EnergyAesthetics: A unique Approach to Skin Care Rejuvenation, Part 1

At Worden Medical Specialties, we can’t stop the rocket of time, but we can sure slow it down or minimize its effects.  When it comes to skincare, in particular, we have pioneered a unique approach to natural skin rejuvenation and care called EnergyAesthetics.

EnergyAesthetics starts with an understanding that the state of your internal body’sl health is reflected in the quality and condition of your face. This idea is derived from an ancient Chinese principle that describes the body’s many energy channels (or meridians) as being like the roots of a tree and the face as being like the leaves. If you restore the roots, the leaves are rejuvenated, and the plant becomes vibrant once again.

All too often, however, skin care services are approached “superficially” and the effects do not endure. Also, many service providers use overly aggressive chemical peels that may produce dramatic results but also irreversibly destroy the outer layer of the skin. Over time, with repeated chemical peels, dermabrasions and hot lasers, the skin may become thinner and thinner resulting in a bluish-gray discoloration, and ultimately, deeper wrinkles.

As a naturopathic medical physician, I am licensed in both systems of medicine, conventional and alternative (or naturopathic). That means I have a foot in both worlds. I approach aesthetics by looking at the whole body and face, both inside and out. My goal is to get to the root of your problem and then mobilize the body’s own healing powers with proven natural modalities that are reflected in skin care health that endures gorgeously and healthily. 

Addressing Menopause, Part 3: Naturopathic Treatment for Menopause

In American culture, menopause is treated like a disease because of common problems associated with the normal hormonal changes. It can, however, be a fresh phase of life with new opportunities that a woman's wisdom of experience can direct. During this series we will examine menopause in the U.S. and look at past and current medical treatments as well as naturopathic therapies.

Part 3 – Naturopathic Treatment for Menopause

While many doctors may prescribe synthetic hormones for HRT (hormone replacement therapy) there has also been a recent surge in demand for bio-identical hormones by women who have read popular books on the matter. It is important to know that while there's much relief to be gained from HRT, it may not be appropriate for every woman. However, studies have shown that nBHRT (natural bio-identical hormone replacement therapy) has significant benefits over conventional synthetic hormones. 

In addition to HRT and nBHRT there are other natural ways to ease the transition of menopause. In my personal practice, we aim to not only help you feel better, but to also address the underlying issues. Many times this involves diet and lifestyle recommendations, and other times it will involve supplements and natural medicines to increase organ health. In the case of low hormone levels, two main factors are involved: diet and lifestyle. The liver processes hormones out of your body each day. You need the appropriate substrates to make new hormones everyday. Dietary change and supplementation with essential fatty acids (such as fish oil) may be in order.

Second, stress depletes hormone levels. Initially, when you are stressed your body will shunt fatty acids and precursor hormones over to the production of cortisol (the stress hormone), decreasing the levels of progesterone, DHEA, testosterone and estrogen.

Next, the adrenal glands, which produce cortisol, get tired and hormonal pathways get sluggish. We need to feed the adrenals (and potentially other glands) to increase health. This may include glandular supplements.

Women must be educated and proactive: annual testing, breast exams, mammograms and lifestyle changes can all promote better health and more balanced hormones. It takes a blended approach—optimal health care does not come in the form of one prescription pill.

With an appropriate perspective of menopause, and the guidance of a trained, well-informed and sensitive practitioner, a woman can seize this opportunity the transition provides to optimize her health and lifestyle in a proactive and preventative fashion.  A naturopathic treatment plan will be based on diet and exercise changes in addition to supplements, herbs and possibly natural or other HRT aimed at relieving menopausal symptoms, optimizing bone health and prevention of heart disease.

What is Naturopathic Medicine?


Naturopathic Medicine is based on the belief that the human body has an innate healing ability. Naturopathic doctors (NDs) teach their patients to use diet, exercise, lifestyle changes and cutting-edge natural therapies to enhance their bodies’ ability to ward off and combat disease. NDs craft personalized and comprehensive treatment plans that blend the best of modern medical science and traditional natural medical approaches to not only treat disease, but to also restore health. 

