Holistic Nutrition Bytes » candida

Kick the Sugar Habit!

admin — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 06:21:47 +0000

I admit it. I have a sweet tooth. Big time. Ever since I was a kid, I took after my dad, who also loves the sweets. I’m not so much a hard candy gal, and I certainly don’t drink soda or sweetened drinks (yuck), and to be honest, I don’t care for overly sweet and sugary desserts. I’m a sucker for baked goods, though. And cheesecake. And pumpkin pie. Oh, and CHOCOLATE. Anything CHOCOLATE. Luckily I’m not a milk chocolate fan, so I stick to dark chocolate, 70 percent or more cacao. I have a square or 2 every day. It’s good for you and releases feel-good chemicals in the brain! I also make my own baked goods usually so I can adjust the levels of sweetness and make the necessary gluten free & dairy free adjustments.

more addictive than crack.

But here’s the thing. After the holidays, I noticed my sugar cravings creeping up on me. That’s the thing with sugar: the more you eat it, the more you crave it. This is true also with white flour products, which break down as sugar in the body, and also alcohol. Inspired by fellow nutritionists Erin Huggins, Diane Sanfilippo, and Ashley Mathe, I have decided to embark on the same 21-day sugar detox they’re doing! Starting Monday, January 11, so that I can polish off the remaining chocolate truffles in the house.

This cleanse means no sugar of any kind (including evaporated cane juice, brown rice syrup, etc), honey, agave, stevia, fruit (except green apples), white flour, booze, or sodas for 21 days. I have sugar sensitivity in my family: that means we are prone to sugar-based addictions (alcohol + food) and hypoglycemia. We have diabetes on my Dad’s side, too. Do you have a history of alcoholism in your family? Diabetes? Is anyone more than 30 pounds overweight? Do you or does someone in your family have trouble with bingeing? Then you DEFINITELY need this cleanse. It’s only 3 weeks!

Sugar is one of the most harmful substances we can ingest. It is linked to more health issues than any single other food. This includes alcohol, which acts exactly like refined sugar in the body. Ever wonder why there are so many donuts at AA meetings? Because alcoholism is a disease of sugar addiction. Take away the booze, and the sugar cravings transfer to food. Same goes for food addiction: any person who has problems with alcohol or food addiction (bingeing behaviors, cravings, anorexia, obesity) MUST eliminate white flour and sugar and alcohol from the diet to truly overcome the addiction. Eventually, the cravings will subside. But every time a food or alcohol addict eats sugar or flour, the cravings will be triggered.

If you need convincing about sugar’s harmful effects, look at this list (very nicely compiled courtesy of Erin Huggins).
Sugar:
*suppresses your immune system, LINKED TO CANCERS
* promotes weight gain and obesity
* disrupts the mineral balance (causing stress in the body)
* contributes to depression, anxiety and mood swings
* promotes gut dysbiosis or overgrowth of bad bacteria in the gut, such as candida
* contributes to insulin resistance and diabetes
* can cause hormonal imbalances
* increases risk for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis
* disrupt the body’s pH balance
* can cause hypoglycemia
* will reduce good HDL cholesterol and increase bad LDL cholesterol
* prohibits weight loss

SO. What are the benefits? Well, first off, I don’t want to be addicted to anything. I don’t want to have cravings or energy dips, and I want to feel my best! If you have those 3pm sugar cravings that you satisfy every day, now is the time to be free. It takes about 21 days to break a habit, and only about THREE for the cravings to disappear as your body recalibrates. So, you can expect better sleep, MORE ENERGY, clear skin, better digestion, stable moods, lower cholesterol & blood pressure, lower triglycerides, NO CRAVINGS, and…. weight loss, if that’s a goal for you! Expect a 5-10 pound weight loss over the 3 weeks. Can’t beat that!

So, what *can* you have? First off, eat organic. Follow my general gluten free diet, which includes the following:
-lamb, poultry, wild fish, eggs, beef, bison, buffalo
-as many veggies as you can handle and lots of leafy greens like kale, chard, collards, spinach
-legumes such as lentils, beans
-you can have green apples but no other fruit
-nuts, seeds, nut butters (READ LABELS!)
-gluten free grains such as brown rice, quinoa
-dairy, if you can handle it, preferably raw

What to avoid:
* white sugar
* brown sugar
* maple syrup
* agave nectar
* honey
* fruit juice or fruit juice sweetened food
* fruit, except green tipped bananas & granny smith apples
* stevia
* refined white flour – it acts like sugar in the body
* sugar substitutes – no diet drinks
* alcohol

Let’s do it! Quick pep talk: you might have some rough cravings for the first 3 days, but it is easier to quit cold turkey and get it all out of your system. DON’T give in! Tapering down makes cravings worse. Once you get to day 4 or 5, your cravings will be gone–you’ll see!!

