Thursday, February 27, 2014

Hormone Help

Hormone Help


Can we talk about hormones? Your body has two primary ways of maintaining a state of balance and well-being that is known as homeostasis. First, your brain communicates with the body electrically through the nervous system to control all the other cells, tissues and organs. This method has a faster response time, but is generally for short-term regulation. The second method of communication is the endocrine or hormone system. Hormones are chemical messengers that are released into the blood to travel to receptor sites on other tissues, glands, or organs. This method takes a little longer for a response, but the results are intended to last longer as well. In a sentence, hormones alter our physiology by turning things on and turning things off. There’s a great deal of attention being paid to hormones lately and I believe it’s justified – all our physiology and our ability to maintain health over disease can be tied to the balance of these tiny chemicals. With this in mind, I found a couple recent articles that report how we could impact our own hormones.


When you study hormones in physiology class, the first thing you learn is that the interaction of these numerous chemicals is rather complex and that they are all ultimately coordinated by a portion of the brain known as the hypothalamus. Modern science has proven that the hypothalamus is the part of the brain that responds to our environment to help us adapt to our current needs. Because of this, the  hypothalamus is influenced by our diet through what we eat, drink, and breathe, our level of activity and exercise, our sleep, and possibly most importantly our thoughts and stress level. Thus, our lifestyle has an enormous effect on how hormones are regulated and how our bodies our performing. For instance, exercise and movement of our joints and muscles literally shuts off the stress response in the brain and changes our hormones. Stress reduction techniques such as yoga, meditation, and prayer have shown enormous benefits in reducing the stress hormones as does proper sleep. I recently found some foods that appear to have a direct effect on our hormones as well. For instance grains and sugars decrease the levels of seven of our most important hormones! This is huge! Likewise, alcohol decreases your HGH (human growth hormone). Just one drink can reduce HGH by 75%. This is the stuff that helps build muscle at the expense of fat. On the flip side, foods and supplements with magnesium will increase HGH and other sex hormones such as testosterone. Even though they were vilified in the past, healthy proteins such as organic beef, chicken, and fish and even healthy fats such as egg yolks, lard, and butter have been shown to improve progesterone and DHEA. This last hormone is a steroid produced in your adrenal glands that helps reduce premature aging and mental stress. The importance of these natural fats and proteins is one of the reasons the Paleo diet is gaining popularity and results. Remember too that all our fat soluble vitamins, especially vitamins D and A help to regulate hormones as well.


This should serve as more evidence that we have great influence over our entire physiology through the choices we make. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of proper exercise, sleep, and thinking as well as becoming more aware of what you put in your body at mealtime and understanding the ramifications of those choices.

The Athlete’s Appetite

The Athlete’s Appetite


I was recently asked to speak to an elementary sports team about their eating habits. Healthy diet is healthy diet, so the recommendations don’t really change that much for athletes over anyone that wants to be healthy. Nevertheless, in preparation, I did look up some articles and editorials on the subject and found some dos and don’ts I’d like to share.


In an article titled, “9 Foods an Athlete Would Never Eat,” you can get most of the don’ts covered.  Number one on the list was soda. When you go back and review my article on high fructose corn syrup, you’ll know that it’s not helping; and the caffeine in soda will cause more dehydration placing an athlete at greater risk for injury. A study from Purdue University showed that diet sodas are probably even worse, because the artificial sweeteners in them trick the body and release more insulin which drives whatever sugar you have in your blood into fat storage instead of having it available for muscle activity.

Next on the list was canned soup because of the high sodium count and rice cakes due to their utter lack of nutrition and extremely high glycemic index. Likewise, cereal and white bread were targeted because of their high glycemic index and the resulting insulin effect. These foods are more likely to cause weight gain than enhance athletic performance. I was pleased to see microwave popcorn on the list as well. This snack is loaded with unhealthy fats and sodium as well as the toxin PFOA. This perfluorooctanoic acid lacing the popcorn bags is a known carcinogen and is the same bad chemical found in Teflon. The authors did note that if you pop the corn on a stove with a bit of coconut oil, you turn the snack into a sort of super-food loaded with antioxidants (from the coconut). The final food that athletes would never eat is granola. Even though granola contains more fiber and nutrients, just like the cereal and rice cakes, the glycemic index is too high.


So what should athletes (and all the rest of us) choose to eat? We all need healthy protein in the form of lean beef, chicken, fish, or eggs. There are numerous vegetarian sources of protein as well. As a rule, try to consume these about two hours before engaging in athletic activity. We all need healthy carbohydrates in the form of fruits and vegetables. Some whole grains are acceptable for athletic activity as long as they have enough fiber in them, to slow down the sugar release. An English muffin is often recommended as an example. However, every article I found regarding fueling for an event was pushing the fruits. Strawberries, grapes, apples and the like provide instant energy and more electrolytes than a sports drink. Just try to limit the high glycemic fruits such as watermelon, pineapple, and cantaloupe. And don’t forget the healthy fats. You may not get your kids to choke down avocado or raw coconut oil, but you can give them some nuts or seeds to satisfy their fat needs.


Please understand that I’m aware of the rationale that “They’ve worked hard and they deserve it” or that “They’ll just go burn it off.” But, when you give your kid a burger, fries, and a coke before, after, or in between athletic events you are perpetuating a lie and setting them up for poor athletic performance, illness, and increased risk of injury. We all need to think of food simply as fuel and for the athlete who is more like a race car you want to put in the highest octane fuel you can provide!

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Let Health Happen

Let Health Happen


Many of you have been following our column in the newspaper for several years now and

have been kind enough to express to me how much you appreciate this information. So,

we decided to share these tips for better health and wellness through our website and on

this blog. We’ll be posting new information once per week and recycling some of the

older articles that you may have missed. The following is the very first article I wrote

for the Courier in March of 2009. Please look for the new articles every week and invite

others to follow! If you have questions or information you’d like us to research and

report on, please feel free to contact us through this site.

- Yours for Better Health,

Dr. Geoff Walburn


What would you pay for a pill if you knew it was guaranteed to slow or even stop your

brain from aging? Well, there is no such pill, but the great news is that based on recent

information, you don’t need a pill and it doesn’t cost anything to maintain healthy mental

function. Researchers have determined that the primary thing you need to do for your

brain is to exercise your body!


Physical exercise is an essential of wellness. Most people are aware that exercise is

critical for maintaining weight, lowering blood pressure, improving sleep, decreasing

stress, decreasing pain and even preventing many cancers. But if these benefits are still

not enough to get you going, one 2008 study showed that just walking briskly for 45

minutes three days per week improved “mental fitness” in just six months time.


A similar study released last September showed that 20 minutes of any exercise per day

resulted in improved cognitive function and memory. The best part of this study was that

these benefits persisted even 12 months after exercise had been discontinued!


Regardless of your reasons, the message here is that exercise works and the results are

long-lasting. If you’re not exercising now, it’s time to start. This study and most others

suggest that you need to commit to at least 120 minutes of exercise per week in order to

get the best results.


Good luck and always remember that your body was designed to be self-healing.

Practice a healthy lifestyle and let health happen.