Steeped in traditional healing methods, principles and practices, naturopathic medicine focuses on holistic, proactive prevention and comprehensive diagnosis and treatment. By using protocols that minimize the risk of harm, a ND helps facilitate the body’s inherent ability to restore and maintain optimal health. It is the ND’s role to identify and remove barriers to good health by helping to create a healing internal and external environment. 

NDs treat all medical conditions and can provide both individual and family healthcare. Among the most common ailments they treat are allergies, chronic pain, digestive issues, hormonal imbalances, obesity, respiratory conditions, heart disease, fertility problems, menopause, adrenal fatigue, cancer, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. NDs are trained to utilize prescription drugs, although the emphasis of naturopathic medicine is the use of natural healing agents.

Photo courtesy of HealingDream at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Addressing Menopause, Part 2: Traditional Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)

In American culture, menopause is treated like a disease because of common problems associated with the normal hormonal changes. It can, however, be a fresh phase of life with new opportunities that a woman's wisdom of experience can direct. During this series we will examine menopause in the U.S. and look at past and current medical treatments as well as naturopathic therapies.

Part 2 - Traditional Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)

In the case of menopause Western medicine typically turned to synthetic hormone replacement therapy (HRT) given solely in a pill form, and physicians who adhere to generally accepted standardized protocols still use this form. However, we know that when given orally, hormones need to be absorbed in the digestive tract, get processed by the liver, and then go out to the bloodstream. This causes decreased levels of absorption, decreased levels of free hormone, and more chance of negative effects of hormones occurring. 

Many women are unaware that synthetic hormones are not the only choice for balancing their hormones. Naturopathic physicians opt for bio-identical (“natural”) hormone replacement therapy (nBHRT) and alternative routes of delivery, such as transdermal (cream form).  nBHRT, like its synthetic counterpart, requires a physician’s prescription and the hormones differ in that nBHRT is derived from plants rather than chemicals. 

Synthetic formulations are manufactured by pharmaceutical companies and packaged into specific, standard doses. Conversely, nBHRT is prescribed in person-specific doses and compounded (i.e., assembled) by a pharmacist.  A variety of dosages available, the alternate routes of administration, and the combining of more than one substance into one easy-to-take product offer better patient compliance and results. 

What is Naturopathic Medicine?


Naturopathic Medicine is based on the belief that the human body has an innate healing ability. Naturopathic doctors (NDs) teach their patients to use diet, exercise, lifestyle changes and cutting-edge natural therapies to enhance their bodies’ ability to ward off and combat disease. NDs craft personalized and comprehensive treatment plans that blend the best of modern medical science and traditional natural medical approaches to not only treat disease, but to also restore health. 

Steeped in traditional healing methods, principles and practices, naturopathic medicine focuses on holistic, proactive prevention and comprehensive diagnosis and treatment. By using protocols that minimize the risk of harm, a ND helps facilitate the body’s inherent ability to restore and maintain optimal health. It is the ND’s role to identify and remove barriers to good health by helping to create a healing internal and external environment. 

NDs treat all medical conditions and can provide both individual and family healthcare. Among the most common ailments they treat are allergies, chronic pain, digestive issues, hormonal imbalances, obesity, respiratory conditions, heart disease, fertility problems, menopause, adrenal fatigue, cancer, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. NDs are trained to utilize prescription drugs, although the emphasis of naturopathic medicine is the use of natural healing agents.

Photo courtesy of Ambro at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Moving Through Stress with Laughter - Monthly FREE Seminar

If you live in or near the Phoenix area or are planning to be in the area over the weekend, be sure to take advantage of this FREE Seminar.

