Health & Wellbeing Podcast #30

When I spoke at the Wise Women Gathering on Chronic Pain earlier this year, I had so much information that I wanted to share, but I couldn’t fit it into an hour. I didn’t even get to begin on the topic of fibromyalgia, so decided instead to share that information in a podcast. It took me a little while to get it to you (what with having a baby and everything) but here it is.

You can see my earlier podcasts on Chronic Pain here: Part 1 and Part 2.

Photo by Ryanwar Hanif on Unsplash

In this podcast I talk about:

• The evolution of Fibromyalgia
• The groups of people it mostly affects
• The diagnosis of fibromyalgia
• The difference between chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and fibromyalgia
• Current conventional treatment of fibromyalgia and it’s limitations
• What is currently understood to be the cause(s) of fibromyalgia
• The connection between emotions and fibromyalgia severity
• Ways to improve fibromyalgia
• Sleep and fibromyalgia
• Herbs and nutrients for fibromyalgia

Listen on the Soundcloud website here or in the embedded player below.

iPhone   Stitcher   Youtube   Soundcloud  Spotify 

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When your gut controls your mood: the gut-brain axis

From as early as the 1930’s, scientists were beginning to understand that the health of our digestive system could influence our mood.  The state of our intestinal lining and the balance of bacteria within our digestive system have a major role to play in the production of our neurotransmitters: chemical transmitters that tell our brain whether we should be feeling such ways as happy, sad, agitated, or calm.  But even though the research in this area sky-rocketed in the last decade and continues to grow every day, the concept of our gut-brain connection isn’t very well known.

The gut is linked to the brain

Did you know – When you were just starting to grow in your Mumma’s womb, your brain and your digestive system developed from the same lump of tissue.  During this process of dividing up cells (embryogenesis) this lump of tissue divides and forms our central nervous system and our enteric nervous system (this is the nervous system of our gut – sometimes called the second brain).  These two are connected by an important ‘wire’ – our vagus nerve.  This development can help us understand why there are so many similar chemicals and receptors in both our brain and our digestive system, for instance serotonin.

Gut bugs and your mood

As soon as you’re born, bacterial colonies start to develop in your digestive system.  Within the first few days, the bacteria starts sending messages to the nervous system and can actually determine our nervous system ‘set point’ long term (1).

When the balance of our gut bacteria (collectively referred to as the microbiome) is affected, this can affect your mood.  Studies have found that the microbiome can have a major impact on stress levels and anxiety (2).  In fact, by treating imbalances in our microbiota, it is possible to support a wide range of mental health disorders (3), (4), (5), (6), (7).

The second brain

The nerves in your digestive system are constantly speaking to your central nervous system.  If your gut is irritated for some reason – say you’ve eaten something that you’re intolerant to (like gluten, for example), you’ve generally got a bad diet, there’s an imbalance in your microbiome (that’s your collective gut bacteria, remember) or you’ve got an infection – this can create an inflammatory reaction and will certainly make you irritated as well.  We know that depression is both associated with, and worsened by inflammation.  This inflammation in the brain can be driven by inflammation in the gut, which can be caused by intestinal permeability (leaky gut) and bacterial imbalances (dysbiosis).  Treating leaky gut can help reduce the severity of depression (4), (8), (9), (10), (11).

Neurotransmitters in our gut

Serotonin is produced in large amounts in our digestive system.  In people with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) there is too much serotonin in their digestive system.  This is why antidepressants known as SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) can improve the symptoms of IBS: these act by reducing the amount of serotonin taken into cells in the rest of our body which allows more to get into the brain.  However anti-depressants can affect the gut negatively as well, because if you weren’t making enough serotonin in the gut in the first place, you’d end up with even lower levels in the digestive tract and so it can become irritated, affectively you’ll get a depressed gut (12), (13).

A vicious cycle

When your gut is upset, you feel upset.  But stress can affect your digestive system just as much as it affects your mood.  It can impair the secretion of digestive acids, slow down the motility of the gut, allows the unfriendly bacteria to grow, reduces your friendly bacteria and exacerbates intestinal permeability (leaky gut) (14), (8).  This is a recipe for an unhappy digestive system, and as you know this can then go on to send more messages to your brain: so you can see how the cycle continues.

People with gut problems are more likely to experience anxiety and depression.  Some studies have found a high proportion of anxiety in those with gut conditions such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome(IBS), Crohn’s disease and coeliac disease (15), (16), (17).

