Brook is my favorite Florida Squeeze writer. It’s a good blog so you should read.
Nutrition is a huge part of my life. Every day I tell my patients the eat good whole foods with fruits and vegetables. They look at me like I’ve lost my mind. These are the people that really have no choice but to eat food in cans and processed food which is what is killing us. Food in cans is filled with sodium and processed food is filled with sugar.
Most of these people are on fixed incomes because they are over 65. Most, if they can get food stamps, get 15 dollars a month for food stamps. The cheapest food you can get is the stuff in a can or in box which is the food that is bad for you. This is my $15 challenge. No one can eat on 15 dollars a month.
Most people on both sides are totally unaware. Unless you worked in the community every day how could you be?
One of the biggest list I have at work is my list of food banks. I encourage them to go for the fresh fruits and veggies if possible.
If you think about it when we have food drives that’s what we bring. We bring our old canned food and food in a box.
We bring out most unhealthiest food to the most vulnerable people.
We’re killing people with our kindness if you think about it.
I look at issues through the eyes of Abraham Maslow.
Many people in our state barely have their physiological needs taken care of. Clean water and food. I know my representatives really do not care if our citizens have this.
The citizen’s of Martin County do make this happen. We are the ones fighting for clean water and we are the one’s that worry about making sure people have food.
No matter if this is 15 dollars minimum wage or over $15 for our elderly and disabled people we have got to do better. My challenge to you if to find someone near you and make sure they have good whole foods and fruits and vegetables and clean water.
There’s so much more to write but I’ll save that for another day.
Instead of waiting for something to happen. Let’s just make it happen.
I’m looking forward to the final video with all the slides but this will get you really excited about seeing the entire finished product.
This piece is so important because not only can I share with you guys but I can share with my patients. Most medical people do not pay attention to this information and do not know anything about Metabolic Dysfunction. My own ARNP told me my fatty liver was genetic ( which I don’t doubt its part of it being that I’m Jewish and my ancestors ate things like chicken schmaltz, chopped liver, bagels and cream cheese. The list goes on.
One of things that I learned is that its impossible to loose weight when you have fatty liver disease. The whole thing makes me very sad when I’ve spent a life time taking good care of my liver and now its screwed up.
Sugar is a huge part of this and also a huge part of the inflammatory process.
I can tell people this stuff (Including my own cardiologist who looked at me like I have 14 heads) (and my cousins who blow me off.) I can tell them that a peanut and jelly and white is not a heart healthy diet. I can tell them they can give me a smoothie with whole milk if they don’t have almond milk because whole milk has less sugar in it that low fat milk. I can tell them anything that is low fat is high in sugar which is worse for us that the fat and in fact we need fat for our brains.
The Best Foods for Your Brain (And Why We Might Owe Fat an Apology)
(I’m talking good fat so don’t get too excited.)
“The Top 3 Dietary Fats for Better Brain Health
1. Polyunsaturated Fat
Polyunsaturated fats contain the essential fatty acids (EFAs) omega-3 and omega-6. Our brains need these fats to function properly (studies also show that eating high quantities of omega-3 fatty acids are linked to reduced rates of major depression, but our bodies are unable to produce them. This means it’s important that we include these fat sources in our diets.
2. DHA
An omega-3 fatty acid, DHA has been shown to help brain functions like memory, speaking ability, and motor skills. Increasing dietary levels of omega-3s has been shown to help improve conditions such as depression, bipolar disorder, and ADHD.
3. Saturated Fat
Saturated fat is actually one of the main components of brain cells, and is therefore necessary for healthy brain function. In one study, it was found that people who ate more saturated fat reduced their risk for developing dementia by 36 percent. Saturated fat also provides benefits for the liver and immune system and helps maintain proper hormone balance.”
Because if you have dementia does it really matter if your cholesterol is high?
And if you have fatty liver disease what are these statins doing to you? For a long time every doctor is ordering statins for people and what is the connection between this dementia. No offense to them but they don’t have to take care of our elderly parents with dementia.
