Many people have felt sad or depressed at times. Depression occurs without regard to gender, age and lifestyle. Feeling depressed can be a normal reaction to loss, life’s struggles or an injured self-esteem. But when feelings of intense sadness — including feeling helpless, hopeless and worthless — last for days or weeks and keep you from functioning normally, your depression may be something more.

Facts*:
• Depression is a common condition, affecting about 121 million people worldwide.
• According to a 2009 report in the New York Times, the use of antidepressants doubled between 1996 and 2005. Today, it’s estimated that 10% of Americans take antidepressant medication — that’s 32 million sufferers.
• Depression is among the leading causes of disability worldwide.
• Depression can be reliably diagnosed and treated in a primary care setting.
• Fewer than 25% of those affected by depression have access to effective treatments.

Signs of Depression**:
Two major signs of depression are:
1) Loss of interest in activities normally enjoyed and,
2) Overwhelming sense of hopelessness or pessimism.

Other symptoms or behavioral indicators for depression include:
• Persistent sad, anxious or “empty” feelings
• Markedly diminished interest or pleasure in nearly all activities most of the time
• Excessive or inappropriate feelings of guilt or worthlessness
• Irritability
• Sluggishness, loss of energy or fatigue most of the time
• Difficulty concentrating
• Insomnia, especially early morning awakening, or excessive sleeping
• Increase or decrease in appetite
• Recurrent suicidal thoughts or attempts
• Constant pains, headaches or stomach problems that do not respond to treatment

Every individual may exhibit different signs and symptoms with different frequency or severity. But if five or more of these symptoms apply to you or someone you know, it could signal depression.

Depression can affect everyone***:
Depression can be prevalent in a specific phase of a person’s life. For example, teen depression is a serious condition that affects emotions, thoughts and behaviors. Although teen depression isn’t medically different from adult depression, teenagers often have unique challenges and symptoms. Issues such as peer pressure, academic expectations and changing body types can cause various moods, and ups and downs for teens. For some teens, the lows are more than just temporary feelings; they’re a sign of depression.

Many moms experience the “baby blues” after childbirth. Most common are mood swings and crying spells. Some experience a more severe, long-lasting form of depression known as postpartum depression.

Men also go through “andropause,” which is the equivalent of menopause in females. Andropause correlates directly with depression, a significant factor in the so-called mid-life crisis men experience during their late 40s to late 50s. There are a variety of symptoms and conditions that hormone-impaired men experience during this mid-life transition, including irritability, loss of libido, lack of energy and weight gain.

No matter how you look at it, depression can be a disabling condition, if left untreated.

Treatment:
Traditional therapies used to treat most emotional distress are antidepressants. Common among them are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as Prozac, Lexapro and Zoloft. These drugs have been shown in clinical trials to be no more effective than a placebo for the vast majority of those taking them. Worse, they have a long list of side effects, including weight gain, sexual dysfunction and increased risk of suicide and violent behavior.***

Treatment options offered at The Woodlands Institute target the underlying causes of depression, which may be related to dietary habits, vitamin deficiencies, food sensitivities and hormonal imbalance (despite normal blood levels of hormones). Depression is NOT caused by a deficiency in a pharmaceutical drug!

If you or a loved one is suffering from any form of depression, please call 281-298-6742 and ask to speak to a wellness consultant, who will assist you in finding the program that will best fit your symptoms and specific health goals.

Sources:
Some excerpts of this article have been derived from http://www.articles.mercola.com and from http://www.doctoroz.com
*Statistics from WorldHealthOrganization.com
**Adapted from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition and http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles
***Source: http://www.alternativementalhealth.com

