Methylfolate Side Effects: MTHFR problems

We’ve talked about the MTHFR mutant problem before (right here) but haven’t really addressed the actual taking of methylfolate.  Folate sounds so benign, so harmless but sadly there can be methylfolate side effects. 5-MTHF fallout, if you will. We mutants are out there, walking among you unable to convert regular old folic acid into methylfolate, or 5-MTHF for short.  I will stand with pride among you my brothers and sisters because yes, I too am a mutant.  Deep shuddering sigh.  As it turns out, using gene markers alone to plan a healthy nutritional protocol is not as straightforward as it would seem.  The reason being that every system in the human body has a glorious level of redundancy – we are literally designed to fail in eight thousand ways and still function normally.




Simply having the MTHFR mutation doesn’t actually mean that high-dose methylfolate like Deplin® which is prescribed in either 7.5 mg or 15 mg doses is a good idea.  The reason for this is that your body has literally hundreds of overlapping systems that are involved in every function that is even remotely related to the ways you use folate in the body. These overlapping systems and layers of function help our body to function normally even with multiple mutations that may result in genuinely low levels of 5-MTHF. Obviously that’s awesome when you don’t have methylfolate, but it can be a little overwhelming when all of a sudden you have a ton of it.

methylfolate side effects can happen even with a great product like this 5-MTHF

5-MTHF – One of my favorite methylfolate supplements, but there can still be methylfolate side effects.

Picture flooding your system with methylfolate when there has been relatively little (and when your body has been functioning reasonably normally with relatively little). Your cup literally runneth over. In some cases, your body has been starving and so it’s a welcome relief like rain in the desert – all functions get better and you’re ridiculously glad to have some resources to work with.  In other cases the flood of 5-MTHF is literally a flood and you’re stuck trying to clean up the mess.

Methylfolate Side Effects:

  • Mood changes: depression, irritability, severe anxiety
  • Pain: sore muscles, joint aches, headaches, migraines
  • Physical Symptoms: rash, acne, heart palpitations, nausea, insomnia

You will notice that some of these side effects are exactly the symptoms we’re looking to fix by taking the methylfolate, which seems a little ironic and inconvenient.  Such is the way of medicine, no? Like the drug you take for constipation that may cause constipation.  Thankfully here the benefits far outweigh the risks, you just have to know how to do it right.  Remember that methylfolate is something your body actually needs, so it’s important to find a way to take it well.

Avoiding Methylfolate Side Effects:

    • Start slow:  Some people with the MTHFR mutation have no trouble taking methylfolate and feel a world of difference from it.  For the rest of us it’s a little too much, a little too quickly.  If that is you then backing the dose way down to what might be in a good multivitamin (400 – 800 mcg) is a great way to start.  From there you can slowly adjust your dose to find your own optimal dosage level.
    • Personalize: When we’re talking about your genes it really is all about YOU.  Just because something works for lots of people with the MTHFR mutation doesn’t mean it will work for you, so above all trust your body and your symptoms.  If you’re having a problem doing something one way (even though that way works for your doctor or your neighbor or everyone else on a forum) trust that and change your strategy.
    • Pulse Your Dose: For some people it helps to have some days on and some days off, meaning to take methylfolate at whatever dose your body can tolerate for some days but not others.  For my body personally the best strategy I’ve found so far is taking lower doses five days per week and taking weekends off (convenient too!) For some of my clients it’s a week on/week off plan at a higher dose.  This really does come down to experimenting with your body to find what is right for you.
    • Expect Some Adjustment: Remember that your body has been compensating for all of your mutations for as long as you’ve been alive so suddenly changing the entire playing field is bound to create a few waves.  Before you make a snap judgement about what works for you and what doesn’t give things a few days to calm down. Your body will constantly astound you with it’s flexibility, it’s adaptability and it’s ability to cope with ridiculously huge changes but even your miraculous body may take a couple of days.
    • Niacin to the rescue: 50 – 100 mg of time-release niacin can be incredibly helpful to counteract some of the side effects of methylfolate if an alternative dosing plan isn’t enough to make you feel awesome. Niacin helps your body to use excessive SAM (S-adenylmethionine) which can build up in some people taking methylfolate. It’s important to also experiment with your dosing to find the right level of niacin for you, and in larger doses niacin, even in it’s time-release form, can cause flushing.




  • Antiinflammatories: Some of the problem is just basically that your body was probably inflamed going into the methylfolate therapy and changing your protocol can stir everything up.  Also by taking 5-MTHF you are allowing your body to start to catch up on detoxification and repair, which can also increase your level of inflammation while everything is being sorted out. Good strong natural anti-inflammatories can help to decrease symptoms and help your body to adjust, especially while you’re finding your optimal dosage. A lipid-soluble form of curcumin (from turmeric) like Meriva® can make your life far easier.  Other great natural anti-inflammatories include fish oils, green tea, pycnogenol, boswellia, resveratrol and cat’s claw. Following an anti-inflammatory diet is tremendously helpful as well.
  • Hydroxycobalamin: In an odd twist this non-methylated form of vitamin B12 can help to control some of the side effects of 5-MTHF as well.  One of the benefits of taking methylfolate is that it increases your levels of nitric oxide, which is the signal that helps your blood vessels dilate.  Which is exactly why it helps with cardiovascular risk and headaches and lots of the other things it helps with.  Like with everything else in life, too much of a good thing is sometimes a really bad thing.  So if your nitric oxide levels end up becoming too high then your body starts to make free radicals, and those free radicals create side effects.  Hydroxycobalamin can help you to counter this effect. Again, experiment with your dosing.

