Green Health Spot

Is Your Furniture Making You Sick?

It just might be that your furniture is contributing to illnesses in you, your kids or your pets.  The Friends of the Earth, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting awareness of environmental concerns, has recently tested 350 pieces of furniture and found that the ones produced in California have excessively high amount of Halogenated fire retardants.  California has the country's strictest laws on flame retardants in furniture produced and sold within the state. 

Halogenated fire retardants have been linked to cancer, birth defects, hormone disruption, reproductive and neurological disorders, ADHD, learning disorders, and reproductive problems.  The halogenated fire retardants get into the air and are inhaled into via house dust.  The chemicals then build up in body tissue and fat cells which then can be passed from mother to child via placenta, cord blood and breast milk.  Not only are your children most at risk for the toxic effects of these flame retardant chemical, so are your dogs and cats.  In fact, the EPA has recently found that domestic house cats have the greatest concentration of halogenated fire retardants in their bodies.  This may help to explain the skyrocketing numbers of hyperthyroidism recently seen in house cats in the past 30 years.  Hyperthyroidism is one of the leading causes of house cat death.

The study indicates that a large percentage of California furniture are off-gassing into our living environments creating a virtual toxic cloud of chemicals that we inhale and then store in our bodies affecting our health.  California's strict fire retardant laws are unnecessary if alternative, less flammable and more natural materials are used in furniture manufacturing.  In a study released in October 2007, California households have 3-8 times the concentration of chemicals in household dust compared to other states.  On average US homes have 10 times the concentration of chemicals in households than that of European households. Maybe this fact is partially to blame for the fattening of Americans.  Our exposure to hormone disruptors certainly play a role in the overweight American as do fast foods, sedentary lifestyles and junk food. Learn more about killer couches from this Download from Friends of the Earth.

If you live in California, write Assemblyman Mike Leno in support of AB706 the Crystal Golden-Jefferson Furniture Safety and Fire Prevention Act to keep dangerous chemicals off our furniture.   

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What's up with Cruise Ships?

Another cruise ship is reporting an outbreak of Norovirus.  Norovirus is a family of virus that causes a very uncomfortable and vacation ruining illness that includes nausea, diarrhea and vomiting for 24-60 hours and is highly contagious even after your symptoms have disappeared.  There is little one can do about the symptoms after the onset of the virus which takes about 24 hours after contamination.  The symptoms of Norovirus are more commonly know as "food poisoning" but often it is not just contaminated food from unwashed hands that are causing that miserable infection.  Norovirus are highly contagious with very little virus on a surface being required to start the cascade of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and the curious desire to die on the bathroom floor.  No matter, in 1-2 days you can be feeling much better but you are still contagious for up to 3 days by shedding virus as you move around. 

There has been a stunning increase of cruise ship outbreaks of norovirus since 2002.  Prior to 2002, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) there were about 4-5 outbreaks of norovirus or bacterial infections per year on cruise ships.  In 2002, the number of outbreaks increased to 21 with a whopping 34 outbreaks in 2006.  In 2008 there have been 6 outbreaks already and it's barely the end of February.  In one case last November almost 14% of the passengers got sick on a Norwegian Cruise Line cruise where almost more than 300 people got sick. 

The CDC has recommendations on how to keep yourself healthy on one of these cruises including a detailed document on how to wash your hands appropriately.  I thought that I should add one very important point that I've found to be useful in keeping myself and my patients healthy when they travel. This is to ensure that you have good gut immunity and to avoid the use of unnecessary or frequent antibiotics which lower your own protective flora in your gut.  This protective flora will both work toward keeping your immune system working well in your digestive system so that you are less likely to catch a gut wrenching virus (sorry for the pun) as well as be very protective from getting bacterial infections to boot.  Yogurt with live cultures and taking a probiotic with at least 50-75 billion lactobacillus acidophilus and bifidobacteria for 2-4 weeks prior to your cruise will be immensely helpful in increasing your gut immunity. 

