Fancy scientists call it adaption, or the survival of the fittest. We call it eating smart.

But whatever you call it, here are foods that help your body fight off those “endocrine disrupters” (thank you Tori) that we have been talking about on the show.

1. Cruciferous veggies: Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower Brussel sprouts and cabbage contain several powerful nutrients that detoxify bad estrogenic molecules. These nutrients include Indole-3 Acetate, Indole-3 Carbonyl and Diindolylmethane. These cruciferous veggies also contain sulfur containing nutrients such as Sulfuraphane and Phenyl Isothiocyanates that enhance liver detoxification processes and destroy cancer cell formation.

2. Healthy fat-rich foods: These are foods that are rich in saturated and omega-3 fatty acids. It includes plant based fats such as coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil and avocados. Raw nuts (other than peanuts) and seeds contain anti-estrogenic plant sterols. Organic poultry, wild-caught salmon, wild game and 100% grass-fed beef are great for healthy hormone function.

3. Alium family: The aliums include garlic, onions, scallions, chives and leeks. These are all rich in sulfur-containing amino acids and the powerful flavone anti-oxidant quercetin that both help the liver detoxify at a higher level and reduce the production of estrogen.

According to a report published in The American Journal of Medicine, medical bills are a major factor in more than 60 percent of the personal bankruptcies in the United States.  Of those bankruptcies that were caused by medical bills, approximately 75 percent of them involved individuals that actually did have health insurance.

Electronic medical records are here, but does that mean we no longer will have privacy?

Could a previous illness cost you a new job promotion? Can employers get access to their employee's medical records? How about before a person is hired, will their medical history come in to play? What if you choose not to vaccinate, will your insurance refuse to cover your child for the measles?

Lots of questions, and here is the answer:

Maybe.

Everyone is talking about Vitamin D, but is it something everyone should take? Currently, we are including a vitamin D level on most routine laboratory exams, but labs will never tell the whole story. Let's look at conditions associated with vitamin D deficiency.

The flu – In our profession of natural medicine we do not believe a person gets the flu from being sneezed on, breathed or from a door handle. We believe you get it because your immune system is not up to par. In a study published in the Cambridge Journals, it was discovered that vitamin D deficiency might lead children to respiratory diseases. A study was than conducted which showed that vitamin D reduced the incidence of respiratory infections in children. There is no reason in my opinion to think that the same protection wouldn’t be available for adults.

Muscle weakness – There are many reasons for muscle weakness, which include a lack of healthy protein and exercise in the diet. However, according to Michael F. Holick, a leading vitamin D expert, muscle weakness is usually caused by vitamin D deficiency.  He states that for skeletal muscles to function properly, their vitamin D receptors must be sustained by vitamin D. Interesting.

Psoriasis - Vitamin D, along with Zinc, vitamin A, beta-carotene, and essential fatty acids have been a stalwart of treatment for chronic skin conditions including psoriasis. In a study published by the UK PubMed central, it was discovered that synthetic vitamin D analogues were found useful in the treatment of psoriasis. Hmmm.

Here are the four relaxation techniques I spoke of on a recent show. Welcome Decker’s “stress countermeasures”.

Imagery (or visualization)

Imagery involves using your imagination to create a sensory experience of sights, sounds, feelings or taste that is relaxing. Imagery can help relieve stress, pain and depression; decrease side effects of chemotherapy like nausea; decrease blood pressure; improve sleep; boost immune function; shorten hospital stays; and speed healing. Guided imagery is when you use an outside person to help guide the images in your mind. It is sort of like telling you a story, but coaching you to “see” it in your mind.

Hypnotherapy (hypnosis therapy)

Hypnotherapy uses guided relaxation to arrive at a state of deep, attentive, focused concentration, sometimes called a trance, that can make it easier for you to relax and to control your body and mind. Hypnotherapy can enable you to block an awareness of sensations like pain, discomfort, nausea and fatigue; reduce fear and anxiety; create a sense of calm; speed recovery; and promote healing.

