Archive for May 19, 2015

True Grit, Good Eating, and Lots of Pictures!

4 girls after walking cereOur #2 daughter, Amanda, just graduated from college this past weekend.  Graduation is a big deal for everyone, but this is extra special to us.

Amanda’s epileptic, and epilepsy and college aren’t very conducive; she did it anyway.  She graduated from UVa despite more seizures there cumulatively than she’s had since she was 7.  She worked through post seizure migraines and pain, pre-seizure aura’s, and memory loss due to cluster seizures.  She had more trips to the hospital than most people have in a life time.  She missed classes and had to deal with explaining – over and over again – to her professors why.

Some days she called home crying that staying at UVa didn’t seem possible, or healthy.  But she stayed, and she persevered through more obstacles than most of us will ever encounter.20150515_154723
amanda I on step FridayI don’t know why God choose Amanda for these trials.  I do know that coming out on the other end has made her really strong.

Last week, one of my friends put this on Facebook:  “On particularly rough days, when I’m sure I can’t possibly endure, I like to remind myself that my track record for getting through bad days so far is 100%… that’s pretty good.”

That’s Amanda. She literally defines True Grit and No Excuses, and I’m so proud of her.

It’s easy to see how Epilepsy and Lifestyle are super related.  Seizures are20150516_115227 (1) triggered by dehydration, high and low blood sugar, alcohol, lack of sleep, stress, full moons, periods and God knows what else.  No one can control the moon, or a woman’s cycles, but food, water, alcohol, sleep and stress management, they’re all controllable. (Seizures can still have a mind of their own.)

Amanda has big, obvious results if she doesn’t manage her life carefully, but I want to venture that all of us have r20150516_094620esults from not managing our lives carefully: headaches, stomach problems, weight problems, auto-immune issues, fatigue, chronic disease, and pain. They’re just as connected to our day to day actions as Amanda’s seizures.

If my 23 year old daughter can own her health, we all can. Our health should be a priority, and the way we handle that priority doesn’t just affect us, it influences the children and friends and family who watch us.

Now for the Fun Stuff:  Pictures from the weekend in no chronological order, and details on how we stuck to Real Whole Food while traveling:)  20150516_192747 We were lucky to stay in the house of some friends – super lucky.  The house was a dream for me because I love old homes!  So much character!

I brought enough food that we ate all our meals at “home”. (I pretended all weekend that house was mine.)  For breakfast, we had eggs, chicken sausage, fruit, and cheese.  For lunch, we had lunch meats, cheese, saurkrauts, fruit, nuts, and paleo cookies.

20150516_184236It was the dinners that made the weekend!

We catered from a Charlottesville company called20150516_184253 dahcatering – they were FANTASTIC!  Organic and gluten free ingredients, lots of flavor, plenty of food, I can’t say enough good things.  They delivered everything on Friday and I just had to reheat each night.  Here’s a family pic of all of us, Amanda’s boyfriend Ian, my in-laws, and my niece Morgan.  It was party!

amanda and ian after diplomaThe first night we had salmon topped with pesto, a quinoa dish loaded with asparagus and herbs, 20150516_115513gluten free cornbread, and a huge spinach/strawberry/toasted almond/goat cheese salad.  The dessert: gluten free ginger cookies and Trickling Springs ice cream that I brought with us ( thank you dry ice!)

The second night we had chicken breasts stuffed with roasted peppers and mixed cheeses, topped with a mushroom/cream/white wine sauce, a GIANT bowl of roasted vegetables, roasted potatoes, polenta, and coconut macaroons with more Trickling Springs ice cream.

I believe good ice cream is essential to any celebration.

20150516_115035 (1)

Mark and Amanda after the morning ceremony.

amanda in cap gown

 

 

 

Amanda, as an “alumni”.

Ditch The Starchy Carbs and Paleo Indulgences to Get Rid of Winter Fluff

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI’ve had several questions on “safe starches” and paleo indulgences. Here’s a Post with the 411 on both, and advice at the end for making it easier to get rid of winter weight gain.

If our starch is coming from a grain, as opposed to vegetables or fruit, I don’t think it’s safe – for most people.

If the grains contain the protein “gluten”, we’re ingesting one of the most common allergens out there. If we don’t see typical symptoms, like stomach ache or stuffy nose, that’s because food allergies, or food sensitivities, often manifest in sore joints, headaches, skin problems, fatigue, and auto-immune conditions.

The gluten protein is incredibly difficult to digest; humans don’t even have enzymes for gluten. Gluten goes thru the small intestine IN-completely digested, perforates the intestine wall, and leaks into the blood stream as a large protein. When our immune system sees the big proteins in the blood, it mounts an Immune Attack, and this can manifest as joint pain or an attack on different organs or systems. Pretty serious stuff.