If you know you are susceptible to stomach virus and food poisoning, be fastidious about hand washing and choose vacation destinations that does not involve close quarters. Prevention is certainly the key and this starts with working to improve your own immunity.

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Are Anti-Depressants Helpful for Your Depression?

At the risk of siding with Tom Cruise on the very controversial subject of anti-depressants I came across some recent research that might suggest that he might have been onto something after all.  A recently published international study reviewed 47 different research studies comparing the use of SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) like Prozac and Efexor showed that the newest group of anti-depressants were only marginally effective in a small group of severely depressed patients.  The group did a meta-analysis of both published and unpublished studies and found that there was virtually no clinical significance in the use of these anti-depressants in mild to moderate depression over placebo (dummy pill). 

It seems that the researchers found that the improvements found in the studies could be attributed to a diminished response to the placebo rather than an increased effect of the medication being tested.  This study was initially done because previous meta-analyses (or group analysis) of published studies indicated that there was only moderate improvement in depression with the use of SSRI anti-depressants.  With this study, the researchers looked at a wider scope of published and unpublished studies. This study was published in PLoS medicine Journal to be submitted to the FDA for evaluation.  The companies that produced the medications strongly refute the new research findings but this new finding brings up the question "Are you feeling better because you believe you should feel better?  Or are you feeling better because of the medication?"  Are anti-depressants really helpful?  Or is there a strong placebo effect going on? 

I'm not suggesting that you get off your anti-depressants right now (always consult a doctor about this), but for mild to moderate depression there seems to be little indication that your anti-depressant is better than taking a sugar pill and believing it is an anti-depressant.  I, for one, see depressed patients in my practice and know that there are various approaches to the depression like using EFT (emotional freedom technique), acupressure/acupuncture, herbs and omega-3 fatty acids, counseling just to name a few successful therapies. If you are contemplating an anti-depressant consider the possible underlying cause and understand that there are many possible options open to the mildly to moderately depressed individual.

Some alternative considerations for causes of depression are hormonal imbalance, unresolved emotional trauma, unspoken or unacknowledged feelings (especially anger), omega 3 fatty acid deficiencies, b-vitamin deficiencies, digestive problems, amino acid deficiencies.  In Naturopathic medicine, we always encourage trying to deal with the underlying cause of a problem rather than going straight for a medication to deal with the symptom.  Usually the symptom is present to identify an imbalance.  Once the imbalance is rectified then the symptom disappears. 

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Do Heavy Metals Lead to Stress?

Well, the better question is "Does Lead produce anxiety and an exaggerated stress response?"  I've known for years that patients with anxiety will tend to have higher than normal heavy metal tests.  Both Lead and Mercury will play into this concern about stress and anxiety.  I've also seen many patients who are prone to panic attacks or anxiety recover due to heavy metal chelation or removal of heavy metals from their system.

There is increasing evidence that children with higher lead levels in their blood will tend to have an exaggerated cortisol response mediated by their adrenal glands.  It was found that the cortisol, a hormone produced by the adrenal glands, tends not to drop over time as is usual in the normal fight or flight response.  According to an article in the Environmental Health Perspectives the Hypothalamic-Pituitary Axis seems to be profoundly affected by the presence of lead in the body of children.  During the testing period they stressed the children by submerging an arm in ice water for a minute and then measuring their cortisol output over the next hour.  Usually cortisol output will spike in response to a stressor and then come down quickly as the stressful event is removed.  This was not the case in the children with higher lead in their bodies compared to children who did not have higher lead.  This report continues to reiterate the point that there really is no safe level of lead in the body. 

