Celiac Test

This lab does a celiac testing that involved swabbing the inside of your mouth.  It will let you know if you carry the genetics to have celiacs or a gluten sensitivity.  Having the gene does not mean that it is active in your body, there is a good chance that you are just a carrier.  However, it does mean that you should get further testing as well as have your other family members tested.  This test is different from the normal blood test because it can be done when the person is already on a completely gluten free diet.  It also looks at your genetic code, instead of the presence of antibodies.  I'd say that is it worth checking into if you believe you are misdiagnosed (or still have symptoms you can't figure out, even if celiacs was ruled out before), or if you have been on the gluten free diet and are doing well but still want to be sure.  It can also tell you where in your family this gene has come from.

http://www.enterolab.com

Easy Tips for Weightloss

Weightloss does not come easy for the average person.  Personally, I have spent my whole life with a slow metabolism, having to watch everything I eat to make sure I can still fit into my jeans the next day.  There are a few easy tips and tricks, however, for your everyday life that can show big results!  Here are a few:

1.)  Skim milk.  I know it's not usually the favorite, but it is something that can be an acquired taste.  When I was a child, my mother used to give us whole milk.  She wanted to move us to the lower fat version, but being children we were very resistant.  What she did was water it down a very little bit, and a little more each time.  Then she would move to the next percent down.  Eventually, we were so used to the taste that whole milk was now gross to us. 

2.) Water!  Your body is a walking chemical-reaction machine, it's what makes your body work.  Even lifting your arm requires a few thousand reactions.  Almost every reaction in your body requires H2O (water).  So you need to drink a lot of it!  Try this: Take your body weight, and divide it in half.  That's how many ounces of water you should be drinking each day.  

Example:  You weight 200lbs.  That's 100 ounces of water each day.  Don't worry, your body will adjust to it, so you'll only have to pee a lot for the first week.  After this, you should notice less fatigue, more energy, and most likely some weight loss!  Also keep in mind that when you start losing weight, you can lower that amount of water (if you want to).  

Another thing to think about, thirst is often mistaken for hunger (more often than you'd think, it's just the way the brain processes it sometimes).  When you feel hungry, drink 8oz. of water and wait 15 minutes.  If you're still hungry after that, then seek out food. 

3.) Baking.  If you like to bake, try using applesauce instead of oil for breads, cakes, cookies, etc.  Use the same amount of applesauce that you would oil.  It doesn't effect the taste or how it cooks, only cuts calories!  You can also experiment using avacados instead of oil, which is a great source of healthy fats.   

4.) Frying. Instead of butter, try using Extra Virgin Olive Oil.  1 or 2 tsp should do the trick.  Depending on what I'm cooking, I also like to add garlic to the oil and let that cook for about a minute, which infuses it with a nice flavor and aroma that covers the food once you start cooking.  The fresher the garlic, the better, but the powder works, too.  They also sell garlic already chopped up in jars, if you want an inbetween.  You can also experiment with other spices, such as rosemary or bay leaves.  Even a vanilla bean.  

5.) Hide Your Veggies. Find ways to add vegetables to things.  It's a lot easier than you think, and sometimes you won't even realize you're eating them!  For example, when I make lasagna, I use low fat cheese and add a layer of spinach leaves in the middle mixed with a small amount of fresh cilantro.  This adds a different flavor, and the spinach will cook down and blend in.  You can also add thin slices of zucchini next time you make a pasta dish.  You will be surprised how many calories you can save this way!  Not to mention making your food packed with the awesome vitamins and minerals your body needs. 

6.) Write it Down. If you really feel motivated, one of the best ways to lose weight is to track what you're eating.  Get a small notebook that you can keep in your pocket or purse, and write down everything you eat.  Next to it, write how much of it you ate (if possible, follow portion sizes on the box).  This includes drinks, milk you add to your coffee or tea, sticks of gum, mints, everything!  It all adds up.  Try finding out how many calories you've consumed in a day this way.  You may be having a lot more than you think, and this is one of the best ways to find out. 

 

Celiac's Disease

Celiac's Disease, Celiac Sprue, Gluten Sensitivity

This is different from an allergy.  What makes Celiacs different from an allergy to gluten is that a Celiac will have an autoimmune response to the protein gluten.  This means that instead of the immune system removing (uncomfortably) the gluten from the body, it instead gets confused and starts eliminating the lining of the stomach.  This causes malabsorption, which means your body stop absorbing any of the nutrition from the food you eat.  With daily exposure, this can happen at different paces in everyone.  Some infants show symptoms, while others take 40, 50, or 60 years to really have symptoms.   Celiacs is also hereditary, so the only way you can get it is if somebody in your direct bloodline has it.  This means that if somebody you are blood related to is diagnosed with it, it is a good idea to get tested yourself (even if you have no symptoms), because it is most likely in your genetic code.

The problem with diagnosing Celiacs is that the symptoms can be anything from malabsorption.   Typical symptoms that doctors look for: IBS, bloating, cramps, vomiting, certain cancers, extreme weight loss. 

Celiacs is one of the most common misdiagnosed diseases in the world. 

