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Natural Choices Newsletter
Natural Choices Newsletter – January 2006
Brought to you by: Jane Oelke, N.D., Ph.D.
DoctorOelke@aol.com
New Year = New Focus
This newsletter is dedicated to keeping you up to date on preventing chronic diseases. This new year we will continue to that, but also bring more focus to the problems we have with Attention Deficit Disorder. We will look at nutritional, herbal, and homeopathic ways to keep our minds healthy, for children and adults.
With this new year we are all thinking about eating healthy, possibly losing some weight, exercising more, and preventing chronic health problems. But we do not want to deprive ourselves of our favorite foods, like chocolate. But now we have found out that chocolate can be good for us. So after reading about food additives to avoid, read about the benefits of dark chocolate.
Food Additives Affect Behavior
On average 30% of foods in our daily diet are processed foods. These are foods that come in a box or a can and have many ingredients that are hard to pronounce, such as food starches, gums, preservatives, and colorings. Many processed foods have to be enriched, adding inorganic minerals and vitamins to compensate for the nutrition lost in the processing of the food. Some people believe enriched foods are good enough, and we will be able to absorb their nutrients sufficiently to benefit from them. But what about the great increase in type II diabetes in the past few years, seen especially now in children? What about the increase in Attention Deficit Disorder and behavioral problems in schools? Adults are now getting symptoms of Alzheimer’s more quickly than before, and are suffering from chronic diseases earlier in life.
The first suggestion I tell parents who are struggling with a hyperactive child is to stay away from any food colorings, especially the added colorings in juices, cereals, snacks, and vitamin supplements. These food colorings affect the functioning of the nervous system. Our liver cannot break down these chemicals and they affect our neurotransmitters, and eventually our thinking ability. It is amazing the amount of food coloring found in processed foods. Significant increases in hyperactivity occur after getting 20 mg. of food coloring per day, which is much less than the amount found in many processed foods today.
When food additives are added to natural foods both physical and behavioral problems can occur. The three most common symptoms found when we get too many food additives are headaches, anxiety, and upset stomach. Common food additives to watch out for, beside food colorings, are preservatives, artificial sweeteners, and caffeine. Preservatives are found in all processed foods, and even in some of the natural foods such as fruits and vegetables. It is difficult to really fresh food unless you grow it yourself. Preservatives prevent spoilage of food so that it can be transported from the farm or factory to our grocery stores.
The FDA generally regards food additives as safe, at least in small quantities. But when combining them in foods and then looking at the potential cumulative effect, we have to realize that the more preservative and food additives we get on a daily basis, the more our liver has to detoxify. That is why headaches and bloating are common symptoms of too many food additives.
Among the many factors that shape the lives of children, nutrition often plays a critical role. What children eat during their growing years has a great effect on the way they think, learn, and act. Many studies have found, for example, that children with higher intakes of antioxidants, B vitamins and minerals do better in school than those children whose diets are lower in these nutrients. Others studies show that children who are exposed to too many environmental chemicals or heavy metals in the air and water have more trouble learning and remembering, and have more nervous system disorders.
This is another reason I am part of the Juice Plus+ Children’s Research Study. This program monitors the effects of Juice Plus+ concentrated fruits and vegetables on children and adults over time. Since this study began a few years ago, it has become obvious that both children and adults are healthier when they get the additional whole food nutrients absorbed from the Juice Plus capsules or chewables.
Click here to learn more about the Children’s Research study and see how more than 85% of adults and children have noticed benefits from taking Juice Plus regularly. This research study provides an incentive for families to participate, by providing the child’s Juice Plus+ for free as long as their parent takes Juice Plus+ too. If you know children between the ages of 6 and 15 who need to get more fruits and vegetables in their diet, contact me at DoctorOelke@aol.com to participate in this study.
Natural Dark Chocolate is Good for You
This past summer, the Journal of the American Heart Association reported that a daily serving of dark chocolate may actually help lower your blood pressure and improve insulin resistance. During a research study in Italy they monitored 10 men and 10 women with high blood pressure, but were not on medications and were not diabetic.
For one week before starting the study, participants avoided all chocolate and other flavonoid-rich foods. During the next 15 days, half ate a daily 3.5-ounce bar of flavonoid-rich dark chocolate, while the other half ate the same amount of white chocolate. After another week of avoiding flavonoid-rich foods, each subject “crossed over” and ate the other chocolate. White chocolate was used as the control food because it does not contain flavonoids as found in dark chocolate.
The researchers found a 12 mm Hg decrease in systolic blood pressure and a 9 mm Hg decrease in diastolic blood pressure in the dark chocolate group after 15 days. Blood pressure did not decrease in the white chocolate group. Also the researchers reported that the dark chocolate group experienced a significant reduction in LDL (“bad”) cholesterol of about 10 percent in the dark chocolate group, but stayed the same in the white chocolate group.
This does not mean we should live on chocolate, but that satisfying that craving can be beneficial, as long we eat dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate. And get dark chocolate with lots of flavonoids, in the most natural state as possible, without a lot of additional additives, like high fructose corn syrup or food colorings.
Other flavonoid-rich foods include most whole fruits and vegetables. Many websites are jokingly justifying chocolate as a vegetable. Chocolate does come from cocoa beans that in some cases are considered vegetables, not all beans are vegetables. So find the healthiest dark chocolate you can, and eat some in moderation to satisfy your craving.
Natural Choices Newsletter – May 2006
Brought to you by: Jane Oelke, N.D., Ph.D.
DoctorOelke@aol.com
What Attention is the Real Deficit?
