Embracing Health Radio #66 – Consumer Reports Says Alternative Therapies are on the Rise; Shocking New Research on the Effects of Sugar on Healthy People; Protein and Blood Pressure; Part II of the Hygiene Hypothesis Debate

Hello Everyone!  Have a few updates to give you all today, along with the latest radio broadcast link for your listening pleasure…..first, we are going to be at the Heart and Hands Emporium which is being held to raise funds for  the Gateway Domestic Violence Center.  Gateway helps create an environment for safe, healthy, self-sufficient growth and violence prevention through crisis intervention, comprehensive support services and community collaboration.  This will be a wonderful two-day shopping extravaganza sponsored annually by the Heart & Hands Women’s Ministry at First Baptist Church in Gainesville, Georgia.  Over 50 vendors fill the church’s huge banquet hall with a variety of booths featuring hard-to-find items, gifts of all kinds, and other rare treasures.   We’ll have a booth there so please stop by and say hi Friday Sept. 23rd and Saturday Sept 24th and help support this wonderful cause.  For more info, visit http://www.fbcgainesville.org/adult_women.asp

Next, we are sponsoring our first annual Petpalooza on Saturday, October 22nd from 11:00-3:00pm here at the Spa on Green Street  Any breeders that would be interested in attending, please give us a call as we are planning for this to be a great event where anyone with any interest in healthy animal care should attend.  We will have local veterinarians discuss their unique approaches towards animal care, as well as exhibitions of various animals including wild birds of prey and their unique needs.  This promises to be an exciting event and we all hope that you can attend.  More info to come!

Now, here’s my latest post with a radio show I did at the end of July — I will post up the latest ones here shortly.  The show link below starts off with an encouraging trend showing up, where Americans are ‘flocking’ towards alternative therapies.  Is this a trend worth noting and what does it mean to you?  Find out!  Also, find out how new research states that sugar laden beverages negatively affect the health of fit, young, active men.  It was previously thought that sugary beverages just affect the predisposed, unhealthy population and now apparently that regardless of your current health, sugar, in the form of liquid beverages at least, can promote negative health effects.  Listen to find out which kind!  I also discuss the link between whey protein consumption and improved blood pressure control, and finally part II of the Hygiene Hypothesis.

Click on the link below for the archived show!  And as always, tune in every Friday at noon on WBCX 89.1 FM right here in North Georgia to get the latest, up to date scoop.  Tomorrow 9/16 I will be talking about holistic dentistry and will have a special guest on the show.  See you later!

In the News: Consumer Reports Says Americans Are Flocking to Alternative Therapies; Low to Moderate Sugar-Sweetened beverage Consumption Impairs Glucose and Lipid Metabolism and Promotes Inflammation in Healthy Young Men; Protein Supplementation Lowers Blood Pressure; Part II of The Hygiene Hypothesis

Embracing Health Radio #64 – How Food Companies Trick You – Part II; Chemicals in our Food – the New Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen; Sunshine – Healthy or Harmful?

Hi there folks — listen to part II of ‘How Food Companies Trick You into Thinking their Junk Food is Healthy’.  You don’t want to miss these highly deceiving tactics employed by the big food giants to falsely market their products as healthy when in reality they are far from it.  This is actually from a post written by Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, MD who is a ‘nutritional watchdog’ of sorts because of his advocacy efforts for improved public policies regarding nutrition and obesity.  He is the founder and Medical Director of the Bariatric Medical Institute in Ottawa, dedicated to the (nonsurgical) treatment of overweight and obesity since 2004.  If you missed part I, scroll back a few posts and you will find it there.

Also, I talk about a recent report released by the nonprofit group Environmental Working Group where they discuss the hazards of pesticides in our foods, and their ‘dirty dozen’ list of most heavily sprayed crops as well as the ‘clean fifteen’ list of least sprayed crops.

Furthermore, I discuss the conundrum about sunshine — we are told to stay out of it and we are also told we need it.  What gives? Learn about:

1. Low Vitamin D levels:  a potential contributor to mental disorders in children?
2. FDA unveils new rules for sunscreen claims
3. Noted UK oncologist speaks out about getting more sun and how he recommends sun to prevent skin cancer

This and much much more on this edition of Embracing Health —- enjoy!

(Click here to listen =>)  “How Food Companies Trick You into thinking Junk Food is Healthy part II; Chemicals in our Food: Learn Which Foods Contain the Most Pesticides and Also the Least; All About the Sun – Healthy or Harmful?”

Embracing Health Radio Show #63 – Evaluating the Modern-Day Workplace; Cell Phones and Cancer; Exercise Eases Anxiety Disorders; How Food Companies Trick You Part I

Top of the morning to everyone!  Happy Monday and hope everyone enjoyed the weekend as this was the last weekend before the official start of  summer, and it’s been toasty already here in north Georgia.

