jmckenziend, Author at Summit Natural Health Centre

GMOs: Are There Health Risks?

Concern about the possible health effects of GMOs has been highlighted in the news media.

It turns out that October has been designated Non-GMO month, in an effort to draw attention to the risks associated with their use.

A GMO is any plant, animal or microbe that has been altered through genetic engineering. Our efforts to genetically engineer began with the domestication of plants and animals, and subsequent cross-breeding and hybridization. In the early 1970s, Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen were successful in conducting the first direct transfer of DNA from one organism to another. The technology was rapidly adopted in the agriculture industry as a means of creating plants, animals and food crops that produced abundantly and were resistant to diseases and herbicides.

From the outset, modern genetic engineering has been the subject of controversy. With respect to its impact on food, the main concerns relate to the long term safety of consuming genetically modified foods.

In the United States, some crops are dominated by the GMO varieties:

canola (87%)
corn (86%)
cotton/cottonseed oil (93%)
Hawaiian papaya (80%)
soybean (93%)
sugar beets (95%)

Wheat is also a common GMO crop but it’s not clear how widespread the use of the modified variety is.

There are a number of potential health concerns related to GMO consumption but two high-profile ones are allergenicity and toxin exposure. Research has not succeeded in clarifying any of the health-related concerns. Some GMO products have lower levels of known allergens, but new allergens emerge over time as the exposure of a population to the product continues. Toxin exposures exist with both GMO and non-GMO foods.

Opponents have focused on labeling products containing GMOs as the means to enabling the public to make their own choices and potentially vote with their wallets.

The bottom line? No one can say with certainty what, if any, health risks are associated with the consumption of GMO foods. That being the case, it seems to me that unequivocal biotechnology labeling regulations, such as those found in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, China and India, are a reasonable and prudent requirement.

The Cholesterol Puzzle

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“I have heard that they have found that high cholesterol has no link to heart disease and that clogged arteries are from inflammation and not cholesterol levels. Is this true? Can I stop or reduce my cholesterol drugs?”

I’m sure this seems like a straight-forward question but, from a medical perspective, it is not.

The connection between cholesterol levels and atherosclerosis arose from the finding that arterial plaque has a lot of cholesterol in it. The medical reasoning that came about based on this finding was that if there was less cholesterol in the blood, there would be less arterial plaque.

Initially it was assumed that the source of the excess cholesterol must be the diet. After years of low cholesterol, low fat dietary recommendations, research began to show that dietary intakes did not have much effect on blood lipids or atherosclerosis for most people.

This realization led to the next approach which was to suppress cholesterol production in the body with drugs, and eventually statin medications became the first line of treatment for this purpose.

The problem with all of this is that it treats the “what” of atherosclerosis but not the “why”.

Research over the last 10 – 15 years has shown that there are other factors that contribute to atherosclerosis, most notably inflammation, and blood sugar effects known as advanced glycation end products. These factors relate to the “why” of atherosclerosis more directly and more often than the cholesterol hypothesis did.

To complicate matters further, however, there are people for whom blood lipids are a central issue in plaque production. This is why you need to review your personal and family medical history with your doctor to understand what your individual risks are with respect to stopping your cholesterol drug.

This article originally appeared on Quora.

Is Junk Food Healthy in Moderation?

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Is junk food in moderation healthy for you?

I assume “junk food” refers to foods that are high in fat, sugar and/or salt, which are also not nutrient dense. Doritos corn chips could be an example.

A 1 ounce serving of Doritos is about 11 chips. How many people do you know who would count out 11 chips and stop eating them after that, especially if consuming them from the snack sized bag pictured here?

For 320 calories, you get 16 grams of fat. Fat provides 9 calories per gram, so this means 45% of the calories in the bag are from fat, providing about one quarter of your daily fat intake (assuming a caloric intake of 2000 calories) in 22 chips.

The term “moderation” is a bit vague. I happen to like Doritos. I might eat them twice a year. For me, this is moderation. Someone else might think moderation means twice per week.

Finally, think about this: if you were to beat your head against a brick wall 10 times instead of 20, you would say it was less painful, not more enjoyable. In the same way, moderate consumption makes eating junk food less harmful, not healthy.

