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Anxious? Depressed? Maybe your ‘second’ brain is to blame!

We have two brains — one in your head and the other in your gut! Both are created from the same tissue during fetal development and both are connected via the vagus nerve which extends from the brain stem to the abdomen.

Bacteria in the gut use the vagus nerve to transmit information to your brain, which helps explain why mental health appears to be so intricately connected to your gut . The gut- brain connection has been widely recognized in the last few years so let’s break it down in simple terms…

We literally have thousands of different types of bacteria in our gut that perform a myriad of duties every day essential to our well-being. One of those duties is the production of neurotransmitters such as GABA, serotonin and dopamine, the ratios of which are largely dependent upon the bacterial balance within the gut In fact, over 80% of our serotonin is actually produced within our intestinal tract!

The food we consume directly affects the bacterial balance in the gut. High fibre foods and resistant starches help good bacteria in the gut to proliferate whilst sugar and processed foods ‘feed’ and actually encourage the growth of bad bacteria. As an extension of this, it is well known that food can affect your mental state.

For example, researchers have found that fermented foods helped curb social anxiety disorder in young adults. In another study, mice that engaged in obsessive-compulsive repetitive behaviors were pacified when given a strain of the bacteria Bacteroides fragilis.

Sugar can aggravate depression and suppresses the activity of a key growth hormone in your brain called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). BDNF levels are critically low in both depression and schizophrenia. Sugar also triggers a cascade of chemical reactions in your body that promotes inflammation that suppresses the immune system and wreaks havoc on your brain.

Last but not least, refined sugar and processed fructose and grains are key contributors to insulin and leptin resistance, which also plays a significant role in your mental health.

Parents of anxious kids- get their gut checked! Adults, life is too short to be permanently anxious – you will age prematurely and suffer from cortisol (stress hormone) driven diseases!

There is no dispute over the fact that ‘YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT’ and now we can state with confidence that ‘YOU THINK WHAT YOU EAT, METABOLISE AND DIGEST!”

Dangerous Cookware

Non-stick pots and pans are in everyone’s kitchens including mine. They are a modern convenience which are easier ro clean and generally require less fat to cook your food in.

Did you know that perfluoroalkyl substances (PFA’s) that are used to create these surfaces are extremely toxic and remain trapped in the body for a long time once ingested?

In studies on heated non- stick pans, it took only 2- 5 minutes of heating to liberate the dangerous toxins within the PFA’s. Fifteen types of gases and particles including 2 carcinogens were isolatedand these are currently linked to a range of health problems including thyroid disease, infertility and organ damage in lab animals.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has also stated that PFA’s are “likely carcinogens.”

Other products that PFA’s are used to create heat-resistant and non-stick coatings on include:

• Water-repellant carpet and furniture treatments
• Water and stain-repellant clothing
• Protective sprays for leather/ shoes
• Food wraps, pizza boxes, and microwave popcorn bags and takeaway cups
• Paints and cleaning products

What to cook in? Try ceramic and cast iron cookware which are both durable, easy to clean and completely inert (which means they won’t release any harmful chemicals into your home!)

Avoid aluminium and copper cookware completely and try not to cook in stainless steel too often as this contains an alloy of different metals  as well although not nearly as toxic as those above.

Time to clean out those kitchen cupboards!

Yours in health,

Natasha Martin, ND

Side effects of using drugs to inhibit acid reflux

Gastro-oesphageal reflux is common among the population, with increasing incidence as we age but it is an abnormal condition that can be treated effectively in most cases without the use of drugs.

What causes reflux? After food passes through the oesophagus into the stomach, a valve in the lower part of the oesophagus shuts preventing the food or acid from moving back up.

Acid reflux occurs when the valve relaxes too much which then allows the stomach acid to reflux backward into the oesophagus. This can cause great discomfort and heart burn pain to the sufferer.

Medically this is treated with proton pump inhibitors like Nexium which actually block the acid production in your stomach . Whilst this sounds good and is very effective at blocking acid production, this is still not treating the cause and can lead to a host of other problems.

One must rule out causative factors such as hiatal hernia and helicobacter pylori as well as rebalancing the stomach acid naturally. You see, reflux often occurs as a result of too low a acid as food will sit in the stomach too long when we don’t produce enough acid, giving rise to an increased chance of reflux.

By treating reflux by lowering stomach acid further with proton pump inhibiting drugs, you very likely to become inefficient at absorbing certain vitamins and minerals as a certain acidic pH is needed for B12, iron , magnesium, calcium and other very important nutrients to be absorbed efficiently.

There is also an increased risk for hip and spine fractures, a higher susceptibility towards gut infection from certain bacteria (our stomach acid is the first line of defence against unwanted pathogens) and a small increase in the overall risk of pneumonia!!

My advice is to treat acid reflux early and as naturally as possible unless you have got to the stage where you have bleeding ulcers,  oesophageal damage or just produce way too much acid (last condition is not common!)

