What do the codes on the stickers of fruits and veggies mean?

What do the codes on the stickers

of fruits and veggies mean?

•If there are only four numbers in the PLU, this means that the produce was grown conventionally or “traditionally” with the use of pesticides.

•If there are five numbers in the PLU code, and the number starts with “8”, this tells you that the item is a genetically modified fruit or vegetable. 

•If there are five numbers in the PLU code, and the number starts with “9”, this tells you that the produce was grown organically and is not genetically modified. 

Example

Now you know!

yours in health,

dr Samantha boldt

Tuesday Trivia: Which Food is the Most Inflammatory?

Tuesday Trivia

Which Food Is The Most Pro-inflammatory?

A. Corn

B. 80% Lean Ground Beef

C. Agave Nectar

D. Long Grain White Rice, Cooked

There are numerous factors related to how inflammatory a food is. Certain substances lead a food to be anti-inflammatory, such as antioxidants, methylating agents like B vitamins, Vitamin K, Zinc, EPA/DHA, and phytonutrients. Other substances lead a food to be pro-inflammatory, such as trans fats, arachidonic acid, total glycemic load, and omega 6 to omega 3 ratio. All of these different factors are combined into an elegant formula and out pops a number. The more anti-inflammatory a food is, the more positive the number. The more pro-inflammatory a food is, the more negative the number. For more information, go to inflammationfactor.com.

And the answer is.....
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D!

Cooked White Rice is actually quite inflammatory in our bodies. Now this does not mean that you shouldn't eat something just because it is inflammatory. Our bodies need inflammation to fight infections and help bring extra blood and cells to areas of injury. It's only when we have too much inflammation that the problems start. Balance out inflammatory foods by eating fish, lots of vegetables, and using anti-inflammatory herbs.


yours in health,
dr Samantha boldt

This week's goal: Practice Your Balance

This week's goal:

Practice Your Balance!

As kids, we run around, jump on things, walk on the curb, and are constantly challenging the systems that help us with our balance. When we get older, we stop doing these things and begin slowly losing the ability to balance well. This loss of balance predisposes us to falls and other injuries. By practicing at least a few minutes a few times a day, we can decrease the amount at which we lose this ability and even reverse the loss!

Here is a simple exercise to do a few times a week!

Begin standing with feet together and near a wall or something to grab onto if you begin losing balance. With your eyes open, slowly lift your right foot off the ground and bring it to your knee or as high as it can get. Hold this pose for 20 seconds. Do the same with the left. Repeat on each side 5 times. Once you feel comfortable, lift your leg up and then slowly turn your head to the right and left while continuing to hold the position. Finally, try to hold the pose again while keeping your arms perfectly at your sides, then at 90 degrees, and finally with your arms raised above your head. As you begin to balance easier in this position, work your way from 20 seconds to 30 seconds.

After mastering the exercise above, try going up on your toes. Keep both feet on the ground at first. For the truly masterful, you can begin doing the exercises on your toes with only one foot at a time!

yours in health,

dr Samantha boldt

Controlling Your Blood Sugar: Why Ignoring ADA Guidelines Is the Best Thing For You

Medicare will have to begin cutting back on it's spending by 2028, and will continue to drastically decrease spending in the years to come, if we as the United States keep at the rate that we are going. This health care crisis isn't (completely) due to greedy pharmaceutical companies or corrupt doctors. No, what we are losing the most money to is something known as chronic metabolic disease or insulin resistance. Basically, 250 billion dollars a year is spent on diabetes.

And as a country, we NEED to put the blame somewhere. Somebody must be responsible for this massive amount of money being spent. Where do we put the blame? On you, the individual. We say if only people could eat less and exercise more, everything would be fine. It’s YOUR fault. Well let me tell you, I have people of all ages, mid twenties into their sixties and even one seventy year old, coming into my practice to lose weight. Many of these people are eating less than 1,000 calories a day and some are exercising as much as 2 hours 5-6 days a week. And they aren’t losing any weight.

