 Subject: A note from Demetra: Welcoming Dena Ito, L.Ac. to our community room!
Hello everyone, and happy November. I'm excited to share that Dena Ito, L.Ac., Rohnert Park native and seasoned community acupuncturist, is going to join us here in the community room starting this week! Dena will be here on Wednesday and Friday afternoons, as well as splitting some Monday afternoon shifts with me, so come on in and get to know her- she is fantastic! Here's Dena's welcome note to all of you: I graduated from American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in San Francisco in 2012. I consider Chinese Medicine to be truly affordable, holistic and sustainable healthcare. I admire how acupuncture works with the innate ability of the body to heal and am often reminded of the power of the human body and the human spirit. WE are amazing! I like offering acupuncture in a community setting as a way for more patients to come in for treatment and to come in as often as their treatment plan may call for. I'm excited to contribute to this community and look forward to seeing you. Outside of work I enjoy eating yummy food, taking my son to amusement parks and spending time with family.
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 Why is it so hard for some people to lose weight?
Sometimes, there is more to weight loss than simply cutting calories. For some, despite all their efforts (following a diet and exercising consistently) progress is fleeting and painfully slow. This is a familiar story for many and they know the problem isn’t a lack of willpower. There's often more going on than a matter of simply exercising more and eating less. In this three part article series we look at the underlying causes of the difficulty in weight loss that so many run into. The problem can be an imbalance in one or more of the underlying systems of the body, making weight loss difficult if not impossible. The good news is that there are ways to remove these obstacles. Identifying these imbalances and resolving them should be the first step in your weight loss plan. Obesity is all too common in our culture. While the availability of empty calories and our sedentary lifestyles are largely to blame, there is more going on here than just sloth and gluttony. For many there is a hidden problem in the body that is locking their metabolism in a fat storing mode. In the first part of this series we’ll cover three common obstacles getting in the way of successful weight loss. In a following article we’ll give you the basic steps for addressing each of these. Our third article will cover the steps for successful weight loss once you have these first three obstacles addressed. Following these steps will result in significant changes in most people seeking weight loss. After pain, the second most common complaint we hear from our patients is that they have difficulty losing weight. While obviously exercise and proper diet are essential to weight loss, in some that won’t be enough to reach their weight loss goals. Without addressing the underlying imbalances, progress will be painfully slow and difficult. The three main obstacles that we see are: 1. Excessive burden of environmental toxins 2. Hormonal imbalance 3. Latent inflammation Any one, or all of these, could be shackling you to your extra pounds and these three issues are surprising common in Americans. Let’s look closer at each. Excessive burden of Toxins We live in an environment that is increasingly laden with chemical pollutants. Many of these compounds have entered our environments within the past few decades. Unfortunately, despite all your efforts to minimize exposure, it is unlikely that anyone is able to truly avoid these chemicals. Studies have shown the presence of more than 200 chemical pollutants in the umbilical cord blood supplying newborn babies. Even in this most precious of places, at the deepest recesses in the body, and filtered by the placenta, these chemicals are still able to find their way. Just imagine what is running through your blood! These toxins burden the liver, interfere with hormone signaling and trigger inflammation. All of these can indirectly cause weight gain by interfering with fundamental processes in the body. But, some of these compounds can also directly cause weight gain. Called "obesogens", these compounds include Bisphenyl A, polybrominated flame retardants, pthalates, many pesticides and even many medications, including the popular SSRIs, used to treat depression. These compounds directly alter your physiology, resulting in weight gain. They compounds bind to receptors in the body that regulate metabolism or appetite and directly cause increased weight gain and make weight loss more difficult. Many of these compounds are fat soluble. Because they dissolve in fats, they become stored in fat tissue. This makes losing weight increasingly difficult. As soon as you make progress in weight loss you liberate more of these compounds into your blood stream, making future progress even more difficult. In order to make weight loss possible in the presence of these toxins, you need to support your body’s natural detoxification processes, so that as these toxins are liberated they are effectively flushed from the body, allowing your weight loss to continue unfettered. Identifying if you have an excessive toxic burden can be done through a combination of blood work, reviewing your occupational history, and discussing your personal medical history. One blood test called GGT, or gamma glutamyl transpeptidase, measures the activity of an enzyme that becomes elevated when the requirement for the body’s natural anti-oxidant, glutathione, is increased. This increased demand can indicate that there is an increased toxin burden on the body, requiring targeted treatment and dietary interventions. Hormonal Imbalance The HPA axis is a term used to describe the triad of endocrine glands: hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal. These three glands interact and influence each other and a great many other hormones and glands in the body. When dietary, emotional, lifestyle, and environmental factors cause a disruption in any of these glands there can be a cascading influence on the body. Weight gain is one of many possible symptoms when these hormones are out of balance. Improperly converted, produced, or binding thyroid hormone, for example, can result in difficulty losing weight. Impact on the hormone leptin can result in difficulty regulating appetite properly. Excessive, or deficient adrenal output of the hormone cortisol can result in elevated blood sugars, insulin resistance, and weight gain. Simultaneous fatigue and anxiety can also make weight lose much more difficult. If you experience certain symptoms including unexplained fatigue, a history of extreme or prolonged stress, anxiety, short temper, or difficulty regulating temperature these symptoms may indicate that a closer look at your hormones is warranted. Identifying if there is an underlying hormonal imbalance can often be done through simple saliva testing, and herbal, lifestyle, and dietary interventions are often sufficient to restore balance. Latent Inflammation When most people hear the word inflammation, they think of something red, swollen and painful like a sprained joint or an infected cut. But inflammation doesn’t always have to be so obvious. Sometimes inflammation can be more like a smoldering fire