Let me start by wishing all fathers, biological and otherwise, a “Happy Father’s Day!” Fathers have extremely important jobs. Protecting and providing for dependents, whether two-legged or four-legged, involves a lot of responsibility. Fathers are also called upon for teaching and disciplining. Great fathers do all these things lovingly and successfully! This is a big load to carry and it’s hard to be perfect at it. But doing their best helps their families thrive, not just survive, in today’s complex world.
Survival has been described by a great American philosopher as a range which goes from basic survival on one end to survival with abundance on the other. When we have survival with abundance, we can deal with lean times as well as good times. Survival with abundance within the framework of the family unit is evident when physical needs as well as emotional needs are being met.
Problems often occur when parents deprive themselves of their own health and happiness in trying to give their family everything they believe they should have. While this sounds noble, it’s usually destructive. In nature, animals that protect the pack stay strong because instinctually they know their demise means the demise of the pack.
Human males are good at neglecting themselves – at least until they start having problems. An increasingly common problem often reported from my patients relates to performance. When they can’t rev their engines the way they would like, they start getting concerned. But of course they aren’t talking about their cars. The good news is that they may just need a good tune-up. Join me June 19th when I’ll be talking about men’s hormones and natural alternatives to these types of problems.
Maintaining a vehicle necessitates changing the oil and removing junk from the carburetor. To maintain our health, we need to replace bad oils and transfats with healthy fats such as coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, and other non-rancid nut oils. We must eliminate the junk that builds up in our body through various forms of detoxification, including the SP Purification Program and/or detoxifying footbaths.
The body is relatively primitive, with its prime directive to be born, reach reproductive maturity, mate, have offspring to continue the race, and then die in a relatively short time period. (Does this help you understand teenagers better?) We are also beings with aspirations to pursue love, knowledge, art, science, engineering, etc. which helps us become fulfilled. To do all of these things and have a happy and fulfilling life, we must have our health and find balance in our lives.
Physical health and emotional balance starts with balanced hormones. This is one of the reasons that the chemistry of male hormones is so interesting. Most guys think that the be all and end all answer to male virility is the hormone testosterone. But this is only part of the answer. We are complex and incredibly designed beings. Males make testosterone but so do females in a much smaller quantity which is what keeps females interested in males.
The body makes the sexually oriented hormones from a base hormone called cholesterol. However, if you’re on a cholesterol lowering drug and your cholesterol gets too low, you’ll soon be reaching for another drug to help fix your hormones. The drug I’m referring to started out as a heart medication that failed; but it had the unusual side effect of causing arousal of the male organ. Side effects to this drug include blindness, strokes, and heart attacks. Besides, it’s expensive.
Men sometimes think they can fix their problems by taking supplemental testosterone. But taking large amounts of testosterone interferes with the production of other upstream hormones. It also interferes with the utilization of cholesterol so you may think you need a cholesterol lowering drug known as a statin. If the statin drug decreases your libido as it often does, you may end up in a vicious cycle.
Another problem relates to an enzyme called aromatase. Aromatase takes testosterone and turns it into estrogen. This can really make things crazy. Imagine the scenario of an estrogen dominant guy who gets angry about gaining weight. This creates more estrogen and creates more weight, making him more prone to cancer as well as prostate problems. This isn’t very romantic, especially if it leads to bladder problems. Worse yet, prostate surgery may leave him in diapers which he may not have been warned about pre-surgery.
So what should you do? First, understand what cholesterol is and when to be concerned. Next, realize that a high carbohydrate diet full of sugary foods will contribute to weight gain and turn you into an estrogen factory that produces more aromatase enzyme – which then cannibalizes your testosterone!
Start exercising. Interval training works well for most people. Just don’t neglect stretching or you may get injured and end up eating junk food in front of the TV trying to recover. I suggest you come to our workshop on Primary Exercises (June 25) to help you get started exercising safely.
Since your nervous system controls and coordinates everything in the body, including hormones, I suggest finding a good chiropractor, preferably one who understands nutrition, exercise, and can interpret saliva hormone tests. We do all this in my office but if you already have someone who takes care of your structure, stay with them, and we’ll help you with the rest.
Proper supplementation can also help balance hormones. Zinc Chelate, real B vitamins (not coal tar synthetics like most are derived from), L-arginine, acetylcholine, B5, Tribulus (only from Bulgaria), and Ashwaganda, the herb said to give one the strength of 1000 stallions are some helpful ones. The list could go on but since it varies from person to person, it’s best to have professional help. You’re invited to come in for a free consultation to find out if we can help you get started on your tune-up!
Happy Father’s Day!
Dr. William H. Karl, D.C.
Join Dr. William H. Karl, D.C. and Dr. Jacob H. Karl, D.C. on June 19th, at 7 pm for a FREE workshop, “To Survive or Thrive.” Register by calling 734-425-8220. Visit www.KarlWellnessCenter.com for more information.