Archive for August 15, 2013

Ancestral Health Symposium 2013, Atlanta!!!

AHSWe’re in Atlanta for the Ancestral Health Symposium, I feel like it’s Christmas!  Before I tell you what it is, don’t forget that I’ve got some local talks coming up:

WORKSHOP REMINDER:  I’ve got 2 workshops/talks planned on Blood Sugar, and it’s relationship and effect on Weight, Diabetes, Heart Disease, Thyroid, and Mood.  The dates are Friday, August 23, 12-2, and Wednesday, August 28, 6-8pm,  the charge is $30/person, and the venue is the Marshall Community Center, 4133A Rectortown Rd, Marshall, Va.  This is literally right off Rt 66, and very easy to find.  There’s plenty of parking and the room is big, so bring a friend or a family member if you’d like.  You can pay at the door.

This is my first year at AHS, so I’m a Newbie, but by looking at my Class/Lecture options, I can tell you this is All About The Science.  That’s what I love about this whole Paleo/Primal/WestonAPrice movement;  it’s not funded and promoted by Big Pharma or Big Food, it’s all about the science!

Here’s some of my lecture opportunities for today:  How to Love Randomness: Antifragile Responses in the Human Body and Their Consequences by Nassium Taleb MBA/PhD   The Consuming Instinct: What Juicy Burgers, Ferraris, Porn and Gift Giving Reveal About Human Nature, by Gad Saad PhD;  Sexual Fitness and Women’s Fertility Cycles, by Geoffrey Miller PhD;  Why Women Need Fat: Three Evolutionary Puzzles, by Will Lassek MD;   terry wahls The Wahls Diet to Treat Progressive Multiple Sclerosis, by Terry Wahls MD (OMG!!  Have you all seen her YouTubes/Ted Talks??  This doctor was CRIPPLED with MS and has literally reversed her condition thru nutrition!!) ;  Ancestral Principles in Clinical Practice Panel (several doctors); and MORE!!!  I’ll be keeping you up-to-date each day with my classes, and with bullet points that I learn.

I’m also going to post what I eat, and my Hotel Workouts here, instead of on my What I Eat Page.

Yesterday, aka Travel Day,  I had a breakfast smoothie (homemade raw keifer, a raw egg, chocolate whey, collagen, spinach, bananas, ginger, and molassas),   a Jay Robb bar, 5 figs, and a chicken/raw cheddar roll up for lunch,  and we stoppped for dinner in Davidson NC and ate at Flatiron (EXCELLENT), where I had my first Wagyu (sp?) burger/medium/no bun covered with cheddar and onions and avocado, with a pretty simple salad, and some great french fries ( I shared them with Mark before I ate the whole pile).  It took us about 11 hours to get here from Delaplane because we hit a pretty bad accident in NC.  Ugh. Sat for an hour.  My only workout yesterday was 15 minutes on a bike early in the morning.

We’re about to head off to the gym now.  It’s a huge hotel, and a pretty fit crowd, so I have high hopes that it’s a nice one.

 

Take Your Health Into Your Own Hands

Did anyone hear that President Bush had a stent put in the other day?  Has anyone heard of a Cardiologist by the name of Dr. Thomas Dayspring?  Here’s a smidge of his bio:dr thomas dayspring

Thomas Dayspring, MD FACP, FNLA, NCMP

Director of Cardiovascular Education at Foundation for Health Improvement and Technology (FHIT),  Wayne, New Jersey (Greater New York City Area) ,   Medical Practice.

He’s a Paleo Diet promoting doctor, who thinks standard medical advice to prevent and treat heart disease is creating more heart disease.  Here’s a blurb from a whole article he just wrote on President Bush’s stent:

“I submit the following graphic for your “dining” pleasure. In 1977 the US Government on the advice of Senator George McGovern’s committee advised new dietary recommendations where fats were to be drastically reduced and whole grains and complex carbs were to be the new miracle food: this was incorporated into USDA Dietary Guidelines in 1980 and into the Food Pyramid in 1992. Follow the incidence of obesity in the US since the introduction of the low fat, high carb diet – remembering also that any food low in fat and cholesterol regardless of sugar content gets the AHA seal of approval. Note that within ten years of those recommendations there was an explosion of obesity (orange bar).  ”

gwbush2

Wow!  Check out the yellow blocks vs the orange blocks.  Standard/Mainstream advice has been a TOTAL FAIL.  For the whole article, check here.

