For decades, the natural community has promoted certain fats as being vital to health while recommending avoiding others. Modern medicine, on the other hand, often guffawed at the idea that one fat was any more important than another to our good function and recommended we avoid them all. The evidence is now so overwhelming, that even most medical doctors will recommend their patients take those oils most important, often referred to as fish oil. But, are they all the same? Isn't fish just fish, after all? Nothing could be further from the truth.
"Fish oils", come in a variety of different forms, but all really boil down to two different oils: eicosapentaenoic acid or EPA and docoxahexaenoic acid or DHA. These two oils are considered omega-3 oils based on their unsaturated fat structure (see The Truth About Fats). Originally, they were given as cod liver oil, by the tablespoon, from parents to their kids. In addition to the EPA and DHA the kids would get from this oil, they would also benefit from the abundance of vitamin D cod liver oil once had. Today, cod liver oil is out of vogue, and most kids wouldn't take a tablespoon of oil if their lives depended on it, especially if it tasted like oily fish (as cod liver oil invariably did). To combat this change in dietary habits, we have made oils into gelcaps that avoid the oily and fishy taste.
EPA and DHA have a wide variety of effects on our bodies. EPA has been known for many years to be heart protective, but lately, it has also been shown to have positive effects on depression. It is a powerful anti-inflammatory, helping our immune system to work correctly, minimizing over-reactions while at the same time keeping the blood flowing freely. EPA is such a good blood thinner that some patients have been able to eliminate their reliance on medications such as coumadin if they take adequate amounts of the vital oil.
While EPA is good for us, DHA seems to have a limitless number of positive effects. It is important for normal eye health, it keeps the skin moist in the winter, it also plays a role in our immune system, and it is a vital structural component for our brains. Since about 60% of our brain is made of fat, normal brain function is dependent on adequate fat intake, and DHA is one of the most important fats we can give our brain. When working with pregnant women, one of the few supplemental recommendations I will make is to increase their intake of DHA. Without it, the baby will scavenge from mom's brain to make it's own, and mom will often be left with more problems down the road. By investing as much as they can in DHA, parents not only provide their baby with the nutrient most vital to build baby's brain, but they are also protecting mom's brain in the mean time. While we can get too much EPA, I have yet to see any research that shows too much high quality DHA creates problems.
Unfortunately, not all fish oils are created equal. I'm amazed at how many of my patients are taking fish oils without understanding that bad fish oil can be just as bad (or maybe worse) than taking none at all. There are only a few companies in the world that manufacture fish oils. Depending on the company, the typical sources today are sardines and anchovies. While you can still find some tuna, salmon, and cod liver oils on the market, these products are getting to be fewer and fewer, due to the volume of oils the market is currently demanding. If we all had to rely on those large fish, we would eradicate whole species to fill our desire for healthy oils. In addition, these larger predator fish have a higher concentration of toxins built up; everything from mercury, cadmium, and lead to PCB's and DDT have been found in fish oils. Instead, the fish oil industry has started relying more and more on smaller fish that are much more sustainable, with krill being the latest fad in the fish oil industry.
Since there are not very many companies that produce these oils, the competition for them is fierce. Those nutritional companies that are willing to pay top dollar to guarantee the purest, most stable, least rancid, and least contaminated oil take the first batches, bring it to the shelf quickly, and put a short expiration period on the bottle. They will guarantee not only potency and purity, but also have independent labs verify that the oils in their products have virtually no heavy metals or other contaminants that could be harmful. If these are found, they pull the oils immediately and dispose of them. These oils will be traditionally sold only to health care practitioners, and will be pricey compared to what is seen on box store shelves.
The next layer of oils will have more contaminants, be less pure, and go rancid more quickly. These will still be fairly expensive oils, and will often be seen on retail nutritional shelves, in multi-level marketing companies, and health food sections of larger grocery stores. They are decent oils, but far from the quality of the first batch, with less concern for guaranteeing quality. If these oils are tested, they may not be withdrawn from the market if found to contain toxins.
As we continue on down the barrel, we will eventually end up with the sludge at the bottom, which will often be close to getting rancid, have significant contamination, and require a tremendous amount of pressure to extract, making them less likely to contain the fragile EPA or DHA. These oils will typically be sold in large box stores and pharmacies. They may seem cheap, but considering the quality, they are really the most expensive of all. While the companies that sell these oils may make flashy labels, they rarely put the money or effort into producing a quality product, since they know it really isn't even possible. With these products, you are literally throwing your money down the drain, and taking a product that could potentially decrease your health instead of improving it.
Fish oils play a vital role to improving our health, and I recommend most of my adult patients take at least 2000 mg to start. With some patients who have significant dysfunction, I will take them much higher. These recommendations are for productions that I not only know the quality, but that I take personally, and can vouch for their effectiveness. The product on my shelf, for a traditional adult gelcap, contains 720 mg in EPA and DHA combined, a potency rarely found on the market. This makes it easy to get 2000 mg by taking 3 gelcaps per day. And, they are guaranteed to not repeat (providing you don't take them with a hot liquid).
Taking fish oils from a source that isn't well researched and trusted can be troublesome, so I don't recommend it. Make sure you do your research on the company, or you have someone you trust do it for you, so you don't end up taking the oil from the bottom of the barrel, and decrease your health in your attempt to improve it.
Look for future blogs that will give more information and insights into improving your health with natural health care. You can also visit my website, like me on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
The Truth About Fats
For many years, conventional medicine has been touting the importance of a low fat diet. They've used scare tactics to steer us away from fat, convinced that only by decreasing our fat intake can we change the curve on the obesity epidemic. Instead of seeing a shrinking population, all we have seen from low fat recommendations is a steady decline in health, ranging from an explosion in brain disorders like ADHD, autism, and depression to a steady rise in autoimmune conditions like type I diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and MS. It's not as much about the amount of fat we eat as the types of fat we choose. Let's take a look at why good fats can make us healthy.
