Protect Your Brain – Seven Things You Can Do To Prevent Alzheimer’s

Learning to prevent Alzheimer’s is a topic near and dear to my heart, simply because I have seen exactly how destructive it can be to both those who are struggling with it and to their family. There is a common misconception that Alzheimer’s will neatly eat away at your memory and leave other things intact, but it actually degrades your brain globally destroying memory, personality, skills and social functions. Alzheimer’s destroys everything about the person in a slow, systematic downhill slide.  It’s horrible for the person who is struggling and equally hard for their loved ones. Nobody knows exactly what causes Alzheimer’s disease, but there are clearly both genetic and lifestyle components. The great news is that there are many steps you can take to keep your brain healthy and sharp into old age.  There is no guarantee that you will be protected, but certainly you can reduce your risk.

Alzheimer's disease brain comparison

Normal brain (left) vs. Alzheimer’s brain (right). Notice the similarities between these pictures and the alcoholic brain pictures below.

Proven Measures to Prevent Alzheimer’s: The Seven Foundations of Good Health.

1. Active body

  • Physical exercise reduces your risk of Alzheimer’s dementia by 50% – that is a dramatic difference. Also, if cognitive decline has already started then getting more exercise can slow to progress of the condition.
  • Aim for 30 minutes of activity that increases your heart rate (or aerobic activity) 5 times per week.
  • Building strong muscles helps maintain brain health as well. Adding 2-3 sessions of resistance exercise like lifting weights not only increases muscle mass but also makes your brain healthier.
  • Exercises or activities that increase balance and coordination such as tai-chi, yoga, qi gong, or even stand up paddle boarding can help your brain to develop new connections, strengthen your body and even prevent head injury, which is also a contributor to Alzheimer’s and other forms of memory loss.

2. Active Mind

  • It makes sense that exercising the brain will help to keep it stronger and more active as you age.
  • Learn something new, take up a new hobby, or try strategy games, puzzles, riddles or memory games.
  • Do the same old thing in a different way – take a new driving route to the grocery store, try writing with the other hand or rearrange your kitchen.  Doing something a new way pushes your brain to create new neural pathways.

3. Active Social Life

  • Research shows that the more connected you are to your social group and to other people, the more likely it is that you will do well on test of memory and cognition.
  • It is easier with age to become more socially isolated so take care to cultivate and maintain healthy friendships and relationships.
  • If you are in a position with a recent move or transition out of the work force and don’t have great social connections then it is time to build some. Volunteer, take night classes, join a club or social group, visit a community or senior center, get out and about, or get a small part time fun job.

4. Healthy Diet

  • Alzheimer’s is highly linked to heart disease so adopting a heart-healthy diet will also help you to prevent Alzheimer’s long term. It is also highly linked to diabetes, so managing healthy blood sugars in key in keeping your brain functioning at its best.
  • Eat plenty of good quality fats and oils like olive oil, grass fed butter, fish oil, coconut oil and avocados.  Decrease the amount of fatty or processed meats, shortening, and especially trans fats.
  • Increase the amount of vegetables and fruits that you eat every day especially the darkly or richly pigmented veggies and fruits like blueberries, pomegranate, beets, carrots, raspberries, elderberry, and blackberry.
  • Minimize the candy, cookies, sweets and also breads in the diet.  Alzheimer’s is closely related to diabetes and involves an insulin-resistance within the brain itself so it is important that you maintain healthy blood sugar levels.
  • Eat small amounts regularly – for brain health, 4-5 small meals daily is better than 2-3 larger ones.
  • A daily cup of green tea has also been shown to reduce your risk and promote brain health.




5. Healthy Sleep

  •  Sleep can be a struggle with age so it is important to create a good sleep environment. Make sure to use good sleep hygiene with a totally dark room, no background noise and a regular sleep schedule.
  • Use melatonin if you have difficulty falling asleep or sleep lightly. Melatonin by itself has shown great benefit in protecting the health and function of the brain so this could be a double-whammy.  Also in a senior population melatonin at high dose, like 20 mg nightly,  is safe and possibly advisable because research is showing benefits with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
  • The average person needs 8 hours of sleep to peak creativity and productivity.

6. Healthy Stress Levels

  • Every life has challenges, but worrying has never actually solved any of them.
  • Undue levels of stress create changes in your body that then change your mental functioning.
  • Breathe – stress reduces the amount of oxygen in your brain, so deep belly breathing for a few minutes a couple of times a day can help to re-oxygenate and re-energize your brain.

7. Stop With the Self-Harm.

  • Avoiding some of the major triggers of Alzheimer’s disease will obviously keep you protected longer.
  • Quit smoking – smoking has been shown to lead to earlier onset of dementia.
  • Drink in moderation – excessive alcohol also speeds up the onset of memory loss and dementia, some of which is entirely alcohol related.

    Normal brain vs. an alcoholic's brain. Notice any similarities to the Alzheimer's brain pictures? Drinking only in moderation helps you prevent Alzheimer's disease.

    Normal brain vs. an alcoholic’s brain. Notice any similarities to the Alzheimer’s brain pictures? Drinking only in moderation helps you prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

  • Protect your noggin – head injury is strongly linked to Alzheimer’s and protecting your head can help your brain to stay sharp.

As the US population ages the rates of Alzheimer’s disease are rising.  Protect your brain and adopt an anti-Alzheimer’s lifestyle.  It is literally never too late to make positive change – even if it’s walking around the block every day. There is always something you can do to change your health and well being and to change your disease risk – you can delay or even prevent Alzheimer’s even if you have a family history of the disease. Look to future posts to talk about some of the supplements and specific activities that can be helpful for Alzheimer’s disease.



Is it Your Thyroid or Could It Be Undiagnosed PCOS?

Everyone knows that if you’re tired, sluggish, gaining weight or can’t lose weight, depressed and losing hair that you have thyroid problems – except that in reality it could also be undiagnosed PCOS. So frequently I have women come into my office who are concerned that they have thyroid disease but the blood tests come out normal – even optimal.  This can be so frustrating, because these women aren’t finding help and while they’re searching they continue to gain weight, have irregular menstrual cycles, have a hard time getting pregnant and inch closer to diabetes and heart disease.  An estimated 50-70% of women who have PCOS remain undiagnosed, making this a silent killer.

