In the last part of our sugar and pain series let’s discuss the inflammation- sugar connection.

What’s going on?

When the body is overloaded with sugar, so much insulin is produced that the cells become desensitized to it, which builds up to excess levels in the blood stream where it can lead to the onset of a variety of conditions, including the cluster of increased risk factors for cardiovascular disease called Metabolic Syndrome, also known Syndrome X, as well as the hormonal condition known as Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) – a leading cause of menstrual irregularity and female infertility. Unable to enter the cell, glucose is carried in the blood stream to the liver where it is converted to fat, which can lead to weight gain and obesity.

Insulin resistance disorders

There are those who now think that osteoarthritis is part of the natural progression of insulin resistance disorders, like metabolic syndrome and diabetes.  Consider the importance of this.  Doctors had thought for a long time that osteoarthritis was due to aging, or due to wear and tear.  A growing body of research later showed that people who were overweight or who had diabetes (insulin disorders) had a much greater risk to osteoarthritis.  With modern genetic and biochemical tools, it is becoming clear that osteoarthritis might be one of the expected outcomes of glucose- and insulin-fired abnormalities.

Doctors writing in Medical Hypothesis have suggested a series of events that might be simplified in the following way:

1) Weight and belly fat increase

2) White blood cells travel to belly fat

3) White blood cells take up residence in belly fat

4) While in the belly fat, white blood cells produce immune chemicals that cause widespread inflammation throughout the body

5) These immune chemicals act to damage joint tissue

These doctors write in a 2007 medical hypotheses paper that, “the fatigue and muscle weakness induced by insulin resistance and inflammation in obese patients with metabolic syndrome increase the frequency and the intensity of traumatic events of peripheral or axial joints that result in stretch and breaking of teno-periosteal junction and abrasive damage of cartilage and therefore in these patients with metabolic syndrome and pro-inflammatory state the reparative process of cartilage and peri-articular tissues would be severely modified by the growth factor activity in presence of high levels of insulin.”

This statement is a bit of a mouthful.  To simplify it just a bit, insulin resistance and inflammation are linked processes.  Because of this changing body chemistry, there is increasing trauma to parts of the joint where tendons attach to bone and where cartilage attaches to bone.  When people have high blood sugar and high insulin levels, repairing cartilage becomes difficult due to the biochemical “soup” bathing the joints.

If You Want Less Pain, Control Your Blood Sugar

If you wish to gain control over your osteoarthritis, one particular study should cause you to pay especially close attention to your blood sugar control.  Though the study is in dogs, it provides a very stern warning, as well as a great sense of hope:

Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri fed dogs a diet that was either sharply restricted in calories or one that contained normal amounts of calories over a period of 12 years.  From ages 9 to 12, these researchers tested the dog’s blood sugar, insulin response, time to development of arthritis, and time to death.  They discovered that dogs with the lowest blood glucose and best insulin sensitivity were those who were the least likely to develop arthritis.

When they looked at what caused the better blood sugar and insulin control, it became clear what the major influence was, lower calorie intake.  Imagine, better blood sugar and insulin control delays the development of arthritis.

This study has some very important implications.  It could mean that anyone with osteoarthritis who is overweight, who has insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, or diabetes can take charge of her joint health by gaining control of her blood sugar.  This is an extraordinary opportunity.

Low Calories  =  Better Blood Sugar Control  =  Delayed Development of Arthritis

Sugar also creates sugar-protein bonds that accumulate throughout our bodies as we age, so the sooner you can change your diet, and minimize your sugar intake the better.

Visit our website or contact our office today to see how we can help you realize your good health goals. No one should be in pain when they don’t have to be. Green Health Acupuncture wants you to attain a better pain-free you!

We offer a complete program for balancing your blood sugar and we monitor your success using blood tests so you can track your progress. Why wait until your problem is out of control? Act now and start feeling a whole lot better.

The New York Times recently highlighted a trial that showed steroids to be no more effective for easing or curing back pain than a placebo. Steroids had been accepted as preferable to the much more severe solution of surgery which often doesn’t work and can have unwanted side affects. We wrote a previous blog post on this issue that goes into detail on why corticosteroid injections do not work in the long run. They provide short term pain relief and long term suffering.

Placebo Effect

For an in depth look at mysteries of the placebo effect, visit Green Health Acupuncture’s T.V. show website to read Placebo: Control or Just More Bad Science?  Placebo’s are particularly tricky to test and the results vary wildly leaving researchers clutching at straws when they use this common method as a control group.  But of course it’s always more complicated than it seems. One of the biggest blind spots in modern medicine is the tendency to tackle things in parts, out of context.

