Posts Tagged ‘san francisco nutrition coaching’

Minerals: Copper

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010

raspberryOver the past few weeks we’ve been discussing the fat soluble and water soluble vitamins. This week, we’re going to shift gears and start discussing minerals.

To recap let’s review the difference between a vitamin and mineral.  A vitamin is any compound that contains carbon and therefore is organic.  There are two classes of vitamins…fat soluble A, D, E and K or water soluble, B and C.

Minerals on the other hand do not contain carbon and are what we call inorganic.  There are macro- minerals and micro-minerals.  Macro-minerals are calcium, chloride, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and sodium.  Micro-minerals are:  chromium, iron, copper, zinc, iodine, manganese, molybdenum, selenium and iron.

There are many factors that can decrease the absorption of vitamins and minerals which include:  alcohol, caffeine, antibiotics, stress, corticosteroids, aspirin, diuretics, oral contraceptives, sugar and tobacco.  Therefore if your lifestyle includes any of these factors and you are not well there could be a good chance that you are not absorbing your essential nutrients.  You will learn over the next few weeks the critical affect that each of the vitamins and mineral have over the health of your body.

This week we will be discussing Copper

Copper is found throughout the body, particularly in the brain, liver and muscles.  Copper is used to help treat arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, fatigue, anemia and allergies.

What it Does: Copper performs many functions throughout the body we will be listing just a few examples

  • Needed to form hemoglobin which carries oxygen throughout the body
  • Helps with respiration
  • Helps to form collagen within the bones
  • Needed to convert the inactive thyroid hormone to the active form
  • Helps with inflammation by regulating histamine levels
  • Lowers cholesterol
  • Anti-diabetic
  • Needed to get iron out of the liver

Absorbing and Utilizing Copper:

  • An adequate intake of protein and fresh veggies is needed to help copper be absorbed in the body.
  • Access manganese and zinc will interfere with the absorption of copper

Found In: beets, pumpkin, flax seeds, green peas, raspberries, mangos, sweet potato, almonds

It’s important to mention that copper can produce toxicity in high doses.  Therefore, it is best not to supplement copper unless you know for sure that you have low levels based upon lab testing.

Another important point to state is that high fructose corn syrup which is found in many products that have a shelf life interferes with the absorption of copper.  Therefore, make sure to read your labels!

 

Resource:  The Power of Nutrient Dense Food by Pattie Weller, C.C.N

 

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Vitamin C - a water soluble vitamin

Saturday, July 31st, 2010
We have been discussing over the past few weeks the fat soluble vitamins.  Last week we started topeppers2 discuss Vitamin B - a water soluble vitamin and this week we will be continuing with the water soluble vitamins.  Before we begin to discuss Vitamin C let’s discuss what a water soluble vitamin is:  A water soluble vitamin is the “watery” part of any animal or plant.  Water soluble vitamins can be stored in the body, however it is difficult to overdose on water soluble vitamins because the body can discrete what it does not need and therefore toxicity is typically not seen.
To recap lets review the difference between a vitamin and mineral.  A vitamin is any compound that contains carbon and therefore is organic.  There are two classes of vitamins…fat soluble A, D, E and K or water soluble, B and C.
 Minerals on the other hand do not contain carbon and are what we call inorganic.  There are macro- minerals and micro-minerals.  Macro-minerals are calcium, chloride, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and sodium.  Micro-minerals are:  chromium, iron, copper, zinc, iodine, manganese, molybdenum, selenium and iron.
There are many factors that can decrease the absorption of vitamins and minerals they are:  alcohol, caffeine, antibiotics, stress, corticosteroids, aspirin, diuretics, oral contraceptives, sugar and tobacco.  Therefore if you lifestyle includes any of these factors and you are not well there could be a good chance that you are not absorbing your essential nutrients.  You will learn over the next few weeks the critical affect that each of the vitamins and mineral have over the health of your body.
This week we will be discussing Vitamin C
What it is:  Vitamin C also called ascorbic acid and is highly supplemented within our diet.
 
