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Best Defense for Chronic Illness

June 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

natural-body-alternative-medicine

 

All the current research on chronic illness such as Diabetes, Heart Disease, Arthritis etc all point to INFLAMMATION.  So the best defense is to reduce and eliminate inflammation at all costs.

Here are some suggestions:

1. Eliminate all inflammatory Fats such as Trans Fats.  The fats increase inflammation.

2. Eliminate all refined foods.  White sugar and White flour.  These foods cause inflammation.

3. Make sure you are getting enough antioxidants.  Simple way to remember…ACES

Vitamin A
Vitamin C
Vitamin E
Selenium

These are the most potent antioxidants.

4. Make sure you are consuming at least 1000mg of a good Fish Oil.  The best company is Nordic Naturals.  They make great gummy fish and worms that my kids love.  They also come in liquid form.  There is tons of research on the anti-inflammatory effects of these foods.  You can eat fish too.  Cod, Halibut and Salmon are best.

5. Raw nuts and seeds are healthy fats and reduce inflammation.  Almonds, Flaxseed, Hazelnuts and Walnuts are good.

6. Fruits and Vegetables have high levels of antioxidants which help minimize antioxidants.

7. Drink Green Tea.  Green tea has high levels of antioxidants and also helps stimulate your metabolism.

Please share this info with your friends and family.

We are now offering ALCAT testing.  This test will help find foods that your body is having difficulty metabolizing thus causing an inflammatory response.  This can be the reason for plateaus in weight loss, joint pain, headaches and many other symptoms.

Call our office or email us to learn more.

Filed Under: advanced wellness, Advanced Wellness Marlboro New Jersey, ALCAT, health, health issues, health tips, Health Update, healthy foods, healthy snacks, wellness, wellness and prevention Tagged With: , , , , , ,

3 Changes You Should Make For Optimal Health

March 24, 2011 By 3 Comments

Making three (3) simple changes in the diet of both you and your family can avoid a crash course with degenerative diseases including Heart Disease, Diabetes and Cancer. Try to make these changes gradually. My suggestion is to implement one change per month.

Change #1. Remove Unhealthy fats and replace with healthy fats. All fats are not created equal. In fact fat is essential for so many functions in your body. Every cell in your body has a cell membrane made of fatty acids. Without essential fats your body cannot function. The fats to avoid are trans fats such as hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils. These fats cause cellular congestion which leads to inflammation, a known cause of many diseases including the 3 mentioned above. Healthy fats include nuts and seeds, avocado, coconut, olive, flax and grape-seed oil. Butter actually is not a bad fat. Butter contains Conjugated Linoleic Acids (CLA) and important fatty acid needed for fat burning as well as arachidonic acid needed for brain function.

Change #2. Change the meats that you eat. It is a myth that red meat causes heart disease. The studies to support this have been done on commercially processed cattle. These cattle or force fed grain and are loaded with hormones. The fact is studies on grass fed meet do not show the same health problems. To simplify, the fatty acid ratios in commercially fed beef are 20 to 1 Omega 6 to Omega 3. Grass fed are more like 3 to 1 which is does not create the health problems of the commercially fed beef. Unhealthy fat ratios leads to inflammation, slower brain development and a host of other problems. Suggestion: Eat grass fed beef when it is available. Lamb is a healthy meet as well since Lamb will not eat grain and only eat grass leading to healthier fats. Choose organic chicken and turkey and cold water fish such as Salmon, Sardines and Mahi Mahi.

glucose-insulin-diagram

Urbanext.illinois.edu

Change #3. Remove all processed grains and refined sugars…period. Yes this means white pasta, white rice and white bread…Bagels too! Bottom line is these refined products cause a rapid increase in blood sugar. Increase blood sugar= Insulin levels. When your blood sugar has such a fast rise over and over it desensitizes your insulin receptors. Ultimately your body no longer responds to insulin leading to Type II Diabetes. Whole grains since they are digested slowly cause a slower rise in sugar levels thus not stressing the insulin receptors. When your body does not respond to insulin this leads to high levels of insulin which cause fat deposition and high blood pressure to name a few. Suggestion: Minimize grains as much as possible, and you must learn about low glycerin choices to minimize your insulin spikes.

Although these changes may be a challenge they are worth the effort. Make the changes over the course of 3 months and before you know it you will see improved health, mental clarity and weight loss.

Filed Under: ALCAT, diet, healthy foods, healthy snacks, nutrition, nutritional counseling, obesity, weight loss, weight loss tips, wellness, wellness and prevention Tagged With: , , , , ,

Is your healthy diet causing chronic inflammation?

March 7, 2011 By 1 Comment

Migraine Causing Food Sensitivity ChartThe Alcat Test… What is it and is it right for you?

Food Allergy

When I say “food allergy”, raise your hand if you picture someone eating a peanut or a strawberry and then being rushed to a hospital struggling to breath. Well, you’d be mostly right. A “true” food allergy causes the immune system to make huge amounts of histamine that leads to anaphylaxis. This isn’t always life-threatening, sometimes it just causes hives, skin rashes or other reactions, but it all happens pretty quickly after exposure to the food. You don’t have to remember this next part but just for the record, this type is called a type I hypersensitivity reaction, caused by the degranulation of mast cells or basophils that is mediated by Immunoglobulin E (IgE).

The mistake most people make is thinking “Hey, my face doesn’t swell up like a beach ball when eat anything, so I don’t have a problem with food”. The fact is that only 5% of us actually have a “true” food allergy, but over 80% of us have food sensitivities or intolerances.

