Dietician’s Blog

Submitted by Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin

Injuries often occur when people start a new exercise program, change to a different sport, or return to exercise after a long break. In the enthusiasm to get started, it is easy to overstress muscles that have not been used before. That’s why “background before peaking” is one of the most important principles of training. It takes several weeks or even months to build up strength and endurance for any new sport.

Competitive athletes in all sports use this principle. First they spend many months in background training, working out for long hours, mostly at low intensity, followed by a shorter period of peak training in which they do far less work, but at a much greater intensity. A few months before an important race, they reduce their workload but go as fast and hard as possible two or three times a week.

Start your new exercise program at very low intensity and low volume. Gradually increase your workload for several months before you try to run fast, lift heavy or exercise intensely. If you are just beginning to exercise, go at a relaxed pace until your muscles feel heavy and then stop. For the first several days or weeks you may be able to exercise only for a few minutes at a time. If your muscles feel sore the next day, take the day off. Increase the amount of time gradually until you can exercise 30 minutes a day at a relaxed pace and not feel sore. You may progress rapidly to the 30-minute goal, or it may take you two, four, six weeks or more. No matter how long it takes, don’t get discouraged. Exercising too much or too hard, too soon will set you up for injuries. More

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Submitted by Keys to Good Nutrition and Tips to Eating Healthy Feast on Organic Whole Food

GTF CHROMIUM Supplement

One of the things that I did when I was changing my diet and losing a lot of weight was to add GTF Chromium to my daily supplements.

Chromium is something that we all need in our diet, but unfortunately,
it is usually greatly lacking given the way people eat today
and given the poor soil that most of our produce is grown in.

CHROMIUM is an essential nutrient that provides
nutritional support for normal, healthy insulin action
and glucose utilization.

The Glucose Tolerance Factor (GTF) is a biological test
of this ability.

Chromium is an essential mineral that your body needs
but can’t produce.

Chromium works with insulin to improve the transportation
of glucose out of the blood and into the cell.

This function improves health in many ways, including:

1. Decreasing blood sugar - Chromium may reduce the amount of sugar
circulating in your blood, thereby decreasing your risk of diabetes
and metabolic syndrome.

2. Decreasing LDL (bad cholesterol)
3. Increasing the good HDL cholesterol

4. Decreasing blood pressure
5. Decreasing the risk of heart disease and stroke

6. Decreasing body fat - Chromium may improve your body’s insulin
sensitivity, helping to reduce body fat.

7. Increasing lean body mass

I would personally recommend taking 200 mcg per day.

I only recommend “GTF CHROMIUM” that is biologically active.

I DO NOT recommend Chromium Picolinate because it has not
stood the test of time and has not been proven to be as effective
as the GTF Chromium.

I would recommend that you first consult your physician or other
health or nutritional professional before adding this to your diet.

Thank you so much for visiting my health and nutrition blog. Please check back often for my most recent postings on good nutrition and on eating healthy, and consider adding my RSS FEED so that you can be kept up to date on all of these health and nutrition articles. As a defender of your health, I am dedicated to providing you with the Keys to Good Nutrition and Tips to Eating Healthy. I’m also devoted to encouraging you to eat 5-9 servings of fresh organic fruits and vegetables every day, and the next best way to do that is by drinking the Feast, by Uri International, which is a live whole food based InstaFresh juice powder drink by Yuri. For more information, click here: http://www.livesuperjuice.com/
Visit 1800blogger to see all of our industry leading blogs.

Submitted by Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin

When you want to become very strong, you try to lift very heavy weights. Weight lifters have known for a long time that you don’t pick up the heaviest weight you can move, raise it once and then quit for the day. They do their weightlifting in sets. For example, they lift and lower a weight in three sets of ten or one set of six.

If you exhaust your muscles by bench pressing a weight for three sets of ten, is there any benefit to try to do another set? Researchers from Australia showed that you gain nothing if you force extra lifts after your muscles are exhausted (Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, August 2007). This study should serve as a warning particularly to young lifters. Plan your workouts. When your muscles are tired or sore, don’t try to keep on lifting through the soreness. After a hard workout, go easy for as many days as it takes for your muscles to feel fresh again. More

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Submitted by Keys to Good Nutrition and Tips to Eating Healthy Feast on Organic Whole Food

Healthy Weight Loss Pt 13
 

ELIMINATE ALL SOURCES OF M.S.G.
 
 

You’ve probably heard of “MSG,” which stands for
 

Mono Sodium Glutamate.
 
 

MSG is an “EXCITO-TOXIN” that is added to food in order to make it taste better AND in order to make you eat more of that food.
 
 

In other words, MSG is added to MAKE YOU FAT

by getting you to CRAVE the food and eat MORE.
 

The way the food companies increase their profits

is to sell more food, and they’ve found one of

the best ways to sell more food is

to get you to crave it and eat more by adding MSG.
 

Do a little research on your own by Googling

“The Dangers of MSG.”

You’ll be shocked at what you discover.
 

You’ll find that this food additive

actually KILLS BRAIN CELLS.
 

This is NOT something you want in your food,

and yet it’s literally everywhere.

