Why you should reduce sugar and carbohydrate intake

With the weather turning colder, it is time to get into supporting our bodies with good food, keeping ourselves warm, getting good sleep and supporting the immune system to get through the winter.  We may also feel the hunger more, especially in the evening as we get home and waiting for dinner to cook.  Picking on the wrong foods at this time even though you eat well all day is usually the culprit in piling the winter pounds on and compromising your immunity.  To make it easy to eat well, do not stock up on high sugar foods like soft drinks, lollies, muesli bars and biscuits or foods that convert to sugar easily, also known as high glycemic load carbohydrate foods– like bread and chips.  Yes, although chips are savoury, it still piles on the pounds, from the ease at which it converts to sugar from the processed carbohydrate.

Sugar dampens our immune system, and the more processed the food, the faster it converts to sugar. A can of soft drinks can have up to 9 teaspoons of sugar in it.  New Zealanders on average consume 50.5kg of sugar per person per year or 32 teaspoons of sugar a day!  This is in stark contrast, exceeding by a large margin the World Health Organisation recommendation of 4 teaspoons per day!  A lot of the sugar consumed is not from the act of picking up the spoon and adding sugar to your drink.  It is hidden in processed foods and drinks. To avoid the sugar menace, the best strategy is to keep to fresh, unprocessed foods.  Sugar excites the opiate centres in our brain and the more you have it, the more you want it.  It becomes an addiction.

Fruits and vegetables contain sugar, that is naturally occurring in them.  When you consume them whole, it does not create as much havoc, although fructose from fruits may still create problems for people with fructose mal-absorption. 

Many think that the answer to reducing sugar intake is artificial sweeteners.  Artificial sweeteners, in my view, are a bigger menace than sugar.  It burdens your liver and creates problems for your nervous system.   The simple solution to reducing sugar intake is keeping to fresh, whole foods.  Problems from artificial sweeteners range from stomach discomfort to dizziness and low cognitive function.

Five perceived “Healthy” foods you need to give up if you want to lose fat:

-         Wholemeal bread

-         Yoghurt

-         Potatoes/ spuds

-         Fruit juices

-         High fibre breakfast cereals

Why Proton Pump Inhibitors may not be necessary for stomach pain and stomach acid reflux?

Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPI) with trade names such as Omeprazole, Pantoprazole, etc. are one of the top 5 most prescribed medicines in New Zealand.  If you have complained of stomach acid reflux or pain in the gut, as a result of peptic ulcer, gastritis or indigestion, this drug has been prescribed for you by your doctor.

It does symptom relief for most people and is usually classified as effective, or is it?  What PPIs do is inhibit acidity in the stomach.  However, our stomachs need to be in an acidic state or else digestion will be hampered.  The compromised digestive process from reduced acidity as a result of using PPIs will create gas and bloating, causing pain in the gut or on some cases excessive belching.  So, the solution is not to reduce the acidity in the stomach by using PPIs, but to restore it together with enzymes and bile secretion, so that food gets digested properly and in time.  This reduces the side effects of delayed gastric emptying.  When food starts to rot in the stomach, it creates lactic acid, from fermentation of food, which can give an acidy feeling, however, this is not hydrochloric acid, which is the resident acid used for digestion in the stomach.

Because you have a reflux, your reflux may not be solely due to your stomach being overly acidic. Food sensitivities, either intolerances or allergies can also be a cause for your reflux.

Meal size and food combination can have an impact on the acidity in the stomach after a meal.  If you are eating too much in one meal or not chewing your food thoroughly enough, you can cause reflux and gut pain after the meal.  If you have poor digestive function, combining many different foods, especially processed foods high in food flavours, enhancers, salt, sugar and rancid fats can cause acidity in the stomach.

Non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs with common names such as aspirin, ibuprofen and naproxen that are commonly used for pain relief can also be the cause of your peptic ulcer, irritated gut or pain in the gut.  If you are using a Proton Pump Inhibitor to overcome the side effects of using a non steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, your treatment principle is wrong!  You are doing symptom control by using another symptom control drug to overcome the side effect of another drug!

Cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption are very common causes of pain in the gut.  Your body does not need cigarette smoke and your liver can only metabolise 7-14g of alcohol an hour!