hidden within the body, quietly eroding your health. This type of latent inflammation may be occurring anywhere in the body. Common locations include the digestive system, a dental abscess, or the blood vessels. This constant inflammation causes weight gain by driving up the stress hormone cortisol, which in turn drives up blood sugars. It also reduces the body’s sensitivity to insulin, making your body store more energy as fat. The longer the inflammation is present the more damage is done to your metabolism. Identifying and treating the underlying inflammation is essential to losing weight and restoring a healthy metabolism. How do you know if you have a smoldering fire hampering your weight loss efforts? Often, current symptoms or clues in your health history can raise suspicion, which is further investigated by looking at some specific blood tests. The specific test will depend on the organ system that is suspected. Tests such as C reactive protein, homocysteine, adiponectin, and an essential fatty acid profile can all help to identify locations and causes of latent inflammation. Identifying the systems in your body that are imbalanced is the first step in restoring a healthy metabolism. Once you know how your metabolism is going wrong, that paves the way to determine your specific interventions. Even though the goal weight loss is the same, the interventions for you may be very different from someone else with a different set of metabolic challenges. This is one of the reasons that no weight loss program works for everyone. If you've tried many different approaches without seeing results, it is likely that there is something going on beneath the surface that needs to be addressed before weight loss can proceed. You may have a suspicion that one of the above issues applies to you, and fortunately, there are many interventions that you can do yourself that are both effective and safe to try at home. We'll cover strategies to resolve each of these issues in the next article. Unlock your Weight Loss
For some, despite repeated weight loss programs, countless hours sweating away at the gym and following whichever new super diet is the fashion at the time, efforts to lose weight never materialize. You’d be justified in feeling frustrated. You may wonder, “How can I not be losing weight?!” If this is you, the problem may not be a lack of trying or a lack of willpower. For many, there are problems in the core, interrelated systems of the body, keeping the weight from coming off. In our last newsletter, we reviewed the three hidden obstacles to successful weight loss. In today’s article, we’ll cover strategies to address each of these concerns using only diet, lifestyle changes, and commonly available supplements. In our final piece in this series, we’ll cover a basic diet template that is remarkably effective, once these three obstacles have been addressed. First, let’s review briefly the three weight loss obstacles that we covered in our last newsletter. First, blame goes to our chemical laden environment. Compounds like BPA, and brominated flame retardant actively interfere with hormone signaling and metabolism to cause weight gain, and impede weight loss. These compounds deposit in fat stores, where they are so potent in interfering with weight loss that a new term was coined to classify them: “obesogens” (meaning: “make obese”). The second cause is latent inflammation: by driving up stress hormones, latent inflammation makes the body resistant to insulin and drives the body to store more energy as fat. The third common underlying obstacle to weight loss is hormonal imbalance. Most often, this relates to elevated estrogen compared to progesterone, however, imbalanced thyroid, and dysregulated adrenal hormones can both also hinder weight loss. Any, or all of these three basic physiological imbalances could be getting in the way of weight loss for you, and without addressing them first, weight loss can be very difficult. When we work with patients, frustrated with repeated attempts at weight loss, we usually start with a blood panel that identifies how severe these underlying issues may be. This is a valuable step to save time and money. It ensures that our efforts are being focused at the most important aspects. But, even without the insight from a panel of blood tests, there are still some clues that may indicate that one (or more) of these core problems exist for you, which in turn indicates the need for steps you can easily do on your own, with dietary change, some lifestyle interventions, and some simple supplements you can obtain from your local supplement store. Each of these topics are vast, and an entire series could be compiled on each, but in this short article we’ll give you the most effective steps that you can take without getting professional help. Excessive Burden of Environmental Toxins In our last article we looked at how an excessive burden of certain types of chemicals called, “obesgens” can interfere with hormone signalling and metabolic function. The best approach to finding out if this is a concern for you is reviewing your personal history. If you have an occupational history or exposure to a wide variety of industrial chemicals, live, or lived, in close proximity to an industrial area, or use a lot of mainstream cosmetic or personal care products, then addressing your body’s detoxification pathways is a worthwhile step towards your weight loss goals. While the links between occupational and industrial areas is clear, the concern around personal care products may be less obvious to some. Many of the personal care products and cosmetics used today contain a variety of synthetic, petroleum based ingredients that are absorbed readily through the skin. Some of these compounds, such as parabens and pthalates are established obesogens. Other compounds are toxic to liver cells and directly affect the ability of the body to clear toxins. These compounds include Hydroxymethylpentylcyclohexenecarboxaldehyde, often referred to, for obvious reason, by its tradename, “Lyral”. Lyral and other compounds like it aren’t directly listed on the ingredient list,they are all clumped together under the heading: “fragrance.” It is an extremely common ingredient, used in the majority of mainstream personal care products, including deodorant, perfumes, shampoo body wash, shaving gel and cosmetics. The accumulated burden of Lyral and related compounds continues to increase over years and decades. Switching to higher quality brands that only use natural ingredients is the only way to be sure that you are not continuing to be exposed to these chemicals. When you embark on a new weight loss program and begin liberating fat from storage, you are also liberating the toxins stored in that fat. When these toxins return to circulation they further impeded the weight loss process. The more fat you lose, the harder it is to make any progress. You eliminate fat soluble toxins through the liver. The liver converts these compounds into less harmful forms and expels them through the bile into the intestines to be carried out. Less commonly, the liver also converts them to water soluble forms which are filtered out of the body by the kidneys. Another important pathway for detoxification is through sweating. Both in preparation for, and as you are losing weight, make sure to follow the steps to ensure the burden of toxins isn’t slowing down your process.