This report corroborates my clinical findings that patients with a high urine toxic heavy metals test indicating higher levels of lead and/or mercury will benefit from heavy metal chelation to safely remove the lead or other heavy metals.  Once this is done, the anxiety and an improved response to stress ensues.  Just a note that conventional blood lead levels are usually insufficient as a mode of testing as the "normal" is currently set too high for adequate understanding of overall body load.  Also, blood is not the optimal way to test for heavy metals as they rarely reside in blood for more than a few days.  We already know that cardiovascular disease risk is increased by the presence of lead as is the issue of lowered IQ, and behavioral problems have already been associated with lead exposure in children.  I strongly believe as more research in done the results will support the clinical findings that I've had in my office that overall lead, mercury, arsenic and other heavy metals are responsible for numerous 'chronic' complaints and diseases.

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Antibiotic Resistance in Strep with Just One Course of Treatment

This week I'm on the beautiful island of Kauai for a continuing medical education (CME) conference on Infectious Diseases.  UCSF (University of California, San Francisco) is presenting the CME conference and conveniently structured the sessions in the morning so we are all free to enjoy the natural beauty of this lovely island in the afternoon.  I'm dedicating this week's posts to updating you on the appropriate usage of antibiotics for various and common illnesses I see in my practice.

Here is something very interesting and concerning that was published in Lancet in 2007.  It seems that one use of Azithromycin (3 day course) or Clarithromycin (7 day course) can lead to the development of Azithromycin or Clarithromycin resistant Streptococcus pneumonia for at lease 6 months after the single course of treatment. After 6 months 50% of the Strep bacteria that was isolated was resistant to Azithromycin or Clarithromycin over the use of placebo (20%). 

Additionally, in the use of Clarithromycin (common names: Biaxin, Klaricid, Claripen, Claridar and Clacid) there seems to be additional cross resistance to other antibiotic resistance such as to tetracycline. 

The take home message is to ensure that you have as healthy an immune system so that you don't end up with upper respiratory infections that will require these common antibiotics.  They are commonly recommended for sinusitis, ear infections, bronchitis and throat infections.  Check out my previous posts on tips on how to stop a Cold or Flu in its tracks parts one and part two.  Also, in the past I've spoken about how to recover from a cold more quickly and how to get rid of your headcold fast.  Stay tuned for more tricks and tips on what to do to prevent or recover from future ear, sinus or lung infections.  Of course, you should go see your doctor if you are very sick or know that you are immunocompromised or are in a lot of discomfort.  Try not to use too many doses of NSAIDS like Tylenol, Advil/Motril, aspirin to decrease fever because it reduces your own body's ability to recover from the infection faster. 

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A Trick For Restless Legs Syndrome

A common complaint that is pretty easy to remedy is Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS).  Amazingly the medications available on the market are less or equal to my simple and natural recommendations for RLS. I do have to admit that sometimes identifying the underlying cause of the RLS and thus choosing the right remedy is a bit tricky but the remedies themselves are quickly evident on what is effective.  I've listed what I would do in order of preference. 

1. Get tested for anemia.  Have both iron and ferritin (ferritin below 20 can cause RLS) as well as a Complete Blood Count checked for iron deficiency anemia.  This is one of the common underlying causes.  If you don't feel like going to the doctor to get tested then try taking an iron supplement for a week and see how your RLS feels.  If better, then go get tested for the anemia as you will need to know how long to keep on the iron.  No, you should not just take iron if it is not indicated for long periods of time. 
2. Magnesium supplement.  This is my favorite and easiest to do remedy.  Take 200-400 mg of Magnesium citrate at bedtime and see how your legs feel.  This will work amazingly well for leg cramps and Charley horse's in the middle of the night as well.
3. Cal/Mg supplements.  A calcium and magnesium supplement can work well together, usually twice the calcium to the magnesium.  Make sure you take an absorbable form like citrate, aspartate or glycinate.  You will know in a few days if this is the solution.  Don't take calcium alone, alway couple with magnesium as we discussed previously about heart attacks and calcium supplementation
4. Folic Acid.  I use high doses here.  Usually in milligrams. Check with your doctor about this because too much folic acid will lead to depletion of vitamin B12 and B6.  Foods high in folic acid like dark leafy greens help here.
5. Zinc/copper.  Usually 50mg of zinc with about 5mg of copper.  Relief can happen be seen in a few days.  Foods high in zinc are even better like pumpkin seeds.
6. Soap in the bed.  Are you doing a double take here?  I don't know why this works. I have patients that swear this works for RLS but not always for leg cramps.  What's the harm in trying this?  It's cheap, you don't have to take any pills and it is a temporary fix in a pinch...like while traveling.  Don't get a soap with fragrance in it, won't work.  Ivory or some other natural brand.  The only bummer about this is that there is a soap in the bed.  Keep it by your knees while you sleep.  Understand that this does not get to the bottom of the problem.

