Nell Stephenson's Blog, page 5

Erythritol: What is it, and is it a Healthy Choice?

If you’re following a Keto diet, a Paleo Diet or any diet, chances are strong that you’ve come across a number of low-carb or no sugar added products containing erythritol.

What exactly is it, and is it truly a healthy option?

Ann organic compound, erythritol is a sugar alcohol used as a food additive and sugar substitute (1). At the industrial level, it is produced from glucose by fermentation with a yeast.

And unlike some of the other sugar alcohols such as mannitol, sorbitol and maltitol which are common culprits of bloating and diarrhea, erythritol may not have the same digestive side effects because it doesn’t reach your large intestine in significant amounts.

So does that mean a no-holds barred approach to eating products made with this ingredient?

Not so fast; even though multiple studies on its toxicity and effects on metabolism show that erythritol has been found safe for both human and animal consumption (2), Erythritol is not without side effects.

Typically experienced effects include digestive problems and diarrhea, bloating, cramps, and gas. Additionally, erythritol and other sugar alcohols frequently result in more water in the intestines, causing diarrhea. Nausea and headaches may occur as well (3).

What’s more, higher blood levels of the sugar substitute erythritol are associated with increased belly fat and weight in young adults, according to a study by Cornell University and European scientists (4); one of the very reasons many people may opt for a food made with this ingredient; a part of a healthier diet, often one attached to a weight-loss goal!

Last but not least, GMO corn is the most commonly used source in commercial production of this sugar alcohol, which brings up the adverse effects of GM foods on health: the transfer of antibiotic resistance, toxicity and allergenicity (5).

Bottom line: while erythritol may be a less risky sugar substitute than others that are all too easily available on the market, positioning it as a safe option still feels like a stretch.

A more appropriate take away might be to simply reduce the yearning for the sweet taste of food in the first place, rather than solely looking for less unhealthy sugar options than one might currently be relying upon.

A task easier said than done, for many; approximately 75% of Americans eat excess amounts of sugar — many of whom could be classified as having a sugar addiction (6).

Not that surprisingly when you consider that 60% of packaged foods and drinks that are purchased in American grocery stores include some form of added sugar (7).

Here’s the great news: by making small shifts, such as buying less packaged goods, shopping more at your local farmer’s markets and taking baby steps to include more fresh veggies, natural fats and good proteins, you’ll naturally begin to shift your palate (and therefore related cravings) away from refined carbohydrates naturally.

In other words, having this knowledge can be one more piece to add to the motivation to achieve optimal health, both for yourself and your family… and reduce consumption of all sweet, sugary things whether they contain ‘real’ sugar… or erythritol!
Less is more; at the end of the day, if a sugar alcohol occasionally graces your lips, it’s not necessarily a deal breaker; but being aware to your body’s response to it is the gift, in providing the information you need as to whether or not it’s something you will choose to include in your diet going forward.

(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erythritol
(2) https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/...
(3) https://www.webmd.com/diet/what-is-er...
(4) https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2017...
(5) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
(6)https://www.healthline.com/health/sug...
(7) https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/22/up...

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Ashwaganda: Helpful or Hype?

Aside from being a trendy ingredient in anything from coffee substitutes to energy bars, Ashwagandha is an important herb in Ayurveda, a traditional form of alternative medicine based on Indian principles of natural healing (1).

Withania somnifera, known commonly as ashwagandha or winter cherry, is an evergreen shrub in the Solanaceae or nightshade family that grows in India, the Middle East, and parts of Africa (2).

People have used ashwagandha for thousands of years to relieve stress, increase energy levels, and improve concentration (3).

But is it really something we should all be jumping on the bandwagon to include into our daily routines?

Absolutely not.

While it certainly has health benefits when appropriately administered, certain populations would best be served by first doing a little research and consulting with their functional medicine doctors or naturopath for guidance before simply picking the most popular brand from the shelves of the local health food store.

Certain groups of people should avoid using ashwagandha, including those who have medical conditions like diabetes, high or low blood pressure, stomach ulcers, autoimmune disease, or thyroid disorders.

Those in the know about autoimmune conditions, including MS, lupus, RA, eczema, rosacea and type II diabetes, to name a few, may be familiar with an autoimmune protocol of eating.

Typically, this includes staying away from the nightshade plants. Nightshades aren’t harmful to everyone, but they are often harmful to people with autoimmune or thyroid issues. All nightshades contain toxic compounds called Glycoalkaloids, natural pesticides produced by nightshade plants.   They also contain several compounds that can drive inflammation and undermine gut health.

Given that ashwaganda is a nightshade plant, those with known autoimmune or thyroid issues would best be served by including this herb with a dose of caution prior to adding it to the supplement list.

However, it certainly doesn’t mean that everyone else who does not have a similar set of health circumstances should ingest large amounts of this, or any other herb for that matter.

Important to remember that even though it’s a plant as opposed to man made in a laboratory, natural doesn’t necessarily equate to safe.

