Tag: health

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All the Vitamin Bs (there are lots of them)

Vitamin B is another one of the important vitamins to add to your daily list of supplements.

Vitamin B was once thought to be one vitamin, and is now known to be many different vitamins or substances which are all a little different in their composition and function.  You may have heard of them under their different names such as Thiamine (B1), Riboflavin (B2), Niacin (B3), Pantothenic Acid (B5), Pyridoxine (B6), Biotin (B7), Folic Acid (B9), Cobalamin (B12).  There are several other important B vitamins as well, but these are the ones that most people have heard of.

Two important things to understand about the B vitamins are:

1.  Processed foods end up having the B vitamin content reduced – sometimes to a very great extent – this is why white flour, cereals and other processed foods are “fortified” with the B vitamins – putting back nutrition that was there in the unprocessed form.

2.  Some of the B vitamins do not have good plant sources – this means that if you have a largely vegetarian or vegan diet, you will need supplementation of some of the B vitamins.

You can take the individual B vitamins, but I recommend that you  find a good Vitamin B Complex and use that to cover the spectrum of different B vitamins.  There are many good formulas available that contain a balanced mixture of the various B vitamins so that you cover all of your nutritional needs.

Everyone needs the B vitamins as a part of a healthy diet and lifestyle, and you will probably best cover all basis with a good B complex formula – whether you are a vegetarian, vegan, or whatever approach you take to your diet.

Questions or comments about this post?  I’d love to hear from you – please leave a comment below.

 

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Vitamin C – for much more than just fighting colds

Vitamin C is another one of the essential vitamins you should consider adding to the list of vitamin supplements.

I believe that vitamin C is so important to our overall health that if I only took two vitamin supplements, vitamin C would be one of them – the other one would be vitamin D which was covered in a previous post.  I suspect that many people will read this post looking for and answer to the questions:  “will vitamin C help prevent a cold?”  and   “will vitamin C help get rid of a cold?”

The role of vitamin C in terms of a healthy body extends far beyond just fighting colds and influenza.   Vitamin C has an impact on several important aspects of your body.

It plays an important role in the formation and integrity of your collagen and tissues.  It is a powerful antioxidant and plays a role in minimizing damage from free radicals and toxins as well as bacteria and virii.

I think that vitamin C plays such an important role in these areas and others, that many conditions can be prevented or helped by having an optimum intake of vitamin C.  Remember that you want to optimize your nutrient intake.   Many people feel all they need to do is get the RDA (recommended daily allowance) of a vitamin or mineral to be healthy.  The RDA is simply the amount that is recommended – usually the amount required to avoid the worst symptoms of deficiency diseases.  In the case of vitamin C,  the RDA recommended amount is the level required in order to prevent the worst symptoms of scurvy.

You can get vitamin C from many fruits and vegetables.  Citrus fruits (oranges, grapefruits, lemons) are well know for their vitamin C content, but contain far less than what I feel is an optimum amount without eating mounds of fruit and veggies.

How much?  You should work with a nutritionist and your family doctor when ramping up your vitamin C intake – I recommend that people target 1-2 grams of vitamin C daily to help optimize their health.  This amount can fluctuate somewhat during times of stress or when feeling a cold or flu coming on.  Linus Pauling, the scientist know for promoting vitamin C as the cure for the common cold took several grams daily, finally settling on a daily intake of somewhere near 18 grams (18000 milligrams).   You’ll know if you take too much or if you increase your intake too quickly, as too much vitamin C can cause loose stools or mild diarrhea.

 

Want to know more?  Leave a question or comment below – I’d love to hear from you!

 

 

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Get some sunshine vitamin – even if you take it in a pill!

If you are wondering which vitamins to start with as you to add vitamin supplements to your healthy lifestyle – this post is for you.  I will highlight some of the important reasons you should take vitamin D supplements.  If you are still wondering whether or not you should be taking vitamin supplements, make sure you read the previous post about whether vitamins are worth it or just a waste.

Most people have heard of vitamin D – or the sunshine vitamin as it is sometimes called.  Although vitamin D is technically not really a vitamin, (it is actually a steroid hormone precursor that affects many of the systems in your body) it is still referred to as a vitamin for historical reasons.  Because of the wide ranging effects of vitamin D,  it should be high on the list of vitamins that you want to optimize in your diet and lifestyle.  You can do this through supplements (vitamin D3 pills or capsules) and sunlight exposure.  The best way to know what your blood or serum levels of vitamin D are is through a blood test you can request from your doctor (e.g. as part of a routine physical), or even with a blood test you can do at home.

