The West Kootenay Weekender Profile: Dr. Carolyn DeMarco

Winlaw's nationally syndicated women's health expert gives her diagnosis on fad, fact, menopause advice for the guys and why your grandma should pump iron.

You could say Winlaw's Dr. Carolyn DeMarco has made medical herstory.

For the past twenty-five years, DeMarco has been a champion of women's health. In fact, she is credited with being the first doctor to advocate the pro-active, tame-charge approach to health care that is now accepted as mainstream medicine-thanks in part to mainstream media.

DeMarco, who graduated from the University of Toronto in 1972, is one of only a dozen medical doctors in Canada that writes for the general public on a regular basis. Her advice has appeared in her syndicated column in the Toronto Star, as well as in other columns for the Vancouver Sun, The Globe and Mail's Today's Health and Wellness MD, a magazine distributed to Canadian doctors. She's also done TV work for CBC programs like The Journal, Prime Time News, Marketplace, Midday and The LIFE Channel.

As an expert in natural childbirth, DeMarco was featured in the National Film Board's documentary, Born at Home.

Born and raised in Toronto, she moved to New Denver in the mid 70s after a long, cold winter in Burns Lake. She lived and worked in New Denver for ten years before heading back to start a practice in Toronto. After ten years there, she returned to the Slocan Valley in 1996.

Weekender editor Darren Davidson spoke with DeMarco from her home last Sunday afternoon.

(DeMarco will be giving a seminar on women's health issues Saturday April 8th, 6:30 pm, at Nelson's Baker Street Inn, and a workshop on menopause April 9th at 10:00 am. Tickets are available at Kootenay Co-op and Evergreen Natural Foods.)

WRW: OK. If there's one sentence of advice women should need regarding their health what is it?

CD: Take time for yourself, every day. Because women tend to do so much for other people and they don't tend to take even 15 or 20 minutes of quiet time for themselves.

WKW: So is maternal instinct the pitfall of women's health?

CD: (Laughing) Yeah, the cultural and maternal instinct. It's a cultural thing also that women tend to put other people's need ahead of their own. And eventually it's bad for your health to be too nice. You end up putting your needs second. Then women end up being fatigued and stressed and possibly ill.

WKW: Can you expand on some general health advice for various age groups-first, teenage women?

CD: With teenagers, it's important to pay attention to your diet, right from the beginning, so that you get into good dietary habits. Avoid excessive sugars and sugar substitutes. Whether it's having more fruits and vegetables, eating according to your blood type, whatever, get into some type of awareness that what you eat affects your mood when you're a teenager. Your hormones are already swinging up and down, it's quite chaotic.

Some thing happens in adolescence. One of the ways you can stabilize that is by not eating a lot of crap food. So protein, chicken and fish, vegetables, 100 per cent whole grains -they have a stabilizing affect on your blood sugar and mood by extension. People in their young 20s have to pay close attention to birth control and STDs, because their at that vulnerable age.

WKW: So teens have to set a dietary agenda for the rest of their lives, early on. What about women in mid-life?

CD: In mid-life, you're dealing with childbirth issues and periods and different work stresses. I have two sections in my book about pregnancy. And I stress that women at least have the choice to have a natural child birth. As well, women in mid-life are overly stressed. So they should not take shortcuts like coffee and alcohol, things that are temporary stress relievers but in the long run, you could pay a health price for that.

WKW: What about some dietary advice?

CD: Again, in mid-life, starting at 35, you have to start to be concerned about your bones. It's advisable to start taking calcium magnesium supplements, watching your calcium intake and starting a good exercise program of weight-baring exercise. In midlife you want to build up your bone mass to its peak, so later on you go into menopause at peak bone mass.

WKW: Last but not least, let's call them the "older years, from 60 on.

CD: In menopause and elderly years, I've been promoting weight training, because there's been a lot of research showing that women in their 50s can benefit from this because they build muscle mass-

WKW: We're talking about working out at the gym in your 50's and 60's ?