As someone who wholeheartedly believes that food is medicine and that we can indeed find many cures in nature for what may ail us, understanding the power and potency of just what we’re about to take, be it in the form of a whole food, a powder or a pill, is crucial.

From collagen powder to vitamin C, from a multi-vitamin to a protein supplement, unless we truly know where the product came from, how it was extracted and processed and how rigorously it was tested, we may not be privy to the whole picture of what we’re about to put into our body, let alone whether or not we actually need it and would be helped, or harmed by it.

Best bet?

Once again, become your own detective. Seek experts, such as functional medicine doctors who specialize in your specific set of circumstances and work as a team to determine if what may seem like the trendy thing to take is truly in your best interest.

Finally, it goes without saying that those who are pregnant or breastfeeding benefit from being particularly mindful about what is ingested, often due to lack of evidence supporting safety for both mom and baby.

Speaking from personal experience, it can feel even more tricky to decipher what, if any, supplements or vitamins to take during this incredible time.

For me, finding trusted experts, whose expertise I trusted implicitly was the key; those included my midwife, my doula and my naturopath / functional medicine doctor.

Food is medicine, knowledge is power… combine the two as your foundation and you’re off to a great start!!

(1) https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/...
(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withani...
(3) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32201...

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Freedom with Food: Everything in Moderation?

Yes… but After You’ve Done the Work

You’ve heard it before: ‘Diets don’t work; the best bet is to have everything you want in moderation’.

Pardon?

If you’re like me at all, being on yet one more diet is not your first rodeo.

I began my own foray into the world of diets around age 15 when, after a knee injury I created by going just a tad too hard on the Jane Fonda VHS tapes I’d do in my living room led to a decrease in physical activity for a short period of time.

I was far from unconscious about what I was eating; mom was a hippy through and through so eating mindfully sourced and prepared, real food was the norm in our household.

However, that temptation that always called to me when I’d be at a friend’s house who had all the chips, all the ice cream, all the things, combined with not exercising as I had been, led to what was about a 10 pound weight gain.

I wasn’t having it.

I opted to go to the local weight watchers chapter which, back then, was still teaching what real portion sizes were and what food groups actually consisted of (far from the later points program that would evolve in which a person using all their points at McDonalds was technically still compliant).

In 1990, at age 15, the diet recommended to me was a whopping 900 calories per day.

I followed it, it worked, my knee healed and I was able to exercise again.

I lost weight and then some and I also began what would be decades of spending way too much time counting calories and going back and forth from labeling myself as good or bad based on how strictly I followed a ridiculously low daily caloric intake.

At the same time, my gut issues, which I’ve written about many a time, were getting worse and worse.

I couldn’t make heads or tails out of what to eat to leave me feeling lean and strong and energized and I couldn’t make heads or tails out of what to eat to not feel any of the plethora of gut disturbances I’d experience more and more often.

I tried the Blood Type Diet, The Zone, Atkins and hard core veganism (for 2 full years!).

In retrospect, all offered pearls of wisdom and learning but none of them shed even a glimmer of light on the importance of which foods might be causing inflammation, and none offered any leniency on how to eat in a sustainable manner in order to make the way I was feeling not feel like a diet.

It wasn’t until, in the early 2000s, I learned of Dr Loren Cordain’s work, and how an authentic Paleo Diet was truly the only way I’d found that in one fell swoop offered:

A way to eat without feeling deprivedA way to eat without weighing, measuring and counting caloriesA way to eat that allowed me to feel lean, energized, to compete at a higher and higher level in my sportA way to eat without feeling like I was limiting myself from anything I wanted

You may be reading this and think: “wait… Paleo IS a diet!” And “it IS restrictive!” And “won’t I need a cheat day?”

Which may lead you back to another common piece of advice given: isn’t better to eat everything in moderation?

To which I would reply, to all of the above, no.

No, that is, unless you’ve already done the work.

What work?

The work of first learning what foods actually make you feel anything less than optimally.

I did this work; it took me a long time, much longer than it takes my clients to do now, because I was figuring out what the heck I was doing as I was going, rather than being guided by anyone who was able to help me.

And the biggest thing I learned, the largest takeaway of all, is that once a person realizes which single foods make them feel awful, and which foods make them feel incredible, something tips, something resonates so deeply that a fundamental connection is made and the food can suddenly seem completely uninteresting.

When I realized that for me, soy and gluten were, by far, the two most deplorable things I could put into my body (followed by all other grains as well as beans, and of course, man made sugars or fats), they, and all foods containing them, became about as attractive to eat as a container they may have been sold in.

I like to call it the cardboard effect; my suspicion was that I’d likely be able to digest a cardboard box and suffer less consequence than the soy or gluten-rich item itself.

And now, nearly 20 years later, I can honestly say that I do eat everything I want, but that’s because everything I want are foods that make me feel nourished, healthy, energized, clear, focused.

