Category Archives: Whole Person Health

Top Ten Nutrients

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The University of California, Berkley has a Wellness Letter that has published what researchers call “the top ten nutrients for reducing cancer and heart disease”. Below is a very helpful list of the nutrients and the best foods to find them in. You will notice a very clear pattern here – that the same foods appear on many if not all the lists. These are the foods to gravitate towards and whenever possible, buy them organic; food that has not been exposed to pesticides or other unnatural processes, is best for our immune system and nutrition

Vitamin C –
Red Peppers – organic is preferred as they can have pesticides in lareg amounts on them
Orange Juice – a fresh orange is best
Broccoli, chopped and steamed
Apples and fresh apple juice
Green peppers – organic is best with peppers due to pesticides
Brussel Sprouts, steamed
Grapefruit juice
Cranberries fresh
Papaya slices
Strawberries, fresh and preferrably organic due to pesticides

Folacin –
Beans – cooked
Spinish, fresh
Oatmeal
Asparagus
Avacado
Green Peas
Brussel sprouts
Wheat germ
Broccoli, choppedand steamed
Corn kernels

Vitamin B6 –
Tuna, fresh
Potatoe, bakes with skins
Banana
Salmon, fresh
Chicken or turkey, cooked
Prune juice
Pork, well cooked
Avacado
Beef, well cooked
Sweet Potatoe, slow baked

Beta Carotene –
Sweet Potatoe, slow baked
Collard Greens, cooked
Carrots
Cantaloupe
Squash, winter
Apricots, fresh
Pumpkin, fresh
Kale, cooked
Spinach, steamed
Mango, sliced

Potassium –
Beet greens
Avacado
Apricots
Beans
Potatoe, baked with skin
Clams cooked
Yogurt, plain, low fat
Fish
Orange juice, fresh
Banana

Selenium –
Brazil Nuts
Tuna, canned
Oysters, cooked
Flounder or sole, cooked
Turkey, cooked
Wheat germ
Brown rice, cooked
Oatmeal, cooked

Calcium –
Sardines, canned
Yogurt, plain low fat
Almonds
Sour cream, non-fat
Collard greens, cooked
Ricotta cheese, part-skim
Parmesan cheese
Milk
Swiss cheese
Salmon, canned with bones

Zinc –
Oysters, eastern
Crab, king
Beef, cooked
Wheat germ
Turkey cooked
Lamb, cooked
Prok, cooked
Cashews or almonds
Beans
Chicken, cooked

Magnesium –
Almonds or hazelnuts
Spincah, cooked
Swiss chard, cooked
Sunflower seeds
Halibut or markrel
Tofu
Wheat bran
Rice, brown, cooked
Avacado
Beans

Fiber –
Beans cooked
Peas, green, cooked
Raspberries
Bulgar, cooked
Rye wafers
Wheat bran
Pasta, whole wheat or rice, cooked
Oat bran, cooked
Squash, acorn
Potato, baked with skin

This is a great list because it has tasty, nutritious and disease preventing foods that most of us enjoy ~

With all good wishes,
Georgianna

Copyright 2010 – G. Donadio

Post Natal Depression – Not Just for Moms

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As the mother of three children, I remember thinking after the birth of my first born and then two subsequent children, “why doesn’t anyone tell the truth about how stressful having a baby – having children –  really is?”  There were plenty of other new mom’s Icould commensurate with about the reality, opposed to the romanticized version, of child birth and motherhood.

It took time and many personal adjustments to fit myself into the role of “mom”, but not without lots of anxiety, reading many parenting books and having a sense that I was “learning on the job” with not prior training or knowledge of how to “do this”.

The fact that moms can feel that way comes as no surprise to those of us who have children. What does surprise people, however, is that many dads also can experience high anxiety, stress and post natal depression after the birth of their children.

In a British population study that obtained psychological questionnaires from 8,431 fathers and 11,833 mothers, interesting data related to postnatal depression in fathers emerged. The study gathered data at three different intervals after the birth of the child: at 8 weeks, 21 months and 3.5 years.

The outcomes identified that children born to fathers who experience post natal depression are twice as likely, at the age of 3 years old, to have behavioral problems compared to children born to fathers who do not experience post natal depression. This was found to be consistent even after maternal depression was factored out.

