Is Green Tea the Fountain of Youth?

Chiropractor, Grand Junction, CO - Daniel Lonquist, DC, CCST, CCWP Certified Chiropractic Wellness Practitioner. Back To Health Wellness Center, 970-257-9199 www.BTHWellnessCenter.com

By:Suzanne Dixon, MPH, MS, RD

Green tea may protect against disability among aging adults

Green tea has become the go-to beverage for people seeking to improve health. Tea advocates are quick to note the tea’s potential protective effects against heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, stroke, and Alzheimer’s disease. Now, we have evidence that green tea also may keep a spring in your step as you age.

Studying sipping habits

To study how green tea drinking may affect level of physical disability over time, researchers collected information on tea drinking habits, diet, exercise, and other lifestyle behaviors from 14,000 Japanese adults over 65 years old. Study participants had no prior history of disability—physical limitations that affect a person’s ability to take care of him- or herself—and the study authors tracked the group to determine who developed disability over three years.
Compared with people who rarely or never drank green tea people who drank 3 to 4 cups per day had 25% lower risk of developing disability, and people who drank 5 or more cups per day had 33% lower risk of developing disability.

Sipping, stepping, and snacking your way to health

This study suggests that green tea may protect against disability among aging adults. Use our green tea tips, plus other stay-vibrant ideas to keep your body healthy into your golden years.

• Assess amounts. In Japan, a typical cup of green tea is about 100 ml, which is around 3 to 4 ounces, or 1/2 cup. In the US, a typical coffee mug holds up to 16 ounces. One or two of these larger servings of green tea daily is enough to provide potential health benefits.
• Steep smartly. Green tea tastes best when brewed with hot, but not boiling, water. Allow boiling water to cool slightly before brewing, and let the tea steep for no more than four minutes. Longer steeping times can lead to a bitter brew.
• Find a favorite. Experiment with different green teas to find one that tastes good to you. For example, if you don’t enjoy regular green tea, try a jasmine-infused blend, or a green tea flavored with fruit essences.
• Pick plain. Enjoy your tea straight-up, without milk or sugar, both of which may reduce tea’s beneficial effects on health.
• Work in walking. Regular physical activity is vital to healthy aging, and health experts point out you need not run a marathon in order to benefit. A daily, half-hour, brisk walk is one of the best ways to improve and maintain well-being as we age.
• Snack with savvy. Snacking can be a smart way to work healthy foods into the diet. Instead of the usual chips, pretzels, or other salty snacks, try apples, bananas, nuts, or low-fat Greek yogurt for your mid-afternoon fix.
• Skip the soda. Drinking more green tea is a great way to cut back on less-healthy options, such as soda, including the diet versions. Even though it's calorie-free, diet soda is not a good choice; drinking it has been linked with higher risk of heart attack, stroke, and diabetes.

(Am J Clin Nutr 2012;95:732–9)

Suzanne Dixon, MPH, MS, RD, an author, speaker, and internationally recognized expert in chronic disease prevention, epidemiology, and nutrition, has taught medical, nursing, public health, and alternative medicine coursework. She has delivered over 150 invited lectures to health professionals and consumers and is the creator of a nutrition website acclaimed by the New York Times and Time magazine. Suzanne received her training in epidemiology and nutrition at the University of Michigan, School of Public Health at Ann Arbor.

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6 Simple Ways to Lose Weight

Chiropractor, Grand Junction, CO - Daniel Lonquist, DC, CCST, CCWP Certified Chiropractic Wellness Practitioner. Back To Health Wellness Center, 970-257-9199 www.BTHWellnessCenter.com

Doable strategies to help you shed pounds By: Linda Knittel

To turn your body into a fat-burning machine, eat small meals throughout the day.

• Rise and chow

  If you think skipping breakfast will help you shed a few pounds, think again. Not eating a morning meal can actually trick the body into thinking it is starving, which makes it hold on to fat or cause you to eat more during the day. To keep your metabolism revved and blood sugar levels steady, eat breakfast within 45 minutes of rising. The healthiest choices contain a balance of fat, protein, and carbs, such as oatmeal with a handful of nuts or a veggie omelet.
  

