HouseCall: Your Stomach Has Eyes, Evening Workout Repercussions, Sports Hernia Recovery, Eczema on Fingers, Lithium Orotate, Mixing CBO with Other Supplements

Welcome back to our weekend Cabral HouseCall shows!

This is where we answer our community’s wellness, weight loss, and anti-aging questions to help people get back on track!

Check out today’s questions:

Hindy: My name is Hindy Friedman and I am an avid follower of yours and listen to your podcasts weekly. Your podcasts provide me with a wealth of information, pertaining to one’s health and wellbeing. As such, I am always looking forward to your next podcast.I grew up in Brooklyn, New York and I was diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa as an early adolescent. Since February of 2015 I have been in and out of treatment weight restoring in treatment and upon return home relapsing and losing weight. Inpatient treatment provides medical and psychiatric stabilization, limits destructive behaviors and addresses any underlying issues that may be causing the eating disorder. Throughout the day, I participated in skill-based therapeutic groups aimed to replace my maladaptive behaviors. I processed my thoughts, feelings and any matters that were came up for me individually or as a community. Additionally, I met (individually) with a therapist three times a week, psychiatrist five times a week and dietitian twice a week.In nutrition, I was given a structured meal plan to abide by six times a day. I was taught the philosophy that “All foods fit.” I can eat what I want in as long as it’s in moderation. For instance, if I eat a cookie that’s ok as long as my entire intake for the days is not only cookies. I was also taught all foods are equal/your stomach doesn’t have eyes, so whether I eat an apple or a piece of cake my body will break it down the same way and it won’t know the difference. Yet, functional medicine demonstrates the healing power of food. Functional Medicine has informed me of the benefits of eating a non-processed whole foods diet and the consequences and diseases that arise when eating the standard American diet. All these messages from Eating Disorder Clinicians and Functional Medicine Practitioners have left me feeling confused and divided. Unfortunately, science is bias many of the times leaving me with no concrete evidence in who to trust. In addition, the diet industry is a 60-billion-dollar industry thriving by selling various messages to the population. As I navigate my recovery, I vacillate from side to side unsure whom to believe. I am plagued by the confusion of not knowing whom to listen too. The voices in my head inundate me with food messages relentlessly, sometime convincing me to believe E.D. clinicians and sometimes persuading me to trust F.M. practitioners. I know your podcast is not a direction but a platform for information about health. Nevertheless, I would like more insight on the outlook of eating disorders through a functional medicine perspective. Hindy

Marie: Hi Dr Cabral! Thanks in advance for your consistently amazing advice!I am 26 years old and having lots of trouble with my sleep, and have noticed a correlation between going to the gym in the evening and sleeping badly. Unfortunately, due to my schedule I am only able to go between the hours of 5pm – approx 7pm and while I tend to fall asleep quite well (I am exhausted by always sleeping so badly), I wake up around 5am and cannot fall back asleep. It feels like even before this I did not get any true deep sleep and I will lie in bed feeling tired but wired. While my sleep isn’t great on non-gym days, it is a lot better. Could you explain the biology behind this?It used to be even worse when I wasn’t hydrating enough during my workout, which I have now adjusted. I have found that taking ashwaghanda has actually worsened the sleep issue surprisingly. I know magnesium helps with sleep, however I am a bit scared of taking it these days as even taking 240mg (glycinate or citrate) regularly causes symptoms such as headache, nausea and dizzyness, pale skin and diarrhea (could this be because I need to take more calcium along with it?!).Appreciate the advice on what I could do to help alleviate the issue!

Melissa: Hi Dr. Cabral,My husband and I love your show! I had surgery about 6 years ago to repair a sports hernia. It’s never really felt the same since. I feel a tightness and sometimes strange/sharp pain down there after I do core work. My doctor never mentioned to me that I needed to do any physical therapy. What exercises and stretches would be the most important for me to regain strength in my abs/core. Are there any that I should avoid? Also, I’m hoping to get pregnant within the next year. Will this surgery create any issues as my stomach area expands over time during the pregnancy? I’ve had doctors tell me not to worry about that but was curious if you agree or had any additional thoughts on that. Really appreciate your insights. Melissa

Jaimi: Hi there, Hoping you can help. I have suffered from eczema on my hands on and off for years. It has come back in the last 6 months since, predominately on my ring fingers and pinkies. I ran a food intolerance test with naturopath (hair sample) and a lot of foods came back as intolerances, such as chicken, avocado, capsicum, chilli, garlic, onion, pork, some dairy, lots of grains, mandarins, and more! So I cut all of those foods including gluten and dairy out for 3 months, but still experienced flare ups. I also got skin needling done a few months ago and got a histamine reaction on my face that lasted a couple of days. I also did magnesium hot and cold pools this week, and experienced what I think (from research) was cold urticaria. It only lasted an hour, but I had welts/hives all over my body. I have also been told that maybe I have low methylation, and I was put on zinc picolinate and methyl folate, but I am still suffering from this eczema. My question is – is there some kind of LAB I can run to get to the bottom of this, and work our what my issues are? These are my only health concerns as I feel pretty healthy otherwise! I am also wanting to purchase your 7 day detox too. Any kind of guidance would be appreciated. Thank you,

Elise: Hi Dr Cabral, Firstly, thanks so much for all you do! I loved IHP Level 1 and am loving working through Level 2 now. I am so grateful to have the blueprint for vibrant health, and my own health gets better & better everyday in every way on your wellness plan. Quick question: thoughts on Lithium Orotate? Is it in any of the Equilibrium Nutrition products? The author of “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” sings its praises, says most people are deficient in it, that it used to be more prevalent in our foods and no longer is (soil deficiencies etc). Apparently it is powerful, safe and inexpensive. As someone on your wellness plan, I am interested in your thoughts on adding in a Lithium Orotate supplement. Thank you, Elise

Erin: Hi Dr. Cabral, I am a 34-year old female currently on an herbal antimicrobial CBO protocol (trying to combat bacterial and fungal overgrowth). I recently had bloodwork done by my general practitioner, and the results showed severe vitamin D and zinc deficiencies. Should I wait to complete the herbal antimicrobial CBO protocol before taking vitamin D and/or zinc supplements? In other words, will the herbal antimicrobials have any impact on the absorption of these supplements? Thanks for all of the great work you do! Erin

Thank you for tuning into today’s Cabral HouseCall and be sure to check back tomorrow where we answer more of our community’s questions!