What parents are often not prepared for after the joyful birth of their child is the accompanying loss of their personal identity as (1) an autonomous individual and (2) a romantic partner. After the birth of a baby the child becomes, and rightfully so, the center of concern and attention. The personal and social time and activities, which was before “couple-centered” now becomes “baby-centered”.

Spouses can feel abandoned, lonely or isolated from their partner after the birth of even the most long awaited and beloved child. Parenthood brings with it enormous joy and equally enormous stresses. It is healthier to discuss such feelings and express the negative as well as the positive emotions of parenthood, then to feel guilty and turn our frustrations into depression. As always the three important rules to sustaining a happy relationship and family are: communicate, communicate, communicate.

With all good wishes,
Georgianna

Copyright 2010 G. Donadio

Eating Less = Living Longer Part IV

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Over the past few years, the National Institutes of Health spent 30 million dollars on a multiple study site program that has been called CALERIE – which stands for Comprehensive Assessment of the Long Terms Effects of Reducing Intake of Energy. What this translates into is “calorie-restricted diet”.

All across the U.S. there are 132 study subjects who have spent the past few years maintaining a calorie-reduced lifestyle. As we discussed in previous blogs, these studies are the outgrowth of rhesus money studies that showed a significant reduction in disease manifestation and aging. The desire to duplicate these findings in humans and see if this “new” approach to disease prevention and longevity would prove as successful in humans as it did in animals.

The results of the first phase of the study outcomes provide us a look into what can be expected by the end of the study. With just a 25% calorie reduction over the course of a 6 month period, the study participants metabolism became more efficient and their insulin sensitivity rose which meant that their body was able to deal with the regulation of blood sugar more effectively which is a critical function in the prevention of diabetes. Other outcomes suggest the diet’s ability to lower hypertension and cholesterol levels as well as improve memory function.

Even the medical researchers who worked on the first phase of the study have been skeptical. John Holloszy, MD from Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, says” I didn’t think this would work in humans until I started working with people who had been doing it for years. They are among the healthiest people I’ve ever known.”

It makes perfect common sense that when you reduce the wear and tear on any machine, you have a more efficient function and create a longer life span for that functioning mechanism. It should not surprise any of us that when we take digestive and metabolic stress off our organs we feel better, look better and ARE better!

What benefits might you derive from such an approach to your nutrition? Reducing our food intake by 25% means that we take 1/4 of the food we have on our plate and just don’t eat it – easy enough. But it also means that you begin to substitute more nutritous food for less nutritous food over the long term, which will lead to better health and longer life.

More importantly, however, what this lifestyle can do for each of us is place the control over our health and wellness back where it belongs – into our own hands (and mouths).

With all good wishes,
Georgianna

Copyright 2010 – G. Donadio

Eating Less = Living Longer Part III

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In our previous blogs we have been introduced to the concept that eating less can become a means to reduce metabolic and biochemical reactions thus reducing or preventing free radicals, cell damage, aging and disease.

What we also learned was that free radical culprits are “neutralized” by anti-oxidants. Antioxidants prevent oxidation which in turn creates free radicals, as we saw in the prior blog, result from weak biochemical bonds losing an electron and then go in search of that missing electron and steal it from another compound. Who said biochemistry was dull?

How do we use our food choices to work against this ongoing metabolic drama in our bodies? Your mother and grandmother will enjoy this part – vegetables, vegetables, vegetables – and some fruit for a punch of vitamin C. Vegetables and fruits contain very high amounts of anti-oxidants which is why we are constantly reminded that the more we eat these living foods – the better.

If we combine eliminating non-living or processed foods from our diet we are then not only  restricting foods that cause our bodies to work harder and experience wear and tear, but we are also greatly reducing or eliminating the amount of potential free radicals our body will have to deal with to stay healthy, slow aging and prevent chronic disease.

Most of us do not want to radically change our diets and dramatically restrict our caloric intake, so how can we use this information to our advantage without feeling deprived or hungry on an ongoing basis?

One of the easiest and best strategies is to s-l-o-w-l-y begin to eliminate the foods that are known to have the least nutrients in them and are more likely to produce anti-oxidants. These would be any processed foods, especially processed grains which have had their nutrient value reduced or eliminated. Sugars, grains, bakery items, soda, candies and most other foods that have been “through the mill” so to speak are the target foods you want to start to eliminate.

If you begin to do this slowly and gradually, over time you will not only save your body the burden of processing these materials, but you are very likely to lose a considerable amount of weight. One of my patients simply eliminated his morning caramel macchiato and muffin and over a few months lost 15 pounds without really trying.  He chose to do this because his cholesterol was elevated and now his cholesterol and his weight is much lower!