I’ll post updates and let y’all know how it’s going. Who’s with me?

Click Here for Our FREE Tele-Seminar on Digestive Issues

admin — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:41:53 +0000

Did you miss our live call tonight? If you have heartburn, bloating, candida, or suffer from constipation, click this link for a free tele-seminar with holistic nutritionists Karen Diggs and myself. We discuss problems & solutions:

http://tinyurl.com/yguada8

Herb of the Week: Oregano Leaf

admin — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:21:20 +0000

Plants are medicine! From herbs and spices and roots come powerful plant compounds and constituents that have the power to heal and balance when used correctly. In my practice, I use herbs to relieve stress, balance hormones, improve digestion, and fight parasites and bacterial overgrowth.

Oregano is one of my very favorite therapeutic herbs. It is anti-inflammatory and has high antioxidant power. The ancient Greeks used it as a compress for sore muscles and the Chinese used it for its ability to calm digestive maladies. I use it primarily as an oil of oregano tincture (the oil has been extracted from the plant and is stronger) which contains the extracted oregano in a carrier oil such as olive or almond oil. You can use a dropper to place about 4-5 drops in water (it can be irritating to use directly on the tongue), or you can take the oil in capsule form. Its key healing compound is carvacrol, so always choose oil of oregano extracts that have at least 70 percent standardized carvacrol.

Now to the good stuff: look at all its benefits! Oil of Oregano has anti-fungal, anti-parasitic, and anti-bacteria properties. It can be used for the following:
* Kills bacteria, parasites, and organisms that contribute to digestive problems
* Strengthens the immune system
* Can be used topically for skin infections (athletes foot or nail fungus, for example)
* Improves respiratory health
* Relieves gas and bloating
* Relieves diarrhea
* Can be used when traveling to prevent food poisoning

Many practitioners use oil of oregano to strengthen immune health during cold/flu season and to help with respiratory problems such as cough or bronchitis or even allergies. I use is as part of my anti-candida and anti-parasite protocols. With its anti-microbial powers, oregano oil is a natural for knocking out yeast or parasite infections. For a candida protocol, use it with caprylic acid or as part of an herbal compound with berberine and pau d’arco. For parasites, use it with artemesia, black walnut hulls, and/or cloves. You can find tinctures or herbals supplements for both on the market. I recommend taking an herbal compound product and using it alongside the oregano oil for about 8 weeks. Take both 3 times daily, and use about 4-6 drops of the oregano oil per use. Follow up with probiotics to restore gut health and correct dysbiosis.

My favorite use is for acute gas and bloating. It works almost immediately. If you’ve eaten something that’s causing gas or uncomfortable bloating, use 4 or 5 drops in liquid for near-instant relief. Repeat as necessary. It’s quite remarkable. If you are experiencing digestive symptoms regularly, you may have bacterial overgrowth, dysbiosis, or parasites, so it’s a good idea to undergo digestive testing to assess. I offer a simple take-home digestive assessment in my practice.

Oregano oil can also be used topically for skin infections. Place a few drops directly on affected area 3 times daily. It may also help toothaches or insect bites, and while I don’t have experience using it for that, it wouldn’t hurt to try! Oregano oil is side-effect free (aside from a slight burning that may occur if taken undiluted – it’s very strong), so don’t be shy to give it a go before reaching for over the counter drugs or meds.

Q&A: Digestive Disturbance

admin — Thu, 07 May 2009 05:36:07 +0000

Q: I experience frequent and uncomfortable bloating and gas, usually in the afternoons/evenings. What is causing this, and how can I relieve it?

A: There are a number of factors that may contribute to gas and digestive upset. Physiologically speaking, the source of excess gas is usually intestinal bacteria. Your gut is home to billions of bacteria, some beneficial, some not. This bacteria produce gas, sometimes excessively, as they digest food. Certain foods may trigger more intestinal gas: dairy, certain sugars, hard-to-digest foods such as corn or wheat, and some vegetables, such as the crucifers (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower). In addition, low stomach acid can cause gas and bloating because food is not properly digested.