I would not ever now proactively choose to eat something that I knew would make me feel anything less than, any sooner than I’d go back and eat more of a dish from a restaurant that I knew gave me food poisoning.

It truly is that simple… but there’s a but.

Each person has to be ready to do this work, both practically in terms of feeling prepared to tune in to their body and listen to what it has to say, as well as behaviorally in order to figure out what the hurdles are that each of us place in our own way.

Over the years, I’ve had the honor to work with some incredible people that have done such work; and there’ve also been clients who begin the process and realize it’s not the right time in their lives amongst all the other things going on.

So when I hear someone suggest eating everything in moderation, or that they’ve come to terms with their bodies being far heavier than they wanted or they’re settling.

Settling for feeling tired all the time.

Settling for having GI issues day in and day out, or, you name it, I can’t help but wonder whether they’ve truly given themselves a fair shot at finding out their own true best path to eating in a manner which really does lead them to the same place many would like to be in, after perhaps years of being in what is effectively a food fight with one’s self: being in a place of food freedom.

And thriving!

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Raising Vegan Children: Healthy or Harmful?

It’s Earth Day and chances are you’ve considered how what goes on your plate, today of all days, may affect our planet.

How many times have you heard:

“Eating meat is bad for the planet”  or “Eating meat is connected to a plethora of health conditions”?

There is even a campaign entitled “Go Vegan for the Earth Day” led by a well know group based on animal advocacy.

But simply avoiding animal products does not necessarily equate to a healthy way of eating.

If we’re approaching the topic from a sustainability angle, we must also consider, then, that while some of the ingredients used in many a product labeled as vegan do not, in fact, contain any animal-based ingredients yet simultaneously also do not contain much nutrition.

As one relatable example, let’s look at soy.
Soy crops affect the Earth’s climate, generating significant amounts of greenhouse gases (1).
Toxic chemicals from soy production contaminate the forest, poison rivers, destroy wildlife and cause birth defects in humans (2).
Conversion of forests to soy plantations (or any other crop, for that matter) in the Amazon is a threat to the climate (3).

Granted, we’ve come a long way since the days when soy protein was the only option for those looking for a plant protein, but suffice to say it’s still a popular choice among many.

Consider specifically for purposes of this article, that over one-quarter of American babies given formula are consuming one made of soy-based ingredients (4).

Rationale for giving a soy-based formula may vary from one mother to another, but let’s explore if this choice is made based on the premise that a vegetarian diet is the healthiest one to give a baby or young child.

“Grain- , bean- and soy- based diets are not nutritionally adequate and certainly miss the mark on optimal nourishment for your growing baby” (5).

Super Nutrition for Babies, by Erlich + Genzlinger, was a book I found extremely helpful during creating my own son’s first foods, not only to ensure I was hitting the mark on all I was feeding him, but to further illustrate just how crucial it is to feed an authentic Paleo diet* to young children to ensure optimal development on all fronts.

(*Call it Paleo, call it traditional… call it what you like – it’s just about eating the very same foods our families ate a few generations ago before food was an industry based on the bottom dollar and not the health of humanity).

Some specifics:

“Plant based diets have mineral-blockers, enzyme inhibitors, protein digestion blockers, poorly absorbed minerals, digestive irritants, are inflammatory, tend to be high in sugars and deficient in nutrients critical for healthy growth and development”.

“Animal foods are so important in ensuring proper growth and height, strength and intelligence that researchers contest it is unhealthy not to include animal foods in a child’s diet”.

Finally,

“Vegan diets fare even worse, after extensive research (6) on the criticality of animal foods on children’s health, there is no question it is unethical to bring children up as strict vegans”.

The key, of course, is making sure the animal protein we are giving our children (and ourselves) is properly sourced.

The “Organic” Label isn’t enough; you’ll want to look for:

Beef. Look for Grass-fed and finished. (the ‘and finished’ part is crucial; even adding grain to the last few weeks of a cow’s life can significantly change the composition on its meat, and reduce the nutrient density to whomever is eating it. Cattle are not required to have a full grass-fed diet in order to get the grass-fed label on your beef’s packaging. Moreover, “grass-fed” cows are not necessarily pasture-raised. At the grocery store, that means grass-finished beef may be marketed as grass-fed beef, but not vice versa. And, keep in mind that “grass-fed” cows are not necessarily pasture-raised (7).

Chicken. Free range is not enough; it simply means that chickens have “access to the outdoors.” Sounds reasonable, right? Except that 99.99% of modern day conventional chicken is raised in what’s called a “grow house,” a 600ft long x 40ft wide tunnel packed with 30,000-40,000 chickens (8). Pasture raised can be better, but as there is no legal definition for it, your best bet is to go straight to the farm. EatWild.org can be a great resource in locating sustainable chicken providers if you do not have access to a local farmer’s market.

For other animal proteins, it can get even trickier with misleading labeling. Once again, your best bet is to do your detective work and ask questions. Get as close to the farm as you can and refuse to settle for something labeled as organic simply because it’s convenient and priced well to but it at your local grocery store. Perhaps it’ll cost less from a dollar perspective, but much, much more from a sustainability and health (for you and for the planet) perspective.