Remember that if you have MTHFR mutations then your body will function better on so many levels by getting the methylfolate that you’ve literally been starving for, so it’s worth it to find the right dose and the right way of taking methylfolate for you.  This can save you from heart disease, stroke, heart attack, periodontal disease, anxiety, insomnia, depression, mood disorders, reproductive problems, even birth defects in your children. Just because you have methylfolate side effects doesn’t mean your body doesn’t need it, so keep trying to find the way that works for you.



Recovering From Overeating: Because Shankenstein is a Thing.

So – some weekends just really need a whole lot of indulgence (read: overeating). Those same weekends seem to also need some serious remediation, so here’s the story and the toolkit.

Recovering from Overeating:

For those of you who know me or are my clients, you know that I am as much about giving yourself what makes you happy (even if it’s not always healthy ) as I am about taking care of your health because when it comes down to it, those are the same things.  So this weekend, for a variety of reasons, what I needed was some major feel-good overeating indulgence that doesn’t fall into the health category.  This indulgence fell into the yummy category and included  a nice gin martini and some amazing fries. Also something called “Shankenstein” which NoVa restaurant here in Austin claims is fried pork and beef terrine (read: the most awesome salty, fatty, crispy-on-the-outside deep fried meat thingy ever), blueberry doughnuts and lemongrass panna cotta with (not joking) meringue “fruit loops” suspended in it. My god.




What that actually amounts to is five million calories (approx) and about a gallon of fat, seasoned with sugar and washed down with alcohol. Quite obviously when I indulge I do it big. It was actually pretty awesome and probably not what my body wanted but certainly what my soul needed – I wouldn’t do it any differently.  So for you I will share my tools to make this necessary soul-salving awesomeness not quite so health-damning. Here’s the recovering from overeating or overindulging tool-kit:

Great night to be recovering from overeating in Austin, TX

Great night to indulge.

  1. Take your enzymes.  I know I’m not good with wheat and gluten (ahem. doughnuts) but some days, like this weekend,  I do indulge.  For me, it’s important to have an enzyme that I can take with my food that covers the wheat and gluten thing (the ingredient to look for is DPP-IV) but for you, it might be something else.  More lipase or even ox bile if you know you don’t handle overeating fats well, lactase if you’re lactose intolerant. Protease if you have trouble with heavy protein-rich meals or betaine HCl if your digestion is weak overall. I took mine and they helped me recover and spared me some of the wheat-related fallout the next day. Obviously, if your big indulgence isn’t food-related then you can probably skip the enzymes, but if there’s food in there then plan ahead.
  2. Don’t forget your water. It sounds mundane, but obviously, I’m asking my body to process a whole boat-load of salt, sugar, and alcohol so I’d better give it some extra water to help flush those things out effectively. Otherwise, I’d turn into stay-puffed marshmallow woman and feel horrid the next day (for the record I did just fine). Not just the usual amount of water, but actually extra water to help your body recover from the extra indulgence.
  3. Move around some. Thankfully the uber-meal was followed by walking and then dancing.  Not a whole lot, but enough to remind my body not to settle and congeal into a lump of poorly-moving blobbiness.  The walking and little bit of dancing reminded my body that it can use some of those calories for actual fuel and not just store them away as a keepsake of this evening. Outside of that, gentle activity helps to keep blood flowing and actually encourage my body to work through all of that.
  4. Indulge, but slowly.  The best meals are enjoyed slowly and in good company. When the meal is a several hour process there is time for your body to cope with the onslaught of overeating and overindulgence and not get over-full or skimp on the digestive steps that will make this recovery quick the next day.  Take the time to laugh, share stories and generally connect over the meal and it will all work out much more easily. Obviously the same goes for alcohol.  Slamming the drinks down will only get you blind-drunk, where savoring gets you the joy of a great drink or two without the accompanying hangover and ridiculousness.
  5. Get what really matters to you.  Good food is my thing. It’s my go-to happy place of choice if things are rough or rocky. Not just food, or lots of food, but *good* food. Given the options, it would have been easier to just have crappy food but a lot of it and really overeat – but that wouldn’t feed my soul the same way.  Better for me to indulge in the thing that will really make me happy and get it out of my system. There are always substitutes, but that kind of defeats the purpose. If you’re going to indulge choose the thing that will feed your soul the most. For me, that’s great food and dancing (camping is right up there, but harder to arrange). For someone else it might be a day trip out of town, an entire day in bed with Netflix, a pedicure, a massage or whatever else you can think of that brings joy.
  6. Drop the guilt.  Guilt, although we’re culturally good at it, doesn’t actually help anyone do anything at all (except if you’re really looking to give yourself an ulcer. Then it will help). Life is difficult and messy and wonderful and painful and sometimes it requires a little bit of taking-care-of-you.  In fact, I think life requires far more taking-care-of-you than most people do.  I’m not talking about the things you do because they’re easy (like fast food) or the things you do because you’re burned out (like reality TV) – I’m talking about the things that help you to feel alive and joyful and like yourself even when things aren’t going the way you want them to.  Now – if that thing for you is reality TV then by all means, but choose your pleasure to maximize your benefit. Give yourself the gift of an indulgence with permission – no strings attached. No guilt, no judgment, no negative self-talk. None of that. Overeat or indulge, recover, and move on.
  7. Enjoy every second. It’s so easy, especially when you’re not in a great place, to choose your big treat and then not notice that you’re having it because you’re so busy thinking about your troubles.  Drop the worry, skip the troubles and really focus on your gift-to-you (SHANKENSTEIN).  If you notice your mind wandering in a dark direction, just focus again on whatever it is that you’re enjoying at the moment.  Indulgence as a form of meditation?  Oh yes.  That’s the whole point.
  8. Know the difference between self-indulgence and self-destruction.  There is a difference between enjoying a great meal with alcohol, and enjoying a bottle of alcohol, a blackout and a trip to the ER to get your stomach pumped. Likewise enjoying a fantastic meal is self-indulgence where eating your way through a bag of mini snickers and a box of doughnuts is overeating à la self-destruction. Indulgence makes you happy and isn’t exactly healthy and probably isn’t part of your normal routine, but it’s also not going to do you any serious damage. If you get into the seriously damaging category then you’re probably crossing over into self-destruction, self-punishment, and self-harm.  Give yourself an evening of overeating, recover and be glad for it, but keep your eyes open. Don’t wander down the road of self-destruction because those lessons often turn out to be much harder than whatever the original trouble is that you’re dealing with.