MSG has found its way into many of the foods

that you buy in the supermarket

and into most of the snack food that you eat.
 

The food manufacturers are using DECEPTIVE METHODS

TO HIDE the presence of MSG in their foods

so that consumers don’t know it’s even there.
 

They use a myriad of other “names” for MSG

including such misleading titles as

“natural flavors,” “autolyzed yeast extract,” etc.

For the latest list of these deceptive names for MSG,

just do a Google search such as “names for MSG.”
 

Most potato chips and similar snacks

are loaded with MSG.

No wonder it’s hard to stop eating them!

Lots of pre-packaged, canned, and frozen food

also have plenty of MSG in them.
 

Many foods in local and chain restaurants

are also loaded with MSG.
 

This is no longer simply a “Chinese Restaurant” syndrome,

but it now is a problem with most restaurants.
 

Once you discover all of the deceptive names for MSG,

you too will be shocked at how many foods contain

this dangerous neuro-toxin.
 

If you’re concerned about losing weight,

you’ll want to make sure that you AVOID THIS TOXIN

at all costs and in all of the hidden places in your diet.

Submitted by The Food Doc Journal

Stressful life events are known to be associated with flares of both inflammatory bowel disorders (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) but the mechanism has been unknown. Accumulating research indicate mucosal mast cells are involved in the process through release of chemical mediators that increase gut permeability (leaky gut), cause increase intestinal contractions (cramps), increase fluid secretion (diarrhea), and inflammation of the intestine. The latter not only results in a vicious cycle of increased leaky gut allowing food and microbe proteins through the bowel wall but may trigger a chronic autoimmune or immune inflammatory process in the presence of the right genetics.

Animal studies with mice have shown increased colon paracellular permeability (CPP) from stress. The mechanism in mice is increased mucosal mast cells (MMC) and increased release (degranulation) that alter the tight junctions between intestinal lining cells resulting in leaky gut. Human studies have confirmed increased MMC concentrations in the intestine in response to stress as well as increased mast cell degranulation. The stress hormone corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) appears to be a modulator and receptors for CRH have been found on MMC in the human intestine.

Increased MMC are a hallmark of an entity known as mastocytic enterocolitis (MEC) now linked to many cases of diarrhea predominant IBS (IBS-D). Twenty or more mast cells per high power field in either the small or large intestine, has been advocated by Jakate et al. as defining this new entity. In a little more than a year I have diagnosed almost ninety individuals with this condition by requesting a relatively new special stains on intestinal biopsies that many physicians, including most gastroenterologists are not aware is available. Some of these patients have celiac disease but continued to have symptoms despite a strict gluten free diet, including my wife. Many, if not most, have had various neurological symptoms including headaches, anxiety, and depression, and almost all have significant fatigue. Some have had biopsies done by me or another doctor in the past and the special stains had to be requested to make the diagnosis. Five of my patients are physicians themselves.

A significant number have at risk genetics for celiac disease and most who have tried a gluten free diet have responded favorably. A mast cell stabilizing medication sodium cromalyn (Gastrocrom) has helped some but has not been as effective as I would like to report and a few complained of nausea or that they felt worse taking the medication which is also quite expensive. Antihistamine blockers, both type 1 histamine receptor blockers (Zyrtec, Allegra, Claritin etc.) and type II histamine blockers (Raniditine/Zantac) generally help as does the allergy-asthma medication Singulair.

However, given that the studies indicate mast cells are both increased and release more of their chemicals in response to stress it is likely that stress management is a critical component to treatment. This theory is supported by the fact that several recent articles indicate a favorable role for cognitive therapy, antidepressants and anxiety medications and counseling in helping those with IBS and IBD. Probiotics also make sense since recent articles indicate that probiotic strains of bacteria can increase tight junctions or decrease intestinal permeability (reduce leaky gut).

Certain dietary proteins are difficult for humans to digest and may promote a leaky gut. Gluten has been shown to increase leaky gut even in people without celiac disease. Dairy proteins, especially casein, are a common cause of protein allergy or intolerance in humans. Soy protein, peanuts and other legumes are difficult to digest and have been implicated in gut injury.

That leads to a five-point treatment strategy for leaky gut due to increase mast cells exacerbated by stress, including psychological, dietary and microbial.

1. Consider strictly avoiding or limiting gluten grains, dairy, and legumes especially soy and peanut.
2. Take a probiotic daily (e.g VSL#3, Flora Q or Ultimate Flora etc.)
3. Take an antihistamine or antihistamines (Zyrtec, Zantac etc.)
4. Take a mast cell stabilizer (Gastrocrom) if you meet criteria for mastocytic enterocolitis or possibly Singulair if you have allergies.
5. Practice stress management techniques and/or get counseling for life stressors

Bibiography

Phenotypic changes in colonocytes following acute stress or activation of mast cells in mice: implications for delayed epithelial barrier dysfunction. Demaude J. et al. Gut 2006;55:655-661.

Corticotropin-reieasing hormone (CRH) regulates macromolecular permeability via mast cells in normal human colonic biopsies in vitro. Wallon C. et al. Gut 2008;57:50-58.

