Dr. Weil's Anti-Inflammatory Diet
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Courtesy of Dr. Weil on Healthy Aging, Your Online Guide to the Anti-Inflammatory Diet.
It is becoming increasingly clear that chronic inflammation is the root cause of many serious illnesses - including heart disease, many cancers, and Alzheimer's disease. We all know inflammation on the surface of the body as local redness, heat, swelling and pain. It is the cornerstone of the body's healing response, bringing more nourishment and more immune activity to a site of injury or infection. But when inflammation persists or serves no purpose, it damages the body and causes illness. Stress, lack of exercise, genetic predisposition, and exposure to toxins (like secondhand tobacco smoke) can all contribute to such chronic inflammation, but dietary choices play a big role as well. Learning how specific foods influence the inflammatory process is the best strategy for containing it and reducing long-term disease risks. (Find more details on the mechanics of the inflammation process and the Anti-Inflammatory Food Pyramid.)
The Anti-Inflammatory Diet is not a diet in the popular sense - it is not intended as a weight-loss program (although people can and do lose weight on it), nor is it an eating plan to stay on for a limited period of time. Rather, it is way of selecting and preparing foods based on scientific knowledge of how they can help your body maintain optimum health. Along with influencing inflammation, this diet will provide steady energy and ample vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids dietary fiber, and protective phytonutrients.
You can also adapt your existing recipes according to these anti-inflammatory diet principles:
General Diet Tips:
-Aim for variety.
-Include as much fresh food as possible.
-Minimize your consumption of processed foods and fast food.
-Eat an abundance of fruits and vegetables.
Caloric Intake
Most adults need to consume between 2,000 and 3,000 calories a day. Women and smaller and less active people need fewer calories. Men and bigger and more active people need more calories.
If you are eating the appropriate number of calories for your level of activity, your weight should not fluctuate greatly. The distribution of calories you take in should be as follows: 40 to 50 percent from carbohydrates, 30 percent from fat, and 20 to 30 percent from protein. Try to include carbohydrates, fat, and protein at each meal.
Carbohydrates
On a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet, adult women should consume between 160 to 200 grams of carbohydrates a day.
Adult men should consume between 240 to 300 grams of carbohydrates a day. The majority of this should be in the form of less-refined, less-processed foods with a low glycemic load.
Reduce your consumption of foods made with wheat flour and sugar, especially bread and most packaged snack foods (including chips and pretzels). Eat more whole grains such as brown rice and bulgur wheat, in which the grain is intact or in a few large pieces. These are preferable to whole wheat flour products, which have roughly the same glycemic index as white flour products. Eat more beans, winter squashes, and sweet potatoes. Cook pasta al dente and eat it in moderation. Avoid products made with high fructose corn syrup.
Fat
On a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet, 600 calories can come from fat - that is, about 67 grams. This should be in a ratio of 1:2:1 of saturated to monounsaturated to polyunsaturated fat. Reduce your intake of saturated fat by eating less butter, cream, high-fat cheese, unskinned chicken and fatty meats, and products made with palm kernel oil. Use extra-virgin olive oil as a main cooking oil. If you want a neutral tasting oil, use expeller-pressed, organic canola oil. Organic, high-oleic, expeller pressed versions of sunflower and safflower oil are also acceptable. Avoid regular safflower and sunflower oils, corn oil, cottonseed oil, and mixed vegetable oils.
Strictly avoid margarine, vegetable shortening, and all products listing them as ingredients. Strictly avoid all products made with partially hydrogenated oils of any kind. Include in your diet avocados and nuts, especially walnuts, cashews, almonds, and nut butters made from these nuts. For omega-3 fatty acids, eat salmon (preferably fresh or frozen wild or canned sockeye), sardines packed in water or olive oil, herring, and black cod (sablefish, butterfish); omega-3 fortified eggs; hemp seeds and flaxseeds (preferably freshly ground); or take a fish oil supplement (look for products that provide both EPA and DHA, in a convenient daily dosage of two to three grams).
Protein
On a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet, your daily intake of protein should be between 80 and 120 grams. Eat less protein if you have liver or kidney problems, allergies, or autoimmune disease.
Decrease your consumption of animal protein except for fish and high quality natural cheese and yogurt. Eat more vegetable protein, especially from beans in general and soybeans in particular. Become familiar with the range of whole-soy foods available and find ones you like.
