Rethinking Holiday Eating

Some traditions are worth re-thinking. Remember that our ideas of “traditional foods” are not really that old: somehow I don’t think the Pilgrims used marshmallow topping on their sweet potatoes or made cherry Jello molds with canned pears in high fructose corn syrup. When you think about it, holiday feasting is really about our emotional connections with family and friends, much more so than about food. Still, now is a time to celebrate and spoil yourself and each other with the Best you can provide. With that in mind, I encourage you to shop for, prepare and consume the best Quality foods available in your budget. This isn’t a time to focus on quantity. No one needs 2 weeks worth of leftover water-injected, deep fried turkey (which decomposes into histamine-heavy time bombs the longer it sits in your fridge).

Find the freshest produce and whole foods you can and build your menus with these as the focus.

Splurge on meats that were fed and raised as close to the way they would naturally grow, eating what they would naturally eat, and free from genetically modified feeds and hormones.

Instead of high glycemic starchy dishes, emphasize multi-colored rainbows of veggies and fruits the liven up the plate and the palate. Skip the mashed potatoes in favor of roasted cauliflower with balsalmic reduction. Trade up from the marshmallow topped sticky sweet potato mess to a basket of backed sweet potato "fries" tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh rosemary. Add pomegranate seeds and sheep feta to your green salad. Get creative! I challenge you to find one new vegetable dish to add to your feast.

For desserts, instead of choosing store-bought pies made with high fructose corn syrup, consider making a fruit crumble or tossing frozen berries with whole coconut milk and topping with shavings of the deepest, darkest, most decadent chocolate you can find.

And remember, you’ll feel much better if you stick to a single serving of everything. You can always go back for seconds 3 hours later -- AFTER a walk with your guests...

Get Decadent. Get Moving. Get REAL.

Are You a Mutant? Probably...

We are mutant life forms, continually morphing into new versions of ourselves as we strive to find biochemical balance and a genetic advantage. I’m not talking about genetically modified organisms or GMOs which are tampered with in the laboratory to have foreign DNA from completely different species implanted in their own DNA. I’m talking about naturally occurring mismatches, duplication or omission of nucleic acids that make up the rungs of our DNA ladder in each cell. Every single one of us is a mutant. Some of these mutations happened as mistakes along the way but some are thought to have been in direct response to the environment or exposures that gave that human group a survival advantage.

One mutation with regards to food that many of us are familiar with is lactose tolerance. Yes, tolerance. The “normal” non-mutated gene that codes for the enzyme lactase which breaks down lactose (the sugar in milk) is supposed to shut off by the time we’re about 6 years old. We are actually supposed to be lactose intolerant after that because we should have stopped breast feeding by then. But in the northern tribes of Europe about 10,000 years ago a mutation developed that left the gene turned on and therefore allowed these people to continue to consume dairy products into adulthood. This is why the vast majority of people with genetic roots in Europe are not lactose intolerant, but a large portion of the populations of Asia and Africa are unable to consume lactose as adults. This genetic mutation gave the northern tribes a big survival advantage. So, if you can enjoy cheese and ice cream, you are definitely a mutant.

As the technology develops faster and faster enabling us to look deeper into our genetic structure, we are able to trace mutations and track how they effect our ability to utilize foods and nutrients. The twisted ladder shape of the double helix that contains the precise recipe for you is carefully protected inside each of your cells. Each of the rungs of the DNA ladder are made up of base pairs from 4 possible nucleotides: T, A, C or G. A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) is when a single base nucleotide differs between paired chromosomes in a human, or between members of the same biological species. This SNP (or allele) can be passed along to children from their parents because each child receives half their DNA from each parent. If a child inherits a single allele they are said to be heterozygous for that gene. If a child inherits a copy from each parent they are then homozygous for that allele. In some cases these swaps completely inactivate that portion of the gene. In other cases the activity of the gene can be altered so that the enzymes it encodes are sped up or slowed down.

One of the most well-known discoveries in the last few decades has been the MTHFR gene mutations, most notably the “C677T” SNP. This notation refers to the location on the map of the MTHFR gene. So the C677T mutation is located at the 677th “rung” of the ladder where a nucleotide that should have been coded a C was replaced with a T. If you inherit a single MTHFR C677T, it is possible that the activity of a key enzyme for protecting your long-term health is compromised by about 40%. If you are homozygous for this SNP, this key system can be 70% impaired in it’s ability to maintain and protect your health. The MTHFR gene is one of a team that helps the body create, utilize and distribute methyl groups which are essential for the proper functioning of your immune system, neurotransmitters, gut health, cardiovascular health, and so much more. The really exciting thing is that now that we know what to look for, we also know how to bypass this potential long term health issue with simple nutrients. If you are working with a medical team that utilizes some key genetic testing, you can even discover your sensitivity to certain medications and can get a better sense of which ones will work best for your genome.