Copyright © 2008, The Food Doc, LLC, All Rights Reserved.
www.thefooddoc.com

Scot M. Lewey, D.O., FACP, FAAP, FACOP
Gastroenterology Associates of Colorado Springs
1699 Medical Center Point
Colorado Springs CO 80907
719 387 2110 Fax: 719 302 6000
info@thefooddoc.com

Author Bio

Dr. Scot Lewey is a digestive disease specialist doctor (board certified gastroenterologist) whose medical practice focuses on digestive and food related illness. Also, known as Dr. Celiac, the Food Doc, Dr. Lewey shares his experiential knowledge for a healthy gut, healthy life on-line. Start learning today from his extensive personal and professional experience. Dr. Lewey is uniquely qualified as an expert and one of the few GI doctors who is also gluten sensitive and dairy sensitive. He has nearly a quarter of century of experience in the diagnosis and treatment of food allergy & intolerance, colitis, Crohn’s disease and IBS. He is married to someone who has Celiac disease. He and his family live gluten free in Colorado.

GACS Clinic Website (Dr. Lewey’s Office
The Food Doc Journal (Blog)
The Food Doc Website (under construction)
“Experiential Knowledge for a “Healthy Gut, Healthy Life”
Secure on-line consultation (fees apply)

Gluten free food report
Dr. Lewey’s expert author bio & articles

Submitted by Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin

One in three women and one in four men in the United States take vitamin pills. If you are among them, you may be doing more harm than good. In a wake up call to the multibillion dollar vitamin pill industry, a review of 67 randomized trials of vitamin pill effects on life and health has found that taking vitamin pills may shorten life (Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Issue 1, 2008). Other studies have shown that taking vitamin pills may increase risk for cancers and heart attacks.

This review of 232,000 adults showed that those taking beta-carotene, vitamin A, C, and E and selenium gained no benefit over those who took placebos or no pills. “The findings show that, if anything, people in trial groups given beta-carotene, vitamin A and vitamin E showed increased rates of mortality. There was no indication that vitamin C and selenium may have positive or negative effects.”

The study was originally set up to see if antioxidant vitamin pills and minerals prevent gastrointestinal cancers. It found no protection whatever. Instead, an increased death rate of 16 percent was seen in those taking vitamin A pills, seven percent with beta- carotene, and seven percent with vitamin E. No increased death rate was seen in those taking vitamin C or selenium.

Submitted by Keys to Good Nutrition and Tips to Eating Healthy Feast on Organic Whole Food

REST from Friday evening

to Saturday evening and let

your Body, Mind, and Spirit

Rejuvenate ItselfToday let’s continue this series on successful healthy weight loss. I’ll be sharing practical things you can do to lose weight and to maintain a healthy weight for your height and body shape. These keys to good nutrition and tips to healthy eating will open a whole new world of health, life, healthy weight loss, and vitality to you. I believe you were created by God and destined to a life of health and prosperity.

By way of review, here are the keys that we’ve covered so far.

Key #1 - Stop overeating and practice systematic undereating.

Key #2 - Eat for nutrition, for energy, for life.
Listen, seek, research, learn, study, and understand that there are keys of knowledge that will help you unlock the secrets to a long, healthy life and successful weight loss and weight management.

Key #3 - EAT ONLY HEALTHY ORGANIC NATURAL WHOLE FOODS

Key #4 - EXERCISE DAILY - Take a daily walk, use a rebounder, and sexercise.Key #5 - ELIMINATE ALL ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, AND WHITE SUGAR

Key # 6 - ADD ORGANIC VIRGIN COCONUT OIL TO YOUR DIET

Key # 7 - DRINK NATURAL SPRING WATER (HALF YOUR BODY WEIGHT IN OUNCES) EVERY DAY, AND START YOUR DAY WITH A LARGE GLASS OF WATER WITH SOME LEMON AND SOME ORGANIC APPLE CIDER VINEGAR

Key # 8 - Make Sure You’ve Got Plenty of Healthy FIBER in your Diet to help your body in the ELIMINATION Process

Key # 9 - Do a JUICE FAST to help Cleanse Your Body of ToxinsKey # 10 - Eat the Right Kinds of HEALTHY MEAT

Set aside Friday evening to Saturday evening each week for rest.
 

Get 8 or 9 hours of sleep, preferably going to bed by 10 pm.
 

Fast once a week on natural spring water to give your body

the time it needs to rest from digesting & processing food

and to heal itself.
 

When possible, take a 3-minute “siesta” after lunch

to give your mind and body a short rest.
 

Learn how to manage stress and how to take better care of your body.

Daily exercise is an important part of reducing stress

in your body and mind.

Believe it or not,

one study I read about found that

Friday evening to Saturday evening

was the most restful period of the whole week.
 

Do you think it could be because

our Creator designed it that way

when He gave us the Sabbath day to rest?

STOP WORKING ONE DAY A WEEK!

Stop doing all the normal things that you do every day

for one full day.

Do something restful, relaxing, fun, spiritual, and rejuvenating.

Spend more time on that special day

with God in prayer and meditation, worship and praise,

and more time with your family

doing fun things together and enjoying each other’s company.

