Nutrients for a Healthy Complexion

One of my friends (a friend with a very pretty face, I might add) asked me to write about nutrition for the skin. I know I touch on this every once in a while, but a refresher never hurts!

There are many aspects of our lifestyle that affect our complexion: diet & supplements, stress, and smoking, to name a few. Since the skin is the largest organ of our body, it is very important to protect it and nourish it each day. It functions as a protective covering, a sense organ, an oil producer, and a detoxifier. The skin is constantly using evaporation and perspiration to maintain internal balance by clearing toxins. In school, we often discuss the skin and the fact that it is an outward reflection of someone’s internal health and balance.

Of course the most important nutrient for healthy skin is water. We are unable to detoxify if we do not have enough water. It keeps our skin clean and pure by transporting nutrients throughout the body and flushing out toxins. Some other good ways to clear and detoxify the skin include using natural beauty products, especially those that contain things like aloe vera, herbs or honey. Egg white facials, dry-brush massage, saunas, and steam rooms are also good ways to open the pores and help eliminate toxins.

A diet that supports a healthy complexion includes nutrient-dense and high-water-content foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables. In addition, essential fatty acids are necessary for healthy skin. These can be found in foods such as nuts, seeds, olive oil, coconut oil, and flaxseed oil. Fresh fish also contains many healthy oils for the skin.

Some supplements that can benefit the skin include a fish oil supplement, a multivitamin and mineral supplement, and antioxidants. Vitamin A and beta-carotene are important for treating acne, preventing blemishes, and treating dry skin. Someone with a vitamin A deficiency may get sick easily, have tiny red bumps on the backs of their arms, night blindness, and slowly healing wounds or infections.

Vitamin C helps supply antioxidants to the skin, which can slow aging and reduce some of the effects of smoke and chemicals on the skin. Zinc is another important skin supplement. Zinc is necessary for cell repair, DNA and enzyme production, and to keep immunity strong and healthy. Silica, which is highly concentrated in the skins of most fruits and vegetables, helps to strengthen the skin, hair and nails. So, keep that skin on your kids’ fruits and vegetables – they need it!

All of the B-vitamins are essential for healthy skin, and B-vitamin deficiencies are associated with some types of skin disorders. They are needed for cell division, to support tissue health and repair, and to reduce inflammation. Good sources of B-vitamins include wheat germ, beans, peas, nuts, leafy greens, liver, and lean meats.

As you can see, there are many components to obtaining a healthy, glowing complexion. It all comes back to eating as close to a whole-foods diet as possible. Everything you put into your body must come out, and our skin is one means of elimination. Excess sugar, alcohol, sodium, additives or preservatives can cause an unhealthy internal environment and therefore unwelcomed skin problems such as dryness, oily skin, acne, blemishes, rashes, and other skin conditions. Sugar is a great way to really hurt your skin. Not only does it cause skin conditions, but it also depletes our body of many important nutrients, leading to further skin issues.

Have a great weekend!

Iron vs. Calcium

Yesterday in class we talked about iron and calcium, and how the two nutrients interact. Sometimes we are so focused on getting all of our nutrients – whether it be from three meals or from a multivitamin – that we forget about the effect that certain nutrients have on one another and on our ability to absorb and utilize them.

It is important to understand the relationship between iron and calcium. Iron actually blocks the absorption of some minerals, especially calcium. So, if you’re taking a daily multivitamin with both iron and calcium, you are probably not really getting the full calcium amount listed on the bottle.

In addition to iron blocking calcium absorption, too much calcium can interfere with iron absorption. Other things that can inhibit iron absorption include tea, coffee, wheat bran, egg yolks, and even antacids. Vitamin C, on the other hand, actually enhances iron absorption.

If you are iron deficient, I recommend taking your iron supplement at a different time of day than when you take your multivitamin. And if you are worried about having enough calcium, you may want to take a separate calcium supplement, or find a multivitamin that contains calcium but no iron. Iron can also interfere with magnesium and zinc absorption, which is something to keep in mind.

I guess the lesson here is that we cannot just buy a multivitamin and expect it to correct all of our nutrient deficiencies. Supplementing with vitamins can be really beneficial, but it is so important to eat a varied diet as well to ensure we are getting everything we need.

