Spice up Your Life With Turmeric

womentowomen on October 23, 2015

By now you know how important I believe food is to health and healing. Food is something I discuss with virtually every patient I see at Women to Women. Finding the right balance of high quality proteins, slow-release carbohydrates and healthy fats — and knowing which ones are the best to choose — is something we all need to understand in order to get and stay healthy.

I encourage my patients to experiment and to try new grains, vegetables and other ingredients. We need to eat the rainbow of fruits and vegetables, selecting options in each color to get the best nutritional support but yet often, we stick to the few things we know and love.

That’s probably because it’s easy, safe and familiar; it may feel too risky to take a chance on something new for dinner.

What if you cook it and no one likes it? Or you order it and pay all that money only to leave the restaurant still hungry (or worse yet, fill up on dessert because dinner wasn’t quite to your taste). But taking risks in life can pay off big time and trying a new food is a small way to change things up, escape your daily routine, and at the same time, improve your health.

You may not be able to travel to India or China tonight, where food has been used medicinally for thousands and thousands of years, but trying food from other parts of the world can be a great first step toward filling in your own nutritional gaps while at the same time opening yourself up to other ways of seeing the world. Who knows: you may find yourself beginning to take more risks in other areas of your life as well!

Whether you go all in or start small with some simple baby steps, to restore hormonal balance and heal your body, broadening your menu and ingredient list will help to ensure you get all the nutrients your changing body needs. Why not take a chance and try some kale, pomegranates, quinoa, sardines, or kefir? Or maybe instead of pizza, you could try some Indian, Asian or Middle Eastern food? Perhaps you could get together with friends (so you feed yourself on other levels at the same time) and try a new ethnic restaurant once a month. Or better yet, create a social cooking club and take turns choosing an intriguing new recipe to cook together. Trying new foods can be fun as well as healthy!

In addition to trying new foods, however, I also tell my patients to consider trying new flavors. If you are reluctant to jump from the chicken you know and love to a meat you have never tried such as bison, for example, there is still an easy way to completely change up the flavor of the same foods you eat regularly and also bring in some seriously powerful health benefits at the same time: add some spices.

It may help to think of spices as just really intensely flavored and concentrated vegetables: they are full of nutritional benefits such as phytonutrients and antioxidants, they are calorie free, but best of all, they take little to no prep work! Spices contain numerous health benefits and offer different flavor profiles to turn your chicken or vegetables from another “same old” meal into an exotic escape.

One particularly powerful spice you can bring into your diet easily that will have a positive impact on your health, wellness and longevity (that I have come to love!) is turmeric. You may have heard that turmeric is so powerful it has provided results comparable to many patented drugs; if you haven’t I’m going to give you a small taste of just some of turmeric’s many amazing health benefits.

So what exactly is turmeric?

Turmeric comes from the root of the curcuma plant. It’s native to Indonesia and southern India and it has been used in Eastern cultures for more than 5000 years. It has a tough brown skin but its flesh is a deep orange: it’s kind of like what you might see if ginger root and an orange merged together. (It’s sometimes called Indian saffron because of its similarity in color.)

While it’s one of the main ingredients in a curry, turmeric is also found in inexpensive store and ballpark mustards (such as French’s) as it gives mustard a bright yellow color. On its own, turmeric has a peppery, warm and slightly bitter taste. It’s high in manganese, iron, vitamin B6 and also contains fiber and potassium.

For thousands of years, turmeric has been used in China and India as an anti-inflammatory agent to treat conditions from toothaches to chest pains, colic, menstrual difficulties, flatulence and even jaundice. The healing power comes from curcumin, which is contained within the yellow or orange pigment. Curcumin has been shown in multiple studies to compare to the drugs hydrocortisone and phenylbutazone and even over the counter anti-inflammatory products such as Motrin!

While these drugs all carry numerous risky side effects, however, curcumin has not demonstrated any toxicity or concerns. Beyond its generalized use as an anti-inflammatory (something very important given todays pro-inflammatory diet), turmeric has been shown in studies to have some very powerful more specific health benefits including aiding in:

  • Cancer prevention;
  • Improved liver function;
  • Rheumatoid arthritis relief;
  • Cystic fibrosis prevention;
  • Cholesterol level reduction;
  • Alzheimer’s prevention; and
  • Treatment for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis.

That is some serious nutritional power in a tasty little powder! So how do you bring this power into your diet? While turmeric is often found in supermarkets these days, spice stores and ethnic markets often have superior quality and freshness. If you are buying a jar of turmeric, try to find an organic brand (so you can be sure it was not irradiated as many spices are because that damages the free radicals) that is packaged and shipped fresh.

Powders should be kept in a cool, dark and dry place in a tightly sealed container. If you purchase turmeric itself, the fresh turmeric rhizome, as it is called, should be kept in your refrigerator. When ready to use, you boil it, dry it and grind it finely. The color of the powder may vary from yellow to orange but that won’t affect its quality: you can expect color variation to vary by variety.

Turmeric can stain easily, so wash any area it comes in contact with using soap and water and consider wearing kitchen gloves to prevent finger stains if handling directly. One last tip: curry powder contains only a small amount of the healing curcumin so opt for turmeric rather than curry powder for best results.

Experts say 2 teaspoons a day can have a powerful health impact so look for ways to add more turmeric into your diet by adding it to salad dressings, egg salads, or sprinkling it on steamed veggies such as cauliflower, onions, green beans and even sautéed apples. It goes great in any recipe using a curry (just add some extra) or anything you cook with lentils.

Taking a risk in life is good…. Food and especially spices are a great and easy way to bring something new and different in your life: Escape your routine and try a new spice such as turmeric today!

The Hype about Probiotics: Is Yogurt Really the Answer?

womentowomen on May 28, 2015

One of the things I love about being a health practitioner is that I get to help people make sense of things that are confusing for them. I just love the feeling when that missing puzzle piece is uncovered and it all just clicks for my patients. Often my patients at Women to Women (and sometimes even other practitioners!) will come to me with questions about something they have heard or read about. There is so much conflicting information out there and one of the amazing things about living in today’s world is new discoveries are being made about health and nutrition all the time. Some days I can hardly keep up!

