Health Article: The Rest and Digest State!

HOW YOU EAT IS AS POWERFUL AS WHAT YOU EAT!
By Brittany Wood Nickerson, Practicing Herbalist

Our digestive system takes in and breaks down food and experiences. It is through the process of digestion that bits of food are transformed into vital nutrients – complex chemical processes work to extract vitamins and minerals, break down fats into lipids, and proteins into amino acids. A well functioning digestive system has the wisdom to break down, absorb and utilize the nutrition it needs from the food we eat and let go of the parts and pieces that it does not. When digestion is not working well, one can eat the healthiest, most pure, organic food in the world, but not absorb any of the nutrients. In fact, improperly digested food (whether of poor or high quality) over time can lead to larger health concerns. We spend so much time focusing on WHAT we eat in our culture, I think we often forget to look at HOW we eat and whether or not our body is able to process and assimilate nutrition from that food.

Our digestive processes are integrally connected to our nervous system. The enteric nervous system, which has almost as many neurons as the spinal cord, runs the length of our digestive system from our mouth to our anus. The enteric nervous system is responsible for the secretion of digestive enzymes, bile and other fluids, the movement of peristalsis and the opening and closing of sphincters that allow food to pass from one digestive organ to another. The enteric nervous system is often called a second brain because it contains neurons, neurotransmitters and proteins that are responsible for communicating and thinking. Tissues that contain these “communicating and thinking” neurons and neurotransmitters (the same as those found in the brain) surround the primary organs of the digestive system – esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and large intestine – and are responsible for much of its functioning. When our senses are stimulated (the smell, sight or taste of food are a few examples), the enteric nervous system is triggered to begin the digestive process.

That being said, our digestive processes are influenced by all the same factors that influence our nervous system and to all those things that relax and worry us. When the body is stressed out, anxious, sad or angry, these emotions trigger our sympathetic nervous system, initiating the fight or flight response – when the body is in this state it goes into survival mode and digestion slows way down. On the contrary, when we are relaxed, happy and at ease, the parasympathetic nervous system is active; this is the rest and digest state. When we are in the rest and digest state, the enteric nervous system functions optimally and there is better digestion, absorption and elimination.

If you want to get the most out of your food, to digest properly, the body has to be in a relaxed, parasympathetic dominant state. Otherwise, the enteric nervous system, which makes all these amazing digestive processes work, will be impaired and sluggish. The most important first step is to make space to eat and digest. Making space to eat might include taking a few deep breaths before meals or taking a quiet moment to shut your eyes and soften into your body. A quiet moment of reflection such as this can help to lower the stress response. One of the other important ways that we can make space to enjoy and appreciate the food we eat is to practice gratitude – even if we are just eating a quick snack or a meal on the go. You can express your gratitude toward the food you are eating, those who prepared it or grew it, or to something else entirely. Giving thanks is an act that stimulates a parasympathetic (rest and digest) state, enhancing the digestive process.

There is ancient wisdom in saying grace before meals, as practiced by many cultures around the world.

Digestion is about breaking down, absorbing, processing and letting go of far more than just the food we eat. Supporting healthy digestion is also about acknowledging how we process experiences, emotions and energy. The state and health of our digestion can have a direct impact on our emotional state and vice versa. If you have an irritated, inflamed gut, you will feel irritated in your life. If you have sluggish, slow digestion, you will feel slow, unmotivated and perhaps depressed in your life. Supporting your digestion (including the ways we prepare and consume food) will positively influence how you feel, perceive, respond, react and initiate in your life. Supporting digestion is a broad topic, but here are a few straightforward suggestions to get you started!

Lifestyle and Dietary Suggestions to Support Better Digestion and Absorption:

1. Don’t eat late at night.

2. Eat regular, balanced meals and don’t snack when you are not hungry.

3. Don’t go for long periods without eating, do not suppress or ignore your hunger.

4. Have a bowel movement every day.

5. Do not drink cold liquids with meals.

6. Do not drink more than 6 – 8 oz. of liquid with meals.

7. Give thanks for the food you are eating, for those who grew it and prepared it and for anything else you want to honor.

8. Take a quiet moment before eating to relax and take a few deep breaths.

9. Chew slowly and mindfully.

10. Prepare and eat your food with love (no matter how simple or elaborate the meal).

11. Got bitter? Bitter is the most metabolically active of all flavors, it stimulates the entire digestive process, supports absorption and elimination and is excellent for liver health. Bitter foods include bitter lettuce, radicchio, dark leafy greens like dandelion greens and kale, and herbs like gentian, elecampane, angelica, artichoke leaf and dandelion root.

12. Support your digestive fire with carminative spices. Carminatives increase metabolism and the absorption of nutrients. They also help to relieve gas and bloating. All culinary herbs are carminative, so start cooking with herbs and spices!

13. Eat fermented foods. Fermented foods are full of probiotic bacteria that help support the health of our colon. They support absorption of B vitamins, fat-soluble vitamins and folic acid and play a large role in immunity. Healthy probiotic flora have also been linked to mental and emotional health. Fermented foods include: sauerkraut, kim chi, kombucha, plain yogurt, kefir, sour cream, crème fraiche, buttermilk, lacto fermented pickles, miso, raw apple cider vinegar.

