I posted recently about this new beta test program I was in. The food plan eliminated all the major inflammatory and addictive stuff that Americans tend to ingest — gluten, dairy, caffeine and sugar for starters — for six weeks.

After a very short time on this plan, my fasting glucose, which had been hovering between 115-120 for months, dropped. Then it dropped some more. I was getting readings of 91, 92. Big difference.

Then I went away for the holidays to visit family. While there, I did my best but it was impossible to stick with my food plan. Fasting glucose shot right back up to the high hundred-and-teens. Within a couple of days I had gained back 3 pounds.

I’ve been home now for less than 48 hours. This morning, my reading was 102. Not where I want it to be, but a big drop from just a few days before. And the only difference was diet.

I haven’t weighed myself yet, but judging by the way my clothes are fitting most of that excess poundage is melting away as well.

Why? Because my fasting blood glucose was 92. Ninety Two.

ADA (American Diabetes Association) guidelines say a fasting glucose of between 120-140 is “normal” for someone with diabetes.

Wish I could tell you more about this program — and I will as soon as my obligations to the program have ended.

The goal of the program? To reverse diabesity.

Stay tuned — and I’ll stay smiling.

But now, happily, I’m back on track.

I’ve been chosen to participate in a beta study group for a doc who’s about to publish a book on how to reverse diabesity. I can’t say much about program I’m on, because I signed a non-disclosure agreement. But I lost four pounds the first week, and my glucose is low.

In fact, the other morning my fasting glucose was below 100 for the first time I can remember. (It was only 99, but still, that’s below 100, right?)

My blood pressure is down as well.

And the best news of all? I’m feeling (comparatively) energetic and optimistic again.

I’ll try to be better about posting.

Has your eating or exercise plan gotten derailed recently? How did you get back on track? Leave a comment. . .

photo by DMahendra on flickr

I can see it now – millions of unhealthy, obese Americans rushing out to the nearest 7-11 to stock up on these new diet foods, then wondering why they got sicker and fatter than ever.

Whatever the professor’s results from his 10-week junk-food binge, it’s not sustainable either as a weight-loss method or a lifestyle.

Lots of health bloggers have been writing about his experiment. There are good analyses here and here from people with science credentials.

I would like to point out that one person’s anecdote is not science – any more than my assertion that I gained 27 pounds eating a Twinkie. (Since I don’t eat them at all, that would be hard to do). I do know that for many years I’ve gained weight so easily, and lost it with such difficulty, that I’ve often told people I can gain 5 pounds just filling in the word “brownie” on a crossword puzzle.

I’ve seen my sister in tears because she couldn’t lose weight on a very reduced-calorie diet while swimming for about an hour each day. I’ve felt helpless for years as all my efforts at “sensible” weight loss plans accomplished nothing and I got sicker and sicker.

Heck, with all that I’ve learned in the past few years, I still am having a tough time losing weight, although it is coming off s-l-o-w-l-y.

Frankly, I think the professor, Mark Haub, has set nutrition back decades with his wacky experiment and the irresponsible publicity that followed.

That said, we’ll be taking a closer look at Mr. Haub’s junk-food binge over the coming weeks to see what its likely influence would be on his health in the long term. Not surprisingly, the words “leaky gut,” “diabetes,” and “chronic disease” will come into play.

Stay tuned. . .

Photo by Christian Cable on flickr

Did you think the FDA was protecting you? Not so much. However, there are some steps you can take to cut down or eliminate these sources of toxins.

First, though, you need to know what they are! Here’s a partial list:

1. Phthalates / DBP. Kids’ toys containing phthalates have been in the news in the past few years, but a lot of cosmetic products include them as well. Often in cosmetic or personal care products you’ll find the ingredient DBP, which stands for dibutyl phthalate. Phthalates cause cancer and interfere with your ability to reproduce.

2. Petroleum distillates are carcinogenic. Propylene glycol is derived from petroleum, is readily absorbed through the skin, and is so toxic that workers are required to wear protective gear when handling it. It’s used in industry to make things like hydraulic brake fluid and antifreeze. It’s found in very high concentrations in stick deodorants.
3. Parabens are synthetic chemical preservatives. They might show up as methyl paraben, propyl paraben, ethyl paraben, butyl paraben or PHB Esters.
4. Mercury and other toxic metals.
5. Formaldehyde. Even if formaldehyde is not listed on the ingredients label, it might be released by imidazolidinyl urea, DMDM Hydantoin or Hexamethylenetetramine.
6. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) and Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES) destroy cell membranes. It’s derived from coconut, so it’s frequently labeled as a “natural” product. However, after being mixed with other chemical cocktails, it damages your immune system, causes eye damage, and collects in the heart, lungs, brain and liver.
7. Triethanolamine (TEA) is a synthetic chemical frequently contaminated with nitrosamines.
8. Coal tar derivatives are found in dyes and colors.
9. Triclosan is found in almost all toothpastes and hand sanitizers, and is readily absorbed through the soft tissues of the mouth and skin. It disrupts thyroid activity, drops testosterone levels and increases the risk of cancer.