Address any sources of Latent Inflammation Even without doing more in-depth testing, there are still some general steps you can take to reduce your background inflammation level. The two main causes of underlying latent inflammation are: smoldering low grade infections (often dental or digestive) and nutritional deficiencies (the body’s ability to quell inflammation is dependent upon the presence of several key nutrients). Here are some simple steps you can take:
Balance your Hormones Even without knowing which hormones are out of balance, there are three steps you can take that will have a general effect on balancing your hormone levels.
If you are embarking on a process of weight loss, it would be best to follow these recommendations for a period of time prior to initiating that weight loss program. Depending on how influential any of these three obstacles are for you, taking 1-4 weeks focussing on the above recommendations before starting would be appropriate. If you want to work on these at a deeper level consider seeing a practitioner to get a closer look at where exactly your system is going wrong. Okay, so now you know how to unlock the weight loss process. In the next article we’ll cover a basic template that will result in rapid and easy weight loss for you. A Fool Proof Weight Loss TemplateThe United States of America contains over 220 million overweight citizens. That’s more than 2 out of every 3 people in this country. And, while there ARE a lot of low quality foods, and people DO have more sedentary lifestyles than they have had in the past, for many of these 220 million people, repeated efforts at reducing calories and increasing exercise hasn’t, and won’t, result in lasting weight loss. There is often more going on than simply “calories in versus calories out”.
In our last two articles we looked first, at some surprisingly common imbalances in the fundamental systems of the body, imbalances that can occur as the result of exposure to environmental pollutants, hormones that have gradually gotten out of sync, or chronic, low-level inflammation. In our second article, we looked at simple steps you can take through diet, lifestyle and with some commonly available supplements, to address these obstacles to successful weight loss. In today’s article we present a simple template for successful weight loss. There are a few key concepts that you need to adhere to in order to make a weight loss program effective. Apply those, and modify the rest to make it fit your lifestyle and goals. For the majority of people, following these key principles will result in progress. If you haven’t had a chance to read the previous two articles, we suggest you go back and read them now as, this article assumes that you already understand the concepts covered in those articles, but also, the steps we suggest here should only be taken once you have already addressed those issues we discussed in the previous articles. You have probably heard that losing weight is just a matter of “calories in versus calories out.” And, yes, of course, on paper that is exactly true. However, there is a lot that takes place in the mind and physiology of the human body that isn’t contained in that simple equation. A much better model has been researched, proposed, and well described by a researcher and neurobiologist from the University of Washington in Seattle, Wa. Stephan Guyenet proposes that weight gain and loss are determined by how a food influences two separate tracts of appetite regulation: the hedonic system, and the energy homeostasis system. The energy homeostasis system is akin to the thermostat in your house, only this one regulates fat. (Many refer to it as an adipostat (“adipo-” meaning fat), which is the term we will use.) The body has an ideal body weight that it strives to maintain. An interaction between the various metabolic hormones (leptin, ghrelin, insulin, glucagon, adiponectin, etc.) and appetite and satiety processing parts of the brain located in the hypothalamus all work together to maintain an ideal weight. It strikes a balance between having enough stored energy (in the form of fat) to make it through gaps in available resources, yet not so much that the ability to move efficiently and purposefully is hindered. The body has some surprisingly powerful mechanisms in place to maintain the body at the appropriate weight. One such mechanism is of course, the appetite. A hormone called leptin is produced in relation to the amount of fat stored on the body, with more fat resulting in more leptin circulating. This leptin in turn signals the appetite center in the hypothalamus to suppress appetite in order to reduce energy stores. Movement is also regulated by our adipostat. We are compelled to move more when we are carrying more than our body thinks is ideal, and we become lethargic when stores are low and need to be replenished. One quick look around any public place in America will tell you that the adiopostat system isn’t working, we still seem to have no problem accumulating more stored energy than is practical or ideal. This is where our conversation turns to the hedonic system of appetite. In our evolutionary history there were times when we were confronted with a food that is so full of calories and beneficial nutrients that our best interests would be served by eating more than what would simply fill us up. In other words, the hedonic value of the food would override the adiopostat regulation of appetite. These types of foods were rare in our evolutionary history, so there was little risk of overeating as a result, and from a survival standpoint, there was good reason to take in these energy dense and nutrient dense foods whenever possible. Unfortunately, the food industry has capitalized on this aspect of our physiology and actively engineers our food to trigger a hedonic effect. There are various cues in a food that triggers this override of our energy homeostatic system: rich flavors, combinations of sweet, salty and savory flavors as well as certain textures such as crunchy or juicy. Many of the foods at the grocery store are carefully designed and engineered to strike exactly the right balance between these flavors and impart a pleasing mouth feel in such a way that it is very hard to let appetite work as intended. In his book, “The End of Overeating” former FDA commissioner, David Kessler described this ongoing battle food manufacturers are waging over our mouths and our dollars. At one point he quotes a food industry scientist, saying “ For product developers, it is of interest to add elements to a food that make a food highly desired and liked, both initially and over repeated consumption.” He goes on