Food allergies are another source of gas and bloating. The most common food allergens are soy, dairy, eggs, shellfish, nuts, citrus, and wheat. Consuming these foods if you are sensitive or allergic to them may cause bloating or gas. Consider having a healthcare practitioner test you for food allergies. The ALCAT test is the most accurate, and it requires a blood draw, but there are finger prick tests available that you can complete in your own home. You can also perform your own food allergy elimination diet.

As I mentioned earlier, gut bacteria play a big role in digestion and possible production of excess gas. Your good gut bacteria and bad gut bacteria should exist symbiotically, but if the bad outweigh the good (dysbiosis) as a result of poor diet or antibiotic use, symptoms such as candida, gas, or bloating may result. Try a probiotic supplement, eat a whole foods diet and include plenty of fermented foods, and eliminate refined sugar and alcohol. Parasites or bacterial infections can contribute to dysbiosis, gas, and bloating, so consider a parasite test or cleanse.

To summarize: determine your food allergies, test for parasites, correct dysbiosis, and reduce sugar and refined foods in favor of a whole foods diet. Consider a digestive enzyme supplement to help your digestive tract break down foods. Choose one with HCl to normalize your stomach acid – low stomach acid is very common and worsens with age. Try ginger tea or bitters before and after meals to aid digestion. Fennel, mint, and wormwood (artemesia) work well too.

To correct gas and bloating immediately, the most effective aid is oil of oregano. Choose the oil-based tincture with a carvacrol concentration of at least 70 percent. Oil of oregano deserves its own post (hmmm, note to self). It’s a remarkable herb and a powerful digestive aid and can quell bloating and stop gas almost immediately: dispense 4-5 drops on the tongue and follow with a shot of water. It’s strong! Repeat as needed.

A long answer to a short question! Good luck.

Inflammation

admin — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 03:40:48 +0000

We hear a lot about inflammation. Internally, it can be linked to accelerated aging, heart disease, cancer, irritable bowel and chron’s disease, and arthritis. So what is inflammation?

Think about what happens when you cut your finger. It swells and turns red as your body sends white blood cells to the injury site to prevent foreign invaders from causing infection. The swelling caused by this reaction is inflammation, and it is good, in this instance. But this same low-grade inflammation can occur inside your body, making you susceptible to pain and disease.

A main cause of inflammation is low-grade intestinal infection caused by parasites, yeast overgrowth (candida), fungus, or pathogenic bacteria. Your immune system is constantly fighting these infections, and similar to the reaction you get when you cut your finger, the attack it mounts on these foreign invaders causes inflammation in the gastro-intestinal tract. The bacteria H pylori is a perfect example: this insidious bacteria always causes inflammation in the gut and can lead to heart burn (inflammation in the esophagus) and ulcers. Systemic inflammation is always implicated in cardiovascular disease, and h pylori has been linked to heart disease.

Eating foods to which you are allergic (most often gluten or dairy) can exacerbate this intestinal inflammation and worsen infections or even cause them, because inflammation damages the gut lining, making it more permeable so that viruses and bacteria and parasites have an easier way in.

Another cause of inflammation is stress, of course. Stress causes high cortisol, and high cortisol leads to inflammation. Correcting cortisol lessens the body’s inflammatory response, so its ability to handle inflammation improves. Cortisol is your body’s natural anti-inflammatory hormone, but when stress raises cortisol, it actually causes inflammation. Chronic stress and digestive problems lead to inflammation, causing high cortisol, which causes an inability to burn body fat, and weight gain leads to more inflammation. A vicious cycle!

Other sources of inflammation include toxicity from your food, water, or environment. Pollution, chemicals from cosmetics, use of alcohol or drugs (legal and otherwise), and the Standard American Diet of caffeine, sugar (a HUGE contributor to inflammation), and refined foods all contribute to inflammation.

So, how do you know if you have it? Symptoms include the following:
-high blood pressure
-high cholesterol
-weight gain
-heartburn (acid reflux)
-inflamed skin conditions like eczema or acne
-chronic pain and arthritis
-diagnosis with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, colitis, Chron’s disease, or gastritis
-yeast infections or candidiasis
-diabetes

What should you do about it?