Nutrigenomics is the study of how our genes interact with nutrients, foods, medications and other substances. We are unraveling the mystery of our personal recipes and we are finding that we really have a lot of control over our health every day by exposing our genes to foods, nutrients, toxins, medications and other substances we ingest. Everyday we communicate with our environment by eating and drinking and breathing. Everyday we can choose health. As we learn more about inherited SNPs, we can become even more specific in how to create and maintain health as it is spelled out in our personal recipes.

For a really good discussion of genetic testing as it stands today, take some time to watch this NOVA segment. There are a number of companies that offer decoding of segments of your genome, but it's still too costly and cumbersome to decode all 30,000+ genes that make up the complete recipe for you. If you decide to use one of these services, I highly recommend working with someone who can help you understand the results. It is crucial to keep in mind that genes are like playing cards in a big card game. Just because you got dealt certain cards doesn't mean they will ever get played, they're just part of the hand you got dealt. How you choose to live your life will effect the tendencies for some of those cards to be played, but we don't know all the variables that cause a particular gene to be expressed or not. It is a vast web of interactions that in a way I hope we never really figure out completely.




Get Curious. Get Informed. Get REAL.

Good Gut Bugs

When you really look closely, we are really only just the transport mechanism for water and bacteria. Seriously. The only time we are 100% human cells and DNA is when we are in utero. As soon as we make our way down the birth canal we start to accumulate foreign critters who take up residence in and on our bodies for the rest of our lives, and beyond. Kids are supposed to play in the dirt and taste their world. This is how the gut gets populated with a healthy balance of good bugs to battle the bad ones. New studies have shown that it's actually really beneficial for parents to "clean" off a dropped binky by sucking on it and then popping back into the baby's mouth. This helps transfer some of the parent's good bugs to the child.

If you count up the numbers of cells with “not self” DNA and compare that number to the number of cells that contain actual self DNA you’ll be astounded to discover that we are outnumbered by nearly a factor of ten. We are actually only about 10% human compared to 90% microbial. Now this is NOT a treatise on how to go out and eradicate the 90% “non-human” part of us! Quite the contrary. I want to expand your thinking to include these hitch-hikers as part of what it means to be a healthy human.

Just like a healthy forest, biodiversity is the key. We have seen clearly what happens when we clear-cut a forest and then come back to plant a mono-culture of a single tree species in neat rows ready to harvest at a later date. This mono-culture system hobbles along, never very healthy, always in danger of being over run by a single disease or single pest outbreak, and always in danger of a devastating fire. By contrast, a healthy dynamic, bio-diverse forest is resilient and capable of fending off pests, disease and complete annihilation by fire exactly because it has a wide range of inhabitants that all help maintain the system in their large and small ways.

Western lifestyles, food supplies, medications, toxins and recent obsession with antibacterial soaps has essentially performed a massive clear-cutting of our internal environment. We SHOULD play host to trillions of various microorganisms in as delicate a balance as the exterior environment with similar predator/prey relationships, similar herbivore/omnivore players, and similar toxin removal/recycling systems. When we mess with these internal environments as we have our external ones, we find similar problems of mono-culture and systems out of balance. We need a healthy balance of microbes to help us process foods, maintain a healthy pH (of skin, teeth, mucus membranes, and GI tract), detoxify certain substances, make certain nutrients bioavailable that we can’t liberate from foods, and keep our insides and outsides free from dangerous invaders. Without this symbiosis we become more vulnerable to disease, nutrient deficiency, and toxic overload.

Interestingly enough, these critters that we carry around actually exert a certain amount of mind control over their human hosts. This happens in both balanced and imbalanced systems. That sugar craving you might be having is very possibly the whispers of a virulent bacteria or fungus that thrives on sugar and has patched into the body’s communication systems to tell the brain to find more sugary foods! Because the gut has more neurotransmitter receptor sites than the brain does, our hitch-hikers have direct access to systemic communication.

When the gut flora is out of balance you can experience a panoply of symptoms including anxiety, depression, addictive behavior, ADD/ADHD, IBS/IBD, Crohn’s disease, arthritis flares, food allergies, migraines, and much more. If you have ever been treated with antibiotics and you eat a standard American diet full of easy sugar and low dose antibiotics, it is highly likely that your gut microbes need to be attended to in order to reclaim and maintain your health. Consider a stool test to determine what populations you harbor and work with a qualified healthcare professional to restore a happy belly environment. It’s not as simple as eating yogurt or taking L. acidophilus capsules.




