Author Archives: bethgil

Is the water you are drinking healthy for you or harming your health? Part II

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I drink a lot of water.  I learned when I was in my 20’s that drinking eight ounces of water per day was important to good health.  In my early 30’s, while pursuing my 2nd career in nutrition, I learned that drinking at least half your body weight in ounces of water per day was critical to a good metabolism and optimal detoxification. Over the years, I have encouraged all my clients to drink plenty of water.  After all, we cannot survive very long without water!

 

But what if our water is polluted and the heavy metals and chemicals in our water are making us sick?  The high amounts of lead found in the water supply of Flint, Michigan is an extreme and tragic example.  Your water supply may have levels of heavy metals and chemicals that have not yet raised alarm bells but are not safe or healthy for you. These heavy metals and chemicals can then hang out in your body over a long period of time and make you sick slowly but surely, robbing you of your health and vitality and causing chronic illness.

 

I recently attended an environmental medicine conference in Portland, Oregon where an entire hour was dedicated to harmful chemicals and heavy metals found in water and how to pick a good water filtration system to make sure you are not drinking in these toxins.  There was a lot to absorb!  To remove the overwhelm and keep it simple, I included some key take aways and resources from this lecture to get you started on making sure you are drinking clean water!

Is your water safe?

The EPA has established primary drinking water regulations for about 100 of the many thousands of known contaminants that appear in tap water. The EPA has not adopted a single new standard for regulating chemicals in drinking water since 1996.

A 2015 review showed that there were 80,834 reported violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act at 18,094 community water systems across the nation. Nearly 9 out of 10 violations were subject to no formal action by the state or the EPA.

How do I find out what is in my tap water?

Environmental Working Group tap water analysis:

https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/#.WcGynEyZOYU

Key heavy metals and chemicals to look out for and/or test in your water supply:

  • Heavy metals: Arsenic, lead, mercury and hexavalent chromium
  • Flouride
  • Disinfectants like chlorine, chloramine, and disinfection by products like trihalomethanes
  • Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA): used in a variety of consumer products. Extremely high persistence in the environment and the human body.
  • MTBE – a gasoline additive used as an oxygenate and to raise the octane number.
  • Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) like benzene toluene, and hexane
  • Pesticides

Why does it matter if these contaminants are in my water?

Over time, these heavy metals and chemicals build up in our bodies and cause toxicity to our brain, nerves, immune system, reproductive system, blood vessels, liver, kidneys and affect our hormones and energy production.  For example, volatile organic compounds like benzene, toluene, xylene, and hexane found in drinking water in much of the USA can affect your nervous system and cause learning, memory, and mood problems, as well as fatigue, headaches, and insomnia.

Water filtration systems:

Reverse osmosis: This process pushes tap water through a semipermeable membrane that blocks particles larger than water molecules.

Pros: Effective at removing many contaminants including arsenic, fluoride, hexavalent chromium, nitrates and perchlorate.

Cons: Does not remove chlorine, chloramine, radioactive gases, THM or other VOCs.

**Many RO systems also include an activated carbon component than can remove additional

contaminants from your water like the ones listed above.

Wastes a lot of water – three to twenty times more water than they produce.

Carbon Filtration:

Coconut shell based micro pores are cleaner & best for wide variety of chemicals
.5 micron catalytic coconut-based carbon block is optimal
*Chloramine removal requires catalytic-grade carbon

Please refer to this awesome hand out provided by Dr. Tina Beaudoin and Dr. Anne Marie Fine for good vetting questions to ask water filtration system manufacturers for point of use filtration devices and filtration devices for whole house filters.  This hand out also includes great resources to test your water!   >>Handout<<

Two water filtration systems that I recommend:

Pure Effect Filters:  https://www.pureeffectfilters.com

Berkey Water:   http://berkeywater.com *Must add on a fluoride and arsenic reduction element.

Wherever you start, some filtration is better than none!  Find out from the resources provided here what contaminants are most prominent in your water and then choose a water filter system within your budget that best removes the contaminants found in your water.  A little time and investment on your part, but definitely well worth it!  After all, you have to drink water to live and clean water really does support optimal health and vitality!  Protect yourself now; don’t rely on the federal government or your state to do it for you!