If you’d like to listen to one of his podcasts, check here and here.  I hope you read, and I hope you listen.  If you really really want to change your health, improve your health, lose weight, and feel good, then it’s really all up to YOU to educate YOURSELF.  Don’t wait for your doctor, or me, to tell you what to do.  Be proactive, get to know how the body is supposed to work, and learn what works for you.  Take control of your health, take control of your children’s health.  No one else will care as much as you do.  Knowledge is power.

 

 

Workshop, Insulin Resistance, and Ancestral Health Symposium

cavemen shoppingI’ve got a great post on Insulin Resistance today, because I’ve had a lot of questions about sugar and diabetes.  Insulin Resistance happens before full-blown diabetes Type 2, and this post will explain why, what, and how.  First though, here’s my Workshop/Talk details:

WORKSHOP REMINDER:  I’ve got 2 workshops/talks planned on Blood Sugar, and it’s relationship and effect on Weight, Diabetes, Heart Disease, Thyroid, and Mood.  The dates are Friday, August 23, 12-2, and Wednesday, August 28, 6-8pm,  the charge is $30/person, and the venue is the Marshall Community Center, 4133A Rectortown Rd, Marshall, Va.  This is literally right off Rt 66 exit, and very easy to find.  There’s plenty of parking and the room is big, so bring a friend or a family member if you’d like.  You can pay at the door.

Here’s a question from my email:

Hi Debbie,  My doctor said I have Insulin Resistance, and high blood sugar.  He said I need to lose weight.  Is Paleo the best way?

First, I want to explain what Insulin Resistance is, because statistically, about 1 in 4 Americans have this condition, and it’s pretty serious.

Any carb we eat, (fruits, vegetables, grains, sugars, or beans), our body breaks down to Glucose;  this is what our cells use for energy.  Glucose molecules are tiny and small and can cross the gut wall into the blood stream.  Our NORMAL blood sugar/blood glucose should be between 80 and 100 mg/dcl. (That’s about a teaspoon or two total)  After we eat, it can rise a little for about an hour, but after 2 hours, it should be back to 100 or less.

When it rises ABOVE 100, our pancreas releases INSULIN into the blood stream to sweep up the excess glucose and deposit it into cells: muscle, liver, and fat tissue.   It also sweeps up OTHER NUTRIENTS and deposits them into cells; this way the cells have fuels for their furnaces (mitrochrondria).  Appropriate levels of insulin are NORMAL, and healthy.

Insulin Resistance happens when INAPPROPRIATE levels of glucose are released into the blood stream, and corresponding insulin is released to go in and control it.  Insulin is a caustic, irritating hormone.  If excess levels are constantly circulating, the cells that normally have “open doors” shut the doors in an effort to protect themselves.  Blood sugar then stays high (this is ALWAYS being monitored by the hypothalamus), and the pancreas keeps pumping out more insulin – in an effort to lower the blood sugar.   Does this make sense?  It’s a feed back loop.

What are the effects of Insulin Resistance?  There’s a bunch, here’s a few:  hardening of the arteries, damage to the nerve cells of the eyes, kidneys, and extremities, increased LDL ( especially the bad, dense, small particles), lowered HDL, increased Triglycerides, increased clotting risk, higher blood pressure, increased risk for cancer,  and inflammation.  Actually, these effects are a combination of the both high circulating insulin and high circulating glucose.  They’re both very damaging when they’re in excess.

Guess what NEVER gets insulin resistant?? Your fat cells:(  They never say no.  Muscles say no, the liver says no, but fat cells, which is really an organ (oddly), say YES YES YES, bring it on!)  Excess glucose eventually gets repacked into TRIGLYCERIDES (3 glucoses + glycerol backbone), and deposited.

Excess insulin and blood sugar also eat up your Magnesium and Vitamin B stores, so if you know you have insulin resistance, you should probably supplement with those ( at least.).  Exercise helps makes muscles cells MORE sensitive to insulin/i.e.  less likely to be resistant. Notice I said “likely”.  Exercise isn’t a magical wand that counterbalances overeating, ever.

