Stress, Inflammation & Aging Part 2: Diet and Inflammation

In my last installment I talked about the basics of stress - the stress hormone cascade, the fight or flight response and some very basic steps to take control. One of the things I mentioned was taking care of the basics - Sleep, Diet, Exercise. Getting these things in line will increase your overall health which will decrease the physical symptoms of stress.

These basics are also important for decreasing inflammation in the body and inflammation is a big physiological stress too. It can create a number of symptoms from PAIN to weight gain, puffiness, fatigue, a heightened allergic response, decreased immunity, joint pain and skin disorders. Inflammation can beget stress, and stress hormones create inflammation so stress and inflammation go hand in hand just like the chicken and the egg.

Our topic today, therefore, is diet, digestion and nutrition with a focus on decreasing inflammation in the body to help you get out of pain and feel your best.

In Chinese Medicine digestive health is a big indicator of overall health. The Spleen is actually responsible for digestion in Chinese medicine; digestion is not solely governed by the Stomach. Spleen Qi is also called Post-Natal Qi and this is the energy you use to live your day to day life, like your energetic “salary” if you will. Eating well and digesting well allows you to live within your energetic means and not have to draw from your energetic savings housed in the Kidney (more about Spleen & Kidney relationship in the next installment...).

From a dietary perspective, there are certain things we know create inflammation - sugar, refined and artificial sweeteners, trans-fats, toxins and anything that your are allergic or sensitive to. Keeping these things to a dietary minimum is of the utmost importance.

After that, drinking plenty of water while eating a healthy balanced diet rich in multi-colored fruits and vegetables is the order of the day. But what does that really mean?

There are more diets under the sun than there are grains of sand on a beach these days - Vegan, Ovo-Lacto Vegetarian, Paleo, Gluten Free, Mediterranean, DASH, Blood Type, etc etc etc. And then there is the “food pyramid” of the USDA which would be great if its design hadn’t been funded by Coca-Cola, McDonalds and the Sugar industry (read Walter Willet’s “Eat, Drink and Be Healthy” if you want to know more). So what is one supposed to do?

When it comes to diet, Chinese Medicine counsels moderation on all fronts. If one of the diets above calls to you, try it, but keep in mind these general recommendations:

1. Get Acupuncture! - do I really need to say why?
2. Eat Your Veggies: If you can’t get enough of them, drink green juice or take a green food powder or supplement. Veggies have important nutrients and fiber and are alkalinizing to the body. Acid/Alkaline balance important and most of us are too acidic which can lead to various states of dis-ease.
3. Eat Low Glycemic Index: this means keep your sugar in check. Protein fats and fiber stabilize your blood sugar, and protein does it best. This means you should include a little protein like a handful of nuts with any carbohydrate intake. High blood sugar causes an insulin spike (ah, ordering a side of diabetes today are we?) and too much insulin causes your body to store excess sugar as fat for future use - in particular this type of fat gets stored in the belly.
4. Drink Water: the recommended average is eight 8oz glasses per day, but my favorite calculation is to take your body weight, divide it by 2 and drink that many ounces. Dig out your favorite water bottle and get to work!
5. Drink Green Tea: Green tea is contained in several Chinese Herbal formulas and is part of the Chinese Materia Medica for its health benefits. Not only can it be a Chinese Herb, but it also has important antioxidants that can neutralize tissue damaging free radicals in the body, and has been proven to mildly decrease depression and increase a good mood!
6. Watch Your Portions: the USDA nutritional recommendations are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, but this is too much for the average person. Do you know how many calories you burn sitting on your duff with minimal physical activity over the course of a day? about 900. Do you know how many calories are in your average 16oz Starbucks Mocha? 330. Your most basic no frills Red Robin Burger? 569. A good rule of thumb if you’re eating out in particular is to eat half your meal, wait 15-20 minutes for your stomach to cue the satiety center in your brain with your level of satisfaction, and then determine if you need or want to eat more. A portion of protein should be the size of a deck of cards - that’s only 3oz, folks. If veggies make up the bulk of your plate thereafter + a reasonable portion of complex carbs (like brown rice instead of white), you’re doing great.
7. Supplement: Even if you eat lots of fruits and veggies, eat low glycemic index and drink plenty of water and green tea, its very difficult to get the balance of nutrition you need and certain supplements can help decrease inflammation even further. Fish oil, Tumeric and Vitamin D in particular are excellent at keeping inflammation in check. In addition digestive enzymes such as Bromelain become a natural anti-inflammatory when taken on an empty stomach. Add in a good basic multivitamin and you’ve got it covered. You do need your supplements to be from a reputable company so you know your body actually has access to the vitamins and minerals contained within and that there aren’t any added fillers or preservatives - but I’ll talk more about that in my next installment!