The FDA has admitted it does not protect the public health from toxic chemicals found in cosmetic products.

You Do Have Options for Toxin-Free Products

The Environmental Working Group maintains an extensive database to help you eliminate the damaging chemicals from your personal care and cosmetic products.

It’s divided into logical sections including hair, skin, nails, makeup, etc. You can search for products you’re currently using and rates them as low, moderate or high hazards.

I searched out the shampoo and conditioner I’ve been using for several years, and found both have a moderate risk level. While not containing carcinogens, their ingredients are linked to

• development and reproductive damage

• allergies
• immune system disruption
• neurotoxicity
• endocrine disruption
• organ system toxicity (non-reproductive)
• irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs)
• contamination concerns
• biochemical or cellular level (DNA) changes

Fortunately, the EWS also provides lists of products with zero toxicity, along with links for purchasing online. Their disclaimer reads,

“Environmental Working Group is not associated with the manufacturer or distributor of this product and cannot guarantee the safety or quality of the product, the product formulation nor the service of the store owner.”

Mineral Makeup

Several years ago I switched from my liquid makeup to a mineral makeup, and I’ve been very happy with the results. It looks good, applies easily, is reasonably priced, and is much easier to travel with!

If you decide to switch to mineral makeup, make sure you avoid anything with talc or bismuth oxychloride, in addition to the baddies listed above. I use products from Everyday Minerals and Mineral Silk.

If you have found a good, toxin-free cosmetic or personal care product, please share your information here! Just click the comment link above (if you’re reading this article on the website).

Photo by dr_XeNo on flickr

I’ve always enjoyed lively discussions. (What I call a “discussion” others have tagged as “debates,” “confrontations” and “arguments”. Did I mention I like my discussions lively?)

Recently, though, I’ve banned political discussion at the dinner table. Why? Because I figured out the “lively” part of it was helping to keep me sick and fat.

How Can Talking Make You Fat?

It’s not the talking that does it. It’s the lively discussions of things you feel strongly about. Because, when you feel strongly, your stress levels increase. And stress does terrible things for your digestion and your overall well being, unless you’re running away from a predator at the moment, in which case stress is very good.

I guess Emily Post and all those etiquette people knew what they were talking about when they decreed that religion and politics weren’t appropriate for the dinner table.

When you’re under stress, blood flow is diverted from your digestive system to the muscles (you know, to help you run away from that tiger). This slows down digestion which creates some immediate problems. (Think, half-digested food just sitting there. . . and sitting there. . . and sitting there. Yuck.)

There are also longer-term problems which are even more serious.

Stress Hormones

The major stress hormones are adrenaline and cortisol. Adrenaline is short term. It gives you that extra surge of energy for running or fighting.

Cortisol is the long-term stress hormone. It’s produced in the adrenal gland, and factors strongly in aging and degenerative diseases. Excess cortisol has been associated with weight gain, diabetes, heart attack, high blood pressure, depression, brain damage, dementia, osteoporosis and depressed immunity.

When stress lasts longer than a few minutes, cortisol actually turns off other hormones and bodily functions that detract from the “fight or flight” response.

Among the functions that are shut down during stress — healing. Your damaged intestinal lining, or leaky gut, for example, won’t have a chance to get better when you’re under stress.

Another effect of too much cortisol is you start craving sweets and snack foods because the hormone that controls your appetite is suppressed. Then the extra cortisol causes you to store more of those extra calories as fat in your mid-section.

Leaky gut

If you have leaky gut — and apparently about 80% of Americans do — that creates a huge stress on your body all by itself.

(If you missed the first part of my series in leaky gut, you can find it here.)

There are steps you can take to heal your leaky gut.

• Eliminate gluten and other food allergens

• Take a good quality probiotic
• Treat infections and overgrowth of yeast and other bad bugs
• Eat whole, unprocessed foods
• Support intestinal healing

That last item, support intestinal healing? You can’t do it if you’re always stressed.

While talking politics at the dinner table probably isn’t the most stressful thing you do all day, it’s one of the easiest to change.

And while you’re thinking about that, think of other ways you can reduce stress in your daily life.