First off, clean up your diet. Cut out gluten, soy, and dairy, and consider food allergy testing to determine which foods are causing your gut to be inflamed. Eat dark leafy greens like kale, collards, spinach, and chard–high in anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids–and eat other omega-3 rich foods like salmon, walnuts, and grass fed beef. Cut out sugar, booze, and caffeine. Consider a fish oil supplement to boost your omega-3 levels.

Clean up your gut with a good digestive cleanse. Consider parasite testing, then choose the proper herbs or meds to kill whatever uninvited inhabitants are lurking. Correct dysbiosis (overgrowth of bad bacteria) with probiotics and probiotic-rich foods like cultured veggies and kefir. Choose a probiotic with S. boulardi.

Finally, reduce stress and test your adrenal hormones to correct high cortisol. You can bring high cortisol levels down with bio-identical hormones, but you need to test first. Get plenty of sleep and don’t over-exercise! Meditate or do some deep breathing.

Fun Topics like Parasites

admin — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 05:26:01 +0000

Let’s just jump right in here.

There are two common problems that cause digestive symptoms: food allergies/sensitivities, most commonly to gluten and dairy (milk and cream). Consuming foods to which you are allergic is essentially like taking a blow torch to your lush green lawn, leaving it barren and charred. It completely destroys the villi (lining) of your gut, and the lining becomes inflamed. When this lining becomes damaged, food particles can leak through and become tagged by the body as antigens, and the body mounts an immune attack, seeing the food as an invader (after all, food is not meant to escape from your digestive tract). This is leaky gut! When you eat the food, you experience an immune response, and this is one way food allergies develop. If you are repeatedly eating foods to which you’re allergic, your immune system is running on hyper-drive and can begin to run amok and attack itself: an origin of auto-immune disease.

The second issue that causes digestive symptoms is pathogens or low-grade chronic infections in the digestive tract such as parasites, overgrowth of “bad” bacteria, and yeast. Either of these two issues causes tissue damage and inflammation in the digestive system, and that leads to constipation, gas, bloating, diarrhea, heartburn, or indigestion.

Conventional medicine only looks at extreme symptoms and therefore only recognizes acute parasitic infections, meaning it’s present right now and isn’t going away: chronic and severe diarrhea for 3 weeks after trip to Mexico = parasite = treatment. Outside of this model, no thought is paid to a parasitic infection and it is usually misdiagnosed as colitis, heartburn, IBS, etc. The misdiagnosis can be detrimental, as seemingly unrelated problems begin to crop up, such as hormonal imbalance. Because your immune system is stressed constantly fighting the infection (that you may not even know you have), your cortisol levels rise in response to stress and female hormone levels therefore drop since your body is using all raw materials it uses to make hormones to produce excess cortisol. Weight gain, infertility, and menstrual irregularities can occur.

It’s not really possible to test yourself for parasites. You need to see a practitioner and do a stool sample to test for giardia, amoeba hystolitica, blastocystis, and cryptosporidium. These tests can also check for pathogenic infections like c difficile, klebsiella, h pylori, e coli overgrowth, candida, etc.

We do a lot of digestive testing and repair at our Mill Valley office and can consult over the phone and send out the test kits that you can do at home. Call 415 383 9903 to make an appointment if you want to test.

If you do suspect a parasite, it’s easy to do an herbal cleanse on your own, as I’ve written about previously, but the treatment won’t work unless your lifestyle factors are in place. First off, you need to minimize digestive inflammation by cutting out potentially allergenic foods such as gluten, soy, and dairy. Focus on whole foods like fresh fruits, vegetables, cultured/fermented foods, and protein. Work on stress management, getting to bed by 10:30pm, and exercise.
Depending on the degree of infection, you can choose antibiotics, herbs, or both to kill the parasite, followed by a round of probiotics to recolonize the gut. This takes about 6-8 weeks.

It’s also advisable to follow up with a candida treatment after the parasite cleanse because candida is almost always a secondary infection to a parasite. This can be a similar herbal cleanse using goldenseal, berberine, oregano oil or leaf, caprylates, and pau d’arco, among others. A candida cleanse diet should be followed as well: in addition to gluten, cut out anything with yeast or mold such as beer, cheese, mushrooms, and also minimize fruit and starchy veggies. If you suspect candida, test for parasites too since they go hand in hand.

Parasites are little bugs that cause big damage. Check back often, as they’ll come up again.