Helping the gut-brain axis.

By treating digestive problems, sealing leaky gut and balancing your microbiome it is possible to help with conditions such as anxiety and depression, and there’s even research showing the benefits of treating the gut in conditions like chronic fatigue syndrome, schizophrenia and autism (10), (18), (11).  Probiotics are one of your major tools when it comes to treating the gut, but it’s a good idea to consult with a health practitioner to make sure you’re getting the right type, and also to get a good gut healing treatment program to go along with it ⁽¹⁹⁾, (4), (9).

Related articles:

• Probiotic stress busters: http://www.naturopathnsw.com.au/probiotic-stress-busters
• Depression starts in the gut?:  http://www.naturopathnsw.com.au/depression-begins-in-the-gut
• What is Dysbiosis: http://www.naturopathnsw.com.au/what-is-dysbiosis
• Fermented foods (foods to stop bloating and farting): http://www.naturopathnsw.com.au/foods-to-stop-bloating-and-farting-fermented-foods
• Enhance your health with probiotics: http://www.naturopathnsw.com.au/enhance-your-health-with-probiotics
• The benefits of soaking and sprouting: http://www.naturopathnsw.com.au/the-benefits-of-soaking-and-sprouting-plus-a-sprouted-chickpea-hummus-recipe

Works Cited

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Oil Pulling

Oil pulling is quite an old tradition that developed from Ayurvedic principles (traditional Indian medicine).  It’s a very simple practice that only takes 20 minutes out of your daily routine, but the benefits are many.  

What is it?

Oil pulling is considered to be helpful for an enormous range of conditions – ranging from issues such as general dental health, arthritis, inflammation, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.  Traditionally it was considered to work by drawing out toxins from the salivary glands, however as it has become increasingly popular in the last few years, researchers have looked into the practice and found that it provides its benefits by addressing the ‘bad’ bacteria in your mouth – you could say that it PULLS the bad bacteria out.  This action has a huge flow on effect to the rest of the digestive system, and therefore the rest of the body. Oil pulling also acts as a form of tongue massage, which acts on pressure points to support healthy energy flow along the meridians that flow all throughout your body, in a style similar to reflexology and acupressure.   

By reducing the bad bacteria in your teeth and mouth you can not only improve your dental health (by reducing the bacteria that cause plaque), whiten teeth and nourish gum health, but also improve the balance in the rest of your digestive system (remember the mouth is the entrance to the digestive system, so removing bad guys here will help further on down the line).  The good bacteria in your gut have an enormous amount of roles in the body – digestive bacteria affects inflammation, immune health, mood, hormone balance, and even contributes towards cardiovascular health (amazingly, an analysis of cardiovascular plaque has found that it contains a large amount of ‘bad’ bacteria which originate in the mouth and stomach!).    

Which Oil do I use?

Traditionally oil pulling was performed with sunflower or canola oil, and sesame oil is also a popular choice.  You could use any form of oil as long as it is organic and cold pressed.  Cold-pressed sesame oil won’t have as strong a taste as the type that you cook your stir-fries with.  Coconut oil is my personal preference due its taste, and is the most common recommendation amongst oil pulling advocates.  At the moment it’s probably one of the easiest to find in large quantities as well.  (Some people don’t like the consistency of coconut oil when it’s set which happens in colder months, so you can melt it before putting it in your mouth.  Personally, I like it!  It’s like a coco nutty treat, also like I’ve bitten into a Bounty.)  You can add a 3-4 of drops of oregano oil for its anti-microbial properties, however you might want to start with only 1 drop as this can be quite strong for some.

How to do it:

Take 1 tbsp coconut oil in your mouth, and swish around for 20 minutes.  You want to ensure that the oil is getting between your teeth and over and under your tongue.  Then spit it out!  Couldn’t be simpler.

During this time you can get creative about what else to do.  Read a book?  Take a shower?  Make the bed?  Clean the house? Prepare your lunch?  Water the garden?  Chill under a tree?  You can do anything as long as your don’t have to open your mouth.   

After the 20 minutes are up, SPIT the oil out (not into the sink or toilet as it can clog the pipes).  Then rinse your mouth thoroughly with water, and brush your teeth (consider keeping a separate toothbrush just for this purpose, and wash it with 3% hydrogen peroxide to kill the bacteria).  