Some other symptoms from Celiacs:

*Anemia

*Borboygmi (Stomach rumbling)

*Coetaneous bleeding

*Easy bruising

*Epitasis (nose bleeding)

*Failure to thrive

*Fatigue or general weakness

*Fluid retention 

*Gastrointestinal hemorrhage 

*Hematuria (red urine)

*Hypocalcaemia/Hypomagnesaemia 

*Infertility

*Iron deficiency anemia

*Lymphocitic gastritis

*Pernicious anemia (B12 deficiency, which can also be mistaken for asthma)

*Inflammation of the stomach, which can cause nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, discomfort

*Muscle weakness or wasting

*Osteoporosis

*Pallor (unhealthy, pale appearance)

*Panic Attacks

*Peripheral neuropathy (nerve damage)

*Stunted growth in children

*Vertigo

*Any vitamin deficiency

*Increased appetite with no feeling of fullness

*Weight loss, even after eating a high calorie diet

*Obesity

*Lymphoma

*Colon cancer

*Other cancers

*Crohn's Disease 

The test for Celiacs is a simple blood test, which detects antibodies from the gluten. 

If you are on a gluten free diet, your test results will come back negative, because gluten must be present in your body for the antibodies to be there.  You must be eating gluten consistently for at least 2 months for this test to be accurate. 

Insist that your doctor run a full panel blood test.  

This One is On the Science Side..

This is just a chart I made for a class project. It might be a little on the science side.

Vitamin D is potentially more important to your bones than calcium. This is because it brings the calcium to your bones, and tells your body how much calcium to carry through your blood. Without Vitamin D, your body won't use your calcium. Currently the recommended amount is 400 IU/day. This is very controversial, and will most likely be raised by at least a thousand in the next year.
There are also several different forms of calcium. Two of the most popular are Calcium Carbonate and Calcium Citrate (read the back of your supplement label, it will tell you unless it's a raw food source). Calcium Citrate is the one you want to look for, because you will absorb much more of it!

Nutrient	Vitamin D (occurs in the form of cholecalciferol (active: calcitriol), D3, and the form ergocalciferol, D2 )
Recommended amounts	Vitamin D AI Adults 19-50yrs : 5 ug/day Adults 50-70yrs : 10 ug/day Adults over 70yrs : 15 ug/day (1 ug = 40 IU)
Deficiency symptoms	Drowsiness, depression	Loss of bone mass		Rickets, Osteomalacia (“soft bones”), Osteoporosis
Biochemical/ physiological cause of deficiency symptoms	The biosynthesis of enzymes for the nervous system, synthesis of nitric oxide synthase, and increased glutathione levels are how vitamin D affects brain function	Vitamin D regulates blood calcium levels, directly affecting the amount of calcium the bones can receive. If there is less calcium being absorbed, there is less bone mass altogether.		Vitamin D increases the absorption of calcium from foods, and reduces calcium loss in urine. This keeps calcium in the body, which spares the calcium that is stored in bones.
Good food sources	Cod Liver Oil 1 tsp 450 IU Vitamin D, 113% AI	Fortified Milk 1 Cup 100 IU Vitamin D, 25% AI		Fortified Orange Juice 1 cup 142 IU Vitamin D, 35% AI
Food groups	Oil (fish oil), Dairy		Fruit

Ok everyone, here it goes! Let me know what you think, I take feedback seriously.

Some History and Some Science!

The first artificial sweetener was known as cyclamate, which was used in medicines and soft drinks in the 1960s. It is about 30 to 50 times sweeter than normal table sugar. Cyclamate was banned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1969 because studies had shown that it might have caused cancer in rats during lab tests. The FDA decided Cyclamate was then unfit for human consumption. Cyclamate was pulled off the market shortly after it was released.

The next artificial sweetener developed was known as Saccharine, which we know as Sweet N' Low. This sweetener gained popularity when it was used in the soft drink, Tab. The FDA proposed a ban on the sweetener, complying with the {Delaney Amendment}, which required them to ban any food product that may cause cancer. The public was not happy about this. Articles were published that claimed the animals that were tested on were fed incredible amounts of Saccharine. It would take a human 1,250 twelve-ounce diet beverages a day over a lifetime to equal what was given to the animals. That equal to over 4,000 packets of saccharine a day, for a person's lifetime. This left Saccharine on the market, and it is still doing well in sales today.

Aspartame is another sweetener that is commonly found in many diabetic products, we also know it as Equal or NutraSweet. When this sweetener is broken down during digestion, it makes three different chemicals: aspartic acid, methanol and phenylalanine. Aspartic acid and phenylalanine are two amino acids (amino acids are the little pieces that make up a protein). Methanol, however, is converted into formic acid, which is another name for formaldehyde. Formic acid, in high concentrations, can become toxic. Some symptoms that have been reported from aspertame include, but are not limited to, dizziness, headaches, stomach discomfort, memory loss, nerve cell damage, reproductive disorders, migraines, mental confusion, brain lesions, blindness, joint pain, Alzheimer’s, bloating, nervous system disorders, hair loss, food cravings, weight gain... High levels of phenylalanine have also been linked to seizures, depression and schizophrenia. This is considered a low calorie sweetener because it is used in relatively small amounts because of how sweet it tastes. Aspartame cannot be used in cooking, because the chemical is not stable when heated. This does not include coffees or tea. The product currently generates $1.6 billion in sales.

