LET’S TALK TURKEY – The Real Leftovers

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Leftovers

Try a platter of fatigue piled as high as it will go, with a dozen sides of exhaustion and even depression. Somehow, “It was wonderful”, The food was to die for, it was so good seeing everyone” doesn’t translate into ecstatic joy and contentment. So what’s to incriminate? Dish duty? Done. Clean up? Now there’s a monster. Crumbs have crawled into every nook and cranny. It’s mayhem behind the sofa pillows. You’d rather torch the house rather than vacuum. (Not really, but at this point, no one else jumps up to help.)

GERD IS OUT TO GET YOU

You looked forward to it for weeks. Months even. And now that it’s over, it seems your body is besieged.  Migraines, body aches. It’s like a torrent of wild turkeys went wild running you over. Your mood is low and you have trouble sleeping. (Unless the acid in your stomach is keeping you up popping antacids.) And you were hoping the annual Thanksgiving rite of passage would pass uneventfully. You think that every year. And feel as beaten up every year. It’s over, you can relax now. You certainly deserve it Your body is crying for it. Close your eyes…think positive thoughts…try to meditate if only for a few moments. You try. Oh, you try. But every time you try to enter an OMMMMM state, your mind wanders to the foil topped towers of leftovers in the fridge. STOP! RESET! Let your mind replay the gratitude the day is really about. It has been shown that this can cause a large reduction in cortisol (a stress hormone), and a huge increase in DHEA, a positive hormone regulator. Just think this; you did it. You were a huge success. People can’t wait to come back until next year.  (Oh, and about that…time you thought about being the guest, and not the host.)

HARK! ANOTHER ONSLAUGHT COMING

OMG! It’s Black Friday. The day after Thanksgiving (or often now the night before) that is the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season. You’ve been inundated for weeks about the miracles of money-saving by getting out there and battling the hordes who feel they are going to beat you to that $298 huge smart TV. It used to be that the stores all opened around 6 a.m. Friday morning, but now they are open all Thursday night. (Thus the early exit of some guests.) Who isn’t drawn to Door Buster Bonuses? So you have to stand in line for hours. It’s part of the Thanksgiving tradition, like football. Only in this case, the wins are for you. What happened to getting a good night sleep, or even sleeping in to recharge? Another helping of stress, please. And, of, course, the countdown to the next big event is around the corner. Christmas. Can’t avoid this one. But we’ll get more into that next month.

BE GRATEFUL

HORMONES ARE YOUR BODY’S SECRET WEAPON.  THEY KEEP YOUR HEART THUMPING, YOUR DIGESTIVE SYSTEM CHURNING, AND YOUR BRAIN SHARP. WHENEVER YOU FEEL “OFF”, YOUR HORMONES COULD BE THE CAUSE. THEY CAN GET OUT OF KILTER WHEN YOU’RE STRESSED, TIRED, OR EATING POORLY, AND CREATE ALL KINDS OF HAVOC. ONCE TURKEY TIME IS OVER YOU END UP IN A FATIGUE FUNK WHERE’RE YOU’RE SURE THANKSGIVING IS THE OFFENDER. BUT FATIGUE IS A TELL-TALE SIGN OF HORMONAL IMBALANCE IN WOMEN. THESE HORMONAL IMBALANCES CAN ALSO CAUSE MOOD SWINGS, INSOMNIA, DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY. ONE OF THE MOST IMMEDIATE RESULTS OF BIOIDENTICAL HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY IS INCREASED ENERGY AND RELIEF FROM DEBILITATING FATIGUE. FORTUNATELY, HORMONAL IMBALANCE IS HIGHLY DIAGNOSABLE AND READILY TREATABLE. BUT FOR OPTIMUM HEALTH, IT’S VITAL TO CHOOSE A HORMONE REPLACEMENT SPECIALIST WHO UNDERSTANDS THE IMPORTANCE OF HORMONAL BALANCE AND HOW IT IS UNIQUE TO EACH INDIVIDUAL. IN THE DENVER AREA, THAT EXPERT WOULD BE DR. STEPHEN A. GOLDSTEIN, M.D, F.A.C.S. AT DENVER HORMONE HEALTH. AFTER REVIEWING YOUR HEALTH HISTORY AND CONDUCTING AN EXAM, HE CONDUCTS A FEW SIMPLE LAB TESTS TO DETERMINE YOUR CURRENT HORMONE LEVELS. THIS INFORMATION IS ESSENTIAL FOR CREATING A CUSTOMIZED HORMONE REPLACEMENT COMPOUND TO TREAT YOUR UNIQUE PROBLEM.