Once you know what your blood levels of vitamin D are, you can make your plan for optimizing your vitamin D levels.  If you take vitamin D supplements, make sure it is vitamin D3 – the form your body can best utilize.  Since vitamin D is one of the vitamins that your body can synthesize itself given direct sunlight exposure, you can also target some daily direct sun exposure – just be careful to not burn.  One of the most interesting things about vitamin D is that your body can synthesize it in your skin from the sun.  As a part of this marvelous design your body will self regulate and will not produce too much vitamin D.

There are some very import short term and long-term benefits to optimizing your vitamin D levels that should catch everyone’s attention.  In terms of a short term benefit, many studies released over the last several years have consistently indicated that optimum vitamin D levels can help protect against respiratory infections, and can help lessen not only the chances of getting the cold or flu, but also shorten the length and severity of the cold and flu. Even though one study released in October 2012 contradicted this, it is important to note that study co-author Carlos A. Camargo Jr., MD pointed out that “It’s very important, however, to keep in mind that this group had relatively normal levels to start with, and so this might not apply to people with lower levels, with actually a vitamin D deficiency.”

From a long-term standpoint, vitamin D deficiency has been linked to much more than just rickets.
A quick review of the sources listed below will show that vitamin D deficiency has been linked to the following diseases or conditions:  Asthma, Autoimmune diseases, Bone health, Cancer, Cold, Flu, Kidney disease, Liver disease, Obesity, Oral health, Skin disorders, Thyroid disease.  This list is not all-inclusive, but I feel it does represent the importance of optimizing your vitamin D intake.

If you want to find out more about vitamin D, check out some of the following sites for more information on the benefits of vitamin D, the diseases it can help prevent and treat, and more information in general.

http://www.grc.com/health/vitamin-d.htm
http://www.mercola.com/article/vitamin-d-resources.htm
http://www.sunshinevitamin.org
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org

Use the contact form below for any questions or comments you might have.  I’d love to hear from you.

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If vitamins are good, can’t I just take one pill to fix everything?

It depends on what you’re trying to fix!

If you’re trying to cover all your vitamin needs in one pill or reach optimum levels of vitamins and minerals with one vitamin – the answer is probably not.

It’s tempting to think that if you could just find the right vitamin, the right brand, or the right formula that you could cover your entire vitamin needs with one pill.  This would be both convenient, easier to remember and a quick – an easy nutritional grand-slam all at once.  As the old adage goes – if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is; and in this case I think that saying applies.

If you want to optimize your nutrition and your vitamin and nutrient levels, without just taking a random shot at it – you will want to take a look at what your typical diet is (I recommend a food log or journal as a good starting place) and see what your diet does a good job of providing, and what nutrients might be lacking.

It would also be a good idea to talk with your family doctor about your plans and see what he would suggest.  I would start by changing doctors if he told me not to be concerned about vitamins and minerals; hopefully he’ll suggest a blood test to look at levels of minerals, vitamin d , b6, b12 and other indicators of your overall health and nutritional level.

In addition to reviewing your diet and looking at finding out where specific indicators are in your blood, you also need to some labels.  If you want to try to do an all-in-one approach, you’ll have to check the labels carefully.  Most likely, you will find that a “one pill to fix it all” approach will still require more than one pill daily.   You may also need to add some additional supplements to reach optimum levels of specific vitamins such as C, D, some of the B vitamins, and certain minerals.

Make sure you read the upcoming posts that will highlight some of a few of the nutrients and give guidelines for healthy supplementation and some of the key vitamins and minerals you should specifically make sure are optimum – and why it’s important to your health.

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A road trip is not a vacation from health

At least it shouldn’t be.

I have been traveling recently, and I’m always fascinated to watch the breakfast habits of fellow travelers.  Other meals are interesting too – but I find breakfast even more interesting since it’s easy identify the travelers; especially so if you are eating in the hotel in the morning before hitting the road or heading out to meetings.

Most people who read this blog have an understanding of the importance of healthy meals – including breakfast.

A breakfast of waffles or muffins or pastries with a big glass of orange juice doesn’t cut it – not if your goal is eat a healthy or at least balanced meal.   Waffles, muffins, pastry, toast (even if you didn’t put the jam or jelly on it) is basically sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar  – and if you had that big glass of orange juice – then you washed it down with sugar.

A healthy lifestyle doesn’t consist of a diet with breakfasts like this, and breakfast when traveling shouldn’t be like this either.

If you want to be healthy, you need to move toward a healthy lifestyle, and that is built on good meals, healthy nutrition, and staying active.  Just like a short term fix like a diet doesn’t fix an unhealthy lifestyle, treating yourself to a breakfast sugary breakfast doesn’t set the stage for a healthy lifestyle.  Aside from negative effects you’ll have on that day, many people find that treating themselves to a “special breakfast” like this to be a slippery slope to returning to unhealthy eating habits.

