Problematic Prostate: Now What?
It’s an unfortunate fact that prostate glands become more problematic as we age.
This can result in urination problems, discomfort, sexual dysfunction, and even cancer. Older men carry a higher risk of of these issues, so it’s important to look at a holistic approach to prostate health even from a young age. Diet and nutrition are always at the forefront of any discussion concerning health, but there are lifestyle changes that may help reduce your risk and mitigate symptoms.
On this episode we take a candid look at this touchy subject and address common problems associated with the prostate (BPH, prostatitis, urinary) and why it’s important to understand that just because you may be experiencing some difficulty urinating, it’s not always linked to your prostate health. We talk about when men should begin taking a closer look at their prostate health and of course, natural supplements and lifestyle changes that will help promote optimal prostate health.
Some Topics We Discussed:
What is the purpose of the prostate and what function does it serve in men’s health? (2:20)
What are some of the other factors that can contribute to those urinary problems? (4:07)
What are some common symptoms of prostate issues? (5:27)
What causes BPH? (12:06)
Are there precautions that can be taking at a younger age to be preventative? (19:32)
What should you look for when picking a Saw Palmetto supplement? (24:39)
Key Takeaways From This Episode:
The majority of men are going to have some form of prostate issues. (4:12)
There are foods that can trigger your bladder to be hyperactive. Learn what those are for you. (9:51)
You can have a large prostate and not have issues. You can have a small prostate and have issues. This is not cookie cutter. (12:21)
Truck drivers have one of the highest rates of BPH and prostate cancer in the nation due to excessive sitting. (15:01)
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CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL SHOW TRANSCRIPT
Brian Strickland 00:43 Hello friends, you're listening to The Holistic Navigator Podcast, where we believe in the body's capacity for self healing, if given the proper nutrients and care, my name is Brian Strickland. I'm the producer of the show. And here with me in the studio, as always is your host, Ed Jones. Ed, how are you doing today?
Ed Jones 01:01 Could not be better Brian. Yesterday, I went and flew my Piper airplane. And it continues to remind me and that's one reason we call this The Holistic Navigator because I love aviation. But aviation and following a compass in the plane is very similar to following this compass toward optimal health. Now, I do have to say that as far as we are not treating your medical condition anyone and there was a book written called Pain Free by a great guy named Peter Egoscue. And he has in the front of his book, it has become obligatory for health books to carry a legal disclaimer. They go on to recommend that you must consult a doctor before embarking on whatever program is being offered. But as Peter Egoscue says, as he did in his first book, I will again urge readers who feel the need for this disclaimers protection and counsel to close these covers and leave the pages on read. My working principle as an exercise therapist is that the most important consultation is the one a person has with himself or herself. Healthcare stars with personal responsibility people part of that is being informed and educated. And that is the purpose of The Holistic Navigator.
Brian Strickland 02:14 Well, on that note, to begin, can you just to cover our bases about this prostate topic? Could you give a brief explanation on just the purpose of the prostate in what function it actually serves in men's health?
Ed Jones 02:30 The word prostate, from the medieval Latin and Greek history means leader, guardian, or before. And what it does is it secretes a fluid that's going to nourish and protect the sperm. One of the number one overwhelming genetic reasons why we are here on this earth and the systems that support us is for procreation, the ability to carry the species onward. And nothing serves that purpose more than the prostate because without protecting the sperm, we would be non existent. So it is an amazing system. And in the history of like Chinese medicine, they do count the pelvis as the seat of the soul in many types of writings. Because it embodies safety, security and joy. And no one understands that more than those men who have excessive prostate issues or have had it removed, because it does affect the consciousness. It's not just a separate body part. And you're young enough Brian to not have to experience this yet. But hang on, brother. Hang on.
Brian Strickland 03:45 I know as men age, the prostate does slowly enlarge. That's just a fact of life. Unfortunately, that often results in a lot of urinary issues in older men. But we were talking about earlier, just because you're having some of those urinary issues doesn't necessarily mean that it's attributed to an enlarged prostate. So what are some of the other factors that can contribute to those urinary problems?
