Participants: Eric Shadle, Don Mackintosh
Series Code: HFAL
Program Code: HFAL000116
00:51 Hello and welcome to "Health for a Lifetime"
00:53 I'm your host Don Mackintosh and today we're going to be 00:55 talking about women's health issues. 00:57 One of the big killers for women is heart disease... 01:01 In fact, it's the #1 killer. 01:03 And our guest today, Dr. Eric Shadle 01:05 is going to be talking with us about heart disease 01:08 as it relates to women's health. 01:10 You see the women all the time; 01:11 you work in obstetrics and gynecology, isn't that right? 01:15 And have a rather large practice I think you have 6 other folks 01:18 that take call for you and your group 01:20 so you see a lot of women... 01:21 And is it true the #1 cause of death is 01:24 heart disease for women? 01:25 That's right, it is the #1 cause... 01:28 More than all other causes combined as a matter-of-fact. 01:32 And in your practice, then, you're talking about 01:35 women's health and whatnot, 01:36 you wouldn't really think about that - 01:38 You'd think, "Well, that's not a women's issue" 01:40 Do most women look at it that way? 01:42 Do they think it's no big deal? 01:44 Actually, most women are more concerned with breast cancer 01:47 and other issues than they are with cardiovascular disease. 01:51 Somehow, the message hasn't gotten out there that 01:53 that is actually the public enemy #1 for both men AND women, 01:59 cardiovascular disease. 02:01 So what do you use in your practice; 02:02 how is it that you educate people about 02:04 heart disease and these issues? 02:06 Well, I'm glad you asked that because 02:10 it really relates back to about 4 years ago 02:13 when I went through a CHIP Program 02:17 that Dr. Hans Diehl is the founder of CHIP 02:21 which means - "Coronary Health Improvement Project" 02:24 and I went through that program, 02:28 and, honestly, it changed my life. 02:31 And it's a program that deals with lifestyle issues, 02:35 and dietary changes that can have a positive impact 02:40 on a person's risk for cardiovascular disease 02:44 as well as a whole host of other medical conditions. 02:46 I think you have a graphic about this that shows 02:49 the general principles that go over, now let's look at this... 02:51 Yeah, well - you see there CHIP which is 02:55 the "Coronary Health Improvement Project" 02:57 It's a 40-hour long lifestyle modification program 03:02 and there are 5 basic principles 03:04 associated with the CHIP Program. 03:06 And these are the principles that have 03:10 affected my life so positively and that is... 03:12 Number 1, we want to decrease empty calories. 03:15 The empty calories that we would take in during the day. 03:18 We want to decrease the amount of animal products. 03:21 We want to eat more foods as grown. 03:24 We need to exercise... 03:25 And then a buddy system for accountability. 03:28 A lifestyle change can often or almost always 03:33 be very difficult to institute in our lives, 03:36 and it's good to have someone that we can talk to 03:42 and that can help hold us accountable. 03:44 So in your practice then, you not only are involved 03:46 personally in this, but you involve people 03:48 from your practice in it and refer people to it, 03:51 and it works with your program. Absolutely! 03:53 I refer patients to CHIP Program... 03:57 Actually we do a CHIP Program in our church; 03:59 local churches can do a CHIP Program... 04:03 And it's fun, it's easy to do, 04:07 and it impacts peoples lives dramatically. 04:10 Now it talks about a diet or a lifestyle change, 04:14 but predominantly you're talking about 04:15 the nutritional intake of people. 04:17 What kind of changes are you asking them to make? 04:20 What kind of diet is it? 04:21 Well specifically, we're looking at 04:23 decreasing the amount of fat that we take in. 04:26 In the United States, the amount of fat intake 04:31 has actually gone down in the last few years, 04:33 but it's still extremely high. 04:34 It's about 37% of our total caloric intake, 04:37 and the CHIP Program recommends less than 20%. 04:41 So that's the first step that makes a major impact. 