to describe the lengths and research the food industry has gone to in order to create foods that hack our biology and create highly pleasurable food, from little chemical nuggets of artificial flavor, to seemingly endless refinement of recipes to get that perfect product. In short, the goal is food that is very difficult to say no to, food that entirely bypasses our adipostat. This brings us to our first principle of successful weight loss: “eat close to the ground”. Avoid processed foods because they don’t work with our physiology the way they should. Processed foods bypass our natural system for weight maintenance. An example from my own life is steak, I really enjoy a good steak. But I couldn’t sit down and eat six steaks. I could on the other had sit down and eat an entire bag of potato chips, no probelm. Steaks are not a novel food for my physiology. Humans have been eating red meat for a long time, and my adipostat knows what to do when steak comes in. Potato chips on the other had, are a carefully engineered food, one that strikes the perfect balance between salty, crunchy, and fat. If you eat those sorts of foods, maintaining a healthy weight, or losing weight will be difficult. 1. The first principle of successful weight loss is to avoid processed food of all kinds. Only shop the perimeter of the grocery store (the produce section, the frozen section, and the bulk section) avoid anything that has extra steps of processing, instead choose the foods that are as close to their natural form as possible, the foods that are “closer to the ground.” The second principle, which is crucial for successful weight loss, is to restore insulin sensitivity. Everyone knows insulin as the hormone that relates to diabetes, where it is responsible for shuttling glucose into cells. A better way to think about insulin would be as a director that switches us to storage mode. When insulin is circulating, energy gets stored. This storage can take place in a few different ways. First, the glucose goes directly into cells where it can be converted in energy (in the form of ATP). When you are physically active, this glucose is used up and the system returns to a state of homeostasis. In a more sedentary state however, the cell’s need for glucose is met more quickly, but there is still glucose in the bloodstream that needs to be removed. In this case glucose moves into additional storage locations. First the glucose can be bound into starch chains called glycogen, which is then stored in muscles and in the liver (this is the goal of carb loading familiar to endurance athletes). Once these stores are filled, the remaining glucose is converted into free fatty acids, which are then stored in adipose cells, as fat. (for simplicity we paint this process as sequential, when in reality it is much more complex, with all three of these process happening at once, but the concept is accurate and sufficient for our purposes). The important part is: the more insulin is circulating, the more glucose is stored as fat. When the body becomes resistant to insulin, it takes more insulin to get the same effect. This accelerates the process of fat accumulation. In order to stop storing fuel as fat, you need to bring down the insulin levels. Fortunately, that can be easily done. Insulin is released with the consumption of carbohydrates mainly (but also to a lesser degree, with the consumption of protein.) The more carbohydrates in a food, typically, the higher the insulin response will be, however several other factors also influence how a food influences insulin levels. The more processed a food is, the more severe the insulin response will be. For instance, corn on the cob causes a rise in insulin, but not as much as cornmeal, which also doesn’t raise insulin nearly as much as corn flour, which in turn doesn’t raise insulin nearly as much as cornstarch. The more processed a carbohydrate, the more rapidly the glucose derived from it reaches the bloodstream and the more quickly the body needs to respond in order to maintain balance. Those severe spikes in insulin level are what drives insulin resistance, and increasing insulin levels. Improving your insulin sensitivity requires two steps: first avoiding process foods because they cause a more rapid spike, and second reducing your intake of carbohydrates. If your goal is weight loss, you should ideally be getting between 10-20% of your calories from carbohydrates. Protein and fat on the other hand are able to supply energy needs without damaging insulin sensitivity, so increasing your intake of those two classes of calories will actually result in weight loss. I know it can seem counter intuitive that eating fat can result in losing fat. If you just remember that it isn’t about fat, it’s about insulin, then it makes sense. In fact, this was borne out in a study in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in 2007. This study, termed “The A to Z study” compared the effects of a several different diets including a high fat-low carbohydrate and a high carb-low fat diet, and found that the biggest reductions in weight and waist measurement happened with the high fat-low carbohydrate diet. Not only that, but the high fat diet also caused the greatest improvement in blood pressure, and cholesterol. The vilification of fat that has been a main talking point from the medical community for the last several decades is not in agreement with the most current research, and the best informed doctors are changing their recommendations on this issue. Having addressed that aside, by reducing one’s carbohydrate intake, the body’s response to insulin returns to normal and the body can function properly again. So the second step is: 2. Reduce your carbohydrate intake to 10%-20% of total calorie intake. First calculate the number of calories per day that is ideal for your target weight (here’s a great calculator). Next, multiply the total calories by 10%. There are 4 calories in each gram of carbohydrates, so to figure out how many grams of carbs you need per day, divide the number of calories from carbs by 4. This will yield the number of grams of carbs you should eat to reach 10% of calories from carbs. Repeat the process for 20% to get a range to stay within each day. For example in a 1,800 calorie diet, you should consume between 45 and 90 grams of carbohydrates per day. The third crucial piece to a successful weight loss diet, is that unyielding fact of thermodynamics: calories in must be fewer than calories out in order to reduce energy stores in the body. The good news is that your body is very good at regulating this when you are eating the right foods. Once you cut the processed food out of your