We often label Attention Deficit Disorder in children when they act out in inappropriate ways. Yet could it be their own attention getting process? We all crave attention, even when we think we don’t. So children and adults will act out to get what they want. And if they find a way to get attention by acting out they will continue to do it.
Are you are dealing with a strong willed child who is constantly doing things to get attention? Watch how you are paying attention to them. Are you rewarding them for their actions? Are you giving them enough undivided attention so that they do not have to continuously keeping acting out? As parents, and I know I am guilty of this, we listen to our children while doing other household tasks. Yes, we are listening, but maybe not giving our full attention to our children (or spouse, or co-worker). If we stop and look them in the eye, and give them our full attention for just a few minutes, or explain that they will get our full attention in just a few minutes, then we will find that they will be satisfied more easily. I have even found this to be true with my dog. If I talk to her but do not look at her, she does not believe I am talking to her, and she will bark at me. But if I stop and look at her, she tends to become satisfied with a shorter focused activity time.
I work with parents whose children have many of the symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder. The children are seemingly inattentive, hyperactive, or impulsive for no reason. Yet, if you look closely at the parent / child relationship you can pick out when the child is acting on the stresses of the parent. Our children pick up on our stress. They act out in their own manner to get the attention off their parent’s stresses. When the parents do not make the time to deal with only one task or stress at a time, this feeling of overwhelm is felt by the child. In all things, but especially in relationships, we will do better by focusing on the person we are with, and putting our full attention in the present moment.
So if our child is not getting the attention they need – they have Attention Deficit – from their parents (and guardians, and even siblings). Help to teach your child how to pay real attention to their friends, sisters and brothers, and to you, while you do the same. And especially when you are dealing with a difficult relationship, make sure you are fully present, and really listening to the other person.
GABA Helps You Cope
Are you so stressed out that you feel like you cannot give the attention you need to those around you? GABA is a neurotransmitter that helps keep us stable. When in balance we are levelheaded, confident, practical, and can be an objective team player. We can easily take good care of others.
When there is a deficiency of GABA we begin to have digestive disturbances, chronic pain, protein cravings, decreased libido, and dry mouth. We begin to have more anxiety, restlessness, obsessive-compulsive disorders, short tempers, poor emotional stability, phobias and fears, and mood swings. We will have trouble with verbal memory, concentration, are unable to think clearly, and have short attention spans.
To learn, reason, and remember, our brains need to be able to block out non-important stimuli, and maintain focus. GABA is the neurotransmitter that blocks out unimportant extraneous messages by helping the nervous system focus and respond only to important messages. When you see a movie and you get so absorbed that you forget everything else around you, your GABA neurotransmitters are working.
GABA gives us the control to be fully present, mentally and emotionally, helping to override the adrenalin response. We actually learn to secrete it through practice, so by having regular quiet focused times, our nervous system can create a habit of GABA secretion. When we do not make the time to slow down and focus on specific tasks, we will become more internally out of balance and become mentally hyperactive. During stressful times when we have too much to do and do not take time to slow down and focus, we become more overwhelmed with life and have trouble thinking. Take at least 2 minutes of totally quiet time each day for your body to begin the rejuvenation process.
Natural Choices Newsletter – June 2006
Brought to you by: Jane Oelke, N.D, Ph.D.
DoctorOelke@aol.com
How’s your Dopamine Level?
Dopamine is a "feel good" neurotransmitter. When you have high levels of dopamine you will be a fast thinker, have great reflexes and will be determined in your actions. You will thrive on energy, and will know what you want, and may tend to be called strong-willed. You may also require less sleep than other people.
Low levels of dopamine may be experienced as restless boredom. Dopamine determines how well the brain energy works. Low dopamine levels are found in depression, fatigue, insomnia, high blood pressure, panic attacks, addictions, obesity, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, and Attention Deficit Disorder. The severity of these conditions depends on the level of dopamine deficiency.
Some early physical signs of dopamine deficiency are balance problems, blood sugar instability, junk food cravings, excessive sleep, slow metabolism, and thyroid disorders. Since low dopamine slows processing speed in the brain, there are memory and attention issues related to distractibility, forgetfulness, and failure to be able to follow directions or finish tasks, hyperactivity, impulsive behaviors, decreased alertness, and poor concentration. Even though many of these symptoms are common in other neurotransmitter deficiencies, the combination of many of them together signifies a specific dopamine imbalance.
Dopamine is made from the amino acids tyrosine and phenylalanine. These amino acids need the B vitamins folic acid, niacin and vitamin B-6 to make the dopamine bioavailable. Foods that create phenylalanine and Tyrosine are eggs, turkey, chicken, cottage cheese, pork, whole milk, plain non-fat yogurt, oats, wheat germ and dark chocolate. Amino acids do not work alone. They often depend on other vitamins and minerals to be more effective. Vitamin C is needed to help tyrosine and phenylalanine make dopamine.
Dopamine is used to activate the frontal lobe of the brain found in the forehead area. This area of the brain is the decision-making area, and is in charge of bringing together thoughts, feelings, and sensory information. There are a variety of factors that can cause dopamine deficiency. A stressful lifestyle, nutritional deficiencies and toxins in the environment all are factors can affect how dopamine is processed in the brain.
Do you Crave Chocolate?
Often we crave chocolate when our dopamine levels are low. That is why chocolate often makes us feel better faster than other foods, since chocolate also has antioxidants that many protein foods do not have.
Jane Oelke, N.D., Ph.D.
Natural Choices, Inc.
"Building Your Health Naturally"
DoctorOelke@aol.com
www.NaturalChoicesForYou.com
www.NaturalChoicesforFibromyalgia.com
1-888-893-7225
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