Category Archives: Nutrition

Some Thoughts on Depression, Pain and Stroke

Posted on January 24, 2014 | Leave a comment

We’ll take it easy on you with this week’s post as we head into another weekend.  Sometimes I have to repeatedly re-read some of the facts and figures during my constant investigation of the ever growing and changing research.  These are a few of those “double take” paragraphs that I have compiled and felt compelled to share.  Take it in, embrace the empowerment and make the necessary changes.

DEPRESSION – INFLAMMATORY DIET LINK

For 12 years, researchers tracked the diet habits and health outcomes of more than 43,000 women — none of whom had depression at the start of the study period. Here’s what they found: Women who sipped soft drinks, ate fatty red meat, or consumed refined grains (like pasta, white bread, crackers, or chips) daily were 29 to 41% more likely to be diagnosed or treated for depression than those who stuck to a healthier diet. Blood tests revealed that women who ate the above foods also tested significantly higher for three biomarkers of inflammation.

http://www.prevention.com/mind-body/emotional-health/certain-foods-linked-inflammation-and-depression?cm_mmc=MSN-_-PVN_News-_-Pass%20The%20Pasta–And%20The%20Prozac-_-Pass%20The%20Pasta–And%20The%20Prozac%20SL

GOT PAIN?  PATIENT BEWARE

Back pain accounts for more than $100 billion in annual U.S. healthcare costs and is the second leading cause of physician visits and hospitalizations.

What Happens When Physicians Don’t Know How to Treat Pain?

They resort to the only treatment they know: prescription drugs to treat inflammation, arthritis, back pain, stress, and autoimmunity. And now we’re facing another epidemic on top of chronic pain: prescription drug abuse.

The latter has been called the fastest-growing drug problem in the US by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as the number of deaths from opioid painkillers like hydrocodone and oxycodone rose nearly four-fold between 1999 and 2009.  Pain medications were involved in 14,800 overdose deaths in 2008.

The overdoses now kill more people than cocaine and heroin combined. As USA Today recently reported, more US states are now taking action to try and stop this growing problem.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/10/states-prescription-drug-painkiller-abuse/2961389/

STROKE: MORE EVIDENCE TO GET UP, MOVE AND NOT BE A STATISTIC

The American Heart Association reports 800,000 Americans suffer from stroke each year. Stroke is the leading cause of disability in the US and the fourth leading cause of death. Up to 80 percent of strokes are preventable, because for the most part, strokes are the result of unhealthy lifestyle choices.

Recent research published in the journal Stroke found that, if you’re inactive, you have a 20 percent higher risk for having a stroke or mini-stroke (transient ischemic attack) than people who exercise enough to break a sweat at least four times a week.

The study involved more than 27,000 Americans for an average of 5.7 years, male and female, Caucasian and African-American.  It included a larger proportion of people from the “Stroke Belt” states, where stroke rates are higher (Virginia, Tennessee, the Carolinas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, Florida, Arkansas, and Alabama).

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23868271?dopt=Abstract

Get out there and move! Have a great weekend.

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The Perfect Time of Year For a Cleanse

Posted on January 3, 2014 | Leave a comment

A new year is upon us and with that comes resolutions involving more trips to the gym and less trips to the fridge.  Resolutions, both big and small, are always heavy on January 1st due to the chance at a new start or big change that the date represents.

While personal cultivation can and should be taking place constantly throughout each year, we can’t deny the symbolic, cultural opportunity the new year presents.  It is because of this that the idea of a cleanse and/or detox is ideal to clean the slate and start you out on the right foot.

No matter how healthy or cautious you may be, exposure to harmful chemicals and toxins is inevitable.  Some of these cause immediate damage, while others can accumulate in your body, leading to future damage, especially as the accumulation builds.  Other times these outside invaders (some invited, some not) can cause damage to various organs in the body like your brain, liver, or gut, leading to future issues due to sub-par function.  Think of a leaky gut here, coupled with food sensitivities, systemic inflammation, autoimmunity, and more.

There are many different types of cleanses that serve to assist in ridding your body of the various wastes and toxins that have accumulated in your tissues throughout the holidays, this past year, or your whole life.  Through various dietary restrictions and supplemental support, your body is allowed the opportunity to calm itself rather than being on heightened defense or attack. Toxins are mobilized and detoxified through the liver and thus prepared for removal by way of excretion.

Depending on the type of cleanse utilized, the intestinal tract is also relieved of the constant bombardment of processed foods, grains, and sugars.  This allows your major barrier system and site of 80% of your immune system to begin to heal.  Providing additional support can then help repair, rebuild, and refortify the wall between you and the chemicals, bacteria, and other pathogens that can and may have already been disrupting your internal systems causing inflammation, organ malfunction and an over or under active immune system.

