Your Wellness Lifestyle Starts Here
In addition to causing significant side effects, proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are not very effective much of the time. PPI-refractory gastroesophageal reflux, or reflux that does not respond to drugs, affects about 30% of the patients who have GERD. Almost half of these patients report that continual belching is a problem. Belching is not only a common symptom of GERD, but it can also increase the number and severity of reflux episodes.
An interesting study showed that breathing exercises improved belching and symptoms in patients with PPI-refractory GERD. The study included patients diagnosed with GERD who also reported belching, heartburn, and/or regurgitation even after taking PPIs daily for 12 weeks. Fifteen patients were taught a standardized diaphragmatic breathing exercise protocol, while twenty-one controls were placed on a waitlist. All of the subjects completed questionnaires at the start of the study, after breathing therapy, and then 4 months after therapy ended. The 21 control patients completed an additional questionnaire after their waitlist period, and then were also given breathing therapy.
During the intervention period, 80% of the patients taught better breathing techniques had significant reductions in belching frequency, as compared to only 19% of control patients. Intervention patients also experienced significantly greater reductions in reflux symptoms and more improvement in quality of life than the controls. Patients with the worst symptoms showed the most improvement, and the positive changes were sustained at 4 months after the termination of therapy.
Diaphragmatic breathing was the method used for this intervention, and anyone can learn how to do it. It’s defined as deep breathing that involves contraction of the diaphragm, the muscle located at the base of the lungs. There are hundreds of online videos that demonstrate the practice, but here are some simple instructions:
Most people are "shallow breathers," which means that they use the upper chest to breathe. This results in overuse of muscles in the neck and upper body, and underuse of the diaphragm. Shallow breathing is exacerbated during stressful situations or when people become anxious. Regular practice can make diaphragmatic breathing, a more energizing and restorative form of breathing, the default method. One way to get more practice is to take yoga classes, which almost always include a focus on breathing.
Most of us do not think about breathing much because we do it naturally. But learning better breathing techniques can improve your health in many ways.
Ong AML, Chua LTT, Khor CJL, Asokkumar R, Namasivayam V, Wang YT. "Diaphragmatic Breathing Reduces Belching and Proton Pump Inhibitor Refractory Gastroesophageal Reflux Symptoms." Clin Gastroentol Hepatol 2018 Mar;16(3):407-416.e2
An interesting study showed that breathing exercises improved belching and symptoms in patients with PPI-refractory GERD. The study included patients diagnosed with GERD who also reported belching, heartburn, and/or regurgitation even after taking PPIs daily for 12 weeks. Fifteen patients were taught a standardized diaphragmatic breathing exercise protocol, while twenty-one controls were placed on a waitlist. All of the subjects completed questionnaires at the start of the study, after breathing therapy, and then 4 months after therapy ended. The 21 control patients completed an additional questionnaire after their waitlist period, and then were also given breathing therapy.
During the intervention period, 80% of the patients taught better breathing techniques had significant reductions in belching frequency, as compared to only 19% of control patients. Intervention patients also experienced significantly greater reductions in reflux symptoms and more improvement in quality of life than the controls. Patients with the worst symptoms showed the most improvement, and the positive changes were sustained at 4 months after the termination of therapy.
Diaphragmatic breathing was the method used for this intervention, and anyone can learn how to do it. It’s defined as deep breathing that involves contraction of the diaphragm, the muscle located at the base of the lungs. There are hundreds of online videos that demonstrate the practice, but here are some simple instructions:
Just place one hand on your upper chest and the other on your belly just below the rib cage. Breathe in slowly and deeply, while your chest remains relatively still and your belly rises. Your rib cage may expand as well. Then exhale through your mouth while contracting the abdominal muscles. The belly should return to its original position.
In addition to helping with GERD, deep breathing can slow the heartbeat, lower blood pressure, and reduce stress and anxiety. The technique can also help patients with COPD, who generally have weaker diaphragms, to take in more air with less effort. Most people are "shallow breathers," which means that they use the upper chest to breathe. This results in overuse of muscles in the neck and upper body, and underuse of the diaphragm. Shallow breathing is exacerbated during stressful situations or when people become anxious. Regular practice can make diaphragmatic breathing, a more energizing and restorative form of breathing, the default method. One way to get more practice is to take yoga classes, which almost always include a focus on breathing.
Most of us do not think about breathing much because we do it naturally. But learning better breathing techniques can improve your health in many ways.
Ong AML, Chua LTT, Khor CJL, Asokkumar R, Namasivayam V, Wang YT. "Diaphragmatic Breathing Reduces Belching and Proton Pump Inhibitor Refractory Gastroesophageal Reflux Symptoms." Clin Gastroentol Hepatol 2018 Mar;16(3):407-416.e2
How many times have you said, "If I knew then what I know now"? It could have been about your love life, a job, school, a large purchase like a car that ended up being a lemon because you didn't do enough research. I know I have said that about many decisions in my life.