And spend more time with close friends

with whom you can relax and truly be yourself.
And always remember, the secret to losing weight and keeping it off, is to make nutritious and healthy LIFESTYLE CHANGES that become positive healthy habits in your daily routine. Systematic undereating and resisting the temptation to overeat is the first step to change.

Submitted by Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin

According to a report published by The Organic Center’s State of Science Reviews(March 2008), organic foods are more nutritious than those grown conventionally. But since the average North American eats far more food than is necessary, it is doubtful that adding more nutrients to the diet will have much effect on health.

A review of 97 scientific papers shows that organic food has higher levels of eight of 11 nutrients studied, including greater concentrations of polyphenols and antioxidants. However, we don’t know how much of these nutrients the body requires. With 35 percent of the population becoming diabetic, 91 percent developing high blood pressure, 78 percent having high cholesterol levels, and 40 percent dying of heart attacks and strokes, I think it is more important to focus on the lifestyle factors that cause these health problems: overeating; eating too much meat, saturated fat, partially hydrogenated fats and refined carbohydrates; not eating enough vegetables; exercising too little; drinking too much; and smoking. Enjoy organic products if they fit into your budget, but you harm yourself if the higher cost causes you to eat fewer fruits and vegetables.

Submitted by The Food Doc Journal

A Dozen Facts You Need to Know About Probiotics and Their Benefit to Your Health

1. Probiotics are live microorganisms that have been shown to have a beneficial health effect on the body.

2. Probiotics not only consist of various strains of bacteria such as lactobacillus, acidopilus, bifidobacter etc., but also may include probiotic yeast such as saccharomyces boulardii.

3. Not all live microorganisms or live culture bacteria like those in fermented foods or yogurt have been shown to have a health benefit to qualify as probiotics.

4. Probiotics are ingested and colonize the gut but their health benefits include not only the gut but throughout the body, likely through circulating immune factors. An example includes a recent study that showed that probiotics decreased duration of the common cold.

5. All of us have more than a trillion microbes and over a 1000 different types of bacteria in our body. Each of our collection of microbes or flora is as unique as our fingerprint. Our unique gut flora “fingerprint” is extremely stable over our lifetime, becoming established early in childhood and generally remaining unchanged until old age unless disrupted by antibiotics. Keeping a stable healthy gut flora is becoming more difficult because of overuse of antibiotics inappropriately for viral infections, in foods or more powerful antibiotics being given for infections due to increasingly resistant bacteria.

6. The function of the appendix is believed to be to store microbes to reestablish our normal gut flora. Though there are some contradictory studies, most studies seem to show a higher incidence of Crohn’s disease and colitis in people who have had an appendectomy. Though the exact cause or causes of inflammatory bowel diseases are not known it now believed that altered gut flora and genetics are critical to their development.

7. Probiotics decrease inflammation in the gut, can help provide nutrition needed for healthy gut lining cells, synthesize vitamins such as the B vitamins biotin and folate, and can break down certain cancer causing chemicals (carcinogens) in our diet.

8. Probiotics decrease responses to allergens, both food allergens and pollen allergens.

9. Probiotics produce natural antibiotics (acidophilus produces antibiotic acidophilin) and can reduce or prevent infections in the gut. Probiotics are commonly prescribed now to prevent or treat Clostridium difficile bacterial infection, a common complication of antibiotic therapy.

10. Probiotics reduce, prevent and/or heal leaky gut. They enhance the gut barrier function.

11. Probiotics have been shown to reduce the toxicity of gluten. Studies have shown a benefit of probiotic bacteria that are added to gluten containing breads. They may be especially beneficial in those with Celiac disease, potentially protecting against cross-contamination exposure. Probiotics may help heal leaky gut caused by gluten even in those without Celiac disease.

12. Daily there is new evidence of the health benefits of probiotics and/or new diseases being linked to altered gut flora (dysbiosis). Just a few diseases or conditions linked to altered gut flora or benefited by taking probiotics include dental cavities, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, Celiac disease, diabetes, heart disease, allergies, intestinal infections, yeast infections (especially vaginal), colds and respiratory infections, rheumatologic conditions, multiple sclerosis, autism and cancer.

Stay tuned into the Food Doc Journal to learn more about probiotics, leaky gut, food intolerance, food allergies, Celiac disease, Crohn’s disease, IBS and various types of colitis including the new entity mastocytic enterocolitis.

Submitted by Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin

 Several studies show that vigorous exercise can help to prevent and to treat diabetes. A recent study from the University of Missouri in Columbia helps to explain why (American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, April 2008).

The vast majority of people who have diabetes do not lack insulin. Their disease is caused by an inability to respond to insulin. Since their cells do not respond to insulin, blood sugar levels rise and damage their cells. By studying blood flowing to and from the hind legs of obese rats, researchers found that acute muscle contractions markedly increased the passage of sugar into skeletal muscles, and markedly increased the flow of electrons in mitochondria.

Muscle cells have anywhere from six to thousands of tiny inclusions called mitochondria. Mitochondria convert food to energy by shuffling electrons from the building blocks of food. Each movement of electrons supplies more energy. However, in converting food to energy, some electrons end up attached to oxygen to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) that stick to your DNA and proteins to damage them, preventing insulin from doing its job of driving sugar into cells and shortening cell life. When a muscle contracts, it shunts electrons away from oxygen so that fewer reactive oxygen species are formed.

