Rejuvalife Vitality Institute
Beverly Hills CA

It’s a New Year—Will it Also Be a New You?

It’s a New Year—Will it Also Be a New You?

Welcome to 2012! What will you do this year to make yourself healthy and beautiful inside and out?

Resolutions are notoriously difficult to make and keep. This year make a resolution you’ll never regret – resolve to achieve and maintain self-confidence through keeping good health and beauty routines. Feelings about ourselves determine how we perceive our lives, and in turn, determine how others see us. Caring for yourself properly, from the outside in, and from the inside out, can make huge changes in your overall well-being. This year resolve to increase your self-confidence by taking care of YOU. You’re worth it.

Don’t go through 2012 feeling less than your best! We are experts, and we’re eager to help you take a holistic approach to your well-being. We believe in a multifaceted approach that includes looking at a person’s mind, body, and spirit for areas of improvement. You can also make small changes every day in your current habits to get going. This includes getting better quality sleep, exercising more, and making changes in your diet to kick start weight loss. When you’ve given attention to the inside, you’re ready to get started on the outside. Rejuvalife can help you with both. We’re proud to offer a variety of services to help you meet your goals, whether they be stress managment, weight loss, facial rejuvenation, or non-surgical body contouring, the experts at Rejuvalife are ready to help.

What’s New at Rejuvalife for 2012

Natural Breast Augmentation + BodyJet™ Liposuction
Getting the breast shape you desire without invasive surgery or using saline or silicone implants is now a viable option. Natural Breast Augmentation uses your own fat cells to create natural looking breasts with increased volume. The process is two-fold. Using a gentle saline solution, fat cells are harvested from the thighs, hips, or abdomen then used to sculpt breasts. You’ll be able to go up one to two cup sizes! Call our office for more details on this exciting new procedure, 310.276.4494.

Xeomin®
We are proud to announce the addition of FDA approved Xeomin®, a new additive-free formulation of Botulinum Toxin Type A, the same active ingredient found in Botox® and Dysport®.  As an elite office, Rejuvalife is offering special introductory pricing for Xeomin at $7.50 per unit all through the month of January. Cost-effective and FDA-approved, Xeomin® is a natural and equally effective BOTOX® alternative.

Stay in the Know
Follow Rejuvalife on Facebook and Twitter for the latest updates and tips on health and beauty topics and the Youtube channel for in-depth answers to your health questions by Dr. Berger.

Join Dr. Berger on his BlogTalk Radio show for instant answers to your questions. The next radio show is January 24 at 4:30pm and the theme is Low Testosterone Levels. Call the Rejuvalife office at 310.276.4494 to reserve your spot on the show to get answers.

All of us at Rejuvalife would like to wish you a happy and healthy New Year!

Don’t Stress Over Stress

Stress, in and of itself, isn’t necessarily a bad thing. For our earliest ancestors, stress could have meant the difference between life and death in the face of a hungry saber-toothed tiger. Stress activates our body’s sympathetic nervous system, inducing the so called “fight-or-flight” response, causing our adrenal glands to release a flood of hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol. Adrenaline serves to temporarily increase heart rate, elevate blood pressure, and boost energy supplies. Cortisol increases blood glucose and delivers more of it to the brain. In small doses, this stress can be just the extra kick we need to perform well on a test, meet a difficult deadline, or perform in front of an audience. This is generally followed by a period of rest, when the body and adrenals have a chance to recover and return to equilibrium. When we stress our muscles, say through weight lifting, it forces our muscles to grow over time to be able handle greater degrees of stress in the future. A similar mechanism serves as the foundation for the way we learn new skills and information, by constantly pushing ourselves beyond our current comfortable capacity, we train ourselves to handle increasingly greater demands. Stress is critical for growth.

It’s only when stress becomes chronic and uncontrolled that it can become an issue. Stress can be especially toxic when a difficult event happens and a person feels they do not have the financial or internal resources to handle it. When chronic stress becomes a part of life, serious physical and mental health consequences can develop. This is due in part to a somewhat paradoxical problem. Prolonged exposure to adrenaline and cortisol in the bloodstream can contribute to prolonged elevated heart rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar, which can cause a number of issues. At the same time, the adrenal glands can weaken due to overworking, resulting in diminished ability to produce enough adrenaline and cortisol to meet the stress.