04:47 Another principle when we're talking about empty calories - 04:50 Most of our empty calories is because there is no 04:53 fiber in the food that we eat... 04:55 And the average American gets about 11-12 grams of fiber 04:59 a day and that's average; that means there's a lot of 05:02 Americans that get 1 or 2 grams of fiber a day, 05:05 and that's just not enough for the 05:07 body to be able to function normally. 05:11 So the CHIP program recommends at least 30, 05:14 and I personally recommend to my patients 05:16 more than 40 grams of fiber a day. 05:18 And with women's health issues, 05:20 this diet helps them with constipation or... 05:23 Constipation, but you know, constipation - the same forces 05:29 that are causing constipation also cause hemorrhoids, 05:32 varicose veins that women are very concerned about. 05:36 It causes diverticular disease 05:39 that all people are concerned with, appendicitis. 05:45 It can increase the risk for gallbladder disease, 05:47 high blood pressure - even a low fiber diet is 05:51 associated with heart disease, 05:53 coronary artery disease and stroke. 05:55 So all these basic fundamental problems you see then are 05:59 addressed by concepts that are covered in the 06:02 Coronary Health Improvement Project or CHIP 06:03 That's right and just getting some more fiber, 06:06 and eating less fat in our diets. 06:09 Now I notice that there is an exercise component 06:12 to this program and all these other components, 06:16 how does that work? 06:18 You refer them but what exactly do they recommend 06:21 in this program or what are you recommending 06:23 to patients in terms of exercise and these other areas 06:26 aside from diet? 06:27 Anyone who wants to lose weight, for example, 06:30 should exercise 60 minutes a day in the form of walking. 06:36 Now if you are going to be a runner or you're going to 06:41 bike hard or some of these other things, 06:44 then you might be able to do 06:46 less than that - such as maybe 30 minutes a day... 06:49 But walking 60 minutes a day is a safe thing, 06:53 and almost everyone can do that, 06:57 and that is what we recommend at least 5-6 days a week. 07:03 But CHIP is much more than just diet and exercise. 07:08 You know to have health, we really need a 07:11 balance between the physical, obviously, 07:15 the mental aspects of life, but also the emotional 07:19 and the spiritual. 07:21 And if any one of those is out of sorts, 07:23 then we're really not healthy. 07:25 And so we need all 4 of those components coming together 07:30 to provide for health. 07:34 So you don't just provide the social-emotional ties 07:38 with all the people that are coming to your practice, 07:40 you are able to refer them to a group of people 07:42 that can give them that kind of support, 07:44 and also meet some of those other needs. 07:46 That's right and that's why it has been so important 07:49 in my practice - to be able to do that 07:51 because before CHIP, I was prescribing medications... 07:57 For instance, menopausal symptoms... 08:00 I would just get out the prescription pad 08:02 and give estrogen as opposed to talking about 08:05 dietary changes and being able to put somebody into a program 08:10 that can actually have an impact on their lives... 08:12 Because let's face it, in a busy practice, 08:16 I don't have time - even if I took 1/2 hour or an hour 08:20 with a patient, there's no way I can even start to 08:23 impact their lives the way a 40-hour program 08:26 that occurs over 30 days. 08:28 You know, I've heard about the CHIP Program 08:31 and different venues, talked with other guests here 08:33 and different things and talked with people who've done that 08:35 and they've seen some real changes in peoples lives 08:39 in terms of lowering their cardiovascular risk, 08:41 heart disease and you know, weight loss, 08:44 and all those different types of things, 08:45 but have you followed the people in your program 08:48 and in your practice have gone through, 08:50 what kind of documented changes have you seen in your patients? 08:53 I've seen in just 4 weeks, a 20-25% drop in cholesterol 09:00 in some of the groups that we've had go through the program. 09:03 We see weight loss. 09:04 Actually we have an average of about a 4% weight loss, 09:09 and that's in 4 weeks. 09:10 Now that may not sound like a lot, 09:12 but 4% in 4 weeks is really pretty dramatic. 09:20 We see a lowering of the pulse rate - which is a good thing 09:23 because the healthier we are, 09:25 the lower our resting pulse will be... 09:27 And we find blood pressures normalize. 