Get Your Beauty Sleep and Lose Weight!

Research has documented the link between obesity and sleep loss,
although no on has been able to explain why. Recent research has found
that sleep deprivation significantly decreases brain activity related to
the evaluation of appetite and affects choices of what kind of foods we
find desirable (Greer SM, et. al.,2013).

The result is an increase in the desire for food that causes weight gain
and is high in calories.

Not sleeping enough can cause you to gain weight, for these reasons.
It can also be one of the reasons why you maintain the gained weight.
If you want to stay lean or lose weight, be sure to get enough sleep. Most
people need between 7 and 8 hours.

Reference:

Greer SM, Goldstein AN, Walker MP. The impact of sleep deprivation on food desire in the human brain. Nat Commun. 2013 Aug 6;4:2259. doi: 10.1038/ncomms3259.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com
Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Important facts about magnesium which may surprise you

Did you know that magnesium deficiencies have been shown to increase cardiac arrhythmias? Magnesium is one of the most important minerals because magnesium affects many functions, but this reviewed research focused on cardiovascular disease.

The research included studies of 313.041 individuals and investigated associations of circulating and dietary magnesium with cardiovascular disease and ischemic heart disease(Del Gobbo LC, et.al.,2013).
Cardiovascular disease risk decreased when circulating and dietary magnesium increased.

If you are going to supplement with magnesium, it is better to take a formula which includes other important minerals since taking only one mineral will affect the level of another one. To read more about this click here.

Reference:

Del Gobbo LC, Imamura F, Wu JH, de Oliveira Otto MC, Chiuve SE, Mozaffarian D Circulating and dietary magnesium and risk of cardiovascular disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies. Am J Clin Nutr. 2013 Jul;98(1):160-73. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.112.053132. Epub 2013 May 29.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com
Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Antioxidants and Optimism

The research reviewed this time is a little bit different. The researchers looked at the association between antioxidants and optimism (Boehmite JK, et.al., 2013). That participants were 982 men and women and the researchers evaluated the relationship between optimism and serum concentration of nine different antioxidants.

The results showed that optimism was associated with greater carotenoid concentration.
This was interesting since blood levels of these antioxidants were measured instead of relying on food questionnaires. We know from other studies that our biochemistry affects both physical and emotional health.

Reference:

Boehm JK, Williams DR, Rimm EB, Ryff C, Kubzansky LD. Association between optimism and serum antioxidants in the midlife in the United States study.  Psychosom Med. 2013 Jan;75(1):2-10. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0b013e31827c08a9. Epub 2012 Dec 20.

 

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com
Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Reduce Inflammation by Using Your Mind

Inflammation is a risk factor for all chronic diseases. Anything you can do to reduce inflammation will be beneficial to your health. This reviewed research investigated if meditation could help reduce inflammation (Rozenkranz MA, et.al.,2013).

A stress test was used to induce psychological stress. Inflammation was produced using a topical application of capsaicin cream to the forearm skin. Data was collected on cortisol (a stress hormone) and also on inflammation before and after the experiment. The study lasted eight weeks. One group of the participants were in a meditation group and the other group participated in a health enhancement program.
The results showed that both groups had comparable cortisol responses and equivalent reductions in self reported in psychological distress and physical symptoms. The interesting part was the meditation group having a significantly smaller post-stress inflammatory response.

Reference:

Rosenkranz MA, Davidson RJ, Maccoon DG, Sheridan JF, Kalin NH, Lutz A. A comparison of mindfulness-based stress reduction and an active control in modulation of neurogenic inflammation. Brain Behav Immun. 2013 Jan;27(1):174-84. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2012.10.013. Epub 2012 Oct 22. 

 

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com
Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Specific fat produced from exercise makes you lose weight

That fat can make you lose weight may sound strange. Even stranger is what the reviewed research documented (Böstrom P,et.al.,2012).