How do you handle the things that stress you out? Leave a comment by clicking the link above this post.

1. The Healthy Skeptic. I’ve just discovered this blog by Chris Kresser, and I’m a big fan already. He writes about many different health topics, and he’s not afraid to call out stupidity and inconsistency when he sees it. Check out his ongoing series on diabesity here.

2. Dr. Hyman is the doc who created [ad#UltraSimple Diet Book], which I’ve followed and documented throughout this website. This is his blog, which provides a ton of useful, actionable information about health, wellness, metabolism and diabesity.
3. Dr. Al Sears, author of the PACE Revolution exercise program that I follow, blogs about health and wellness.
4. Healthy Fellow. Site author JP is a natural health consultant, writer and researcher. He writes about much more than diabesity, and is always informative and entertaining.
5. True Food Movement. There are lots (and lots, and lots!) of food websites — slow foods, organic foods, vegetarian, vegan, and on and on. I like this one because it’s helpful no matter what your preferred eating style. Gluten and dairy are included in some of the recipes, so you need to pick and choose.
6. True Nourishment is the blog of health coach Andrea Ramirez. Her articles are interesting and informative, and she can also provide one-on-one coaching to help you get your eating act together.
7. Dave Soucey is the undieting guy. He writes about why diets are bad, and why you should base all of your weight strategies on a healthy diet first.

Some of these sites don’t talk specifically about diabesity, but they all offer valuable information that can help you on your road to a life free of chronic disease.

In order words, even if you are genetically wired to develop diabetes, and even if you’ve been exposed to the environmental risks that bring it on, unless your gut is also damaged and leaky, you won’t actually develop diabetes.

Wow!

Since then, I’ve been reading everything I can get my hands on about leaky gut, and I’m going to be writing a lot more about it.

Here’s a list of symptoms and conditions that result from leaky gut. Some of them will surprise you. They certainly surprised me!

• Arthritis
• Diabetes (Type 1 and Type 2)
• Chronic Fatigue
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Confusion
• Memory problems
• Heartburn
• Muscle Pain
• Asthma
• Bronchitis
• Infertility
• Fibromyalgia
• Depression
• ADD / ADHD
• Aggressive Behavior
• Depression
• Autism
• Insomnia
• Dermatitis
• Headaches
• Sinus Problems
• Eczema

and the list goes on, and on and on.

I’m going to be writing about leaky gut a lot in the coming weeks and months, so stay tuned for more information.

In the meantime, if you suspect you have leaky gut (and according to one expert, about 80% of Americans do because of our white flour/white sugar diets), you can click here to download an excellent e-book on the subject.

According to Wikipedia, leaky gut is a name used to describe intestinal or bowel hyperpermeability.

For those of us without medical degrees, leaky gut means pretty much what you think it means – something is wrong with your digestive system that lets stuff circulate in your body that should have stayed in your intestines until eliminated in the normal way.

It causes problems, and lots of them: bowel diseases, arthritis, skin rashes, eczema, psoriasis, food allergies, IBS, chronic fatigue syndrome, hepatitis, pancreatitis, and more.

Dr. Leo Galland of the Foundation for Integrated Medicine adds that it “stimulates classic hypersensitivity responses to foods and to components of the normal gut flora; bacterial endotoxins, cell wall polymers and dietary gluten may cause “non-specific” activation of inflammatory pathways mediated by complement and cytokines.”

Dr. Andrew Weil points out that it’s “not generally recognized by conventional physicians.”

It certainly should be.

Recently The Healthy Skeptic published a fascinating article. The leadoff stated:

“Genetics play a significant role in type 2 diabetes and obesity but, recent evidence shows that genetics alone don’t cause diabetes without environmental triggers and a leaky gut.” [The emphasis is mine.]

Wow! If this is true, it means there is one part of the equation that you have a fair amount of control over. You can’t control your genes, and you can’t control most environmental triggers. Control a leaky gut? Yes, you can!

Once you fix your gut, you’ll be amazed at how much more energy you have and how much better you feel. The best part is, it’s not complicated to do.

Healing leaky gut is actually one of the goals of the UltraSimple Diet, which you’ve already read about if you’ve been following this site for any length of time. (If you missed any of the articles, you can find them all here.)

Tremendous News for People with Diabetes

The author bases his conclusion on a study done by researcher Alessio Fasano. In an article in Scientific American, Fasano argued that all autoimmune diseases – including diabesity — involve these three factors.