Sometimes a woman will come to me confused about a new headline that says this food is now bad or good for you. Or maybe it’s a new product and they are not sure if it is something they should pay attention to or just a passing fad (remember the pet rock?). While it happens often, it always surprises me when a woman comes to me asking about probiotics.

Probiotics have been on the front pages of newspaper and magazines for the last 5 years and probably every one of us has seen the yogurt ad featuring Jamie Lee Curtis, touting the benefits of eating probiotic yogurt for digestive health. At Women to Women we have been talking about probiotics for decades now so we’ll be the first to say probiotics are not a passing fad. But many people still aren’t sure whether they should be taking probiotics or simply eating more yogurt.

Let’s talk about probiotics: what they are, why they can help, and the best way to use them.

What are probiotics?

Probiotics actually comes from the words “pro,” which means promoting, and “biotics” which means life. Probiotics promote life: literally the opposite of anti-biotics, which we take to kill bacteria that can cause disease. Probiotics are actually healthy microorganisms that live in our digestive tract; we need them to help break down and absorb the nutrients in our food.

We have trillions of these bacteria, often called beneficial flora or good bacteria. These healthy bacteria are necessary for a strong immune system, the creation of vitamins, and healthy digestion.

When our good bacteria are healthy, we are healthy. But when we get sick, these necessary bacteria can be killed or damaged, upsetting the perfect and delicate balance that exists between good bacteria and bad bacteria in our guts. When our good to bad bacteria ratio gets out of balance, disease and illness becomes more likely. That’s because our gut is considered our second brain; while it doesn’t do any thinking, we now know that the gut runs the show as far as a healthy body is concerned.

So how does our bacteria get out of balance?

There are several ways this can happen and usually my patients have experienced at least one of them. First, antibiotics can kill off healthy bacteria while they are attacking the bad ones. While antibiotics are one of the greatest inventions for our health and survival, if you take a course of antibiotics, you should know that the balance between good and bad bacteria will also be affected. Taking a probiotic for a couple months after antibiotics will help restore a healthy balance in your digestive tract and keep your body and your digestive tract functioning optimally.

Another way your bacteria can be thrown off balance is if you experience a flu or a food-borne illness that results in vomiting and/or diarrhea. In this case, you’ve definitely imbalanced your flora and a round of probiotics afterwards will likely also be necessary to restore a healthy balance in your gut and your body.

I know here in New England during our cold snowy winter last year many people experienced a stomach flu that went around. Now that spring is finally here, I like to tell my patients that it’s time to plant new healthy bacteria in our stomachs along with spring flowers in our gardens!

You may also experience a flora imbalance if you have experienced an intestinal disease or illness such as celiac disease, crohn’s disease or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). If you currently experience digestive concerns including cramping, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, or gas, consider taking a probiotic to help restore a healthy balance as well.

In addition, if you have chronic headaches/migraines, urinary tract infections, yeast infections, lactose intolerance, bad breath, fatigue or irritability or worsening allergies, asthma, PMS or perimenopausal symptoms, you may wish to consider a round of probiotics to restore your digestive health.

Even if you do not experience any symptoms, if your diet is full of fast foods or other nutrient empty calories, you will definitely want to replenish your good bacteria. A recent study showed that eating at McDonald’s for 10 days resulted in the loss of 1400 types of gut bacteria, or almost 40% of the test subject’s total bacteria varieties! To make things worse, when he returned to a healthy normal diet, the bacteria that were lost did not return!

If you’re like many of my patients, you are saying “Yes, that’s me” to one of the above. If you’ve experienced any of those symptoms or situations, you may be wondering how to restore that perfect balance between good and bad bacteria so important to our health.

What do I need to know about taking Probiotics?

In my three decades at Women to Women, I’ve come to see first-hand that most of us could benefit from taking a good probiotic. So how do you find a good one?

There are many different strains of bacterias but most researchers agree that the benefits of two primary strains are significant: lactobacilli and bifidobacteria. That’s why our biotic product at Women to Women contains a 50/50 combination of at least 15 billion L. acidophilus and B. lactis Bi-07 bacterias.

It’s also important that the biotic you take be dairy and gluten free, as these two ingredients cause digestive concerns for many of us. Even if you are not allergic to dairy or gluten, you may be sensitive to these ingredients without even realizing it and your bacterial balance may be impacted as a result of that sensitivity.

I always say to my patients “Why would you want to take more of something you may be sensitive to as a hidden ingredient in a product you are taking to try to help restore the balance that a hidden food sensitivity may disrupt?” That just wouldn’t make any sense.

It’s important to read the labels on your probiotic carefully as recent newspaper headlines have revealed that many probiotic supplements actually contain gluten!

If you’d like to get more probiotics in your diet naturally, try some fermented foods such as kefir, sauerkraut, miso, tempeh, and kombucha. Most of us don’t eat these foods on a regular basis and they are probiotic powerhouses. (Though for some of us with digestive issues, these foods may be too much and could increase irritation, so go slowly.)

As for yogurt, like other foods that probiotics are sometimes added to, it is not as effective as the naturally fermented foods above: adding cultures to food after the fact makes them less available for absorption than when they occur naturally. And if a yogurt is pasteurized, as store-bought yogurt is, the pasteurization process will kill off the bacteria; that’s the whole point of pasteurization. So in addition to any bad bacteria, good bacterias will be destroyed as well.

Unless you make your own yogurt, and eat a lot of it, you’re better off taking a probiotic supplement than eating yogurt every day (not to mention that many yogurts on the market today have more sugar than a soda!).

If you’ve had a stomach flu or food illness or taken an antibiotic, even if you have no digestive concerns now, you should take a probiotic for at least one month. If you have or are currently experiencing digestive concerns or entrenched premenopausal symptoms, such as gas, bloating, cramping, constipation, diarrhea, fuzzy thinking, allergies or asthma, or skin problems, a probiotic can make a big difference.

With a high quality probiotic, you should see and feel a difference within the first few weeks of use; most of my patients report feeling much better after the first two weeks.

Even if you have no symptoms, if your diet is not ideal or consists of nutrient empty calories such as fast foods, you should also consider taking a probiotic.

If you are experiencing digestive symptoms, you don’t have to suffer. We’ve helped thousands of women restore a healthy bacterial balance and heal their digestive tracts. We can help you too.

