Once again I’m pondering the research around “diets.” First of all, I hate the word diet. It implies some sort of rigorous eating plan that once completed, will solve all your health problems and somehow miraculously allow you to resume former habits. Or, it alludes to something you hop on/off a couple times per year in hopes of staving off weight gain.

Diet is actually defined as the foods a person or animal habitually eats. In that sense, the way we use diet is all wrong. For most, “diets” have a foreseeable end, whereas a diet in actuality is the way you eat most of the time.

There are numerous “diets” or ways of eating that are being publicized. Who hasn’t heard of the ketogenic diet by now? There is also paleo, Mediterranean, low carb, macrobiotic, vegetarian, vegan, etc. All of these tout that their plan is the “way” everyone should eat. It can be extremely confusing. It’s like a pick your own adventure of diets.

Naturally, as a dietitian, everyone wants to know what I deem to be the BEST diet. Some are disappointed when I don’t provide a clear and firm response on the matter. You see, the reason I keep pondering various these diets is because I’ve seen through countless client encounters that many diets, as healthy as they might seem, just plain do not work for some people. I have had people come in, desperate for help, because the “healthy” diet they have followed to the “t” is producing no weight loss results, or even worse, causing increased lipid levels and reduced energy. What gives?

Recent research out of Texas A&M may provide some helpful results.1 They showed that in mice fed various popular diets (Standard American, Ketogenic, Japanese, Atkins, etc ), they all responded differently, some positive and some negative. In other words, some mice showed positive improvements on particular plans while others actually got worse on the very same diet.

The key is genetics. The researchers in this study suspect that genetic variations cause our bodies to respond better or worse to various foods and styles of eating. For example, one mouse in particular did very poorly on the Japanese diet, surprisingly, while the rest stayed in good health. Also, most did poorly on the standard American diet (as expected) but some fared less poorly than others.

The take home message is that clearly, one diet does not fit all. A diet that improves the health of one person might worsen the health of another. So many out there want to promote and sell you the universal “ideal” diet, and yet it is becoming more clear that it does not exist. The role of genetics is only going to continue to become more prominent as we search for answers in the obesity epidemic and for conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and hypertension.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171130170236.htm

Nutrition Planning – A Little Something Extra for Your Postherpetic Neuralgia Patients

Treating the postherpetic neuropathy or shingles patient can be challenging.

They’ve already been through the pain of shingles…

The rash is gone and they expected to be normal again.

What they didn’t count on was postherpetic neuropathy.

Chances are by the time they reach your office, they’re frustrated…depressed…irritable.

The medications aren’t working and they’re looking for a solution.

Something…anything…to make their postherpetic neuropathy pain stop and give them back their lives.

As a postherpetic neuropathy specialist, you’re in a unique position to give them what they need to heal. The missing pieces of the treatment puzzle that they haven’t addressed before now.

That Little Something Extra – A Good Nutrition Plan

Your postherpetic neuropathy patient is probably accustomed to hearing the “take 2 of these and call me in the morning” approach to their neuropathy pain. That approach hasn’t worked or they wouldn’t be in your office. They need address the most basic ingredient in healing the human body – nutrition.

There are certain vitamins and minerals that have been shown to lessen the pain caused by shingles and postherpetic neuropathy. Your postherpetic neuropathy patients need to make sure they’re getting these vitamins and minerals, in healthy amounts, to give their body what it needs to heal.

This is where you come in. By providing nutrition counseling services to your postherpetic neuropathy patient, you not only address their actual real-time physical symptoms, you give them vital information they need to participate in their own care and take control of their health again.

Make sure that any nutrition planyou prescribe for your postherpetic neuropathy patients includes:

– Whole grains and legumes to provide B vitaminsto promote nerve health. Whole grains promote the production of serotonin in the brain and will increase their feeling of well- being.

– Fish and eggs for additional vitamins B12 and B1.