Ed Jones 04:12 You know, every man who gets to a point where they're getting up at night, they're having some issues with urination, which I'm going to cover a little bit more in a moment always thinks, oh, it's my prostate. Well, you know what? It may be. And it may not be because here's the other issues that can play a role in this and many times it's a combination. BPH, which stands for the generally used term for diagnosing prostate issues of the normal kind benign prostatic hypertrophy, which is swelling in the prostate. It's significant. In fact, it's certainly going to affect the majority of man after the age of 60 and sometimes, even 50. But there's another issue called Prostatitus, which is different than BPH, and there's bladder issues including bladder incontinence that mimics the prostate issue. So all these people are many times even going to the regular docs, are just being treated for one single part of this story when they need to be looking at all three parts, which is the prostate, BPH, the bladder, and something called prostatitus.
Brian Strickland 05:22 So what are the main differences between BPH and prosititus?
Ed Jones 05:26 I'm going to cover BPH first. The word benign means of course, non cancerous prostatic, prostate and hypertrophy means growth. We go to the gym to get hypertrophy of my bicep because I want to do curls, and I want them to enlarge. But because the prostate is encapsulated in such a small, tight area of the body, we really don't want that walnut sized organ to get any bigger because what happens is the urethra which is where the urine flows, the prostate wraps around it. So the more it swells, sometimes, the more it's going to press on the plumbing. And if I can ever talk to the designer of this human body, I want a redesign. I want an Edward 2.0 just on the pelvic area, because we need a little more room down there.
Brian Strickland 06:17 So the prostate, it's located directly beneath the bladder isn't that right?
Ed Jones 06:20 directly neath the bladder, and is you know, it wraps around the urethra. Here's the symptoms when it is a normal BPH frequent urination at night. You know, I mean, I'm going to ask you a personal questions. How many times do you get up? If you're sleeping well, at night, Brian?
Brian Strickland 06:37 Get up to use the restroom? Zero.
Ed Jones 06:40 Wow. Okay, most times at my 62 years old, I am getting up. If I get up three, I'm a happy camper. Yeah, really happy because there's many nights I'm up five and six times. Luckily, I've set my system up to to recover from that and to go back to sleep because of what I do nutritionally. It is not going to happen unless you work at it. But the symptoms, frequent urination, difficultly to postpone your urination, like oh, I've got to go now. I have to go I don't can't hold it. Here's the other. I call it urinal anxiety, go to the urinal in a public place, takes forever to get it started at times. And other times, I'm just like a young person, weak flow. And then probably the worst for me, is I finished going to the bathroom and go back to bed or whatever. And three minutes later, it feels like I gotta go again. But I really don't. Now, so that is a common BPH symptoms. Now prostatitus and I'm gonna make it really simple here because we're going to focus on BPH, and I'm going to give you the ideas and education necessary to improve yourself significantly. But prostatitis is an inflammation of the prostate, which is a little different than swelling. I mean, we know what it is, if you stump your toe and it's inflamed, opposed to your bicep getting bigger, it's just a different condition. The problem with prostatitus is it's only 10% of the time based in bacteria 90% of it is not and you have far greater symptoms of prostatitus, which is sexual dysfunction at times, but chronic pain in the pelvic region. It feels like a golf ball up your butt. In many cases when people describe prostatitis. It is not being talked about and conventional medicine is horrendously disconnected from this term prostatitus. In fact, there are plenty of men who have committed suicide because of prostatitis, because along with the inflammation comes anxiety and depression. And it can come out of the clear blue it can come and go for no apparent reasons. But chronic stress and a tightness in the pelvic area is one of the biggest reasons for prostatitis. Can't get into how and what to do about this at this stage. I want people to know BPH is not prostatitis and prostatitis is not BPH. Now for you to learn more, I want you to remember this. This is the book that saved my life is written by Dr. David Wise. You can go to YouTube and listen to is called headache in the pelvis, headache in the pelvis. And secondly, there were theory of pain and emotions Dr. John Sarno. These are the people to go to to learn how to journey through this. Lastly, bladder issues. You know what bladder issues can almost mimic prostate exactly. And we have so many things in our life that is causing our bladder to be sensitive. The foods that can trigger it. Hey, let me tell you yesterday or day before I had a half a bar of very healthy chocolate 78% all good ingredients, everything. And that night was a pretty harsh night for me because chocolate irritates my bladder. So we have to talk about that just for a minute. Because you got to figure out your trigger foods. And then there's an herb, a special one called Angelica, that is beyond belief if you get the right company and the right brand, in order to get the results. And I will say really quickly, because I know my time flies by so fast. It's all about finding the right source of product. I do always recommend shopping at a local health food store that is passionate and understands this whole conversation. Secondly, ordering online. First off, you get heat of the summer, that's going to really reduce the quality of your product. Quit ordering online people, the summer times are making these products reduce in potency quickly and you don't know it because it looks fine. But it isn't fine.
