Stress and Obesity – Part III

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Prior to the early 1970’s, the majority of family units were structured as a one wage earner household where the male worked and the female stayed at home taking care of the house and family. Driven largely by social and socio-economic factors, all of that has changed. Now, the overwhelming majority of families include both parents working and we find ourselves on a treadmill of more work, more responsibilities, more demands and non-stop scheduling that has many of us in a state of physical and, at times, emotional exhaustion.

Added to the mix is our competitive culture, which often lends to isolation or “them against us”, thinking. Isolation of this nature causes additional “hidden” stress. The perennial truth is that the whole world is one family. It is said that there is only one disease, the disease of separateness; separating oneself from the awareness that as a member of the human family, we are one living collective organism. The drama created by a “one up” or “one down” dynamic, which we find in competitive societies, can lend to the exhaustion and the psycho-social behavioral issues that contribute to overeating.

Understanding Exhaustion
and it’s Effect on Obesity

The tipping point at which our bodies can no longer compensate for or adapt to the stress they are under is based in large part on the threshold of nutritional competency and the state of integrity of our nervous systems. When our central nervous system, which governs every cell in our body and makes life possible, is not working efficiently, we have a decrease in bodily function and a decrease in the ability to adapt to the world we live in.

Chronic fatigue syndrome, CFS, is rampant in our culture today and growing at an alarming rate because of the over stimulation and increased demands placed on our nervous systems. Add to this inadequate nutrition and a decreased ability of our bodies to digest and absorb properly because of the stress, and we see the building blocks of the epidemic of chronic diseases being currently reported.

What is so shocking for us as American’s, is that while we live in one of the most affluent societies ever to exist on earth and have one of the most technologically advanced medical systems; we are ranked at approximately 26th in the “World Health Olympics”.

This is not the failure of our medical system but, in fact, our collective societal failure to live in our bodies mindfully and respectfully, taking time for rest, proper nutrition, reflection, intimacy with self and others and serving the common good of all. It is this imbalance that leads us to chronic stress, which leads to physical and, if you will, spiritual exhaustion that is producing the levels of chronic disease and rampant obesity we see today.

With all good wishes,
Georgianna
Copyright 2010 G. Donadio

The Importance of Good Digestion – Worth Repeating

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The single most reported complaints in all hospital emergency rooms are digestive relative complaints. The most “stress affected” system of the human body is the digestive system. According to the October, 2008, Drug Topics News Magazine for Pharmacists, in 2008, American’s spent 5 billion dollars on over the counter digestive or “stomach” remedies, with an expected 40% increase by 2010.

Wouldn’t it be helpful to understand and educate others on how and why they are suffering from digestive ailments?

We all know people who eat organic, natural food and are meticulous about the quality and quantity of what they put in their body and are sick, tired, plagued with health issues. Then there are others who eat anything and everything, the good, the bad and the ugly and have energy to burn, not a pimple on their entire body and feel great.

Often, what this is the result of the function and efficiency of their individual nervous systems. Those who have an active “sympathetic” nervous system, with the tenth cranial nerve reeking havoc with their digestive system (alimentary canal), they are the folks that no mater what they eat and how, pure, clean and organic it is – they just don’t do well and feel ill and unwell much of the time.

For the individual with a well-tuned central nervous system and balanced “para-sympathetic” cranial nerves, the digestive system can be a culinary playground that accepts all types of nutrients and food stuffs and produces ample nutrition without up set or illness.

What makes one nervous system different from another, one person’s experience different from another? It has more to do with the limbic system (unconscious mind) of an individual than any other single factor, with the exception of the rare congenital or pathological occurrence.

With all good wishes,
G
Copyright – 2010 G.Donadio

Health and Self-Esteem

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We have an innate understanding of what we need to do to be healthy. Yet, passed down health wisdom such as,”early to bed, early to rise, makes a being healthy, wealthy and wise”, are often ignored in favor of our more immediate comfort or convenience.