That is why PPIs given indiscriminately without identifying the source of the problem can create many undesirable side effects.  The right way to treat any pain in the gut is to identify the root cause of the problem, and heal the gut.  Masking symptoms can be worse and common side effects of PPIs include food allergies, nausea, headaches, creating a vitamin B12 deficiency, increased homocysteine, increased risk of bone fracture, fatigue and long term nutrient deficiency.  Many of my clinic patients who present with many health problems like food allergies, nausea, fatigue and compromised immunity have often been on PPIs or some other medication for years. 

Is your thyroid causing you to gain weight?

Your thyroid is that butterfly shaped organ sitting at the front of your neck.  Your thyroid is responsible for your body temperature control, hormonal system, metabolism and that affects the amount of fats you keep.

The most common pathology test for thyroid is the thyroid stimulating hormone.  Your thyroid stimulating hormone is secreted by the hypothalamus, that sits in the brain.  When your thyroid stimulating hormone is high, you are working hard to produce thyroid hormones, which means the thyroid is underactive, not the reverse, as many might think!

An underactive thyroid makes metabolism sluggish, hence the accumulation of body fats.  The person also feels tired, may have persistent elevated cholesterol, experience cold hands and feet, have intolerance to cold, suffer from constipation, feel depressed,   and have dry skin and suffer hair loss.  But, the thyroid stimulating hormone is not the only test for thyroid health!  More often than not, thyroid problems arise from the conversion of T4 to T3.  Your thyroid produces T4, and T4 is converted to T3.

You can have perfectly “normal” TSH and still have a problem with the thyroid if your body if producing a lot of reverse hormones or if there is excess antibodies, i.e. a situation of autoimmunity (you attack your thyroid cells, hence destroying it).

If you are overweight or have been gaining weight even with a very healthy food program, you need to consider your thyroid.  The first thing you can do is to do a basal body temperature test.  Take this test first thing in the morning on waking, before getting up and out of bed, for 3 consecutive days.  This test should only be during menstruation for women who are still menstruating.  If the test is below 36.4C you need to investigate before you get full blown hypothyroidism.

Typical Pattern of Fatigue with Adrenal Fatigue

The adrenal glands are the size of a grape each sitting on top of the kidneys and are responsible for making stress hormones for us to respond to stress.  However, persistent, ongoing stress can drain these glands make them into sultanas.  When the glands are drained and tired, the person often feels tired on waking, and have quite specific tiredness patterns throughout the day.

According to Dr. James Wilson, adrenal fatigue has a typical pattern of fatigue different from other types of fatigue:

On waking, the patient is fatigue because the lack of cortisol and aldosterone from fatigued adrenals creating low blood glucose levels that in turn creates fatigue.  Low aldosterone also causes low blood pressure.  It may take a couple hours to 4 hours to finally wake up.

After lunch, there will be a mid afternoon low around 3 p.m to 4 p.m. and the adrenal fatigue patient will feel better after 6 p.m which will last till 9 p.m..  If the patient stays past 11 p.m., he/she will get a second wind and can keep going till 1 or 2 a.m.  This pattern of fatigue is typically observed in adrenal fatigue patients.

If you suspect you or a family member or friend could be suffering from adrenal fatigue, these many be some of the symptoms:

• Tired for no reason
• Tired even after 8-9 hours of continuous sleep
• Feeling run down and depressed
• Craving salt or sugar
• Difficulty bouncing back from illness
• Depending on coffee to keep going
• Unable to handle stress and constantly feeling overwhelmed
• Decreased sex drive
• Dragging through the day

We can help you and your family/friend.

Conventional medicine only recognises extreme cases of adrenal dysfunction called Addisons disease where patients are put on corticosteroids to sustain them for the rest of their lives.  This is a rare disease with an incidence of about 0.004% of the population.  There are thousands if not tens of thousands who are left unattended and are told that they are “normal” when there is nothing normal about what they feel.

