Pain, Inflammation and Dietary Changes

  Back pain accounts for more than $100 billion in annual U.S. healthcare costs and a major component of pain is inflammation. Inflammation goes hand in hand in most discussions on pain and this is where we bring in the dietary changes. Several studies, including: "Controlled trial of fasting and one year vegetarian diet in rheumatoid arthritis", "Analgesic effects of dietary caloric restriction in adult mice", and others, tell us that overeating and the consumption of junk food increase pain. To quote Dr. D. R. Seaman: "it is clear that overeating nutrient-free and calorie dense foods (junk food) will lead to postprandial (after eating) elevations in glucose (blood sugar) and triglycerides, which is associated with inflammation." Now if eating junk food contributes to pain and pain costs Americans more than $100 billion a year then it makes no sense for people with pain to eat any junk food at all.
  Identifying these patients is important. They are not necessarily overweight although many are, sedentary, overeat sugary foods, overeat white flour based foods and fatty foods. All of the above at the expense of fruits and vegetables.
  In the context of keeping it simple I recommend a small calorie change. By cutting back or even better avoiding calorie heavy desserts after meals and junk food snacks during the day you can reduce your pain. If this is not enough and you don't need to visit your physician yet you can add a willow bark supplement to your cabinet and my favorite boswellia (the biblical Frankinscence). You can also add more ginger, turmeric, and curcumin to your cooking along with eating more fruits and veggies everyday. These herbs have been shown to decrease pain and inflammatory levels in many studies.
  The problem of pain and it's cost to our economy is made worse by our poor eating habits and can be improved by adding more fruits and vegetables, a few common cooking spices and a couple of time tested herbs.
 

Saturated Fats and Osteoporosis

The past couple of weeks there has been a great deal of conversation with my patients about Calcium supplements and Osteoporosis. The big question was: "How can I have good blood levels and still have Osteopenia or have Osteoporosis?" and "I take a calcium supplement and I still have Osteopenia, why?" The answer is: You are not getting enough good saturated fats in your diet.

The problem is: With the big push to lower cholesterol the past 20 years or so we have seen a big rise in Osteoporosis, Obesity, Heart disease, Cancer, and Diabetes to name a few. The problem with a low all-fats diet is that most of the population replaced fat with carbohydrate and activity with TV, computer, and couch. The important thing to remember is excess carbohydrates, especially the ones that come in a box, a bag and are given to you through your car window are converted very quickly into fat for storage.

The solution is: More activity of any kind and good wholesome foods. These include the obvious fruits and vegetables, some good meat and good fats with Coconut oil and Olive oil leading the way and, the dreaded childhood oil, Cod liver oil. The first two should be used with every meal and healthy snack and the third as a daily supplement. The misguided hype against Coconut oil is that it is a saturated fat and all saturated fats are bad. These same well educated people do not know or just don't tell us that Coconut oil is a medium chain fatty acid not a long chain fatty acid which means it breaks down and gets into your body as energy fast, like a carbohydrate, but because it is a fat it doesn't raise your insulin levels like a carbohydrate. Don't forget that all of your cells, including your brain, use the big word phospholipids(fat in normal conversation) to make their cell walls. That's right, to have strong cell walls we need fat, especially saturated fat. So what does a no fat diet do? It gives you weak, unhealthy cell walls which give you weak, unhealthy cells which give you a weak, unhealthy you.

This takes us back to the Osteoporosis concern. Your bone cells need saturated fats too. To keep this simple, you need 4 things to have healthy bones.
1. Good Calcium- calcium lactate and calcium citrate are the best, the others aren't worth talking about.
2. Good stomach acid/HCL- this breaks down the calcium so that your body can use it, anything that prevents or lowers stomach acid also lowers your calcium levels. Most people with stomach indigestion already produce to little stomach acid and the food just sits and this backs up as reflux. It is to little stomach acid not to much.
3. Good vitamin D levels- this moves the calcium out of your intestines into your blood stream giving you good serum/blood levels.
And the final step:
4. Good saturated fats (like the ones found in Coconut oil)- these fats move the calcium out of you blood into the bone and other cells for use.

That is how good saturated fats can help you prevent Osteoporosis and a whole host of other cell related diseases. It also helps with hunger and food cravings too.