 

 

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Time to upgrade your water filtration system? You might be surprised what’s lurking in your water!

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You most likely drink water everyday.  Maybe six to eight glasses per day?  Or more!  We need water to survive!  And water is one of the most essential components of a detoxification program.  As they say, the solution to pollution is dilution!  But what happens when our water is contaminated?

All over the news: toxic amounts of lead in the water in Flint, Michigan; high amounts of a chemical called perchlorate in the water in San Diego; and massive amounts of pharmaceuticals in the water in Los Angeles.  Yuck!  Suddenly our water supply is not so pure.

I was living in this fantasy that my water in San Francisco was clean.  After all, it comes from the Hetch Hetchy Dam in Yosemite.  I had it tested for lead a year ago and received a clean report!

Fast forward: I recently got the results of my Toxic Chemical Profile test.  This test measures by- products of major chemicals in the urine.

One of the chemicals that tested on the high side was perchlorate.  So not just a Southern California thing!  This chemical is used in the production of rocket fuel, missiles, fireworks, flares, explosives, fertilizers, and bleach.  Studies show that perchlorate is often found in water supplies.  Many food sources are also contaminated with perchlorate.  Perchlorate can disrupt the thyroid’s ability to produce hormones. The EPA has also labeled perchlorate a likely human carcinogen.

My test results also showed an elevated marker for a metabolite of organophosphates, one of the most toxic groups of substances in the world, primarily found in pesticide formulations.  Children exposed to organophosphates have more than twice the risk of developing pervasive developmental disorder (PDD), an autism spectrum disorder.  Maternal organophosphate exposure has been associated with various adverse outcomes including having shorter pregnancies and children with impaired reflexes.

I was surprised to have high levels of organophosphates, as I make a special effort to eat organic foods!  However, these organophosphates can end up in our – you guessed it – water supply!  I live in San Francisco and found out that Napa Valley is a hotbed for this class of chemicals and winds can carry these chemicals about 50 miles.

What is the good news?  There are really great water filter systems that can clean this garbage out of your water!  I will be attending an environmental medicine conference in Portland on Sept. 9th and one hour will be dedicated to the best water filter systems.  I will be sure to share my notes from this lecture.  In the meantime, if you feel you cannot wait until September to upgrade your water filter system, please comment on this post or email info@nutritionwithbeth.com for some top of the line water filtration systems.

There is also so much we can do to support the detoxification of these chemicals.  First get rid of the exposure, then support your detox systems!  I learned that pomegranate juice and resveratrol, found in the skin of red grapes, stimulate an enzyme that helps to detoxify organophosphates.  Omega 3 essential fatty acids are helpful too!

If you read my blogs and newsletters, you know that I am a big fan of regular cleanse programs.  And yes, I will be doing my annual pre-holiday cleanse again this November!  🙂

 

Exposure to IQ Lowering Toxins in the Womb – What you can do before and while you are pregnant to protect your baby

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Are you planning on getting pregnant and starting a family? Over the last ten years, many women have joined my cleanse programs to “clean” out before they get pregnant. Perhaps these women felt that they were not eating so healthy or drinking too much alcohol. Or they had been on a round of antibiotics or taking NSAIDs like Advil or Aleve on a regular basis. Regardless, they intuitively felt like they needed to cleanse.

Well, their intuition was right.

I recently listened to a very informative webinar with Professor Barbara Demeneix, author of the new book, The Toxic Cocktail. I highly recommend her book if you are concerned about toxins and their impact on your health and the health of your children. In the meantime, I thought it important to share a quick summary of key points she covered in the webinar.

We now know that many chemicals pass the placenta and are found in amniotic fluid.

The womb is no longer thought to be a safe haven for the developing fetus. Many chemicals contain chlorine, bromine, and fluorine (a.k.a. halogens) that displace iodine. And iodine is needed to make thyroid hormone. And thyroid hormone is needed to make a healthy brain. The big connection…

A mother’s thyroid hormones are needed for the early brain of the fetus to develop correctly. The first 3 months are the most vulnerable! Certain endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) can interfere with the capacity of our thyroid glands to capture iodine and to make thyroid hormone. When this takes place during the development of a child in the womb, it can have devastating effects on cognitive function and resulting IQ.