Things to Put on Your Do-Not-Buy Checklist...

Bring this list to the store with you, or pull it up on your smart phone. Lets de-mystify the big chemical names and labels to know what to stay away from to protect you and your family’s health.

High Fructose Corn Syrup

The top of my do not consume list! Fructose can affect your brain and body by making you feel less hungry, and encourage over-eating. It is in almost everything sweet like soda, cookies, ice cream and more for one simple reason, it’s cheap. But this low cost to the pocketbook, may be destructive to your health. There is a reason why Mexico and Europe use cane sugar instead of high fructose corn sugar (HFCS) because of safety concerns.

Opt-Out: For non-obese and non-diabetics consider raw sugar, sucanant, or honey. For weight loss and diabetes consider using stevia. Avoid artificial sweeteners. (Read on, they made the list also)

Sodium Nitrate and Sodium Nitrite

This food preservative helps retain red coloring in processed meat products. Research demonstrates it contains carcinogens, which can accumulate in the body. Conditions and diseases they have been linked to include stomach, prostate, and breast cancers. Possible issues may include fetal deaths, miscarriages, and birth defects.

Opt-Out: Seek for nitrate or nitrite-free meat products.

Gluten, a protein found in some grains, can cause serious problems for many people.

But the issues can go from a genetic intolerance called Celiac’s disease, to a non-specific type of “sensitivity." This “sensitivity” can cause a variety of symptoms from thyroid disorders to gas and bloating.

But why is it that the average medical doctor knows about Celiac’s disease, but knows nothing or denies the existence of gluten sensitivity?

It has to do with a weakness in conventional medical training called “hypofunction”. The great Naturopathic Doctor. Konrad Kail, discussed “hypofunction” in terms of an organ or a system, which is symptomatic to the patient, but not detectable by most or any available testing methods.

For years as gluten content was rising in grains such as wheat and corn, people started to have a variety of symptoms which where “unexplainable”.

But when these patients where tested, nothing showed up.

Simply put, my patients are intimidated by the phrase "mind-body" connection. As a cardiologist, the majority of my patients are in their 5th-8th decades of life, and they look at the "mind-body" connection in three ways.

The first is as a 70's pot smoking, acid dropping rebel. The second is as a pagan (not necessarily bad as many of my seniors have embraced eastern religions) monk who lives a simple life and meditates on a daily basis, or third as a pious Christian holy person who hits their knees in supplication on a daily basis and is a regular confession.

I explain to them what their simple mistake is; the mind-body connection does not have to be a mind-body-spirit connection; especially at first.

With any chronic disease there is either a life threatening aspect to it, a quality-of-life threatening aspect, or both. A person's perspective on their disease state can be doom and gloom, a hand-over of power, or an embracement of the issue to learn about who they are.

Medically, we know that negative emotions decrease the healing systems of the body, including the neurological system with neurotransmitters (hard to get well with adrenaline shooting though veins all day), the immune system, the endocrine system, as well as the inflammatory/anti-inflammatory components of the body.

As a Naturopathic Doctor and cardiologist I split my time between heart and everything else about 60/40, so when a 16 year old with rheumatoid arthritis was coming in I wasn't surprised.

However when she showed up, I found a fluid-bloated young girl in a wheel chair.

Turns out she was maxed on medication including steroids and a drug which has a side effect of lymphoma. The mother was overweight with poor skin, the father refused to come saying that the daughter was already seeing the finest physicians in the world at the Mayo Clinic.

I did a brief physical and had an explanation that because of her food and life habits, along with environmental toxicity, her body had become allergic to her joints. The family although reasonably wealthy, lived on processed (junk) foods. The mother stated that the other two children where obese, and that the father although thin, had a heart attack before the age of fifty.

I explained to the mom that they had a toxic and sick house, and that all the junk food needed to go. I arranged for one of my interns to take the family to Whole Foods, and the mother started to cry.