• Combine carbs

  If a carbohydrate wasn’t grown, picked, or harvested, don’t eat it. That means shunning refined breads, pastas, cakes, and pastries, and choosing good carbs like brown rice, sweet potatoes, or an apple. And while you’re at it, try to never eat a carbohydrate by itself. Simply adding a bit of good fat, such as olive oil or lean protein will slow digestion, steady blood sugar, and keep the body from storing fat.
  

• Drink up

  Even if all you did was start drinking more water you would likely lose weight. That’s because the body needs to be fully hydrated in order to maintain a healthy metabolism. Try drinking about 1/2-ounce (15 ml) of water per pound of body weight every day, and see the difference.
  

• Eat more

  If eating more often in order to lose weight sounds too good to be true, listen up. Your body needs calories in order to burn fat. So, to turn your body into a fat-burning machine, eat small meals throughout the day. Ideally each mini-meal should consist of lean protein, good fats, and complex carbohydrates. For example, 4 ounces (113 grams) of chicken, 1 cup (150 grams) of brown rice, and a green salad.

• Get pumped

  You’ve heard that muscle weighs more than fat, but did you know that muscle burns more calories? That’s right, building lean muscle through weight training causes the body to burn more calories throughout the day. When combined with regular aerobic exercise, weight training can help you lose more weight.
  

• Cheat a little

  You know what they say about all work and no play—well, that goes for weight loss too. Giving up all the foods you love can backfire and sabotage your efforts. Be sure to allow yourself a day each week when you indulge in conservative amounts of your favorite foods. Remember, a serving should be about the size of an average apple.
  

Linda Knittel, MA, is a nutritional counselor and health writer specializing in alternative medicine, nutrition, and yoga. She has found that incorporating plenty of good fat in her six small meals a day has actually helped her become leaner.

For more weight loss suggestions visit, www.BTHWellnessCenter.com 

Supplement Combination Slows Post-Menopausal Bone Loss

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By Kimberly Beauchamp, ND

Some researchers think the answer might lie in products containing soy isoflavones

A supplement containing isoflavones and other bone-building nutrients may help post-menopausal women maintain stronger bones, according to a preliminary study in the European Journal of Nutrition.

Boning up on the options

There was a time when many women went on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to ease the symptoms of menopause and to help protect them from osteoporosis. But that all changed with the discovery that HRT may increase the risk of breast cancer and heart disease.
Since then, many women have turned to other pharmacological options, like selective estrogen receptor modulators (raloxifene; Evista) and bisphosphonates (alendronate; Fosamax) to prevent and treat osteoporosis. But these medications aren’t without their side effects, either. Raloxifene can increase the risk of blood clots in the legs (deep vein thrombosis) and the lungs (pulmonary embolism), while alendronate can cause severe damage to the esophagus and may increase the risk of thigh bone fracture.
Safer alternatives to drug therapy for osteoporosis prevention are clearly needed, and some researchers think the answer might lie in products containing soy isoflavones.

A better builder?

Isoflavones have weak estrogen-like effects in the body, which may lend them their bone-building activity. They don’t appear to have the same negative effects on hormone-sensitive tissues in the body, though, making them good candidates for osteoporosis prevention.
A study conducted at the Osteoporosis Research Center at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, investigated the effects of a combination isoflavone/nutrient supplement on measures of bone density in 70 post-menopausal women. Nutrients were chosen on the basis of previous trials that have shown their positive effects on bone health.
For six months, the women took an isoflavone supplement plus 500 mg of calcium per day, or placebo plus 500 mg of calcium. The isoflavone supplement supplied 30 mg of synthetic genistein (one of the most widely used soy isoflavones), 800 IU of vitamin D3, 150 mcg of vitamin K1, and 1 gram of the essential fatty acids, EPA and DHA.