Normal ovary vs. polycystic ovary from womenshealth.gov

Normal ovary vs. polycystic ovary from womenshealth.gov

What is PCOS?

PCOS stands for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and is the most common endocrine disorder in women, affecting between 5-10% of the female population. Nobody is really sure why PCOS exists, although there seem to be both genetic and lifestyle contributors, similar to obesity or type II diabetes. PCOS affects only women (we being the ones with the ovaries), although men can carry the gene and notice some symptoms. Because of the genetic link if someone else in your family has it, you are more likely to have it too.  This is considered a multi-endocrine disorder because it changes levels of your sex hormones, but can also influence thyroid function and has a strong effect on your insulin. This means that PCOS and other hormone diseases like thyroid conditions or  blood sugar issues go hand-in-hand. There is no one test for PCOS, which is part of the reason it is so commonly undiagnosed.




You Should Be Checked for Undiagnosed PCOS If:

  • Other women in your family have PCOS
  • You have low thyroid symptoms but your thyroid tests normal
  • Your menstrual cycle is irregular, you frequently skip periods, have more than 35 days between periods on average, or have abnormally long periods with either very heavy or very light flow.
  • You have had a hard time getting pregnant
  • Your hair is thinning, especially in a more typically male pattern
  • You have signs of masculinization or excess testosterone including facial hair growth, excess body hair in general, severe acne, deepening voice, or even excessive muscle development in a woman.
  • You are a woman diagnosed with diabetes or glucose intolerance between the ages of 20 and 50 (because according to the PCOS foundation, 40% of the women who meet those criteria have diagnosed or undiagnosed PCOS.)
  • You have easy and excessive weight gain or difficulty losing weight
  • You have non-specific symptoms such as anxiety, depression, or pelvic pain
  • You have blood sugar issues including insulin resistance, type II diabetes, or hypoglycemia (meaning if you get overly hungry you get tired, shakey, angry, irritable, sad, or sick feeling).
  • You have strongly decreased or strongly increased sex drive
  • You have other unexplained symptoms such as sleep apnea, skin tags, and darkened skin patches.

Can Men Get PCOS?

Technically no – because you guys don’t have ovaries, but you can still carry some of the genes for PCOS and pass it on to your daughters.  Also having some of the genes may increase your risk for things like early male-pattern balding, high blood sugars, metabolic syndrome and acne. So even though you don’t have ovaries that can become cystic you may still have some of the features of PCOS.

Low Thyroid vs. PCOS

Is it any wonder undiagnosed PCOS is often confused for thyroid dysfunction?

Is it any wonder undiagnosed PCOS is often confused for thyroid dysfunction?

If I Suspect PCOS How Should I be Evaluated?

If this sounds like it might be you, the best thing to do is talk with your gynecologist. They will want to ask you about your menstrual history, probably do hormone and blood sugar testing, and may do an ultrasound to see if they can see any cysts on your ovaries.  PCOS is manageable if you know you have it, but undiagnosed PCOS can be frustrating and is easily confused with other conditions, like low thyroid.  Getting the diagnosis right is a big deal, so try to give your doctor the most accurate and complete picture of your symptoms possible. Keep looking back in the next few weeks for information about what you can do naturally for PCOS.



Grain Brain - a Great Resource to help you go gluten free easily

Gluten Free Easily, Thanks to Grain Brain

I’ve been gluten free for about seven years now and it’s made a tremendous difference in my life, but I can’t really say it was easy – especially at first.  Honestly, I really just wish I’d had Kristen Loberg and David Perlmutter’s book Grain Brain. Not so much for the information about gluten and your brain – honestly at that point in my life I didn’t care what it was doing to my brain, I just wanted my joints to stop hurting (great success, by the way). But the problem was, that it wasn’t easy at all to find the gluten hiding in things. Because due to some inconvenient labeling, they don’t just say “gluten” – in fact they work really really hard NOT to say “gluten” so thanks so much to grain brain for these great tools to make gluten free easy.

I am sharing this information from Grain Brain, simply because I so wish it had been around in such a clear way when I was starting out. This will help you to go gluten free easily. Or at least with fewer accidental gluten episodes.

Grains and starches which contain gluten:

  • Barley
  • Bulgur
  • Couscous
  • Farina
  • Graham flour
  • Kamut
  • Matzo
  • Rye
  • Semolina
  • Spelt
  • Triticale
  • Wheat
  • Wheat germ
  • Wheat grass (I’m including it here because although there is some debate about whether or not it contains enough gluten to trigger a reaction, it most certainly triggers a reaction in me – so count this one as a just-in-case)

Gluten-Free Grains and Starches (Stick to This List and You’ll be Fine!)

  • Amaranth
  • Arrowroot
  • Buckwheat (Best. Pancakes. Ever.)
  • Corn
  • Millet
  • Potato
  • Quinoa
  • Rice
  • Sorghum
  • Soy
  • Tapioca
  • Teff

These Prepared Foods Often Contain Hidden Gluten:

  • Canned baked beans (sigh. Camp food.)
  • Beer
  • Blue cheese
  • Bouillons/broths that are premade
  • Breaded foods
  • Cereals (not so hidden in this one – but even the ones that claim to be “rice” or “corn” are often a mix)
  • Chocolate milk (store bought, not home-made)
  • Cold cuts (weird that those aren’t just meat.)
  • Communion wafers
  • Egg substitute (sigh)
  • Energy bars
  • Flavored coffees and teas
  • French fries (apparently often dusted with flour before freezing, but it usually isn’t listed on the label)
  • Fried vegetables/tempura
  • Fruit fillings and puddings
  • Gravy
  • Hot dogs
  • Ice cream (eek!!! Thank god Hagen Daz makes some really clean ones.)
  • Imitation crabmeat, bacon, etc…
  • Instant hot drinks
  • Ketchup
  • Malt, malt flavoring, malt vinegar, hydrolized malt extract
  • Marinades or pre-marinated meat
  • Mayonnaise
  • Pre-made meatballs or meatloaf
  • Non-dairy creamer
  • Oatmeal, oat bran or oats unless certified gluten free
  • Processed cheese (easy-melt, velveeta – this means queso! Arg!!)
  • Roasted nuts (why? why?)
  • Root beer
  • Salad dressings
  • Sausage
  • Seitan
  • Soups (store bought – no worries if you’re cooking at home)
  • Soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, Bragg’s liquid aminos  (try coconut aminos – they’re delicious)
  • Syrups
  • Tabbouleh
  • Trail mix
  • Veggie burgers
  • Vodka (blarg. The good news is that there are several great gluten free vodkas – one of which is Texas’ own Tito’s Handmade Vodka, which is 100% corn. Also Ciroc Ultra Premium Vodka, which is 100% from grapes, and Smironff Vodka, which is also 100% corn.)
  • Wheatgrass
  • Wine coolers