To learn more about probiotics, read our in depth article here.

To order our powerful dairy and gluten free probiotic, click here.

Hormone Disrupting Foods In Your Kitchen Now

womentowomen on May 23, 2015

Whenever I see a patient who is experiencing life-disrupting symptoms, one of the first things we talk about is her diet. At Women to Women, we have learned over the years that the old adage you are what you eat is so very true, especially during the transition before and after menopause.

When I ask my patients about their diets and begin to suggest some changes, sometimes women will tell me it’s too hard. But even small changes can make a big difference, and once they get started, they soon realize it’s not nearly as hard as they think.

Eating plenty of healthy proteins such as grass fed beef, bison, and wild caught fish, organic fruits and vegetables, and healthy fats such as grass-fed butter, coconut oil, avocados, and olive oil always makes my patients feel better. That’s because these “real” foods provide the nutrients a body needs to stay healthy, heal, and keep hormones in balance.

If you are experiencing especially uncomfortable symptoms, it may well be your diet is severely imbalanced; usually I find that it’s one of three main concerns. First, you may be eating too much sugar, which we talked about recently in a prior newsletter. Too much sugar will prevent estrogen, progesterone and testosterone from being balanced because balancing insulin will take precedence.

Or you may be eating too many packaged and processed foods that (in addition to sugar) contain unhealthy vegetable oils and artificial ingredients. These food choices are not only not providing the nutritional support your body needs, they are introducing other ingredients such as chemicals and substances that will impair healthy body function and hormone balance.

Or perhaps you have bought into the low-fat diet myth and you’re not eating enough good healthy fat, something the body (and especially the brain) needs to function optimally and stay in balance.

At Women to Women, we know that there is more to being symptom-free than just your diet, but we can’t overestimate how much of a role our food choices play. Every once in awhile, though, we’ll see a woman who is doing a good job eating healthy whole foods and still finds herself struggling with hormonal balance. That may be because many of the foods we eat contain ingredients that can disrupt our hormones and some of them may come as a surprise to you.

 

Chicken

Media headlines have told us not to eat red meat (something that has been misunderstood and misinterpreted; we’ll talk about this more soon). Many women have turned to chicken instead, thinking it’s a healthier protein choice. In fact, the biggest concern about the animal foods we eat is what those animals themselves are eating: when we eat animals and animal products, we take in whatever they have eaten or been exposed to because it remains in their fat cells. (That’s why animals eating a natural diet such as grass-fed beef, bison, pastured pork and wild caught fish make the best choices.)

A chicken’s natural diet is grass and bugs, a combination of healthy protein and grass that has soaked up the vitamin D and energy of the sun. It is extremely difficult to find a chicken or turkey that has been allowed to eat its original diet these days, unless you go to a small local farm and they sell it to you directly. Even organic chicken and turkey is raised on feed.

The problem is that the feed chickens receive contains soy which is laden with estrogen-like substances and is likely genetically modified, corn that is not food grade and contains GMOs, cereals often including wheat and GMOs, and processed oils such as canola oil. Poultry farms are not looking for high quality feed ingredients; they are looking for the cheapest possible protein and fat sources they can find.

Heavy use of soy means that you are ingesting high doses of estrogen, which can be especially disruptive to your hormone cycles. In addition, most chicken is raised on antibiotics in order to resist disease in the close quarters of a chicken farm. If you eat chicken or turkey, it is important that you choose organic.

Even free-range organic chicken (that just means they have some outdoor exposure), receives feed but at least the organic version is fed a vegetarian diet (not a chicken’s natural diet, but without animal waste products) that is without genetically modified ingredients (to the extent we know; most soy and corn today is genetically modified and not always identified as such) or toxic synthetic pesticides.

USDA organic chicken can also only receive antibiotics during their first day of life or if they fall ill, not on an ongoing basis as traditional factory farm chickens do.

If you eat a lot of chicken (or eggs), choose organic but look to reintroduce more grass-fed meat, bison and fish into your diet as well.

 

Soy

I just mentioned the fact that soy is a very common ingredient in chicken feed today and soy contains phytoestrogens which can mimic real estrogen: these substances may sit on the receptor sites of our cells, which were designed to take in estrogen, blocking the needed estrogen from entering and leaving it to wander around through the blood instead.

These estrogen-like substances can also impact the thyroid, which controls our hormones and may lead to suppressed thyroid function. Heavy soy consumption has also been shown to impact fat gain, muscle loss, infertility, mood swings and sexual dysfunction. Unfermented soy products such as tempeh and miso are fine, but tofu and soymilk products should be avoided. Try nuts and nut milks such as almond milk and raw milk and grass-fed cheeses instead.

 

Dairy

While we all need vitamin D to stay healthy, the best way to get it isn’t from dairy: it’s naturally from small doses of skin exposure to sunlight instead. (Fat-free dairy won’t enable vitamin D, which requires fat to be processed, to be absorbed anyway.) In order to maximize dairy output, cows are kept pregnant, resulting in high levels of estrogen that can not only wreak havoc on your hormones, but cause early puberty for your daughter, breast development for your son, and belly fat concerns for your husband. As with soy, higher levels of reproductive cancers are also found among heavy dairy consumers.

Americans consume enormous amounts of dairy products, especially cheese, so we can all look to cut back. If you must consume dairy, be sure it is organic or preferably grass-fed. Most European cheese comes from grass-fed cows so there are lots of inexpensive choices. Nut milks such as almond milk also make delicious substitutes.

 

Licorice

If you love licorice or licorice-derived products such as fennel, Pernod, and anise, you should know that licorice has estrogenic properties so high they are even stronger than contraceptives (but please do not use licorice as birth control!) In fact, licorice is currently being evaluated for possible anti-testosterone drug purposes. So if you have a licorice addiction and you are experiencing symptoms of hormonal imbalance, you might want to cut back on your habit and see what happens.

At Women to Women, we’ve been helping thousands of women to restore their hormonal balance over the last 3 decades. We’ve seen first-hand how important diet and nutritional supplementation are to relieving your uncomfortable symptoms and enabling you to finally feel like yourself again. That’s why in addition to good eating habits, we recommend every woman take a high quality multi-vitamin to ensure she gets the support her body needs during times of transition or imbalance.

