Red Wine and Your Health

Posted on September 11, 2011 by Dr. Amy

In light of the extreme heat, the never ending drought and the horrifying fires that have touched so many lives in Bastrop and forever changed so many people’s worlds, it seems time for some good news.  So sit back, grab a glass of red wine if you can, and learn about the great reasons to take this kind of break more often.

A few drinks in a week can actually be a good thing for your heart-health as studies have indicated that moderate drinkers (5 – 9 alcoholic drinks per week) have lower risk of dying from heart related disease than do non-drinkers.  Keep in mind, of course, that heavy drinkers have much higher risk so lets not overdo it here. This means moderate drinkers have lower risk of coronary heart disease (or CHD) than do people who don’t drink any alcoholic drinks at all.  By decreasing your risk of coronary heart disease,  you are also decreasing your risk of having a heart attack or stroke.

Red wine  may actually be the healthiest of the alcohols, but any alcohol is better than no alcohol (I bet you never thought you’d hear a doctor say that).  Red wine is special because of something called resveratrol, which is a powerful antioxidant.  Resveratrol (or red wine) shows great anti-cancer properties, it’s good for your heart, it may even help with clear-thinking.  The best part is, it’s in red wine.  It’s also in purple grape juice, for those of you who don’t like wine or don’t like alcohol in general (but keep in mind the benefits of resveratrol are in addition to the benefits of alcohol).  It comes out of the dark colored skins of the grapes and is a great addition to your diet.

Don't worry, it's good for you. Thanks for the picture Mick Stephenson!

A small amount of alcohol also acts as a blood thinner and improves your circulation through small vessels, which is part of why you may flush when you drink – the blood vessels near your skin open up and so you turn pink. So here’s a summary:

Health Benefits of Alcohol (In Moderation):

  • Mild blood thinner that increases circulation to small vessels in your body
  • Lowers your risk of heart disease
  • Lowers your risk of heart attack

Health Benefits of Red Wine:

  • Powerful antioxidant
  • Anti-cancer properties
  • Boosts your heart health
  • May increase clarity of thought
  • All the usual benefits of alcohol

Things Alcohol Doesn’t Help With:

  • Sleep – even if it feels like it.  Read more here
  • Judgement – but I’m guessing you knew this already
  • Driving – please just don’t

It’s important to listen to your body and to know your own tolerances.  I’m a very small person and I have a low tolerance, so I treat a half-sized drink for a normal person like a full drink for me (I’m about half the size of a regular person anyway so this all works out). It’s about knowing my limits and listening to my body.  Alcohol tolerance changes with things like sleep, stress, the amount of food you’ve eaten, your hydration status and where you are in your hormone cycle.  Just remember to always pay attention – just because last week you had two glasses of red wine without any problems doesn’t mean you can today.  Always err on the side of moderation.

Also remember one glass of wine = 6 oz.  Please note the size of the wine glasses in your kitchen because most of them, if you actually filled them, would be about 24 oz of wine. The best thing to do is measure out 6 oz of water and put it in your favorite wine glass to see what that actually looks like.  If you double it that counts as two glasses of wine, even if it all fits in one wine glass.  Don’t get sneaky with your measuring…

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Alcohol Before Bed – Not the Best For Restorative Sleep

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Dr. Amy

It comes as no surprise that although plenty of people use alcohol to relax and unwind at the end of the day, it’s no friend to your sleep.  In fact this Japanese study showed that alcohol may help you relax enough to fall asleep but actually gets in the way of staying asleep.

COCKTAIL © Alexmax | Dreamstime.com

In this study healthy young men were given three different strengths of alcoholic drink once each in a period of three weeks. One drink had no alcohol in it, one had 0.5 grams and the last had 1 gram per kilogram of body weight. The men in this study had their drinks almost 2 hours before they went to sleep.

In the study they measured heart rate variability, so the evenness of the men’s heart rates as an indicator of their sleep quality. Both alcohol groups, but most strongly in the high alcohol group, the men showed much higher than normal heart rate variability.  This means their sleep was more restless and more disturbed than the men who didn’t have alcohol before sleep.