The death of "D"

The D in this case is not vitamin D it is Heavy D the American rapper who died on 11/8/11 at the age of 44. Unlike many other successful entertainers Heavy D maintained a clean image and even though I was sad to hear of his death I was glad to hear that it was not due to drugs, alcohol or violence like so many other entertainers. Although dying from a pulmonary embolism sounds like a "that's to bad" or "there was nothing that could have been done" it is easily preventable when you know how it develops.

Keeping it simple: a thrombus is a type of blood cell called a platelet that adheres or sticks together at a tear in the inner, endothelial, lining of the blood vessel. These platelets are also called thrombocytes hence the name thrombus when they clump together on the exposed collagen. Remember collagen is on the outside of the endothelial lining, inner wall, of the blood vessel. This means that if your blood vessels are healthy and strong no thrombus develops to break off and no death by cardio or pulmonary embolism when the thrombus gets stuck in a smaller vessel.

Platelets or thrombocytes adhere to collagen fibers, this is prevented by the inner endothelial lining of your blood vessels. As long as your inner, endothelial lining is intact platelets and collagen do not meet and no thrombus develops. When the lining is disrupted by injury or pathological change, platelets stick to the exposed collagen fibers. This starts a negative cascade and every platelet that now comes by becomes sticky forming a clot or thrombus. As more platelets get stuck the clot becomes bigger, the blood vessel becomes blocked and this is a thrombus or Deep Vein Thrombosis(DVT). This can cause a thrombosis at the site or break off and float around, called an embolism, until it gets stuck somewhere else usually in a small vessel in the heart or lungs causing a cardio or pulmonary thrombosis and death.

The simple math is this: Simple carbohydrates/junk food and junk drinks=Blood vessel irritation=Blood vessel inflammation=Blood vessel tearing=Platelets sticking/clotting=Blood vessel blockage=Thrombosis=Death.

The way to prevent this is as simple as adding more fruits and vegetables to your day, these protect your blood vessels, and avoid the packaged and processed bagged and boxed food. Also, if they handed it to you through the window you can bet it can kill you.

Hydration/Dehydration

With our emphasis on nutrition I wanted to give a gentle reminder to myself and everyone else that one of the most important nutrients is also one of the most overlooked and that is water.

"Almost every fluid, with the exception of water and most non-diuretic botanical teas, causes dehydration. Notably, caffeine, alcohol, carbonated beverages, and juices can actually "rob" the body of water and needed electrolytes. Water is the single most important nutrient for optimal biochemistry and functioning."

On an average day the human body loses approximately 2.5 liters of water and extra water is needed during times of extra water loss. These can include; exercise and sweating, diarrhea, vomiting and diuretic use.

How much water should I drink? The old recommendation of 8 glasses of 8 ounces/day was easy to remember but not very sensible. If I am 6'2" 195 lbs and you are 5'2" 110 lbs we have different water needs. The easiest and most individual way to determine that is to take your body weight in pounds then divide by 2 and drink that amount of water in ounces daily. A 200 lb. person needs 100 ounces of water and a 100 lb. person needs 50 ounces of water.

When choosing water you can look to the blog posted on 3/28/2011 entitled "Water isn't just water".

Enjoy the water and drink for health.
Some information is from D. Weatherby, N.D. and S. Ferguson, N.D.: Clinical Laboratory Testing from a Functional Perspective.

Nutrition and Crime

I am finishing a small book entitled "Diet, Crime and Delinquency" written by Alexander Schauss, PhD. Quoting the summary on the back jacket: "Using case histories, graphs and illustrations, Criminologist Schauss clearly and concisely documents how food allergies can foster violence...how nutrition and vitamin therapy help alcoholism and drug addiction...how lead poisoning can lead to behavior disorders...how junk foods and environmental pollutants favor the development of crime."

This book is only 108 pages and it has great references. Dr. Schauss wrote this book 40+ years ago and it reads as if he wrote it today with the only difference being the numbers of people affected have increased as have the food colorings and additives that he shows have such a negative effect on us all.

Enjoy the read.

Exercise and Cancer Prevention

Here is a good article from the BBC concerning the importance of exercise and cancer.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14417084

Real Honey

I received this article from a friend and I wanted to share it with you. It talks about the processing of honey and how it is fast becoming a non-food when bought from most supermarkets. So even when you think you are doing good for yourself and your family the food processors are harming us.

There is still hope. This article lists stores that still carry real honey that does pass the honey as food test and most importantly as safe food.
Enjoy the article and please shop accordingly.

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/11/tests-show-most-store-honey-isnt-honey/