Natural Health Tips

DECEMBER 15, 2018

This may seem like the most appropriate and equally worst time to hear this from me. But we have a holiday bustle that seems to begin early September and escalate in pace as the year comes to a close. The word “YES” becomes an auto-pilot response as activities increase and we begin accepting invitations, coordinating more events and taking on additional commitments.

Here are a couple of consumable tips you’ve heard before, in numerous different ways, and have even put a reminder on your calendar to remember to put these in to practice, right?! But these important pearls bear repeating and maintaining at the top of our minds, all year round.

Be mindful and in the moment.  Rushing through the season isn’t fun or healthy! Be mindful of over-scheduling. Prioritize what really matters and make time to enjoy holiday traditions or create new ones. And remember that you may define a priority differently than others – no apologies necessary!

STOP doing something you don’t like.  Over-scheduled, over-obligated, over-committed– our plates are simply too full. If you are struggling with finding time for self-care (and it takes a lot of time!), start with figuring out what you can let go of.  Learn to say no without explanation or apology.  Practice a simple phrase such as “I wish I could, but I can’t. I’ll let you know if something changes.”  Responding like this prevents repeat requests and avoids getting snarled in white lies. And it may just get you out of that holiday party you were guilting yourself in to!

When you take care of yourself and set healthy limits, you will be better able to enjoy quality spare moments even if the quantity isn’t there. You’ll also be better able to give to those who are your priority, more fully, than when you are depleted. And for those of you with little eyes watching, you have an opportunity to model behaviors that can be passed on for generations. 

Be kind to yourself, give yourself some grace….and decide,with intention, what it is you will release

MAY 16, 2019

Sleep is a surprising complex process, regulated by our thoughts, hormones (such as melatonin), and environment (such as light exposure). There are many reasons behind poor sleep: bedtime habits, medical conditions, emotional states, age, shift-work, and neurotransmitter imbalances, to name just a few!

Sleep difficulties can occur at different phases of the sleep cycle. Some people have difficulty falling asleep or simply don’t get enough hours of rest. Others have difficulty remaining asleep or sleep very lightly. If you don’t spend adequate time during the night in deep sleep, you don’t wake refreshed. Some common sleep-disrupters and ways to change them Caffeine. Avoid caffeine after 2pm. If you are a slow metabolizer, eliminate it entirely. Nicotine. If you smoke, let us help you quit. Nicotine stimulates the brain in ways that make it difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep. Non-smokers have fewer sleep problems than smokers. Alcohol. Although alcohol in the evening may seem like it helps you fall asleep, it actually disrupts your sleep. Alcohol can cause waking, nightmares, and poor quality sleep. Exercise. This is a proven way to increase high quality deep sleep in the elderly. Exercise during the day promotes good sleep; exercising close to bedtime may be too stimulating. Electronic devices & screens: the blue light from our computers, tablets and phones has been proven to disrupt melatonin release. Prevent this by using your device’s night settings, or download f.lux to modify your screen color: https://justgetflux.com/ Environment. The bedroom should be quiet, dark, and soothing. Improve your sleep environment with heavy curtains, cool temperatures, dim lights, and quiet. If the room is too noisy, consider a background white noise generator which plays monotonous soothing sounds such as ocean waves or classical music.

The good news is that there are many things to help get your sleep schedule back on track!

Regular sleep schedules. Try to go to bed at the same time and get out of bed at the same time every day. If you take naps, it to 1 hour in the early afternoon. If possible, avoid shift work. Bedtime Rituals. Doing hectic computer work or watching an exciting movie right before bed makes the transition to sleep more difficult. Adopt a regular pattern of slowing down to help you get ready for bed. Sip chamomile tea and read a quiet book for a few minutes. Take a tepid bath (not too hot or cold). Do some deep breathing exercises or relaxation exercises. THEN get into bed when you are feeling calm and drowsy. Yoga and Yoga Nidra. Do a few restorative poses; forward bends and legs-up-the-wall are especially calming. Yoga Nidra is a guided meditation that leads you through progressive muscle relaxation into the deepest state of meditation while maintaining conscious. You can find many recordings on U-tube & Apps. Take something {temporarily}. Sustained release melatonin replaces deficiencies in the body’s own sleep hormone. It is non-addictive but dosing is very individualized. Kava is a heavy-hitting botanical that relaxes the body and mind. CBD works for many. Magnesium citrate, especially forms buffered with bicarbonate, improves sleep, muscle tension, and bowel movement. Progesterone is calming; if used, it should be taken before bed.

We’ve been talking about food sensitivities. The science, the testing options, and here, the “Gold Standard” prove-it-to-yourself Elimination & Re-challenge experiment. No science or testing can ever trump the wisdom of learning to listen to your body and responding by giving it what it needs for optimum health. Plan on 6-8 weeks total for this experiment.

First is a 4 week “Elimination Phase” during which you remove certain foods, and food categories, from your diet. We recommend starting with a food sensitivity blood test, but you can also start with your own list of questionable foods or the most common allergens. The most common foods that cause symptoms for N. Americans are wheat, dairy, soy, egg, corn, and citrus.

Eliminate the foods from your diet for a month, if your symptoms improve during the four week period, you’ll carefully add foods back into your diet one at a time to see which foods may be triggering symptoms. Most often, individuals on the elimination diet report increased energy, mental alertness, decrease in muscle or joint pain, and a general sense of improved well-being. Many people lose weight. However, some people report some initial reactions to the diet, especially in the first week. This can include caffeine withdrawal headaches and other “Herxheimer-type” reactions. These are hangover-like symptoms as the body metabolizes accumulated antigen. Symptoms you may experience in the first week can include changes in sleep patterns, lightheadedness, headaches, joint or muscle stiffness and changes in gastrointestinal function. If you are working with a doctor on your health, s/he will want to see you at the end of the month to evaluate the changes in your health.

📷Next, is the “Challenge Phase” during which foods are systematically added back into the diet and careful notes are made about the appearance of any symptoms. It’s best to keep a journal to track your symptoms. You will introduce a new food every 48 hours, assuming you feel well. Here’s the general process: select the food you want to challenge. Eat the test food at least twice a day and in a fairly large amount. Often an offending food will provoke symptoms quickly—within in 10 minutes to 12 hours. Signs to look for include: headache, itching, bloating, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, diarrhea, indigestion, anal itching, sleepy 30 minutes after a meal, flushing, rapid heartbeat. Sometime you won’t notice symptoms until the next morning: puffy eyes, can’t get out of bed, brain-fog, more typing errors. If you are unsure, take the food back out of your diet for at least one week and try it again. Be sure to test foods in a pure form: for example test milk or cheese or wheat, but not macaroni and cheese that contains milk, cheese and wheat!

If you find that you have symptoms after eating some foods, it is not a death sentence! Your experience during the Elimination & Challenge diet is information and with it, you are empowered to choose what you want to eat and how you want to feel. Sometimes, sharing a piece of birthday cake with someone special is completely worth gas, bloating and baggy eyes! For people whose food sensitivities are related to intestinal permeability or inflammation, they may be able to incorporate small amounts of reactive foods in 4-6 months, after they have healed their digestive system. People who have auto-immune cross-reactions to foods should minimize exposure their whole lives.Ideally, you eliminate all sources of potentially reactive foods which means you need to read all labels carefully to find hidden allergens. However, life happens – people forget to tell you what ingredients they used, waiters are wrong, etc. Don’t sweat it – do the best you can. If you are exposed to a lot of allergens, you may want to extend the Elimination Phase a little longer.Eat a wide variety of foods and do not try to restrict your calorie intake. Use the opportunity to try new ingredients and venture into new ethnic restaurants; this is a journey of self-exploration and discovery!

Most people intuitively appreciate that there is a connection between what we eat and how we feel. I have witnessed this in probably thousands of patients and in myself. Personally, I know if I eat a lot of gluten, I’ll get puffy eyes, dark circles, and feel fatigued. I also know that if I eat tomato & pepper-filled Italian sauce for dinner my joints will be stiff due to accumulation of solanines. Nightshade family vegetables have a lot of this phytochemical and irritates joints, but it isn’t a true “allergy”. The fact that some people have sensitivities to some foods just makes sense. Yet, when we talk about food sensitivities, medically-speaking, the topic becomes a hotbed of critiques on the science. So what’s the deal – science or old wive’s tale? And it is just your imagination, is it becoming more and more common?

📷“Food allergies” is a label that covers many different physiologic phenomena, ranging from the classical IgE-mediated immune reaction (anaphylaxis) to deficiency of lactase enzyme termed lactose intolerance. There are people who have frank celiac disease; characterized by autoimmune attack and destruction of the cilia of the intestines. And there are people who have a different type problem with gluten characterized by an enzyme deficiency (DPP-4, specifically) that prevents them from breaking down proteins in gluten. While immunologically, these conditions have different causes and may have different symptoms, both people will be healthier if they follow a gluten-free diet. So will people who have other types of immune reactions which could include IgG antibodies to gluten-related molecules, like wheat bran. Additionally, immune reactions can occur to patient’s own tissues, such as their cerebellum, because of auto-immune cross-reactivity with gliadin antigen (Datis Kharrazian, DC has expertly summarized this body of research). All of these phenomena can be labeled “food allergies” and can be tested for, albeit with varying degrees of predictive power. I’ll review the testing options specifically for Celiac and gluten in a future blog.

So, where should one start if they want more information about foods they may be potentially sensitive to? Three major options exist: get tested for immune-mediated food sensitivities with a blood test, get tested for non-specific food intolerances with a electrodermal bioimpedance system, or conduct your own experiment with an Elimination and Re-Challenge process. Here are some of the pros and cons of each.

Blood tests for food sensitivities typically cover a panel of 50-150 different foods and test for immunologic reactions, specifically whether your white blood cells produce IgE, IgG, or IgA in response to exposure to the food antigen. You can read about the scientific differences between these types of antibodies here, but the short of it is this:

IgE antibodies trigger immediate anaphylactic-type reactions through triggering the release of histamine from mast cells. Anti-histamines, like Benadryl or an Epi-Pen stop these reactions. Bioflavonoids like quercetin, hesperidin, and vitamin C reduce the mast cell reactivity. More on treating food sensitivities later.IgA antibodies are primarily located in mucosal tissue, like the digestive system and genitourinary tract. Having a strong localized IgA response to prevent bacteria or viruses from colonizing our systems, but having a localized response to a food particle doesn’t necessarily make sense.IgG antibodies are the most common ones in the body and take care of most of our immune responses, to viruses, bacteria, mutant cells, food particles, and sometimes to our own tissues (like in auto-immune disease). These are also called delayed-immune responses because it takes the body 24-72 hours to make sufficient IgG to respond to the invader.

Depending on your symptoms, you and your doctor may want to test for different types of Ig responses. If your symptoms are non-specific, a comprehensive IgG food panel is a good place to start.

However, I always advise my patients that test results are just information. Using the results from the testing, it is best to proceed to a month-long elimination of the reactive foods. See how you feel. Without constantly introducing foods that cause the immune system to produce antibodies, the immune system can quiet down and symptoms typically improve. After a month, you may want to conduct the Re-Challenge phase of the experiment. More on that later.

July 10, 2019

Here’s another of my favorite “dessert for breakfast” recipes! These chocolate muffins/cupcakes are filled with fiber-ful beets. Along with a bonus serving of veggies, you’ll get compliments on the rich, moist flavor of these little guys!

Wet ingredients

2c boiled/roasted beets, rubbed of their skins and very soft (about 2 beets) 2 eggs 1/2c raw sugar 1t vanilla 1/4c coconut oil or butter. Mix very well with a hand mixer or in the food processor until light and fluffy

Add Dry stuff

2/3c each sorghum flour, rice flour, and tapioca flour (or 2c premixed GF baking mix or 1c wheat flour)1/2 tsp xanthan gum (skip if using baking mix or wheat flour)1/3c cocoa powder 2 t baking powder 1 t baking soda 1/2t salt. Mix together and add to beets, then add 1/2c chocolate chips 1 T to 1/2c water/almond milk to make the batter the consistency like cake mix.

Spoon into lined a cupcake pan (I like the little tiny bite-sized muffin pans). Fill cups generously (makes 12 normal sized cupcakes or 24 tiny ones). Bake at 350 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Don’t overbake.

To make them cupcakes, top with a cocoa cream cheese frosting. Note: the red from the beets will bleed into the frosting if you make a normal white cream cheese frosting. Just so you know – you might not care!

Knowledge and Resources to help you make good decisions about sun exposure.

My relationship with sunscreen is complex. My happiest moments involve playing outside in the sunshine – sailing, skiing, hiking, and yes, sometimes simply laying out on the beach or by a pool. I hate the feel of most sunscreen – greasy, hot – and I swear, the only times I seem to burn is when I’m using sunscreen! And then there’s the vitamin D dilemma. I’d much rather recommend 20 minutes of playing in the sun to correct a vitamin D deficiency (and perhaps a deficiency of fun) over taking a pill. (Side note – we published some pioneering vitamin D research back in the day which lead to tighter label dose reporting and safer products for everyone – link here if you are curious).

My personal sunburn prevention strategy has always involved maintaining a “healthy base tan” plus good hydration, high oral intake of antioxidants, and minimal application of nontoxic low SPF (Sun Protection Factor) sunscreen. Maintaining a base tan ensures the melanocytes are active and primed to make melanin. What is the definition of base tan? It means getting regular (at least weekly) sun exposure to ensure the melanocytes in the epidermis are primed and activated to produce melanin, the substance that gives skin its pigment. Melanin is also ultimately our own UV defense. Increasing the concentration of antioxidants in the epidermis also improves our own UV defense, which is why oral antioxidants found in whole foods contribute. Fortunately, summer’s bounty provides many of the best sources of these orange-yellow pigments – tomatoes, red & yellow peppers are but a few. Other antioxidant can be found in other oral and topical solutions and help prevent skin cancer (studies here). For example, nicotinamide , one of my favorites, “enhances DNA repair, reduces UV radiation-induced suppression of skin immune responses, modulates inflammatory cytokine production and skin barrier function and restores cellular energy levels after UV exposure.” (studies here)

Another botanical antioxidant bears mentioning for its skin protective benefits; hemp and the constituent CBD. The benefits are likely multifactorial. CBD itself has been shown to have powerful anti-inflammatory benefits through transdermal absorption. Furthermore, it has demonstrated anti-cancer effects, specifically against all types of skin cancer cells.

Yet, my personal sun protection strategy still includes a low SPF sunscreen lotion, especially when sun exposure is long and combined with dehydration like when I race sailboats every Wednesday evening! So why do I prefer a lower SPF? Higher SPF products don’t necessarily offer great protection; sometimes they just have higher chemical concentrations. SPF indicates how much longer you can stay in the sun without getting burned. For example, if you normally burn in 10 minutes, and you apply SPF 30, you’d burn in 300 minutes. The catch, however, is that most products degrade (or get washed or sweated away) within 2 hours. Thus, despite the SPF rating, manufacturers recommend re-applying every 2 hours. The FDA has discouraged SPF claims greater than 50 as these are misleading and not safer. The Environmental Working Group (“EWP”)is a fantastic organization and they have compiled a database to help you check the safety of your skincare products. They’ve also written a nice review of traditional sunscreen ingredients.

Another very important consideration when choosing a sunscreen product is to ensure that is safe for the oceans. Oxybenzone and Octinoxate are two of the most common sunscreen ingredients and they are believed to have contributed to the massive coral bleaching worldwide. In fact, they are being banned from Hawaii. Other common chemical additives, such as parabens, have well known endocrine disrupting and carcinogenic effects. There is absolutely no reason for a skincare product to include these risky chemicals when there are safer, equally effective options available. Not sure what’s in your products? Check the EWG database.

So, in my opinion, the perfect sunscreen doesn’t yet exist. I recently dug into the science and attempted to make one myself – with the help of some very talented chemists and pharmacists! Last week, I got to share the beta product formula with a few friends at the beach and on the boat, and I am excited by their reactions – both their feedback and how their skin looked after a few hours in the sun. While the products aren’t quite ready to buy, I wanted to make sure everyone knows about some resources where you can get accurate information about the confusing, potentially toxic landscape of sunscreen so you can protect yourself.

If you overdo it and get burned, it is important to stop the burn immediately. Just like burning your finger on the stove, the burning/tissue damage doesn’t stop until you cool it down. Get out of the sun as soon as you realize you are red. Cool down in the water, get in the shade, and use multiple applications of aloe in the first few hours following a burn. Make sure to rehydrate the skin before going to bed using a rich emollient lotion.

See you out in the sun!

We all know Cold & Flu season is upon us. Here are some great ideas for coping while you wait for a virus to pass. Of course, give us a call if you feel it may be something more serious as indicated by persistent symptoms such as prolonged fever, difficulty breathing, inability to eat or drink or keep food and water down.

Honey Ginger Hot Lemonade

1 lemon 1” ginger, grated 1 T honey (yes, Tablespoon) ½ tsp cayenne/red pepper (optional)

Boiling water

Either throw it all in a high-power blender or juice/grate ginger by hand. Drink 3 cups/day. Gargle with it if your throat is sore. Buying a jar of Knudsen’s or TJ’s Honey-Ginger-Echinacea lemonade works equally well!

Wet Sock Treatment

It sounds crazy but I promise, it really drains congestion overnight!

Materials needed: Hot, steamy shower

1 pair of thin cotton socks – wet, ring out well, and put in freezer

1 pair of dry thick wool socks

Procedure: Take a hot steamy shower – you want to come out pink! Dry off, especially your hair.

Get ready for bed with lots of blankets, water/tea by the bed

Get icy cotton socks out of the freezer and put on feet.

Pull dry wool socks over the top of the cotton socks.

Go to bed with socks on.

Rationale: This is known as a “heating compress” meaning that it’s up to the body to heat the cold wet socks. The body does this by dramatically increasing blood circulation which also activates the immune system. This is the best treatment for early onset of a cold or flu.

Immune Boosters

Emergen-C packets (or other vitamin C): 3-5000mg/day (3 packets/day)

Probiotics: best results with lactobacillus & bifidus species at doses of 5-10 billion organisms/day

Vitamin D: 10,000 IU/day or have your blood levels checked

N-Acetyl Cysteine: 600mg 2X/day. Immune booster plus thins mucus to clear out stuffed sinuses

10,000 IU Vitamin A 3X/day. Do not use if pregnant or use for longer than 2 weeks without ND supervision

Zinc 15-30mg/day. Do not use for longer than 2 weeks without ND supervision

Umcka (pelargonium): many flavors, many forms – your choice!

Diet Recommendations

No sugar! Unless it’s in the form of a whole fruit. Sugar inhibits the immune system.

Eat lightly: choose simple high nutrient density foods. Mung beans and rice, vegetable soup, quinoa porridge

Watch your electrolytes: stay well hydrated with herbal teas, lemonade, and mineral water

One last heartfelt reminder for February! February is American Heart Month, which is all about raising awareness of heart health. We’d like to take this moment to send some love to the sisterhood, as women don’t get nearly the cardiovascular attention they deserve, especially in light of statistics that indicate it is the leading cause of mortality among women. We’re also sending some love to all the heart-full men that stand beside and behind women.

Did you know that expressing and experiencing love is actually healing to the heart? Decades ago, Dean Ornish first demonstrated that heart disease could be reversed with a lifestyle program that included healthy eating, yoga & exercise, processing emotions and getting support from a group. Years later, after getting tired of everyone asking which component was most important, they published a study emphasizing the synergistic power of doing all those things, and shared that statistical analysis suggested the giving and receiving of love in the group was probably key.

For this week’s Tuesday Tip, we challenge you to share the love. Smile at the clerk, help an elderly person, let someone go in front of you. The love you give will come back many-fold, and you’ll be helping your heart!

Taking a walk in nature, or by the ocean may have immune benefits beyond filling your lungs with fresh air! We’ve all experienced it; that sense of rejuvenation and awakening that comes with taking a walk outside. Turns out, it’s more than the lack of pollution, invigorating breeze, or the pleasant aroma of spring blossoms. According researcher Michael Moore, some of the phytochemicals from plants are airborne and when we inhale them, they inhibit some of the cytokines associated with an overblown immune response. Specially, he says

“The “biogenics” hypothesis formulated here is that regular intermittent exposure to a mixture of airborne biogenic compounds in natural environments confers pleiotropic health benefits by inhibiting activities of the highly interconnected PI3K/Akt/mTORC1 system.”

In English,that means low, regular doses of nature and the phytochemicals released from trees and plants can help keep our immune systems in balance.

Even in this time of increased caution, we can get outside. A mask is required only if you are at risk of being within 6 feet of a non household member. If you can, go somewhere where you can walk without a mask on. But if that isn’t possible, go with your mask on. Get your feet in some sand and some sun on your face. Strengthen your legs with a hike on one of our open, beautiful trails.

Further, time in nature is a powerful way to reduce stress. As most of you know, stress and the cortisol it produces, are inhibitors of the immune system. In an elegant experiment conducted by a colleague of mine, he quantified that exposure to nature, even as minimal as an outdoor mall, resets our cortisol levels within minutes. This is what he did: he exposed healthy, consenting volunteers to known stressors such as math tests and public speaking and measured their cortisol levels before and after. Then he randomized them to “recovery options” – watching traffic, or a leafy pedestrian mall, or opening the back door of his lab and letting them go outside. The people exposed to nature recovered from the stressor very quickly – within 5-7 minutes!

I think it’s safe to say everyone is feeling some extra stress these days, so do yourself a two-fold favor. Get outside! Stroll past the gardens in your neighborhood or along an open wooded trail and inhale those phytochemicals Sit on your balcony or in your yard. Breath the fresh air (of course, from a healthy distance from others) and enjoy the moment, and know that you are taking care of your immune system and lowering cortisol.

One of the upsides of sheltering in place is that we are all cooking more. Home-cooked food is associated with better diet quality, but you probably don’t need a research study to convince you of that! It is also great for the budget. This 2017 study found frequent home cooking was linked with reduced per capita food expenditures overall ($330/month among low vs $273/month among high cooking group, p<0.001) (Am J Prev Med 2017, PMID 28256283). I love cooking, and I’m enjoying having some time to get back into it. I find it to be one of my favorite mindfulness practices…observing the aromas and tastes of the individual ingredients, turning the spice rack and pondering what combination will enhance the main ingredients. I also love to get creative with ways to modify recipes to make them a little healthier. A easy place to start is with reducing the sweeteners; you can almost always get away with 1/3 to 1/2 less sweetener in a baking recipe without compromising the texture or the flavor. I also love to find ways to incorporate additional veggies into unexpected places. For example, this beet chocolate muffin recipe! Here’s one that I tried this morning – I think you’ll love it too! https://www.occasionallyeggs.com/chocolate-beet-muffins/

(Note, this is already pretty minimal on the sweetener, and it uses coconut sugar which has the lowest glycemic load of any sugar, so I made it as is! Regular flour, or a gluten-free blend substitute just fine too.)

Send a picture of your latest creation to manager@drericaoberg.com and we will post it on social media! Or go ahead and post on my facebook page @DrEricaOberg or Instagram @dr.ericasoffice. Bon Appetite!