Here at TWIHW we are always hoping that everyone discovers wellness sooner rather than later. That goes for kids too!! Are you helping your kids to learn that their decisions about food, sleep, and exercise will impact them for a lifetime? Are you teaching them that they need to be responsible for their health?
Summer is a perfect time to introduce and explore some of these concepts with your kids. New habits are best created with practice, something that the summer months allow plenty of time to do. So now that summer has arrived and the pace has slowed, what are you doing to lead your children in the direction of good health rather than disease? Here are some important basics:
• Nutrition lies at the very core of good health. What does your child’s diet look like? Consider the possible benefits of improving nutrition.
• Determine how much exercise your child gets each day. What is his/her activity level? How much time is spent on computers, playing video games, or watching television? How much time is spent outdoors in the sunshine?
• Review your child’s sleep quantity and quality. Children, during growth years, need 8-10 hours of sleep every night. During sleep, the human body rebalances hormonal systems, recovers and heals, as well as detoxifies -all very critical processes for good health.
• Consider the possibility that your child may have environmental allergies and/or food allergies. Have you confirmed what they are and taken steps to remove or treat the allergens? (call 281-298-6742 for more information about our allergy testing for inhalant and food allergies)
• Lead by example! You need quality sleep, good nutrition, regular activity and sunshine too! When you prioritize good health, your children will follow your example.
Surprisingly, common childhood concerns such as allergies, asthma, weight problems, behavioral problems, ADD/ADHD, acne, skin rashes, picky eating, recurrent infections are most often related or connected to sleep, nutrition, physical activity, food allergies and lifestyle habits.
Are you wondering where to start? Let The Woodlands Institute for Health and Wellness get you and your child on a wellness track this summer. Our comprehensive wellness program for children, often referred to as “The Pediatric Program,” includes a complete wellness check up, treatment for yeast overgrowth (if needed), testing for food allergies and nutrient deficiencies, a customized vitamin and supplement regimen tailored to your child’s needs, and a nutrition consultation.

Researchers today tell us a decline in brain function is not necessarily an inevitable part of growing older. Researchers have identified five functions that appear to be the first to decline with aging:

• attention
• working memory (amount of information you can work with without losing track)
• Understanding complex text
• making inferences/drawing conclusions
• putting information into memory and retrieving it

The aspect of your brain function that typically begins to decline first is connected with your processing capacity (working memory)
Exercising your brain is essential for maintaining optimal function. Learning and using new skills, adopting new and varied daily routines, and engaging in creative activities stimulate brain activity and new neural connections.

3 factors play a powerful role in maintaining sharp mental function, even as you age:
1. Exercise…
• helps neutralize the harmful effects of stress. (boosts brain chemicals, protects brain from effects of stress hormones)
• increases insulin sensitivity
• lifts mood. (mood can affect memory/cognition)
• improves learning. (Exercise increases brain chemicals that help make new brain cell
2.Stress….(Need to tame it)
• When cortisol is continually elevated, it can lead to less-than-optimal memory function. So manage stress with yoga, meditation, deep breathing, etc
3. Optimal Diet…. Eating high-glycemic index foods such as grains, sugars and processed carbohydrates causes surges and crashes in blood sugar, leading to an uneven fuel supply to your brain.

Some of the best foods for promoting optimal brain function:

• Fish (wild caught salmon is least contaminated) for Omega 3s (building blocks for brain tissue)
• Berries (rich in antioxidants- protect the brain from oxidative stress) (In other studies, diets rich in blueberries significantly improved both the learning capacity and motor skills of aging rats, making them mentally equivalent to much younger rats.)
• Eggs and Dairy (rich source of lecithin, choline and vitamin B12, all important brain nutrients)
• Certain nutsRich in omega-3 DHA, walnuts help support cognitive performance in adults.

Super Brain Substances that Promote Optimal Brain Function
Just a handful of important foods to consider for healthy cognitive function. What makes these foods so valuable are a few specific nutrients. Studies suggest that these nutrients promote optimal brain function. These nutrients include:

Phosphatidylserine (PS) is a phospholipid, which is an essential part of the membranes that surround all your body’s cells. PS enables cells to move nutrients into and cellular waste out of each living cell in your body. Abundant in your brain and in the membranes of your brain cells, PS is important for brain functions such as memory, judgment, and reasoning. As a building block for your brain’s approximately 100 billion nerve cells, PS is one of the most critical nutrients for optimal brain health. Multiple human studies, including many double-blind trials, indicate benefits of PS for promoting optimal…

• Memory, learning, concentration, word recall, and other cognitive functions in the middle-aged and elderly.
• Mood among elderly women.
• Exercise recovery in healthy young men, reducing circulating stress hormones such as cortisol from overtraining.