The bottom line is to enjoy your indulgence when you need it and then get on with actually dealing with whatever it is that’s getting you down in the first place. Recovering from overeating isn’t a big deal as long as you plan accordingly and don’t just keep overeating. Sometimes you really do need to make your joy a priority.



Positive Remembering: Amazing Lifehack for Trauma

You have the capacity to change the past through positive remembering, no matter how horrific it was or how much you’re still troubled by it. This amazing lifehack for trauma is so simple and yet so effective. Your brain is amazing.  A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

You have no idea how much your brain is capable of and what it can actually accomplish – it genuinely is the greatest, most wonderful tool you will ever possess. Your brain can actually change and adapt to do whatever you ask it to do – including re-write your history.  The darkest, scariest, most nauseating parts of your history as well as the annoying, the humiliating and the humbling.  Your brain is the tool you need to heal those old wounds and to get happier because of it. Let’s call it Positive Remembering, and it’s such a powerful lifehack to cure a bad past.

All of us have bad memories from our own lives – some of those are little snapshot memories of one particular incident (like almost stepping on a snake in the woods) and some are entire chapters (like that whole relationship with He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, or that little thing called “childhood”). For many people these memories are there, but not called upon. Stuff happened and they’ve moved on and it doesn’t really matter. For others these memories are part of waking life – popping up at random times and interfering with emotions, happiness and even health. Positive remembering is the key to reducing the impact of those past traumas on your life now.

Positve remembering changes your mental stories. Once Upon A Time...

It’s all just a story – why not make it a better one? Practice positive remembering

Positive remembering is a way to free yourself slowly from these negative memories and re-frame the whole experience into something less harmful, less emotionally charged and to allow some healing to happen.

Positive Remembering in the First 24 Hours

The first 24 hours after a trauma is a powerful time to impact the way your brain holds and stores that information.  In those 24 hours if you can focus on the good things that are happening, the people who love you, the help you received, the blue of the sky while you were flat on your back, the wonderful things in your life. By doing this the overall impact of the trauma will be greatly diminished because your brain lays down that memory differently and with less emotional charge. Of course this is also the hardest time to focus on the good things, and for many of us the traumas that concern us were years, if not decades, ago. Never fear, positive remembering works for long-past memories too.




Changing Your Past To Change Your Present

If you know that some negative part of your past is still there, haunting you then it’s time to take some proactive steps to changing that situation.  Nothing you do can change the past, but the great news is you don’t have to. You just have to change the way you think and feel about the past. We’re going to call that Positive Remembering. Here are some of the tools you can use to change those memories.  Try to use one of these, quickly, every time you are confronted with a negative memory and soon that memory will lose it’s power over you:

  • Feel Your Body – Notice what reaction your body has to the memory. Often you’ll clench your jaw, tense your shoulders, your heart rate will accelerate or your stomach will start grinding because your body is re-living the stress, anxiety, sadness or fear from that moment.  Consciously bring your attention to that part of your body and instead of focusing on the memory, focus on relaxing that body part. You can pretend there is a warm, soft light shining there, or the feeling of a warm blanket, or just imagine that part turning to water or melting.  If it’s your heart rate think of something that would calm your heart rate down like lying on a beach or getting a massage.  I know, there is a little bit of a “go to your happy place” feel to this, but if your body lets go of the tension from the memory then you’ll start to re-wire your brain to let go of some of the tension too.
  • Banish The Boggart – For anyone who isn’t a Harry Potter fan, a boggart is a type of creature that takes the shape of whatever you fear most (your memory). To banish it, you must laugh at it in a genuine and meaningful way.  This produced all kinds of hilarity in books and movies as the boggart of a hated teacher was forced into a hideous and embarrassing drag-grandmother ensemble, thereby giving Harry and friends a great laugh.  Much like boggarts, memories can be changed too. If you had a horrible car wreck that still wakes you up in cold sweats, you can positive remember it: picture the same scene but in bumper cars and give the whole thing a cartoon “boing” noise.  Make the whole thing as ludicrous as possible.  This works even with the really scary memories too. Just be creative – what would make that scene silly or ridiculous. Every time you have that negative emotionally charged memory, banish it with your newer, sillier version. It’s really hard at first, espcially if those memories are still raw but the more you practice the easier it becomes and the less that memory bothers you.
  • Give Yourself a Gift – Memories are yours to play with. Nobody says they have to actually look like what happened. They can look like whatever you want them to.  So why not give that story a happy ending?  Chances are in your bad memory you  needed something that you didn’t have at that moment. Positive remember it! If you’re remembering childhood trauma you may have needed a big hug from a kind adult and a teddy bear – so just add that part in. Any time that memory pops up, just add in the part where you get what you need at the end.  Sure bad stuff happened, but start telling your brain that at the end you got what you needed and your brain will start believing you.

