Would you like some quick, succinct no-nonsense tips that can decrease the likelihood of you or a loved one getting a serious case of CoVid19?

Let’s lay a basic foundation here:

The good news: I’ve spent some time reading journal articles and listening to people who are apolitical. People like John Ioannidis, Stanford epidemiologist, and researcher. People like David Katz MD, Epidemiologist, Preventative Medicine Specialist & author of over 200 peer-reviewed Journal articles. Both are using data to suggest that the fatality rate is significantly lower than what we originally thought.

In addition, other data has also revealed that there is a definite pattern that can be discerned about who is more likely to have a significant case of this disease. And here is more good news:

Most of the conditions that leave people more susceptible are conditions that we can control and even reverse through diet and lifestyle changes! More health, more wealth.

So, what conditions are we talking about? Most people who come down with a more serious case have Type 2 diabetes, are overweight or obese, have cardiovascular disease, or have asthma or COPD. The unfortunate thing is that because our country is so over-fed, this represents about 45% of the general public under 65 years old!

So losing weight and eating more healthfully can literally save your life!

To help address this issue, I will be starting a group coaching program soon.

Watch for my upcoming announcements about my program “Journey to Wellness.”

The post Your Health is Your Wealth: Controlling What You Can in Uncertain Times appeared first on Dr Leslie K. Empowered Wellness.

Today, I want to tell you a couple of quick stories of people who made small changes that helped address chronic inflammation and how these changes changed their life. (All names have been changed.)

Beverly is a client that, despite being obese had an active lifestyle that including skiing, tennis and other sports. But throughout the years she had had numerous injuries that resulted in chronic pain. Still, she was committed to maintaining her lifestyle and finding a way to diminish pain & inflammation without the potential negative effects of medication. I suggested a program that included Ameo’s Frankincense Essential Oil, various supplements and detoxification & weight loss. Bev decided to go with the Frankincense alone. (She didn’t want to give up any of her favorite foods & was convinced she actually felt better at her current weight.) Amazingly, just that, by itself made enough of a change that, although she wasn’t able to ski or play tennis, she had less pain and was able to be more active than she had been in the recent past .

Melinda is a young adult (mid-20’s) that was having some health challenges as a result of her poor diet and lack of exercise throughout her teenage years and into young adulthood. Blood tests revealed she was pre-diabetic. She had constant digestive distress, pain in many joints, possible gall bladder issues and knew she had to make a change. Adding Zija’s Smartmix, AGX Digest and making better food choices made an incredible difference. In a matter of just a couple of months, her digestive and gall bladder issue were resolved, her blood tests returned to a healthy range, pain was gone, she had more energy & felt healthier and she lost about 20 lbs.

Michael was a morbidly obese middle aged man who was diabetic, had fatty liver disease and was in constant pain. He knew his very life hinged on the need to make some major changes. He added Zija’s Supermix, Premium Detox tea and more fresh fruits and veggies to his diet. He has eliminated junk food, most dairy and some meat. He has lost almost 60 lbs and is now able to be a little more active. His blood tests have shown improvement after just a few months. Michael still has a long way to go to undo the damage caused by years of toxicity and inflammation. At this writing, he is still, unfortunately, in some pain but as he continues to build muscle, lose fat and decrease inflammation, he is beginning to see more positive changes. He is optimistic that he will be able to resume many activities soon.

These 3 clients illustrate  how making changes that decrease inflammation can result in quick improvements in people’s lives and in their health profiles.

To learn more about any of the products mentioned here or Dr. Leslie’s Lifetime Wellness Coaching Services, contact us.

The post Chronic Inflammation: Stories of Change appeared first on Dr Leslie K. Empowered Wellness.

Hormone disruptors are pervasive in our environment and awareness of what they are and why they matter is the first step in avoiding them. Broadly speaking, hormone disruptors are any substance that can have an effect on our hormones. When people think of hormones, they usually think of menstrual cycles, pregnancy and menopause in women and maybe a couple function in men like muscular development and fertility. But we actually have many more hormones and they govern or have an influence on every function in our bodies. From the amount of water we retain (aldosterone) to our fight or flight response ( mainly cortisol) to the hormones that govern our internal daily clock, help us digest food and eliminate waste and more, our hormones play a critical role in our health and hormone disruptors in our environment are wreaking havoc on our bodies and minds.

Hormone disruptors act by occupying the site that a hormone would normally occupy on the cell membrane. Often they act like the the hormone itself, only super-charged; with more activity. They can sometimes bind more strongly to the cell membrane and exert influence for longer periods of time. They may be influencing far more functions than you think as well. Are you aware that most new mothers have detectable amounts of these substances in their breast milk?! Has anyone else besides me noticed that, in general more young men are losing more hair at a younger age than prior generations? (probably hormonally influenced) And dare I say it; young women seem to have more breast development than prior generations (probably also hormonally influenced). In addition, both boys and girls are going through puberty earlier, both men and women are having more problems with fertility. There is  also a connection between hormone disruptors and how much fat we are accumulating on our bodies. (That is not an excuse for all, just acknowledgement that it may make it worse.) All this and more can be due to the influence of hormone disruptors.
[pinterest]

While there are many kinds of substances that can act as hormone disruptors; from chemicals we use to clean with to pesticides, plastics and more, today I wanted to discuss plastics because I think these, overall, are the ones that we can most readily limit the influence of in our lives.

