Blog & Podcast

Welcome to my blog, where you’ll find articles and links to my podcast episodes.

If you’d like to discuss your health concerns or ask some specific questions, please contact me and we can get started on your journey to balanced health!

Fitbit Captures Patient Recovery
Autoimmunity Jim Chialtas, DACM Autoimmunity Jim Chialtas, DACM

Fitbit Captures Patient Recovery

I wanted to take a moment and share a recent case study that I find to be particularly interesting.  Most of the time when I work with a patient we start with a set of symptoms or even a known medical condition.  Some tests are ordered, results observed and a plan of action is set in motion.  An improvement in symptoms, and/or a follow up test weeks or months later tells us if our efforts were effective.  But an interesting thing is starting to happen.  My patients are coming in wearing a Fitbit or some other handy device that measures all sorts of things about their daily physiology.  This provides for both of us some powerful feedback in real time as to how the strategies we are employing are actually working.  The basis of this piece is in regards to just such a patient experience. 

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A Fresh Look at Cholesterol and Vascular Health
Getting Tested Jim Chialtas, DACM Getting Tested Jim Chialtas, DACM

A Fresh Look at Cholesterol and Vascular Health

Vascular Disease continues to be the number one killer worldwide.  At the same time Statins (cholesterol lowering medications) are being prescribed in higher and higher amounts every year.  With millions of people taking Statins every day, one would think that vascular disease would be on the decline.  However, these medications are having a very small impact on the incidence of heart attacks.  Why is that?

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The SIBO Curse
Chronic conditions Jim Chialtas, DACM Chronic conditions Jim Chialtas, DACM

The SIBO Curse

Have you ever known anyone who, no matter what they eat, they blow up like a balloon and suffer painful and uncomfortable gas and bloating?  Perhaps you even experience this yourself?  You may have been to every doctor in town and tried every probiotic with no avail.  A lot of your friends, who pay attention to natural medicine, all feel that you most definitely have the dreaded candida (yeast) curse!  I end up hearing so much about candida from my patients that it is surprising really.  So you go on a radical diet, take probiotics and a bunch of anti-candida herbs.  Nothing works.  And in fact you think that it might have made you worse!  Okay, what already?  What could be causing so much discomfort?

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The Estrogen / Thyroid Connection
Thyroid conditions Jim Chialtas, DACM Thyroid conditions Jim Chialtas, DACM

The Estrogen / Thyroid Connection

I want to describe to you a rather obscure tidbit pertaining to estrogen and its relationship to thyroid function. Low thyroid function is something that I talk a lot about because it affects a great many people weather they know it or not. Indeed the thyroid gland is very misunderstood and is certainly mistreated through the mainstream approach. But the thyroid gland itself aside, this article is focused on how thyroid hormone activity (not thyroid hormone production) can be hindered due to imbalances in the sex hormone estrogen.

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Hair Loss in Women: Stress or Something More Masculine?
Thyroid conditions Jim Chialtas, DACM Thyroid conditions Jim Chialtas, DACM

Hair Loss in Women: Stress or Something More Masculine?

It is quite astonishing really the number of women I hear of complaining of hair loss these days. It may not be massive hair loss mind you, but this is something that we tend to pay attention to. It is something that a great many men end up looking forward to if they like it or not, but for women, it is a whole other thing completely. Hair loss in a woman when it is bad can be a significant source of anxiety and poor self image. So what is going on? Why do I hear about it so often these days? Well, like many other medical conditions, hair loss has a lot to do with our lifestyle. It may just be possible that you are contributing directly to your hair loss every day without knowing it.

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