The bone-protecting payoff

After six months, women in the isoflavone group maintained the same bone density at the femoral neck (a common place for fractures to occur), whereas bone mineral density at that site decreased significantly in the placebo group. Bone density was also significantly greater in the isoflavone versus the placebo group at another measurement area in the hip (called Ward’s triangle).
The isoflavone supplement was generally well tolerated and no significant safety concerns regarding its use were discovered.
“As a physician, I am cautious about using concentrated soy ingredients, especially in women with a history of hormone-sensitive cancers,” explains Erica LePore, a naturopathic doctor in Rhode Island. “At the same time, the options for preventing osteoporosis are few, and most of the drugs are riddled with side effects. I think this supplement could offer a good alternative for many women who want to avoid prescription medications for bone building, and I’m interested in seeing more research on it.”
(Eur J Nutr 2012;doi:10.1007/s00394-012-0304-x)

Kimberly Beauchamp, ND, received her doctoral degree from Bastyr University, the nation’s premier academic institution for science-based natural medicine. She co-founded South County Naturopaths in Wakefield, RI, where she practiced whole family care with an emphasis on nutritional counseling, herbal medicine, detoxification, and food allergy identification and treatment. Her blog, Eat Happy, helps take the drama out of healthy eating with real food recipes and nutrition news that you can use. Dr. Beauchamp is a regular contributor to Healthnotes Newswire.

“D” for Depression

“D” for Depression

By

Jane Hart, MD

Women who eat high amounts of vitamin D may lower their risk of depression

Related Topics

1. Fish Oil May Offer Relief for Seniors with Depression
2. Feeling Blue? Zinc May Help You
3. Recipes with Fish

The list of health benefits linked to vitamin D is rapidly growing, and a new report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that women who eat high amounts of vitamin D may lower their risk of having depression symptoms by as much as 20%.

Dietary vitamin D linked to a healthier mood

In this study, which included 81,189 postmenopausal women from the Women’s Health Initiative, researchers used questionnaires to estimate the amount of vitamin D that women ate and informally diagnose depression symptoms. The results of the questionnaires, given at the beginning of the study and three years later, showed:

• Women who consumed a total of 800 IU of vitamin D or more through diet and supplements had a 20% lower risk of having depression symptoms compared with women who ate less than 100 IU of vitamin D.
• In women who did not have depression symptoms at the beginning of the study, those who ate 400 IU or more of dietary vitamin D per day had a 20% lower risk of having depression symptoms at the three year follow-up compared with women who ate 100 IU or less of dietary vitamin D per day

The study authors comment, “Vitamin D may affect the function of dopamine and norepinephrine, which are monoamine neurotransmitters that are likely involved in depression.” They add that further research is needed to know more about the role of vitamin D in preventing and possibly treating depression.

Getting your vitamin D

• Try these top dietary sources of vitamin D. Top sources of dietary vitamin D include oily fish such as salmon and mackerel. Non-fish options include vitamin D–fortified foods and beverages such as cereal, margarine, yogurt, milk, and orange juice. To a lesser extent, eggs and sardines are also sources of vitamin D.
• Check your vitamin D status. Increasingly, doctors recommend that people have their vitamin D levels checked to ensure a healthy level that may help prevent disease and optimize the health of your mind and body. If the level is found to be low then a doctor may recommend vitamin D supplements. When thinking about taking a supplement, check with a doctor about the appropriate dose, duration of time to take the supplement, and the potential risks and benefits.
• Live a balanced life. Getting enough vitamin D is just one aspect of having a healthy mind and body. People who eat a balanced diet, exercise regularly, and who have strong social supports are also less likely to be depressed. See a healthcare professional if you feel you are suffering from symptoms of depression such as persistent sadness, feelings of hopelessness, frequent crying, and/or a loss of interest in participating in social activities.

(Am J Clin Nutr doi: 10.3945/ajcn.111.017384.)

Jane Hart, MD, board-certified in internal medicine, serves in a variety of professional roles including consultant, journalist, and educator. Dr. Hart, a Clinical Instructor at Case Medical School in Cleveland, Ohio, writes extensively about health and wellness and a variety of other topics for nationally recognized organizations, websites, and print publications. Sought out for her expertise in the areas of integrative and preventive medicine, she is frequently quoted by national and local media. Dr. Hart is a professional lecturer for healthcare professionals, consumers, and youth and is a regular corporate speaker. 

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Above-Down, Inside-Out

Chiropractic and the Nerve System

How is it that chiropractic health care can be so effective across so broad a range of conditions? The key is that chiropractic care focuses on restoring more normal function within the nerve system. The nerve system is responsible for directing and coordinating all the functions in your body. When the nerve system works right, your body can begin to recover effectively from many kinds of problems. Chiropractors are specialists in analyzing and correcting nerve interference, Chiropractic care restores the free flow of information between your brain and the rest of your body. When your body's physiologic systems receive accurate information - on time and in the right sequences - they can do the jobs they were designed to do. The result is dynamic, vibrant, fully expressed health and well-being.

