Diet and Mood

Last week, I discussed sugar and its insulin response in the body.  While the focus then was on weight gain and compulsive eating habits, this week I found more related to the same subject.  In an article titled, “Can Your Diet Prevent Mood Disorders,” I learned that the sugars, grains, and starches that raise insulin levels and lead to insulin resistance, are linked to depression and aggression.  This chemical response can happen long before any symptoms of diabetes or pre-diabetes.

As discussed last week, excessive insulin release in response to a high sugar diet leads to low blood sugar levels also known as hypoglycemia.  This causes your brain to release the hormone glutamate.  High levels of glutamate can cause agitation, depression, anger, anxiety, and panic attacks.  While the standard approach for these conditions is to prescribe a medication to suppress the brain chemicals, please remember that the ultimate cause is from diet and lifestyle.

Research shows a strong connection to brain health and a healthy gut.  In fact, the greatest concentration of serotonin, which is involved with mood control, depression and aggression, is found in your intestines, not your brain.  This is one of the many reasons why diet is so important for mental health.  In addition to reducing sugar, there are numerous other dietary strategies that can improve mood.  Hopefully you recall from other articles how vitamin D is critical as a precursor for many other hormones.  Likewise, Omega-3 fats such as those found in fish oil have been found to work just as well as antidepressants without any side effects.  Low levels of Omega-3 fats are associated with low amount of brain serotonin and dopamine and even blood flow to the brain.  All three of these factors are associated with depression and even suicide.

Given this information, the advice seems clear: reduce the sugars and starches and make sure you get proper supplementation of vitamin D and omega 3 fats to enjoy optimal mental health.

The Glycemic Index

Whatever healthy eating or diet program you’ve taken an interest in, if it works, it has one common denominator – low glycemic food.  In other words, sugar is the enemy here.  More specifically, the enemy is any food that raises your insulin levels.  This, by definition is the glycemic index.  While I may discuss this in terms of diet and weight gain, please understand that weight gain is merely a symptom or side effect of poor health as a result of poor lifestyle!  Understanding the glycemic index and maintaining your insulin levels is a fundamental component of health.

How does this work?  High glycemic foods are foods that are high in carbohydrate or sugar and also low in fiber.  These sugars and chains of sugars a.k.a. starches (breads, chips, pastas, cereals, potatoes) cause a spike of sugar in your blood.  This sugar has to be removed from the blood so that it doesn’t overload the glucose to the brain and other tissues.  Insulin is released to move this sugar from the blood and into your muscles.  If you are physically active or exercising enough, your muscles will use this sugar for energy and life is good.  If you are inactive and the muscles do not need this fuel, the insulin will pass the sugar to the liver where it will be converted to cholesterol and fat.  Over time, this storage system ultimately results in heart disease and weight gain.  And it doesn’t end there!  When you take in a dose of high sugar and the resulting high blood sugar causes a spike of high insulin to be released, the blood sugar is moved from the blood and into the tissue.  This drop in blood sugar will make you feel hungry.  What do you usually crave when you’re hungry from a drop in blood sugar?  More carbs and sugar!  Thus the insulin roller-coaster keeps on keeping on.  Regardless of your weight, you need to understand this process and how it is quintessential to health.  Please get yourself a chart of high/low glycemic foods and eat primarily off the low glycemic chart.  If you need this chart, email me at rivertownchiro@gmail.net and we will be happy to provide one for you!

Seasonal Solutions

With the colder, wet weather, I’ve been seeing more people with flare-ups of chronic problems and complaints of various aches and pains.  While, I suppose on one hand this is good for business, on the other hand, there are some simple solutions to deal with these aggravations that we all should consider as the seasons change.

