 Essential Fatty Acids.
How essential are they?
Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) are necessary fats that humans cannot synthesize, and must be obtained through the diet.
There are two families of EFAs: Omega-3 and Omega-6. Omega-9 is necessary yet "non-essential" because the body can manufacture a modest amount on its own, provided essential EFAs are present.
Essential Fatty Acids are the "good fats". They compete with bad fats, so it's important to minimize the intake of trans fats and cholesterol (animal fat) while consuming enough good fats. Good fats raise your HDL or "good cholesterol". One of the jobs of this High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) or "good cholesterol" is to grab your bad cholesterol (LDL - Low Density Lipoprotein), and escort it to the liver where it is broken down and excreted. These good fats attack some of the damage already done by the bad fats. This is very important in an age when so many Americans are struggling to get their cholesterol down, and fight heart disease, obesity and cancer.
EFA deficiency and Omega 6/3 imbalance is linked with serious health conditions, such as heart attacks, cancer, insulin resistance, asthma, lupus, schizophrenia, depression, postpartum depression, accelerated aging, stroke, obesity, diabetes, arthritis, ADHD, and Alzheimer's Disease, among others.
EFA deficiency is common in the United States, particularly Omega-3 deficiency. Changing agricultural techniques have created a situation where the natural omega 3 contents of meat, milk, and eggs have plummeted now that our livestock no longer graze on ALA-rich grass, instead consuming corn, wheat, and other grains that are loaded with omega 6s. A disappearance of omega-3s from our diets has coincided with an upsurge in omega-6s, mainly in the form of cereals, grains, and processed foods made with hydrogenated oils. Americans now eat 16 times more omega-6s than omega-3s. While omega-3s reduce our body's inflammation response, omega-6s encourage it. The excess of omega-6s in our diets may have left us in a perpetual state of inflammation.
The minimum healthy intake for both linolenic (Omega-3) and linoleic (Omega-6) acid via diet per adult per day is 1.5 grams of each. One tablespoon of flaxseed oil can provide this amount, or larger amounts of other linolenic-rich foods.
Here's some of the foods that are good sources of Omega-3s. Bona Petite!
Flaxseed oil (has the highest linolenic content of any food)
flaxseeds
flaxseed meal
hempseed oil
hempseeds
walnuts
pumpkin seeds
Brazil nuts
sesame seeds
avocados
kale
spinach
purslane
mustard greens
collards
canola oil (cold pressed and unrefined)
soybean oil
wheat germ oil
salmon
mackerel
sardines
anchovies
albacore tuna
We have a great supplement from Metagenics to help you with your omega-3 needs. EPA--DHA is a concentrated source of health-promoting, antioxidant stabilized, omega-3 essential fatty acids from cold water fish.
** Remember, during the month of December all Metagenics products are 15% off. So come in or call to stock up on this have-to-have item for your health.
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Holiday Recipe
Healthy, hearty easy Pumpkin bake!
The Pumpkin is loaded with nutrients! Pumpkins and squash contain high levels of antioxidants and carotenes, notably vitamin C and E and therefore may lower cancer risk, heart disease, cataracts and strokes.
How much pumpkin should you eat? An average-sized helping of pumpkins or squash every second day can provide many benefits.
This recipe can also be used for both pumpkin or any winter squash.
Wash, dry and cut the selected vegetable open, being careful as these hardy winter vegetables require patience to scrape seeds out and cut. Using a sharp knife:
1. Cut into large pieces (3"X 3").
2. Brush with olive, grapeseed or
walnut oil.
3. Sprinkle with sea salt lightly.
4. Bake one hour or until tender to
the fork. (should slide easily into
the meat).
Sprinkle with cinnamon and 2-3 TBL spoons of honey, agave nectar or light raw sugar if desired.
Eat and enjoy! Happy Holidays!!!
Nutritional values of pumpkin
| Calories |
32 |
| Carotenes |
3,255 |
| Potassium |
280mg |
| Vitamin C |
15mg |
| Vitamin E |
1.8mg |
| Per 100g | | |
Sleep like a Baby and Lose Weight too!
 Here's another reason to get the kids to bed early!
Recent studies, led by research at the University of Michigan, have shown that every additional hour per night a third-grader spends sleeping reduces the chances of being obese in 6th grade by 40%.
Part of an explanation can be found in the two hormones that are the yin and yang of appetite regulation, grehlin and leptin.
Experiments performed at the University of Chicago show that sleep-deprived adults produced more grehlin, a hormone that promotes hunger and less leptin, a hormone that signals fullness.
Another reason contributing to the weight issue are that tired kids are less likely to exercise and more likely to watch tv and eat snacks.
Teaching your kids the importance of movement, sleep and nutrition at an early age can give them the healthy concepts needed to maintain health throughout their life.
am I ALL of that?,
a children's book sold at Absolute Health Chiropractic, teaches children in a creative and understandable way how to take care of their bodies with proper food groups, exercise, sanitation and having fun!
Purchase a book for your children and be a part of their healthy future!
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Zone 5
The Muscular Zone or System
Zone 5 - The Muscular Zone or System of the body is our featured Zone this month. This Zone is one of the primary reasons a person in pain will seek out a Chiropractor and hopefully a zone healing Chiropractor!
One of my desires as a Zone Healer is to educate the public about their own anatomy. I feel this is the way to gain greater understanding of the marvelous mechanism we all have to work with.
Zone 5 has a specific brain center located in the cerebellum, this center is responsible for all stimulating, relaxing and contracting all 636 muscles, tendons, ligaments and the nerve life that stimulates these muscles in just the exact and perfect way to move our bodies with ease, strength and flexibility. We must have this Zone to move every muscle internally and externally.
While it is easy enough to visualize the external skeletal muscles and extremity musculature, it is very important to remember that all of our internal organs have a muscular component, like the sphincter muscles of the colon, the gallbladder and even the kidneys. The heart itself is one of our largest and most specialized muscles. What this zone can do when it is functioning normally and perfectly is responsible for all movement physically from the pinky finger to the majestic internal workings of the gastrointestinal tract.
A Zone 5 disturbance can cause many physical, mental and even emotional symptoms ranging from low back pain, neck pain, digestive problems, extremity pain and even more disturbing the inability to feel flexible in our thinking and in our very lives. A Zone 5 distiurbance can manifest in symptoms of depression, malaise and even chronic fatique. The typical medical protocol is to prescribe anti-depressants, however the statistics are revealing that the results of long term medications almost always result in less than acceptable results of the original complaint and additional side effects to go along with it!
Our patient's have had great success in creating health within by coming in and getting their Zones checked and cleared as well as learning to understand ourselves and how we operate body, mind and soul. We welcome you and encourage everyone to "know thyself", and learn the laws of life and how we can use them to create the health we so richly deserve. We offer weekly health classes and also teach monthly healing seminars. Come in and get your Zones checked and let us help you get on the right track!
Dr. Catherine Franklin | |
Greetings!