    Grain Brain - a Great Resource to help you go gluten free easily

    Grain Brain – a Great Resource to help you go gluten free easily

Non-Food Sources of Gluten

  • Makeup
  • Lipstick and lip balm
  • Medications (sigh. Check the package insert)
  • Play-Doh
  • Shampoo and conditioner
  • Vitamins and supplements (also check the label – the good ones don’t have it.)
  • Volumizing hair products
  • Dog biscuits (hopefully you’re not eating these, but for some people – one dear friend included – even handling them is enough to trigger a reaction)

Secret Names for Gluten (Hidden Gluten in Food)

  • Amino peptide complex
  • Avena sativa (this should be wild oats, but sometimes it’s wild whatever-grass-they-happen-to-grab)
  • Brown rice syrup
  • Caramel color (often made from barley)
  • Cyclodextrin, dextrin, maltodextrin (could also be from corn)
  • Fermented grain extract
  • Hordeum distichon or Hordeum vulgare (I’ve never stumbled across these words, but apparently they’re types of grasses).
  • Hydrolysate
  • Hydrolyzed vegetable protein, textured vegetable protein, vegetable protein, HVP, TVP.
  • Modified food starch
  • Natural flavoring (this is in everything)
  • Phytosphingosine extract
  • Secale cereale
  • Soy protein (!!)
  • Triticum aestivum and Triticum vulgare
  • Yeast extract

The Biggest Tip to Going Gluten Free Easily

The biggest thing you can do to make sure you’re gluten free is to only shop on the outer edge of the grocery store – fruits, veggies, meats, and most dairy are typically pretty gluten-free.  I head into the aisle part for things like nuts, cleaning products, pickles and pickled veggies, the occasional GF baking mix, and paper products and that’s about it. Of course this means I cook at home a lot, but it also means that my body feels better every day because I’m not getting the gluten that causes so much inflammation.

Going gluten free is always a big change, because as you can see there are a shocking number of things that we come in contact with every day that have gluten in them outside of the obvious bread, cookies, cakes, crackers and pasta. Hopefully thanks to Grain Brain you can do gluten free easily and start out with fewer accidental gluten-ings.



Chocolate really does make you smarter! Image courtesy of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Chocolate Makes you Smarter. Even Nobel Prize Smart.

Okay, so maybe not a guaranteed Nobel prize, but according to new research there is a link between chocolate and smarts – that is to say, eating more chocolate makes you smarter and actually increases the likelihood that you will win a Nobel prize. Honestly, just the health benefits were enough to encourage me, but the Nobel prize thing isn’t bad either! I’m not 100% sure what actually triggered this research because it seems like a kind of bizarre association between things, but somebody thought this was important enough to fund (and I like chocolate enough to feel like it’s important enough to pass on!). Not only that, it was important enough to publish in the New England Journal of Medicine, which is considered one of the most prestigious medical journals in the world.

Chocolate Makes You Smarter – Maybe Even Nobel Prize Worthy

The overarching theory is that eating chocolate could make you smarter by improving cognitive function, which we can measure by the number of Nobel laureates per capita.  The study shows a very strong association in that direction, and that association is mathematically and statistically highly significant – meaning that it probably is an accurate description of reality.  So today’s excuse to treat yourself? It’s because you’re working towards the Peace Prize.

Chocolate makes you smarter! Image courtesy of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Chocolate makes you smarter! Image courtesy of the New England Journal of Medicine.




In this graph you can clearly see that the countries in which people eat more chocolate, also win more Nobel Prizes. Coincidence? I think not. Previous research from the University of Nottingham showed that dark chocolate improves brain function and cognition. Flavenols from dark chocolate were shown to increase blood flow to key brain areas for two to three hours after consumption. This increased blood flow then led to increased alertness and performance. There must be a god, and that god must love us because CHOCOLATE MAKES YOU SMARTER.

Chocolate makes you smarter, healthier and happier. Thank you god! Lovely image by Andre Karwath

Chocolate makes you smarter, healthier and happier. Thank you god! Lovely image by Andre Karwath

Other Health Benefits of Chocolate

Of course, smarts isn’t the only thing you get from chocolate. Here are some others:

  • Endorphins – those happy, happy little brain chemicals
  • Heart healthy – one to two servings of 70% dark chocolate (or greater) per week cuts your risk of heart failure by a third.
  • High in flavenols, antioxidants, and fiber
  • A German study concluded that regular chocolate consumption reduces your risk of heart attack and stroke by 39%
  • Chocolate has five times the health-boosting flavenols of an apple.
  • Dark chocolate is filling and according to a Swedish study (you’ll notice the Sweds are big chocolate eaters in the Nobel Prize study), meaning it reduces your cravings for sugary, salty and fatty foods.
  • Eating chocolate daily during pregnancy leads to less-stressed moms and happier babies who smile more according to a Finnish study (Finns also big chocolate eaters)
  • It tastes AWESOME (this is my favorite reason).

The bottom line is that chocolate makes you smarter, happier and healthier – just remember to get 70% dark or better. You’re welcome.



It's candy cleverly disguised so you won't notice this unhealthy choice.

The Reason We’re So Unhealthy: Choices

Sure sure, lifespans are longer but humans are pretty darn unhealthy right now and honestly I think it all boils down to one thing, and that is unhealthy choices.  Which sounds pretty much like a no-brainer, right? But here’s the thing – it’s not that we are newly weak willed and our ancestors would have made better choices, it’s that we’re really in the first few generations to even have to think about it – so it’s not so much that we’re bad at making healthy choices, it’s that we’re FIRST at having to make choices about this at all.