Fiber
Try to eat 40 grams of fiber a day. You can achieve this by increasing your consumption of fruit, especially berries, vegetables (especially beans), and whole grains.
Ready-made cereals can be good fiber sources, but read labels to make sure they give you at least 4 and preferably 5 grams of bran per one-ounce serving.
Phytonutrients
To get maximum natural protection against age-related diseases (including cardiovascular disease, cancer, and neurodegenerative disease) as well as against environmental toxicity, eat a variety of fruits, vegetables and mushrooms.
Choose fruits and vegetables from all parts of the color spectrum, especially berries, tomatoes, orange and yellow fruits, and dark leafy greens. Choose organic produce whenever possible. Learn which conventionally grown crops are most likely to carry pesticide residues and avoid them.
Eat cruciferous (cabbage-family) vegetables regularly. Include soy foods in your diet. Drink tea instead of coffee, especially good quality white, green or oolong tea. If you drink alcohol, use red wine preferentially. Enjoy plain dark chocolate in moderation (with a minimum cocoa content of 70 percent).
Vitamins and Minerals
The best way to obtain all of your daily vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients is by eating a diet high in fresh foods with an abundance of fruits and vegetables. In addition, supplement your diet with the following antioxidant cocktail:
-Vitamin C, 200 milligrams a day.
-Vitamin E, 400 IU of natural mixed tocopherols (d-alpha-tocopherol with other tocopherols, or, better, a minimum of 80 milligrams of natural mixed tocopherols and tocotrienols).
-Selenium, 200 micrograms of an organic (yeast-bound) form.
-Mixed carotenoids, 10,000-15,000 IU daily.
The antioxidants can be most conveniently taken as part of a daily multivitamin/multimineral supplement that also provides at least 400 micrograms of folic acid and 2,000 IU of vitamin D. It should contain no iron (unless you are a female and having regular menstrual periods) and no preformed vitamin A (retinol). Take these supplements with your largest meal. Women should take supplemental calcium, preferably as calcium citrate, 500-700 milligrams a day, depending on their dietary intake of this mineral. Men should avoid supplemental calcium.
Other Dietary Supplements
If you are not eating oily fish at least twice a week, take supplemental fish oil, in capsule or liquid form (two to three grams a day of a product containing both EPA and DHA). Look for molecularly distilled products certified to be free of heavy metals and other contaminants.
Talk to your doctor about going on low-dose aspirin therapy, one or two baby aspirins a day (81 or 162 milligrams). If you are not regularly eating ginger and turmeric, consider taking these in supplemental form. Add coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) to your daily regimen: 60-100 milligrams of a softgel form taken with your largest meal. If you are prone to metabolic syndrome, take alpha-lipoic acid, 100 to 400 milligrams a day.
Water
Drink pure water, or drinks that are mostly water (tea, very diluted fruit juice, sparkling water with lemon) throughout the day. Use bottled water or get a home water purifier if your tap water tastes of chlorine or other contaminants, or if you live in an area where the water is known or suspected to be contaminated.
Related Resources:
Start your free trial of Dr. Weil on Healthy Aging for more in-depth information on the anti-inflammatory diet, including over 300 anti-inflammatory recipes, eating and shopping guides, how-to cooking videos, an exclusive version of Dr. Weil's Anti-Inflammatory Food Pyramid and more! Visit today!
The Weil Vitamin Advisor is an online questionnaire that yields a personalized, comprehensive recommendation for vitamins and vitamin supplements based on your lifestyle, diet, nutrition, medications, and health concerns. The questionnaire takes only a few minutes and gives you a recommendation that is personalized to meet your unique nutritional needs.
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Monday, September 29, 2014
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
The Five Second Rule
Who says you can’t drop your cake and eat it, too? Quickly picking up food off the ground significantly diminishes the bacteria on your snack, finds a new study from England.
Researchers at Aston University examined the classic 5-Second Rule, which claims it’s safe to grab and eat food you’ve dropped on the floor as long as you do it within 5 seconds of the fall. Indeed, after placing different foods on scummy surfaces for either 3 or 30 seconds, the researchers found up to 10 times more bacteria on food that had been down longer.
When you drop your meal, its particles pick up bacteria, says lead researcher Anthony Hilton, Ph.D. Your grub then slowly spreads to cover a greater area and therefore accumulates more germs.