09:30 We've had a lot of people who have gone through the 09:33 CHIP Program actually get off high blood pressure medicine, 09:36 get off of their Lipitor which 09:38 is a medicine to decrease cholesterol, 09:41 and be able to get off of some of these things. 09:43 So that's not as hard on their liver, 09:45 and they're not having to have all these medications go through 09:48 and so a lot of the things that you have to do, 09:51 you don't have to do anymore, the medications. That's right 09:55 Now are there any specific medical diagnoses 09:59 in which CHIP is especially helpful in your practice 10:02 or, I guess, for everybody as well. 10:04 Oh I tell you what, I use CHIP principles 10:07 in my practice every day. 10:09 I see patients who have problems ranging from, 10:15 like you mentioned before, constipation to 10:18 menopausal symptoms and I use 10:22 CHIP principles for ALL of those issues. 10:26 Weight is a big issue with a lot of women, men too, 10:30 but of course, I don't see men at my practice... 10:33 So the women that I see are very concerned about weight, 10:37 and the CHIP principles, that diet will definitely 10:42 lend itself to decreasing weight. 10:44 So there are different groups... 10:46 I think you have some graphics of different diagnoses 10:49 that really are benefited in your practice that 10:53 you shared with me. 10:54 One was for postmenopausal people and then others were for 10:59 obstetrical - let's look at the postmenopausal issues here. 11:02 Yes, we have here with the postmenopausal issues, 11:06 I specifically use CHIP to talk to women about 11:10 osteoporosis, heart disease and vasomotor symptoms 11:13 such as hot flashes. 11:16 The CHIP Program is definitely 11:21 relevant in each one of those areas. 11:24 And so when they go to the CHIP Program, 11:27 they can really address, in a fundamental, dietary, 11:29 nutritional, spiritual, motivational way... osteoporosis 11:33 In other words, they teach them 11:34 how to eat the green leafy vegetables and all those foods 11:37 and how to prepare them so they taste good. That's right 11:40 And then heart disease - how that lowers their cholesterol 11:44 and then hot flashes... 11:47 How does that work exactly with diet? 11:48 Well with hot flashes, it's due to a rapid decrease 11:54 in estrogen and maybe even in overall deficiency in estrogen, 11:57 and what we find is that THAT effect is exaggerated 12:03 by a high fat diet - especially before the menopause 12:07 that will tend to increase the amount of estrogen produced 12:13 in a woman's body and, thus, when she goes through the 12:15 menopause, there's a bigger drop, 12:17 and so her symptoms are much more dramatic. 12:20 So it's sets them up to not be seeing that huge drop 12:24 that makes them feel so terrible... That's right 12:25 But once they are already menopausal, 12:29 and they make the dietary changes at that time, 12:32 it may not help them get rid of hot flashes, 12:36 but they will have mood changes that are positive, 12:40 and they will feel better overall and be able to get 12:45 through those hot flashes easier. 12:50 Well, the other thing was obstetrical issues... 12:52 In other words, you are an OB/GYN, so the OB things, 12:56 what do you see here? 12:57 Well I use CHIP for younger patients who are pregnant; 13:03 to talk about proper nutrition, calcium intake and fetal health. 13:08 Those are all, of course, issues that all pregnant woman are 13:15 very concerned about and CHIP 13:18 definitely has an impact in those issues. 13:23 So prenatal nutrition and all those different kinds of things. 13:26 Is the diet or the nutrition that CHIP recommends, 13:31 is it healthy for the pregnant mom? 13:34 Absolutely! In fact, it's the healthiest diet 13:38 that any of us can eat, so there's nothing wrong 13:42 with taking it in pregnancy. 