SO CALL FOR AN APPOINTMENT NOW.

YOU’LL BE EXTREMELY THANKFUL YOU DID.

LET’S TALK TURKEY – Food Coma

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Food Coma

Why is it you feel so sleepy after Thanksgiving dinner?  Is the turkey really the guilty party?  Who is the true culprit of the lethargic feeling experienced after a heavy Thanksgiving dinner?  Is it just an act to get out of dish duty?

Let’ so start with the facts:  We know Turkey contains L-tryptophan, an essential amino acid with a documented sleep inducing effect- a natural sedative.  The body cannot produce L-Tryptophan; we have to get it and other amino acids from food.  L-Tryptophan helps the body produce niacin, which assists in the production of serotonin, a chemical that acts as a calming agent in the brain.  So it sounds like the turkey is the guilty party after all, however, it is not.  L-Tryptophan only has those effects if it is taken on an empty stomach, without other amino acids or protein.

So why is it we desperately want to conk out after a heavy thanksgiving dinner if it’s not the turkey?  I suppose the word “heavy” may be the key here.  Thanksgiving dinner is heavy and high in carbohydrates, as well as fats.  Carbohydrates fuel the pancreas to emit insulin, which causes amino acids to battle L-Tryptophan and causes it to leave the bloodstream and enter muscle cells, which in turn amplifies the concentration of L-Tryptophan in the bloodstream. Serotonin is synthesized and you begin to feel sleepy.  Fats take a significant amount of energy to digest, which also results in fatigue.  If you throw alcohol into the mix you are going to intensify the feeling even more.

Lullaby…

Ever notice it’s hard to keep our eyes open once we haven’t been able to keep our mouths shut? Oh, for the sofa…just a little nap. We really should have exercised some restraint, but the only thing we give our bodies Thanksgiving Day is a digestive workout. And instead of stimulating us, we poop out. Even conversation seems an effort. All the food may explain the “food coma” many people experience after a big meal (and beyond.) Although popular wisdom holds that Thanksgiving drowsiness is caused by L-Tryptophan, it has been shown that the amount isn’t significant enough to affect most people. The culprit is food fatigue.

 

FOOTBALL BINGING

Whether you’re a breast man (or woman), leg man (or woman), heck, even a wingman (or woman), there’s something you all have in common. People are eating earlier not to digest their turkey parts and hordes of trimmings, but to ingest more football, a tried and true part of the Thanksgiving tradition. But this is merely a sitting sport for the overly indulged. Hour after hour of not moving except to stand up and scream at appropriate moments in the game. Something is wrong here. The players are out there running across the middle and pushing their bodies to the limit. No way around it, though, binge watching is a derelict distraction from getting the exercise you should be getting. And binge watching doesn’t burn calories. Sorry.

NO PAIN, NO PIE

The only thing that is going to help you get back on track, is getting back to exercising. How to start? Don’t go anywhere near a scale or mirror. Ever seen a python after it’s swallowed an animal? Sheer terror. Next, don’t fast. Fasting after binging raises the risk of triggering a binging-fasting cycle. Fasting can make you hungrier so that you subsequently overeat. Also, fasting could alter your metabolism so that you do not burn as many calories as you normally would, since fasting may make the body think that it should conserve energy. And don’t binge exercise. Enough with the excess.

