Archived News of the Week

Newsletter, Early Spring Issue, March 15, 2015

Top 10 Slimming Foods: How do we know spring is near? Well, Daylight Savings has finally arrived so it's lighter later. Now we can take those health promoting after dinner walks. Movement is life and I am particularly stimulated to move my body after reading the following quote: "Keep moving. Death is very still." We're also noticing that the CU kids are wearing shorts more often, there might be a bit of spring green peeking through the snow and, finally, we notice that our bodies are slowly trusting that they have been released from the deep freeze hell of the snowiest February on record. Not sayin' that we won't have more big snows, but I predict that the under 10 degree days are now a thing of Winter 2015 past and it's time to start thinking shorts, tank tops and  gulp!  bathing suits.

Here are some foods that might actually help you lose your winter weight: 1) Sweet potatoes stabilize blood sugar and lower insulin levels which help fight fat. 2) Oranges are rich in flavones which can help you lose weight 3) Cinnamon can boost your metabolism i.e. - fight the fat. 4) Hot Peppers: the capsaicin is thought to curb appetite. Personally, I feel that hot spicy food "burns" not only excess fat away, but the bad bugs that are lurking in your gut.

5) Beef: It's great for your muscles. Digesting protein burns a greater amount of calories  your body burns about 10 calories digesting every 100 calories of protein, but just 4 calories for the equivalent amount of carbs. Those of you on a healthy Paleo diet can now applaud yourselves. Be sure you eat only grass-fed or better yet, buy your beef from a known rancher. 6) Apples contain fiber and helps speed up your digestion. 7) Quinoa contains both fiber and protein which will keep you satisfied longer than, say, brown rice. 8) Avocado is a great fat. It will keep you feeling fuller longer and also protect you from cancer. 9) Olive Oil and Olives: Both are healthy fats and reduce inflammation which is good for weight loss because chronic inflammation is linked to weight gain and metabolic syndrome. 10) Mustard and Curry both slow the growth of fat tissues. (Sorem Khalsa M.D., Health Realizations Newsletter, 2/15/15)

Tinnitus: This one really surprised me and I am not sure I believe it, but tinnitus is supposedly not exacerbated by chocolate and coffee. I have had mild tinnitus for a few years now, and have noticed that it ratchets up to a high decibel shushing noise with a screech in the background if I eat chocolate or drink coffee. It is so annoying and noticeable that I don't eat much chocolate and save coffee for special occasions. So, you can see how surprised I was to read a report from The University of Nottingham in the UK. They looked into associations between diet and tinnitus. (500,000 people received questionnaires and they received back 172,000 confirmed cases of tinnitus).

What they found surprises me: They found the usual stuff that I agree with like tinnitus being associated with smoking, hearing loss, loud nose exposure and certain medical conditions like diabetes and CVD, but no correlation between chocolate and coffee. In fact, the odds of people having tinnitus were lower in those who drank coffee and ate chocolate daily. Additionally, the people who ate more fish had less incidence of tinnitus. Eggs increased the person's odds of persistent tinnitus by 13%, and finally, people who avoided dairy products had more tinnitus, a 27% increase. So that Vanilla Skinny Latte should be a source of celebration for you, rather than a guilty pleasure. (I'm still not doing chocolate.)

My Delightful Schadenfreude Moment or another Nail in the Statin Coffin: Please forgive me for my teeny tiny dried out walnut heart... but I was spitefully thrilled to read an article published in the Feb. 6, 2015 Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology showing that statins actually stimulate atherosclerosis and heart failure. What? Could statins actually cause heart disease? Are millions and millions of statin users now more at risk for the heart disease they were told could be prevented with a drug? Am I finally being vindicated for hating statin drugs and for trusting the tons of research out there that says that higher cholesterol levels have nothing to do with heart disease? (Inflammation is a big culprit.)

