How carbs cause heartburn and medication makes it worse.

Digestive complaints such as heartburn or GORD (gastro oesophageal reflux disease) are often the first disorders to improve when you switch to LCHF.  Eating excessive amounts of carbohydrates has been found to be particularly bad for the "good" bacteria in the gut, leaving room for the "bad" microorganisms to flourish and the situation is often made worse by the use of protein pump inhibitors (PPIs), the medications often prescribed to treat GORD. 

Two new studies have found that PPIs alter gut bacteria in ways that could explain some of the problems associated with the drugs.  Researchers at the University of Groningen and Maastricht University Medical Center in the Netherlands, as well as the Broad Institute of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have discovered that, among other things, PPI users have less gut bacterial diversity.  The researchers, who published their results in the journal Gut, found that these differences existed even when PPI users did not have gastrointestinal conditions, thereby confirming that they are caused by the drugs rather than the disease.

Researchers at King's College London, Cornell University and Columbia University obtained similar results from studies in which individuals' gut bacteria were analyzed before and after patients took PPIs for four to eight weeks.

PPIs may limit the gut's diversity by reducing its natural acidity and creating an environment that is either more or less favourable to certain microbes.  Because your gut bacteria influence your intestinal absorption of calcium and other vitamins and minerals, these drug-induced changes could explain why people who take PPIs are more likely to fracture certain bones and have nutritional deficiencies. 

The good news is that you can start restoring your "good" bacteria in as little as 24 hours when you start following a LCHF diet and very quickly get rid of GORD and the need for PPIs altogether.

If you'd like to know more and get support to lose weight and manage chronic health conditions contact:

Helen Chauhan, Integrative Nutrition Health Coach

Iris Family Medicine, 1486 High St, Glen Iris  

Tel 9509 2144

Email helen@helenchauhan.com.au

Get Rid Of Joint Pain Once & For All

According to the Medibank Better Health Index, the rate of "wear and tear" arthritis, traditionally associated with older people, has doubled amongst 25 – 39 year olds since 2007 and is particularly prevalent amongst women.  In an article featured in The Age this week, Medibank's Chief Medical Officer attributed this increase to rises in both obesity and high impact exercise such as jogging.  That's not good news if you're exercising to lose weight.

What the article didn't mention is that there is a very effective way to simultaneously manage your weight and avoid osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis.  The solution lies in reducing the inflammation caused by the chronically high blood insulin levels associated with insulin resistance. 

The more carbohydrates you eat, the more insulin your body has to produce to maintain a stable blood sugar and get glucose (energy) into your cells.  If you have high levels of insulin in your blood stream, you will store more fat, have difficulty burning fat and will feel more hungry.  It is this hormonal imbalance that explains why calorie counting and exercising to lose weight is often ineffective for people with high insulin levels and insulin resistance.  Since insulin is also highly inflammatory, it impairs recovery after exercise and can contribute to injuries and joint pain and is linked to arthritis and osteoporosis. 

When you eat a low carbohydrate high fat diet, your body adapts to burn fat rather than glucose for energy.  As your insulin levels fall, your body can use the energy stored in your fat cells and you start to lose weight and reduce inflammation.  It takes up to 6 weeks for your body to become fully 'fat-adapted', and during that time exercise may feel more draining.  However, once you are burning fat for fuel, you will recover more quickly after exercise and won’t need energy drinks to sustain you.

So make the switch; cut carbs and burn fat for fuel to lose weight and get rid of joint pain once and for all.

If you'd like to know more or access support to lose weight and reduce inflammation contact:

Helen Chauhan, Integrative Nutrition Health Coach

Iris Family Medicine, 1486 High St, Glen Iris  

Tel 9509 2144

Email helen@helenchauhan.com

Your Essential Guide to Metabolic Syndrome

Metabolic syndrome is the term used to describe a cluster of disorders that are estimated to account for 75% of global health care costs.  If you are suffering from 3 or more of the following conditions, it is likely that you have metabolic syndrome:

• Abdominal obesity
• High blood pressure (hypertension)
• Heart disease
• Pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes
• High triglycerides
• Low HDL cholesterol
• Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
• Certain types of cancer
• Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome
• Dementia

It used to be thought that all of these problems began with weight-gain; if you eat too much and don't get enough exercise you'll get fat and develop health problems.  On the face of it, that would appear to be true, but when you take a closer look at exactly who has metabolic syndrome, the picture isn't so clear.  In fact, 40% of normal weight adults are suffering from metabolic syndrome and 20% of overweight adults are otherwise healthy.  So if being overweight is not the cause of metabolic syndrome, what is?