What is does:  Vitamin C:

Vitamin C has many functions that include but are not limited to:

Enhances the immune system

Essential for the formation of collagen

Detoxifies lead and other heavy metals from the body

Assists the liver in detoxifying

Increase absorption of Iron

Helps produce thyroid hormone

 

Foods that contain Vitamin C:

There are many foods (too many to list) that contain Vitamin C.  Vitamin C comes primarily from fruits and vegetables.  Here are a few of the more common sources of Vitamin C…

Red peppers

Green peppers

Guava

Yellow Peppers

Strawberries

 Papaya

Grapefruit

 Kiwi

Broccoli

Cauliflower

Kohlrabi

Kale

Cantaloupe

 

Caution!  Large amounts of vitamin C can be lost from cooking. 

Lori Metroka Yu

Nutrition & Wellness Specialist

 

Resource:  The power of nutrient dense food by Pattie Weller, C.C.N

Picture by:  http://www.worldcommunitycookbook.org/season/guide/photos/peppers.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Vitamin E - A Fat Soluble Vitamin

Saturday, July 10th, 2010

Over the next few weeks we will be discussing almonds_7947331Vitamins and Minerals.  We will be discussing one vitamin or mineral at a time discussing what it is, what it does and factors that affect absorption. We will also be giving you a general list of food items that contain the vitamin or mineral that we will be discussing for that week.

As a review, lets first discuss the difference between a vitamin and mineral.  A vitamin is any compound that contains carbon and therefore is organic.  There are two classes of vitamins…fat soluble A, D, E and K or water soluble, the B vitamins and C.

Minerals on the other hand do not contain carbon and are what we call inorganic.  There are macro- minerals and micro-minerals.  Macro-minerals are calcium, chloride, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and sodium.  Micro-minerals are:  chromium, iron, copper, zinc, iodine, manganese, molybdenum, selenium and iron.

There are many factors that can decrease the absorption of vitamins and minerals.  These include: alcohol, caffeine, antibiotics, stress, corticosteroids, aspirin, diuretics, oral contraceptives, sugar and tobacco.  Therefore if you lifestyle includes any of these factors and you are not well there could be a good chance that you are not absorbing your essential nutrients.  You will learn over the next few weeks the critical affect that each of the vitamins and mineral have over the health of your body.

This week we will be discussing Vitamin E

What it is:  Vitamin E is a fat soluble vitamin, meaning that Vitamin E is found in the fat tissue of plants and animals. This vitamin is a complex of eight different chemicals. Four are called tocopherols (alpha, beta, gamma and delta) and the other four are called tocotrienols (alpha, beta, gamma and delta).

Vitamin E :What it does

  • Is an antioxidant for lipids/fats
  • It has anti-clotting or blood thinning effects
  • It helps keep platelets from clumping together in blood vessels
  • It protects the skin for UV exposure
  • Anti-inflammatory
  • Increases effectiveness of white blood cells and increases resistance to disease
  • Has a protective role for vitamin A in the body

It’s important to have some healthy dietary fat intake when taking vitamin E to allow the body to absorb and utilize this Vitamin. Circumstances that reduce the Vitamin E content in food include cooking, storing, freezing, exposure to air and processing.

Foods That Contain Vitamin E:

There are many foods (too many to list) that contain Vitamin E.  Vitamin E comes primarily from nuts and seeds as well as some vegetables.  Here are a few of the more common sources of Vitamin E.

  • Wheat Germ Oil
  • Sunflower Seeds
  • Hazelnut Oil
  • Spinach
  • Almonds
  • Dandelion Greens
  • Red Peppers
  • Swiss Chard
  • Asparagus
  • Blackberries
  • Hazelnuts/Filbert
  • Kiwi
  • Broccoli

We hope this information has been helpful and you reap the benefits when adding vitamin E rich foods to your diet. If you have more specific questions or concerns please feel free to call us and set up a consultation either in person or over the phone.