Furthermore, this same process protects brain function and helps to prevent strokes, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. A study from Semmelweis University in Budapest shows that the lowering of ROS levels with exercise helps to prevent loss of mental function (Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism, October 2007).

More than 80 percent of diabetics die of heart disease. If you are at high risk for diabetes or are already diabetic, check with your doctor and perhaps get a thallium stress test to check out the condition of your heart. If you pass the test, you should try to exercise as much as possible. More on insulin resistance

Submitted by Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin

Some exercisers take vitamin C because they think that it will help them recover faster and therefore become better athletes. However, a study from the University of Valencia in Spain shows that vitamin C pills can make an athlete tire earlier during long-term exercise. (Journal reference)

Every muscle cell has hundreds, and even thousands, of small inclusions called mitochondria that turn food into the force that drives muscles. They do this by shuffling electrons to produce energy. After the electrons are moved, they can end up stuck on oxygen molecules to produce poisons called oxidants that make muscles burn, and feel sore and tired. The human body produces antioxidants that help protect a person from cell damage from these oxidants. Large doses of vitamin C have been shown to block antioxidants, so giving large doses of vitamin C to either humans and animals before they exercise would make them tire earlier.

Submitted by Keys to Good Nutrition and Tips to Eating Healthy Feast on Organic Whole Food

HEALTHY WEIGHT LOSS - PT 11
Stop Eating Junk Food & Fast Food

Today I’d like to continue this series on successful healthy weight loss. I’ll be sharing practical things you can do to lose weight and to maintain a healthy weight for your height and body shape. These keys to good nutrition and tips to healthy eating will open a whole new world of health, life, healthy weight loss, and vitality to you. I believe you were created by God and destined to a life of health and prosperity.
By way of review, here are the keys that we’ve covered so far.

Key #1 - Stop overeating and practice systematic undereating.

Key #2 - Eat for nutrition, for energy, for life.
Listen, seek, research, learn, study, and understand that there are keys of knowledge that will help you unlock the secrets to a long, healthy life and successful weight loss and weight management.

Key #3 - EAT ONLY HEALTHY ORGANIC NATURAL WHOLE FOODS

Key #4 - EXERCISE DAILY - Take a daily walk, use a rebounder, and sexercise.

Key #5 - ELIMINATE ALL ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, AND WHITE SUGAR

Key # 6 - ADD ORGANIC VIRGIN COCONUT OIL TO YOUR DIET

Key # 7 - DRINK NATURAL SPRING WATER (HALF YOUR BODY WEIGHT IN OUNCES) EVERY DAY, AND START YOUR DAY WITH A LARGE GLASS OF WATER WITH SOME LEMON AND SOME ORGANIC APPLE CIDER VINEGAR

Key # 8 - Make Sure You’ve Got Plenty of Healthy FIBER in your Diet to help your body in the ELIMINATION Process

Key # 9 - Do a JUICE FAST to help Cleanse Your Body of Toxins

Key # 10 - Eat the Right Kinds of HEALTHY MEAT

Key # 11 - Stop eating all JUNK FOOD and FAST FOOD

We all know that “junk food” is not good for us.

Most of us also know that “fast food” is also not healthy for us.

The truth is that

JUNK FOOD and FAST FOOD are VERY FATTENING

and are very unhealthy!

If you’re concerned about your health and your weight,

this is one of the most important steps that you can

start taking right away.

Make a decision to STOP

eating junk food and fast food.

Start now by REPLACING junk food with healthy nutritious food

and snacks such as fresh organic fruit, organic dried fruit,

fresh organic berries, fresh organic vegetables,

and organic popcorn cooked in virgin coconut oil.

Believe it or not, there are healthy alternatives to

eating fattening and unhealthy junk food and fast food.

If you really want to lose weight and to regain your health

before it’s too late,

take this first step and make some changes about

what you eat when you’re out and when you’re home.

And always remember, the secret to losing weight and keeping it off, is to make nutritious and healthy LIFESTYLE CHANGES that become positive healthy habits in your daily routine. Systematic undereating and resisting the temptation to overeat is the first step to change.

Thank you so much for visiting my health and nutrition blog. Please check back often for my most recent postings on good nutrition and on eating healthy, and consider adding my RSS FEED so that you can be kept up to date on all of these health and nutrition articles. As a defender of your health, I am dedicated to providing you with the Keys to Good Nutrition and Tips to Eating Healthy. I’m also devoted to encouraging you to eat 5-9 servings of fresh organic fruits and vegetables every day, and the next best way to do that is by drinking the Feast, by Uri International, which is a live whole food based InstaFresh juice powder drink by Yuri. For more information, click here: www.LiveSuperJuice.com

Visit 1800blogger to see all of our industry leading blogs.

Submitted by The Food Doc Journal

Celiac disease is a genetic disorder. There are many unanswered questions about the genetics but much has been learned. Here are 10 facts you need to know about celiac disease genetic testing.