Choline is another phospholipid and essential component of your cell membranes. It’s also the precursor for acetylcholine, which is one of the major chemical messengers for memories, thoughts, and other brain functions.
There are various forms of choline, but GPC (Glycerophosphocholine) is the bioactive form of choline. Unlike the other forms of choline, GPC is the form that has substantial clinical evidence behind it for its direct effect on healthy brain functions.
GPC is naturally occurring in limited quantities in eggs, milk, nuts, fish, certain vegetables, organ meats, as well as in human breast milk.
Essential fatty acids (e.g. EPA, DHA) are critical to your brain and overall health but cannot be made by your body. You must get them from your diet (fish, walnuts, egg yolks, etc) DHA appears to have a central role in nerve and brain cell function .
DHA is a long-chained fatty acid and is richly concentrated in your brain and eyes. One of the major building blocks for brain cells, DHA is especially important for rapidly developing brains in children under age two and emerging research suggests that it is a major factor in promoting optimal behavior and learning in children.
In an epidemiological study at a major university in 2007 among a very large group of elderly Americans, those with the highest blood levels of DHA experienced better cognitive health over a nine-year period. Antioxidants protect the brain and the rest of the body from oxidative stress and free radical damage. Antioxidants come in many varieties. Eat your fruits and vegetables my friends!
Content for article obtained from mercola.com

Up to 25 percent of the population in the industrialized world suffers from allergies, and the number is rising. Allergies are reactions of the immune system to substances that, in most people, cause no symptoms. Allergies occur due to an immune response that reacts towards natural substances in the environment the same way it would react towards something harmful. The reason that the immune system reacts to a harmless substance is unknown. The respiratory system is usually affected if a person is allergic to tree pollen, animals (such as pets and farm animals), molds and house dust mites. Allergic symptoms include sneezing, itching, watery eyes and nose, and wheezing. Hay fever (rhinitis) and/or asthma are the most common results of respiratory allergies.

SKIN RELATED ALLERGY:
Allergy to substances such as metals and fragrances and allergy to proteins such as latex affect the skin and is known as allergic eczema or contact allergy (contact dermatitis). The symptoms are usually itching, burning, reddening, and blister at the affected area. Allergic eczema most often occurs in early childhood but also appears in older children and adults.

FOOD ALLERGY:
The most common food related allergies are: cow’s milk, egg, soy, yeast, corn, wheat, and oat. Eczema, diarrhea, nausea, and, in some cases, anaphylaxis, are potential symptoms of food-related allergies. The best way to treat food allergies is avoidance and or rotation. You cannot build a blocking antibody to foods. We found that in the milder cases of food allergies, symptoms are often relieved after the first vial of inhalant allergy drops.

WHAT’S IN THE DROPS?
The Allergy Drops contain the same antigens that are used in allergy injections. It requires the administration under the tongue instead of intradermally. Ironically, the same substances (allergens) that cause allergies are also used to treat them. The drops build up a blocking antibody against the antigens which cause the immune system to become less sensitive to the allergen, reducing symptoms when the same allergen is encountered in the future.

INDICATION FOR ALLERGY TREATMENT
Allergen immunization is usually indicated with:
• Allergy symptoms more than 2-3 months each year
• Frequent use of antihistamines, decongestant or inhalers
• Upper respiratory infections (e.g sinus infections), brochitis, strep throat or ear infections at least once a year
• Fatigue, snoring and restless sleep
• Asthma
• Sinus headaches
• Eczema
• Decreased sense of smell or hearing due to congestion
• Dark circles underneath the eyes

SIDE EFFECTS WITH THE USE OF ALLERGY INJECTIONS VS DROPS:
Allergy Drops have been around for over 60 years, primarily in Europe and there has not been a reported anaphylactic reaction in all years of usage. There is no chance of adverse reaction, therefore drops are safe enough to take at home on a daily basis without the supervision of a physician. Unlike shots, allergy drops are administered at home by the patient under the tongue. The drops are then carried into the lymphatic system and used by the immune system to make a blocking antibody. With allergy drops optimum improvement can occur in 3 months or less.