To briefly summarize:

1. You inherit your genes and can’t do anything about them.
2. Your genes respond to your environment, including things like what your mother ate when she was pregnant with you, your diet, prescription drugs (especially antibiotics), and environmental contaminants like herbicides, pesticides, PCBs and BPA.
3. You can control some of the environmental issues, especially your diet, the drugs you take, and whether you handle pesticides or herbicides.
4. You can’t control what your Mom ate while pregnant or the environmental toxins you’re exposed to without your knowledge.
5. Even if you have a “diabetes gene,” it won’t be activated unless at least one of these environmental factors is present.
6. It also won’t be activated unless you also have a leaky gut.

What is Leaky Gut?

Your intestines “leak” when the intestinal wall allows partially digested food and other matter to escape into the bloodstream. In some spots, your intestinal wall is only a single cell thick, so it’s not that hard to damage.

When stuff escapes the intestines in this way, it’s treated like an invader. White blood cells rush to the rescue, resulting in inflammation.

How well our bodies handle toxins like BPA depends on the intestinal barrier. If it’s intact, we can eliminate them without a lot of problem. When it’s busted, watch out. Your brain, liver, kidneys, pancreas and skeletal system are all affected by the immune response when toxins leak out of the gut.

What Causes Leaky Gut?

Digestion involves a complex system with a lot of responsibilities. Obviously, it has to take food, break it into its component parts and deliver the nutrients to your bloodstream.

It also has to protect your immune system by keeping waste products and toxins out of your bloodstream.

Your gut also has its own nervous system, and it communicates constantly with your brain. If something interferes with the two-way communication between brain and gut, your health suffers.

We all carry around about three pounds of digestion helpers in the form of bacteria. If you don’t have enough, if the balance of bacterial types is messed up, or if you’ve got the wrong kinds of bacteria in there, your health suffers as well.

If you’ve been eating a typical American high-sugar, high fat, low-fiber diet, you can be pretty sure your gut is unhealthy.

Other substances that damage your gut include:

• Antibiotics and other prescription medications
• Gluten
• Toxic metals (mercury, lead), yeast and mold
• Inadequate digestive enzymes
• Stress

What Can You Do to Avoid or Fix a Leaky Gut?

Eliminate Food Allergens, Especially Gluten

Humans produce the protein zonulin which increases intestinal permeability. Translation: it makes your gut leak more. And guess what? Gluten increases zonulin production in people with the genetic predisposition.

So the first thing you should do to heal your leaky gut is eliminate gluten from your diet.

Other common food allergens include dairy, eggs, yeast, corn and soy. Eliminate them for two to three weeks, then gradually add them back in to see whether you tolerate them. When I did this, I was astonished to find out I had a problem with dairy.

Take a Probiotic

The next step is to improve the quantity and quality of bacteria that live in your digestive system. Diabetics’ gut bacteria is measurably different from nondiabetics’. If you have diabetes, you probably produce more of a couple types of bacteria that produce LPS (lipopolysaccharides) and LPS stimulates the immune system (translation: more inflammation).

To improve the quality of gut bacteria, take a high-quality probiotic.

You can find plenty of probiotics at the pharmacy, supermarket or health food store. If it doesn’t come out of a refrigerator, don’t waste your  money on it. Effective probiotics contain live organisms, and must be refrigerated to maintain potency.

A healthy gut hosts anywhere from 100 billion to 1,000 billion friendly bacteria per mL (milliliter), but a typical American has only about 5 per mL. You read that right: 1,000 billion compared to 5. Your intestinal tract should host about 100 trillion of the little critters overall, from about 400 species. They help you digest your food, absorb its nutrients and produce vitamins B and K and some enzymes.

A good probiotic should contain the following strains of bacteria:

· L. Acidopholus

· Bifidobacteria

· L Salivarius

· L. Rhamnosus

· L. Plantarum

· Streptococcus thermophilus

· L. bulgaricus

· B. longum

· L. casei

· fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS), which helps the good guys to grow

Treat Infections or Overgrowth of Bad Bugs

Yeasts, parasites and bacteria in the small bowel must be treated before your gut will work properly.

Support Intestinal Healing

Help the lining to heal by taking zinc and glutamine. Extra Omega-3 will cool the inflammation in your gut, and will help speed the healing process.

Eat Whole Unprocessed Foods

Avoid eating anything that comes in a jar or a can, and eat foods as close to their natural state – and as fresh – as you can find. Get plenty of fiber from beans, seeds, nuts and vegetables. Ditch the sugar.

Once your gut no longer leaks, you should find it much easier to achieve and maintain a healthy weight, and chronic, “untreatable” conditions like diabetes will go away.

