If the title grabbed your attention because you are looking for an excuse not to exercise, this blog is not for you. If however it grabbed your attention because it seems like the harder you work out the worse your performance seems to be getting, I am writing this just for you.
Metabolic over-reaching is when despite regular exercise your performance is not improving. It is associated with fatigue, depression, increased infections, and muscle weakness. After resting 72 hours your performance will return; unless of course it goes undiagnosed and you continue to increase your work outs, at which point it develops into a condition known as metabolic over training syndrome where you do not recover your performance and progressively worsen.
It is well known that you need carbohydrates before a workout to feed your muscles. If you eat too many carbohydrates, your body makes cortisol to transport the cortisol into fat tissue to be stored for later use. If you do not consume enough carbohydrates before a workout, your body makes cortisol to transport the stored sugars to your muscles. Prolonged high cortisol levels is unhealthy.
Your adrenal gland 'steals' the hormone pregnenalone to make cortisol. If your body uses your pregnenalone to make cortisol there is not enough to make many other hormones Pregnenalone is used to make the hormone DHEA which can become testosterone in men and estrogen as well as progesterone in women. If any one hormone, like cortisol, remains high your all of your other hormones will become less and less balanced.
Prolonged high cortisol levels results in degeneration of the hippocampus due to altered function of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis (HPA). Altered function of the HPA can also be caused by increased interluken-6 (IL-6) associated with over training. A person who has just finished a marathon will have 120 times the normal IL-6 levels. Increased IL-6 levels is associated with fatigue, depression, increased infections, reduced ability to concentrate (in other words the same symptoms that are associated with metabolic over training syndrome). If IL-6 levels remain high, you will gradually continue to worsen.
Prevention and treatment for Metabolic Over training Syndrome.
*Rest for at least 6 hours between work outs
*Rest for at least 6 hours after any stress or infection has resolved before you return to a work out.
*Consume enough carbohydrates before you work out.
*Adequate hydration and minerals
Supplements: Adaptogenic adrenal support, glutathione enhancers or transdermal application with Oxycell, phosphatidylserine high dosages or transdermal with Adrenacalm, Gut support.
*Sometimes it is very important to treat conditions like anemia, altered immune function, food sensitivities, or toxicity issues as well or you will not see improvement.
*Work out in your aerobic heart range (180 - your age = peak aerobic heart range)
Friday, October 28, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Escape
"I need some distraction. Oh beautiful release. Memory seeps from my veins. Let me be empty and weightless and maybe I'll find some peace tonight."
When I was a child I discovered anything that emptied my mind and filled me with joy was my escape. It was lying with my sisters alongside the clubhouse pool warming my cold wet body against the hot cement and drawing cloud animals in the sky. It was climbing ladders into one cherry tree after the next with my aunt in search of the best cherries, and eating so many our bellies would cramp. It was the smell of anise cookies that filled my grandmother's house at Christmas. It was packing up the camper and heading out to explore the vast unknown world.....
Can you remember learning how to escape? We escape whatever it is we perceive as stress at that moment when our mind empties and our heart is filled with joy. Even God said the seventh day is for rest, or forty days in the desert for a deeper escape.
Stress is a significant risk factor for.... well just about every disease or health problem that exists. I could detail out specific mechanisms by which this occurs, but simply put stress is the one risk factor most people feel they have no control over.
Above I quote the song 'Angel' by Sarah McLachlan where the distraction, the escape she describes is a drug. Because sometimes we forget how to escape or worse yet have never discovered how to escape.
When you take time for yourself long enough to discover your own escape, your stress decreases. When your stress decreases, your health improves. May we all journey in the direction of healthier lives so we can better serve God and each other.
When I was a child I discovered anything that emptied my mind and filled me with joy was my escape. It was lying with my sisters alongside the clubhouse pool warming my cold wet body against the hot cement and drawing cloud animals in the sky. It was climbing ladders into one cherry tree after the next with my aunt in search of the best cherries, and eating so many our bellies would cramp. It was the smell of anise cookies that filled my grandmother's house at Christmas. It was packing up the camper and heading out to explore the vast unknown world.....
Can you remember learning how to escape? We escape whatever it is we perceive as stress at that moment when our mind empties and our heart is filled with joy. Even God said the seventh day is for rest, or forty days in the desert for a deeper escape.
Stress is a significant risk factor for.... well just about every disease or health problem that exists. I could detail out specific mechanisms by which this occurs, but simply put stress is the one risk factor most people feel they have no control over.
Above I quote the song 'Angel' by Sarah McLachlan where the distraction, the escape she describes is a drug. Because sometimes we forget how to escape or worse yet have never discovered how to escape.
When you take time for yourself long enough to discover your own escape, your stress decreases. When your stress decreases, your health improves. May we all journey in the direction of healthier lives so we can better serve God and each other.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Muscle Testing
My mom was always one of those people who just "knew". She "knew" which of my friends were good and which ones weren't. She "knew" when I was really sick and when I was just trying to get out of going to school, and worst of all she "knew" when I was selectively choosing my truths. Mom called it "intuition". I called it a completely illogical thought process, and like most teens aspired to be nothing like my mom.
So the first time a chiropractor used muscle testing on me as as diagnostic technique, and explained its effectiveness by telling me our bodies "intuitively" know what is good and bad for us - I rolled my eyes (just like I used to do for my mom) and asked for a little more "scientific" explanation. It didn't seem logical to me that holding a bottle of supplements or touching random points on my body would make me weak or strong simply because my body just "knew" what was best. In my world A + B = C, and I was going to figure out exactly what A and B were.
For years I studied and searched for logical explanations and research to explain exactly what caused our problems and exactly what would fix them. I believed only statistics based on solid research could prove something to be true. It didn't matter to me that when Koch and Pasteur founded the germ theory, a man drank a glass filled with "deadly vibrio cholerae bacterium" and never even got sick. Science had proven that specific pathogens cause specific diseases and I turned a deaf ear to the crazies like my mom and this chiropractor. It wasn't until after many years of practice that I started to realize that science was not capable of explaining exactly how our bodies function let alone heal. Eggs are good and then they are bad; one day a test is considered diagnositic and the next it is questionable; one day a drug is the cure and the next day people are dying from it - there is so much more to healing than simply science.
One patient after the next came to me claiming to be cured by prayer, by diet, by all sorts of things that had no logical or scientific explanation. It was easy to say these cures were merely "placebo", but regardless of what caused these patients to heal, the cures I saw were real. I started to wonder why all doctors know that "placebo" works but nobody could figure out why. We can no better explain why placebos work for some people than we can know all the unknowns (A's and B's). As Lipton explains in his book "Biology of Belief", our subconscious mind has a much greater influence on our health than our conscious and there is much to be learned in the field of quantum physics.
For years I refused to use muscle testing as a diagnostic tool, as even I thought it smelled a little bit like quackery. Today I use science to make my basic assessments, and will often use muscle testing to help guide me in the treatment of patients. There is an "intuitive" nature that helps me when doing muscle testing and for that I reluctantly thank my mom.
God chose my parents and every person who has touched my life especially for me. God controls the universe, knows all the A's and B's - not me. I was like a salmon swimming upstream until I figured out that there are some things that we just "know".