"Above-down, inside-out" is a poetic coinage by Dr. B.J. Palmer, one of the founders of the field of chiropractic. "B.J.", as he has been affectionately known by chiropractors for almost 100 years, was describing the inner workings of the brain and spinal cord, the complex nerve system connected to all parts of the body, and the cells, tissues, and organs comprising the bulk of human physiology.

In his inimitable style, Dr. Palmer was addressing many deep, complex phenomena all at once. From a high-level viewpoint, he was describing how the central nervous system communicates with the rest of the body. One major conclusion is that the brain (as the originator of nerve signals that flow to the spinal cord and from there to the organs, tissues, and cells) is the master controller of all the other systems. The gastrointestinal, endocrine, cardiopulmonary, and musculoskeletal systems are all ultimately controlled and regulated by activities within the brain. 

More than this, "B.J." was pointing directly to an organizing intelligence responsible for all the operations of living tissue. This concept, "Innate Intelligence", was propounded by his father, Dr. Daniel David Palmer. "B.J." expanded, publicized, and promoted the idea of Innate Intelligence as he helped the field of chiropractic grow into the second largest healing arts profession in the United States.

In the above-down, inside-out paradigm, Innate Intelligence is an intrinsic guiding and instructional force that maintained ongoing health and healing. Innate Intelligence knows how much oxygen and other nutrients a cell needs to meet its energy requirements. Innate Intelligence knows how to direct B lymphocytes to build a new antibody to fight a previously unencountered bacteria or virus. Innate Intelligence knows how much insulin should be released by beta cells in the pancreatic islets of Langerhans in order to properly use the carbohydrates you ingested during your last heart-healthy meal.

But disorder within the nerve system can interfere with the body's ability to carry out the instructions of Innate Intelligence. Symptoms, pain, disorders, and disease ensue from such nerve interference. Chiropractic care helps restore balance within the nerve system, thus helping restore health and well-being.^1,2,3

¹Nguyen LT, et al: Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine and Self-Rated Health Status: Results from a National Survey. J Gen Intern Med Nov 5 2010 (Epub ahead of print)

²Millet JD: Progress in complementary and alternative medicine research: Yale Research Symposium on Complementary and Integrative Medicine. Yale J Biol Med 83(3):127-129, 2010

³Ahn AC, et al: Applying principles from complex systems to studying the efficacy of CAM therapies. J Altern Complement Med 16(9):1015-1022, 2010

 

 Daniel Lonquist, DC, CCST, CCWP

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755 North Ave Ste B

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New Beginnings

Chiropractic Care and Long-Term Health

Achieving long-term health does not imply that you will never get sick. Achieving long-term health does not imply that you will never have a neck or back problem. Achieving long-term health does mean that you will get the most out of what you've got; you will be much healthier than otherwise; and you will feel better about yourself, have more energy, and get more out of life. Chiropractic care is an essential component of achieving long-term health. Making sure you eat good food, drink plenty of water, and eat several portions of fresh fruits and vegetables each day is a very good place to start. Adding a daily program of 30 minutes of regular, vigorous exercise is the next key piece in achieving good health. Chiropractic care is the important link that brings everything together, enabling your body to make the best use of your nutrition and exercise. Chiropractic care helps ensure that the various parts of your body are working in harmony to achieve your long-term goals in health and wellness.

The time is always right to begin returning to good health. Regardless of whether your issues involve weight, exercise, diet, blood pressure, diabetes, or chronic pain, now is the time to begin taking action on your own behalf.

You are not alone. Literally hundreds of millions of people worldwide have various chronic complaints and illnesses.^1,2,3 Some problems are more serious than others, but everyone eventually wants to find a better way to manage their health problems. Eventually everyone wants to actually begin to be healthier and feel better.

