Inflammation & Commitment

Sometimes chores we'd rather not bother with turn into something of a blessing. For me this happened the other day as I was correcting settings on my calendar. I forgot that for over a year, I logged my workouts and weight. The weight is what got my attention because I began looking at the period directly before I found out about all my food sensitivities and then as far as I continued to track it until I stopped during that summer.

Why is this important? Because I forgot exactly how long it took my body to rid itself of the inflammation. For the same reason that most people tend to compress the time it took something to happen in life, I somehow began to think that the weight just started to 'fall off' after eating a clean diet for about 6 weeks. I was totally wrong! Looking at the calendar, I lost 2 to 3 lbs per month...it was slow and incremental. Had I not been as committed to this new way of life, I too would have said 'the heck with it!' and gone back to eating gluten and other offenders more often than was good for me.

I receive several e-newsletters that push magic diets and drastic detoxes that promise to remove years of inflammation in a matter of days. And I've worked with clients who, after learning of food intolerances, commit for only a short period of time (like 4 or 6 weeks), barely notice any weight change and conclude that there is no point to maintaining an allergen-free diet.

Well, my face should be proof enough for you!

When the "after" photo was taken during a trip to Costa Rice, many of my friends living down there were totally dumbstruck at how different I looked. They hadn't seen me in almost a year. I realize NOW that no one at home who saw me every day commented about how I looked because the change was SO gradual.

If I had given up after 6 weeks, I would have only lost 1 or 2 lbs which I would have chalked up to some sort of margin of error on the part of the scale. Thus, I wouldn't be where I am now- almost 20 lbs of inflammation lighter, healthier and more energized. The lesson here is that in our fast-paced society, we shouldn't just do the bare minimum effort of caring for ourselves, whether that be eating or relaxing, while expecting a grand result.

Why marginalize what could end up being the greatest transformation of your life?

Digestive Health Series Gut MicrofloraA Breakdown in Immune Health

There are almost 10 times the amount of microflora (bacteria, yeast, etc.) living in our digestive systems as there are human cells. We are actually more microflora than we are human cells...crazy! So, what do you think might happen when our microflora becomes infiltrated by harmful bacteria and yeast? Let's just say that it's not good! We end up witnessing a breakdown in our immune system as infections roll in, one after the other. Here are five things that destroy the balance of gut flora that keeps you sick.

Antibiotics
There are people who pop antibiotics like breath mints whenever they feel the slightest illness coming on. Granted, doctors are prescribing them freely as well, which isn't helping matters. Sure, antibiotics serve an important function, but it's generally known that they are overprescribed even in cases where they won't work such as the flu. (Just for the record, antibiotics fight bacterial infections, not viral infections like the flu or a head cold, aka the rhino virus.) What's important to know is that antibiotics are indiscriminant killers of bacteria, both good and bad. So, when you take antibiotics, you are literally wiping out all of the microflora in the gut, thus allowing for the bad bacteria and yeast to rush back in. People who have taken antibiotics a great deal during their life are prime candidates for chronic yeast infections. (1, 3)

Sugar
Though most of us may be puzzled as to what sugar is best for consumption, I'm just going to flat out tell you that it's generally all bad. We are a nation addicted to sugar. Though many might say they love sweet items, it's really sugar that you love or else carrots, squash and brown rice would be on your list of favorite sweet foods. That said, sugar is food (or maybe crack) for the bad bacteria and yeast gods in your gut. It's what they thrive on. So the more sugar provided to the bad bacteria and yeast, the more they grow and upend your entire digestive system, thus reducing your immunity to colds and viruses. (3)

Alcohol
Yes, alcohol. Granted, it's fermented (and I will delve further on the benefits of fermented products and gut health next month), but most people don't drink it in small quantities. It is typically consumed as a way to relax, have fun, and chill out especially when one finds him/herself in an awkward work or family function or perhaps when out with some friends at the bar. Whatever the reason may be, typical consumption is far beyond what is considered healthy for anyone, especially those already suffering with a digestive problem such as GERD (acid reflux), IBS or IBD. You may want to write these out – some may not be sure what they are. (2)

