Health

Sep

2013

Protein, Fat and Weight Loss

Americans are obsessed with weight loss. Every year we spend billions of dollars a year of our hard-earned lucre on diet pills, potions, devices, and lotions. And we spend billions more on gyms, Zumba, Pilates, Neo, spinning, and step aerobics; Not to mention Jenny Craig and Nutra-genics, Nutra-Systems, and Weight Watchers among other guaranteed ‘to-get-you-to-lose-weight’ meal plans. All told, the United States weight loss market is worth over 60 billion dollars! Yet ironically, for all the time and money spent in the seemingly endless obsession to get skinny, Americans can call themselves the fattest culture in the history of the planet. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, More than one third of Americans can be classified as obese which according to the World Health organization is a “medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health”. That’s over 100 million people. And of course many millions more could simply stand to lose a few or more pounds.

So what gives? What’s up with the disconnect between what many Americans clearly want, a sexy, skinny lean and mean body that looks hot in bathing suit, and what many of us unfortunately have: a fat and flabby, corporeal mass that looks awful in the mirror. In my opinion, the most important cause for the vast gulf that separates what we want our body’s to look like and how they appear, is a lack of awareness of our flesh functions. We just don’t understand how to care for our bodies or how the darn things work. This is a fundamental problem that lurks behind the health crisis that Americans confront in other areas of health and wellness as well, including life and death matters like cancer and heart disease.

When it comes to weight, numerous factors are involved in how we put on the pounds and why they can be so difficult to lose. Certainly stress, biochemical; like cortisol, estrogen, and thyroid hormones play a role. And sometimes weight gain can be caused by dysfunction in the pituitary or pineal glands in the brain. But by far and away the most important cause of the phenomenon of flab is food. This problem is compounded by an exploitive, economic model of food production that preys on our naiveté and exploits our fundamental drives to sustain a nearly 2 trillion dollar food industry that depends on our ignorance for its survival.

Losing weight is “largely” a food issue and losing weight is easy. But it takes applying some science. Not to be satisfied with the shape and structure is obviously a “body” issue. And, our bodies are made of food. In essence, the human body is a food processing factory. To manipulate the appearance of our bodies (in terms of weight loss), we have to be aware of what food is and how this processing occurs. And then we have to be able to exploit and hack into the chemistry to this food processing. The stuff we call food is made up of four main components; macronutrients (protein and carbohydrates, i.e. sugar and fat), micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), and miscellaneous (trace elements–water and food processing chemicals). Of these four, the most relevant for modifying weight are the macronutrients.

The human body has evolved over the course of many millions of years to run on an appropriate intake of protein, fat and sugar. There is an innate, hard wired system in the brain that can detect when these vital nutrients are missing. Under conditions of lack, it will do whatever it has to in order to make sure that the ‘body below’ gets what it needs. This system can be thought of as an appetite-stimulating center and it is especially sensitive to the presence (or the lack of) the macronutrients. Under deficiency conditions, this appetite center fires up and sends its owners (us) on a one-pointed hunt for food. Because our 21st century American eating style does not, for the most part, provide essential amounts or the appropriate balance of macro and micro nutrition, many of us find ourselves on an endless hunt to obtain these critical biochemical elements. Conversely, there is a second area in the brain that suppresses the appetite. Activation of this so-called satiety (satisfaction) center suppresses the appetite, and is the key to losing weight quickly and easily. Imagine that your appetite suppression center, the satiety center, had a switch. Further imagine that you could simply touch the button and you would no longer be hungry. Say you were getting married and you wanted to fit into that size 2 wedding dress; wouldn’t it be nice to be able to simply suppress your appetite, reduce your food intake and drop a bunch of weight without struggle, strife discipline or will power. Well, guess what? You can! Your appetite suppression center may not have a literal on-off switch, but it has a biochemical one! Once this satiety center is activated you will find that you are no longer hungry. It’s as simple as that. When this million year old brain circuit that is specifically designed to keep us from eating is charged up, you simply will not feel hungry. You flat out won’t want to eat. You’ll be able to just say no to even your most favorite of foods, no will-power required. How cool is that? Once the satiety center in the brain says enough, no matter how delicious that pizza or chocolate layer cake or strawberry milkshake looks or how irresistible it used to be, you simply will have no desire for them.