We also touched on pregnancy and the importance of the mother getting enough calcium, especially during the 2nd trimester when the baby's bones are becoming ossified. Even though calcium is found in the prenatal vitamins that most pregnant mothers take, they may not be absorbing all of it. Some doctors or naturopaths recommend they actually take a separate calcium & magnesium supplement during the 2nd trimester, to ensure they have enough. The baby needs that calcium no matter what, so the person who ends up suffering from a deficiency is the mother, in the form of leg cramps, twitches, muscle aches, and even tooth decay.

Some great whole food sources of iron include soybeans, lentils, spinach, sesame seeds, kidney beans, raw pumpkin seeds, garbanzo beans, blackstrap molasses, and lean beef.

The Many Functions of the Liver

As we continue to learn about the digestive system in class, I continue to be amazed at how important each of our organs actually is. But nothing amazes me more than the liver. I know I talk about the liver all the time, but I came across this list of the liver’s functions in my Anatomy & Physiology textbook and I thought it was worth sharing. Use this as a reminder of how important it is to put healthy, real foods into our bodies so that our liver doesn’t have to work too hard. When the liver is overworked, we are more susceptible to weight gain, sickness, and many other health issues.

Carbohydrate Metabolism: The liver works to maintain a healthy blood sugar level. When blood sugar is low, the liver breaks down glycogen to glucose and releases the glucose into our bloodstream. When blood sugar is high (such as right after we eat a meal), the liver converts glucose to glycogen and triglycerides and helps us store these.

Lipid (Fat) Metabolism: Liver cells store some triglycerides. They also work to break down fatty acids to create energy (ATP). The liver creates lipoproteins, which are responsible for transporting fatty acids, triglycerides and cholesterol to and from body cells. The liver also creates cholesterol (remember, over 80% of our cholesterol is made within the body and only 15-20% actually comes from diet).

Protein Metabolism: Liver cells prepare amino acids (proteins) to be used for energy production.

Processing of Drugs & Hormones: The liver can detoxify certain substances such as alcohol, and it excretes drugs. It also chemically alters or excretes thyroid hormones, estrogens and aldosterone. Any over-the-counter or prescription medications we take must be processed by the liver, as they are foreign to our body.

Synthesis of Bile Salts: The liver creates bile salts, which are transported to the small intestine. Bile salts are necessary for the emulsification and absorption of fats.

Storage: The liver is the primary storage site for vitamins A, B12, D, E, and K, and for the minerals iron and copper. The liver stores these nutrients until they are needed elsewhere in the body.

Phagocytosis: The liver is responsible for killing off aged red blood cells and white blood cells, as well as some bad bacteria in the body.

Activation of Vitamin D: The liver, along with the skin and kidneys, is crucial in the activation of vitamin D. The vitamin D absorbed from the sunshine through one’s skin is inactive, and the liver must be involved in the activation process in order for someone to receive the vitamin D’s benefits.

Are you as impressed as I am with the liver? It’s the second biggest organ we have (the skin is the first), so let’s try to take care of it by reducing things like alcohol, smoking, and medications, and by increasing our intake of fresh, whole foods and plenty of water!

Gyro Meat

I had a Greek salad last week and it was topped with shaved slices of gyro meat. It tasted delicious, but I began to wonder what exactly goes into the gyro meat to make it taste so good. It’s clearly not straight lamb.

According to Wikipedia, large pieces of meat are placed on a spit and turned in front of a heat source. If the meat is too lean, strips of fat are added to keep it moist and crispy. Then, the outside layer of meat is cooked to a crisp and sliced very thinly, and used on sandwiches, wraps and salads.

Apparently the type of meat used varies by region. In Greece, the meat is typically pork but can also be chicken or veal. Gyros are also big in Australia, and the meat there is usually lamb, chicken, beef, or (most likely) a combination of the three. And in the United States, the gyro meat is often a combination of lamb and beef.

So far, I am not too surprised at what I’ve learned.

But then I read a New York Times article that was not so glamorous. It said that gyro meat begins with raw beef and lamb trimmings. The raw meat is run through a meat grinder, and certain things are added such as bread crumbs, oregano, water and other seasonings. The mixture is then run through another machine where it is turned into a paste. It is molded into cylinders and then frozen, ready to be put on a spit and shaved off for consumption. This is likely how the majority of the gyro meat we consume in the U.S. is made.