Healthy Skin

admin — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 22:32:10 +0000

Your skin is your largest organ and is often the first outward sign of internal imbalance. If you suffer from acne, rosacea, or problem skin, a few natural adjustments just may make all the difference.

Conventional treatments include topical solutions that usually contain salicylic acid or antibiotics. These might do the trick, but these methods treat the surface rather than uncovering the underlying cause of your skin troubles. Plus, taking antibiotics for an extended period of time can be incredibly disruptive to your inner ecology. Antibiotics provide a perfect environment where yeast (or bad bacteria) can outgrow the good bacteria, become pathogenic, and create toxic waste products that weaken your body and overwhelm your immune and endocrine systems. This is one reason you may experience yeast infections from antibiotic use.

First off, take a look at your diet: are you eating mostly processed foods? Are you eating the Standard American Diet (SAD) of hamburgers and french fries, pasta, muffins, potato chips, coffee, sugar, soda, and candy? These refined foods lack nutrients, contribute to inflammation, congestion, unstable blood sugar, and deficiency. For beautiful skin, make sure you are getting enough antioxidants to fight free radical damage, a number one cause of wrinkles and aging. Antioxidants also protect you from damage incurred by sun exposure, a necessary source of vitamin D. Antioxidant-rich foods include fruits such as berries, cherries, and citrus, leafy greens, and green & white teas.

Hidden food allergies or sensitivities can trigger acne and rosacea, and cause inflammation, skin eruptions, and other “unexplained” skin issues. The seven most allergenic foods are citrus, wheat, milk, eggs, nuts, shellfish, and soy. You can eliminate any one of these foods for 14 days and reintroduce the food on day 15 on an empty stomach to see if you have a sensitivity. Watch for any symptoms whatsoever (bloating, fatigue, congestion). Anything adverse means you are sensitive to said food. Try a gluten, soy, and dairy-free diet for 60 days to reduce internal inflammation. Often, cutting out wheat can reduce acne quite dramatically.

Secondly, consider your liver. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: your liver is your hardest working organ. It must neutralize and detoxify everything you breathe, eat, drink, apply to your skin, and are exposed to in your environment. If your liver becomes congested from poor diet, too many over the counter or prescription drugs (VERY hard on the liver), too much alcohol, sugar, or processed foods, it cannot thoroughly detoxify your body. The result? Toxins back up into your system, hormonal imbalances occur, you may experience constipation, and all of this can manifest as acne or skin eruptions or rashes. Drink plenty of filtered water, eat organic, get enough fresh produce, and try milk thistle or oregon grape root to help a sluggish liver detoxify.

Thirdly, take a look inside your bathroom cabinets. Read the labels on your products! Are your products full of sulfates, parabens, phthalates, and other chemicals you cannot pronounce? Watch out for sodium laurel sulfates, “fragrance” — the name under which endocrine-disrupting chemicals hide — and propylene glycol.

Use only organic, natural cleansers, lotions, and toners on your face. Be aware that just because a product is labeled organic does NOT mean it won’t contain chemicals! Read labels! Look for aloe vera, witch hazel, carrot, rosehip, natural oils (like borage or pumpkin seed or jojoba), green tea extracts, herbs, and essential oils. Tea tree and neem can be useful for acne.

Make sure you are getting enough vitamin C, which is the building block of collagen, necessary for healthy skin and maintaining elasticity. Zinc is an important antioxidant and deficiency has been linked to acne. Probiotics and probiotic foods such as kefir, yogurt, and cultured vegetables help maintain regularity, and a backed up digestive tract means inner toxicity, which can cause acne. A good digestive cleanse using psyllium and flax powder combined with digestive enzymes and probiotics could be just what you need to detox your colon and prevent toxic build-up.

Cultured Vegetables

admin — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 18:07:24 +0000

Repairing and maintaining digestion is the heart of my work in many ways. Testing for bacterial pathogens and parasites and eliminating them, repairing leaky gut, then restoring proper gut ecology improves health in ways people never thought imaginable; they are often used to feeling sub-par or have written their symptoms off as normal: “You mean I should be pooping every day? I’m not supposed to have gas?” Toxins from digestive infections affect the whole body, causing hormonal imbalance and liver congestion.