Of the three macronutrients that affect appetite drives, the satiety center is most sensitive to fat and protein. Whey protein and egg protein can be especially important. Meat and fish can also activate appetite suppression. No one binges on T-bone steaks. Dietary fats also have important appetite suppression effects. Essential fatty acids and a specialized fat called Medium Chain Triglyceride, which is found in coconut oil, can be effective for inducing satiety. Carbohydrates and sugars on the other hand stimulate eating behavior. This is especially, problematic in the case of processed fruits, refined grains and other carbs that have had their inherently filling fiber removed. And sucrose (table-sugar) sweeteners that are such an important part of candies, dessert foods and beverages are the most appetite stimulating of all food chemicals.

OK, so you want to drop 10 or 20 pounds here’s what you do: Load up on protein, eat lots of good quality fat. Replace calories from bread, cereals and desserts with calories from seafood, meat, eggs, whey protein, and coconut oil. Olive oil, hemp seed oil and butter can help too. And don’t worry about these fatty substances causing weight gain. Just make sure you’re using them on salads and high protein foods. As long as you’re not slathering your butter on bagels and Danishes, their satisfying nature can ironically result in weight loss as you’re satiety center kicks in and your appetite is suppressed! Eat these kinds of food to the point where you’re sated. And watch what happens. If you’re like most people what you’ll notice is you’re just not as hungry. And when you’re not as hungry, losing weight becomes a simple matter. No will power or Weight Watchers required!

Sep

2013

Asthma Epidemic

By Ben Fuchs | Pharmacist Ben

Get ready for another epidemic! According an article posted on cnn.com the annual “September Asthma Epidemic” (their words, not mine) is coming, although the only evidence they cite are clinical studies that have shown the greatest number of hospitalization due to asthmatic attack are highest 17 days after labor day. Whether an epidemic is on the way or not may be up to conjecture, but what is not debatable is the well-documented fact that asthma is a big and getting bigger problem. From 2001 to 2010, the asthma incidence increased almost 15 percent. By 2009, asthma accounted for nearly 3,400 deaths, nearly 480,000 hospitalizations, 1.9 million emergency department visits, and 8.9 million physician office visits.

By BruceBlaus (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

Asthma, which affects almost 13 percent of adults, and over 29 million Americans at least once in their lives is best thought as an inflammatory condition of the airways. The airways are the passageways where air, or more specifically oxygen, gets transferred into the blood. The net effect is an obstruction or a blockade of oxygen which causes the wheezing and shortness of breath, and a sense of suffocation that occurs with a asthmatic attack. The key word in the above description is inflammatory, which alludes to the microscopic blockages where inhaled oxygen from the air we breathe is transferred to the blood.

And inflammation? Well, that’s always the manifestation of a jacked-up immune system. ALWAYS! I can think of no more fundamental concept in all of physical health. Inflammation is the way a defensive (immune) response shows up; a defensive response to some kind of stressor. And a defensive/stress response means something is getting into the body or something is happening to the body that the body perceives as an attack. In order for a DEFENES-ive response to be initiated there has to be a preceding OFFENSE-ive agent; And the main routes for an offensive agent to get into the body for a defensive response to be triggered, such as those observed with an ordinary asthmatic attack, are typically through the lungs (they are breathed in) or the digestive system (they are eaten). In the case of exercise induced asthma the stress results from the need to heat and humidify large amounts of air that enter into the lungs during exercise.

So what’s an asthmatic to do? Though the medical treatments of choice are inhalers, which are usually some kind of steroid type drug or a nervous system agent that dumbs down respiratory responsiveness or suppresses immunity. Pharmacological intervention is not without toxicity or side effects. The questions for asthmatics are: Do you really want to suppress the immune system that is so essential for protecting the body from the environment assaults, animate and inanimate Or, do you really want to dial down your nervous system that distributes the electrical energy that runs our bodies and brains?

In my opinion the best way to deal with asthma is to take a healthy, natural and multi-pronged approach. In the case of asthmatic attacks that are directly caused by something you’re eating, obviously you want to eliminate those kinds of foods. Dairy and grains are likely suspects. Sometimes legumes, including peanuts and soy, can be problematic. Even vegetables can induce an asthmatic attack in those who are predisposed. Be especially careful of the nightshades which include tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants and peppers.