I’ll be talking about Blood Sugar, Insulin, and it’s affects at my talks, but if you can’t make them, email me any questions you might have. Oh!  Yes!  The Paleo Diet is GREAT for insulin resistance, because it excludes refined grains and sugars – the simple carbs that easily bring blood glucose levels above 100. We’ll definitely talk about this at the workshop.  Please know that Insulin Resistance is very serious, even if you don’t have full blown Diabetes T2. Some good news?  It’s “Fixable”!!  Here’s a post by Dr. Mark Hyman if you’re interested in what tests to ask for.

I’m getting ready to leave Wednesday for the Ancestral Health Symposium in Atlanta.  Four days of lectures on fascinating science topics.  2013-07-28_13-51-52_649The best part is my husband’s going with me, so we can divide and conquer as many lectures as possible  He’s awesome – and he’s fit!

Here’s the link to Ancestral Health if you’re interested.

Looking forward to sharing what I learn:)

 

 

 

 

 

How Does Your Body Burn Calories?

WORKSHOP REMINDER:  I’ve got 2 workshops/talks planned on Blood Sugar, and it’s relationship and effect on Weight, Diabetes, Heart Disease, Thyroid, and Mood.  The dates are Friday, August 23, 12-2, and Wednesday, August 28, 6-8pm,  the charge is $30/person, and the venue is the Marshall Community Center, 4133A Rectortown Rd, Marshall, Va.  This is literally right off Rt 66 exit, and very easy to find.  There’s plenty of parking and the room is big, so bring a friend or a family member if you’d like.

am i skinny yetEver wonder how many calories you burn during exercise?  Do you hope that an hour or two of working out will empty the fat cells on your butt, your stomach, or your thighs?  ( Or at least balance out some bad eating episodes??)

Exercise is wonderful, invigorating, and absolutely necessary for a healthy body and mind; but for weight loss or calorie burning, not so much.  (Darnit!)

How does our body burn calories?  Here’s a simple overview:

About 70% of TOTAL calories burned in a 24 hour period are burned while your body is “at rest”; actually, the number is 60-80%, and several factors play into this number:  are you growing?  sick?  male?  female?  young?  old?  training muscle/lifting or doing HIIT (high intensity interval training)?  ovulating?  stressing?  Because all these influence our bodies rate of burning calories.

What’s the biggest calorie burner in the 70%?  Your liver – it’s BUSY. ( Yes, your liver burns many, many more calories than your muscles, no matter what.  So if you’ve been telling yourself that you can’t lose weight because you never get to workout – you’ll have to think of another excuse.)  Our liver performs hundreds of functions everyday, and thru the night too.  It’s important that we not overstress the liver with chemicals, toxins, and sugar/flour.  A toxic liver is a sluggish liver, and a sluggish liver is compromised in it’s ability to do all it’s jobs/do it’s jobs fully.

The heart and brain are the next biggest calorie users.  They use between 20 and 30% of total daily calories.

exercise is hardExercise/Muscles comprise around 20% of total, daily, calorie burn, (that’s formal exercise and activity, such as cleaning/gardening/walking etc), and digestion burns calories too, about 10% of daily burn (protein and fat digestion burn more calories than carb digestion, especially if the carbs are refined and processed, i.e. flours and sugars).  Most of the calories your muscles burn get burned AT REST, not during your workout.  Surprising?  Want them to burn more calories? Lift, sprint, jump, do full body exercises: stimulate as many muscle cells as possible.  Chronic cardio, especially if coupled with inadequate protein and calories, can actually cause muscle cells to be used as fuel.  You don’t want that!

Want to really suppress your total daily burn?  Go on a low calorie/low fat diet.  Studies show this causes our Thyroid to suppress our Metabolism (the rate at which all our cells use fuel) immediately and dramatically.  Not a good idea.

What do the liver, heart, and muscle cells actually use for energy?  Well, their preferred fuel source is FAT, not glucose; but if your bloodstream is full of glucose, because you just ate a big bowl of oatmeal or pasta, or maybe you snack on carby foods all day, then you probably have a lot of glucose in your blood (you can test this with a Glucometer, normal is 80-100mg/dcl – and it’s FUN!!).  Excess glucose, from any carb sources: fruit, vegetable, grains, sugar, or beans,  is ALWAYS a priority of the body to get under control.  If it’s floating around and above 100, glucose will be used for fuel – NOT FAT.  Excess fat’s not toxic, it’s not an emergency, excess glucose is.  (Darnit Again!  Doesn’t our body know how much we hate that fat??)paleo cookbooks

Need to lose weight?  It’s the food.  Confused about what to eat? Focus on healthy protein sources, healthy fats, TONS of vegetables, some fruits, some nuts and seeds, some dairy if you tolerate it.  Check out my what I eat page, or contact me if you’re still confused or need help.  You can lose weight, permanently.  I promise.