We also suggest a high-quality omega 3 supplement to ensure your body (and your brain) receives the healthy fat required for optimal functioning; it’s hard to get the nutrition we need from our food supply today and healthy fat options are not easy (or cheap) to find.

The good news is that with some diet and lifestyle changes, coupled with high-quality nutritional support, your body can heal and you can alleviate your symptoms. We have helped so many women to finally feel good again. We can help you too.

To read our article on healthy diet click here.

Check out our hormonal balance product system here to get on the fast track to feeling good again.

Sweet Poison – Kicking Your Sugar Addiction

womentowomen on June 25, 2014

by Marcelle Pick, OB/GYN NP

When I started my practice years ago, I truly didn’t understand the power of food, but now I know more than ever that sugar can be a game-changer for people today. The epidemic of obesity is largely driven by the fact that sugar is an additive in many foods today – hidden in condiments, in almost every processed foods – including ones you’ve heard are healthy for you – like Greek-style yogurt with fruit! Many popular brands do indeed have additional protein but also contain many grams of sugar. Sugar increases insulin resistance, contributes to hormonal imbalance, fatigue and mood swings – and can cause weight gain, particularly around your middle.

The Seductress

She’s sexy and seductive. She’s sweet and rich and eminently satisfying. She brings us joy and comfort and pleasure. She’s our reward, our indulgence, and our gift to ourselves. She hides in plain sight and try as we might, we cannot let her go. We do our best to stay away. We set the intention to resist her. We focus our mind on other things, but like an irresistible temptress, she calls us back and makes us want her again. She is ubiquitous, unavoidable and compulsively compelling. She is … sugar.

These days so many of my patients are struggling with sugar addictions. Sugar is everywhere, hidden in so many foods and available in so many different forms, it’s hard to avoid. It goes by many different names including glucose, fructose, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, malt syrup, dextrose, and evaporated cane juice to name a few. And it hides in plain sight: oh how it hides!

While we expect to find sugar in candy bars and cookies, sugar is a common ingredient in fruit drinks, coffee drinks, cereals, salad dressing, ketchup, pizza and spaghetti sauce, and yogurt. Many people don’t realize that a small yogurt with fruit or fruit flavoring can often have as much sugar as a can of soda! While clearly yogurt is a better choice, the sugar levels in many processed and prepared foods can be much higher than you would ever imagine.

Especially vulnerable to high sugar content are low-fat foods. To make up for the diminished flavor resulting from the fat reduction, manufacturers often add sugars to improve the taste. (Just try looking for a low-fat salad dressing without sugar!) We know now that fat is not the enemy: actually, it is sugar. But knowing that is only part of the solution: what do we do about it?

Because most processed foods contain added sugars, our sugar thresholds are constantly increasing, making us want more and more. Even healthier forms of sweetness such as maple syrup or raw honey still provide higher levels of simple carbohydrates these days than our bodies require or desire. Sugar impacts a variety of biological functions in the body and can be compared to heroin in it’s addictability. Let’s look at the impact sugar has on our bodies and how we can reduce our sugar cravings and end our sugar addictions for good.

The Impact of Sugar on our Bodies and Emotions

Most of us grew up associating sweets with a special occasion such as a birthday or a holiday celebration. Many of us still associate a treat with celebration and reward.

We may have gotten to help mom or grandmother lick a bowl of brownie batter or cookie dough or been rewarded with the first cookie out of the oven. We hold special meanings in our hearts for those events and for the people who loved us and shared that special treat with us.

We may even look at our parents and grandparents and think, “They grew up indulging in homemade baked goods and they were fine. What’s the big deal about a little sugar?” Back then, however, it really was a treat; it wasn’t an everyday occasion. And mom and grandma were cooking mostly from scratch, making their own meals, and controlling their own ingredients.

Today we are so busy that most of us are cooking out of bags and boxes and the prepared processed food we consume is very different than what our parents grew up eating. It’s full of artificial ingredients and loaded with sugars. So, if it were just the occasional brownie or cookie, as it was in our youth, it might be just fine. But today, it’s the treat at the end of the day on top of all of the other sugars we are consuming that causes concern.

There have always been sweets in our diets: raw honey, maple sap, fruits and berries, and dates have long been used to add some sweetness in countries around the world. In generations past, we might, for example, indulge in a tablespoon of honey, burning off those 60 calories with our physically active lifestyle. Today, our average sugar consumption is a cup of sugar a day. At 774 calories and given our more sedentary lifestyles, that’s a huge caloric shift.

But it’s not just the calories that cause concern. Sugar has been shown to feed cancer cells and has been connected to breast, ovary, prostate, rectum, lung, gallbladder and stomach cancers. Sugar can interfere with the absorption of protein, cause gastrointestinal concerns such as increased risk of Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, indigestion, acidic digestive tracts, and can cause food allergies. Sugar has also been connected to kidney disease, high blood pressure, asthma, arthritis, inflammation, diabetes and insulin resistance and heart disease. In fact, one cardiologist even declared that virtually all of his patients who suffered heart attacks also had above normal blood glucose levels.

Sugar raises your fasting glucose levels, which can lead to hypoglycemia. And we all know what happens when your blood sugar levels crash after a sugar spike! More aggressive behavior and a reduced immune system are also impacts of sugar, especially for children. Research has connected children’s behavior to their level of sugar consumption. When your body experiences the sugar crash post consumption, blood sugars fall and the brain is affected since glucose is its primary fuel.

So we have a soda, blood sugar goes up, the body releases insulin in response and the insulin increase causes the blood sugar to drop. As the ups and downs continue, the stress on the body causes a fight or flight response that results in a release of adrenaline. Aggressive behavior, anxiety, attention struggles and hyperactivity can occur not surprisingly.

It’s hard enough to manage your children’s sugar intake at home, but harder still at school. Even if you pack a healthy lunch, there is a plenitude of treats accessible. More than 80% of schools have contracts with soda companies, so whether it’s a soda or a fruit juice, an “energy” drink, or even flavored milk, high sugar options abound in schools.

There are some success stories, however. One Georgia elementary school adopted a sugar-free policy in 2005 making every parent and child sign an “Achieving Excellence Through Nutrition” contract. Sugary foods are prohibited and are taken from the children if they show up at school. School menus were changed; a good night’s rest and a healthy breakfast were expected.

