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Sara Gottfried MD
  • Home
  • About Dr Sara
    • Media
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  • Books
    • The Younger Book
    • Brain Body Diet Book
    • Hormone Reset Diet Book
    • The Hormone Cure Book
  • Upcoming Events
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Posts Tagged ‘Long Haulers’

Covid-19: Comorbidities, Long-Haul Symptoms, and Immune Resilience

By Sara Gottfried MD | February 2, 2021
Sara Gottfried MD Women's Health Article |Long-haul Covid| Covid-19: Comorbidities, Long-Haul Symptoms, and Immune Resilience

Vaccines are getting distributed at increasing rates. Researchers are testing 68 vaccines in human clinical trials, 20 are the final stage of testing, and two are approved for full use according to the New York Times vaccine tracker. However, depending on your risk category and the state in which you live, it could be months…

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PRAISE

“For the first time in my adult life I feel that I have gained control over food. I feel healthier, look better and have gained an interest in making sure that what I am putting into my body is the best it can be. And I lost 10 pounds in all the right places.”

– Janice Lunde, Dr. Sara’s Detox Challenge Participant

“Dr. Sara is the height of excellence! She is incredibly knowledgeable and gives very generously of her time. I feel so blessed to have been able to work with her.”

– Yvonne Varah

“You don’t have to settle for being stressed out, binging on sugar and chocolate, and aging prematurely. Stop blaming yourself and step into sacred action. It’s your birthright. You can have the joyous, mission-driven life you want, and Dr. Sara is here to show us how.”

– Marci Shimoff, New York Times Bestselling Author of Happy for No Reason and Love for No Reason

“Dr. Gottfried offers powerful and effective tools for addressing the most difficult health issues facing women and men today. She is warm and kind and has so much experience to draw upon, it’s inspiring. Thank you Dr. S!”

– Cassandra Mick

“Dr. Sara Gottfried is a modern-day healer goddess if ever there was one, and she also happens to be a Harvard Medical School graduate and rigorous physician-scientist.”

– Christiane Northrup MD, author of Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom

“Dr. Gottfried’s book and detox came at a time when I was ready to give in to old age. Hot flashes, low energy and libido, weight gain, increasing blood pressure and cholesterol levels were unacceptable to me. I now know that hormone levels and what I eat are a huge influence on how I feel and look. To now be able to control something that was out of control is empowering…”

Cheryl V., Dr. Sara’s Detox Challenge Participant

“My health coach told me about your book and I took the [hormone] test, and lo and behold, I found I was a mess, hormonally speaking. Now I’m getting on track and I love your videos and your book. I feel like I’m getting my life back again, when not long ago I truly thought I was losing it!”

-Tracy, Registered Nurse

“You don’t have to accept the hormonal hell of being tired, stressed, overweight, and never in the mood for sex as you grow older. In her fabulous new book, the brilliant Dr. Gottfried gives you an effective, easy-to-follow plan to balance your hormones and become lean, energetic, and loving life again. Stop settling and reclaim your sexy!”

–JJ Virgin, Author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy and The Virgin Diet

“I lost 10 lbs., reset my hormones and metabolism and eliminated my sugar cravings! I have also found that I respond to stress much differently, I feel it, notice it and move on from it. Stress no longer has a grip on me. Dr. Sara’s conference calls and detox information was invaluable. I am so grateful for this program. Thank you Dr. Sara!”

–Sophia, Dr. Sara’s Detox Challenge Participant

“The Hormone Cure is the playbook for your mojo, your mind, and your bootie. With every chapter I thought, ‘So THAT’s how that works.’ I wanted to call every girlfriend and give them the goods on how to glow… now and always.”