13:44 It's kind of interesting that I have had colleagues 13:49 who are concerned about a woman on a vegetarian diet. 13:55 In fact, I had a patient that changed physicians, 13:59 came to me and on the front of her chart, 14:02 and I think this might have been one reason she came to me 14:04 is because on the front of her chart, her previous physician 14:07 had put on there that she was a high-risk pregnancy, 14:11 and the only thing that made her a high-risk pregnancy 14:13 was that she was consuming a vegetarian diet... 14:17 which in fact - would make her a low-risk pregnancy 14:20 because the vegetarian diet will actually feed her baby 14:26 better because you're getting more antioxidants, 14:30 you're getting plant protein, you're getting less 14:37 overall protein, so you're going to have 14:40 fewer problems with calcium deficiency, 14:42 and overall calcium metabolism because our high protein diets 14:47 actually flush the calcium right out of our bodies. 14:52 I noticed here under obstetrical issues, 14:56 under that actually was a part 14:59 of the postmenopausal or obstetrics, 15:02 and you said that this seems to help people that are 15:04 suffering from depression and fatigue and also 15:07 chronic pelvic pain and endometriosis... 15:10 How does that work with the 15:11 chronic pelvic pain and endometriosis? 15:13 Well those are issues that we have a graphic here 15:21 showing that omega-3 fatty acids are increased 15:29 when you consume a vegetarian diet, 15:32 and it actually decreases the prostaglandins that cause pain 15:38 and it can independently seem to decrease endometriosis. 15:42 Now let me just explain that a little bit, 15:44 and that is that those omega-3 fatty acids that we are 15:48 increasing through a vegetarian diet, 15:51 through a plant-based diet, actually are the types 15:57 of fatty acids that help to prevent pain. 16:01 When we take an aspirin or an antiprostaglandin such as 16:05 Motrin, ibuprofen - what we're doing is blocking 16:09 the prostaglandin synthesis at a level that will prevent pain. 16:16 And in the prostaglandin synthesis, 16:19 there are 2 arms that goes down; 16:22 one prostaglandins that actually cause pain, 16:25 the other one that actually reduces pain... 16:28 And so, in medicine, what we do is give patients 16:32 medications to decrease pain by blocking 16:36 the prostaglandins that cause pain. 16:38 But if we eat plant products, we find a prominent production 16:45 of the prostaglandins that don't cause pain, 16:52 and that actually relieve pain and interestingly enough - 16:54 if you eat a lot of animal protein, those products 16:58 have the prostaglandins that go down the other chain 17:01 that will actually increase pain. 17:03 So you set yourself up for what kind of pain you have. 17:07 That's right. Chronic pain or even - 17:09 I don't know if it's related to acute pain, 17:11 but certainly what you eat sets you up to either have 17:14 more pain or less pain. 17:15 Wow! That's fascinating! That's right 17:18 And so CHIP seems to be related to that or IS related to that. 17:22 It is related to that and this has been documented in research 17:28 that is certainly independent of any 17:31 CHIP Program or CHIP principles. 17:33 We're talking with Dr. Eric Shadle 17:35 We're talking about how he educates his patients 17:38 in issues of women's health using the 17:41 Coronary Health Improvement Project - the CHIP Program 17:43 Join us when we come back! 17:52 Have you found yourself wishing that you 17:53 could shed a few pounds? 17:55 Have you been on a diet for most of your life, 17:57 but not found anything that will really keep the weight off? 18:00 If you've answered "yes" to any of these questions, 18:03 then we have a solution for you that works! 18:06 Dr. Hans Diehl and Dr. Aileen Ludington 18:09 have written a marvelous booklet called... 18:11 "Reversing Obesity Naturally" 18:13 and we'd like to send it to you free of charge. 18:16 Here's a medically sound approach successfully 18:18 used by thousands who were able to eat more and lose weight 18:22 permanently without feeling guilty or hungry 18:24 through lifestyle medicine. 18:26 Dr. Diehl and Dr. Ludington have been featured on 3ABN 18:30 and in this booklet they present a sensible approach 18:33 to eating, nutrition and lifestyle changes 18:35 that can help you prevent heart disease, diabetes 18:38 and EVEN cancer. 18:39 Call or write today for your free copy of... 18:41 "Reversing Obesity Naturally" 18:43 and you could be on your way to a healthier, happier YOU! 18:46 It's ABSOLUTELY free of charge, so call or write today. 