I’ve been reading your books and blogs for several years now and would like to thank you for your unceasing efforts in publicizing a philosophy of dietary sanity. You once stated on the blog that you knew some good doctors around the country, and even recommended one to a reader. Do you happen to know any in the Ann Arbor/Southeastern Michigan area? Maybe someone you trained, or met during your medical activities? One who shares your medical philosophy, of course. I ask this becaus I’ve been experiencing a few medical problems for a few years(poor sleep, brain fog,a high lipoprotein a level), and I’ve been through several doctors who constantly harangued me about the dangers of my saturated fat and red meat consumption. So either I ended up firing them, or they me. I feel like I need these nutrients to aid in my recovery. If you can possibly help here, I’d appreciate it greatly. Keep up the good work.

Thanks, Norman

Hi Norman–

I always hate to recommend physicians whom  I don’t know really well because I’ve had some nasty surprises.  One of the speakers at the medical meeting at which MD and I lectured in Colorado Springs was a physician from West Bloomfield, MI, Dr. David Brownstein.  He was a most impressive lecturer and told me after my talk that he gave a lot of copies of Protein Power out in his practice.  I spent some time with him one night at dinner, and I think he would be an excellent choice for a Dr. who seems to be tremendously concerned with his patient’s well being.

Here is his contact info:

David Brownstein, M.D.
5821 W. Maple Rd., Ste. 192
West Bloomfield, MI  48322
(248) 851-1600

If you do choose to pay him a visit, please let me know how it goes.

Best–

MRE 

After reading what everybody has to say, I have to conclude that making your life and your diet as simple as possible cures a lot of health problems. As I learn more and more about low carb and how many types of physical problems it alleviates, it seems strange that more people don’t try low carb first before going to their doctors for prescription drugs. I wish more people could be convinced it’s not a fad, but the way of eating that’s most natural to the human body. I will keep talking about it to friends and family no matter how frustrating it gets.

Hi LC–

Keep up the good work.

Best–

MRE 

Hi Karen–

Keep us posted on what happens.  I’m curious.

Cheers–

MRE 

I find it facinating that a new study published very recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association that looked at the medical records of more than 145,000 (people over 50) patients in England showed that taking heartburn drugs including Nexium, Prevacid and Prilosec for a year or more can raise the risk of a broken hip markedly. “The study raises questions about the safety of some of the most widely used and heavily promoted prescription drugs on the market, taken by millions of people.”

“The researchers speculated that when these drugs reduce acid in the stomach, they also make it more difficult for the body to absorb bone-building calcium. That can lead to weaker bones and life threatening hip fractures.” The risk was 2 1/5 times greater compared to people not taking the drugs.

My theory suggests that acid reflux is caused by ingesting more carbohydrates than our small intestine can absorb and that this act results in bacterial overgrowth and excess gas production that drives acid reflux. It stands to reason that those on high carb diets are more obese, more prone to reflux, more likely to take drugs like Nexium and more prone to osteoporosis and thus cracked teeth. Look at the sales figures for these drugs. They are in the billions of dollars (or Pounds) per year. The sales of just Nexium was 5.7 billion dollars last year!

Hi Norm–

Interesting theory about the cracked teeth and GERD.  I’m not sure there is a correlation between osteoporosis and cracked teeth.  If there is, I’d love to see the data.  If there is some weakening of the tooth structure due to lack of calcium absorption secondary to GERD drugs, there still must be some kind of mechanical stress to break the weakened teeth.  That’s where the sleep apnea and teeth grinding comes into the picture.

Go Patriots!

Cheers–

MRE 

Thanks,
Dave LaCivita

Hi Dave–

Weightloss solves a lot, but probably not everything.  There is some evidence that people with sleep apnea store fat in the neck area,

Glad to hear that all the snoring in your marital bed has stopped. 

Cheers–

MRE 

Is doing strict low carbing made ineffective by taking insulin from an insulinemia point of view. I am strictly following Dr Bernstein’s diet guidelines for carbs, but I did not discover low carb as being positive for diabetics until after 10 years after diagnosis and started insulin (lots of insulin) at the same time as I started low-carb, a year ago. (I thought I was doing everything right but watched deterioration year after year until in desperation went looking for answers and discovered Dr Bernstein) I’m now finding it impossible to lose weight and my sleeping has definitely deteriorated, so back to my original question, does taking insulin negate low-carbing both weight wise and sleep wise. sigh…. if I had only found you all upon diagnosis, the establishment med system sure has a lot to answer for!

Glenice

Hi Glenice–

You are in very good hands with Dr. Bernstein.  Too much insulin can negate the weight loss with low carb.  Insulin is a fat storage hormone.  If you have too much of it, you tend to store fat and prevent its release from the fat cell.  Dr. Bernstein typically recommends a fairly minimal amount of insulin, so if you are having trouble losing, you should check your dosages with him.

Best–

MRE 

Low nutrient levels could be associated with soft enamel, as well as lowered pH from eating a lot of refined carbs and soda. We’re stressed, we’re nutrient deficient and we’re insulin resistant. We go to bed wound tighter than a drum and start chompin on our chompers. We have weak enamel cause we haven’t any or didn’t have any nutrients to build some good enamel and help with insulin. End result, we’re fat, have poor teeth and can’t sleep too well. So, in the immortal words of that famous philosopher Hulk Hogan “Say your prayers and take your vitamins” and I would add follow a Protein Power/ insulin friendly lifestyle. Amen and pass the sardines.

Hi Robert–

All excellent points and spot on.  Thanks for writing.

Cheers–

MRE 

Hi Ned–

Great theory; let’s write it up.

Cheers–

MRE 

What regimen are you recommending? I’ve been on CPAP since early Oct 2006. I’ve been low-carbing for five years. All of my doctors know that I follow a steady low-carb diet.

I didn’t grind my teeth and never had a snoring problem, only light intermittent snoring on my sleep study; I did stop breathing while asleep and was very tired all the time. My apnea rate was only moderate (150 arousals plus 31 awakenings in 8.4 hours), but I had serious oxygen desats.

It’s impressive that your patients had such dramatic improvement so quickly. What did their follow-up sleep studies show?

Hi Joanna–

I’ve never done sleep studies on my patients.  Nor have I taken them off of their CPAP.  Their other physicians who started them did as they improved on their dietary regimens.

In medicine there are no 100% deals.  What works for a lot of people won’t work for all.  In our experience, every patient we have seen who came in on CPAP got better and ended up discontinuing it.  That doesn’t mean that there aren’t patients out there who might not get rid of their sleep apnea.  We just never saw them.  Apparently, you are one.

As to what we did…we put our patients on strict low-carb diets, restricting carbs to about 30 grams per day. 

Best–

MRE