10 facts you need to know about celiac disease genetic testing.

1. Genetic testing can help determine your risk as well as your children’s risk for celiac disease.

2. Celiac genetic tests are readily available and can be done on blood or on a sample from a mouth swab but your doctor may unaware of the tests, how to order them, or how to interpret the results.

3. Genetic testing can be done whether you are eating gluten or not eating gluten. Blood tests for celiac disease antibodies however need to be done while eating gluten and become negative within a few weeks of restricting gluten.

4. Your insurance may not pay for the test. Even if your insurance covers the test they likely will require a pre-authorization. When ordering the tests the following diagnostic codes are helpful: 579.0 (Celiac disease); V18.59 (family history of GI disease); and/or V84.89 (genetic susceptibility to disease).

5. Even if your doctor orders celiac genetic testing and your insurance covers it, the laboratory that performs the test may or may not perform the all of the necessary components of the test. So, before you accept that have a negative test you need to know if the test included both the alpha and beta subunits of HLA DQ or just beta typing.

6. If you are a man a negative genetic test may not exclude the possibility of celiac disease anymore than a negative blood test. Men more commonly have negative genetic tests and blood tests.

7. The number and type of at risk genes matter when determining both your risk and the severity of celiac disease. Two copies of DQ2 carries more risk than one copy of DQ8 or only partial DQ2 but even a single copy of DQ2 alpha subunit carries risk for celiac disease though most laboratories do not test for this component of the celiac genes.

8. The absence of at risk genes DQ2 and/or DQ8 does not exclude the possibility of being gluten intolerant or sensitive. You may respond to a gluten free diet even if you don’t have DQ2 or DQ8 or have true autoimmune celiac disease.

9. You can get genetic testing without a doctor’s order and the tests can be done without having blood drawn or insurance authorization if you are willing to pay between $150-400.

10. Laboratories in the U.S. that are known to offer complete alpha and beta subunit genetic testing include Kimball Genetics, Prometheus, and LabCorp. Bonfils, Quest and Enterolab only test for the beta subunit portions and may miss part of a minor alpha subunit that carries a risk of celiac disease.

So, in summary, genetic tests for celiac disease are readily available both on blood and mouth swab samples. These tests can determine the risk of developing celiac disease and predict severity as well provide information regarding family members risk. The absence of any portion of the high risk genetic patterns DQ2 and DQ8 nearly excludes the possibility of celiac disease with an approximate accuracy of 99.9%. However, this requires that both alpha and beta subunit testing is performed. Even then being negative for DQ2 and DQ8 does not completely exclude the possibility of celiac disease, especially in men, and by no means excludes the risk of gluten intolerance or sensitivity.

Recent studies have provided further information that is gender specific. If you are a man, your risk of celiac disease may be higher than a woman if you don’t have the classic genetic patterns and your blood tests may be negative. If you are a woman your risk for celiac disease is generally higher than a man, especially if you have received the at risk gene from your father.

Celiac is arguably the most common autoimmune disease. It is very common. It is easily treated. It affects 1/100 people worldwide. However, most people with celiac disease (>90%) are unaware, undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. Most adults finally diagnosed with celiac disease have suffered at least 10-11 years and have seen more than 3 or more doctors. Don’t be one of those missed or who suffers needlessly. Learn about the genetic testing of celiac disease and if necessary educate your doctor about this testing.

HLA-DQ and Susceptibility to Celiac Disease: Evidence for Gender Differences and Parent-of-Origin Effects. Megiorni F et al. Am Journal Gastroenterol. 2008;103:997-1003

Copyright © 2008, The Food Doc, LLC, All Rights Reserved.
www.thefooddoc.com

Scot M. Lewey, D.O., FACP, FAAP, FACOP

Author Bio

Dr. Scot Lewey is a digestive disease specialist doctor (board certified gastroenterologist) whose medical practice focuses on digestive and food related illness. Also, known as Dr. Celiac, the Food Doc, Dr. Lewey shares his experiential knowledge for a healthy gut, healthy life on-line. Start learning today from his extensive personal and professional experience. Dr. Lewey is uniquely qualified as an expert and one of the few GI doctors who is also gluten sensitive and dairy sensitive. He has nearly a quarter of century of experience in the diagnosis and treatment of food allergy & intolerance, colitis, Crohn’s disease and IBS. He is married to someone who has Celiac disease. He and his family live gluten free in Colorado.

The Food Doc Journal (Blog)

Visit 1800blogger to see all of our industry leading blogs.

Submitted by Keys to Good Nutrition and Tips to Eating Healthy Feast on Organic Whole Food

HEALTHY WEIGHT LOSS - PT 10
Eating the Right Kinds of Healthy Meat

Today I’d like to continue this series on successful healthy weight loss. I’ll be sharing practical things you can do to lose weight and to maintain a healthy weight for your height and body shape. These keys to good nutrition and tips to healthy eating will open a whole new world of health, life, healthy weight loss, and vitality to you. I believe you were created by God and destined to a life of health and prosperity.
By way of review, here are the keys that we’ve covered so far.

Key #1 - Stop overeating and practice systematic undereating.