In addition to avoiding foods that can trigger asthmatic attacks it’s important to reduce the load on the immune system, from non-triggering substances that simply burden the immune system without directly causing respiratory symptoms. If there are predisposing immune loads(mostly problem foods), these can contribute to the signs of inhalation asthma albeit without directly causing asthmatic symptomology. Even if it doesn’t seem like there is a connection between foods and asthmatic symptoms, foods can still PREDISPOSE even if they don’t immediately CAUSE an asthmatic attack. This is kind of tricky, because the connection between predisposing factors that weaken the immune system or burden the immune AND immediate triggers might not be obvious. You might think your asthmatic symptoms are the result of exposure to pollen, not realizing that the pollen is merely the trigger and the cause is really an overburdened immune system that is struggling to keep up with food allergens or toxins that are getting into the body on a regular basis, even if they are not causing immediate symptoms or problems. I call it the “straw-that-breaks-the-camel’s-back” effect where the inhaled substance is not the actual cause but merely the “straw-that-breaks-the-camel’s-back”. What’s worse, if you have an immune system that is burning through nutrients or if you are malnourished, either because you’re not absorbing or nor getting nutrients this undernutriation can also be a contributing factor.

Look for other indicators of immune activation. Skin problems, rashes, frequent colds, autoimmune disease are all signs. If you have any of these symptoms associate with them foods and eliminate those foods. And if you don’t have any of those symptoms, then look for digestive difficulties. And really look. Bowel movement issues and gas are especially good clues. So is heart burn. If you have any of these symptoms connect them to food and eliminate those foods. This will decrease the burden on the immune system and reduce the “straw-that-breaks-the camel’s-back-effect”.

And don’t forget to add in the digestive support nutrients including probiotics, digestive enzymes with food, glutamine powder, juices of aloe vera and noni. There are also important nutrients for the lungs and blood and immune system. Magnesium is an asthmatic’s best nutritional friend. It can help relax constricted blood vessels and strengthen the immune system too; use 1000-2000mg of the glycinate form. Vitamin C is especially important for lung health. I’d be using 100-5000 mg a day. Vitamin E is also an important respiratory nutrient. Use the tocotrienol form, 400 IU daily, for best results. Vitamin E’s cousin, CoQ10 can be helpful, use the oil soluble gel-caps and take 100mg a day. And don’t forget about Vitamin D which can provide respiratory health benefits and beef up a burdened immune system. Sun exposure is always the best way to get your Vitamin D, but if you prefer to go the supplement route, take 5,000 to 10,000 IU. And always balance out your Vitamin D supplementation with Vitamin A, which can provide its own respiratory health benefits. I’d be taking 20,000 IU of Vitamin A at least 4 or 5 days a week. It’s stored in liver so missing a day or two isn’t going to hurt. Don’t forget your EFAs especially Omega-3 s from fish oil which can have wonderfully beneficial benefits for addressing the inflammation associated with asthma. Finally, in addition to supporting digestive health, probiotics can strengthen the immune system and keep it from being so sensitive and jumpy. Take 80 billion units a day and look for products that contain multiple strains of good bacteria.

Aug

2013

Consumer Trends in Food

By Ben Fuchs | Pharmacist Ben

Here are some interesting morsels on Americans food choices in 2012 from the industry journal Food Technology’s “Consumer Trends” column.

The average American prepares an at-home meal 5 nights a week, over 70 percent of which include meat/poultry. This according to the Food Marketing Institute, interestingly named Power of Meat (POM) Report. That represents a significant drop from 80 percent and the decrease is the first in 8 years. Pork and soy meals slightly increased according to the report.

Over 70 percent of polled consumers said they ate chicken 1-3 times a week, 65% prepared beef, and 48% enjoyed a pork based meal. In any given week 60 percent of consumers went for a dinner that included pasta, 44% pizza, 38% soup, and 26% Mexican food. And In a typical week 18 percent of Americans had a meal that featured hot dogs for dinner.

According to the report, ease of preparation played an important role in the type of foods that were prepared. A category called “under 20 minute meals” has risen over 11 % over the past 5 years and a second category called “one-pot meals” increased by 10 per cent. At the same time, the method of frying foods for dinner dropped 30 percent and outdoor grilling declined 7 percent.

In 2012, 26 percent of shoppers bought natural and/or organic meats which is over 4 times as many as in 2011. And the American carnivore displayed a gentle side in 2012 too. According to the “Healthy Eating Consumer Trend Report”, over 30 percent of shoppers were willing to spend more of their hard earned dollars on free-range, grass fed and other humane animal treatment type meat products.

Not surprisingly, in these days of economic turmoil, budget concerns played a role in shopper’s food purchases. According to the POM report, 65% of consumers purchased less expensive meat cuts and/or ground beef and 39 percent reported using inexpensive ready-to-eat meat products such as sausage pepperoni and deli meats/cold cuts.

