By: Dr. Justin Marchegiani

The winter time is unlike any time throughout the year.  We have extra stressors around us all the time including the holidays which include shopping, changes in weather including less sunlight, and increased consumption of sugar and processed foods from all the desserts and holiday goodies.

I am going to try to keep things simple so after reading this post you’ll have some excellent action items (AI) you can then use to apply to your health and for those interested some additional information on your immune system so you can understand how things work better.

Your immune system has two branches, you can think of it like a seesaw, as one goes up one goes down.  Understanding the basics will help you understand how these changes are affecting your body.    If this is too much info, just skip down to the action items for the meat and potatoes.

Immune system:  To keep things simple, you have two sides of your immune, TH1 & TH2

TH1:  This side is provides the front-line military defense for bacteria, virus and other pathogens trying to gain access to our bodies.

TH2:  This side is primarily responsible for making antibodies (soldiers that are specific to whatever is making us sick) to the various bacteria, virus and pathogens that have already invaded our body.  In other words, this provides the back-up defense for our body when we have already been compromised.  Vaccines work on this branch, more on this on a separate post!

It usually takes about 1 week for our TH2 side to get ramped up or i.e.  It takes about 1 week for the back-up soldiers to get called into action to help us out.  That’s why the average cold lasts about 1 week.   In summary the Th1 side is the wall that prevent things from coming in and TH2 side are the backup soldiers there to help in-case the bad guy break through the wall

Alright so after learning a little bit more about your immune system, the suggestions I am making below should now make a little more sense to you.  I am going to break up my recommendations into two categories, diet & lifestyle, and supplementation.  The first post will be on diet and lifestyle!

Diet & Lifestyle:  Actions Items

1.  Sleep:  Sleep is the primary time where your immune system recharges.  Our bodies are naturally on a light and dark cycle, so the prime time to tap into natural repair is right around 10pm.  At this time our body is making human growth hormone (which helps repair our body) and is going through a process known as cellular autophagy which is repairing our immune system.  Sleep deprivation is considered by the WHO as the only non-substance carcinogen in the same league as cigarettes and asbestos.  AI:  Sleep before 10pm and make sure it’s  in a dark environment.

2.  Vitamin D:  With less sunlight our body has less ability to make vitamin-d on our own.  So if you live in a warmer climate in the winter time get some healthy sun exposure without burning.  For the rest it will be a necessity to rely on a vitamin D3 supplement, stay tuned to the supplement post coming later!

3.  Avoid sugar:  According to John Briffa MD and Paul Chek 1 tsp. of sugar will inhibit your immune system for up to 4 hours.  So do yourself a favor and avoid sugar, which includes grains, starches alcohol and wine.  in the end all of these items are broken down by your body into sugar.  PS:  There are 10 tsp’s of sugar in 1 can of coke which can potentially decrease your immune function for almost 2 days!   Diet coke is not a good alternative either.   AI:  Healthy organic meats and vegetables especially cooked in a crock pot can be really helpful, chicken soup (minus the noodles), grandmas everywhere would be so proud!

4.  Listen to your body:  Your body will tell you when it’s starting to get sick.   Your energy will start to decline; you may start to feel a slight twinge in the back of your throat as well.  ”If you can listen to your bodies’ whispers, you won’t have to endure its cries…”

This isn’t a time to be tough and power through it.  Your immune system takes a lot of energy when it ramps up the TH1 side to  fight an infection.  Instead of fighting your immune system, try a more gentle approach like a lite yoga session, a walk, or even take an off day and try to get some extra rest.

5.  Sauna session:  Your body will naturally try to increase its body temperature to increase the effectiveness of the TH1 side of the immune system .  This is why a fever can be a very beneficial thing, as long as the fever isn’t going >105 F there really is no need to worry. AI: You can mimic this state naturally with a sauna session which can help get your immune system ready to go!

6.  Hydration:  I recommend increasing your water consumption during these sick times.  ½ your body weight in ounces is a good baseline, so even a little more can helpful.  Teas can be good to, just avoid the ones with caffeine.  AI: Drink up “The solution to pollution is dilution!”

7.  Manage stress:  Stress comes in many shapes and sizes, emotional, physical, and chemical.  The above suggestions already address the chemical and physical but the emotional is not something we have dealt with yet.   Research has shown that after a fight with a spouse your immune system can be weakened for up to 2 days (1).   AI:  Avoid unnecessary stress-full conflict with your signifcant other when feeling under the weather.

8.  Wash your hands:  This is the main vehical in which viruses and other bad guys are transferred.  Washing your hands throughout the day can decrease the spread of these pathogens.

9.  Introduce fermented foods into your diet.  A real easy way to do this is start consuming sauerkraut or kimchi from your local health food store.  The fermentation processes, the way in which these foods are prepared produce beneficial bacteria (pro-biotics) which have an important role in your gut health.  70% of your immune cells are located in you gut (MALT & GALT), the healthier your gut, tthe healthier you immune system.  Anti-biotics can destroy the beneficial bacteria that we get from probiotics and fermeneted food, that’s why anti-biotics should be a last resort.