diet, you’ll find that it is much, much easier to only eat the calories you need. Not only that, but unprocessed food is much more dense with vitamins and minerals than processed food, so you’ll feel more satisfied, have more energy and likely other symptoms will improve as well. (Poor sleep, reduced energy, muscle aches, headaches, and many other symptoms can all relate to nutritional deficiencies.) Adhering to the calorie target you used above to calculate your total carbohydrates is a valuable part of a weight loss program. In my experience however, it isn’t as important than counting carbohydrates. In other words if you consistently go over on calories, but maintain within your goals on carbohydrates, you’ll do much better than the if you err in the reverse fashion. The impact on insulin is just too strong to ignore that of the equation. Keeping track of carbohydrate and calorie numbers is difficult at first. You’ll need to keep a journal of some kind and write down everything you’re eating and look them all up as you go (I like the site http://nutritiondata.self.com/) Once you have those numbers looked up, it becomes very easy. From one day to the next most people eat a lot of the same foods. Most of it is just copying and pasting. In time you’ll start to recognize what a plate of food should look like for your weight. That is a valuable lesson. The servings in America are way too big, a problem continuated by a largely cheap and processed food supply. Getting a sense of what is a realistic serving size is a valuable lesson and one that will help to make your weight loss a lifelong change rather than just one cycle of the yo-yo. 3. Stay within the target calories for your weight loss goal. So to review, the three key pieces of a weight loss program are: 1. Eliminate Processed Food. 2. Reduce Carbohydrates to 10-20% of calories. 3. Reduce Calories to align with your target weight. We hope you appreciate this information. This three part series is a basic skeleton of the dietary program we run in our office. With our program we add acupuncture to help reduce food cravings, and address the underlying obstacles to weight loss through herbal supplements, and dietary counseling. We’ve also partnered with a local gym to get you a discount on your exercise program. If you’re serious about weight loss, our program gives you the guidance and support that ensures success. Before I share why Chimmichuri sauce is brilliant and delicious, a bit of bad news for you…  Grilling meat generates not one, but two different classes of cancer causing compounds: Heterocyclic Amines and Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons. Consumption of these compounds can lead to cancer by causing mutations to occur in genes. Indeed, one of the risk factors for colon cancer is frequent consumption of charred or grilled meats (1, 2, 3). And if that’s not enough, grilling meat also creates another unhealthy compound called an Advanced Glycation End product (AGE). AGEs accumulate in the body aging us prematurely and increasing the risk of diabetes, metabolic disease, kidney disease, heart disease, and Alzheimers disease. (4, 5, 6, 7) But there’s good news…The good news is that there are a lot of steps you can take to mitigate this risk and improve your health when consuming these foods. I was struck, not for the first time, by the incredible wisdom of traditional cuisine last night when I realized how perfectly suited our chimmichuri sauce was in mitigating the health risks associated with grilled meat.  Chimmichuri Sauce
Finely mince the garlic and shallots and leave out for 10 minutes A potent phyto-nutrient found in garlic, Allicin, is formed by an enzyme (also found in garlic) but can only be formed in the presence of air. And that enzyme is damaged by exposure to heat. Letting your garlic sit for several minutes prior to cooking increases the content of the active constituent responsible for a lot of the healing effects of garlic (8). Meanwhile, combining garlic and onions (or in this case shallots), as has been done for ages in culinary traditions around the world, creates a synergistic combination that mitigates the negative effects of consuming fatty foods. (9). Mince the jalapeño finely The compounds in jalapeños protect LDL cholesterol particles from oxidation. It’s the oxidized LDL particles that represent the most significant risk to our arteries because when they deposit in the layers of our blood vessels they attract an immune cell response that swells the plaques and makes them unstable. Smoked Jalapeños were found to be particularly effective in this regard. I’ll have to try that next time…(10) Mince the parsley, cilantro, and oregano or pulse in a food processor. All of these herbs are powerfully anti-microbial. They are also packed with antioxidants and phytonutrients with a variety of useful properties in the body. Cilantro has been found to be protective for the same type of cancer that the compounds formed by grilling meat, Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons and Heterocyclic Amines, increase the risk of (11). Meanwhile, parsley specifically reduces the formation of Advanced Glycation End products (12). Combine all ingredients together and add the vinegar and olive oil to create a thick sauce. Season with salt and add the lime juice. Adjust the flavor and consistency by adding more of any of the above. Acidic preparations, when applied to meat prior to grilling also reduce the formation of Advanced Glycation End products. No wonder marinades are a common practice in culinary traditions around the world (13). Use the chimmichuri both to coat meat prior to cooking and as a condiment eaten with your grilled meat. It offers a fresh, bright counterpoint to the filling umami of grilled meat. The flavors work so well, no wonder it’s good for you. So, in short, try to respect the specific ingredient combinations and preparation techniques long held in our world’s culinary traditions. They are consistently reflective of a deep wisdom about optimizing health through food. That they arrived at these nuanced, protective, and synergistic pairings prior to our relatively recent understandings about the biological processes underlying their interactions with our health, offers a convincing bit of evidence to the premise that there are other ways to discover and know truth besides the reductionist view of modern western science.  By the way… We offer nutritional consultations for our patients where we combine traditional culinary wisdom with modern research to create food plans that are science based, authentic, tasty and sustainable. Set up a free consultation to see if we can be of assistance to you.