Start by just moving. Then ease into resuming your regular exercise program.

This is the smart way to go. But we live in a frantic world of the exercise-obsessed.

At Crunch gyms across the country Thursday morning, dozens of eager exercisers will turn up for the Turkey Burn N’ Firm Ride, a 75-minute workout combining spinning and Pilates-based abdominal work. For others, it’s an early bout of tortuous kick-boxing. Pre-Thanksgiving workout feasts are filling up faster than anyone could fork in the food. And morning-after classes are as brutal as the previous days’ merciless and voracious sprees. It’s as much a mental thing as a physical thing. It takes an hour on the elliptical to burn 365 calories, but only five minutes to eat a piece of pumpkin pie with the same calories. Manic Thanksgiving exercisers are doing too much math.

BE GRATEFUL

ONE THING MOST PEOPLE NEVER EXERCISE AT THANKSGIVING IS RESTRAINT. THEY EAT. GO FOR SECONDS. SCARF DOWN WHATEVER THEY WANT WITHOUT RESERVE OR THOUGHT. AND THEN THEY PAY FOR IT. THEY FEEL LIKE A TRUCKLOAD OF FROZEN TURKEYS HAS RUN THEM OVER AND THEY CAN BARELY MOVE. THEIR GUTS ARE IN TURMOIL. THAT’S THE POINT WHEN THEY SHOULD MAKE AN APPOINTMENT TO SEE DR. STEPHEN A. GOLDSTEIN, M.D, F.A.C.S. AT DENVER HORMONE HEALTH. THE CULPRIT TO YOUR INTENSE DISCOMFORT MIGHT NOT JUST BE MILE HIGH PLATES OF FAT AND CARBS YOU’VE CONSUMED. IT COULD BE THAT YOUR HORMONES HAVE GONE ROGUE. DR. GOLDSTEIN IS THE BEST WAY TO FIND OUT. HE HAS YEARS OF EXPERIENCE AND EXPERTISE IN BIOIDENTICAL HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY, A NATURAL WAY TO MAKE SURE THE HORMONES IN YOUR BODY ARE SENDING THE RIGHT MESSAGES TO YOUR CELLS TO DO THE WORK THAT KEEPS EVERYTHING IN YOUR BODY WORKING RIGHT. WHEN YOU MEET WITH DR. GOLDSTEIN, HE DOES A COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION. THEN WITH SIMPLE TESTS, HE CREATES A TOTALLY UNIQUE TREATMENT PLAN TO GET YOUR HORMONES BACK ON TRACK. PART OF THAT PLAN ALSO INCLUDES GETTING BACK ON A HEALTHY EATING PLAN AND EXERCISING MORE. EXERCISING IS EQUIVALENT TO PRESSING A BUTTON TO LAUNCH THE HORMONES THAT HELP YOU FEEL GOOD. AND FEELING GOOD IS HIS GOAL FOR EACH AND EVERY CLIENT.

SO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT TODAY.

AND DON’T JUST THINK OF IT AS FOOD FOR THOUGHT!

AND IN THIS CORNER…SUPERFOODS – CUCKOO FOR SUPERFOODS

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Super charged superfoods

We’ll get right to the point here. Super-charged superfoods claim to be the Joe Frazier health monster, taking on or knocking down a lineup of illnesses. Health KO in round one. Certainly bad eating habits can lead to many serious problems. But are superfoods just bobbing and weaving in their claims, or can they deliver the punch? Let’s examine some of the things superfoods claim they can help or prevent. I’m sure you’ll have a cautious dose of “yeah, yeah, sure”. But here they are:

  • Reduce risk of heart attacks
  • Prevent blood clots
  • Protect against stroke
  • Improve fine motor skills
  • Tension headaches
  • Stuffy nose
  • Nausea
  • Promote brain health
  • Detoxify liver
  • Clear your skin
  • Diabetes
  • Fighting and suppressing urinary tract infections
  • Stimulate bone-building cells
  • Assist digestive system, relieve cramping, gas and muscles aches
  • Memory and coordination
  • Combat cancel and detoxify
  • Boost antioxidants
  • Prevent ulcers and yeast infections
  • Improve oral health
  • May reduce risk of lung cancer
  • Protect bones, ward off pms symptoms
  • Blood clots
  • Builds bones
  • Cancer fighters
  • Healthy eyes
  • Convert food to energy
  • Immune system
  • Lower cholesterol
  • May halt growth of cervical and colon cancer
  • Reduce inflammation
  • Reduce asthma-related wheezing
  • Help arteries stay relaxed and pliable
  • Fight infection
  • Diuretic
  • Muscle building
  • Lower blood pressure
  • Vision
  • Immune system
  • May prevent endometrial and ovarian cancer
  • Control blood sugar
  • Immune system
  • Anemia
  • Protect liver
  • Reduce inflammation
  • Sleep better
  • Detoxify body
  • Prevent hardening of arteries
  • Mood
  • Keep blood vessels healthy
  • Boost communication between blood cells
  • Neutralize free radicals that cause aging and cell damage
  • Reduce effects of age-related conditions like Alzheimer’s or dementia
  • Enhance libido improve sex

Note, none of these superfood claims are actually medically proven.

THE SUPERFOOD DIET. WHY TRY IT?

As has always been, the key to maintaining and improving your health is eating right, exercising and making smart choices. Diet plays an important role in our health but there is concern that too much focus on individual foods may encourage unhealthy eating. And the word “diet”? Whoa, there’s a potful of danger. Americans have tried such crazy unbalanced diets as the Cookie diet, the Baby food diet, the Cabbage soup diet, even the Tapeworm diet. (Just picturing the torture of that one is enough to kill any appetite). If people mistakenly believe they can “undo” the damage caused by unhealthy foods by eating a superfood diet, their mental cages are slightly rattled. Healthy is about eating a variety of nutritional foods, which is a lot smarter than going after “superfoods” with tunnel vision. As an aside, trying to maintain a diet consisting mostly of superfoods could actually lead to super dangerous bad food binging. (jaw-dropping, huh?) Common sense goes a long way. So stop scratching your head (which is not considered exercise, by the way) and discuss your health needs with someone who knows what they’re talking about.

HORMONES TO THE RESCUE

HORMONES ARE THE REAL HEALTH HELPERS. HORMONES NAVIGATE THROUGH YOUR BLOODSTREAM IN ORDER TO GET THEIR MESSAGES TO THE RIGHT CELLS. IF THEY ARE IN BALANCE, YOUR HEALTH AND WELL-BEING ARE IN BALANCE.

TO OPTIMIZE YOUR HORMONES, YOU SHOULD CONSULT WITH A TRAINED PHYSICIAN. DR. STEPHEN A. GOLDSTEIN M.D., F.A.C.S. AT DENVER HORMONE HEALTH IS ONE OF THE MOST SOUGHT-AFTER BIOIDENTICAL HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY EXPERTS IN THE DENVER AREA. BESIDES EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE, HE UTILIZES THE MOST SUPERIOR EDUCATION AND CUTTING-EDGE RESEARCH AVAILABLE, ALONG WITH THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY. SUPERFOODS AREN’T THE ANSWER. A UNIQUE TREATMENT PLAN TAILORED TO YOUR HORMONAL NEEDS, INTEGRATED WITH A BALANCED DIET AND EXERCISE IS WHAT WILL GIVE YOU THE ABILITY TO LEAD THE HEALTHY LIFE YOU WANT.

CALL FOR AN APPOINTMENT NOW.

AND THINK SUPER-DOCTOR FIRST.