What chemicals are similar in structure to thyroid hormone and displace this all important hormone? Pesticide metabolites, triclosan, BPA, PCBs, and flame retardants all interfere with thyroid hormone signaling and are found in human amniotic fluid. These chemicals are often referred to as endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). In a nutshell, low iodine, maternal hypothyroidism, and EDCs that cross the placenta can all affect the baby in the womb and lead to loss of IQ. As research continues in this field, no doubt more will be discovered about the impact of certain chemicals on neurodevelopment.

What can you do now to reduce exposure to these toxins and cleanse them out? Here are ten tips to minimize these chemicals (and metals) before and while you are pregnant (and always!)

  • Avoid plastics in the kitchen. Especially plastic wrap around fatty foods like cheese and meat. Store your cheese in glass containers instead.
  • Drink out of a stainless steel or glass bottle. Avoid plastic water bottles, even the BPA free ones.
  • Cook with stainless steel pans
  • Eat organic whenever possible. It really makes a big difference! Avoid those pesticides!
  • Limit your consumption of BIG ocean fish like swordfish and tuna. Smaller ocean fish like sardines and anchovies are better choices and have less mercury and other toxins. Always avoid farmed raised fish due to high PCB levels! This include Atlantic salmon.
  • Increase your iodine uptake. Make sure your multi vitamin has 150 mg iodine per serving, especially when you are pregnant.*
  • Assess your bath and body care products. Use clean personal care products without added parabens and phthalates.
  • Don’t repaint your house or buy new furniture while pregnant! Avoid off gassing of those brominated flame retardants in new furniture.
  • Avoid use of insecticides in the yard or standard air fresheners in the home. You can use essential oils to freshen up your home.
  • And lastly, make it a priority do do a cleanse program BEFORE you get pregnant. Check out my very favorite cleanse program here!!

 

* Women with Hashimoto’s may be advised to avoid iodine.

 

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My Five Top Super Foods for Optimal Brain Health!

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Blueberries are loaded with polyphenols and flavonoids.  Long-term consumption of blueberry polyphenols and flavonoids has been shown to improve and even reverse cognitive decline in animal studies.  The cognitive enhancement provided by blueberries is closely related to higher brain production of glutathione (our master antioxidant) and the inhibition of acetylcholinesterase activity, which prevents excessive breakdown of acetylcholine. In the brain, acetylcholine functions as a neurotransmitter and is important to attention, memory and  motivation.

Broccoli sprouts are one of the richest sources of sulforaphane.

Sulforaphane activates a genetic pathway in our cells called Nrf2.  This pathway controls over 200 other genes that carry out anti-inflammatory and anti-antioxidant processes and the ability to inactivate other harmful compounds that we are exposed to on a daily basis.  Excess inflammation and toxic load have been linked to cognitive decline.

Top your salad with broccoli sprouts or add the sprouts to a veggie wrap! 

For optimal effects, consume ¼ cup of broccoli sprouts 5 times per week.

Wild salmon:

Rich in the Omega 3 fatty acids which decrease systemic inflammation and help keep our cell membranes fluid.  This fluidity allows all of our cells to communicate better, including our neurons!  We do not want rigid cell membranes!

Purslane plant:

Purslane is an edible weed with a juicy, lemony flavor.  You will find it at farmers markets in the summer. I recently learned at a conference on the topic of neuro-inflammation that it is very high in Alpha Linoleic Acid (an Omega 3 fatty acid). In fact, 100 grams of fresh leaves contains 300-400 mg omega 3’s! It is also very high in melatonin, a hormone that’s great for regulating sleep.

Pull the leaves off the larger stems and toss them with lemon juice, olive oil, and a pinch of salt. Pretty simple!  Or combine with other greens like kale!

Cocoa:

Flavanols in cocoa have been studied for many years. They have been shown to help lower blood pressure, improve blood flow to the brain and heart, prevent blood clots, and fight cell damage. And cocoa is such a nice treat too. Just make sure that you are not consuming the cocoa with a lot of sugar!