Even if you catch your food fast, remember that eating off the floor isn’t exactly a healthy habit. After all, it’s still dirty food. “I think it would be wrong of us to kind of perpetuate or even suggest that picking up food is safe to do,” says Hilton.
But if you accidentally drop a delicious treat and want to try and salvage it with the 5-Second Rule, at least minimize your risk with these tips:
Stick With Dry Snacks:
The particles in dry foods like cookies and chips largely don’t settle or stick to surfaces, whereas moist foods—like sticky candy and noodles—can make almost 20 percent more contact on the gross surface as time goes by.
Consume Over Carpet:
If your grip is feeling flimsy, take your sandwich in the living room instead of the kitchen. Hilton’s results showed that bacteria survive for shorter periods of time on carpet than on hard flooring. Carpet also transfers fewer germs to food.
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This information is not, and is not intended to replace actual medical advice from a qualified doctor.
To receive your free 'Manna Goods Health Bulletin' via email, send an email to: the.manna.goods@gmail.com (Put 'Subscribe' in the subject line.)
-----
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http://ow.ly/1z4j1b
Researchers at Aston University examined the classic 5-Second Rule, which claims it’s safe to grab and eat food you’ve dropped on the floor as long as you do it within 5 seconds of the fall. Indeed, after placing different foods on scummy surfaces for either 3 or 30 seconds, the researchers found up to 10 times more bacteria on food that had been down longer.
When you drop your meal, its particles pick up bacteria, says lead researcher Anthony Hilton, Ph.D. Your grub then slowly spreads to cover a greater area and therefore accumulates more germs.
Even if you catch your food fast, remember that eating off the floor isn’t exactly a healthy habit. After all, it’s still dirty food. “I think it would be wrong of us to kind of perpetuate or even suggest that picking up food is safe to do,” says Hilton.
But if you accidentally drop a delicious treat and want to try and salvage it with the 5-Second Rule, at least minimize your risk with these tips:
Stick With Dry Snacks:
The particles in dry foods like cookies and chips largely don’t settle or stick to surfaces, whereas moist foods—like sticky candy and noodles—can make almost 20 percent more contact on the gross surface as time goes by.
Consume Over Carpet:
If your grip is feeling flimsy, take your sandwich in the living room instead of the kitchen. Hilton’s results showed that bacteria survive for shorter periods of time on carpet than on hard flooring. Carpet also transfers fewer germs to food.
Collected by:
facebook.com/manna.goods
myspace.com/mannagoods
pinterest.com/mannagoods4u
twitter.com/mannaglide
-----
This information is not, and is not intended to replace actual medical advice from a qualified doctor.
To receive your free 'Manna Goods Health Bulletin' via email, send an email to: the.manna.goods@gmail.com (Put 'Subscribe' in the subject line.)
-----
Post a comment.
http://ow.ly/1z4j1b
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Stress and Disease
The HPA axis is involved in the neurobiology of mood disorders and functional illnesses, including anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, insomnia, posttraumatic stress disorder, borderline personality disorder, ADHD, major depressive disorder, burnout, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, and alcoholism.[1]
Antidepressants, which are routinely prescribed for many of these illnesses, serve to regulate HPA axis function.[2]
Experimental studies have investigated many different types of stress, and their effects on the HPA axis in many different circumstances.[3]
Stressors can be of many different types—in experimental studies in rats, a distinction is often made between "social stress" and "physical stress", but both types activate the HPA axis, though via different pathways.[4]
Several monoamine neurotransmitters are important in regulating the HPA axis, especially dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine (noradrenaline). There is evidence that an increase in oxytocin, resulting for instance from positive social interactions, acts to suppress the HPA axis and thereby counteracts stress, promoting positive health effects such as wound healing.[5]