Allergy injections are injected into the body and are distributed into the blood stream. With allergy injections, you may experience itching and redness at the site of the injection, while others experience local swelling and soreness 8-12 hours after the injection. The build up process to the effective dosage usually takes 6 months to a year as long as the patient has consistent weekly visits. Allergy injections carry the risk of anaphylactic shock, which is potentially fatal.

BY COMPARISON, ALLERGY DROPS ARE:
1. SAFE
2. COST EFFECTIVE
3. CONVENIENT
4. PAINLESS
5. TIME EFFICIENT
This information has been contributed by our allergy specialist. For more information or to schedule an allergy consultation, please call 281-298-6742 or email: info@twihw.com.

A decade ago, I lived reasonably unaware of the fact that food could have much of anything to do with the status of my health. After all, nutrition was not really taught in medical school and like so many, food was closely associated with every aspect of my social and family life. So suffice it to say, I was very amazed as I began my wellness journey, to learn that you really are what you eat! In fact, within the very first week of editing my dietary choices, I noticed immediate and dramatic improvement in my mood, energy, allergies, eczema, acne, and gastrointestinal issues. It was clear to me right away that I was on to something; something that now seems so obvious and logical, but I was brainwashed in medical school to think that all symptoms and diseases were due to pharmaceutical drug deficiencies.Repeatedly seeing this set of events unfold for thousands of patients time after time has only further solidified my strong belief in the value of good nutrition. Our views about nutrition here at The Woodlands Institute for Health and Wellness differ from the Dietary Guidelines recommended by the American Dietetic Association. Our recommendations are based on a very different food pyramid. If you think eating a low fat, low cholesterol diet is the cure-all, you have been misinformed. I can say without a doubt that it pays off exponentially when we eliminate problematic foods, add in variety, and eat nutrient dense foods. If you have not ever considered editing your diet for greater health, let me offer a couple good places to start and a few of my own observations:
• The biggest thieves to our health in our food are wheat/gluten, sugar and the vast array of chemical additives to our food. Start eliminating these. The results are amazing.
• I know that changing your diet can be a difficult road. I encourage you to have faith in the process and allow your body to cleanse and heal. The results will motivate you to continue down the road to eating better for life.
• Knowing that we are all human, we will occasionally deviate or default to our old habits. For most of my patients, the severity of the resulting symptoms will determine a person’s compliance. You don’t have to be deprived; you just need to be prepared. Anticipating and planning are the keys to sticking with healthy eating.
Not sure where to start or how to start making changes? Please come see us! Let us be your partner in health. Be wise, eat well! By Mila McManus MD, founder of The Woodlands Institute for Health & Wellness

In addition to bringing out the flavor in food, and being delicious on its own, red wine is strongly linked to a variety of health benefits. Studies have shown that drinking wine in moderation – a glass or two a day – can lower your risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes and other illnesses.
Some health benefits of red wine include its antioxidant content. Antioxidants are molecule compounds that repair cell damage caused by harmful oxygen byproducts in the body. Some research has found that antioxidants can help reduce the risk of certain kinds of cancer, heart disease, macular degeneration and diabetes – and red wine is full of them.

The skins and seeds of red grapes carry a powerful antioxidant called resveratrol. When red wine is made, the skins and seeds are fermented in the grapes’ juices, causing red wine to have high levels of resveratrol. Resveratrol has been shown to minimize the risks of some types of cancer. It helps prevent DNA mutations that could lead to cancer, and it prohibits new blood cells from encouraging cancer growth.

Resveratrol has blood-thinning properties. By keeping individual blood cells (“platelets”) from sticking to each other, resveratrol can limit the formation of blood clots. If blood clots form and become lodged in the smaller vessels of the heart or brain, oxygen can be prevented from reaching these vital organs. This lack of oxygen is called ischemia. Severe ischemia in the heart is known as a heart attack or myocardial infarction. Severe ischemia in the brain is called a stroke.
Neither the American Heart Association nor the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute recommend that you start drinking alcohol just to prevent heart disease. Alcohol can be addictive and is associated with other health issues. If you chose to stay away from wine altogether, and still receive the benefits of resveratrol, TWIHW offers Resveratrol supplements in quantities of 30 and 60 capsules. Read more in the “Supplement of the Month” article to the right.
Some portions of this article have been extracted from www.healthtree.com.