Louise Thompson who published a book this year, “A busy woman’s guide to High Energy Happiness”, struggled with severe adrenal fatigue where at her worst, she was not able to get out of bed and dress herself. I can relate to this, seeing what my late father went through. In the years prior to his cancer diagnosis, he complained of fatigue every day. His doctor put it down to old age.  In Louise’s case, she underwent all the possible tests she could and was told by her doctors that she was “normal”.  In her search for an explanation for her fatigue, she was treated naturopathically for her adrenal fatigue and that turned the corner for her. Her book describes her journey and the physical and thought processes that drain us of energy. It is a hands-on book with numerous exercises about our belief system and challenges us to take energetic actions. I find this book as useful for women as it is for men.  This book is available at our clinic.

All tailored supplements mentioned in the book are available at our clinic. You can have a tailored approach to supplementation, which may include other support for your thyroid, immune, digestive or hormonal systems. 

My advice to you:  Do not confuse what is normal with what is common.  If you are commonly tired, that is not normal. Whilst adrenal fatigue may not be the cause of your fatigue, you could have other reasons why you are fatigue, most of which natural medicines, dietary and lifestyle changes can help tremendously. 

Complications from a Supposedly “Straight Forward” Medical Procedure

I recently took 10 days off and went to Malaysia to see my mum.  My mum had fallen from the stairs a few months back and had a fracture to her lumbar 1 vertebrae.  She was given a procedure of vertebroplasty on her L1 which involved pumping in medical cement, polymethylmethacrylate into her vertebrae.  A leak of the substance into her nervous system caused problems with her speech, control of arms and legs and she had some days of diarrhea. At its worst, she had no control of herself when sitting on a chair and would slip down to the floor.  I’m glad to report that she is in a much better state now.  Before she signed up for the vetebroplasty procedure, I offered her natural bone knitting options for knitting her fracture by building bones using natural calcium and symphytum but she declined my offer.  It was because I mentioned that it would take a good 3 months if not more to help the healing and she wanted "instant cure".  She was promised 6 weeks of being in a brace and then she would be well with the procedure.  However, this did not happen. More than 9 months after the procedure, she still found it painful to sit or sleep for more than 4 hours at a time.  She stopped using the brace after 6 months because it was not helping and creating other skin problems for her.  During my visit, I gave her intensive acupuncture therapy, twice a day, and that helped her pain management and sleep.  I also took her to an Atlas Profilax practitioner. 

At around the same time as my mum’s accident, a client of mine had an accident that fractured 3 of her metatarsals on her foot.  She was in a cast and wanted to expedite her recovery with natural medicines.  I put her on natural calcium and symphytum.  She was in a cast for a few months, but her x-rays showed recovery and she was ultimately taken off the cast.  She subsequently resumed her normal physical activities and went for an overseas holiday.

Moral of the story:  Natural medicines can work as well if not better than invasive medical procedures.  Remember most medical procedures are not cheap.  The vertebropasty procedure costs over $5,000.  So, investigate before you commit.  If some promises are too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true! 

Making Good Food Choices for Christmas

Pavlova, trifles, fudge, mud cakes, Christmas mince tarts, Christmas fruit cakes, wine, and all the other indulgences of the season.  This is a great time of the year to have a well deserved rest and spend quality time with family and friends.  However, there are also lots of temptations, especially at parties.  My take on these foods is to keep a low consumption of them and if you make them yourselves, choose stevia as a sweetener.  Sugar is inflammatory and creates many gastrointestinal problems, blood sugar imbalances and loads your liver.  But a slice of Christmas cake and a mince tart once a year would not hurt.

Ham, turkey, salmon, seafood, lamb leg roast and the colourful look and smell of beautiful fresh salads also mark this season.  Many of these foods, apart from cured meats and their preservatives meet all the requirements of eating for nourishment. 

Plants are great sources of minerals, plant based phytonutrients and soluble and insoluble fibre.  Balancing the protein rich meats that you consume in this season with lots of plant based foods, is important to keep you in balance.  Protein rich meats are acidic, but provide the amino acids for our bodies, and they do taste good!  Plant based foods are alkaline with good sources of minerals absorbed from the soil, chlorophyll (a superb cleanser and oxygenator) and antioxidants (which helps to reverse ageing).  So those multicoloured, beautiful salads and fruit platter will quench your free radicals that cause ageing of cells.