Cultured veggies are one of the top foods that help foster proper gut ecology, which essentially means you’re maintaining the proper ratio between good and bad bacteria in your intestinal tract. Too much bad bacteria means yeast infections, bloating, constipation, weight gain, cravings, even acne.

Raw, cultured vegetables have been around for thousands of years, but you may know them as sauerkraut. Over here in the holistic health community, we don’t refer to them as the same krauts like you’d find in the supermarket, because those have been heated and pasteurized and contain chemical preservatives (sodium benzoate, anyone?). The pasteurization (heating) process destroys precious enzymes.

Cultured veggies are made by fermenting vegetables of your choice (my faves are cabbage, ginger, beets, and carrots) in stainless steel. The fermentation process produces tons of probiotics and beneficial enzymes, good for digestion. Eating them makes me feel so good and healthy.

Here are some benefits of raw, cultured vegetables:
-improved digestion
-increased longevity via improved detoxification, better immunity, cell rejuvenation due to natural enzymes
-help control cravings
-help the body maintain alkalinity (remember acidoisis = degeneration)
-tons of probiotics

Eat 1/4 – 1/2 cup with every meal. They are slightly tart, which complements meat and veggie dishes very well. Eat more if you’ve undergone a recent round of antibiotics or if you take hormonal birth control, both of which upset your good gut bacteria. Cultured veggies help you digest meat proteins. When eaten every day, you should notice an improvement in regularity. They contain more probiotics than yogurt and can be enjoyed by those avoiding dairy!

Here is a recipe I have on file from the Body Ecology book. Be creative with your veggies. Enjoy.

Version 1
3 heads green cabbage, shredded in a food processor
1 bunch kale, chopped by hand
(optional): 2 cups wakame ocean vegetables (measured after soaking), drained, spine removed, and chopped
1 Tbsp. dill seed

Version 2
3 heads green cabbage, shredded in a food processor
6 carrots, large, shredded in a food processor
3 inch piece ginger, peeled and chopped
6 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

To make Cultured Vegetables

1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Remove several cups of this mixture and put into a blender.
3. Add enough filtered water to make a “brine” the consistency of a thick juice. Blend well and then add brine back into first mixture. Stir well.
4. Pack mixture down into a 1½ quart glass or stainless steel container. Use your fist, a wooden dowel, or a potato masher to pack veggies tightly.
5. Fill container almost full, but leave about 2 inches of room at the top for veggies to expand.
6. Roll up several cabbage leaves into a tight “log” and place them on top to fill the remaining 2 inch space. Clamp jar closed.
7. Let veggies sit at about a 70 degree room temperature for at least three days. A week is even better.

Weight Loss Fever!

admin — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 03:45:58 +0000

She has the fever.

Are you feeling the fever? Regardless, spring is right around the corner, and that means tiny clothes and bathing suits. I’m co-teaching a weight loss workshop right now over in Mill Valley, and it’s gotten me excited about the group dynamic. It’s easier than you think to meet your goals.

In the six sections, we cover diet, exercise (over-exercising can prevent weight loss, believe it or not), stress, sleep, digestion, and detox – the 6 key areas to address if you have trouble losing weight or want to get on a weight loss program.

Diet – the basis of the program. We recommend a gluten- and dairy-free diet for the duration of the program, because these are two of the most common allergenic foods. Lots of folks have sensitivities to gluten (the protein found in wheat) that can cause the body to hold onto weight. Even if you’re not sensitive to these foods, it forces you to consume less refined foods (white flour, pasteurized milk, cake, pasta, cookies) in favor of whole foods – good quality proteins along with lots of fruits and veggies. Many of the participants noticed a difference after the first week.

Exercise – we are lucky to have a physical therapist participating in the workshop series, and she covers the proper exercise for each individual’s physiology. The wrong types of exercise can drive hormone levels out of balance, causing weight loss resistance. Too much exercise can create excess free radical damage, the opposite of what we want to achieve, since free radical damage causes aging. Restorative exercise, proper form, and proper balance of cardio and strength are important factors. Interval training is very effective.

Stress – the cause of all human health problems. Stress raises cortisol levels, causing you to store more fat around the abdominal area. High cortisol also causes inflammation, pain, lowered immunity, unstable blood sugar (read: cravings!), and even bone loss.

Sleep – you know how you feel when you don’t get a good night’s sleep? Tired, groggy, unable to exercise and prone to cravings. If your cortisol levels are too high at night, it can affect your sleep. It turns out even one night of little or no sleep can seriously impair performance, as shown in several studies. Chronic sleep deprivation due to the inability to stay asleep or sleep enough hours can lead to insulin resistance because of high cortisol.

