GAPS Diet – getting prepared

Day…T minus 1 of My Nutrition Challenge, preparation day

I’ve just been shopping, picking up some supplies for my GAPS diet and am now enjoying the scent of my organic chicken stock cooking.

As Dr Campbell-McBride explains, meat stocks provide the building blocks for the cells of the gut and have a soothing effect on inflammation.

I picked up a couple of organic chicken frames and chicken wings from Village Organics here in Hamilton and lucky for me, my flatmate is a Chef and teaching me the finer points of cooking up a good stock.

I also have a litre of Kefir … um fermenting.  Kefir is also very good for the gut, it is nutrient dense and a high source of probiotics.

Other things I bought – Sauerkraut (fermented cabbage – great for the gut), raw honey if I need a little sweet fix, almond butter, squash, nut flour, garlic, onions and carrots.  I have never tried Sauerkraut before, and am not going to open the jar until I’m ready consume…just down the hatch and not think about it.

Stage One of the diet consists mostly of stock and sauerkraut juice.  Because my symptoms are low level I will only be doing stage one for around 1-3 days.

Tomorrow will be Day 1 of My Nutrition Challenge

But for now…just like many of us, I’ll just go and give in to a sugar craving and call it my ‘last supper’

Going Gluten Free? Do your research.

Many of us are going gluten free in the hope of improving our health and weight. I personally don’t eat much gluten, but that’s simply because I choose a diet that is low in food processed with added gluten.

A gluten intolerence is often presented with diarrhea, weight loss, malnutrition and other gastrointestinal issues. But then so is a fodmap sensitivity, a sugar overload, additive overload, casein intolerence, fructose intolerence, gallbladder issues…and just a generally poor diet. A poorly functioning nervous system will also cause gastrointestinal issues. So before jumping on the gluten free bandwagon, you really need to know if gluten is the issue – or are you just trying to find an easy fix, so you can still eat high fat, high sugar, high additive foods?

An elimination diet is a great way to find out whether gluten is causing you issues, but for the firm diagnosis, a blood test is required.

Ok, so here’s where it becomes tricky. You do an elimination diet and you start “feeling better”. But what did you eliminate along with your gluten? Gluten is found in processed baked goods, so while eliminating these, you also eliminated a large quantity of yeast, preservatives and other additives. Perhaps you also eliminated flavoured foods (like soups and 2 minute noodle flavourings), you also eliminated a large amount of MSG and other flavour enhancers.

The best way to do a gluten elimination diet is to follow an unprocessed fruit, meat and vegetable diet for a week and then on day 8, add unprocessed wheat, rye or barley back in. Keep following that for a week and see what happens. If you didn’t have a reaction, then chances are its not gluten per se that is the problem. And that’s when we need to suck it up and accept that we may have just overloaded our bodies with processed food.

Why am I telling you this?

Because gluten free foods are highly processed. In some cases even more processed and additive laden than their gluten containing counterparts. Gluten free foods can be low in fibre and protein and are, in many cases higher in calories, fat and sugar.

Low fibre and protein, coupled with high sugar = insulin madness. A high rush of blood sugars into the system that causes a spike in insulin. For those of us trying to lose weight, this isn’t going to help, as your fat mobilising hormones GH and Glucagon just can’t operated in the presence of insulin. And what goes up, must come down. So if you are using gluten free foods to help improve your energy levels, you may just find that come mid afternoon, you’re still having an energy slump due to low blood sugars.

Can you see how this whole gluten free thing is a bit more complex than meets the eye.

And for the 1% of those with gluten intolerence, of course this post is not directed at you. You have an autoimmune condition that views gluten as the enemy and must be eliminated at all costs. The next paragraph however, is for everyone.

If you are going gluten free AND you wish to control your weight, I strongly advise you follow the basic guidelines of healthy metabolic function, and that is to eat what the body recognises as useable fuel and chemicals – unprocessed carbs, fats, proteins, water, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. And to eat it in such a way that promotes fat mobilisation and oxidation. Its great to enjoy a gluten free cake daily, but it is also the same as enjoying 6tsp of sugar. If you are going to eat GF bread etc, then check your labels. A slice of normal bread may be approx 10g of carb (in which you may have 2 slices). Some GF breads can be around 20g of carbs, so one slice is enough if you still wanted to stick to the same amounts as you would if you had had the “normal” bread.