The bottom line is that sleep and alcohol don’t mix well.  If you’re looking for something to help you fall asleep I’d highly recommend melatonin, which is your own natural sleep hormone. Melatonin is dose dependent so you may need more than one tablet (usually 3mg) in order to fall asleep easily.  Also practice good sleep hygiene and really taking care of your sleep environment will help.

Click for more information on getting great sleep naturally.

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My Thyroid is “Normal” – so Why Do I Feel So Bad?

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Dr. Amy

I can’t begin to tell you how many times a week I hear this exact thing.  Women come to my office practically in tears because they found out their thyroid was low, or out of balance and started the hormones thinking that it would solve the problem, but months go by and they start losing hope. According to lab tests their thyroid is normal, but they still feel down and out. By the time they get into my office they’re usually so frustrated they’re teary eyed and feel helpless about their health.

Here’s the thing – there’s hope for you.  Let me say that again – THERE IS HOPE FOR YOU! Conventional medicine looks at the hormones and only the hormones.  They are great at finding the right balance of hormones to put you back in a normal range, but sometimes that doesn’t fix the problem.  When the problem doesn’t go away is when I start to look at nutritional deficiencies.  Your thyroid needs lots of things to function and lots of nutrients to make those hormones do what they’re supposed to.  If those nutrients aren’t there then the hormones just aren’t enough to make a difference.

Here are the biggest nutritional deficiencies in the thyroid game:

  • Iodine – your thyroid hormones need iodine to be created, and also the receptors for those thyroid hormones need iodine to work.  Basically this means if you don’t have enough iodine thyroid things just don’t happen.
  • Zinc – zinc is necessary for your pituitary to signal your thyroid to start releasing hormones so if you don’t have enough zinc then your thyroid doesn’t respond well.
  • Selenium – is necessary to help your body convert the forms of thyroid hormone from T3 to T4.
  • Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) – helps your body secrete thyroid hormones.
  • Tyrosine – one of the building blocks of thyroid hormones

These things can block thyroid function:

  • Food Sensitivities – especially wheat and gluten.  There is a strong association between having a food sensitivity and having low thyroid function. More about food sensitivities…
  • Heavy Metals – toxicity hurts your thyroid function and has a lot of the same symptoms so if simple steps aren’t working then it might be a good idea to look into your heavy metals.
  • Goitrogenic Foods – these foods actually slow down your thyroid. A little bit isn’t enough to make a difference, but a lot sure can.  Especially Soy, but also brussels sprouts, turnips, cabbage, cauliflower, millet, kale, flax seeds and broccoli. These are all healthy foods and normal amounts are great, but if the only protein you get is soy protein you might want to reconsider.
  • Fluoride Toxicity – it might be good for your teeth in small amounts, but it’s bad for your thyroid.  Fluoride is toxic to your thyroid gland so try to moderate your intake.  Filtered water (check your filters, some add fluoride back in), and fluoride free toothpaste can help. If you can’t find a fluoride free toothpaste then look for a low fluoride content – all toothpaste gives the percentage of fluoride on the label.
  • Other Hormone Imbalance – if the rest of your hormones are out of balance it changes the way your thyroid works.  In general hormones all work as a team and so if some of that team doesn’t do it’s job the rest of the team tries to compensate.  It’s not pretty!

The bottom line is that there is hope for you – always.  There are so many ways to help your thyroid that the hormone is just a small part of it so if you feel like you’ve tried everything then come see me or visit another naturopathic doctor.  There isn’t any reason to feel bad.

If, by chance, you haven’t seen it – Dear Thyroid is one of my favorite thyroid resources and a great support system for anyone who’s struggling, who has a story to share or who wants to helps others with thyroid disease.

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One Diagnosis Away…

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Dr. Amy

Here’s a chilling thought… Most families in this country are ONE DIAGNOSIS AWAY from total financial ruin. That means most people literally can’t afford to get sick, and yet I see those same people in my office claiming that they can’t afford to eat well.   Are you kidding?  You can’t afford not to! Thanks so much to Nora Gedgaudas, author of Primal-Body, Primal-Mind: Beyond the Paleo Diet For Total Health and a Longer Life; for reminding me of this important point. One of the greatest thing about doing the radio shows is the interviews with fabulous authors and health experts.