Workshops, Thyroid, and Iodine

bg a little lowI’ve got some great information on Thyroid today, but first I want to let you know that I’ve got 2 workshops/talks planned on Blood Sugar, and it’s relationship and effect on Weight, Diabetes, Heart Disease, Thyroid, and Mood.  The dates are Friday, August 23, 12-2, and Wednesday, August 28, 6-8pm,  the charge is $30/person, and the venue is the Marshall Community Center, 4133A Rectortown Rd, Marshall, Va.  This is literally right off Rt 66 exit, and very easy to find.  There’s plenty of parking and the room is big, so bring a friend or a family member if you’d like.

Why this topic?  Because Carbs/Glucose, blood sugar highs and lows,  effect weight, hormones, inflammation, mood/neurotransmitters, and literally every disease out there.  sugar rollercoasterIt really, really, really matters that you understand what blood sugar is, what your body does with it, and it’s very profound  effects.  The more you know, the better you can take care of yourself and your family.

Email me thru the contact page if you can attend.

On to Thyroid!

I’m going to bullet point some facts here:

Thyroid issues, hypo and hyper, affect millions of Americans; more people have thyroid issues than Diabetes.  The thyroid gland is in charge of your heart rate, body temp, blood pressure, growth, and the metabolism( rate of activity) for every single cell in your body.

Fixing issues involves MORE than just supplementing with thyroid hormone or suppressing the gland.  The Endocrine/Hormonal system is COMPLEX, and treating it as a “stand alone” issue isn’t smart.

The standard test for Thyroid Function is determining levels of TSH/thyroid stimulating hormone.  The thyroid doesn’t make this hormone, the Pituitary does.  It’s affected by the hypothalamus, BLOOD SUGAR, estrogen, iodine, gut function, and more.  So just supplying a little more thyroid hormone in the form of Synthroid or Armor often doesn’t address the Real Issue behind thyroid dysfunction.  Know anyone who has to constantly UP their meds because it doesn’t seem to be working?   The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists have been trying to get guidelines (think: Insurance paid for tests)  changed since 2003 to make the acceptable range of TSH smaller, 3 -5, and T3 and T4, active and inactive forms, tested. So far, in Main Stream Medical, it hasn’t happened.  However, there are SEVERAL doctors out there now, regular MDs who practice Functional and Alternative medicine, NDs, ODs, Chiropractors, and more, who WILL order the right tests for you.  Do a search of your area to find them.  There’s probably more than you think.  Anyway..

The Thyroid makes the hormones T4 and T3,  the “recipe” is Tyrosine and Iodine (T4 is tyrosine and 4 molecules of iodine, T3 has had one iodine knocked off).  T3 is called the “Active Form” of thyroid hormone, or what our cells actually use.  TSH levels DO NOT necessarily reflect  T3 and T4 levels!!!

The body has to convert T4 to T3, but many things can interfere with this:  proper gut bacteria are CRUCIAL to and directly involved with this conversion (gas/bloat/indigestion – you germsprobably have too much bad bacteria and not enough good),  and an imbalance of good and bad bacteria can lower thyroid function.

Cortisol (from physical or mental stress)  disrupts the T4 to T3 conversion, by blocking the enzyme that knocks off that extra iodine, and it also blocks the T3 receptor sites.

Estrogen dominance – a HUGE issue not just for women, but men, (soy, plastics, etc = estrogenic compounds) blocks receptor sites, making T3 unusable.

Don’t eat enough protein (tyrosine is an animo acid) or iodine containing foods?  What if you have poor digestion and eat foods containing tyrosine and iodine, but you have insufficient stomach acid and enzymes that allow you to breakdown and assimilate those nutrients? Your body won’t have the components to make good T4 and T3.