I recall a client year ago, a mom of four children who had followed a strict vegan diet for years prior to and through her first pregnancy.

When she began to suffer from gut dysbiosis and turned to a more traditional diet in order to heal her gut, she couldn’t believe how quickly she began to feel better. Accordingly, she began to implement similar foods to the meals she’d provide to her family. The next three pregnancies were far smoother and less problematic for her; she had more energy, better digestion and zero brain fog. And the three younger children were all taller, had an easier time at school and were rarely sick, even including the common cold.

The thing that weighed most heavily on her was a regret she carried for not having the information she later had earlier on, prior to having her first born.

It’s not her ‘fault’; there is no fault. It’s all about learning and self-education. It would be wonderful if all our food choices and messaging around them were honest and based completely on what serves a body best.

However, given that this ideal is not reflected in the current food industry, it’s up to each of us to do our research and share with our families, and our communities.

foodunfolded.com
smallfootprintfamily.com
1millionwomen.com.au
webmd.com
Erlich, Kathy, and Kelly Genzlinger. “Chapter 2.” Super Nutrition for Babies: The Best Way to Nourish Your Baby from Birth to 24 Months, Fair Winds, Beverly, MA, 2018.
Lindsay Allen, PhD, Professor, International Nutrition, UC Davis

What Is the Difference Between Grass-Fed and Grass-Finished Beef?

https://primalpastures.com/blogs/prim...

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Birth Control Pills + Hashimoto’s

For many women, taking an oral contraceptive makes sense.

They allow a cycle to be regulated, can reduce PMS symptoms and of course, prevent pregnancy.

But are there any downsides?

Beyond the warnings in the small print that we may tend to overlook, the rare but serious complications such as heart attack, stroke, blood clots, and liver tumors (1), there are other concerns that are not often discussed.

Specifically, the correlation between birth control pills and thyroid function.

23.5 million Americans, suffer from an autoimmune disease, and the prevalence is rising (2).

Hashimoto’s disease is one such autoimmune disorder in which the immune system creates antibodies that attack thyroid cells as if they were bacteria, viruses or some other foreign body. The immune system wrongly enlists disease-fighting agents that damage cells and lead to cell death (3).

Longer history of taking birth control pills was strongly associated with hypothyroidism, which can be caused by Hashimoto’s, especially of more than 10 years (4).

Finally, approximately 1 in 8 women will be affected by a thyroid condition at some point in their lives. The risk for women is about 10 times higher than for men (5).

How many young women, or women of any age for that matter, are provided this information when their doctor presents taking the pill as the best option?

Granted, the ability to prevent unplanned pregnancy is one example of the benefits of modern medicine we have, but in an ideal world, all the cost would be presented to each and every woman along with the benefit.

Add to that there are other risk factors that may contribute to thyroid disfunction, including toxin exposure (mold, heavy metals and chemical), leaky gut and nutrient deficiencies.

With regard to thyroid function,  the good news is that many types of hypothyroidism can be reversed. The process may not be simple, but it is possible. Even some cases of so-called “permanent” hypothyroidism can be effectively treated (6).

Care to take a guess at how?

You guessed it:   food.   The one medicine we all take, each and every day.

By following an authentic, Paleo-based autoimmune protocol of eating, we can reduce inflammation in the gut and all systems in the body, support the gut to heal and subsequently, make significant impact on the health of our thyroid.

The thyroid’s role is not to be taken lightly; it has an important job to do within the body; releasing and controlling thyroid hormones that control metabolism ( 7).

If one is already taking medication and is under the care of a physician, the best course of action may be to consult with the doctor to get specific instructions as to how to make changes to diet in order to support the health of this vital organ.

If the doctor’s council is such that food will have no effect, it may be beneficial to investigate working with a functional medicine doctor or naturopath in order to have the most comprehensive approach to creating optimal thyroid health.

Depending on the medication one might be taking, thyroid function is best measured with any frequency varying from every 6-8 weeks to annually.

In other words, it’s not something that can be done DIY style.

However, what we eat certainly can be.

By removing foods that are likely to cause inflammation due to leaky gut, such as all grains, beans, nuts and seeds, nightshade plants and egg whites, we allow the body a chance to calm down.

Simultaneously, when we create a diet rich in nutrient dense, gut healing foods, we can seal and heal our guts, making our bodies that much more resilient and further along the path toward optimal health.

Yet one more example of how food, the truest form of medicine, can truly heal.

 

https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/birth-control/birth-control-pill/how-safe-is-the-birth-control-pillhttps://www.niaid.nih.gov/sites/default/files/adccfinal.pdfhttps://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hashimotos-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20351855https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8230965/https://www.harleystreetent.com/blog/why-women-are-more-prone-to-thyroid-problemshttps://primehealthdenver.com/hypothyroidism/https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/8541-thyroid-diseaseThe post Birth Control Pills + Hashimoto’s first appeared on Paleoista.