When discussing fats, we have to get some vocabulary out of the way. Fats are basically chains of carbon that have hydrogen attached. For each carbon, we can have four different attachments; either to other carbon atoms, or to hydrogen. If all of the carbon attachment sites are full, we term this a saturated fat; there is no room for anything else to be added (see below). If we remove one of the hydrogen atoms, we now have an unsaturated fat, of which there are two types. Monounsaturated means it has one opening and polyunsaturated means it has two or more. Free fats are acids, so when we discuss them, we term them fatty acids. This gives us three classes: saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA's), and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA's). Over the years, it has been the saturated fat that has gotten the bad rap from medicine, leading us to eliminate foods like butter, coconut oil, and lard from our diets.
Saturated fats are those that are most often found in animal products. This class has the highest caloric storage possible, and tends to be relatively solid at room temperature. After all, do you really want a bunch of oil sloshing around as you move? Solid fat at body temperature is our best storage form. MUFA's are found mostly as olive oil, and the rest of the oils out there are generally PUFA's. However, when medicine started recommending we cut out saturated fats, the food industry came up with a ingenious replacement. Take those PUFA's (which are liquid at room temperature), and add hydrogen to them. When we do this, voila, we get a PUFA that is not only more solid, but has an extremely long shelf life. In addition, they mix very well with water based foods without coming out of solution. Since these were no longer naturally occurring fats, we had to create a new class termed partially hydrogenated oils, aka trans fats. While the food industry loved the new creation, and added it to almost everything possible, it has wreaked havoc with our health.
The body has plenty of enzymes to take any of the three naturally occurring fat classes and interconvert them as needed for a variety of needs. The walls of your cells are mostly fat, many hormones are fat based, a large segment of your immune signaling happens with fats, and your brain is over 60% fat. The problem with trans fats is that they have significant structural differences from naturally occurring fats, and your body has limited enzymes to convert or rid itself of them. A naturally occurring MUFA or PUFA is boat-shaped (imagine an elongated "U"). A trans fat, on the other hand, can end up being straight or have the back of the boat angle down instead of up. In either case, structurally, these molecules are not even close to what our body is meant to use, and it creates problems when we force it to do so. Trans fats are found in margarines, shortenings, and most processed foods. Just look for "hydrogenated" or "partially hydrogenated" in the ingredients, and regardless of what the label says in front, you know it's in there.
Luckily, trans fats have finally met their match: an informed public. For decades, medicine, the government, and the processed food industry have done their best to keep the public in the dark on the dangers of trans fats. Fortunately, those of us in the natural community have kept the truth flowing, and the American public has finally roared a resounding NO to these synthetic fats.
So if trans fats are so bad, what does that leave us with? How about what we were doing for hundreds of years before modern medicine made it's proclamation that saturated fat is the bane of all evil? We choose those fats that are minimally processed. Here are my recommendations for making wise choices about fats.
The fat that is probably the best for you has gotten a bad rap for decades: coconut oil. Yes, coconut oil tends to be on the saturated side, but it has some great qualities to it, not the least of which is a high smoke point. Choosing a high quality extra virgin, unrefined coconut oil (EVUCO) is the really the only safe oil to use for high heat cooking. EVUCO has fats that are great for our digestive tract, minimizing yeast and pathogenic bacterial growth, as well as tasting great. Unfortunately, it is pricey, and is semi-solid at room temperature, so doesn't work well for baking.
If you don't want the slight coconut flavor of EVUCO, then your next best option for high heat cooking is lard. I know this is in direct contradiction to what medicine is still preaching, but it comes down the the fact that only saturated fat is safe at high heat. When you add oil to high heat, add water (which has hydrogen), you take a significant risk of hydrogenating that oil and creating trans fats. The negative health impact of trans fats far outweigh those of lard, and it is the only safe alternative for recipes requiring shortening. Make sure you choose lard that has not been partially hydrogenated to extend it's shelf life. Go to the local butcher shop, not the grocery shelf, when looking for lard. Or better yet, make it yourself, like your grandparents did.
After EVUCO and lard, we have to make one more stop before we finish with the saturated fat discussion. It's time to throw margarine away and go back to the natural spread: butter. How medicine decided that it was better to add a trans fat instead of a saturated fat is beyond me, but the concept of margarine just doesn't make any health sense. I'm not saying glob on the butter, but if you are going for a spreadable product to add taste to foods, butter is the only safe choice. Lard and EVUCO won't work well, and margarine just isn't safe. Try to keep the butter as organic as possible, since many dairies utilize hormones and antibiotics routinely, and these will be concentrated in fat.
Moving on from the saturated fats, we'll look at MUFA's. This really is all about olive oil, where medicine finally got one right. Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is a great source of dietary fat, and has many health benefits. While this oil can be used to saute foods, it doesn't really do well with high heat, and with the taste profile, doesn't work well for a "background" oil. It is bold and takes some getting used to the flavor, but once you do, it will be the main oil you reach for.
If you need an oil that doesn't have a huge flavor but is still relatively healthy, you'll need to look for an oil like sunflower, safflower, or grape seed. These oils have a fatty acid profile that lends itself towards health, where many others don't. They also have minimal flavor, so can be used for baking, salad dressings, and sauteing if you aren't looking for and EVOO flavor. Ideally, you want to look for organic versions, or at least those that are cold or expeller pressed. This means they have the least amount of processing, and retain the most health benefits.
