Post partum micro nutrient levels and fatigue

I remember making my son's bed, he was 16 months, and falling asleep on the mattress while putting the sheets on it.    I wasn't "tired" I was fatigued.  My son had been sleeping all night by that point, since he was about 5 months.  An occasional night he would be awake for food or otherwise, but very rarely.  I was working full time, keeping a house and taking care of my family.  Yeah, I was stressed, but who isn't at that point.
I had lost most of the baby weight, I was eating a healthy diet, I was drinking an occasional caffeine drink to get me through the end of the days, and I was exercising to the best of my ability.  I have a lot of bite when it comes to wanting to get to my goals.  Weight loss, taking care of my family, I could do this and I was doing it, but I was always moody, tired, and every Friday seemed like an eternity to get to.  While the weekends flew by with not enough time to sleep, nap or get the things done that I needed to get to before the work week started again.
I was under stress, but I had felt the same stress before, with finals, 10 tests in one week, 16+ credit hours etc.  Life was a cake walk after the stress of school.  But why was I so tired?
I had my thyroid checked and iron levels etc.  All things  checked out.  I wasn't depressed, and "de stressing" myself with just yoga wasn't cutting it.
When I finally completed the Spectracell micro nutrient testing on myself I was shocked.  I was still taking prenatal vitamins religiously, just in case, and was surprised that my nutrient status was way below par.  I had previously taken the micro nutrient test a few years prior to my sons birth and I was in great condition, micro nutrient wise.  Something had changed since the birth of my son.  I lovingly state that my children suck the life out of me during pregnancy.  In all reality, that WAS/IS reality.  I wasn't the best at eating when pregnant.  Although I didn't gain a lot of weight, I did indulge in the pregnancy cravings every now and then.  McDonald's hash browns were awesome (although now I can't stand the taste, eww) and ice cream at the end of the day was hard to deny.  By the end of the pregnancy I was craving chocolate and sugar, but so were all my friends that were pregnant at the time.  You know what I mean!!  Night time cravings and afternoon chocolate snacks of any kind were all I could think of some times.  Again, I limited myself to small portions, but to say my diet was perfect was not the truth.  After the pregnancy I was eating better, more fruits, veggies, exercising, sleeping 8 hours with naps on some days.  I thought I was doing well.  So what happened between pre pregnancy and post pregnancy of 16 months?  Growing another human being happened. My husband would ask why I was going to bed at 8 pm at night while pregnant?  "Cause growing another human is hard work!"   It's a 24/7 job, even while I'm sleeping....I'm working. " What did you do today?" I would ask him.
My point to all this is that by the end of my first pregnancy and well into recovery, I was still so tired I couldn't keep up anymore.  I retested the micro nutrient test after my 1st pregnancy and it was awful!   You remember, I was still taking my pre-natal vitamins, religiously, and my micro nutrient status was almost non existent in places.  My B vitamins were tanked and all my micro nutrients that would lend any help towards energy were tanked along with my antioxidant levels. I wasn't breaking down my food at all, regardless of what I ate, which didn't help the absorption either.
I forgot to mention I had a C-section through all this.  I had tried natural birth, but 9lbs and 10oz of a healthy baby boy, sent me into an emergency C section.  Failure to progress, that's another story for later...My point is, I was eating well, exercising, and taking vitamins, but it wasn't enough.  After really looking at the vitamins I was taking, and seeing what therapeutic dosing of vitamins were, I was throwing a Dixie cup worth of vitamins at a bon fire and expecting to extinguish it!  Ha! right!!
My thoughts after seeing that micro nutrient test?  If we had become pregnant by accident or by choice, I don't think I would have carried that baby to term.  Not without a lot of complications along the way.  It may have been to term, but to the detriment of my sanity, body and quite possibly to my baby.

Chronic stress...who doesn't have it?