Seasonal Allergies + Your Gut

With spring just around the corner, many are finding themselves bracing for the worst; sneezing, sniffling and runny eyes are just a few of the symptoms that those suffering from what is typically referred to as seasonal allergies may experience.

An estimated 50 million Americans report seasonal allergies each year (1) and allergies are the 6th leading cause of illness in the US (2).

The most common indoor/outdoor allergy triggers are: tree, grass and weed pollen, mold spores, dust mites, cockroaches, and cat, dog and rodent dander.

Uncomfortable, to say the least.

So it’s no surprise that heading to the doctor for relief is the first step, and a prescription to treat the symptoms is often the first course of action.

Minor allergy symptoms are frequently treated by giving prescription antihistamines, corticosteroids, or decongestants (3).

And while popping a pill to stop one’s eyes from watering might seem like a great idea at the time, doing so is not without consequence.

Common side effects of Zyrtec, a popular choice amongst Americans, include: drowsiness, fatigue, tired feeling, dizziness, dry mouth, sore throat, cough, nausea, constipation, or headache (4).

And that’s just in the short term; long term use of this class of drugs is associated with psychological side effects such as irritability and anxiety, hallucinations, aggressive behavior, depression and suicidal ideation or behavior, and insomnia (5).

And it’s not just adults who may put themselves at risk; children who are given medication to treat seasonal allergies
can experience drowsiness, dizziness, constipation, stomach upset, blurred vision, or dry mouth/nose/throat (6).

But here’s the good news: it’s not a choice between experiencing short or long term side effects and trying to tough it out; what we eat and specifically, how that affects our gut health, can play a huge role in how, or if we experience any allergic reactions in the first place!

Let’s start with the basics: what exactly is happening when we have an allergic reaction?

An allergic reaction happens when your immune system misidentifies something completely harmless as a threat. Then it starts bringing out the big guns to attack dust or pollen or ragweed as if the allergen were a pathogen trying to make you sick.  Allergic reactions are inflammatory (7).

You’ve heard about inflammation, and chances are, if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you may already be familiar with how certain foods can cause or worsen inflammation.

We can start with the not-so-surprising culprits: alcohol, peanuts, sugar, processed foods and wheat are known culprits that act as hay fever catalysts (8).

But did you know that other foods that are often position as being good-for-you can actually be just the opposite and create inflammation?

Foods that cause inflammation include refined carbohydrates, wheat and other cereal grains, soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages, margarine, shortening and lard, and processed meats. [1,2,6] These types of food can alter our gut health, as well as cause insulin to spike which is what contributes the inflammation.

The standard American diet is full of these unhealthy foods, and is also often low in fruits and vegetables, which in turn increases the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease and other diseases (9).

The best way to prevent or treat inflammation without pharmaceuticals is by consuming a Paleo diet. You’ll naturally get lots of anti-inflammatory fruits, veggies and fish while cutting down on pro-inflammatory foods like grains, dairy, sugar, and highly processed foods.

(Just one more great reason to go Paleo!)

Bottom line:  nix the processed, packaged junk, add in copious amounts of plants (mostly in season, locally grown, organic veggies), ample natural fats, some properly sourced protein  (and of course, bone broth!) and see if you don’t notice big gains in how comfortable you and your kids begin to feel outside in the spring without a sneeze or sniffle in sight.

 

(1) https://www.aafa.org/allergy-facts/

(2) http://acaai.org/news/facts-statistic...

(3) https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/arti...

(4) https://www.rxlist.com/zyrtec-side-ef...

(5) https://www.news-medical.net/health/L...

(6) https://www.webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-54...

(7) https://paleoleap.com/paleo-and-seaso...

(8) https://www.afcurgentcare.com/blog/ho...

(9) https://www.mayoclinic.org/health-lif....

(10) https://thepaleodiet.com/how-the-pale...

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Heart Health and Meditation

In order to achieve and maintain optimal heart health, it behooves us to eat properly, exercise, avoid man-made synthetic fats and avoid smoking.

Not too surprising, is it?

But did you know that there are proven heart health benefits to adopting a regular meditation practice, too?

While findings show the four top reasons people begin a meditation practice were to feel calmer, relaxation, reduce anxiety, and regulate emotions more effectively (1), there are many other health benefits to begin tuning in, including those pertaining to heart health.

Blood pressure decreases not only during meditation but also over time in individuals who meditate regularly. This can reduce strain on the heart and arteries, helping prevent heart disease (2).

If you’re someone who’s prone to anxiety, this one’s for you: meditation appears to control blood pressure by relaxing the nerve signals that coordinate heart function, blood vessel tension, and the “fight-or-flight” response that increases alertness in stressful situations (3).

Those with a personal or family history of cardiovascular issue or disease can benefit as well; there is limited but promising data to suggest that meditation based interventions can have beneficial effects on patients with established cardiovascular disease.