In following this column, you should already know that it’s been proven that low pressure fronts in the weather do indeed increase the inflammation associated with arthritis, allergies, sinus problems, and general aches and pains.  Likewise, you should also know that inflammation has been implicated with pain as well as every disease known to man.  If you can win the war on inflammation, you feel better and live a longer, healthier life!  So, if the crappy weather increases inflammatory problems, how do you overcome this, outside of moving to a less threatening environment?  The obvious solutions are the same lifestyle strategies that help any health problem – eat better, mover better (exercise), and think better by reducing stress and getting proper sleep.  These should always be your long-term strategies.  However, there are a few short-term approaches that can give you some quick relief.  At this time of year you should always think about taking or increasing your vitamin D.  The only way to truly know if you’re low in vitamin D is through blood testing, but it is generally accepted that D can be safely taken at 4000-5000 I.U.s per day especially through the winter months until we begin getting our D naturally from sunlight again in the spring.  Vitamin D is particularly important for dealing with seasonal affective disorder, more commonly known as the “winter blues.”  Another common solution is fish oil and vitamin C.  The C and the omega 3’s from fish oil are necessary ingredients for all the steroid hormones produced by the adrenal glands.  These are your body’s natural anti-inflammatories.  In fact, 3000 milligrams of vitamin C have been proven to be as effective in reducing inflammation as prescription medications without the nasty side-effects on the kidneys and liver.  There are also some less scientific “folky” methods of reducing inflammatory pain.  Possibly the oldest remedy is organic apple cider vinegar.  While the reason for its results are largely unknown, cider vinegar can be very effective at reducing joint and arthritic pain and some studies have even shown that it reduces blood sugar and insulin levels.  It’s thought that 2 tablespoons of vinegar in the morning diluted in water or juice is the best way to achieve results.  Vinegar is very acidic so make certain you dilute and use the dark, organic variety.  In the end, reducing inflammation has much to do with antioxidants.  These are the little chemicals that fight against free radical damage.  Fruits and vegetables are your primary source of antioxidants, but as I’ve mentioned before, green tea is a super anti-oxidant.  Use a combination of these strategies along with a healthy lifestyle and this should help you get through another long cold winter much more easily.

Core Four

With the New Year right around the corner, many people will have a renewed commitment to health and several people have asked me what vitamins and supplements they should be taking as part of a program for wellness.  There’s so much confusion on this subject out there and I have seen people literally come in with bags of stuff that they’ve accumulated over the years.  Unfortunately, often much of what people are taking isn’t always necessary and even more times they are taking supplements that contain the same nutrients.  After numerous seminars and books, I’ve found four supplements that everyone agrees to be the basic nutritional foundation.

Understand, in a perfect world, we shouldn’t need any supplementation.  God didn’t screw this up.  We did.  As a result, unless you are eating an array of organic fruits and vegetables with every meal, a high quality multivitamin combined with a multimineral is necessary.  Vitamins don’t do much by themselves; they require the minerals to activate them.  Many of the vitamins out there are junk and don’t even absorb.  At the very least, you should observe your urine turning to a fluorescent yellow color after you’ve been taking these for a few days.  Secondly, you should take omega 3 fatty acids.  These are a required nutrient that the body does not produce.  They are a necessary building block for the anti-inflammatory hormones produced by your adrenal glands.  When you reduce inflammation with these hormones, you reduce your risk of nearly every disease.  Fish oil is your strongest source of omega 3 fatty acids.  However, make certain that the oil is fresh as it oxidizes and turns bad after about 90 days on the shelf.  Next, a probiotic is key.  These are the good bacteria that are found in healthy soil.  Microbes such as acidophilus and lactobacillus serve to break down waste in the colon and assist bowel function.  They also are a first line of defense for any bad bugs ingested from food and drink.  Probiotics also produce enzymes that are critical for the immune system.  We should take these regularly, but it is critical after a round of antibiotics as these drugs wipe out the good bugs.  Lastly, Vitamin D is often recommended.  Unless you are getting regular exposure to the sun and allowing time for this vitamin to be released to the surface of the skin and be reabsorbed before washing it off in the shower or the pool, you should supplement.  Nearly every sunscreen blocks the rays that stimulate Vitamin D.  This nutrient should not be looked at just as a vitamin – it is a hormone precursor that helps regulate the function of your endocrine (hormonal) system.  Most people are insufficient in D, but the only true way to know if your levels are adequate is with occasional blood testing.