Check your #2′s with the bristol stool chart. If all is well, then you may just not need to be gluten free. If all is not well…then just keep in mind that not all intestinal and related body issues start and end with gluten.

Do your research. Listen to your body. And think outside the latest trends.

Is your posture making you fat?

Hundreds of clients every year come to my looking for health, fitness and weight loss solutions. A large number of these have postural deficits which add to the “look” of being overweight. This article looks at the “Donald duck” posture – which is presented as a lumbar lordosis with or without an associated pelvic tilt.

How posture can add visual weight

We’ve all seen it, a personal with relatively normal sized arms and legs but they carry a big belly and/or a big butt. The image on the right (sourced from www.exrx.net) shows what appears to be a lumbar lordosis (excessive curve). There also appears to be an anterior pelvic tilt which is where the pelvis tips forwards like a bucket spilling water out the front. There is also a thoracic kyphosis and a forward head on this image, but for now we are just looking at the 2 aforementioned lower curves.

In brief, this type of posture is emphasised by all or some of the following: long and weak lower abdominals (with or without a weak Transverse Abdominis), long and weak glutes and hamstrings, short and tight hip flexors and rectus femoris (the ‘quad’). There may also be a shortening of the Quadratus Lumborum and spinal erectors.

All of these muscular imbalances pull the pelvis and spine out of neutral alignment and create this duck like posture. Along with the posture, a weak TVA (core) and abdominal musculature doesn’t provide any support for the abdominal organs which hang to the front of the body causing the extra “pooch”.

Now, there may be some associated excess body fat along with this posture, but the posture enhances what we see in photos and in the mirror. So the question is, are we seeing mostly the body fat, or are we seeing mostly the imbalance in the posture.

An easy to follow and maintain weight loss program will reduce the body fat, but the postural curves are still there and this is what many of us see when we look in the mirror, or try on pants only to have our belly still hanging over the top of the waistband. Does this sound like you?

A complete postural analysis and a simple program of corrective exercises will correct the faulty posture, and this, along with your weight loss program will create the body you want to see in the mirror.

So go and jump in front of the mirror now and ask yourself – Is your posture making you fat?

Do you weigh yourself daily? This is a must read!

Do you weigh yourself daily?
Is your goal just to lose 3kg and that’s it?
Is your weight decreasing too slowly for your liking?

If you answered yes to just one of those questions, you must read this from start to finish. It will save your sanity and hopefully provide you with a little extra motivation and fire to keep pushing through. All too often I find clients weighing themselves daily, getting upset with the results and then not sticking to their good eating and exercise either due to the disappointment or because they think the plan they’re on isn’t working. Making these decisions based solely on your daily need to weigh yourself holds no scientific justification and is not how to approach your healthy weight goals.

What is weight loss? Easy, it’s the loss of body weight. What does your body weight consist of? Fat, hair, skin, bones, organs, blood cells, plasma, intistitual fluids (between cells). What do we want to lose? Fat! So when we talk about weight loss, really we are talking about fat loss. I could cut my leg off and lose weight, but is this a satisfactory result?

Your body can fluctuate in an approximate 3kg range (everyone is different, some are more, some are less). This fluctuation will depend on many factors, a few of which are: how much water you’ve been drinking, whether you’ve gone number #2′s, and how much fibre and water this #2 is holding, how much sodium you have, bulky meals, composition of meals from carbs, menstrual cycle, how much glycogen is stored in the muscles and liver, toxins accumulated in the body etc.

So with that in mind, when you go for your very first weigh in, you have no idea whatsoever what the balance of the above factors is. Are you at the top of the approximate 3kg range…or the bottom in that first weigh in? No, I don’t know either, so this is acceptance #1 – Accept that you have no idea whether you are actually 83kg or 80kg at your first weigh in.