Digestion – the cornerstone of good health. If you’re not digesting well, you’re not absorbing nutrients from your food, so you’ll crave more food until your body gets what it needs. If you’re not absorbing proteins, your body won’t have amino acids, the raw materials from which it makes neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine that regulate mood and cravings. If you have an overgrowth of bad bacteria (candida) you may experience sugar cravings because sugar feeds yeast! Dysbiosis, or imbalance of good and bad bacteria in the gut, can lead to leaky gut, malabsorption, and increased food allergies, all of which cause weight gain or weight loss resistance. Balance your inner ecology, heal leaky gut, and restore healthy digestion for successful weight loss.

Detoxification – I’ve honored the liver many times in this blog. Your liver detoxifies your entire body, metabolizes hormones and cholesterol (congested liver = high cholesterol), and aids in blood sugar balance and digestion. An overworked, sluggish liver means a backup of toxins in the body, unbalanced hormones, allergies, headaches, irritability, and weight gain. Toxins cause the body to hold onto weight to buffer the toxic effects. Clearing your liver’s detox pathways can dramatically enhance weight loss.

We’ll be running these workshops every couple months, so contact me for more info if you want to sign up. The class includes total metabolism testing, recipes, individual attention based on your concerns, and group support!

Radiant Health & Vitality for the New Year

admin — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 06:18:23 +0000

The dawn of a new year means renewed inspiration and attention to health and well-being for many folks. Losing weight, exercising, eating better…. whatever your resolutions may be, I invite you to explore my keys to good health. Here’s to your best year yet!

Eat only whole, seasonal, preferably organic foods. A whole food means just that: you are consuming a whole, natural, unrefined food. Egg whites are not a whole food; consume the whole egg. Fruit juice may sound healthy, but it is very high in sugar and lacks the fibrous part of the fruit. White flour was once whole wheat before it is refined and bleached. Packaged and processed foods may claim “low fat” or “all natural,” but they may have refined flour or hydrogenated oils/trans fats. Eat out of the box. Shop the perimeter of the store. Visit your farmers’ market. Eat REAL foods. If you can’t pronounce the ingredients, don’t eat it.

Aim for balance in your life. Too much stress, eating the Standard American Diet of fast foods or processed foods, skipping meals, too many drugs (prescription, over the counter, recreational, whatever), too much sugar, too much booze…. all of this makes your body acidic. Your body should be slightly alkaline, and when you consume acid-producing foods like caffeine, too much meat, and excess sugar, your body becomes acidic, creating a welcoming environment for viruses and bacteria to flourish. Pain and degenerative diseases such as osteoporosis, cancers, arthritis, etc. begin to take hold in an acidic body. Your body wants to maintain a state of homeostasis and will deplete your calcium and magnesium stores to offset acidity. Get plenty of green leafys, and explore some of the spirulina/chlorella green food powders on the market. Incredibly alkalinizing and high in micronutrients.

Maintain healthy gut flora. Digestion is the key to good health. If you’re not digesting properly, you’re not absorbing important nutrients and fatty acids from your food, and your health will suffer. You may experience cravings or overeat. Maybe you’re constipated (are you pooping every day, at least once?), or you’re gassy or bloated. Your inner ecosystem is a delicate balance of bacteria, and when this balance is upset (due to… you guessed it: stress, poor diet, too much sugar, parasites, pathogens, bacteria), bad bacteria can proliferate, causing candida overgrowth and unpleasant symptoms. Try a good digestive cleanse (see previous posts for candida and parasite cleansing), then follow up with a good probiotic for several months. 80% of your immune system is in your gut, so healthy gut = strong immunity.

Perform some sort of meditation or relaxation every day. Start with 5 minutes in the morning, and 5 minutes in the evening, working up to 20 minutes twice a day. This could include deep breathing, meditation, yoga, chi gong, or tai chi. Massage helps too.

Get at least 9 hours of sleep every night, in a dark, quiet room: think cave. This has been shown to help repair the entire body and reduce illness. Your body heals and detoxifies while you sleep.

Finally, replace worry with action. Worry is a signal that something is off balance in your life. What is it, and how can you fix it? Go ahead. What are you waiting for?