Protecting Your Brain Health #2

Another way to protect your brain health is whatever you are doing to protect you heart health. Anything that you do to help the blood vessels in your heart will also help the blood vessels in your head.

This can include things like controlling your blood pressure. Watching what you eat, like cutting down on sugar and other foods related to causing inflammation.

Other Treatments for Inflammation

Some alternatives that you can use for arthritis pain are acupuncture and massage. Massage works particularly well for arthritis of the hip and spine while acupuncture is showing lots of positive results for arthritis of the knee.

There are lots of new technologies that are being researched regarding the injection of gels into the joint space. While these may help, I would highly recommend that you go the less invasive route and see what you can do to change your immediate situation.

Inflammation and Other Helpful Things

While food is the first things to look at, there are other things you can do to help with inflammation. Exercise is extremely helpful. What I hear most often from patients is that they can't exercise because they have arthritis. Not true.

Use your joints so that they don't stiffen up. Simple exercises work to keep joints functioning. begin with stretches especially of the affected joints. Start walking if your knees or hips are affected. Start slow and work up the time to 20-30 minutes. The biggest obstacle to overcome is starting. You don't have to go to the gym and work on 10 machines or get a trainer. Start simple and build upon that.

Lastly, breathe! Breathing can shift you mind's attention from the area of pain to breathing. This is often a great pain relieving technique. Mild forms of stretching such as tai chi, yoga, and beginning pilates which emphasize breathing can also relieve arthritis pain.

Inflammation and Food

To reduce inflammation, eat more of the omega 3 fatty acids. Foods rich in omega 3 are fish particularly deep sea fish, flaxseed, dark green leafy vegetables, olive oil, and brightly colored fruits.

Arthritis was not as big an issue in prehistoric times because they ate more plants and fruit and meat tended to be less of their food source. They did not have the processed sugars and saturated fats so they were eating far less of the omega 6 than we do.

Supplementing is good, particularly if you are not going to eat the good foods. If you can just cut down on the bad foods it will help, but if you're not going to eat the good foods, then supplement. Supplements that are helpful include glucosamine, ginger, and chondroiton sulfate. There is controversy about chondroiton as to whether it really has any active component to help. If you try and it helps, then use it, because it is doing something for you.

Inflammation Continued

If the inflammatory process continues beyond when it is helpful, then we can develop things such an increase in pain in the area. In joints this process may result in loss of cartilage. Remember that I have mentioned previously that heart disease specifically is often related to inflammation.

While we tend to think of injuries as being the cause of inflammation, there are other triggers such as poor diet and lack of exercise. The goal always is to relieve the pain and slow the progression.

So the first thing to look at is your diet. Avoid foods that tend to promote inflammation. These are foods that contain omega-6 fatty acids such as red meat and high-fructose corn syrup. Other prime candidates in this list are processed sugars and saturated fats. Most of these types are foods if present in the diet have also lead to an increase in weight, which further stresses joints and exacerbates the inflammatory process.

Inflammation

I get asked a lot about arthritis and inflammation and how to alleviate the aches. While I've talked about this before, I want to be sure that you understand the good aspects as well as the bad aspects of inflammation.

The inflammatory process is a natural self-protective response in the body. If you take you finger and scrape the nail over the back of your other hand, you will see in about 20-30 seconds a red streak appear. This is an example of the natural inflammatory response that is protective. When we are injured, the immune system launches the inflammatory response. Several things happen. First there is an increase in blood supply to the injured area. With that response comes the white blood cells who are the army to help clean up the debris in the injured area. This can also cause the area to swell if cells have been damaged.

The problem arises when the inflammatory response continues long after it is needed. More tomorrow on this problem.

Healing Power Of Sleep

We do need our sleep. But there is a lot of controversy out there as to how much sleep do we need. The youngest among us need the most. Toddlers need 12-14 hours of sleep a day. School age children need 10-11 hours per day. Teens need 9-10 hours per day. Adults need 7-9 hours per day.