(Personal disclosure: My cholesterol has always been high. My Mom's was, too. Last time I checked my cholesterol levels, probably 10 years ago, it was 310. This number makes my Kaiser docs wet their pants. They throw statin samples at me and they are speechless and sputter when I throw them right back. I finally got tired of them yelling at me and in a what-the-hell moment and against my better judgment, I decided to try Lipitor. This was maybe 8 years ago. Within three days of my first pill, I had pretty severe short term memory loss which is one of the less common side-effects. It was very scary for me since my brain is my favorite organ now. I stopped the Lipitor and any future cholesterol lab work then and there and have never looked back.)

The new study validates the theory that statins may be causative in coronary artery calcification and can be toxic to the mitochondria, impairing muscle function in the heart and blood vessels. (DFH Newsletter, 2/21/15) Did you really read that? I will repeat: Statins actually cause atherosclerosis and can kill our little body engines, the mitochondria. Seriously, folks, the epidemic of heart failure and atherosclerosis, therefore, may paradoxically be aggravated by the prevalent use of statin medication. The researchers proposed that the current statin treatment guidelines be seriously reevaluated. There are many natural things to try for elevated cholesterol if you are worried, like plant sterols, red rice yeast, niacin, more fiber, fish oil, annatto tocotrienols and a new kid on the block, berberine.

Bone Broth: I am really into making bone broth now and when I have some in the fridge I drink at least ½ cup a day. It has so many valuable properties, how could I not? Plus it tastes yummy and feels very healthy. Here is what the regular consumption of bone broth can do for you: Heal a leaky gut, overcome food intolerances and allergies, improve joint health, reduce cellulite and boost the immune system.

So first, go dig out your crockpot from the shed. Secondly fill it with lots of cow parts like bones (both plain and with some meat on them) with the marrow and skin, tendons and ligaments if you can find them plus water, vinegar and other veggies. You can also use chicken parts (The feet are wonderful and Whole foods has them.) If you like, crock the beef and chicken bones together. (Start saving all the bones and scraps from the meat you eat.) Then after you have maybe 4 lbs of bones, crock the heck out of all this - at least 36 hours on low. This endless simmering not only makes your house smell fabulous but it will cause the bones to release healing compounds like collagen, proline, glycine and glutamine plus minerals like calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulfur plus chondroitin sulfates and glucosamine. If you are interested, ask me for a recipe next time you are in.

5 Tips to De-Stress after a hard day: After volunteering in your child's first grade class? After your tax audit? After your MRI? Try these: 1) Breathing for two solid minutes at a count of 4-inhale, 7- hold and 8-exhale. 2) Shaking, my personal favorite: Shake all over, shake your hands, shoulders and legs as "though you were shaking off a swarm of bees." You will look like a fool, or like Elaine on Seinfeld doing that wonderful peculiar dance of hers, but I can attest, you will feel really good after shaking off all that negative energy. 3) Visualize yourself at your favorite place to relax - beach, forest, dark cave, your calm bedroom  for at least 5 minutes. Get into the peace of it all. 4) Turmeric, Blueberries and Coconut Oil on a daily basis will help you with cellular stress. 5) Say a Mantra: Anytime and anywhere. Like, the stress in my life is the product of my thoughts or how is this situation teaching me? Make one up that suits just you and the situation. (Lisa Wimberger, Neurosculpting Institute Newsletter 2/17/15)

Keeping our Thinker's Healthy: There is no need for us to lose our marbles as we age, according to the theory of neuroplasticity. This means that the more we use our brains, the more our connections  neurons, glial cells, axons  gain strength and execute repair when needed. Our "circuits" are constantly changing in response to what we actually do out in the world. Luckily the brain is not hard-wired for obsolescence like all other machines, but is very responsive to healthy input. We have circuits that very rapidly form and un-form and reform and it has been known since the 70's that new neurons can substitute tasks for old damaged neurons if need be. This is plasticity or "the capacity for continuous alteration of the neural pathways and synapses of the living brain and nervous system in response to experience or injury." Merriam-Webster

Researchers over the years have discovered that Alzheimer's is actually an old brain that has lost its overall plasticity as it shrinks and loses connections. My father had a familial kind of ataxia (I don't) and when he died, they autopsied his brain and found a lot of cerebellar shrinkage consistent with his lack of balance, his failure to perform certain neurological tests like touching his finger to his nose, his slurred speech, and as I look back, perhaps the beginnings of dementia. He died of a massive stroke at age 74.