A couple of things here for this week’s radio show — I talk about our modern day workplace and how researchers are looking into part of the equation to weight maintenance from the energy expenditure  side of things, also known more commonly as calorie burn.  Most of us think immediately to exercise, but this recent research report looked at forms of activity that have nothing to do with formal exercise.  Not to long ago, we had to move alot more as part of our daily lives — whether we farmed or worked in industrial settings or other forms of manual labor.  Now, most people work at desks like myself, and we have to rethink the modern day workplace to make up for this lack of  activity.   You may not think it adds to much, but  the body to expend many more calories that over months can add up to quite a bit, about 120 to 140 calories per day over weeks and months is alot.  The foods that we eat can then be more used for energy rather than stored.  I present this to simply add to your understanding of the whole issue that presents itself to us today regarding body composition.  It’s important to know the metabolic/hormonal complications as well as the lifestyle/calorie imbalances that have occurred too.

Next, some discussion on resistance training and how it helps generalized anxiety disorders, much more than aerobic exercise.  There’s something about stressing your body appropriately and how that affects your whole outlook and mood.  The take away is to include short bouts of some form of intense exercise into your fitness program.

Then we get into a recent World Health Organization warning about cell phones and their potential risk in cancer.  They have put cell phone radiation in the same category as dry cleaning chemicals and pesticides.  That’s something you need to know and consider for your overall health.

A recent poultry drug was pulled from the market – Roxarsone – because of its arsenic content.  From this point, I talk about chemicals in our food and our environment and give you some perspectives on minimizing risk factors for disease by chemical accumulation.

Finally, part I in a series of “How Food Companies Trick You Into Thinking that Junk Food is Healthy” —– you won’t want to miss this one from the desk of Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, MD – founder and medical director of the Bariatric Health Institute in Ottawa, Canada.

Enjoy, and have a great week!   

(click here =>) In the News: Less Active at Work, Americans Have Packed on More Pounds: What the Modern Day Workplace Should Look Like; Resistance Training Improves Generalized Anxiety Disorder; Cell Phone Radiation May Cause Cancer, Advisory Panel Says; Poultry Drug to Be Pulled From Market Due to Arsenic Concern; How Food Companies Trick You into Thinking Junk Food is Healthy

Embracing Health Radio #62 – Eating Fat to Stay Lean? Plus, High Carbohydrate Diet During Pregnancy Linked to Gallbladder Disease

Hi there Folks!  Hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of this summer season, as things are warming up rather quickly here in Northeast Georgia.  Today’s posts covers some interesting topics that I think you’ll find interesting.  First, more research data is supporting that higher fat diets that are within optimal calorie ranges are found to be very healthy, helping people to lose fat faster and showing no signs of vascular damage, which has been the current thinking.  Indeed it is commonly thought that dietary fat clogs arteries, and actually, in the context of an appropriate calorie intake, there seems to be advantages over equal calorie higher carbohydrate diets.  Those of you that have been reading my posts already know about the advantages of lower carbohydrate diets, particularly in weight loss efforts as it helps decrease hunger which allows you to follow the eating plan LONG TERM.  That’s the thing with diets, what helps you in the long term is really what is going to help you overall.  Not to mention all the cardiometabolic improvements for folks who have damaged glucose metabolism.

Next, I talk about gallbadder problems and I highlight a recent study that links overconsumption of carbohydrate to gallbladder disease during pregnancy.  I get into understanding the hormone factors involved in pregnancy and how that predisposes one to blood sugar disorders and then as the study states, ultimately to gallbladder issue.  Find out this and much much more on this recent edition of Embracing Health —– enjoy!

(click here to listen =>)Research Updates: Higher Fat Diet Resulting in Quicker Weight Loss Compared to Higher Carbohydrate Diet, Plus Healthy Blood Vessels – Evidence Continues to Mount In Favor of the Benefits of Dietary Fat; Higher Carbohydrate During Pregnancy Linked to Gallbladder Disease; How to Know if You Are At Risk for Gallbladder Disease