BONUS:

Rosemary:

Although technically a herb, I include rosemary on this list because it is so good paired with food! Among the most important group of compounds isolated from the plant are the phenolic diterpenes that account for most of the antioxidant and many pharmacological activities of the plant. Rosemary diterpenes have been shown in recent years to inhibit neuronal cell death induced by a variety of agents.

Add rosemary liberally to your foods. It pairs especially well with roasted chicken and vegetables!

 

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My Top 5 Supplements for Optimal Brain Health

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Over the past six months, I have been attending practitioner training’s and conferences to learn all I can about the brain and why our memory and overall brain performance starts to slip. I did not expect there to be a simple answer. After all, a drug that prevents Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) would have been invented by now if the answer was easy.  But nonetheless, my calling is to help all people preserve their precious brain function, including memories. I just don’t want to bear witness to another member in my family being diagnosed with AD, and don’t want to see anyone else go through this traumatizing experience either.

As the incredible Dr. Dale Bredesen has outlined in his research, there are multiple “types” of AD. It is our responsibility to figure out what is driving the neurodegeneration in each person. Is it inflammation, insulin resistance in the brain, low hormone levels, nutrient deficiencies, toxins that have crossed the Blood Brain Barrier, or a vascular issue?

As I attended these training’s and conferences, I observed that the experts in this field mentioned several key supplements over and over again for optimal brain support and to help reverse cognitive decline. So here are the five top supplements I suggest to support your brain for optimal performance and cognitive function:

 

  1. Acetyl L-Carnitine is the acetylated ester of L-carnitine. It participates in cellular energy production and in the maintenance of neurons. It also repairs neuronal damage. In a nutshell, research shows that Acetyl L- Carnitine helps to energize the brain, increase levels of important neurotransmitter chemicals needed for memory and focus, and repair the damage done to brain cells by stress and poor nutrition.
  1. Phosphatidyl Serine (PS) is a nutrient essential for optimal brain function. Because PS is crucial for the overall health of brain cells, research on PS has shown that it benefits a wide range of brain activities such as mental focus, memory recall, and performance on tasks. PS helps neurons talk to each other, which is essential for memories to be both formed and recalled.
  1. High DHA fish oil: DHA is a structural molecule in all cell membranes, including neuronal membranes. DHA is a precursor to docosanoids, which have anti-inflammatory, immune regulatory and protective actions in the context of various inflammatory responses. Optimal DHA status may be associated with a lower risk of dementia. See UltraDHA for an example of a high quality and high potency DHA fish oil.
  1. Curcumin has been shown to decrease inflammation throughout the body, including the brain! Curcumin reduced development and severity of AD in animal models by reducing plaque aggregation and plaque induced oxidative stress. (1)  Curcumin is also protective to the heart, the liver and the gut. It also helps decrease allergies and is great at reducing joint pain!  Note: most forms of supplemental curcumin are poorly absorbed. CurcumEvail has demonstrated superior absorption in plasma.
  1. Huperzine A is a natural cholinesterase inhibitor (inhibits the acetylcholinesterase enzyme from breaking down acetylcholine, thereby increasing the levels of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine). It is derived from the Chinese herb Huperzia serrata. In the brain, acetylcholine functions as a neurotransmitter and a neuromodulator. It plays an important role in arousal, attention, memory and motivation. There is evidence that huperzine A may compare favorably in symptomatic efficacy to cholinesterase inhibitors currently in use. In addition, huperzine A has antioxidant and neuroprotective properties that suggest that it may be useful as a disease-modifying treatment for Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

 

Suggested doses of these above mentioned supplements depend on whether you are using them for optimal brain performance or to help reverse mild cognitive decline.  Please set up a strategy session with me if you are concerned that your brain is not functioning optimally and you are ready to take a preventative approach to cognitive decline!  Remember, Alzheimer’s Disease does not suddenly start when you are 60 or 70 years old.  Dr. Dale Bredesen recommends taking a preventative approach starting at age 40!  Please see my previous blog  “Are You Afraid of Getting Alzheimer’s Disease?”

 

Reference:

  1. Baum L, Ng A. Curcumin interaction with copper and iron suggests one possible mechanism of action in Alzheimer’s disease animal models. J Alzheimers Dis. 2004 Aug;6(4):367-77.