Get populated! Get balanced! Get REAL.

Do Supplements Kill?

Politics and marketing campaigns aside, the short answer is: anything can kill you if you consume enough of it, including water. If you’ve heard me speak about this issue you’ve heard me talk about a “window of benefit” that is dose dependent for anything we ingest. Everything we consume creates reactions inside us that are both beneficial and detrimental. Health is created when the benefits consistently outweigh the problems, and healthy cell and system function is supported.

Take a look at water for example. There is a huge window of benefit for water consumption and a significant problem if none is ingested. You have to get to a point where you overwhelm the capacity of the kidneys before you can cause death be essentially internal drowning.

Alcohol, on the other hand, has a very small window of benefit and there is no detriment to abstention. Consuming about one serving of alcohol per day confers some benefit to the cardiovascular system and contributes to stress reduction, but more than this and you end up rapidly pushing into the problem area where the damage caused by this toxin escalates beyond the benefits gained.

Everything we take in essentially is either food, medicine or poison depending on dose. For a bit of morbid humor, check out this website where you can find out how much of certain popular foods and drinks will be the death of you. I discovered it would take 51.87 Starbucks Mocha Grandes in rapid succession for me to be pushing up daisies.

I often hear clients say things like “it’s natural, so I took 6 instead of 2”. This can be a HUGE mistake. Keep in mind that nearly all our medications were at least originally derived from herbs and other compounds found in the natural world. The heart medication digitalis, for example, is derived from the plant that bears it’s name. Digitalis, or Foxglove, can be deadly: in sufficient quantities it will stop the heart.

Two supplements that have been in the news lately for being supposedly "deadly" are vitamin E and calcium. It is important to understand a few things about what gets reported and why. First, most of these studies are conducted by what’s called “meta analysis” which means researchers went back into the results of older studies to see if they could find any other interesting results or patterns. These are not studies that were done specifically on the nutrient in question. The calcium study has another issue as well which is that participants "self reported" their calcium intake. Often self reporting is extremely inaccurate (just try remembering what you had for dinner every day this week).

Another problem is a fundamental scientific process mistake:often results that show association between elements infer causation. Still further issues are the lack of ability to remove enough variables to make the results meaningful such as what dose that was taken (especially if self-reported), the type or quality of the supplement source, if it was combined with other nutrients or not, medication interaction, food intake, activity level or type, current state of participants' health, or anything about the toxic loads these people were carrying. It is next to impossible to isolate the effects of a single nutrient in these "studies".

In the case of the meta-analysis "study" of vitamin E there was no consideration of type or isolate. Vitamin E is actually a family of similar compounds with a wide range of actions. There are now believed to be 12 different types. Most supplements only include one: d-alpha tocopherol. Most of the studies that were done specifically on “vitamin E” actually were done using dl-alpha tocopherol (notice there is an “l” after the “d”) which is a laboratory created version of this single constituent of the vitamin E family. If we have learned anything in nutrition in general it is that the natural world doesn’t do well when it is out of balance. Hyper-loading of a single form of vitamin E (and a synthetic version on top of that) throws the internal environment out of balance and pushes us out of the window of benefit for this substance.

Another thing to keep in mind is the comparison of death rates by cause before you get super uptight and worried about supplements. There are thousands and thousands of more deaths caused by adverse medication reactions or medication mistakes than any herb or supplement use. The number of deaths in the US that can be attributed to medical mistakes is estimated at over 200,000 per year, and that doesn’t include medication overdoses. In 2008, the number of deaths due to prescription pain killers alone was over 41,000 which exceeded the 38,000 deaths due to car accidents. The record for the year with the highest number of deaths attributed to supplements is 2005. The total number that year? 230.

One more thing to remember is you often get what you pay for with supplements. The cheapest brands use the cheapest base materials. Yes, there may be “x” amount of milligrams of a nutrient in that tablet, but it may be in a form the body can’t even recognize or use so all you end up doing is adding to your detoxification load and possibly compromising the function of vital organs. That said, just because a supplement is pricey, doesn't mean it's good or that you need it.

Although supplements can help correct medication induced nutrient deficiencies, they can also can interact with medications in dangerous ways. It is extremely important that you work with someone who really knows about nutrients and reads up regularly on the latest research so you know what the results actually mean for you and your health, especially if you are taking any pharmaceuticals. Too many people self-prescribe natural substances in toxic doses from inferior materials and end up causing more problems than they solve. For another good perspective please visit this article published on the well respected medical news feed Medscape. Get Educated. Get Safe. Get Real.

Reader Question: "What is the relationship between gluten and thyroid issues?"

