It is just over a month since my thigh pull. I took a week off from the gym, then started with upper body work and light, no-load stationary bike work to just move the muscles, with stretching to improve flexibility in the torn region. By week three I started doing inclined leg press with 1 plate per side, for sets of 20 reps. The next week I increased it by 25 lb for three sets of 20 reps. Friday (12/28) I increased it to 2 plates per side for three sets of 20 reps. So far – so good; no pain in the thigh, and it felt solid.

As I suggested in my last column, I have been taking proteolytic enzymes on an empty stomach between meals. I intended to use Vitalzym, but temporarily settled for Dr. Michael Murray’s Zymactive formula. This is a less expensive formulation with serratia peptidase, also called serrapeptase by other manufacturers, the important fibrolytic enzyme I recommended for remodeling scar tissue.

“If we replace the lost enzymes we can control and reduce the amount of scar tissue and fibrosis our bodies have. As physicians in the US are now discovering, even old scar tissue can be ‘eaten away’ from surgical wounds, pulmonary fibrosis, kidney fibrosis and even keloids years after their formation. Medical doctors in Europe and Asia have known this and have used orally administered enzymes for these situations for over 40 years!”… a quote from William Wong N.D., Ph.D., the formulator of Vitalzym. I need to get another bottle of Zymactive or buy the more complete Vitalzyme, and keep the progress going.

On the title topic— The December issue of Life Extension Magazine had an article on bio-identical hormone supplementation. It is based on a new book they were offering for sale entitled “The Textbook of Bio-identical Hormones” by Dr. Edward Lichten. I read the article (it can be found on our site), ordered the book and finished it New Years day. The author operates a practice that developed out of his OB/GYN specialty to include the use of hormone testing and replacement to treat the causes of a wide range of diseases, especially those related to aging. He largely uses bio-identical hormones, with few drugs, to make up for genetic deficiencies or degenerative changes to virtually eliminate the common diseases of aging.

From his vantage point of over 150,000 patients treated with this approach and given back youthful quality of life, it seems that most of the diseases of aging can be greatly mediated or cured by balancing all the body’s major hormones produced by the 6 major endocrine glands to upper-normal range for a 35 year-old. Dr.Lichten’s philosophy – “It is a physician’s responsibility to first correct these imbalances and then address whatever disorders persist”. The book makes enormous sense. I will be adding some of this information to the site throughout the next few months.

Good Living – Frank