Embracing Health #61 – Gluten, Paleolithic Nutrition and Gut/Anxiety Connection

Hi there everyone — hope you are relaxing into Memorial Day weekend. I’m certainly looking forward to an extra day of sun and relaxation, mindful of the meaning of this day in the heritage of our beautiful nation. I am on my way back from a busy week in Texas, and I thought I’d post my previous radio show recording where I introduce for the first time the concept of paleolithic nutrition. This is a movement that is gaining steam as there is a lot of scientific research that points towards a lifestyle and dietary approach that attempts to emulate the characteristics of our nutritional landscape before the advent of agriculture, which has been estimated to be about 10,000 years ago more or less. I am personally a big fan of this approach just from a health perspective, as this diet is the one that helps most people recover from the most debilitating illnesses, including autoimmune disease in all its various forms. It is a very nutrient dense diet, where animal protein/foods, vegetables and fruits are all allowed in abudance, and grains, legumes and dairy are excluded. Many people opt for a version of this diet, and modify to their personal needs. Many practitioners who work with autism are using this diet very well with their patients. Anyhow, tune in to hear more about how this diet was recently compared to the regular diabetic diet promoted by the American Diabetic Association, and how well it performed.
Also, I discuss how one man’s rising performance in the tennis world is coinciding with his recent change in diet to eliminate gluten. Furthermore, I discuss how mood is affected by our digestion, particularly by the composition of the bacteria that live there.
Hope you enjoy it, and I’ll include the show notes below. Have a safe weekend!
Ricardo

(click here =>) Gut Bacteria Linked to Behavior: That Anxiety May Be in Your Gut, Not in Your Head; The Diet That Shook Up Tennis? Gluten Making the Headlines; Paleolithic Diet Much Better for Diabetics than Conventional Diabetes Diet

The study, published in 2009 in the journal Cardiovascular Diabetology [1]. In this study, 13 men and women with type 2 diabetes ate, on separate occasions, two different diets, each for three months. One diet was a typical ‘diabetes diet’, rich in carbobydrate. The other was a ‘primal’ or “Paleolithic’ diet based on foodstuff resembling those that humans ate prior to the introduction of agriculture and animal husbandry some 10,000 years ago. Here are the details of these diets:

Diabetes Diet

The information on the Diabetes diet stated that it should aim at evenly distributed meals with increased intake of vegetables, root vegetables, dietary fiber, whole-grain bread and other whole-grain cereal products, fruits and berries, and decreased intake of total fat with more unsaturated fat. The majority of dietary energy should come from carbohydrates from foods naturally rich in carbohydrate and dietary fiber. The concepts of glycemic index and varied meals through meal planning by the Plate Model were explained. Salt intake was recommended to be kept below 6 g per day.

Paleolithic Diet

The information on the Paleolithic diet stated that it should be based on lean meat, fish, fruit, leafy and cruciferous vegetables, root vegetables, eggs and nuts, while excluding dairy products, cereal grains, beans, refined fats, sugar, candy, soft drinks, beer and extra addition of salt. The following items were recommended in limited amounts for the Paleolithic diet: eggs (?2 per day), nuts (preferentially walnuts), dried fruit, potatoes (?1 medium-sized per day), rapeseed or olive oil (?1 tablespoon per day), wine (?1 glass per day). The intake of other foods was not restricted and no advice was given with regard to proportions of food categories (e.g. animal versus plant foods). The evolutionary rationale for a Paleolithic diet and potential benefits were explained.

Compared to the diabetes diet, the Paleolithic diet led to individuals eating an average of about 300 calories less each day. This likely reflects the ability of primal, lower-carb diets to satisfy the appetite more effectively than ‘healthy’ diets richer in carbohydrate.

Overall, the Paleolithic diet brought improvements in a range of health measures and markers compared to the diabetes diet. Specifically:

• An additional 3 kg reduction in weight
• A reduction in triglyceride levels (high levels of triglyceride are linked with increased risk of cardiovascular disease)
• Reduced diastolic blood pressure (the lower of the two blood pressure readings)
• 4 cm reduction in waist circumference
• Lower levels of HbA1c (measure of blood sugar control over the preceding 3 months or so)
• Increased levels of HDL cholesterol (the form of cholesterol associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease)

In other words, the Paleolithic diet, compared to standard diatetic advice for diabetes, led to significant improvements in markers for diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Some of these benefits might be related to the fact that, on the ‘Paleo’ diet, individuals ate less. But ate less of what? Daily consumption (in grams) of protein, carbohydrate and fat in the paleo diet and carbohydrate diet were:

Protein: 94 and 90
Carbohydrate: 125 and 196
Fat: 68 and 72

In other words, the Paleo diet contained a little more protein and a little less fat, but the major difference was a lot less carbohydrate.

There is a common notion that when individuals go ‘low-carb’, they end up eating a tonne of protein and fat. This study actually reflects what tends to happen in reality: individuals don’t end up doing that at all, they just eat less carbohydrate. And the typical results of this are, in this study, here for all to see.

References:

1. Jönsson T, et al. Beneficial effects of a Paleolithic diet on cardiovascular risk factors in type 2 diabetes: a randomized cross-over pilot study. Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2009;8:35.