Immune System Depressors: Gluten and Casein (found in ALL dairy products)
Last, but certainly not least, we come to two proteins considered to be inflammatory to the human body. We've briefly spoken of gluten (the spongy protein found in barley, rye, contaminated oats, wheat and spelt) in the past, however I believe this is the first mention of the casein protein. It is the main protein component of all milk that creates cheese - not to be confused with lactose which is a milk sugar. (3)

That said, both gluten and casein are inflammatory proteins. The medical establishment is coming to believe that much illness and aging is the direct result of silent inflammation in the body from years of abuse. The inflammation caused may be greater in some than in others; however, it doesn't change the reality of how these two proteins react in the body. Over-consumption can cause the immune system to become overtaxed and begin attacking the body's own digestive system. There is strong evidence that most Americans would benefit from reducing their exposure to these two proteins.

Taking all this into account, one can clearly see why the coming holiday foods could spell doom for their digestive system. Perhaps it’s why so many people find themselves bloated, gaining weight, exhausted, depressed and getting sick. Though antacids and acid-blockers might seem like a good temporary fix, they will not mend the deep damage done by repeated assaults.

Yet, there is hope! Learning ways to reduce your exposure to inflammatory elements can help your immune system to become stronger. Remember, 60% of your immune system is in your gut. It's your choice to decide to respect and foster your gut health, or to hinder your best line of defense.

References:
1. http://www.brighthub.com/science/medical/articles/21640.aspx
2. http://www.international.inra.fr/press/intestinal_flora_and_alcohol_liver_toxicity
3. The Ultramind Solution:Fix Your Broken Brain by Healing Your Body First, by Mark Hyman, MD.

Digestive Health Series Gut Health:Leaving Yourself Open to Dis-ease

I often use myself as a guinea pig, trying out different approaches and ideas to diets and self-care. An elimination diet from gluten, dairy and eggs that started over 2 years ago has helped me to clearly understand how eating something that doesn't agree with your body can make you sick. Yet with time, one can forget or become lazy about it. I admit to going through periods of eating things on the "avoid list" more often than my own nutritionist would like. So, on a weekend trip away with my fiancé, Nick, I decided to throw some level of caution to the wind and relax my own rigid eating patterns. What occurred was a great reminder of why our health and well-being always trumps the momentary pleasure we may derive from food and drink.

What started off the weekend was wine. It is important to know that I rarely drink alcohol because most wine is clarified with food components that I cannot tolerate anyway. The meal that I made was allergen-friendly, but that one glass of wine sent me reeling. By the end of dinner, I was completely drunk. Yes, laughing hysterically and falling over drunk who passed out at 9:45 pm. However, I awoke at 2 am totally sick to my stomach as the meal I'd eaten had not properly broken down. Needless to say, I didn't feel well the next morning with all sorts of digestive woes. My morning breakfast was simple and seemed to sit well, so I again figured it was okay to tempt fate at lunch. Being in Ocean City, NJ, there weren't many good choices on the boardwalk. We eventually found a diner-type place that could make a gluten-free meal, so we ate there. I had a hamburger (without the bun) with battered crispy french fries (the batter is wheat, so that's where the gluten came into play). The dull headache I normally get when I eat gluten came on and I started to feel very sluggish. By the time we'd gotten to the car, I was exhausted. I dozed on and off until we reach the house where we were staying and then crashed on the couch for the next 2 1/2 hours. I felt like I was drugged. An hour after I woke up, the fog in my head cleared enough for me to get up from the couch and drive home. The weekend away was completely overshadowed by my lack of compliance to treating my body respectfully. Wine and french fries did me in...well, I did me in, but I think you know what I mean.