Autoimmune conditions such as MS, Celiac Disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis and others are increasing rapidly in the developed world. Recent studies show the incidence of autoimmunity is increasing by 5-10% per year. The immunology community blames this increase on various factors that come with living in an industrialized society including higher stress, exposure to certain chemicals, and poor sleep. Autoimmune processes require three things: 1. A genetic predisposition. In most cases you must have the underlying genes specifically substitutions in the genes that relate to immune function. Most of these substitutions are found on the HLA (human lymphocyte Antigen) gene and the MHC (major histocompatibility complex). These are genes that determine the shape of the proteins used in the interaction of the immune cells with our own tissue and with invading pathogens. A little like a key can sometimes work on more than one lock, these substitutions allow for the immune system to mistakenly bind to and attack self tissue. 2. A trigger. Many people with the genetic predisposition may never go on to develop an autoimmune condition. It's a complex process and while we don't understand everything, we do know that most autoimmune conditions require a trigger. In celiac patients this trigger comes in the form of gluten. In some cases, the trigger might be a pathogen such as Yersinia or Klebselia that tricks the immune system through a process called Molecular Mimicry into attacking itself (more on this in the video below). 3. But even with a trigger and the genetic predisposition, autoimmunity is not a sure thing. You have a lot more influence over this process than you think. The immune system works actively to prevent this by maintaining a process called self-tolerance. When things go awry and the immune system loses this protection, damage begins to accumulate. Unfortunately, by the time symptoms begin to show the process has been building for quite some time. The immune system can be pushed out of balance by the presence of certain toxins such as aluminum, mercury, cadmium, lead, and organic pollutants such as pesticides and plasticizers. The immune system also requires the presence of specific nutrients. A lack of selenium makes Hashimoto's more likely to occur. A lack of silica leads to accumulation of aluminum and more more immune system activation. Sufficient fiber intake is necessary for proper detoxification of potentially damaging chemicals and so on. Lifestyle also plays a bigger part than is often realized. It is very common for a patient to have the initial onset of their autoimmune condition following a period of severe emotional stress. Attention to sleep, diet, stress regulation, and community all play a vital part in prevention and treatment of auto-immune conditions. Another often overlooked area of focus in auto-immunity is the health of the health of the digestive system and more specifically the integrity of the intestinal membrane. The overwhelming majority of the immune tissue is located at the border of the intestines. When the lining, the membrane at the intestinal border, is compromised larger proteins can leak into the blood stream and lymphatic circulation causing an upregulation in immune activity. This leads in turn to more exposure to proteins capable of driving molecular mimicry, and as a result an increased risk of developing or exacerbating auto-immune conditions. The immune system as a whole is also more active, causing the differentiation of new immune cells into highly reactive cells called Th17 cells rather than the peace-keeper T regulatory cells that support self-tolerance. The important take home is that if you're worried about auto-immune conditions then you have more power over the situation than you think. Just because it's in your family doesn't mean you have to get it, and if you have an autoimmune condition there are probably quite a few actionable steps left to reduce your symptoms and improve your long term quality of life. For a comprehensive deep dive into this material, watch our video below. Covid Support Through Vitamin D Testing and What Chinese Philosophy says about our divided society.1/30/2022 It's been a ride, now what?Covid: where we go from here.