-Danielle LaPorte, Author of The Fire Starter Sessions and The Desire Map

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Sara Gottfried M.D.
Why are we programmed to become insulin resistant? Why are we programmed to become insulin resistant? Our tendency to raise insulin levels excessively and slow down metabolism comes from our ancestors’ feast-or-famine livelihoods when they needed to store excess energy at the time of feasting in order to survive the next famine. Unfortunately, this survival strategy backfires on us because our 24/7 access to food negates the need to prepare for a famine. Downstream consequences of insulin resistance: 🔴Type 2 diabetes 🔴Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), present in up to 15-30% of women 🔴High blood pressure 🔴Heart disease 🔴Cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease. While these may be common knowledge, it’s not common practice to fix the root cause. Genetics only accounts for about 10-15% of your risk of insulin resistance, or as I like to think of it, INSULIN BLOCK. What I find daily in my precision medicine practice is that people have prediabetes and don’t know it. Instead, they notice brain fog, weight loss resistance, carb cravings and fatigue. What can you do to reset insulin? ✅Know your blood sugar levels. Download my free Guide to Tracking Your Blood Sugar #linkinbio @saragottfriedmd ✅Eat foods that stabilize blood glucose, i.e., clean proteins, slow-burning carbs, and healthy fats to help lower your insulin levels. ✅Exercise makes your receptors more sensitive to insulin and gets your blood sugar under control. ✅Practise intermittent fasting: time-restricted eating in some form on a regular basis can help lower insulin levels. There are also some supplements that help to sensitize your cells to insulin again (more on those in the next post). Several other factors that influence the insulin pathway include perceived stress, hormone imbalances such as we see in PCOS, as well as your microbiome can make the process more complex. But this is a good starting point. #bloodsugarlevels #precisionmedicine #prediabetes #bloodsugar #bloodglucose #glucosemeter #glucoselevels #thehormonecure #insulin #insulinresistance #metabolicsyndrome #metabolicflexibility #womenfoodhormones #ketodiet #ketogenic #ketosis #ketogenicdiet #ketoweightloss #ketoforwomen #veganketo #metabolicflexibility
INSULIN: When you have a basic idea of how insulin INSULIN: When you have a basic idea of how insulin works in your body, then you are on the right path to making changes to your diet and lifestyle—and figuring out what works for YOU. I recognize there are so many factors that influence or interfere with the insulin pathway and how it regulates blood sugar, including perceived stress, activity level and fitness, as well as your microbiome. But here’s the basic mechanism of insulin resistance or block. Your cells have receptors, which respond to specific hormones. Receptors are like locks on a door. Receptors for insulin are present in target cells, primarily, liver, muscle and fat cells. Insulin is the KEY that fits into the lock (receptor) to open the door to allow glucose to enter into these cells. What happens when that lock is jammed? Insulin receptors in the liver and muscle become RESISTANT to insulin and the key no longer fits in the lock. Excess glucose may be deposited as fat. When there is a rise in blood glucose levels from too much glucose intake (combined often with excess stress, lack of sleep, and insufficient exercise, among other factors) and receptors start to struggle, insulin levels rise accordingly. The pancreas works hard to keep up with the demand for insulin. Insulin shouts LOUDER. Imagine insulin banging on the door of the cell, like an irate neighbor, who complains about everything. In the beginning, the cell is willing to listen and eventually opens the door. But soon the cell can’t be bothered to get up and open the door anymore. The receptor is becoming jammed, or increasingly numb to the voice of insulin. Then a vicious cycle is off and running. Insulin keeps knocking more and more loudly. The cell ignores the knocking. This is Insulin Resistance or Block. The cells become numb to insulin and glucose levels in the blood continue to rise. Late in the process, cells that are still willing to open the door are fat cells. Excess glucose may be stored as fat. The increased levels of insulin are now promoting fat STORAGE over fat BURNING. Adipose tissue EXPANDS to accommodate the excess glucose and we gain weight, especially fat in the belly and in/around abdominal organs.
What’s the connection between high refined carbo What’s the connection between high refined carbohydrate intake and obesity? When there's a high intake of refined carbohydrates, blood glucose rises, sometimes excessively so. Insulin rises and the insulin receptor may become dysfunctional, leading to insulin resistance. This then leads to rising insulin levels in the blood and rising glucose levels. Insulin is a hormone in charge of how you derive energy from the foods you eat. Your body runs on glucose, and insulin is one of the master switches. When serving you properly, insulin takes the glucose from the occasional cupcake you eat and stores it in the cells of the liver and muscles as glycogen—a storage form of glucose that can be broken down readily when you need fuel. You are filling up your tank with the gas it needs to run, and sometimes an aggregate of 2,000 to 6,000 glucose molecules are kept in the glycogen storage space, like stacking Legos, depending on your fitness. But the catch is that you can only store a small amount of glycogen at any given time. When you have a high intake of refined carbohydrates, there may not be room left in your tank to store the glucose as glycogen. This is when insulin turns devious, transforming from a fat-burning hormone into a fat-STORAGE hormone once the glycogen storage tank is full. Day in and day out, you are stuck converting carbohydrates into fat instead of using it for the fuel you desperately need, and storing the fat in your liver, waistline, and other organs. More on insulin in upcoming posts, including hormonal crosstalk between insulin and other hormones such as estrogen and leptin. Like, save, and share😍 #bloodsugarlevels #precisionmedicine #precisionnutrition #diabetes #prediabetes #bloodsugar #glucose #glucosetest #bloodglucose #glucosemeter #glucoselevels #thehormonecure #insulin #insulinresistance #metabolicsyndrome #metabolicflexibility #womenfoodhormones #ketodiet #ketogenic #ketosis #ketogenicdiet #ketoweightloss #ketoforwomen #veganketo #metabolicbalance #metabolichealth #metabolicreset