Your Body, as a Whole Body

At Green Health Acupuncture we are not simply looking at the trees, it is important to understand your forest. Your body as multiple systems that are integrated and working together. When a placebo is given, what ever the results are, there is a lot more going on. It is ill-understood: even when there is a positive effect, the effect is discounted without looking into the possible causes that may or may not include alternate therapy, the ritual of care, and the body’s own ability to heal itself with healthy food and proper exercise.

The Future May Tell

Harvard University has recently begun what they call “The Program in Placebo Studies and Therapeutic Encounter,” in order to take a closer look at the phenomenon. One of the goals of the institute is the possibility that the placebo effect could be harnessed and used more effectively in treatment. It should be interesting to see what comes out of their investigations. However, without looking at the body as an integrated whole some of the puzzle pieces will always be lost. There will rarely be one solution for every problem, we are all individuals and each of us is unique and worthy of a unique and personalized treatment plan that optimizes our total health.

Resources:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/27/for-back-pain-steroid-shots-no-more-effective-than-placebo/

http://www.greenhealthlive.com/index.php?main_page=document_general_info&cPath=93&products_id=217

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/12/12/111212fa_fact_specter

It Can Also Cause Wrinkles

Studies are currently underway to unravel the links between obesity and type 2 diabetes and this mechanism. Sugar can permanently attach to collagen via glycation. Where sugar attaches, there is a mechanism for inflammation, and the attachment becomes its own source of inflammation. This inflammation creates enzymes that break down collagen, glycation leads to cross linking. This creates stiffness (esp. in skin – i.e., wrinkles).

Sugar dehydrates on a cellular level. This can lead to all sorts of opportunities for toxins to accumulate in the damaged cells, irregular division (in other words: Cancer) and inhibition of the bodies ability to slow Cancer growth. It also promotes growth of  bacteria  (like Candida) and parasites, all and all: accelerating the aging process.

How Much Sugar Do You Consume? Way More Than You Think:

The average person consumes 150 pounds of sugar per year–compared to just 7 ½ pounds consumed on average in the year 1700. That’s 20 times more!

Also, when people who are overweight eat sugar, they on average store 5 percent as ready energy to use later, metabolize 60 percent and store a whopping 35 percent as fat that can be converted to energy later.

It is also interesting to note, 50 percent of the sugar we consume today comes from high-fructose corn syrup in fat-free foods like salad dressings and regular soft drinks. Many people aren’t even aware that they are consuming it. Obviously sodas are a major source of sugar consumption and go a long way in explaining the rising levels of consumption. But even if you don’t drink soda pop, it is important to be aware that most processed foods are full of sugars, which make you eat more of them (the combo package of increased empty calories and increased consumption working as a double whammy leading straight to obesity-heart disease land).

The Sweetest Drug

In our enthusiasm to reduce fat in our diets starting in the 1970′s the food industry by and large replaced the fats in food (which provided a lot of the flavor) with sugar.  The human species is primed and ready to deeply appreciate sugar, in fact, there isn’t any food on the planet that contains fructose which is poisonous. Every time we so much as taste fructose our brains release dopamine which is the happy happy yes! yes! hormone in our brains. Unfortunately, like other drugs, the more we consume – the duller this reward hormone becomes, requiring more sugar to get back that loving feeling. Many cancer cells have also developed a jones for the sweet stuff with insulin receptors right on the cells using the the fructose to grow.

RDA

Many scientists and physicians are beginning to recommend no more than about 200 calories from sugar a day (and less for women). One can of soda will put you over. At Green Health Acupuncture we can help you come up with a strategy to lower your sugar intake. Visit our website for food recommendations, and look for our delicious recipes on this blog. When food is satisfying and makes you feel good, the tendency to over indulge and consequently feel bad is reduced promoting a healthier cycle.

Resources:

Sugar and Insulin Levels:

Refined sugar and other foods with high glycemic values jack up insulin levels and put the immune system on high alert. (The glycemic index measures the immediate impact of a food on blood sugar levels; surges of blood sugar trigger the release of insulin.)

And High Insulin Levels Do What Exactly?