Stay away from oils like canola, corn, soy, peanut, and "vegetable". Canola oil is from a genetically modified rape seed, and has a profile that leads us towards unhealthy inflammation. Corn and soy are almost universally genetically modified as well, and I believe these two altered crops are causing a significant amount of disease. Peanut isn't my favorite either, simply due to the fact that it is usually reserved for high heat preparations (i.e. deep frying) which can lead to trans fat production during the cooking process. Vegetable oil is simply a mixture of corn and soy usually, so I'd recommend avoiding it.
Fats are a vital component of our diet, and you will develop sickness if you follow the current guidelines put forth by the government and traditional medicine. I'm not promoting a high fat diet, but I am an advocate for adequate amounts of high quality, healthy fat. It's up to you to find out the truth about how to stay healthy, since it seems way too many "health" recommendations take us down the road to disease. Don't be afraid of fat, just make sure it's a healthy one.
Look for future blogs that will give more information and insights into improving your health with natural health care. You can also visit my website, like me on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter.
When discussing fats, we have to get some vocabulary out of the way. Fats are basically chains of carbon that have hydrogen attached. For each carbon, we can have four different attachments; either to other carbon atoms, or to hydrogen. If all of the carbon attachment sites are full, we term this a saturated fat; there is no room for anything else to be added (see below). If we remove one of the hydrogen atoms, we now have an unsaturated fat, of which there are two types. Monounsaturated means it has one opening and polyunsaturated means it has two or more. Free fats are acids, so when we discuss them, we term them fatty acids. This gives us three classes: saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA's), and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA's). Over the years, it has been the saturated fat that has gotten the bad rap from medicine, leading us to eliminate foods like butter, coconut oil, and lard from our diets.
Saturated fats are those that are most often found in animal products. This class has the highest caloric storage possible, and tends to be relatively solid at room temperature. After all, do you really want a bunch of oil sloshing around as you move? Solid fat at body temperature is our best storage form. MUFA's are found mostly as olive oil, and the rest of the oils out there are generally PUFA's. However, when medicine started recommending we cut out saturated fats, the food industry came up with a ingenious replacement. Take those PUFA's (which are liquid at room temperature), and add hydrogen to them. When we do this, voila, we get a PUFA that is not only more solid, but has an extremely long shelf life. In addition, they mix very well with water based foods without coming out of solution. Since these were no longer naturally occurring fats, we had to create a new class termed partially hydrogenated oils, aka trans fats. While the food industry loved the new creation, and added it to almost everything possible, it has wreaked havoc with our health.
The body has plenty of enzymes to take any of the three naturally occurring fat classes and interconvert them as needed for a variety of needs. The walls of your cells are mostly fat, many hormones are fat based, a large segment of your immune signaling happens with fats, and your brain is over 60% fat. The problem with trans fats is that they have significant structural differences from naturally occurring fats, and your body has limited enzymes to convert or rid itself of them. A naturally occurring MUFA or PUFA is boat-shaped (imagine an elongated "U"). A trans fat, on the other hand, can end up being straight or have the back of the boat angle down instead of up. In either case, structurally, these molecules are not even close to what our body is meant to use, and it creates problems when we force it to do so. Trans fats are found in margarines, shortenings, and most processed foods. Just look for "hydrogenated" or "partially hydrogenated" in the ingredients, and regardless of what the label says in front, you know it's in there.
Luckily, trans fats have finally met their match: an informed public. For decades, medicine, the government, and the processed food industry have done their best to keep the public in the dark on the dangers of trans fats. Fortunately, those of us in the natural community have kept the truth flowing, and the American public has finally roared a resounding NO to these synthetic fats.
So if trans fats are so bad, what does that leave us with? How about what we were doing for hundreds of years before modern medicine made it's proclamation that saturated fat is the bane of all evil? We choose those fats that are minimally processed. Here are my recommendations for making wise choices about fats.
The fat that is probably the best for you has gotten a bad rap for decades: coconut oil. Yes, coconut oil tends to be on the saturated side, but it has some great qualities to it, not the least of which is a high smoke point. Choosing a high quality extra virgin, unrefined coconut oil (EVUCO) is the really the only safe oil to use for high heat cooking. EVUCO has fats that are great for our digestive tract, minimizing yeast and pathogenic bacterial growth, as well as tasting great. Unfortunately, it is pricey, and is semi-solid at room temperature, so doesn't work well for baking.
If you don't want the slight coconut flavor of EVUCO, then your next best option for high heat cooking is lard. I know this is in direct contradiction to what medicine is still preaching, but it comes down the the fact that only saturated fat is safe at high heat. When you add oil to high heat, add water (which has hydrogen), you take a significant risk of hydrogenating that oil and creating trans fats. The negative health impact of trans fats far outweigh those of lard, and it is the only safe alternative for recipes requiring shortening. Make sure you choose lard that has not been partially hydrogenated to extend it's shelf life. Go to the local butcher shop, not the grocery shelf, when looking for lard. Or better yet, make it yourself, like your grandparents did.
After EVUCO and lard, we have to make one more stop before we finish with the saturated fat discussion. It's time to throw margarine away and go back to the natural spread: butter. How medicine decided that it was better to add a trans fat instead of a saturated fat is beyond me, but the concept of margarine just doesn't make any health sense. I'm not saying glob on the butter, but if you are going for a spreadable product to add taste to foods, butter is the only safe choice. Lard and EVUCO won't work well, and margarine just isn't safe. Try to keep the butter as organic as possible, since many dairies utilize hormones and antibiotics routinely, and these will be concentrated in fat.
Moving on from the saturated fats, we'll look at MUFA's. This really is all about olive oil, where medicine finally got one right. Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is a great source of dietary fat, and has many health benefits. While this oil can be used to saute foods, it doesn't really do well with high heat, and with the taste profile, doesn't work well for a "background" oil. It is bold and takes some getting used to the flavor, but once you do, it will be the main oil you reach for.