Now, you follow your food plan perfectly for a whole day and drink loads of water and cut out all high sodium foods and the following day you jump on the scale and score, you are 2kg lighter! The plan must be working. You even feel those pants are a little looser around your belly. It is physiologically impossible to lose 2kg of fat in 1 day, so what you have done is altered one of the above factors (most likely glycogen and water).

But weight! (pardon the pun). Let’s say you’re 65kg and just trying to lose that last 2kg so you jump on the newest most exciting food plan with a couple of your overweight friends. Chances are, if you’ve already lost a lot of weight, so you’re unlikely to lose the amount of glycogen, water and toxins as your friends. They jump on the scale the next day with their 2kg loss, and you jump on and you’ve gained 500g!! What the?!? It is also physiologically impossible to gain 500g of body fat overnight, so just relax – who knows you may 5 days out from your period and your body is starting its retention of water.

What I’m getting at here is that 1) daily weighing will not tell you how much fat you’ve lost, 2) losing just 3kg may only be from water, glycogen and toxins and you will put it back on quicker than you can recite the alphabet, and 3) small fat losses may actually be bigger fat losses but are offset by other body weight gains or losses.

keep reading – it gets even more interesting.

I thought I’d do a bit of case study on myself to show you. I weigh myself daily for the purposes of further understanding body fluctuations and influences. I’ve been following my Belly Busters plan for 6 weeks during the week, but not on the weekends. Here is a table of my weigh ins day by day. All weigh ins were conducted under the same conditions at exactly the same time every day (unclothed, after urinating, before food, before bowel motion)

I lost the will to live inserting all my graphs into this blog – so have a look at my enlightening results here:

Heal the gut…and heal the brain

It might seem a little hard to imagine, but much of what happens in our stomach is controlled by our head, and vice versa. Maybe not so hard to imagine when we recall a time that we may have eaten something high in sugar that made us feel elevated only to then feel depressed later on, or to arrive at work on Monday after a bad eating weekend and feel sluggish and unmotivated. It’s certainly not hard to imagine to Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride (MD) who successfully improved her son’s autism through balance and restoration of the gut flora and it’s also not hard to imagine to the thousands of mums out there who cured their kid’s ADHD by eliminating additives and sugars from the diet.

For me personally, I spent years depressed and agitated until switching my diet to one which contained less refined carbohydrates, additives and alcohol.

Here’s a small bit of science for you – we’ll keep it simple. The gut and brain are integrated and communicate in a two way fashion through the Autonomic Nervous System and Hypothalamic-Pituary Adrenal (HPA) axis.

The HPA controls many body processes, amongst them digestion, immune system, mood and emotion.

The ANS is further split into the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PSNS), the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) and Enteric Nervous System (ENS). The PSNS sends signals to smooth muscle…the stomach being one of these, and is responsible for some of the gurgling sounds in your stomach, no, you might not be hungry…just relaxed. The SNS controls the fight or flight response and is also responsible for gut motility. Have you noticed when in an extreme state of anxiety or fear that your appetite disappears? The ENS is in the gut, and communicates with the brain via the Vagus nerve, but here’s the interesting thing, it contains more neurons than the brain and should the vagus nerve be severed it will continue to function. The ENS also uses many of the same neurotransmitters as found in the brain, such as serotonin and dopamine.

Remember, the ANS is a two way system, messages are always being sent via the nerves from the brain to gut…gut to brain. Given all of that, it now seems hard to imagine that there isn’t a link between gut health and mental health.

Nearly 2/3 of the immune system is in the gastro-intestinal tract (GIT) and is controlled by the balance of good and bad intestinal flora. On average everyone carries 2kg of this bacteria in their gut. The key here is balance. When the balance is in favour of good flora, our immunity is strong, we feel healthy and happy, and we absorb nutrients efficiently. When the balance has been tipped in favour of bad flora, nutrients can’t be absorbed easily, toxic by-products are released into the bloodstream and we feel physically and emotionally generally unwell, and we end up with things like sinus, asthma, allergies and in very serious cases we end up with disease.

You may have heard of Candida, this is a condition where the balance has been tipped in favour of bad intestinal flora and can end up being quite a serious medical condition if untreated. People with candida report a huge range of symptoms, and amongst them, feeling depressed or irritable.