This is a little bit gross, but I’m not surprised. I’ve always suspected that gyro meat may be highly processed, and sometimes I even wonder if they add MSG to it to give it that strong flavor. However, it seems like the quality of the meat depends on where you get it. At a nicer restaurant, they may make their own gyro meat and it may taste a little fresher. But at a kabob stand on the street, you may be getting the highly processed stuff.

I did find a recipe for making gyro meat at home, and it looked delicious! Ingredients included ground lamb, onion, garlic, rosemary, marjoram, sea salt and pepper. There was also a recipe for homemade tzatziki sauce that included plain yogurt, cucumber, garlic, sea salt, olive oil, red wine vinegar and fresh mint. Yum! Nothing bad in that recipe. So, maybe the lesson is I should try to make my own gyro meat and tzatziki sauce! If I do, I’ll let you know how it turns out…

Eggs in the News

As many of you know, there has been a massive egg recall due to countless reports of salmonella poisoning. Over 228 million eggs were recalled, including brands such as Lucerne, Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Sunshine, Farm Fresh, and Kemps.

I occasionally talk about eggs, and have stressed the importance of buying your eggs from a local farmer if at all possible. There are many benefits to eating eggs from chickens that eat grass and roam freely (read more about it here), including an extremely low risk of salmonella. A recent article in the Denver Post stated that due to the egg recall, local egg demand has increased beyond supply. This is great news!

We get our eggs from Grant Family Farms, who also provide our CSA box each week full of fresh fruits and vegetables. I have to admit, it was nice to know that despite the huge egg scare, we could still soft-boil our eggs or cook them over easy without worrying about getting sick.

Grant Family Farms has had 30 more people sign up for an egg “share” in the past week and a half, and other farms are actually increasing egg production for next year because demand is greater than current supplies. There is a local woman who holds classes on how to raise your own backyard chickens, and she has even seen a surge in class enrollments in the past week and a half! I’m not sure if local egg demand is increasing in other cities, but I encourage you to look into this option. The eggs will likely be a little bit more expensive, but they taste much better, and most importantly they are safer and healthier. Not to mention the satisfaction you’ll feel when you decide to support a local farmer!

To see more photos about how the chickens at Grant Family Farms are raised, go to the Denver Post’s album here.

I’ll be taking Thursday, Friday and Monday off to spend time with family. Enjoy your Labor Day weekend and eat well!

Back to School!

Just like many of you (or, your kids), I started school yesterday. My two classes this term are Digestion & Detox, and Life Cycles & Anti-Aging. Both very interesting subjects that I am excited about. And as a bonus, the teachers are excellent!

We’re starting off by going into detail on the digestive system. It really is fascinating, and it’s so important for a nutritionist to have an in-depth understanding of how it all works. I’ll spare you the boring details, but there are some pretty interesting and relevant facts that I thought you guys might be interested in.

• The gastrointestinal (GI) tract can be thought of as a long tube that is open at both ends – the mouth and the anus. For this reason, it is actually considered to be outside of our body. Cool!

• Since our GI tract is considered to be outside of our body, the mucus layer lining it is technically our first line of defense against any bacteria, pathogens, or other invaders from the outside. Therefore, if our mucus lining is not in tact, we are more susceptible to sickness. In simpler terms, a weakened GI tract = a weakened immune system.

• There are more cells in the GI tract than anywhere else in the body.

• Stress and high cortisol levels can lead to an underactive digestive system – low absorption of nutrients, constipation, and other issues.

• Most nutrient absorption takes place in the small intestine, but alcohol is actually absorbed through the stomach lining (before it even reaches the small intestine). This is why you can take a drink on an empty stomach and immediately feel the effects. It’s also why people say you should “have a little something in your stomach” before you drink an alcoholic beverage. If there is food in your stomach, the alcohol will not be as quickly absorbed.

We also talked about the importance of our clients understanding that absolutely everything they decide to put into their bodies will affect them in some way. What you eat and drink is directly related to the health of your digestive system and therefore your overall health, and it is extremely important to make good decisions most of the time. A 5-mile run will not “cancel out” that enormous slice of chocolate cake or 6 beers you drank last night. I’m not saying you can’t enjoy yourself once in a while, but just remember that most of the time, we need to treat ourselves with care and eat foods that will promote health and balance inside our bodies.