Physical labor has taken a back seat to “mind work”, and today we work harder than ever before to have the money to buy membership to a gym or spa so we can do the physical exercise we need to be healthy and attractive. How ironic, yes?

However, rarely do we actually have the time to go to the gym we pay membership fees to. Statistically, the average gym membership is used for the first 4-6 weeks after signing up and then falls off dramatically. Workout facilities count on these statistics when planning their recruitment and enrollment numbers.

Likewise, diet plans and weight loss centers know that 90% or more of their customers will continue to have body weight issues in spite of their best efforts to re-direct to a different way of eating. Why?

 Sometimes even with every possible service, care and expert available many individuals can continue to struggle with significant weight gain and loss for many years. The reasons these individuals give for not taking care of themselves can include:

 not having enough time to shop for or cook the right foods
 not being sure what’s best for our body type
 not having enough money for domestic help
 not having enough time to exercise, meditate and relax
 too much stress over money and achieving success

However, there are many individuals who have more than enough money and success to eliminate all of those concerns and yet in spite of that they still do not consistently maintain a proper body weight. What are the real causes of this syndrome and how can it be corrected?

Next Installment: Health and Self-Esteem Part II

With all good wishes,
Georgianna

Copyright 2010 G. Donadio

The Amazing Adrenal Glands

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The ability for a human being to adapt to its environment and to deal with the many ongoing challenges and changes it faces is the hallmark of a healthy body. That we can withstand day to day events that challenge our nervous systems and subsequently our immune systems is the expression that our body is working very efficiently.

Understanding the connection between how events affect our stress adaptation system, primarily the adrenal glands, and how the adrenal’s hyper-secretions under stress can create havoc with the digestive and immune systems is important so we can make informed lifestyle choices that will preserve and respect our body and our long term health.

Most of us do not know what stressers are. We tend towards the idea that emotional upset is what constitutes stress. However, there are 12 major categories of stress that can impact our body and health. Unfortunately, we are subject to these stressors on a regular basis.

A stresser is any activity or event which requires the body to have to change or adapt to maintain its homeostasis, or balance. Therefore, it becomes essential to know the factors we must be mindful of in order to keep our stress levels in check.

Here are the stressors to be aware of in your day to day life:

> Weather – hot cold, exposure
> Sleep and Rest – not enough
> Infection or silent inflammation in the body
> Allergies – all types
> Dental or medical procedures and surgeries
> Reproduction – for women: menstrual cycle, pregnancy, breast feeding, menopause
> Sexual Activity – men and women
> Nutrition – too much or non-nutritious
> Exertion, exercise – too much or not enough
> Trauma – any form
> Fear, anxiety, worry – ongoing
> Loss or grief

By keeping your stress level low you will reduce wear and tear on your body parts, which in the long term will lead to chronic illness and disease. It is not the stress itself that makes you sick, but the ongoing wear on the body that causes dysfunction and dis-ease.

There are many ways to reduce stress and maintain a balanced nervous system. While the list is endless here are some of the most popular ways to do so:

> Exercise
> Music
> Yoga
> Sports
> Gardening

Each person finds their best way to relax and de-stress. It is something we all need to do on a regular basis to balance or nervous systems and stay healthy!

With all good wishes,
G

Copyright 2010 G. Donadio

Brain Function, Hormones and Behavior

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There are three parts of the human brain, referred to as the “triune brain”. Paul D. MacLean, an early research director for the National Institute of Mental Health, postulated his Triune Brain Theory which states that the human brain is a product of three stages of evolution and is actually three separate brains which have evolved into one brain over long periods of time.

The first section [the lowest portion of the brain] which is comprised of the top part of the spinal cord, the medulla oblongata, the pons, and the cerebellum, MacClean calls “the reptilian brain” as he stated “at its base [the human brain] was a variation in the elaboration of the reptilian brain.”