It is estimated that about 90% of thyroid issues are actually autoimmune disorders with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis topping the list of occurrence. There is strong evidence that both Grave’s disease and Hashimoto’s are linked to gluten intolerance. Why? Because the wheat gluten protein gliadin is so close in structure to the proteins of the thyroid gland that they are mistaken for one another. Gliadin gets into the bloodstream often due to injury to the gut mucosa. This then allows intact proteins to bypass the normal route of absorption which requires them to be broken down to basic amino acids or simple peptides. When this breach occurs, the gliadin protein is essentially still labeled as such and is mistaken as a bad guy by the immune system. Unfortunately, the thyroid gland is often tagged as well and becomes an innocent target for destruction by the immune system.

It is for this reason it is imperative that you avoid gluten if you already know you have Hashimoto’s or Graves disease. Each time you ingest gluten, you activate another assault on the thyroid which can last as long as six months every time you eat it! There is no way to eat gluten-containing foods safely in this case. It’s not about being gluten-free “most of the time”. You have to swear off it completely to avoid the destruction of your thyroid gland.

How does the gut mucosa get injured to the point of failure? There are many possible answers to this but other key players aside from the highly irritating glidain protein, are the non-steriodal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) that so many of us take. I had one client who called ibuprofen “vitamin I” because he took it daily until we discovered that it was the likely cause of his leaky-gut syndrome and “sudden” onset of multiple food allergies. NSAIDs include ibuprofen and medications with ibuprofen in them like Motrin, super-aspirins like Naproxen, and even those seemingly harmless 81mg “baby aspirin”. Even a single dose of baby aspirin causes bleeding in the gastro-intestinal tract. When taken long-term, NSAIDs can cause huge amounts of silent damage to the gut. Having just said this, it is really important that you don't stop any NSAID therapy prescribed by your healthcare practitioner. Please work with them if you choose to make any changes. There are things that can be done to mitigate the negative effects of NSAIDs if you must be on them long term. If you have put yourself on a regimen of daily baby aspirin, please tell your healthcare provider and have them help you titrate yourself off of them if need be. Going "cold turkey" can be dangerous.

If NSAIDs cause all this damage, why don’t you feel anything? Because the pain receptors in the GI tract are really deep down in the tissue. It’s a good thing too! Believe me, you would not want to feel your stomach lining sloughing off every three days due to its exposure to all that hydrochloric acid! A lot of tissue damage can occur before we register any problem. By then, the leaking has usually been happening for a long time.

Leaky gut syndrome is essentially exactly what it sounds like. Material from the GI tract leaks into circulation and the surrounding tissues without being completely digested. When these food particles leak out of the gut, the immune system sees an invasion and counter-attacks. “Sudden” development of multiple food allergies is a key sign that the gut needs healing. Once the GI tract is sealed back up and healthy, most of those food allergies often disappear because those intact proteins are not making it through any longer.

We are complicated systems of systems. There is nothing we ingest, swallow or breathe in that has only a single effect whether that is food, medicine, air, water, or a toxin. Please don’t self-medicate with supplements or over-the-counter drugs without learning as much as you can about them and working with someone who can help you make the best choices for your health.

Get curious. Get informed. Get Real.


(also published in the Patch.com)

The Soy Conundrum: Part 2

As I said in my last post, this is a HUGE topic that would take volumes to adequately explore. Is soy a human food? My answer is a tentative maybe. Here are more reasons why...

Farming practices: Aside from the fact that nearly all soy grown in the US is now genetically modified, it is important to know that this modification allows soy to withstand heavy doses of herbicides. Unfortunately, because soy is a legume, it is very good at soaking up these toxins and incorporating them into the beans themselves. You can’t wash them off. (GMO issues will be discussed in another posting.) These toxic residues have many potential harmful effects on the human system including acting as endocrine disruptors, meaning they will mess around with your whole hormone system.

Phytoestrogenic properties: “Phyto” means plant, so phytoestrogens are estrogen-like substances found in plants. They are present in many different plants including alfalfa sprouts, flaxseeds, clover, hops and thyme, but they are highest in legumes and soy contains the highest amount of them all. Studies have been inconclusive about if these phytoestrogens help menopausal symptoms or if they worsen hormone sensitive cancers. However, these compounds have been shown to have feminizing effects on infant boys and can accelerate sexual maturation in girls. In some cases soy has been implicated in the development of gynecomastia in adult men (the development of breast tissue) and a decrease in sperm production.