Depending on your personal goals and individual health condition, it is important to select a cleanse/detox program that is not only going to relinquish the inflammatory external stimuli, but deliver support for the systems involved in the process (liver, intestines, kidneys, etc.).  For example, you want to provide the body with the proper support to mobilize any toxins from the fat cells throughout your body and then provide the necessary co-factors to convert them to a water soluble form so that they can be eliminated.

An added bonus to any adequate program is the opportunity to reap the benefits of a sustained restricted diet.  This involves sticking to a menu where the usual hyper-allergenic and problematic foods are avoided for 3-4 weeks.  This is the basic premise behind a standard elimination diet and allows your body to completely eliminate certain potentially problematic proteins from the body.

At the conclusion of the cleanse you now have the option to reintroduce any of the foods you avoided.  When you do this one by one it provides the opportunity to identify potential sensitivities by way of a rash, headache, fatigue, bloating, etc.  Or after refraining from ingesting a certain food you may decide to forego reintroduction altogether and eliminate it outright from your usual meal routine.

To reiterate, and at the risk of being too cliché, the new year provides the perfect time to clean out and restart, repair, rebuild, and recharge your life.  A cleanse/detox program can serve as an ideal way to not only take your health to the next level, but can be quite physically and mentally liberating as well.

If this sounds exciting to you then please, by all means give us a call (321-848-0987).  Together we can sit down (in person or over the phone), discuss your health history, identify your goals, and ultimately construct a plan to leave you refreshed and recharged for 2014 and beyond.

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What Causes That Post Meal Crash?

Posted on December 24, 2013 | 2 comments

It seems as though nodding off after a holiday meal is just as much of a tradition as eating a Christmas tree or decorating a Thanksgiving turkey.  (Did you catch that or did I catch you drowsy from your last meal?) But why does this happen?  And worse, are you someone who is routinely tired after meals, regardless of the time of year?

The reason behind this varies depending on your specific situation, but mainly involves too many carbohydrates and poor blood sugar control.  Ideally, when we consume carbs/sugars the pancreas releases a proportionate amount of insulin which then delivers the glucose (end result of crab breakdown) to our cells for energy.

On one level we have someone who usually eats relatively healthy, but just consumed a carb load as if they were preparing to hibernate.  The flooding of glucose into the blood alarms the pancreas who, being the diligent little organ he is, dumps insulin to handle the carb load. (Elevated insulin levels due to too many carbs or outright insulin resistance is also not a good thing and has been linked to everything from inflammation to autoimmunity and cancer).

The pancreas wants to make sure all the glucose can catch a ride to a cell so it overcompensates with the amount of insulin secreted.  This also happens with people who have poor blood sugar control (aka dysglycemic).  The end result here is the glucose being cleared from the blood so rapidly that you have now gone from one extreme to the other; from blood sugar spike to crash.  This can lead to symptoms of hypoglycemia; which include light headedness, headaches and feeling tired.

Another reason for the post meal siesta occurs when our tissues become resistant to the insulin that is attempting to clear the blood of and deliver glucose.  This can also happen from over doing it on carbs and is the mechanism behind diabetes type II.  Anyone concerned with intelligently controlling your weight should perk up for this explanation.

When your tissues become insulin resistant due to poor diet, lack of exercise or binge eating, the glucose remains in the circulating blood causing damage to your brain and blood vessels. (We then have our body’s natural bandaid called in (cholesterol), to patch up the damage from the dysglycemia and insulin resistance.)

Your body wants to keep your blood glucose levels under control, so when plan A doesn’t work (glucose cleared from blood by insulin), plan B kicks in.  The glucose is then converted to triglycerides and stored around your midsection as, you guessed it, fat.  In many cases it’s excess carbs, not fat in your diet that leads towards poor blood sugar control, possible diabetes, insulin resistance, aaaaand additional weight gain in the form of glucose being converted to and stored as body fat.

This conversion of glucose to triglycerides en route to your fanny is a process that requires a lot of your body’s energy/fuel.  So much so that it actually leaves you tired and crashing, and thus we have the post meal coma.

Add to this the fact that this process can also raise serotonin levels.  As we’ve discussed in past posts, serotonin is actually the precursor to the sleep hormone melotonin, and because of that can induce drowsiness.  This is also the reason turkey knocks you out as it contains the precursor to serotonin, tryptophan.

Hopefully this sheds some light on the subject for those curious about why we hit the hay after scarfing down a delicious feast.  Enjoy the holiday.  Indulge if you like as you now know what’s going on within and the possible dangers routinely doing so can pose.