What about gluten-free grains, such as kamult or spelt? They still contain “gliadins”. Gliadins, once digested, become “exorphins”, which are morphine-like compounds that bind to opiate receptors in the brain. Their effect is to cause Addictive Behavior, and Appetite Stimulation. This explains binges and eating way past full.

What about “healthy whole grains”, like buckwheat, quinoa, or millet? Look at their carb counts:

1/2 c oatmeal 29g carb

1/4 c wild rice 34g carb

2 oz wheat pilaf w orzo 40g carb

1/4c barley 32g carb

1/4c quinoa 30g carb

2oz whole wheat pasta 44g

Note that these serving are really, really, small; I mean, who eats a quarter cup?  Have you ever measured 2 oz of pasta?  I have.  It’s miniscule.

4 grams of carbs = 1 tsp of sugar.  2 ounces of pasta is 10 teaspoons of sugar.  Think about that.

Excess blood sugar is ALWAYS repackaged as triglycerides, always.  I know I’m beating a dead horse here, but high blood sugar is tied to every disease out there through the inflammation and glycatation it causes.  It’s also a big cause of Weight Gain.

Next, Paleo Indulgences.  I’m talking treats made with almond or coconut flour, plantains, honey, molasses, Swerve, chocolate, cream, nut butters, etc.  I’m going to call them P.I. for short, and if you need recipes, search Pintrest.

P.I.s are wonderful for kids. They’re practically a necessity when transitioning from a SAD ( standard american diet) to RWF (real whole food).  I LOVE a good paleo cookie or homemade ice cream. But unfortunately, and this is where I am right now, for weight loss, or just leaning out the Junk In The Trunk after a long winter, they need to either go, or be strictly limited.  Sad.

But summer clothes just don’t have the “hide the poochy stomach” ability that winter clothes do!

What to do? Set up your house/office so that temptations don’t trigger you.  Don’t buy anything that tempts you, because tempting food calls to us, loudly.  No lying that we’re buying something “for the kids”.  If it’s a temptation, it’s banned.  Treats need to be “treats”, and the definition of treat is: “an event or item that is out of the ordinary and gives great pleasure.”  Once or twice a week is an out of ordinary event.  EVERY DAY IS NOT OUT OF THE ORDINARY.

Girlfriends, thanks to estrogen, a propensity for slow thyroid, very little testosterone, and high cortisol, we just don’t have tons of leeway for jumping off the path of a RWF, fairly low carb diet, if we want to be a healthy weight and feel great.  It’s the price of being a woman.

It doesn’t mean we have to starve or exercise a ton – as a matter of fact, that plan slows down thyroid hormones and raises cortisol – exactly what we don’t want.  But we do need to pay attention to the details:  TONS of vegetables, plenty of good meats and eggs, healthy fats, some fruit, some nuts and seeds, and some real dairy if we tolerate it.

Hours need to go by between meals so that Sugar Burning stops and Fat Burning happens.  Avoidance of foods that cause headaches, stomachaches, and skin problems is important; those symptoms are signs of inflammation, which raises cortisol, which inhibits fat burning.

So there’s my Sunday take on grainy carbs and paleo treats.  Have a wonderful Mother’s Day, and eat smart!

 

Will a Cleanse Fix PMS, Man Boobs, and Resistant Weight Loss? Yes!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI get asked about cleanses all the time, literally.  Which ones are good, are they necessary, are the real,… you get the drift.  Here’s the facts, and trust me, this is interesting – and applicable to you, I promise.

First the Scoop, and then, every day Solutions.

Cleanses are Real, they’re Important, and they’re Necessary (I’ll explain why in a minute).  Unfortunately, “Cleanses” have been hijacked by the Diet Industry; when we think of a cleanse, we think of ingesting something that will make us poop away all the blubber in our stomach. Right?

That’s faulty reasoning. Delete it.  If our stomach has blubber on it, it’s not from impacted intestines, it’s Body Fat, and all the pooping in the world won’t reduce that.  

However, we could have excess body fat because our liver is Toxic, Sluggish, and Fatty.  Slow livers also impact our moods, our immune system, and our sex hormones. Struggling with any of that?

Our liver is the seat of our metabolism.  It performs between 400 and 500 jobs a day. It burns more calories than our muscles. It metabolizes fats, proteins, and carbs.  It filters every single chemical that goes in our mouth or our skin. It makes cholesterol.  It makes bile.  It breaks down all our old hormones.  It transports amino acids through the blood.  The list is endless; the point is:  guess what happens when it’s not working correctly?

Dr. Mark Hyman says we become “toxic waste dumps”.  I love that analogy!

