Hormones, peptides and weight loss
Hormone balance
Hormones act as signals throughout our body that help tissues communicate with one another, and help us feel vibrant (or not).
When our thyroid, blood sugar, stress or sex hormones are out of balance, we may begin to experience fatigue, weight changes, headaches, skin changes, hair loss, menstrual irregularities, libido changes, and so much more!
Dr. Liz helps to balance hormones through a thorough functional analysis, including the role your genes play in hormone regulation, and the active expression and activity of hormones based on lab testing.
Evaluation can be added to any service by request and will include a comprehensive lab assessment (cost varies).
Hormone replacement
Dr. Liz is experienced in bio-identical hormone replacement and thyroid balance for women and men.
Based on lab results and symptom assessment, a comprehensive plan can be made to target your health goals.
Labs considered:
Blood work
DUTCH testing for comprehensive hormones (sex hormones and adrenals)
Nutritional evaluation (if needed)
Organic Acid testing (if needed)
Clean Start Weight Loss program
Weight loss can be frustrating, and despite our best efforts, some people find they continue to stall in their weight loss progress.
If you have tried diet and exercise, and still find it hard to lose the weight you’d like, you may consider exploring the Clean Start Weight Loss® Program, where you can achieve: rapid and long-lasting weight loss faster than you ever thought possible.
Since 2011, over 80,000 people have safely lost weight through this medically-supervised weight loss program. Dr. Liz has undergone intensive training and is an expert in utilizing the Clean Start Weight Loss® Program to help her patients reach an ideal weight for their body.
Peptide therapy
Dr. Liz wants her patients to feel good about themselves and improve their health and well-being in the process. One approach to optimizing health is the utilization of Peptide Therapies.
Peptides can be used to support weight loss through growth hormone support, support mood and brain health, optimize cellular aging, improve skin health, reduce insomnia, support energy and even boost your natural tanning abilities!
Hormone Replacement Q & A
Why would I need hormone replacement?
Hormone replacement is a valuable treatment option for men and women who are experiencing problems associated with hormonal imbalance.
Hormones are highly potent chemical messengers produced in glands around your body. They play a vital role in maintaining primary bodily functions, including growth, reproduction, and metabolism. Any disruption in the optimal quantity of hormones circulating in your body can have wide-ranging and even life-threatening effects.
One of the most well-known diseases that’s caused by hormone imbalance is diabetes, which results from either a lack of the hormone insulin, or your body’s inability to use the insulin it’s making.
Thyroid dysfunction is another typical example. Too much thyroid hormone causes hyperthyroidism, leading to weight loss, heart problems, and other distressing symptoms. Too little thyroid hormone causes hypothyroidism, leading to weight gain, fatigue, and many other metabolic problems.
The condition most closely associated with hormone replacement therapy is menopause, when boosting levels of the female sex hormone estrogen reduces the severity of some common symptoms of this transition period in a woman’s life.
Men can also suffer from an imbalance in testosterone, the male sex hormone. Testosterone replacement therapy can restore virility, strength, and muscle tone to men whose bodies aren’t producing enough of this essential hormone.
What is bioidentical hormone replacement?
Bioidentical hormone replacement boosts hormone levels when your body isn’t making enough. Following naturopathic principles, bioidentical hormone replacement is a product that comes from naturally occurring hormones rather than the synthetic substitutes used in many conventional hormone replacement therapy (HRT) medications.
Bioidentical hormones come from plants like yam and soy. After extracting the plant hormones, the manufacturers modify them so they’re an exact match for the hormones made in your body, down to the molecular level.
Dr. Liz uses advanced forms of testing to assess your hormone levels using a system called DUTCH, which stands for dried urine test for comprehensive hormones.
Dr. Liz sends a dried sample of your urine for testing, receiving a detailed report on the levels of all the key hormones in your body.
This includes an assessment of how well your liver is metabolizing sex hormones, risk for hormone-mediated cancers like breast cancer.
Is bioidentical hormone therapy better than conventional HRT?