The bad flora feeds off sugar and yeasts and proliferate by inhibition of the good flora through use of antibiotics, poor diet and stress. Could it be that your sugar, bread and alcohol cravings are a result of an inbalance in gut flora? How do you feel mentally, are you as happy and relaxed as you think you should be?

Scientists are now becoming very interested in this subject and are also experiencing the same results as Dr Campbell-McBride in the area of autism. I anticipate a growth in research into the link between gut health and mental health.

Here are some things you can do to ensure your gastro intestinal tract is kept healthy and balanced:
· Keep a food diary and add ‘body signs’ to it, things like bloating, flatulence, headaches, irritability, asthma attacks, stomach cramps, poor sleep, skin, hair…etc
· Pay close attention to your breath. Many toxins in the body release substances that can be detected in the breath, a common one is breathing what smells like alcohol after eating a lot of sugar.
· Limit the consumption of sugars, yeasts (including bread) and fermented products if you’re feeling ‘generally unwell’ and can’t put your finger on it.
· Take a good quality pro-biotic daily to re-populate the good flora (not just yoghurts and yoghurt drinks)
Balancing the gut flora is an involved process depending on its state of imbalance. Please contact me if you feel this is something you need assistance with.

Food Cravings…what are the triggers?

Visit this link to find out the answer…

Triggering food cravings part 1

12-week challenge / final results

Well what can I say but well done to a hard fought battle!!  Our first 12-week bootcamp intake for 2009 has graduated.  We lost 3 good soldiers along the way, so lets have a moment of silence to remember them.  Mark Bunting – I’m pleased to report is still keeping up his exercise and healthy eating, and the only thing that stopped him from weighing in was my inability to do so at 2am, or whatever ungodly hour he had available.  JW is still eating well, and replaced our sessions with riding her beautiful horses – making the most of the rest of the summer and doing exercise which was highly enjoyable to her.  JP was struck with on going back problems and left the program and will be using the remainder of her sessions with me to work on some rehab work and core abdominal strength to protect her back.  You’ve all done well, and I’m proud of what we all achieved together.

Now for the final results:

NAME	WK1	WK2	WK3	WK4	WK5	WK6	WK7	WK8	WK9	WK10	WK11	FINAL	TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS
Steve	0.8	1.2	0.5	0.8	0.3	N/A	1.3	+1.0	0.8	0.5	+0.5	1.1	5.8kg
F1 (LB)	2.3	1.1	1.3	+1.3	0.3	0.2	0.9	0.6	0.3	+1.2	0.8	0.1	5.4kg
Tania	1.9	1.1	+0.3	1.4	+0.7	0.7	N/A	1.6	0.7	+2.0	0.6	0.1	5.1kg
Jodi	1.7	1.6	0.7	+1.9	1.5	+0.2	0.5	0.2	+0.9	N/A	+0.6	1.6	4.2kg
Rachael	3.5	0.3	+4.3	2.8	+0.5	0.1	0.9	1.0	N/A	+1.6	1.4	0.0	3.6kg
Pier	1.7	0.3	N/A	+0.5	0.8	0.3	+0.4	0.3	+0.5	0.4	N/A	+0.5	1.9kg

Good on ya Steve!  Despite a suspected ankle fracture Steve kept going (cringe) and took out the top spot with a total weight loss of 5.8kg – imagine what could have been achieved if he wasn’t broken.  LB was a close second and Tania took out the top 3 spot.  Tania has now lost a total of 10kg since the beginning of the year! (But not all through my program)  Awesome work Tania.  Everyone’s final fitness test improved, they all lost centimetres, clothes falling off and body fat percentage reduction.

Rachael is doing her first half marathon next weekend and has made some pretty awesome changes in her before and after ph0tos.  Pier has had a great result with her breathing, after years of suspected asthma, it turns out we just need to work on breathing while exercising, and now she is able to exercise without the difficulty she was having.   Pier is also having some great joy and relief as her frozen shoulder is finally releasing.  Jodi completed the X-terra mountain biking event and also has some great changes in her before and after photos.

I thoroughly enjoyed coaching all of you and wish you all the best of luck as you continue on the path of good health! 