Brittany Wood Nickerson is a practicing herbalist. She grows herbs, keeps a homestead, sees clients, runs an herbal school and writes zines at Thyme Herbal in Amherst Massachusetts. She will be teaching Daily Nourishment at HERBSTALK on June 8th.

Brittany can be found at Thyme Herbal: www.thymeherbal.com

This article was originally posted at: http://herbstalk.org/2013/06/the-rest-and-digest-state-how-you-eat-is-as-powerful-as-what-you-eat/

READ MORE HERE: Rest & Digest By Brittany Nickerson

Book Review: BEYOND BROCCOLI: Creating a Biologically Balanced Diet When a Vegetarian Diet Doesn’t Work

BEYOND BROCCOLI: Creating a Biologically Balanced Diet When a Vegetarian Diet Doesn’t Work
By Susan Schenck, Lac
Reviewed by Rosalind Michahelles, Certified Holistic Health Counselor

For those who are, were, or might become vegetarians, this is a useful book. Written by a woman whose earlier book The Live Food Factor extolled the nutritional benefits of raw plants. Courageous woman! When she found after six years of raw veganism that she didn’t thrive, she looked “beyond broccoli,” and, once her health was restored, she wrote this book.

After those six years eating no animal products and nothing cooked, Schenk added 6 ounces of raw meat a day and quickly felt better. “My blood sugar stabilized, and I never had food cravings. I was no longer bloated, often a sign of high blood insulin levels….I slept better….” She is candid about the symptoms that led to her change in persuasion: bloating, weight gain, vitamin B-12 deficiency, and fatigue. Her change was not big, more of a shift, really, to include some meat, fish, and eggs. She still eats most food raw and recommends we all do so as well.

Chapter 2 engages the reader in what the author calls the vegetarian myths. One is that we should eat like our primate cousins. It turns out, however, that they are not strictly vegetarian and that they have longer intestines, to deal with all the roughage they consume. We are differently equipped, partly to accommodate our larger brains, which do well with more protein and more fat, especially the omega-3 fats from fish and grass-fed mammals.

Another myth is that vegetarians get less cancer. According to Schenk’s sources, that holds for some cancers but not for others, like endometrial, prostate, brain, skin, and pancreatic.

Whatever the fat ratio in a vegetarian or vegan diet – and there are plenty of plant oils, like coconut and olive and seed oils – the proportion of carbohydrates is bound to be high. The author reminds us that carbs –> insulin –> weight gain, and also that the fuel we get from carbohydrates burns up faster than that from protein or fat and so we get hungry quicker, leading to more eating.

For some, eggs will represent their farthest frontier, i.e., the only animal product they will eat. Schenk lists what eggs have to offer us: protein, lecithin (an emulsifier), vitamin B-12, selenium, and, when hens are pastured, then also omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin A, lutein, and xanthin.

In the chapter, which is dedicated to what meat provides us with, the author quotes Weston Price who visited many “pre-Westernized” communities around the world in the 1930’s, but could find none that were vegetarian to the exclusion of all animal products. Can we therefore conclude that all human societies eat at least some? That may be because vitamins A and D abound in cod liver oil; the B vitamins abound in meat; vitamin K-2 comes from grass-fed animals; omega-3 fats come from them, as well, and from fatty fish like salmon. Heme-iron from animals “is more readily absorbed by the body than the non-heme iron of plant sources.”

Finally, there is the question of morality and sustainability. Schenk’s recommendations on both counts involve animal husbandry on a small, local scale. Animals with outdoor careers will fertilize the ground while leading natural lives — unlike the factory animals, inhumanely cramped and poisoning the environment with lakes of excrement. Eliot Coleman, sustainable Maine farmer, author, and lecturer, compares eating “my own grass-raised steer” to “a vegetarian eating tofu made in a factory from soybeans grown in Brazil [who] is responsible for a lot more CO-2 than I am.”

Some people think a vegetarian diet is more slimming than an omnivorous diet — but they should see the cartoon at the front of the book with thiscaption: “If a vegetarian diet is good for losing weight, how come they use grain to fatten pigs and cows?”

This book is very clearly organized so that a reader can pick and choose the relevant chapters and topics. This is good because as a 247-page paperback in 8” x 10” format, it is hard to hold for any length of time. I recommend it to anyone who has doubts about whether to eat meat and then which meat and from what source. The author is categorical about the need to find sustainably raised meat and gives this helpful website: www.sustainabletable.com. Go to the Food Guide to find outlets by zip code.

Health Article: The Power of Peppermint

The Power of Peppermint: 15 Health Benefits Revealed

By Sayer Ji, Founder GreenMedInfo, posted on greenmedinfo.com 03/15/2013

A favorite herbal medicine of the ancients, peppermint leaves have been found in Egyptian pyramids dating back to 1,000 BC. Modern scientific investigations have now confirmed that this remarkable plant has over a dozen healing properties.