Yours in health,

Natasha Martin, ND

Acid reflux: A common condition and an abnormal one in which acid in the stomach rises up into the esophagus.

stress and adrenal fatigue will cause an acid imbalance to occur in the stomach area  (suprisingly a decrease in acid

THE SUGAR DEBATE

A look at the chart in the previous post made quite an impact on a number of people. Who knew that some fruit contained THAT much sugar. However, you would never eat 4-5 oreos instead of an apple and think it’s the same thing.

Having foods that taste ‘sweet’ in our diet is natural which is why mother nature made fruit for us to eat. The Chinese classify our tastes buds into five categories- salty, sweet, bitter, spicy and sour and a healthy diet is meant to include all of these tastes.

Although the sugars found in fruit are the same as those in refined sugar, their absorption depends on their chemical and plant structures, food processing and food preparation. As a result, fruit and refined sugar have very different effects in the body.

Refined sugar is the sugar found in biscuits, baking, candy etc  and is broken down very quickly in the body thereby increasing insulin and glucose spikes. Refined sugar contributes to obesity and chronic diseases due to its fast rate of metabolism, lack of healthy nutrients and inability to make you feel full.

Fruit on the other hand contains many benefits compared to refined sugar. Besides being rich in antioxidants, phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals, fruit is an excellent source of fibre. The presence of fibre (and starch from the plant cell walls) slows down the breakdown of sugar  as well as expanding in your gut to give you that’ full’ feeling. The bacteria in the large intestine also breaks down fibre thereby helpiing to improve metabolism and bowel movements

We each can consume a certain amount of calories per day to give us the nutrition we need. We have to make those calories count! (ie/ contribute towards a good state of health!)

Make healthy choices and if you do have problems with sugar meatbolism such as insulin resistance then yes, it is recommended to have no refined sugar as well as limit your fruit intake.

Yours in health,

Natasha Martin, ND

Define the problem and you have the solution!

This quote is relevant to most aspects of life but has particular relevance to health professionals.

Have you ever been to a doctor feeling unwell but when all your blood tests come back within the right parameters you are told that you are ok and perhaps you need to reduce your stress, lose weight or be more positive?

What if you have tried all these things to no avail? How many people end up walking out with an antidepressant script or some medication that they didn’t really want?

There is always a reason behind why you feel like you do and sometimes it can be detected by a clever doctor doing more in depth blood work but sometimes that will not be enough to accurately diagnose the problem. This is where functional pathology testing holds real value.

Functional pathology encompasses a range of gold standard laboratory testing procedures that hone in on specific metabolic, hormonal, biochemical and functional states of health that a standard blood test is unable to measure.

Yes, functional pathology testing does involve more out of pocket expenses initially but I don’t know one patient who doesn’t want to see clinical evidence of what is wrong with them. This also allows specific supplements to be prescribed based upon the results and gives both the patient and the practitioner a good knowledge of what they have to do and what time frames they need in order to achieve wellness.

As an example, if a patient presents with persistent headaches there is a whole bunch of reasons why this could be so. After all, a headache could be caused from a number of issues such as poor liver detoxification, adrenal fatigue, methylation issues, energy pathway issues, hormonal imbalances, nutritional problems or environmental exposure to solvents or other toxic products.

Just like traditional medicine, naturopathic practitioners can prescribe supplements that they think will relieve the headache but is the CAUSE of the headache being addressed? If not, then the cause will remain and any treatment is purely band aid.

Another example of the value of functional testing is in patients who experience reactions to foods. Traditionally, elimination diets were used to detect food intolerances/reactions. These are diets that are restrictive and are often difficult to adhere to. Patients can spend months eliminating and reintroducing foods to determine what may be reacting with them. A simple IgG /IgA food test tells you everything you need to know in about three weeks (which is the turnaround time for the test to be performed and the results to be released).

Again, if you define the problem correctly, you almost (or do) have the solution!”

Yours in health,

Natasha Martin, ND

DANGEROUS COSMETICS

I saw something frightening on channel nine a couple of weeks ago. It was a story about the value of using copper in skincare products ie/ copper to help improve the quality of skin. My reaction- Oh my god!

It is true that copper helps to a small extent in connective tissue repair but we are seeing a large percentage of women who are becoming COPPER TOXIC. Adding copper to skincare creams would greatly increase this growing problem.
Copper toxic means you have too much copper in your body which is strongly associated with problems like yeast infections, migraine headaches, adult acne, various menstrual symptoms (fibroids, endometriosis etc) and depression.

High copper generally means low zinc. ZINC IS REQUIRED FOR GOOD SKIN! Additionally, low zinc will lead to a host of other problems such as increased anxiety which in itself will give you more wrinkles and negates any cosmetic benefit that copper may have in the first place!

I cannot understand how the cosmetics industry hasn’t researched this more and it greatly disturbs me that this will be viewed as a good beauty product to use by women who believe the marketing hype.

Yours in health,

Natasha Martin, ND