Autoimmune disease: More than 70 years worth of studies have connected soy consumption to thyroid disorders, especially Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. This is a type of autoimmune disease that causes hypothyroidism. (Interestingly enough, the exacerbation of Hashimoto’s has also been connected to gluten consumption.) If you suffer from hypothyroid and especially Hashimoto’s, you may find significant symptom relief by eliminating soy. This can seem like a daunting task because soy is everywhere.

Processed foods: Soy is in nearly 60% of all processed foods and basically 100% of fast foods. Soy and soy derivatives are the backbone of the food product industry. The durable nature of soy proteins and their low cost makes them ideal for highly processed foods. If you are trying to avoid soy, the best thing to do is to shop the perimeter of your market where all the REAL food is and cook it yourself. Instead of spending hours trying to read labels to find all the places soy is hidden, spend that time making your own foods.

Cardiovascular health: Soy has been promoted as beneficial for cardiac health. Most of these studies focus on specific constituents of soy called isoflavones. It is important to consider the whole package if soy is used as a food source. It is also important to look at the way some of these studies were put together. Benefits have been shown when conventionally raised animal products are replaced by soy as a protein source, but is the outcome due to soy or due to the reduction in damaged fats and proteins that come from conventional meats and dairy? Be sure to look carefully at studies, both pro and con.

Conclusion: Caution. Soy can be beneficial for humans in small amounts if fermented. Certain constituents may be beneficial for treatment of certain disease states. But the use of soy in its highly processed forms (TVP, soy protein isolate, etc) as the primary source of protein in the diet can be problematic, especially for children.



Get curious. Get informed. Get Real.




(also published on the Patch.com)

The Soy Conundrum: Part 1

This is a HUGE topic that would take volumes to adequately explore, but I’ll try to give you the highlights. If you’ve been following health trends, you are likely as confused as most Americans about soy. Is it healthy for human consumption? My answer is a tentative maybe. Here’s why...

How Soy is Grown: About 85% of all soy grown is now genetically modified. Even if you don’t care about the genetic material itself, what this tinkering has done has allowed these crops to be even more heavily sprayed with pesticides and herbicides which travel up the food chain. We are seeing more and more research coming in now about how these residues contribute to disease, especially in children.

Health Claims: Most of the health claims are marginal at best. When you actually read through the literature and the research, you’ll find there are small benefits to LDL reduction associated with eating soy (although it’s hard to determine if that is the reason or if it’s because participants traded conventional meats for soy a few meals a week and maybe it was really just the removal of the damaged fats and fat soluble toxins that did the trick). Most of the positive health benefits are found from using fermented soy foods, not from products like “Tofurky” or SPI (soy protein isolate).

Protein Quality: You will hear many proponents of vegetarian and vegan diets claim that soy offers a complete protein source. While it is true on a chemical level that soy offers a broad spectrum of essential amino acids, it also important to understand that soy contains chemicals that slow or prevent the digestion of proteins and significantly impair the bioavailability of their component amino acids.

Human systems simply don’t produce the all the enzymes essential to the complete digestion of soy protein or the breakdown of the “anti-nutrients” that get in the way. When we rely strictly on soy for protein, or have a very high intake of soy products in the diet, we risk long term amino acid and mineral deficiencies that create problems in all our systems including hypothyroidism, anemia and immuno-deficiency.

Anti-nutrients: These are substances that either impair nutrient bioavailability or are chemicals that directly impinge on human systems creating health problems in the long term. One of these problematic substances is phytic acid or phytate. Soy has one of the highest amounts of phytate of any legume or grain studied, and to make matters worse, the phytates in soy are highly resistant to breaking down by heat (unlike phytates found in spinach, for example). Phytic acid blocks the absorption of vital minerals such as calcium, magnesium, iron, copper and zinc. Because we don’t have the capacity to break down phytates, we have to rely on other mechanisms to do it for us. Happily, bacteria can do this via fermentation. This is why fermented soy products are considered by most nutrition experts to be the best form for human consumption. Fermented soy products include tamari (soy sauce), miso and tempeh.

Unfermented soy also contains enzyme inhibitors that block one of your body’s main proteases: trypsin. This is essential in the digestion and breakdown of proteins. Diets high in trypsin inhibitors can precipitate pancreatitis (and other pathological conditions of the pancreas), amino acid deficiencies and gastric distress as the undigested proteins make their way through the intestines.

If you choose to use soy, please choose organic, non-GMO, fermented products, and rotate your protein sources so you don’t rely exclusively, or even heavily, on soy. It is essential that growing children NOT use soy exclusively as their bodies try to build bones and brains. There are plenty of other legumes out there and when combined with a grain you will have a complete amino acid profile, and a broader spectrum of nutrients.

Get Informed. Get Help if you need it. And Get REAL.