Key #2 - Eat for nutrition, for energy, for life.
Listen, seek, research, learn, study, and understand that there are keys of knowledge that will help you unlock the secrets to a long, healthy life and successful weight loss and weight management.

Key #3 - EAT ONLY HEALTHY ORGANIC NATURAL WHOLE FOODS

Key #4 - EXERCISE DAILY - Take a daily walk, use a rebounder, and sexercise.

Key #5 - ELIMINATE ALL ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, AND WHITE SUGAR

Key # 6 - ADD ORGANIC VIRGIN COCONUT OIL TO YOUR DIET

Key # 7 - DRINK NATURAL SPRING WATER (HALF YOUR BODY WEIGHT IN OUNCES) EVERY DAY, AND START YOUR DAY WITH A LARGE GLASS OF WATER WITH SOME LEMON AND SOME ORGANIC APPLE CIDER VINEGAR

Key # 8 - Make Sure You’ve Got Plenty of Healthy FIBER in your Diet to help your body in the ELIMINATION Process

Key # 9 - Do a JUICE FAST to help Cleanse Your Body of Toxins

Key # 10 - Eat the Right Kinds of HEALTHY MEAT

Did you know that there are healthy and unhealthy kinds of meat out there?

The UNHEALTHY OR HEALTH-DESTROYING MEATS include the following which you should purge from your diet and avoid at all costs:

Stop eating all PORK and pork products,

including ham, bacom, sausage, pepperoni, balogna, salami, etc.

Pork and pork products are the most unhealthy and dangerous “meats”

that you can possibly eat. In addition,

eating pork and pork products will make you fat and fatter.

If you’re concerned about your health and want to lose weight,

please, stop eating this fattening and extremely unhealthy meat

which is loaded with toxins.

Stop eating all SHELLFISH ocean scavengers,

including shrimp, crab, lobster, clams, scallops, etc.

These have all been proven to be very unhealthy for your body

and carry all kinds of dangerous toxins in them.

Avoid all “FARM-RAISED FISH” which are also very unhealthy.

Stop eating all DELI LUNCHEON MEATS

which are loaded with sodium nitrates and many other kinds

of unhealthy toxins. These “meats” look nice in the package,

and may taste good, but they are highly processed with

dangerous toxic chemicals and are destructive to your health.

In addition, they’re often loaded with MSG and other

excitotoxins.

OKAY, THEN WHAT KINDS OF MEAT ARE HEALTHY?

First, make the decision to stop buying and eating the unhealthy meats

mentioned above.

Then, start buying and eating the right kind of healthy meats.

These include the following:

1. Wild deep-water ocean fish that have scales and fins.

2. Organic natural-fed kosher lamb, beef, and poultry.

What’s most important in choosing a healthy meat is

what the animals are fed and how they are raised.

You want animals raised on natural feed such as

grass-fed beef.

You want to avoid all meat that comes from animals that

were fed GMO corn and soy products,

that were given hormones and anti-biotics, etc.

ORGANIC natural-fed animals are the best and most

healthy way to go.

In addition, you’ll be better able to lose weight

by eating these lean meats.

And always remember, the secret to losing weight and keeping it off, is to make nutritious and healthy LIFESTYLE CHANGES that become positive healthy habits in your daily routine. Systematic undereating and resisting the temptation to overeat is the first step to change.

Thank you so much for visiting my health and nutrition blog. Please check back often for my most recent postings on good nutrition and on eating healthy, and consider adding my RSS FEED so that you can be kept up to date on all of these health and nutrition articles. As a defender of your health, I am dedicated to providing you with the Keys to Good Nutrition and Tips to Eating Healthy. I’m also devoted to encouraging you to eat 5-9 servings of fresh organic fruits and vegetables every day, and the next best way to do that is by drinking the Feast, by Uri International, which is a live whole food based InstaFresh juice powder drink by Yuri.

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Submitted by Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin

A report from the nutrition department of Cornell University should convince you that microwaving food does not destroy its nutritional value. Dr. Gertrude Armbruster and her colleagues showed that fruits and vegetables lost the least vitamin C when microwaved, compared to other cooking methods. Vitamin C is a good indicator of the amount of nutrients lost because it is both water soluble and sensitive to heat (Newsweek, March 14, 2008).

Microwave ovens use electromagnetic waves that vibrate water molecules inside food to produce heat. Most nutrients in food are not destroyed by microwaving because they are not in the watery layer. An earlier study from Spain, widely reported in the news media, claimed that microwaving broccoli destroyed all of its antioxidants (Journal of Science in Food and Agriculture, November 2003). However, the researchers in this study cooked the broccoli in almost a cup of water for five minutes at full power. The antioxidants were destroyed by the long cooking in water at a high temperature, not by the microwaves. The length of time vegetables are exposed to hot water determines the amount of water-soluble nutrients lost, whether the cooking is done in a microwave oven, steamer, pot or pressure cooker. For nutrient- rich vegetables from your microwave, use very little water (no more than a tablespoon or two) and short cooking times.