Conventional HRT is derived primarily from pregnant horse mare urine or is a synthetic estrogen made in a lab. Although they are estrogens, they are not the same type of estrogens that the human body can adapt to, and although they may support menopausal symptoms, the risk for serious complications can be much higher.
Bioidentical hormone replacement has two advantages over these mass-produced synthetic forms of HRT:
First, bioidentical hormones function at the same cellular level as your natural hormones. That means they’re able to connect with your body’s hormone receptors far more efficiently than synthetic forms of HRT, resulting in more effective treatment.
Second, conventional HRT medications are all the same formulation, with no allowance for an individual patient’s requirements.
You might get more benefit using a different formulation that takes into account the uniqueness of your environment and genetics.
This isn’t achievable with conventional HRT, but bioidentical hormone therapies are custom made to suit each patient’s needs.
Weight Loss Q&A
What is Clean Start Weight Loss Program?
The Clean Start Weight Loss Program is designed to help your body lose weight quickly and efficiently, with the majority of weight loss noted from around the abdomen, thighs, butt and face.* This is a medically supervised weight loss program, which can change the way you shed pounds, making it possible to not only lose weight but to keep it off as well!* With this program, you can decrease your appetite, reset your metabolism, create a new normal weight and reduce destructive cravings and emotional eating.* Over 60,000 people have successfully participated in this well-established, safe and effective program.*
What sets this program apart from other weight loss programs?
This program is medically supervised by a licensed healthcare provider. You will be asked about your complete medical history and will have a review of basic blood work to ensure this program will work for you. * If you sign up for the Clean Start Weight Loss Program, you will get a comprehensive support package. This includes weekly visits, a guide book, a food journal, tip sheets and cookbooks with over 50 recipes.
Each aspect of the Clean Start Weight Loss Program is medical-based, meaning that it requires supervision from a physician in order to ensure that you quickly and safely lose the weight you want to lose.* There are no miracle solutions or fads involved. This is a long-term weight loss solution with a focus on keeping the weight off.* No other program aims to reset your appetite and metabolism, reduce your cravings and create a new normal weight just for you.
Advanced testing can be considered as an add-on service. Dr. Liz can further tailor and personalize your weight loss goals by using genetic testing to determine your ideal caloric needs, diet and exercise program. She also finds that stool testing and food allergy testing can be helpful to determine how the unique bugs in your gut augment how you process your food. This can help to stabilize blood sugars and improve long-term weight-loss outcomes. Additional testing, including a comprehensive hormone test and cardiovascular risk factors can be added as well, based on your individual risk and interest.
what is included?
The HCG Clean Start Program is a 6 week journey, which includes medical support, the Clean Start Program Guide, Recipe Book, Diet tracker, Rx hCG, body composition analysis and weekly office visits or check ins.
MIC+B12 “fat booster” shots can be added weekly for additional support ($40 per shot)
Is this program safe?
The Clean Start Weight Loss Program is safe and medically supervised. Thorough blood work to ensure safety of the program is required to start this journey. Body comp analysis and vitals are monitored weekly to make sure your body is burning fat and not losing muscle.
Side effects tend to be positive. Energy begins to rise, sleep gets deeper, blood pressure and blood sugar tend to normalize, cholesterol levels lower, arthritis and joint pain will often improve, skin conditions clear, mood elevates, digestive symptoms improve, and so much more.
There are a few conditions which require precaution for hCG. Patients with a history of gallstone formation may tend to form stones on the program. This is due to the low fat diet and sudden weight loss, and not the medication. Gout symptoms can occur in patients who have a history of gout episodes. In patients with a history of ovarian cysts, there have been noted cases of ovarian cyst stimulation on the HCG Diet. However, in the 8 years that Dr. Liz has supervised hCG, there has only been 1 patient who had a negative outcome that was fully reversed when we ended the program. Negative side effects on the Clean Start Weight Loss Program are rare in our clinical experience
* Results are typical but not guaranteed. The FDA has not approved HCG for weight loss and states there is no substantial evidence that HCG with a low calorie diet supports better weight loss than with a low-calorie diet alone. In our clinical experience, we see strong results using HCG along with a lower calorie diet to enhance weight loss.