In our continuing effort to educate folks to the vast array of healing agents found in the natural world around us, we are excited to feature peppermint, a member of the aromatic mint family that you may already have squirreled away somewhere in your kitchen cupboard. While most have experienced peppermint as a flavoring agent, or perhaps as a comforting cup of herbal tea, few are aware of its wide range of experimentally confirmed therapeutic properties.

The ancients certainly were aware of the mint family’s medicinal value, having been used as herbal medicines in ancient Egypt, Greek and Rome thousands of years ago.[i] Dried peppermint leaves have even been found in several Egyptian pyramids carbon dating back to 1,000 BC.

Today, modern scientific investigations are revealing an abundance of potential health benefits associated with the use of different components of the peppermint plant, including aromatherapeutic, topical and internal applications.

Most of the human research on peppermint performed thus far indicates this plant has great value in treating gastrointestinal disorders, including:

Irritable Bowel Syndrome – Since the late 90′s it was discovered that enteric-coated peppermint oil capsules are safe and effective in the treatment of this increasingly prevalent disorder.[ii] This beneficial effect extends to the pediatric community. In one children’s trial 75% of those receiving peppermint oil had reduced severity of pain associated with IBS within 2 weeks.[iii] Another 2005 trial in adults concluded that “Taking into account the currently available drug treatments for IBS Peppermint oil (1-2 capsules t.i.d. over 24 weeks) may be the drug of first choice in IBS patients with non-serious constipation or diarrhea to alleviate general symptoms and to improve quality of life.”[iv] In another 2007 trial 75% of patients receiving peppermint oil saw an impressive 50% reduction of “total irritable bowel syndrome score.”[v] Most recently, a study published January of this year found that peppermint oil was effective in relieving abdominal pain in diarrhea predominant irritable bowel syndrome.[vi]
Colonic spasm – Peppermint oil has been studied as a safe and effective alternative to the drug Buscopan for its ability to reduce spasms during barium enemas.[vii] [viii]
Gastric Emptying Disorders – Peppermint has been found to enhance gastric emptying, suggesting its potential use in a clinical setting for patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders.[ix]

Functional dyspepsia – A 2000 study published in the journal Ailment Pharmacology and Therapy found that 90 mg of peppermint oil and 50 mg of caraway oil resulted in 67% of patients reporting “much or very much improved” in their symptoms of functional dyspepsia. [x]
Infantile Colic: A 2013 study found that peppermint is at least as effective as the chemical simethicone in the treatment of infantile colic.[xi]

Other studied applications include:

Breastfeeding Associated Nipple Pain and Damage: A 2007 study found that peppermint water prevented nipple cracks and nipple pain in breastfeeding mothers.[xii]
Tuberculosis: A 2009 study found that inhaled essential oil of peppermint was able to rapidly regress tuberculous inflammation, leading the authors to conclude: “This procedure may be used to prevent recurrences and exacerbation of pulmonary tuberculosis.”[xiii]

Allergic rhinitis (hay fever): A 2001 preclinical study found that extracts of the leaves of peppermint inhibit histamine release indicating it may be clinically effective in alleviating the nasal symptoms of allergic rhinitis.[xiv]

Shingles Associated Pain (Post-Herpetic Neuralgia): A 2002 case study found that topical peppermint oil treatment resulted in a near immediate improvement of shingles associated neuropathic pain symptoms; the therapeutic effects persisted throughout the entire 2 months of follow-up treatment. [xv]

Memory problems: A 2006 study found that the simple aroma of peppermint enhances memory and increases alertness in human subjects.[xvi]

Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea: A 2013 study found that peppermint oil was found to be effective in reducing chemotherapy-induced nausea, and at reduced cost versus standard drug-based treatment.[xvii]

Prostate Cancer: Preclinical research indicates that peppermint contains a compound known as menthol which inhibits prostate cancer growth.[xviii] [xix]

Radiation Damage: Preclinical research indicates peppermint protects against radiation-induced DNA damage and cell death.[xx] [xxi]

Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1: Peppermint has been found to have inhibitory activity against acyclovir-resistant Herpes Simplex virus type 1.[xxii] [xxiii]

Dental Caries/Bad Breath: Peppermint oil extract has been found to be superior to the mouthwash chemical chlorhexidine inhibiting Streptococus mutans driven biofilm formation associated with dental caries.[xxiv] [xxv]

This may explain why powdered peppermint leaves were used in the Middle Ages to combat halitosis and whiten teeth.

Peppermint is actually a hybridized cross between Water Mint (Mentha aquatica) and Spearmint (Mentha spicata),[xxvi] the latter of which has also been researched to possess remarkable therapeutic properties, such as the ability to exert significant anti-androgenic effects in polycystic ovarian syndrome[xxvii] and ameliorating the related condition of mild hirsutism, marked by excessive hair growth in females.[xxviii]

Like all plant medicines, extreme caution must be exercised when using extracts and especially essential oils. Also, remember that more is not always better. A recent study on the use of rosemary in improving cognitive performance in the elderly found that a lower ‘culinary’ dose (750 mg) was not only more effective in improving cognition (as measured by memory speed) than a higher dose, but the highest dose (6,000 mg) had a significant memory impairing effect.[xxix] This illustrates quite nicely how less can be more, and why an occasional nightly cup of peppermint tea may be far superior as preventive strategy than taking large ‘heroic’ doses of an herb only after a serious health problem sets in.