CD: Yeah, believe it or not. You can quadruple your muscle mass when you in your 80s even. This can make a substantial difference to your strength, mobility and balance. But starting with women in their 50s, even weight training twice a week for 40 minutes will make a huge difference in both bone and muscle mass. (For diets) I believe it's absolutely necessary at those ages; for both men and women to start taking anti-oxidant vitamins -like C, E and beta-carotene, because these prevent heart disease and cancer -and supplements. And you may want to take digestive enzymes and aids because you're not absorbing from your food as well, especially after 65. Woman should have a good source of calcium magnesium from 5() up, and consider the pros and cons of taking hormone replacements.

That's always a big question for women in that age group. I always say that menopause is a really good reason to get healthier, to take your health to another level - diet, exercise and stress relief-so you'll have a healthy old age.

WKW: Can you put menopause into perspective for women who are gaining on it?

CD: It's a normal life milestone, a transition from the child bearing years to the non-child baring years. Actually, after menopause is finished, many women feel they're stronger and more vibrant. These days, it's not inevitable that we have to decline as we get older. Aging is not necessarily associated with ill health.

WKW: What's the easiest way to get through it.?

CD: I think the key is that it's individual for each person. Some women may need to take hormones, others may do well taking natural remedies. We have a bunch of herbs and vitamins we can take that will basically take care of all the symptoms or menopause. Lots of excellent products without resorting to hormones. For each women it's a very personal choice based on her belief system, her risk factors for heart disease and bone loss and her personal preference.

WKW: On the lighter side, can you put menopause into perspective for men? What is it exactly that our moms and wives and sisters are going through when they kind of seem to lose their minds for those five or ten years?

CD: (Laughing) Acknowledging that it's happening. I think any understanding men have is very useful to a woman who's going though it. Just an understanding that they may not be able to control their feelings as much as they might want to. I've heard some women say they find it useful to take a time out from the family _ you know the way kids take a time out? Well they take a time out instead. Understanding. And I think humour is a good thing.

WKW: There seem to be larger and larger groups of foods falling onto people dietary black lists. Any health ad vantage to a diaryless diet?

CD: My dietary advice is kind of eclectic, it comes from a lot of different sources. People should pay some attention to their blood type, as to whether the should be dairyless or not. A Type O person needs to exercise daily and needs much higher protein, where as a Type A does best without dairy. Some people, for instance, Scandinavian people, do better with out dairy. It's a personal preference. It's not necessary to have dairy, as long as you get enough calcium. It's defiantly not necessary.

WKW: What about the vegan scene. Some people say meat's the worse thing for you. Others say you absolutely need it.

CD: Many vegans are very healthy. I don't believe you need meat in your diet. However I think vegan-people who have no animal products at all, eggs, diary or meat-have to be cautious about B12 deficiency and occasional calcium deficiency. They may have to take supplements.

WKW: It's not often you see a big, thick-neck vegan walking down the street. Or is that just a stereotype?

CD: I think that's just a stereotype. Because there are vegan athletes believe it or not. Again, you'll find a Type A person or Type AB is a better vegetarian than a Type 0, who will often crave meat and protein.

WKW: It's difficult to determine what is fad and fact in health nowadays-

CD: Is it ever.

WKW: You mentioned blood type diets, which seem to be "the latest" From a medical perspective, does it make sense to plan your diet around the type of blood you have?

CD: I've been experimenting in my practice, and have found in broad, general terms, I don't know how you can verify everything that's in that blood type book. But I tell people to try these diets for four to sex weeks to see if they notice any difference. There's some small amount of scientific evidence behind it. And just observing people in my practice, a Type () person who becomes a macro-biotic (no dairy. no meat, no fish. no eggs, complete vegan) can become very weak without protein. There appears to be some difference between blood types and their dietary needs, on a clinical level you can observe it. I think it's a safe diet to try. There's a limited amount of research on blood type, but in Japan they pay a lot of attention to blood type. you can't even get married unless you have a compatible blood type with the person you're going to marry. The Japanese are almost obsessed with blood type. That's an interesting aside.