Covid has redefined how we live, how we interact, and how we raise our kids. But at the same time, even though the way we connected has changed, the content of those interactions has stayed the same. The fundamentals about what our society, our culture, and our community means has remained and in the process of conveying that meaning through new channels, we have solidified the core truths about our oneness. We thrive on love. The more connections we make, the more people we hold in our hearts, the richer our lives are. We’ve felt the missing connections and the skipped visits. If absence makes the heart grow fonder, our absence from one another’s physical space has reminded us of the value of closeness. We talk with so much more than our voices. The mass masking of society has revealed the importance of those random smiles as we’re out and about. We’ve all been dialing in our eye smiles and experiencing the vast amounts of important information our expressions pass out into the world. So many people realize now that they have worked silently to soothe the world around them by simply smiling at it. They look forward to being able to share that again. What Can Chinese Medicine tell us about Our Divided Culture?We are divided. In Chinese Medicine we talk a great deal about the interaction of opposing forces. The belief that everything, at its core, can be viewed as an interaction of yin and yang is the central truth that allows the complexity and nuance of Chinese Medicine to exist. With an elegance and a subtly that can comprehend and address symptoms from the psyche to the psoas, Chinese Medicine starts at this simple truth. At its most basic, yang represents fire/heat/dynamic movement while yin represents cold/ice/stability/stillness. Our natural world, our bodies and even our society consists of myriad interactions, exchanges and transformations between these two forces. The Taoist philosophers that laid the foundations for this medicine observed these two forces at work in all things and established basic rules for how they interact. Certain general observations can be made. For example, when a yang or yin nature pushes to an extreme, it turns into its opposite. When yang burns too bright and hot it turns cold (for example when a fire exhausts all the available fuel). Yin can consume yang and vice versa. In a medical sense this is represented by someone driven by stress and anxiety to movement and action (yang) that depletes their hormone synthesis capacity (yin) leading to the tell tale symptoms of HPA axis disruption (insomnia, fatigue, irritability, systemic symptoms of disfunction). Yin/yang is one way to talk about the self regulating systems that are present in all biological systems and in all complex metasystems. The interaction and depletion of yin and yang cause changes in a complex system that ultimately results in a correction of the imbalance. The sticking point though is that yin and yang need to interact for this self-correction to occur. When yin and yang no longer interact and work to self correct that is known as “separation of yin and yang”. It means the dynamic principles of life are no longer active. It means death. Considering our society and the division that exists within us now, that’s the concern. As division and separation increases, the capacity for the self-correcting interplay of opposing ideas and forces gets less traction. Dialogue and the exchange of ideas is what allows for the interplay of yin and yang. The interaction doesn’t have to be about the issues that are dividing us. Simple exchange is a place to start. It’s up to all of us to keep the conversations going. What’s New at Cotati Community Acupuncture? We’re comfortably established in our new location right next to La Plaza park in downtown Cotati. There have been countless woodworking projects to make it our own and more still to come. It’s a beautiful, peaceful and healing space with dedicated space for community acupuncture, private treatments, massage, consultations, and our custom herbal pharmacy. 50% off Vitamin D Testing.Studies have been fairly consistent that Vitamin D status is an important factor in Covid response. Studies show the severity of a covid infection is influenced by the patients’ covid status: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.736665/full This may be related to the function vitamin D performs as a messaging hormone regulating immune response. In one study vitamin D was found to regulate the rampant inflammation and damage the immune system inflicts on the lung tissue in a covid infection: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/study-shows-how-vitamin-d-could-halt-lung-inflammation-in-covid-19 In another study vitamin D eliminated the risk of death from covid and nearly eliminated the chances of being sent to the ICU: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7456194/ Like all nutrients in the body, more isn’t always better. In patients with sufficient levels of vitamin D or even above the target levels, supplementation with vitamin D is NOT ADVISED. In order to identify your vitamin D status we are offering half off vitamin D testing from today through February 14th. Stop in or call to set yourself up. 8099 La Plaza Suite H Cotati, CA 94931 When something is off about your health, what does your doctor do? Most doctors (thankfully not all), will prescribe a medication based on the symptoms you are having: lisinipril for your blood pressure, a statin for your cholesterol, maxalt to prevent your monthly migraines, metformin for your elevating blood sugars, ambien for your sleep and, just for good measure, some prozac for your depression and fatigue. That’s an awful lot, but surprisingly, it’s not uncommon.
This system of medicine doesn’t view you as a person with a complex physiology. You’re a list of symptoms. It isn’t healthcare because that would be focussed on improving your health. This is management of your illness. It should be called sick-care. Functional Medicine approaches it differently. It doesn’t look to treat your symptoms. It looks for an underlying common root that connects your symptoms. This takes careful investigation. Your practitioner needs to untie the knots that have been formed from poor diet, genetics, emotions, exposure to toxins, and other factors. We may order additional blood tests beyond what your doctor orders so we can identify not just what’s wrong, but why. The myriad symptoms can usually be traced back to a few basic root causes. A situation like that described above can occur when poor diet and lack of exercise cause sugars to accumulate in the body. The biological systems within our bodies are interrelated and delicate. Everything’s connected. When one system is damaged that spreads dysfunction into other systems. The rising sugars damage the machinery of energy production. Cholesterol and triglycerides also increase as the body looks for places to store all the extra energy. As enzymatic function is impacted by excessive blood sugars, inflammation starts increasing too. Nutritional deficiencies from poor diet drive inflammation even higher. As your blood sugars are driven up and down throughout the day by sugar rich snacks, your stress hormones are pushed up and down too. You start to experience alternating cranky periods followed by energy crashes. The rest of the hormones get thrown off by this roller coaster of stress hormones. As a result you feel exhausted all day, but can’t sleep at night. Menstrual cycles can be affected, causing menstrual migraines. Even though these are all different symptoms, you can see that they all can be traced back to a few issues in the fundamental functioning of your body. Your Functional Medicine practitioner will get you eating foods that will supply steady energy through the day so your metabolism can stabilize. A relaxation program and an adrenal support supplement can help to bring your wild stress hormone swings back to normal. Adding a high quality multi-vitamin will replace the nutrients that have been lost through poor diet. Lifestyle support such as relaxation techniques and refining your sleep habits would round out a successful functional medicine program for a patient like this. All of your body’s systems are interrelated. If you don’t address these root causes of illness and disease then you are just covering up symptoms while the underlying health continues to erode. Of all the health conditions that we routinely see, hypertension is one of the most common and thankfully one of the easiest to improve. Once you know where to look, it responds extremely quickly to simple dietary changes.