18:57 Welcome back, we're talking with Dr. Eric Shadle 19:00 We've been talking about women's health issues 19:02 and we're talking about the CHIP Program, 19:04 how you've used it in your practice to really minister 19:08 a whole bunch of different problems and things 19:10 that women deal with - you maybe have some other 19:14 ways that you use the practice or the CHIP Program in your 19:17 practice, we want to talk about those, but we also... 19:20 Well, why don't we talk about that first.. 19:22 Are there any other ways you use CHIP in your OB practice? 19:25 Well, obstetrically, I find that I use it quite a bit; 19:30 in my OB patients - those women who are pregnant, 19:33 they are concerned about 2 primary things, I find, 19:36 at least as it relates to their diet... 19:39 One is that they are very concerned about weight gain, 19:43 and they are concerned about calcium intake. 19:46 And so I have the opportunity to talk to them about 19:50 weight gain and some of the principles of how to eat... 19:54 As we talked about earlier, the need to increase the 19:58 fiber intake, the plant-based diet and get plenty of 20:04 vegetables, grains, fruits - those types of things will 20:07 help them - actually help them control their weight. 20:10 But, they are also VERY concerned about calcium 20:14 because it seems they all come in and say... 20:16 "My mother-in-law is making sure that I drink 20:19 a gallon of milk a day or a 1/2 gallon of milk a day - 20:22 you know - make sure I get at least 3 or 4 glasses of milk" 20:25 And many of them are extremely concerned with this 20:31 because many of them - they find that consuming milk 20:35 is making them sick - of they just 20:38 don't have a taste for it anymore. 20:41 They don't want to drink it - you have good news for them! 20:44 And I have good news for them because actually for every 20:48 glass of milk they drink, they have a net calcium LOSS, 20:51 and that's been documented by multiple studies. 20:54 And so, for proper calcium metabolism, 20:57 what they actually need is a good plant-based diet. 21:04 And so they don't need any milk at all. 21:07 Wow, so that's a shocking news to them then 21:10 from all kinds of milk to no milk and probably 21:12 pretty gratifying since they have told them... 21:15 "Hey, drink a bunch of milk" 21:16 Yeah, actually what I do to tell them so it's not so 21:21 dramatic for them or such a dramatic change, 21:24 and seemed radical to them, I really talk about protein, 21:28 and telling them that they REALLY need to 21:30 decrease their protein down to 50 grams a day or so, 21:35 and that is one reason they don't need that milk. 21:39 So weight gain - they are worried about; 21:41 they are also worried about calcium intake. 21:43 One of the things we've talked about before the break was 21:45 pain and prostaglandins; 21:48 I guess prostaglandins are those things that lead to pain... 21:51 They are made in every part of the body. 21:54 They are made in blood vessels. 21:56 They are made in the uterus. 21:57 They are made throughout the entire body. 22:00 And they do a lot of different things; 22:03 in some areas they cause the blood vessels to constrict. 22:06 In others, they cause the blood vessels to dilate, 22:09 and that's because there are these 2 main pathways. 22:12 And if you get those out of balance by eating the 22:15 wrong diet, eating animal products, 22:20 you get a concentration of the types of prostaglandins 22:26 that will cause constriction, 22:27 and the type of prostaglandins that cause pain. 22:30 And so, what you want is more 22:35 of a plant-based diet that gives you better... 22:37 So before you have the baby and you're going to be 22:39 experiencing a lot of pain from the childbirth, 22:41 it would make good sense to eat foods that wouldn't 22:44 stockpile all the things that would cause all the constriction 22:47 and all the real violent pain maybe. 22:50 That's right, yes - that makes a big difference for women, 22:53 and there are more and more ongoing studies that are 22:56 looking at that, but I think that over the 22:58 next few years we'll see science documenting 23:01 this more and more, yet one more reason 23:04 to be on a vegetarian diet. 23:06 So a plant-based diet also probably helps them with 23:09 constipation which is big in pregnancy too maybe. 23:11 That's right - that's right, because it's full of fiber. 23:15 The only place you get fiber is in plant products, 23:20 and so you eat your grains and you... 23:25 In fact, I give my patients a prescription! 