Positive Remembering: Your Memories are Just Stories

I know this sounds kind of silly and ridiculous, but the point is that the things in your memory are over – they aren’t happening right this second.  Right this second you’re just fine. You are breathing, your heart is beating, you’ve had enough food and water to stay alive until this moment.  Whatever that bad memory was, it didn’t actually kill you and at the end of the day that means it’s all kind of okay (I believe at the end of the day it’s *always* okay even after the whole death thing, but for the sake of brevity we don’t have to discuss that part today).

Essentially those memories are just stories you tell yourself over and over again so lets just change the story into something you can live with, something that doesn’t make you feel hollow, something that will let you heal and move forward. Positive remember it and start to get out of the clutches of negative memory. It’s your story – so make it whatever you want it to be: RE-member it differently.  You’re not trying to sell yourself on this new version being the truth, you’re just softening up the whole picture every time it comes up and by doing that, you also soften up the effect it has on your overall level of joy. Positive remembering helps you rediscover the joyfulness buried under the rubble.



13 Small Choices That Can Change Your Brain

One of my favorite bloggers of all time – Harvard neuropsychiatrist Jon Lieff, MD – wrote a fabulous article for MindBodyGreen about the 13 simple changes you can make to change your brain to have a healthier brain, and more happiness today. These are choices to change your brain and your life.

13 Small Choices That Can Change Your Brain and your Life In Great Ways:

Make Choices to Change Your Brain and your Life! Walk in Nature

Make Choices to Change Your Brain and your Life. Walk in Nature – it’s a detoxification for your mind.




Choices to Change Your Brain and Get Happy Now:

  • Get plenty of sleep – Sleep allows the brain to clean debris between cells and increases memory.
  • Take naps – Back to the sleep thing. Naps consolidate learning, increase memory and enhance learning.
  • Practice positive remembering – Changing your memories can reduce the emotional impact of trauma.
  • Get regular exercise – Exercise is critical for brain function and brain health.
  • Eat real food – Processed foods can unbalance your brain chemistry the way a drug would. Eat real food, whole food. Things that grow and live on the earth.
  • Focus on the Positive – What you choose to think about is what your brain becomes best at thinking about so choose well. You can learn optimism just like any other habit.
  • Nurture positive relationships – Loneliness is a killer. Get out there and care about people.
  • Do positive things for your community – Generosity and community service boost your immunity and just plain make you happier.
  • Believe in your capacity for extraordinary experiences and talents (!!!) – that is all that needs saying about that.
  • Know that nature is more intelligent than you realize – You are surrounded by intelligent animals, birds and even insects.  Stop to marvel, just a little.
  • Walk in nature – “Being in nature is like mental cleansing or fasting”  It’s not just me that thinks so  – this is straight from a Harvard neuropsychiatrist’s mouth.
  • You have free will – use it! – Don’t fall prey to random media suggestions, advertising hypnosis and malicious gossip. You have free will and if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it. Making choices to change your life means making choices to change who influences you.

Can you see why I’m such a big fan of Dr. Lieff (here’s his blog btw)? Today is the day. Make one small choice to change your life. You will never regret making more time for nature. You will never regret loosening the hold of the office gossip mill or the advertising avalanche. Make choices to change your life just a little each day. Imagine how much everything could change in a month? A year? Five years? Choose to change your life now.



Is Gluten Free Right for Me?

I hear the question every day – “Is gluten free right for me? Should I be gluten free?” Spoiler alert – there is no easy answer.  There are so many reasons why gluten free diets might benefit everyone, but there is also a right way and a wrong way to do it, and from what I’ve seen lots of people are doing it the wrong way.  Gluten free diets have helped lots of people, but the real question is it healthy for YOU? Let’s explore this idea:

Why Should I Be Gluten Free?

Anyone who knows me knows that I am serious about food sensitivities.  Many people are sensitive to foods that are common in the modern diet – not allergic, just sensitive.  This means that by eating that food you are creating a low-level inflammation in your body that is always there because the food is always there.  While you’re in good health and things are going well that may not show up as anything, but if you get sick or if your body has a weak spot somewhere (like allergies or eczema or behavioral disorders or arthritis) then that low-level of inflammation is going to make your thing, whatever that happens to be, worse.

As it happens, gluten is one of the most common food sensitivities, along with dairy, corn and soy.   Does this mean everyone should eliminate it?  No – not at all.  It does mean that if you happen to be sensitive to gluten then eliminating it is going to make a world of difference to your health, both now and long-term. If you’re sensitive to it, then the answer to the question “is gluten free right for me” is a resounding YES. If you’re not sure how to figure out what your food sensitivities are, the please check out the full post on it here.

