Tag: pesticides

Don’t Forget Your Back

Most of us spend a large portion of the day hunched forward.  Think about when you are working on the computer, cooking, driving or even relaxing.  Your typical posture during these activities is head and neck forward, shoulders rounded forward, back curved and hips flexed.    When you remain in this position for an extended period of time, the muscles in the front of the body tend to shorten or contract, while the muscles in the back of the body tend to weaken.    This can be a set up for back, neck and shoulder problems and in addition, tends to make you look shorter, heavier and less confident.

Stretching before and after exercise as well as during the day is often overlooked in the rush to “get your workout in”.   Stretching however, has numerous benefits.   According to a study published in the Annals of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Medicine in September 2016, by I Fekhfekh, et al, dynamic muscle stretching of the knee musculature actually resulted in an increase strength gain in those muscles.  Interestingly, this study also found a decrease in the postural stability of the knee after stretching.    In English, it appears that stretching helps your to build strength, but may decrease the stability of the muscles you stretch at least temporarily.

In general, stretching helps to improve flexibility, joint range of motion, and usually is helpful for injury prevention.    Stretching helps by increasing blood flow to the muscles stretched.  This increased blood flow carries important nutrients to your muscles to allow for muscle growth and repair.  In addition, the increased blood flow helps to wash away muscle “waste” which leads to decreased soreness and inflammation of the muscle.

If allowed to remain in a contracted position for a prolonged period of time, our muscles will shorten.  For example if you spend a large portion of your day sitting in a chair or driving, the muscles in the front of the hips, your hip flexors will shorten.  These muscles have a direct effect on both your posture and your back health.

 

So what should you do?

It is important to stretch the muscles in the front of the body at least daily.

Exercises that focus on the hip flexors:

-Kneeling hip flexor stretch  – in the position of a lunge, allow your back knee to touch the floor and drive the hip of your front leg forward.  This will stretch the hip flexor of the knee on the floor

–Pigeon stretch – extend your right leg straight back and bring the heel of your left leg underneath your right hip.  Then drive your hips forward towards the ground.  Stretch and repeat on the other side.

– Yoga poses such as: low lunge, crescent lunge, upward facing dog, and revolving side angle pose

 

Stretches that focus on the chest muscles and prevent rounded shoulders:

– Door Frame stretch- stand in a doorway or at the corner of a room with your arms up like you were going to stop traffic.  Line your arms up from the elbow to the hand with the doorframe or in the corners of the wall.   Step towards the door and you should feel a stretch in your chest (pectoralis “pec” muscles) and hold for 20-30 seconds.

– Wall slides – stand with your back to the wall and keep your shoulders against the wall.  Walk forward 1-2 steps and slide your arms up and down the wall and squeeze your shoulder blades together.  You should feel a stretch in your upper chest muscles.

–Shoulder squeeze stretch –  clasp your hands together behind your back and slowly try to lift your hands.  Squeeze your shoulder blades together to stretch out the chest wall.

– Yoga poses include : bridge pose, camel pose, cobra pose and cow face pose

 

Stretches for your neck:

– Chin Tucks (Neck Retraction) – keep your shoulders back and your head in a neutral position (eyes facing forwards, chin level) slowly move your head backwards until you feel a slight stretch in the back of your neck.  Hold for 10-20 seconds and repeat.  If needed you can apply a gentle pressure on your chin with your fingertips to press your chin backwards and deepen the stretch.

Incorporating these exercises into your daily routine will help to prevent shortening of the muscles in the front of the body which leads to poor posture and often pain of the neck and back.  As always, if you are having pain which persists you should be evaluated by a certified health care professional to ensure that these exercises are safe for you.

This week we primarily discussed stretching exercises to prevent muscle contraction, and next week we will discuss the importance of strengthening the back muscles to further combat the issues of a hunched posture.

