Achieving Sound Sleep?

Sleep and MS. Adequate sleep is just as essential as proper nutrition and stress management, in maintaining your health. It can cause grumpiness,  increasing the likelihood of accidents, reduce our ablity to function at our best and affect recovery.

According to The National Institutes of Health adults need seven and a half to nine hours of sleep each night, but tend to be shy of that goal. Most time, those diagnosed with MS weren’t heavy sleepers before their diagnosis and struggle to allow themselves this seeming luxury even when they are interested in doing all they can to heal. But sleep is a great starting point on the path to health and necessary for recovery.  Getting by with 6 or 7 hours a night, will not allow you to achieve your full potential and will hinder your body’s ability to self-heal.

Benefits of Adequate Sleep

Sleep is not a luxury but necessary.

• It can help increased efficiency and creative problem solving abilities
• It has anti-aging benefits and affects hormone production
• It reduces sugar cravings and hunger and helps with appetite control (meaning you can lose weight by getting enough sleep).
• It affects immune function
• It reduced the risk of developing diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
• Healing happens when you sleep
• Increased overall life expectancy

Dreaming is Necessary

When we are dreaming (REM), we are actually helping ourselves better cope with life’s stressors. When we dream, our brains release a consoling neurochemical bath that mollifies painful memories and creates a virtual reality space in which the brain melds past and present knowledge, inspiring creativity. Without enough sleep, we might feel incapable of dealing with stressful issues and moody.

Are you Getting Enough Sleep?

If you are not sure if you are getting enough sleep, ask yourself:

1.  After waking up in the morning, could you easily fall back asleep at 10 or 11am?
2.  Can you function without caffeine optimally before noon?
3. If you didn’t set an alarm clock, would you sleep past that time?

Having Trouble Sleeping?

There are many reasons why sleep can be elusive and many ways to address them and get a better night’s sleep.

For example, magnesium calms and relaxes the muscles.  Tryptophan is an amino acid that is a precursor to melatonin and can be found in many foods (see food list below). L-Theanine is another amino acide that stimulates the production of GABA, a neurotransmitter that tells your brain to relax.

Balancing cortisol is important as well. Your stress hormone can get out of whack and disrupt sleep patterns.

Address Your Circadian Rhythms

“Hormones are like a symphony and circadian rhythms are the conductor”

Circadian rhythm allows your body to assign functions based on the time of day (and whether or not you are asleep); for example, prioritizing tissue repair while you are sleeping, and prioritizing the search for food, metabolism, and movement while you are awake.

The circadian clock is set by a variety of external factors, but most importantly by daylight and darkness (also called the light-dark cycle).  In order to have healthy circadian rhythms, your circadian clock needs to be set correctly. Not everyone’s circadian rhythm is the same.  For some, the peak of wakefulness arrives early in the day (morning person~ 40% of the population) and for others the peak of wakefulness arrives later in the morning (night owls! 30% of the population). The remaining 30% fall somewhere in between. Are you working with your natural circadian rhythms or against them?

Adenosine, the Sleep Chemical

Most of us have heard of melatonine, but have you heard of Adenosine? Adenosine is an internal chemical of the body that tells our body’s to sleep. Adenosine builds up continuously throughout the day, increasing the desire to sleep. The more Adenosine, the sleeper we feel. Caffeinated substances block this signal by latching onto the receptor sites meant for Adenosine. Caffeine can continue to affect Adenosine for up to 12 hours.

Alcohol can also effect our sleep. Though it may help put you to sleep initially, it blocks REM (the dreaming state) during the night.

Foods for Better Sleep

There are many foods that can help with sleep. They can provide amino acids, hormones and minerals necessary for our bodies to relax and rest.

• Cherries – dried cherries and tart cherry juice contain melatonin, the hormone that makes you sleepy
• Grass-fed beef, wild game, and turkey are a natural source of tryptophan
• Pumpkin seeds, walnuts, and almonds – a rich source of relaxing magnesium
• Hard boiled eggs – a good source of protein and fats to stabilize blood sugar throughout the night
• Seafood- high in long chain omega 3 fatty acids (DHA and EPA) promote brain health. If you get adequate omega 3’s you secrete less cortisol
• Invest in herbal supplements with sleep-promoting ingredients

Also eating a well-balanced dinner at a reasonable hour, (not too close to bedtime), can help our bodies prepare for rest.