According to a statistic from the American Academy of Family Physicians, stress-related symptoms account for two-thirds of all office visits. Several studies link high levels of self-reported stress to significantly increased mortality rates. This is due a number of different factors. For one, there are higher risk and complication rates of diseases. High levels of stress are linked to increased risk and symptom complications for heart disease, heart attack, cancer, stroke, obesity, type II diabetes, anxiety, depression, asthma, psoriasis, eczema, sleep issues, and memory impairment, to name a few. High stress also has a strong link to lower immune function, which can contribute to increased mortality due to any number of illnesses. Certain predisposed genetic factors that make some people more susceptible to stress than others may also contribute to mortality rates.

Several key lifestyle changes and practices can help reduce stress. A growing body of research is supporting the health benefits and stress fighting properties of meditation. Meditation has been shown to lower blood pressure and improve immune function. A recent study showed that regular meditation improved physical and emotional responses to stress. Participants who meditated regularly experienced less immune system activation and emotional distress in response to stressful situations.

Regular exercise is critical for coping with stress, as well as healthy diet and nutrition. Reducing caffeine and sugar intake can reduce spikes and crashes in mood and energy, which can help with stressful situations, in addition to promoting relaxation and better sleep. While alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs may provide a feeling of temporary relief, they interfere with addressing the underlying issues that contribute to stress in the first place, and may cause other health issues that contribute to stress. Sufficient sleep, 7-8 hours per night, is necessary to have sufficient energy to deal with stressful situations. Several mental, emotional, and behavioral changes in the way you cope with stress can help to alleviate it, such as avoiding stressful people, learning to say “no”, avoiding stressful conversation topics, reframing issues as opportunities for growth, organizing time management, and focusing on the positive. Try to shift your focus to changing stressful environmental factors that are in your control, and learning to cope with or avoid factors that can’t be controlled.

If stress is taking a significant toll on your wellbeing, and efforts to address it have not been effective, Rejuvalife offers a comprehensive stress management program, designed to diagnose and correct potential hormonal imbalances of DHEA and cortisol, and to manage aspects of diet, nutrition, fitness and lifestyle that may be contributing to stress. This allows stress to be taken off the adrenal glands, so they have a chance to recover and restore normal functioning. As cortisol contributes to the retention of abdominal fat, stress management may also play an integral role in a weight loss program. Rejuvalife operates on the principle that a person’s overall “looks” and external beauty are in large part a reflection of internal health and well being. If a person has poor internal health, of which stress can be a major contributing factor, this will show on their face, and their external beauty will be diminished. Stress management is therefore an integral part of a person’s anti-aging lifestyle and aesthetic enhancement regime.

Dr. Berger Goes Down Under, as Featured Speaker at A5M Conference in Melbourne

Dr. Berger recently returned from his trip to Australia, where he was invited to be a featured speaker at the Australasian Academy of Anti-Ageing Medicine (A5M) Annual Conference in Melbourne. This year’s conference on Age Management focused on the theme of Preventative Medicine, Integrative Medicine, and Balanced Patient Care. Dr. Berger was welcomed as a leading authority on Anti-Aging and Aesthetic Medicine, and his presentations provided valuable wisdom to the medical community attending the conference on a diverse and expansive body of information. In addition, Allergan, the makers of Botox, sponsored Dr. Berger’s workshop called “Juvederm and the Perfect Lip.” Below we have provided the abstracts for Dr. Berger’s presentations.

Facial Sculpting – Beyond Traditional Thinking

The traditional use of neurotoxins and aesthetic medicine has been primarily focused on addressing individual and compartmentalized concerns related to dynamic muscle contractions such as crown lines, crow’s feet, and forehead lines.  Advanced usage of neurotoxins takes a more holistic approach to facial appearance; looking at the face as a whole to achieve a more global aesthetic improvement. This can be achieved either as a standalone treatment or in conjunction with other aesthetic modalities such as volumising fillers, collagen stimulators, resurfacing and skin tightening lasers.  When used in this fashion a more natural appearing desirable aesthetic outcome can be achieved on a consistent basis.
This presentation will review the use of botulinum toxin as a facial sculpting tool and how it can be used in conjunction with other modalities to achieve natural global rejuvenation.