It is very important not to swallow this oil, as it contains bacteria that you want to get rid of.  While you’re getting used to oil pulling you may accidentally swallow some of it, but keep working on it.  

If you are new to oil pulling, you may find it a bit challenging and need to spit the oil out earlier as the sensation can be a little strange.   (I only lasted 5 minutes the first time I did it!)  Try starting with a tsp instead of a tbsp.  After a few minutes of oil pulling you’ll feel like the oil has increased in quantity, it’s your saliva joining the coconut oil.  You’ll get used to this.  Try not to swish too vigorously as your jaw may get tired after 20 minutes – gently does it.  

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What does organic mean?

The word ‘organic’ is used to describe food that has been grown without the use of artificial fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides, growth regulators and hormones, antibiotics, and livestock feed additives. This means working with nature rather than against it, by recycling natural materials, maintaining soil fertility and encouraging natural methods of pest and disease control, rather than relying on chemicals. Crop rotations, crop residues, animal manures, green manures, legumes, organic wastes, mineral-bearing rock, and biological pest controls are used by organic farmers to raise whole, natural foods.

Benefits of Organic Foods

Nutrient content

It’s often claimed that a large number of studies have found no difference in the nutrient content of organic and non-organic crops. It’s true there have been more than a hundred studies comparing the nutrient content of organic and non-organic foods and the results are inconclusive. But this is because the majority of studies are of poor quality, being either agriculturally or analytically flawed.

Official food composition tables, including data compiled by the US Department of Agriculture, reveal that since the 1940s the mineral levels in fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy have declined substantially in conventional foods. Combine this with earlier (pre-ripened) picking, longer storage, and more processing of crops, and it’s not surprising that we may be getting fewer nutrients in our food than we were 60 years ago.

The artificial fertilization associated with conventional crops produces lush growth by swelling produce with more water. On a pound-for-pound basis, organic food has more “dry matter” (i.e. food). Partly because of this (and for other reasons too), there are higher levels of nutrients in organic produce.

We can expect also that phytonutrients, many of which are antioxidants involved in the plant’s own defense system, will be higher in organic produce because crops rely more on their own defenses in the absence of regular applications of chemical pesticides. Evidence is emerging that confirms this expectation. Higher levels have so far been found of lycopene in organic tomatoes, polyphenols in organic potatoes, flavonols in organic apples, and resveratrol in organic red wine. A recent review of the subject estimated that organic produce will tend to contain 10-50% higher phytonutrients than conventional produce.  These phytonutrients have important roles in our body protecting us from disease and promoting healthy aging.

Recent research has showed that:

• Conventionally grown fruit and vegetables in the USA have about half the vitamin content of their counterparts in 1963.
• On average organic foods contain about one-third higher in antioxidants than comparable conventional produce.

Two independent, comprehensive reviews of (around 40) studies that compare the differences between organic and conventional foods came up with similar conclusions showing that there is overwhelming evidence that organic food is more nutritious than conventional food. Heaton stated: ‘On average our research found higher vitamin C, higher mineral levels and higher phytonutrients – plant compounds which can be effective against cancer.’

Food additives

The use of antibiotics, anti-microbials, hormones and other growth promotants are prohibited in organic production. If animals are treated with veterinary chemicals, they are not allowed to be sold as organic. Similarly the use of synthetic chemicals as preservatives, colourings, antioxidants etc are prohibited in the processing of organic foods. There is an increasing body of concern about these synthetic compounds in the diets of humans and animals used for human food.

Research from the University of Hawaii has found that people who consume processed meats have a 6,700% increased risk of pancreatic cancer over those who consume little or no processed meat products. The researchers concluded that sodium nitrite, a chemical used in nearly all non organic processed meats was the cause of the  very alarming cancer rates.

Chemicals

It’s regularly claimed by the mainstream food industry that pesticide residues in foods are known to be safe on the basis of total diet surveys that supposedly find the levels of pesticide residues in our food to be very low and within acceptable safety limits. But monitoring programs consistently show that around one in three non-organic food samples tested contains a variety of pesticide residues, with far lower levels being found in and on organic produce. Conventional-food proponents also claim that rigorous safety assessments show that pesticide residues are no threat to human health. Yet consumers intuitively know this is a false assurance.