So the first time a chiropractor used muscle testing on me as as diagnostic technique, and explained its effectiveness by telling me our bodies "intuitively" know what is good and bad for us - I rolled my eyes (just like I used to do for my mom) and asked for a little more "scientific" explanation. It didn't seem logical to me that holding a bottle of supplements or touching random points on my body would make me weak or strong simply because my body just "knew" what was best. In my world A + B = C, and I was going to figure out exactly what A and B were.
For years I studied and searched for logical explanations and research to explain exactly what caused our problems and exactly what would fix them. I believed only statistics based on solid research could prove something to be true. It didn't matter to me that when Koch and Pasteur founded the germ theory, a man drank a glass filled with "deadly vibrio cholerae bacterium" and never even got sick. Science had proven that specific pathogens cause specific diseases and I turned a deaf ear to the crazies like my mom and this chiropractor. It wasn't until after many years of practice that I started to realize that science was not capable of explaining exactly how our bodies function let alone heal. Eggs are good and then they are bad; one day a test is considered diagnositic and the next it is questionable; one day a drug is the cure and the next day people are dying from it - there is so much more to healing than simply science.
One patient after the next came to me claiming to be cured by prayer, by diet, by all sorts of things that had no logical or scientific explanation. It was easy to say these cures were merely "placebo", but regardless of what caused these patients to heal, the cures I saw were real. I started to wonder why all doctors know that "placebo" works but nobody could figure out why. We can no better explain why placebos work for some people than we can know all the unknowns (A's and B's). As Lipton explains in his book "Biology of Belief", our subconscious mind has a much greater influence on our health than our conscious and there is much to be learned in the field of quantum physics.
For years I refused to use muscle testing as a diagnostic tool, as even I thought it smelled a little bit like quackery. Today I use science to make my basic assessments, and will often use muscle testing to help guide me in the treatment of patients. There is an "intuitive" nature that helps me when doing muscle testing and for that I reluctantly thank my mom.
God chose my parents and every person who has touched my life especially for me. God controls the universe, knows all the A's and B's - not me. I was like a salmon swimming upstream until I figured out that there are some things that we just "know".
Thursday, June 2, 2011
What Does It Feel Like to be Autoimmune?
A friend of mine once told me that if we were able to dump all our troubles onto our front lawns and have the pick of whichever set of troubles we wanted, in the end we would choose our own.
Of course there will always be moments I doubt such a statement, when a single donut will send me spiraling into a vortex of pain, loosing touch with reality. One day simply walking to the top of my stairs sends my heart rate soaring to almost 200, while the next day I can run a mile uphill and my heart rate never reaches 120. Proper diet and exercise are essential for everyone, but I am filled with doubt when it seems I have to work so much harder than most people to stay healthy.
Tears of anger fall down my patient's cheek. Last week she was thrilled to be diagnosed with Hoshimoto's because after seeing at least 40 different doctors who told her nothing was wrong, she finally knew why she felt like "a dead fish carcass". But this week she tells me her husband, her kids, her friends, and even her doctor do not understand how she feels - what it is like to live with the pain and fatigue. In her heart she knows visible physical limitations are no easier to cope with. She knows what it is like to see a loved one in pain and want to take their pain away. My patient cries out in anger not for their lack of understanding, but her own.
Another patient cries tears of frustration when she realizes that although a healthy lifestyle can help her significantly, she will never attain the health she had before. She knows that any minor stress to her immune system can cause a dreadful attack of her own immune system against her own body. The immune system communicates with every system in the body so cycles can vary from MS affecting the nerves, Psoriasis affecting the skin, Hoshimoto's or Grave's Disease affecting the endocrine system, Celiac affecting the gut, Rheumatoid affecting the joints and the list continues to grow the more we learn about autoimmune diseases. Worst of all, typically once a patient has one autoimmune disorder they will likely develop others as well.
So what could possibly be worse than your immune system attacking your own body? How about your immune system attacking a virus, parasite or bacteria that is attacking your body? Fortunately our immune system is typically capable of fighting off such problems in a short period of time. But sometimes it doesn't because either the pathogen is too virulent or your immune system is compromised by diet, lifestyle, autoimmune disease, or many other things. These patients will feel much like someone with an autoimmune disorder. But unlike someone an autoimmune disease which is typically cyclic, these patients will suffer almost constantly. Although mainstream medicine recognizes things like Hepatitis, Herpes and Shingles there is no treatment to eliminate them. Most American medical doctors rarely test for parasites and if they do, they typically only check for a few. I have seen many patients who were told they did not have parasites to have Metametrix Laboratories discover some unidentified aggressive parasite in their stool. Chronic forms of Lyme Disease, Parvovirus, Ebstien Barr or many others are not even recognized by many American medical doctors as real pathologies. (great documentary on Lyme "Under Our Skin")
There will always be people better or worse than us on all levels at all times. Life is a journey filled with lessons in each tragedy or disease. Maybe that pile of troubles is actually a pile of treasure waiting to be used to enrich your life.
Of course there will always be moments I doubt such a statement, when a single donut will send me spiraling into a vortex of pain, loosing touch with reality. One day simply walking to the top of my stairs sends my heart rate soaring to almost 200, while the next day I can run a mile uphill and my heart rate never reaches 120. Proper diet and exercise are essential for everyone, but I am filled with doubt when it seems I have to work so much harder than most people to stay healthy.
Tears of anger fall down my patient's cheek. Last week she was thrilled to be diagnosed with Hoshimoto's because after seeing at least 40 different doctors who told her nothing was wrong, she finally knew why she felt like "a dead fish carcass". But this week she tells me her husband, her kids, her friends, and even her doctor do not understand how she feels - what it is like to live with the pain and fatigue. In her heart she knows visible physical limitations are no easier to cope with. She knows what it is like to see a loved one in pain and want to take their pain away. My patient cries out in anger not for their lack of understanding, but her own.
Another patient cries tears of frustration when she realizes that although a healthy lifestyle can help her significantly, she will never attain the health she had before. She knows that any minor stress to her immune system can cause a dreadful attack of her own immune system against her own body. The immune system communicates with every system in the body so cycles can vary from MS affecting the nerves, Psoriasis affecting the skin, Hoshimoto's or Grave's Disease affecting the endocrine system, Celiac affecting the gut, Rheumatoid affecting the joints and the list continues to grow the more we learn about autoimmune diseases. Worst of all, typically once a patient has one autoimmune disorder they will likely develop others as well.