Answering that question would be easier than say who DOES have chronic stress.  In today's society, chronic stress is "normal".  A mortgage, 2 or more kids, 50 or 60 plus work week, homework with kids, sport activities, oh and then finding something other than fast food to fuel  your body with.  Not everyone has a personal chef, a nanny, and several assistants at their disposal to keep their lives running. 

Lives are lived and people start to slow down and wonder why they can't get out of bed without feeling exhausted, or why that 3rd or 4th or 5th cup of coffee doesn't seem to boost them like it used to.  Stress creates a pathway called Cortisol Escape where, instead of making energy (ATP) or producing hormones that your body needs to feel "alive", it produces cortisol all the time.  Your body needs certain nutrients to support your systems to run at an optimum level.  When cortisol is constantly up for one reason or several reasons, then your body stops doing other processes and just fights the constant cortisol that your body is producing.
What are those nutrients?  There are several, from B vitamins, minerals, amino acids,  to hormone precursors that your body might need to keep itself running optimally.  I often speak with patients that tell them they take a multi vitamin and that they don't feel better when they do.  Well I say, if you have a bonfire raging (cortisol production), throwing a dixie cup (standard multi-vitamin) on it, won't make much difference. 
I work with patients to help find the root of the problem.  Blood tests from Spectracell allow us to see a 6 month window into what is being stored in your body, AND being utilized.  Some doctors might run serum tests and tell you that you are not low in B12, but serum tests are what your body is pushing out into your system at that time.  If your body needs something and you have anything in your system stored, your body will push it out into your blood stream to help.  You can be 30 % or more low, before a serum test picks up any sign of deficiency.  Spectracell testing shows us whats in our storage tank for utilization.  It looks at B12, but it also looks at D, Magnesium, Zinc, B5, antioxidant levels such as Coq10, alpha loipoic acid, Glutathione, and several other nutrients.  The nutrients named are a few that work towards energy AND antioxidant levels to help increase your ability to fight stress (ors).
Stop waking up to 3 or 4 or 5 alarms with the same amount of coffee.  Sleep first! Then wake up feeling better, refreshed, able to work, exercise, take care of kids or other life demands and not feel so tired, worn out and on the edge. 

PRE, Prenatal.. How to prepare your body for pregnancy.

What is PRE Prenatal?
Pre prenatal is really the period of time BEFORE you get pregnant.   When planning to get pregnant, the period before the pregnancy is just as crucial as the time during your pregnancy.
Hormones and especially nutrients are vital to the health of you and your growing baby.    Unfortunately, our American diets are lacking in nutrition and often our hectic lifestyles along with stress decreases the ability to  get pregnant AND carry that pregnancy to term.
What can you do?  Some of the easiest things to accomplish and the no-brainers should be started at least 6 months in advance to the "planning" of getting pregnant.  No smoking, decreasing and often stopping caffeine consumption, exercising 3-4 days a week, eating a better nutritious diet, and most importantly, filling in the gaps that our diet may be missing
Lets break some of this down to better understand what all of this might mean.