 

Our liver deals with all the chemicals that we breath in, slather on, bath in, and ingest.  Some studies say that 80% of all liver toxicity is from pharmaceutical drugs.  Ever taken a Tylenol?  It’s the most popular drug in the US, and the #1 cause of Liver Failure.  More than 900 prescription drugs are known – it’s listed on their fact sheets – to cause damage to the liver.

Enough scare tactics.  What To Do About It?  I used to advise a liver cleanse once or twice a year, and I still do.  But I’ve expanded my thinking:  I personally cleanse my liver every day.  Every day I eat or drink Liver Loving Foods.  Every day I take herbs that are good and helpful for my liver.  Every day I avoid as many chemicals as possible.

I think of myself as a person in a row boat that has a leak in it.  The water (toxins) keep coming in, but I have buckets that I use to scoop the water out, so I don’t sink.  That’s what we need to do:  keep up with the constant assault of chemicals in our world.

By the way, anxiety, stress, depression, and anger, all the negative emotions, can have negative effects on our liver.  The Brain, the Nervous System, and the Liver are INTIMATELY connected.

Here’s some Cleanse Particulars: foods; herbs; with how-to’s on incorporating them; and actions that make a difference.

1)  Eliminate any and all Processed Foods.  Really.  #1 Thing To Do – quit putting chemicals, refined carbs, and toxic vegetable oils IN YOUR BODY.

2)  Use natural cleaning products.  Here’s a link to EWG’s Guide to what to use and what not to use.  MOMS: cancer, heart disease, auto-immune, behavior disorders – they’re all on the rise in our children.  Let’s protect our kids by investing time in learning about this.

3) Use make-up and skin care products that aren’t loaded with cancer causing chemicals.  Read this Post to learn what’s in Clinique lotion; a recipe for homemade lotions; and a link to EWG’s beauty data base to research everything you rub on your body.

Oddly, I still talk to people who think that what we rub on our body couldn’t possibly harm our liver or brain.  Wrong. Our skin is our bodies largest organ. It’s filled with pores.  There’s a fast and direct connection to our blood stream.  The blood goes through our liver and our brain.  Of course what we rub on our skin affects us!

4) Add these Foods to your grocery list, and use them every week:

* garlic * grapefruit * beets * carrots * leafy greens * green tea * avocados * olive oil * cruciferous vegetables * LIVER * cabbage * walnuts * turmeric * .

These foods contain specific nutrients the liver uses to break down chemicals, toxins, and old hormones, and convert them into something we can poop or pee out.

What about All Vegetable Diets, or Juice Fasts for cleansing?  I don’t recommend them.  The liver uses a LOT of amino acids to do it’s jobs.  Go too long without eating amino acids (proteins), and your body will break down MUSCLE TISSUE for the amino acids.   You don’t want to lose muscle tissue!

Do you have to eat all these foods every single day?  I have garlic, turmeric, and leafy greens every single day. I hate grapefruit, so I never eat it.  The other foods I rotate in.  Make the effort.

5) Herbs to incorporate, either through teas, or pills, or tinctures:

* milk thistle(I use Herb Pharm) * dandelion(tea, greens, or tincture/Herb Pharm) * chicory root(tea) * turmeric * yellow dock * chlorella ( I add to my smoothies).

There’re a lot of great herbs on the market.  Try your local health food store, or order from Mountain Rose Herbs, Yogi Teas, or Jon Barron.

Dr. Group has a great liver tincture, as does Herb Pharm.  I also like the Biotics 10 Day Cleanse and have used that several times.  Mark is finishing one up right now. Email me if you’re interested in that.

6) Sweat.  Seriously. Like, go to Bikram, or a hot yoga class once or twice a week, or a sauna. We can eliminate toxins through our pores – use that pathway!

7) Give Up The Alcohol.  Yes.  Do it.  Alcohol converts to fat that gets stored in the liver.  Alcohol contains “aromatase”, which converts testosterone to estrogen.  Alcohol contains fructose, which builds up as fat in the liver.  Alcohol raises blood sugar, which has to be converted into triglycerides in the liver.

Repeat This:  Alcohol is Liquid Donuts.

8) Pray and Meditate.  Remember I said there’s HUGE links between our moods, emotions, and our liver?  We’re a giant connection, and the enteric nervous system connects our brain to our liver and gut.  It’s important to get control of our minds, we need to “think about what we’re thinking about”.

9) Drink a TON of water.  All day.  The liver needs water not just for “flushing”, but also for doing it’s jobs.  We all know this, so make water a priority.  Fill a bunch of water bottles or pitchers at night or in the morning and get through them.  Add some lemon or lime if you want – they’re liver loving:)

Does this all make sense?  If we want to be vibrant, sharp, stable, and healthy, we need to do everything possible through our food and lifestyle to make that happen.  Nurturing our liver, every day, is a huge part of the puzzle.  Take these ideas, read the links, and invest time in learning how your body functions.