Photo by Thomas Le on Unsplash

The problem is that most pesticide-residue safety levels are set for individual pesticides, but many samples of fresh produce carry multiple pesticide residues. Rules often do not take into account the “cocktail effect” of combinations of pesticides in and on foods. Research is emerging confirming the potential for such synergistic increases in toxicity of up to 100-fold, resulting in reproductive, immune and nervous system effects not expected from the individual compounds acting alone.

Israeli researchers have linked symptoms such as headaches, tremor, lack of energy, depression, anxiety, poor memory, dermatitis, convulsions, nausea, indigestion and diarrhoea with dietary intakes of pesticides. Belgian research has found that women diagnosed with breast cancer are six to nine times more likely to have the pesticides DDT or hexachlorobenzene in their bloodstreams compared to women who did not have breast cancer.

The British Medical Association appears to agree:

“Until we have a more complete understanding of pesticide toxicity, the benefit of the doubt should be awarded to protecting the environment, the worker, and the consumer—this precautionary approach is necessary because the data on risk to human health from exposure to pesticides are incomplete.”

Peer reviewed published research has demonstrated that many of these types of chemicals are known to disrupt the hormone, nervous and immune systems. The escalating increase of certain types of cancers such as lymphoma, leukemia, breast, uterine and prostate cancers are linked to agricultural and other synthetic chemicals. Similarly, a good body of scientific research also links these chemicals to the dramatic increases in disease like chronic fatigue syndrome. Cancers such as Non Hodgkin’s lymphoma have gone from being one of the rarest cancers to one of the fastest growing cancers amongst people exposed to agricultural chemicals.

A detailed scientific analysis of organic fruits and vegetables in the USA, published in the peer-reviewed journal Food Additives and Contaminants, showed that organic foods have significantly less pesticide residues than conventionally grown foods.

Children’s immature and developing organs, brains, detoxification and immune systems, plus their larger intake of food per kilo of body weight combine to make them even more susceptible to toxins than adults. Research has shown repeatedly that organic food significantly lowers children’s dietary exposure to pesticides, lowering their exposure from above to below recognized safety levels.

The facts show that organic foods have health benefits because of higher nutritional values. They excel in the antioxidants that prevent heart disease, cancers, anti-inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.

How to buy ‘organic’

• Look for the certification stamp on the labeling of the products; In Australia, any organic food or product that is sold must display a certification symbol or number by law. The symbol means that the product meets government standards.
• Buy from a reputable retailer;
• If there is no stamp, question the retailer on the authenticity of the products until you are satisfied that it is the ‘real deal’.
• Remember that Organic foods have a shorter shelf life when compared to conventional foods, as they contain no chemical food preservatives as conventional foods do.  This means that you should plan your meals out so that food doesn’t get wasted (which would be a shame, as it’s more expensive).

Organic foods may be found and purchased from your local health food shop, organic fruit and vegie store or farmers markets or online.

Organic Shops and Sites

Abundant Organics

http://www.abundantorganics.com.au/

Bare Roots Organic & Health

Shop 4 7 Ward Place, Dural
02 9651 5561
http://www.bareroots.com.au/

Blue Mountains Food Co-op

Shop 1-2 Ha’Penny Lane,  Katoomba
(under the PostOffice shop)
02 4782 5890
http://www.bmfoodcoop.org.au/

Doorstep Organics

28-30 Meeks Rd Marrickville, Sydney, NSW.
(02) 8399 1666
orders@doorstep.com.au
http://www.organicdeliverysydney.com.au

Green Hills Organics

Shop 4/328 Windsor St, Richmond
02 45885377 or 0412180749
http://www.greenhillsorganics.com.au

Hawkesbury Organic Food Co-op

23 Bosworth St, Richmond
Operates every Thursday evening from 5pm-6.30pm
http://sites.google.com/site/seasonscoop/home

Honest to Goodness

http://www.goodness.com.au/

In Harmony Health Baulkham Hills

Shop 59 Stockland Mall, Baulkham Hills
02 9688 6797

Lettuce Deliver

http://www.lettucedeliver.com.au/

The Organic Grocer

http://www.theorganicgrocer.com.au/

OrganicFood.com.au

http://www.organicfood.com.au/

Penrith Organic Health

437 High St
Penrith NSW 2750

Real Good Food

http://www.realgoodfood.com.au/product-information/

Warrah Farm

Dural
http://www.warrah.org/farm.htm

If you know of an organic shop or site that’s not listed here, please let me know!

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