_____________________________________________________
Resources
[i] A. Sustrikova, I. Salamon, Essential oil of peppermint (Mentha x piperita L.) from fields in Eastern Slovakia., 2004: Zahradnictvi Horticultural Science 31(1): 31-36
[ii] J H Liu, G H Chen, H Z Yeh, C K Huang, S K Poon. Enteric-coated peppermint-oil capsules in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome: a prospective, randomized trial. J Gastroenterol. 1997 Dec;32(6):765-8. PMID: 9430014
[iii] R M Kline, J J Kline, Di Palma J, G J Barbero. Enteric-coated, pH-dependent peppermint oil capsules for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome in children. J Pediatr. 2001 Jan;138(1):125-8. PMID: 11148527
[iv] H G Grigoleit, P Grigoleit. Peppermint oil in irritable bowel syndrome. Phytomedicine. 2005 Aug;12(8):601-6. PMID: 16121521
[v] G Cappello, M Spezzaferro, L Grossi, L Manzoli, L Marzio. Peppermint oil (Mintoil) in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome: a prospective double blind placebo-controlled randomized trial. Dig Liver Dis. 2007 Jun;39(6):530-6. Epub 2007 Apr 8. PMID: 17420159
[vi] M S Alam, P K Roy, A R Miah, S H Mollick, M R Khan, M C Mahmud, S Khatun. Efficacy of Peppermint Oil in Diarrhea Predominant IBS – A Double Blind Randomized Placebo – Controlled Study. Mymensingh Med J. 2013 Jan ;22(1):27-30. PMID: 23416804
[vii] M J Sparks, P O’Sullivan, A A Herrington, S K Morcos. Does peppermint oil relieve spasm during barium enema? Br J Radiol. 1995 Aug;68(812):841-3. PMID: 7551780
[viii] T Asao, H Kuwano, M Ide, I Hirayama, J-I Nakamura, K-I Fujita, R Horiuti. Spasmolytic effect of peppermint oil in barium during double-contrast barium enema compared with Buscopan. Clin Radiol. 2003 Apr;58(4):301-5. PMID: 12662951
[ix] Masahiko Inamori, Tomoyuki Akiyama, Keiko Akimoto, Koji Fujita, Hirokazu Takahashi, Masato Yoneda, Yasunobu Abe, Kensuke Kubota, Satoru Saito, Norio Ueno, Atsushi Nakajima. Early effects of peppermint oil on gastric emptying: a crossover study using a continuous real-time 13C breath test (BreathID system). J Gastroenterol. 2007 Jul;42(7):539-42. Epub 2007 Jul 25. PMID: 17653649
[x] B May, S Köhler, B Schneider. Efficacy and tolerability of a fixed combination of peppermint oil and caraway oil in patients suffering from functional dyspepsia. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2000 Dec;14(12):1671-7. PMID: 11121917
[xi] João Guilherme Bezerra Alves, Rita de Cássia Coelho Moraes de Brito, Telma Samila Cavalcanti. Effectiveness of Mentha piperita in the Treatment of Infantile Colic: A Crossover Study. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2012 ;2012:981352. Epub 2012 Jul 12. PMID: 22844342
[xii] Manizheh Sayyah Melli, Mohammad Reza Rashidi, Abbas Delazar, Elaheh Madarek, Mohammad Hassan Kargar Maher, Alieh Ghasemzadeh, Kamran Sadaghat, Zohreh Tahmasebi. Effect of peppermint water on prevention of nipple cracks in lactating primiparous women: a randomized controlled trial. Int Breastfeed J. 2007;2:7. Epub 2007 Apr 19. PMID: 17442122
[xiii] V A Shkurupiĭ, O A Odintsova, N V Kazarinova, K G Tkrachenko. [Use of essential oil of peppermint (Mentha piperita) in the complex treatment of patients with infiltrative pulmonary tuberculosis]. Virol J. 2009 Jan 20;6:8. PMID: 17128800
[xiv] T Inoue, Y Sugimoto, H Masuda, C Kamei. Effects of peppermint (Mentha piperita L.) extracts on experimental allergic rhinitis in rats. Biol Pharm Bull. 2001 Jan;24(1):92-5. PMID: 11201253
[xv] Simon J Davies, Louise M Harding, Andrew P Baranowski. A novel treatment of postherpetic neuralgia using peppermint oil. Clin J Pain. 2002 May-Jun;18(3):200-2 PMID: 12048423
[xvi] Mark Moss, Steven Hewitt, Lucy Moss, Keith Wesnes. Modulation of cognitive performance and mood by aromas of peppermint and ylang-ylang. Nutr Cancer. 2006;55(1):53-62. PMID: 18041606
[xvii] Z Tayarani-Najaran, E Talasaz-Firoozi, R Nasiri, N Jalali, Mk Hassanzadeh. Antiemetic activity of volatile oil from Mentha spicata and Mentha× piperita in chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. Ecancermedicalscience. 2013 ;7:290. Epub 2013 Jan 31. PMID: 23390455
[xviii] Eun-Jung Park, Su-Hwa Kim, Byung-Joo Kim, Sung-Young Kim, Insuk So, Ju-Hong Jeon. Menthol Enhances an Antiproliferative Activity of 1alpha,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D(3) in LNCaP Cells. J Clin Biochem Nutr. 2009 Mar;44(2):125-30. Epub 2009 Feb 28. PMID: 19308266
[xix] Su-Hwa Kim, Joo-Hyun Nam, Eun-Jung Park, Byung-Joo Kim, Sung-Joon Kim, Insuk So, Ju-Hong Jeon. Menthol regulates TRPM8-independent processes in PC-3 prostate cancer cells. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2007 Apr;1770(4):659-65. Epub 2006 Nov 23. PMID: 18955132
[xx] Hanaa A Hassan, Hani S Hafez, Mona S Goda. Mentha piperita as a pivotal neuro-protective agent against gamma irradiation induced DNA fragmentation and apoptosis : Mentha extract as a neuroprotective against gamma irradiation. Cytotechnology. 2013 Jan ;65(1):145-56. Epub 2012 Sep 21. PMID: 23011739
[xxi] Ravindra M Samarth, Meenakshi Samarth. Protection against radiation-induced testicular damage in Swiss albino mice by Mentha piperita (Linn.). Basic Clin Pharmacol Toxicol. 2009 Apr;104(4):329-34. PMID: 19320637
[xxii] Silke Nolkemper, Jürgen Reichling, Florian C Stintzing, Reinhold Carle, Paul Schnitzler. Antiviral effect of aqueous extracts from species of the Lamiaceae family against Herpes simplex virus type 1 and type 2 in vitro. Planta Med. 2006 Dec;72(15):1378-82. Epub 2006 Nov 7. PMID: 17091431
[xxiii] A Schuhmacher, J Reichling, P Schnitzler. Virucidal effect of peppermint oil on the enveloped viruses herpes simplex virus type 1 and type 2 in vitro. Phytomedicine. 2003;10(6-7):504-10. PMID: 13678235
[xxiv] Iraj Rasooli, Shojaedin Shayegh, Massoud Taghizadeh, Shakiba Darvish Alipoor Astaneh. Phytotherapeutic prevention of dental biofilm formation. Phytother Res. 2008 Sep;22(9):1162-7. PMID: 18729251
[xxv] Shojaedin Shayegh, Iraj Rasooli, Massoud Taghizadeh, Shakiba Darvish Alipoor Astaneh. Phytotherapeutic inhibition of supragingival dental plaque. Nat Prod Res. 2008 Mar 20;22(5):428-39. PMID: 18404563
[xxvi] The Complete Illustrated Book of Herbs, Alex Frampton, The Reader’s Digest Association, 2009
[xxvii] Paul Grant. Spearmint herbal tea has significant anti-androgen effects in polycystic ovarian syndrome. A randomized controlled trial. Phytother Res. 2009 Jul 7. PMID: 19585478
[xxviii] Mehmet Akdoğan, Mehmet Numan Tamer, Erkan Cüre, Medine Cumhur Cüre, Banu Kale Köroğlu, Namik Delibaş. Effect of spearmint (Mentha spicata Labiatae) teas on androgen levels in women with hirsutism. Phytother Res. 2007 May;21(5):444-7. PMID: 17310494
[xxix] Andrew Pengelly, James Snow, Simon Y Mills, Andrew Scholey, Keith Wesnes, Leah Reeves Butler. Short-term study on the effects of rosemary on cognitive function in an elderly population. J Med Food. 2012 Jan ;15(1):10-7. Epub 2011 Aug 30. PMID: 21877951