If you need an oil that doesn't have a huge flavor but is still relatively healthy, you'll need to look for an oil like sunflower, safflower, or grape seed. These oils have a fatty acid profile that lends itself towards health, where many others don't. They also have minimal flavor, so can be used for baking, salad dressings, and sauteing if you aren't looking for and EVOO flavor. Ideally, you want to look for organic versions, or at least those that are cold or expeller pressed. This means they have the least amount of processing, and retain the most health benefits.
Stay away from oils like canola, corn, soy, peanut, and "vegetable". Canola oil is from a genetically modified rape seed, and has a profile that leads us towards unhealthy inflammation. Corn and soy are almost universally genetically modified as well, and I believe these two altered crops are causing a significant amount of disease. Peanut isn't my favorite either, simply due to the fact that it is usually reserved for high heat preparations (i.e. deep frying) which can lead to trans fat production during the cooking process. Vegetable oil is simply a mixture of corn and soy usually, so I'd recommend avoiding it.
Fats are a vital component of our diet, and you will develop sickness if you follow the current guidelines put forth by the government and traditional medicine. I'm not promoting a high fat diet, but I am an advocate for adequate amounts of high quality, healthy fat. It's up to you to find out the truth about how to stay healthy, since it seems way too many "health" recommendations take us down the road to disease. Don't be afraid of fat, just make sure it's a healthy one.
Look for future blogs that will give more information and insights into improving your health with natural health care. You can also visit my website, like me on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
How Bugs Can Make You Fat
In my last blog, Obesogens - Does the Environment Make You Fat?, I talked about how our environment has a direct impact on how fat we have become. The environment I discussed included our water, air, and food. There's another environment that has a huge impact on our health and weight, but it's not something we can see, and most don't want to discuss it. There is a whole ecosystem that has been ignored by traditional medicine for years that is now gaining popularity in conventional circles. That ecosystem is made up of all kinds of microscopic critters that live in your gut; it's called our microflora.
In each of our digestive tracts there are literally trillions of bacteria, fungi, and possibly even parasites. We carry these around from birth, and they have a direct impact on our health. I have worked with patients for almost two decades on balancing the microflora to enhance health. In the natural community, we have seen this ecosystem as playing a vital role in health for a long time. It seems medicine is finally catching up.
Based on sheer numbers, we are more a bacterial holding pond than we are human being. There are 10 times more microbes in our intestinal tract than there are cells in our bodies, encompassing over 1000 species and having 150 times more genes than our own genome. We have isolated 3.3 million unique genes of these bacteria, where we have less than 30,000. There's a lot more of them than there is of us, and our bodies are constantly in a state of reacting to what's growing down there. Some species, like Lactobacillis and Bifidobacter have been shown to have tremendous health benefits. Others, like certain strains of E. coli and Klebsiella can cause us great distress. New evidence is showing that depending on what we have a predominance of, it can be a deciding factor on whether we end up fat.
Research has shown that the majority of the bugs in our gut belong to one of two classes, either Firmicutes or Bacteriodetes, and if you have a predominance of Firmicutes, it can directly lead to increased fat deposition.
One theory that has been purported is that strains of Firmicutes can digest foods that we normally can't, and make extra calories available. Basically, they increase the amount of available calories in your food. This seems to be most notable in those that have higher fat diets.
Another theory looks at how part of the bacterial cell wall ends up in our blood stream and acts as a hormone. Certain parts of these bacteria (called endotoxins) seem to interact directly with fat cell signaling, leaving us more prone to make more fat cells and store more fat. They also can interact with blood sugar regulation and insulin signaling, leading to increased blood sugar and higher risks of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease. This theory follows the same thoughts as what I discussed in Obesogens, which outlined the basic tenets of obesogens and talked briefly about xenoestrogens. While some of the toxins I mentioned in that blog are ubiquitous in our environment, the Firmicutes are just as ubiquitous in our gut.
The final theory looks at how these endotoxins create inflammation in the body, and the dysfunction associated with that. Inflammation is a huge problem in our society, and most of it is caused by the choices we make. Foods like grains, dairy, and soy are generally highly inflammatory to us, and can lead to a variety of health problems, ranging from MS and rheumatoid arthritis to diabetes and heart disease. Inflammation is one of the biggest health problems we face, and it has yet to be focused on by mainstream medicine. What we are seeing, is that the endotoxins create an inflammatory response, not only within our fat tissue, but also within our livers and blood vessels.
Regardless of the pathways involved, the research is definitely showing a link between our microflora composition and our weight. Fortunately, this is something we can have a dramatic impact on without much difficulty. While conventional thought would just have us eating more yogurt, that just simply isn't good enough. It comes down to a balance of good guys vs bad guys. If you look at a crime riddled neighborhood, how many upstanding citizens would you have to bring in before you would start to outnumber the bad guys? Normally, we'd want the cops to clean out the neighborhood first, before we just repopulate with good guys. The same has to happen in our gut. Yogurt manufacturers are trying to convince the public that if you eat their product, you'll have plenty of good bacteria in your gut. However, research is becoming more clear that to repopulate effectively, we must use extremely high doses of the good guys, called them probiotics. Yogurt is lucky to have a few million live cultures. To be effective, I will use products that start in the 20 billion, and some that go as high as 225 billion live cultures per serving. You can't just add a few good guys here and there, you have to add so many that there is no room left for the bad guys.