Short-lived hormones inside our cells called eicosanoids act as pro- or anti-inflammatory compounds depending on their type. Eicosanoids become imbalanced, that is, skewed toward pro-inflammatory when insulin levels are high. As if this weren’t enough, high insulin levels activate enzymes that raise levels of arachidonic acid in our blood. (The arachidonic acid pathway constitutes one of the main mechanisms for the production of pain and inflammation.)

There is also a complicated interaction between the inflammatory messengers, cytokines and prostaglandins, and insulin and glucose levels. In some cases, depending on what other stressors come into play, insulin inhibits the inflammatory agents and in other cases it fuels them.

Insulin Resistance Leads to Body Wide Pain and Inflammation

When insulin and sugar levels remain high for a prolonged period of time the body develops what is called “insulin resistance”. When this happens, insulin receptor sites become unresponsive to insulin. The result of this is the body’s inability to dispose of or transport sugar.

When sugar is unable to enter cells due to insulin resistance it will become oxidized into free radical compounds called glycolated end products (GEP). These compounds are very destructive to the body’s tissues and can end up damaging tissue of the retina, nerves, kidneys and arterials. Also, if insulin is exposed to tissues at high levels it can lead to the destruction and inflammation of tissue.

Once this happens, you have to maintain a balancing act between insulin and glucose to stop these inflammatory responses to the body’s tissues.

To Treat Pain You Must Deal With Blood Sugar Problems

If you are really serious about treating your chronic pain and you want to feel better you have to assess your blood sugar issues. At Green Health Acupuncture we have a proven program that assesses, treats and balances blood sugar problems. Call today for a free consultation to learn more 310-831-2202.

References:

YOU: On A Diet Revised Edition by  F. Roizen, Oz, Free Press

Functional Blood Chemistry Analysis by Datis Kharazian, 2011

“Americans fear only one thing - inconvenience”

Fresh is a 2009 documentary that brings the discussion of food right back to the starting point: the farm. By interviewing conventional farmers as well as organic and local farmers the entire picture of the current state of our food production comes into focus. Driven by our “maximum short rung productive efficiency” model of economies of scale, we have gotten ourselves into a serious problem. Where we once had systems that were a closed loop (animals feeding plants and plants feeding animals, all feeding and supporting us) we have very quickly become a series of monocultures which makes us all extremely vulnerable. As the writer and advocate Michael Pollen points out, “nature doesn’t have monocultures.” The primary reason is that – they don’t work. Our soil is currently being depleted at 13 times the rate that it is replaced.

Who produces our food?

Not a lot of people actually. There are 3 huge corporations you’ve never heard of that produce 83% of all the beef, for instance. The pollution in terms of chemicals, antibiotics and waste is horrific, and unnecessary. By now it has been clearly proven that medium scale farms using natural methods are more, not less, productive than huge corporations. When one pig farmer stopped cafo farming he saved $14,00 in vet fees and medicine. He now runs a cooperative of pork farmers that produce quality meat at a decent price with living wages for the workers who are reintroduced into the work force after being displaced by large scale farming practices. It’s win-win-win, and win some more!

“Change the existing food systems so that it works for everyone.”

As Pollen says, “Cheap food is an illusion,” that we know for sure. What people like Joel Salatin (Virginia farmer), and Will Allen (Milwaukee urban farmer) are trying to show, by doing, is that we can change the system so that it works for everyone. Fresh takes a hard look at how things are done, but does so in a way that doesn’t make you want to kill yourself. You come away from the film feeling enormously sympathetic to conventional farmer (they seem really depressed) and enormously hopeful for the future. The system has run amok in a very short time, but doesn’t that suggest that it can be turned around in a short time as well? Fresh says  -Yes.

Fat is Where it’s At:

Scientists know that the enzymes cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1) and 2 (COX-2) are major causes of joint inflammation; that’s why you may take medications such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which block COX-1 and COX-2 enzymes, or COX-2 inhibitors to treat your arthritis. One thing that researchers have learned is that COX-2 enzymes become more active and cause more joint inflammation when you take in more omega-6 fatty acids than omega-3 fatty acids.

Omega-6 fatty acids are found in corn, sunflower, safflower, soybean and cottonseed oil which are prevalent in many snack foods, fried foods, margarines and other spreads (they are also in egg yolks and meats). In fact, many of the foods people overindulged in during a snack attach are linked to increasing joint inflammation and obesity. Interestingly, inflammation is connected to obesity and obesity to arthritis because fat cells can produce cytokines proteins that encourage inflammation.

What Can You Do?