As nurses, teaching nutrition is our greatest gift because we need a doctors order to tell patients to take Omegas but we certainly don’t need one to tell them to eat foods rich in omegas. We can tell people “Eat a healthy diet that’s low in saturated fat, trans fat, refined carbohydrates and salt, and rich in fruits, vegetables, fish, and whole grains.”
or
“Eat good whole foods. Don’t eat anything from a can or a box. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables.”
Why? Because there is sugar in everything. It’s added to make thing taste better.
Sorry for the rant. Back to Wolfram. Here are some noteworthy quotes.
“75% percent of our healthcare costs are related to preventable conditions.”
“You are what you metabolize not what you eat.”
“74% of food at the supermarket has added sugar in it.”
“Sugar is hidden in our food supply. 47% in sugary beverages.”
“Total fat consumption has little impact on obesity.”
“if you look back at the last decades at the low food marketing scam which has been selling us low quality carbohydrates with processed food and added sugar in it.”
“The human organism can survive without carbohydrates but not without protein and fats.”
All of us in healthcare need to embrace this and learn more and make it part of our lives the daily conversations with our patients so I hope we can engage Wolfram in more of these conversations.
Like for instance. What do you do for a fatty liver besides cutting out all the bad foods?
Thank you Wolfram for coming to our conference and we hope to hear lots more from you!
When it comes to evaluating sugar’s negative health impacts, the threat of extra pudge is just the beginning. Even great health threats—including inflammation-based diseases—may lurk at the bottom of the sugar bowl.
New research is revealing disturbing links not just between sugar and obesity, but also between sugar and inflammation. Inflammation, of course, has been implicated as a major factor in a number of vitality zapping diseases, from cancer and diabetes to atherosclerosis and digestive disorders.
The Refined-Carb Connection
On the spectrum of dietary dangers, processed sugars are on a par with unhealthy fats. “High-fructose corn syrup is the primary cause of obesity in our culture,” says Elson Haas, MD, author of Staying Healthy with Nutrition (Celestial Arts, 2006, New Edition). “Our bodies simply aren’t built to process all that sugar.”
Still, to date, sugar doesn’t have nearly as bad a reputation as it probably deserves. One of the reasons it slips under the radar is that connecting the dots between sugar and disease requires widening the nutritional net to include all refined carbohydrates (like processed flours, cereals and sugars of all sorts). This may seem like a fine point, but it’s an important distinction.
Most dietary sugars are simple carbohydrates, meaning that they’re made up of one or two sugar molecules stuck together, making them easy to pull apart and digest. Complex carbohydrates, like those found in whole grains, legumes and many vegetables, are long chains of sugar molecules that must be broken apart during digestion, therefore offering a longer-lasting surge of energy. The presence of naturally occurring fiber, protein and fat in many whole foods further slows the sugar-release process.
The more processed and refined the carbohydrate, as a rule, the faster it breaks down in the digestive system, and the bigger the sugar rush it delivers. That’s why refined flours, sugars and sugar syrups pose such a problem for our systems.
The body is exquisitely designed to handle small amounts of sugar. But refined carbs deliver a larger rush than our bodies were designed to accommodate, or even cope with. In ancient times, hunter-gatherers coveted the occasional piece of fruit or slab of honeycomb as a rare treat and source of rapid-fire energy for, well – hunting and gathering.
Today, sugar lurks behind most cellophane wrappers, and the energy it provides is more likely to get socked away on our hips than burned while stalking dinner. Being active goes a long way toward vanquishing excess sugar in the bloodstream, but it doesn’t negate the need to watch your intake. To make matters worse, unlike the fruit sugar (fructose) our ancestors savored, today’s sugary treats are made with refined sugars (usually some derivative of table sugar or high-fructose corn syrup), which can overwhelm the body’s ability to balance blood sugar.
“Refined sugar is a genetically unfamiliar ingredient,” says Jack Challem, a nutrition researcher and author of The Inflammation Syndrome (John Wiley & Sons, 2003). “A lot of health problems today are the result of ancient genes bumping up against modern foods.”
Inflammation’s aim is to defend the body against bacteria, viruses, and other foreign invaders, to remove debris, and to help repair damaged tissue. Inside arteries, inflammation helps kick off atherosclerosis and keeps the process smoldering. It even influences the formation of artery-blocking clots, the ultimate cause of heart attacks and many strokes.