From the ocean, according to the National Fisheries Institute (NFI), shrimp is the seafood of choice with canned tuna, salmon, pollack and tilapia close behind. Some up- and-coming fish choices making their way onto dinner plates include Branzino (also known as European Sea Bass), which according to the NFI is the fastest growing fish choice over the past five years. Mahi-mahi, anchovies, Ahi Tuna, sea bass and calamari were also popular consumer favorites.

Americans eat 14 billion hamburgers a year and according to the food industry research group “Dataessential”, the top ten fastest growing restaurant burger categories for 2012 were mini burgers, blue cheese burgers, chicken burgers, turkey burgers, veggie burgers, BBQ burgers, Swiss burgers, half-pound and buffalo burgers.

Pizza lovers made buffalo, chicken, margherita, Mediterranean and deep dish pizzas their favorites, while fancy pastas such as oricchiette (little ear in Italian so-named because of its resemblance to a…little ear!) and gemelli (a twisted “twin” stranded form of noodle) are making strong gains.

In the sandwich world, according to the American Culinary Federation, Sliders were the number one choice and right behind were flatbread, ham and cheese, pulled pork, chicken panini, roasted turkey and fried shrimp sandwiches. One of the hottest trends in the sandwich which world was gourmet grilled cheese. The restaurant journal “Quick Service” restaurant recently ran an article praising the up and coming grilled cheese fast food chain Cheeseboy in their Emerging Trends column. And expect to see competing grilled cheese fast food franchises with names like “Cheesemasters” and “Grilled Cheese and Company” appearing in your favorite food courts in the coming years.

Aug

2013

Cholesterol and the Steroid Hormones

By Ben Fuchs | Pharmacist Ben

The human body is a roiling, seething, cauldron of chemistry. An apparently solid mass, which is in reality composed of and home to hundreds of trillions of endlessly morphing molecules and many thousands of different biochemical entities, none more important than the misunderstood, much maligned and massively functional molecule called cholesterol.

By David Richfield (User:Slashme) and Mikael Häggström], via Wikimedia Commons

Cholesterol is THE key chemical entity of the human body. It distinguishes animals from plants (which do not make cholesterol), and plays and important part in muscle health, a well- functioning brain and nervous system and in helping maintain the moisturization and barrier properties of the skin. Yet of all the roles cholesterol plays in the helping sustaining the heath of the organism, none is more important than its parental responsibilities. Yes, cholesterol is a matriarch, a parent chemical that “gives birth” to many children.

The children of cholesterol are known as the steroid hormones. And the steroid hormones are the elites of the society of biochemicals. They regulate (i.e. control) many of the chemical reactions in the body. The cholesterol family is known for being hard working and very important in the society of the body. A couple of the offspring are Cortisol and Estrogen. These cholesterol children support the body in times of stress. Then there’s the virile and manly child Testosterone which is responsible for much of the body’s growth and repair. Pregnenolone and DHEA are cholesterol kids that are important for keeping the body happy and strong and resistant to disease. And perhaps the most potent and powerful cholesterol child, the one who has really made a name for himself in terms of impact is called Cholecalciferol, or as it’s more commonly known as Vitamin D. Thus, cholesterol is a parent, a chemical jumping off point, for many of the most important chemicals in the body. It is important stuff and a biological must-have.

Yet, sometimes the body’s cholesterol making machinery makes more than it needs. How much is too much, no one knows, (those silly cholesterol tests that measure HDL and LDL are based on correlations and statistics created by pharmaceutical companies that profit off the scores they invent) but the fact is that elevated cholesterol levels are associated with a leading cause of disease: dysglycemia and diabetes. But association is not cause. In fact, although elevated cholesterol levels are associated with diabetes it’s not the cause of messed up blood sugar, but rather an effect. This should come as no surprise. Biochemical breakdowns in blood sugar control messes up ALL of the body’s chemistry. Excessive cholesterol synthesis is an effect of poor blood sugar control. When you correct blood sugar and lower insulin secretion by changing the way you eat (basically eating less sweets, cereals, breads, pasta and potatoes among other sugar-rich foods) cholesterol synthesis slows down. It happens EVERY time! That’s because cholesterol synthesis is up-regulated as a result of the body being tricked by the intake of a high-calorie high sugar diet. These types of foods fool the body into initiating the processes of building cells and substance. And cells and substances require cholesterol.