Juvéderm and the Perfect Lip

The lip is the most important aesthetic feature of the lower face.  Optimum aesthetic appearance requires a lip that is aesthetically balanced to the rest of the face and that has ideal volume, shape and proportionality.  Hyaluronic acid fillers are ideal for achieving the perfect lip correction on a consistent basis.  This presentation will review the use of Juvéderm and Juvéderm Ultra Plus and Hyaluronic injectables for the achievement of the perfect lip augmentation.

The Clinical Aesthetic Application of Anti-ageing Medicine

Beauty is indeed beyond skin deep!  Underlying internal processes significantly influence the development and profession of individual aesthetic decline as well as the duration of benefit from cosmetic surgical and medical interventions.  Optimal cosmetic appearance is very positively influenced by more optimal lifestyles and more youthful hormonal homeostasis.  Cosmetic surgeons will benefit from recognizing specific aesthetic physical signs of hormonal decline, deficiency and disequilibrium.  Once they are recognized they can be corrected in conjunction with cosmetic medical and surgical procedures, in order to achieve superior and longer lasting outcomes.
This presentation will review the more common clinical physical signs of aesthetic decline that are associated with specific hormonal deficiencies and how relate these findings to specific corrective treatments.
Learn how to recognize specific aesthetic physical signs of hormonal decline, deficiency and disequilibrium that can be corrected in conjunction with cosmetic medical and surgical procedures, in order to achieve superior and longer lasting outcomes.

Setting up Complete Anti-ageing Practice 

The complete anti-ageing practice should focus on both the inside and outside to provide comprehensive anti-ageing care, addressing how people feel and look.  Optimum outcomes are achieved by providing patients with state of the art operations, while addressing both anti-ageing and cosmetic needs.  Practices organized and equipped to address these needs will thrive.
This presentation will summarize the components of setting up a comprehensive anti-ageing and cosmetic medical practice and will discuss the key factors that lead to success.  The evolution of anti-ageing and cosmetic medicine naturally leads to combining them in a comprehensive way to create the anti-ageing and cosmetic medicine practice of today and the future.

The Risks of Mid-Section Fat (Besides the Muffintop)

Let’s be honest. Most of us would love to lose an extra inch or two around our midsections. How nice it would be to fit into those jeans from college without having to suck in, or show off a slim, sexy body at the beach. But there may be an even more compelling reason to get rid of that stubborn belly fat once and for all. Research is now showing that fat specifically around the midsection or waist is a major risk factor for Type II Diabetes, Heart Disease, Hypertension, Stroke, some forms of cancer, and even Dementia. We all know that obesity can dramatically increases risk factors for these diseases and more, but excess belly fat may also be a warning sign for mildly overweight people, or even people of an otherwise healthy physique and appropriate weight.

Studies have shown that excess midsection fat is strongly associated with greater resistance to insulin.  In insulin resistant people, muscle, fat and liver cells do not use the insulin effectively, so the pancreas tries to compensate by producing more insulin. If the pancreas cannot keep up with the body’s need for insulin, excess levels of glucose will build up, leading to Diabetes. Insulin resistant people also have excessively high levels of insulin in their bloodstream, which leads to inflammation. Inflammation itself has recently gained attention as a direct cause of a staggering number of diseases and health conditions.

The obvious contributor to excess stomach fat is poor lifestyle choices. A diet consisting of high fat, high sugar, processed and otherwise nutritionally lacking food, combined with a lack of exercise, and excessive drinking will all help you pack on those pounds.

Research is supporting the idea that greater life stress may be the other major contributor to excess stomach fat. In particular, chronic stress that is associated with hopelessness, helplessness, or a feeling of defeat is associated with excess production of the stress hormone cortisol. When you have chronically high cortisol levels, the body craves carbohydrates and fats, and the extra calories tend to head right for the midsection. A recent study has also show that lean women in particular may be more prone to develop stomach fat in response to stress.

Another major factor for retaining midsection fat is change in hormonal balance, due to aging or as a result of other conditions. For women, changes in estrogen levels have a particularly strong impact on retaining stomach fat. As estrogen levels change with age, fat goes to the abdominals instead of to the hips and thighs, where it was previously needed for reproductive support.

Rejuvalife is here to help support the total health and wellbeing of our patients, and assist them in acheiving their health, weight loss and aesthetic goals. We offer comprehensive fitness and nutrition programs to promote overall healthy lifestyle, as well as medically supervised weight loss programs. Rejuvalife is on the cutting edge of non-surgical advanced liposuction procedures, to remove excess body fat in the abdominals and other problem areas directly. We also offer Hormone Replacement Therapy to return your hormonal levels to their optimal concentration and fight the effects of aging.