Food Sensitivity (Intolerance)

The immune system is a double edge sword. It protects us against bacteria, parasites, viruses and other potentially harmful invaders. Unfortunately for some, exposure to common foods, chemicals and molds can trigger chronic activation of the immune system. White blood cells release harmful chemicals and generate damaging free radicals when they encounter incompatible foods just as they do when fighting the bad guys… and that means inflammation.

Chronic activation of the immune system has been linked to migraine headaches, asthma, eczema, arthritis, chronic fatigue, digestive problems, IBS, obesity, infertility, hyperactivity, attention deficit disorder and premature aging.

Here’s the BIG problem, symptoms can occur several hours or even days after exposure making it extremely difficult to pinpoint. This really is the main problem… if you ate a carrot and 30 minutes later you felt worse, it wouldn’t take you long to make a connection. However, many people don’t know it’s even possible to have a sensitivity to carrots and might just think they ate a “bad” one. I mean who’s ever heard of a carrot allergy?

Why the Alcat Test?

If you’re reading this, then there’s a very good chance you’ve already had a different test, like IgG or RAST. Skin testing and the RAST test are not accurate for delayed type reactions and they measure only a single mechanism, such as the effect of mast cell release of histamine or the presence of allergen specific IgE molecules. Just remember IgE reactions happen pretty fast and we’re looking for those hard to find delayed ones.

IgG tests look at just one immune pathway and can give you a false positive, since it can indicate exposure, not necessarily intolerance.

The Alcat Test has been used for over 20 years and is clinically proven to accurately and reproducibly measure leukocyte cellular reactivity in the whole blood. Meaning it measures the final common pathway of all pathogenic mechanisms, whether immune, non-immune or toxic (IgG, IgA, IgM, IgD, complement, pharmacologic, toxic, lectin, etc.).

It is the only test shown to correlate with clinical symptoms by double blind oral challenge, the gold standard. Not only is the Alcat Test the most accurate; it is the only test that can detect intolerances to both foods and other substances.

The Alcat Test may help you…
• Identify normally “healthy” foods that are not good for you
• Improve metabolic function
• Decrease chronic inflammation, a major cause of premature aging
• Reach your goal weight
• Achieve wellness through customized nutrition

Filed Under: ALCAT, diet, Headaches Causes and Treatments, healthy foods, joint pain, migraine, nutrition, nutritional counseling, obesity, weight loss Tagged With: , , , , ,

Is your “healthy” diet not quite working?

March 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Migraine Causing Food Sensitivity ChartIf you are in relatively good shape inside and out — you exercise and eat a healthy diet, with the rare occasion when you gobble a fast food burger or donut — yet you’re still feeling a variety of symptoms, you may very well be one of millions of Americans who have food intolerances or sensitivities.

Sure, you can enjoy overall systemic good health through nutritious diet, exercise, good sleep and other lifestyle habits, but certain foods may provoke such annoyances as allergies, pain, fatigue, headaches, and that stubborn persistence of that 10 pounds refusing to go away.

Medical research demonstrates that food reactions can indeed cause and aggravate numerous conditions that depress daily quality of life and well-being. Some foods can cause problems anywhere from four to 96 hours after consumption, making it difficult for you to discern exactly what the source food was several days ago!

If this describes you thus far, starting today, keep a detailed food diary. Note down everything from the mouthwash/toothpaste you use, to the mint you grab at the bank and enjoy while waiting on line, to meals and beverages. Just keep it all in order. As you read more, you will learn that the chemicals in both natural foods and in processed/packaged foods may contribute to some symptoms of “just being a bit off today,” or “I have a vague headache,” or, “I’m feeling blue, but nothing’s wrong, ” or, “why am I so tired? I got 7 hours sleep!”

Food allergies may be severe and even fatal, when they authentically exist. Food allergies, however, are distinctly different from food intolerance and sensitivity.

There is a simple blood test called the ALCAT test that can identify foods that are not being properly metabolized.  The interesting thing is in many cases theses are healthy foods and you may or may not display any symptoms.  This test requires a blood drawer and it takes about 10 days for results.  A report comes back with mild, moderate and severe intolerances.  A rotational diet is also given to make it really simple to follow.  This test may be covered by health insurance it someone has symptoms such as joint pain, digestive symptoms, headaches and more.

Filed Under: ALCAT, headache, Headaches Causes and Treatments, joint pain, migraine, migraine attacks, nutrition, nutritional counseling, obesity, types of headache, types of headaches, weight loss, weight loss tips, wellness, wellness and prevention Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Is your diet based on science or guesswork?

February 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

As the world of nutrition science evolves we gain new insight into the foods that best suit our individual needs. Guesswork is no longer needed. We can now understand foods that best suit our individual metabolic processes and allow our bodies to function with efficiency. The ALCAT test is a simple blood test that gives an individual essential insight into foods that may or may not be agreeing with their immune system and metabolic processes.

Incompatible foods have been proven to cause migraines, weight gain and joint pain to name a few. The elimination of these foods reduces inflammatory processes and allows the body to function optimally. The ALCAT test also can test for migraines, molds, gluten and a multitude of functional foods including common supplements. Science based nutrition is here.

Call Advanced Wellness to schedule your test:  (732) 984-9597

Filed Under: ALCAT, diet, headache, nutrition, nutritional counseling, obesity Tagged With: , , , , ,