T4 becomes T3 in the LIVER (primarily, it also converts in the Kidney and Lungs – NOT in the Thyroid gland – weird huh).  If you have a “congested/slow/fatty” liver, from chemicals, sugar, alcohol, bad fats, toxins, etc, your liver function is compromised.

Leaky gut – from incomplete digestion of proteins – allows undigested protein into the blood stream.  The immune system sees these “foreign invaders” and mounts an attack.  Unfortunately, the attack often is directed to OTHER areas of the body (joints, pancreas..) like the Thyroid (Hashimotos).  ( here we are back to digestion and the gut)

Poor diet?  Too much sugar/flour, not enough fat and protein?  Welcome to zigzagging Blood Sugar, which increases Cortisol, which blocks T4 to T3 conversion.

On a diet? Low calorie diets INSTANTLY slow down Thyroid function – after all, the thyroid is supposed to monitor incoming calories and determine if a starvation situation is at hand, or everything’s normal.  If the thyroid suspects starvation, it slows down Metabolism to save your life.  This will come in handy if you get stranded on a boat or in a snowstorm. (you never know.)

I could go on and on and on, but do you get the point that your Thyroid isn’t an Island?  That dysfunction can be from so many other areas of the body, and that very very very possibly, you can fix and improve Thyroid Function thru Nutrition and Stress Control?

One more thing I want to talk about:  Iodine.
There’s some differing opinions on Iodine in Hashimotos, some say yes, some say no.  You’ll have to read and determine that for yourself (Chris Kressler and Dr. Brownstein are great places to start). kelp But as for Thyroid Health overall, Iodine is vitally important. Supplement form is good, but food is always best.  Eat your seafoods, and add seaweed, which is easy to get in any store now in dried forms.  It’s salty, cheap, delicious, and easy to throw in your salads or casseroles.  It has protective effects against cancer, and its vitally important to breast, prostate, eyes, and ovaries.  It’s also CRUCIAL to fetal, infant, and children’s developing brains.

Wow.  That’s enough for today. More on thyroid health when I give my talks.  Eat Real Whole Food!

 

 

 

Cholesterol Facts and Upcoming Talk

mouse drinking cokeI’m back from my Diabetes, Cholesterol, and Thyroid Seminar, oh my gosh was it fantastic!  Our speaker was a Dr. Kleber from Colorado, and not only was he smart as a whip, but he had a serious gift for public speaking.  He wowed us!

I’ve got a lot of information I want to pass on to you all, and some of it I’ll do in my blog posts.  However, I want to do a couple talks in the next 2 weeks so that if you live local, I can really help you understand why what you eat and how you live affects your blood sugar regulation, which affects not only your Weight, but your risk of Diabetes, Heart Disease, Thyroid issues and more. I’ll be posting those dates by tomorrow.

The more I learn, the more it’s drilled into me that it’s All About The Food.  We’re NOT deficient in pharmacuticals or over the counter medications like anti-inflammatories or antacids;  food breaks down to nutrients that build our body and our mind; it matters what we eat.  Let me rephrase that:  food has nutrients that build and repair us.  Repair, as in, fixing the damage from Heart Disease and Diabetes, and even auto-immune issues; repair as in switching your body from primairly burning sugar/glucose, to primarily burning fatty acids.

Here’s a few facts on Cholesterol and Heart Disease:

*75% of people who have Myocardial Infarctions/heart attacks, have NORMAL levels of LDL

*80% of people in the Framingham study (on-going since 1948, tens of thousands of men and women are participating) who have an “event” had cholesterol levels identical to the population that was/is event free.

* Cholesterol is a REALLY REALLY bad predictor of Heart Disease, but if it’s a certain number, your doctor will put you on a statin anyway.

There’s a test now, called the VAP test, I’ve had it, that measures the Particle Size and Density of your cholesterol.  This is important to know, and easy to get.  Cholesterol is mainly made in the liver, and the liver directs it to areas of damage or need (remember, it’s a Repair comfort w chocolate :winemolecule, a building block, and an Antioxidant).   But EVERY SINGLE CELL IN OUR BODY can and does make cholesterol.  Is this some giant mistake God made??  Is He sitting up there lamenting this design flaw?? NO.   If we didn’t have cholesterol plugging up our arteries after all the crap we put in our bodies to damage them, we’d have an arterial breakthru and die.  Instead, we have this NUTRIENT that the liver sends out time after time for years to plug and patch the trauma sites.  This adds years to our life. The bad side is these plaque patches get bigger and bigger, depriving the heart and brain of oxygen.

