Medicinal Effects of Foods - Part 3

I have many clients who come to see me worried about weight gain and what has become known in our culture as "emotional eating". These clients want to stop using eating as a way to medicate themselves. The thing is, everything we put in our systems has biochemical effects. Keep in mind that thoughts and emotions are "things" from a biological standpoint. They are real biochemical processes with ingredients and metabolic outcomes that can be tracked. The simplest form of medication that we've learned over the millennia is the use of food and drink to change the way neurotransmitters in the gut and brain behave. Because eating is something we must do, changing the way we relate to food as medicine is important. You can easily see why it would be important to quit smoking and you can make efforts to do so. But a person can't just quit eating. This is why it's so difficult to tease apart.

Let's start here: You can't take food and emotions apart. Because emotions and thoughts are built from the basic ingredients we take in. When looking at "emotional eating" it is important to really understand this statement. The foods (and other substances) you ingest become you. There are whole supermarkets full of "food products" that have little or no connection with what could be conceived of as Real Food. Just as real food becomes the biochemical building blocks of your muscles, your organs, your immune system, your thoughts and your emotions, so too do all the new-fangled chemicals that have entered our food supply in the last 100 years. It is vital that you start asking yourself "Is this what I want to build myself out of today?"

For most of us, sugar is our biggest weakness and the thing that has the biggest negative impact. Sugar is pro-inflammatory, depresses the immune system, contributes to mood instability, creates an acidic internal environment, worsens PMS symptoms, and hastens aging, just to name a few. But we love the stuff! Why? It makes perfect sense from a biochemical standpoint. The same bank of lights in the brain that gets turned on by serotonin (the neurotransmitter that makes us feel happy) also gets amped up by sugar. When we feel down, depressed, stressed, unhappy or need an escape, flooding the system with sugar can help to temporarily change our internal environment. The trouble is that sugar is like jet fuel: it burns hot and fast. Once the body has overcome the flood of sugar, the natural levels in the bloodstream are even lower than where they were before the sugar rush. A signal from the brain says "hey, running out of juice up here, need more of that feel good stuff!" and off we go to find another fix. The trick here is to short circuit the response and reach for foods that increase natural serotonin rather than settle for the quick fix that only temporarily bandaids the situation. In this case, reach for protein. The best choices would be eggs, turkey, elk, pork, crab, shrimp, and salmon (vegetarian options include 200 kcal portions of spirulina, spinach, and watercress) because they are high in tryptophan which is what the body uses to create serotonin.

There are whole manifestos available on the detrimental effects of food additives and toxic residues out there so I won't go into a dissertation here. (If you are interested in a few good references check out "Aspartame Disease" by H. J. Roberts; "Excitotoxins: the taste that kills" by Russell Blaylock; "Diet for a Poisoned Planet" by David Steinman; and "Sweet Deception" by Joseph Mercola). Suffice it to say, each of these toxins has an impact. If you are susceptible, the way they are incorporated into your system will have worse effects. For example, there are case studies showing that you can actually fool your doctor into believing you have multiple sclerosis by ingesting just the right amount of aspartame (aka Nutrasweet). Aspartame is actually a drug, not a food, and we are misusing it in America. Artificial sweeteners are the worst offenders largely because they have become so common in foods. I urge you to get these toxins out of your diet, and especially out of the food supply for children. We are already seeing dire consequences of long term use, and I hate to see what's in store for our teens who are gulping down gallons of diet sodas.

Take control of the sweet portion of your food supply and you will solve big groups of issues including the craving for the sweet taste itself. It takes about 2-4 weeks. That's all. But you have to be vigilant. If you need help, enlist a good nutritionist to walk you through the process. Making changes to the way you look at, think about, shop for, prepare, and eat food is extremely difficult. It's not as easy as "just do it". There are so many reasons WHY we eat and in order to get a handle on some of the biggies, it's ok to ask for help. Sugar and sweet cravings are biggies. It's not just about willpower so stop beating yourself up. It's about biochemistry and learning to create the internal environment you want.

Get Smart. Get Fresh. Get Real.

Sleepless in Southern Oregon

Every now and then I am hit with a night where sleep is beyond elusive, it's playing hookie somewhere and hasn't even bothered to text. This seems to happen when there is a perfect storm of triggers that let sleep off the hook for a night. For me these elements often include: a new or unfamiliar place (can even be a different room in a familiar house); new or unfamiliar sounds in the environment; too much caffeine after 3pm; getting really physically exhausted and then getting the mind engaged in something fascinating right before normal bed time; having a meal out that has MSG in it and finding out after it's too late; being on my cycle; and full moons. All but the last applied last night. Once the cycle of non-sleep begins, there seems to be little I can do to stop it without a little help, so I got up after tossing and turning until 2am and worked until about 4am and finally dozed off somewhere around 4:30. I would have tried my battery of sleep aids if I had been at home. These helpers don't include any pharmaceuticals and can work miracles. Since this issue is something a good number of my clients experience, I thought I'd post some ideas here that you my not have thought of or tried before.

Melatonin: Many of you have probably heard of or even tried melatonin which is a naturally occurring hormone that is in charge of inducing normal sleep. It works wonders for me especially when changing time zones. The best thing to do in that instance is to take 3mg (+/-) about 20 minutes before you would like to be asleep in the new time zone, and then go to bed as if you are there. I do this when I'm on the plane unless I have to change planes in the middle of the night somewhere.

Wood Betony: A simple tincture of this herb is used for other things more often, but a little known use that works for me is to get "the list maker" to be quite. You know the one, that little voice that pops into your head and says "oh, and when you wake up, don't forget to put that bill to be mailed in your briefcase" and then just as you're about to slide into blissful unconsciousness, "oh, and remember that tomorrow is Aunt Susie's birthday"... About 30 drops of Wood Betony can help get the volume turned down.

Chamomile (and/or Valerian) and Oat Bath: Get some cheese cloth and make a simple mesh bag about 6"x6". Fill it with chamomile flowers and rolled oats. Bring about a quart of water to a boil and pour over the bag and steep while drawing a hot bath. Pour the "tea" and the "tea bag" straight into the tub. Climb in and soak until you are really toasty. You can use the "tea bag" as a scrubby if you like. Towel off but be sure to stay warm and dive under the covers.

Turkey: If you find you are a wee bit hungry, have a slice or two of uncured turkey meat (dark is better). Turkey is high in the amino acid tryptophan which is the precursor to the neurotransmitter serotonin. This neurotransmitter is responsible for that "ahhh" feeling of relaxation. It is one of the main reasons why people go into a dozy food coma after Thanksgiving!

Reduce Exposure to Glowing Screens: It has been shown recently that the screens that shine light at you like TVs, computers, and hand helds, have the power to reset your internal clock. Reflected light, like that bouncing off a page in a book, doesn't have the same effect. If you have trouble on a regular basis getting to sleep, try turning off all glowing screens at least one hour before you want to be asleep. You can read, or do laundry or play cards, but don't stare at something that glows back at you.

And a little note about alcohol and caffeine: Although alcohol can cause someone to "pass out" it's not really healthy sleep that you get in that instance. What ends up happening is you will bounce back awake again in about 3 hours and then have a really hard time getting back to sleep (not to mention you probably won't feel very well). Minimize alcohol in the evening and caffeine throughout the day. Caffeine clearance can take 5-8 hours for women especially, so be sure to stop ingestion by about 3pm to be safe getting to sleep at night.

Hope this helps! When all else fails, don't stress about not sleeping because the stressing will prolong the sleeplessness. Just get up and do something soothing (without adding in any glowing screens). You can't make up lost sleep, but you can take a nap later in the day which will help.