Try to look for good sources of protein such as eggs or meats, some cheese, a little fresh fruit and perhaps some yogurt or a little salad (if it’s available at breakfast time).  Dont’ forget coffee – it has it’s own health benefits, and it’s delicious. 
I try to avoid pastries, cereals (these are usually loaded with sugar) and other processed items like “breakfast bars”.  Most foods that claim to be a healthy meals that come in a bar, bag or pouch may be meal replacements, but I’d doubt they’ll help you reach a goal of a healthier lifestyle.

If we begin to think of a healthy lifestyle as the sum of consistently making good choices for your health, choices about what to have for a specific meal get easier; they become part of a pattern or plan for a healthy lifestyle rather than just what you happened to eat for that meal.

 

Questions or comments about this post?   Use the form below to contact me – I’d love to hear from you.

 

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What about supplements –worth it or a waste?

Two of the most frequent questions I get concern vitamins are:

Should I take them, and if so, what should I be taking?

To answer the first question – despite the fact that you can’t make up for bad nutrition with good supplements – most people could probably benefit from vitamin supplements.

When people hear this suggestion – they typical response is – why?

 1.    It’s difficult to always make sure that your diet includes the proper amounts of some of the most important vitamins.  Which ones?  Keep reading – we’ll get to that.  Some nutrients are difficult to get and the correct supplements can help make up for shortcomings in the foods you eat.

Also, it’s important to keep in mind that the RDA which is often looked at for “how much should I take” is really a recommended amount necessary to avoid the vitamin deficiency diseases – it is not necessarily the optimum amount for excellent health.

2.    As a result of decades of intensive farming, and utilizing methods to shorten the amount of time to harvest, it’s questionable that food have the same nutritional value they once had.  The University of Texas released a study in 2004 concerning this.  That study of 43 garden crops led by a University of Texas Dr. Donald Davis suggests that their nutrient value has declined in recent decades while farmers have been planting crops designed to improve other traits; “Considered as a group, we found that six out of 13 nutrients showed apparently reliable declines between 1950 and 1999,” he said.

The nutrients they identified as declining at least somewhat in measurable value were protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, riboflavin and ascorbic acid. The declines ranged from 6 percent for protein to 38 percent for riboflavin.

This study is reflective of the kind of nutritional changes in our food supply over the last 50 years.

So – should you supplement your diet with vitamins – my answer is yes.
Make sure you read the next post covering vitamin supplements for more specifics  and for general guidelines concerning what you should take and what to avoid.

Questions about vitamins or supplements?  Contact me using the form below – I’d love to hear from you.

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Unhealthy food grown in unhealthy soil

Previous posts have looked at the definition, manufacture, and a renewed saftey concern with GMO food.

Aside from the innate questions about the safety about GMO foods, there is another concern you may want to consider:

What about pesticide or herbicide residue in the foods you eat?

Think about one specific example  –  the use of glyphosate – the active ingredient found in the herbicide Roundup from Monsanto.

This product is typically used in conjunction with Roundup Ready seed, but is sometimes used with conventiona seed as well.
Some of the Roundup Ready GMO crops currently in use in the US market include alfalfa, canola, corn, cotton, soybeans, and sugarbeets. The herbicide is sometimes applied to the soil prior to planting, timing and frequency of application depends upon the specific crop.  Depending upon the crop, it can even be used as close as three days before harvest.

The heart of this concern of mine is that I do not want to be eating food that was raised in soil that has had glyphosate applied to it, food that has been raised having glyphosate applied to it, or eat food that was raised on crops that have had glyphosate applied – perhaps even days before it was consumed as forage.   There are too many concerns in my mind about the effects of long term exposure to herbicide and pesticide residue in my food, and the effect that this has on food that I eat (animals raised on herbicide and pesticide treated crops).

In addition, serious concerns have been raised about the changes to soil resulting from the use of glyphosate.  Both soil biology (natural bacteria) and mineral content is being affected due to the chelating effects of glyphosate – locking up key minerals like iron, calcium, manganese, and zinc while at the same time having a negative effect on the natural occuring beneficial bacteria.  As a result both harmful soil bacteria rise in population and the root structure of plants is impacted in a harmful manner.

Keep in mind that we’ve only looked at one herbicide, and haven’t even touched on the subject of pesticides in this post

Make sure you read the next post on the residual effects of herbicides like Roundup on the environment and the effect on sustainable agriculture and initiatives.   If you have any questions or comments, please use the form below – I would love to hear from you.

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Why should you be concerned about eating GMO sourced foods?

We’ve looked at what GMO foods are, and how they are made.

With an understanding in place of what GMO foods are and where they come from, its time to look at some concerns centered around the consumption of GMO foods or products that contain ingredients from GMO sources.  Why should you be concerned?

