Body Connections

1. Take 100 deep breaths every day.  Try 15 each hour; set your computer to notify you for a self-care minute! 
2. Chew your food well.  This takes a load off of your digestive tract and also makes the nutrients more assimilable (also enhances memory).
3. Be sure to sit while eating and not while driving! By sitting, you are sending signals to the brain to relax. Not doing this while eating can increase stress levels. 
4. Drink adequate water throughout the day (i.e. 75 oz for a 150 lb person).  Our brains are mostly water and a stress response is initiated when we are dehydrated (not to mention that brain function is impaired).  
5. Make sure your nighttime sleep is maximally restful, deep, and refreshing. Adequate sleep lowers daytime stress levels and regulates hormones.  
6. Get outside every day, even if only for 15 minutes, even if it is raining.  Studies show that even during rainy weather, time outside elevates mood and reduces stress levels. 

 At a recent American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting Douglas Smith, MD a professor of Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania basically said there is not such thing as a mild head injury. Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) affects over 1 million Americans every year. While the usually treatment is observation and release, we are now learning that these injuries are not so mild. Patient's persists in neurological and cognitive deficits and may also experience anxiety, insomnia, depression, headaches and gastrointestinal problems.  Even more disturbing is that one does not have to hit one's head to have a head injury!

What can be done about it? Noticing there is a problem is the most important thing. If you or someone you know has been in an accident or diagnosed with a mild concussion, pay attention. Notice if there have been changes in the person (or yourself). If you aren't sure, get to a clinician who is adequately trained to assess the situation. If you have any of the above problems see your doctor even if the incident was many years ago.   Neurofeedback, vitamin D, homeopathy, and fish oil are amazing at not only reducing brain injury but helping the brain recover from the injury. In particular, LENS or Low Energy Neurofeedback System is showing great promise in improving symptoms of 80% of patients with TBI!

Winter is officially over --so you don’t have to worry about your vitamin D levels, right? Well, not exactly. From now until the end of October is the time to start increasing your stores of vitamin D. By getting just 20-30 minutes of summer sun exposure (avoid burning), you can produce up to 10,000 IU of vitamin D per day.  To gain maximum benefit, time sun exposure for the time of day when your shadow is shorter than your height (often between 10am and 2pm), expose as much skin as possible, and, of course, avoid wearing sunscreen. Unlike with dietary supplements, it is impossible to overdose on vitamin D obtained from sun exposure. 

The second study showed how homeopathic remedies kill cancer cells in vitro. In a study done at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, homeopathic preparations killed to different human mammary cancer cell lines and had no effect on healthy cells. This study is a landmark discovery as it effectively removes the placebo effect as the mechanism of action for homeopathy. Of course, this study was not a clinical trial and we do not advocate that one treat breast cancer using a single homeopathic remedy based on this one study. It does however suggest a need for reconsideration of the place of homeopathy deserves in modern medicine. We use homeopathy to help patients with all kinds of health problems at Insights to Health. It is a gentle, effective way to restore balance and health, for both children and adults. 

• ·      Never ignore a bump on the head. The degree of outer injury to the cranium has little to do with the actual injury to the brain, since it is a sensitive and complex organ.
• ·      Tell your coach or teammates and ask to be taken out of the game (if playing sports)
• ·      Watch for problems with cognitive ability or memory
• ·      Monitor for changes in energy, digestion or menses
• ·      Notice if you have changes in the sense of taste or smell
• ·      Monitor your mood for depression or anxiety
• ·      Keep track of any experiences with insomnia
• ·      Get plenty of rest
• ·      Come see us if problems persist

There are many things that we can do to help the brain heal. Neurofeedback, vitamin D, homeopathy, and fish oil are just a few of the effective treatments that can be beneficial. The sooner treatment begins, the sooner recovery can occur, and the sooner you can be at your best again!  

We wanted to share an article that further validates the advice we have been giving to parents at Insights to Health for years.  Although the article does not mention this aspect, an child does not produce the enzymes to best digest grains until 22 months of age.  AT ITH, we counsel parents on which foods to introduce at which stages of development in order to create optimal health and well-being and to decrease the risk of allergies and asthma.

Rice Cereal Can Wait, Let Them Eat Meat First: AAP committee has changes in mind

Pediatric News Volume 43, Issue 11 (November 2009)

There is no good reason not to introduce meats, vegetables, and fruits as the first complementary foods, according to Dr. Frank R. Greer, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics's Committee on Nutrition.

Introducing these foods early and often promotes healthy eating habits and preferences for these naturally nutrient-rich foods, said Dr. Greer, who is a professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Rice cereal has traditionally been the first complementary food given to American infants, but “Complementary foods introduced to infants should be based on their nutrient requirements and the nutrient density of foods, not on traditional practices that have no scientific basis,” Dr. Greer said in an interview.

In fact, the AAP's Committee on Nutrition is working on a statement that will include these new ideas, Dr. Greer said in an interview. Currently, there are no official AAP recommendations for introduction of complementary foods. “There are suggestions of what complementary foods to introduce in various AAP-sponsored publications, which are based on the traditional introduction of solid foods starting with infant iron-fortified cereals and progressing through vegetables and then fruits.”