Brian Strickland 11:09 But before we move on, what is it in those foods that are actually irritating the bladders or some specific component that's doing that?
Ed Jones 11:16 It is not a specific component. It is the body's immune system and how it's reacting to these molecules. And so that's different for everybody. But I can say that alcohol, chocolate and caffeine are the three biggest triggers, which I really like all three of those gotcha. But the herbs called Angelica, but it has a specific one. And it's called Arch Angelica is the only one that has the research from Iceland, that in Iceland, this is what you would get if you went to your physician and you had these complaints because it strengthens the bladder. It doesn't matter if it's still BPH, you're stronger bladder means you're going to hold it longer. So make sure you understand the three parts of this puzzle, which is BPH, prostatitis, potentially bladder and can be all three.
Brian Strickland 12:06 Alright, so now that we know that the three components that can work in conjunction, or just one or the other, let's cover BPH a little further on what exactly causes the BPH to begin with? So can you speak about that just a little bit?
Ed Jones 12:21 Here are the list that I have seen in person for 30 and 40 years. First off, the size of your prostate is not always related to your symptoms. Hmm. Wow, that's that's something we don't hear. But I can tell you for sure the amount of people who have large prostates, only half of them have symptoms. And there's people who have symptoms with very small prostates, so it is not cookie cutter, it is not standard. So don't think because your doc says, oh, you have a small one does not mean that you can't have the same urinary issues. Two testosterone converting to DHT is one of the major causes as we age. What does that mean? Well, testosterone when you're young is really efficient. And as we get older, we start lacking the ability to keep it in it's lane in the highway, and it wants to go off and it converts to dihydrotestosterone, which causes the swelling of the cell lining the prostate. And if it swells, it's going to put pressure. Three, increased estrogen. What we are witnessing is because of our toxic world that we're living in, where we are exposing men and women to a lot of pretend estrogens in the environment. And I mean, those come from plastics and from drinking water, from fire retardants down the whole list of exposure to our worlds. And part of this is we can't run from that. This the real solution is to help the body adapt and relieve itself of these high levels through nutritional supplementation. It cannot happen any other way. Believe it or not, one of the biggest estrogen mimickers is sprayed on golf courses. It is a chemical that is called Vinclosalin. And it's stuff as a fungicide is applied to fruits and vegetables also, and on the turf of golf courses. And it alters the genes in the prostate and makes you make more estrogen. So I don't know maybe all these golfers who are having their troubles that could be one of them. Here's a second Holistic Navigator revelation. Not enough sex can cause BPH people, but on the other side, too much can too. So that's something you have to be aware of. Number six, excessive sitting. Sitting is the new smoking I speak of that often. We actually see blood work changing within a matter of two hours if we do it before and after because of inactivity. And when you do sit, you press on those tight areas within the pelvis, guess what truck drivers have one of the highest rates of BPH and prostate cancer in the nation. Well, we can imagine how much sitting they do. Number seven, found this one out the hard way excessive deep movements in the gym or other exercise arenas. I was doing CrossFit about four to seven years ago, off and on, had the worst flare up across the tightness of my life, because I was doing those deep squats and deep cleans and I still can't do it. I have to do what I can do, which is generally plenty. But when you do a lot of things that involve the pelvic muscles, and you do it with explosiveness and heavy