Book Review: Coping with Heartburn, GERD, SIBO, and IBS

Coping with Heartburn, GERD, SIBO, and IBS
Fast Tract Digestion by Norman Robillard
Reviewed by Rosalind Michahelles, Certified Holistic Health Counselor

For anyone puzzled about GERD (Gastro-esophageal reflux disease) or SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) or IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) – puzzled despite reading books and seeing doctors, Fast Tract Digestion by Norman Robillard may help.

This ‘alphabet soup’ of digestive ailments is very likely one brew connecting different symptoms that vary according to where you feel the distress. Excessive and painful belching oresophagus is called GERD. If the symptoms are intestinal cramps, diarrhea, constipation, bloating, and flatulence – it may be either SIBO or IBS. (N.B., IBS differs from IBD, inflammatory bowel disease, in that IBD is considered an autoimmune disease and a more serious problem.)

Robillard maintains that GERD stems not so much from the stomach as from the small intestine when there is overgrowth of bacteria normally only found in the large intestine. When e-coli, clostridium, and other bacteria not associated with the small intestine manage to migrate upstream past the ileocecal valve, they cause troublesome fermentation. These very same bacteria in the large intestine may not be problematic; but they don’t belong further up. This “premature” fermentation produces a lot of gas which then forces its way up into the stomach or down into the colon, causing distress in either case: belching and reflux or bloating, cramps, and flatulence, as the case may be.