Let me know which of these remedies work for you. One usually does.  Be patient and try each one methodically, one is bound to work.  Just remember that for leg cramps, usually the magnesium will get rid of both RLS and cramping.  Here's to your good night sleep!

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The Health Benefits of Sex

In honor of Valentine's day I decided to talk about the health benefits of sex.  I encounter a number of married couples who rarely have sex due to their schedules and children and stress.  Today, I'd like to make the case to get busy for those of your out there who feel that you don't have time for sex.  There are the obvious physical exercise benefits associated with sex that can be healthy for your heart and cardiovascular system.  But let's face it, how many people are actually having those toe tingling, passionate, really connected sexual experiences?  What?  You're not?  Well, it might just be a matter of attitude and perspective.  There are certainly levels of sexual encounters.  Although most people would agree that consensual sexual experiences can never be characterized as bad, but let's not just settle for "not bad" OK?

"I have a Headache!"

Well, actually if you have sex and can achieve orgasm, you would find that your headache will likely disappear.  This is due to the production of oxytocin, a hormone that significantly reduces pain in the body, produced in the brain.  Oxytocin is partly responsible for the orgasm that you have and the subsequent reduction of aches and pains in the body.

Better sense of Smell

This again, due to the production of another hormone, prolactin.  The surging of prolactin during sex stimulates the production of more neurons in the olfactory center.

Decreased Stress, Improved Sleep and Better Mood

Well, generally this is self explanatory for anyone who has ever had sex before.  The human body responds to touch and craves it.  The touch is healing and mandatory for all humans and the more touch that is given, the healthier one can become. The human touch (or the touch of other loved ones such as pets) decreases stress and relaxes the sympathetic nervous system to allow for a better night sleep.

Increases Life Span

As long as you are practicing safe sex, a study published by the British Medical Journal showed that you men can reduce their risk of overall death by 50% if they had a higher orgasmic frequency.  At least twice a week.  I didn't find research for women but my bet is that it has a similar effect of the life span of women as well.

Decreased risk of Prostate Cancer

According to the British Journal of Urology International men in their 20's can reduce their risk of prostate cancer by 30% if they ejaculate at least 5 times per week.  Infrequent ejaculation in men tends toward stagnation in the prostate and thus increases the risk of cancer in the region. 

Less Depression

Of course we don't need research to tell us that when we are being loving toward another and feeling loved, we feel much better emotionally.  It has to do with feeling less lonely and more connected to another.  It can make all the difference to a person, that sense of feeling loved.  Of course, if we all loved ourselves more and accepted ourselves more we would also find ourselves to be less depressed.

Improved Hormone Levels

Both estrogen and testosterone are improved during regular sexual activity.  This can lead to overall healthier body including stronger bones, less aging signs, better brain function and more stamina.  You can think of sex as a regular part of your "fountain of youth" regimen.

The list goes on an on.  Suffice it to say, love and sex can go a long way toward a healthier you.  In the past I've talked about the Health Benefits of Love, now you get a peek as to why you should have more sex in your life.  Wonder why Viagra and other erectile dysfunction medications are so incredibly popular?  Maybe it's related to a subconscious desire to connect, to love, to be loved and to just have fun.  Have a great Valentine's day.