Outside of the food sensitivity angle, eliminating gluten from your diet often means that you’re cutting out a lot of the starchy, carb-rich roods that we seem to adore so much (as long as you’re doing it right). This helps you prevent diabetes and heart disease and also keep that waist-line trim – all in all that’s not too shabby for a simple diet change.

What Are the Risks of Being Gluten-Free?

 

Is gluten free right for me? Gluten-free cookies (yep. Still cookies.)

Although they look like they *should* be healthy, these gluten-free cookies are really still cookies. Really.
© Raymond Kasprzak | Dreamstime Stock Photos

 

Risk is maybe too strong a word, but there can be pitfalls. The most common of which is that people switch to gluten-free, but still eat just as many cookies and crackers and breads and pastas as they did before. This is still a good idea if you’re gluten-sensitive (or obviously if you have Celiac disease) but doesn’t give you any of the benefits of a lower carb diet. There seems to be a common misconception, that looks like this:

Gluten-Free = Healthy

Sadly, that is not the case.  Gluten-free just equals gluten-free.  The cookie is still a cookie, with all the carbs and calories and sugars that go with it.  Here’s the thing though, that still doesn’t mean:

Gluten-Free ≠ Healthy

Gluten-free can be an awesome way to eat, it’s just a matter of doing it right. So let’s talk about that.




The Right Way to Eat Gluten-Free

The basic rule to eating well gluten-free is eating well.  That means the normal rules still apply – just because it’s gluten-free doesn’t mean you get a free pass to the cookies, cakes and baked yummies. So here are some good guidelines:

  • Make the bulk of your meal fresh veggies and fruits – I try to go for 2/3 of meals, but breakfast sometimes isn’t as easy to proportion that way.
  • Include a good protein-source like grass-fed grass-finished beef, natural poultry, organic eggs, organic dairy or wild-caught fish (in moderation because populations are dwindling). If you’re vegetarian than focus on complete proteins like beans and rice, nuts, or seeds.
  • Include plenty of good fats – avocados, olives, olive oil, grass-fed butter, nut and seed oils
  • The smallest portion of the meal should be your sugars and starches – even if those starches are gluten-free starches.

The biggest problem is that lots of people are going “gluten-free” which means they still eat a Standard American Diet (SAD for a reason) except that the vast quantities of bread, pasta, cookies, crackers and sweets all have GF on the label.  I’d love to say the gluten-fairy took away all the sugars and carbs and calories when she took away the gluten, but sadly that isn’t the case. Just remember to think about the big picture when you’re going gluten-free.

Is gluten free healthy? The Answer is yes, as long as you do it the right way. Is gluten free right for me? Well… that depends on you.



Finding Your Food Sensitivity

I am a huge believer in the food sensitivity problem, largely because finding and eliminating a food sensitivity has literally changed my life. That sounds really cliché, but it’s actually true. Just keep reading and I’ll explain.

What is a Food Sensitivity?

Food sensitivities are a little bit mysterious, but one thing we know for sure is that it isn’t an allergy in the conventional sense.  If you eat a peanut and swell up and have to go to the hospital, that isn’t a food sensitivity. That’s a food allergy and it’s pretty easy to spot (just look for the ambulance and the disgruntled school nurse wielding an epi-pen.) Food sensitivity is allergy’s sneakier, tricksier second-cousin.  Your immune system is reacting to a food, but it’s not reacting in a huge dramatic way that gives you a clue to what’s happening.  It’s also not reacting immediately so you can put it all together in a nice simple way, like peanut + me = badness.  Instead, it’s a vague, ambiguous process that can’t be identified through normal means – you have to actually be your own science experiment, and god knows that’s fun.  Actually, I’m a bit of a geek, so I do *love* any kind of science experiment.

Eating a food that you’re sensitive to create a slow-moving background level of inflammation that just keeps your body irritated enough to make whatever else might be going on worse.  Everybody’s body has a weak spot – some place where they’re most likely to break down – and that’s where the low-level inflammation from a food sensitivity hits.  It just creates inflammation that people say is just “normal” for them, or just “aging” or something that’s “in their family.” Uh-huh.  So – here’s my story:




I grew up being a bit of a (read: ENORMOUS) tomboy.  The things I liked doing were all a little rough-and-tumble like hiking and camping and building things and riding horses and skiing into trees and dancing for hours on end. When I started having joint pain pretty young I just assumed it was because I road-tested my body and that it was “normal” (did you spot the dead-giveaway?) Yep. It’s also “in my family” to have joint pain, so there’s that.  Here’s the thing: when joint pain starts at around 6 years of age, it’s only going to go downhill.  By the time I got out of med-school I was having pain that made me feel like an 80-year-old woman and to shuffle when I first got out of bed.  It may occur to you that this isn’t, perhaps, “normal.”

Me, being a tomboy. Before discovering my food sensitivity

Me, busy being a tomboy. This was before discovering my food sensitivity.

I had a great patient at that time and I was happily telling her all about how to discover her own food sensitivities at home, which involves the being-your-own-guinea-pig thing.  We’ll talk about it in a minute,  but it is a little involved.  Anyway, I’m explaining all of this to her and she looks me dead in the eye and says “this is the hardest thing anyone has ever asked me to do. Have you done it?” After which there was a pause, then a somewhat reluctant “no” from me.  The bottom line is that she agreed to test her food sensitivities if I would test mine.  Sigh.