Things Happy People Do

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You can learn to be happy by doing what happy people do.

Research has shown that people who consistently perceive themselves to be happy engage in certain behaviours on a regular basis that contribute to their happiness. Adopting these behaviours can help less happy people change their state.

Here is a list of some of the things happy people do:

Express Gratitude
We all have wants and needs, some of which have been met, and some which are unfulfilled. If you don’t appreciate what you already have, the fulfillment of your unmet wants and needs will not make you happier. Happiness begins when you value what you have now.

Cultivate Optimism
Optimism is the foundation for resiliency, and resiliency is what gets you through the tough times in the best way. Hope for the future is what enables people to tolerate their current, less than ideal, conditions; you can only have hope if you are optimistic enough to believe that different conditions are possible.

Avoid Over-Thinking and Social Comparison
Happy people don’t agonize over past decisions or compare themselves to others.

Practice Acts of Kindness
Helping someone promotes positive feelings in several ways. It takes your mind off your own situation, helps you to appreciate what you have, and may result in feelings of being appreciated by others. There is no downside to being kind because “kindness is its own reward”.

Nurture Social Relationships
Meaningful relationships bring all kinds of rewards. Those relationships don’t have to be deep or long-lasting, although those are the kind that are associated with the greatest levels of happiness. Nor do they have to be relationships with people; relationships with pets/wildlife can be some of life’s greatest treasures.

Develop Strategies for Coping
Life will always toss you a curve ball at some point. Learning to “bounce back” by developing coping strategies in response to smaller setbacks can make it much easier to handle the bigger crises down the road. Not sure what those strategies should be? Check out these posts ongratitude and stress management for some ideas.

Forgive
“Why should I forgive…” Here’s why: resentment, disdain, hatred and so on are toxic. They will literally make you sick. Understand that forgiving is not the same as forgetting. It’s about doing what is in YOUR best interests, not letting the other person off the hook. You can forgive someone and still hold them accountable.
Forgiveness is about cultivating empathy, letting go of a negative situation and moving on.

Experience More “Flow”
Being in a state of “flow” occurs when you are so involved with what you are doing that you don’t notice the passage of time. You can learn more about flow by reading Dr. Steve Wright’s excellent article on the subject.

Stop and Smell the Roses
Ferris Bueller said “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Slow down enough to enjoy the peak moments in your life.

Commit
Happy people have a sense of purpose. Goals are purposeful. Set goals that reflect your values and commit to them. Make your commitments to yourself as important as the commitments you make to others.

Engage Your Spirituality
The happiest, most resilient people are those with a system of spiritual beliefs. The nature of those beliefs is less important than having them. In other words, any set of beliefs that help you to shape a realistic, optimistic perspective on your life will benefit you.

Look After Your Body
Physical well-being may not be essential for happiness, but it definitely helps. While some people cultivate the skills for happiness through the trials of poor health, caring for yourself when you are well promotes happiness too.

Rx: Laughter

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Laughing is one of the best things you can do for your health.

This web search found hundreds of thousands of references and studies on the health benefits of laughter. Laughter has been found to:

Counter the effects of anger, anxiety, depression and stress.
Reduce your risk of a heart attack.
Increase the number of calories you burn (woot!).

Any time of year can be a period of stress and great sadness. Sensitivity and an opportunity to laugh, or at least smile, can help ease the strain and bolster health.

The following video got me giggling…I hope it does the same for you.

Fruit Overdose

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Can you really have too much of a good thing?

How much fruit is too much? For example, is it unhealthy to eat 4-5 pieces of fruit a day all at the same time, as an afternoon snack?

The accurate, but unsatisfying, answer to this question is “It depends”.

It depends on the kinds of fruit you choose, and whether you eat them alone or in conjunction with other foods.

Fruits contain sugars (fructose and sucrose), which can cause spikes in blood sugar (glucose). Most fruits also contain fibre. The presence of fibre slows the digestion of the sugars. Eating fruits with other foods can blunt the impact of the sugars from the fruit on your blood sugar.