The HPA axis is a feature of mammals and other vertebrates. For example, biologists studying stress in fish showed that social subordination leads to chronic stress, related to reduced aggressive interactions, to lack of control, and to the constant threat imposed by dominant fish. Serotonin (5HT) appeared to be the active neurotransmitter involved in mediating stress responses, and increases in serotonin are related to increased plasma α-MSH levels, which causes skin darkening (a social signal in salmonoid fish), activation of the HPA axis, and inhibition of aggression. Inclusion of the amino acid L-tryptophan, a precursor of 5HT, in the feed of rainbow trout made the trout less aggressive and less responsive to stress.[6]
However, the study mentions that plasma cortisol was not affected by dietary L-tryptophan. The drug LY354740 (also known as Eglumegad, an agonist of the metabotropic glutamate receptors 2 and 3) has been shown to interfere in the HPA axis, with chronic oral administration of this drug leading to markedly reduced baseline cortisol levels in bonnet macaques (Macaca radiata); acute infusion of LY354740 resulted in a marked diminution of yohimbine-induced stress response in those animals.[7]
Studies on people show that the HPA axis is activated in different ways during chronic stress depending on the type of stressor, the person's response to the stressor and other factors. Stressors that are uncontrollable, threaten physical integrity, or involve trauma tend to have a high, flat diurnal profile of cortisol release (with lower-than-normal levels of cortisol in the morning and higher-than-normal levels in the evening) resulting in a high overall level of daily cortisol release. On the other hand, controllable stressors tend to produce higher-than-normal morning cortisol. Stress hormone release tends to decline gradually after a stressor occurs. In post-traumatic stress disorder there appears to be lower-than-normal cortisol release, and it is thought that a blunted hormonal response to stress may predispose a person to develop PTSD.[8]
It is also known that hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) hormones are related to certain skin diseases and skin homeostasis. There is evidence shown that the HPA axis hormones can be linked to certain stress related skin diseases and skin tumors. This happens when HPA axis hormones become hyperactive in the brain.[9]
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1. Spencer RL, Hutchison KE (1999). "Alcohol, aging, and the stress response". Alcohol Research & Health 23 (4): 272–83. PMID 10890824.
2. Pariante CM (August 2003). "Depression, stress and the adrenal axis". Journal of Neuroendocrinology 15 (8): 811–2. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2826.2003.01058.x. PMID 12834443.
3. Douglas AJ (March 2005). "Central noradrenergic mechanisms underlying acute stress responses of the Hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis: adaptations through pregnancy and lactation". Stress 8 (1): 5–18. doi:10.1080/10253890500044380. PMID 16019594.
4. Engelmann M, Landgraf R, Wotjak CT (2004). "The hypothalamic-neurohypophysial system regulates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis under stress: an old concept revisited". Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology 25 (3–4): 132–49. doi:10.1016/j.yfrne.2004.09.001. PMID 15589266.
5. Detillion CE, Craft TK, Glasper ER, Prendergast BJ, DeVries AC (September 2004). "Social facilitation of wound healing". Psychoneuroendocrinology 29 (8): 1004–11. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2003.10.003. PMID 15219651.
6. Winberg S, Øverli Ø, Lepage O (November 2001). "Suppression of aggression in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) by dietary L-tryptophan". The Journal of Experimental Biology 204 (Pt 22): 3867–76. PMID 11807104.
7. Coplan JD, Mathew SJ, Smith EL, et al. (July 2001). "Effects of LY354740, a novel glutamatergic metabotropic agonist, on nonhuman primate hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and noradrenergic function". CNS Spectrums 6 (7): 607–12, 617. PMID 15573025.
8. Miller GE, Chen E, Zhou ES (January 2007). "If it goes up, must it come down? Chronic stress and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis in humans". Psychological Bulletin 133 (1): 25–45. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.133.1.25. PMID 17201569.
9. Kim JE, Cho BK, Cho DH, Park HJ (July 2013). "Expression of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in common skin diseases: evidence of its association with stress-related disease activity". Acta Dermato-venereologica 93 (4): 387–93. doi:10.2340/00015555-1557. PMID 23462974.
Researched by:
facebook.com/manna.goods
myspace.com/mannagoods
pinterest.com/mannagoods4u
twitter.com/mannaglide
-----
Post a comment.