So, I did.  As it turns out when I eat wheat I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck – but not until the next day.  So the day I eat wheat I feel great and have no troubles at all, then the next day I wake up and can hardly move. I’m achy (like 6/10 pain), stuffy, puffy and swollen and pretty darn irritable. If I stay away from wheat I actually don’t have that.  Huh.  Huge thanks to that patient, by the way, to whom I owe a lot of health.

Could I have a Food Sensitivity?

Yep, you could.  Pretty much everyone could. That’s the strange thing about food sensitivities. It can be a food you were raised with, that you’ve always eaten, that has always been a favorite and it could still be causing you a tremendous amount of trouble. Here are some general symptoms and conditions that I’ve seen associated with food sensitivities (not a complete list by any stretch of the imagination):

  • Pain of any kind including arthritis, neuralgia, fibromyalgia, gout.
  • Mood disorders including depression, anxiety, mood swings, and OCD.
  • Behavioral disorders like ADD, ADHD, oppositional-defiance, outbursts and anger issues.
  • Digestive problems like diarrhea, constipation, bloating, gas, indigestion, gallbladder sludge and stomach pain.
  • Hormone issues like hypothyroid, PCOS, irregular cycles, low sperm count, diabetes.
  • Autoimmune disorders like lupus, hashimotos thyroiditis, Behcet’s, psoriasis.
  • Skin problems like eczema, hives, itching and acne
  • General issues including allergies, fatigue, weight gain, and swelling.

Finding Your Food Sensitivities (or, Being Your Own Guinea pig)

Guinea Pig (pretend), just like you.

This is actually a pretend Guinea pig, but since you will only be a pretend Guinea pig too, it seemed appropriate. If you really want one of these, you can buy it here.

Testing your food sensitivities is a simple process, but it does take some work – mostly in reading labels. Here’s what you do:

  1. Eliminate: Eliminate the food you’re testing COMPLETELY for 14 days – this means read your labels because wheat, corn, dairy and soy are in all kinds of things that you wouldn’t suspect.
  2. Challenge: Enjoy the heck out of the food you’re testing for a day.  If you’re testing wheat then have wheat day. Eat some waffles and pasta and a great french bread with a ton of butter.
  3. Observe: Like any other good experiment you have to be a careful observer. After your challenge day, take the food you’re testing back out of your diet for three or four days and watch to see what happens in your body.  For most people, the fireworks start the day after challenge day, but sometimes it’s even more delayed than that. Your body will tell you clearly if you’re sensitive to something.
  4. Retest: This isn’t actually necessary, but if you’re like me you’ll go through exhaustive mental gymnastics to convince yourself that you aren’t actually reacting to that food (my big rationalization was that I actually got a flu, which coincidentally started the day after wheat day.) So if you don’t believe the reaction the first time, then after your observation period, have another challenge day.  This time, believe your body when it tells you it’s sensitive (I could rationalize one well-timed flu but two is too much).

What Should I Test First?

The big four food sensitivity foods are:

Wheat (but it’s good to test Gluten too), Dairy, Corn and Soy

And those are in everything so read your labels!! Look in weird places like soy sauce (which has wheat), and salad dressings (which have everything).

The next most popular foods to react to are:

Nightshades (tomato, potato, peppers, eggplants), Citrus (lemons, limes, grapefruit), Beef and Chocolate

The great thing is that you can eliminate and challenge one food at a time or if you want to do it all at once you can just eliminate everything and go down to a really simple diet and then re-introduce foods one at a time.  This is a choose-your-own-adventure type of experiment.

I would highly encourage anyone who is having health problems to start testing themselves for food sensitivities – it truly does make all the difference in the world. For me, I went from a roughly 6/10 daily pain level to a 1-2/10. That is pretty freaking awesome – especially since I don’t have to take any drugs or supplements to do it.  As a side bonus, my allergies dropped down to almost nothing – I don’t take allergy medications except for the occasional mold-mix on days when Austin is literally covered in mold.



MTHFR mutation, or How to Know if You’re a Mutant.

So, everyone kind of freaks out when I use a word like mutant because it sounds so sci-fi and X-men-ish but the MTHFR mutation doesn’t give us anything nearly so exotic as superpowers, more like just more of the usual problems. The thing is, we’re all mutants in one form or another. We all have a tremendous degree of genetic variability that gives us the amazing and awesome diversity of looks, personalities, traits and oddities that make us human. These mutations, or genetic variances, can make our enzyme processes work differently; meaning more slowly, more quickly or not at all. This is why some people are still doing great after five cocktails and others are bleary-eyed and drooling.

MTHFR gene mutations. Here portrayed, wildly inaccurately, as mutant carrots.

Behold the mutant carrots. Muah hah ha… Don’t worry, MTHFR mutations aren’t quite this funky.  Thanks to simply-sharon.com for the great photo.

For the most part, genetic variance creates relatively small changes because there are so many overlapping systems in the body. It’s all part of the great mystery – our bodies are designed with a plan A, plan B, plan C and probably the back-up super-secret plan X just to make sure everything goes right.  There are, of course, a few places where no matter how many overlapping systems we have, our bodies can’t compensate for how many little things have gone wrong.