As mentioned before, with a diet of healthy organic fruits and vegetables grown in natural soil and grass fed organic meats or fish along with adequate sun exposure, we don’t really need any of these things.  But in the world we live in, these four supplements should be considered essential for your body to function normally and to help prevent numerous forms of illness.  Work on your diet and consider adding these products to your strategy for better health and wellness. 

The Universal Solvent

If you’ve followed this column over the years, you know that physical, chemical, and emotional stressors, beyond the individual’s ability to adapt, are the root cause of nearly all disease.  Two of these are easier to adapt to and prevent a state of excess.  For physical stress, you need to make time for regular exercise and utilize healing methods such as chiropractic, massage, physical therapy, yoga, etc.  In the case of chemical stress, you need to reduce the toxins from fake foods, drugs/medications, and other chemicals while fortifying with the proper sources of lean proteins, fruits and vegetables.  But what do you do for emotional stress?  Given the season, I thought this would be an appropriate time to discuss strategies of psychological stress reduction.

I found an article that was given to every patient that came to the Mayo Clinic for treatment of fibromyalgia.  The article was all about forgiveness.  The article stressed that we all need to let go of grievances, anger, resentment, guilt, and regret.  These negative emotions only hurt the person who’s carrying them while stimulating the hormones in our body that perpetuate the stress response.  This response is known to cause high blood pressure and cholesterol, inflammation and pain, depression, sleep disorders, sexual dysfunction, cancer and virtually every other ailment.  As the Mayo article states, we have to let go in order to begin the healing process.  Traditionally, there are five basic steps to achieve complete forgiveness.  First you need to forgive any other person that is involved.  This does not mean you agree with the person or condone their behavior – you’re just letting go and not letting them control you anymore.  Next, you allow the other person to forgive you for any part you may have played in the situation or conflict.  Most importantly you need to forgive yourself.  Fourth, you need to learn the lesson from the situation.  Try to find some positive lesson you can gain from going through even the most negative experience.  Finally, and this one’s the toughest, once you recognize a lesson, you need to be grateful for that lesson and the opportunity the conflict gave you to learn from that situation.  These steps sound simple and sometimes it can be when you’re ready to let go. 

Emotional stress truly is the silent killer because it gets into our subconscious mind and alters our physiology through the stress response.  Fortunately, healthy diet and exercise can help shut off the stress response temporarily.  Yoga and meditation are also very helpful at interrupting stress at a subconscious level and helping to restore emotional homeostasis.  But forgiveness is the universal solvent that heals the negative emotions linked to so much stress.  In the spirit of Christmas, I thought I’d leave you with scripture from Mark 11:25:  “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”  Wishing you peace and forgiveness this Christmas and in the coming new year.

Giving Thanks

As a chiropractor, I’m always challenging people to look to the cause of their pain, ailment, or illness because unless you uncover the cause, you’ll always be treating and managing the symptoms.  The World Health Organization has reported that the ultimate cause of any loss of health is excessive amounts of physical, chemical, and/or emotional stress beyond the body’s natural ability to adapt.  Research suggests that emotional stress is the single biggest factor of these different stressors.  In my discussions with people, I certainly find that many are dealing with excessive amounts of this emotional stress resulting with increased pain, sleep disorders, anxiety and depression, digestive disorders, amongst other health problems.  In preparation for Thanksgiving, I wanted to share a reminder of a strategy on how to reduce the effects of our daily stress.

First of all, I’d like to emphasize that we weren’t born into stress.  Instead, we experience different stress, and over time we practice this stress until we get very good at it.  In time, our conscious stress (what we perceive and what we choose to focus on) becomes subconscious stress.  In subconscious stress, our brain is functioning in a revved-up, fight/flight state that is appropriate for survival (fighting a bear) but not appropriate for every-day life.  When our brain is in this state, it changes our physiology through our nervous system and our hormones and our organs start to function differently. Eventually, this can manifest as almost any disease out there.  So we must interrupt the stress response!  Physical exercise, yoga, meditation, prayer, and other disciplines have been proven to decrease stress.  But given the season, I would like to encourage you to just try another strategy that can reduce the subconscious stress.  This strategy is using a gratitude journal.