The limbic system [located in the mid-portion of the brain] states MacClean, “was an elaboration of the new mammalian brain from the Jurassic period”. He termed it the “mid-brain” or the neo-mammalian brain (new mammal).

The upper most and largest part of the human brain, the cerebral cortex, encompasses our logic centers, our “intellect”. MacClean termed this portion “the neo-cortex” (new cortex).

Viewed through the perspective of MacClean’s “Triune Brain” theory, this is the time line on which the human brain evolved:

1. Reptilian portion = Triassic period – 248 to 206 million years ago. Regulates hunger, body temperature control, fight or flight responses; is shared with reptiles

2. Limbic Portion = Jurassic period – 206-144 million years ago. Regulates mood, memory, hormone control; is shared with older mammals = dogs, cats, mice.

3. Neocortex = Eocene & Oligocene Epochs – 55 -24 million years ago. Regulates logic and thought required for complex social situations, etc; is shared with monkeys and chimpanzees.

The Reptilian or “vegetable brain” [recall the autonomic nervous system functions], is fundamentally concerned with homeostasis, which is involved in regulating all of the body functions that allow each of us to be human, get up every day and live our lives. If you do not have a well-functioning lower brain, if you have a tumor, if you have a trauma, if you’re in an accident, if something happens to your brain stem, you may no longer have the capacity to control the day to day homeostatic functions to maintain your life.

Embedded inside the Limbic System is a structure identified as the Reticular Activating System which has pathways as well as neurons traveling throughout the lower brain, up through the medulla oblongata, across the Limbic System into the Neo-Cortex or the “thinking brain”.

The Limbic System and Reticular Activating System interpret sensory motor messages that are “incoming” from the person’s environment and it is in this portion of the brain that we not only interpret the “incoming stimuli and information” but we also select methods for survival and adaptation.

Here is where it gets exciting to put the anatomy and physiology of brain function and the psychology of personality together!

We know the neo-cortex is our thinking, intellectual brain – our “smart brain” and most of us know individuals who are brilliant academically or intellectually yet they are emotionally dysfunctional in the extreme.

Our thinking brain would presume that being “smart” or intellectually capable would exercise dominion over one’s emotions, however, the missing piece of information here is that our emotions actually are a survival adaptation mechanism that each of us individually develops as we process our early environment and social conditioning. Nothing is more powerful in the human being than its drive to survive! Hence, our emotions win the day in the battle between thinking and feeling.

It is critically important for each of us to understand that our emotions represent how we learned to adapt in our surroundings and environment, especially during the first 0-5 years of our development. Our familial “input” taught us, as did Pavlov with his dogs, how to respond to the stimuli we received as infants and toddlers.

This embedded neurological conditioning is not overcome by the thought process, as the thought process for humans is the “newest” component to our primordial brain. It is in the survival adaptive portion of our brain where we form our “personality” and where we become conditioned to create and interact within relationships.

When we understand the possibility that interpersonal issues which frustrate us may come not from “being difficult” or “bad intent” but rather from our drive to survive and our interpretation of the stimulation and environment we were conditioned by, then we can begin to be “kinder and gentler” towards ourselves and others.

In summary, our emotions are the way we learn to live, behave and survive in our world. We cannot “think them” into changing, but we can step back and appreciate the service and challenge they offer us in our daily lives.

With all good wishes,
G

Copyright 2010 G. Donadio

Nourishing Your Immune System

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Like most things in life, health is simple. Maintaining a healthy immune system is also simple, yet in our enormously complex and hurried environment it become complicated to live a simple life and stay healthy. This is an important perspective to wrap ourselves around especially regarding our lifestyle choices and how we take care of our health – which is in the main, our immune system.