The results included a 28% drop in bad behavior referrals by teachers, a 30% decrease in visits to the school nurse, and higher test scores. These measures may be extreme, but so are the results!

Sugar also wreaks havoc on our mineral absorption. Minerals play a critical role in digestion, maintaining our pH balance and nerve impulse transmission. When our mineral balance is out of alignment, we can experience trouble sleeping, anxiety, asthma, tooth decay, and weaker bones. Minerals function in a proper balance and when one mineral is out of proportion, the others typically follow suit.

Studies have shown that sugar causes the body to release calcium and magnesium, throwing the calcium and phosphorous ratio out of balance. In an attempt to rebalance the ratio, the body will pull calcium from teeth and bones. But because the alignment of calcium, magnesium and phosphorous remains unbalanced, the calcium isn’t fully or properly utilized and it will likely be excreted through the urine or land as a kidney or gallstone. So teeth and bones pay the price for the excess sugar, but the problem still isn’t solved.

The Sugar Addiction

We know that addiction to sugar is real, as withdrawal symptoms have been documented including low energy, mood swings, headaches and the relapse desire to consume more. Sugar increases pleasure-yielding opiates in the brain, similar to morphine and heroin, resulting in strong cravings that we cannot ignore. Mood enhancing neurotransmitters such as serotonin and endorphins are released when we eat sugar, making us feel relaxed or energized. We become addicted to the energy surge or the false sense of calm that they provide and return to them for that feeling over and over again.

At the same time, if you are consuming sugar in combination with poor sleep, stress, or adrenal fatigue, the likelihood of intense sugar cravings can increase as the sugar perpetuates a cycle of more sugar cravings that repeats over and over again. Excessive sugar actually re-wires the brain creating a biochemical dependency that will be very hard to ignore.

Even artificial sweeteners without calories trick our brain into wanting that sweet flavor and they come with a host of other side effects. For more information, see our article, “Sugar Substitutes and the Danger of Splenda“.  But suffice to say, aspartame (NutraSweet or Equal), saccharin (Sweet ‘n Low or Sugar Twin) sucralose (Splenda) are not good substitutes and should always be avoided.

So many women tell me that they’ve tried to cut back but they can’t seem to stop. Either they feel the withdrawal symptoms of headache, shakiness, fatigue, nausea, or depression or they are overcome by stress and the struggles of work life balance and our busy schedules. Sugar can be a sweet release, a little self-love, an antidote to the absence of pleasure and joy in our lives.

But there are things you can do to begin to wean yourself off sugar and break the cycle of addiction. Let’s look at some small steps you can take forward in the right direction.

How to Beat a Sugar Addiction

If you love sugar, or have a sugar addiction, going cold turkey is not the best strategy. As we discussed, withdrawal symptoms will wreak havoc on your body and your willpower. So it’s best to put a plan in place to slowly decrease the amount of sugar you are consuming gradually over time.

1. Choose naturally sweet foods

Try to indulge your sugar cravings naturally by choosing fruits, berries, dates, raisins and other sweet whole foods. While these foods still have high sugar content, they also contain nutrients and fiber and can help to satisfy a sweet tooth when a candy bar is calling your name. If you want to use additional sweetness try Stevia. It is a more natural substitute, although we are still not sure if it primes some of the receptors in a similar way as does sugar. Stay tuned for more information on that.

2. Read labels

There’s no way around it if you want to beat a sugar craving. So many foods have hidden sugars you don’t even realize are there. Save your sugar intake for the things you really enjoy and remove the excess from the foods you don’t even realize have added sugar. 4 grams of sugar equals about 1 teaspoon so when you read the label and see 28 grams in a yogurt, ask yourself if 7 teaspoons of sugar is a good choice for you.

3. Don’t eat out of habit.

This may seem obvious and simple, but it’s actually neither. We often get into habits such as a 3pm snack for example, or a piece of chocolate after dinner. Try not to eat foods automatically or because that’s what you’ve always done. Instead, choose your sweet indulgences carefully, make them treats to savor, and if you don’t really desire it, skip it that day. Try working down to every other day, then every three days. I’m not saying never have your favorite treats again! But try to limit them to special occasions rather than every day and when you do partake, eat them slowly and savor each and every bite. Also try to eat them combined with healthy fats such as butter, eggs, cream, nuts or avocado to slow the sugar absorption.

4. Examine your emotions

Many of us grab sweet treats when we are tired, stressed, frustrated, angry, or depressed. We tell ourselves we deserve to feel better or we simply reach for it automatically, knowing the calmness or energy surge it provides will help us cope. If you’re feeling an urge for chocolate or ice cream, ask yourself if you really desire that or if what you really need is a hug or someone to listen. For more on this, read our article, “Emotional Eating.”

5. Prep in advance

Have healthy options around so when you are hungry or stressed there is something else available nearby. Chop up some carrots and celery, keep a few hard-boiled eggs in your fridge, make unsweetened ice tea and keep a pitcher handy. You know what your temptations are, so find the antidote -the healthier version, and keep it plentiful so you always have another choice available in any stressful moment.

6. Add fermented foods to your diet

In addition to being nutritional powerhouses, many people find that when added to their diets, the fermented foods seem to help diminish sugar cravings. And if eaten at the same time as something sugary, the beneficial microflora will minimize the negative effects of the sugar as the fermented foods and drinks will use the sugar as its food.

Every culture has its own form of fermented delicacies including miso, tempeh, kimchi, kombucha, kefir, fermented pickles and sauerkraut, fermented condiments such as chutneys and even fermented yogurt and a homemade version of a fermented ginger ale. Adding more fermented foods to your diet will make the sugar you eat less damaging and will help to reduce your cravings for it over time.

7. Eat foods with all six flavors

Ayurveda has been around for thousands of years and teaches us that there are six main flavors to food: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and astringent. When the body gets all six it is more balanced, digestion is improved and cravings are diminished. Many recipes or meals can easily contain all six, as can one simple side dish like a fruit and spice chutney, which can be fermented to add even more health (and sugar craving reducing) benefits.