After the parties, make yourself a green smoothie with kale, parsley, granny smith apple and a scoop of Shape Up (yes, you need good pH balanced protein to help with detoxing).

When you view food as nourishment, you make better choices than when you view food as love. But just know that you do not have to be perfect.  How much your body likes your choices depends on the effect after – are you bloated, have reflux and/or flatulence, did you gain a few centimetres on the waist, did you scales have a big jump (large jumps may also be due to water retention, from inappropriate eating), are you unusually hot or experience more pain?  If you do, you body is speaking to you and you should listen.

Spending time with family does not need to centre around unhealthy food, you can make healthier choices – foods that are whole and less processed, high in good oils – olive oil, coconut oil, nuts and seeds, good protein and unrefined carbohydrates. Spend time outdoors, enjoy nature and soak up the sun in the mornings!

Why Detox? Tips for a Proper Healthy Detoxification

Do you have headaches regularly?

Are you often tired or lethargic?

Are you suffering from muscle ache and pains regularly?

Do you suffer from allergies?

Do you feel bloated or suffer from diarrhoea, constipation or other digestive issues regularly?

Do you have poor short-term memory or concentration affecting your ability to function at work?

If you answered “yes” to any of the questions above and are not feeling well, toxicity may be the reason you feel unwell.

Toxins are very common in our busy modern world.  Everything we encounter nowadays is exposed to environmental toxins to a certain degree, which include things like heavy metals, pesticides, chemicals, food additives, drugs and pollutants.  These may be present in the air, water and also food that we consume.  Toxins do not only come from your external environment; toxins can also be generated internally by “bad” bacteria, yeasts and parasites in your digestive system.  These internally generated toxins are then absorbed into your bloodstream, affecting your health and vitality.

Toxins are harmful to our body and your body, naturally, has the mechanisms for eliminating them.  However, if you continue to produce, consume or absorb more toxins than you can easily get rid of, your body’s detoxification pathways can become overwhelmed and start to be less effective.  To avoid this, you need to reduce your exposure to toxins as much as possible and optimise your body’s ability to eliminate toxins everyday, rather than letting them build up.  If you are not feeling 100%, a safe proper healthy detoxification program can help.

Do not take any detoxification program lightly.  A natural detoxification program can be one of the most effective ways to rapidly improve your state of health as it will help clear accumulated toxins out of your body and leave your feeling energetic and healthy.  Detoxification is a serious business and you need to ensure that you are safe and comfortable with the detoxification process.  Everyone is different and the detoxification program needs to be suited to your individual needs.  A standard detoxification package may not be suitable for you and may actually leave you feeling sick and tired.  You should not attempt to do a detox without guidance and support from a qualified healthcare professional.

Our 3R Approach to Detoxification

A safe, proper, healthy and effective detoxification program involves the completion of three stages:

1. Remove – this stage focuses on removing “bad bugs” from your digestive system. 
2. Rejuvenate– this stage is aimed at replacing the “bad bugs” and populating your digestive function with the “good” bugs to facilitate the final stage below, so that wastes or toxins eliminated by your liver and kidneys can be moved out of the body effectively. 
3. Release – this is the final stage and it involves the consumption of natural medicines to support and enhance your body’s (especially your liver and kidneys) capacity to remove waste and toxins.

During your detoxification stages, you need to be eating the right foods for your body in order to maximise the detoxification process, a diet based on your individual requirements.

Here are some tips on how you can make simple dietary changes today to help reduce your level of toxicity:

• always look for fresh seasonal fruit and vegetables;
• avoid packaged and processed foods as much as possible;
• eliminate foods containing artificial colours, flavours , sweeteners, additives and flavour enhancers as well as foods containing hydrogenated fats; and
• always read the ingredients list to ensure that your food does not contain high amounts of saturated fat, salt, gluten and/or sugar.

Also, live the detox lifestyle – exercise, drink plenty of water, avoid recreational drugs and minimise the use of heavy metal and chemical based skin / hair care products, cleaning products and deodorants.  If the label contains many numbers and chemical names that you can’t pronounce, avoid them unless you know what they are, e.g. botanical names for essential oils.