ng/mL. Ask your doctor to test it for you or call my clinic to set up a skype or phone appointment with one of my practitioners.
Committed to your Vitality
Dr. Tami
5 Foods that Fight Fat Over 40
There is a commonly held belief that exercise is the key to weight loss.Don’t get me wrong, moving your body is essential to having a long life full of energy and vitality but in order to lose weight you actually need to eat more. I am going to show you the 5 foods that you can use to move the scale down without feeling deprived.
Food has long been held as a calorie in versus calorie out equation. If you eat less and exercise more you should lose weight, right? Wrong! We now know that our food is information for our body and it will literally allow us to lose weight if we eat the right things.
There are two kinds of malnourishment. The first kind is the lack of calories and is rarely seen in developed countries like the USA and Canada. The second is less evident but just as real and that is a malnourishment of nutrients. When your body does not have enough raw ingredients to make all the cells, hormones, chemicals needed to rock your health they send out a stress response. This stress response, like all stress responses in the body, produces fat (especially around the waist) and sends a message to the body to hold onto fat! That means that you will have a harder and harder time losing weight until you give your body what it needs so it can release fat.
The raw ingredients that your body needs to make every part of your body are called micronutrients. There are macronutrients and micronutrients. Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals. We need a small amount of them but they are essential to our health. My favorite place to find micronutrients are in vegetables, fruits, bean and legumes, though micronutrients can be found in many foods. Macronutrients provide the energy for your body to do all its cellular work and any excess is stored as fat. Examples are: fats, protein and carbohydrates.
It turns out that there are 7 amazing foods (full of micronutrients) that will help your body let go of the weight.
- Blueberries – Blueberries are packed with micronutrients but also will balance your blood sugar for several hours after eating them so you will have less cravings. One of my favorite things about blueberries is that you can use frozen ones all year round. Here is my favorite morning smoothie recipe (my children call it a milk shake!)
- Greek Yogurt – greek yogurt has twice as much protein as other yogurt and when protein is eaten first thing in the morning, people eat about 300 less calories without even realizing it! Choose options without added dessert (aka fruit) and add your own fresh berries
- Quinoa – (pronounced keen-wa). this ancient grain is packed with nutrition. One cup has 8 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber. The micronutrients included are iron, zinc, selenium and vitamin E. Cook like you would rice. I like to use organic chicken broth instead of water for added flavor. I use it as a side for dinner and then sprinkle it on my salad the next day for lunch.
- Green Tea – I am a huge fan of tea and green tea has been shown in studies to promote weight loss by stimulating the body to burn abdominal fat. We serve Jasmine Green Tea at my clinic in Seattle
- Raw veggies with hummous – Using cut up veggies dipped in hummous is a fantastic mid-afternoon snack that prevents the afternoon dip from becoming an energy dive. By supporting your adrenals this way, your body will be able to release fat. I have an amazing recipe in my book The Hormone Secret to share with you that is easy to make and the whole family will enjoy.
- Cinnamon – I know this is a spice not a “food” but cinnamon has magical powers on our weight loss. Cinnamon has been shown to lower blood sugar, reduce hunger and help the body burn fat. I cut up apples and sprinkle cinnamon all over them. I freeze the apples and then put them in my water for apple pie water! Also, try putting a bit of cinnamon in your coffee grounds before brewing. You will find it helps soften any bitterness and tastes wonderful.
- Water – Researches in Germany have shown that drinking water actually speeds up the rate you burn calories. After drinking 17 ounces of water, people in the study had a 30% increase in their metabolism. The researches concluded that if a person increased their water consumption to 1.5 liters per day, they would burn an extra 17,400 calories, for a weight loss of five pounds!
PS
Remember that the number on the scale should not determine how you feel about yourself. Find replacements to things that you eat that are not healthy and focus on abundance.
PSS
People often talk about how diseases and viruses are contagious but I think health is contagious too. If you enjoyed this, pass it on and post me ideas on facebook about what things you want to learn more about.
I am committed to your VITALITY
Dr. Tami