weights, you can be asking for trouble. Now, if it doesn't bother you is perfectly fine. It's not hurting you. Number eight, insomnia. Insomnia is a demon to men after 50 on prostate issues. Next tip, overweight, obese, excess BMI, the measurement of your waist size. If you are over 40 inches, you are asking for trouble people. Number nine, this is not a cause. But I've got to mention it, the braca-2 gene, without going into any significant details, this gene is the gene that the movie star Angelina Jolie had her breasts removed, and along with 10s of 1000s of other women, because they will have about an 80% chance of breast cancer if they have this gene. Well guess what? Men also have a far greater level of risk if they have this gene. I love to empower people through The Holistic Navigator. I'm not a fan of you going and being trapped into the medical system unless you truly have trustworthy partners. So here's the tip, you want to find out about braca gene on your own. Okay, for $199, go to 23andme and do the home test that you will send off. It is totally accurate because it's looking at your genes. And if you do have it, you are not doomed. Let me tell you, it just means you need to be more aggressive about watchful waiting, and there's a word called epigenetics. Genes are not hardwired. Genes are either silent or active. Guess what makes them active people? Exposure to nutrition, and foods and toxins. So guess what? We want to keep the genes silent, they should be silent. Clean up your act, take the right supplements, get your liver to detoxify by the use of the green drinks that I speak of, and all of the other supplements and find a functional medicine practitioner to help you on this journey. And be you know more aggressive about watching. It only applies to one to 2% of men. But if you're truly concerned you have family history, that braca-2 gene by 23 and me. 10th is an endocrine disruptors those are the chemicals I spoke about earlier, like the fire retardants, but also lead. Lead is a heavy metal along with mercury that can be totally destructive to the body and the prostate. In fact, I had a friend of mine who just recently passed away from prostate cancer and he was a fireman. And anytime the fireman goes into the homes where the mattresses are burning, the couches, the fire retardants that are put on those are so toxic. They're actually toxic when they're not burning, but they far more when they are. And then lastly, on this subject of endocrine disruptors, anyone truly interested download this app is called Think Dirty. Yeah, I know what you're thinking no is not up any bad site. Now what it is, is you're going to take your cell phone, and you're going to scan any of your cosmetic products, your nutritional products, your food products, it's not 100% complete, but what it's going to do is give you a rating as to the cleanliness of that product in five seconds, instead of you having to try to analyze all those words and every product you pick up, just scan the thing. The guy who owns this is awesome, and he's right on target.
Brian Strickland 19:31 So with all of these contributors in the things that we're exposed to on a daily basis now, what age should men begin to be concerned about their prostate health should? Are there precautions that can be taken at a younger age or should we just started middle age and then begin wearing then?
Ed Jones 19:52 Great question. I believe that with our knife and fork, we just start at one day old or whenever we start eating foods. As supplementally if you have a family history I would be more aggressive with it. But generally about 35 to 40 years old is when I would start because that's when the changes begin to occur.
Brian Strickland 20:12 Okay. It's scary to think that I'm almost already there. Alright, so yeah, with the supplements in mind, I know that you have some suggestions. So let's talk about those really quick, for those who just want to kind of maintain optimal health or I don't know, if somebody is already starting to experience symptoms, what are your recommendations for maintaining that that optimal prostate health?