Many people suffer with some sort of compromised digestive system from years of abuse. Whether it's diarrhea, gas, constipation, or acid reflux/heart burn, we punish ourselves daily with food that simply doesn't nourish us for reasons that range from enjoyment to wanting to fit in. Eventually the gut becomes 'leaky', meaning that the gut is no longer processing food properly and is allowing partially digested nutrients and bacteria to pass through the gut wall into the body. This naturally causes an immune response which is different from the immediate allergic reaction with which most of us are familiar. My experiment reminded me how alcohol makes my gut more permeable to things such as gluten, thus causing a heightened reaction. My headaches, fatigue, and digestive unrest are worsened depending on how much and how many allergen(s) are thrown into my system.

It is important to know that the health of your gut is critical not only for food digestion, but also to maintain a strong barrier against infection. Sixty percent of your immune system is found in your gut. We worry so much about sanitizing against microbes and viruses on our hands and counter tops, but rarely concern ourselves with fortifying our main front, namely the gut. I compare the situation to an army prepared for the oncoming attack with all the best shields and weapon placed at the front lines; however, the rear and the sides are left unprotected. That weakness is why the army will fail, and that's why leaving our guts mistreated, abused, and ignored is our greatest mistake. Especially when we consider how many people we know who have gotten the flu, pneumonia, or some very bad cold during the summer and continue to experience them now.

Please take a moment to consider what your relationship is like with your gut. I may be the first to ask you to do so as it is such an important area of your health that is rarely spoken about. The Standard American Diet (or the ironic acronym, SAD) doesn't foster a healthy gut and neither does eating "normal". If you happen to fall under the SAD or "I eat normal" umbrella, chances are you could use a tune-up in gut health. If you have the other digestive ailments mentioned above, then you really need to weigh the long-term health consequences of gut abuse. There are ways to mend and correct the damage done. Ultimately, there are bridges in life that many of us put off dealing with until we have to cross them. Like many other health 'bridges', don't wait until you are faced with the digestive diseases, syndromes and issues mentioned above. Most people will tell you, myself included, that they are bridges that you don't ever want to face, let alone cross.

Digestive Woes?!?!

I am here to tell you that-

Stomach problems and digestive issues are NOT normal!

Please repeat the bold part to yourself. Take a deep breath.

Perhaps I'm the first person to tell you this, and I hope that reading this saves you both time and agony when dealing with your stomach/digestive system as if it were an unruly child. I suffered for years before my nutritionist imparted that statement to me earlier last year. At some point, I came to accept my situation as normal just as most others. (i.e. Running to the bathroom multiple times in the middle of a meal, pushing aside waves of nausea during a bike ride as the intensity grew while desperately seeking a restroom) But there's help out there and I'm here to tell you that with some time and focus, you too can heal your stomach woes.

This is a list of some common digestive issues that are NOT normal: gas, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, hemorrhoids, heartburn aka acid reflux aka GERD and IBS. If you deal with one or multiples of these issues, then please do yourself a favor and get some help with your diet. Your body WILL thank you because you will feel enormously better and stronger than before. These problems generally are corrected through diet and lifestyle changes.

Prescription drugs may already have a place in your life in order to control digestive problems, however know that there are serious risks for consuming these substances that generally were never meant for long-term use. For example, long-term use of acid reflux medications can cause a serious B12 deficiency that cannot be corrected through sublingual supplementation because the drug suppresses the body's ability to produce a substance necessary to make absorption possible. In this case, B12 must be supplemented through injections into tissue.

So, the next time you find digestive tract in an uncooperative situation, ask yourself if merely accepting your circumstances is in your best interest long-term. What would your life look like to be without this problem? What would it mean to you? The answer is out there, I promise.

Gluten: My Hidden Nemisis

Some time in late 2007, I knew without knowing why that something was wrong with me. Sure, I could have chalked it up to exposure to healthier lifestyles in my yoga teacher training, but I felt tired and increasingly bloated and puffy physically. I looked in the mirror and didn't see myself, while being unable to lose any weight. While many people considered me to be skinny, my clothing didn’t fit right anymore and I felt uncomfortable. Something was wrong.