One of the places this can happen is in the various genes for a process called “Methylation.”  Methylation, as you might have deduced, is the process where your body adds a -methyl group to some other molecule to help it become more active.  One of the most important places this happens is in the gene that methylates folate (the B vitamin) into it’s active form.  This group of genes are called “methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase,” or MTHFR for short. If you have too many genetic variances in these genes then you may not be able to activate your folic acid or other B vitamins.

MTHFR Mutation Problems Include:

  • High homocysteine levels in your blood and urine – this increases your risk for heart disease including high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke.
  • Increased risk of neural tube defects and preeclampsia if you become pregnant.  Neural tube is your baby’s brain and spinal cord so it isn’t generally an area you want to be defective.
  • Improper neurotransmitter production – this can lead to depression, anxiety, mood disorders and complex psychiatric illness.
  • Increased risk for the eye disorder glaucoma.




So – none of these complications are good things.  Generally they’re not issues you want to be dealing with in your life and certainly not a combination of them (bad enough to be depressed, but to be depressed with heart disease sounds worse). This leads to two questions, which naturally I will endeavor to answer for you.

Who Should Test for MTHFR?

MTHFR has a lot of variability and different people notice it in different ways. Usually I suggest testing for people who have had anxiety or depression since childhood, for people who have parents, siblings, children or themselves with spinal cord defects that might be related, or for people who have anxiety, depression or mood disorders “in the family.” This being a genetic mutation we usually see it show up in parents, aunts and uncles, siblings and children so if many people in the family are struggling then it’s time to look at your genes. Also if your homocysteine tests high at your doctors office even if you’re taking B vitamins then there’s a good chance there’s a problem.

How Do I know If I’m a MTHFR Mutant?

Great question! The best way to know, is to test. Your doctor can run a complete genetic analysis which will give you all of this information and is by far the best option if you have insurance.  This would also mean you could get a prescription methylfolate to help your body compensate.  If you don’t have insurance then there’s a great not-too-expensive way to do it at home, which comes with the added bonus of learning just how much neanderthal you have in you (I’m 3%!!!).  It’s called 23 and Me, and it’s an at-home saliva DNA test kit that gives you all kinds of great information about yourself like your neanderthal percentage, your ancestry, and also more serious things like your disease risk, certain gene markers for serious disease and also genetic differences that may cause you to react differently to certain drugs or chemicals.  All in all it’s pretty nifty.

Once you get your DNA info from 23 and Me, then you can plug it into the neatest service ever, which is donation based, called Genetic Genie.  Genetic Genie can run a full methylation analysis (for a suggested donation of $10).  I can tell you from looking at mine that this gives you an overwhelming amount of info and lots and lots of great ways to compensate for any genetic oddities you might find.

What Do I Do if I Have A MTHFR Mutation?

The short version is don’t worry, and take a methylated B vitamin.  This means the folic acid should be methyl-folate or some variation thereof, including L-5-Methyltetradydrofolate, L-5-Methyltetrahydrofolinic Acid, or 6(S)-5-methyltetrahydrofolic acid (the longer the word, the better apparently).  The B12 should be Methylcobalamin, and you may see something extra in there to just add extra methyl groups like trimethylglycine or betaine anhydrous.  Also, you should NOT take regular folic acid or anything that isn’t a methylated folate, simply because all of those will compete with the methylated folates and just continue the problem.  It isn’t always this simple because there are additional mutations that can interfere as well so some people have side effects when they take methylfolate, which you can read about here. If you find out you have an MTHFR mutation it’s not the end of the world, there is plenty we can do. It’s a good idea to check your kiddos too, or just switch them over to the methyl forms of B vitamins, and also if you have other genetic relatives who are struggling to pass on the good word about methylated B vitamins and your own new super-mutant status.



Why Should You Eat Seasonably?

Sure sure, you’ve probably heard that you should eat seasonably. It seems like there’s always a new trend with food – eat five colors a day, eat Dr. So-and-so’s diet, only ever eat grapefruits, etc…  Some of these trends just happen to be good advice that gets popular because it’s actually good advice  (some are just, well, trends).  When you see the grapefruit swap out for cabbage or soup  but everything else about the fad diet is the same you can bet it was probably a fad without a whole lot of anything to back it up. But what about eating seasonably?

Eat Seasonably!

Eat Seasonably Calendar from eatseasonably.co.uk. For the full size version, please click the link below.

Seasonal Eating Calendar from eatseasonably.co.uk

Eat Seasonably (The Basics):

This isn’t anything fancy – it’s literally just eating the foods that are in season in your area when they’re at their peak.  This means you’re eating a whole lot more Spring foods in Spring, like asparagus and early greens. More Summer foods in Summer like peaches and melons and you guessed it, more Fall foods in the Fall. Bring on the pumpkins!  This makes sense in a lot of ways:

  • You Get the Best Flavor Eating Seasonably. Eating the foods that are in season right now means that everything you eat is at it’s peak freshness and maximal nutrient value.  You are getting the best of everything as it’s ripening and NOT getting the limp produce that’s been shipped across the globe unripe and hung out in airplanes and trucks for days before getting to you.
  • You Help The Earth. Eating the foods that are in season in your area right now, means you’re more likely to be eating local produce that doesn’t have to be shipped and that’s grown by local farmers in your own community. Not only are you contributing to your local economy, but you’re also reducing the pounds and pounds of produce that are shipped all over the globe every day.
  • You Get the Best Nutrition. Produce that ripens fully before it’s picked has had the best opportunity to absorb as many nutrients as it can from the earth. It’s developed it’s antioxidants more fully and so is nutritionally a richer, more complete source of the things you need.
  • You Participate in the Great Mystery.  Here’s the thing – there is a design in this universe that is so much bigger than we are.  Some people say it’s coincidence, but I say it’s too good to be coincidence.  The foods that are ripening in the summer when it’s hottest also happen to be the foods that have the most cooling effects on your body (think watermelon and cucumber).  The root veggies that mature in the fall help your body to nourish itself deeply in preparation for the cold to come in Winter.  The garlic, onions, horseradish and spicy foods of Northern climates help to thicken your blood to prepare for cold winters while the Jalapenos and peppers of the Southern climates thin your blood to help you weather the overly-hot summers.  Coincidence? I think not. When you eat seasonably you allow this great mystery into your life.