I want to add a note about keto and breast cancer I want to add a note about keto and breast cancer because it was a question that came up in yesterday’s post on #keto. In terms of large clinical trials, the effect of keto on breast cancer is still unknown and the precedent is still the Women’s Health Initiative diet trial, which suggested that a low-fat diet may help reduce breast cancer risk. At this point in time, there are no other diet studies of sufficient quality or size to support other health claims. We do have limited clinical data showing that intermittent fasting with an overnight fasting period of 13 to 14 hours may reduce breast cancer recurrence (Marinac, 2016) but more research is needed. Moving on to today's topic: what are the benefits of a ketogenic diet? ✔️Greater improvements in blood sugar control in diabetics compared with a low glycemic index diet. ✔️Significant weight loss and improvement in fatty liver disease ✔️Better cognition, including enhanced attention and reduced self-reported confusion ✔️In preclinical data, low-carb diet slowed cancer development and progression, at least with certain types of cancer ✔️Enhances T cell response against influenza virus ✔️A recent paper in Nature Medicine suggested that the anti-inflammatory effects of a ketogenic diet might be linked to how ketones can inhibit the NLRP3 inflammasome, which is an important driver of inflammatory diseases, particularly COVID-19. The benefits for people who respond to keto include mental acuity, better satiety, improved insulin and glucose sensitivity, and weight loss. Anecdotally, about half my female patients do great with keto; half don’t. I have spent the last few years trying to figure out why that is and to understand if the biological wiring as women may make us more resistant to keto. I have identified reasons why so many women fail to lose weight on the classic ketogenic diet and my upcoming book WOMEN, FOOD, AND HORMONES will share my new health plan—a female-friendly keto diet that addresses your unique hormonal needs. #linkinbio @saragottfriedmd to preorder the book #womenfoodhormones #ketodiet #ketogenic #ketosis #ketogenicdiet #ketoweightloss #ketoforwomen
Even though #keto is on trend right now with subst Even though #keto is on trend right now with substantial research activity, it’s actually been in use since the 1920s as a therapy for epilepsy. Over the last 50 years, evidence has mounted showing a benefit of ketogenic diets in multiple conditions: neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, as well as metabolic conditions and obesity. Recently, it’s been a powerful tool for autism spectrum disorder, autoimmune multiple sclerosis as well as weight management. What about cancer? Keto is hotly debated in the cancer literature with some cancers showing a robust response due to the Warburg effect, which is the reliance of cancer cells on glycolysis rather than oxidation to meet their metabolic needs. Put another way, cancer feeds on sugar, though I would say that is oversimplified. Historically, the Warburg effect has been the most widely accepted hypothesis for energy metabolism in cancer cells and it may potentially be exploited with the use of carbohydrate restriction in some, but not all, types of cancer. Randomized trials are needed to settle the score and perhaps, well-designed, large-scale, deeply phenotyped n-of-1 trials. Otherwise, it seems that the keto hype promotes false hope and could cause harm. Fortunately, we have someone on the case. Columbia University oncologist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Siddhartha Mukherjee. He’s been researching the #ketogenicdiet as a potential tool in #cancertreatment for several years. Among other things, he’s found that a keto diet can actually accelerate certain leukemias. On the other hand, Mukherjee’s 2018 paper in Nature, found that a ketogenic diet was helpful, even synergistic, with certain cancers and certain treatments, at least in mice. The above is an example of what’s emerging: the ketogenic diet paired with particular drugs for a targeted effect. However, the data is still pre-clinical and the process is very complex. Also emerging are the potential benefits of the ketogenic diet on lifespan, healthspan and the microbiome. #ketodiet #ketogenic #ketosis #cleanketo #lowcarbhighfat #ketoweightloss #ketoforwomen #veganketo #metabolicflexibility #metabolichealth #metabolicprecision
Microbiome refers to the DNA belonging to the bact Microbiome refers to the DNA belonging to the bacteria and microbes present in your gut. Unlike we previously thought, these gut bacteria are not just along for the ride. New research is showing that these microbial passengers interact or communicate with our own cells in ways that powerfully affect various metabolic, neurological, inflammatory, and immunologic functions. When it comes to the gut microbiota (the bacteria and microbes that live in your gut), we know that overall we are facing an impoverished ecosystem. Problems start from birth, impacted by the way babies are born and how they are fed. Gut health is tarnished by diet, especially one that is high in ultra-processed foods and low in nutrients. Environmental factors have a significant impact on our microbiome, such as lifestyle and the disruption of our biological clock, biodiversity and toxin exposure. Medications, especially antibiotics, and consumption of alcohol all damage the gut microbiome. The consequences of the loss of microbial diversity are many. They include immune diseases: ⚈Crohn’s disease ⚈Ulcerative colitis ⚈Type 1 diabetes ⚈Celiac disease ⚈Allergy ⚈Multiple sclerosis As well as metabolic diseases: ⚈Obesity ⚈Type 2 diabetes How can we improve gut function? It can get overwhelming with the volume of advice out there on how to improve your gut health. Keep it simple for now. ✔️Aim to increase your intake of vegetables (choose a rainbow of colors) which will increase your fiber intake and prevent dysbiosis. ✔️Opt for wild salmon over a burger. ✔️Drink more filtered water, and cut back on the alcohol. ✔️Add in prebiotic foods such as sauerkraut or kimchee. Where necessary: ➕Probiotics to encourage diversity in the gut. ➕Vitamin C as it may act as a buffer to protect against the effects of cortisol (the stress hormone) and corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) on the lining of the gut. ➕L-Glutamine to protect the lining of your gut wall. #rootcause #inflammation #endotoxin #microbiome #microbiomehealth #guthealthmatters #guthealthiseverything #leakygut #leakygutsyndrome #dysbiosis #prebiotic #prebioticfiber #probiotic #probiotics #probioticos #precisionmedicine
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