Dorothy Lizak

Nutrition & Wellness Specialist


Resource:  The power of nutrient dense food by Pattie Weller, C.C.N

Photo thank you to: http://www.sott.net/image/image/s1/21896/full/almonds_794733.jpg


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You are what you eat

Saturday, June 5th, 2010

True vitaminsWould you put diesel gas in your car if it takes unleaded? We’re sure your answer to this question would be no and we’re pretty sure you all know why that wouldn’t work. So our question to you is why would you put unhealthy food in your body when it requires healthy vitamins, minerals and nutrients in order to thrive and thrive well.  Gas is the fuel your car needs to run appropriately just as healthy food is the fuel your body needs to run successfully.  So, would you believe us now if we said you are what you eat?

 
  Your body is always talking to you, giving you clues of what it likes and doesn’t like. Those headaches that you suffer from, the indigestion that you feel after a meal and those dark circles under your eyes you wake up to every morning are your body’s way to communicate to you that something you are putting into your body is something it doesn’t like.

 
When you continue to eat food that your body doesn’t like over and over again it becomes a food intolerance. A food intolerance is the inability to properly digest or fully process certain foods.  This inability to fully digest and process food can lead to chronic illness and misdiagnosed symptoms.  What is important for all of you to understand is that an intolerance can also take place from a food that is deemed healthy such as chicken, eggs, avocados etc.  One way of acquiring a food intolerance is from eating the same foods over and over.  
If you or someone you know are suffering from an illness that is not getting better, having difficulty losing weight or unexplained symptoms that bring on a malaise you may benefit from food intolerance testing.  If you would like more information about this subject call us for a consultation or join us for our upcoming lecture:  “You Are What You Eat” Saturday June 26th in our San Francisco location.   

Lori Metroka Yu

Nutrition & Wellness Specialist

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Posted in Digestive Health, Hormone Health, Nutrition Tips, Prevention information | 1 Comment »

What are Probiotics Doing in Your Digestive Tract?

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

glossary_7832By now, we’ve all heard about “friendly bacteria” and the need to include probiotics in our diets. But what exactly is “friendly bacteria” and how do you know you are getting probiotics in your diet? On January 31,2009 Dr. Mercola (www.mercola.com) posted this wonderful explanation of the importance of “friendly” bacteria in your gut, the many beneficial ways they help your body and how to get probiotics into your diet.

“Your body is loaded with bacteria, of both good and bad varieties. In fact, about 100 trillion bacteria live inside you — which is more than 10 TIMES the number of cells you have in your whole body. The ideal balance between the bacteria in your body is 85 percent good and 15 percent bad. This ratio between the “good” bacteria and the other bacteria is one of the critical factors determining your optimal health, as the good bacteria are essential for:

• The proper development of your immune system
• Protection against over-growth of other microorganisms that could cause disease
• Digestion of food and absorption of nutrients

The probiotics in your gut also play a role in helping numerous bodily functions, such as:

• Digesting and absorbing certain carbohydrates.
• Producing vitamins, absorbing minerals and eliminating toxins.
• Keeping bad bacteria under control.
• Preventing allergies. Friendly bacteria train your immune system to distinguish between pathogens and non-harmful antigens, and to respond appropriately.
• Providing vital support to your immune system. Beneficial bacteria have a lifelong, powerful effect on your gut’s immune system and your systemic immune system as well.

The microflora in your digestive system is also emerging as a major player in weight management. A baby’s gut bacteria is linked to his or her future weight, and babies that are given the best start nutritionally by being breastfed (the source of your first immune-building good bacteria) also tend to have intestinal microflora in which beneficial bifidobacteria predominate over potentially harmful bacteria.

One Washington University professor likened the functioning of this gut microflora in your body to that of an ant farm that works together as an intelligence to perform an array of functions you’re unable to manage on your own. One of those chores includes extracting calories from the foods you eat, so the microflora in your gut may play a key role in obesity.

Multiple studies have shown that obese people have different intestinal bacteria than slim people, and it appears that the microbes in an overweight body are much more efficient at extracting calories from food.”