So why the VAP test?  What is this about particle size and density?  Isn’t it just about “good” cholesterol and “bad” cholesterol?  No.  It turns out there’s BAD HDL (yep), and non-damaging LDL.  The picture has changed in the past few years, but if your doctor is pushing a statin for a  total cholesterol value of 200, he’s still living in the past.  The VAP test is easy, and cheap, and most insurance companies are doing it.  ASK FOR IT, and if your doctor doesn’t know how to read it, find a doctor who does.

There are 5 types of HDL (that they know of now, one is a pretty recent discovery),  only 1 of them – HDL 2b, is highly Cardio Protective.  HDL 3b may actually be associated with an INcreased risk of heart disease.

What about LDL, the “bad” stuff?  If it’s high on your lipid profile, above 100, your doctor will want to put you on a statin to lower it, except….. Statins Don’t Lower LDL – statins lower TOTAL cholesterol.   (Some LDL cholesterol is actually a repair molecule anyway – why would we want to lower that?)   LDL size and density matters, a lot.  Big, fluffy LDLs do NO damage, small, dense LDL DOES.  The doctor said to think of the LDLs as beach balls or bowling balls going thru your arteries, banging into the arterial wall.  Which ones do you think would be a problem?

Here’s something super scary:  Beta Blockers(for heart disease), Thiazide and Loop Diuretics (for high blood pressure and edema), and Insulin (for diabetics who’s number one cause of death is heart disease)  all CAUSE A SHIFT IN LDL TO A SMALLER, DENSER FORM.  Hmmmm. far side vultures Aren’t people on those meds to make them “well”, but instead one of the side effects is potential arterial damage?

The worst LDL identified so far?  Lp (a), which is 10x more atherogenic than LDL-C.  Why would our body make Lp(a)?  Because it’s a REPAIR molecule for arteries; here’s the kicker:  if you have the NUTRIENTS available to fix the damage – Lp(a) WOULDN’T BE CALLED IN.   There’s also the whole “don’t cause any damage in the first place” argument too.

What damages arteries?  Sugar/flours/Glucose (toxic),  Insulin, Chemicals from: cigarettes, drugs, cleaning products, body care products, “food products”/i.e. fake foods; bad oils/hydrogenated oils, free radicals, cortisol from emotional stress, and homocysteine.

Can arterial damage be reversed or prevented?  Absolutely!! Again, it’s Food,( and supplements, and stress management, and exercise).  The choices we make everyday add up.  They matter.  A little Diet Soda here, a little pasta there, fried food at the fair, school lunches, weekly stops at the convenience store, Starbucks chemical coffees, too much beer, constant snacking,  etc etc.  It all adds up.  Everything we do matters.

Tomorrow I’ll have those dates for you, plus some interesting info on diabetes.  Eat Real Whole Foods!

Sunscreen, Vitamin D, Thyroid, and Exercise

excited babyI’m so excited!  I have a Diabetes, Thyroid, and Cholesterol lecture this Saturday from 9 – 5, in Richmond Va, that promises to be fantastic:)  I also have the Ancestral Health Symposium in 2 weeks.   In light of this,  I think it’s time for me to offer more classes.  I’ve had a LOT of response/questions/comments on the Digestion/Blood Sugar classes I did in June, and feel the need to repeat – in a condensed version – these subjects and show their connection to Weight Management/Loss, Diabetes, Thyroid, and Cholesterol.  Hint:  it’s all about the Food.

I wanted to do a Question and Answer post today, as I’ve had some great questions.  There will be NO theme to these questions whatsoever.

1. What’s the best Natural sunscreen?

You’re going to have to go on-line or to your local health food store to get “natural” sunscreen.  If it’s from the drugstore, it’s probably loaded with cancer causing chemicals.  Go on the EWG (Environmental Working Group) site to get specifics on the products you’re using, and specifics on the products they recommend. They do a “Best Sunscreen” list every year.   This is a free site that’s LOADED with information, most of it from the FDA, on the specific chemicals in sunscreens, makeups, foods, body products, etc. If you click on their Skin Deep Page, you’ll get specifics on your exact make-up, hair, and beauty products/brands/colors, plus a safety rating somewhere between 1 and 10.