– Green, leafy vegetables (spinach, kale, and other greens) for calciumand magnesium. Both of these nutrients are vital to healthy nerve endings and health nerve impulse transmission and, as an added bonus, give the immune system a boost.

– Yellow and orange fruits and vegetables (such as squash, carrots, yellow and orange bell peppers, apricots, oranges, etc.) for vitamins A and Cto help repair skin and boost the immune system.

– Sunflower seeds (unsalted), avocados, broccoli, almonds, hazelnuts, pine nuts, peanuts (unsalted), tomatoes and tomato products, sweet potatoes and fish for vitamin Eto promote skin health and ease the pain of postherpetic neuropathy.

– A good multivitamin and mineral supplement to fill in any gaps in their daily nutrition.

Advise them to avoid:

– Coffee and other caffeinated drinks.

– Fried foods and all other fatty foods. Fatty foods suppress the immune system and that’s the last thing they need when fighting postherpetic neuropathy.

– High protein foods like animal protein. High-protein foods elevate the amount of dopamine and norepinephrine which are both tied to high levels of anxiety and stress which will only make them more irritable.

– Alcoholic beverages. Alcohol consumption limits the ability of the liver to remove toxins from the body and can make a bad situation worse.

– Processed sugar. They don’t have to eliminate sweets completely, just control them. Keeping blood sugar levels constant will help control irritability.

– Control salt intake. Opt for a salt substitute with potassium instead of sodium and stay away from preserved foods like bacon, ham, pickles, etc. Reducing salt intake will help ease inflammation and that alone will work wonders in the healing process.

Sit down and discuss your postherpetic neuropathy patient’s lifestyle and diet as part of the initial consultation process. The information gained will help you devise a nutrition plan tailor made for your patient and help to build a rapport between you. And pay close attention to the responses you receive in that first meeting – they will give you a good idea as to whether or not you have a compliant patient.

Stress Management Strategies

Now that you’ve addressed the nutrition portion of the postherpetic neuropathy treatment program, talk to your patient about their stress level. Even with good nutrition, if they’re letting the stress of life and postherpetic neuropathy get the better of them, their body is working too hard. They’re expending energy battling stress that could be used to fight postherpetic neuropathy.

Put together a lifestyle plan for your patient utilizing patient appropriate stress management tools. Some suggestions might be:

– Exercising regularly. If they’re physically capable, a brisk 15 minute walk every day is a good place to start.

– Relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, tai chi, yoga or meditation. Any of these will calm the mind and, in turn, calm the body and nerves.

– Finding a hobby that will take the mind off postherpetic neuropathy pain.

The combination of nutrition and stress management will do wonders for your postherpetic neuropathy patients. When used in concert with the other medical treatment options available to you, you may just give these patients a new lease on life and build healthy habits that will remain with them long after the pain of postherpetic neuropathy is a distant memory.

We hope this gives you some insight on nutrition counseling and diet planning for your postherpetic neuropathy patients. Offering these services can be the missing piece of the treatment puzzle that you’ve been looking for in treating this challenging patient population. The addition of these services to your treatment options can help you build a successful medical practice as well.

When you’re trained and ready to offer these services, let them know you’re there.

Nature encompasses alluring, enchanting organisms one can think. These creatures may range from smallest protozoans to largest mammals. All the creatures require food for getting energy. The method of capturing food differs in different group of taxa. The way in which the protozoans devour their prey is also magnificent. The mechanism of getting nutrition is also amazing. Nutrition is a process of taking food in and digesting it and assimilating it to obtain energy. The ways in which the protozoans obtain their nourishment also varies drastically. They represent almost every type of nutrition. They may be holozoic, holophytic, parasitic, coprozoic, mixotrophic, saprozoic.