If you've ever read the book, "Skinny Bitch", this is what they have to say about aspartame:

When aspartame was proposed to the Food and Drug Administration, it failed its initial test. It then failed the next seven attempts to be approved as an artificial sweetener. There was a grand jury proceeding against Searle for ‘knowingly misrepresenting findings and concealing material facts and making false statements in aspartame safety tests’, brought on by the FDA in an attempt to ban aspartame in 1977. During this proceeding, however, U.S. attorney leading the investigation against Searle was offered a job by the law firm that was representing Aspartame. Later that same year, the U.S. attorney resigned and withdrew from the case, delaying the grand jury’s investigation. The grand jury later had to drop the case due to the prolonged nature of it. The next two government attorneys that were entrusted to judge whether aspartame was safe for human consumption both ended up overruling scientific advisories and passing the sweetener anyway. They were both reported to have gone to Searle's law team as well.

Acesulfame potassium is another sweetener that is often blended with aspartame, and occasionally with other sweeteners. It is about as sweet aspartame, but has a bitter aftertaste (especially in high concentrations). This sweetener is very stable at high temperatures, so it can be used in cooking or baking. In the long run, however, it has been poorly tested and is generally deemed as a risky additive. It is absorbed from the digestive tract and excreted in the urine. This chemical remains intact during this process. This leads to wonder what happens in-between the process in your body.

Some other sweeteners are known as sugar alcohol sweeteners. Such sweeteners include, but are not limited to, xylitol, sorbitol, and erythritol. All of these sweeteners are metabolized, but are not fully absorbed by the small intestines. This results in them being low in calories, because the calories never have a chance to absorb into the body. They are sometimes used as laxatives in hospitals. Many sugar free candies or gums use these sweeteners as well, using lower amounts to so the sweetener will not have the laxative properties. They are also not used by the bacteria that causes tooth decay, so they are a good sweetener for toothpastes.

Sucralose, or Splenda, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1998. Splenda is the highest selling sweetener on the market today. It is made by chlorine reacting with regular table sugar, which makes a new type of sugar. This new sugar cannot be broken down by your body, so it passes through without being absorbed. Splenda also uses a filler than cannot be digested, but does allow it to be used in baking. Splenda is known to be ninety-eight percent pure. The other two percent is made up of methanol and arsenic. Some symptoms reported from Sucralose are, but not limited to, diarrhea, organ damage, reproductive system damage, immune system damage, swelling of the liver and kidneys, and the decrease in body weight.

There have also been studies that suggest that other artificial sweeteners, such as high fructose corn syrup (and yes, I consider anything that has to be made in a lab artificial, no matter what the company that makes it claims), can stimulate weight gain by stimulating your appetite. A study released in 2008 had results that suggest high fructose corn syrup can block the uptake of Leptin in the brain. Leptin is a naturally occurring hormone in the human brain that tells the body when it is full, and to stop eating. If the body is not reading the Leptin, it may make it confusing for a person when it is time for them to stop eating. High fructose corn syrup contains approximately fifty percent fructose. Normal fruit consumption would not have the same results (or leptin resistance) as high fructose corn syrup. In lab studies, it took rats up to six months to develop the resistance. This suggests that a leptin resistance will develop over time, rather than immediately. There was also a study just released July 2009 that is looking at high levels of fructose causing memory loss.

This just goes with the old saying, too much of a good thing! Fructose is not a dangerous substance, but anything in excess is not good for your body. It is a complicated chemical machine that needs a balance of many different things. In today's world, it is very hard to avoid all artificial sweeteners. So, moderation is key! Don't stick with one specific kind. As you read above, each sweetener does different things in your body. Some are broken down to substances that can be harmful if they are given a chance to build up. Some aren't absorbed at all! So mix it up. Also try other more natural sweeteners, such as honey or agave nectar. Agave nectar also has a relatively low glycemic index, for those diabetic readers out there! There are also some very good ice cream recipes out there using agave nectar. You can buy it at your local store, or health food store (whole foods carries it, as does the Vitamin Shoppe). Honey is used by the body a little differently than regular table sugar, too, so stop stressing about the calories! It will be healthier for you in the long run than anything processed in a lab.

My First Blog

Hello Everyone!

Here are my topic ideas to write about.  Let me know what you think, and any ideas or topics you guys want to read about!  New blog coming soon.

Soy: Helpful or Harmful?

Do I Have Celiac's?

Gluten Free Recipes

Why Can't I Breathe? Vitamin B12 Deficiency

Super Foods! Why They're So Super

How Often Should I Be Eating?

Are Food Colorings causing ADD, ADHD?

Pour Some (Artificial) Sugar on Me: Harmful Chemical Additives and Healthy Alternatives That Don't Taste Like Cardboard

Controlling Your Type II Diabetes + Recipes

Small Changes for Health

Fish Oil: Why It's Good