2. Best Vitamin D supplement? 

Hmmm.  We can take Vitamin D orally, and I do in the winter.  I use Biotics products, and also Green Pastures Fermented Cod Liver Oil (loaded w very usable A and D, plus Omega 3s). cat sunbathing However, oral Vitamin D is DIFFERENT than the D our BODY MAKES FROM THE SUN.  (I didn’t even know about that until a lecture last year, I thought it was all from food – it’s not).  Here’s how it should work:   we eat healthy foods containing Cholesterol (shrimp, liver, eggs, meats), and our body uses that cholesterol to send to our skin (if we don’t eat enough cholesterol, our liver makes it).  When we go out in the sun, the UVB rays interact with this cholesterol to form/produce Vitamin D ON TOP OF OUR SKIN.  According to Stephanie Seneff, MIT researcher, this is a different D than anything in a supplement; it’s called Vitamin D sulfate, which is ONLY created w the interaction of sun and bodily cholesterol.  This particular D possesses unique health-promoting properties including skin and immune health promotion.  It also has antibiotic and cancer-preventative properties.

Here’s a blurb from Mercola/Seneff:

  • When you expose your skin to the sun, your skin also synthesizes high amounts of cholesterol sulfate, which is very important for heart and cardiovascular health. In fact, according to research by Dr. Stephanie Seneff, high LDL and subsequent heart disease may in fact be a symptom of cholesterol sulfate deficiency. Sulfur deficiency also promotes obesity and related health problems like diabetes
  • When exposed to sunshine, your skin also synthesizes vitamin D3 sulfate. This form of vitamin D is water soluble, unlike oral vitamin D3 supplements, which is unsulfated. The water-soluble form can travel freely in your bloodstream, whereas the unsulfated form needs LDL (the so-called “bad” cholesterol) as a vehicle of transport. According to Dr. Stephanie Seneff, there’s reason to believe that many of the profound benefits of vitamin D are actually due to the vitamin D sulfate. As a result, she suspects that the oral non-sulfated form of vitamin D might not provide all of the same benefits, because it cannot be converted to vitamin D sulfate

 3.  I can’t lose weight.  Should I have my thyroid tested?

I get asked this all the time.  You could have a slow thyroid, and addressing thyroid issues is important; but it’s probably NOT the reason you can’t lose weight.  Sorry. In all likely-hood your weight issue is due to food. cat:thyroid Let me take just a minute to address thyroid issues:  if you have a leaky gut due to years of grains, sugars, and foods that you don’t digest well, your immune system could be attacking your thyroid (hashimoto’s).  If you eat a lot of bread and soda, the Bromide compounds in them could be slowing your thyroid;  if you don’t eat enough Iodine containing foods, that could be slowing your thyroid. Soy is a huge thyroid disrupter.  If you’ve had a test that just looked at your TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone), and it says “normal”, that’s inadequate.  You need to have your T3 and T4 looked at specifically.  Doctors and insurance companies are slow to do this, but the American College of Endocrinologists has been trying since 2003 to make testing those hormones the “norm” as they say that’s a better reflection of thyroid activity and health.  My TSH was normal, but my T4 and T3 were low.    More on Thyroid after this weekend:)

4.  What’s the best exercise to get the fat off my stomach/thighs/arms/butt?

Every single form of exercise if good for you; do what you like or love.  The ONLY thing that will be fat off of you, is changing your diet.  Exercise has so many benefits: improved cognition, better balance, better insulin uptake, stress reduction, endorphin production, pretty muscles, etc etc etc.  Weight loss is NOT one of it’s benefits.  I know I know, we’ve all been told for years that to lose weight we need to eat right and exercise – that’s because exercise is a healthy, why we get fatNATURAL state for our body.  We’re supposed to move. Exercise is a gift from God.   But ask yourself this:  if you’ve been a regular exerciser for years, have you whittled away to nothing yet?  Have you been to a half or full marathon and looked at the participants?  You can be a GREAT athlete/runner, and still carry fat on you.  Our weight is about the food we eat and the hormonal response it induces.  Have you read Gary Taubes book, Why We Get Fat?  It’s a must-read for anyone who’s struggling to lose weight.

That’s a wrap for now.  Plan your week, get organized, shop/prep/cook/pack Real Whole Food for yourself and your family.