Just as all six flavors bring the body back into balance, you can listen to your body and monitor how you feel after eating and use this information to bring yourself back into alignment. Your energy should be consistent and stable after a meal, not high then crashing low. Using healthy fats such as butter, olive oil, nuts and avocado can also help you to feel full, eat less and reduce cravings for something sweet.

8. Eat a healthy balanced diet

Avoiding packaged and processed foods rich in sugar and white flour in favor of fresh organic produce and grass fed meats will help your body restore its own natural balance and make sugar less of a seductress and more of an innocent bystander in your life. Supplementing with a high quality multivitamin (click here to learn about the one formulated by Women to Women) can also help support your body’s balance and eliminate nutritional gaps that could lead to cravings.

9. Try Chromium Picolinate

Chromium supplementation has been shown to help normalize blood sugar levels, improve blood sugar utilization, metabolize fats and decrease insulin requirements in patients with glucose intolerance and insulin resistance. One study tested blood sugar levels after a meal of white bread and found that a single (400 microgram) dose of chromium reduced blood sugar after the meal by 23%.

Chromium has also been shown in studies to reduce carb cravings and stabilize blood sugars, with the best results experienced by the participants with the greatest carbohydrate cravings. Chromium has been shown to reduce triglycerides by as much as 32% and while we don’t know exactly how yet, chromium plays a role in insulin signaling and has been shown to improve glucose disposal rates. If you struggle with cravings or blood sugar issues, consider chromium supplementation. Women to Women has a high quality chromium formulation, click here to find out more.

Sugar is one of the most powerful seductive foods that we can eat. When you stop using it, your life can be changed in the most powerful of ways.

For more information on the topic of sugar, read our article, “Insulin Resistance – Our Love Affair With Sugar.”

The Truth About High Fructose Corn Syrup

womentowomen on December 29, 2013

by Marcelle Pick, OB/GYN NP

High fructose corn syrup was originally developed in the 1970’s in Japan. Over the years we have seen an increasing consumption – In 2004, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition cites the increase to be 1000% in just 20 years – between 1970 and 1990. Wow!

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a liquid sweetener extracted from corn and then is chemically altered to yield a different balance of monosaccharides (simple sugars) that is found in the glucose (which is a simple sugar) found in corn syrup.

We know that sports drinks, fruit juices and non-diet soft drinks have been sweetened with high fructose corn syrup – it has virtually replaced white sugar as the choice ingredient with many food and beverage manufacturers. This sweetener is also being used in cereals, crackers, ketchup and tomato sauce – it’s beginning to show up in places where we would least expect it.

From the manufacturer’s point of view, HFCS is less expensive to procure and its sweeter than sugar, so less needs to be used to maintain the same level of sweetness.

In small amounts, HFCS will have little impact on your overall health. But in time, and in increasing quantities, HFCS and other processed fructose sugars can affect you. Weight gain, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, high tryglyceride levels and obesity are all growing health concerns. Researchers have been watching the increasing use of HFCS and the increase in obesity in the United States. The researchers noted that “unlike glucose, fructose does not stimulate insulin secretion or enhance leptin production.” Both insulin and leptin act as key signal agents in the regulation of body weight and food intake. HFCS doesn’t trigger our feelings of satiety – and so we may need to eat more to feel the result – and when doing this we also are increasing our caloric intake.

When talking with my patients about a nutritious, well-balanced eating plan, we talk about eliminating processed foods from the diet and eating whole, unprocessed foods. We also talk about reading labels to stay informed about what you are eating.

The Healthy Mediterranean Diet: Omega-3s and Phytonutrients

womentowomen on December 29, 2013

by Marcelle Pick, OB/GYN NP

One of the most natural ways for women to achieve health and wellness is through a nutritious diet that includes protein, carbohydrates and healthy fats. When we think about fat, we want our diets to resemble the centuries old Mediterranean style of eating, not the recent fast-food or crash diet styles of eating that are popular today.

If you have concerns about fat in your diet leading to weight gain, or about the potential side effects of omega-3 supplements, please know that healthy fats are actually vital to weight loss. They help to decrease inflammation, controlling blood glucose levels and facilitate the functioning of blood vessels, so nutritional uptake is maximized. This works to reduce our cravings and it resets our metabolism. These are important factors in maintaining weight in a healthy range. For more information, read our article, “Balancing Your Omega-3 Fatty Acids – Essential For Health and Long Life.”

In past generations, people consumed a diet that was healthy, mostly because there was no other choice. Chemically preserved and processed foods which are readily available today didn’t exist. Our ancestor’s omega-6 to omega-3 ratios were more balanced and were healthier. People today are being encouraged by their medical practitioners to eat in this healthier way. At Women to Women, we’ve been enjoying it for years.

There has been a lot of research completed and it has been found that eating Mediterranean-style is one of the most effective ways to work natural omega-3 fatty acids, monounsaturated fats (MUFAs) and phytonutrients into your diet.

The Mediterranean diet is really about a way of life. Its emphasis is on fresh, whole foods instead of processed, prepackaged or preserved foods. Meals are to be enjoyed at your leisure, and with friends and family whenever possible. It may seem like you’ve heard this before, but if not, and this is all new information, the change can be very simple and the benefits are remarkable. Try to remember the benefits aren’t the result of one food in particular, but from the pattern of eating as a whole. The general guidelines to a Mediterranean-style of eating are:

  • Try to get plenty of brightly colored fresh fruits and vegetables every day
  • Any kind of peas or beans are recommended (Legumes)
  • Whole grains are excellent
  • Walnuts, other tree nuts and flax seed (1-1.5 ounce or ¼ to 1/3 cup daily)
  • Extra virgin olive oil (keep this in the refrigerator if you can)
  • Grass fed and lean meats, free-range poultry – this has little to zero saturated fats
  • Red wine in moderate amounts if desired – one drink per day for women
  • Avoid all trans-fats – includes anything that is “partially hydrogenated” like margarine

The guidelines of the Mediterranean diet are so relaxed. The focus is not so much on how the food is prepared, but on how bright and how fresh it is. It’s easy to enjoy because it’s so simple and delicious. If you only try one of the ideas listed above at a time, you will see health benefits over time. It’s never too late to reap the rewards of making even the smallest of changes.