So what could possibly be worse than your immune system attacking your own body? How about your immune system attacking a virus, parasite or bacteria that is attacking your body? Fortunately our immune system is typically capable of fighting off such problems in a short period of time. But sometimes it doesn't because either the pathogen is too virulent or your immune system is compromised by diet, lifestyle, autoimmune disease, or many other things. These patients will feel much like someone with an autoimmune disorder. But unlike someone an autoimmune disease which is typically cyclic, these patients will suffer almost constantly. Although mainstream medicine recognizes things like Hepatitis, Herpes and Shingles there is no treatment to eliminate them. Most American medical doctors rarely test for parasites and if they do, they typically only check for a few. I have seen many patients who were told they did not have parasites to have Metametrix Laboratories discover some unidentified aggressive parasite in their stool. Chronic forms of Lyme Disease, Parvovirus, Ebstien Barr or many others are not even recognized by many American medical doctors as real pathologies. (great documentary on Lyme "Under Our Skin")
There will always be people better or worse than us on all levels at all times. Life is a journey filled with lessons in each tragedy or disease. Maybe that pile of troubles is actually a pile of treasure waiting to be used to enrich your life.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Alternative Health Care
Have you ever had one of those moments where truth seemed to be screaming in your face and all you could think was 'this can't be right'? One of those moments came to me when I first thought of myself as an 'alternative care provider'. For years I wondered how chiropractic could be considered 'alternative' when we used x-rays, MRI, lab work, orthopedic testing, and have an education quite similar to most medical doctors. What makes chiropractic so alternative? Or probably a better question would be what is 'alternative care'?
Alternative care providers believe in and assist our body's innate ability to heal itself given the right nutrition, thoughts, energy, care..... When I get cut or catch a cold it is easy to recognize the innate ability my body has to heal from the inside out. When it comes to cancer and more serious illnesses it becomes more difficult to recognize that my body is capable of healing itself from the inside out. And if my leg gets cut off, send me to the hospital for some outside in treatment.
Allopathic health care, otherwise known as the traditional western medicine most Americans seek, is based on the belief that healing best occurs from the outside in. Drugs and surgery are used instead of nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle to restore function to the body. Diet, exercise, or any alternative health care are occasionally used in conjunction with drugs and surgery, but rarely instead of. For the most part allopathic medicine treats the body as if it is not capable of healing from the inside out. It is the band aid approach to health care, and wouldn't it be nice to have everything fixed so easily without any effort of your own?
When a patient tells their medical doctor and they have been cured by prayer, chiropractic, acupuncture, nutrition, or any number of other things, western or allopathic medicine will typically conclude that the patient is either wrong about being healed; it was a misdiagnosis; or at best that it was a rare instance in which placebo worked and that patient somehow has a superior ability not held by everyone to heal themselves from within. Maybe healing is no less subjective than the pain or disease itself.
I have come to believe that the real joy of healing is not putting the band-aid on, but taking it off to discover our body's ability to heal itself. It is the truth screaming at me, telling me that no matter how good the band-aid is, true healing comes from within. I realize now that everything our body needs to heal is already within us. I no longer shy away from being labeled an alternative care provider, but embrace the thought of creating a new way of thinking for Americans.
Alternative care providers believe in and assist our body's innate ability to heal itself given the right nutrition, thoughts, energy, care..... When I get cut or catch a cold it is easy to recognize the innate ability my body has to heal from the inside out. When it comes to cancer and more serious illnesses it becomes more difficult to recognize that my body is capable of healing itself from the inside out. And if my leg gets cut off, send me to the hospital for some outside in treatment.
Allopathic health care, otherwise known as the traditional western medicine most Americans seek, is based on the belief that healing best occurs from the outside in. Drugs and surgery are used instead of nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle to restore function to the body. Diet, exercise, or any alternative health care are occasionally used in conjunction with drugs and surgery, but rarely instead of. For the most part allopathic medicine treats the body as if it is not capable of healing from the inside out. It is the band aid approach to health care, and wouldn't it be nice to have everything fixed so easily without any effort of your own?
When a patient tells their medical doctor and they have been cured by prayer, chiropractic, acupuncture, nutrition, or any number of other things, western or allopathic medicine will typically conclude that the patient is either wrong about being healed; it was a misdiagnosis; or at best that it was a rare instance in which placebo worked and that patient somehow has a superior ability not held by everyone to heal themselves from within. Maybe healing is no less subjective than the pain or disease itself.
I have come to believe that the real joy of healing is not putting the band-aid on, but taking it off to discover our body's ability to heal itself. It is the truth screaming at me, telling me that no matter how good the band-aid is, true healing comes from within. I realize now that everything our body needs to heal is already within us. I no longer shy away from being labeled an alternative care provider, but embrace the thought of creating a new way of thinking for Americans.
Monday, April 4, 2011
"Should I Take Cholesterol Drugs?" - what I think of...
The following is a true story, though the names have been changed to protect the privacy of my friend "Mary" who did grant permission to publish this blog.
Part of me still regrets never visiting my friend Rob in his final days of life. I find myself wondering why I did not have the courage to do so. Maybe it was thinking that the patient, loving care his wife Mary offered was enough. The last time I saw Rob, Mary offered herself as his crutch because the muscles in his legs and arms were wasting away from ALS. She translated his grunts into words like a mother would do for a young child. I could remember Rob once telling me that he hoped I would one day find that life companion and love he had found in Mary.
Maybe it was thinking Rob would prefer to be remembered as the strong healthy man who once stood so strong. Rob did everything his doctors told him would improve his health including daily exercise, excellent dietary habits along with whole food supplements, and unfortunately taking a triglyceride lowering medication. About a year after being placed on the medication, Rob was noticing significant wasting of his muscles, he had gone from walking five miles a day to no longer being able to get up out of a chair without assistance. His doctors poked, prodded, and ran him through hundreds of tests but were unable to offer any answers. Eventually I told Rob that although it is not within my scope of practice to make recommendations regarding medications, as his friend not as his doctor I suggested he try going off his medication. Within weeks there was a notable improvement and within a year he was walking his five miles a day again. This is how I wanted to remember him, as a patient who could conquer the odds.
Maybe it was thinking that I could have done more, because five years later Rob's symptoms returned along with a mind numbing diagnosis of ALS (aka Lou Gehrig's Disease). I had read that cholesterol lowering drugs work by increasing the receptor sites which allow for reabsorbtion of LDL's, and even when a person stops taking such drugs that those receptor sites do not disappear. But for five years Rob had done well, and I had hoped that maybe since his was a triglyceride lowering drug maybe his case was different. I wondered if I had learned about the high fat, specific targeted nutrition for ALS patients sooner if it would have made a difference.
Maybe it was anger.... Towards the pharmaceutical companies for not admitting to such risks (it has been said that the only time a drug is recalled is when the suspected loss of income from settling lawsuits exceeds the loss of income from the sales of the product); Towards lawyers and a political system who have already made it illegal for anyone in America to sue pharmaceutical companies for any adverse reaction to an immunization, and in some states are making it illegal to sue a pharmaceutical company for any drug which has been approved for use. These same lawyers will also sue a doctor for not suggesting cholesterol drugs or any other indicated drugs to their patients; Towards doctors who take the majority of their continuing education in classes sponsored by the pharmaceutical companies and are not able to recognize the muscle weakness, increased pain, and decreased quality of life that I hear from my patients taking cholesterol drugs; Towards a media that promotes the latest a greatest drug, and bases their choices on money instead of the greater good of society.
Maybe it was realizing how powerless I am, that I could not have done more. We all have our own journey in life, and it saddens my soul to see victims of greed. But in the end only God truly has the power to heal or call us home. Maybe in the end I will always wonder why I did not have the courage to visit my friend in his final days.