Cleaning is not really a word that conjures up warm feelings of joy or love for most of us, but still an essential in life. We vacuum our floors, scour our sinks, mow the yard and take out the trash, and all in the spirit of keeping things generally clean. It is part of taking care of what we have, protecting ourselves from germs, and keeping our lives in order. Did you ever think about cleaning the inside of your body?
The truth is, the human body struggles to keep up with the ever-increasing burden caused by the explosion of chemicals used in our society today. Everyday the body is exposed to an array of chemicals including pesticides, preservatives, antibiotics, hormones, over-the-counter and prescription drugs, additives, fertilizers, heavy metals, fire retardants and more. They are in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the clothes we wear, the food we eat and the things we touch.

Think about it another way. Recall how you felt the last time your “to do” list was miles long, your in-box was full, and everyone wanted something from you. Overwhelmed, you found it hard to get everything done and done well. Maybe the quality of your work suffered, maybe you made a few mistakes, and most likely you crossed a few things off the list and did not do them at all. The inside of your body is no different. At some point, your body becomes overwhelmed with too many toxins. The body cannot keep up with removing the trash and begins to store it in tissues and fat cells. The congestion makes it much harder for the body to do everything it needs to do, do it well and avoid making mistakes. Toxins can wreak all kinds of havoc in there – causing inflammation, promoting disease, preventing weight loss, disturbing hormone balance, and contributing to symptoms from fatigue to brain fog. They can cause congestion and roadblocks in your liver and colon just like an accident on a busy freeway system at rush hour.

In our society today, more people are discovering the benefits of cleaning the inside of the body, often called detoxification or cleansing. Best done under the care of a medical practitioner, the process involves reducing exposure to toxins, supporting the detoxification pathways in the body, while stimulating toxin elimination and providing sufficient supplementation to attack free radicals resulting from the process.
Article written by Nutritionist, Nancy Mehlert, The Woodlands Institute for Health & Wellness

With the 2010-2011 flu season here, so is the wonderment on whether to get a flu shot or not! You’re not the only one confused and perhaps this article will assist you with your decision. Last year, the swine flu, tagged as “pandemic,” was actually much less than the media warned. Statistics show that flu mortality rates were only a third of an average year. Although 170 million doses of swine flu vaccine were in the U.S., only 90 million doses were used. That says that less than 1/3 of our population fell into the hype of flu shot mania.
It’s not just an ordinary flu vaccine being promoted this year-it’s the new trivalent vaccine, which may be even more reactive than the monovalent. That means that this vaccine is a three-in-one, containing influenza A, influenza B, and 2009 pandemic swine flu (H1N1) strains. Administering this highly suspect formulation to Americans can have potentially disastrous implications.
According to Barbara Loe Fisher of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), a special government committee has been created to investigate last year’s H1N1 vaccine for signs that it may be associated with more adverse reactions. What the committee found out provisionally is there were three signs of trouble with the H1N1 swine flu vaccine used last year:
All vaccines are immune suppressive-that is; they suppress your immune system, which may not return to normal for weeks to months. Not only do flu shots weaken your immune system, expose you to toxins, but may cause allergies and other adverse reactions. The flu vaccine has now been officially listed as a Category C drug. What that means is that Category C is for drugs that do not have enough human or animal studies to establish safety. Thimerasol-containing vaccines are considered hazardous waste and can’t be thrown into a garbage can, poured down a sink or flushed down a toilet because of the mercury-they’re considered environmentally toxic. Yet, humans are injected with it. Flu shots don’t work — Yes, you read that correctly. Besides being full of complications, flu vaccines simply don’t work to decrease flu incidence or flu mortality. Healthy and health-conscious people tend to get the vaccine and may come down with flu less often, not because of the vaccine itself, but because they are healthier to start with. The best way to prevent flu is through proper nutrition, and getting plenty of vitamin D, lowering stress and getting the right amount of sleep.