Nutritional and Lifestyle Guidelines

womentowomen on December 29, 2013

by Marcelle Pick, OB/GYN NP

SS Black Woman Eating SmilingEating is a primitive urge, like sleeping or going to the bathroom. When food sources are abundant, we are hard-wired to eat as much as our body needs to function, survive, and reproduce, but also — more critically — to store against the possibility of famine. Eating is also a source of comfort and pleasure. This too is hard-wired. When we sit and eat, our bodies get the message that — for the moment — it is okay to relax. We are nurturing ourselves. No hard labor or strenuous physical activity can occur at that moment. This is powerful motivation.

What has caught us unaware is the degradation and manipulation of our food supply combined with a major decrease in our physical activity. Over-processed food, refined sugar products, preservatives, trans fats, artificial sweeteners, and food substitutes now populate the bulk of our grocery aisles. Our food is transported thousands of miles and must keep for weeks, losing much of its nutritional value in transit. Today, we drive instead of walk, use machines more often than our muscles, and eat out or are on the run more frequently. In addition, we have multi-million dollar industries bent on coercing us to buy and eat a seemingly endless supply of unhealthy food.

Instead of berating ourselves for “cheating” when we eat a food that is not in our best interests, we need to think about the totality of our lifestyle choices with our individual histories and needs (both physical and emotional) in mind.

Let’s face it – Food is good! Eating is fun! It’s no wonder we find it agonizing to deprive ourselves of this most basic and nurturing act. Instead of all the negativity, I’d like to encourage women to rediscover the positive nature of sharing food around the table. It all begins with that magic word -balance.

The best way to jumpstart your metabolic function is to eat well (which includes taking a daily multivitamin), and to eat regularly and often – we just ask that you watch your portion size. And you have a great portion control tool right at hand — your own hand!

  • Your thumb = 1 oz
  • Your palm = 3–4 oz
  • Your closed fist = 1 cup
  • Your thumb tip = 1 tsp
  • A handful = 1–2 oz of snack food, like nuts

Healthy food choices!Just as your body needs to be in balance to function well, your meals need balance to provide adequate nutrition. It may be helpful to revise your mental picture of a healthy meal from a pyramid to a square. The square has four compartments: protein, healthy fat, fruits/vegetables, and grains/legumes. Eating three “squares” a day is a good way to think about it, we also want women to have two healthy snacks a day. In fact, the USDA food guide pyramid will soon be adjusted to reflect new Daily Reference Intake (DRI) guidelines based on similar research.

It is a suggestion based on years of research into healthful eating for hormonal balance. We have found that you can restrict sugar and carbohydrates without depriving your body of necessary nutrients. The basic guidelines are as follows:

  • Eat 3 meals a day and 2 or more snacks.
  • Eating every 2 hours is a good idea if you are under stress.
  • Eat protein at every meal.
  • Eat a vegetable or fruit at every meal. In fact, eat as much as you want when it comes to organic greens and vegetables, as long as they aren’t coated with unhealthy fats.
  • Include healthy fats in your diet, particularly foods rich in omega-3s and omega-6s.
  • Avoid trans fats.

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Health and Vitamins – Who Should Take Dietary Supplements And Why?

womentowomen on December 29, 2013

by Marcelle Pick, OB/GYN NP

Virtually everyone has a family history that includes a chronic illness such as heart disease, diabetes or cancer. You may be concerned that you carry a genetic predisposition to one or more of these diseases. But recent science has shown there’s much you can do to prevent disease, starting with nutrition. The good news is that with proper nutrition, including dietary supplements, you can rewrite your life story with a happier ending.

SS Supplements Bottle DaisiesSo why are so many people still unaware of the importance of taking vitamins?  Which vitamins do you need and what are the best multivitamins to take?  Why are drug companies and doctors often opposed to nutritional supplements?  Why is there continued debate over vitamin safety and dosages?

We’ve used nutritional supplements and dietary changes as medical therapies for over 20 years. To this day, we recommend that every woman take a pharmaceutical-grade multivitamin. Yet we agree there are reasons to be concerned about how multivitamins are marketed and used. So let’s talk about what we advocate when it comes to dietary supplements and how we answer women’s questions about the vitamin controversy.

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The link between nutrition and chronic diseases

The increase in chronic illnesses is one of the major health stories of our lifetime. Today seven out of ten Americans will die from the complications of a chronic disease, including heart disease, cancer, obesity, diabetes, depression, metabolic and digestive disorders (including heartburn and acid reflux), rheumatoid arthritis, fibroids, and osteoporosis, just to name a few. Acute diseases, by contrast, are characterized by rapid onset, are usually treated with antibiotics or surgery and are time-limited.

Why the dramatic increase in chronic diseases?  Clearly we are living longer and under greater stress, both of which contribute to degenerative conditions. But only recently has the role of nutrition begun to be given its due.

Conventional practitioners treat chronic diseases with an ever-growing array of expensive pharmaceuticals that may temporarily relieve the painful or uncomfortable symptoms, but do nothing to resolve the underlying cause — and may actually cause other serious problems. SS Woman's Hand With PillsThat’s because conventional medicine is focused on disease screening and drug treatment — ignoring the more powerful approach of disease prevention, especially through nutrition.

What about the role of genetic factors in causing disease?  In our view, genetics rarely determine definitively that someone will develop a disease. Instead, you may inherit a genetic predisposition — a kind of vulnerability — that when combined with other factors results in disease. Nutrition is arguably the most important of those factors.

Many of our patients at our medical practice are surprised to learn that their chronic condition or disease can so often be traced to a nutritional deficiency. But the linkage is clear enough. Nutrition affects our immune system, organ function, hormonal balance and cellular metabolism. The nutritional deficiency comes first, followed some years later by symptoms, which lead in time to disease. To make things worse, the whole downward spiral is accompanied by accelerated aging.

Multivitamins and hormonal balance

Our bodies require micronutrients for the non-stop process of synthesizing hormones from simpler molecules. It is simply impossible to achieve and maintain hormonal balance without such support. We have found it helpful to describe hormonal balance to our patients as a kind of symphony in their bodies in which the instruments of the orchestra play together to create health. When some of the players aren’t there, it doesn’t sound right — and you don’t feel good.