Before I even think of adding probiotics into a treatment though, I want to see exactly what the makeup of the current microflora is. Is there a problem with yeast overgrowth? Are we seeing a pathological bacteria that we need to eradicate? This is where it is important to work with someone who understands how to effectively assess and treat the micorflora. In today's world, that isn't a gastroenterologist, it's a clinical nutritionist.
Obesity is a rapidly growing problem in our country, and unless the public is willing to step outside of conventional medicine and look at balancing and healing their bodies naturally, it will continue to accelerate. Balancing the microflora in the gut can have a profound effect on your health and your weight. With the help of a competent clinical nutritionist, you can achieve amazing health. It's never too late to start.
Look for future blogs that will give more information and insights into improving your health with natural health care. You can also visit my website, like me on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter.
In each of our digestive tracts there are literally trillions of bacteria, fungi, and possibly even parasites. We carry these around from birth, and they have a direct impact on our health. I have worked with patients for almost two decades on balancing the microflora to enhance health. In the natural community, we have seen this ecosystem as playing a vital role in health for a long time. It seems medicine is finally catching up.
Based on sheer numbers, we are more a bacterial holding pond than we are human being. There are 10 times more microbes in our intestinal tract than there are cells in our bodies, encompassing over 1000 species and having 150 times more genes than our own genome. We have isolated 3.3 million unique genes of these bacteria, where we have less than 30,000. There's a lot more of them than there is of us, and our bodies are constantly in a state of reacting to what's growing down there. Some species, like Lactobacillis and Bifidobacter have been shown to have tremendous health benefits. Others, like certain strains of E. coli and Klebsiella can cause us great distress. New evidence is showing that depending on what we have a predominance of, it can be a deciding factor on whether we end up fat.
Research has shown that the majority of the bugs in our gut belong to one of two classes, either Firmicutes or Bacteriodetes, and if you have a predominance of Firmicutes, it can directly lead to increased fat deposition.
One theory that has been purported is that strains of Firmicutes can digest foods that we normally can't, and make extra calories available. Basically, they increase the amount of available calories in your food. This seems to be most notable in those that have higher fat diets.
Another theory looks at how part of the bacterial cell wall ends up in our blood stream and acts as a hormone. Certain parts of these bacteria (called endotoxins) seem to interact directly with fat cell signaling, leaving us more prone to make more fat cells and store more fat. They also can interact with blood sugar regulation and insulin signaling, leading to increased blood sugar and higher risks of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease. This theory follows the same thoughts as what I discussed in Obesogens, which outlined the basic tenets of obesogens and talked briefly about xenoestrogens. While some of the toxins I mentioned in that blog are ubiquitous in our environment, the Firmicutes are just as ubiquitous in our gut.
The final theory looks at how these endotoxins create inflammation in the body, and the dysfunction associated with that. Inflammation is a huge problem in our society, and most of it is caused by the choices we make. Foods like grains, dairy, and soy are generally highly inflammatory to us, and can lead to a variety of health problems, ranging from MS and rheumatoid arthritis to diabetes and heart disease. Inflammation is one of the biggest health problems we face, and it has yet to be focused on by mainstream medicine. What we are seeing, is that the endotoxins create an inflammatory response, not only within our fat tissue, but also within our livers and blood vessels.
Regardless of the pathways involved, the research is definitely showing a link between our microflora composition and our weight. Fortunately, this is something we can have a dramatic impact on without much difficulty. While conventional thought would just have us eating more yogurt, that just simply isn't good enough. It comes down to a balance of good guys vs bad guys. If you look at a crime riddled neighborhood, how many upstanding citizens would you have to bring in before you would start to outnumber the bad guys? Normally, we'd want the cops to clean out the neighborhood first, before we just repopulate with good guys. The same has to happen in our gut. Yogurt manufacturers are trying to convince the public that if you eat their product, you'll have plenty of good bacteria in your gut. However, research is becoming more clear that to repopulate effectively, we must use extremely high doses of the good guys, called them probiotics. Yogurt is lucky to have a few million live cultures. To be effective, I will use products that start in the 20 billion, and some that go as high as 225 billion live cultures per serving. You can't just add a few good guys here and there, you have to add so many that there is no room left for the bad guys.
Before I even think of adding probiotics into a treatment though, I want to see exactly what the makeup of the current microflora is. Is there a problem with yeast overgrowth? Are we seeing a pathological bacteria that we need to eradicate? This is where it is important to work with someone who understands how to effectively assess and treat the micorflora. In today's world, that isn't a gastroenterologist, it's a clinical nutritionist.
Obesity is a rapidly growing problem in our country, and unless the public is willing to step outside of conventional medicine and look at balancing and healing their bodies naturally, it will continue to accelerate. Balancing the microflora in the gut can have a profound effect on your health and your weight. With the help of a competent clinical nutritionist, you can achieve amazing health. It's never too late to start.
Look for future blogs that will give more information and insights into improving your health with natural health care. You can also visit my website, like me on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Obesogens: Does the Environment Make You Fat?
For many years, the only concept that medicine considered when it came to weight management was calories in and calories out. If you ate too much or exercised too little, you gain weight and get fat. With few exceptions given to metabolic disorders like certain hormone imbalances, if you were overweight, it was all about the amount of food you ate. For several decades, those in the natural community bucked this black and white concept and started considering other options. We saw that many would decrease their caloric intake, and actually gain weight. How could this happen if it was only calories in and calories out? We began exploring the ideas that maybe it was they type of food that made a difference. Certain foods may lead to increased weight retention due to the changes in hormones created. Instead of following the low fat fad that medicine was on, we investigated the ideas of lower carbohydrate, whole grain concepts, and vegetarianism. While we found that this covered more of the population, we still had some patients that didn't fit. At this point, we began looking outward, and started investigating the impact our environment has on us. It's amazing what was found.