The short version of immune hygiene is this:

 remember that everything that goes into your body impacts your immune function and immune health
 plant based, living, nutritious food = a healthy body
 your thoughts creates proteins that communicate those specific thoughts to your immune cell membranes, so be mindful of your thinking
 chronic stress and adrenal gland function suppress your bone marrow and immune system functions
 laughter and joy strengthen immune function by increasing serotonin
 clean air and water are basic essentials to a healthy immune system
 compassion and caring increase Immunoglobulin-A, an immuno-protein
 exercise pumps 10,000 white blood cells through the lymph glands, cleansing and detoxifying the “little garbage cans” of the body
 cleanliness and sanitation prevent immune assaults by micro-organisms
 loving and being loved increases positive immune responses and secretions
 purposeful living reduces stress and balances the nervous system
 eliminating debt enhances longevity through immune system integrity
 everything is connected to everything else in your life – especially your immune function, so be kind to your body ~

These are simple, intuitive and common sense guidelines to preserve and protect the system that protects you.

The next installment will focus on muscles and bones, with a few surprises in store.

With all good wishes,
G

© by NIWH 2010 all rights reserved

Comfort Food – How Carbohydrates Soothe

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Thanks to the work of M.I.T. professor Judith Wurtman, PhD, and others we now understand the significant role that a neurotransmitter or “chemical messenger” called serotonin plays in producing our cravings for complex carbohydrates and sugars, two of the largest contributors to unhealthy weight gain.

Serotonin and other neurotransmitters are produced by our bodies as “feel good” hormones. Under stress, we do not have enough of these hormones and we become motivated to “self-sooth” by behaviors that lead to the increase in serotonin. Overeating carbohydrates and fatty rich foods or “comfort foods” such as cookies, ice cream, and other “treats” significantly increases these hormones. Many addictions such as smoking, drinking alcohol and abusing drugs are also attempts to self soothe and increase serotonin, but no other addictive or unhealthy behavior is as socially accepted and as easily available as overeating. We can do it anywhere, anytime, along or with company. It is not wonder we have such a love affair with eating.

In addition, our bodies need for certain nutrients, specifically protein, Vitamins A, C and E, unsaturated fatty acids, cholesterol and minerals sky rocket when we are “adapting” under stress. Often, if we do not stop the stress cycle or appropriately supplement these vital nutrients, we can turn to overeating to satisfy the body’s demand for the fuel it needs to keep dealing with the stress we are experiencing.

For a period of time, foods that comfort, sooth or supplement can make us feel calmer until our level of serotonin drops again or until we become more exhausted and need to feed ourselves once more. Then we start the cycle all over and consume more carbohydrates and fatty rich food to stabilize our blood sugar level and brain function until we feel better again.

This is the cycle of self medication or self-soothing practices in homes, offices, restaurants, automobiles and yes, even in bathrooms across America. The long term effect of such behaviors, apart from obesity and escalating chronic diseases, is that our nervous systems are being hyper-stimulated. Anxiety, exhaustion, depression, over eating and insomnia are just a few of the symptoms we experience when our nervous systems are working on overload.

As a result, it is no wonder that within the last few years, low carbohydrate diets have proven effective for so many people. Approximately 20% of Americans or 20 million people are currently on low carbohydrate diets. For many of us, our stress level is a major factor in the over-consumption of carbohydrates; therefore reducing or eating normal amounts of carbohydrates is spawning weight loss. The real issue however is: How long can we reduce our carbohydrate loading without reducing our stress levels and the behaviors that create elevated stress in the first place?

With all good wishes,
G
© by NIWH 2010 all rights reserved

Organic Foods versus Non-Organic Foods

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Several years ago scientists at Rutgers University set-out to specifically disprove any claim that organic produce was more nutritious than non-organic produce. The study used produce from supermarkets and health food stores. The main focus was to analyze the mineral content of the various vegetables and compare them for nutrition value, in particular, mineral content.

The term used today to identify non-organic produce is “commercial” which is grown using a variety of chemicals that either destroys plant pests or chemicals that can enhance plant growth. Many of these chemical are known carcinogens as well as being toxic to the soil and environment.

There has actually been very little “hard data” to prove that organic produce is in any way superior to organic produce, as most folks who purchase “organic” simply believe innately that naturally grown vegetables and fruits, without chemicals and pesticides are intuitively better and healthier.

