Digestion Problems and Medications

Take the time to know about what medications you are taking. Many of them can be causing some of your intestinal problems. I'm not advocating that you stop your medications to see if they are causing the problem, but if you have followed this blog over the past few days, so the things I mentioned in those posts. If things do not improve, then see your doctor and talk to him about your medications and what other choices you may have.

Know that vitamins and supplements can also cause some intestinal issues. For example, calcium often causes constipation, gas and bloating. Magnesium and Vitamin C can cause loose stools or diarrhea. Some of the B vitamins can cause nausea. Consider taking a vitamin vacation to see if things improve. If they do, then consider changing your vitamins. Suffice it to say that not all vitamins are alike. Some of the cheaper ones may not have the quality controls that a more expensive brand has. You may need to change brands.

Some Healthy Foods You May Not Like

Over the next few days, I'm going to be talking about some healthy foods that you may view as inedible or yucky! These foods deserve another try because of their nutrient value.

The first one I'm going to talk about is sardines. I know the first thing you might say is they are too fishy! Maybe, but consider this. Sardines are high in vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids in addition to providing lots of protein, calcium and selenium. All of these things help protect your heart and your brain.

Because sardines are low on the food chain, they do not accumulate toxins such as mercury. They are also inexpensive and you don't have to wory about refrigeration until you open them.

Be sure to avoid sardines packed in vegetable oil. This kind of defeats their good qualities.

Anti-Inflammatory Diet

I was reading an article yesterday about vasculitis and ran across the anti-inflammatory diet. This was pretty interesting to me.

The very first thing on the list was to eliminate cow's milk and cow's milk products and substitute other sources for calcium. We know there are lots better sources of calcium than cow's milk. See my September 23, 2008 posting. I won't go off on the milk tangent here, but suffice it to say that milk can promote inflammation within the body.

The second thing on the list is to eat more organic fruits and vegetables. Certainly this makes sense since fruits and vegetables increase antioxidants and decrease inflammation. The reason for organic is in my October 15, 2008 posting.

I'll give you two more components of the anti-inflammatory diet tomorrow.

More About Lysine

There are more good things about lysine. Researchers have found that lysine not only improves the absorption of calcium in the GI tract, but it also decreases the loss of calcium in the kidney. This is turn may be helpful to improving bone and decreasing osteoporosis.

Researchers have also shown that when lysine combines with arginine, bone building activity increases and collagen is enhanced. So lysine has a 2 fold effect on bones helping to prevent osteoporosis.

Tofu

Some of you may be wondering now about Tofu since I've been talking about soy. Tofu is soy milk which has been curdled with a curdling agent. This forms the soft cheesy texture of Tufu. One thing to be aware of with Tofu, many sources claim that it is rich in calcium. This is only true if the curdling agent is a calcium salt. Check this when you buy your Tofu and read that label.

Tofu is a great source of protein and works well especially in the vegan diet.

Be aware that 50% of the calories in Tofu come from fat. Don't be fooled by the "Does not contain cholesterol" on the label. It does not contain cholesterol, but fat gets converted into cholesterol. You can go back and review my thoughts on cholesterol starting in September with this post.

Milk and Vitamin D

Vitamin D is essential for you to actually absorb calcium and assimilate it into bone. That is why you see milk fortified with Vitamin D. I won't get into all of the physiologic components here, but there are several components to vitamin D which are required to process calcium into our bones.

The natural source of vitamin D are fish, egg yolks and liver. These are usually not in everyone's diet on a regular basis. Supplementation is helpful to ensure that you get vitamin D to help with the processing of calcium in the body.

You may recall from your health class that Vitamin D is the sunshine vitamin. This occurs naturally through the skin. It only takes about 20 minutes of sun exposure to produce enough Vitamin D. Remember, if you live in a cold climate and you are bundled up in the winter time, you may not get the 20 minutes of exposure. Also if you have darker skin ( more melanin pigment in the skin), you will need more than 20 minutes.

Why Milk?

Here is another thought on milk for you to ponder. Why do we drink milk as adults? Yes it is a good thing, but the main reason that most of us give for drinking milk is that it is a great source of calcium. Actually this is not true. There are better sources of calcium such as black strap molasses which contains other important minerals as well. Two Tablespoons of molasses gives you more absorbable calcium than 1 cup of milk. Also, remember form yesterday, what pasteurization does to calcium.

The best source of calcium is Tofu.

If you think about the animal world, once an animal is weaned, they don't drink milk. Of course they will if we give it to them, but the rest of the animal world gets along just fine without it after weaning. One thing to consider is that drinking milk is far better than drinking a carbonated soft drink!