Eating well is your first line of defense against illness – good food helps you to have great health, more vitality and most importantly a strong immune system that can help to defend you from degenerative disease, eliminate cancer cells before they turn into anything scary, and keep you vital and youthful. The food you eat is where your nutrients come from – if you’re not eating well then you’re not getting the nutrients you need to repair, restore and revitalize your tissue.

Good food is the foundation for good health. 'kiwi light' © Gordon Swanson | Dreamstime.com

Here are some simple steps that Nora talked about in the interview – and if you’ve been a patient of mine you know these are steps that I suggest as well.  Good food just makes sense.  It isn’t a fad, it isn’t something new or gimmicky, it’s just what’s always been good food.

  1. Eat Less – You don’t need to eat as much as you think you eat, just as long as you eat the right things. In fact, as long as you’re eating a good amount of healthy fats in your diet, you feel full and satisfied with your meal with far less food.
  2. Eat Your Fats – But only the good ones.  That’s right – I’m a doctor and I’m specifically telling you to add fats to your diet.  We are designed to eat fats – they are a great fuel source and we need good fats to build neurological tissue, fuel heart muscle, and boost immunity. Good fats are both saturated and unsaturated – butter from grass fed cows, coconut oil, avocados, and nuts are all healthy saturated fats.  Olive oil, and some oils from nuts and seeds are all great healthy unsaturated fats.
  3. Cut the Processed Foods – This is 90% of the average American’s food budget.  Partly because we eat so many of them and partly because they’re more expensive than natural foods. The problem is, they’re not natural and your body doesn’t know what to do with that.  Also most processed foods are starch and sugar based and starch and sugar is the biggest killer.
  4. Eliminate The Trans Fats – This is unnatural and wrong and your body can’t use them in any kind of healthy way.  In fact, they do a tremendous amount of damage and can take up to two years to eliminate trans fats fully from your body.  Just take the shortcut and don’t put them there in the first place!
  5. Drop the Sugars and Starches – Seriously! Culturally I think most of us feel like if we haven’t had bread or a potato with a meal then we haven’t eaten. Likewise with dessert.  I’m not saying there should never be sugar or starch, but good lord it shouldn’t be 80% of your diet. All sugars do is turn into sticky goo that gums up your neurological tissue, corrupts your endocrine system and then the leftovers turn directly into fat.  Most of us don’t need more fat hanging around.
  6. Don’t Try to Substitute a Vitamin for Good Nutrition – If it were that simple we wouldn’t need to eat at all, we’d just take pills. Good vitamins are an important part of a good health program, but they aren’t ever a substitute for a real food.

If you’d like more information about Nora’s book then follow this link to her website: Primal-Body Primal-Mind. or you can get the book below!

Or the Kindle edition for you tech-savy folk…

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Trusting Yourself to Heal

Posted on August 10, 2011 by Dr. Amy

I know this is a different topic than I usually cover, normally I talk about concrete things you can do to improve your health with simple steps, because it’s important to me that this blog gives you information that you can use right now.  Today at lunch, however, I was reminded (thanks Rick – sometimes it’s good to hear it from someone else!) of one of the basics and it seems like a great time to pass that on to you.

Modern medicine has told you that “disease” is something that happens to you, that you need to fight so that your body can recover.  So you spend time finding things to weaken or kill the disease, to attack the problem, to strengthen your defenses and so on.  You wage war on this “disease.” Sadly, a lot of the time you forget to just support and strengthen YOU. To trust yourself to be able to do what you’re designed to do.

Here’s the bottom line.  You have everything you need – your body has all the tools it needs to be well.  Sometimes you have to find those tools buried under layers of gunk, sometimes it takes seeing the right practitioner to give you access to those tools, but they are always there.  Your body is the most miraculous and wonderful gift you will ever be given.  It can do so many things without you ever having to think about it.  Your heart beats, your blood pumps through your veins, you take oxygen from the air and nutrients from your food without ever thinking about it once.  You also heal – every minute of every day your body is helping itself to repair and restore you.  New cells are being born, waste is being eliminated, damage is being found and repaired.  How amazing is that?

So if you’re reading this I truly hope you can sit still for a minute and appreciate what a wondrous body you truly have and how much you are capable of.  You have everything you need right now to be healthy and vital and whole. The bottom line is that you can always trust your body to help you.  Your body will always do it’s very best to make sure you are the best you possible.