Based on the release of new studies, several concerns have been raised.   For example, a recent Reuters article referenced a French study done at the University of Caen that states that “Monsanto’s NK603 GM corn or exposed to its top-selling Roundup glyphosate weed killer were at higher risk of suffering tumors, multiple organ damage and premature death.”  One of the results of this particular study is a temporary ban by Russia on the import of NK603 corn.  If other countries are concerned about the safety of these engineered foods, isn’t it worth your time to stop and consider what all the fuss is about?  It’s your life and your body you are caring for.  Do your own research, there are other long term studies with the same findings that should at very least cause you to stop and consider if the potential risk is worth not stopping to question the safety of GMO foods,  or maybe giving them up altogether.

Remember – you only get one body; you have a right to know what you are putting in to it, and a responsibility to take care of it.

Food for thought – watch this video released by Nutiva encouraging labeling of foods containing ingredients from GMO sources. It is a quick look at GMO, GMO labeling worldwide, and an encouragement to Californians to vote for proposition 37 which would require the labeling of GMO foods. This has significance for the rest of the US as well, as it likely would result in the same labeling being used on many products throughout the rest of the country – allowing consumers to make an informed decision about the products they purchase.

 

Questions or comments?  I’d love to hear from you!  Leave a comment below:

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Are you still drinking diet soda?

This is a tricky subject for many people.  In an attempt to be healthier and lose weight, diet soda seems like a good or at least safe choice.  Many studies would suggest otherwise.  If your goal is to move toward a healthier lifestyle and a sustainable healthy diet, you may want to consider ditching diet soda altogether.

Consider that if you do an internet search on “health benefits of diet soda” that in addition to not finding studies extolling the health benefits of diet soda, you will find many references to the negative impact of drinking diet soda.   About the only benefit that can be pointed out is fewer calories when compared with sugar or HFCS sweetened soda.  In addition, your search will also point you to sites pointing out the negative impact that any soda (diet or not) will have on your health.  Your best bet is to take steps to move from soda to other beverages.  If I gave you a list of things to do to move to a healthier lifestyle, I would put ditching diet soda at the top of the list.

Here are two reasons to stop drinking diet soda now:

1.  Numerous studies associate diet soda consumption with a larger waist circumference.   There are many studies that are finding this link, and there are several possible explanations.  If you are drinking diet soda to lose weight and for a thinner waist, then this is reason enough to give it up.  Many studies point to a connection between diet soda consumption and metabolic syndrome, which will increase further this effect.

 

2.  There continue to be questions regarding the long-term safety of artificial sweeteners.  Using google.com to search for Aspartame along with terms like long term effects or safety will reveal more than a million results or half a million respectively; a quick review of these links turns up enough troubling information to make me want to skip aspartame altogether – not just in soda or beverages.

As an example, check out these two studies from the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health regarding the long term intake of aspartame on antioxidant defense status in liver and the long-term consumption of aspartame and brain antioxidant defense status.   These are just two of many studies that have been done, and these focus only on the antioxidant effects of these two important organs.  It’s your body, you only get one, and you owe it to yourself to do the research to understand the potential risks.

So to answer the question that I always get then:  “what can I drink then?” I provide the following short list of suggestions:
coffee, tea (green or black), water, herb teas or if you really want the fizzy feel of soda, consider plain seltzer water, seltzer water with a fruit essence flavor, or mineral water.  Each of these brings it’s own benefits without the risks and negative impact of diet soda.

 

Have questions or want to leave a comment about your experience with diet soda?  Use the field below – I’d love to hear from you!

 

 

 

 

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Have some coffee and boost your health!

Go ahead and enjoy some coffee today!

I’ve been meaning to post about coffee for some time now since it is something I enjoy and drink regularly.  While traveling in Kenya recently, I was able to enjoy many cups of excellent coffee.   So while it’s fresh on my mind, lets look at why you should go ahead and enjoy that cup of coffee and a few suggestions on how to help make it a bit healthier.

 

It may comes as a relief to some people that coffee can actually be a healthy drink.  Coffee is naturally full of antioxidants, and several studies have recently been released pointing out natural benefits and protection that comes from these antioxidants.  In addition, some studies point to some unique protective effects coffee seems to have on various parts or systems in our body.

 

According to recent studies, including those cited by a recent Life Extension Magazine article, these protective effects cover many diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, liver disease, and Alzheimer’s disease.  Other recent studies cited by many media outlets including ABC News also link consumption of 3 or more cups of coffee a day to increased protection from the most common type of skin cancer.  It is interesting to note that the key in this particular study seems to be the caffeine, as drinkers of decaf did not seem to get the same protective benefit.

 

Coming up – tips for making that next cup of coffee even healthier; things you can do to maximize the healthy benefits that coffee can bring to a healthy lifestyle.