Next Installment: Long Term Benefits

With all good wishes,
Georgianna

Copyright 2010 G. Donadio

Eating Less = Living Longer Part II

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It is never easy to change our eating patterns, as they are intimately connected to our lifestyle, values, comforts, emotions, familial patterns and so forth. However, in light of the obvious benefit from reducing the amount of food we take into our bodies, we might want to consider taking even small baby steps that can help us achieve greater longevity.

The science behind WHY calorie-restriction dieting works to enhance longevity (all dieting is actually calorie-restricting – just given a formal name like “the South Beach Diet”), is fairly pragmatic and obvious. The less food we put into our bodies, the less digestive wear and tear, the less detoxification functions our liver has to perform, the less enzymes we need to produce and the less “free radicals” are bodies are subjected to.

A Short Primer on Free Radicals

Free radicals are “renegade” or unpaired electrons which are formed when weak bonds are separated during biochemical body processes. These unpaired electrons are unstable and try to capture or steal the missing electron from other materials which surround them. When the innocent molecule has its electron stolen by the free radical, it turns into a free radical itself which then begins a chain reaction. This can easily result in the destruction of living cells.

Free radicals do occur normally during the metabolic process. Importantly though, many environmental factors such as pollution, radiation, cigarette smoke and herbicides also produce and create free radicals. Under normal circumstances our bodies handle free radicals through our immune function, but if we are deficient in antioxidants or there is too much free-radical production damage occurs and HERE IS THE KICKER – free radical damage accumulates with age.

Next Installment: How to Slow Down Aging and Increase Longevity

With all good wishes,
Georgianna

Copyright 2010 – G. Donadio

Eating Less = Living Longer

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Just this past year, at the University of Wisconsin, researchers identified that rhesus monkeys, when placed on a calorie-restricted diet,  were half as likely to get the three top diseases in American today – cancer, diabetes and heart disease. For many years scientists have been aware that reducing caloric intake dramatically slowed aging. Many studies that were done on non-vertebrate animals showed the impact of reducing the daily amount of caloric intake on anti-aging as well as preventing degenerative and chronic diseases.

Eric Ravussin, PhD, Director of the Nutrition Obesity Research Center at Louisiana State University, states “There is not question that calorie reduction dieting increases the life span of any species.” However, reduced calorie research with human beings is in its infancy and further  gathering is necessary to establish proof that this applied to humans as well as animals.

Lisa Walford, the daughter of Roy Waford, M.D., who was one of the first physicians to write about the diets health benefits, is the co-author of  “The Longevity Diet” and has been following a calories restricted diet for over 20 years. Lisa believes that her vitality and good health is the direct result of her practice of yoga and the restricted calorie diet. She states that her deep sleep and daily energy levels are proof that the diet her father endorsed works.

The principal of the calorie restricted diet is to minimize the amount of calories you consume and maximize the amount of nutrients you take in every day. You have to first determine what you natural set point is – this is basically what your body would weight naturally. From there you then reduce the amount of calories you take in every day, while maintaining your energy level. In order to increase the benefits of the calorie-restricted diet, you must consume fewer calories than what your body would require to maintain your normal weight.

Next Installment: The steps required to achieve success on a calorie-restricted life-style

Dealing With Acne

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Any teenager will tell you one of the worse things that can happen in high school is to develop a face full of acne. Clear, unblemished skin is reported by cultural anthropologists as the universal number one, most important aspect of a person’s appearance with regard to attracting others.

Is it any wonder tens of millions of dollars are spent every year on blemish creams and cover-ups? Skin appearance is important to overall sex appeal. Our skin tells a story about our internal health and about our hormone function, both of which are tied into our sex appeal.

In my integrative nutrition practice, one of the conditions I enjoy working with is assisting adolescents in clearing up their skin problems. When you can understand where acne and pimples come from, you can choose to do the things that can change the outbreak.

Androgens are reproductive hormones that are secreted into the blood stream by the reproductive organs and our adrenal glands. You might remember these from our discussion on stress adaptation.

Androgens are also potent chemicals our liver must deal with by reducing their potency. The liver is the detoxifier of the blood and in the case of androgens, the liver produces blood plasma proteins which bind up and inactivate the majority of androgens, so that only a small percent of androgens are free to enter our cells.