New Trend in Nutrition: Eating Out of a Truck

Has anyone else noticed the food trucks that are popping up all over the place?

Up until now, we had limited options for a quick, cheap lunch: fast food, a hot dog stand on the street, or maybe grabbing a pre-wrapped sandwich at a convenience store in the lobby of your building. But some chefs are daring to compete with these options, and they are succeeding. They are taking high-quality food and fancy recipes, and selling them out of carts or trucks in heavily populated areas. And it’s working! If you can get a $2 short-rib taco made with all fresh farmer’s market ingredients, why would you ever go to Taco Bell again?

This concept is successful for a couple of reasons. People love high-quality, nutritious food, but they also love affordable food. Cooking and selling from a truck is one way to meet both of these demands. The overhead costs are very low, and they can keep the menu simple enough to suit all tastes.

I think this is a great concept, and I encourage you to support the people who are trying to make it work. Some trucks are independent, while others are affiliated with great local restaurants. In Denver, The Gastro Cart serves a $7 gyro made up of roasted lamb, tzatziki sauce, napa cabbage, guajillo-mint foam, and naan (classic bread from India). Sounds delicious! You can also get fresh waffles from a street cart (it’s worth it to walk past the cart each morning just for the smell), and there’s even a vegetarian/vegan food cart that sells favorites from a great local restaurant.

Some of these carts or trucks use social media such as Twitter or Facebook to notify fans of their whereabouts or what the specials are on the menu for a particular day. For example, the delicious Cake Crumbs shop in Denver’s Park Hill neighborhood recently started operating a cupcake truck. The driver makes his way throughout the city each day, and tweets his location and how long he’ll be there. People show up to buy cupcakes, and he usually runs out before the day is over.

Anyway, I think this is a great concept and could help replace an unhealthy lunch with something that is a touch more nutritious, much more tasty, and still very affordable. I recommend googling your city and “food trucks/carts” to find out what your options are. If you live in a major city, you’ll have many!

Link Between Added Sugars and Cholesterol Levels

My parents send me the Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter after they read it each month, which is great because I learn something and occasionally get material for the blog. The cover article for July was about how sugars affect cholesterol levels, which is something I thought many of you would be interested in. I often get e-mails from people asking what foods are good for lowering cholesterol. This is always a tough question. I know people who eat a healthy diet who have high cholesterol, and I know people who eat terribly but have low cholesterol. So, it’s difficult to tell someone what to eat without knowing a lot more about their family medical history, current diet, exercise routine, and more.

This article claims that the first study was conducted on the relationship between sugar and cholesterol levels, and the conclusion was that sugars added to processed foods can increase LDL cholesterol, lower HDL cholesterol, raise triglycerides, and increase overall risk of heart disease.

It states that Americans get about 16% of our total daily calories from added sugars found in processed foods. That’s about 90 grams of sugar, or 21.4 teaspoons. Gross!

The group that ate increased levels of added sugars from processed foods had lower HDL (good) cholesterol levels at the end of the study, and higher levels of unhealthy triglycerides. The interesting part, though, is that LDL (bad) cholesterol levels increased only in women in this group. There wasn’t really any explanation as to why men’s LDL cholesterol was not affected by the processed foods in the same way the women’s was. I was surprised to hear these results, but I recommend taking them with a grain of salt. Not that I know more than the medical experts at Tufts, but I don’t want men to read this and think it’s okay to eat more processed foods! We all know that processed foods can take a toll on our health in many different ways, and the best diet is one consisting of fresh, whole foods and minimal amounts of processed foods.

There’s one other interesting part of the article I wanted to point out. Towards the end, they provide some “tips” for reducing sugar intake. One tip reads, “Buy sugar-free or low-calorie beverages.” Besides the fact that I completely disagree with this, there is another tip they give that says to “Use zero-calorie sweeteners in moderation.” Now, I agree with using zero-calorie sweeteners in moderation, but these are the sweeteners used in sugar-free or low-cal beverages, which they are encouraging people to drink! Makes no sense to me.

