I have a radio show that airs every Wednesday at noon Pacific Time on RadioMD.com called "Mindful Medicine". It is simply another format for me to hopefully "knock 'em alive" with empowering information that can help people be their own PCPs "primary care providers" and have their homes be their own HMOs "Health Maintenance Organization" Get it?

I am fortunate to have a fascinating and amazing regular contributor, Dr. Jacob Tietlbaum MD, join me every week to talk about easy, effective, natural ways to help people take back control and manage their health. Jacob and I were talking very passionately about the newest recommendations, handed down from a government agency, which suggested (based on a faulty calculation) that many more people would be candidates for taking statin medications.

We both were fairly incensed about this notion, knowing that statin medications come with serious risks and side effects and research has shown that there are many common lifestyle choices that are far more likely to be associated with a lower risk of heart attack and heart attack death than taking statins medications. Some of these include eating chocolate, participating in regular exercise, getting adequate nutrition and having cats. YES, having cats.

When there is an excess of any hormone in relation to the whole intricate system we call the"endocrine system", an overall imbalance develops, and health problems can arise. When there is too much estrogen and not enough progesterone to counteract its effects, the situation is called estrogen dominance.

Estrogen dominance is a multi-factorial situation and is caused by such things as exposure to excess environmental xenoestrogens, use of synthetic estrogens such as the birth control pill and hormone replacement therapy (HRT), anovulation (lack of ovulation during menstrual cycle, which is not uncommon among women older than 35), digestion issues (which tax the estrogen-detoxification process in the liver), unrelenting stress (which strains the adrenals and the thyroid), unresolved emotional issues, poor diet and negative lifestyle factors such as smoking and alcohol use.

How does estrogen dominance specifically alter women's health?

I think I was born to be a Naturopathic Doctor. 

Even at a young age, I was putting on my thinking cap and truly trying to “think things through”. You see, for a period of my childhood I was totally “into” having a parakeet as a pet. I would name them all names starting with “B” like, Bert the bird or Ben the Bird.  

The reason I had more than one (bird’s tend to live a long time) is because they kept dying. Every few months, I was dealing with a dead bird. I was devastated when I would come home from school and my bird was lying lifeless at the bottom of its cage. 

The devastation inspired my curiosity as to what the heck was happening. I started thinking about where the birds lived, what was the environment like? The bird cage (I would never cage an animal again, by the way) hung near the kitchen so I started to wonder what they might have been breathing that contributed to their demise. My inquisitive mind popped out the answer one day when my Mom was making dinner and smoke was filling the kitchen.  I asked her what kind of pans she was using to cook in. She stated proudly, “Non-stick Teflon. Easy clean up, they are the best!”

Well, they weren’t the best for my birds and they are NOT the best for us either. STOP USING THEM!! (Please.)

Life. Seriously, what would we do without it?

From the moment it begins to the moment it stops, life itself is supported by one of the most fascinating structures in the human body, the heart.

Based on an average lifespan of 75 years and an average heartbeat of 72 beats per minute, the average heart, that big muscle in the middle of the chest, beats around 2,838,240,000 without ever taking a rest. Tirelessly pumping the energy we need to sustain life.

What an amazing organ!

That is why the fact that heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women in the United States shakes me to the core as a practitioner. Why is this the case?

After all, we are one of the most scientifically advanced, educated and economically savvy countries in the world. We have Rhodes scholars and Noble Prize winning scientists and researchers conducting studies and drafting pieces of literature about health, disease, medicine, you name it.

But we continue to have a staggering number of individuals affected by a diseased heart. According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control & Prevention) in 2008, 631,636 people died of heart disease - that is 26% of all deaths; more than one in every four. Every year about 785,000 Americans have a first heart attack. Another 470,000 who have already had one or more heart attacks, have another.

This isn't just a tragedy of life and loss, this burden we bear as a nation also carries an extremely steep financial price. It is predicted that for 2010, heart disease will have cost the United States $316.4 billion. This total includes the cost of health care services, medications and lost productivity.

Being a Naturopathic Doctor, I am fueled to think about troubling situations like this in a very comprehensive manner.