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Five out of thirty women sleep well? Starter tips to sleep soundly!

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A couple of weeks ago, I participated in a three day women’s retreat at Mayacamas Ranch in Calistoga, hosted by Julie Mikos-Houlihan at The Healing Farm. I went with no expectations and decided to be surprised by what I learned and experienced over the course of the retreat. At the end of the long weekend, I learned that what I needed most that weekend was community with 30 beautiful women who were all there to learn, heal, and figure out their paths moving forward. Surprisingly, I did not journal once and only read my book for about ten minutes each evening.

What surprised me most, though, was a moment during Dr. Amy Nett’s lecture on balancing female hormones. There were so many questions on supplements to help with sleep and anxiety. This prompted Dr. Nett to ask how many women in the room actually slept well. Only five of thirty women raised their hands! Wow, this is an epidemic, I thought. One woman I talked to said that she had given up and just accepted that she was sleep deprived every day.

If you don’t sleep well, be assured that there is help! Often it is a minor tweak that needs to happen and sometimes it is necessary to look at more aggressive supplementation or hormone replacement therapy for a designated period of time. Believe me, as a woman that struggles with sleep, I have gone through rough patches. But I keep on learning and adjusting and trying something different and my sleep improves!

beth yawn

The topic of sleep is vast and there are hundreds of recommendations to improve sleep. Here are five tips that I have found most useful over the last several years as a woman in my late 40’s! A good place to start if you are wide eyed and anxious in the middle of the night!

  1. Take stock of how much caffeine you are drinking and when you are drinking it. Keep caffeine to a minimum and stay away from it in the afternoon and evening. If you are a slow metabolizer of caffeine and find it makes you jittery, this is especially important. You may even find that coffee or tea in the morning affects your night time sleep. About five years ago I was drinking a lightly steeped white tea in the afternoon. The caffeine content was low, so I did not correlate it with my inability to fall asleep. When I removed it from my afternoon routine, I fell asleep within five to ten minutes of hitting the pillow! I replaced it with a decaffeinated tea and found I did not need the caffeine in the afternoon anyway!
  1. Several years ago, one of my doctors “prescribed” reading a novel (the old fashioned paper kind) before going to sleep. This forced me to shut down my electronics at least thirty minutes before going to sleep, to allow for reading time. Wow, what a difference this has made for me…when I follow the prescription! My sleep is restless when I shut down right before going to bed. It is peaceful and more deep when I read for awhile right before bed. All that blue light from our laptops, phones, etc. raises our hormone cortisol which is supposed to be going down at night…not up! If reading novels is not your thing, consider journaling in a notebook, coloring therapy, or another fun activity that does not involve your laptop.
  1. What you eat during the day and especially the evening affects your sleep. If you are eating a big dinner an hour before going to bed, you are still going to be digesting when you are trying to go to sleep. Eating too many processed carbs or sugar at night will also affect your sleep. Most likely, you will wake up at 2:00 or 3:00 am in the morning and feel alert. Your blood sugar has likely dropped too low after a big processed carbohydrate or sugar spike and it has signaled your brain to release adrenaline. On the other side, eating too low of a carbohydrate diet and not getting any healthy carbs in the evening can lead to low serotonin levels in some women, which then negatively impacts sleep since you need serotonin to make melatonin, your sleep hormone! Experiment with what you eat in the evening to see what works best for you. Substituting 1/2 sweet potato for processed carbs like pasta or a sugary night time snack along with some fat like 1 TB olive oil or coconut oil might just do the trick! P.S. Although I love dark chocolate, eating even one square in the evening can disrupt my sleep. And I have also heard this from many other women!
  1. If you do wake up in the middle of the night, try deep belly breathing and focus on all that you are grateful for. Deep belly breathing helps to relax you and being in a state of gratitude dispels worry and fear of not getting enough sleep. I love that science has proven all this now…we just have to remember to practice it!
  1. Start with the supplement magnesium to help you sleep. Magnesium is a mineral that plays a role in over 300 enzymatic reactions in our body! Stress depletes magnesium, yet the more stressed we are, the more magnesium we need! Magnesium is found in plant foods, but most of us do not get enough through diet due to deficient minerals in our soil and our lifestyles. I suggest starting with 300 mg Magnesium Citrate or Magnesium Malate before bed and increasing to 450 mg if you need to. I cannot tell you how many women have reported sleeping soundly with just the addition of a magnesium supplement!