Of course, a healthy diet and regular vigorous exercise are the key elements in any process of returning to good health. People know this, but for the most part this knowledge alone does not do any good. The deep truth is that feeling good and actually being healthy takes a lot of effort. It's much easier to pick up dinner from a fast food restaurant than to spend precious time planning and shopping and preparing meals. It's much easier to sit on your couch and watch people on TV trying to lose weight than to actually do the work of losing weight yourself. It's much easier to spend 30 minutes watching the news for the third time that day than to put on your workout clothes and go for a brisk 30-minute walk.

We are all slaves to our habitual ways of thinking and habitual ways of living. Just as in physics, people have inertia. Newton's First Law of Motion states that a body at rest stays at rest and a body in motion stays in motion, unless it is acted upon by an external unbalanced force. We will do the same things we have always done, achieving the same results we have always achieved, unless we make an active choice to engage in new thinking and new activities.

By the way, no one is going to make any lasting changes in their lifestyle - for example, by choosing a healthy diet and daily exercise - merely because someone told them they needed to do it. If you're chronically overweight, your doctor has told you every year that you need to make changes. Every year at your annual physical she tells you to begin regular, vigorous exercise and adopt healthy eating habits. Do any of these admonitions ever make a lasting difference? They don't, not becauses they are bad advice, but because they were not a match for your own world view. Real change, lasting change, has to come from within, from your own personal choice.  

When a person is actually ready to choose to revamp her lifestyle with respect to achieving good health, there are many possible steps to take. Chiropractic care can be an important and critical component of an overall health improvement strategy.

¹Temple R, Murphy H: Type 2 diabetes in pregnancy - An increasing problem. Best Pract Res Clin Endocrinol Metab 24(4):591-603.

²Li S, et al: Genetic predisposition to obesity leads to increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Diabetologiz Jan 26, 2011 (Epub ahead of print)

³Urquhart DM, et al: Increased fat mass is associated with high levels of low back pain intensity and disability. Spine Jan 25, 2011 (Epub ahead of print)

 

Dr. Daniel Lonquist

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The Pain of Clinical Depression

Many of us think of depression as a psychological condition. The causes of depression are sought in the person's childhood or in her personal circumstances as an adult. But within the last 10 or 20 years depression is increasingly being evaluated within a physiological context. Various disease states and physical disorders are being recognized as important contributors to depression. This viewpoint is empowering to persons with depression and often provides a way forward when progress has been minimal or absent.

Those with depression experience both physical and psychological pain. It is well-documented that chronic physical pain can lead to depression. Also, it is well-known that depressive states can cause physical pain. A feedback loop (vicious circle) is often created in which physical pain makes a person's depression worse and the person's depression makes the physical pain worse.

In addition, changes in brain physiology may cause a person to be depressed. In other words, abnormal electrical activity in the brain - which, of course, is not under the person's conscious control - may result in depression. The brain's electrical activity is evaluated by a method known as quantitative EEG (QEEG).1 For those with clinical depression, the QEEG often demonstrates too much slow-wave activity in the left front brain (prefrontal cortex) and too much fast-wave activity in the right prefrontal cortex.

For those with clinical depression, the light of the world is considerably dimmed. The mood of a depressed person is low and he loses interest in normally pleasurable activities. Depressive disorders interfere with a person's work and/or school activities, family life and social life, and overall health. Lack of energy, lack of appetite, and decreased physical activity are all associated with clinical depression.

An access to relieving chronic depression may be found in encouraging the person to begin to engage in physical activity.2,3 Such activity may be difficult for those who are severely depressed, and yet all persons with depression should be presented with this form of therapy.

Additionally, chiropractic care may be of great benefit for those with clinical depression. The pain relief and improved musculoskeletal function afforded by chiropractic care may help reduce the physical component of ongoing depression.

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Daniel Lonquist, DC, CCST, CCWP

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¹Hargrove JB, et al: Quantitative electroencephalographic abnormalities in fibromyalgia patients. Clin EEG Neurosci 41(3):132-139, 2010

²Gill A, et al: Clinical Inquiries: Does exercise alleviate symptoms of depression? J Fam Pract 59(9):530-531, 2010

³Uebelacker LA, et al: Hatha yoga for depression: critical review of the evidence for efficacy, plausible mechanisms of action, and directions for future research. J Psychiatr Pract 16(1):22-33, 2010