1. Holozoic Nutrition

The majority of Protozoans nourish themselves in the manner as the higher organisms did. They are able to feed on various micro-organisms, rotifers, crustaceans, other protozoans etc. Such protozoans are termed as Holozoic. They may be carnivorous, herbivorous, omnivorous or scavangerous. Holozoic nutrtion is also termed as zootrophic nutrition. This type of nutrition involves three basic steps:

A. Food Capture and ingestion

The regular method of food intake is also termed as phagocytosis, which differs greatly in different classes of protozoa. The locomotory organelles play an important role in food capture and ingestion. Rhumbler has defined four methods in which the locomotory organelles participate in food capture and ingestion.

a. Circumvallation

This method is very common Amoeba. Here the prey is surrounded by the locomotory organelle termed as pseudopodia from all the sides without coming in direct contact with the prey and a cup is formed. The food cup is later on completed by forming a food vacuole enclosing the prey with large amount of water.

b. Circumfluence

This method is aided by the locomotory organelles termed as axopodia and reticulopodia for capturing an immobile prey. A food cup is formed by direct contact with the prey and cytoplasm flows around the prey for engulfing it.

c. Invagination

In this case, the prey is first killed by a toxin secreted by the pseudopodia and then it is enclosed in the form of a food vacuole along with cytoplasm.

d. Import

In this case, the passive prey like the filamentous alga is simply drawn into the body upon contact and ingested. The general body surface plays an important role in this process.

B. Digestion and Assimilation

Digestion is always intracellular. The food vacuole is surrounded by a film. Acids, alkalies and enzymes are poured over the food to ensure digestion. The reaction is first acidic then alkaline. The prey is killed in the acidic environment which lasts for 4-60 minutes. Digestion mostly occurs in the alkaline phase. The digestive enzymes are aided by the lysosomes. Protein splitting proteases and starch splitting amylases are of wide occurrence. The presence of fat splitting lipase is controversial.

C. Egestion

In naked forms like Amoeba, the undigested matter goes out from the hinder part of the body. In some ciliates egestion occurs through a permanent opening present at the posterior end of the body termed as cytopyge.

2. Holophytic Nutrition

This mode of nutrition is also termed as autotrophic nutrition. This is very common in chlorophyll bearing flagellates. These organisms carry out photosynthesis with the help of carbon dioxide, water and chlorophyll. The oxygen is liberated and the left carbon is used for making food. The starch is stored in the form of amylum but in Euglena it is stored in the form of paramylum which is not colored blue with iodine. Certain protozoans house symbiotic green alga that carry out photosynthesis and provides food to them.

3. Saprozoic Nutrition

This mode of nutrition is also termed as osmotrophy. Here the flagellates that are in direct contact with the organic matter of the decomposed plants and animals obtain their nourishment. They obtain their food in the form of dissolved material.

4. Pinocytosis

This is also termed as cell drinking.It was first studied by Mast and Doyle in 1934 in Amoeba proteus. Pinocytotic channels are formed in the body for absorbing liquid food from the surrounding medium. This method helps the organism in getting higher molecular compounds from the surrounding medium.

5. Parasitic Nutrition

The Sporozoans are completely parasitic and obtain their nourishment by living as parasites in the body of other animals. They fall under two categories:

a. Commensals

They feed on the raw or digested material of the host in saprozoic manner. They are harmless endocommensals. E.g., Nyctotherus, Balantidium

b. Pathogenic

About 26 species of protozoa are known to be parasitic to humans. They are responsible for causing dreadful diseases like Sleeping sickness, Malaria etc.

6. Coprozoic Nutrition

Many free living Protozoans feed on the faecal matter of other animals and are termed as coprozoic. Eg., Cercomonas etc.

7. Mixotrophic Nutrition

Several Protozoans are able to get their nutrition in more than one way. Euglena gracilis is able to take nutrition both holophytically as well as saprozoically.

Whatever may be means of devouring food all leads to adaptation to colossal environment.