Important point, antibiotics do not  make your immune system stronger they just kill the bad guys that are making you sick.  All of the suggestions mentioned in this blog post will increase your immune function thus helping your immune system to kill off all of these bad bugs on your own.  A little help from supplements can’t hurt either!   More on pro-biotics in part 2!

Stay tuned for part 2 on immune boosting supplements!

Reference:

1. Stress-Induced Immune Dysregulation: Implications for Wound Healing, Infectious Disease and Cancer: Jonathan P. Godbout and Ronald Glaser

This is a great low carb yummy recipe I found online and I have doctored up just a little.  It taste just as good as regular pancakes with out the extra carbs, sugar and indigestion…  Maple syrup optional!

Makes about 4, 6 inch pancakes…

Paleo Pancakes:

-1/4 cup of coconut flour

-3 to 4 eggs

-1/4 cup of coconut milk

-Optional: honey

-Mix everything together

-Put coconut oil on a low to medium tempered frying pan.

-Blueberries can be added once cooking begins.

-Cook till golden brown on each side then flip.  Tip, if you want to make the pancakes thicker, let the batter cook for 30seconds or so, then add a little bit of batter on top of the partially cooked pancake.

-Add some  butter while the pancake is hot.

-Maple syrup can be used, if you are looking to cut the sugar you can use some unsweetened apple sauce like I did on mine   Warming the apple sauce before putting it on your pancake can be really good too.

-Viola…Enjoy!

By,

Dr. Justin Marchegiani

With help from Shelly Mudd

By: Dr. Justin Marchegiani

With the rise of plastic surgery and dermatological procedures more people are trying to tap into the fountain of youth sparing no expense for these short lived interventions.

Before you drop a couple thousand dollars on the new cool lotion, potion, drug, or surgery try and see if the info in this article helps.

Today’s article focuses on skin health and some of the natural solutions that are available.  Remember lifestyle changes aren’t instantaneous, so the following suggestions need to be adhered to for at least 30-60 days to increase the chances of getting the results you are looking for.  This a 2 for 1 deal, by improving your skin through diet and lifestyle you are at the same time improving you overall health too!

Eating healthy fat may help reduce wrinkles!

According to article, fat (especially saturated fat) provides hydration a great deal of the raw material to keep skin hydrated as well as maintain the strength of the collagen and elastic fibers

“Fats provide building blocks for many components of epidermal and dermal tissues, and they are sources of energy in cell proliferation, maturation and homeostasis. Fats are sensitive to the oxidation process. However, maintenance of collagen and elastic fibers may require adequate amount of fat. Higher saturated fat intake was also significantly associated with a decreased facial wrinkling, suggesting a favorable effect of fat.”

 Green and yellow vegetables also help decrease wrinkle development too.  These vegetables contain phytochemicals, anti-oxidants and nutrients that help make your skin less susceptible to free radicals (which help to accelerate aging).

Wait a minute doesn’t eating fat cause heart disease?

According to The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2010) by Krause et al conducted a meta-analysis (looking at a conglomerate of studies) showing eating saturated fat is not correlated with heart disease or stroke.

Again I do caution against eating higher amounts of carbohydrate especially refined sugar with saturated fat, this tends to be a deadly combination.

Many people maybe under the false impression that they are doing themselves a favor by avoiding fat, especially saturated fat, and by doing so would also be hurting their chances of optimal skin health either.

Does the food I eat cause me to break out? 

The myth that has been perpetuated in Dermatologists offices for years is the food you eat doesn’t cause break outs.  Dealing with patients I have seen a strong link with diet and skin health and now the current research is starting to catch up with clinical results.

The Journal of Clinical Dermatology (2010). found the more refined carbs i.e. breads, pastas, bagels sodas and even foods that contain hormones like processed meats and dairy products will increase your chances of break outs.  The insulin produced from the excess refined carbs in your diet will also increase the activity of your sebaceous glands making your skin appear oilier and increasing the chance of clogged pores.

“Foods with significant sugar content and other carbohydrates yielding high glycemic loads affect serum insulin and insulin-like growth factor-1 levels, both of which promote increased production of available androgens and the subsequent development of acne.”

I understand that many of the suggestions I am making may be a little controversial.  I am trying bringing everyone cutting edge information backed by research to help improve their health and that includes their skin too.  It is important to note that cutting edge information wouldn’t be cutting edge if it was already widely accepted.

What to do:

1. Remove all grains and process dairy from your diet for atleast 30-60 days.  The gluten in grains tends to be a common food allergen that aggravates many peoples skin.
2. Eat copious amounts of high quality organic vegetables and meat.
3. Consume about half your body weight in ounces of water (i.e. 200lb person=100oz).
4. Spend more money on the high quality foods mentioned above and less on surgical and pharmaceutical interventions that mask the symptoms.

References:

1.  British Journal of Nutrition (2010), 103, 1493–1498

2.  Clinical Dermatology (2010) Nov-Dec; 28(6):598-604

3.  The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2010) Jan, Krause et al