Moving Through Stress With Laughter

Date: July 9, 2011

Time: 10 AM - 12 PM

Location: Mesa Clinic, 6638 E Baseline Rd # 101 Mesa, AZ 85206

Ph Number: 480-588-2233

RSVP Now . . .  Space is Limited 

Dr. Donese Worden, NMD

Please join us for a very fun and educational seminar.  June Cline, CSP is a patient of mine and a dear friend.  June believes in Naturopathic Medicine and has donated her time to come and be with us.  I will be lecturing on the brain chemistry of stress and how we can balance it with nutrition.  June will be educating us on how to use laughter to lighten our day. 

Ever feel as if chaos, change, stress or just plain ole' crazy has taken up residency in your world?  Are you ready to "lighten up, have fun and play more in both your professional and personal life?"  If you are ready to change not only your brain chemistry but also that of others, the good old fashion and natural way, Author, Speaker and Coach, June Cline, can show you how.  June will help us get to the heart of the matter by learning how to connect with others by managing our thoughts and our sense of humor.  "It's our foibles that make us fabulous," June says.  Through our every day experiences and actions we can create laughter which builds resiliency for us and the trust of others.  "It's the secret sauce of everything," according to June.  Boost your mental health, your leadership style, even customer service skills by being the instigator of laughter.  June believes laughter = hope, and hope = power. Ignite your own personal power by giving the gift of laughter.

June Cline, CSP

June Cline, CSP, and Author of "Is It God or Is It Gas?  Intuition vs. Indigestion," is an Inspirational Humorist, Trainer and Intentional Creation Career Coach.  With a book title like that, obviously, she doesn't take herself too seriously but she is real serious about humor and laughter.  In her Southern, sassy and savvy style, June helps people, teams and companies create concrete results by making deeper connections. Her fun career coaching helps people intentionally meet their personal and professional goals and expectations.   

June is an active member of several professional organizations.  She is on the Board of Directors of the National Speaker Association, Arizona Chapter and on the Editorial team of the National Speakers Association. 

 As a gift from June, go ahead and "poke around" as she says, on her site at www.JuneCline.com.  Feel free to take the free Intentional Creation Assessment by clicking on that button on the right of the page.   Discover your thoughts that are supporting or sabotaging your success. 

Addressing Menopause, Part 1: What is Menopause and How Does it Change You?

In American culture, menopause is treated like a disease because of common problems associated with the normal hormonal changes. It can, however, be a fresh phase of life with new opportunities that a woman's wisdom of experience can direct. During this series we will examine menopause in the U.S. and look at past and current medical treatments as well as naturopathic therapies.

Part 1 - What is Menopause and How Does it Change You?



Every day, roughly 6,000 women in the US reach menopause - the stage of life when a woman’s ovaries stop producing eggs and menstrual periods cease. According to U.S. Census data from 2000, there are about 37.5 million women entering or currently at menopause (ages 40 to 59).  It’s estimated that in 2010, there were approximately 50 million menopausal women!  As recently as the 1980s, menopause was not something to be talked about, understood, or prepared for so much as it was to be endured. Women often suffered in silence through this inevitable transition. 


Luckily, our understanding of menopause and hormones has grown by leaps and bounds since then. We know more about the common symptoms that women experience, and we have better treatments to help them cope. We realize that the lifestyle habits that you maintain or adopt during this time of life can have a profound impact on your health and vitality in the future, especially when you consider that with today’s record-high life expectancies in the US, many women will live one-third or more of their life after menopause. 


The medical definition of menopause is for a woman to be menstruation-free for twelve straight months, however, surgery, such as a hysterectomy, can also induce early and sudden menopause and onset of menopausal symptoms. A better definition of menopause may be to have persistent symptoms of estrogen deficiency, which can include mood swings, depression, anxiety, heart palpitations, nausea, loss of memory, difficulty concentrating, night sweats, insomnia, headaches, joint pain, hair loss, skin changes (dryness, thinning), acne, facial hair growth, decreased metabolism and weight gain, hot flashes, (night sweats or sleeping problems that lead to feeling tired, stressed or tense), vaginal changes (the vagina may become dry and thin and sex may be painful) and thinning of bones, which may lead to loss of height and bone breaks. 