While the researchers were willing to accept an outcome that might show a very slightly higher content in the organic produce than the commercial, due to the chemicals used to grow the commercial plants, the outcomes of the study shocked the researchers! When they saw that the amount of iron found in the commercial spinach was 97% higher than in the organic spinach and that manganese was 99% higher in the organic over the commercial, they were truly amazed. In the commercially grown vegetables many trace elements were completely absent compared to the organic produce where they were abundant.

Here are some comparisons:

Snap Beans organic =
10.45 phosphorus compared to 4.04 in commercial
.36 magnesium compared to .22 in commercial
227 boron compared to 10 in commercial
69 iron compared to 3 in commercial

Cabbage organic =
10.38 phosphorus compared to 6.12 in commercial
.38 magnesium compared to .18 in commercial
94 boron compared to 20 in commercial
48 iron compared to .04 in commercial

Lettuce organic =
24.48 phosphorus compared to 7.01 in commercial
.43 magnesium compared to .22 in commercial
516 boron compared to 9 in commercial
60 iron compared to 3 in commercialTomatoes organic =
14.2 phosphorus compared to 7.01 in commercial
.35 magnesium compared to .16 in commercial
1938 boron compared to 1 commercial
53 iron compared to 0 in commercial

Spinach organic =
28.56 phosphorus compared to 12.38 in commercial
.52 magnesium compared to .27 in commercial
1584 compared to 49 in commercial
32 iron compared to .3 in commercial

Here’s a disturbing outcome of this study – in all 5 of the tested vegetables: snap beans, cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes and spinach the organic vegetables all contained healthy levels of cobalt, an essential trace mineral compared to the commercial vegetables which contain none!

So, the next time someone tries to argue that there is no difference between organic and commercial vegetables you can share this information with them and then happily buy your organic produce!

With all good wishes,
G

© by NIWH 2010 all rights reserved

Should Doctors Take Back Control of Health Care?

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For those us of old enough to remember Marcus Welby, MD and Dr. Kildare, the beloved TV docs we grew up with, we also remember a time when the physicians ran health care. They set policy, budgets, insurance coverage guidelines and pretty much, back then, “everything health care”.

The insurance carriers, growing tired of paying for questionable procedures and surgery, warned physician groups running the show that if they did not clean up the medical abuses taking place, the insurance industry would take away their decision making by enforced second opinions and limited pay outs for procedures that were being unnecessarily performed. Back in the 1970’s, there were millions of hysterectomies, 66% of all those performed were after the fact deemed “unnecessary” by what has become today’s Medical Review Boards.

Now in the U.K., to quote an article in latest English.news.cn “The new British coalition government revealed on Friday that it planned to put doctors in charge of funding for front line services in England’s National Health Service (NHS), in a change hailed as the biggest in 60 years.”

This is big! If this were to be enacted in the U.S., we could see a return of physician driven health care that is provided, determined and distributed by the same type of physician groups that were unable to police themselves just 30 years after the establishment of the American Medical Association and the mainstreaming of the pharmaceutical industry.

Granted, we currently have in place excellent peer review boards and medical review requirements, but this works because of the lack of conflict of interest with the way these structures function.

The health care reform bill has yet to flex its muscles and most of us feel pretty much in the dark about what we can expect. No surprise since an overwhelming majority of politicos who voted on the bill had little to no idea what the bill contained!

The issues we see with today’s health care delivery simply reinforce the Whole Health vision of taking control of our bodies, preventing disease with common sense health hygiene and limiting the use of acute care medicine that we as Americans are blessed to have available to us when a health crisis occurs.

Every day the news contains articles identifying the long term use of even over the counter medications and cautions us to realize we cannot repeatedly put these chemicals into our bodies (and there are many other chemicals in our environment, food and air) and not experience consequences.