Stace

Warding off winter bugs with nutrition and exercise

As we head into the NZ flu season, it’s important to keep our bodies healthy and immune systems strong to enable us to fight off colds and flus more effectively.  Some of us may not be able to avoid catching the bugs, but the healthier we are the quicker we can recover.

Some things which compromise our immune system and make it more susceptible to illness are:

• Stress
• Overtraining
• Incomplete nutrition (skipping food groups and key nutrients)
• Sugar and refined carbohydrates
• Being wet and cold
• Not enough rest
• Toxins
• Other illnesses (eg, a poorly managed cold can lead to pneumonia)

Use these tips to boost your immune system and not only will you feel generally healthier, but you will be able to ward off some viruses and recover quicker from others.

• Exercise daily for 60 minutes if you can.  Regular moderate intensity exercise of this duration helps to release an antioxidant called superoxide dismutase.  This helps to combat against free radicals

• Avoid overtraining or take a training break if in an over-reached state.  Over-reaching is the point before overtraining.  Signs of over-reaching include fatigue, respiratory infections, low moods, decreased performance, slow progress, increased resting heart rate, poor sleep, amenorrhea.  If you are in this state then a training break is advised as overtraining can compromise your immunity and mid term health.

• Complete nutrition.  Ensure that all food groups are covered on a daily basis.  Fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, nuts, essential fatty acids and small amounts of unrefined grains and dairy.  Antioxidants are present in foods like Kiwifruit, brazil nuts, carrots, egg yolk, oily fish and spinach.  All the main antioxidants (A, C and E) are fat soluble, so make sure you don’t cut all the fat out of your diet.  Red meat contains Iron, Vitamin B12 and Zinc which are also important for healthy blood and immunity.  B Vitamins and Folic Acid also provide immune support and help with energy and stress levels so that we can partake in exercise and go about our day with a calm clear headspace, which all add to supporting our immune systems.  Dosing up on Vitamin C supplementation has been useful for some people – 1000mg-3000mg daily.

• Increase protein intake.  Protein is a good immune booster and increasing your daily intake of protein gives your body the raw materials it needs to strengthen immunity as our immune system cells replicate rapidly.  Glutamine in particular is a great immune booster which is found in proteins.  You can also supplement with 1tsp a day.  Glutamine also helps with exercise recovery.

• Consume essential fatty acids daily.  The best sources of EFA’s are flaxseed oil and fish oil.  These fatty acids cannot be made by our bodies, yet are crucial to the structure of our cell membranes.  A nice strong cell membrane helps to ward off any nasties from getting inside.  These fats also have anti-inflammatory properties, and anything that reduces inflammation, also reduces the incidence of disease on the tissue.

• Echinacea and garlic can help to strengthen the immune system and lessen the severity of illness – but that all depends on you… If you’re overtraining and eating poorly then these are unlikely to show any clear result.

• Regular and proper rest.  8 hours is the gold standard, but everyone is different.  Provided you are going through the whole sleep cycle (stage 1 – 5) then your body is getting the rest it needs.  Amongst other functions, our bodies physiologically repair themselves while we sleep and lack of sleep has been shown to depress the immune system

• Reduce Stress.  Stress increases the catecholamines dopamine, epinephrine (adrenalin) and norepinephrine.  Increases in these can suppress aspects of immune function.  Make sure that you are dealing with stressors in a constructive fashion and seek help if you have to.  Laughter is the best medicine, so this winter make sure you indulge in lots of comedy and laughter and gossip with friends.  Try things like massage, yoga, meditation, pilates, hypnosis, holidays, gardening, knitting, spas, saunas and bubble baths to help relieve stress.  And of course, nothing beats stress like a little fun in the bedroom.

• Avoid sugar and refined carbohydrates.  Winter seems to be when we tend to comfort eat more, but the sugary, starchy comforting treats puts more stress on our bodies and compromises our immunity.  Sugar affects the distribution of vitamin C in the body, affects the production of antibodies and white blood cell function.  How often do people come back from Easter with a cold?  How many people do you know get sick around Christmas and New Years?  It’s a good idea to rethink those litres of orange juice, cup-a-soups and toast.

