An Anti-Inflammatory Diet?

A current popular topic for medical research is inflammation.  We all know what happens when you sprain your ankle or hurt some part of your body – it becomes inflamed and swollen.  But, there are also things going on inside the body that the naked eye can’t see. That’s similar to what happens when you eat something unhealthy.

What happens internally when you eat something harmful? 

Most think nothing happens, which may be true in some instances.  However, even one fast food meal can cause inflammation.  For example, if you ate a fast-food hamburger, fries and a coke, here’s what would happen:

1.  Insulin levels rise to accommodate high glucose levels

2.  Levels of trans fat in your blood can trigger free radicals or oxygenation (i.e. rust on an old car), and constriction in your blood vessels

These changes are short lived and can be turned around with a healthy meal, but what happens if you consume these foods meal after meal?

Inflammation is manifested in many forms, and triggers many health issues such as:

• high blood pressure
• heart disease
• fatty liver
• diabetes
• cancer
• gastrointestinal reflux (GERD)

One blood test used to measure inflammation in the body is called C-reactive protein. This measures when inflammation is high, like when the body is experiencing infection and stress, but can also be elevated due to obesity, cardiovascular disease, or diabetes.  A measure greater than 3.0 mg/l puts someone in a higher risk category than having levels below 3.

Is there a type of eating that can lower inflammation?  Over the last several years, multiple studies have shown certain foods can increase or decrease inflammation as well as the balance of what one eats.

Since this topic is a whole blog in itself let’s wait till tomorrow to discuss anti-inflammatory eating so stay tuned.

Preventing Diabetes?

What would you do to prevent blindness, going on dialysis or having the nerves in your hands and feet in constant pain?  Many of us would do most anything to prevent those things, but those same individuals may not realize that simple lifestyle management may help those things never come to fruition.

As we discussed yesterday, one in three individuals is at a high risk of becoming diabetic.  However, even with diabetes in your history here are 3 simple things you can do to prevent diabetes and avoid ever going on medication.

1.  Exercise 30 minutes per day.  The Landmark study done on those with pre-diabetes looked at 3 separate groups – one group was the control group which means no intervention was given.  The second group was put on Metformin, a drug that both prevents and treats diabetes.  The third group was given a small amount of guidance regarding diet and lifestyle and exercised 30 minutes per day.

The results showed there was no change in group one.  Group two had lowered their risk of diabetes by 30 percent.  Group 3 lowered their risk of diabetes by 58 percent.

Walking just half an hour per day can lower diabetes risk by 58%?  Absolutely!  How does that work?  Even a moderate walk can make your insulin work better by 50 percent for the rest of the day.  This decrease only works for about 24 hours so near daily exercise is essential.

2.  Sleep at least 7-8 hours per night.  Multiple studies in the last 5 years have shown that lack of sleep lowers insulin sensitivity.  These sleep studies revealed that individuals who slept less than 7 hours per night had morning blood sugars in the diabetic range in those without diabetes.  When the subjects returned to over 7 hours of sleep per night their blood sugars became normalized.

3.  Eat protein at each meal with non-processed forms of carbohydrate.  I could talk about this one all day long and it is explained at length in my new book A Recipe for Life.  If you eat some sort of protein at each meal and snack such as lean meat, poultry, fish, nuts/seeds, low fat plain yogurt, cottage cheese, etc. and balance it with fruits, vegetables, and some healthy form of fat such as avocado or olive oil it will greatly assist in keeping your blood sugars normalized.  This type of eating requires shopping on the perimeter of the grocery store.

Walk a half hour per day, sleep 7.5 hours per night and eat a healthy balanced diet versus go on medications or have terrible health consequences in later years?  Sounds like a slam dunk to me – remember it’s prevention not prescription.

Can you Have Diabetes without Knowing It?

Diabetes can be a slow silent killer and closer than you realize.  With one in three Americans insulin resistant and in the pre-diabetes range soon these people could be diabetic.

Double the amount of people in the US getting cancer and swine flu combined have diabetes, yet many are not even aware of the risk or take it seriously.  Diabetes is a serious disease with multiple complications, yet can so easily be prevented and or controlled with simple lifestyle management.

So where do we begin?  I am going to take a few blogs to answer questions and invite those reading to ask questions they may have regarding nutritional diabetes management.

If you have a parent with diabetes you have the gene and are at a much higher risk that those without a family history and/or have a poor lifestyle.  In general it is a good idea to have your doctor monitor your fasting blood glucose level (sugar taken prior to your am meal).  This number should be less than 95.  If you find your fasting blood sugars rising over several years you are slowly becoming diabetic.  Fasting numbers in the 100-115 range are considered pre-diabetic.  What are other measures to check if you suspect you are diabetic?