In essence, excessive amounts of cholesterol are produced because of our lousy lifestyle choices. And, as always when it comes to lifestyle induced biochemical breakdowns, this is good news because we can fix the breakdowns simply by making better choices. Without drugs or doctors or health insurance. Reduce your intake of fast burning, high calorie carbs and your cholesterol levels will drop like a stone. And, it wouldn’t hurt to make sure you’re taking nutritional supplements that help the body process carbohydrates. Using niacin (200-500 mg timed release a day) and thiamine (500mg a day in divided doses) and chromium (200-600mcg daily, taken after meals) and magnesium (the glycinate form is best, try 1200mg daily) can help support sugar metabolism and they’ll help lower cholesterol as well. As a bonus you’ll lose weight and lower your blood pressure and reduce your risks of degenerative disease of all kinds and probably live longer too.

Aug

2013

Osteoporosis, Blood Sugar and Insulin

By Ben Fuchs | Pharmacist Ben

Osteoporosis is a textbook example of degenerative disease and affects nearly one out of 8 people in this country, mostly women. Degenerative disease is the leading cause of illness in this country, and a condition that affects nearly 70 percent of Americans. While awareness of the condition has increased dramatically over the last few years, which has seemed to lower the incidence of this potentially life threatening disease, it continues to escalate steadily in this country, and around the world.

By James Heilman, MD, via Wikimedia Commons

These days, even the most nutritionally obtuse person can tell you that taking calcium supplements can help strengthen the bone. More sophisticated aware nutrition minded folks may tell you about Magnesium and Vitamin D, and a so-called expert may even mention the importance of Vitamin K, zinc, and protein.
However, one of most significant keys to dealing with osteoporosis involves blood sugar and insulin, and hardly anyone ever addresses the importance of these two key health markers. Yet, in an article published in Annals of Endocrinology from December 2012, researchers bluntly remarked that “Diabetic osteoporosis (OP) is increasingly recognized as a significant co-morbidity of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2-DM)” , and further stated ”…elderly patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus are prone to develop OP. The insufficiency of insulin, the decreased insulin sensitivity….is important causes for OP in the patients with type 2 diabetes.”

Dysglycemia (a fancy way of saying messed up blood sugar) is tragic, and pervasive biochemical pathology with involvement in almost all degenerative disease. But, because blood sugar and insulin can be manipulated and controlled by our food choices, for better or worse, this is actually good news. In other words, if we change the way we eat we can change our blood sugar too!

And, as far as osteoporosis goes, it means one of the most important things you can do to keep bones from dissolving (which is essentially what osteoporosis is) is to stop eating the pasta! And the grains, and bread, and the cereal, and the fruit juice, and all the other blood sugar busting foods that form such a significant part of the Standard American Diet. And It wouldn’t hurt to throw in sugar metabolizing nutrients either. Alpha lipoic acid 200mg-400mg is a great blood sugar stabilizing supplement. Magnesium, zinc, and Vitamin A can help too. And then there are the B-Vitamins, best added to water and sipped on throughout the day.

Of course there’s more to building bone than just controlling sugar. Even if you just want to prevent osteoporosis, in addition to calcium, there’s lots of great under-appreciated and underutilized nutritional supplements that will help build and strengthen bone. Check out my favorites below. While by no means complete, it represents a great place to start if you’re looking to start an anti-osteoporosis nutritional program.

1. Protein – especially whey and egg. Bone soup is a good way to get bone building protein too.
2. Magnesium – the glycinate form is great. Use 1200mg a day.
3. Vitamin D3 – cod liver oil and adequate sun exposure (maybe 10-15 minutes a day 3 or 4 days a week) are the best ways to get this important nutrient.
4. Vitamin K2 – 5,000mcg daily. It’s a calcium magnet that helps harden bones.
5. Chromium Picolinate – helps stabilize blood sugar – 200mcg after meals.
6. B-Complex – use a powder form (Sanitas B-complex Power Blend or Youngevity’s Beyond Tangy Tangerine are both good sources) and add to water and sip all day.
7. Essential Fatty Acids – Udo’s Blend or Youngevity’s ultimate EFA caps are both good sources.
8. Vitamin C – Bones are 30% collagen, and you can’t make collagen without Vitamin C.-Take 5,000 to 10,000 mg a day.
9. Silica – Abkit Liquid Silica Gel is a good source, take maybe 1-2 tablespoons a day.
10. Hyaluronic acid capsules – 100 to 200mg a day. Your nails and hair will benefit too!
11. MSM (Sulfur) – 1000 mg a day. Extra benefit: it’s great for liver detox.
12. Vitamin A – Take 20,000 i.u daily. I call it Vitamin Anabolic. Important for building bone tissue and protein utilization. Take it with fatty foods or meals.
13. Zinc Picolinate 50mg a day – works synergistically with Vitamin A. It’s the anabolic mineral.