How is that their fault? They are doing everything they are supposed to do and more, in order to bring their blood sugar down and lose weight, and it's still not happening. So whose fault is it?

It’s our fault. It is the fault of the healthcare industry and the practitioners and the American Diabetic Association’s fault. Because we are giving terrible advice when it comes to blood sugar control and diabetes!

For most people, when they think about the best way to control diabetes, complex carbohydrates automatically comes to mind. This is because for a long time now, general recommendations from the American Diabetic Association tell patients with type II diabetes to consume 40-65 grams of carbohydrates per meal plus more at snacks. That is a lot of carbs!

Let's look at what carbs do to our blood sugar.

The right side of the graph indicates the effect either carbohydrates, proteins, or fats have on blood sugar (or blood glucose) levels. The bottom of the graph indicates how much time has passed. Can you see which one spikes our blood sugar and then plummets back down, sending our blood sugar levels on a whirlwind roller coaster ride? Carbohydrates!

So, to get this straight, when we have too high of blood sugar, our current guidelines tell us to eat more of the thing that raises our blood sugar the most? Yes, that is exactly what is happening and why so many people are having blood sugar issues and falling into the diabetes cycle.

In the 1950's, we began learning to fear fats. It was a fear that has only grown with time. In a blog last year, I wrote about where this fear came from. Could Cholesterol Actually Be Healthy? When we stopped eating fats, we started adding in carbs, and lots of them. Our current low-fat dietary guidelines are leading to a diabetes epidemic.  

And guess what? We don't even need carbohydrates to be healthy! There are essential fats and essential amino acids, but no essential carbohydrates. We are able to make our own glucose in the body through a process called gluconeogenesis.

So what do we need to do?

Cut the carbs! A meta-analysis of 53 different randomized controlled trials on the result of low-fat vs low-carb diets was completed. Here's what they found. "In weight loss trials, low-carbohydrate interventions led to significantly greater weight loss than did low-fat interventions. Low-fat interventions did not lead to differences in weight change compared with other higher-fat weight loss interventions, and led to a greater weight decrease only when compared with a usual diet. "(1) Basically, when people were placed on low-carb diets, they lost weight. When people were placed on low-fat diets, they only lost weight if they also reduced calories. This weight loss also ties in closely with blood sugar levels.

A study done by Sarah Hallberg and her office shows just how much of an impact low-carb diets can have on helping blood sugar control. The study consisted of 50 type 2 diabetic patients who were treated with the low-carb program (< 55 grams per day) and then compared to 50 type 2 diabetic patients treated with ADA guidelines. After 6 months, the low carb group was able to decrease their insulin treatment by 493 units, whereas the group on the ADA guidelines INCREASED their insulin treatment by 349 units. The first group was able to lessen their diabetic medication while the second group had to increase their diabetic medication.

Which group do you want to belong in?

In conclusion, to control blood sugar, consume less than 55 grams of carbohydrates a day. Keep fats in the diet and avoid products that use the phrases reduced or low fat. Avoid processed and boxed foods. Nearly all of them contain added sugar!

1) The Lancet Journal of Diabetes and Endocrinology. Effect of low-fat diet intervention versus other diet interventions on long-term weight change in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Tobias D, Chen M, Manson J, Ludwig D, Willet W, Hu F. On-line. Oct 29, 2015.

--

yours in health,

dr damantha boldt

Tuesday Trivia: How much Vitamin C can our bodies absorb at once?

How much Vitamin C can our

 bodies absorb at once?

A. 100 mg

B. 200 mg

C. 500 mg

D. 1,000 mg

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The answer is B, 200 mg!

I am a huge advocate of vitamin C and generally take close to 1,000 mg a day. Not only does vitamin C boost your immune system, but it also helps with collagen repair (found throughout your body), acts as an antioxidant, and decreases blood vessel fragility! 