But I do believe each and every person who touches my life serves a purpose. Maybe it was Rob's purpose to make me realize that no doctor, pharmacist, drug company, or chemist can possibly understand all the unique biochemical reactions that occur within our body. Surely there are instances where drugs can save lives, but as for me I'll take my chances and stick to what God made as much as possible.
Part of me still regrets never visiting my friend Rob in his final days of life. I find myself wondering why I did not have the courage to do so. Maybe it was thinking that the patient, loving care his wife Mary offered was enough. The last time I saw Rob, Mary offered herself as his crutch because the muscles in his legs and arms were wasting away from ALS. She translated his grunts into words like a mother would do for a young child. I could remember Rob once telling me that he hoped I would one day find that life companion and love he had found in Mary.
Maybe it was thinking Rob would prefer to be remembered as the strong healthy man who once stood so strong. Rob did everything his doctors told him would improve his health including daily exercise, excellent dietary habits along with whole food supplements, and unfortunately taking a triglyceride lowering medication. About a year after being placed on the medication, Rob was noticing significant wasting of his muscles, he had gone from walking five miles a day to no longer being able to get up out of a chair without assistance. His doctors poked, prodded, and ran him through hundreds of tests but were unable to offer any answers. Eventually I told Rob that although it is not within my scope of practice to make recommendations regarding medications, as his friend not as his doctor I suggested he try going off his medication. Within weeks there was a notable improvement and within a year he was walking his five miles a day again. This is how I wanted to remember him, as a patient who could conquer the odds.
Maybe it was thinking that I could have done more, because five years later Rob's symptoms returned along with a mind numbing diagnosis of ALS (aka Lou Gehrig's Disease). I had read that cholesterol lowering drugs work by increasing the receptor sites which allow for reabsorbtion of LDL's, and even when a person stops taking such drugs that those receptor sites do not disappear. But for five years Rob had done well, and I had hoped that maybe since his was a triglyceride lowering drug maybe his case was different. I wondered if I had learned about the high fat, specific targeted nutrition for ALS patients sooner if it would have made a difference.
Maybe it was anger.... Towards the pharmaceutical companies for not admitting to such risks (it has been said that the only time a drug is recalled is when the suspected loss of income from settling lawsuits exceeds the loss of income from the sales of the product); Towards lawyers and a political system who have already made it illegal for anyone in America to sue pharmaceutical companies for any adverse reaction to an immunization, and in some states are making it illegal to sue a pharmaceutical company for any drug which has been approved for use. These same lawyers will also sue a doctor for not suggesting cholesterol drugs or any other indicated drugs to their patients; Towards doctors who take the majority of their continuing education in classes sponsored by the pharmaceutical companies and are not able to recognize the muscle weakness, increased pain, and decreased quality of life that I hear from my patients taking cholesterol drugs; Towards a media that promotes the latest a greatest drug, and bases their choices on money instead of the greater good of society.
Maybe it was realizing how powerless I am, that I could not have done more. We all have our own journey in life, and it saddens my soul to see victims of greed. But in the end only God truly has the power to heal or call us home. Maybe in the end I will always wonder why I did not have the courage to visit my friend in his final days.
But I do believe each and every person who touches my life serves a purpose. Maybe it was Rob's purpose to make me realize that no doctor, pharmacist, drug company, or chemist can possibly understand all the unique biochemical reactions that occur within our body. Surely there are instances where drugs can save lives, but as for me I'll take my chances and stick to what God made as much as possible.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
The Forbidden Food List
If you have ever seen my daughter scouring the shelves in a grocery store intensely reading ingredient labels, don't let the interest fool you....... she's most likely searching for the least healthy food made that doesn't have something in it from my forbidden list, because according to her I make her eat completely abnormal. When I share this story with people the first question they ask is what is a forbidden food list?
It is my own list of things I refuse to purchase from a grocery store. I realize that when we eat out we will be exposed to these products our society refers to as food, but for the health of anyone eating in my household I do not purchase these foods. I refuse to support the companies who make these products by purchasing them. In my opinion if our country really wanted health care reform these items would be eliminated from our food supply.
The next thing people always want to know is what is on your 'forbidden food list'? I could do an entire blog on each item on my list but in effort to keep this simple I'll just give you the list:
*msg (this includes autolyzed or hydrolyzed anything, as well as 'spices' since companies commonly sneak msg into their foods using these terms)
*hydrogenated fat (this includes partially hydrogenated fats)
*aspartame, sucralose, or any artificial sugar
*high fructose corn syrup
*any artificial food colorings or dyes (ie. Red 40)
I could make a much longer list but just ask my daughter..... it is very difficult to find really unhealthy things that don't contain at least one of these items. Of course I prefer organic foods for many reasons but do not have non-organic on my forbidden list.
It is my own list of things I refuse to purchase from a grocery store. I realize that when we eat out we will be exposed to these products our society refers to as food, but for the health of anyone eating in my household I do not purchase these foods. I refuse to support the companies who make these products by purchasing them. In my opinion if our country really wanted health care reform these items would be eliminated from our food supply.
The next thing people always want to know is what is on your 'forbidden food list'? I could do an entire blog on each item on my list but in effort to keep this simple I'll just give you the list:
*msg (this includes autolyzed or hydrolyzed anything, as well as 'spices' since companies commonly sneak msg into their foods using these terms)
*hydrogenated fat (this includes partially hydrogenated fats)
*aspartame, sucralose, or any artificial sugar
*high fructose corn syrup
*any artificial food colorings or dyes (ie. Red 40)
I could make a much longer list but just ask my daughter..... it is very difficult to find really unhealthy things that don't contain at least one of these items. Of course I prefer organic foods for many reasons but do not have non-organic on my forbidden list.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
What is this pH, alkaline, acid thing everyone talks about?
Back in basic chemistry classes I learned pH was all about whether something was acid, neutral, or alkaline based on whether it was positively or negatively charged (how many hydrogen molecules were attached). Then all the sudden in chiropractic school people were talking about how our body's pH affects our health without ever connecting the dots for me. I wondered what does pH have to do with our health? I am pretty sure based on the answers I got, that very few people ever connected the dots.
Basically I was told that the healthier a person is, the more neutral their pH is. I thought "OK that makes sense, but what causes a person's pH to shift and how do you know what your pH is?" That's when I was told I could use pH test strips to test my saliva and urine to see how close to neutral my pH was. When I did this, my pH ranged from one end of the spectrum to the other. When I asked why I was told my results were not possible, that I had to be doing something wrong. So I tried again and again with the same results. Nobody could explain this, nobody could connect the dots for me. I concluded the entire pH theory was useless.
Then a few weeks ago, I had one of those 'ah ha' moments. Positive and negative charges are what cause things change in pH (become acid or alkaline). The positive and negative charges we consume through water, food and our environment are minerals and toxic chemicals. Therefore when we are exposed to toxins in many ways like by eating foods with extra hydrogen attached (hydrogenated), our body will become more acid or alkaline. Minerals (ions, hydrogen, water) become out of balance in specific patterns with specific disease processes. This is how in my last blog I explained that a person can be dehydrated even when they drink enough water.