Today I want you to extend a heartfelt thanks to your body. Maybe do something nice for it – treat it to a healthy dinner or a relaxing bath.  Whatever it is that makes your body feel good.  It’s always there for you, always working for you and you can trust it.  How fantastic is that?

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Natural Remedies for Gallbladder Trouble

Posted on August 3, 2011 by Dr. Amy

Gallbladders are picky creatures.  They seem to be the canary in the coal mine of a woman’s body – always the first to start squawking. It isn’t always easy to know it’s your gallbladder giving you trouble and then finding options other than surgery can be difficult so lets cover a brief intro to the fickle female gallbladder.

Signs and Symptoms of Gallbladder Trouble

Here’s what to watch for.  Just remember your gallbladder isn’t like your fingertips, with sensitive nerves that tell you exactly where something is hurting.  Lots of times gallbladder pain is felt somewhere other than where your gallbladder actually sits.

  • Feeling of fullness in right upper abdomen just below your rib cage.
  • Sharp, stabbing pain in the same area, usually after eating.
  • Sudden nausea, vomiting, sweating and pain after eating.
  • Dull pain that comes and goes but is often worse after eating just below your right shoulder blade or between your shoulder blades. Rarely, this can be on the left side too (just to increase the confusion factor).
  • Aversion to fatty foods or severe nausea and pain after eating them.

Risk Factors for Gallbladder Trouble

The people most at risk fall into these five categories (the 5 ‘F’s) but plenty of people who aren’t in these categories also have gallbladder trouble:

  • Female (sigh)
  • Fertile
  • Forty (ish)
  • Fat
  • Fair (I’ve seen many many exceptions)

What do You Do About It?

Basically when your gallbladder is acting up it means that your system for processing the fats in your diet is overwhelmed.  It could be that your liver isn’t making enough bile, which is used in your digestive tract to emulsify fats.  It could be that you just eat too much fats or the fats you eat are difficult to digest, or it could be that you’re developing gallstones because this problem has been happening for a while.  Here are some things you can do:

  • Eat a lower fat diet
  • Avoid difficult to digest fats like deep fried foods and trans-fats
  • Lose weight
  • Take a digestive enzyme when you eat larger or heavier meals that contains ox bile (yes, it’s actual bile from an actual ox). This helps to compensate for your gallbladder’s weaknesses.
  • Support your liver.  Anything that helps your liver to manufacture bile will help your gallbladder to hurt less. My favorite liver support product is lipotrophic factors by ITI, but there are lots of great products out there.  Look for ingredients like milk thistle, choline, dandelion root, inositol, beet root, black radish root and artichoke.
  • Drink water with lemon juice, lime juice or a little apple cider vinegar to help support your liver and increase bile production. In general make sure you’re getting your 8 glasses daily.
  • Exercise regularly.  This really does help absolutely everything function, including your liver and gallbladder.
  • Eat smaller meals frequently instead of large amounts of food all at once.
  • Increase your daily fiber intake.  At least 25g daily will help you to eliminate toxins so that your liver can work more efficiently.

What About Gallbladder Cleanses?

The internet is full of great ideas.  It’s full of junk too and honestly gallbladder cleanses are a little of both.  Gallbladder cleanses are usually some combination of olive oil and apple cider that forces your liver to go into overdrive on bile production, and your gallbladder to contract extremely strongly and (in theory) expel whatever is in there junking it up. In theory, the idea is good.  In reality if you have any sign of a gallstone this cleanse can be enough to throw you into an acute attack strong enough to put you in the hospital for emergency gall bladder removal.  Not exactly the goal.

Not only that, we can’t be sure that they help.  It’s true, most people excrete little green balls of bile but it’s not clear whether those were stuck in the gallbladder slowing up the system, or whether they were actually created by doing the cleanse.

In general I don’t suggest doing gallbladder cleanses because they are unnecessarily traumatic, can have negative consequences, and we’re not sure they actually clean anything out. If you want more detailed information on what is going on with gallbladder troubles then read this article on gallbladder disease.  Also, my book DIY Health: For Women has a large segment devoted to this topic.