It depends on your health, and whether or not you have conditions that might make it advisable to avoid certain kinds of fibre and/or abrupt changes in your blood sugar.

If you have a problem with your weight or your blood sugar, limit your consumption to 2 fruits per day. When you do eat fruit, choose those that have a lower impact (“glycemic load”), such as strawberries, plums, apricots and grapefruit. You can learn more about glycemic load here:

If you have conditions that affect the digestive system, you might need to avoid certain kinds of fibre and/or abrupt changes in your fibre intake. Choose carefully with your doctor’s guidance to avoid symptom flares.

In conclusion, eating 5 pieces at one time might not be a problem if you are healthy. In general, however, it still makes sense to think of fruit as “nature’s candy” and to consume it in moderation.

Sugar Cravings: The Real Skinny

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Think sugar cravings are a problem? Artificial sweeteners make cravings worse.

Concern among the general public and scientific communities about obesity has resulted in the development of all kinds of diet aids: low fat this, low carb that. On the low carb side of things, we’ve seen a proliferation of sugarless sweeteners being touted as the way to satisfy your sweet tooth without packing on the pounds.

I’ve stated previously that artificial sweeteners are problematic, and can actual contribute to weight gain.

A recently published study sheds some light on why we crave sweets and may help us to understand how we can satisfy those sugar cravings and maintain a healthy weight.

The study looked at the glucose metabolism of the brains of rats who had been kept in a fasting state. It involves an enzyme, glucokinase. When the rats were offered pure glucose or foods high in glucose along with a regular diet, they preferred the higher glucose sources. The longer the rats fasted, the higher their levels of glucokinase, and the more they preferred high glucose foods. The converse was also found to be true: lower levels of glucokinase activity led to lower glucose and overall food consumption.

The study also looked at whether or not a sweet substitute, fructose, would satisfy the fasted rats in the way high glucose foods did and found that it did not. This suggests the regulation of sugar intake by glucokinase is specific for glucose.

Some of the study’s findings are believed to hold true for humans. Studies have shown people with mutations that lower levels of glucokinase have lower body weights; those with mutations that raise levels of glucokinase have higher body weights.

The authors’ conclude:

This mechanism may explain the observation that diets high in carbohydrate are associated with weight gain in mice (62) and why low glycemic index diets produce weight loss (41). It also provides a possible CNS mechanism to explain the often-described phenomena of the “sweet tooth” and carbohydrate craving, particularly for high glycemic index foods.

Key Points

The best way to manage blood sugar and weight is with a low glycemic diet and an appropriate caloric intake.
Fasting or extreme calorie restriction will increase sugar cravings in susceptible individuals.
Trying to fool your brain with artificial sweeteners won’t work.

References
Sucralose Affects Glycemic and Hormonal Responses to an Oral Glucose Load
Glucokinase activity in the arcuate nucleus regulates glucose intake.
Familial hyperglycemia due to mutations in glucokinase.
The second activating glucokinase mutation (A456V): implications for glucose homeostasis diabetes therapy.

Artificial Sweeteners: Sweet Poisons?

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You’ve heard the expression “pick your poison”.

When it comes to sweet stuff, you need to do just that. Sugar, consumed to excess, can be toxic and lead to conditions such as diabetes. But what about artificial sweeteners?

Commonly consumed sources of artificial sweeteners include the packets and pills used in place of sugar to sweeten coffee and tea, soft drinks and chewing gum.

If you’ve read articles and posts on the importance of limiting your sugar intake, this advice might make you scratch your head:

It’s better to have real sugar than artificial sweeteners.

Here is the rationale:

Your body knows the difference between things that are truly sweet because of their sugar content and those that are artificially sweet. Artificial sweeteners can make sugar cravings worse because they don’t satisfy them. You would be better of drinking one can of soda with all its sugar, than 4 cans of artificially sweetened soda (unless you have a health condition that requires you to restrict carbohydrates).
Some artificial sweeteners can distort your body’s regulation of blood sugar. Blood sugar distortion can, over time, lead to conditions such as insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and Type 2 diabetes.
Some artificial sweeteners convert to toxic compounds when your body metabolizes them. For example, aspartame is metabolized to formaldehyde (a carcinogen and neurotoxin).

