The Importance of a Healthy GI Tract

Do you know that the gastrointestinal tract is made up of 10x more bacteria than there are cells in the body? 60-80% of our immune system and 90% of our neurotransmitters are made in the gut. These numbers should catch your attention! Latest research is revealing the importance of a healthy gut and it's relationship to strong healthy immune system. Gut dysbiosis (a condition where thee is an imbalance of good to bad bacteria) and leaky gut have been linked to many health conditions today  including ADHD, psoriasis, depression, anxiety, autoimmune diseases, obesity, diabetes, and allergies.

Digestive issues such as gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhea and/or heartburn are the body's way of alerting you that your digestive tract is in trouble. These symptoms, if left unresolved, can lead to chronic health problems. Leaky gut ( also known as gut permeability) is a condition where the lining of the digestive tract becomes damaged and bacteria and undigested food particles get through the barrier and create an inflammatory response in the body. These larger molecules were never meant to cross this barrier. 

What causes this damage to the digestive tract? Antibiotics, birth control pills, stress, chronic infections, anti-inflammatory medications, highly refined carbohydrates, sugar, processed foods, chemical toxins, wheat, industrial seed oils, and a low fiber diet.  Changes in lifestyle, such as incorporating an organic whole food diet, low in sugar and toxins and high fiber from vegetables; reducing stress through meditation; acupuncture, massage, yoga, etc; sleeping 7-9 hours a night; and adding a probiotic supplement and fermented foods, can go a long way in healing the gut. 

For more difficult cases, getting guidance from a holistic physician can speed up the healing process. Testing the stool, saliva and/or blood and adding specific herbal formulas or supplements is often necessary.

For more in depth information about gut health attend our free seminar on Thursday, February 12, from 6-7pm at Holistic Women and Families. Please call (386) 872-5757 to RSVP due to limited seating. 

Chai Green Smoothie

By Carla Martins
 www.CruRawFood.com

Serves 2

Ingredients:

·         2 apples

·         1 banana

·         2 C spinach or kale

·         1 cup of almond milk

·         1t cinnamon

·         1t cardamom

·         1t ginger

Blend all the ingredients until smooth, adding water, if necessary, to achieve the desired consistency. Enjoy!

www.holisticwomenandfamilies.com

RHR: How to Treat Acid Reflux in Babies Without Drugs by Kris Kresser

Check out this informative video by Kris Kresser about naturally treating acid reflux in infants.

"In conventional medicine, they start with the symptoms. So for example, if a baby has acid reflux, they prescribe a drug that just suppresses that symptom, without doing any investigation into why the reflux is occurring in the first place. There are so many problems with that approach. One of the main ones is that drugs don’t just have intended effects, they also have unintended effects. If a drug suppresses acid production, what else is it doing that may not be beneficial? What are the effects of acid that are beneficial?"

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Menopause: How to Transition Smoothly

As women approach menopause and hormone levels begin to fluctuate and drop, many of the symptoms that often develop can be very uncomfortable and even debilitating. Insomnia, night sweats, irritability, anxiety, depression, low libido, low energy, irregular bleeding and osteoporosis are very common symptoms for more women than not. Conventional medicine prescribes antidepressants, hormone replacement therapies, thyroid medication, mild sedatives or psychotherapy which can come with side effects or risks and are not always successful in resolving symptoms.



Have you ever noticed that some women seem to fly right through menopause with out a single complaint while others are miserable to the point of affecting their jobs and relationships negatively? Is this natural bodily process really meant to be such a bad experience for some? Taking care to modulate stress, exercising wisely, and eating a nutrient dense diet in the years before menopause and during, can make a huge impact on how easily your body responds to this transition. This is also a time for women to transition into a new role emotionally. This is a time to rebirth a new you, now that the child birthing years are coming to completion. What are you doing that is not serving you emotionally and physically? What have you dreamed of or wanted to create but have not had the time or energy?



When we have lots of estrogen our bodies can handle the lack of sleep and constant hustle and bustle that comes with raising a family. As our uterine hormones decline our bodies are not meant to burn the candle at both ends. It's a time to be introspective, listening to our bodies symptoms and using these messages to create a new healthier woman. If we have had a healthy and balanced lifestyle leading up to menopause then our adrenals will be healthy and produce the estrogen we need now.



For those who are struggling with symptoms, acupuncture, Chinese herbal formulas, exercise, a nutrient dense diet, and meditation can bring balance to the body and eliminate the common symptoms without side effects. To learn more about what you can do to ensure a healthy symptom free transition through menopause, or how to eliminate your symptoms without resorting to medicine, join Dawn Share AP, at Debbie's Health Food's 3850 Nova Rd Port Orange on November 10th from 1-2pm.

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Is Depression a Disease—or a Symptom of Inflammation?

by CHRIS KRESSER 

The idea that depression and other mental health conditions are caused by an imbalance of chemicals (particularly serotonin and norepinephrine) in the brain is so deeply ingrained in our collective psyche that it seems almost sacrilegious to question it. 

Of course Big Pharma has played a role in perpetuating this idea. Antidepressant drugs, which are based on the chemical imbalance theory, represent a $10 billion dollar market in the U.S. alone. According to the CDC, 11 percent of Americans over 12 years old take antidepressants, and they are the second-most prescribed medications (after cholesterol-lowering drugs). Doctors wrote a staggering 254 million prescriptions for antidepressants in 2010. 

Yet as popular as this theory has become, it is riddled with problems. For example: 

• Reducing levels of norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine does not produce depression in humans, even though it appears to do so in animals.
• Although some depressed patients have low levels of serotonin and norepinephrine, the majority do not. Several studies indicate that only 25 percent of depressed patients have low levels of these neurotransmitters.
• Some depressed patients have abnormally high levels of serotonin and norepinephrine, and some patients with no history of depression have low levels of them. 