“In the past, and to some extent still today, people used fermented foods like yogurt and sauerkraut to support their digestive health, as these foods are rich in naturally beneficial bacteria.

Fermented foods are part of nearly every traditional culture. As far back as Roman times, people ate sauerkraut because of its taste and benefits to overall health. In ancient Indian society, it became commonplace (and still is) to enjoy a before-dinner yogurt drink called a lassi.

Bulgarians are known both for their longevity and their high consumption of fermented milk and kefir. In Asian cultures, pickled fermentations of cabbage, turnips, eggplant, cucumbers, onions, squash and carrots still exist today. ”

If you were to eat a diet rich in fermented foods that have NOT been pasteurized (this will kill the probiotics), then you could likely still enjoy great digestive health.

However, if you eat a lot of processed foods or rely on mostly cooked foods, the balance of bacteria in your digestive tract will have a hard time staying optimal. Sugar is also an incredibly efficient fertilizer for growing bad bacteria and yeast in your gut, so if you indulge in a lot of it you’re fueling the bad bacteria. Likewise, stress, pollution, and taking antibiotics can further upset the balance in a negative way.

Since helpful bacteria are increasingly absent in most people’s diets, it is important to purposely include foods that contain live probiotic bacteria in your diet, or take a probiotic supplement.”

If you’d like to have your nutrition & lifestyle assessed, feel free to contact us for a complimentary consultation. We’d love to hear from you.

Dorothy Lizak

Nutrition & Wellness Specialist

References: thank you to: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/01/31/wall-street-gives-big-thumbs-up-to-good-bacteria.aspx

photo: thank you to: http://bookbuilder.cast.org/bookresources/12010/glossary_7832.jpg

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Break and Breathe: Simple Relaxation Techniques to Reduce Stress FAST

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

Many of us are constantly on the go, stress0multi-tasking our way through our day and finding ourselves feeling stressed out. If you are like so many others, your mind may be racing, your heart rate and breathing may quicken and you may have trouble concentrating and getting your work done. This probably starts making you feel badly about yourself and negative thoughts start swirling in your mind which just causes you to be more stressed. As we’ve mentioned in other blogs, stress doesn’t just affect you mind, it also negatively affects the way your body functions. It causes hormone imbalances, disrupts sleep, digestion, your immune system and has a strong correlation with medical conditions such as heart disease and depression. 

 

The next time you are feeling stressed, I want you to remember the two B’s: “Break and Breathe” and do the following.

 

1. Take a Break:

You are given breaks at work for a reason, so take them. So often we get caught up in the mindset of “I don’t have time” and work through our breaks and lunch which only leaves us burnt out, more stressed and less productive. Instead, take a time out, do some of the breathing exercises below, and you’ll probably be more productive when you get back. It’s best to leave your workspace, but if you can’t you can easily do these at your desk.

2. Breathe:

One of the easiest ways to change how your body is physically reacting to stress is through your breath. By focusing on your breathing, you are forcing your heart rate to slow down which will calm your body and mind. Here are a few breathing exercises to choose from.

     1. Close your eyes and inhale as slowly as you can and silently count “1″. Then exhale slowly and silently count “2″. On your next inhale, silently count “3″ and so on. The goal is to reach the number “20″. By this point you should notice that your breathing will be fuller and deeper, and you will be more relaxed.

     2. Close your eyes and inhale as slowly as you can. Try to prolong your inhale to the silent count of 4 seconds. When you finish inhaling, gently hold you breath for 2 seconds and slowly exhale to the silent count of 8 seconds. Repeat for a minute or longer. If you can’t control your breathing for that long, its ok to shorten the duration of inhale and exhale, just make sure your exhale is twice as long as your inhale.

   3. Close your eyes. As you slowly inhale through your nose, visualize pure white cleansing air entering and filling your entire body. As you exhale, picture the gray negative, stressed air exiting your body through your nose. Continue this process as you inhale and exhaling, replacing your stressed out body with clean, fresh air and energy.