Either way, it’s an interesting article and I’m glad there is some concrete evidence that sugars from processed foods are not good for cholesterol levels. So many people are constantly concerned about their cholesterol levels, yet continue to eat a diet high in processed foods. Maybe this will give them the motivation they need to transition into a more whole foods based diet! And remember that even foods that appear healthy usually have lots of added sugars and are still highly processed. They may advertise the protein or fiber, but always check sugar content!

Have a great weekend!

Source for this post: Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter, July 2010, Volume 28, Number 5

New PWN Website is Up!

I had lots of great comments and e-mails in response to yesterday’s post on school lunches and kids not getting enough time to eat. I’m happy to hear there are parents out there who feel so strongly about this issue!

On another note, I am really excited to announce that my business website is finally ready to go! You can visit it here, or it's also linked at the top of the blog. It took me a while to get organized but once I was, my awesome designer Lizzie Sorensen got right to work and did a great job. I told her I wanted something fresh and simple. I love her style and the other websites she has designed, so I knew it would turn out well! Thanks Lizzie! (Follow her on twitter here).

I also want to thank my sister, Alice Dickherber, and one of her friends, Katie Guymon, for providing the photographs for my website. I knew that fresh food photos would really add to the look I was going for, and when they each offered to take some for me, I was so excited. These girls have professions outside of photography, but I think they should be selling their photographs on the side! I wanted to use them all on the website, but Lizzie and I decided that less is more. However, I’ve added some of the extras throughout this blog post because they are so good! Katie also writes a blog called I Used to Vacation, and contributes to a music blog called Speakers in Code. Check them out! Follow Alice on twitter here, and Katie here.

Eventually I hope to have a Paypal account set up on my website, so clients can pay me directly through there. Right now I am offering a student rate through June of 2011, when I graduate. It's about half of what I'll eventually charge, so I hope people take advantage of it! There are also discounts for those who buy a package of sessions. I will start clients off with a free 15-minute phone consultation to make sure I’m a good fit for them, and we will schedule any appointments after that. Please forward the website on to anyone who may be interested! I can do in-person counseling out of my home office, or phone consultations for those who do not live in Denver. Between now and June I will be balancing full-time school and clients, so I will only take a limited amount. After that, I look forward to growing my business! I appreciate your help with networking.

Thanks again to Lizzie, Alice and Katie for helping me out with everything. I am really excited to start seeing more clients!

School Lunch

This is not directly related to nutrition but it’s something that was brought to my attention last night, and I wanted to reflect.

While Ed was making dinner, three of our darling neighborhood kids knocked on the door. They were selling Nestle cookies and Sally Foster things for a school fundraiser – to raise money to take a science class field trip to Keystone for a couple of nights. I invited them in (don’t worry – we know them and their parents well) and spent $40 on things we do not want or need, and then just talked to them about school.

Apparently they have a new principal this year, and she has come up with some new rules that they don’t approve of. One of them is regarding lunch and recess time. They get 5 minutes for lunch, and 10 minutes of “organized play” for recess, and that’s it. They’re in 4^th and 5^th grade. Now, I realize they could be exaggerating on their allotted lunch time, but I trust these kids. They’re smart and wouldn’t lie.

One of the girls said that yesterday, by the time she got through the lunch line, the bell had rung for recess. She told her teacher “I need to eat my lunch” (good for her!), and her teacher said “You can bring it back up to the classroom”. They have a friend who is diabetic and needs to test her blood sugar levels before eating, and they said she never gets time to eat because the testing takes a few minutes, and then lunch is over.

I don’t have kids. And when I do, they will follow all of the rules at school, whether they – or I – like them or not. But, this rule would really upset me! Five minutes is NOT enough time for a child to eat a lunch. Kids should not be encouraged to rush through their meals, and they’ll learn better throughout the day if they’re allowed some social time with their friends while they eat. (I’m also not crazy about the “organized play” at recess, but I’ll stick to the lunches here).

For those of you with kids in school, do they also have rushed lunch periods? They must be starving by the time they get home! This is just another reason why breakfast should be emphasized as a very important meal, and you should send them out the door with protein (not sugar) in their bellies so they can make it through their day.

Anyway, this was just something I found really interesting. I’m totally siding with the neighborhood kids here – they deserve a longer lunch period! Even 15 minutes would be appropriate. I can't remember how much time I got to eat in elementary school, but I know it was enough time to eat and be social with my friends, then play a full game of kickball at recess. I never remember feeling rushed!