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Common Foods That Can Keep You From Losing Weight

A common mistake that I find patients will often do is to eat the wrong things and expect to lose weight.  Most of us know that calories and keeping simple carbohydrates and fats under control are key to weight loss.  But did you know that some vegetables and grains can keep you from losing those last few pounds?  Here are the some of the most common vegetable consumption mistakes that people will make when trying to lose weight. 

Goitrogenic foods are those foods that slow the functioning of the thyroid gland.  The thyroid is in charge of maintaining your metabolism and during weight loss you really don't want to have your thyroid slow its function. There are a number of common foods found in our diet that if high on you list of frequently eaten foods can contribute to your inability to lose weight.

Soy products

When we think of vegetarians we usually think of the beanpole thin people who expound on the virtues of tofu burgers and wheatgrass juice.  Well think again.  There are actually many overweight vegetarians. This is often due to the soy-laden diet of veggie meats, tofu, soy milk and soy protein drinks in their diet.  Many dieters, especially those who have been drinking soy protein shakes for breakfast, lunch and dinner will find that they are either gaining weight or having a lot of trouble dropping those last few pounds.  There are a couple of reasons for this curious paradox.  First, soy products, especially unfermented soy products like soy milk, tofu and the plethora of veggie meats out there are goitrogenic and significantly affect your thyroid's ability to function optimally.  Second, these same soy products can affect your blood sugar levels and mineral absorption necessary for optimal immune and pancreatic function.  Better choices are fermented soy products or to get your protein source from other non-goitrogenic foods.

Cruciferous Vegetables

These include the foods in the mustard family like broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, mustard, kale, turnips.  Heating or cooking of these vegetables will partially inactivate the goitrogens.  Three or so servings per week of these vegetables are fine as they have a lot of value in preventing various cancers. However, if you are trying to lose weight, keep your consumption to a minimum during dieting and if you eat these vegetables make sure they are cooked.  Cole slaw and lots of raw broccoli and cauliflower are out.

High Fructose Corn Syrup

Actually most corn starch products in the form of food additives are often hidden in various ingredients and are difficult to get out of the diet without some conscious effort.  If you are successful at removing these foods out of your diet you just may find that your weight loss can be quite effortless. 

If you are trying to lose weight and have not had your thyroid completely checked follow-up with your doctor to ensure proper testing of your thyroid.  Remember just testing for thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) is not always enough to detect thyroid sluggishness or dysfunction.  Also, try to fully understand some of the complexities of treating thyroid and adrenal dysfunction so that you can help your doctor help you attain your optimal weight goals.

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Finally Getting Rid of Toe Nail Fungus without Drugs

This is one of the easiest Naturopathic cures that I know.  It is for one of the most stubborn problem that we can go through which is toe or fingernail fungus.  It is almost impossible to get rid of otherwise and people can have it for years.  The only hard part is to stick with it over a number of weeks.  I've given this self-help cure to a number of patients and it is flawless if you are persistent.  It usually takes about 3 weeks of doing this nightly to remedy the situation.  You cannot have nail polish on the toe or fingernail that you are treating.  One woman I treated did this technique and put on nail polish every morning and took it off every night because she hated the look of the fungus and used the nail polish to cover the unsightly thickening and color. 

Keep doing this technique until you see a layer of new nail growth that does not have the fungus.  It usually takes about 3 weeks to get there.  Don't stop early because it won't work.  This technique works better than the medications on the market available by prescription and doesn't have the annoying side effect of liver toxicity. 

Are you ready for the technique?  Here it is:

How Junk Food leads to High Blood Pressure and Diabetes

Yesterday we talked about how fast foods lead to inflammation in the body equivalent to the inflammation found in your body tissues during illness.  There is also research that indicates that processed foods like pre-made frozen dinners, chips, sodas, cookies, crackers and fast foods also leads to high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.  We all know that junk foods contain a lot of sugar, unhealthy fats and high fructose corn syrup and can eventually make us fat.  Even before you get fat, eating a lot of processed foods leads to the start of high blood pressure and metabolic syndrome or pre-diabetic symptoms.