If you are mineral deficient (dehydrated), your pH will become acidic. A low pH (acidic) is unhealthy and is referred to as acidosis. If you continue to become more and more acidic due to a poor diet or mineral imbalances your body will start to pull minerals from your bones (eventually causing osteoporosis) to balance your pH, which can lead to alkalosis. Eventually acidosis or alkalosis causes digestive issues leading to malabsorbtion of nutrients which can result in any number of health issues which then results in greater mineral imbalances leading to a vicous cycle that becomes more difficult to break the longer it is present. If you test your pH and it is swinging back and forth like mine was, your body is most likely trying to find a balance in this manner.
Surely a nuteral pH is the healthiest, but since there are so many things that can shift a person's pH that I find checking a saliva pH with lithmus paper interesting but hardly diagnostic. If you are a practioner reading this who does believe this type of testing to be diagnostic, I would love to hear from you.
Basically I was told that the healthier a person is, the more neutral their pH is. I thought "OK that makes sense, but what causes a person's pH to shift and how do you know what your pH is?" That's when I was told I could use pH test strips to test my saliva and urine to see how close to neutral my pH was. When I did this, my pH ranged from one end of the spectrum to the other. When I asked why I was told my results were not possible, that I had to be doing something wrong. So I tried again and again with the same results. Nobody could explain this, nobody could connect the dots for me. I concluded the entire pH theory was useless.
Then a few weeks ago, I had one of those 'ah ha' moments. Positive and negative charges are what cause things change in pH (become acid or alkaline). The positive and negative charges we consume through water, food and our environment are minerals and toxic chemicals. Therefore when we are exposed to toxins in many ways like by eating foods with extra hydrogen attached (hydrogenated), our body will become more acid or alkaline. Minerals (ions, hydrogen, water) become out of balance in specific patterns with specific disease processes. This is how in my last blog I explained that a person can be dehydrated even when they drink enough water.
If you are mineral deficient (dehydrated), your pH will become acidic. A low pH (acidic) is unhealthy and is referred to as acidosis. If you continue to become more and more acidic due to a poor diet or mineral imbalances your body will start to pull minerals from your bones (eventually causing osteoporosis) to balance your pH, which can lead to alkalosis. Eventually acidosis or alkalosis causes digestive issues leading to malabsorbtion of nutrients which can result in any number of health issues which then results in greater mineral imbalances leading to a vicous cycle that becomes more difficult to break the longer it is present. If you test your pH and it is swinging back and forth like mine was, your body is most likely trying to find a balance in this manner.
Surely a nuteral pH is the healthiest, but since there are so many things that can shift a person's pH that I find checking a saliva pH with lithmus paper interesting but hardly diagnostic. If you are a practioner reading this who does believe this type of testing to be diagnostic, I would love to hear from you.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Do you need electrolytes?
Electrolytes are minerals. And when you start researching nutrition and minerals you are likely to come accross an array of conflicting information. Some articles will talk about toxicity caused by minerals and the next article will tell you about the diseases caused by mineral deficiencies. The marathon runner who passes out at the end of the race because of dehydration caused by mineral depletion, knows for sure that minerals are essential.
Minerals help hold water in our bodies. That's why people who have edema are told not to eat salt (probably the most common mineral in our diets today). I have many patients who drink the recommended half their weight in ounces everyday who show signs of dehydration with muscle cramping, constipation, decreased skin elasticity, and in their functional bloodwork analysis. Obviously their body is unable to hold onto the water they are consuming - simply a mineral imbalance.
There are long, expensive metal and mineral hair, blood, or urinalysis studies you can order that will tell you if you have too much or too little of certain minerals compared to the averages (which seem to vary a lot from lab to lab). I used to run these expensive panels on patients because certain deficiency/ toxicity patterns are consistent with certain disease processes. However I have come to realize that (with the exception of overconsuming isolated minerals like with salt, supplements, sodas and processed foods) it is not the mineral imbalance that causes the disease but the disease that causes the mineral imbalance. So I rarely run these panels anymore because I think if you heal the body, the mineral imbalance will correct itself.
Almost everyone has some level of adrenal stress, which causes mineral imbalances because your adrenals make mineralcorticoids which help to balance your minerals. When the adrenals are overused (stressed) for a long period of time you can develop thyroid or any number of other hormone imbalances. The best way to improve adrenal function is NOT to eat or eliminate minerals that show up deficient or excessive on some lab, but to eliminate processed sugar, develop healthy sleep patterns, decrease emotional stress levels, and have a regular aerobic exercise routine.
In the case of taking mineral supplements, taking too much of any mineral like iron or calcium can cause toxicity and health problems because it can create a mineral imbalance. The reason for this is that your body is designed to eat food, not dirt. When minerals are consumed in a natural food source, nature naturally balances the ratios for you. Consuming sodas and many processed foods will cause increased levels of phosphorous in your blood which causes your body to leech the calcium out of your bones to maintain a proper calcium/phosphorous balance. Therefore osteoporosis isn't necessarily caused by not consuming enough calcium.
It is rare that I recommend an isolated mineral, and if I do it is only for a temporary treatment of a specific condition. There are many whole food supplements like Juice Plus that work well for general nutrition and mineral supplementation. However if you are suffering with symptoms like muscle cramping I would suggest one of the several targeted whole food mineral supplements from Standard Process. Unless you are running a marathon, or sweating profusely on a regular basis it is unlikely you need to supplement with electrolyte drinks. However if you do I would suggest avoiding any drinks that contain chemicals that harm your body like aspartame, sucralose, and food colorings (such as most Gatorade and Powerade drinks).
Minerals help hold water in our bodies. That's why people who have edema are told not to eat salt (probably the most common mineral in our diets today). I have many patients who drink the recommended half their weight in ounces everyday who show signs of dehydration with muscle cramping, constipation, decreased skin elasticity, and in their functional bloodwork analysis. Obviously their body is unable to hold onto the water they are consuming - simply a mineral imbalance.
There are long, expensive metal and mineral hair, blood, or urinalysis studies you can order that will tell you if you have too much or too little of certain minerals compared to the averages (which seem to vary a lot from lab to lab). I used to run these expensive panels on patients because certain deficiency/ toxicity patterns are consistent with certain disease processes. However I have come to realize that (with the exception of overconsuming isolated minerals like with salt, supplements, sodas and processed foods) it is not the mineral imbalance that causes the disease but the disease that causes the mineral imbalance. So I rarely run these panels anymore because I think if you heal the body, the mineral imbalance will correct itself.
Almost everyone has some level of adrenal stress, which causes mineral imbalances because your adrenals make mineralcorticoids which help to balance your minerals. When the adrenals are overused (stressed) for a long period of time you can develop thyroid or any number of other hormone imbalances. The best way to improve adrenal function is NOT to eat or eliminate minerals that show up deficient or excessive on some lab, but to eliminate processed sugar, develop healthy sleep patterns, decrease emotional stress levels, and have a regular aerobic exercise routine.
In the case of taking mineral supplements, taking too much of any mineral like iron or calcium can cause toxicity and health problems because it can create a mineral imbalance. The reason for this is that your body is designed to eat food, not dirt. When minerals are consumed in a natural food source, nature naturally balances the ratios for you. Consuming sodas and many processed foods will cause increased levels of phosphorous in your blood which causes your body to leech the calcium out of your bones to maintain a proper calcium/phosphorous balance. Therefore osteoporosis isn't necessarily caused by not consuming enough calcium.