There’s now, fortunately, a lot more talk within athletic communities about HRV, heart rate variability. Research has found that meditation can positively affect a measure of heart health known as HRV, which reflects how quickly your heart makes small changes in the time interval between each heartbeat. A high HRV is a sign of healthier heart. Low HRV is associated with a 32% to 45% increased risk of heart attack or stroke among people without cardiovascular disease (4).

The heart has an incredible amount of intelligence, tied into every system and every cell of your body with its own independent nervous system, comprised of more than 40,000 neurons. Core heart feelings (love, appreciation, compassion) down-regulate the activity of the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) and increase the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest).

Further, our heart rhythms are mirrored in emotional states; negative emotions such as fear, anger, and hostility create disordered and irregular heart rate variability (the healthy variation in the time interval between heartbeats) while positive emotions create improved order in the heart’s rhythms.

Positive emotional states have a balancing effect on the nervous system by strengthening immunity, enhancing hormonal function, and improving brain function (5).

Improving our own heart health doesn’t only affect us, it also affects the collective consciousness. The Heart Math Institute is based on the premise that when we align and connect our hearts and minds and connect with others, we awaken the higher mental, emotional and spiritual capacities that frequently lie dormant. HMI aspires to always conduct our operations with passion, compassion and a heartfelt desire to transform lives. This is in keeping with our desire to help usher in an era of ever-expanding heart intelligence (6).

So then, the next question… how does one begin?

What if your mind is so busy you can’t stop the thoughts from coming?

One easy way to start incorporating a glimpse of some of the many health benefits, including cardiovascular, to be gained from meditation, is to start with breathing exercises.

Even something as simple as being aware of your breath, then breathing in for a count of four and out for six and be a good first step.

Do this six times and you’re at one minute; repeat that five cycles through and you’re five minutes in!

Conscious breathing is a form of meditation, a practice that researchers say dates back several thousand years (7).

One extra benefit of this technique as step one is that you can do it anywhere: while stuck in traffic, while your children are arguing or right after you’ve read that unsettling email.

Once you begin to notice even a few moments of calm within the storm of whatever may be going on in your mind, that can be the very thing that encourages you to keep it up… and then perhaps leads you to a slightly longer practice, one step at a time.

Like yoga, there’s no such thing as being bad at meditating, nor is there a down side. Only many things to gain, both for yourself and those around you.

(1) https://link.springer.com/article/10....
(2) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25390...
(3) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23890...
(4) https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-...
(5) https://chopra.com/articles/the-coher...
(6) https://www.heartmath.org/about-us/hm...
(7) https://www.everydayhealth.com/altern...

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Love and Your Health

It’s February and love is in the air.

What comes to mind for you this month?

For many, two things are likely to surface:

1. February is designated as American Heart Month to advocate cardiovascular health and raise awareness about heart disease. American Heart Month is a wonderful opportunity to focus our attention on ways to promote and maintain heart health.

2. It’s also the month we celebrate Valentine’s Day, also called Saint Valentine’s Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine which originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, through later folk traditions, has become a significant cultural, religious, and commercial celebration of romance and love in many regions of the world (1).

We have our hearts, and we have love.

How are the two connected when it comes to our health and well being?

In more ways than one, and some of which may surprise you!

Below are some fun and interesting facts about how and why being in love (not just with others but by practicing self love) and choosing to have a perspective in which we lead with love can actually help us become healthier, more balanced people overall.

Being in love can help reduce blood pressure. One theory on why love is good for your health is that blood pressure responds to calmness and peace; if you’re in love, you’re calmer and more at peace, which could translate into lower blood pressure (2).When you lock eyes with the person who makes your heart race, your brain releases hormones such as dopamine, adrenaline, and norepinephrine, which make your heart beat faster and stronger. These short-lived spikes can train your heart to pump blood more efficiently, similar to the way aerobic exercise would (3).Writing a letter to a loved can benefits your heart. Recent research says that healthy college students who spend 20 minutes writing notes of gratitude to friends or family members will experience drops in cholesterol levels compared to groups who write about random topics (4).Anecdotally, love is a matter of the heart. However, the main organ affected by love is actually the brain! Brain scans of volunteers in a study, while they viewed images of their significant other, revealed that when the participants gazed at the face of the person they were in love with, some specific brain areas lit up: the medial insula, the anterior cingulate cortex, and segments of the dorsal striatum (5).The love we have for our pets is significant, too; regular walking or playing with pets can decrease blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and triglyceride levels. Pets can help manage loneliness and depression by giving us companionship (6).The heart chakra, or anahata chakra in Sanskrit, is located at the center of the spine at heart level. Anahata roughly translates to, “unhurt.” Accordingly, the heart chakra acts as the individual’s center of compassion, empathy, love, and forgiveness (9). The heart chakra is associated with air, and its mantra is, “I love.” Consider the connection between proper breathing, and how we feel when we do anything but!

