Dr. Howard Leibowitz from "Breakthrough.."

On page 250 of Suzanne Somer's book "Breakthrough.." she interviews a doctor named Howard Leibowitz and I loved what he said, it really went along with all the research I've been doing...real great confimation that I am on the right track with my health plan.

Suzanne asks how does he "treat" people?
He answers, that he starts with the patient's hormone profile.
Also he checks the adrenal status.
He does some in depth thyroid testing.(more than the traditional doctors do)
He tries to impress on the patient how important nutrition and detoxification are to the body.

He says that many times thyroid problems stem from digestive disorders like leaky gut.
Leaky gut is when your intestinal walls become permeable to larger pieces of foods/proteins and they are allowed to pass through into the blood stream, then your immune system creates antibodies to get rid of these invaders and many food allergies are created this way because the large food particles/proteins are now seen as the enemy.

This doctor believes that this is the cause of fibromyalgia and lupus. He says autoimmune diseases start in the gut(as digestive issues) (I believe this too!)

How does he treat lupus and fibromyalgia? He uses:
detoxification
balances hormones
cleans up the gut
IV vitamins
Energetic body work such as yoga,breath work,acupuncture, body mechanics

He says it is hard for him as a doctor to convince patients to change their diet.

He says we all eat bad food, chemicals, too much sugar, toxic substances, in our food.
We also use too much antacides and all of these things lessen the hydrochloric acid and enzymes in our stomachs therefore creating food that is not properly broken down

Chewing food is CRUCIAL! You need to chew 20-30 times.(Macrobiotics says 50-100x!)
If you eat too fast and don't chew and don't have the acid and enzymes your digestive tract can get inflamed.

If you continue to eat food that you are allergic/intolerant to your digestive tract will get inflamed.
Many people can't properly digest wheat and dairy. Raw dairy is more easily digested for some.This isn't only because of lactose(milk sugar) it is also hard to digest casein too.
(milk protein)
He also looks for candida and bacterial imbalances and parasites all of these can cause inflammation in the digestive tract.

The digestive tract is 75% of the immune system, it has lymph nodes, the spleen and the liver all immune functioning organs.

EAT REAL FOOD not hormones and antibiotics and insecticides and pesticides.
Eat organic foods. Eat lots of vegs and fruits and wash them very well.

Diet soda is poison!

Healthy Food(be careful because you can be intolerant to many "healthy" foods...I am!)
Healthy Lifestyle
Get Sleep
Get rest
Exercise

Do not drink coffee/caffeine all day long or your adrenals produce too much cortisol and you can burn out your adrenals.

Need to balance the HPA Axis hypothalamus, pituitary, adrenal glands.

Balancing hormones can help digestion.

At night make sure you sleep in total darkness. Take melatonin to help you sleep.

Any sleeping medications you take(any medications you take) put stress on your liver to detoxify your body.

This doctor feels he is a "Health Coach" for his patients.