Optimizing Nutrition In Our Diets

If you are eating a cleaner more nutritious diet, you should be feeling the beneficial effects of your efforts.  In theory, if you are eating a variety of fresh fruits, vegetables and meats, you should be able to get the majority of your nutrients from your diet.  The problem is that many fruits and vegetables are grown in over-farmed soil devoid of vital nutrients.

In addition, the way food is cooked can denature or destroy nutrients found in food.   For example a study published in 2009 in the Journal of Zhehiang University Science, was done which examined the effects of steaming, microwaving, boiling, stir-frying and stir-frying follow by boiling on broccoli in China.  The study found that all types of cooking except steaming resulted in “significant losses of chlorophyll and vitamin C and significant decreases in total soluble proteins and soluble sugars”.  The study goes on to say that “indole glucosinolate were significantly modified by all cooking treatments but not steaming”.  Indole glucosinolates are sulfur-containing compounds that have been associated with a possible decrease in lung cancer and colorectal cancers.

Lilli Link and John Potter from the Mailman School of Public Health in Columbia University reviewed 9 years of medical studies and published an article in 2004.  They found that consumption of vegetables (raw or cooked) was associated with a lower cancer risk, however 9 of the 11 studies reviewed showed an even lower risk with raw vegetables as opposed to cooked vegetables.   They suggested that “cooking changes the availability of nutrients, destroying digestive enzymes and changes the structure and digestibility of food”.  So it appears that consumption of vegetables in general is beneficial but consumption of raw vegetables may be even more beneficial to your overall health.  That being said, make sure that you carefully wash and clean vegetables, because raw vegetables often contain bacteria which can be harmful.  Furthermore, it is important to do your best to remove as much pesticides as possible from the surface of the vegetables.

Amino acids provide the building blocks for protein production in your body.   Amino acids are divided up into groups, Dispensable (our bodies can make these under almost all circumstances),  Indispensible or Essential (can never be made by our body and must be consumed through diet or supplements) and Conditionally Indispensible (can be made by our body under many circumstances but not always).

Consuming foods such as fish, eggs, sea vegetables, salmon, brussel sprouts, broccoli, garlic onion, chicken legumes, dairy (occasionally) and soy will help to provide you indispensable amino acids.    It appears that you do not need to eat these foods at every meal, but it is important to eat them over a period of several days to help maintain your body’s amino acid stores.

There are many nutrients which are helpful to add into your diet, possibly via supplements, such as Vitamin D3, Calcium, Magnesium, Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Glutamine.    In the following weeks articles, I will be addressing the importance of each of these supplements as valuable additions to our diet.

To summarize the above information, adding well cleaned, raw vegetables and fruits to your diet, and adding high quality proteins such as eggs, chicken, legumes and fish will increase the nutritional density in your diet and provide your body with important building blocks to function optimally.

How To Choose Your Foods?

The definition of organic is “relating to or derived from living matter”. With regard to the food industry, the definition of organic is somewhat vague. Organic foods are “produced by methods that comply with standards of organic farming”. The issue with this definition is that these standards are not in fact standardized and vary widely throughout the world. Generally speaking, organic farming is meant to protect the environment and allow for renewable resources, encourage the balance in ecological systems and conserve biodiversity. In addition, organic foods are supposed to be produced without solvents, synthetic food additives and irradiation, these standards still allow for some pesticides and fertilizers to be used.

By now, you have probably heard of the “Dirty Dozen Plus” and the “Clean 15″. The “Dirty Dozen Plus” are foods that are recommended to be organic, while the “Clean 15″ can be consumed despite production via conventional farming. These foods were found to have the highest pesticide load by Dr. Andrew Weil in conjunction with the Environmental Working Group (EWG).