My last recommendation is to consider a Spring cleanse if you aren’t pregnant or nursing. A cleanse can be done anytime, but Spring is the best time from an energetic perspective, though Summer and Fall are close seconds. Winter is a time of restoration and not an ideal time to cleanse the body.

Stay tuned next month when I will talk about cleansing, supplementation, and aging from an energetic perspective!

As always if you have questions, concerns or would like more information please feel free to call or email me anytime. Remember my schedule is online and available for booking 24/7 through my website.

Until next time - Rebecca

Stress, Inflammation and Aging Part 1: How Stress Affects the Body

The further along I get in my practice, the more I feel like stress and inflammation are the literally the root of all evil in the body. Indeed, even the American Medical Association notes stress as the basic cause of more than 60% of all human illness and disease.

For that reason, I've decided to dedicate the next several months of my newsletter to this single topic - Stress and its interplay with inflammation and aging - to help you understand what it is, what it does, and what we can do about it.

For this installment - how stress affects the body - the Institute of Heart Math has a great picture summary, and you can click HERE to see it enlarged on the Institute of Heart Math website.

Physiologically, stress activates the Sympathetic Nervous System, or your "fight or flight" action. Hormones such as adrenaline increase, your heart rate and your blood pressure goes up. Increased energy is made available to your thigh muscles in particular to help you run while digestion and growth are both slowed down, to name the mot notable actions.

Its already plain to see how in the short term, this stress response is an amazing adaptation for survival, but in the long term chronic stress can become devastating to your health.

This is because your body doesn't differentiate a large stress from a small one - the basic hormonal cascade and neurological response is the same. Prologued exposure to stress hormones contributes to an alarming number of illness such as:

• increased risk of heart attack and stroke
• muscular pain and tension
• TMJ/TMD and teeth grinding
• headaches and back pain
• insomnia
• dizziness
• decreased sex drive
• irritable bowel syndrome

and the list just goes on.


Luckily, there is a lot we can do to manage stress even if we can't decrease it due to life circumstance, and with the propensity of stress to create illness, managing stress needs to be a top priority for all of us. Here are my top four stress management go to items:

In the immediate, when you feel stressed #1 is to Breathe. Stop, take a deep breath and just feel your heart center and breathe. Its amazing how much more centered you can feel in just a few short breaths if you take the time to do it.

Get Acupuncture is always at the top of my list. New research is beginning to prove that Acupuncture can down-regulate the sympathetic nervous system for prolonged periods.

Take care of the basics: Exercise, Sleep & Diet - Exercise especially.

Increase your B Vitamins - B vitamins, B6 and B12 especially, play an important roll in neurological function. And your body excretes what it doesn't need, so better to have too much rather than not enough.

Of course there is a lot more than can be done, especially when you get into the specifics of diet and supplementation, but these are the first steps and the easiest ones you can take to start balancing your life and keeping stress in line.

In the coming months I will talk more about each of these - diet, supplementation, meditation and breath work - and how they interact with the Stress-Inflammation and Aging continuum and most importantly, more information about what you can do to stay on top of it.

Until next time - Rebecca