LifeCare Chiropractic

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Diet Choices for Your Best Health

What Kind of Carbs Did YOU Have for Breakfast? 3 Things to Know

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It’s be awhile since I touched on the topic of good versus bad carbs, but it remains of critical importance.  And it’s not as simple as counting the carbs on the label.

If it was, we’d all just go for the bread with the “no carb” label and be done with it and damn the sucralose that’s probably hiding inside.

As a quick primer between the evil refined carbohydrates and the angelic whole grains, this is a summary from a previous blog article:

  • The whole grain contains the germ (the bulk of the protective nutrients), endosperm (the calories) and the bran (the fiber). To extend shelf life and increase palatability to the oblivious American public, the germ and bran is lopped off and we’re left with the endosperm–the calories minus some 90% of the phytonutrients that where present in the whole grain. The result is a devastating calorie rich/phytonutrient poor staple consumed by the vast majority of Americans. So “enriched wheat flour,” “sugar” and “high fructose corn syrup” all fall into this category.
  • It is rare that someone truly understands the distinctions between the whole grain and refined carbohydrate, but this understanding is critical to health.  Refined carbohydrates have been linked to pretty much every chronic disease, while whole grains generally protect.  Opposite ends of the spectrum.  Despite this clear difference and the very clear research that states that refined carbohydrates are pretty much evil, our national recommendations still do not tell us to avoid them.

Hopefully now you can begin to understand why bagels aren’t a good idea for breakfast and why most of the oatmeals are a far cry from being healthy.

When we refer to they glycemic index of foods, we are referring to how fast they show up as sugar in the blood stream.  Low GI means that sugar trickles slowly into your system, while a high GI level indicates that the sugar from that meal is pretty much in your blood by the time you even smell it.

This particular study looked at the effects of a high GI meal versus a low GI meal on certain parameters in the blood of a small group of volunteers.  In addition, researchers looked at how hungry they were 4 hours after the meal (around that time that you may be thinking about your next meal or even taking a quick look in the pantry).  Here’s what they found:

  1. Glucose was 2.4-fold greater after the high- than the low-GI meal.
  2. Plasma glucose was lower and reported hunger was greater 4 hours after the high- than the low-GI meal.
  3. The high-GI meal elicited greater brain activity centered in the right nucleus accumbens–the area of the brain related to addiction.

This means that starting the day with a poor choice for breakfast, such as a fast food croissant sandwich, poor quality oatmeal, Cheerios or most low-quality cereals will likely sabotage the REST OF YOUR DAY!  Of course, the same goes for all the meals of your day, but it seems to me that starting out on the right foot is the best option.

Chicken With a Side of Arsenic: 4 Reasons to Go Organic

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We can no longer hide behind the shield of ignorance.  The foods we are eating are killing us.  Slowly.

Orthorexia nervosa is the term used by some psychologists to refer to those of us who go out of our way to live healthy, unprocessed and organic.  While the Latin origins of the word “orthorexia” mean “correct diet,” the lifestyle associated with this has someone now become an actual psychological diagnosis (although not recognized in the new DSM-V).

One could argue that, 10,000 years ago, everyone would have fit the diagnosis.  It is the way we were MEANT to live.  But society has become so accepting of toxic foodstuff and exposures that anyone who does not accept them to some degree is pathologic.

Go figure.

For those of you not eating organic animal products, it’s time for a wake up call.  They should be avoided as much as possible.  There are already a variety of reasons that I have covered in previous blog post that can be read by clicking here.

Before we get to this article, we need to cover a short primer on the heavy metal arsenic.  Without going into too much detail, the mathmatical equation “arsenic = bad” should pretty much sum it up.  Kidney damage, cancer and death (arguably the worst of the 3…) are well known side effects, just to name a few.  Typical exposures are usually through water. but food can be a source as well.

Arsenic containing compounds are used often in the chicken industry (a compound called Roxarsone) to make the chickens grow faster.  Sounds like a great idea to me.  It’s a surprise the bodybuilding community hasn’t picked up on this fantastic idea themselves.  So what if it’s extremely toxic if it’ll help you get bigger faster??

But seriously, though…who EVER thought adding a toxic, carcinogenic (so carcinogenic that even the American Cancer Society agrees that it causes cancer) compound to our food supply?  Luckily as we’ll see from this particular study, organic chicken is a safer choice:

  1. Arsenic levels were TRIPLE the amount in conventional versus organic and antibiotic-free chicken (the organic was only slightly better).
  2. Roxarsone was detected in 20 of 40 conventional samples, 1 of 13 antibiotic-free samples, and none of the 25 organic samples.
  3. Researchers estimated that consumers of conventional chicken would ingest an additional 0.11 µg/day of arsenic compared with consumers of organic chicken.
  4. This increase in arsenic exposure could result in 3.7 additional lifetime bladder and lung cancer cases per 100,000 exposed persons.

While these numbers aren’t very large (3.7 cases out of 100,000 people), it is yet another piece of the puzzle of human chronic disease.  While you may think that this is hard to balance out against the high cost of organic chicken (Costco sells it for about $6/lb), it gets balanced out by smaller serving sizes, which you should be doing anyway.   A plant based lifestyle can still include chicken and beef, but only the higher quality variety.