http://ow.ly/1z4j1b
Antidepressants, which are routinely prescribed for many of these illnesses, serve to regulate HPA axis function.[2]
Experimental studies have investigated many different types of stress, and their effects on the HPA axis in many different circumstances.[3]
Stressors can be of many different types—in experimental studies in rats, a distinction is often made between "social stress" and "physical stress", but both types activate the HPA axis, though via different pathways.[4]
Several monoamine neurotransmitters are important in regulating the HPA axis, especially dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine (noradrenaline). There is evidence that an increase in oxytocin, resulting for instance from positive social interactions, acts to suppress the HPA axis and thereby counteracts stress, promoting positive health effects such as wound healing.[5]
The HPA axis is a feature of mammals and other vertebrates. For example, biologists studying stress in fish showed that social subordination leads to chronic stress, related to reduced aggressive interactions, to lack of control, and to the constant threat imposed by dominant fish. Serotonin (5HT) appeared to be the active neurotransmitter involved in mediating stress responses, and increases in serotonin are related to increased plasma α-MSH levels, which causes skin darkening (a social signal in salmonoid fish), activation of the HPA axis, and inhibition of aggression. Inclusion of the amino acid L-tryptophan, a precursor of 5HT, in the feed of rainbow trout made the trout less aggressive and less responsive to stress.[6]
However, the study mentions that plasma cortisol was not affected by dietary L-tryptophan. The drug LY354740 (also known as Eglumegad, an agonist of the metabotropic glutamate receptors 2 and 3) has been shown to interfere in the HPA axis, with chronic oral administration of this drug leading to markedly reduced baseline cortisol levels in bonnet macaques (Macaca radiata); acute infusion of LY354740 resulted in a marked diminution of yohimbine-induced stress response in those animals.[7]
Studies on people show that the HPA axis is activated in different ways during chronic stress depending on the type of stressor, the person's response to the stressor and other factors. Stressors that are uncontrollable, threaten physical integrity, or involve trauma tend to have a high, flat diurnal profile of cortisol release (with lower-than-normal levels of cortisol in the morning and higher-than-normal levels in the evening) resulting in a high overall level of daily cortisol release. On the other hand, controllable stressors tend to produce higher-than-normal morning cortisol. Stress hormone release tends to decline gradually after a stressor occurs. In post-traumatic stress disorder there appears to be lower-than-normal cortisol release, and it is thought that a blunted hormonal response to stress may predispose a person to develop PTSD.[8]
It is also known that hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) hormones are related to certain skin diseases and skin homeostasis. There is evidence shown that the HPA axis hormones can be linked to certain stress related skin diseases and skin tumors. This happens when HPA axis hormones become hyperactive in the brain.[9]
-----
1. Spencer RL, Hutchison KE (1999). "Alcohol, aging, and the stress response". Alcohol Research & Health 23 (4): 272–83. PMID 10890824.
2. Pariante CM (August 2003). "Depression, stress and the adrenal axis". Journal of Neuroendocrinology 15 (8): 811–2. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2826.2003.01058.x. PMID 12834443.
3. Douglas AJ (March 2005). "Central noradrenergic mechanisms underlying acute stress responses of the Hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis: adaptations through pregnancy and lactation". Stress 8 (1): 5–18. doi:10.1080/10253890500044380. PMID 16019594.
4. Engelmann M, Landgraf R, Wotjak CT (2004). "The hypothalamic-neurohypophysial system regulates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis under stress: an old concept revisited". Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology 25 (3–4): 132–49. doi:10.1016/j.yfrne.2004.09.001. PMID 15589266.
5. Detillion CE, Craft TK, Glasper ER, Prendergast BJ, DeVries AC (September 2004). "Social facilitation of wound healing". Psychoneuroendocrinology 29 (8): 1004–11. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2003.10.003. PMID 15219651.
6. Winberg S, Øverli Ø, Lepage O (November 2001). "Suppression of aggression in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) by dietary L-tryptophan". The Journal of Experimental Biology 204 (Pt 22): 3867–76. PMID 11807104.
7. Coplan JD, Mathew SJ, Smith EL, et al. (July 2001). "Effects of LY354740, a novel glutamatergic metabotropic agonist, on nonhuman primate hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and noradrenergic function". CNS Spectrums 6 (7): 607–12, 617. PMID 15573025.
8. Miller GE, Chen E, Zhou ES (January 2007). "If it goes up, must it come down? Chronic stress and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis in humans". Psychological Bulletin 133 (1): 25–45. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.133.1.25. PMID 17201569.
9. Kim JE, Cho BK, Cho DH, Park HJ (July 2013). "Expression of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in common skin diseases: evidence of its association with stress-related disease activity". Acta Dermato-venereologica 93 (4): 387–93. doi:10.2340/00015555-1557. PMID 23462974.
Researched by:
facebook.com/manna.goods
myspace.com/mannagoods
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twitter.com/mannaglide
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