In adolescence, the body needs time to adjust to and regulate hormone secretions and a young body can become physically and emotionally overwhelmed by the effect of androgens on the cells and on the brain.

Once androgens get inside the cell, a specific enzyme converts the androgens into a more highly active form. The active androgens then enter into the nucleus of the cell, where it interacts with genetic material. This can lead to highly stimulated oil glands, which creates acne.

The manifestation of acne depends on:

a) the amount of androgens available to enter the cells

b) how well the liver is controlling the active androgens

c) the nutrition of the person and its effect on liver metabolism

d) the amount of waste and/or toxins being re-absorbed into the liver from the bowel fluids and – THIS IS THE KEY –

e) the amount of exercise the adolescent is doing that will utilize the androgens to build and create muscle tissue (rather than acne), thus reducing the amount of androgen that might be absorbed into the cells.

The fastest and easiest way to clear up adolescent acne, especially in males as they lay down muscle very quickly, is have the person exercise vigorously. In just a short period of time, the androgens are utilized to build lovely muscle and the skins clears up so well, the parents (and the adolescent) think it’s a miracle!

Of course healthy eating, which includes vegetables and fruits to keep the bowel clean, drinking plenty of water, skin hygiene and proper amounts of sleep all help the liver, bowel and adrenals to function properly, thus supporting the proper functioning of the androgens and the resultant healthy, attractive skin.

The expression “it’s more than skin deep” truly applies to acne and blemishes. If you have, are or know an adolescent (or someone who is even a bit older) experiencing acne issues, pass this information on to them. If they use it, they’ll see a difference and they will thank you!

With all good wishes,
G

Dealing With Flu Seaon

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With Labor Day behind us, it’s time once again to consider the upcoming winter and the cold and flu season.

Every year we are inundated with reports of possible flu pandemics and cautioned to get our flu shots early. For those of us who are staunch devotees of the annual flu shot, the sooner the better.

For those of us concerned about putting provocative proteins, such as flu shots, into our body there are alternatives that can be utilized to prevent from getting the flu.

The number one determining factor as to whether or not you get a cold or flu is how resilient your immune system is. The healthier and more resilient your immune system, the least likely you are to get sick, get a cold or the flu.

What is the best way to keep your immune system health and resilient throughout the flu season?

> Hygiene – sounds too simple to be important ,but hand washing is the number one prevention tool in avoiding colds and flus

> Proper rest – getting enough sleep is essential to your nervous and immune system functioning at optimal levels. Being sure not to “run yourself down”, as grandma might have told, is REALLY good advice.

> Proper nutrition – vitamin C, B, A, D, E, enough protein, essential fatty acids and calcium rich foods are all important in keeping your body functioning well and having the resilience to fight off colds and the flu

> Keeping stress under control – stress suppresses your immune function. By keeping stress at bay you will allow your body its best advantage to stay healthy.

> Relax and have fun – laughter and pleasure have been shown in clinical trials to enhance Immunoglobulins which increase immune function activity and keep us healthy. By creating time and opportunity for regular fun and pleasure you will help your body to help you stay well.

> Protection from the elements – many people don’t realize that the weather and temperature have a significant impact on their stress adaptation and immune system. Being properly dressed against all forms of weather helps to prevent colds and flu.

These very simple yet essential tips for staying well can help, whether you choose to have a flu shot or not, to give your body the best advantage against flu season.

With all good wishes,
G

The Courage to Love

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We all know that love – unconditional acceptance by another person – is what we want, need and desire.  Love is vital to our health and well being and is one of psychologist Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs.  And yet, loving another is a complicated thing, which requires both courage and resilience to transverse the landscape of such profound emotion.

It is evidenced that many individuals after more than a year of unresolved grief, develop cancer or fatal heart disease. The loss of love can be so profound that indeed, it can, break our hearts and our will to live. The renowned psychiatrist Sigmund Freud stated that we “are never so hopelessly unhappy as when we lose love.”

In a poignant essay,  published in The Sun, Poe Ballantine provides insight to the necessity of trust within love. Trust is the element of love which provides the safe place necessary to share our lives and hearts with others. Trusting, and dealing with the loss of trust within love, requires great courage to be able to move beyond the loss and love again. It is interesting that we are inundated from many sources these days with information about wellness and how to prevent illness, when what many of us need is information about how to prevent heartbreak.