It’s also important to remember that mental/emotional stress isn’t the only way to stress out your body. Eating the wrong kinds of foods, going to bed late, not drinking enough water, having unbalanced hormones, can induce stress on your body and cause a multitude of symptoms including low back and neck pain, PMS, irritable bowel syndrome, frequent illness, migraines, and many others. We provide nutrition and lifestyle coaching in Los Gatos and San Francisco as well as over the phone. Give us a call to learn how to get your body back in balance.

If you try these stress techniques, let us know your experience, we’d love to hear from you.

 

 

Dorothy Lizak

Nutrition & Wellness Specialist

 

References:

photo thank you to: http://www.stressrelatedillness.com/stress-management.html

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Making Change and Succeeding!

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

For this week’s blog, I wanted to share with you one of my favorite stories. It warms my heart every time I read it.

2-starfish1


The Starfish Story

Original Story by: Loren Eisley

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed
a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.

Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”

The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean.
The surf is up and the tide is going out.  If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”

“Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish?
You can’t make a difference!”

After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish,
and threw it back into the surf.  Then, smiling at the man, he said…”
I made a difference for that one.”

I love this story because it reminds me that every small act I do can have a profound effect on my life, or someone else’s. We all have the power within ourselves to make a difference and create change. Whether we realize it or not, its the little things that really make all of the difference in the world. It’s the same for nutrition and lifestyle coaching. Healthy eating, getting in shape or  losing weight doesn’t come from a magical pill or the latest fad diet, it’s comes from making small changes, one at a time, while realizing that each little step, like each little starfish going back into the ocean, is making you healthier and healthier and like the boy, celebrating those little victories with a smile as you move along your journey.

If you live in the Los Gatos or San Francisco area and are ready to begin nutrition, lifestyle or corrective exercise coaching, contact us to make an appointment for a complimentary consultation. Remember, we also provide nutrition & lifestyle coaching over the phone to our out of town community.

Season’s Greeting

Dorothy Lizak

Nutrition & Wellness Specialist

References:

http://www.starrbrite.com/starfish.html

Photo: thank you to

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Sugar, Artificial Sweeteners & Diet Sodas

Sunday, November 8th, 2009

Soda BottlesDo you know what you’re putting into your body?

As many of you know who read our blog religiously or who have used our services, Replenishing Soul is about educating you about prevention.  Whether or not you are ready to make a change in your lifestyle today, tomorrow, a year from now or never we still want to provide you with state of the art information.  We are always taking continuing education courses, reading articles and research studies to bring you up to date information before it becomes mainstream.

Typically, what we learn and have taught throughout the years we begin seeing it out in the News and the Internet about 2 years later.  In the past we have written articles on our blog and newsletters about the dangers of sugar, artificial sweeteners as well as diet sodas and many other topics. 

For this blog entry I have decided to post an article that I came across on Yahoo.   It is entitled: What Soft Drinks are doing to your body by Dr. Maoshing Ni . I wanted to post this article because it lists great information that all of you need to know and it supports what we here at Replenishing Soul have been teaching for the past several years.  I hope you enjoy this article and continue to come back to our site for state of the art healthcare information.  Please feel free to contact us with questions or comments.

Article published on Yahoo:

Soda, pop, cola, soft drink - whatever you call it, it is one of the worst beverages that you could be drinking for your health. As the debate for whether to put a tax on the sale of soft drinks continues, you should know how they affect your body so that you can make an informed choice on your own.

Soft drinks are hard on your health
Soft drinks contain little to no vitamins or other essential nutrients. However, it is what they do contain that is the problem: caffeine, carbonation, simple sugars - or worse, sugar substitutes - and often food additives such as artificial coloring, flavoring, and preservatives.

A lot of research has found that consumption of soft drinks in high quantity, especially by children, is responsible for many health problems that include tooth decay, nutritional depletion, obesity, type-2 diabetes, and heart disease.

Why the sugar in soft drinks isn’t so sweet
Most soft drinks contain a high amount of simple sugars. The USDA recommendation of sugar consumption for a 2,000-calorie diet is a daily allotment of 10 teaspoons of added sugars. Many soft drinks contain more than this amount!