It didn't take long doing research before we found a tremendous amount of man made chemicals that interact with our hormones. Most notably, we found an abundance of them that had a direct impact on how estrogen affects us. Estrogens (there are a bunch of them) tend to be proliferative hormones. That is, they make cells reproduce, often storing calories for future use. Those who have too much estrogen in their system have a hard time losing weight, among other problems. We've labeled compounds in our environment that interfere with the normal expression of estrogen as xenoestrogens. Many of these end up acting like estrogens, not only feminizing us, but also potentially inducing cancers. While most of these compounds are petroleum based, they range from plastics to mercury, and they all cause havoc.
It wasn't until we had a better understanding of the hormones related to appetite and mood that we found a new class of environmental toxins: obesogens. These compounds not only impact our appetite and mood, they can also directly interfere with several hormone systems and reset our metabolic rate, which is how many calories we burn at rest. Here are a few obesogens that have been identified so far.
Tributyltin (TBT) and Triphenyltin (TPT) are two chemicals that increase the number of fat cells and how readily they store fat. They can be found in marine anti-fouling paints, wood catalysts, plasticizers, slimicides in industrial water systems, and fungicides.
Bisphenol A (BPA), Polycarbonate plastics, Phthalate plasticizers, and Perfluoroalkyl compounds (PFC's) are also adipogenic (fat producing). They are widely used as chemicals to soften plastics or surfactants and surface repellants. These chemicals are so widely used that it is almost impossible to find someone on planet earth who doesn't have a significant amount of these in their tissues. BPA is also a xenoestrogen.
Di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP), a plasticizer, and Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a surfactant, have an impact on fat storage mechanisms as well as numbers of fat cells.
Tricyclic antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI's), atypical antipsychotics, and other mood stabilizers have profound effects on not only appetite, but also on fat storage mechanisms. The numbers of Americans on these medications is skyrocketing. Even if you are anti-mood stabilizing drug free, if you drink water that has come from any large body of flowing water, it is likely you will have exposure due to the amounts excreted through the urine. Water treatment plants have absolutely no effect on medications, and they can pass directly into the water supply.
BPA, Nonylphenol, a surfactant and detergent breakdown intermediary, and DEHP impact expression of hormones in our appetite control centers. They have been shown to increase weight gain with calorie restriction.
Trimethyltin (TMT) and Triethyltin (TET) are neurotoxic chemicals that impact our satiety centers, telling us to keep eating even when full. They are used in stabilizing plastics.
Polybrominate diphenyl ethers (PBDE's) are implicated in changes in metabolic set points and how many calories are burned. They are extensively used as flame retardants and found frequently in human samples.
Carbenoxolone, a sweetener, and Dithiocarbamates, used in cosmetics and agricultural products like pesticides, have a direct impact on our stress response, thereby affecting our eating habits.
Regardless of the type of chemical and how it affects us, the research is abundantly clear that pre and perinatal exposure is especially harmful, as this is when the hormones and brain chemistry are being set for life. Introducing these compounds to kids, who have a significantly decreased ability to detoxify them, can set them up for a lifetime of weight struggles.
Medicine's concept of calories in vs calories out has been blasted out of the water, and the newest research is showing us that, while we need to eat better, we need to clean up our environment to fight obesity. Choosing food products that are minimally processed, organic or free range, and as local as possible will significantly decrease the amounts of these toxic substances in our systems. Beyond that, we need to find our way back to a safer and less processed life in general. While this won't be easy, if we continue to leave these chemicals in our environment unchecked, we will continue to lose the obesity epidemic.
Look for future blogs that will give more information and insights into improving your health with natural health care. You can also visit my website, like me on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter.
It didn't take long doing research before we found a tremendous amount of man made chemicals that interact with our hormones. Most notably, we found an abundance of them that had a direct impact on how estrogen affects us. Estrogens (there are a bunch of them) tend to be proliferative hormones. That is, they make cells reproduce, often storing calories for future use. Those who have too much estrogen in their system have a hard time losing weight, among other problems. We've labeled compounds in our environment that interfere with the normal expression of estrogen as xenoestrogens. Many of these end up acting like estrogens, not only feminizing us, but also potentially inducing cancers. While most of these compounds are petroleum based, they range from plastics to mercury, and they all cause havoc.
It wasn't until we had a better understanding of the hormones related to appetite and mood that we found a new class of environmental toxins: obesogens. These compounds not only impact our appetite and mood, they can also directly interfere with several hormone systems and reset our metabolic rate, which is how many calories we burn at rest. Here are a few obesogens that have been identified so far.
Tributyltin (TBT) and Triphenyltin (TPT) are two chemicals that increase the number of fat cells and how readily they store fat. They can be found in marine anti-fouling paints, wood catalysts, plasticizers, slimicides in industrial water systems, and fungicides.
Bisphenol A (BPA), Polycarbonate plastics, Phthalate plasticizers, and Perfluoroalkyl compounds (PFC's) are also adipogenic (fat producing). They are widely used as chemicals to soften plastics or surfactants and surface repellants. These chemicals are so widely used that it is almost impossible to find someone on planet earth who doesn't have a significant amount of these in their tissues. BPA is also a xenoestrogen.
Di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP), a plasticizer, and Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a surfactant, have an impact on fat storage mechanisms as well as numbers of fat cells.
Tricyclic antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI's), atypical antipsychotics, and other mood stabilizers have profound effects on not only appetite, but also on fat storage mechanisms. The numbers of Americans on these medications is skyrocketing. Even if you are anti-mood stabilizing drug free, if you drink water that has come from any large body of flowing water, it is likely you will have exposure due to the amounts excreted through the urine. Water treatment plants have absolutely no effect on medications, and they can pass directly into the water supply.
