Beyond The Basics Health Academy Podcast

Podcast 52: Ketogenic Diets

Dr. Meaghan and Wendy talk about the benefits of ketogenic diet.  Ketogenic diets focus on high fat, moderate protein, and low/no carbohydrates.  Ketogenic diets focus on utilizing ketones for energy over glucose and carbohydrates.  The power of ketogenic diets has been known since the 1920s and 1930s when it was utilized clinically for epilepsy.  There were dramatic results from putting children with epilepsy on this diet.  This kind of treatment was replaced though anticonvulsants and prescription drugs.  When you are in a ketone producing state your liver produces this source of energy that fuels the body.  Once in ketosis the body prefers ketones to glucose.   There are also benefits with the fact that ketones do not feed foreign cells and tumors like carbs and sugars do. 

Ketogenic diets also help to decrease weight because you are not relying on insulin like when you consume a diet higher in carbohydrates.  It also helps to suppress your appetite while carbs stimulate appetite.  Usually the hardest part of doing a ketogenic diet is breaking the addiction to carbs.  Another type of way to incorporate ketogenic diets is by utilizing intermittent fasting.

There is new research out there about the benefits of ketogenic diets including possibly helping with cancer, autism, Alzheimers, and diabetes.

“Be kind to others, take care of yourself, and make good choices.”

Podcast 51: Making Good Healthy Choices by Natasha Stergion

Wendy and Dr. Meaghan welcome Natasha Stergion, a Certified Health Coach, to the podcast world.  She is a wealth of knowledge about how to implement healthy choices into your lifestyle.  We talk about what hesitations and reservations hold people up from making life changes. 

Thanks so much Natasha for coming by the studio and sharing your expertise.  You can email Natasha by [email protected] or by phone (516) 355-8940.

Be kind to others, take care of yourself, and make good choices.

Podcast 50: Importance of Sleep

Wendy and Dr. Meaghan discuss the importance of sleep and what the proper amount of sleep is for optimal health and wellness.  Here is a great article about the pattern of sleep that is best.  It takes about why we should strive to sleep from 10pm-4am (at the bare minimum).  

http://www.brahmacarya.info/2009/12/sleep-by-10pm/

It has been shown that if you don’t get sleep until midnight then every hour is equivalent to two hours before midnight.  It is important to get to bed before 10 pm and get up everyday by a certain time. Research has shown that proper sleep patterns have been linked to various health improvements including better cardiovascular health, less stress, and less risk for many diseases. 

Be kind to others, take care of yourself, and make good choices

Podcast 49: The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control by Walter Mischel Book 1

Wendy and Dr. Meaghan discuss the first 7 chapters of the book.  Walter Mischel headed research over 40 years to show the correlation between instant gratification vs. long-term self-control.  We are driven by two different parts of the brain; the emotional limbic system and the self-control prefrontal cortex.  Mischel calls the limbic system the “Go! System” and the prefrontal cortex the “No! System.”  This is because the hot system of the limbic system drives us to make impulsive behaviors and the cold system of the prefrontal cortex drives more thought out decisions.

This is a great book that discusses what drives us to do what we do and how we can teach ourselves to be more prefrontal cortex based.  That children that put off eating one treat for a long period of time for two treats had stronger prefrontal cortex based decisions.  This kind of behavior lead to many different benefits later in life.

Podcast 048: Intermittent Fasting; What is it all about?

Intermittent fasting is the act of incorporating eating patterns into your life where you cycle between periods of eating and fasting.

Eatlocalgrown.com had a great article on fasting titled “What is Intermittent Fasting Explained in Human Terms”.  Despite what you might think intermittent fasting is pretty easy to do and people have more energy. 

Dailyburn.com has a great article titled “Intermittent Fasting Methods”

Wendy loves Bob Tucker!

This site talks about the five popular intermittent fasting techniques that many of you might have heard about:

1.     Lean Gains- best for dedicated gym goers that want to lose body fat and gain muscle. Women should fast for 14 hours and men for 16 hours. 

2.     Eat-Stop-Eat .  Best for healthy eaters looking for an extra boost.  Fast for 24 hours either 1 or 2 days a week.

3.     Warrior Diet. Best for people that like to follow rules.  You eat 1 meal a day.

4.     Fat Loss Forever.  Best for gym rats that like cheat days.  1 cheat day a week followed by a 36 hour fast.

5.     Up Day, Down Day or Alternate Day Diet.  Discipline dieters that have a goal weight.  Eat very little one day (400-500 calories) followed by a larger amount the other day (2000-2500 calories).  States that you should love about 2-2.5 pounds/day.

There is great research out there about the positive effects of intermittent fasting and health.  Here is a great summary article (it is very scientific based but this is Beyond the Basics Health Academy so many of you will enjoy this literature):

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4352038/

There are many proven benefits of intermittent fasting:

·      Improved insulin sensitivity. 

·      Improve leptin sensitivity

·      Changes in gene expression

·      Increased Human Growth Hormone.

·      Give your body a break- especially the gut

·      Reduce oxidative stress

·      Improved mitochondrial activity

·      By decreasing calories by 30-40% you can increase your life by 1/3.

Dr. Mercola also has a great article about the benefit of intermittent fasting.  It can be found on fitness.mercola.com.  “Intermittent Fasting Beats Traditional Diets and Even Chronic Calorie Restriction for Weight Loss and Other Health Benefits.”