However, if you are someone who struggles with cravings, crashes, and weight as we discussed, make it a point to address these signs of internal dysfunction before they get worse.  We’re coming up on a new year which serves as an ideal time to get serious and make your health a priority.

Again, enjoy the holidays and come see us when you’re ready to step it up in the new year.

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Boost Your Health With…Chocolate???

Posted on December 19, 2013 | Leave a comment

In keeping with the positive, light-hearted spirit of the season, this week’s post serves as a gift.  So often it seems that most healthy recommendations involve cutting out the “good” stuff.  However, some of the traditional “good” stuff can actually be good for you, and that includes almost everyone’s favorite: chocolate.

Now hopefully you didn’t just cut your reading of this article off there and inhale the nearest chocolate bar.  The type of chocolate and accompanying ingredients dictate whether or not its consumption can empower or devour you.  Oh come on, you didn’t think it was going to be that easy.

When we talk about “healthy” chocolate, we are referring to pure, organic dark chocolate.  This type of chocolate is actually quite bitter on its own, which is why if you buy a manufactured dark chocolate product it usually comes to the party with an entourage of sugars, unhealthy artificial sweeteners, soy, etc.

As with any product, you’re going to want to take the time to scan the ingredients and make your decision based upon your knowledge, what’s important to you and what research you believe.  To ensure you reap some of the benefits we are about to go over, you’re going to want to choose a product that lists cacao as the main ingredient.

The cacao tree (aka cocoa tree) is a small tree indigenous to the tropical regions of Central and South America.  Its seeds serve as the source for various forms of cacao such as powder, paste or butter.  All of which can be used to make what we know and love as chocolate.  As with all foods, the less processing before it enters your pie hole, the better.

One of chocolate’s main beneficial properties comes from the presence of a large quantity of antioxidants such as polyphenols and flavonoids.  We throw terms like antioxidants around so much that a brief review will help illustrate the benefits.

While we function throughout the day, millions of cells are constantly performing functions on a microscopic level that enable us to live.  A by-product of this cellular function or oxidation, is what are referred to as free radicals.  Free radicals are a highly reactive chemical species that cause damage to cells throughout the body contributing to everything from  cancer, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, Rheumatoid arthritis, and cataracts (to name a few).   When functioning properly, our bodies are designed to discard harmful free radicals up to a certain point.  However, things such as stress, poor diet, sickness, strenuous exercise, and smoking can lead to a level of free radicals that exceeds our body’s natural capacity to break them down.

If you are alive, it is impossible to avoid the formation of free radicals.  The trick is to limit the formation AND provide your body with added free radical fighters, or anti-oxidants.  Many foods and supplements possess anti-oxidative properties (measured as ORAC), but pure cacao boosts three to ten times the anti-oxidative properties than foods like blueberries or cranberries.

Many of chocolate’s beneficial properties are mainly a consequence of what was just explained.  Reported benefits include:

Improved glucose metabolism/diabetic control

Controlling blood pressure

Improved heart health and overall cardiovascular system

Anti-inflammatory (ah inflammation, the common denominator in almost every pathology)

Relatively high levels of resveratrol which has been shown to be potently neuro-protective and possibly life extending

Recent research has even found that regular consumption of an ounce and a half of dark chocolate a day led to a reduction in stress hormones and anxiety.

Remember, this is not an open invitation to go on a no holds barred, unsensored chocolate binge.  If you do choose to add a mostly pure form of chocolate to your regimen, it should be consumed in moderation (one study noted 6.7 grams of dark chocolate per day, which is about a half a bar a week to be optimal) and in addition to all of the other lifestyle changes we continuously harp on.

Many of these benefits are due to the anti-oxidative properties, which is highest in pure cacao powder and progressively drops off in unsweetened baking chocolate, dark chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and milk chocolate (milk can actually prevent the absorption of some anti-oxidants); respectively.  Also, remember the more processed, the longer the list of ingredients and higher sugar content, the higher the collateral damage and diminishing effects on the benefits.

Natural, organic cacao powder, paste, butter can be purchased online or at most health food stores.  You can use this to add a tasty boost to your smoothie or as the main ingredient in your holiday hot chocolate.  With a little bit of preparation, research and experimentation, you can also create your own “healthy” chocolate.  If it’s too bitter, you can use a natural sweetener such as stevia or xylitol.