Article obtained from mercola.com

Research presented at the Annual Meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies indicates that vitamin D is crucial during pregnancy. The American Pregnancy Association reports that of the estimated 6 million pregnancies per year in the United States, 875,000 women experience one or more pregnancy-related complications. In addition, they state that 467,201 babies are born prematurely, 307,030 babies are born with low birth weight and 154,051 infants are born with birth defects each year.

In this new study, researchers assessed the relationship between high-dose vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy and the risk of developing pregnancy-related complications. The subjects included pregnant women between 12 and 16 weeks gestation. The women were supplemented with vitamin D at a dose of 400 IU, 2,000 IU or 4,000 IU per day until delivery. The subjects were evaluated monthly for treatment safety and were given blood tests to measure vitamin D supplementation effectiveness. The women were also followed to determine the rate of pregnancy complications including preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, infections, preterm labor and preterm birth.

The results showed that serum levels of vitamin D (25(OH)D) were significantly different between the 3 treatment groups. As serum vitamin D levels increased, the risk of infection and preterm labor and birth decreased. The group receiving 4,000 IU of vitamin D daily had the lowest rate of infection and preterm labor and birth. In fact, compared to the group receiving 400 IU vitamin D per day, the group receiving 4,000 IU per day had a 50 percent reduction in risk of these complications.
The researchers concluded, “Vitamin D sufficiency was strongly associated with decreased risk for preterm labor and birth and infection during pregnancy and comorbities of pregnancy, with the greatest effect with 4,000 IU vitamin D/day regimen. Therefore, to attain a minimal 25(OH)D level of 40 ng/mL, we recommend 4,000 IU/day for all pregnant women.”
Reference: Wagner CL, Johnson D, Hulsey TC, Ebeling M, Shary J, Smith PG, Bivens B, Hollis BW. Vitamin D Supplementation during Pregnancy Part 2 NICHD/CTSA Randomized Clinical Trial (RCT): Outcomes. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies; 2010 May1-4, Vancouver BC. Abstract 1665.
Article obtained from Complementary Prescriptions

(information below obtained from Dr. Mercola)
In the latest study, researchers analyzed data from over 40,000 Norwegian women with breast cancer and found that those who had mammograms and were treated by special breast cancer medical teams had a 10 percent lower breast cancer death rate than women who had neither.
However, they also found that women over the age of 70 who were treated by the special teams had an 8 percent lower death risk from breast cancer, even though they had not received mammograms.
What this suggests, and what Dr. H. Gilbert Welch wrote in an accompanying editorial, is that mammograms may have only reduced the cancer death rate by 2 percent; an amount so small it may as well be zero.
So the fact remains that there is no solid evidence that mammograms save lives. Past research has also demonstrated that adding an annual mammogram to a careful physical examination of the breasts does not improve breast cancer survival rates over getting the examination alone. Now, if mammograms were completely safe and capable of reducing your cancer death risk even a small amount, you might be able to make an argument for their use. But mammograms are not only ineffective, they’re unsafe as well, due to the radiation.
Mammograms expose your body to radiation that can be 1,000 times greater than that from a chest xray, which we know poses a cancer risk.
“The premenopausal breast is highly sensitive to radiation, each 1 rad exposure increasing breast cancer risk by about 1 percent, with a cumulative 10 percent increased risk for each breast over a decade’s screening”, says Dr. Samuel Epstein , a top cancer expert.
Dr. McManus commentary: Don’t follow the herd! It’s not always headed the right direction. Be informed. Know the differences between regular synthetic prescription hormones and those of bio-identical hormones. And don’t misdirect your fears of cancer at hormones, but rather your lifestyle habits, dietary habits, sleep habits, stressors, and other environmental factors that create a perfect storm which leads to cancer. If you aren’t WELL in every way, then take control now, invest in your health, and get well soon! You invest for retirement, so why not invest in yourself so you’ll be around to enjoy it ?