When both mice and humans exercise, a membrane protein is cleaved and secreted as a newly identified hormone called irisin.  Irisin acts on what's called white fat cells, that's the type of fat that makes us fat, and stimulates the development of brown fat. Brown fat is more metabolically active and improves insulin sensitivity and energy expenditure, in other words it makes us lose weight.

New research presented at the American diabetes Association meeting on June 21, 2013 showed that healthy men that exercised for 12 weeks on a stationary bike converted some of their white fat to healthier browner fat.This is one more reason why exercise helps keep us slim. The extra calories you burn when you exercise is just a small part of why exercise is helpful if you want to lose weight.

Reference:

Boström P, Wu J, Jedrychowski MP, Korde A, Ye L, Lo JC, Rasbach KA, Boström EA, Choi JH, Long JZ, Kajimura S, Zingaretti MC, Vind BF, Tu H, Cinti S, Højlund K, Gygi SP, Spiegelman BM. Dependent myokine that drives brown-fat-like development of white fat and thermogenesis. Nature. 2012 Jan 11;481(7382):463-8. doi: 10.1038/nature10777. A PGC1-α

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com
Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

What is the best time day to be physically active?

The reviewed research evaluated how walking at different times affected the blood glucose after a meals (Dipietro L, et.al.,2013).

The participants were 60 years or older inactive individuals with elevated fasting blood glucose levels between 105 and 125 mg/dl. The exercise protocols consisted of either 15 minutes of walking after meals, or 45 minutes of sustained walking at 10:30 AM or 4:30 PM. The walking was done on a treadmill, and all the participants walked at the same intensity.

Both the 45 minutes morning walk and the 15 minutes walk after a  meal significantly improved 24 hour glycemic control when compared to not walking. Walking 15 minutes after a meal was however significantly more effective in reducing the blood glucose 3 hours after dinner than walking 45 minutes in the morning or 45 minutes in the afternoon.
You should exercise after you eat if you want to use exercise as a tool to lower blood glucose. You will get greater benefits from exercise if you exercise more than once per day, even if it is just for a few minutes.

Reference:

Dipietro L, Gribok A, Stevens MS, Hamm LF, Rumpler W. Three 15-min Bouts of Moderate Postmeal Walking Significantly Improves 24-h Glycemic Control in Older People at Risk for Impaired Glucose Tolerance. Diabetes Care. 2013 Jun 11. [Epub ahead of print]

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com
Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Important research related to Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease is at least partially caused by decreased clearance of the beta-amyloid peptide breakdown products.  The reviewed research investigated how different diets may affect the removal of these breakdown products (Hanson AJ, et.al.,2013).

One group of the participants were older adults with normal cognition, while the other group were older adults with mild cognitive impairment. Two types of diets were tested. One was high in saturated fat and had a high glycemic index (included high glycemic index carbohydrates). The other diet was low in saturated fat and had a low glycemic index.

The results showed that the low saturated fat, low glycemic index diet decreased the levels of the lipoproteins that were less effective at clearing the beta-amyloid while the high saturated fat, high glycemic index diet increased these lipoproteins. This is very good news because this showed that you can reduce the risk for Alzheimer's disease by implementing a low glycemic index diet low in saturated fat. This type of diet also helps to reduce the risk for other chronic diseases because it helps to reduce inflammation.

If you want to know more about this, both of the books Effective Nutrition for Effective Healing and The Food Connection will show you how to implement a very low glycemic index, high nutrient way of eating.

Reference:

Hanson AJ, Bayer-Carter JL, Green PS, Montine TJ, Wilkinson CW, Baker LD, Watson GS, Bonner LM, Callaghan M, Leverenz JB, Tsai E, Postupna N, Zhang J, Lampe J, Craft S. Effect of Apolipoprotein E Genotype and Diet on Apolipoprotein E Lipidation and Amyloid Peptides: Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Neurol. 2013 Jun 17:1-9. doi: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2013.396. [Epub ahead of print]

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com
Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.