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The Egoscue Method for Back Pain

Posted on July 27, 2011 by Dr. Amy

I learned about this method of treatment for back pain from a patient, who discovered it on her own and reported back to me with great results.  This past weekend I was fortunate enough to get to talk with Pete Egoscue directly on the Let’s Get Healthy radio show.  This technique is fabulous – it’s a drugless therapy, meaning you don’t have to take pain pills.  It’s actually a series of exercises that help to heal, strengthen, and align your body to eliminate back pain.  It requires some activity on your part, but can you imagine having the power to eliminate your pain?

The Egoscue method involves a series of postural exercises that you can choose or that are chosen for you by an Egoscue practitioner. These are chosen based on the type of pain you have, the way you hold your body and the types of activities you do in your daily life. Pete Egoscue looks at pain as a signal from your body to help you understand that something you’re doing isn’t good for you.  Once you understand the signal, and what it means, you can change the way you hold your body and move your body so that pain is avoided.

The best way to use the Egoscue method is to have a consultation with someone who can design a series of Egoscue postural exercises specifically for your body. It can help you listen to your body and interpret what your body is telling you about pain so that you can adapt, in that moment, to fix the pain. You can actually understand the signal your body is sending, and correct it right then and there. These exercises actually help you to generate a more vivid body awareness that can allow you to have great posture and get rid of your pain.

My favorite part of all of this is that Pete Egoscue has written a number of books that outline simple steps you can use at home. In his books he gives you different exercises that you can learn and do to help your own pain.  This is a great option if you aren’t near an Egoscue clinic (there is one here in Austin, by the way) or if you can’t commit financially to the 8-16 visits you would likely need. There is always so much you can do for yourself and frankly you know I’m the queen of doing it yourself – I always think you are your own best healer. You can click on the images below to buy directly from Amazon.

If you’re looking for the Egoscue clinic here in Austin here is their info:

8310-1 Capital of Texas Hwy,
Suite 288
Austin, TX 78731
512-527-0030
866-765-1911

 

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The Interesting Case of Magnesium in Asthma – Adults vs. Kids.

Posted on July 23, 2011 by Dr. Amy

On the Let’s Get Healthy Show with Bill Swail, owner of People’s Rx here in Austin, TX (broadcast on Talk 1370 am), we interviewed a fascinating researcher named George Eby.  One of the more interesting points he talked about was the use of magnesium in asthma, and how some forms can be dangerous for children.

Using magnesium in asthma is nothing new – magnesium is known to help open airways and make breathing easier. Asthma attacks involve a strong spasm of your bronchial tubes which narrows or closes your airways and makes breathing challenging (scary challenging – just ask someone who’s been there.) Magnesium helps to relax these muscles so that your airways open and breathing gets easier.  It follows that anyone with asthma is going to benefit from Magnesium, which is true but as George pointed out, the dosage form matters when you’re talking about children.

CHOCOLATE © Magdalena Żurawska | Dreamstime.com - My favorite food source of magnesium.

The Difference Between Asthma in Adults and Children

Adult asthma is largely allergy related – triggered by something in the environment that is irritating to your airways.  In this type of asthma using a Magnesium lozenge can actually stop an asthma attack in it’s tracks.  The magnesium relaxes the airways as it is absorbed and allows breathing to happen fully and naturally.  Sadly, magnesium lozenges can be hard to find but a simple solution is to take a liquid magnesium  and hold it in your mouth so that the magnesium can absorb slowly. Also you can chew a magnesium tablet and hold it in your mouth so that it absorbs quickly. There are fizzy magnesium drink mixes as well that are designed to help with sleep.  These can be held in your mouth as well to help stop your asthma attacks.

Children, however, are different.  In children asthma is more often related to the rhinovirus – this is the virus that causes the common cold.  Children with asthma are also magnesium deficient, just like adults with asthma.  Children still benefit from magnesium supplements, but the lozenge or oral form of magnesium may actually be harmful.  The reason for this is that magnesium when you let it absorb slowly through the mouth, like in a lozenge can actually make the rhinovirus reproduce faster than normal. This means that when kids take magnesium in a  form that absorbs from the mouth, it may make the asthma worse.  This is also important because kids often can’t swallow tablets or capsules and so end up chewing the magnesium. Interestingly, when kids take a magnesium that they swallow (like a tablet or capsule) it helps to calm down their asthma attacks and prevent future attacks.