When people get sick or start feeling a cold coming on, it is common for them to start upping their vitamin C intake, sometimes taking 1,000-2,000 mg a day, and usually all in one dose. While there is nothing harmful with this amount, our bodies are only able to absorb so much of the vitamin at once. Since vitamin C is water soluble, the excess that we’re unable to absorb is flushed out of our system. 

Studies show that up to 200 mg of vitamin C can be absorbed at 100 percent. After 200 mg, absorption greatly decreases and most of the vitamin ends up getting discarded. To make the most of your vitamin C, take 200-250 mg at a time, 3-4 times/day. This will allow your body to retain the maximum amount of vitamin C for the longest time!

yours in health, 

dr samantha boldt

Levine M, Conry-Cantilena C, Wang Y, et al. Vitamin C pharmacokinetics in healthy volunteers: evidence for a recommended dietary allowance. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1996;93(8):3704-3709.

This week's goal: Look Up! Decreasing Neck and Shoulder Tension

This week’s goal…….look up!

We spend so much time looking down; at work, on our cell phones, computers, reading books, etc. Rarely do we give our necks a break and look up. The normal weight of our head is about 10-12 pounds. Our spines and bodies were made to easily hold this weight up. The further we move our heads forward and the more we look down, the more force is placed on our spine and surrounding muscles. 

Looking all the way down at your phone or tablet can cause your head to weigh about 60 pounds! It’s no wonder so many people today are wandering around with sore upper back, shoulder, and neck muscles. Walking around looking down is like trying to walk around while supporting the weight of an eight-year-old on your head! This leads to degeneration in the bones and discs of the spine and is harder to correct the older you get.

One of the best stretches you can do for your neck is what I like to call the collarbone hold. Take both of your hands and place them on your collarbone and pull down. 

Now, try to look up. Certain muscles attach to the collarbone, and when they are too tight, our collarbone travels upwards when we look up. In order to stretch those muscles, we have to hold our collarbone in place. Once looking up is less of a stretch, try tilting your head to the left or right and jutting your chin out. 

You will notice different muscles being stretched this way as well!

Luckily for you, there are also some great things to look up at! 

The Perseid Meteor Shower just passed, but Venus will be stationed in the lower western sky soon after sunset this week and the full moon will hit Wednesday night.  

So whenever you get the chance this week, look up. Even if it's just for a few seconds, developing this habit will help to stretch out the front neck muscles. This will decrease the anterior pull on the head and you will automatically be able to keep your head further back than before! 

yours in health,

dr samantha boldt

Recipe: Easy Flavored Water

Recipe:

Easy Flavored Water

Water is absolutely essential to our health. One of my first questions to patients is asking how much water they drink a day. Once we take out all of the coffee, juices, soda, and energy/ sport waters, it is astounding how many people drink less than 2 glasses of water a day! Most of these people are so dehydrated that they have even completely lost their thirst reflex (the craving for water when the body is low).

When I ask why......WHY AREN'T YOU DRINKING MORE OF THIS PRECIOUS LIFE AND HEALTH SUSTAINING FLUID.......the common answer from patients is that they don't like it all that much. I love water, and it's been a hard concept to wrap my head around, but there are people out there who either do not like the taste or find it bland.

If you are one of those people, or you just want to spice up your water life, than this recipe is for you!

I want everyone to understand just how easy it is to make flavored water. I have brought different flavors to parties and people always want to know how it was made. It's this simple.

Take a cup of anything (although I normally suggest fruit or cucumbers.....but hey, go wild), cut it up, put it in a pitcher of water and let it sit for an hour. That's it! You have just made flavored water! Now you have a drink that is good for you, not full of sugars and additives, but doesn't taste like just water!

For some of you less creative or experimental ones out there, my three favorite "recipes" are below.

1) Cucumber Water

-Cut up a cup of cucumbers into circles (like the kind you put over your eyes) and throw it in the water.

2) Fruit Splash

-Cut up a 1/3 of a cup of strawberries, a 1/3 of a cup of blueberries, and a 1/3 of a cup of pineapple and throw it in the water.