• Stay dry and warm.  Rug up straight after exercising and don’t stay in sweaty clothes too long.  As the temperature drops then your wet clothes amplify the drop in temperature to your body.  Is your house damp?  Investing in a dehumidifier will certainly help keep you and your family healthy.

• Minimise toxins.  Smoking, alcohol, excessive coffee and other environmental toxins produce free radicals which seek out and destroy healthy cell membranes, which also puts our immune system under attack.

Stay sensible.  Always wash your hands after going to the bathroom and touching public surfaces before eating and make sure you cover your mouth and nose when sneezing or coughing.  Many of us are reluctant to take days off work if we’re sick, but that’s what sick days are for.  Resting encourages a faster recovery and helps to prevent nasty bacterial complications from viruses.  Your colleagues and customers probably don’t want to catch your germs either so make sure you rug up at home to prevent the spread.

Downsizing food…upsizing profits

In the news this morning: Food companies are downsizing the amount of food inside packaging, yet still charging the same during the recession.  A 350g packet of Milo cost $4.49 three weeks ago…now its at the same price, but only 310g.  Do the CEO’s still take home the same pay…of course, I mean that million dollar salary is an absolutely necessity isn’t it?  God forbid if you can’t buy a new pair of tits or partake in the yearly Jag upgrade.

All I can say is…cheeky *$#!s.  In the news last night fast food giants are experiencing increases in profits.  It gives new meaning to the phrase…all for one.  There doesn’t seem to be any “one for all” here at all.

For just once, could a large company possibly just experience the SAME profit as last quarter for the sake of public good?  Is it a greed race against time?  How much money can we possibly stuff away in the shortest possible time?  What good is all the extra profit in the bank accounts of fat rich shareholders?  The very same people who stuff their faces with long lunches getting fatter, and get obesity related disease thereby, feeding the pharmaceutical industry profits.

Greed feeds greed feeds greed feeds greed feeds greed….

Natural foods seem to be safe for now.  One day I’m sure I’ll go to the supermarket and find “Kill and pluck your own chickens only $18.99 a kilo”.  What a bargain, I’ll take 5.

Racing towards the finish line, 12-week challenge update

We’ve almost reached the end of the first 12-week bootcamp challenge for 2009.  I added a few latecomers in, so for most of this group next week is the last weigh in.  Our anonomous superstar F1 (LB) has shed a fantastic 5.3kg from her frame, her favourite jeans now fit, and old shorts are falling off now!  Her mind has also taken a positive turn, and now actually WANTS to exercise, to the point of dragging her sore trainer along for some stairs and hills…and then assuming the role of trainer herself!!  There is definitely a greater appreciation for food amongst the group, who are realising that you can eat well and lose weight, and that certain foods really just don’t make us feel that great at all.

Here are the results to date:

NAME	WK1	WK2	WK3	WK4	WK5	WK6	WK7	WK8	WK9	WK10	WK11	TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS SO FAR
F1 (LB)	2.3	1.1	1.3	+1.3	0.3	0.2	0.9	0.6	0.3	+1.2	0.8	5.3
Mark Bunting	2.6	0.1	3.6	+1.3	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A		?
Tania	1.9	1.1	+0.3	1.4	+0.7	0.7						4.1
Jodi	1.7	1.6	0.7	+1.9	1.5	+0.2	0.5	0.2	+0.9	+0.6		2.6
Steve	0.8	1.2	0.5	0.8	0.3	N/A	1.3	+1.0				3.9
Rachael	3.5 (am)	0.3 (pm)	+4.3	2.8	+0.5	0.1	0.9	1.0	N/A	+1.6		2.2
F3 (JP)	0.5	0.1	1.6	+1.1	+0.2	1.0	0.6	N/A	+1.2	N/A	N/A	1.3
Pier	1.7	0.3	N/A	+0.5	0.8							2.3
F2 (JW)	0.9	0.0 (pm)	1.8 (am)	+1.4	+0.8	0.0	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	?
												?

I will be sure to keep you updated as the rest of our participants finish up in the next month or so.

Yours in good health and gratitude

Stace