The “Dirty Dozen Plus” – these should be organic when eaten

  • Apples
  • Peaches
  • Nectarines
  • Strawberries
  • Grapes
  • Celery
  • Spinach
  • Sweet Bell Peppers
  • Cucumbers
  • Cherry Tomatoes
  • Snap Peas (Imported)
  • Potatoes
  • Hot Peppers
  • Kale
  • Collard Greens

In contrast, the “Clean 15” foods were found to have acceptable levels of pesticides and at this time are felt to be o.k. to be consumed when farmed conventionally with regard to level of pesticides. These include:

  • Avocados
  • Sweet corn
  • Pineapples
  • Cabbage
  • Sweet Peas (frozen)
  • Onions
  • Asparagus
  • Mangoes
  • Papayas
  • Kiwi
  • Eggplant
  • Grapefruit
  • Cantaloupe (domestic)
  • Cauliflower
  • Sweet potatoes

The effects of pesticides are mixed according to the medical literature, and there is not definitive evidence on either side of the argument. One of the reasons for such disagreement is that we are all genetically different and pesticides and toxins affect us differently.

For example, there is genetic variation in a gene called the MTHFR gene. This gene (in combination with others) helps our body with detoxification. If you contain a specific combination of gene mutations, then you may have more difficulty with detoxifying then someone sitting right next to you. In this case, you may be very sensitive to pesticides, while your neighbor is not. Therefore, it would be important for you to eat mainly organic foods, but you neighbor may be able to tolerate a much higher pesticide load in his or her diet.

Some other factors to consider when purchasing foods:

Is the animal grass fed vs grain fed?
Grass fed animals tend to have a better fat profile, meaning more Omega-3 fatty acids (which are anti-inflammatory) vs Omega-6 fatty acids (which are inflammatory). Therefore, grass fed animal fats are healthier for us while grain fed animals skew the diet to be more inflammatory. This is especially important to consider in an individual with a chronic auto-immune disease such as arthritis, lupus, or even those who suffer from asthma.

Is the fish farmed or wild caught?
Not all farmed fish is equivalent. The major concern in the past with farm-raised fish is that they tend to be higher in contaminants such as mercury, PCB’s and antibiotics and lower in omega-3 fatty acids. Wild caught fish are found in their natural environment and are free to eat algae and other natural food sources. Another important concern is the type of fish you are eating. Larger, predatory fish such as salmon, swordfish, king mackerel, marlin, orange roughy, shark, tilefish, and ahi tuna all contain higher levels of mercury then do smaller fish. Therefore, it is important to limit your weekly consumption of such fish.

Recently, companies such as Whole Foods and Wegmans have raised the bar on their fish farming practices. The farmed fish are fed healthier diets enriched with algae, a raised in water that is more closely monitored for contaminants and do not allow the use of antibiotics in the water. In general, wild caught is currently still the best although wild caught fish has a greater carbon foot print.

The take home message is to know where the fish you are buying is coming from and the methods used to raise them. U.S. farmed fish are significantly safer then internationally farmed fish.

Does the food contain added hormones or antibiotics?
Often times antibiotics are used liberally to control the outbreak of diseases on farms and with livestock. The antibiotics can change the bacteria found in our GI tracts and may lead to a condition called gut “dysbiosis”. This alteration of bacteria in our gut has been theorized to contribute to multiple auto-immune conditions as well as anxiety, depression and schizophrenia. In addition, the overuse of antibiotics leads to bacterial resistance and the formation of “super bugs”. Avoiding food and water sources with antibiotics can lessen your exposure and prevent resistance.

Hormones are added to certain animals to make them gain weight faster and increase milk supply. The effects of exposure to chronic low levels of hormones is unknown however, several countries have banned the use of rBGH due to lack of certainty.

The best bet is to eat non-processed, locally sourced food with as few contaminants as possible. Cage free, grass fed, organic food without added hormones and antibiotics is definitely more expensive and will significantly impact your grocery bill. Therefore, it is important to make informed decisions about your food sources and vary your exposure to a multitude of environmental toxins. As far as genetics are concerned, there are blood tests available to look for genetic variations. Though these tests are not recommended for everyone, if you suffer from chronic diseases, fibromyalgia, it is possible they might be of benefit.