Think about your grandparents for a minute.  If your grandparents were anything like mine they didn’t own one piece of exercise equipment and had never set foot in a gym (but were pretty darn fit, all things considered). They ate meat and potatoes and bread and about a mountain of ice cream, but weren’t obese.  Pleasantly plump maybe but not even close to obese.  So – why was their self-care so much more relaxed than ours is today with our obsessive avoidance of carbs and pedometer-measured steps and constantly monitored states of health? And why were their outcomes better?

Here’s the thing – they didn’t have a choice about health for the first several decades of their life.  They couldn’t choose the snack cakes from the convenience store or the freezer dinners or the gallons of soda and late-night ice cream bars. They couldn’t because for the most part they didn’t have access to any of that – it wasn’t invented yet.  The food they had access to was milk fresh from farms, veggies either fresh from the garden or canned at home, meat from local farms, their own back yard or from a hunting trip.  That’s pretty much it. Sure there was penny candy as a rare treat and far more home-baked goodies like pies and cookies, but they were made at home with real ingredients. Life involved more activity because things like walking, horseback riding, chopping wood and gardening were activities of daily living -not just things they did on the weekend to “get their exercise” or “connect with nature.”  In short, life didn’t actually give our grandparents and great-grandparents the unhealthy choices we have now.




If I wanted to I could probably walk less than 500 steps a day.  I could drive to my mailbox (you laugh, but most people have done it at least once), have groceries delivered, shop online, stay at the desk at work and move only to get back into the car.  I could also choose to eat only processed food for weeks or to go on a sugar binge or to consume my entire caloric needs in soda. I have all of those decisions to make and a lot of times it’s cheaper and easier to choose the unhealthy way. The generations coming before you and I didn’t ever have to think about this because the unhealthy way was either not available, or such a luxury item as to be prohibitive to most.

It’s really easy to beat yourself up over “making unhealthy choices,” “falling off the diet wagon,” or “cheating” but I actually think that a pat on the back is more appropriate.  Evolutionarily speaking we are designed to always want food . Plus, we want sweet, fatty and salty food the most because those would have been the most rare in our wild state.  You are literally programmed to seek those things constantly and you’re facing a staggering array of unhealthy choices constantly.  I think you should get an award for working at it.  You are amazing and awe-inspiring and wonderful for choosing health more often than you give in to unhealthy choices.  You and I, we’re really in one of the first generations to have to make any of these choices at all and I think we’re doing amazingly well.

Just in case you're thinking that's actually fruit, let me assure you it's not. It's candy cleverly disguised so you won't notice these unhealthy choices.

Just in case you’re thinking that’s actually fruit, let me assure you it’s not. It’s candy cleverly disguised so you won’t notice these unhealthy choices.

So keep up the great work and give yourself a pat on the back because frankly, you have earned it.  Every time you go to a store you walk past racks of candy bars on your way out that cost almost nothing.  You are constantly confronted with friends eating processed food, the enormous never-ending bowl of corn chips at the Mexican restaurant and bucket of popcorn at the movies.  Today there is a constant, ever-present option to make unhealthy choices.  If you are only making unhealthy choices some of the time then my friend you are ahead of the curve. So congratulations! You are paving the way for future generations to get more balance and to be a little more moderate about all of this – right now we’re just wallowing in the unhealthy possibilities.



Start feeling this good. Create your own happy now.

Nine Practices to create Happiness

Wouldn’t it be great if you could create happiness – if happiness was a simple goal you could achieve? As it turns out, it is exactly that.  It is a process of doing – it isn’t something that happens to you, it’s something you chose to be, and part of that choice is acting in a way that leads towards happiness. Here are nine practices, developed by Don Richard Riso, to help you on your journey:

Treat Others With Kindness and Integrity

One of the simplest ways to help others be kind and helpful to you and to treat you like an independent worthwhile human is to do the same for them. And god knows kindness goes a long way towards happiness.

Love Yourself and Others Equally

Love your neighbor as yourself – but also remember to love yourself as your neighbor.  Many of you (women especially) tend to care for others, for the needs of the kids, the spouse, the parents and forget about your own needs. Don’t forget to add yourself to the list of cherished loved ones and to make your needs count for as much as those of everyone else.  There is no way to create happiness if you don’t factor yourself into your own life.




Be Authentic And Truthful in All Matters

Research has verified that lying, no matter how much you have convinced yourself it doesn’t matter to you, actually raises the levels of your stress hormones and contributes to anxiety, stress and the aging process.  The same might be true for the soft lies – the moments where you go along with what is going on just so you don’t make waves, even if it isn’t something you want in your life. To create happiness be true to you – your body always knows the difference.

Joy! Create happiness in your life today.

Joy! Create happiness in your life today.

Discover Beauty and Pleasure Everywhere

It’s out there. Beauty is out there all over the place and it is so easy to walk by and not notice because you’re caught up in the latest drama at work or your to-do list or that tiff you had with your partner.  Don’t miss it – if you don’t see the beauty and enjoy the little moments now, then when will you? The only time you can change is right now so if you want to be joyful then live into what is happening RIGHT NOW.

Learn from Everyone and Everything

It is so hard to remember to truly appreciate every situation and so easy to pop up the defenses. Of course you can approach every situation like the expert – you already know it, you’ve done it before, you know how this goes. The basic problem with that is that you only leave room then for one possible outcome, and that is that you come away from that situation with nothing new. In short, you don’t grow or change, you just stay stagnant. Try for one day approaching every situation as though you are new to it and as though you can learn something and I promise, you will learn something. You will grow and evolve – how wonderful is that?

Trust Your Ability to Face Challenges and Contribute Willingly

It’s so easy to worry and it feeds into so many basic states of pathology. Worry is a way of creating drama and tension, of pretending you might have control over the uncontrollable and also it’s one of the biggest ways of doubting yourself or your loved ones that you can engage in. By worrying constantly you are sending the signal that you don’t trust your (or your loved ones, if you worry only for other people) ability to cope with life, to deal with the challenges that arise. But here is the thing – if you or the people you worry about are still alive then you are entirely capable of facing everything that life has thrown at you so far. That is kind of a powerful thought – you have effectively dealt with every challenge that has come at you. That is one hell of an awesome track record. Boosting your trust in yourself and the universe is a great way to boost happiness.