How to avoid this inappropriate fermentation? Avoid resistant starch and sugar alcohols. What is resistant starch? It is starch in the form of amylase, found abundantly in some carbohydrates. The book helps identify them, as it does with the sugar alcohols, aka polyols, often used as non-carbohydrate sweeteners in processed food, including supplements, toothpaste, chewing gum, etc. In trying to avoid sugar and fructose, manufacturers have turned to polyols with names like sorbitol, mannitol, and xylitol.

Naturally, with such a list of unfamiliar elements, it’s hard to imagine what’s OK to eat and what isn’t. Fast Tract Digestion does include food lists at the end, though they are not exhaustive. Here’s what the author says is safe: meat, fish, cheese, eggs, nuts, fats and oils. It’s in the fruit and

an acidic return of food from the stomach to the

vegetable realm that the going gets tricky. Robillard describes how to identify the “fermentable potential” of food, but it doesn’t seem easy to do. It’s not enough to look at the carbohydrate content because some carbs – e.g., glucose – is absorbed in the stomach and never gets to the small intestine.

A small irony in following Robillard’s lead here is that high glycemic food, that is food that turns quickly into blood sugar, may be easier for those with SIBO for the very reason that its carbohydrates are digested quicker and therefore aren’t lingering long enough in the digestive tract to cause trouble. So the white rice many abandoned in favor of the ‘healthier’ whole grain brown variety may, in fact be better for you. If you have secretly preferred white rice, here’s an opportunity to rejoice – if you have SIBO.

A positive note in this sea of possibilities is that there is potential for reversibility if the intestines heal and if enzymes needed to break down the difficult carbohydrates flourish again. Can supplements help? The author recommends probiotics, those that should be dominant in the small intestine: lactobacillus acidophilus, and bifidobacterium bifidum in particular as they “are very efficient at breaking down oligoaaccharides such as lactose, sucrose, raffinose, stachyose ….in the small intestine.” A diet ample in fermented vegetables and in yogurt with active cultures should also help in this department.

Chapter 8 takes on the competition – other dietary approaches to heartburn and GERD and IBS. There are two that most resemble the Fast Tract diet. One is the Specific Carbohydrate Diet published by Elaine Gottschall in her book Breaking the Vicious Cycle. This differs in allowing honey and a number of high-fructose fruits and in eliminating all starches, whereas Fast Tract eliminates as much fructose as possible and distinguishes among starches. (The GAPS diet developed by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride takes the SC diet a bit further.) The other similar approach has the odd acronym FODMAPS: fermentable oligo-, di-, and monosaccharides and polyols. Based on the research behind this, Patsy Catsos has published IBS-Free At Last. This diet limits lactose, fructose fructans like wheat and onions, polyols from apples and plums etc., and galactans like legumes and some members of the cabbage family. However, according to Robillard, it is deficient in failing to take resistant starch into account.

How should a sufferer tackle this conundrum? One is to buy the Robillard book and use his three appendices to help you navigate. The first includes meal plans and recipes. For more individualistic people who want to make up their own combinations, Appendix B provides 30 pages of common kinds of food and their fermentable potential. The last appendix is a template for

a food journal to track what food produced what results. Here is a rough idea of what to expect:

MEAT & FISH – allLEGUMES – noneSOUPS – miso, brothCRACKERS – rice cakes, crackers COOKIES – shortbread

FLOUR – buckwheat (i.e., no bread)RICE – jasmine, Asian stickyPOTATO – waxy, Yukon goldVEGETABLES – all leaves and stalks, no rootsDAIRY – cream, yogurt, some cheeses: ricotta, cream cheese, brie, Gouda

NUTS – almonds, cashews, walnuts FRUIT – stick with berriesSUGAR, HONEY, etc. — none

The more drastic approach is to consider what all of the books mentioned above recommend and then eliminate all potential hazards before slowly testing different ones by adding them to your diet for a few days. The basic diet would thus have no grains or added sugars, no starchy vegetables (think roots), nothing in the onion or cabbage families, nothing with dairy in it, no legumes. For a couple of weeks, your diet would resemble the Atkins diet – meat, fish, eggs, fat and oils, leafy vegetables, and the occasional berry. Tea and coffee, if taken black, would be OK. This is a tall order! But the research will pay off if you can avoid what makes you sick and even heal your intestines, to boot. Pharmaceutical alternatives tend to have side effects, which tailoring your diet to your own requirements would not have. Be brave! You deserve to feel well.

References:Breaking the Vicious Cycle, Elaine Gottschall, Kirkton Press, 1994. Fast Tract Digestion, Norman Robillard, Self Help Publishing, 2012.Gut and Psychology Syndrome, Natasha Campbell-McBride, Medinform Publishing 2004.IBS-Free At Last, Patsy Catsos, Pond Cove Press, 2008.

Rosalind Michahelles is a Certified Holistic Health Counselor in Cambridge. For questions about this essay or related issues please call 617-491-3239 or visit www.nutrition-matters.info

Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms – When My Lab Tests Are Normal?