Obviously smoking is best when never practiced.  Often times, people find out that they are pregnant and then stop smoking, we hope anyway.  If they find out in time, in the first few weeks of life (babies life), they are still behind the "8" ball.  Smoking is not good for you, for the obvious reasons, but what about the micro nutrient levels that you may need due to smoking for long periods of time?
Caffeine consumption can be a huge barrier to overcome.  Consuming coffee, teas, and energy drinks of all sorts can be a huge detriment to your over all health.  Again, we all know that we should stop consuming these things while pregnant, but what about the month prior to pregnancy.  Caffeine robs the body of several nutrients such as magnesium and calcium to know a few.  Magnesium alone has 300 enzymatic processes that are utilized on a daily basis in our bodies.
Exercising 3-4 days  a week can creates a huge advantage for muscle health, cardio health, and stress relief. Getting exercise before pregnancy can help lower levels of cortisol, increase hormones for health, and create a better environment for the baby and YOU as your body changes with pregnancy.
Eating a better, more nutritious diet.  This doesn't mean that all you can eat for the 6 months up to pregnancy is salads, salads, and more salads.  You can't think of a diet as short term, it has to be a lifestyle change (more on that later).  Diet changes can be as simple as eating a few more servings of fruits and vegetables in your lunches or dinners.  Adding green things into your meals creates health in your diet.  I often sneak some kale and spinach into my morning smoothies with Designs for Health "Paleo Greens" .  Some almond milk,  a little frozen fruit, a tablespoon of Paleo Greens with "Pure Paleo Vanilla Protein"and I've given myself a great start to a hectic day.  Not only a healthy snack, but no artificial sweeteners or extra sugar.   I have also created a great tasting smoothie for cents instead of dollars.
Now the biggie.  Filling in the gaps that might be missing from your diet or your lifestyle.  How do you fill in the gaps?  What ARE the gaps?  Gaps are micro and macro nutrients that have been depleted for one reason or another.  Lifestyle choices such as birth control and other party favors like smoking or drinking can deteriote your mineral and nutrient reserves.  High stress jobs, getting out of college and finding a job, kids, bills, and LIFE!  These these can be stressors or things that deplete your body.  You may have subtle symptoms you have ignored over the years, but those symptoms mean something.  When it come time to get pregnant and carry the baby to term, they become a bigger problem then you will be able realize.  When nutrients are missing,  this leaves you with little for yourself and even less if you were to get pregnant.

Since nutritional deficiencies can be passed

from a mother to her baby, accurate and targeted diagnostic

testing is important before, during pre, prenatal, and post-partum. Targeted

supplementation may also reduce pregnancy complications:

coenzyme Q10 and selenium reduce risk of pre-eclampsia, vitamin

D can decrease bacterial infections, vitamin A and B2 can alleviate

pregnancy anemia, trace elements can reduce pregnancy induced

hypertension, and folic acid, biotin and B vitamins may help in the

reduction of birth defects.  *spectracell.com*

Getting your body to an optimum level prior to pregnancy is very important when planning your pregnancy.  Whether is this the first pregnancy or number 2 or 3 etc, it makes the environment as well as the post partum period easier when your body is at optum health.

Artificial sweeteners

How come artificial sweeteners (AFS) get such a bad rap?  They are low calorie and still taste great!

Well AFS are just that, artificial.  I could post many things that are artificial in our diets these days.  It seems that as long as it comes in a box or wrapped or frozen in a box, people want to consume it.  Less cooking, less mess, less wasted time.  Ever put a frozen dinner box in the microwave and get upset because you have to wait 3 mins for it to heat up.  When did we become so absorbed with fast fast fast.  Instant is the word of the day.

Back to AFS...When consumed at any rate, AFS creates inflammation in our bodies.  And you might think, so...I don't feel bad..I must not have that problem.  Problems don't occur over night, it takes several weeks, months and even years for these problems to occur.  Look at the rate of disease and obesity in America today.  Not to pin it solely on AFS, but its a big contributing factor.  AFS is in a lot of products that we eat.  From our canned fruits to our yogurts (low fat, low sugar usually), teas, packaged foods, boxed foods, coffees, and the beloved "natural water sweeteners" that we put in our water to get us to drink more water.  Low calories or NO calories.  That's a win win right!  I don't gain weight and I drink water!  Meanwhile your body is being forced to breakdown tons of chemicals it can't.  Over years, problems develop.  Hair loss, skin blemishes, nail problems, reflux, low blood sugar, high blood sugar (diabetes), just to name a few.   Not that just eating AFS causes all those problems, but when you consume those chemicals on a daily basis, what do you expect your body to do?   You wouldn't put gas in an engine and oil in your gas tank would you?  Maybe putting some diesel fuel in your regular gas tank.  It causes problems and won't run right!  Well, then why would you put all those chemicals that rats can't process in your bodies?