After years of stomach/digestive issues, I’d resigned that that was just the way I was. How I felt must be normal, or at least I grew to think so. Last summer, I started cycling...only to shed a couple of pounds and then began gaining weight despite how much I rode and watched my diet. I got on a big dietary kick of whole grains because of the recommendations from other cyclists... everything had to be whole grains. I believe that this recommendation contributed to what I now see as an addiction to wheat products because I could never eat enough bread and pasta.

Well, the whole grains came back to kick my butt royally. My stomach problems got worse throughout the summer, yet I couldn't figure out why. I'd get sick for at least 10 days every month and a half from a simple cold. And finally after 5 months of following this diet highly recommended in cycling magazines and fellow enthusiasts and die-hards out on the bike path, consuming muffins and granola at the coffee shops in Manyunk to ‘refuel’, I crashed... I could barely make it through the day with any energy and I began to have difficulty waking up in the morning no matter how many hours of sleep I got- 8, 9, 10, 11... something was really wrong! Normal blood tests came back great... according to western medicine, I was the picture of health, yet I intuitively knew otherwise.

We say that hindsight is 20/20 because we can see where we are headed often times too late, thus there are distinct reasons why at times we find ourselves in some very peculiar and difficult circumstances. It can become so easy to ignore warning signs because we don’t always treat ourselves with the respect that we deserve. Or we simply refuse to change, thus living each day consciously or unconsciously choosing to set ourselves up for failure for fear of stepping outside of what we know to be comfortable. Thus, we get a wake up call...

Though a series of interesting circumstances, I was led to Sam, my nutritionist, who picked up on my stomach issues, energy levels, and rate of illness. Adrenal gland tests painted a serious picture nearing adrenal fatigue while hinting at a gluten intolerance. Eventual food allergy testing later confirmed the intolerance along with others to eggs, dairy, and everything in the mustard and cashew families. The plan of attack started with introducing probiotics to my system while simultaneously eliminating gluten (and later eggs and dairy) from my diet.

After 5 months gluten-free, I lost 17 lbs. I know without any doubt in my mind that it was not fat, but rather inflammation of my tissue that developed along side the dietary intolerances. There is no mistaking it when you look at my picture, as Nick, my fiancé, pointed out to me, that my face and body have changed. Everyone whom I see now asks me if I lost weight and says how healthy I look. For the first time in years, I look how I know I should.

It’s not easy being gluten-free. I certainly won’t lie about that. And I follow a basic 90/10 rule- 90% of the time following the diet while 10% of the time I eat what I would like. But realize that after all this time, my diet is ‘normal’ to me and I’ve grown accustomed to it. Interestingly, pasta and bread doesn’t taste so good anymore and I now know that I won’t die if I don’t eat them (although I do really enjoy brown rice pasta which is okay for me to eat). My stomach problems have pretty much resolved and I’ve got more energy than one knows what to do with (and I don’t drink any coffee or consume any caffeine). I feel a greater sense of mental clarity which is noticeably diminished (along with the arrival of a headache) when I do consume something with gluten. Plus, I’ve only had one cold in 15 months and no flu this year (and no flu shot either!).

So, I'm putting my story out there with the hope that it might help someone else and that it will serve as a warning to people that everyone's bodies and needs are different, therefore no one diet can be universal. I’ve been told that this is 'all in my head' because some people are uncomfortable with the idea that what they choose to consume could be harming their bodies. Isn't my picture proof enough? Thus, there is truth to the importance of a varied diet and why it is unwise to assume that what works for one person or athlete will work for everyone.

It isn't easy having food intolerances, especially trying to be out and about training on my bike, living my life and meeting up with friends. I have to plan ahead before a ride or a night out to dinner. And sometimes I will find myself going from shop to shop looking for fresh fruit because that is all I can eat at a coffee shop or restaurant. But, despite many annoyances, the benefits have completely outweighed them. Especially because I now know that my happiness isn't tied to what I'm eating- my food doesn’t own me. I choose what I consume that works best for me and am breaking the cycle of self-sabotage at every meal. The results and the feelings of regaining my health back have been the single most valuable thing I’ve ever done.