Poliquin - Healthy. Lean. Strong.

Mark Houston, M.D., Dr. Houston is clinical professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical School, and Medical Director at Hypertension and Vascular Biology Institute and the Life Extension Institute at Saint Thomas Hospital and Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

I have been taking seminars on cardiovascular health with Dr. Houston since 1997. I have taken a minimum of two of them every year, since. Every single time, the information was upgraded, an impressive feat.

He's also been the Editor-in-chief of JANA, the leading journal on nutraceutical science and technology Dr. Houston's medical practice philosophy is "A wise healer uses that which works." This means that he uses conventional, nutritional and complementary/alternative modalities to help heal patients of their various diseases.

His specialty is Clinical Hypertension, lipid disorders, prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases, nutrition, clinical age management and general internal medicine. He has a special interest in anti-aging, for whichhe uses a combination of natural and drug treatments, which can be found in his new book, What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Heart Disease.

Over the years, through introductions from Jonny Bowden and Robert Crayon we have become friends, and have the opportunity to teach together:

Here are five things I learned from Dr. Houston

1.    The 8 to 4 sleep cycle: I have the opportunity to stay at Mark’s house for a few days, and I asked how he could be so productive: seeing countless patients, lecturing, being up on the literature, writing books, etc.. He said: probably my sleeping patterns. Many German functional medicine physicians have been proponents of going to bed early and waking up early, advancing that hormonal make-up improves when you follow that pattern. I adopted it right away. It does WONDERS for productivity and overall health. Waking up at 4 AM allows me to get all the important stuff out of the way before even show up a work.


2.    If the ratio of triglycerides/HDL if greater than 3, 85% chance of having insulin resistance.
This is a very valuable tip for your clients who have poor medical coverage or live in countries with social medicine. In those instances, extensive lipid profiles are either cost prohibitive and/or hard to come (“How dare you be educated” or “those tests are not necessary”  attitude by Big Pharma indoctrinated M.D.s

3.    The best way to drop triglycerides:
Omega 3 s, extended release niacin (500-1000 mg/day, combined to panthetine (900 mg/day)
is fastest way to drop triglycerides. Of course if combined to eliminating simple sugars from the diet, the results are even faster.

 

4.    The top 3 things to raise the cardioprotective fractions:
The good fractions of HDL (To Increase HDL 2 and/or Convert HDL 3 to HDL 2 ) are raised the fastest by using extended release niacin (500-1000 mg/day, combined to panthetine (900 mg/day) and Resveratrol Px (200-400mg/day), The added advantages of resveratrol are its anti-estrogen and brain protection properties.

5.   To Alter Scavenger Receptor Signaling of NADPH Oxidase
This enzyme allows macrophages to ingest modified LDL cholesterol and become foam cells, then fatty streaks that increase inflammation. Blocking the enzyme will reduce this effect.

•    N Acetyl Cysteine – 500 to 1,000 mg twice per day
•    Resveratrol Px (200-400mg/day), per day

If you ever have the chance to attend his seminars, they are superb life changing learning experiences. Or at a minimum buy his upcoming book, which will be available from this site very soon; What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Heart Disease.