Sleep is important to our health. Usually when you come down with a cold, you have had some sleep deprivation. But there is research that has shown a decrease in sleep may add to the body's overall inflammation, increasing the risk for heart disease and stroke. Getting just 1 extra hour of sleep can decreases the risk by 33%. So you can see how important sleep is to us.

Give your body a rest, if you can't get your 7-9 hours a night, take a nap or 2 during the day.

What Causes Disease? #2

One can't talk about disease without mentioning inflammation which is one of the root processes of most diseases. As you've heard me mention before cholesterol is not the problem in terms of heart disease. What is the problem is inflammation. For more about this search my list to the right on inflammation.

Heart Disease On The Rise

I saw this question in the paper and I just had to respond to it. Someone asked why heart disease seemed to be on the rise even though many people are taking anti-cholesterol medicines and all the information out about low fat diets.

The interesting thing about this question is the response which was that heart disease is on the rise because of the aging of the population, obesity, and diabetes. While I don't necessarily disagree with this, the real underlying problem is not cholesterol which is the myth that the American government has fed us. The underlying issue is inflammation. And how many people do you think are following a low fat diet? Would we see the amount of obesity in this world if they were? We're eating junk - or at least most people are. I'm reminded of the ad that I heard a few weeks ago about Fruit Loops being a healthy choice. What are we buying into here.

I won't get back on my band wagon about the cholesterol issue, but if you are new to this blog, then go back and read my post starting 9/6/08. You can also just search the Cholesterol category to find out more - better yet search on the inflammation category on the lower right of this page.

Polyunsaturated versus Monounsaturated Fats

The polyunsaturated fats are those found in fish such as salmon, trout, sardines, mackerel and tuna. It's also found in flaxseed, walnuts, canola oil, dark leafy green vegetables such as Kale. The polyunsaturated fats include omega 3 and omega 6. Obviously we want to get more omega 3 than 6. The omega 3 really helps in cutting down inflammation which I believe is the real culprit rather than cholesterol.

Omega 6s are readily available in liquid vegetable oils, nuts, seeds, dairy products, eggs, and meat. Focus on getting some of the omega 6s, but mopre of the omega 3s. Get fish into your diet 2-3 times per week. Walnuts are a great snack as well as having many benefits. Put some flax seed meal into pancake batter, coffee cakes, cookies. Make your own salad dressing with olive oil and some fresh squeezed lemon.

Check labels and really be careful with processed foods as these contain mostly fats that are not good for you.

Red Meat - the Cons

Because of the saturated fats found in many cuts of red meat, the medical community as cautioned us against eating it. Saying that it will increase the LDL cholesterol and triglycerides and in turn increasing your chance of heart disease. While I follow their logic here, I do not agree that cholesterol is the issue. I believe the issue is inflammation not the cholesterol.

The medical community also states that red meat consumption is associated with higher rates of colon cancer, gallstones, and gout. The interesting thing here is that gout is an inflammation caused by uric acid crystals in a joint.

I would not and do not feel guilty about eating red meat. If some of the things above are concerning to you, then buy lean cuts of meat like sirloin. You could also eat venison, ostrich or buffalo. Game meats tend to have much lower fat content and also less calories.

Sugar

The other white mentioned yesterday is sugar. So how does it set off the inflammatory process?

When you eat something that contains a lot of sugar, the pancreas puts out a large amount of insulin in response to the sugar. This increase in insulin turns on the inflammatory genes to begin producing inflammation in the body.

Not only does this set off the inflammatory genes, but the as we gain weight from eating the refined sugars, we have a yo-yo effect of our blood sugar going up and down and stress on the pancreas. This ultimately can result in Type II Diabetes. Another reason to get rid of the excess sugar in our diets.

The Last 2 Components of the Anti-Inflammatory Diet

Here are the last two components of the anti-inflammatory diet. Use anti-inflammatory herbs such as ginger and turmeric. I have written about ginger on October 23, 2008. I talked about anti-inflammatories on November 22, 2008 and mention the effects of turmeric.