One reason for the relationship between junk food, high blood pressure (hypertension) and diabetes (not to mention cancers and obesity) is because the processing of the foods removes a lot of the natural nutrients originally in the food.  A very important nutrient that we have addressed before and Americans are increasingly becoming deficient in is magnesium.  Magnesium deficiency has been related to the inflammation that is starts the high blood pressure problems and compounds the insulin resistance in diabetics.  Initially, you might find that you tend to have lower than normal blood pressure if you eat a highly refined diet and during this time the blood pressure is kept under control due to the initial inflammation response initiated by the immune system.  Eventually, the inflammation will lead to oxidative stress which then leads to changes in the arteries like less flexibility and build up of plaque.  A couple of weeks ago we also spoke about how magnesium deficiency leads to heart attacks and osteoporosis.  Calcium supplementation without the balance of high quality magnesium will lead to an increase risk of both heart disease and osteoporosis.  Now we are starting to see the cost to our health if we continue to consume highly refined foods.

High-fructose corn syrup and other processed high-fructose products also leads to type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.  It too starts with low blood sugar events as a normal insulin reaction to extremely high infusions of sugar into the blood.  Eventually, the cells become less sensitive to the high sugar diet and become insulin resistant.  Also the pancreas' ability to produce insulin also starts to diminish.  Metabolic syndrome is a group of symptoms including blood sugar problems (high and low), hypertension, cholesterol and triglyceride problems.  This syndrome is partially due to the inflammation that we had previously mentioned.  It is also due to nutrient deficiencies (vitamin, mineral and amino acids) and due to the production of reactive oxygen species (aka oxidative stress) resulting from the immune response.  Triglycerides go up and vitamin E (an anti-oxidant) goes down and overall control of fat in the blood stream decreases. 

Despite how complex this all sounds it is relatively easy to remedy.  Magnesium deficiency can be remedied by increasing magnesium rich foods in your diet.  Keeping your kidneys healthy will also ensure that you don't lose a lot of valuable minerals through your kidneys like magnesium and potassium. Here in an easy 3 step plan to get you on the road to preventing diabetes and high blood pressure in the future:

1. Eliminate high fructose corn syrup from your diet.
2. Increase the intake of various (different vegetables will give you different nutrients) dark leafy greens (kale, collards, swiss chard, dandelion greens, beet greens, turnip greens, broccoli, arugula etc.)  Increase whole grains in your diet such as whole wheat, oats, millet, amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat, spelt, brown rice etc.
3. Reduce the intake of highly processed foods.  This includes fast foods and foods with many ingredients that you cannot pronounce or need a dictionary to define.  Preservatives, nitrites, artificial colors and flavors also help you identify "highly" processed foods.

Just a reminder that fruits or natural fruit juice which contains fructose is tremendously different from high-fructose products derived from corn.  Don't get confused on this point.  I'm not telling you to stop fruit or fruit juice, just high-fructose products.  A really good fruit to eat are blueberries due to their high anti-oxidant value.  Any fruit that has vibrant colors will give you plenty of nutrient and support for your health.  After all, the old adage "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" still hold true, just make it an organic apple and eat it with peel.  Most of the nutrients are in the apple peel. Here's to your continuing good health!

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Bad News for Fast Food Fans

Did you know that just one fast-food meal can start a cascade of inflammation in your body (as if you had an infection), increase your blood pressure, constrict your blood vessels, produce free-radicals that damage your arteries and increase insulin production which worsens pre- or active diabetic states?  A research article from the Journal of the American College of Cardiology has found just that scenario with eating only one fast food high fat, high sugar meal.  Actually if you have a meal that spikes your blood sugar for a few hours the cardiovascular effects can last up to 6 (that's SIX) days!  Just for a few hours of high blood sugar!  The high blood sugar also reduces your immune system's ability to fight off infection easily thus putting you more at risk for chronic or repeated infections. 

