Journal

Weight Loss Diets - Some Comments

2008-03-18T20:20:18Z

I try not to work at night (same as I tell my patients!), but I wanted to get this posted before it runs through my head all night --this is a perfect example of advertisers telling you what it takes to sell something, versus the truth. On my way from the office this evening I heard a commonly heard radio commercial for a special rapid weight-loss diet. They were saying how you lose weight very rapidly and feel great the entire time and because it's medically supervised you can feel confident that it's very safe.

The truth is that any diet where the calories are very low and you lose weight very fast is not safe. Weight loss should be no more than 2 pounds per week (except in the first week where it can be much greater due to water loss). Any more than 2 pounds per week and the extra weight is muscle that is being lost. And never forget that the old cliche "Easy come, easy go." applies here absolutely. Any weight you lose very quickly will come right back -- most people gain the weight back and then some.

I have had patients who did the quick, very low-calorie diets and although they initially lost a lot of weight (before they gained it all back plus more), most of them also felt dizzy and experienced hair loss. They were told that this was a result of the shock their body was experiencing due to such rapid weight loss. Let's just call a spade a spade: It's starvation. Any diet where you are consuming less than 1000 calories per day (some active/muscular people need up to 2000 calories per day just to maintain their current body weight; some people need more) is starvation. Period. This is not a healthy way to lose weight and can cause damage to your body.

I understand the need to want to lose weight and lose it quickly, I really do. But please don't fall prey to these lose weight quick schemes. In order to lose weight you need a healthy diet (evaluated by a nutritionist or naturopath and not necessarily what you think is healthy), exercise, good sleep, stress management techniques and patience. It takes time to lose weight. It takes effort and changes in both diet and lifestyle to lose weight. You don't gain weight in a day and you don't lose it in a day.

So please, don't be fooled by this weight-loss version of a get-rich-quick scheme. Even if you have a lot of weight to lose the above mentioned steps and time will bring your weight down in a healthy way and will keep it off.

Cooking In and Drinking Out of Plastic - Part 2

2008-03-18T20:18:20Z

In short: Don't do it.

The websites promoting these products claim that the plastic does not transfer into food. However, they don't provide any safety studies or even tell you what types of plastics are used in the bags.

I have to say that I don't buy it. Plastic water bottles have been around for many years and now there is finally evidence coming out that they leach chemicals that cause cancer. These plastic bags are brand new products. They are also thin, pliable plastic. In general, the more pliable (ie. the softer) a plastic is the more chemicals they tend to leach. And plastics leach more chemicals when they are heated.

And remember: the number one goal of these companies is to sell you their product. Whether or not it's good for your health is not important when it comes to a company's bottom line.

Don't waste healthy ingredients by cooking your foods in plastic of any kind. This includes food steaming bags, slow-cooker bags, instant rice in bags, plastic containers and so on. If it's plastic, keep it away from cooking food or hot food.

Drugs in our Drinking Water

2008-03-18T20:10:01Z

This is a very interesting article about trace amounts of all kinds of pharmaceuticals that end up in our drinking water. I have included the link to the article here. I am in the midst of researching what kind of water is best -- it's a big subject, but as soon as I have it all sorted out, I will write a post on it.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080309/ap_on_re_us/pharmawater_i

The Truth About Chocolate

2008-03-14T01:01:57Z

There has been some talk/news lately about how good chocolate is for you and how it is full of antioxidants. There are some companies that have been marketing their "therapeutic"chocolate bars as a health food. Here's the real deal on chocolate.

Raw cacao beans and nibs do have a good quantity of antioxidants. Once you add milk to it, to make milk chocolate, those antioxidants get bound up and are no longer active. (The same, by the way, is true for green tea: you lose the antioxidants when you add milk.) So milk chocolate is just tasty, but not good for your health.

If chocolate is eaten in any appreciable quantity, the caffeine content does a lot of people more bad than good. Caffeine increases hormones that promote anxiety and daily caffeine intake actually increases your stress perception. That is, you will perceive events throughout your day as being more stressful than they really are. Only those with strong, calm constitutions should have caffeine on any kind of regular basis. If you tend to be wound up and high stress (the majority of society here in North America), you'll only be served by staying away from caffeine.

The sugar content in most chocolate products far outweighs any benefits. I think this one is fairly self-explanatory...