Complementary foods are any nutrient-containing solid or liquid foods other than breast milk or formula given to infants, excluding vitamin and mineral supplements. By 6 months of age, human milk becomes insufficient to meet the requirements of an infant for energy, protein, iron, zinc, and some fat-soluble vitamins (J. Pediatr. Gastroenterol. Nutr. 2008;46:99–110).

Rice cereal has been the first complementary food given to infants in the United States for many reasons, including cultural tradition. By the 1960s, most U.S. infants (70%–80%) were fed cereal by 1 month of age. By 1980, rice cereal predominated, as it was considered to be well tolerated and “hypoallergenic”—given growing concerns about food allergies, he said. (See box.)

However, newer thinking is that the emphasis for complementary foods should be on naturally nutrient-rich foods. This includes protein and fiber, along with vitamins A, C, D, and E and the B vitamins. In addition, saturated and trans fats should be limited, as should sugar, said Dr. Greer.

In light of this thinking, rice cereal is a less than perfect choice for the first complementary food given to infants, he said. Rice cereal is low in protein and high in carbohydrates. It is often mixed with varying amounts of breast milk or formula. Although most brands of formula now have added iron, zinc, and vitamins, iron is poorly absorbed—only about 7.8% of intake is incorporated into red blood cells.

In contrast, meat is a rich source of iron, zinc, and arachidonic acid. Consumption of meat, fish, or poultry provides iron in the form of heme and promotes absorption of nonheme iron, noted Dr. Greer. Red meat and dark poultry meat have the greatest concentration of heme iron. Heme iron is absorbed intact into intestinal mucosal cells and is not affected by inhibitors of nonheme iron from the intestinal tract. Iron salts present in infant cereal are generally insoluble and poorly absorbed.

Another issue is when to begin introducing complementary foods, said Dr. Greer. This varies by nationality. In Germany for example, complementary foods are introduced to 16% of infants by 3 months. A third (34%) of infants in Italy and half (51%) of infants in the United Kingdom are introduced to complementary foods by 4 months. In the United States, 18% of infants are introduced to complementary foods—cereal—by 3 months, 40% by 4 months, 71% by 5 months, and 81% by 6 months.

Those complementary food choices for infants aren't always the most nutritious either. By 6 months, roughly a third of U.S. infants have been introduced to fruit (71%) and vegetables (73%), but only 21% have been introduced to meat. In a 2008 study in Pediatrics, researchers reported that 15% of infants have less than one serving of fruit or vegetable per day by 8 months of age (Pediatrics 2008;122[suppl. 2]:S91–7). In contrast, half of 10-month-old infants had eaten at a fast food restaurant, 22% had eaten carryout food, and 28% had eaten restaurant or carryout food at least twice in the previous week.

Early experiences promote healthy eating patterns, said Dr. Greer. It's known that food flavors are transmitted to breast milk; infants whose mothers eat fruits and vegetables during lactation will have greater consumption of fruits and vegetables during childhood (Public Health Nutr. 2004;7:295–302). It's also been shown that infants are more accepting of food after repeated exposure (Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2001;73:1080–5).

Dr. Greer reported that he has no relevant financial conflicts of interest.

Gluten free products are the fastest growing sector of the grocery market. Why? The incidence of gluten related health problems appears to be rising. Celiac disease, which is an autoimmune disorder that affects your ability to absorb nutrients, and also creates an immune response to the gliadin (the protein in gluten) can manifest itself as joint pain, fatigue, skin rashes, digestive problems, neurological problems, thyroid disorders, iron deficiency anemia, osteoporosis, anxiety, depression, and sleep disruption. What many people don’t realize is that even without a formal celiac diagnosis, you may be gluten intolerant . This problem is called non-Celiac gluten enteropathy.    Many of our patients benefit from a gluten free diet. 

Testing for gluten intolerance and disease has expanded as well. There are saliva tests, blood tests and biopsies that can confirm or deny a diagnosis of celiac disease. Some of these tests are combined with other regular tests that can discover other causes of the symptoms being experienced. 

Ask us about what types of testing makes sense for you!

For those of you in Portland, here's a list of gluten free restaurants.  

As women, we hear a lot of information about our hormones. They can affect our cancer risk, affect our metabolism, and cause hot flashes, mood changes, and insomnia. But what are hormones, really, and why are they so important, especially for women? 

Hormones are chemical messengers that instruct the rest of the body to carry out physiological actions. They travel in the body and are more dynamic than vitamins, muscles, and organs.  In fact, they tell your organs how to function in many cases. For example, hormones instruct your body to ovulate (female hormones), suggest how much energy to have in the morning (cortisol), determine how you handle stress (also cortisol), and affect how you metabolize your food (thyroid). Vitamin D, which we've heard about in the news lately, is actually a steroid hormone in structure, not actually a vitamin. That explains why proper levels of it are so crucial to a wide variety of health-maintaining mechanisms, including protection against respiratory infections (i.e. the flu), certain cancers (breast, prostate, colon), heart disease, and depression.