3) Ginger Water

-Cut up a 1/3 cup of fresh ginger, and you guessed it, throw it in the water. Careful! Ginger can be potent. This is a change from the cup of anything rule. Lemon can also be added to this one for a nice variation.

Simple, easy, delicious! If you have other great water recipes, I'd love to hear from you!

yours in health,

dr Samantha boldt

Leg Day

Thursday Humor

The Day After Leg Day

Why I Walk Backwards..... And Why You Should Too!

Why I Walk Backwards.....

And Why You Should Too!

Every time I go to the gym, I spend at least 5 minutes walking backwards on the treadmill. It's not a common sight, (and every once in a while I get a strange look) but it should be! Walking backwards is GREAT for the body!

     As a chiropractor, one of the biggest complaints I get from patients is that they are suffering from low back pain. It seems like everyone deals with it at some point in their lifetime. Our current lifestyle of sitting for hours every day only to add in set periods of "exercise" is not conducive to the health of our muscles and joints. However, this lifestyle is also inescapable for many of us. So we must ask the right questions. What is happening to our body when we sit for long periods of times that is causing pain? And, is there a quicker and easier fix than quitting the 9 to 5 and taking up a job as an outdoor enthusiast? 

   

1. What happens to our bodies when we sit for 

long periods of time?

    Sitting for long periods of times with no reprieve is bad for us. Period. We have studies showing the negative effects that sitting too long has on our brain, our mood, our organs, and even our digestion. But what exactly does it do to our muscles and joints to be the culprit of such widespread back pain? 

    First off, many of us sit slightly on our tailbone (or completely on our tailbone for some of you slouchers!) rather than sitting straight up on the bony part of our butt like we're supposed to. We lose that nice little arch (lordosis) in the low back, tilt the pelvis backwards, and now our hamstrings are in a constant state of contraction. When the hamstrings lose their flexibility, we are no longer able to tilt the pelvis forward. This then causes an increase in low back muscle and ligament tension, and you guessed it, pain. (1)

2. So is there an easy fix?

     I never like to say anything is easy, but if you have five minutes a day, you can start retraining all of those muscles in your lower back and legs to activate properly and become nice and healthy. All you have to do is walk backwards. 

     While walking backwards, hip extension and knee extension are greater than in forward walking. Greater hip extension opens up the spine and decreases the compressive forces on the spinal discs. Greater knee extension allows more range for the hamstring, increasing it's flexibility, and allowing the pelvis to tilt forward. Again, this forward pelvis tilt decreases compressive forces to the spinal discs. (2)

     Walking backwards is also easier on the joints of our lower body. Many people with low back pain tend to have issues in their hips, knees, or ankles as well. When we walk forward, we use a very heavy heel strike (the moment your heel touches the ground first). This puts a lot of stress on these joints and too much walking can be quite painful for people with arthritis of the hips, knees, and ankles. (3) While walking is normally seen as a good rehabilitation exercise, many overweight or arthritic individuals are unable to benefit from it due to too much stress on their joints. Walking backwards relieves some of this stress and can be a good way for people with pain in their joints to increase or keep the muscle strength in their legs.

Bottom line!

     Numerous studies have found that no matter who you are, walking backwards is beneficial to your body! It stretches out your hamstrings, reduces pressure on joints, has a greater cardiovascular benefit, activates your core muscles, and helps to train new neuronal pathways in your brain - keeping it healthier. Move forward with your health goals by walking backwards today!

yours in health,

dr samantha boldt

1) Phalen GS and Dickson JA. Spondylolisthesis and tight hamstrings. J Bone Joint Surg Am 43:505-512, 1961.

2) Journal of Exercise Physiology April 2011, Volume 14, Number 2.

3) Nor AM, Lyn KS. Effects of passive joint mobilization on patients with knee osteoarthritis. Sains Malays.2011;40:1461–5.