A Snapshot of My Story
Not too many of you know my full story. My "why", if you will. My story is the reason why I am so passionate about a food forward approach to getting and staying healthy. It is why I spent years studying science-based information about health with Wellness Forum Health. It is why I love teaching others the skills for adopting and maintaining optimal habits. And I am still learning!
What is Autoimmune?
In the mid-80's, I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. Crohn's is one of the autoimmune diseases that takes a toll on the lives of millions of people in the United States every year. There are many autoimmune diseases: Lupus, Multiple Sclerosis, Celiac, Type 1 Diabetes, Graves disease, Hashimoto's, and many more. This is the short list (there are over 80). Autoimmune diseases are the third most common category of disease in the U.S. after cancer and cardiovascular disease and more than 78% of the people affected are women. Autoimmune diseases can affect every biological system in the body, including the endocrine system, connective tissue, gastrointestinal tract, heart, skin, and kidneys. Sounds like the plague, doesn't it?
Autoimmune means "immunity against self." Your white corpuscles-which were designed by God to fight off disease-are identifying some healthy part of your body as an enemy invader and attacking it to destroy it. It is the body attacking the body. In the medical community, the diagnosis of an autoimmune disease is a life sentence. When I was diagnosed, I was given a myriad of prescriptions with potentially dangerous side-effects and was told that food had nothing to do with it. Their best shot was to control the symptoms. There was no looking into any root causes or methods to bring healing. The last medication prescribed was the biologic Humira, which can potentially cause cancer.
The Search for Information
Back in "those days", there wasn't any internet to look for information. I took my meds, cried, and became even more stressed, sinking into depression and episodes of anxiety. Was this going to be my life? If only I knew then that stress and anxiety is a major trigger for any autoimmune disease, so my mental state certainly didn't help.
I will fast forward because the road was long and there isn't enough space to write about the battles, the pain, the weight fluctuations, the different medications, my hopeless mental state, the "pretending" that I was okay, the mental anguish of travel preparation (making sure I didn't eat because I will be on a plane for 4 hours). I was not in a good place physically, mentally, or spiritually.
By 2009, it was bad enough that the GI doctor said my colon was so damaged and inflamed that I needed a bowel resection, and a large section of my small bowel was removed. If I knew then what I know now, I would not have had that done. Why you ask? Because now I know the root causes of inflammation. When you read further, you will learn the consequences of that decision. Now I know how my horrible way of eating was triggering my Crohn's disease (and other autoimmune issues). If I knew when diagnosed in the 80's what I know now, I might have prevented the years of illness. But that is not how life works. We all face trials, traumas, undealt with emotions, and setbacks. We don't know what to do at the time, or we receive poor guidance which makes it easy to sink into the mode of self-pity and fear. These traumas, whether big or small, and our emotions, lead to actual physiological changes in the body.
A Snapshot of the Journey
My road to healing was not easy. It is its own story, and I am thankful to God for teaching me how to listen to my body and how His desire is for us to be whole: body, mind and spirit! My healing started in 2014 and is still ongoing. I share more of my testimony in my free lecture "What Does the Bible Say About Health." He led me to many resources in the nutritional science community and I started to cut out many of the foods that I learned cause inflammation and foods that trigger symptoms. I was starting to feel better, lighter, healthier, and focused. I have not taken medication for 9 years because I radically changed the way I eat, managed stress triggers, and increased daily exercise (which I was finally able to do because I had more energy!) It was a dramatic mindset shift, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
A Setback
Let me sum this up and get to the point of why I am sharing. Think about having surgery anywhere on your body. When cutting is involved that way, it needs to be stitched up or put back together. This results in scar tissue. The scar tissue from my bowel resection has thickened and as a result, caused an obstruction from the stricture. I started looking into that possibility a few years ago and hoped it would not happen. But last November, I could tell that things weren't "moving" the way they should. I went to the GI doctor, but he did not agree with my self-diagnosis. He scheduled a colonoscopy a few days before Christmas. I rescheduled it for their next available appointment, which is in February because, well, Christmas. Ugh, if I only knew then.
In the early morning hours of January 18, I went to the ER as I had been vomiting all night long. The obstruction was bad, and I was hospitalized for 5 days. I had an NG (nasogastric) tube down my nose for 2-1/2 days to drain my stomach. The results of the CT scan done in the emergency room showed the blockage was caused by the scar tissue. The surgeon visited me daily with his scalpel sharpened (kidding), waiting to see if I needed another surgery. I was on a regimen of steroids to control any inflammation and calm things down. Thankfully, I did not require surgery.