It is rare that I recommend an isolated mineral, and if I do it is only for a temporary treatment of a specific condition. There are many whole food supplements like Juice Plus that work well for general nutrition and mineral supplementation. However if you are suffering with symptoms like muscle cramping I would suggest one of the several targeted whole food mineral supplements from Standard Process. Unless you are running a marathon, or sweating profusely on a regular basis it is unlikely you need to supplement with electrolyte drinks. However if you do I would suggest avoiding any drinks that contain chemicals that harm your body like aspartame, sucralose, and food colorings (such as most Gatorade and Powerade drinks).
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Healing Power of Touch
The other day I told my teenage daughter there is a healing power to touch. Like most teenagers listening to a parent's lecture, she rolled her eyes in disbelief. In attempt to make my point I asked, "If four totally different strangers hugged you, don't you feel something different from each one?" She defended her own belief, "Well of course but it's only my own emotions, it has nothing to do with the other person." I gasped with horror at the thought that MY own daughter did not believe there was a healing power to touch, "Are you saying all those adjustments and massages I give you don't help?" Answered with the certainty of any teenage child proving their parent wrong, "Well of course it helps, but only because stretching and massage have a physical effect on the muscle. It has nothing to do with some healing power."
Much like my own daughter today, I also used to believe touch was nothing more than a mechanical stimuli with a specific intended effect. In a vain attempt to disprove this belief, my sisters and I used to try to make each other laugh by tickling each other with our fingers dancing above each others tummy but not quite touching it. It seemed completely absurd that they could make me laugh without even touching me, and I thought surely it had to be all in my mind, simply an emotional response.
Years of experience have taught me otherwise. In school I read studies that showed babies who were touched thrived more; people with pets or spouses were sick less often; and people who were prayed for healed faster and better than those not prayed for regardless of whether they knew they were being prayed for or not. The more I read and experienced, the more I knew touch was not simply something that could be explained away by science or emotions.
When you fall down and sprain your ankle, your natural response is to touch or grab at your injury. Even if you don't believe this is because your touch has the ability to heal, you can attest to the puffy, hot joint you feel with your touch. When you hone your ability to feel this heat you can pull your hands an inch off your ankle and still feel the heat with your hands. In much the same way, once when someone very dear to me was on life support I felt with my hands over her lungs without making physical contact with her body. During the first days everything was hot, but by the fourth day I felt only one area of heat. Just after telling someone else in the ICU room what I had felt, the respiratory therapist came in. After listening with a stethoscope, the therapist (without knowing what I had said), repeated what I had said and pointed to exactly where I had.
Much like art or music, I believe the power to heal is a gift and like all gifts it grows the more we use it. It is well documented that even some animals can feel where a person is sick or hurt, so why is it so hard for us to believe that we can intuitively know or hone our own ability to heal ourselves as well as others? If we eat poorly, don't exercise, and live stressful lives year after year only to develop heart disease, muscle or joint pains, or cancer why do we think that God or our doctor can fix a disease process that took years of poor choices to develop? Maybe just like love languages, a healing touch is different for every person depending on what brought us to where we are. Maybe we all have the power to heal ourselves as well as others with our touch.
Sometimes if we love a certain food we know is bad for us, we tell ourselves a little bit is ok. Sometimes exercise is too painful or difficult to fit into our schedules. Sometimes a fear of what might be keeps us living in unhealthy relationships or lifestyles. Sometimes I treat a patient exactly the same as I have in the past but they tell me it felt completely different. Once I told a woman that based on her weight distribution and genetic factors that she should be tested for diabetes. It seemed simple, obvious, and logical to me. She became very angry towards me, accusing me of calling her fat. Sometimes we do not open ourselves up and allow ourselves to be touched or to touch others.
If you have ever been touched by a stranger's presence, a story, a song, or greater yet the love of another, you know that the healing power of touch is much more than simply a mechanical stimuli. And even if my teenage daughter reads this and rolls her eyes, I know one day she will open herself up and truly recognize the healing power of touch.
Much like my own daughter today, I also used to believe touch was nothing more than a mechanical stimuli with a specific intended effect. In a vain attempt to disprove this belief, my sisters and I used to try to make each other laugh by tickling each other with our fingers dancing above each others tummy but not quite touching it. It seemed completely absurd that they could make me laugh without even touching me, and I thought surely it had to be all in my mind, simply an emotional response.
Years of experience have taught me otherwise. In school I read studies that showed babies who were touched thrived more; people with pets or spouses were sick less often; and people who were prayed for healed faster and better than those not prayed for regardless of whether they knew they were being prayed for or not. The more I read and experienced, the more I knew touch was not simply something that could be explained away by science or emotions.
When you fall down and sprain your ankle, your natural response is to touch or grab at your injury. Even if you don't believe this is because your touch has the ability to heal, you can attest to the puffy, hot joint you feel with your touch. When you hone your ability to feel this heat you can pull your hands an inch off your ankle and still feel the heat with your hands. In much the same way, once when someone very dear to me was on life support I felt with my hands over her lungs without making physical contact with her body. During the first days everything was hot, but by the fourth day I felt only one area of heat. Just after telling someone else in the ICU room what I had felt, the respiratory therapist came in. After listening with a stethoscope, the therapist (without knowing what I had said), repeated what I had said and pointed to exactly where I had.
Much like art or music, I believe the power to heal is a gift and like all gifts it grows the more we use it. It is well documented that even some animals can feel where a person is sick or hurt, so why is it so hard for us to believe that we can intuitively know or hone our own ability to heal ourselves as well as others? If we eat poorly, don't exercise, and live stressful lives year after year only to develop heart disease, muscle or joint pains, or cancer why do we think that God or our doctor can fix a disease process that took years of poor choices to develop? Maybe just like love languages, a healing touch is different for every person depending on what brought us to where we are. Maybe we all have the power to heal ourselves as well as others with our touch.
Sometimes if we love a certain food we know is bad for us, we tell ourselves a little bit is ok. Sometimes exercise is too painful or difficult to fit into our schedules. Sometimes a fear of what might be keeps us living in unhealthy relationships or lifestyles. Sometimes I treat a patient exactly the same as I have in the past but they tell me it felt completely different. Once I told a woman that based on her weight distribution and genetic factors that she should be tested for diabetes. It seemed simple, obvious, and logical to me. She became very angry towards me, accusing me of calling her fat. Sometimes we do not open ourselves up and allow ourselves to be touched or to touch others.
If you have ever been touched by a stranger's presence, a story, a song, or greater yet the love of another, you know that the healing power of touch is much more than simply a mechanical stimuli. And even if my teenage daughter reads this and rolls her eyes, I know one day she will open herself up and truly recognize the healing power of touch.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Curing Allergies Naturally
Living in central Texas there are several different airborne allergens that seem to strike different people at different times. For years I suffered with terrible allergies during the cedar (aka juniper) season. I would try a homeopathic one year, a couple sessions of acupuncture, honey, quercetin and some other helpful supplements. But every year I would end up double dosing on several prescription medications trying without success to prevent the inevitable sinus and lung infection by the end of the season. One season (because I know how effective they can be) I resorted to one of the worst things you can do to your body, a cortisone injection, which didn't even work.