Start feeling this good. Create your own happy now.

Pure Freaking Joy. Create your own happy now.

Be Attached to Nothing and Experience Real Freedom

This doesn’t mean don’t attach to anything therefore don’t love anything. Love with your whole heart, but let that love grow, evolve and change.  Let everything grow, evolve and change.  It’s so easy to get into a place where you try to keep things the same, keep them stable and predictable and uniform but life isn’t like that.  Everything grows and develops and ultimately might even fade, but none of that is bad.  By allowing your relationships, your life, your patterns to evolve you also allow yourself to find deeper joy, greater authenticity and more freedom.  In other words don’t try to control or be attached to life being a certain way, because then you don’t allow it to ever get any better.

Let Go of Willfulness and Empower Others

This one can be a challenge to see because society trains you to learn to get your own way. It’s actually one of the biggest skills you learn as an infant or toddler because at that stage of development it is important to be able to get what you need from the people around you.  As an adult, however, it can be helpful to notice the behaviors that you have adopted that might push people to behave a certain way around you or give in to you.  Guilt, shame, blame and judgement can be subtle (or not so subtle) ways of bullying people and using those tools can be entirely unconscious.  To create happiness isn’t it time to examine the ways you might manipulate those around you?

 Value Yourself and Engage with the Tumult of the World

This is the hardest one for me – both to understand and to follow.  You might, like me, notice the internal tendency to being the peacekeeper, to trying to keep things smooth and even and to keep everyone around you happy. Peacekeeping is a strong gift and can be of great value in your life, but it can also slip over into a form of self-denial.  The small ways you don’t speak your truth because you want to keep the peace.  Again, there are degrees of health here.  Sometimes engaging with the turmoil and allowing there to be bumps in the road can be the most authentic path forward and can allow you to experience real happiness and to be absolutely true to yourself.  This doesn’t mean that you should cause problems just to stir the pot, but you should be able to give true expression to problems that are already there and not try to dismiss them.

Dog smile - thanks for the picture to Pixel blue eyes (smiling) and her person Jenny.

Dog smile – thanks for the picture to Pixel blue eyes (smiling) and her person Jenny.

Create Happiness Now

Waiting for someone, something, some circumstance to make you happy is common, but it’s also a dead end. If you’re waiting to be happy and don’t do something to change your mind, you will always be waiting to be happy. Start today – take a simple step to create happiness. There is no reason to wait.  It might not happen overnight, it might not happen in a month, but it will happen and you have the power to control it.



Best Gluten Free Quick Cookies Ever.

Okay – so first disclaimer is that I’m not advocating huge amounts of cookie-eating, but there are times when you really just want a cookie and it has to be gluten free and quick. Frankly, who can eat gluten these days and who has actual time for baking? The reality is we all want food that fits with our basic nutritional philosophy, tastes good and is quick and easy to make – essentially we want perfect food. Like these perfect gluten free quick cookies from my dear friend Hallie, whom I will forever blame for getting me hooked on these.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 package of Bob’s Red Mill Shortbread Cookie Mix
  • Lots of walnuts and pecans (unsalted)
  • 6 tablespoons of Kerrigold butter from grass-fed cows
  • 1-2 egg yolks
  • Gluten free love

So – this is a cheat on the recipe on the back of the Bob’s Red Mill Shortbread Cookie Mix package that adds some awesome health benefits as well as all the fun addictive properties of cocaine (sorry about that – once you start eating these it’s hard to stop). Here’s what you do:

Bob's Red Mill GF Shortbread Cookie Mix - this is where the magic starts...

Bob’s Red Mill GF Shortbread Cookie Mix – this is where the magic starts…




Steps to Make the Perfect Gluten Free Quick Cookie:

  1. Preheat the oven to 375*
  2. Put 1/2 the package of Bob’s Red Mill Shortbread Cookie Mix in a bowl
  3. Grind the walnuts and pecans so that you have about an equal amount of this nut mix. I use a Vitamix and do kind of a rough chop so that some of it is finely ground like a nut powder and some of it is more like crushed nut pieces. It’s about 2 cups of whole nuts to grind down to the right amount, but there is a lot of flexibility here so don’t worry about measuring.  Just eyeball enough nuts to equal the amount of the cookie mix you used.
  4. Add 6 tablespoons of butter (I pre-melt it so that it mixes easily) and 1-2 egg yolks.  1 yolk makes the cookies drier and more crumbly like shortbread and 2 makes them stay together a little more than that.
  5. Mix well.
  6. Shape into little balls and then flatten onto baking sheets.
  7. Bake for about 15 minutes, give or take, until the edges start to turn a light golden-brown.

These are delicious and have 1/2 the sugar of the original recipe along with all of the additional benefits from the pecans and walnuts including fiber, protein, the cardiovascular protective effects from nuts and good healthy fats.  Did I mention they’re delicious?  Yeah – that’s an understatement. Plus you don’t really have to measure or be good at baking – it all kind of works out in the end no matter what. My first batch was seriously nut-heavy. I totally overestimated how much I would need and just dumped it in. They were awesome.  The second batch was lighter on the nuts and I tried two egg yolks instead of one because they were small eggs. Still awesome. I’m thinking they’re fool-proof.

These really are the best gluten free quick cookies ever. They even have a little bit of healthy in them.

These really are the best gluten free quick cookies ever. They even have a little bit of healthy in them.

Of course it’s still a cookie and not exactly health food, but it is so much better for you than regular cookies, and it’s made of real food, and start to finish it takes maybe 20 – 25 minutes including clean up.  How’s that for gluten free quick cookie perfection???



Do I need the flu shot? Great picture from © Shannon Matteson | Dreamstime Stock Photos

Do I Need the Flu Shot? Facts about Flu Vaccine, Including Dog Ingredients.