The answer is high blood insulin levels or hyperinsulinaemia.  Insulin is hormone created in the pancreas that acts as a nutrient sensor to allow the preservation of stored energy.  In other words, insulin promotes the storage of energy from food in the liver, muscles and fat cells.  It must be present for fat storage and it prevents the breakdown of stored fat in the body.  The foods that stimulate the body to produce the most insulin are those that contain sugars and refined carbohydrates.  Insulin is essential for life; we can't live without it.  In a healthy individual who has not eaten for several hours, blood insulin levels will be very low.   After a meal, blood insulin levels will increase naturally to ensure that the energy absorbed by the body can be stored for future use.  When this job is done, insulin levels will drop back down again and stay low until the next meal.   However, for a number of reasons, insulin levels can become chronically raised.  For some people, this is caused by a genetic tendency towards insulin resistance but for many, their insulin levels are high for extended periods of time simply because they consume lots sugar and processed carbohydrates and snack frequently.  Chronically high levels of insulin, or hyperinsulinaemia cause inflammation throughout the body, and if hyperinsulinaemia persists, it will eventually trigger metabolic syndrome.  

The good news is that metabolic syndrome can be managed and even reversed through simple dietary changes.  By cutting out sugar and the highly processed carbohydrates found in processed food, ditching the snacks and increasing the length of time between your meals you can reduce your insulin levels and reclaim your health.    

If you'd like support to lose weight and manage chronic health conditions contact:

Helen Chauhan, Integrative Nutrition Health Coach

Iris Family Medicine, 1486 High St, Glen Iris  

Tel 9509 2144

Email helen@helenchauhan.com.au

Stop Counting Calories & Start Controlling Your Hunger Hormones

One of the reasons calorie-restricted diets tend to fail is because they make you really hungry and can increase food cravings.  This is because calorie-restricted diets change the hormones that control hunger and satiety so that when you lose weight, your body will fight to put the weight back on.  Your hormones drive you to eat more and you are caught in a trap of yo-yo dieting.

A low carbohydrate / ketogenic diet works very differently as it suppresses appetite in a number of different ways.  When you start eating more fat and cut out the precessed carbs and sugar you tend to stop experiencing the blood sugar swings that most people eating a standard western diet will suffer.   You experience less intense hunger and your cravings for carb-heavy meals disappear.   

Once your body starts to burn fat for fuel and your blood ketone levels rise , your appetite will be suppressed in more subtle and significant ways because ketones can control hunger and satiety hormones. Studies have shown that ketones impact cholecystokinin (CCK), a hormone which makes you feel full, and ghrelin, the “hunger hormone.”

Your intestines release CCK after you eat.  It is a powerful regulator of food intake; if you inject people with CCK, they will cut their meals short.  When you lose weight, your body will secrete less CCK, so you will want to eat more than before you started dieting.  However, a recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that being in nutritional ketosis (when you are burning fat for fuel) raised CCK to pre-weight loss levels thereby reducing the risk of over-eating and post-diet weight gain.

Ghrelin, the “hunger hormone” increases appetite. It’s released from your stomach and intestines, with blood levels reaching their highest point when you have not eaten for a long time. When you eat a meal, ghrelin levels drop.  If you inject a person with ghrelin, they eat much more.  Usually, when people lose weight, their ghrelin levels increase making them feel more hungry. However, several studies of dieters following a ketogenic diet have shown that ketosis completely suppresses the increase in ghrelin levels that usually occur with weight loss. In fact, one study showed that individuals with ketone levels higher than 0.3mmols had lower ghrelin levels after they lost weight compared with their baseline at the start of the trial.

Increased appetite following weight loss is one of the key factors in weight regain.  A low-carbohydrate, high fat (ketogenic) diet helps you to control your hunger hormones instead of fighting against them.