Chocolate contains magnesium and a magnesium deficiency is probably why some people crave it and why many women crave it premenstrually, when the need for magnesium increases. Interestingly enough, magnesium is also depleted by sugar. So "chocoholics" often crave chocolate for the magnesium and then, as the metabolism of that chocolate further depletes magnesium, they crave it more. Try eating a lot of green leafy vegetables at your meals as they also contain a lot of magnesium. Magnesium can also be found in supplement form, but it's a bit tricky in my opinion. Magnesium is a very safe supplement and there are no serious concerns, but I do have one concern. In terms of Traditional Chinese Medicine (bear with me here, Chinese Medicine is a very different way of looking at things, but very accurate and insightful), magnesium is "cold". Many people today, especially women (for a variety of reasons) do not have enough heat in their digestive systems and unfortunately it's a more complicated than just eating spicy foods. So if someone`s digestive system is not warm enough and possibly already has cold in it, when you add a cold supplement you risk furthering this deficiency. What does this mean in plain english: the possibility of more digestive weakness, gas, bloating, heartburn, constipation, diarrhea (or alternating constipation and diarrhea), cold body temperature and slower metabolism, to name a few. And once you put more cold into your system, it`s not that easy to undo. For many people, low dose magnesium (50-100mg) should be okay, but check with your doctor first, to make sure you are not on any conflicting medication.

Even bitter chocolate, which is roasted and processed at high temperatures, has lost 7/8 of it`s antioxidants (ie. most of them).

Is there any chocolate you can use? Yes. Use raw cacao beans, nibs or powder. They will be bitter, though. For a treat you can mix with some agave syrup (a natural sweetener that is low on the glycemic index) and make a chocolate syrup. You can also mix it with some coconut oil (I will be posting soon about coconut oil) and agave syrup to make a frosting.

Raw cacao is available at most health food stores and through many websites online. As I was writing this post, I came across this one: www.wildernessfamilynaturals.com

The Test Result Conundrum

2008-02-14T23:16:56Z

Many people who have tests done at their doctor are told that if they do not hear back, then the results were normal. This is not always the case. Lately I have had 3 patients who did not hear back after tests were performed. One of them found out that the hospital lost her test results and had to go back in; another patient was told that her test results were fine, when in fact, she had some abnormalities which need to be treated. And another patient had been told that a message for her to call the doctor's office, but she never got that message. In yet another case, a few years ago, I had a patient who told me she had been diagnosed with fibroids -- she was pretty sure. She had recently had some tests done and she was pretty sure that the results showed fibroids. She had the test results at home, and so I asked her to bring them in on her next visit. As it turned out, she did not have fibroids, but she had been diagnosed with three other conditions that she was not even aware of.

So, when you have tests done at your doctor's, my best advice is to always get a copy of them. If you are one of my patients, always bring them in to me so I can take a look at them and keep a copy in your file. If if there is anything that is borderline or abnormal, always, always make sure you understand the significance, or any potential significance of that result. It is an unacceptable but true reality, that from time to time, things (ie. people and test results) fall through the cracks; when someone is really busy, it is not difficult to accidentally overlook something. Make sure you are not just taking someone's word for it that everything is okay -- make sure you see for yourself.

PMS: What is it all about?

2008-02-14T03:00:43Z

PMS (Pre-menstrual syndrome) is a sign that your hormones (estrogen and progesterone) are out of balance. There are many reasons for this including diet (certain foods that promote hormonal imbalance), stress, long-term fatigue and glandular weakness, to name just a few. PMS symptoms include: mood swings, increased emotional sensitivity or volatility, abdominal gas and/or bloating, constipation or diarrhea, breast swelling and/or tenderness, increased food cravings, sleep disturbances, skin breakouts. These symptoms can begin anywhere from 1 day to 2 weeks (and occasionally more) before the onset of menses.

Dietary changes and naturopathic remedies/supplements are very effective at balancing the hormones and decreasing, and often eliminating, PMS symptoms.

It is important to note, that the emotions that come out during PMS are not alien emotions that descend on you from outer space; these are emotions that are inside of you all the time, but come out during this time of increased sensitivity. One of my patients put it best when commenting on the emotions that come out for her during PMS: "It's not less valid, it just means I'm less willing to hold it back." Exactly.

Sometimes this means you will be more aware of sensitivities and insecurities that you may have thought you'd completely dealt with, but have shown themselves to still be there. And other times, this will mean that you are holding back the way you really feel about something in your life; feelings that need to come out and be dealt with.

Incidentally, the same goes for emotional outbursts during menopause. Christiane Northrup talk about this in her book, The Wisdom of Menopause. I highly recommend that every menopausal and peri-menopausal woman read this book. I suspect that for many, it will be a real eye-opener; or at the very least a confirmation of what you have always suspected.

Zinc and Angina

2008-02-12T15:22:28Z

High dose zinc has been shown by Dr. George Eby to be very effective at treating angina. This initially came about as a man participating in a study examining the effect of zinc on the common cold had dramatic improvement in his angina symptoms. Dr. Eby looked into zinc and angina and found that high doses were very effective at reducing or eliminating symptoms in many people with angina.