We’re coming up on back-to-school season, which means the start of flu season so the biggest question I’m hearing at the office is “do I need the flu shot?” It’s a great question, and I can’t answer it for you specifically, but I can give you some facts about the flu vaccine, the FluMist® nasal spray and also some natural alternatives to the flu shot so that you can make the best decision possible for you. Just make sure you read down to the part about dog proteins (eek!!!)

What is the Flu Vaccine? The Basics

The flu vaccine or nasal mist is typically tiny doses of the actual flu virus that has been weakened or “killed,” depending on the vaccine type, so that your immune system can respond without you actually having to get the flu.  There are several forms from several manufacturers. These are mostly “trivalent” which means there are three different strains of flu, and “quatrivalent” meaning four strains.  According to the CDC the 2014-2015 trivalent vaccine will have:

  • an A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus
  • an A/Texas/50/2012 (H3N2)-like virus
  • a B/Massachusetts/2/2012-like virus.

The quadrivalent form will add B virus (B/Brisbane/60/2008-like virus). There are three broad categories of Influenza vaccines, depending on the way they are produced. Each form has it’s own strengths and weaknesses. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website, these types are:

IIV or Inactivated Influenza Vaccine:

As the name suggests, these vaccinations contain an inactivated form of the virus so they can not give you influenza. These are all injected only. The trivalent form has been used clinically before, but this is the first year for the quadrivalent form, so there isn’t as much safety data on that one. This does contain egg ingredients so watch for egg allergies and it is not safe for infants under 6 months. This is the oldest type of influenza vaccine and so has the most safety and clinical data.

RIV or Recombinant Influenza Vaccine:

This vaccine is extremely new technology and has not been on the market until this flu season.  It does not use eggs anywhere in it’s production and so is safe for those with egg allergy.  Uniquely, it also does not use the actual influenza virus, but is rather a lab-altered insect virus called baculovirus. Because this is new technology it has only been approved for those between the ages of 18 to 49 years old and not enough data is available to pregnant women, nursing mothers, children or adults over 50 years of age. This new technology is marketed as Flublok®

Live, Attenuated Influenza Vaccine or LAIV:

This is administered as a nasal mist, called FluMist® and is actually the live virus, that has been weakened so that it is extremely unlikely to cause the flu, but can generate a strong immune response. Because this actually contains live virus is shouldn’t be given to anyone with family members who are immune-supressed or immune deficient, or people with medical conditions that make them more at risk for serious complications of the flu. This form also isn’t suitable for pregnant women. This is approved for people over the age of 2 and under the age of 50. The most common side effect of this vaccine is runny or congested nose, and in kiddos age 2 through 6 years old there can be a fever after the vaccine. This also shouldn’t be given to children or adolescents who are taking aspirin or other salicylates because there is a risk of a condition called Reyes Syndrome.

Any vaccine, whether it’s delivered as an injection or not, can cause symptoms or adverse events. There is a hotline to report any adverse events to the appropriately named Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting Service (VAERS) 1-800-822-7967or you can visit their website to report an event. There is also a National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) you can get more information at 1-800-338-2382.




Do I need the flu shot? Great picture from © Shannon Matteson | Dreamstime Stock Photos

Do I need the flu shot? Great picture from © Shannon Matteson | Dreamstime Stock Photos

What is the Success Rate of the Flu Vaccine?

First off, every year the vaccine is different so we don’t know for the 2014 flu shot, but we can get a ballpark idea from previous years vaccines. An important fact to remember is that the flu vaccine only protects from the actual influenza virus (and only if they get the right strains in the shot), but there are many other viruses that can create “influenza-like-illnesses” that it’s still entirely possible to get something that looks and feels like the flu, it just isn’t. There are two factors that determine how well the flu shot works every year and one of them is how well the vaccine matches the actual strains that people get. The other is how healthy you are as a whole person (we’ll talk about that in just a minute). The CDC says:

“At least two factors play an important role in determining the likelihood that flu vaccine will protect a person from flu illness: 1) characteristics of the person being vaccinated (such as their age and health), and 2) the similarity or “match” between the flu viruses the flu vaccine is designed to protect against and the flu viruses spreading in the community.”

Effectiveness is difficult to determine from the research, or at least difficult to decode if you’re not a researcher or a statistician. In terms of general effectiveness the best study I found was published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases in 2012. This study says that the flu shot is 59% effective in preventing the flu, which sounds amazing.  Except that when you do the math, it’s less amazing and more just meh. In a normal population about 2.7 out of every 100 people will get the flu in any given year.  This study shows that if those 100 people get vaccinated then only 1.2 out of those 100 people will get the flu (and going from 2.7% to 1.2% is 59% risk reduction). So… It’s not actually tricky math, it’s just that 59% sounds WAY better than saving 1.5 people out of every 100 people vaccinated from the flu. That just sounds mediocre at best.

This study published by Vanderbilt University Medical Center about the 2010 – 2011 flu season inspected adults who were hospitalized for influenza-like illness. All of those people were tested to see if it was actually the flu, or another virus and also tested to see if they had evidence of the flu shot.  Out of  169 cases admitted to the hospital who had their vaccine status confirmed there were 17 actual flu cases, the other 152 cases were other viruses with the same symptoms. Of the 17 flu cases 11 were not vaccinated and 6 were vaccinated, making the flu shot 71% effective at preventing hospitalizations.  This is because in the vaccinated group there were less than half the number of cases than in the non-vaccinated group (but notably still a fair number of cases). It seems reasonable to point out that this study was funded by the Center for Disease Control.

Obviously the flu shot reduces risk, but doesn’t prevent the flu entirely and doesn’t even prevent hospitalization entirely. Of course, nothing works 100% of the time, but given the amount of hype there is every year about flu shots I would love for this information to be more exciting than lukewarm.

Are there Allergy Risks with the Various Types of Flu Shot or FluMist® Nasal Spray?

Yes.  Vaccines in general contain many ingredients. The most up to date list I was able to find on the CDC website was for the 2013 flu shot and included a number of potentially allergenic ingredients including:

  • Thimersol (mercury)
  • Egg protein
  • Antibiotics including neomycin sulphate, polymyxin-B, gentamycin sulphate, polymyxin,
  • Formaldehyde
  • MSG
  • Polysorbate 20, polysorbate 80,
  • Hydrocortisone
  • EDTA
  • Gelatin or hydrolized porcine gelatin (sorry if you’re kosher or halal) and most distressing, the Madin Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK) cell protein and DNA. I’m presuming that’s exactly what it sounds like – dog kidney. This probably isn’t a big deal  health-wise, it’s really just high up on my creepy factor.