Habits to Help you Snooze

What habits can help you snooze more effectively?

• Get exercise- activity during the day (morning over night time) has been shown to support melatonin production.
• Get natural sunlight- sun exposure promotes melatonin production.
• Blood sugar balance- both cortisol and melatonin are sensitive to swings in blood sugar
• Be social during the day, and relax in the evening.
• Use lavender essential oil in a warm bath or diffuser in your bedroom.
• Make it a rule to avoid screens in the hour before bed, this means computers or tablets, televisions, and cell phones, (blue light).
• Wear an eye mask or get black out curtains to create darkness in a room with light pollution
• Sleep in a cool room- temperature affects your circadian clock (65-68 degrees).
• Start a nightly calming routine with relaxing herb teas – chamomile, lavender, and passionflower are often included in night time tea blends. Reducing stress will help regulate cortisol.
• Take an Epsom salt bath before bedtime.
• Embrace the seasons- it is natural for us to sleep a little more in the winter and less in summertime. Eat seasonally, which will help regulate melatonin and cortisol based on their relationship to insulin.

If you’d like to contact Madia Jamgochian and learn more about ingredients that heal, visit her page – www.myhealinghabits.com or her Facebook page : My Healing Habits

In this presentation, Madia Jamgochian introduces us to the anti-inflammatory diet for multiple sclerosis (MS).  The main points she covers are:

1. Digestive support
2. Essential fatty acid balance
3. Antioxidant-rich whole foods

Digestive Support

You may have heard the phrase “Illness begins in the gut.” This is because our digestive system is our first line of defense against pathogens and bacteria from the outside world. Think of your gut lining as a barrier to the outside world.
For this reason, about 80 percent of our immune cells reside in the tissue of our gut lining. Our goal is to protect our linen and to help our digestion work at an optimal rate to assimilate all the nutrients we need to heal. How do we do that?

Improve Your Digestion

• Eat sitting down in a relaxed state.
  Our digestive system functions optimally in a rested, relaxed state—away from stress. Stress negatively affects your digestion and can make keep your intestines from effectively absorbing the nutrients you need.
• Remember to chew.
  Chewing our food effectively is the first step to proper digestion. Saliva is composed of enzymes, which help digest food from the start.
• Save liquids for between meals.
  Large amounts of fluid can dilute the stomach acid needed for digesting food, killing off foreign bacteria and microbes. Limit liquids with meals to about 6 ounces.
• Enjoy bitter leafy greens before (or with) meals.
  The taste of bitter flavors signals our gallbladder, stomach, and pancreas to get ready to digest food. This signal coordinates the entire digestive process, including the action of our intestines. Some examples that you can add to your favorite salad are arugula, endive, collard, kale, or dandelion greens.
• Include cultured and probiotic-rich foods.
  The process of culturing and fermenting makes food more digestible and provides beneficial bacteria that supports digestive health.  Some examples are:  sauerkraut, kombucha, kimchi, yogurt, and kefir

Heal Your Leaky Gut

Leaky gut, or intestinal permeability, takes place in the small intestine where we absorb the majority of our nutrients. A leaky gut occurs when the linen of the small intestine becomes damaged creating small microscopic holes that allow the contents of the gut (pathogens, undigested proteins, or bacteria) to leak through to the bloodstream. When pathogens leak through the gut barrier, the resident immune cells see them as foreign invaders and attack. If this happens continuously, it can create body-wide inflammation, sending our immune system into overdrive. The extent of the damage to the gut lining, combined with your specific genetics, and the immune reactions to the leak all add up to develop an autoimmune condition. An anti-inflammatory diet helps you heal the gut lining and prevent these reactions from continuing (Sarah Ballantyne, Ph.D.: The Paleo Approach, Victory Belt Publishing 2013).

Remove the foods that contribute to a leaky gut.

• Refined foods
• Grains, especially gluten grains and grain oils. Unless properly soaked, they are extremely hard to digest.
• Refined sugar – Sugar is overconsumed and tends to be in most products these days. Stick to natural sources if you need a sweet fix.
• Alcohol – Can unravel tight junctions between enterocytes, increasing intestinal permeability.
• Nightshades – Compounds in nightshades can be potentially irritating to the gut lining and should be avoided, especially in high quantities. Examples include peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, tomatillos and white potatoes (sweet potatoes are OK).
• Conventional dairy – