Helpful Cleanse Hints

The cleanse is already almost half over!  In many ways, it seems to be going by quite fast this year!  All of my suppers so far have been simple suppers - tonight I had Lemon Quinoa from Kris Carr's new book Crazy Sexy Juice.  It was quick to prepare and delicious!  The book contains loads of great juice, smoothie, and nut milk recipes, as well as some solid food recipes, and is well worth picking up.

Some strategies to make the cleanse a bit easier and a bit more supportive include:
1.  Drink at least 2 litres of water per day - this helps to properly hydrate the body, support the liver in cleansing out toxins more effectively, and helps out with food cravings that can occur especially at the start of the cleanse.
2.  Add a fresh squeezed lemon to one of the glasses of water - this offers further liver cleansing support.
3.  Focus on liver friendly vegetables which includes beets, carrots, leafy greens (kale, collards, chard), brassica vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, cabbage) - this further supports healthy liver cleansing.
4.  If craving/missing sweets, have a variety of fresh fruit options to choose from - the fruit can help satisfy some of the sweet cravings.
5.  Prepare snacks ahead of time - this can include fresh fruit, small servings of raw and unsalted nuts and seeds, cut up raw vegetables, bean dips.
6.  Try vegetables you wouldn't normally eat - this expands the food variety and can help make missing the foods that have been removed from the cleanse a bit easier/a bit less obvious.  For the cleanse this year, I have had acorn squash, bok choy, green beans, and golden beets, in addition to the regular vegetables I eat.
7.  Make extra when you do cook - I have leftovers every day for lunch to simplify things.   As well, so far on this cleanse, I have been cooking primarily only every second day because of extra food from the previous night's supper.  This greatly reduces the amount of time required and the overwhelm around preparing food for the cleanse.
8.  Try making a green smoothie for breakfast - it is an easy and quick breakfast solution and is a great way to start the day.  The smoothie I have each morning is made up of 1 green apple, 2 inches of cucumber, 1 cup of chard, 2 tbsp of hemp seeds, 1 tbsp of cashew butter, 1 tbsp of coconut oil, 3/4 cup of water.  From start to end of clean up, it takes approximately 10 minutes to make.
9.  Integrate avocado and coconut oil if missing the higher fat foods that are removed on the cleanse - both of these foods are rich in saturated fat and can help a person to feel more full.

Breast Cancer Risk and PREDIMED participants

An article by Jacob Schor in the November 2015 issue of the Natural Medicine Journal discusses breast cancer risk amongst the female participants of the Prevencion con Dieta Mediterranea (PREDIMED) study.  
This 2003-2009 Spanish study involved over 4,200 women (between the ages of 60 and 80 years, average age 67.7 years) who were at high risk for cardiovascular disease.  
The participants were divided into 3 groups:  1 group that ate a Mediterranean Diet (MD) and 2 ounces of extra virgin olive oil per day, 1 group that ate a Mediterranean Diet (MD) and 30 g of walnuts, almonds, and hazelnuts per day, and the control group that ate a low fat diet. 
The primary reason for this study was to gather information around diet and cardiovascular risk/concerns, but it was also analyzed for breast cancer incidence amongst participants (with no previous history of breast cancer).  
The participants who ate the MD + olive oil were found to have 68% lower risk of malignant breast cancer than the participants who ate the control diet.  There was no significant risk reduction between the participants who ate the MD + nuts and the participants who ate the control diet.  

This information from this study provides another good reason to ensure that we have healthy fats, specifically olive oil, integrated into our regular routine. 

Protein Requirements In Pregnancy

An article by Kaycie Rosen Grigel in the August 2015 edition of the Natural Medicine Journal looks at protein requirements during pregnancy.  The article looks at a study by Stephens et al. that was published in the September 2014 edition of The Journal of Nutrition.  
The study involved 29 pregnant women who were assessed for optimal dietary protein intake (as measured by Indicator Amino Acid Oxidation (IAAO) technique).  Some of participants did early gestation dietary testing only, some did late gestation dietary testing only, and some did both.  
Through the IAAO technique, it was found that the optimal protein intake during early gestation was 1.22 g/kg per day and the optimal protein intake during late gestation was 1.52 g/kg per day.  
The authors of the study note that the current Estimated Average Requirement for protein in pregnancy is .88 g/kg per day and that the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) is 1.1 g/kg per day - both of these are lower than what the study found, especially during later pregnancy.  Protein intake has a huge impact on both healthy pregnancy and baby's long term health and the information from this study provides excellent updated guidelines on what women could be aiming for, protein intake wise, both in early and later pregnancy.

Curcumin and PMS

An article by Paul Richard Saunders in the December 2015 issue of the Natural Medicine Journal looks at the impact of curcumin supplementation (which is an extract derived from turmeric) on pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS).  The article looks at a study by Khayat et al. that was published in the Complementary Therapies in Medicine Journal in 2015.  
The study involved 70 (63 at completion) female university students (ages 18-34 years) with PMS (based on having at least 5 of the 19 symptoms required for the DMS-IV diagnosis of PMS).  
The participants rated their mood based, physical based, and behavioural based symptoms for 2 cycles prior to beginning the study and again after their first, second, and third cycles during the study.  
Half of the participants received 100 mg of curcumin every 12 hours from 7 days prior to their period starting until day 3 of their cycle and the other half were dosed with a placebo during this same time.  
The participants who dosed the curcumin had significant decreases in all 3 groups (mental, physical, and behavioural based) of PMS symptom scores.   The placebo group saw a physical based score decrease, but no significant change in their behavioural or mood based scores.  
This study provides great insight into another form of support we can consider for the emotional and physical fluctuations we may experience as we lead up to our menstrual period. 

A recent article by Kurt Beil in the November 2015 edition of the Natural Medicine Journal looks at the impact walking in nature versus walking in the city can have on mental rumination.  The article looks at a small group field study (38 people, average age 26 years) that took place in Palo Alto, California.  

Half of the participants did a 5.3 km walk on their own in the city and the other half in a nature park.    Participants completed a questionnaire (measuring mental rumination) and an MRI both before and after the walk.  The MRI specifically measured subgenual prefrontal cortex neural activity - increased activity in this area is seen with sadness, social withdrawal, and negative self reflection all of which are linked to rumination.    

Interestingly, post walk, the nature park walking participants were found to have significantly lower questionnaire scores (indicating less rumination) and significantly decreased activity on MRI than they did pre walk.  In comparison, the city walking participants' questionnaire scores and MRI activity were unchanged from post walk to pre walk.

I do think walking anywhere brings positive benefits to us on many levels, but this study highlights the importance of aiming to include nature based walks in our regular routine as well.  As a city dog walker, most of my walking is in the neighbourhood I live in, but with the info from this study, I am hoping to go for nature walks on a more regular basis as well in 2016.  

Happy 2016!

With the start of another new year begins the start of another January cleanse for me!  I initially started doing a cleanse for the month of January in 2001, so it is a long standing ritual.  I like the simplicity, grounding, and support the cleanse offers after a busy holiday season and for me, it feels like a perfect way to welcome and prepare for the new year.  A cleanse cultivates space within to tune into messages our body is happy to share - when we take our diet down to the basics, there is less clutter and less noise within allowing us to listen more carefully.  Each year I do the cleanse, I learn something new and I try to carry forward this learning into the rest of the year.
On a regular basis, I don't have meat, dairy, eggs, alcohol, caffeinated drinks, or refined sugar in my diet.  During the cleanse, I also remove gluten, soy, nightshade vegetables (eggplant, peppers, potatoes, tomatoes), chocolate, and unrefined sweeteners.   The first few days are always hard, but then it does become easier!  There are many different cleanse variations - this is the one that works for me and for others, different/additional foods may need to be removed.
This year, I am also hoping to read more, get more sleep, and do more yoga during the cleanse.
As usual, I will also aim to do more regular blog posts during the month of January - cleanse or general naturopathic information related.
Sending wishes to all for a new year that is filled with continued learning, growth, fun, and self care and love.

Alzheimer's Disease Webinar Summary

I recently 'attended' a webinar presented by Lynne Shinto N.D. M.P.H on The Vascular Components of Alzheimer's Disease. Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia that sees changes in behaviour, daily activities, and memory, that progressively worsen over time. 

My grandma was diagnosed with dementia several years ago - I spend each Friday afternoon with her and it is a (sometimes very challenging) highlight of my week.  

I am always interested in learning more about dementia/AD and here is a summary of some of the interesting info that the teacher shared during the webinar:

1.  Prior to age 65, systolic blood pressure lower than 150 reduces the risk of developing AD. Interestingly though, after age 65, hypotension/low blood pressure can actually contribute to the development of AD, so having a slightly elevated systolic blood pressure (135 -150) actually reduces AD risk. The 2013 Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure recommends adults over the age of 60 should aim for a blood pressure measurement of 150/90 and adults age 60 and below should aim for 140/90 at the highest.

2.  Vitamin B12 deficiency needs to be ruled out when people are showing signs of AD. It is recommended to treat with B12 supplementation when the B12 blood level is lower than 400 pg/ml.

3.  On MRI, people with AD have significantly smaller brains than people without AD (the hippocampus and temporal lobes are especially impacted).   A study done with 120 AD free seniors who participated in a moderate intensity walking group (versus the control group who performed only stretching) over 1 year were found to have increased brain size and improved cognitive scores over their baseline testing.

4.  A study by Dyksen et al. published in JAMA in 2014 found that participants with mild to moderate AD who were being treated with Alzheimer's prescription medications that added 2000 IU of vitamin E to their daily routine found a 6.2 month delay in activities of daily life decline and an approximately 2 hour less requirement of caregiver time per day in comparison to placebo.

5.  A study by Valis-Pedret et al. published in JAMA Internal Medicine in 2015 found participants following a Mediterranean based diet supplemented with additional olive oil or additional nuts were shown to have improved cognitive function over 4 years.  

6.  A study by Bowman et al. published in Neurology in 2012 found that higher blood levels of vitamins B, C, D, E were associated with better global cognitive function and higher total brain volume, higher blood levels of trans fats were associated with worse global cognitive function and lower total brain volume, and higher blood levels of omega 3 fatty acids were associated with better executive function.

This helpful information highlighted during the webinar provides excellent practical suggestions we can all work on to support our overall cognitive health.