Please note that not every vaccine contains all of these ingredients.  The ingredient list for the 2013 vaccines is here.  The Institute for Vaccine Safety at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health has a complete breakdown of what each additional ingredient is used for here.  Here is the complete breakdown of mercury and egg protein for the 2014-2015 vaccinations from the CDC. In general the package insert should have the complete ingredient list for the exact vaccine you’re getting so always ask to see it to verify the ingredients before you get the injection.

In addition to distressing chemical ingredients including thimersol (mercury), aluminum, phenol and MSG, your flu vaccine may also contain animal ingredients from egg, pork or more alarmingly from dog.

What Is the Truth About Mercury and Chemicals in the Flu Shot?

In 2001 the use of the mercury-based preservative thimersol was discouraged from childhood vaccines because generally injecting mercury into children seems a bad idea, but it can still be used in multi-dose vials of the influenza vaccine.   For the 2014-2015 influenza vaccine there are single-dose vials available that are thimersol free and also the FluMist nasal spray is thimersol free. Thimersol is highly controversial and a more complete history of it’s use, safety and recent prohibition can be found here. According to the CDC vaccines also often contain a number of somewhat alarming ingredients including aluminum, phenol, antibiotics, egg protein, MSG and formaldehyde in small amounts. Honestly, I’m still stuck at dog protein, but given that I’m allergic to MSG and no huge fan of aluminum or formaldehyde it’s possible that those should be bothering me more right now. But dog proteins. Really?!?

Can the Flu shot protect me from heart attack?

Surprisingly, it can.  People with severe heart disease are more at risk of dying from influenza or its severe complications including pneumonia, respiratory failure and heart attack.  According to the Mayo Clinic, getting the flu shot can help to prevent flu, which may help you to prevent a heart attack as well. Also, even if you do get the flu after having the vaccination, you are more likely to have a milder flu with less severe complications. A huge research study confirmed this, showing that the risk of major cardiac events in the unvaccinated high-risk population was 4.7% vs 2.9% in the vaccinated group.  Essentially in this population being vaccinated against the flu cuts the risk of having a major cardiac event almost in half because major cardiac events can be triggered by the flu virus.  Not having a heart attack is actually a really big deal and a great reason to get a flu shot.

Is the Flu Shot a Good Idea for Pregnant Women?

Pregnancy is certainly a riskier time to get the flu. Pregnant women are more likely to develop more severe symptoms if they do get the flu, and according to the CDC high fevers caused by the flu can actually lead to birth defects in the unborn child. Also getting a flu shot during pregnancy gives both the mother and the fetus protection against the flu, and the fetus can retain that protection for up to 6 months after birth. Since the flu can be fatal for newborns this may be a compelling reason for pregnant women to consider the vaccination in spite of the additional ingredients.

Is There a Natural Alternative to the Flu Shot?

There is a homeopathic preparation of influenza that has been used historically.  Public records of the homeopathic influenzinum as a preventative were not kept, but there is historical information for other homeopathic vaccinations.  According to an article by homeopath Patty Smith-Verspoor,  in one case using homeopathic meningitis virus for 18,640 children during an outbreak only 4 cases of actual infection were reported (0.0002%).  Also in the flu epidemic of 1818-1819 homeopathic MDs who treated using this form of medicine lost less than 1% of their patients, while the death rate for conventional medicine was 30%. Research evidence isn’t present for flu prevention, but a study published in 2013 gives evidence that homeopathic flu virus does induce cellular and immunological changes to cells in a lab. No matter the lack of modern research,  the historic use is compelling.  The homeopathic influenzinum may be a useful tool in flu prevention

So Do I Need The Flu Shot?

The accurate answer is that this is a question only you and your doctor can answer accurately.  Clearly the benefits outweigh the risks if you are at risk for serious heart disease because not having a heart attack can be life-saving. Everything else is such a personal decision and depends so much on your medical history, your risk factors and your overall health as well as what risk you feel the additives will be to your body (if any).  The best answer is get all the information you can and have a serious, informed talk with your physician about it. Learn everything you can and ask your physician, who knows your health history, “do I need the flu shot?”.

What Else Can I do to Protect Myself From the Flu?

Helping the health of your body as a whole not only helps protect you from the flu, but also makes the flu shot more effective if you do decide to get it. This means eating balanced meals regularly with fruits and veggies and lean proteins and good fats and not as much starch or sugar as you might typically get. It also means getting rest, drinking water, exercising and generally being a healthy human.  I know, it’s not as glamorous as dog protein, but it’s also not made of DOG. Also good flu season habits are covering coughs, washing your hands often and especially before eating and trying to avoid sick people. Some natural supplements that can help to boost your protection against viruses specifically are colostrum and elderberry syrup.

Generally I have to apologize for all the links, but vaccines are a huge issue and it’s important to have reliable information so you can make the best decisions for you and your family. If you’re asking the question “do I need the flu shot?” maybe this will help you to feel better about your choices, and also give you some data to bring to your doctor’s office when you have the conversation with them. Also, I’m writing an article about vaccines for the awesome Austin Fit magazine so I’ll link to that here as soon as it’s available.



Milkglass Salt & Pepper 2. The truth about salt and blood pressure. Thanks © Tmcnem | Dreamstime Stock Photos

The Truth About Salt and Blood Pressure

Everyone knows that salt restricted diets are helpful for blood pressure, right? Right? As is often the case, the things that “everyone knows” should always be open to more scrutiny. Frankly if it were that easy, why would we not have fixed the blood pressure problem? There is no doubt that there is a link between salt and blood pressure, but the research is only beginning to bring clarity.  Ironically my first exposure to these ideas came from the most unlikely place, which is Dr. David A McCarron, MD, FACP – who is a totally main-stream conventional MD. A lecture from Dr. McCarron in Houston brought to light the large body or research that shows that salt moderation is helpful, but salt restriction – especially to the newly recommended 1500 mg per day for high risk individuals – can be harmful. Let’s talk about why:

There is no doubt that high salt intake increases blood pressure – anyone who has had a big night in Texas with salty corn chips, salty salsa and salt-rimmed margaritas can tell you that.  The next day after salt-fest your body is puffy, your hands are tight and your blood pressure is higher because your body holds on to a lot more fluid to help dilute all that salt.  This is totally natural and you will never hear me make the argument that salt and blood pressure aren’t intimately linked up, but the solution isn’t as simple as taking all the salt out of your diet.

