Series: How To

The Redox Rx: How to Improve Your Redox Potential

Redox potential is the gain of electrons in our cells to help energy transmission flow efficiently. Detoxification is directly linked to the redox potential of any cell. In my Redox Rx, I'll give you a summary of the redox potential to help you understand the concept and steps you can take to improve your redox potential.

EMF Rx: The Top Ten EMF FAQs

Soon the EMF Rx will go live in our March 2013 webinar so in advance of it, I wanted to give the EMF FAQ's for everyone to review before you listen to the webinar. I expect there to be many questions once the webinar is released. Hopefully this will answer many of the questions you might have as the series moves forward. These may make a lot more sense once you listen to the EMF Rx in the webinar. They will really sink in after you hear our EMF expert that we are bringing on to the site for an extensive long term look at the different aspects that EMF causes in our modern world, but here is an appetizer of what is coming.

Cold Thermogenesis 13: The FAQ’s

The readers of my forum asked for a FAQ's on CT and I decided it would be a good idea to make a short blog about this. They picked their top 25 questions and I decided to answer them for this blog. If you have any others, just ask in the comments section. I answer them all when I have time.

So You Completed The Leptin Rx? What’s Next?

Once you have added the Leptin Rx to your paleo/primal template and you have successfully experienced all the "small wins" that I mentioned in the Leptin FAQ's blog, what should you do next? If you recall reading the blog on how the leptin Rx works, it basically is a plan to make your gastrointestinal tract perform visceral exercises that it is not accustomed to performing, in order to cause neuroplastic changes in your hypothalamus' arcuate nucleus. It uses the vagus nerve as the "stimulator" to send these new messages to the brain. After a period of time, the inflammation will slowly dissipate at the median eminence, and these afferent signals will force expression of certain genes that have been repressed since we were in utero. These genes and pathways are hardwired into our DNA at conception, and used until the child is 12-24 months old. After this time, they are not expressed any longer, because transgenerational epigenetics favors instead the use of the leptin receptor from an evolutionary perspective. This occurs because the leptin receptor in the arcuate nucleus is far more sensitive and accurate in accounting for electrons from food than was using older circadian and ultradian cycles that we used in uteri during morphogenesis. The human brain learns "what neural circuits" to use by repetitive firing. We have a saying in brain surgery, nerves that fire together wire together. This is the basis of the theory of Hebbian learning. These exercises I told you about in the Leptin Rx signal hypothalamic neurons to adapt to these visceral responses to food in a new way, to sensitize the leptin receptor in order to account for electrons from food in precisely how it was designed to do by evolution. In essence, we are altering the genetic expression of the genes in our arcuate nucleus. I describe it to my patients as "performing brain surgery on them without using a blade." The visceral responses to the Leptin Rx are transcribed by the vagus nerve, and this information is sent to the brain. This message is dramatically different than the one the patient is used to giving the leptin receptor, and the new message induces changes to the neuropeptides in the brainstem. After some time, (6-8 weeks for most) changes will be induced. These can be followed by the clinician or the patient. Those clinical signs are outlined in the Leptin FAQ blog post. In doing this, we force the neurons to see neurochemical signals that radically confuse the leptin receptor and the brain. The brain's response to a signal it does not understand is to revert to an older known pathway or to learn a new way to tackle on old problem. I would suggest you watch How your brain re-learns from 2007 by Dr. VS Ramachandran in a TED talk. He exquisitely explains how this type of learning is stimulated in the brain for phantom limb pain and its treatment. One need not use expensive technology to induce gene expression. It is possible to do without an NIH grant too. It requires some synthesis of thought and experience. When you understand the essence of how the brain works, you just need to design a program and force it upon the brain to decipher what to do. That is the essence of the Leptin Rx reset.

How Does The Leptin Rx Work?

Many people have contacted me about "why" the leptin Rx works and "how" does it work. Many people in the blogosphere have made some claims that much of what is in the leptin Rx is a rehash of the work found in some diet books. Well, today's post is being done to show you the science underneath my recommendations were formulated and made. None of the underlying science I will mention to you about neuroplasticity will be found in any diet book mentioned in any blog post that I know of. Most of you know I am a neurosurgeon, and as such, I was dramatically influenced by two world famous neurosurgeons named Wilder Penfield and David Kline. Dr. Penfield was the first neurosurgeon to use electrodes on the brain to map it prior to surgeries to avoid neurologic damage during tumor removal. Dr. Kline was and still is the pre eminent world expert in peripheral nerve surgery. I happened to train with Dr. Kline in New Orleans, and got turned on to his work, Dr. Penfield's work and the work of Dr. Merzenich in the early 1990's before leptin was even discovered. Dr. Michael Merzenich work on sectioning the median nerve in the hand and seeing how the brain remapped its sensory territory in the cortex via micro-electrodes was brought to my attention by Dr. Kline while I was a resident.

The Leptin Rx: FAQs

What should I do before I start The Leptin Reset? Before you start, take a picture of yourself from all angles. Don't be bashful or you'll be sorry in 18-24 months. Next, weigh yourself naked. Let your significant other or a family member take this picture. Go to the store and buy a piece of clothing that does not fit you now, but will when you have met your goal. Remember, calories are important when you're LR (leptin resistant) and mean nothing once you are LS (leptin sensitive). Macronutirents count when you're LR and mean nothing when you're LS. How do I determine if I am leptin resistant? Remember, you can be LR (leptin resistant) if you're fat or skinny. If you're overweight by more than 30lbs, it is a lock you have some degree of LR. If you're underweight by 20 lbs, you are likely LR, too. If you had an eating disorder, you're likely suffering from a serious leptin issue. The easiest test is to look in the mirror. The mirror does not lie and it is really cheap. For those people who still can't be sure after peeking in the mirror, you can order some blood tests. My favorite is the HS CRP (highly sensitive C-Reactive protein) and the reverse T3 tests (but there are others). They are accurate in over 90{a7b724a0454d92c70890dedf5ec22a026af4df067c7b55aa6009b4d34d5da3c6} of cases.

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