(also published on the Patch.com)

Stress and the Uncommon Cold

Everyone always calls it “the common cold” when in fact that’s a HUGE misnomer. Every cold (and flu) you get is unique, caused by rapidly morphing viruses that make you it’s unwilling host for about 2 weeks. The virus is different every time even though your symptoms may be the same. So really, it’s the uncommon cold and all too common symptoms you experience during the battle back to health.

Speaking from recent unpleasant experience I can tell you that the battle requires constant vigilance and lots of hand washing. Also speaking from personal experience, I can tell you that stress is the ally of that fiendish virus, not you.

Stress and your immunity have an ongoing wrestling match already. The more stress you require your body to endure, the less effective your immunity becomes. Why? When you get stressed out, your body is flooded by a cascade of chemicals designed to induce your ability to run for your life or fight for it. Chemicals that shut down all other systems that are not immediately needed for you to survive the next 20 minutes flow through your bloodstream. Digestion and absorption slow to almost a stop as cortisol shuts down insulin production, and neuro-peptide-Y quickly shunts any recently absorbed fuel to fat storage in the abdomen to be dealt with later. Production of blood cells in the bone marrow screech to a halt while inflammatory compounds rush into circulation in preparation for injury.

Since your immunity is dependent upon the whole host of white blood cells, when you are under chronic stress your ability to fight off infection falls in relationship to your ability to produce white blood cells, and stem inflammation. When the body is chronically on high alert, it uses up resources unwisely. It’s a bit like running out of water by keeping your lawn green in the desert and then watching as your house burns down because the well is dry.

Personally, the sickest I’ve ever been was teaching preschool years ago. I caught the first cold the kids passed around and then just kept getting hit with each new one that came through the school as my immune system struggled to find resources while I fretted constantly about having enough money to pay my bills, went through big changes in my relationship, and skimped on my grocery bills by eating lots of highly processed boxes of mac and cheese. I finally ended up with walking pneumonia and my exasperated doctor threw his hands in the air saying “if you don’t quit your job I’m going to have to admit you to the hospital!”

Now I know better about the food side of things, but I still struggle with chronic stress. I have found that one of the keys is to see “catching a cold” as a signal from my body that it’s time to slow down. De-stress. Nourish myself with whole delicious foods. And spend time each day outside in real air and sun (if possible) to really take a conscious breath. Yes there are supplements and herbs that can help, but nothing works as well as making sure you don’t burn up your resources before you need them.

Get rest. Get nourished. Get REAL.

(also published on The Patch.com)

Seasonal Allergies and Nutrition

I don’t need to tell you that hay-fever can make a beautiful spring miserable. If you also are sensitive to leaf molds then autumn isn’t much fun either. Loading up on over-the-counter allergy medications leaves you feeling wired and tired at the same time and a bit like your brain is swimming through jello for the day which doesn’t help matters. You’ve tried everything you can think of and still carry an extra box of tissues everywhere you go. But believe it or not, there are a few things about seasonal allergies that you probably haven’t heard yet.

We all have heard of antihistamine medications, but do you know what they actually do? The arsenal of specialized cells on the front lines of our immune systems include cells designed to carry supplies of biochemical weapons. Mast cells and basophils are little bubbles filled with histamine. They hang out on the margins of where our internal environment meets the outside world, so they are found in skin, the mucus membranes of the lungs, nose, mouth and eyes, and in the digestive tract. When an allergen activates an antibody (IgE reaction) and that antibody binds to a mast cell, the contents of mast cell are then spilled into the surrounding tissues causing lymph vessels and capillaries to become “leaky”. This in turn causes local swelling and puts other parts of the immune system on high alert. This is the start of an inflammatory process that progresses to watery eyes, a drippy nose, and sinuses full of mucus.

The interesting thing is that we also consume foods that are high in histamine and our systems react the same way by creating an inflammatory response to these foods. If our body is already on high alert from an environmental attack, adding in foods that are high in histamine can exacerbate your symptoms. It is a good idea to reduce your intake of high-histamine foods during the time of year you are more susceptible to allergens.

High-histamine foods include some of my favorites so it’s hard to let them go when they are what I want to reach for when I feel yucky, but here they are: chocolate, wine, beer, avocados, aged cheeses, cider, vinegar, smoked fish, soured breads, fermented foods like sauerkraut and tamari, yogurt, sour cream, pickles and olives. There are also foods that cause us to release our own histamine stores including ripe bananas, eggs, fish, milk, pineapple, strawberries and tomatoes. If you can focus on other foods or at least limit these foods during allergy season, your symptoms will likely lessen.