It’s an unfortunate thing about western medicine that the treatment of a symptom often results in a worsening of the overall health of the patient. While blood pressure medications reduce high blood pressure, many also result in negative impacts on other body systems and the whole person suffers. Addressing hypertension through diet change however, reduces the severity of that single symptom while elevating the overall health of the patient. Most of our patients who follow this protocol for hypertension end up being able to come off of their blood pressure medication within between 2 and 6 months. You should never stop a prescribed medication without first consulting with your doctor. For many medications there are establish dosing reductions that need to take place. Whenever my patients come off of their medications, it is always in coordination with their doctor’s office. Here’s one patient’s experience: L.M. had blood pressure that was routinely above 180 systolic. She was a former nurse so she knew how important it was to get her blood pressure under control and she diligently did everything her doctors told her. Unfortunately, her doctor wasn’t able to control it. He referred her to a Cardiologist. Her Cardiologist tried multiple medications with no change. He tried combining medications but still her blood pressure wasn’t changing. With all the usual mainstream options exhausted, she came to see me at the suggestion of her son who was also a patient. We made this simple intervention in her diet and within weeks her blood pressure was under control and remains there today. Her Cardiologist was in disbelief and actually angry with how quickly her hypertension resolved. I suppose that’s understandable after all his effort. It’s simple nutrition but surprisingly very few western doctors, Cardiologists included, receive comprehensive training in nutrition. The good news is that this protocol can easily and safely be done for most patients. (As with most dietary interventions please consult your health care provider prior to starting. This is especially true if you suffer from a kidney or heart condition.) Step One: Write down everything you eat and drink in a normal day. Step Two: Calculate the amount of potassium you get in that standard day. (Click the button below to download a form to help you find and track those numbers) Download Form Here Here’s another resource to find more potassium contents for different foods: https://nutritiondata.self.com). Okay, let’s take a moment and talk about the science. Sodium and potassium operate as a ratio. If sodium is too high relative to potassium, you’ll get hypertension, if your potassium is too low relative to sodium, you’ll also get hypertension. What’s important is the ratio between the two. When patients track their potassium at the start of this protocol I typically see numbers between 1,000 and 2,000 mg per day. That’s a big problem. The recommended daily allowance is between 3,500mg and 4,700mg. Not only are most people deficient, they are getting less than half of what is recommended! Since we don’t get nearly enough potassium to start with, in order to get the ratio of sodium to potassium to the point where it will reduce blood pressure we’d need to eat so little sodium that it would actually cause new problems. A National Academies of Science meta-analysis found exactly this. The sodium intake recommended for years by the American Medical Association was not only not helping hypertension, but was actually making people worse by causing increased triglycerides and increased inflammation.) The obvious solution is to increase the potassium intake in order to normalize that sodium/potassium ratio (ideally, restoring it closer to what we are intended to get, what we’ve been getting in our diets going back millennia.) Once you increase your potassium your blood pressure responds rapidly. Studies have repeatedly shown this to be an effective strategy. (I wrote about this subject at length in 2017 click here to read the entire article. Okay, time for step three, but first, a crucial note: Do not take potassium supplements! There are two reasons for this, but most importantly, taking potassium in a supplement makes it possible, and even easy, to take too much. That can and will result in dangerous, possibly fatal heart arrhythmias for many people. Get your potassium only from food unless specifically recommended by your doctor! The other reason is a little more complicated. Think about it this way: If you are that deficient in potassium, do you think there are other nutrients that you are also deficient in? Americans are notoriously deficient in magnesium, zinc, fiber and vitamin C just to name a few. When you get your potassium from whole foods, you will be increasing your intake those other nutrients as well. A lot of them (like magnesium and naturally occurring Nitric Oxide precursors) will also help to lower your blood pressure and protect your cardiovascular system. Okay, ready for the fun part? Step Three: Now, using the form, shoot for between 3,500 and 4,700 mg per day. You’ll notice that a lot of the foods that are highest in potassium are fruits and vegetables. What’s helped a lot of patients navigate this is to buy as many single serving fruits and vegetables as will fit into the vegetable drawer of their fridge, think carrots, oranges, bananas, celery, pears, apples, bell peppers, plums, and peaches. Whenever you’re hungry for a snack just grab another piece of fruit. Shoot for having 4 servings of fruits and vegetables as snacks each day then have a serving with each meal. That will bring you to 7 servings for the day. Not bad, and on average you’ll be up to between 2,500-3,500mg of potassium already. Add in the starches with your meals - (especially good sources are quinoa and potatoes) and you’ll be right around your target. Follow this protocol exactly as described and within between 2-5 days you should already notice a change and within 2-4 weeks you should be able to easily maintain your blood pressure in the normal range. Enjoy watching your blood pressure drop, and enjoy the feeling of being in charge of your own health! |
Kieran Jones MTCM L.Ac.I'm Kieran, clinician and owner of Cotati Community Acupuncture. I'm an acupuncturist, herbalist, and functional medicine practitioner for the past 14 years. I have a deep curiosity in health, biology, culture, medicine, history, and a healthy obsession with the pursuit of the perfect state of health. Archives
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