So now I wait until February 22 to assess the damage. I was down but have learned to give my adversities, and my scar tissue, to God. I know when to rest and give myself grace.
Choose Life
We can all learn what our bodies need: physically, mentally, and spiritually. If you are not aware of what your body needs, you cannot take care of it. In her groundbreaking book "Radical Remission", Kelly Turner writes about the lives of people who have defied a serious diagnosis of cancer by not only radically changing their diet, but by deepening their spiritual connections, dealing with their emotions and much more. This can be applied to any serious health issue as well. There is healing power available to all of us!
We are all scarred from our circumstances one way or another. Every one of our scars has a story, but they do not define us. God loves our scars, especially when they draw us closer to Him. He invites us into relationship with Him so that we can live in "Shalom", which means more than peace. It means to live in wholeness: body, mind, and spirit. We don't need to identify with our disease, as that is embracing death. We are created with a purpose and a plan. Part of that plan is to learn to be healthy so that we can be of service to others.
Thank you for reading to the end. Please email me with any questions on autoimmune issues. I wish you all Shalom!
Liz Fattore
Nurture Your Health
Licensed Food Over Medicine Professional
www.lizfattore.com
DO YOU HAVE A STRATEGY?
The holidays are here and part of the fun of the season is the gatherings and spending more time with family and friends. Almost all of these occasions involve food, and it's a fair guess that they also include treats, sweetened beverages, and alcohol. While everyone has to make up his or her own mind about how to handle these occasions, I don't think it's a good idea to throw caution to the wind, eat anything and everything, and start over again in January for several reasons. One of them is that you were engaging in this type of behavior for a long time before deciding to change your diet and lifestyle to a healthier version, and it contributed to weight gain and health issues. One very important principle of the program I teach is that it is a plan for life. It is not a short-term heroic and restrictive diet that cannot be sustained. On the other hand, binging on junk food for short periods of time is not a good idea either.
Another reason to avoid a holiday eating orgy is that it will inevitably be accompanied by weight gain and feeling bad. It does not help to go backwards if you have been making progress toward your weight and/or health improvement goals.
The better strategy is to continue the "changing your life" program and learn to how to be a healthy eater who can enjoy the holidays. If you have been to any of my classes or events, remember the key strategies to implement any diet and lifestyle changes. It needs to be accessible, sustainable, and defensible with science.
If you are attending a party, eat a large salad, or a healthy soup with lots of veggies before you go. It's important to not attend these events when you are "starving". Fill up on salad and vegetables at family dinners and enjoy a few Christmas cookies!
Remain mindful of your strategy and intentions. This way you can have fun, indulge yourself a little, and wake up on January 1 feeling good about yourself, your weight, and your health.
Lastly, don't forget about exercise! Continuing your workouts is part of learning how to enjoy holiday seasons as a healthy person. Exercise can offset the effects of those cookies!
Stay tuned for 2024 as I resume classes and events, with hopefully more zoom meetings for the out-of-town folks.
I wish all of you a happy and healthy 2024!
Looking for a healthy side dish to bring to dinner? Check out this Cranberry Kale Pilaf. If you don't like Kale, sub spinach. Cranberry Kale Pilaf - Center for Nutrition Studies
Your Wellness Lifestyle Starts Here
What you eat has a profound impact on your health and your diet is one of the most controllable aspects of your health status. You can decide what you are going to eat every day. The average adult human consumes one ton of food every year – an astounding amount – and it is impossible to make the argument that this amount of food does not have an impact on your health. The effect can be either positive or negative depending on the choices you make.
New research from Johns Hopkins Children’s Center shows that a phytochemical in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables called sulforaphane can have a powerful effect on fighting viruses like the common cold and COVID-19.
Giving 30 mg of sulforaphane per kg of body weight to mice before infecting them with SARS-CoV-2 decreased the loss of body weight typically experienced by COVID-19 patients. Pre-treatment with sulforaphane also decreased viral load in the lungs and upper respiratory tract and resulted in a 29% decrease in injury to lung tissue as compared to mice who were not given the phytochemical. Additionally, sulforaphane decreased inflammation in the lungs and protected cells against the hyperactive immune response that has proven to be both common and fatal for many patients.
Sulforaphane has already been proven to have powerful anti-cancer properties, so these results are not surprising.
While you might be tempted to purchase a sulforaphane supplement, I’ve always advised that it’s best to eat the whole plant food because whole foods are more powerful. For example, cruciferous vegetables, which include not only broccoli but also arugula, Bok choy, cabbage, Brussel sprouts, and cauliflower, contain lots of powerful nutrients such as carotenoids, indoles, glucosinolates and isothiocyanates.
The same is true of all other plant foods – they are packed with protective nutrients that will not only reduce the risk of colds and flu – but also the risk of heart disease and cancer, which remain the leading killers.