If you drink multiple servings artificially sweetened drinks daily, your first step should be to set a goal for yourself to reduce your intake. Make it a SMART goal (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bounded). For example, if you were in the habit of drinking 4 sodas per day, your SMART goal might be:

I will reduce my consumption of sodas from 4 to 3 daily for seven days in a row by [date].

Once you achieve your goal, you set a new goal for further reduction.

If you are currently drinking artificially sweetened drinks, I recommend you convert to those that are sweetened with sugar and gradually reduce the amount of sugar you take in.

You could begin substituting sparkling water for servings of soda. If you prefer to drink something flavored, add slices of citrus or other fruits, cucumber or herbs like mint or basil to your water.

Gum chewers should work on reducing the frequency and duration of their chewing. For example, if you currently chew gum for several hours every day, set an initial SMART goal like:

I will reduce my gum chewing from 4 hours daily to 90 minutes daily for seven days in a row by [date].

If you learn to love the natural flavour of foods, including the sweet ones in moderation, you’ll benefit by improving your health through toxin avoidance.

References

9 Tips For Easier Dieting

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Some people find changing the way they eat incredibly difficult. They view it as a lifetime commitment to deprivation. It doesn’t have to be this way. These 9 tips for easier dieting can help.

Perspective matters. For example, if you have to stop eating foods that cause symptoms of disease, such as gluten, the “deprivation” will result in better health. If you are making changes to assist with weight management, the deprivation is likely to be temporary, and viewing how you eat as a long term lifestyle choice instead of a temporary change to deal with weight, for example, can make committing to the changes easier.

Drinking water when you feel hungry can reduce your caloric intake; some people have difficulty distinguishing between hunger and thirst. The feeling of fullness created by the water can be satiating. Studies show drinking 500 ml of water before a meal can increase metabolism[1] and reduce caloric intake by suppressing appetite[2].

Food journaling can make easier dieting a snap by being mindful of portion sizes and calorie intakes. There are apps, such as Cara and Samsung Health, that can track food, mood, exercise, sleep and other factors in your health[3].

Learn what a portion is[4]. It’s easy for portion sizes to become distorted, resulting in a greater than needed caloric intake. As little as an extra 100 calories per day can amount to a 10 pound weight gain in a year. Use your hand to estimate an appropriate portion size, as illustrated below.

Think about what you can eat, instead of focusing on foods you want to avoid, to mitigate feelings of deprivation. If your eating plan includes foods that are not familiar or favorites, saying “I get to eat [unfamiliar food]” instead of “I have to eat [unfamiliar food]” makes the attitudinal shift easier to manage.

Deal with any tendency to eat for emotional reasons, such as stress. Your food journal can include notes about your mood or stressors. Externalizing how you feel by writing it down can make the feelings and the need for comfort less intense. Deep breathing exercises can be powerfully stress-reducing. Exercise, even if it’s in the form of going for a gentle walk, can ease stress[5] and temporarily suppress appetite[6].

Alter the content of your food to make your diet work for you. Healthy fats[7]and fiber suppress appetite[8]. An avocado might be labelled as fattening, but if you account for its calories in your daily limit, what you get in exchange is heart-healthy mono-unsaturated fat and 7 grams of fiber per 100 grams (about a quarter of your daily intake), plus vitamin C, vitamin B6, magnesium and iron[9]. Nutrient dense foods with a low impact on blood sugar like this should be your focus.

Use caffeine in moderation to control appetite. Caffeine sources such as coffee and green tea can boost metabolism[10] and promote fat burning[11]. A moderate intake is considered to be 2 – 3 cups (500 – 750 ml) per day. Remember to include substances such as cream and sugar used in your drink in your calorie count for the day.

Chew slowly and thoroughly. The way you chew can make a difference to your metabolism[12] and caloric intake[13].

Make sure you get enough sleep. The amount and quality of your sleep have significant impacts on hormone regulation and metabolic effects with respect to body weight[14].

SNHC COVID-19 Form

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