So go get yourself some cacao powder, a little bit of stevia, mix it with your heated reverse osmosis water and some coconut or almond milk to enjoy a holiday classic that tastes great while also providing a health boosting punch.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

REFERENCES

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19754118

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20442725

http://jn.nutrition.org/content/138/10/1939.abstract?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&author1=Romina+di+Giuseppe&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=HWCIT

Sepehr Bahadorani, Arthur J Hilliker. Cocoa confers life span extension in Drosophila melanogaster. Nutr Res. 2008 Jun;28(6):377-82

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What’s the Big Deal With GMOs?

Posted on December 4, 2013 | 2 comments

Maybe the hottest debate in the food industry today involves three letters: GMO.  GMOs or genetically modified organisms (also referred to as GE: genetically engineered) are the result of science splicing the genetics of certain foods and chemicals that would otherwise never be caught in bed together.  The original intended outcome was to yield more for less, creating a super “Franken-crop,” built to withstand weeds and bugs without compromising nutrition or health (with the existence of the latter intention being debatable).

As this has turned into a debate, arguments from both sides exist.  On one side we have those motivated by profits to be lost if the public learns what they are actually putting in their body.   On the other, we have those fighting the battle to ensure the information and right to choose are afforded to the consumer.

As the prevalence of chronic diseases continues to rise, one can’t help but notice that this rise occurred along with the introduction of genetically engineered food back in 1996.  A direct cause and effect relationship has not been outright proven, but one can’t help but wonder.  One can’t help but err on the side of caution either as that food you grew up on is no longer the same due to laboratory alterations.

Genetic modifications creates new, unnatural proteins in the organism that we then consume.  These proteins have been shown to be highly allergenic, leading to the provocation of an overactive immune system waging a war within.

Even scarier is what’s being seen in second generation genetic engineering (seen especially in wheat); a phenomenon known as gene silencing.  This silencing was designed to alter the carbohydrate content in wheat, but once consumed may actually react with and silence human genes, leading to a decreased expression of our intended and necessary physiology.

GMOs are also engineered in order to withstand higher and repeated doses of herbicides, mainly glyphosate.  Other than simply preferring to avoid foods showered in numerous doses of chemicals, one should be particularly wary of glyphosate, found in Monsanto’s RoundUp (a powerful and toxic herbicide).  Findings from studies as recent as June of this year indicate glyphosate as a common denominator behind multiple chronic diseases.

Glyphosate is a mineral chelator, meaning it tightly binds minerals, blocking their availability to us when we consume foods.  Not only does this directly lessen the nutritious benefit we consume the vegetable for in the first place, but these minerals are necessary co-factors for utilizing vital vitamins as well.  Consistent consumption of foods laced with glyphosate can very well lead to a mineral and vitamin deficiency.

A second detrimental attribute of glyphosate is that it is a patented anti-biotic. As we’ve covered in previous posts, anti-biotics don’t discriminate and wipe out all of your good bacteria or flora (aka probiotics) as well.  These good bacteria are vital to your overall immune function and protecting you from a leaky gut and the laundry list of conditions associated with it.

Another GMO fun fact is that these crops are also modified to contain built-in pesticides in order to deter living organisms from chowing down on them. (Wait, aren’t we living too?) Most notably is a toxic protein known as Bt toxin which works by actually rupturing the stomach of the unfortunate diner.

While this toxin is obviously designed to combat insects, it should be noted that the safety and long term effects on the stomachs and digestive tracks of humans is unknown.  As a matter of fact, a study done in February of 2012 demonstrated that this toxin has the potential to damage human cells.  Call me crazy, but I’d like to refrain from feasting on stomach rupturing toxins.

The sad thing here is that the debate isn’t over whether or not to unleash GMOs on the unknowing masses, but rather whether or not us masses be granted the right to know what is GMO and what isn’t.  Predictably, the big corporations that already utilize GMOs make up the powerful financial backing behind fighting to keep you in the dark.  (Check this link out to see some of the biggest backers, you may be surprised.  http://www.cornucopia.org/2013/10/gma-discloses-anti-labeling-funders/?utm_source=feedly)

While states like California and Washington have already held much publicized votes on whether or not to label, it is not currently mandated to label GMOs, even in my home state of Florida. Thankfully, there is an increasingly strong grassroots movement to get it on the ballot by November, 2014.  Wanting to know what’s in the food you spend your money on and then put into your body does not seem unreasonable, yet it appears that we now may have to fight for that.

Check out the initiatives in motion in your own state and get involved.  At the very least, be aware of when it will be on the ballot and exercise your right to vote when it is.

REFERENCES

http://m.digitaljournal.com/article/332822

http://www.labelgmoflorida.com

http://www.cornucopia.org/2013/10/gma-discloses-anti-labeling-funders/?utm_source=feedly

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