Please not that this treatment must be monitored by your doctor or naturopath. High dose zinc, if done improperly can suppress immune function. It can also deplete copper which may increase risk of an aneurysm. Done properly with professional supervision, high-dose zinc is a safe treatment for angina.

High Blood Pressure Lowered by a Handgrip Device?

2008-02-11T15:18:17Z

There have been several studies in the past few years showing that a handgrip device, when used according to certain specifications, can lower blood pressure. The handgrip exercise is done 5 days per week for 12 minutes each day. But not just any handgrip can be used – there is a certain amount of pressure that must be applied and it needs to be maintained for a certain period of time etc. Someone recently sent me a link to Zona Health http://www.zona.com/index.aspx I checked out the website and they have a handgrip that is computer monitored to ensure that the exercises are done properly. (Done improperly, blood pressure may rise.)

If you have high blood pressure and are hoping to avoid medication, or if your current medication is not controlling your blood pressure well, I think this is a great product to try. If your blood pressure is not reduced in 8 weeks, the device can be returned.

I would recommend looking at the website and bringing the information to your doctor or naturopath and ask them about it. There are lots of medical studies on the website supporting this concept. And because this device seems to directly affect the physiology of blood pressure, I would say that it should be tried before most supplements.

Melatonin and Rozerem

2008-02-09T20:50:31Z

Melatonin...such a huge topic....where to start?

First of all, melatonin is a powerful anti-cancer hormone produced by our pineal gland, a little gland in our brain. Melatonin is produced at night while we are sleeping. There are conditions that either increase or decrease melatonin production, such as length of sleep and the amount of light coming into the room but I'll have to save those details for another post. If you want to get a head start, the take home message from that future post will be the following: sleep for at least 8 hours per night and sleep in a pitch-black room -- one where you cannot see your hand immediately in front of your face. A sleep mask is good, but doesn't quite cut it -- cover all light sources. Also, meditating for 10 minutes (sitting in a chair upright) before bedtime increases melatonin production and will help you fall asleep.

Many people who have trouble sleeping take supplemental melatonin -- anywhere from 1 to 3 mg per night. This is okay if done on an occasional basis, but I don't recommend it everyday. Melatonin supplementation has been shown to lead to atrophy (shrinkage) of the pineal gland, the gland that produces it. As the pineal gland has less work to do (because melatonin is being obtained from the outside) the gland gets smaller. And then when you try not taking melatonin, you body is not capable of making nearly as much. Often insomnia is a result of an over-stressed system, or a weakened system. An ideal goal for insomniacs, is to figure out the root of the problem and deal with it from there. Of course with my obvious bias, I would recommend seeing a naturopath, but there are lots of different practitioners and tons of information (books, videos etc.) on how to sleep better. One book that comes to mind is Restful Sleep by Deepak Chopra. Lots of great information and a very good place to start; I often make recommendations to patients that come directly from this book.

The pharmaceutical companies have come up with a drug called Rozerem which is a "melatonin receptor agonist". This means that it stimulates the same places in your brain that melatonin does. Synthetic hormones are never a good thing. Rozerem has been shown, in high does, to cause liver cancer and fetal deformities in lab animals. Sounds awfully suspect to me, especially when you consider that in very high doses, melatonin protects against cancer and has even been used to treat cancer. So this drug is doing something very different than melatonin somewhere along the line.

Considering how disruptive insomnia can be to a person's quality of life and also considering that insomnia usually gets worse with age and almost always gets worse with menopause, I would highly suggest that all insomniacs take measures now (whether it's a book or a practitioner) towards strengthening/relaxing their system in order to sleep better.

Weight Loss: The Food Matters, Not Just the Calories

2008-02-09T04:08:36Z

When it comes to weight loss, there is so much focus on calories, many dieters find it easy to forget that it's not just the calories that matter -- it's the food, too.

The point of food is not just to supply your body with energy, stop the growling in your stomach or get rid of hunger. Food is meant to nourish us: to provide the vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, fats and proteins that our bodies need to be strong and healthy.

When a person is eating a lot of foods that do not contain lots of vitamins, minerals, good fat, good carbohydrates and quality protein, they will be undernourished. Individuals who are undernourished (ie. not enough nourishment) often end up eating more than enough calories. This is because their body continues asking for food because their requirement for quality nutrients (vitamins, minerals, good fat, good carbohydrates and quality protein) have not been met. This sensation is usually interpreted as more hunger and more low-nutrient food is usually what is eaten.

If you are trying to lose weight, or to be healthier in any way, cut out the processed stuff. The white flour, white sugar, packaged foods etc. I don't care what the ads say, these foods are not healthy for you. Never forget: the goal of marketing is to get you to buy what they are selling -- whether it is healthy or not for you is a not their concern. If it has had chemicals added to it, shaped into any kind of a mould or never goes bad, you can pretty much rest assured that it is contributing to your health issues and not helping.