23:28 I give a prescription to those 23:30 who are having problems with constipation. 23:34 I say, "Well you have a choice, you can either go to the store 23:37 and you can buy your Metamucil 23:39 and your stool softeners and that, 23:41 which I can give you a prescription for, 23:42 OR, let me give you THIS prescription" 23:45 Eat a 7-grain cereal that has probably about 23:48 10 grams of fiber in it every morning; 23:51 put your bananas and put some strawberries in that; 23:54 maybe a little bit of soymilk and then eat 2 pieces of 24:00 a good bread and in our area, we use a bread from a 24:05 company that makes whole grain breads, 24:08 and there are 5 or 6 grams of fiber for every slice of bread, 24:12 so a couple of slices there. 24:13 I have my patients consuming 20 grams of fiber 24:18 just for breakfast and I don't know how many patients 24:21 I've had come back to me and say, "OH thank you!" 24:23 Things are on the move again. 24:25 "Things are on the move, I feel better than I ever have before" 24:28 Are there any other areas that you use CHIP in your practice? 24:32 You know, we've talked about prenatally and all those 24:35 different things - are there any other areas 24:36 that you use those principles? 24:39 Well one is in patients who have had surgery. 24:43 So postoperatively, after the surgery, I talk to them 24:48 about what I just said - about the Metamucil, 24:51 constipation because abdominal surgery tends to cause 24:55 the bowel to move very slowly. 24:56 We call it "ileus" and the bowel moves slowly, 24:59 and so what you want is to have a proper diet 25:03 to allow the bowel to move like it needs to... 25:06 And so these same principles looking at fiber in the diet, 25:12 is very helpful for ALL postoperative patients, 25:16 but in my case, women who are any age... C-section 25:21 or hysterectomy or just about any type of surgery. 25:24 We have about 2-1/2 minutes and I want to talk about 25:26 something that I think is very important... 25:27 A lot of women that you see they do have some bouts of 25:32 depression - maybe postpartum or whatever depression, 25:35 and how does CHIP relate to that? 25:37 CHIP relates to depression by a couple of different ways... 25:42 One is PMS - "premenstrual syndrome" 25:45 We see that very frequently. 25:47 Of course, women can have depression in 25:49 other areas as well... 25:51 But we find that CHIP helps with depression by 25:56 increasing the amount of omega-3 fatty acids, the tryptophan, 26:01 exercise, proper sleep and avoid negative thinking. 26:06 Those are areas that actually Dr. Nedley has talked about 26:10 in his book... "Depression: The Way Out" 26:13 which I found to be very helpful in dealing with patients 26:18 and their depression. 26:19 You used a lot of big words; omega-3 fatty acids, 26:22 and then tryptophan... 26:24 Are those related to elevating mood or? 26:26 Absolutely - it's really related to serotonin which 26:33 actually most of our antidepressant medications 26:36 are used to INCREASE the amount of serotonin 26:41 that we have in our brain. 26:43 And we find that actually, we can increase that 26:46 through natural means by eating foods that are high 26:50 in tryptophan; for example, things such as tofu, 26:55 pumpkin seeds, gluten flours, sesame seeds, almonds, 26:59 black walnuts, black-eyed cowpeas... 27:01 These are all very high in tryptophan. 27:04 And then that is made into serotonin, 27:05 and makes us feel better. That's right 27:07 So this diet actually helps get rid of the PMS? Yes 27:13 And also maybe any depression that comes after surgery 27:16 or after having a baby. That's right 27:18 Fascinating! 27:20 Proper sleep, negative thinking, all those different things, 27:23 of course, go along with this whole thing. 27:26 Yes again, we're made to have the emotional and the spiritual 27:33 and all these aspects of our lives coming together, 27:36 and if one gets out of balance, then we're not healthy. 27:41 Thank you so much for sharing with us the way you 27:43 integrate God's principles really in your practice 27:46 concerning diet and nutrition. 27:47 We hope you've enjoyed today's program, 27:50 and that you've learned things that can help you 27:52 in your journey and that you have 27:53 Health that Lasts for a Lifetime as a result. |
Revised 2014-12-17