If you are finding that you are having a lot of cravings and appetite problems with fasting than chromium, cinnamon, and 5-HTP can help. 

Podcast 047: Change Your Water, Change Your Life

Dr. Meaghan and Wendy welcome Julie Roberts and Debbie Carlson to talk about the benefits of ionized water.   They have both incorporated this into their lifestyle and what benefits they have seen. It is interesting to note that Gershon Therapy has now incorporated Kangen water into their therapy. 

Kangen water is ionized water that has three major benefits:

1.     Alkaline pH- The alkaline pH allows the body to fight off acidity in the body and function in a more optimal pH level. This allows cells to hydrate better and function in a more optimal range. 

2.     Antioxidant and ORP benefits.  We can look at ORP readings to see the level of antioxidant that something possesses.  Being in the negative means that it has an antioxidant effect, while being in the positive means that it causes oxidative stress.  Almost all other drinks including tap water, soda, and fruit juices have a positive ORP and causes oxidative stress.  Kangen ionized water actually has a negative ORP and helps to combat free radical stress on the body.

3.     Microclustering.  The ionization actually changes the shape of the water allowing it to penetrate cells more readily.  This leads to more cell hydration and allows the water to be pushed into the cell.

Besides just drinking the water, Julie and Debbie also talk about how you can use the water to clean and wash your body and how they have incorporated the ionized water into other aspects of their lives. 

If you would like more information about Kangen water then you can visit this site: http://www.orginalrx.yourbodyiswater.info.  You can also contact Julie with any questions by emailing her at [email protected].

You can also find more research about Kangen ionized water by searching www.pubmed.gov.

Water truly is something that everyone needs to survive, why not utilize water that is the best for you and your health.  Thanks Debbie and Julie for stopping by and sharing all this information with us.

Podcast 044: Book Club #4: Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes Chapter 14-19

Wendy and Dr. Meaghan finish up the conversation about this fantastic book.  The book talks about how we have gone backwards in the past few decades about calorie-in vs calorie-out.  Gary Taubes gives many different examples in the past of how bread and carbs were known to cause weight gain.  We talk about what does cause weight gain and what we can do to improve weight loss.

Thanks so much for reading the book with us.  Join us for the next book club (The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control by Walter Mischel).

Be kind to others, Take care of yourself and make good choices

Podcast 045: Incorporating Exercise Into Your Life

Dr. Meaghan and Wendy welcome Tom Alcivar, owner of Train Me Tom, to the show.  Tom has an extensive background in many different training and coaching techniques.  Along with his experience with athletes, he also has an unique educational background that includes sports psychology.  

He talks about the different aspects of training from what it takes to make changes in your life. He address the differences between wants and needs along with perception and motivation.  Tom is also a father of two and discusses the positive effects of training on bonding and parenting.  He discusses many great conversational facts during the podcast.

Tom also has a great website with lots of additional information and blogs.  We recommend that all our listeners check that out at www.trainmetom.com.

Podcast 046

Dr Meaghan and Wendy welcome back Dr. Ron Kirschling,MD. Dr. Ron Kirschling is a medical oncologist with over 30 years of clinical experience. We open up the discussion between Dr. Meaghan, Dr. Ron, Wendy, and Scott about the importance of food in the spectrum of both healing and healthcare. This is one discussion you won't want to miss. It brings up many interesting points while all four of us weigh in on what we have seen and experienced. 

Want to join in the conversation, go to www.btbha.com and watch the documentary "Food Matters."

Check out Amazon Fresh https://fresh.amazon.com/welcome;jsessionid=6E075D7C568613E21FE46EE6F5906794

Podcast 043: Gut Health

Dr. Meaghan and Wendy discuss different aspects of gut health and what you can do to make sure that you have proper gut health throughout life.

When there are gut issues they need to be addressed and they can take awhile to heal. It is best to take a 4R approach to healing the gut.

1.  First R- Remove.  Remove any infections or inflammatory mediators.  This can include Candida, bacterial or viral infections, or food sensitivities/allergies. 

2.  Second R- Reinoculate.  A huge part of gut health is the balance between the different flora in the gut.  It is important to make sure to put in the good bacteria (probiotics) and feed them with prebiotics (fuel for the gut bacteria.  This includes inulin, FOS, and fiber).  

3.  Third R- Restore.  Restore proper function to the gut.  If the gut is inflamed than many times it is not going to work to the best of its ability.  Therefore, it is important to support good gut function.  You can do this through digestive enzymes, HCl and other supplements.

4.  Fourth R- Repair.  Repairing the gut is necessary after infection or inflammation and often times forgotten.  It is important to make sure that you are giving the gut what it needs to repair and decrease the damage that happens due to leaky gut.  You can do this through l-glutamine, licorice, aloe, zinc, and Vitamin D.

If you are having major gut issues than it is important to have a functional medicine doctor to help guide you in the program.  There are many different facets to the gut and it is important to work with someone that can help you.

I also find that foot reflexology charts are very helpful when working with both adults and children with digestive issues.  Acupressure and essential oils to those specific areas really makes a huge difference.

Most importantly, we found out the meaning of from Soups to Nuts means.  It comes from the origin that everything is covered because the meal starts with Soups and it ends with the dessert of nuts.  Thanks Producer Scott for teaching us what this means.