Phytoestrogens Alter Adrenocortical Function – (11-19-01)

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Phytoestrogens Alter Adrenocortical Function

This study finds that the genistein and daidzein (both found in soy) lower cortisol levels and increase DHEA levels, essentially reversing the pregnonolone steal. The pregnonlone steel occurs when precursers in the adrenal cortex get shunted over to cortisol production instead of DHEA in times of chronic or extreme stress.

JCEM — Abstracts: Mesiano et al. 84 (7): 2443

Read entire article here

Food allergy/intolerance: associations with other manifestations of atopy – (11-29-01)

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Food allergy/intolerance: associations with other manifestations of atopy

This is another wonderful article packed full of interesting concepts. First is finding out just how common food allergy is in the general population. This article also gives some common food allergens found which includes certain nuts, milk and fruits. Another common theme arises here as well–systemic manifestation of food allergy resulting in reactions in the GI tract, skin and oral cavity. Skin reactions were found in 28.7% of the allergic patients. This brings to mind one of my patients with eczema whose PCP told her that food does not have any relation to her symptoms. According to this study that’s just plain not true. Any patient with dermatological problems should be put on an elimination diet to see if food allergies has any contribution to symptoms. What does the patient have to lose?? Maybe the skin lesions…. Synergy : Allergy 56 (12), 1172-1179

Read entire article here

Dietary fiber fraction of germinated barley foodstuff and the GI tract – (03-08-01)

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Dietary fiber fraction of germinated barley foodstuff and the GI tract

This study evaluates a fiber source (GBF) on the health and healing of colonocytes. The results were promising, identifying the fiber component of GBF as the protective factor (not the protein) and also confirming its ability to aid the healing of the cells of the colon. Butyrate is the substance produced when healthy GI flora digest fiber; it has shown the ability to protect colonocytes, help them heal and also help them differentiate properly (possibly avoiding cancerous changes). Remember, to be effective, the fiber AND the healthy flora have to be present…

Synergy Abstract

Read entire article here

Stereoacuity at age 3.5 y in children: pre-, postnatal dietary factors – (02-08-01)

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Stereoacuity at age 3.5 y in children: pre-, postnatal dietary factors

The idea that breastfeeding, which provides high levels of a the fatty acid DHA, which is responsible for healthy nervous system development, provides better development of visual acuity is not a new concept. The interesting part of this study is that mothers who ate diets high in fatty fish had a positive effect on their children as well.

AJCN — Abstracts: Williams et al. 73 (2): 316

Read entire article here

Dietary fat and the risk of age-related macular degeneration – (02-08-01)

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Dietary fat and the risk of age-related macular degeneration

In this study, total fat intake was associated with an increase in the risk of AMD; however, fish was shown to be protective, so it would appear that monounsaturated fats found in fish, olive oil and cannola oil are most likely protective, and saturated fats (found in most of the foods in typical Western diet…) will increase the risk. This is really not a surprising article. Add in antioxidants with an affinity for the retina such as bilberry to a diet consisting of several servings of fish per week, and I’m sure your risk of AMD will drop even more.

AJCN — Abstracts: Cho et al. 73 (2): 209

Read entire article here

Is Wine “Healthier” Than Other Drinks? – (01-27-01)

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Is Wine “Healthier” Than Other Drinks?

The idea of wine being healthy has been debated heavily. First, a clarification–red wine is the wine usually studied. Second, I firmly believe it is not the alcohol content, but rather, the bioflavanoids such as resveratrol from the red grapes (also found in peanuts) that offer the protective benefits. Considering that alcohol does increase your risk of certain types of cancer, skip the wine, eat lots of grapes and you’ll also get many other healthy substances and antioxidants.

Ann Intern Med. 2000;133:411-419 Wine may have protective effects beyond those associated with light alcohol consumption, according to findings of a pooled cohort study involving more than 24,000 subjects. The study is published in a recent issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. The investigation included 13,064 men and 11,459 women, 20 to 98 years of age, who were participants in the Copenhagen City Heart Study, the Copenhagen Male Study, and studies from the Copenhagen County Centre of Preventive Medicine. Subjects reported their average weekly intake of wine, beer, and spirits. The researchers also took into account participants’ smoking status, education level, physical activity level, and body mass index. Compared with nondrinkers (whose relative risk was set at 1.0), light drinkers (those who consumed one to seven alcoholic drinks per week) had a relative risk of death from all causes of 0.82, but those who drank more than 35 drinks per week had a relative risk of 1.1. In general, alcohol consumption was associated with a reduced risk of death from coronary heart disease but an increased risk of death from cancer (especially in subjects who drank more than 21 drinks per week).Wine consumption at all levels — light, moderate, and heavy — was associated with a lower mortality rate in all three categories (all causes, cancer, and heart disease). Subjects who drank eight to 21 glasses of wine per week had a relative all-cause mortality risk of 0.76; from cancer, 0.78, and from heart disease, 0.64. Furthermore, compared with light drinkers who did not drink wine, light drinkers for whom wine made up 30% or more of their total alcohol intake had a 0.67 relative risk of all-cause mortality.Study authors Grønbæk et al speculate that “Wine may contain one or several substances that add to the beneficial effect of intake of a small amount of ethanol.”