While most people are now aware of BPA (Bis-phenol A), a substance found in things from the linings of canned foods to dental fillings and the fact that it can have hormonal activity, (something I read about and asked my dentist about 15 years ago and was brushed off as crazy!)  it’s likely that other substances will be found to have a similar influence. With the increased awareness of BPA, companies are readily switching to other substances and many of these have not been studied. The solution? Use alternatives to plastic as much as possible. Since these substances can readily leech into your food, store food in glass containers. Use stainless steel or glass water bottles. Never cook in plastic or plastic lined containers. If you purchase prepare food in a plastic container, put in glass before putting it in the oven even if the container claims to be oven-safe.  I like to discourage people from microwaving foods but if you must microwave something, use a glass container. Do your best to purchase food wrapped and stored in substances other than plastic ideally or put them in another container until use if the product isn’t available that way. Another option is always to ‘let your money do the talking’ and not buy things packaged in plastic. And contacting companies to encourage change is always a great idea as well.

This article undoubted just scratches the surface. Got some great ideas or comments? I’d love to hear them

The post Are Hormones Making You Sick & Tired? Environmental Influences appeared first on Dr Leslie K. Empowered Wellness.

In discussing diet, I like to invoke the 80/20 rule with a caveat. The 80/20 rule in diet, the way I advise people means that if 80% of your diet consists of fresh veggies, beans, nuts & seeds, berries and fresh fruit -pretty much in that order- the other 20% can be made up of starches (whole grains, potatoes, etc) and animal products. There are a couple of caveats here: (1) when I say whole grain I mean things like brown rice, millet, barley etc. in their WHOLE state; not pulverized as in flour or cornmeal (notes: quinoa is a seed and included in that category. I categorize yams & squashes as veggies but not white potatoes) (2) if you are already sick, you may need to observe the 95/5 rule until you, at least, become asymptomatic. (3) if you’re not overweight or otherwise ‘sick’ you can likely increase starches and/or animal foods a little without adverse effect.

The addition of super-foods to this diet will further enhance the anti-inflammatory effect of this diet. When I say super-foods, I’m referring to a list of foods- within the above categories- that have a high concentration of specific nutrients that are often lacking in the Standard American Diet (SAD). Here is a partial list: flax seeds, Moringa,  chia seeds, pomegranate, acai berry, gogi  berry, blue berries, cacoa (raw chocolate), green tea, avocado, cruciferous veggies (broccoli, kale, cabbage family) . Many people add raw coconut oil and wild caught salmon to this list. I use caution with adding them because (1) I don’t want to give people ‘permission’ to eat excessive amounts of fat; small amounts are fine in foods but I don’t think we have the evidence to justify more, (2) there are appropriate concerns about mercury in sea food and (3) there are plenty of non-animal sources for Omega-3 fats (nuts, seeds, olives).

A discussion of anti-inflammatory foods is, of course, incomplete without mentioning the most inflammatory foods that must be excluded. The main culprits on the list here are (1) white four (2) processed foods (3) sugar  (4) dairy  (5) Genetically modified foods (GMOs) and recently (6) ALL non-organic grains.  When eaten to the degree they commonly are in the American diet, I also add chicken and beef to this category.

The reason for the addition of GMO foods and non-organic grains is 2 fold: (1) GMO foods disrupt a crucial metabolic pathway of bacteria in our gut and as such may play a role in many disease processes. (GMOs may be found in non-organic products containing corn; especially corn syrup, soy, canola, beet sugar, zucchini, papaya and soon in apples that don’t turn brown and salmon) and (2) both GMO foods and non-organic grains are sprayed with large amounts of pesticides (Glyphosate) that also effect both us and our gut microbiome.

Inflammation is a natural part of the healing process and a certain amount of it is necessary and good when we are injured or sick. It is part of the process that makes your ankle swell and hurt when you sprain it, for example. However, when we eat a predominantly animal product and starch diet, our body becomes highly acidic and produces much more pro-inflammatory chemicals than it needs. This is one reason why it’s not uncommon in our society, for an injury to become chronic even when a person stops doing what caused the injury. Excessive inflammation also plays a role in allergies and illnesses causing an increased non-specific immune response; making these conditions worse than they might otherwise be. In the inflamed state, our bodies heal more slowly; excessive inflammation actually impedes the healing process whereas appropriate levels of inflammation speed the process. With the Standard American Diet, we’ve upset the natural balance making it difficult for our body to advance from the acute stage of the injury to the healing phase.

Beyond this basic approach, people often want to look at which specific foods are best for their body. Food sensitivities are a real concern as well as the fact that some people may feel better with more protein that what I outlined above. These responses are individual and best handled in an individual way. However, for the vast majority of people, getting off of processed food and pulverized grains and decreasing animal proteins will make a huge difference and is a conservative starting place.

With this approach, you can begin to take control of your health and effect significant change in almost any process that is affecting your overall energy and vitality.

For some simple ways of adding additional nutritious foods, beyond diet, there are supplement that contain Moringa that you can learn about here: and is a whole food supplement of concentrated fruits and veggies that you can learn about here: If you are interested in ordering either of these products you can do so here: or here:

Feel free to comment below or email me with questions. You may also learn more through a FREE 30 minute Health Strategies Session with me.

The post The Anti-Inflammatory Diet appeared first on Dr Leslie K. Empowered Wellness.