Additionally there are a few nutritional supplements that have a few tricks up their sleeves. Vitamin C actually acts as an antihistamine in doses over 1000mg. You can try taking 1000mg buffered C up to 5-6x a day to help “unstuff”. The bioflavonoid quercitin, and the herbs boswellia and nettles are also wonder-workers. Look for allergy relief blends of these nutrients to help boost your body’s ability to manage allergen attacks.


(also published in The Patch.com)

Reader Question: "Is eating yogurt daily good for the average person?"

The short answer: Maybe... It depends... On a lot of things... like your personal biochemistry, the source of the dairy, and the ingredients in the yogurt to name a few. The longer answer: First let’s take a VERY short look at the history of dairy as a human food. Really we should not be able to digest milk beyond when we should be weaned from our mothers, by about the age of six. Waaaaaaay back during when human tribes were far flung around the globe and not in regular contact with each other, the northern European tribes, Egyptians, and other groups who were domesticating cattle began to exhibit a genetic mutation that left the gene responsible for making the lactase enzyme in the “on” position. This meant that these humans could continue to digest the lactose sugars in milk beyond childhood. The tribes who were not exposed to this mutation have maintained their “normal” adulthood lactose-intolerance. This is why many African and Asian populations are largely lactose-intolerant. Today this is changing as genetic material is rapidly mixing as we become a more global society. 



Dairy as a food has changed radically in the last 150 years with the advent of pesticides, industrial confinement dairies, growth-hormone injections, antibiotics and pasteurization. Let’s just look at pasteurization for a minute. This process was largely adopted in an effort to stop the spread of diseases such as typhoid, scarlet fever, and tuberculosis that sickened many people during the early 1900s by way of ingesting contaminated milk products. Pasteurization is now mandated in many states and dairy products must meet certain national standards to cross state lines. The two main pasteurization techniques subject raw milk to temperatures exceeding 161F for 15 seconds (high-heat-short-time; HTST) or 280F for 2 seconds (ultra-high-heat; UHT). The UHT or “ultra-pasteurized” process is becoming more popular so now you can even find milk in tetra-packs on unrefrigerated grocery shelves. 



What does this do to the milk? Consider that milk proteins, primarily whey and casein, are fragile. When they are subjected to high heat, vigorous shaking, or high-speed blending, they begin to break apart quickly into random amino-acid groups or singles in a process known as “denaturing”. The body likes to receive intact un-denatured proteins so it can break them apart into the puzzle pieces it knows how to use. Highly processed dairy products create dubious protein bioavailability for our human systems. In addition, the high heat damages the fats found in milk, including beneficial conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) which helps trigger healthy body composition balance (i.e. supports lean mass and helps the body let go of extra body fat mass). 



Keep in mind that toxins tend to travel most effectively up the food chain in fats (the subject another upcoming post) and you’ll want to avoid any non-organic dairy product as well.



So back to the yogurt question: Yes, unflavored yogurt made from whole, organic milk from grass-fed, hormone-free cows can be healthy for people who are not allergic to dairy or lactose intolerant. Highly-processed, denatured, fat-free, "squeeze-pack" yogurts with loads of sugar or sugar-substitutes and carrageenan thickeners? not so much (and especially not for children). Get the good stuff. Get as close to milk from a happy, healthy Bessie as you can. Get REAL.

Reader Question: "What foods are the most important to eat organic?"

An excellent question and let me say, you aren't the only one confused about this! First let’s clear up some misconceptions about what organic is and isn’t. What exactly does “organic” mean anyway? According to the USDA National Organic Program website, “organically grown” means the food was grown and processed without any synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. However, this doesn’t exclude fertilizers or pesticides that are naturally derived, so, this doesn’t mean the foods were never sprayed with anything. Currently “organic” also means no sewage sludge, irradiation or genetic modification can be used in the production of the food or ingredient (whew!).

As of 2002 there are three sub-designations that are important to know about: “100% organic”, “organic” and “made with organic ingredients”. The “100% organic” designation is the only one that is just that. All the ingredients must be certified organic. In the case of “organic”, all agricultural ingredients must be certified organic except where a special “National List” allows them not to be. These non-organic ingredients can’t make up more than 5% of the total (not counting water and salt). In the case of “made with organic ingredients”, at least 70% of the finished product has to be certified organic (not counting water and salt). Any other ingredients that are not required to be organic on the National List can’t be produced but “excluded methods” (another special list).