Contrary to myths spread by a popular natural health newsletter, the radiation from microwaves is not harmful and has no effect whatever on food other than to heat it up. Once the food comes out of the oven, there are no lingering effects of the microwaves. If you are worried about chemical changes to the nutrients in your food, avoid broiling, grilling, frying or any other method that browns foods. The reason food cooked in a microwave oven is so bland is that the chemical changes caused by high surface temperatures don’t happen. That’s why most people use their microwave ovens to reheat food instead of for cooking. More

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Submitted by Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin

Over the last few years I have reported on numerous studies linking vitamin D deficiency with various diseases: diabetes, heart attacks, at least 30 types of cancer, and autoimmune disease such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis (a list of these reports appears below).

This winter I have had a series of baffling exercise- associated muscle injuries. My blood levels of vitamin D have been extremely low, even though I spend a lot of time outside riding my bike. I reviewed my diaries and found that wintertime injuries have been a lifelong pattern for me. I have not been able to find any strong evidence that lack of vitamin D causes muscle injuries. However, it is associated with muscle weakness, falling in older people, bone deformities and fractures.

People get most of their vitamin D from sunlight. The skin has an enormous capacity for vitamin D production and supplies the body with 80-100 percent of its vitamin D. However, a recent study showed that a high percentage of people in sunny Arizona are vitamin D deficient (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, March 2008). How can this be? A clue to the problem is that a large percentage of the people who were deficient were African- American, Hispanic, elderly or overweight. We know that people who have dark skin need more vitamin D because dark skin blocks the sun’s UVB rays that make vitamin D. Another study showed that almost 50 percent of African Americans in Boston had low vitamin D in March. We also know that obesity can cause vitamin D deficiency because body fat removes vitamin D from circulation. Furthermore, as people age, skin cannot synthesize vitamin D as efficiently and the kidneys are less able to convert vitamin D to its active hormone form.

An article from Australia showed that 15 out of 18 gymnasts in Australia suffered from vitamin D deficiency (Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, March 2008). These athletes spend a lot of time training indoors. Even if you spend several hours a day outside in winter, you probably will not get enough sun to meet your vitamin D needs. At our latitude the sun’s rays reach earth at an angle so they have to penetrate a thick layer of the earth’s atmosphere and fewer rays get through. Also, when the weather is cold we cover most of our skin with clothing.

My personal plan and recommendations

While we wait for the scientific community to resolve whether lack of vitamin D causes cancers, heart attacks and so forth, or is just a marker for other risk factors such as lack of activity or excess weight, I think you should be aware of your own vitamin D status and take action if you are deficient.

If you seldom go outdoors, have dark skin, are over 50 or are overweight, I recommend that you ask your doctor to do blood tests for vitamin D3 and D2. D3 is made by your skin from ultraviolet light (UVB) or from the vitamin D you get in foods or supplements. D2 comes just from food or supplements. Your total blood level of vitamin D should be over 50. If it is below 50, you may need to take a tropical vacation, use a tanning bed or take vitamin D supplements. A safe dose appears to be 1000 IU per day during the winter.

Until summer arrives and my vitamin D levels return to normal, I have chosen to use a tanning salon. I am reluctant to take supplements because one study from Australia suggests that they may suppress the body’s ability to synthesize vitamin D.

Tanning lamps emit both UVA and UVB. However, because UVB are the primary rays that cause skin cancer, most tanning beds are high in UVA which does not make vitamin D and low in UVB that makes vitamin D. Ask the tanning center about the amount of UVB in their lamps. Some have 70 percent UVA and 30 percent UVB, but some emit less than five percent UVB. If you use a tanning bed, start at very low exposure, preferably with less than five minutes on your first visit. You won’t know if you have burnt yourself until that evening. Then add only two minutes per exposure and don’t go every day. After a couple of weeks, you can repeat your blood test. Stop using tanning bed when your total level reaches 50. If it does not reach 50 in a month, you should stop the tanning bed and take vitamin D supplements.

I will report to you from time to time on the progress of my training program, injuries and vitamin D levels; and I will continue to survey the scientific literature for studies on the association between vitamin D and various health problems. My earlier reports on vitamin D

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Submitted by Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin

A study from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut showed that taking branched chain amino acids decreased the amount of muscle damage from exercise in untrained volunteers. Branched chain amino acids are protein building blocks that can be converted easily to sugar by your body. A likely explanation for the advantage shown in this study is that muscles become damaged when they run out of their stored sugar and start to burn protein in the muscles themselves for energy.
Journal reference

However, it makes no sense to spend a lot of money on these expensive protein supplements. You will get the same benefit from any food that contains protein. Eat some cheese, seafood, peanut butter, chicken, nuts or any other convenient source of protein when you exercise for more than an hour.

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Submitted by Keys to Good Nutrition and Tips to Eating Healthy Feast on Organic Whole Food

HEALTHY WEIGHT LOSS - PT 9
WHY YOU NEED TO DO A

“JUICE FAST”

Today I’d like to continue this series on successful healthy weight loss. I’ll be sharing practical things you can do to lose weight and to maintain a healthy weight for your height and body shape. These keys to good nutrition and tips to healthy eating will open a whole new world of health, life, healthy weight loss, and vitality to you. I believe you were created by God and destined to a life of health