By Datis Kharrazian, Morgan-James Publishing, 2010

Reviewed by Rosalind Michahelles, Certified Holistic Health Counselor

If you are taking any thyroid medicine and reading this review, chances are you understand the basic pathway that stimulates the production of thyroid hormone:

HYPOTHALAMUS ➔ PITUITARY ➔ THYROID GLAND

So far, so good…but then what happens?

Click here to read the full article.

Health Article: Green Tea Changes Estrogen Metabolism and Breast Cancer Risk

By Case Adams, Naturopath, posted on greenmedinfo.com 03/09/2013

New research from the U.S. National Institutes of Health shows that the biochemicals in green tea change a women’s estrogen metabolism, revealing at least one of its mechanisms for reducing the risk of breast cancer.

The study comes from the NIH’s National Cancer Institute, and was led by Dr. Barbara Fuhrman. The researchers tested the levels of urinary estrogens and metabolites among 181 healthy Japanese American women from California and Hawaii. Of the group, 72 of the women were postmenopausal. The remainder of the group was premenopausal.

The data was compiled using a combination of urinary testing along with personal interviews with each women. The woman’s intake of not only green tea, but black tea, coffee (decaffeinated or not) and soda (decaffeinated or not) was also queried and recorded and measured, and the results were adjusted with respect to caffeine consumption. Considerations such as soy consumption, body mass index, age and others were also made and adjusted.

The research found that those postmenopausal women who drank green tea daily had 20% less urinary estrone and 40% less urinary estradiol levels, when compared to those levels of women who drank green tea less than one time per week.

These estrogen levels followed their categorization with regard to the estrogen metabolism pathway involved. This allowed the researchers to determine that these urinary estrogen differences were related to their estrogen metabolism and their future risk of breast cancer.

The primary estrogen pathway connected with breast cancer is the 16-hydroxylated estrogens. As for the 16-hydroxylated estrogen pathway, both estradiol and estrone markers were 40% lower among those women who drank green tea at least one time daily compared to those women who drank less than one cup of green tea a week.

Levels of caffeine consumption did not change these dynamics among the women. And black tea consumption did not produce these decreases in estrogen metabolites.

Furthermore, estrogen levels of premenopausal women did not respond to green tea consumption. This did not surprise the researchers, as previous research has found that postmenopausal women respond differently to medications such as tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors.

Interestingly, the research also found that the average urinary estrogen levels of the entire postmenopausal Japanese-American group was about half of the levels that were found in a recent study of postmenopausal women from New York who were primarily Caucasian. The researchers could not determine the reason for the difference – stating that it could be related to differences in diet, lifestyle factors or others.

While other studies have shown some differences in urinary estrogen levels and green tea drinking among women, this is the first study that analyzed a broad range of estrogen metabolites among peri- and postmenopausal women

Postmenopause follows one year after the stage of menopause, when a woman’s ovaries halt egg production. During this period, estrogen and progesterone production is reduced.

During this period a woman may experience symptoms related to lower levels of estrogen production. These include hot flashes, night sweating, insomnia, headaches, mood swings and other physical symptoms.

Many doctors recommend halting caffeine consumption during postmenopause, to help with menopause symptoms. This may run some conflict to green tea consumption, as a cup of green tea will typically contain about 20 milligrams of caffeine – as compared to about 30 milligrams in black tea and many sodas, and about 80 milligrams in a cup of coffee.

However, there are forms of green tea that contain less and even no caffeine. Gyokuro and Sencha Green teas will contain about half the caffeine content. The Joujicha green tea, the Genmaicha tea (mix of Bancha and Genmai – rice grain), and the Bancha green tea can contain up to ten times less caffeine than standard green teas.

In addition, there are now several decaffeinated green tea products available. The “Effervescence” decaffeination process, which uses water and carbon dioxide will retain over 90% of the green tea’s polyphenols. The other method, wherein ethyl acetate is used as a solvent, can lose as much as 70% of the green tea’s polyphenols during decaffeination.

And of course, black tea has the most caffeine, and does not provide the same medicinal benefits. Even though black tea is made from the same plant – Camellia sinensis – black teas are dried and oxidized under intense heat and/or sun, during which they lose much of their medicinal constituents.

These constituents include polyphenols such as epigallocatechin, epicatechin, epigallocatechin gallate and epicatechin gallate. These catechins can comprise up to 30% of the dry weight of fresh tea leaves.. These catechins have been shown to inhibit tumors in laboratory studies. The NIH researchers suggested that these polyphenols were the reason for the change in the estrogen metabolites:

“As a rich source of phytochemicals that can interact with and regulate xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes, green tea may modify metabolism or conjugation of estrogens and may thereby impact breast cancer risk.”

Another 2013 study from Italy’s University of Calabria found that epigallocatechin gallate specifically down-regulates a gene that stimulates cancer growth.

Other foods containing catechins, such as olives, blackberries, raspberries, cherries, grapes, apples, papayas, mangoes among many others, also have shown anti-cancer effects. Many herbal teas also contain catechins.

For additional research on Green Tea’s health benefits visit: Green Tea benefits.