 

If you are still having problems sleeping through the night after trying these five tips, please contact me to set up a complementary strategy session to discuss what we can do to help you sleep peacefully again!

 

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Are you afraid of getting Alzheimer’s Disease?

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What chronic disease are you most afraid of? I was asked this question many years ago by my instructor in one of my nutrition classes. At the time, I answered cancer. And yes, I am still afraid of getting cancer today. But what I am more afraid of is Alzheimer’s Disease (AD).

Scanning of a human brain by X-rays

I watched AD take away all my grandma’s memories and then her bodily functions. So subtle at first: forgetful, having to write everything down, getting appointment times mixed up. Then the progression to leaving the stove or oven on, partially assisted living, and the ever so slight glazing over of her eyes. For my grandma, one of the hardest moments was when her driver’s license was taken away. She loved to drive her big old Cadillac. She then moved in with my aunt where her AD seemed to pick up speed. I was prepared for the day when she didn’t know me anymore. I knew it was coming. But it was heartbreaking when she no longer recognized her son or daughter. I know my dad and aunt could never have been prepared for that.

I also witnessed my uncle on my mom’s side of the family deteriorate to the point where he no longer recognizes his family. Although still alive, his body is not cooperating anymore. He is lucky to have a family that has been so incredibly supportive. Just recently my boyfriend’s mother was diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer’s Disease. I want a different outcome for her.

The good news is that we know a lot more now that we did even five years ago about Alzheimer’s Disease. New research shows that AD is actually several different diseases and custom protocols based on individual testing are essential to stopping the progression of AD and reversing it in the early stages. I am excited to announce that I will be attending a practitioner training in early December to learn about Dr. Dale Bredesen’s protocol designed to combat cognitive decline in individuals displaying varying degrees of memory loss associated with Mild Cognitive Impairment and early Alzheimer’s Disease. Stop the progression and reverse early stage AD? This is ground breaking!!

But this is KEY to understand. Alzheimer’s Disease does not suddenly start when you are 60 or 70 years old. It starts long before that due to many factors, including unmanaged blood sugar and insulin levels, gut infections and viruses not addressed, exposure to environmental toxins coupled with poor detoxification ability. Dr Dale Bredesen recommends a series of tests including blood sugar and insulin levels starting at age 40! Yes, start a preventive approach to AD at age 40!

You can get genetically tested to determine if you carry a higher risk of getting AD. However, remember that you control the EXPRESSION of your genes through diet, lifestyle, and managing stress levels. Genetic testing helps you determine your weak links and where you need to focus more attention on a preventative approach. The rest is up to you! It is a commitment to take a preventative approach and make changes in your diet and lifestyle years in advance of symptoms, but is it worth saving your brain? Your precious memories? Yes!! And starting early also gives you a sharper brain NOW!

You also are at higher risk of AD if you have previously suffered a concussion or head trauma or have family history of AD. I applied to be in a healthy brain study about 15 years ago and was turned down because of a concussion when I was in junior high and because of family history of AD. Apparently I did not have a healthy brain. And I guess all those snowboard falls when I whacked my head (before we all wore helmets) weren’t very helpful either. It is my hope that the lifestyle I have chosen for the last 15 years has made a positive impact on my brain health and now I get to learn how to put together customized protocols for everyone at high risk for AD and for those already suffering from mild cognitive decline. Let’s catch it early and reverse it!! And even more importantly, let’s prevent it from happening in the first place!

Stay tuned…I will keep you updated on what I learn and how I can help.

 

Beth

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Navigating the world of supplements: Do I need to take them and how do I know if I do?

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Should I take supplements?  Do I need them? Can’t I get everything I need from food?

 

These are questions my clients have asked me since my first days of nutrition consulting! And valid questions indeed!  Unfortunately, there is not one blanket answer. Your diet, lifestyle habits, stress levels, alcohol consumption, over the counter (OTC) and prescription medications that you take, gut health, and so much more influence the decision whether or not to supplement.  Thanks to better and better technology, we now have many methods to test for nutritional deficiencies and make decisions based on testing whether or not to supplement.