What is an inflammatory cytokine. Back to the mothership.
Cytokines are small secreted proteins released by cells have a specific effect on the interactions and communications between cells. Cytokine is a general name; other names include lymphokine (cytokines made by lymphocytes), monokine (cytokines made by monocytes), chemokine (cytokines with chemotactic activities), and interleukin (cytokines made by one leukocyte and acting on other leukocytes). Cytokines may act on the cells that secrete them (autocrine action), on nearby cells (paracrine action), or in some instances on distant cells (endocrine action). There are both pro-inflammatory cytokines and anti-inflammatory cytokines. There is significant evidence showing that certain cytokines/chemokines are involved in not only the initiation but also the persistence of pathologic pain by directly activating nociceptive sensory neurons. Certain inflammatory cytokines are also involved in nerve-injury/inflammation-induced central sensitization, and are related to the development of contralateral hyperalgesia/allodynia. The discussion presented in this chapter describes several key pro-inflammatory cytokines/chemokines and anti-inflammatory cytokines, their relation with pathological pain in animals and human patients, and possible underlying mechanisms.
What is the connection between cytokines and the immune system.
Cytokines are important mediators of immune responses that allow integration of the behavior of cells in time and geographical location as immune responses are generated.
Cytokine-directed treatments are being developed by the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry as therapeutic agents for a number of autoimmune diseases.
Here is our friend Dr Jill Smith from Penn State who explained this all to us. It was her presentations that helped me to understand inflammatory cytokines.
Dr. Jill Smith is a Professor of Medicine in the Gastroenterology Division of the Department of Medicine, Hershey Medical Center, Penn State University. Dr. Smith has a long track record of conducting pre-clinical scientific research as well as translational clinical trials in patients.
Over the course of her twenty two years at Penn State University she has mentored thirty eight post-doctoral Fellows and students, thereby ensuring continuing excellence in medicine for future generations.
Dr. Smith’s research focus is on disorders of the gastrointestinal tract and pancreas. In her role as a Professor in the College of Medicine’s Internal Medicine Department she treats patients with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.
Simultaneously, in her role as Professor of Cellular and Molecular Physiology she teaches and conducts basic science research in the graduate school. For over two decades, Dr. Smith has conducted industry-sponsored trials and investigator-initiated research involving inflammatory bowel disease. One of her areas of expertise is in translational medicine.
Another area of expertise for Dr. Smith involves her research on pancreatic cancer. Dr. Smith’s team discovered that growth of pancreatic cancer is controlled by a small protein called gastrin. They further discovered a novel receptor on human pancreas cancer through which gastrin exerts its effects. Dr. Smith’s discovery led to her being the recipient of the Basic Science Research Award, a prestigious award given by the European Pancreas Society for outstanding discoveries in science. Ongoing research using this novel receptor or targeting therapy and early detection of pancreatic cancer is underway. Dr. Smith is also is a co-discoverer of the role of another protein called OGF (Opioid Growth Factor) that inhibits growth of pancreatic cancer. This discovery has been confirmed in both Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials treating patients with advanced pancreatic cancer with OGF.
Dr. Smith was the first ever researcher to carry out a clinical trial of low dose naltrexone. The results of the successful trial in patients suffering from Crohn’s disease has spearheaded ongoing clinical trials by other researchers at several institutions worldwide.
Knowing Dr Smith she will find the cure for pancreatic cancer.
Sincere thanks also to Cyndi Lenz and Adam Lenz who videotaped and photographed the entire conference, providing the multimedia files accessed through this webpage.