BPA, Nonylphenol, a surfactant and detergent breakdown intermediary, and DEHP impact expression of hormones in our appetite control centers. They have been shown to increase weight gain with calorie restriction.
Trimethyltin (TMT) and Triethyltin (TET) are neurotoxic chemicals that impact our satiety centers, telling us to keep eating even when full. They are used in stabilizing plastics.
Polybrominate diphenyl ethers (PBDE's) are implicated in changes in metabolic set points and how many calories are burned. They are extensively used as flame retardants and found frequently in human samples.
Carbenoxolone, a sweetener, and Dithiocarbamates, used in cosmetics and agricultural products like pesticides, have a direct impact on our stress response, thereby affecting our eating habits.
Regardless of the type of chemical and how it affects us, the research is abundantly clear that pre and perinatal exposure is especially harmful, as this is when the hormones and brain chemistry are being set for life. Introducing these compounds to kids, who have a significantly decreased ability to detoxify them, can set them up for a lifetime of weight struggles.
Medicine's concept of calories in vs calories out has been blasted out of the water, and the newest research is showing us that, while we need to eat better, we need to clean up our environment to fight obesity. Choosing food products that are minimally processed, organic or free range, and as local as possible will significantly decrease the amounts of these toxic substances in our systems. Beyond that, we need to find our way back to a safer and less processed life in general. While this won't be easy, if we continue to leave these chemicals in our environment unchecked, we will continue to lose the obesity epidemic.
Look for future blogs that will give more information and insights into improving your health with natural health care. You can also visit my website, like me on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Cleaning House
Happy New Year! Now that we've spent the past six weeks gorging ourselves with all those tasty holiday treats, it's time for many to spend the next few months working to undo all the negative effects. Just as the house needs a good cleaning to get all the needles out of the carpet, all the decorations taken down and put away, and the kids' rooms cleaned to make room for the new toys, our bodies need the same process. We need to spend a little effort at this time of year cleaning our body's "house", so that things can work better. That means it's time for a good detoxification program. When I first started in practice, this concept was not even on the radar of the majority of Americans, but many seem to be realizing that what they have been doing isn't good for them, and they want to improve their health in the new year. What better way to start than by cleaning out the garbage in the system?
When discussing detox programs with patients, I see the whole gamut of understanding. Some have a good idea of what they want to do and how it might be done well, and others have no clue, they just saw something in the store. A good, well thought out detoxification program is an excellent way to start the new year, but let's talk about some of the different kinds and pitfalls they have.
The purpose of any true detoxification program is to take stress away from the liver and digestive system, and supply nutrients for them to heal and work properly. The liver is our main organ to take toxins, whether they be alcohol from New Year's Eve, artificial colorings added to the cookies, or trans fats from the fries we ended up eating on the road to Grandma's, make them less harmful to us, and get rid of them. The rest of the digestive tract is all about breaking down the foods we eat, making it available for use, and eliminating the waste. We realize that overindulging during the holidays can create a huge stress to this system, making it a good idea to work at detoxification. However, not all detox programs are good, and some of them are downright unsafe.
The simplest of the detox programs is a fast. While this can be done for a day or so, it is not recommended, and can create significant problems. When the body is deprived of food, it will start to tear into itself, most notably muscle tissue, to create energy. While all of our muscles are important, one specifically is needed for life: the heart. We do not want to do anything to weaken it, and in fact often spend hours per week working to build it up. In addition, fasts move our hormones into starvation mode, so when we do start eating again, we put pounds on easier, since the body is afraid we'll end up starving again. Fasts are not safe for more than a day, and I recommend avoiding them altogether.
The next complex program is a modified fast with just juice and water. While on the surface it may sound good, it can also create some significant problems. True, the subject is now consuming some calories, but those are mostly in carbohydrate form, and it will not stop the body from ripping into muscle tissue to get at its protein stores. In addition, most Americans already have issues with sugar metabolism, and this type of a detox program can exacerbate this. I do not recommend juice fasts either.
How about if we just clean up our diet then, and eat only vegetables and brown rice and drink juice and water? That is a simple way to clean the house, but is still somewhat devoid of protein, and vegan type diets can lead to significant dietary imbalances, especially if done by someone who hasn't done their research on how to balance the diet. This method, while good in the fact that it relies on whole foods, will still add stress to the digestive system and liver and may not prevent a protein deficit. It's a fine place to go after time is spent on a good detox program.
Can I do one of the "colon cleanses" at the store I see - they're just natural herbs to clean things out, right? That question often comes up when patients are contemplating this type of a program. One of the biggest problems I see with products marketed as "colon cleanses" is that they really don't do a whole lot except use herbal laxatives to push things on through. They often do nothing to take pressure off the digestive system, and in fact, can add stress through the stimulating herbs. They also usually have nothing to support the liver, and without helping enhance liver function, the whole process isn't worth much.
What type of detoxification program do I recommend? One that is based on protecting protein stores, uses a modified fast for only a few days, has sound nutritional support, and has a good instruction manual to help the patient learn how to mix foods in a way that enhances their detoxification processes. This type of program can range from as few as 5 days to as long as 21 days. For most of my patients, I recommend doing a 7 day program, since anyone should be able to find 7 days when they can fit it in.
A 7 day detox program usually starts with two days of modified fasting. That means they are drinking plenty of water, but also supplementing with a protein based powder that includes good fats and high quality fiber. This type of a program allows for the digestive system to have a few days to rest, but still protects the protein stores, i.e. muscles. On day three, food intake begins again, but the foods are limited. Only foods that enhance the detoxification process are allowed. These foods will be high in nutrients, but often not have a tremendous amount of calories. Most meats are kept out at this point, as is all dairy, and most grains. This leaves us with a fairly vegan diet, but if done according to directions, can be very safe. In addition, during these last four days, the protein based powder is continued to protect the body from ripping into its own. In addition, during the full 7 days, the patient will be taking high quality nutritional supplements to offset any imbalances that arise due to the strict diet, and additional support for the liver is added on the last four days to help with the detoxification process.