 

Certain symptoms also point to nutritional deficiencies…you just need to know what to look for. For example, symptoms of a vitamin B6 deficiency include dermatitis, cracked and sore lips, inflamed tongue and mouth, depression, and insomnia.  Symptoms of magnesium deficiency include loss of appetite, nausea, fatigue, weakness, muscle cramps, and in more severe cases abnormal heart rhythms.

 

When I work one-on-one with my clients, I assess current diet, lifestyle, past and current health conditions, medications, stress levels, and toxin exposure to determine whether supplementation is necessary.  I have witnessed so many people taking loads of supplements without really knowing why and with no real plan.  Assessing your current status, testing, and putting together a plan is the best way to go to restore balance and correct any nutritional deficiencies! You can check out my Targeted Nutrition programs here: http://www.nutritionwithbeth.com/targeted-nutrition/

 

With that being said, I recently listened to a great podcast with guest Dr. Tieraona Low Dog, an incredible physician and healer, on the topic of supplements. She pointed to the fact that MANY Americans are deficient in Magnesium, Vitamin D, and Essential Fatty Acids.  Women are twice as likely to be deficient in Vitamin B6 than men, especially if taking oral contraceptives. And guess what, vitamin B6 is required to make serotonin and melatonin.  And dopamine too!  So if you are depressed, anxious, or not sleeping well, be sure to get your vitamin  B6 levels checked!

 

Most OTC drugs and prescription medications deplete vital vitamins and minerals.  And sadly, most of the time these nutrients are not being replaced!  There is a really long list of medications that deplete nutrients; here are several more commonly prescribed and medications and OTC drugs that you should know about:

 

  • If you are on oral contraceptives, please be aware that they deplete vitamins B6, B12, folic acid, and magnesium. Note that these B vitamins are critical to positive mood, energy, good brain health, and proper cell division…very important in the child bearing years!
  • OTC non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like Ibuprofen and Naproxen deplete folic acid. And aspirin decreases Vitamin C, folic acid, and iron!
  • Antibiotics wipe out your friendly gut bacteria, and general antibiotics deplete all B vitamins and Vitamin K.
  • Statins (which lower cholesterol )are notorious for reducing Coenzyme Q10, which is vital for energy!! Anti-diabetic drugs also reduce CoQ10.

 

Please email me at info@nutritionwithbeth.com for a more comprehensive list of OTC drugs and prescription meds that induce nutrient depletions.

 

Although I prefer to work with you individually and test first, here are general recommendations to cover your bases when it comes to supplementation:

 

Take a quality multi vitamin mineral formula.  If you are a male or a female that is no longer menstruating, choose a formula without iron.  Take extra magnesium before you go to bed if you have trouble sleeping, your muscles feel tense or cramp, or if you experience frequent constipation. See the list of other magnesium deficiency symptoms above.

Have your Vitamin D levels checked by your primary care physician.  Do this first before supplementing with Vitamin D so that you know how much to take.  If you do not like fish or rarely eat it, supplement with a triglyceride form fish oil a few times per week.  I recommend eating fermented foods like kefir, unsweetened yogurt, and sauerkraut.  If you are not a big fan of fermented foods or they are not a regular part of your diet, choose a multi strain probiotic. We are still learning so much about the gut microbiome, but this is a good place to start!

 

Here are a few of my favorites:

 

Twice Daily Multi: does not contain iron so men and post menopausal women can take this multi.

Magnesium Buffered Chelate: one of the best absorbed forms of magnesium

OmegAvail Hi Po: true triglyceride form of fish oil (more easily digested and absorbed)

Probiotic Synergy Spheres: A multi strain probiotic that uses the most advanced patented delivery and shelf stability technology available to ensure maximum potency and viability.

 

I hope you find this helpful in navigating the world of supplements!

Beth

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Goats and llamas and cheese, oh my! Take a summer day to visit a local farm!