So what can you eat or drink?  If you're reading on a label and it has less than 5 ingredients, its probably a better product, although not always (ahh!).  If you're using canned/jarred products, then find the products that have the least amount of ingredients and stick with that.  This tends to cost more, but whether you pay more for your food now or more for your health later, I believe it all equals out in the end.  Especially when you can enjoy yourself with better health later down the road.  With AFS specifically, try and avoid them at all costs.  Just because something says its "Natural" doesn't mean its good for you.  There's a good chance that the artificial stuff is still in there.   There are no regulations in the food industry for "Natural, or All Natural" .  It's typically a marketing strategy getting you to choose that product over another.  
Start small and look at what you have in your cart.  If you grocery shop and most of your food is in boxes when you get to the check out line, then maybe you should re-evaluate what your eating.  

What is sugar

This isn't a post about chemistry, but more about what sugar is in and how often we have it in our diets.

When you get up in the morning and start your day with a sugared cereal or a  sugared waffle with sugared syrup and down that with some sugared OJ, your starting your day off with a big bang!  Literally.  Sugar consumption is what we do in our American diet.  If there isn't enough sugar in our food we have to replace that sugar with enough salt.

Then in steps the dreaded "high fructose corn syrup".  Not that its as bad as smoking, but it can be bad in high rates of consumption.  Your body can't break down corn nor the products that are made from corn, (as easily).   So, your body begins to become inflamed and creates all sorts of symptoms that pop up for various reasons.  So what's that real problem then?  Well, high fructose corn syrup is in almost EVERYTHING that you eat. When shopping, look down, if you see that your cart is full of boxes, when shopping for food, then your are consuming high amounts of high fructose corn syrup, even if those boxes are 'organic' or "low fat" etc.  It is used to sweeten everything from catsup to yogurt. And whoa to the person that looks to get "low sugar" anything.  That just has more artificial sweeteners in it to make it taste like sugar.

What about eating your whole grains and fruits?  " I eat that and stay with low fat meals".  How many of you have heard about eating your "whole" grains to keep yourself healthy.  What you need to really do is break down what you consume on a regular day and see what it's all really made of.    Grains and fruit are sugars.  When we over consume those items, we constantly bombard our system with sugar.  Regardless if that sugar is a complex carb (takes longer to break down) like whole wheat,  or a simple carbs (takes longer than a simple sugar, but faster than a complex carb).   Carbs are sugar and wheat is a products that our bodies can't break down in large quantities.  We have been conditioned to believe that we need low fat , partially hydrogenated fats, and lots of whole wheat foods.  All of which are inflammatory products.

So what do I have left to eat?!  Well, eating fruits aren't bad, unless fruit comprises 90% of your diet.  It should be a mix of vegetables, fruit, lean meats, fish, some cheese/milks along with some fats/oils.   That doesn't sound good?  You mean I have to cook everything?  I don't have time for that!  Might be true, but you don't have time for diseases and feeling bad either.    Its like saying you don't have enough time to exercise 30 mins a day, but you have 2-3 hours a night to sit in front of your computer or your TV.  Its all about prioritising what you want in your life.

A great lifestyle for success Part 1

Several factors contribute to a lifestyle of success.  Eating a good diet and exercising contribute to that lifestyle.  What you eat makes a big difference if you want to stay healthy.  Losing weight, feeling energized and being able to complete daily activities without being run down starts with what you put in your mouth. 

Look at how you start your day, finish your lunch, and make it through your mid afternoon slump.  It's what can even help you get through your evenings.  Kids, sports, exercising, getting home from work can all be taxing.   Often 5 hour energy, coffee, or energy drinks are what help you accomplish your day.   Although energy drinks get you moving or help you finish your activities, they also inhibit your ability to complete those tasks in the future without the help of those drinks.  How many of you reach for your cup of coffee before you check your phone.  How many of you have your coffee maker set to go off before your alarm so you can get out of bed.  Others are paying for the owners of Starbucks to put their great grand children through college.  Thats just once facet of what can begin a downward spiral into feeling slumped and tired.  It's not just the energy drinks, but a host of what goes into our bodies that make us feel tired.  