Resources

Although it takes some time and persistence, fixing your leaky gut isn’t difficult to do. If you want a detailed road map, Dr. Hyman takes you through it, step by step, in his book [ad#UltraSimple Diet Book].

Repairing your gut might just be the single most important step you can take for your overall health.

Have you healed your leaky gut? How did you do it? Click the Comment button above this post to share your experience.

Today is Blog Action Day, and all over the world bloggers are coming together to discuss a single issue: water.

I’m not going to write about drought, or ecosystems. I’m sure others far better qualified than I will do justice to those subjects.

Instead, I’m going to write about our bodies’ need for clean, uncontaminated water to maintain health.

It may seem a bit snarky to complain about our relatively potable water in the US when millions throughout the world don’t have safe drinking water, but I’m going to do it anyway.

Tap Water Is Hazardous to Your Health

Most US residents enjoy a seemingly endless supply of safe drinking water. Oh, sure, it’s safe in the sense that it’s generally not teeming with killer bacteria.

Unfortunately, it’s full of killer chemicals:

• chlorine

• fluoride
• PCBs
• DBPs
• prescription drugs
• arsenic
• heavy metals

Chlorine

Chlorine is commonly used in water treatment to kill bacteria (or any other living organisms like plant matter). It’s been widely used for decades, but the problems associated with its use are mounting.

Chlorine destroys the good bacteria in your gut, which you need to protect your immune system and properly digest your food.

Chlorine can wipe out vitamin B and the polyunsaturated fatty acids in your system.

Chlorine combines with other compounds in water to form carcinogens. They’re stored in fatty tissues and can alter DNA, suppress your immune system and screw up cell growth.

Fluoride

For decades the chemical companies have been laughing up their sleeves. Fluoride — an industrial waste from the manufacture of copper, iron and aluminum — was introduced into public water supplies across the country as a way to prevent tooth decay.

Before we all started guzzling the stuff, it was used to kill rats and insects.

Then a big aluminum manufacturer funded a study that “proved” fluoride helped prevent tooth decay.

The World Health Organization studied tooth decay in countries across the globe, and found it has been declining in countries across Europe, Japan, Iceland and the US. The reason? Improved dental hygience. Of the countries studied, only the US uses fluoride. Heck, even the American Dental Association has finally acknowledged that adding fluoride to drinking water doesn’t prevent tooth decay.

Here’s what fluoride does do: it increases your body’s ability to absorb aluminum, and aluminum has been linked to Alzheimers. It also increases your risk of osteoporosis and cancer, especially bone cancer.

If you want to learn more about fluoride and your health, check out NoFluoride.com.

PCBs

PCB stands for polychlorinated biphenyls. They’ve been used in the manufacture of pesticides, electronics, and a whole range of goods. They’re so dangerous that the US finally banned their use during the 1970s, but since they don’t break down, they’re still seeping from the ground into our water supplies. (You can find them in fish as well.)

PCBs affect your brain and nervous system. They’re fat soluble, and they’re found in high concentrations in milk.

They’ve been connected to cancers of the liver, skin, brain and breast.

DBPs

DBP is short for disinfection byproducts — in other words, the chemicals that are created by attempts to kill germs in the water. They’re about 10,000 times more toxic than chlorine. When chlorine is combined with decaying organic matter in the water, THMs (trihalomethanes) and HAAs (haloacetic acids) are created.

DBPs cause reproductive problems, and THMS are carcinogens.

Even worse, there’s mounting evidence they do even more damage when absorbed through the skin than when you drink them.

Prescription Drugs

Other people’s used prescriptions get recycled into our drinking water. Beta blockers, psychiatric drugs, hormones, statins, antibiotics and painkillers all end up in your glass. You may think you’re not taking any prescriptions, but if you drink municipal tap water, you’re wrong.

Arsenic

The NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) did a study of arsenic in drinking water in 1999 and 2000. You can read more about it here.

They found 25 states with arsenic at unsafe levels in drinking water — and those only included the states that reported arsenic information to the EPA. Not all of them do.

Heavy Metals

Mercury, lead and other heavy metals are poisonous to human life. Because eliminating them is difficult, they build up in your tissues and cause problems with memory, concentration and other brain functions, dementia, depression, nausea, heart disease, high blood pressure and kidney failure. Increasingly, heavy metal toxicity is being linked to conditions like autism, ADHD, Asperger’s syndrome and other behavioral problems.

Filter Your Water

To avoid these contaminants — and a raft of others — you should filter your water with a high quality carbon or reverse osmosis filter. (Drinking bottled water is not the answer for a variety of reasons.)

If you are able to install a whole-house filter to remove these toxins from your showers and bathroom taps, even better.