Science has proven that our brain cannot be in a state of stress and gratitude at the same time.  This is why I like to call, gratitude the universal solvent of all emotional stresses.  All you need is a small notebook or journal and a pen by your bed stand.  In the mornings, before your feet hit the floor, you simply write down five things that you’re grateful for.  These can be big or small.  This is to allow you to at least begin your day in this state with the goal of staying in a state of gratitude as long as possible.  Then at night, right before your head hits the pillow, you read some of the things you’ve written over the mornings until you feel like you are back in that state of gratitude.  This will work best if you stay in this state and don’t let any other thoughts enter your head until you’re asleep.  In doing this, you will be retraining the subconscious mind to be in this state rather than a state of anxiety, depression, anger, etc.  This is a simple strategy that will render results over time.  Give it a try and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Why it Works

It will soon be a new year with new resolutions and many, many, new gym memberships.  I believe this is a great thing!  What’s not great is how many people fail to meet their health goals and go back to their old habits after just a couple months.  After helping coordinate our wellness program, I’ve seen that there are three main reasons for this phenomenon.  First, people have the intention but no plan or knowledge of how to meet their goals, so they get frustrated and quit.  Secondly, they overdo it, get sore or hurt from exercising the wrong way and get frustrated and quit.  Finally, even with a plan, the hard work didn’t produce the results desired as quickly as hoped so they get frustrated and quit.  The beauty of RTC Wellness Program or any complete health enhancement program is that it addresses these three pitfalls.

We can all walk into a gym and within just a few minutes pinpoint who knows what they’re doing and who does not.  The ones who know what they’re doing simply had a plan while the others did not.  When you walk into the gym or step onto any machine, you need to know what your workout will be.  How long will it take, what parts are you working, and how much are you doing?  The easiest way to get a plan like this is to consult a personal trainer who can design your workouts to meet your specific goals.  But remember, you need to change your workouts routinely to keep improving and challenging your body for results.  To address the second pitfall mentioned above, I would also consult a personal trainer.  The main reason people get injured with exercise is that they don’t know how to do it properly.  Another reason for injury or excessive soreness is that people tend to overwork some body parts while neglecting others.  This creates an imbalance.  Personal training prevents this.  In our wellness program, we also recommend incorporating chiropractic care and massage to prevent injury.  Many people have structural or muscular imbalances present before they even hit the gym.  These imbalances can often be aggravated when working out.  The chiropractic and massage are also excellent at reducing the normal muscle soreness from exercise which makes it easier for people to keep going and not interrupt their program.  Finally . . .  results!  We all know people who work their tails off and still don’t get the changes they’re looking for.  This is where your program must be more complete.  If you’re looking for weight loss, you must realize that exercise is only about 30% of the solution.  A low glycemic diet with the proper amounts of protein, fruits, and vegetables is the other 70%.  You need to plan your diet with even more diligence than you plan your exercise especially in the beginning to get things going for you.  Some people need to do a detoxification, before even beginning, to rid their body of the toxins stored in the fat cells that can prevent fat metabolism from occurring.  What about stress?  We’ve all seen the commercials about cortisol – the stress hormone that deposits and maintains fat around the belly region.  This is a real thing.  If you cannot sleep properly and you cannot reduce the stress, weight loss is almost impossible.  We take this seriously and utilize meditation along with the diet and exercise to combat the stress component.  Even with all of this, about 10% of the time people still struggle due to hormonal imbalances that have developed over long periods of toxicity, insufficiency, and stress.  In these cases, I recommend consulting a doctor that deals with bio-identical hormones to complement the rest of your program and enhance results.

If you’re renewing your commitment to your health, please use some of the strategies listed above and consider joining us for our FREE wellness talk on December 10^th where we will workshop more of these strategies to help you meet your wellness goals for 2019. For more information, call our office at 812-273-HEAL (4325), or visit our Facebook page.