You might have heard me say it before, but it is the whole of your diet and lifestyle, it is the breadth of what you eat and do on a daily basis. One note does not make a symphony. The temptation is to take a multitude of supplements because you are not eating enough fruit and vegetables. Supplements have role, but on a needed basis, such as Elderberry syrup if you feel a cold coming on, or a good probiotic for gut health. "Nutrient supplements do not prevent disease because when isolated from their whole food context, their biological properties may be substantially different or even opposite than expected." (T. Colin Campbell, PhD.) I will be having a class on supplement use in the future.
Diet quality is based on the foods you eat, not transient nutrient levels which usually have little to do with health status.
During the holiday season, we all express gratitude for our blessings, family and friends. Let's also place value on and be grateful for our health and take care of our bodies. Remember – an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Eat your vegetables!
If you are local, I hope to see you on Thursday, December 14 at the Epochary Inn. I will have Elderberry Syrup, probiotics, and the Wellness Forum Health smoothie mix available for purchase.
New recipes have been added on the recipe blog, so check them out!
Liz Fattore
Nurture Your Health
Licensed Food Over Medicine Professional
Wellness Forum Health
Wellness Forum Health (the company that I represent) held our annual conference last weekend. One of my favorite speakers, fellow member and therapist is Kylea Rorabaugh, MA, PLPC. Her talk was titled "Finding Stillness in a World that Won't Stop." Stillness is essential for our mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical wellbeing.
If you are like me, you find it difficult to find stillness. We (especially women) find it necessary to continually overextend ourselves, as if it will earn us an award. We all need to focus on a day of rest. In Dan Buettner's research on the Seventh Day Adventists, he found that they all were committed to taking a day of rest. On average, they live 10 years longer than the average American.
How can we be intentional about taking that one day a week of rest, of finding intentional stillness?
Consider your "diet": What are you putting in your mind on a consistent basis? Did you know that the Poison Dart Frog is not actually poisonous? They eat deadly and poisonous insects, ingesting the poison so that they become poison themselves. Are you reading every news article, watching every news station? We can choose how much chaos to ingest and how much stillness to consume. Watch your mental diet. We still need to be aware of what is going on in the world, but not to consume all of the poison content.
Embrace boredom: If you are sitting around in a waiting room, or standing in a long line, be intentional, make eye contact, listen to conversations around you, smile, people watch, observe. By doing this, you are grabbing hold of your boredom, giving it the hug it deserves, and welcoming it to stand right next to you as an ally.
Put down the distractions: Is it possible that, as a society, we have a disturbing obsession with entertainment? And with the compelling draw toward action, speed, and extreme stimulation, could it be that the concept of stillness is so foreign that we will miss something? What if we miss listening, discovering, engaging? We allow the deafening sounds of the modern world to drown out the whispers of the things that really matter. If we don't put down our distractions, how will we ever know if we are missing something? What if we intentionally filled those moments with something purposeful instead of something mindless?
Find your dam: What if we slowed our pace, what if we stopped the hurriedness of our moments? It's easy to miss our dam, or to never discover and experience them in the first place. Sometimes the things that are the hardest for us to embrace are the very things that are most important for us to cling to. Do you have a dam? A place to go to be still, and savor, and rest, and laugh?
Rediscover delight: We miss simple delight in this day and age. What might it look like to rediscover delight in your life, now, in real time, as an adult? What would it be? Do you have any delight in your life? Norman Wirzba said "When you are in the throes of entertainment, are you generally thinking that you are having a good time? Do we settle for being amused?"
Disconnecting from traditional productivity: In our culture, busyness and productivity are worshipped. But sometimes productivity gets in the way of living our life to the fullest. Or sometimes we miss out on joy filled living. What we do in that stillness may differ. But it's not so much about what we do per se but rather about what it does in us.
Being still enough to stick like Velcro: Author and psychologist Rick Hansen puts it this way: "The brain is like Velcro for negative experiences but Teflon for positive experiences. In other words, the goodness of life has the tendency to slip away as opposed to the negative which clings to our mental framework. But if we are harried and hurried every moment of the day, it's awfully hard to acknowledge or grab hold of these things. What if stillness is the key to us taking the time to pause, acknowledge and embrace the goodness that surrounds us. And when we absorb all of that goodness, we reverse roles, and our goodness gets Velcro-ed and our difficulties get Teflon-ed.
The world won't ever stop, but we can: What would you add to your vision of stillness? Likewise, what would you remove from that space? Determine your environment and your mindset: where would your thoughts be situated? What would it take to implement a position of stillness with intent, consistency, and commitment? Long for stillness and embrace it. We can choose to stop. It's not so much about what you do in your stillness but rather what you allow the stillness to do within you.
Liz Fattore
Nurture Your Health
Licensed Food Over Medicine Professional
Wellness Forum Health