Glad you asked! Try adding more vegetables, fruits, nuts, tea and even chocolate to your diet. Many plant-based foods contain antioxidants and phytochemicals, both of which may decrease the activity of the COX-2 enzyme, reducing joint inflammation. And don’t forget to load up on omega-3 fatty acids, found in fatty fish such as salmon and tuna.

 

http://www.arthritis.org/cox1-autoimmune-arthritis.php

http://elkhorn.unl.edu/epublic/live/g2032/build/g2032.pdf

http://my-pain-relief-.com

Cauliflower Curry

1 T butter (or ghee)
4 T olive oil
2 t mustard seeds
2 T curry
1 Onion sliced
1 cauliflower cut up
1 cup of tomatoes diced (or can of organic tomatoes)
t salt
pinch of red pepper flakes
Handful of chopped Parsley or Cilantro

Place butter in pot and add mustard seeds and curry until smell permeates. Add oil, sliced onion and cook on low heat until softened. Add cauliflower, tomatoes and approx. 1/2 cup of water. Cover and cook until cauliflower is tender. Adjust seasonings adding more salt, pepper, or curry as you wish, cooking is a zone of flexibility! Serve over rice, quinoa or on its glorious own.

Clearly no one wants to be in pain. But it is good to remember that pain is an important signal in the system we lovingly refer to as our bodies. So much of pain management is dedicated to masking the signal, is it any wonder that many people spend years going from pill to pill just hoping the feeling goes away?

Let’s Review

At Green Health Acupuncture we like to take a moment ever now and again to let anyone who suffers from chronic pain to know that your body is trying to tell you something. The something is what we are dedicated to working with you to figure out. If we can understand the root, the symptom becomes moot.

Root Moot

Not only does it rhyme, but it makes good sound sense. There are dangerous side effects of many pain killers, especially the “benign” over the counter NSAID when mixed with the myriad pills that may be being consumed as well. We are not science experiments. Our body parts do not function separately from one another, but in a beautiful symphony.

We Can Help

We want to help. If you are suffering from pain of any sort, please do not hesitate to consult our practitioners at our beautiful on site facility, or give us a call so that we can figure out the best way to help you feel better today because your health and happiness is what matters to us most.

Try this fantastic salad. Every ingredient has a positive inflammatory rating which is what we want. The higher the rating the better the anti-inflammatory properties.

Carrot and Seed Salad

1 cup sunflower seeds
pinch of salt
8 medium carrots, grated
1 handful chopped chives
Arugula

Dressing:
1/2 lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
pepper
1 Tablespoon sugar (optional)
3 Tablespoons olive oil

Toast seeds with a pinch of salt on a cast iron skillet.
Put grated carrots in a bowl.
whisk together ingredients for dressing, adjust seasonings as you wish, save some dressing for the arugula.
Dress carrots, top with chives and cooled seeds.
Serve on bed of dressed arugula.

To your good health!

Carrot and Seed salad adapted from Breakfast Lunch Tea , Rose Bakery

In honor of National sleep awareness month we thought it would be a good idea to remind everyone of just how important a good night’s sleep is to your life.

Cranky, moody, apathetic or all of the above?

Well you’re not alone, it is estimated that 70 million people suffer from sleep disorders. That’s a lot of cranky people and may explain a lot…Poor sleep can also lead to:

Heart disease

Chronic illness

Diabetes

Depression

Obesity

And contrary to what most people believe as we age we still need around 8 hours of sleep per night, it’s just that it becomes more difficult to sleep all the way through the night.

You’re getting sleepy….

Proven methods to increase your ability to get the rest you need and deserve include:

Regular exercise.

Regular sleep hours.

Sleeping on your back (this reduces lower back pain and as an added bonus – wrinkles and sagging breasts, we definitely don’t want those).

Avoid eating 2-3 before bedtime.

Eat magnesium rich foods (leafy greens) to help curb restless leg syndrome.

Eat complex carbs to increase serotonin (the happy hormone which is also responsible for sleep).

Get sunlight in the morning hours to increase your bodies melatonin production, but avoid bright lights in the evening.

Don’t force it, if your not tired or having sex you shouldn’t be in bed, wait an hour and then try again.

For an in depth discussion of proper sleep positions and mattresses check out our post from last year:
http://blog.my-pain-relief.com/what-is-the-best-way-to-sleep.html

And don’t let the bed bugs bite!

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/mar/13/business/la-fi-lazarus-20120313/2

http://www.apa.org/topics/sleep/why.aspx#