Ed Jones 20:35 Good question, of course, that I think a lot of people that was the goal of this podcast is to learn what can I do to help prevent? And again, I have to be legal even though I had the first disclaimer, check with your doctor, if you're being treated and find a good person to help you along this path. I don't think they're common, but you can find them. You know, we've all heard Saw Palmetto, and many people say it works, but people say it doesn't. One reason it doesn't work people is because the inferiority of quality is very common in all industries. And it certainly is in the nutritional industry. You don't hurt yourself by using nutrients of even cheap origin, but you don't get the results. So in an indirect way you are, but Saw Palmetto. And the reason you may hear people say it doesn't work because they did not use a quality product. But in a 2013 study, 320 milligrams of Saw Palmetto daily for six weeks scored a 52% improvement on what they call the international prostate symptom score. Two stinging nettle. It's another herb and I'm not going to go into the biochemistry of any of these because of time, but if you're going to search for a protocol, you can do one of these but I personally do all of these every day Saw Palmetto, stinging nettle, pygeum from Africa. 100 milligrams showed a 38% reduction in nighttime urination and reduction in bladder volume. Fourth pumpkinseed. Eat them please! You can buy them in supplements and I am a supplement nut, but I'm a food nut also. So eat pumpkin seeds every single day. In fact, One study showed a 41% reduction in PSA of men who ate a lot of pumpkin seeds. There's something called a pollen extract it is from you know the beehive and it has shown also pleasing amount of support for the prostate. Flax seeds. They contain something called lignans. Lignans are gonna help remove this estrogen from the body. And estrogen elevating is one of the significant issues people along with if you listen to my podcast on libido, it is causing a far less in performance and libido. Boron three milligrams a day of boron will raise your testosterone slightly and is going to help protect the prostate. Back to the bladder thing you got to get Angelica Arch is called Arch Angelica 100 milligrams twice a day from Iceland. It is beyond belief how that can work. Number 10 following an anti inflammatory lifestyle. I spoke about it on my personal protocol. I spoke about it on the keto diet. I spoke about it on many of these podcasts. But it involves eating a diet of less carbs, very healthy fats in a good to modest amount and eating healthy protein but in a clean type of diet and also supplementing so that the liver gets rid of any toxins. And keep this in mind people all the people out there think, oh, I don't need a supplement. Where in the hell do you think these foods are always being grown at? They're not in your backyard where you have babied your soil and the soles are not depleted. They're grown in many places, even organic that's far away. They're being picked before they're ripe. They're being shipped long distances. They're getting glyphosate on them. It doesn't matter if it's not being sprayed, so you have to protect yourself with supplements of some sort with the food. Eleven is indole three carbinol comes from cruciferous vegetables What are those cabbage, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, that's gonna open the livers p 450 system to lower this estrogen again. And lastly Beta Sitosterol. It is a component of foods such as the oil in nuts and certain veggies and or supplements because it reduces an enzyme called 5-alpha reductase which is going to stop the conversion of this test or testosterone to DHT which is causing the swelling again people that's how it works.
Brian Strickland 24:39 With the Saw Palmetto any difference between berries and extracts. I know I've seen those in the store. And do you recommend one over the other?
Ed Jones 24:47 Great question. What you want to look for on a label is that it has fatty acids 80 to 85% fatty acids. If it doesn't say that word, you're getting the dried plant the dried plant in a capsule will not do what the study shows. So great question because I did not cover that. And to wrap it up, Brian, I want to mention a physician that I follow online named Dr. Geo and his website is drgeo.com and he is a naturopathic urologist who I am fascinated by his writings because I so often agree and also learn from him and he will do a virtual consultation for people who are having prostate cancer and or BPH or any prostate urinary issues and he's based in naturopathic medicine, but also has a leg in the normal world of conventional which is the way it should be use it with wisdom. And as Hippocrates said, in 460 BC, everyone has a doctor in him or her, we just have to help it in his work. The natural healing force within each of us is the greatest force in getting well. Our food should be our medicine and our medicine, our food. Thank you everyone.
Brian Strickland 26:06 The information on this podcast and the topics discussed have not been evaluated by the FDA or anyone of the medical profession and is not aimed to replace any advice you may receive from your medical practitioner. The holistic navigator assumes no responsibility or liability whatsoever on the behalf of any purchaser or reader of these materials. The holistic navigator is not a doctor nor does he claim to be please consult your physician before beginning any health regimen.