Stay Young for Longer: Combat Hormone Loss

As we age, our body gradually decreases the amount of hormones it generates for us. Around 30 year old, or even earlier, the body starts producing less and less of the hormones that were keeping us young, healthy and fit. Hormone loss has been shown to contribute to many age-related problems like:

diabetes
atherosclerosis
high blood pressure
fatigue
loss of muscle strength
osteoporosis
auto-immune diseases
cognitive decline
loss of libido
depression, and more.

While they vary in intensity, both men and women experience drops in HGH (Human Growth Hormone), and sex hormones. Men lose a significant amount of testosterone, while women experience a drop in estrogen & progesterone.

Thankfully, there are many ways to fight hormone loss and its negative effects on our bodies. With the right treatment of hormone replacement, exercise, supplements and other lifestyle strategies, you can see improvements in your health and over all well-being in no time.

Find out how you can start fighting hormone loss today…

Economy Affecting Waistlines Along with Wallets

Unhealthy food choices are more common because of the recession.

Everyone is feeling the effects of the economic recession. For many, value trumps health-conscious when it comes to food choices.  It’s sad, but true, that processed, frozen or “fast food” is less expensive than the healthier alternatives.  Whether you’re feeding yourself or an entire family, those frozen tv-dinners or the “value menu” at the burger joint can be pretty attractive, financially.

One of the consequences of this unfortunate situation, however, is that Americans are just getting fatter, and our risk for obesity related illnesses such as diabetes is rising.

From the Wall Street Journal:

“Approximately 20% of all meals prepared in our homes from 1990 to 2007 involved the use of a microwave,” says Mr. Balzer. But in 2008, microwave usage rose to 30%. NPD Group, which has been following the microwaving habits of American consumers for nearly two decades, attributes that gain to the troubled economy.

Not surprising, then, are the rising rates of obesity and diabetes. The obesity rate climbed more than one percentage point to 26.4% in September from a year earlier, according to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, a measure of U.S. health compiled by the Gallup research firm and wellness-program provider Healthways. (Full story)

In spite of the current economic situation, there are healthy choices you can make. Again from the WSJ.

Think ahead. Planning out your meals and snacks in advance forces you to think more about the types of foods you are eating.

Make a shopping list. Studies show that people who make shopping lists — and stick to them — are less likely to make impulsive purchases of things like candy, chips or a box of donuts.

Buy in bulk. Buying 32 ounces of yogurt can cost less than buying four eight-ounce containers. In some cases, the savings of buying in bulk versus the premium-preportioned packages can run upward of 50%, according to grocery-store price surveys.

Make it yourself. You can find a multitude of 10-minute recipes online that use healthy and affordable ingredients. And you can be both time- and budget-conscious by making a few larger meals early in the week and freezing smaller portions for later use.

Pack a lunch. Take leftovers for lunch and bring your own snacks to work. This will save you money and keep you from binging on vending-machine fare when hunger strikes.

Cut down on sugary drinks. Water is cheaper — and better for you. If you still crave some flavor, squeeze the juice of a lime or lemon into the water.

There is always an “easier way” when it comes to selecting nutritious food. The “grab-and-go” meal at the drive through, the bag of potato chips to “tide you over”,  these are reasonable choices if immediate value is the main concern.

However beneficial these savings are in the short-term, though, there are long-term physical and economic implications. As a nation we’re becoming less and less healthy, and the long-term financial impact will be felt individually and as a society long past the end of this recession. Something to think about…

Thanks for reading,

Andre Berger, M.D.

Related posts:

Keeping Your Soup Clean: Questions and Answers About Diagnostic Testing

Obesity Shrinks Your Brain & Shortens Your Life

Insulin Resistance Improved with Exercise

Weight Loss Improves Mood in Depressed Individuals

FDA Cracking Down on Misleading Nutrition Labels

Move Over BMI, Here Comes BCA

The Body Mass Index can't distinguish lean body mass from fat weight, therefore very muscular people have BMI scores of the morbidly obese. (image: How Things Work 2005)

Invented in the mid 19th century, the Body Mass Index, or BMI, is currently the most widely-used diagnostic tool for gauging whether a person is at a healthy weight, under or overweight, and is reached through a calculation of height and weight measurements.