For additional research on evidence-based, natural compounds with ant-breast cancer activity visit: natural Breast Cancer therapies

References
Fuhrman BJ, Pfeiffer RM, Wu AH, Xu X, Keefer LK, Veenstra TD, Ziegler RG. Green tea intake is associated with urinary estrogen profiles in
Japanese-American women. Nutr J. 2013 Feb 15;12(1):25.
Yang CS, Wang X, Lu G, Picinich SC: Cancer prevention by tea: animal studies, molecular mechanisms and human relevance. Nat Rev Cancer2009, 9(6):429–439.

Case Adams is a California Naturopath and holds a Ph.D. in Natural Health Sciences. His focus is upon science-based natural health solutions. He is the author of 20 books on natural health and numerous print and internet articles. His work can be found at http://www.caseadams.com.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of GreenMedInfo or its staff. This article is provided for informational use only.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of Cambridge Naturals or its staff. This article is provided for informational use only.

Book Review: The Breakthrough Depression Solution

By James Greenblatt, MD

Reviewed by Rosalind Michahelles, Certified Holistic Health Counselor

A Personalized 9-Step Method for Beating the Physical Causes of Your Depression

James Greenblatt, a local psychiatrist practicing in Waltham, MA gives special attention to the role nutrition can play in mental illness.

He works with both adults and children and, though fully prepared to prescribe medications when useful, he also points to the statistics showing the limited effectiveness of such drugs. In the last twenty years the number of Americans on psychiatric disability leave has trebled. What’s wrong with this picture?

Click here to download the full article.

Book Review: AN EPIDEMIC OF ABSENCE

By Moises Velasquez-Manoff
Reviewed by Rosalind Michahelles, Certified Holistic Health Counselor

Moises Velasquez-Manoff is a journalist – a science writer primarily — who has taken on the job of translating an ambitious scope of research for the non-medical reader. The central thesis is that we evolved with parasites, mostly insects and worms, and without their stimulus our immune systems get restless and look for targets that often end up being some part of ourselves. This sort of ‘friendly fire’ becomes allergies, asthma and autoimmune diseases. It’s important to point out that the many examples in the book are based on correlation, not causality. The correlations are indeed compelling, however. One, for instance, is that mothers who live on farms with animals have children with less asthma and fewer allergies. Another correlation links the end of malaria in Sardinia to a rapid rise in two autoimmune diseases, multiple sclerosis and type-1 diabetes. This book is dense with such examples.

It is a book built on the premise that such immune-mediated disorders “arise in direct proportion to affluence and Westernization.” We no longer live in the kind of environment that we – including our immune systems – evolved to expect. And that leads to problems: allergies, asthma, autism and autoimmune diseases like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and nearly a hundred others. Why is this? The author, a sufferer from both allergy and alopecia (his immune system attacked his hair follicles when he was a boy so he has been bald since then) has done a very extensive search for the answer to that question and believes that “…much of our immune system evolved precisely to manage the problem of parasites.” That being so, those parasites aren’t really dispensable and are, in fact, even symbiotic, what he calls ‘mutualists.’ They need us and we need them. The result is a delicate balance for the immune system in which force to control the invaders must not become so much force as to destroy the self. He even claims that “parasites more than any other factor (diet, climate) have influenced our evolution.” In short, we are their creatures, not the other way around!

Click here to download the full review.

Book Review: COULD IT BE B-12? An Epidemic of Misdiagnoses

By Sally M. Pacholok & Jeffrey Stuart

Reviewed by Rosalind Michahelles, Certified Holistic Health Counselor

“Epidemic of Misdiagnoses,” the subtitle of this book, sounds like hyperbole. But to some of those who have been misdiagnosed it may, on the contrary, seem tame, especially if psychotic or demented or paralyzed from nerve damage because the lack of vitamin B-12 was not noticed by their doctors. Similarly, wouldn’t a parent whose aloof and silent toddler is labeled autistic – instead of being cured with B-12 injections — find that subtitle reasonable? So think the authors of this book.

Vitamin B-12 is essential to the human diet because we don’t manufacture it but we need it. B-12 is functionally diverse, playing a significant role in the nervous, cardio-vascular, gastric, immune and mental systems.

Who is at risk for B-12 deficiency? Vegans and those who avoid animal products; people who take pills to suppress stomach acid; people with intestinal or other problems that interfere with B-12 absorption; and people whose dentist has used laughing gas instead of Novocain. There are also some with a genetic anomaly that gives them pernicious anemia, the name of the blood disorder, which results from B-12 deficiency.

Click here to download the full review.

Book Review: Perfect Health Diet: Four Steps to Renewed health, Youthful Vitality, and Long Life

By Paul & Shou-Ching Jaminet, YinYang Press, 2010

Reviewed by Rosalind Michahelles, Certified Holistic Health Counselor

If you’re interested in the so-called “paleo diet” or if you’re interested in knowing why we might benefit from eating as our distant ancestors did, those ancestors who evolved before the development of agriculture, then this book will interest you. Even if you feel perfectly healthy on another regime, you might well be interested in reading in these pages about ways to combat disease through diet.

Click here to download the full article.