The last thing mentioned in the anti-inflammatory diet is to consider taking grape seed extract. This herbal contains polyphenols which are potent antioxidants. In addition, grape seed extract is potent anti-inflammatory.

Now you have the one of the anti-inflammatory diets. Let just say that this is not the only one, just one that I ran across in my reading and thought I would share with you.

More of the Anti-Inflammatory Diet

Continuing with the anti-inflammatory diet, next is to eliminate polyunsaturated vegetable oils, margarine, vegetable shortenings - basically anything that contains hydrongenated or partially hydrogenated oils. I have written a series of posts about hydrogenated fats starting on September 6, 2008. The listing for this piece of the diet goes on to say to avoid any foods which contain trans-fatty acids. This seems to be the new designer word for unsaturated fats. What you should be using is extra virgin olive oil.

Next on the anti-inflammatory diet list is to increase your intake of Omega 3. There is more on omega 3 starting in my posts on September 10, 2008. You will usually need to be taking some form of dietary supplement with fish oil. Contact me via this blog if you would like more information.

The last 2 components of the anti-inflammatory diet will come tomorrow.

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 on Blueberries

There is a lot of research out there supporting eating blueberries in terms of cancer. Because it is a strong antioxidant, it helps in the prevention of cancer cells. They also help if taken in the months prior to chemo to eliminate the nausea that comes with the therapy.

There is some research out of the University of Mississippi that demonstrates that blueberries have lipid lowering properties. The compound that has been identified by Dr. Rimando is pterostilbene which is similar to resveratrol. Resveratrol is the substance in grapes and red wine thought to help in lowering cholesterol.

More importantly as far as I'm concerned are blueberries anti-inflammatory effects. They have been shown to decrease inflammation and may be of help in people with arthritis.

Pomegranate Juice and Inflammation

I found this next little bit of information about pomegranate juice particularly interesting since I believe our problem is inflammation not high cholesterol and makes sense to me why it would help prevent heart disease. Studies have shown that pomegranate juice decreases inflammation and decreases the activity of enzymes which break down cartilage. More extensive research is needed to show its benefit in arthritis, but it certainly looks like it may help.

The fact that it is a strong antioxidant helps in the decrease in inflammation. Not everything works for everyone, but this is worth a try and it won't hurt you.

Vitamin C Deficiency

Here are some of the signs and symptoms you might experience if you are not getting enough Vitamin C.

Some of these you may be familiar with, like bleeding gums, gingivitis and weakened tooth enamel. You may also experience dry and splitting hair, rough dry and scaling skin, easy bruising, nosebleeds and anemia.

Swollen painful joints and the inability to fight off infection and inflammation are related to the weakened immune system, which requires Vitamin C.

There is also the possibility that you will gain weight because of a slowed metabolism related to a low level of Vitamin C.

My best advice is be sure you're eating foods with natural vitamin C and if you're not eating many of those, be sure you supplement with Vitamin C.

Question on Reducing Inflammation

Thank you Laurie for your question about reducing inflammation and what to use. The very best thing to reduce inflammation is Omega 3 and you can find more about this from my previous blog entry in October.

I also mentioned a couple of other herbs that are helpful in reducing inflammation. These are not as commonly found in supplement form, but you can certainly incorporate them into your daily diet. One is ginger and the other one is curry

In early October I mentioned a product that I have been using for almost a year called MMS. You can learn more about this product at my site, or you can email me for more information.

Red Yeast Rice and Cholesterol

I've had some questions about red yeast rice and cholesterol. Some of you may be aware of the controversy regarding red yeast rice and lovastatin in 1999-2000. This is when the FDA said that red yeast rice contained lovastatin (a prescription drug to reduce cholesterol). Any supplement company that had products containing red yeast rice were told they had to take them off the market because the FDA had to regulate them because they contained a pharmaceutical drug.

My take on this is that Big Pharma did not want the nutritional supplement industry to cut their profits by providing a nutritional supplement that would compete with their choleterol lowering drugs.

Beyond that fact, is the fact that cholesterol is really not the issue. The issue is inflammation. See my post on November 20, 08.