Researchers from Cardiff University in the UK did a detailed study on the effect of lifestyle and exercise on keeping the aging brain healthy and reducing the risk of getting dementia. They followed 2,235 men from Caerphilly, Wales for 30 years. Their initial ages were between 45 and 59. They found that men who consistently did just a few things reduced their risk for cognitive decline and dementia by a very impressive 60%. As the Wall Street Journal wrote, "Imagine if there were a drug that could reduce the risk of dementia by 60%." The men did what you might expect: They ate 3 to 4 servings of fruits and vegetables a day, they maintained a normal weight with a BM of 18-25, limited alcohol to about a glass of wine per day and they didn't smoke.

But the most profound impact was from exercise. The men walked a minimum of 2 miles a day, or biked 10 miles a day or engaged in some sort of regular, vigorous physical exercise. Another recent study from the Univ. of Pittsburg showed that those without dementia who did regular aerobic exercise for a year showed significant hippocampal enlargement. This is positive because the hippocampus is where memories happen and one of the first areas of the brain to degenerate in the dementias.

The Sounds of Silence: I feel very fortunate to live in the foothills outside of Boulder where the skies are like black velvet at night, interrupted only by the scintillating points of starlight or the brilliance of a full moon. We don't have streetlamps up here nor are we held hostage by the neighbor's Christmas display or their garage light or a teenager playing loud rap. The neighbors up here are not up close and personal with their noise and barbecue smells, their barking dogs and car exhaust. They are scarce but friendly and it is comforting to know that they are available in case of emergency.

The birds, feeding from the 7 feeders hanging outside of my dining room window, are fluttering about feverishly feeding before a storm and taking sips of water from their very own heated birdbath. The Mama Moose and her adolescent Moosette are roaming my 4 acres ending up in the driveway where they lick the side of my car for the salt. How many of you have moose tongue marks on the side of your car?

The huge male bobcat sits on a bedroom roof and watches me in the laundry room put clothes in the dryer. The herd of perhaps 100 elk slowly tramps through my property on their way to Gross Reservoir, visible to me from my living room window. I stand quietly and watch them with binoculars. And every once in a great while, I can see a cinnamon colored bear snooping around my front steps. But the best part of living at 8,300 feet on my own acreage is the silence which is so profound that I can practically hear the snow falling.

The only noise I have up here is that which I make, from the TV, dishwasher, washing machine and dryer and the phone ringing. I have only myself to blame for the noise of my environment and of my mind. It's important to quiet both.

Hospitals can reach a noise level of 113 decibels. For comparison, a motorcycle is 95 decibels. Loud noises can increase the risk of a heart attack (European Heart Journal): Men had a 50% higher risk when exposed to prolonged noise. Women had a 3X higher risk to prolonged noise. Internal noise in the form of looping thoughts, negative thoughts, anxiety, worry, anger or fear are not only very draining, but contribute to fatigue, back pain, stomach trouble, headaches, heart disease, cancer and depression.

If you can't move to the mountains on your own acreage, you can start quieting your home by adjusting the volume on the TV. You could consider using noise-reducing headphones, install heavy curtains and carpeting to drown outside noise, buy quieter appliances and my favorite: Earplugs. I have specially made, pretty expensive earplugs for travel sleeping and I have Hearos brand OTC earplugs for everyday noise, especially to plug my ears for the ungodly volume of the coming attractions at the movie theater.

As for your mind, meditation is the key. Start now to sit quietly for at least 20 minutes a day. Don't expect yourself to be able to not think, to not go off on tangents of negative thoughts and worry or, my favorite distraction - I can go off for minutes on what I am going to have for dinner. But just stick with it and pretty soon, you will notice that you will have more and more periods of. . . silence. . . where nothing is happening.

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