Remember that our hormones fluctuate with our circumstances. It is important to understand that cortisol and adrenaline levels rise and fall as we work out stressful situations. Stable insulin levels provide the framework that allows all of our major female hormones to communicate with one another. If nutrients are low or missing, the balance of this communication is undermined. To remain flexible and strong, especially when approaching menopause, we all need to give our hormones the wide array of nutrients they need.

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Understanding Carbohydrates – Let’s Take Away The Confusion

womentowomen on December 28, 2013

by Marcelle Pick, OB/GYN NP

Over the past decade or so, carbohydrates in the American diet have both gained favor and fallen out of favor, sometimes so quickly that women can be left in a state of confusion. Should their diets be low carb?  High carb?  Some carbohydrates are touted as being disease fighters – yet others we’re told lead to disease. What’s the real story here?

We all recognize that our diets should consist of proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Protein is essential for repairing and building muscles, organs, bones, hair, skin and nails. Protein is critical for sustaining life.

Fats provide your body with energy and are critical in moving certain vitamins through your body as well as providing insulation for body temperature regulation. The essential fatty acids in fats play a major role in managing inflammation, blood clotting and brain development. For more information, read our article, “Balancing Your Omega-3 Fatty Acids – Essential For Health and Long Life.”

Carbohydrates supply energy to the body – they are the body’s preferred source of energy. Carbohydrates play an important role in metabolism, but need to be combined with fats, minerals and vitamins for optimum health. Your brain is dependent on a steady supply of glucose (simple sugars) we get from carbohydrates. Brain cells only use glucose for energy.

One reason that carbohydrates have gotten mixed reviews is because they are so diverse. Some carbohydrates are much more nutritious than others, some can feed inflammation, systemic yeast and wreak havoc with your blood sugar. And still others are full of fiber – which helps maintain blood sugar levels and help you feel full!

Generally, the more micro and macronutrients and fiber your carb choice has, the better it is for you. These are known as complex carbs. These complex carbs take longer to breakdown in your body and produce a more moderated insulin surge. The more refined or ‘simpler’ a carbohydrate choice is, the greater chance that its going to give you a quick burst of energy causing a quick spike in insulin.

In order to fully understand the effects of carbohydrates on your body and their potential for increasing blood sugar and insulin levels – the Glycemic Index (GI) is a scale that ranks foods numerically by their potential for increasing insulin and blood sugar levels. Foods with a low GI increase sugar slowly, those with a high GI increase blood sugar more rapidly.

While Glycemic Index calculates how quickly the carbs in a particular food converts into sugar in the blood, the Glycemic Load estimates the impact of carbohydrate consumption. Watermelon, for instance, has a high GI, but the typical serving of this sweet fruit does not contain much in the way of a carbohydrate so the Glycemic Load of eating it is low.

Glycemic Load (GL) is more of a qualitative than quantitative measurement. For instance, pasta and carrots may gave the same GI, but they don’t have the same GL. The pasta is a refined carbohydrate that breaks down quickly in the body and the carrots are complex carbs which take longer to break down and carrots have a high fiber content which also affects how quickly the carb breakdown will happen.

The higher the Glycemic Load of a food, the greater chance that you will experience an insulin spike which will potentially affect your metabolism. All of this consideration should be given to the nutrients available in the carbohydrates you choose! Using our same example of pasta and carrots – the pasta has little nutrient value, yet carrots are full of powerful nutrients and fiber to help make you feel full longer!

Some women might feel its easiest to simply remove all carbohydrates from their diets – and I don’t recommend this – it’s simply not necessary and it’s not healthy either! We need carbs to maintain fuel our brain function and maintain wellness.

What is important is the carbs you choose and your portion size. When practicing healthy eating, make every choice count! You can’t go wrong choosing carbs which have gone through little processing and contain high amounts of nutrients and fiber.

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Why Is Everyone Talking About Gluten?

womentowomen on December 24, 2013

by Marcelle Pick, OB/GYN NP

There’s no escaping it now.  Almost everyone associated with food, from national chains to local grocery stores, are all addressing gluten – offering gluten-free menus to carrying ever expanding sections of gluten-free foods. Magazines, from our favorite monthly women’s magazines to health journals, are all talking about gluten – studies, recipes, life-changing stories. What would cause such an amazing wave of change to happen?

Gluten is a substance made up of glycoproteins (sugars combined with proteins) which makes pasta and bread chewy and gives dough its elasticity. Gluten is added to many products like soy sauce and broths to improve texture. When reading labels, many people are amazed at the wide range of products including gluten.

In its pure form. gluten is part of the endosperm of seeds in grains, where it nourishes the growing seedling as it sprouts. Gluten proteins occur naturally in many grass species, but particularly in wheat. There are various forms – couscous, bulgar, kamut, spelt, durum and semolina to name a few. Rye and barley, while not wheat, are closely related and contain gluten. Oats may contain gluten proteins, but typically in lower amounts. Many times gluten in oats is a result of cross contamination in processing, growing or storage.

Quinoa and buckwheat are naturally gluten-free and (as long as they not contaminated during processing) can be included in a gluten-free diet. Other grains such as rice, millet, corn, and sorghum can contain small amounts of gluten in their natural state, but are usually not problematic unless contaminated.

There are many different theories as to why so many women are gluten sensitive these days. Over the past twenty years, the Americans have started to consume great quantities of refined wheat flour. Think about a typical day of food – cereal for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch and pasta for dinner. Gluten three times a day! What about crackers for a snack or cake for dessert or pretzels while watching TV at night? The body is inundated with gluten. Until recently, all this wheat was coming from just two species. Another possibly theory takes into consideration the pesticides used and the storage practices for this very popular grain. Perhaps we’re also reacting to genetically modified wheat – many theories, many scenarios and many questions.

Regardless of the reason, gluten is becoming more and more of an issue for women. It’s effects on the body can be far reaching.  Women who follow a gluten-free diet often see a relief in symptoms which may, on the surface, appear totally unrelated. Inflammation calms, energy returns, foggy thinking reduces, digestive issues can often times be resolved, menstrual cramps decrease, PMS decreases and so much more!  I continue to be amazed at the effects in some people when they stop eating gluten.

For more information about gluten, read our article, “The Gluten Spectrum – From Sensitivities to Celiac Disease.”