A person’s BMI is a very simple indicator of a person’s “fatness” or “thinness” that when used as designed, allows doctors to more objectively discuss weight issues with their patients.  Using this calculation, doctors use an individual’s particular BMI to determine whether or not they need medical care for being over or underweight: a BMI of 18.5 to 25 usually indicates optimal weight, a BMI lower than 18.5 suggests the person is underweight, while a number above 25 may indicate the person is overweight; a BMI below 17.5 may indicate the person has anorexia nervosa or a related disorder; a number above 30 suggests the person is obese (over 40, morbidly obese).

There is some controversy over the accuracy of this measurement, as it can’t distinguish body fat from lean body mass,  therefore a very muscular person will weigh more, and therefore have a higher BMI, even though he/she may really be quite lean,  and many feel it is most appropriately used in the study of populations, not individuals, for that reason.

There is another method of measurement that, according to recent studies, is a more reliable indicator. Body Composition Analysis (BCA) measures four parameters of health.

The BCA for Weight Management helps us measure four parameters of health:
1. Body Hydration Status by measuring the cellular fluid.
2. Cell Health Status by measuring the lean body mass and fat mass.
3, Nutritional Status through the BIA meter.  (Bioelectrical Impedance Analyzer)
4. Longevity Status by calculating various indices.

From Medical News Today:

Recent studies using similar analysis suggest that up to 30% of obese people do not in fact require medical treatment. Widespread adoption of BCA could significantly improve the targeting of limited healthcare resources in the context of one of modern society’s global killers. Thanks to advances in imaging technology, variables – such as the body’s fat proportion, location and distribution and the size of fat cells and fat droplets within these cells – can now be factored into the health risk assessment.

Coupled with a better understanding of the interrelation between genes, environment, hormone levels and metabolism, BCA gives clinicians a clearer picture of the specific health risks to an individual.

In light of the growing evidence in favour of functional BCA, the authors conclude that “the definitions of both ‘overweight’ and ‘malnutrition’ should be reconsidered” by clinicians and researchers. Evidently, size does still matter but it’s what you do with it that really counts.

One way to ensure that you are at “optimal weight” regardless of how it’s measured is to…yep, stay active, eat a healthy diet, and keep your soup clean!

Thanks for reading,

Andre Berger, M.D.

p.s. Full disclosure – we have been using the BCA for Weight Management at Rejuvalife for quite some time. Give us a call if you’re interested in being measured!

Associated posts:

Keeping Your Soup Clean: Questions and Answers About Diagnostic Testing

Obesity Shrinks Your Brain & Shortens Your Life

Insulin Resistance Improved with Exercise

Weight Loss Improves Mood in Depressed Individuals

FDA Cracking Down on Misleading Nutrition Labels

Insulin Resistance Improved with Exercise

A new study shows that moderate exercise alone, without weight loss, will improve insulin resistance in both lean and obese adolescents.  Insulin is a hormone produced in the pancreas that permits glucose to enter cells to be used for energy or stored for future use by the body.

From

Because obese adolescents are resistant to insulin, in order to maintain normal blood sugar levels, they have to increase their production of insulin. Increased insulin production however, places higher demands on the pancreas. These higher demands can exhaust pancreatic beta cells to the point that they no longer produce sufficient amounts of insulin to keep blood sugar levels normal, which might subsequently lead to type 2 diabetes.

Because weight loss can be difficult to achieve and maintain in obese sedentary children, the purpose of this study was to determine whether a controlled exercise program, without any diet intervention and with no intention of weight loss, would improve fat distribution and sensitivity to insulin,” said Agneta Sunehag, MD, PhD, of Baylor College of Medicine and senior author of the study. “We found that a 12-week moderate aerobic exercise program consisting of four 30-minute workouts a week increased fitness and improved insulin sensitivity in both lean and obese adolescents.” (more – link)

This study is significant because there are many studies that include both diet and exercise together, therefore making it difficult to determine which of the two is most effective.   One researcher said, “Our findings show that exercise alone can increase fitness and improve insulin sensitivity, making an aerobic program like the one used in this study a potential useful tool in preventing obesity-related illnesses.”

Any new tools in the obesity-fighting toolbox are welcomed ones.

Thanks for reading,

Andre Berger, M.D.