After years of trial and error, I have finally discovered a solution to my own severe seasonal allergies. Last year with lower cedar pollen counts I made it through the season with a couple sneezes, and minimal fatigue without any prescription medication. This year with off the chart pollen counts I have taken a few over the counter medications on the really bad days, but have had very few symptoms compared to previous years. For those of you who seek to manage your allergies naturally, I will admit that it is one of the most difficult ailments to manage naturally. If you have constant allergies year around it becomes even more difficult to manage especially the older you get.
STEPS TO MANAGING ALLERGIES NATURALLY:
*Note: Even if your allergies are only seasonal, these steps are to be followed year around to be effective.
1) Decrease Inflammation - if you have gut issues, you have inflammation. If you have elevated cholesterol, you have inflammation. If you have joint pain you have inflammation. There are several herbal and dietary supplements that can be helpful with inflammation, I would suggest consulting myself or a natural care practitioner for your specific needs. Read my blog on food sensitivities, and avoid processed sugars for dietary modifications. Avoiding certain foods has been one of the most essential parts to my recovery.
2) Manage any underlying disease process - if you are diabetic, have parasites, Hoshimotos or any number of disease processes you will need to manage these conditions first for the best response to naturally managing allergies.
3) Exposure to the allergen year around (not recommended for children under 4 years of age)- this is the same principal used for those of you who get allergy shots. Allergy shots are great because the injection is concocted specifically to the allergens you react to. Homeopathic tree blends are also available over the counter. LOCAL honey and bee pollen exposure is also an excellent way to expose your body to allergens.
4) Detoxification - if you have developed new allergies with age, sometimes allergies will clear up with the right detoxification program. Nutritional detoxification can vary depending on each person's individual needs.
5) Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables - if you are unable to consume at least 8 servings per day (that's a cup of fresh per serving) you need to supplement with a whole food supplement like Juice Plus (multivitamins like Centrum are isolated nutrients with fillers in their supplements that can sometimes make allergies worse). Many people become toxic because their body does not have the basic nutrition that allows us to detoxify naturally.
6) Exercise regularly - like that doesn't help everything right?
7) Acupuncture - especially just before the allergy season starts.
8) Nutritional Support specific for allergies - what works depends on the individual. As mentioned earlier high doses of quercetin have been found to be helpful for some people, but my personal cure (after trying many) is a product called Albiza Complex made by MediHerb taken every four hours along with Allerplex.
9) Limit exposure - seems like a no brainer, but stay indoors as much as possible, clean your house often, wash your sheets often, use air purifiers, and take weekend trips away from your allergens if possible.
After years of trial and error, I have finally discovered a solution to my own severe seasonal allergies. Last year with lower cedar pollen counts I made it through the season with a couple sneezes, and minimal fatigue without any prescription medication. This year with off the chart pollen counts I have taken a few over the counter medications on the really bad days, but have had very few symptoms compared to previous years. For those of you who seek to manage your allergies naturally, I will admit that it is one of the most difficult ailments to manage naturally. If you have constant allergies year around it becomes even more difficult to manage especially the older you get.
STEPS TO MANAGING ALLERGIES NATURALLY:
*Note: Even if your allergies are only seasonal, these steps are to be followed year around to be effective.
1) Decrease Inflammation - if you have gut issues, you have inflammation. If you have elevated cholesterol, you have inflammation. If you have joint pain you have inflammation. There are several herbal and dietary supplements that can be helpful with inflammation, I would suggest consulting myself or a natural care practitioner for your specific needs. Read my blog on food sensitivities, and avoid processed sugars for dietary modifications. Avoiding certain foods has been one of the most essential parts to my recovery.
2) Manage any underlying disease process - if you are diabetic, have parasites, Hoshimotos or any number of disease processes you will need to manage these conditions first for the best response to naturally managing allergies.
3) Exposure to the allergen year around (not recommended for children under 4 years of age)- this is the same principal used for those of you who get allergy shots. Allergy shots are great because the injection is concocted specifically to the allergens you react to. Homeopathic tree blends are also available over the counter. LOCAL honey and bee pollen exposure is also an excellent way to expose your body to allergens.
4) Detoxification - if you have developed new allergies with age, sometimes allergies will clear up with the right detoxification program. Nutritional detoxification can vary depending on each person's individual needs.
5) Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables - if you are unable to consume at least 8 servings per day (that's a cup of fresh per serving) you need to supplement with a whole food supplement like Juice Plus (multivitamins like Centrum are isolated nutrients with fillers in their supplements that can sometimes make allergies worse). Many people become toxic because their body does not have the basic nutrition that allows us to detoxify naturally.
6) Exercise regularly - like that doesn't help everything right?
7) Acupuncture - especially just before the allergy season starts.
8) Nutritional Support specific for allergies - what works depends on the individual. As mentioned earlier high doses of quercetin have been found to be helpful for some people, but my personal cure (after trying many) is a product called Albiza Complex made by MediHerb taken every four hours along with Allerplex.
9) Limit exposure - seems like a no brainer, but stay indoors as much as possible, clean your house often, wash your sheets often, use air purifiers, and take weekend trips away from your allergens if possible.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
What do you want to be when you grow up?
Last week my daughter told me she wanted to sign up for a class that is expensive, far away, and not exactly what I would have picked for her. Unlike the unenthusiastic grunt, "I guess that would be OK" I got when I suggested a marine biology class at the beach, scuba diving, the gifted and talented camp, and a number of other things, she beamed with excitement offering up $1,000 of her own babysitting money to pay for it.
I did sign her up for the class because a parent I want to encourage her to follow her heart..... to do things that encourage growth in areas that make her and thus the world around her a little happier/better. It is easy as a parent to do for your child; picking up their toys is easier than teaching them to pick them up; cooking their meals is easier than teaching them to cook for themselves; and sometimes telling them to go to college or take over a particular business is easier than letting them discover for themselves what they enjoy. It seems easier as a parent to (try to) control our children's decisions and much harder to guide them towards following their own passion or purpose. But in reality it is working in a field that we enjoy and find fulfilling that keeps us happy and healthy. I want my daughter to discover on her own that work of any sort is a blessing, because the gifts we have mean nothing unless they are shared.
I'm not sure anyone really knows exactly what they want to be when they grow up. I don't think this class my daughter has signed up for will be her destiny (because maybe the journey is our destiny), but I do believe anything that creates such excitement in her heart will help guide her towards becoming what she is intended to be. Hopefully we never stop growing up.
I did sign her up for the class because a parent I want to encourage her to follow her heart..... to do things that encourage growth in areas that make her and thus the world around her a little happier/better. It is easy as a parent to do for your child; picking up their toys is easier than teaching them to pick them up; cooking their meals is easier than teaching them to cook for themselves; and sometimes telling them to go to college or take over a particular business is easier than letting them discover for themselves what they enjoy. It seems easier as a parent to (try to) control our children's decisions and much harder to guide them towards following their own passion or purpose. But in reality it is working in a field that we enjoy and find fulfilling that keeps us happy and healthy. I want my daughter to discover on her own that work of any sort is a blessing, because the gifts we have mean nothing unless they are shared.