The 1931 Nobel laureate in medicine, German Otto Warburg, Ph.D., first discovered that cancer cells have a fundamentally different energy metabolism compared to healthy cells. The crux of his Nobel thesis was that malignant tumors frequently exhibit an increase in anaerobic glycolysis — a process whereby glucose is used as a fuel by cancer cells with lactic acid as an anaerobic byproduct — compared to normal tissues.1 The large amount of lactic acid produced by this fermentation of glucose from cancer cells is then transported to the liver. This conversion of glucose to lactate generates a lower, more acidic pH in cancerous tissues as well as overall physical fatigue from lactic acid buildup.2,3 Thus, larger tumors tend to exhibit a more acidic pH.4
This inefficient pathway for energy metabolism yields only 2 moles of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) energy per mole of glucose, compared to 38 moles of ATP in the complete aerobic oxidation of glucose. By extracting only about 5 percent (2 vs. 38 moles of ATP) of the available energy in the food supply and the body’s calorie stores, the cancer is “wasting” energy, and the patient becomes tired and undernourished. This vicious cycle increases body wasting.5 It is one reason why 40 percent of cancer patients die from malnutrition, or cachexia.6
Hence, cancer therapies should encompass regulating blood-glucose levels via diet, supplements, non-oral solutions for cachectic patients who lose their appetite, medication, exercise, gradual weight loss and stress reduction. Professional guidance and patient self-discipline are crucial at this point in the cancer process. The quest is not to eliminate sugars or carbohydrates from the diet but rather to control blood glucose within a narrow range to help starve the cancer and bolster immune function.
Here is something i had read about but did not really pay attention until lately
from wikipedia Prebiotic
Nutrition
Prebiotics are non-digestible fiber compounds that pass undigested through the upper part of the gastrointestinal tract and stimulate the growth and/or activity of advantageous bacteria that colonize the large bowel by acting as substrate for them
Roberfroid offered a refined definition in the March 2007 Journal of Nutrition stating:
I still have not seen “Fed Up” the movie but understanding the philosophy i’m looking at everything I eat. My good friend Jeanne started an Facebook group where a bunch of us are sharing recipes, info and supporting each other to eat more healthy.
I had my first port stint appointment with my cardiologist. I was proud of my good behavior but I did tell him to take the heart healthy low fat and shove it but in the nicest way possible. Citing food from the hospital list that they gave me to eat I told him I doubted that peanut butter and jelly on white bread was hardly heart healthy and that most of the foods on the menu were heart unhealthy.I told him I was going to eat whole foods and lots of fruits and veggies. Nothing from a can. “Like a Mediterranean diet” yes like that sort of us (mixing in some of Nordic diet- eating root veggies and joining an organic food coop to eat whats seasonal. Just skipping the reindeer!)
I’m a fan of ginger ale. Its the one thing settles my yucky stomach. Canada Dry is my brand. It has real ginger in it. Having said that -its extracted and lots of not so good stuff in ginger ale.
I don’t know why i have never included grated real ginger in my food. It’s delicious, not expensive, easy to deal with. Just grab and grate.
Ginger, aka Zingiber officinale, is a rhizome, a thick underground stem that sprouts roots and shoots.
Ginger as medicine
Ginger is one of the oldest medicinal foods.
Since the herb originated in Southeast Asia, it’s not surprising that ancient Chinese and Indian healers have made ginger a part of their toolkit for thousands of years.
The only beans i ever really liked were Boston Baked Beans. Delicious but probably not good for you. With my hotdog and some potato salad. On my old sailboat in eel pond in woods hole.
I digress…
This stuff you can get the bean or also in vermicelli noodles.
These guys are packed with lots of protein and very easy to cook. I like that it helps to lower cholesterol. As nurses we should be encouraging our patients to eat better. A total plus that these little guys contain phytoestrogens which aid in the production of collagen and elastin which improve skin tone.
This was another one of the foods i said ugh to. Now i can’t enough of it. I just bought some iodine. We don’t get enough Iodine.
Salt does not naturally contain iodine. “No salt, table or sea, in its natural state contains iodine. This mineral was added to salt in the early 1900s when scientists discovered that an iodine deficiency in American diets was causing thyroid goiter, a mass in the neck that could press on the trachea and esophagus. This discovery led to “iodized” table salt and a significant reduction of goiters. Subsequently, lack of iodine in pregnant women was found to cause a form of mental retardation in infants called Iodine Deficiency Disorder (IDD). This disorder remains a problem. According to UNICEF (2007), “over 1 billion people in the world suffer from iodine deficiency, and 38 million babies born every year are not protected from brain damage due to IDD.”
cyndi lenz 