Ballantine’s essay tells a story about his father:

“He kept a close ritual of coffee, then work, dinner, his television shows and his cigarettes. The newspaper stayed on the table open to the personals. He had opened them the first day she had left him, like the reflex of a man covering a wound after being shot. His face was gray from survival. He was a man who could not allow himself to break. The despair stretched out. The music from the stereo could not fill the emptiness. Our conversations were automatic, clock talk. His single guiding hope was that she would return.”

“What had happened to my father he never believes would happen. He was fifty years old, settled, comfortable, secure. His children were raised. He had worked hard all his life and now he could relax. I understood why my mother had left him, but I still condemed her for leaving – for taking the easy way out. My father and I played cards and watched private-eye dramas on television. He looked in the personals, called once at something that looked right, but cancelled soon after; it just wasn’t in him.”

“One Sunday afternoon I heard him crying in the bedroom. I didn’t know what to do with a father who cried. He taught me all I knew, the important things: honesty, loyalty, firm handshake, the love beyond self-love, the duty of a man. Trust was his only religion and it was failing him and in turn it was the failure of the world.”

“The one thing a human being asks for on this earth is to be loved. Why should it be impossible?”

Trusting, loving and the resilience to come back from the loss of love may be the next “health frontier”.  Nutrition, one of the more popular health topics, is not just about nourishing our tissues. Nourishing our hearts, which are hungry for love and acceptance, is another skill we need to learn. If we should be mindful of what we eat, how mindful should we become about how and who we love?

With all good wishes,
Georgianna

Copyright 2010 G. Donadio

Your Endocrine System

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One of my all-time favorite subjects to teach is the endocrine system. It is the most fascinating and clear example we have of how “everything is everything” in the body. For those of you unfamiliar with the underlying theme of Whole Health Education, the idea that everything in the body is intimately connected to everything else is what our method and model of education and teaching is founded on.

The endocrines are such a perfect example of this interconnectedness of body, mind and spirit that it is pure joy to share the information with understandably eager students!

We begin with the Reproductive Glands and will discuss SEVEN aspects of the Reproductive Glands based on these concepts:

(1) the specific organ name and function
(2) the seven (7) virtues
(3) organs and systems
(4) Selye’s stress model
(5) its Whole Health aspect
(6) Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
(7) the seven (7) “deadly sins”

Referred to as the “root chakra” in yoga and energy circles, these powerful glands are in the most primal sense, the SURVIVAL component of Maslow’s Hierarchy and in fact, are essential to the survival of the species – which is their primary purpose. They are, of course, part of the organs and system of reproduction which includes various accessory parts that are necessary to support the reproductive function.

That the Reproductive Glands belong to the PHYSICAL aspect of Whole Health is very straight forward and evident. When we look at them in terms of Selye’s Stress Model we can see that they are connected to the “survival stressers” of

> reproduction (yes, sadly sex is another stressor for our bodies)
> trauma
> exertion (too much exercise or over work)
> weather (excessive heat, sun, cold)
> surgery (very stressful to the entire body and nervous system but sometimes necessary to save our life)

These stressors havea strong effect on the reproductivesystem. Stress decreases the driveand impulse to reproduce as the body wisely knows to conserve its energy until there is a well balanced system ready for reproduction.

So far we have gone over FIVE (5) of the SEVEN (7) aspects. The last two are fun because they really clarify the emotional and behavioral aspects of these important and influential glands.

The VIRTUE of the reproductive glands is spirituality – seeing the profound divine and unfathomable nature of reproducing and bringing forth, from the co-joining of two human beings, new human life. (If you’ve had children you know that they really do smell like they just came from “heaven” – what we imagine heaven to be anyway)

The DEADLY SIN of the reproductive glands is – we all know this one – its all around us. Yes, indeed, good ‘ol LUST, which of course is about self gratification and not the co-joining of a partnership resulting in a new life.

Understanding this information is important when we look at a person’s physical presentation or dis-ease from a Whole Person perspective. What are the cause and effect factors at play that are creating their disease? What is out of balance in the person’s seven aspects that is creating problems in this particular part of the body?

When we get to the “Disease as Metaphor” blog, this will take on even greater significance. In the meantime, we will go over ALL the endocrine glands, one at a time, so this will be a seven part series. Hope you’re enjoying this because I’m having a great time with my favorite subject!

With all good wishes,
G

Copyright 2010 G. Donadio