What if depression isn’t caused by a “chemical imbalance” after all? More specifically, what if depression itself is not a disease, but a symptom of an underlying problem? 

That is exactly what the most recent research on depression is telling us. A new theory called the “Immune Cytokine Model of Depression” holds that depression is not a disease itself, but instead a “multifaceted sign of chronic immune system activation.” 

To put it plainly: depression may be a symptom of chronic inflammation. 

Read Full Article 

Stop and Sleep!

Ignoring our sleep needs is possibly one of the biggest unsuspecting contributors to our declining health. Research continues to point to a lack of sleep as a major contributing factor for developing heart disease, cancer, depression, diabetes, obesity and disrupting our gut health. On an average we are sleeping many hours less than past generations did. We are living faster paced lives trying to pack more into our days. We are spending our evenings stimulated by television, iPads, computers and smart phones to "relax and wind down." The blue light from these electronic devices plays a key role in decreasing our melatonin at a time in the day when it should be increasing. As melatonin increases, cortisol decreases and we start to get tired and fall asleep. Our body's follow a natural circadian rhythm which is important for our sleep/wake cycles. Chronic sleep deprivation and staying up late exposed to blue lights from our electronics throws off this natural rhythm and impacts our health negatively. There is even a term called "sleep procrastination" defined as a voluntary delay in going to sleep even when we are tired. Many times we have a hard time disconnecting from our activities or feel we can't stop because we have to much on our to do list.

Adequate sleep is an important component of a healthy lifestyle! Here are some environmental and lifestyle changes that can help stimulate natural day and night lighting and create healthier sleep patterns.

Changing from a low fat high carb diet to a more nutrient dense diet helps regulate blood sugar swings that cause us to wake up in the night. Eating more protein and healthy fats stabilizes blood sugar and reduces the blood sugar lows and cortisol spike in the night. Eating your carbohydrates at dinner can help include sleep too, just don't eat late. Carbohydrates such a sweet potato, white potato, winter squashes, plantains and yucca are the best source.

Humans are hard wired to sleep in the dark. We are meant to go to sleep when it gets dark and wake when it gets light. Dimming lights in the house and wearing blue light blocking glasses in the evening will help decrease cortisol and increase melatonin production, making you sleepy at night. Covering all lights so that the bedroom is completely dark is a must for adequate melatonin production. Blue light from TV, computers, smart phones and electric lights sends signals to the brain that it is daylight and disrupts our circadian rhythm. Turn off electronics 1-2 hours before bedtime. Use black out curtains and/ or an eye mask in your bedroom.

Many scientists believe the electromagnetic waves from all our devices and wireless systems creates another form of stress on our already toxic stressed bodies and brains. Removing your phones, computers, and electric clocks from your bedroom will increase the quality of your sleep. Turn off phones and wifi while sleeping. If using electric clock, keep it as far away from the bed as possible.

Going to bed at the same time and preferably by 10 pm especially in the winter season will give your body extra time for healing and rejuvenation. The parasympathetic rest and digest system is activated at night. This is when the most healing happens. When we stay up late our bodies make more cortisol making us insulin resistant and we crave more sugar.

Read a real book at night while lying in bed with a low light source. The eye movement promotes sleep.

Avoid stimulants after lunch. Caffeine can have a half life of up to 6 hours. Drink plenty of water

Get exercise and bright sunlight if possible every day. Exposing yourself to sunlight in the morning helps reset your circadian rhythm. Having a routine exercise program over the long term can improve quality of sleep.

Rub magnesium oil on fatty parts of the body or take magnesium supplement before bed

Having some home made bone broth or gelatin before bed supplies glycine, an amino acid that promotes sleep. Take in a supplement form if food source is not available.

A Daily meditation practice or using guided meditation has been shown to increase quality of sleep. White noise or falling rain sounds can help induce sleep.

If these changes do not bring about better quality sleep consider acupuncture, Chinese herbs and or homeopathic formulas to help reset your circadian rhythm, reduce stress and increase hormone balance.

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Homeopathy

We use a variety of integrative medical approaches here at Holistic Women and Families Natural Health Center. One approach that we find highly effective is the use of homeopathic remedies. Homeopathy is a system of treating disease with diluted amounts of substances, that in larger doses, would produce illness in a healthy person.

Homeopathic medicine is a natural approach to healing but it should not be mistaken as herbal medicine. Homeopathic remedies are similar to herbal formulas due to the fact that they are often both made from plant or mineral sources but differ greatly in the process involved in preparing the remedies. Homeopathic remedies are highly diluted in water and "potentiated" so that the end product contains the "memory" of the original substance. The body recognizes the substance and reacts to it with a healing response.

Science has not been able to explain the mechanism of action involved with homeopathic medicine, but both lab experiments and clinical trials are able to demonstrate a biological effect. Homeopathy has a long history of use in Europe and was first used in Germany in the late 1700's. It has been regulated in the US since 1938. It has proven to be an effective means of helping the body heal itself without side effects. Homeopathic remedies are a very safe alternative for young children and pregnant women. The remedies are in ultra high dilutions which makes them non- toxic.

An example of how " like cures like" in homeopathy, is the remedy called Apis Mellifica. This remedy is made from the stinger of the honey bee. When stung by a bee, one would expect pain, redness, and swelling. The remedy is used to treat allergic reactions, swelling of mucus membranes, edema, pain and inflammation. There are hundreds of remedies in different potencies. Always check with your health care provider for the best remedy for your specific presentation of symptoms.

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