Your environment is meant to nourish and sustain you and help you exist in that little piece of the world.  So sure, you could buy more frozen peas or frozen corn or grapes shipped from Chile (nothing against you folks in Chile), but what are you missing here at home? Is it possible that your next Texas summer might be easier because you’re eating your local Texas produce as it ripens through the year?  And think about the animals “ripening” as well.  There’s a reason that we eat turkey at Thanksgiving and it isn’t just tradition – this is the season where turkeys are in their prime and we can derive the most benefit from their addition to our table. Eat seasonably this year and see what changes for you.

This past year I’ve been experimenting with my body to truly follow my instincts for foods that are ripe right now.  I can tell you there was a good three weeks where all I really wanted was watermelon and water with cucumber slices in it and I let myself follow that urge.  It’s possible that it’s coincidence, or that this summer wasn’t a horrible one, but I genuinely feel like I was able to enjoy the summer more and get out an do more because my body was able to withstand the heat with more grace.  I wasn’t quite so close to my pass-out point all the time.

Now that we’re coming into fall I’m craving roasted root veggies and pumpkin smoothies and all the wonderful things that it doesn’t make sense to eat in the summer.  I’m craving FALL FOOD. There are so many ways to know what’s in season in your area, but by far the simplest and most pleasurable is to just visit the farmer’s market.  Your local farmer’s market will have fresh produce from farmers who probably picked or harvested it within the last 24 hours.  No sitting around in trucks or spoiling in the supermarket – this is fresh and seasonal and I think will help your body to live in the world a little bit more easily.

Seasonal Food in Texas Month-by-Month:

Here’s a great list from the National Resource Defense Council of Texas seasonal foods month by month which also has a farmer’s market finder.

http://www.simplesteps.org/eat-local/state/texas

Happy Eating Everyone!



Great Health is Easy. Just Ask Your Dog.

Great Health *is* easy. Except when it doesn’t feel that way – which, according to my clients, is pretty much always. Here’s the thing – if you treated yourselves the way you treat your beloved pets, you’ll be just fine.

Great Health Is Easy: Just Treat Yourself Like Your Pets

Clean food without a lot of fillers

Great health is easy with great food

Great health is easy if you eat good food.

The media has been all over how bad the fillers are in pet food and how much better off your pet would be without them.  The grain (what dog or cat needs grain?), soy, corn artificial flavors and preservatives.  Why not just give them meat and veggies like they would eat in the wild?  Well why not take that one step further and feed yourself that way?  Here’s the thing – if grains in food are causing hot spots, allergies, inflammation and behavior problems in your pet, why wouldn’t they be doing the same thing to you? Think about it and cut out the filler foods.




Fresh Water

Obviously your animal needs a supply of clean, fresh water to drink that is easily available throughout the day, otherwise they could die, right? Right? And they really don’t need too much of anything else to drink (think sodas, juices, etc…), isn’t that right too? Yup. Neither do you. I know the human-animals out there enjoy a good coffee or wine or beer or lemonade but for the most part the best through-the-day drink is water. Enough water – shoot for eight 8 oz glasses and you’ll be golden.

A Walk Every Day

Of course your beloved dog needs to walk every day – everyone knows that.   Guess what? You do too! It doesn’t have to be a long walk, or even a fast walk, but walking every day helps you avoid Alzheimer’s disease, reduces your risk of heart attack, improves mood and sense of well being and generally makes you (and your pet) feel better. Great health is easy if you just have a walk.

Good sleep

Great health is easy if you just sleep

Great health is easy when sleep is a priority.

You’ve seen your cat sprawl out in the middle of the day on the sunny spot on the carpet, and your dog curl up in their bed for an afternoon siesta. Animals don’t hesitate to sleep if they need it and you shouldn’t either.  I know that’s easier said than done when your schedule is overly-full and you’re working and taking care of kids and trying to cram 28 hours into a 24 hour day. The bottom line is that you will be happier, more productive, more energetic and nicer to be around if you just get enough sleep regularly.

Play time with fresh air

Because really, what’s the point of all the hard work, effort and struggle if you don’t get to play a little? I’m just sayin’. If you aren’t doing the things that make you happy, then chances are the rest of it just isn’t really worth it.

Well – voila! That’s what you need too? As it turns out the human animal is pretty darn similar to the doggy-animal or cat-animal or whatever other type of animal you might have. Before you make excuses and say “I don’t have time…” remember that you should be just as high a priority on your list of things to do in the day as your pet is.  Wouldn’t it be nice if you gave yourself as much love as you gave your pet? Imagine how much better you’d feel on a daily basis.