The Best Method for Using Magnesium in Asthma – Adults and Children

For adults with allergy induced or exercise induced asthma it is best to take a magnesium supplement daily.  I like magnesium glycinate, which is calming and relaxing both physically and mentally. 200 mg twice daily is a great starting dose.  Additionally magnesium lozenges or liquid can be taken as needed for asthma attacks.

In children magnesium should also be taken daily, but in a form that can be swallowed quickly.  There are liquid and powdered magnesium forms that are easy for kids to swallow, but they shouldn’t be held in the mouth like an adult might and also it may not be a good idea to use magnesium in acute asthma attacks for children.  Instead, use the magnesium daily to help prevent future attacks.

Food Sources of Magnesium

My favorite, without question, is chocolate.  Dark chocolate or cocoa powder are great sources and are much higher in magnesium than milk chocolate.  Also nuts, bran and dark leafy greens including spinach.

To me this is just another example of how important it is to really do thorough research and not assume that children and adults are the same.  Likewise men and women, middle age and elderly.  It seems like time to  move away from the one-size-fits-all medical model.  People are all so unique and individual  – it makes sense that finding a solution that works for you is more important than following a protocol that worked for someone else.

If you’d like to learn more about the risks of magnesium lozenges in asthmatic kids here’s a link to George Eby’s article about Magnesium throat lozynges possibly increasing risk of death in children.

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Food Sensitivity Elimination – Because You’re Worth It

Posted on July 15, 2011 by Dr. Amy

Food sensitivities are one of those commonly overlooked time bombs in your health that can be there for years causing problems that just seem “normal” to you because you’ve had them so long.  That’s exactly how it was for me – I thought it was “normal” to have joint pain and to wake up with a stuffy nose and puffy eyes.  For me, it was normal. That was before I found out that my body simply doesn’t know what to do with wheat.  When I don’t eat wheat, I don’t ache or get stuffy and puffy, when I eat wheat, I do.  It’s that simple.

Just because wheat causes pain and congestion for me doesn’t mean that’s what food sensitivities do to you.  Food sensitivities just make your whole body inflammation worse, and that shows up wherever your body has it’s weak spots.  My weak spots are joints, but I’ve had patients who had food sensitivity symptoms in the form of trigeminal neuralgia, migraines, irritable bowels, ADD, hyperactivity, depression (yes – from food. Crazy, right?), insomnia and hormone imbalance.  It just comes down to your own personal weak areas.

The reason people don’t usually find their food sensitivities is because they’re not food allergies in the common sense of the word.  With a peanut allergy everything is pretty clear. You eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, your throat starts to close, and you have to go to the hospital.  It all happens very quickly and that makes it easy to spot. With food sensitivities the reaction is delayed – you can have problems 24 even 48 hours later, so it’s hard to pin it on the food.  And, when the food is something like wheat or corn, that most people eat every day, the symptoms become just “normal.”  Sigh.

Food Sensitivity Testing

There is bad news and good news.  The bad news is that even the best of the blood and saliva tests are not very accurate.  Also they’re expensive and unreliable.  The good news is that you can test yourself at home, for free – it just takes a little work.  If it makes your headaches, mood swings or insomnia go away it’s totally worth it.  Here’s how you can test yourself at home:

  1. Eliminate – Pick one of the most common foods to test and eliminate it completely from your diet for 2 weeks.  This means NONE of that food for 14 days.  So if you’re testing wheat, eliminate wheat from your diet and don’t eat anything with wheat or flour on the label.  The easiest way to do this is to make sure everything is gluten free (gluten free is automatically wheat free.) I know it’s not easy, but it’s totally worth it.
  2. Challenge – Have challenge day – this day is fun.  Whatever food you’re testing, eat a bunch of it. So if you’re testing wheat on this day you get waffles or cereal or toast for breakfast, a sandwich on a bun or pizza or something just chock full of bread for lunch and a big bowl of pasta for dinner.  Make sure you get  lots of wheat on this day. Enjoy it!
  3. Evaluate – After your challenge day, then take your test food out of your diet again and wait to see what happens.  Food sensitivities typically don’t show up right away so watch your body for a few days.  Most people say they wake up the next morning feeling bad, but I’ve seen a few who have symptoms the morning of the second day. Make sure you’re keeping your test food out of your diet for those few days after your challenge to evaluate properly.