I'm not sure anyone really knows exactly what they want to be when they grow up. I don't think this class my daughter has signed up for will be her destiny (because maybe the journey is our destiny), but I do believe anything that creates such excitement in her heart will help guide her towards becoming what she is intended to be. Hopefully we never stop growing up.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Food Allergies and Sensitivities
There is a lot of confusion as to why healthy foods like wheat, eggs, milk, nuts, strawberries or just about anything may be bad for you. I know many people who suffer from food allergies or sensitivities because they refuse to believe this could be possible. But as the autoimmune population grows (over 300 new autoimmune diseases are being identified every year), more and more people are claiming to be "allergic" to certain foods. Who doesn't know someone who is lactose intolerant, allergic to some nut, or feeling a lot better on a wheat free diet?
If you have a true food allergy (by current medical definition), your body has an IgE immune response when exposed to the offending food. An IgE response is quite dramatic (like the throat swelling, or sharp stomach pain) and occurs soon after exposure. Most medical doctors will run IgE tests to determine food allergies (although I'm not sure why, because it is usually quite obvious if you have an IgE immune response).
What is called a food sensitivity by some and a food allergy by others is typically an IgG or IgA response to consumption of offending food. Symptoms can be vague and vary from weight gain, weight loss (less common), bloating, brain fog, joint and muscle pains, increased hay fever/allergies, headaches, and much more. Many food sensitivities do not cause digestive symptoms, which is why many people refuse to believe their health problems could be related to eating healthy foods. Symptoms do not typically occur immediately(usually several hours to a day after consumption) so identifying the offending foods can be difficult. Several methods can be used:
1) The gold standard for identifying this type of sensitivity is with the elimination diet. The problem with this type of diet is, most elimination diets use brown rice as their non-allergenic food. I have found that some patients are sensitive to rice and some will develop new sensitivities to almost any food upon repeated exposure due to poor gut health. If there is not a single food that you are certain is not causing an immune response, it is almost impossible to determine the foods that are causing immune responses.
2) If you suspect a particular food, you can take your pulse before consuming it, and then again after you consume the food. If your heart rate increases after consumption, you are likely sensitive to that food.
3) Many alternative care providers will use a technique called muscle testing. Although I find this to be very accurate, it is impossible to scientifically support this method.
4) The IgG and IgA blood testing is quite expensive and only works if your immune system is functioning properly (unfortunately most people who have this type of sensitivity, have altered immune function). I find this bloodwork can be a good basic guideline, but not the best method.
5) Sometimes certain health problems are associated with specific sensitives. Wheat sensitivities have been linked to Autoimmune Thyroiditis, Ulcerative Colitis, and Chron's Disease. Corn sensitives are common in people with brain fog. Milk sensitivities are almost a given in a child with ear infections, and very common in people with allergies.
If the cause of a food sensitivity is genetic (like with Celiac Disease) your body will never become capable of digesting that particular food because it lacks the ability to do so. Consuming the offending food will damage your intestinal linings which results in additional food sensitivities because the enzymes used to breakdown food are no longer being made by the damaged tissues.
Any deterioration/damage of the intestinal lining can cause a non-genetic type of food sensitivity. Intestinal deterioration can be caused by many things from poor diet, celiac disease, yeast/bacteria imbalance, and parasites just to mention a few. If you have heartburn, you have gut deterioration, and whether you realize it or not you have food sensitivities. When your intestinal wall deteriorates it is not capable of secreting enzymes to properly digest the foods you eat which will cause the walls to deteriorate even more. Eventually because of the intestinal wall damage, food leaks into the blood (often referred to as leaky gut) and your body will create antibodies against that food in an IgG or IgA immune response. In this type of food sensitivity or 'allergy', you will likely be able to eventually consume the offending food again without having an immune response when the intestinal lining improves.
There are many supplements that help to improve the intestinal lining, but it is almost impossible to completely repair the intestinal lining without removal of the offending foods.
If you have a true food allergy (by current medical definition), your body has an IgE immune response when exposed to the offending food. An IgE response is quite dramatic (like the throat swelling, or sharp stomach pain) and occurs soon after exposure. Most medical doctors will run IgE tests to determine food allergies (although I'm not sure why, because it is usually quite obvious if you have an IgE immune response).
What is called a food sensitivity by some and a food allergy by others is typically an IgG or IgA response to consumption of offending food. Symptoms can be vague and vary from weight gain, weight loss (less common), bloating, brain fog, joint and muscle pains, increased hay fever/allergies, headaches, and much more. Many food sensitivities do not cause digestive symptoms, which is why many people refuse to believe their health problems could be related to eating healthy foods. Symptoms do not typically occur immediately(usually several hours to a day after consumption) so identifying the offending foods can be difficult. Several methods can be used:
1) The gold standard for identifying this type of sensitivity is with the elimination diet. The problem with this type of diet is, most elimination diets use brown rice as their non-allergenic food. I have found that some patients are sensitive to rice and some will develop new sensitivities to almost any food upon repeated exposure due to poor gut health. If there is not a single food that you are certain is not causing an immune response, it is almost impossible to determine the foods that are causing immune responses.
2) If you suspect a particular food, you can take your pulse before consuming it, and then again after you consume the food. If your heart rate increases after consumption, you are likely sensitive to that food.
3) Many alternative care providers will use a technique called muscle testing. Although I find this to be very accurate, it is impossible to scientifically support this method.
4) The IgG and IgA blood testing is quite expensive and only works if your immune system is functioning properly (unfortunately most people who have this type of sensitivity, have altered immune function). I find this bloodwork can be a good basic guideline, but not the best method.
5) Sometimes certain health problems are associated with specific sensitives. Wheat sensitivities have been linked to Autoimmune Thyroiditis, Ulcerative Colitis, and Chron's Disease. Corn sensitives are common in people with brain fog. Milk sensitivities are almost a given in a child with ear infections, and very common in people with allergies.
If the cause of a food sensitivity is genetic (like with Celiac Disease) your body will never become capable of digesting that particular food because it lacks the ability to do so. Consuming the offending food will damage your intestinal linings which results in additional food sensitivities because the enzymes used to breakdown food are no longer being made by the damaged tissues.
Any deterioration/damage of the intestinal lining can cause a non-genetic type of food sensitivity. Intestinal deterioration can be caused by many things from poor diet, celiac disease, yeast/bacteria imbalance, and parasites just to mention a few. If you have heartburn, you have gut deterioration, and whether you realize it or not you have food sensitivities. When your intestinal wall deteriorates it is not capable of secreting enzymes to properly digest the foods you eat which will cause the walls to deteriorate even more. Eventually because of the intestinal wall damage, food leaks into the blood (often referred to as leaky gut) and your body will create antibodies against that food in an IgG or IgA immune response. In this type of food sensitivity or 'allergy', you will likely be able to eventually consume the offending food again without having an immune response when the intestinal lining improves.
There are many supplements that help to improve the intestinal lining, but it is almost impossible to completely repair the intestinal lining without removal of the offending foods.
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