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beth at farm
It is pretty crazy that many kids growing up today do not even know where carrots originate! Do they grow on trees?  Or maybe they come out of a big orange machine?  Packaged baby carrots taste like they came out of a machine! So maybe as a kid it is reasonable to think they come from a factory.  We need to do a better job not only educating kids on where their foods come from, but also as adults pay more attention to the types of farms we are supporting when we buy our foods.

It is pretty awesome to know exactly where your food comes from!  A couple months ago, I started asking the farmers at my local Sunday market if I could visit their farms.  Most farmers have been extremely welcoming.  Some farms do ask that you come on certain “open days”, as they don’t have the staff to handle visitors on a regular basis.

My mission this summer and fall is to visit the farms that grow the veggies and fruits I love so much and produce the olive oil and the cheese that go so well with my veggie salads and other dishes.  And to visit the farms that sell delicious eggs from their pasture raised hens!  I will share my experiences and photos with you to inspire you to visit your own local farms and support the farmers that are employing sustainable practices and providing really delicious foods!

First stop last weekend: Harley Farms Goat Dairy in the small and quaint town of Pescadero between San Francisco and Santa Cruz, CA.  And what a beautiful day for a coastal drive and to visit the goats!

beth goat barn

Harley Farms had almost 300 babies born in the spring!  The young goats were a bit awkward, still getting the walking thing down!  Once they are adults, they start contributing to the production of goat milk.  The Harley goats are milked each morning beginning at 7:00 am. It takes about 2 minutes to milk a goat and each goat produces about one gallon of milk which makes one pound of their famous goat cheese. Although the goats have free access to the outdoor pasture, most of them prefer to be inside when it is hot outside! The llamas, however, were enjoying the outside pasture and are there to protect the goats from mountain lions, bob cats, and coyotes.

According to Harley Farms, the secret ingredients that make their cheese so good is a special mix of pasture grass and clover that the goats enjoy! They also grow all of the flowers and herbs used to decorate their cheese.  Goat compost is spread each year to nourish the soil in the garden. And yes, over the years, the goats have bust through the fence several times and chomped away the entire garden!

beth decorated goat cheese

Not only did I actually see and touch the goats that produce the goat cheese I enjoy, it was also just a really fun day out in the sunshine exploring a new place and tasting a variety of goat cheeses: the lavender honey was amazing!  And if you have kids, visiting a local farm that offers tours is a fun way to spend a Saturday or Sunday and helps your kids get connected to the foods they eat too!

P.S.  For folks that cannot tolerate cow dairy, goat dairy may be an option!

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Grilling This Summer? HOW You Cook Impacts Your Health From the Inside Out!

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You have most likely heard the phrase: We are what we eat.  And maybe you have also heard the phrase: We are what we absorb and digest.  After all, it is true that you can eat healthy and nourishing foods, but if you are not absorbing and properly digesting the foods, you will not benefit from their nutritional value.  Have you heard this one?  We are HOW we cook our foods.  With the grilling season now upon us, this is a timely post.

How you cook your foods has an impact on your health and longevity.  Foods cooked using high heat in the absence of water, such as browned and sugary foods (think baked goods), processed foods, grilled meats, roasted turkey, and high heat stir fries form high amounts of toxic compounds called Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs for short), and they literally do age you.  These toxic compounds accumulate in the tissues of the body, leading to low grade inflammation and oxidative stress, which accelerates the aging process from the inside out.  Your skin wrinkles, your joints ache, but what’s worse is high levels of AGEs cause your internal organs to age as well.

These AGEs have such an impact on our health that the A.G.E. Foundation’s goal is to have AGE levels recognized as a health marker, just like cholesterol, blood pressure, and BMI markers!

What can you do to lower your AGE levels?  Try to cook with water as often as possible, using steaming, stewing (crock pot is great), poaching, and boiling over grilling, roasting, and frying.  Water based cooking methods dramatically decrease AGEs.  But we all love to grill during the summer months, right?  A good tip: marinate your meat or chicken in lemon juice, vinegar, or another acidic substance before grilling to reduce the formation of the AGEs.  And eat lots of fruits and vegetables which are naturally low in AGEs and also provide lots of antioxidants to combat the oxidative stress caused by AGEs!  So indulge in a colorful salad to go along with your grilled chicken or steak!