What is Naturopathic Medicine?

Naturopathic Medicine is based on the belief that the human body has an innate healing ability. Naturopathic doctors (NDs) teach their patients to use diet, exercise, lifestyle changes and cutting-edge natural therapies to enhance their bodies’ ability to ward off and combat disease. NDs craft personalized and comprehensive treatment plans that blend the best of modern medical science and traditional natural medical approaches to not only treat disease, but to also restore health. Steeped in traditional healing methods, principles and practices, naturopathic medicine focuses on holistic, proactive prevention and comprehensive diagnosis and treatment. By using protocols that minimize the risk of harm, a ND helps facilitate the body’s inherent ability to restore and maintain optimal health. It is the ND’s role to identify and remove barriers to good health by helping to create a healing internal and external environment. NDs treat all medical conditions and can provide both individual and family healthcare. Among the most common ailments they treat are allergies, chronic pain, digestive issues, hormonal imbalances, obesity, respiratory conditions, heart disease, fertility problems, menopause, adrenal fatigue, cancer, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. NDs are trained to utilize prescription drugs, although the emphasis of naturopathic medicine is the use of natural healing agents.

Photo courtesy of Photostock at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The HCG Diet - What you need to know, Part 4

The HCG Diet is being touted as one of the best ways to lose weight and reset the body's weight to a healthier level.  In this series I will talk about what hCG is and how it works.  This week we'll be talking about how to maximize weight loss on the hCG diet.

Maximizing Healthy Weight Loss

In order that my patients receive the most optimal and lasting results possible, I consult with each individual and address all health/lifestyle factors that contributed to weight struggles in the first place.  At my clinic, I implement what I call “Phase One” which addresses food journaling, supplementation such asomega 3 fish oil,  branched chain amino acids and colon cleansing to detoxify. I seek to eliminate factors such as potential food allergies and environmental toxins (i.e. heavy metals) as a contributor to weight gain prior to introducing the hCG diet. I also make sure the gastro-instenstinal system is optimally working so the body can handle the fat it is about to reslease.  My patients experience weight loss during this lifestyle modification process, and when a plateau occurs hCG is begun again to spur further healthy weight loss.  If patients are not losing during the hCG diet, I am then confident there is some underlying health issue that must be addressed.

In conclusion, the hCG diet offers an amazing array of health benefits.  yo-yo dieting (which can be far more detrimental than overweight),can be put to an end with this program.   Dieters typically experience a weight loss of on average, 20-25lbs while reshaping the body, improving blood sugar, decreasing blood pressure and arthritic pain, stabilizing thyroid hormones– just to name a few benefits … Weight loss should not be regained as long as the dieter continues their healthy lifestyle.  My patients continue to see overwhelming success on the program with rare minor side effects.  

The HCG Diet - What you need to know, Part 3

The HCG Diet is being touted as one of the best ways to lose weight and reset the body's weight to a healthier level.  In this series I will talk about what hCG is and how it works.  This week we'll be looking why correct monitoring is so important.

Use Caution With hCG

Professional monitoring is essential.

It should be known that hCG is a prescription drug that MUST be dispensed and monitored by a licensed physician or practitioner. In addition, hCG varies in quality and purity, therefore, I acquire my supply from a very reputable compounding pharmacy.  Because the hormone is collected from the urine of pregnant women, it is imperative that safety measures are in place to prevent contamination and risk.  It must also be said that the FDA does not approve of hCG for weight loss.  However, when I looked carefully at the studies, I could find no long-lasting negative side-effects.  We do not have a long-term double-blind placebo controlled study however, 50 years of clinical evidence and use of hCG for other problems show no known risks (that I can find to date).  There are some contraindications and some patients that will have to be monitored very closely due to certain health conditions, so dieters must do their research and choose a physician carefully.

*Next week I'll talk about maximizing healthy weight loss with the hCG diet.