The good news is that in the same study, one high fiber, high protein meal with fruits and vegetables seems to counteract the bad done by the fast food meal.  A little bit of alcohol seems to enhance this positive result.  It's true that we all like a great burger, fries and a milkshake every once in awhile.  If you are eating such a meal try to be conscientious to ensure that the other meals that day are healthier with less sugar, more vegetables and lower carbohydrates.  It does take practice and discipline to choose healthier options if you have a busy life or if you eat out a lot.  Learn some good food choices for you.  Healthier snack options and some planning will go a long way to help you stay healthy.  Many young people or thin people don't realize that they too are at risk for the heart disease that obese people are at risk for.  Thin people also get diabetes and heart disease.  By making choices daily that support good eating habits your personal chances of developing diabetes in the future really reduces. 

Foods such as beans, lentils, lean proteins, whole grains, dark leafy greens, multi-colored whole fruits, nuts and seeds and a glass or red wine and a cup of green tea can help your heart stay vital and your blood sugar stay even.  Organic fruits and vegetables have higher nutrient content than their conventionally grown counterparts. Keep adding to your variety of greens and fruits that you eat regularly to help you get the variety of nutrients that we all need.  The less processing the food goes through, the better for your health. 

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5 Great Healthy Snacks To-Go

Many people often ask me what healthy snacks they should eat.  The answer to this question often varies by person depending on your health, allergies, and nutritional needs.  I decided to make a list of my most favorite snacks for you and your kids.

1. Nut and Seed Trail mix.  I like to use raw walnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, Nori rice crackers, pecans, dried blueberries and coconut pieces.  Mix together and put into snack sized containers.  This is both healthy, high in antioxidants and proteins and tastes great.
2. Hard boiled eggs.  You can hard boil eggs by the dozen and keep them in the refrigerator for the week.  This is a quick and easy snack.  Keep a little seasoned salt nearby to sprinkle on your eggs.  Very portable.
3. Rice cakes with almond butter and apple slices.  This is a great combination.  The rice cakes stay crunchy and the almond butter with the apples taste great together.  Try using sunflower butter as well.  Both almond and sunflower butter have less allergenic than peanut butter.
4. Turkey & cheese roll-ups.  Nitrite free turkey slices coupled with organic cheddar cheese rolled up in a tortilla for a quick and portable after-school or before exercise snack.  You can add a spread of olive/fig tapenade, arugula leaves or spicy mustard to help with the creativity.
5. Sliced raw vegetables.  Red bell peppers, celery, carrot sticks, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, radishes.  Avocado half with a dash of salt and lemon.  Couple with hummus, bean dip, spinach dip or nut butters to add a bit of protein to keep you going through the day.

If you have a favorite healthy snack recipe or recommendation, please share.  You can comment to this post or e-mail the snack to me and I'll post it in the future.  Enjoy!

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Staying Asleep: Insomnia Prevention Trick

Do you have that annoying habit of waking in the middle of the night out of a dead sleep and suddenly being wide awake? You look at the clock and the time is 3am.  You've been asleep for a whopping 3 hours and your mind is racing with all the thoughts, concerns and ideas that continue to keep you up for another one to two more hours.  By the time you finally fall asleep you are all too soon woken up to your alarm, this time exhausted and groggy for hours after you wake.  Does this sound familiar? 

This type of insomnia where you are waking frequently during the night or waking early is quite common and for most people very easily remedied.  It takes a few nights to get your sleep regulated once you implement your sleep recovery plan but you should expect that within 2 weeks your sleep is back to normal.  The key to this plan is keeping your blood sugar even.  For the most part, the reason for waking in the middle of the night when you had no trouble falling asleep is because of your adrenal glands. 

Blood sugar fluctuations when they dip too low at night will cause your adrenal glands to send out cortisol (a stress hormone) which then wakes you up in the middle of the night, often with anxiety, racing mind and heart.  This will happen during times of high stress or times of fatigue.  Because your adrenal glands are weaker than normal, the blood sugar control is less stable therefore you are woken up at night by your stress hormones.  The key to fixing the insomnia has a lot to do with what you eat or drink during the day. 