It’s really way easier than it sounds, you just have to read your labels.

Common Food Sensitivities

The most common foods that people are sensitive to are the foods that you are most likely to eat every day.  These are:

  • Wheat
  • Dairy (milk, butter, cheese, yoghurt. This doesn’t include eggs)
  • Corn (including high fructose corn syrup)
  • Soy (read your labels – it really is in everything)

The second most common foods are:

  • Chocolate
  • Beef
  • Citrus fruit (lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruit)
  • Nightshade veggies (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplant)

What To Do If You’re Not Sure

I see it happen a lot that people can’t make the leap to believing that the wheat they ate yesterday could be causing today’s migraine.  “It could be a fluke, right?  I get migraines all the time.” The answer in this case is simple – test again.  You’ve already had it out of your diet for two weeks so if you challenge and then wait a couple of days and aren’t sure about our body’s reaction, then challenge again.

The difference in my life since eliminating wheat has been stunning.  I don’t ache every day.  I have more energy, less congestion and I don’t wake up puffy and horrid.  That’s a big deal to me. If you only ever take one suggestion, take this one: test yourself for food sensitivities.  There is no reason to suffer with all of the junk that is “normal” to you.

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Emotional Freedom Technique – Helps Everything From Anxiety to Weight Loss.

Posted on July 9, 2011 by Dr. Amy

Emotional Freedom Technique has been one of my favorite ways to help myself for several years now, and it’s only just dawned on me that I haven’t written about it before (I could have sworn this was buried deep in the vaults of past-posts). So my apologies for being late but this simple technique is absolutely invaluable so better late than never.

EFT was founded by the now retired Gary Craig, who used a combination of psychology, affirmations and neurological input in a new way to help you re-wire your brain and habitual thought patterns.  It can help anxieties, performance issues, addictions, depression, weight loss and even more physical issues like vision improvement and headaches. There’s a standard way, and then there’s a shortcut and you know me, I like the shortcuts (as long as they work!!!)

Lets use the example of helping to clear out some emotional reaction. Just follow the steps below:

  1. Think of the problem or stressor and notice where in your body do you feel this issue most strongly?
  2. Rate the strength of that feeling on a scale from 1 – 10 with 10 being the strongest and 1 being hardly at all.  Remember this because we want to see this number changing.
  3. Make a statement about your problem:  “Even though I have _______ (name the problem), I deeply and completely love and accept myself.”
  4. Repeat your statement three times while you tap your karate chop points together (this is the side of your hand below your little finger.  Watch the video below to see how it’s done.  I just tap one hand against the other so the points on both hands are stimulated)
  5. Tap the varying points on your body while you focus on your “problem.”
  • Top of the head
  • Inner corner of your eyebrow
  • Bony ridge outside your eyeballs
  • Cheekbone directly underneath your eyeballs
  • Middle of the space between your nose and upper lip
  • Middle of the horizontal crease in your chin right below your lower lip
  • Just below the inside of your collar bones
  • A few inches below your armpits on the sides of your body (bra line for women, same level as your  nipples for men)
  • On your ribcage a few inches below your nipples (men) or on your bra line (women) – this one’s optional.

    Tapping Points

That’s it!  Now check your emotional intensity again – just like in steps 1 and 2.  If it’s still higher than you want it to be, repeat the whole process.

I know my point location descriptions aren’t very good so here’s a video showing the various points that can help you to walk through it the first few times. It helps that the demonstrator has an Australian accent – it makes me laugh even more than I would otherwise.

Great video from Tap4health.com

If you’re looking for more information, for testimonials, for more specific goal statements (i.e. for weight loss, PTSD, vision improvement, etc…)for other people to talk with about EFT or for tutorials then I have to suggest EFTUniverse. This fabulous resource is all free and has a wealth of information.  My next project is going to be vision – I’m curious to see if I can get underneath this one with something so simple as EFT.  If I can leave you with one tip it would be that it’s helpful to be as specific as possible with your statement.  Say exactly what it is that’s the problem to you.  Happy tapping!

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