Salt is vital to every cell and tissue in your body simply because sodium is one of the major ions in your blood stream and is used to transport other things across cell membranes, to help information travel through the body and generally in every step of the processes necessary for life.  Because it’s so vital, salt levels in your blood stream are tightly regulated because if they change too much your body will die.  The primary way you adjust to changing salt intake is through the hormone aldosterone, which rises when sodium levels in your blood stream get too low. When aldosterone rises your body conserves sodium and excretes potassium through your kidneys and urine.  So aldosterone causes an increase in blood sodium, which causes an increase in blood pressure. Aldosterone is also produced by your body if your blood pressure gets too low, so even if you have a salt-restricted diet you can end up with higher sodium and higher blood pressure. This is part of the more complicated Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone system that helps regulate blood pressure in humans, but obviously there is a strong link between salt and blood pressure.

What I see from this is that there is a sweet spot – a place where there is the right amount of salt. Not too much, not too little.  Let’s call it the Goldilocks spot for salt intake.  One huge research study (actually a study of other studies, called a meta-analysis) done by the Cochrane Collaboration shows that long-term moderate salt diets can be highly beneficial to blood pressure for both genders and in all ethnic groups studied.  They estimate the Goldilocks spot to be about 3 g (or 3,000 mg) per day.  This is higher than the currently accepted medical suggestion of 1,500 mg – 2,300 mg per day.




Medically we also use this same pathway to try to artificially control blood pressure. Two of the main classes of drugs that are used to lower blood pressure are designed to inhibit the release of aldosterone. One class are ACE inhibitors, including captopril, enalapril, lisinopril and ramipril. The other class is called Angiotensin Receptor Blockers, or ARBs  and these include losartan, valsartan, telmisartan, irbesartan, and olmesartan. This may mean a severely salt restricted diet could actually make some of the medications you may be taking for blood pressure less effective.

To add ammunition to this argument, the second paper in a series of long-term research about dietary salt intake and risk of death from major cardiovascular events was published.  This paper, called the PURE paper was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, and it supports the idea that too high and too low sodium intake are both a problem.  This study shows that the group of people with the highest sodium excretion (meaning also the highest intake) at 7 g per day have a 15% increased risk of death from cardiovascular events as compared to average.  It also showed that the lowest sodium intake group, below 3 g per day (that’s the Goldilocks spot from the Cochrane study) had a 27% greater risk for death from cardiovascular events.  So in this study the lowest salt intake group is at significantly greater risk of dying from heart disease than the highest salt intake group. This means that if you follow the current medical guidelines of 1.5-2.3 grams of salt per day you are actually at higher risk than if you don’t restrict salt at all and have a high-salt diet. Eek!

In this study the lowest salt intake group is more likely to die from heart disease than the highest salt intake group, and following the current medical recommendations would put you solidly into the lowest salt intake (and highest risk) group. This means too little salt as well as too much salt is detrimental to blood pressure control.

Milkglass Salt & Pepper 2. The truth about salt and blood pressure. Thanks © Tmcnem | Dreamstime Stock Photos

Milkglass Salt & Pepper 2. The truth about salt and blood pressure. Thanks © Tmcnem | Dreamstime Stock Photos

 

As with everything else, it seems the best course of action lies in moderation.  Dr. McCarron’s view on the problem was that restricting salt intake can be as harmful as overdoing salt intake, so maintaining a “normal” intake is best.  In this, I have to admit, I agree!



This gorgeous tree could help your heart to stay healthy.

The biggest Reason to Be A Treehugger – The Health Benefits of Trees.

Anyone who knows me can tell you I love trees. LOVE trees. So it’s no surprise that I’m advocating tree-hugging, but I’m not actually talking about it here for the reasons I usually do (sanity check, beauty, air purity, etc…). I’m actually talking about your health.  As it turns out, the health benefits of trees are not all mental and emotional. Not that those aren’t important, but there tends to be some eye-rolling when doctors talk about “connecting with nature” and “getting out into the woods to relax.” I get it.

A recent study published in the journal Environmental Pollution  showed that trees (just trees!!) prevented 850 human deaths, averted $6.8 billion dollars in health care costs, and helped prevent 670,000 cases of acute respiratory symptoms in 2010 alone. That is all because of trees and all in just one year. But again – the respiratory part, we all knew about because trees are the natural filters for our air and trees and plants generally are our major natural air filters. This great pictograph shows precisely how much air pollution is removed by trees in your area:

The number of tonnes of air pollution removed per square km by trees. From Environmental Pollution and also The Atlantic Monthly

The number of tonnes of air pollution removed per square km by trees. From Environmental Pollution and also The Atlantic Monthly

More remarkably, there is a link between trees and your heart health. A study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine in 2013 took advantage of a natural crisis in the tree population to show how the number of trees affects human health. Between 1990 and 2007 the Emerald Ash Borer (a type of insect) killed hundreds of millions of Ash trees in the U.S. and this study looked at trends in heart disease and also lung disease during that time. The results showed a clear increase in heart disease and death from cardiac causes in areas that were losing trees – 15,080 heart-related deaths because of tree loss specifically.  In those areas there were also an additional 6113 deaths from lung disease.  This suggests that the link between trees and heart disease may even be stronger than the link between trees and lung disease.




Trees also help reduce stress levels, increase wound healing speed and generally make life more livable. In fact, Richard Louv proposed a series of problems, especially behavioral problems in children stemming from “Nature Deficit Disorder.” I don’t know about you, but for my heart, my stress levels and my overall happiness I’m going to do everything I can to spend more time with trees.

The Health Benefits of Trees - This gorgeous tree could help your heart to stay healthy.

This gorgeous tree could help your heart to stay healthy.