Here is the easy plan to get refreshing sleep:

• Keep all electronic devices at least 4 feet from your body or unplug while you sleep.  EMF fields will disrupt quality sleep for many people.  Included in this is digital alarm clocks, clock radios, CD/iPod speakers, electric blankets.
• Eat a protein snack 1/2 hour before bed.  Can be a small handful of nuts, a bite or two of steak/chicken/fish from dinner, 1/4 cup whole milk yogurt, 1/4 cup cottage cheese, 2 ounces of cheddar cheese etc.  The key is small but protein/fat rich snack.  This will keep you from getting low blood sugar during the middle of the night.
• If you commonly wake in the middle of the night hungry keep a protein bar by your nightstand and take a couple of bites before trying to fall back asleep.  This is just a temporary thing while you are working on keeping your blood sugar level.
• Go to bed between 10pm and 12am.  These are the best times to fall asleep.
• Try to manage your schedule to allow yourself to wake naturally and refreshed.
• Avoid stimulants like coffee or caffeinated drinks.  This contributes to fluctuations in blood sugar and can affect the quality of your sleep at night.  Yes, this can happen even if you keep to your morning Starbuck's latte.
• Eat 3 protein rich meals, don't skip meals, and 3 protein rich snacks (morning snack, afternoon snack and before bed snack).  Don't choose snacks that have sugar, simple carbohydrates or are sweet. Do NOT skip a meal even if you are not hungry, try to eat a little something.
• Eat BEFORE you get hungry.
• No dessert after dinner.  Also keep dinner to lower carbohydrates.  Small amounts of potato, pasta, bread or rice will really help you in your recovery.

Remain on this regimen for 2-4 weeks and your blood sugar will stabilize and remain that way as long as you are not under too much stress.  If you sleep continues to be disturbed after you continue on the above regimen for a month, consult a doctor to help you balance your adrenals and blood sugar.  Also ask them to test your thyroid to rule out thyroid problems often associated with adrenal fatigue.

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Bug Sprays and Childhood Leukemia Risk

Since it's winter time and the rain has been almost non-stop here in northern California for the past 2 weeks the war against the ants has started in my office.  One morning I find ants overrunning my desk very excited about an unfinished cookie left on my desk from the day before. We used Windex to dissolve the ant trail and naturally disposed of the cookie but the question turns to what to do about the multitude of ants that we deal with every winter when it rains and every summer when the weather gets too hot. 

In our office we use ant traps that seems to be relatively effective and throw away anything that seems to even remotely resemble food.  Our battle with the prolific ants have gone on for years as I am sure you have or had a similar problems with ants, mosquitoes and other bugs.  Pesticides are used very liberally in many household environments and parents trying to get pregnant and who have young children should know about the relationship between childhood cancers such as acute leukemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas and the use of pesticides. 

It seems that household exposure to pesticides in one French study performed between 2003 and 2004 significantly increases the risk of children developing either acute leukemia or non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. This study considered the use of household sprays both indoor and outdoor by both the mother and the father of the child.  A child is about twice as likely to get acute leukemia or non-Hodgkin's lymphoma if the parent was exposed to pesticides during pregnancy. 

The study did not track pesticide consumption of the parent which are quite abundant in foods.  We have learned in past posts here on Green Health Spot that pesticides have been related to type 2 diabetes and almost 90% of pesticide exposure from non-organic fruits and vegetables can be related to the top 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables.  Also children living near vineyards and other agricultural communities where pesticides and herbicides are frequently used will likely be more at risk for these childhood cancers as well.  Keep yourself posted about possible exposure to pesticides for the health of yourself as well as your family.

Households with indoor/outdoor pets will find that dogs and cats can track in pesticides sprayed around your home.  You and  your kids can track in pesticides from the yard on your shoes as well.  Training yourself and your kids to remove your shoes at the door can help reduce the indoor contamination of pesticides and other environmental toxins.

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