Likely, there are elements of the benefits listed above that are not revolutionary; it makes sense that we’d feel calm around our dogs and that we’d experience feelings of positivity when our heart is fluttering at the start of a new and exciting relationship.
But how about self-love?

What is it, anyway?

Self-love means having a high regard for your own well-being and happiness. Self-love means taking care of your own needs and not sacrificing your well-being to please others (7).

Loving ones self is not to be confused with being self-absorbed or a feeling of superiority; far from it.

It’s simply the acknowledgement that the feelings we have for ourselves, the way we treat bodies, our emotional needs and how we view ourselves overall has a tremendous impact on how we view life and the company we keep… including our immediate circle of friends and family (including chosen family, not necessarily only those related though blood).

People who love themselves are less likely to suffer from anxiety or depression; self-love also paves the way to a positive mindset which is an essential ingredient for success in life and for mental wellbeing. Learning to love yourself also reduces stress, lessens procrastination and makes you more focused at work (8).

One more thing to consider on the subject of self-love; it’s something we can begin to practice now. No waiting for the person of your dreams to appear like the proverbial knight on shining armor, or having to bide your time until you finally find the dream house with a beautiful yard so you can finally become a dog parent.

Incidentally, one self-love (and an increased attention to self-care) becomes something practiced every day, you just might be surprised how much more quickly that dream person manifest into your life… as well as the home, and everything else you’ve always wanted.

It starts from within.

INspiration: Breathe IN.

Try it: breath in, be still, listen and see what shows up.

(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valenti...
(2) https://www.scripps.org/news_items/47...
(3) https://www.everydayhealth.com/heart-...
(4) https://www.adventhealth.com/blog/how...
(5) https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/arti...
(6) https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/keepi...
(7) https://www.bbrfoundation.org/blog/se...
(8) https://www.thedailystar.net/lifestyl...
(9) https://www.bemytravelmuse.com/heart-...

 

The post Love and Your Health first appeared on Paleoista.

THE PILLARS OF CREATING RESILIENCE: MIND / BODY + GUT

It’s been an interesting couple of years, to say the least, in terms of how COVID has radically changed the way so many of us think and do things, how we feel emotionally and whether or not we feel truly equipped to be as resilient as possible.

There are common sense things we can all do, such regular hand washing and staying home if we’re feeling under the weather, but there are a handful of other things that we can benefit from tuning into, above and beyond those basic efforts.

Namely – a true focus on gut health and not only how every part of our body is affected by it, but how what we do, how we move and what we eat affects our gut!

You’ve likely heard about the food and mood connection to start with.

Did you know that eating a healthy, balanced diet and avoiding inflammation-producing foods may be protective against depression? (1) Research has identified 12 antidepressant nutrients related to the prevention and treatment of depression; some of the foods containing these nutrients are oysters, mussels, salmon, watercress, spinach, romaine lettuce, cauliflower, and strawberries.

Notice what they all have in common?

They’re all real food, zero processing or refinement.

First item to note: Lean heavily into local, in season produce (mostly non starchy veggies), pile on the natural fats (such as organic avocado, coconut + olive oils as well as consciously sourced animal fats ).

When we eat a diet rich in real food, we create an environment conducive to supporting an optimal gut biome which then helps to support our mental health on another level, due to the gut-brain axis.

Studies (2) demonstrate the importance of a healthy microbiome, particularly the gut microbiota, for patients suffering from anxiety and depression, as dysbiosis and inflammation in the CNS have been linked as potential causes of mental illness. Of note, studies have shown that probiotics effectively mitigated anxiety and depressive symptoms similar to conventional prescription medications.

Bullet point takeaway number two: include probiotics into your daily regime.

The third important piece to add (in no particular order): get your move on! Not everyone wants to head out for a run and experience a runner’s high, nor does everyone feel drawn to a yoga flow class. The most important thing is that you’re moving your body in some capacity, ideally in a manner that you actually enjoy and some type of combination that provides some type of strength and some variation of cardiovascular training.

Physical activity reorganizes the brain so that its response to stress is reduced and anxiety is less likely to interfere with normal brain function, according to a research team based at Princeton University (3).

Not that you need science to remind you how great you feel after you’ve had a killer workout… but the research exists nonetheless.
The fourth piece to integrate may not seem quite that obvious, but without it, one’s ability to truly down regulate and literally, chill out, may be compromised: meditation.

To be clear, making the differentiation between meditation and meditative can be tricky. It certainly was for me, for quite a while, but in an ideal scenario, there’s room for both.

Wikipedia (4) tells us that meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state.

There are many ways to meditate, and it’s certainly a personal discovery of what works best for each individual person, but suffice to say, whether someone is focused on overcoming an illness, reducing stress or improving athletic performance, mediation is a key pillar in all of the above.

For me, learning transcendental meditation was one the right fit for me and it’s been absolutely transformational.

If bone broth is the panacea to all that ails one from a physical perspective, consider mediation to be its spiritual counterpart.