Sugar is a delicious treat in any form and can be what makes you reach for your energy drinks throughout the day.  What's for breakfast?  Poptarts, waffles (whole wheat or regular) with syrup, toast with butter and jam.  Lunch can be the hardest meal to continue to work after.  Who doesn't wish they could close their door and lay on the floor for 20 mins about 30 mins after their lunch.  Whether its over eating or eating the carb laden meals that make us reach for another cup of coffee.  Then on to dinner which may consist of a pasta or pizza if your in a hurry.     

What about those of you who don't want breakfast in the mornings.  "It makes my stomach sick, I don't have an appetite for breakfast".  This typically means your blood sugar is low and you NEED something to eat.   It doesn't have to be a big breakfast, but something that can get you through the morning so your not starving for lunch, then over eating once you get there.  Even having a snack in the frig waiting for you at 8 am when you get to the office is better than waiting until lunch to eat.    

"So what should I eat?"  We have been conditioned to eat a sugary meal in the mornings to get our day started, but often times that sugary meal makes us crave a sugared lunch or sugared snack afterwards.  Keeping your blood sugar at a regular burning level is what you want to set as your goal.  "What's that?"  Instead of tossing several logs on the fire (lots of sugar) and making your insulin shoot up (big flames), put a few logs on the fire and let it begin to build a little to get your day started.  Oatmeal can be a good start, (unless you want to avoid grains- another post), or a boiled egg with half a banana to get your day started.  Followed up with some water or herbal tea.  Does that sound too hard to transition to?  Eggs and bacon is better than loading your body with sugared syrup.  Well what about the fat and cholesterol?  Thats another post all together as well.  

Afternoon meals should keep the fire burning at a low roar, or even a mid morning snack of mixed nuts to get you to your afternoon meal.  You should avoid huge carb loads at lunch, which is simpler than it sounds.  Breads and pastas are the worst meal to have when you have to go back, concentrate, and sit still.  Actually the worst meal to eat if you want to maintain any sort of weight.  But over all, eating a salad with some chicken or fish, which can get boring is a good start.  But what about after that first week of salads.  Meat of sorts is always a good filler.  Some good protein to slowly keep your "fire" burning with a side of fruit or veggie, which will have the carbs you need to keep your blood sugar at a good level.   Try not to over consume when you eat lunch and have a smart snack for right before your drive home.  Decreases road rage, which is essential in Houston, and keeps you from gorging at dinner before you sleep.  

Dinner can be small with a good meat and veggie or fruit on the side.  Again avoiding the breads and pastas to prevent you from loading your body with sugar before you intend to go to sleep.  

Does all this sound too hard to change too?  Can't give up your coffee and change your diet all in one week?  Rome wasn't built in a day either.  Slowly change how you eat and you will start to see that you don't crave as much sugar as you did before.  Slowly take yourself off of coffee, cup at a time if needed, and you will see that you don't crave that either.  Think of the money you will save not buying coffee or energy drinks.   Use that money towards your new wardrobe you'll need once you lose weight from eating better. 

Sciatica, a real pain in the butt.

Some stretches that can help keep your sciatica pain "loose". 

Figure Four stretch

 

This stretch will help you stretch the right glute.  If you lean towards your knee more, then you will get a stronger stretch.

 

A good hamstring (the large muscle behind your knee) stretch will loosen up the glutes along with the back as well.

 

Work towards reaching your toes, keeping your knee straight as you can.

 

When you stretch your hamstrings and glutes, it loosens your back.  Stretching both sides helps keep your  limber.

If you are in too much pain to stretch, try warming up by taking a hot shower, walking around the house, or taking a hot bath.  Make sure you use a moist heat.  Dry heat will dehydrate your muscles.  Although the dry heat feels good, it makes your muscles stiffer.  If you still can't stretch, it might be a good time to see a professional to help aid you in decreasing your pain.