Glycosylated hemoglobin A1C – a fancy name for what your blood sugar averaged over the last 3 months - can be easily measured with a regular blood test. That number should be less than 6.0.  Many times patients will come to me stating they have pre-diabetes or a few higher blood sugars when indeed they are diabetic.  Once this number is over 6.0 you are technically diabetic.  Another way to diagnosis diabetes is to test your blood sugars 2 hours after a meal.  If that number is over 126 on more than 2 occasions then you are diabetic, according to the American Diabetes Association guidelines.

If you want to get more technical then have 2 other tests done- a fasting insulin level and c-peptide.  Both these measures can become elevated before the A1C rises and measure how hard your pancreas is working to achieve a normal blood sugar level.  The fasting insulin should be less than 10 and the c-peptide should be less than 4.0.  Normal ranges for some laboratories may slightly differ from these numbers.

Have these laboratory tests measured annually with a physical exam to keep track to prevent a possible surprise diagnosis.  Taking control of your health may mean you need to monitor these levels yourself since they may be in range, and passed over by your physician who may be looking for flagged numbers.  Because a lab does not differentiate whether a “normal” glucose is fasting or non-fasting it is very possible to be diabetic and not be aware of it.  So yes, you can have diabetes and not know it sometimes for many years.

Tomorrow – Preventing Diabetes

Gluten-Free?

What is the deal about gluten?  It is fairly common to hear people say they are gluten-free.  So what is the skinny on gluten-free eating?

Celiac disease is a true intolerance to gluten that someone genetically inherits.  If someone with Celiac disease consumes gluten it causes the villi or little hair-like projections that move food through the gut to atrophy.  This atrophy can cause bleeding, malabsorption of nutrients and other health complications.

Only 1 percent of the population has been diagnosed with Celiac Disease.  However, research shows that another 39% of the population may be susceptible to having Celiac or gluten intolerance.  To get an accurate diagnosis one needs a blood test and/or small bowel biopsy to determine if there is atrophy in the gut.

In addition, there is a small amount of research showing that gluten is associated with some forms of inflammation in the body for those with auto-immune diseases such as Diabetes or Multiple Sclerosis.  Other research may be leading towards gluten-free eating with some forms of autism.

A gluten free diet requires instruction by a Registered Dietitian.  Avoiding any kind of wheat product or foods with wheat or wheat components may not be enough.  If you suspect you may have a true gluten sensitivity speak to your doctor about having a blood test before you go on a gluten-free diet to see if there are actual gut atrophy.    You may or may not need to avoid gluten.  Why limit yourself unnecessarily?

The End of Overeating

David Kessler’s new book is a great read on how overeating in America came to be, how the food industry combines fat, salt and sugar in a way to lure you into eating more than you need and how to overcome this phenomenon.

Dr. Kessler coins the term “conditioned hypereating” which describes the abundant amount of food available, the constant food stimuli of salt, sweet, and sugar combinations, and how the brain reacts to these cues.  The limbic or memory part of the brain remembers pleasure of all forms, including memories from food. 

If you are ever in a stressful or painful situation and eat some type of food that numbs or helps the stress, the brain stores this in the memory.  The next time a stressful situation arises the brain prompts you to do whatever you did the last time.  If food helped the situation, then the brain will prompt you to eat before you even realize it.  Before long, this pattern could lead to many unwanted health and weight issues.

Having a road map is necessary to break the stimulus and response pattern to food.  Having a definite guide in place is key to achieving weight loss and health goals.  So many people look to weight loss drugs or surgeries as a quick fix solution. Weight loss may occur with these therapies.  However, since the cause is not dealt with, the weight will be regained, compounding the problem and having to restart the process all over again.  Drugs are not a permanent fix for a weight issue.  They may treat the symptom for a while but never get to the root cause.

This year look for the cause of your health and/or weight issues.  Find a road map or lifestyle you can start with and stick with for the long run.  Retraining the limbic system of your brain is catching yourself once a cue is there and making the decision that your goals are more important than the food in front of you.  It is so easy to say “I don’t care.”  If you hear yourself saying this, counter with “I will care in an hour and will care even more when I get on the scale or hear the results of my next blood work.”  Look to the future earned reward and know it is in sight – and let leave the lure of food cues behind for good.  Remember that it's prevention - not prescription.