Just why is too much sugar so unhealthy? Well, to start, let’s talk about what happens to you as sugar enters your body. When you drink sodas that are packed with simple sugars, the pancreas is called upon to produce and release insulin, a hormone that empties the sugar in your blood stream into all the tissues and cells for usage. The result of overindulging in simple sugar is raised insulin levels. Raised blood insulin levels beyond the norm can lead to depression of the immune system, which in turn weakens your ability to fight disease.

Something else to consider is that most of the excess sugar ends up being stored as fat in your body, which results in weight gain and elevates risk for heart disease and cancer. One study found that when subjects were given refined sugar, their white blood cell count decreased significantly for several hours afterwards. Another study discovered that rats fed a high-sugar diet had a substantially elevated rate of breast cancer when compared to rats on a regular diet.

The health effects of diet soda
You may come to the conclusion that diet or sugar-free soda is a better choice. However, one study discovered that drinking one or more soft drinks a day - and it didn’t matter whether it was diet or regular - led to a 30% greater chance of weight gain around the belly.

Diet soda is filled with artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose, or saccharin. These artificial sweeteners pose a threat to your health. Saccharin, for instance, has been found to be carcinogenic, and studies have found that it produced bladder cancer in rats.

Aspartame, commonly known as nutrasweet, is a chemical that stimulates the brain to think the food is sweet. It breaks down into acpartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol at a temperature of 86 degrees. (Remember, your stomach is somewhere around 98 degrees.) An article put out by the University of Texas found that aspartame has been linked to obesity. The process of stimulating the brain causes more cravings for sweets and leads to carbohydrate loading.

Carbonation depletes calcium
Beverages with bubbles contain phosphoric acid, which can severely deplete the blood calcium levels; calcium is a key component of the bone matrix. With less concentration of calcium over a long time, it can lower deposition rates so that bone mass and density suffer. This means that drinking sodas and carbonated water increases your risk of osteoporosis.

Add in the caffeine usually present in soft drinks, and you are in for even more trouble. Caffeine can deplete the body’s calcium, in addition to stimulating your central nervous system and contributing to stress, a racing mind, and insomnia.
 
Skip the soda and go for:Water is a vital beverage for good health. Each and every cell needs water to perform its essential functions. Since studies show that tap water is filled with contaminants, antibiotics, and a number of other unhealthy substances, consider investing in a quality carbon-based filter for your tap water. To find out more about a high-performance filtration system, click here.

 

On the go? Try using a stainless steel thermos or glass bottle, filled with filtered water. Enhance the flavor of your water with a refreshing infusion of basil, mint leaves, and a drop of honey.

If you are a juice drinker, try watering down your juice to cut back on the sugar content. Buy a jar of organic 100% juice, especially cranberry, acai, pomegranate, and then dilute three parts filtered water to one part juice. You will get a subtle sweet taste and the benefit of antioxidants. After a couple of weeks, you will no longer miss the sweetness of sugary concentrated juices.

  • Fruit Juice

 

Tea gently lifts your energy and has numerous health benefits. Black, green, white, and oolong teas all contain antioxidant polyphenols. In fact, tea ranks as high or higher than many fruits and vegetables on the ORAC scale, the score that measures antioxidant potential of plant-based foods.

  • Tea

 

Herbal tea does not have the same antioxidant properties, though it is still a great beverage choice with other health benefits, such as inducing calming and relaxing effects.

If tea doesn’t satisfy your sweet tooth, try adding cinnamon or a little honey, which has important health benefits that refined sugar lacks. For a selection of healthy teas that promote total body wellness, click here. Drink up!

I hope you find the ways and means to avoid soft drinks. I invite you to visit often and share your own personal health and longevity tips with me.

May you live long, live strong, and live happy!

–Dr. Mao

 

Resource: http://health.yahoo.com/experts/drmao/20270/what-soft-drinks-are-doing-to-your-body/

Lori Metroka

Nutrition & Wellness Specialist

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