As many people do, I find that in my busy schedule I do not have time to prepare my own meals, so incidentally I eat out quite a bit. Sometimes I will sit down and eat, but for the most part I find myself going through the drive through, and eating in my car to save on time. When eating fast food you will find that it can be difficult when you are trying to make an attempt to eat somewhat healthy. In most places, you will find that the nutritional information of the food you are eating is not available at all. When I go to get a burger, I will always know the caloric content of my meal when I look at the nutrition menu.

Being a person who likes to know what they are getting, and what exactly they are putting into their body, the availability of this kind of information is very important to me. In order to maintain a healthy weight, you have to regulate the amount of calories you are taking, and how much energy you are burning off. When not eating food you have prepared yourself, it is difficult, sometimes even impossible to be conscious of how much you are consuming, calorie wise. When I look at the nutrition guide, I am able to know how much I am taking in. And when I know how much I am taking in, I am able to calculate my caloric needs, and therefore keep my body in a healthier state.

For some, the thought of a nutrition guide for any fast food is laughable. But, if you take the time to consider what goes into each meal, you can make better choices when you do need to eat fast food. And there are healthy versions available, provided you take the time to look.

How Does Mcdonald’s Nutrition Stack Up?

Fast food is a huge part of our lives whether we eat it or not. We see dozens of ads every day on TV, billboards, buses, emails, mobile ads, and many more. We are constantly reminded of the convenience, affordability and improved “healthy” qualities of various fast food items. But how healthy or unhealthy is fast food really? Is it worth saving a few minutes of cooking to eat that double cheeseburger or hard shell taco? I’d like to start a series of posts comparing the nutrition facts of various fast food chains vs their homemade counterparts. Today I’ll show you some of Mcdonald’s nutrition facts compared to the nutrition facts of a healthier, homemade option, then you can be the judge on whether saving a dollar or a few minutes is worth the nutritional differences.

Mcdonald’s Nutrition – Quarter Pounder w/ Cheese

Vs

Homemade Version – Quarter Pound Burger w/ Wheat Bun and Cheese

Mcdonald’s Quarter Pounder w/ Cheese:

Calories: 520

Calories from fat: 240

Total Fat: 26g

Saturated Fat: 12g

Trans Fat: 1.5g

Cholesterol: 95mg

Sodium: 1100mg

Total Carbs: 41g

Dietary Fiber: 3g

Sugars: 10g

Protein: 30g

Vitamin A: 10%

Vitamin C: 2%

Calcium: 30%

Iron: 25%

Homemade Quarter Pounder w/ Cheese on Wheat Bun

Calories: 401

Calories from fat: 118

Total Fat: 15g

Saturated Fat: 7g

Polyunsaturated Fat:.6g

Monounsaturated Fat: 4.5g

Cholesterol: 93mg

Sodium: 723mg

Potassium: 469mg

Total Carbs: 31g

Dietary Fiber: 4g

Sugars: 7g

Protein: 35g

Vitamin A: 16%

Calcium: 57%

Iron: 3%

There you have it. The nutrition facts for a fast food joint and a homemade burger. Let’s take a minute to discuss the differences in Mcdonald’s nutrition and the homemade version. We will start with the fat content. the Mcdonald’s version has more saturated fat and trans fat (the bad fats) while the homemade burger has higher amounts of mono and polyunsaturated fat (the OK fats). The Mcdonald’s nutrition shows higher amounts of cholesterol, sodium, sugars, and Iron. The homemade burger shows higher amounts of fiber, protein, vitamins and potassium.

It is no surprise that the homemade version is healthier than the Mcdonald’s version. The real surprise is how much healthier it actually is. By avoiding the Mcdonald’s nutrition and taking a few extra minutes to make your own burger, you’ll be taking in less fat, cholesterol, sodium and sugar, and more fiber, protein potassium and vitamins. In other words, you turn Mcdonald’s nutrition into muscle building nutrition. A homemade burger with 35g of protein, 4g of fiber, some good fats and much less starch makes for a muscle building, delicious dinner.

Keep an eye for my next fast food comparison coming soon!