Tricky? You bet! Political? Absolutely! Consumer friendly? Nope. That said, it’s still a good idea to eat as organically as you can afford to for your long-term health and the overall health of our interlinked ecosystems. But, what do you do when you can’t afford to eat all organically all the time? Here are a few simple things to keep in mind. First, the lower on the food chain you eat, the less intensely concentrated these toxins become before you consume them. As you move farther away from the original interaction between dirt, seed, sun and rain (ex: chard > beetle > chicken > egg; or grass > cow > milk > butter) the more the toxic residues from fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, hormones, antibiotics, and more become, so as the human at the top, you ingest much higher quantities via eggs or butter than you do via chard or oats. Spend your hard earned cash on organic butter (and other dairy), meats, poultry, and eggs. Breathe a little easier about whole grains, most veggies and most fruits. For a really good list of the top most contaminated and the top cleanest conventionally grown fruits and veggies, get the Environmental Working Group’s “Dirty Dozen” and “Clean 15” lists. They even have an ap for your phone so you have it with you when you grocery shop. For starters, only buy organic apples and spinach, but don’t worry so much about broccoli or avocados.

Lastly, when you start reducing "food products" with lots of ingredients on the labels and start eating more whole foods, you eliminate places where toxins can easily get hidden. Keep it REAL! Bon appetite!

(also published on the Patch.com)

Finally! A NO RESOLUTION New Year

So, I'm sure you've noticed... We're all still here... As one of my friends posted on FaceBook, "do I get a medal or something? I've survived 4 apocalypses so far..." Maybe it's the sense of "why bother to make plans when the world is about to end" that people were using to put off making healthy changes. And yet, I agree with being resolution-free this time around. Resolutions are doomed.

Yep, you read that right. I'm making NO resolutions this year. Why? Because they are generally doomed to fail. Why? Because they are usually unrealistic and over-reaching. Oh, we think we have our best interests in mind, and we certainly have our best intentions when making those cross-my-heart promises, but we set our sights awfully high and try to use a sheer force of will to attain our goals. There are numerous studies out now that talk about willpower as a limited resource. I have to agree, and we tend to burn through it using it as an inappropriate fuel to get things done. Sure, it will get you there, but like rocket fuel, it burns hot and fast. It's the wrong tool for lasting change.

I have a proposal: rather than make doomed resolutions, let's instead envision a future we want to inhabit. That future includes all aspects of who you are -- your psyche, your emotional state, your health, your financial resources, your relationships, your spiritual life, and everything else you can imagine. Instead of creating a very small tight box of high expectations, paint a picture of where you want to be with a broad and colorful brush with room to expand! Start envisioning yourself in a world of your own creation. Fill in as much detail as you can. What senses can you employ to make it feel even more real? Does the food you dream forward to eating have a taste? Does that garden you are walking through have a key scent? What color is the check you are writing to pay off that last bill? What does that deep breath feel like as you reach that mountain peak and look to vistas far beyond your current ability to climb? How REAL can you make it look and feel in your mind and your body? Is your body pain-free and moving with ease? Remember, you can dream ANYTHING you want. There are no limits to imagination, no one will be judging your results, so go wild with embellishments! Ok? Got it? Working on a few pictures already? GOOD! Now live in that vision for just 5 minutes everyday this month. Allow your inner kid to roam through this landscape and fill in more details each time you visit. Maybe it's what you do as you wake each morning or before you fall asleep each night. If you want to, write it down or draw it out. Lean into it emotionally. Fill it in with joy and ease. Take deep breaths of the fresh air in your vision.

Why? What good is it to dream? Why am I seeming to suddenly advocate the creation of a complete fantasy when in all my previous posts I exhort you to Get REAL? I'll tell you: because thoughts become things. You know those old tapes you've had running in your head? The ones that tell you in your own voice that you're "sick and tired" of your job? (and presto, you feel sick and tired a LOT, right?) You know the one that tells you that you are bored with life, or the one that belittles your inner-kid's joy in finding beauty in the mirror? You know that voice that tells you that you'll never make it and doubts your every step? Yeah, that's the voice that kills every resolution you ever made. Why bother creating a beautiful vision? Because it is the vision that will pull you forward, not the whip that drives you from behind! It is the vision that will tempt you to take the next step back to your healthy self, not the guilt of breaking a promise! It is the vision and the details that will give you reasons to keep going until you see and feel the changes as they become REAL. After spending time truly envisioning your Self in an environment that is supportive of your health and happiness, start making steps each day towards that vision. No, it may not ultimately end up having pink ponies or crystal castles or galaxy cruisers, but you will find that many of the elements DO show up. Most importantly, as your world begins to shift, it is the shifting itself that begins to pull you forward. It is the feeling better each day that makes you WANT to keep taking steps. This isn't a chore, you don't even need will power, it is a process of creating joy and liberation from limiting beliefs about your Self that you may have been holding onto for decades!

Get Imaginative! Get out the mental paint set! Get REAL!