Chronic disease, which is the bulk of what is treated in health care today, is preventable and cost effective. Let’s create our own health care reform with self-directed health-care. This means taking care of our whole health, living well and living long.

With all good wishes,
G

© by NIWH 2010 all rights reserved

When You Hear Hoof Beats Think Horses and Not Zebras

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It was an interesting week in my practice, as there were an unusual number of patients coming in with extreme symptoms that were addressed and resolved using the “when you hear hoof beats, think of horses and not zebras” practice model. If you are a practitioner and don’t know this one, it’s worth while exploring.

Having been in medicine and health care now for almost 40 years, (I’m as old as trees as my children like to tease me), there is no doubt that medicine is focused on looking for the zebras. That is, looking for the pathology, the disease, the exotic condition, something to diagnose instead of recognizing that most “hoof beats” are made by horses. This simple, practical and common sense approach to practicing health care has been lost within today’s fast paced, “expert” based practices and has even begun disappearing from “alternative” health care practices, as well.

Here is an example from one of my recent patient visits. A very gifted, integrative health practitioner called me up after having intractable muscle pain for a week. He could not lie down, could not sleep was in great discomfort and was also concerned about what this could mean. He had spoken to a wide variety of practitioners who normally deal with musculo-skeletal conditions and at the end of his exploration was still in pain and becoming rapidly more concerned.

When this happens to us we start to think, “do I have something really wrong with me?”, if you’re older you think “this must be what getting old is about”, or if you are an active, healthy person who takes care of yourself you might ask, “how could this be happening to me, I take care of myself.” This individual said he called me because he “didn’t know where else to turn” to understand his pain and condition and isn’t this what I did in my practice – figure things out about cause and effect?”

Being a Whole Person Health Care practitioner, I started with the basics:

> what specifically had he been doing prior to this onset?
> where is the specific discomfort?
> what makes it feel better?
> what makes it feel worse?
> did he experience any other symptom along with this pain?

He explained that he just joined a gym and was working out for the past week, but that he wasn’t doing that much exercise to cause this discomfort and it wasn’t just in one muscle, it was all over his body. He is in very good physical condition so the idea of the mild exercising causing this full body pain didn’t resonate.

He reported that he hadn’t changed his diet, work habits, taken any unusual supplements, changed beds, changed shoes or had any upset or stress over the past week. He tried a series of natural remedies and treatments to no avail. He was both personally and professionally stumped and so were the practitioners he had spoken with about his pain.

Having been called the “Sherlock Holmes of Whole Health”, I knew the task at hand was to find out the missing piece of information that would unlock the cause of the problem. So we discussed his new membership at the gym. Logic told me that there was something connected to his activities at the gym that was the casual factor in his pain experience because it was after joining the gym that his pain began. It was just a matter of putting our finger on it.

After a few minutes of detailed review, one factor that surfaced seemed the right solution to the problem. After his work out, he went for a swim in the gym’s pool. Interesting.

Now some of you who are practitioners reading this might think, “Ah ha, he has a virus from the pool water”, or ” His immune system must have had a toxic reaction to the chemicals in the pool”. Sorry, but no cigar – these are all zebras.

Having a comprehensive, evidence-based, whole person health education is critical to truly serving our patients and clients and being able to empower them with the knowledge they need to take control of their health.

What does chlorine do to our body? It leaches minerals, most importantly calcium and magnesium. Because chlorine has double negative bonds it is wildly attracted to double positive bonds, as found in calcium. What minerals are significantly involved in muscle function? Ca & Mg – correct!

I recommended that he go to Whole Foods and purchase A to B Calm calcium and magnesium powder, take a dose and see if that helped. I received an e-mail about 24 hours later with the subject title “WOW” – it completely took away all his discomfort, he got a great night sleep and felt excellent. He is swimming away, but mindful to take his calcium/magnesium after each swim.

This is the perfect example of thinking horses and not zebras in our practices. I do hope you found this helpful ~

With all good wishes,
G
© by NIWH 2010 all rights reserved