If the patient chooses, or it is needed, this type of program can be extended to a full 21 days or longer, slowly adding in foods that are more taxing to the intestinal system and liver. Some find they feel so good on this type of a program they continue with the concept of eating foods that are good for detoxification and never add in those foods that are more taxing. Others will commit to 7 days and be done.
Regardless of duration of a well put together detoxification program, patients are giving their systems the time needed to clean out and heal, in a safe and constructive manner. They are focusing on their health and learning better dietary habits that can be translated into an overall improvement in health. What better way to start out the new year than to clean the inside of your body, just like you'll clean the inside of your house? Why not spend time on a good detoxification program? Your body will thank you.
Look for future blogs that will give more information and insights into improving your health with natural health care. You can also visit my website, like me on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter.
When discussing detox programs with patients, I see the whole gamut of understanding. Some have a good idea of what they want to do and how it might be done well, and others have no clue, they just saw something in the store. A good, well thought out detoxification program is an excellent way to start the new year, but let's talk about some of the different kinds and pitfalls they have.
The purpose of any true detoxification program is to take stress away from the liver and digestive system, and supply nutrients for them to heal and work properly. The liver is our main organ to take toxins, whether they be alcohol from New Year's Eve, artificial colorings added to the cookies, or trans fats from the fries we ended up eating on the road to Grandma's, make them less harmful to us, and get rid of them. The rest of the digestive tract is all about breaking down the foods we eat, making it available for use, and eliminating the waste. We realize that overindulging during the holidays can create a huge stress to this system, making it a good idea to work at detoxification. However, not all detox programs are good, and some of them are downright unsafe.
The simplest of the detox programs is a fast. While this can be done for a day or so, it is not recommended, and can create significant problems. When the body is deprived of food, it will start to tear into itself, most notably muscle tissue, to create energy. While all of our muscles are important, one specifically is needed for life: the heart. We do not want to do anything to weaken it, and in fact often spend hours per week working to build it up. In addition, fasts move our hormones into starvation mode, so when we do start eating again, we put pounds on easier, since the body is afraid we'll end up starving again. Fasts are not safe for more than a day, and I recommend avoiding them altogether.
The next complex program is a modified fast with just juice and water. While on the surface it may sound good, it can also create some significant problems. True, the subject is now consuming some calories, but those are mostly in carbohydrate form, and it will not stop the body from ripping into muscle tissue to get at its protein stores. In addition, most Americans already have issues with sugar metabolism, and this type of a detox program can exacerbate this. I do not recommend juice fasts either.
How about if we just clean up our diet then, and eat only vegetables and brown rice and drink juice and water? That is a simple way to clean the house, but is still somewhat devoid of protein, and vegan type diets can lead to significant dietary imbalances, especially if done by someone who hasn't done their research on how to balance the diet. This method, while good in the fact that it relies on whole foods, will still add stress to the digestive system and liver and may not prevent a protein deficit. It's a fine place to go after time is spent on a good detox program.
Can I do one of the "colon cleanses" at the store I see - they're just natural herbs to clean things out, right? That question often comes up when patients are contemplating this type of a program. One of the biggest problems I see with products marketed as "colon cleanses" is that they really don't do a whole lot except use herbal laxatives to push things on through. They often do nothing to take pressure off the digestive system, and in fact, can add stress through the stimulating herbs. They also usually have nothing to support the liver, and without helping enhance liver function, the whole process isn't worth much.
What type of detoxification program do I recommend? One that is based on protecting protein stores, uses a modified fast for only a few days, has sound nutritional support, and has a good instruction manual to help the patient learn how to mix foods in a way that enhances their detoxification processes. This type of program can range from as few as 5 days to as long as 21 days. For most of my patients, I recommend doing a 7 day program, since anyone should be able to find 7 days when they can fit it in.
A 7 day detox program usually starts with two days of modified fasting. That means they are drinking plenty of water, but also supplementing with a protein based powder that includes good fats and high quality fiber. This type of a program allows for the digestive system to have a few days to rest, but still protects the protein stores, i.e. muscles. On day three, food intake begins again, but the foods are limited. Only foods that enhance the detoxification process are allowed. These foods will be high in nutrients, but often not have a tremendous amount of calories. Most meats are kept out at this point, as is all dairy, and most grains. This leaves us with a fairly vegan diet, but if done according to directions, can be very safe. In addition, during these last four days, the protein based powder is continued to protect the body from ripping into its own. In addition, during the full 7 days, the patient will be taking high quality nutritional supplements to offset any imbalances that arise due to the strict diet, and additional support for the liver is added on the last four days to help with the detoxification process.
If the patient chooses, or it is needed, this type of program can be extended to a full 21 days or longer, slowly adding in foods that are more taxing to the intestinal system and liver. Some find they feel so good on this type of a program they continue with the concept of eating foods that are good for detoxification and never add in those foods that are more taxing. Others will commit to 7 days and be done.
Regardless of duration of a well put together detoxification program, patients are giving their systems the time needed to clean out and heal, in a safe and constructive manner. They are focusing on their health and learning better dietary habits that can be translated into an overall improvement in health. What better way to start out the new year than to clean the inside of your body, just like you'll clean the inside of your house? Why not spend time on a good detoxification program? Your body will thank you.
Look for future blogs that will give more information and insights into improving your health with natural health care. You can also visit my website, like me on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter.
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