Not only does meditation help us on a spiritual level, it also comes full circle back to gut health; during stress, an altered gut microbial population affects the regulation of neurotransmitters mediated by the microbiome and gut barrier function. Meditation helps regulate the stress response, thereby suppressing chronic inflammation states and maintaining a healthy gut-barrier function (5).

And the very last thing to consider: what habits might you have developed over time that are no longer serving you?

Have you ever stopped to consider that choosing to be happy might actually be a habit?

Being happy doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re bouncing off the walls filled with joy 24 / 7. Happiness doesn’t always make us feel happy; that’s because it’s a complex state of well-being that requires awareness of both positive and negative emotions, personal values, temperaments, and habits (6).

It’s not just about feeling happy, it’s also about leaning into the other human emotions we experience that simply present us the opportunity to experience contrast, thereby making the happy experiences even greater… and the daily practice of choosing to look for things that make us feel good.

Bottom line: by tuning in to what you’re eating, how your moving, resting and chilling out, you can improve your mood, your gut health and elevate closer to thriving optimally.

 

 

(1) https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/g...
(2) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
(3) https://www.princeton.edu/news/2013/0...
(4) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meditation
(5) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29306...
(6) https://www.mindful.org/habits-happin...

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Is a Bone Broth Cleanse Right for You?

Raise your hand if a bone broth cleanse has crossed your mind as part of your New Year’s resolutions!

Whether its because you feel a ‘re-set’ is in order after too much sugar and drinking during the holidays or due to a health concern you’re finally going to address, bone broth positioned as a cleanse is certainly trending.

But do you actually need one?

And what does it do?

Two fantastic questions.

First, the concept of a cleanse in and of itself can be controversial.  

Arguably, a healthy body is eloquently equipped to be able to cleanse itself, right?   We’d never think of our heart or brain needing to take a break to reset!

At the same time, it’s reasonable to want to go to an extreme of ‘clean eating’ if one’s recent past was anything but.

So, if you’ve decided you want to shift things up a bit in favor of adopting a more nutrient dense, anti inflammatory manner of eating, incorporating some broth into the mix may indeed make quite a bit of sense.

 (Certainly more so than a juice fast, incidentally; here’s more on the skinny of doing a juice cleanse or fast and why it may not be the approach that best serves you in the long run).

Here are my top five tips on integrating bone broth into your daily routine and approaching a few days of brothing it up to the fullest so you feel fantastic, invigorated and ready for an incredible start to the new year (or any time!)

Set a realistic goal.   Something you can measure and accomplish in a manner which is reasonable and fair to yourself.   Deciding you’ve got to lose ten pounds in the first week of the year is anything but.   Remember how long it may have taken the scale to nudge upwards and work backwards to determine how much you can reduce in a sustainable way.Choose your broth wisely.  If you’re not making it yourself, do your research to make sure the bones used were organic and grass fed and finished or pasture raised.    Bones from animals raised inhumanely or given improper food cannot create the quality of broth that sustainably sourced bones can.   Pasture raised chicken, running around freely, eating worms compared even to ‘free-range’ (which means little, unfortunately (1)) contribute all the viable nutrients to a broth, while bones and feet from factory farmed animals do just the opposite.Add fat.  Once again, if you’re making your own broth at home, you’ll be able to take advantage of all the decadent gelatin which is where are the good stuff is (both from a nutrition as well as a taste standpoint) is, but if you’re buying commercial, sometimes the broth has been strained and skimmed to the point of leaving a less flavorful and even fat free version of it’s former self.    Adding fat from raw butter, for example, will add a nice dose of probiotics and create a far more satiating beverage that’ll keep you going for hours.Add fiber.    Chose from your favorite array of low glycemic, packed with nutrition green veggies and try steaming, then blending them into your broth.    Not only will you be doing your GI tract a favor by keeping on top of mobility with fiber, you’ll be helping out the rest of your body with the plethora of vitamins, minerals and micro nutrients from these healthy carbohydrates.Add in some gut-health boosters.   Topping your broth off with a few tablespoons of kim chi or sauerkraut or some prebiotic rich dandelion greens or garlic help to compound the gut health benefits of bone broth even more.   Bonus: Add some organ meats; great source of numerous vitamins and minerals, including many of the B-Vitamins, iron, and zinc as well as a special compound epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), which can help to reduce the inflammation that exacerbates leaky gut.  Also rich in retinol (vitamin A), which helps to protect gut cells from damage.

Choose different types of broths, different veggies to add into the mix and don’t forget to keep hydrated.

Even if you opt to use a ‘broth-only’ approach for several days, by keeping broth as part of your daily regime going forward, you’ll continue to support your gut health and consequently, the health of your body as a whole.

https://certifiedhumane.org/free-range-and-pasture-raised-officially-defined-by-hfac-for-certified-humane-label/The post Is a Bone Broth Cleanse Right for You? first appeared on Paleoista.