If you'd like to know more or access support to lose weight and control your appetite contact:

Helen Chauhan, Integrative Nutrition Health Coach

Iris Family Medicine, 1486 High St, Glen Iris  

Tel 9509 2144

Email helen@helenchauhan.com

The Quick & Easy Guide To Going LCHF

Switching to a low carbohydrate high fat diet doesn't have to be difficult.  The key to success is planning ahead so you get rid of the foods that you need to avoid and always have the foods that you need close to hand.

So to start with, get rid of the following:

• Confectionary, lollies & milk chocolate
• Potato chips
• Soft drink & juices
• Margarine
• All forms of sugar (white, brown, honey, agave syrup, corn syrup etc)
• Bread
• Pasta
• Rice
• Potatoes
• Breakfast cereals
• All products labelled "low fat" or "no fat"
• Ice-cream
• Biscuits, cookies & crackers

Then go shopping for:

• Butter
• Cream
• Eggs
• Bacon
• Meat
• Fatty fish (salmon, mackerel etc)
• Cheese
• Plain Greek Yoghurt
• Vegetables that grow above the ground
• Avocados
• Nuts (Macadamias, pecans, walnuts & almonds are great)
• Olive oil & coconut oil
• Strawberries, raspberries & blueberries

Now you've got what you need for some great LCHF meals:

Breakfast

• Eggs & bacon with spinach & avocado
• An omelet with cheese 
• Boiled eggs with some canned tuna
• Greek yoghurt with sprinkle of nuts & berries
• A piece of cheese with some ham or salami

Lunch & Dinner

• Meat, fish or chicken dishes with vegetables and a rich full-fat sauce. Instead of potato, try mashed cauliflower.
• Stews, soups or casseroles with low-carb vegetables such as bolognese sauce with zucchini strips.

Snacks

When you eat a low carbohydrate diet with more fat and a bit more protein you will probably not need to eat as often. Don’t be surprised if you no longer need to snack, but if you do want something, they these ideas.

• Rolled-up cheese or ham with some cucumber or other salad vegetables
• Olives
• Nuts
• A piece of cheese
• A boiled egg from the refrigerator

The most important thing to remember is not to fear fat.  Eating natural fats will help you to stay full for longer and will reduce food cravings.

Stop blaming your genes and start feeding your microbiome

Did you know that you can learn more about your health and weight by examining the DNA of the micro-organisms in your gut than examining your own genes?  Your gut is home to more than 100 trillion bacteria and a host of yeast and viruses, know collectively as the microbiome.  38% of their genes are identical to ours and research is now demonstrating  that foreign microbial DNA is crucial to the proper functioning of our own genes.  We can't do much to change our own genes, which are largely fixed before birth, but we can influence the genetic content of our microbiome by the choices we make.

It's now widely recognised that changes in our gut microbes brought about by changes in our diet and environment play a part in the obesity epidemic and the rise in chronic disease.  Our distant ancestors were probably eating around 150 different ingredients a week, where now most people eating a western diet consume fewer than 20 separate food items, many of which are highly refined.  

If you think of your own microbial community as a garden, the best way to keep your soil (intestines) and plants (microbes) healthy and stop weeds (toxins and disease) taking over is to cultivate a wide range of plants.  You can do this by eating a diverse diet and the following foods will help maintain a flourishing microbiome:

Jerusalem artichokes, chicory, garlic, onion, leek, shallots, spring onion, asparagus, beetroot, fennel, green peas, snow peas, sweetcorn, savoy cabbage, custard apples, nectarines, watermelon, pomegranate, grapefruit, chickpeas, lentils, kidney beans, cashews & pistachios.

So, give your microbiome a treat and try these Anti-Inflammatory Turmeric Spiced Cashews.

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp of Olive Oil
• 4 Cups of Raw Cashews
• 1 Tbsp of Turmeric
• 1 Tsp of Salt
• Cracked Pepper to taste (optional)

1. Gently heat the oil in a large frying pan over a low heat.  
2. Add the cashews and toss them in the oil.  
3. Sprinkle the turmeric over the cashews and continue to toss them in the pan to avoid burning until golden brown.  
4. Remove from the heat and sprinkle the salt over the cashews.  
5. Add cracked pepper to taste.  
6. Leave the cashews to cool completely then store in an airtight container.