WKW: So your final word on blood type diets would be there is some truth in them, but exercise a little caution.

CD: If you're having trouble with your diet it's worth a total of four to eight weeks. There's some merit in the diet. I don't think you have to be cautious.

WKW: You're a proponent of holistic health. Did you become involved in it because of some of t*e steady areas of modern medicine-over-prescription, needless surgery, the increasing profit-based goals of the health industry?

CD: First, you have to distinguish between holistic health and complimentary medicine. Holistic health is all the aspect of a person's life-physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual. Complimentary medicine, which keeps changing its name-alternative medicine, or integrated- taking the best of western medicine and combining it with the best of natural medicine. That's what I tend to do. Take the best of both worlds. Western medicine is very good for emergencies. But it's not so good when it comes to preventing chronic illness.

But that was a good question, getting back to it, one of the things I noticed was there was an over prescription of drugs and surgery, in women's health in particular-hysterectomies, cesareans, mastectomies. There was an over-prescription in tranquilizers and anti-depressants to woman, two to three times more than men, also birth control and hormone therapy. Antibiotics are over-prescribed by all doctors, but part of it is that patients are pressuring doctors to prescribe them.

WKW: How many doctors are over-prescribing?

CD: I think its a general trend because of the way the medical system is set up, with only a ten minute visit being paid for. There's not a lot of time to do anything but write a prescription. The reason I got involved in alternative medicine was to have (an answer) for when people asked me "What else can I take? What are the alternatives?" For mild to moderate depression you can take St. John's Wort, for anxiety you can take kava kava, for ulcers you can take licorice root, for osteo-arthritis there's glucosamine sulfate...So we have some great alternatives. We also can use natural hormones, and from the herbal world, there's a great selection for women's health problems.

WKW: You're an expert in natural child birth and midwifery, but also a medical doctor. What's better for baby and mom-birth at the hospital or home?

CD There's no additional risk being at home with a qualified

WKW: What if something goes wrong?

CD: They can transfer you to a hospital. They all carry emergency equipment, they can deal with any medical emergency.

WKW: Why are you a proponent of it?

CD: I'm a proponent of choice. But it's beautiful experience at home. It's very family centered. Though there's been a lot of improvement in hospital births, there's more intervention and interference with the natural flow of the birth. It can be a beautiful experience at home- and it can be a beautiful experience at the hospital. I saw that with my little nephew, we attended a home birth about a year ago. His seven year old brother came in just as the baby was coming out. I've never seen a kid bond so much to a baby. He stayed up all night-all night -to watch the baby. And I've never seen a kid be able to handle a baby or change diapers better.

WKW: There seems to be a stigma attached to the rural doctor, the intrepid physician making a midnight visit in the dead of winter, do you miss that?

CD: (Laughing) Oh no. No rural doctor misses that. It can be very stressful if you have a serious situation. You can loose a lot of years off your life. Especially if you're the solo doctor, if you're the only doctor there. It's hair raising.

WKW: So the rural doctor stereotype is best left for those Norman Rockwell paintings.

CD: That's right. The other thing is in a small town it's hard to have privacy. All the doctors in New Denver have found that to be true. It's hard to go into a store without someone telling you about their medical condition. In a city it's actually less stressful. You can just sign off to emergency services if you want.

WKW: For both women and men, would you say the Kootenay lifestyle is a little more healthy than the Toronto one?

CD: Oh definitely. The stress level is-well, I wouldn't say that. The stresses are different in the country, I still notice that people are stressed out, but for different reasons-financial stress, stress of isolation, stress of being in a small town and being over-exposed-

WKW: Stress of not enough new snow at the hill

CD: (Laughing) Yeah, that kind of thing...

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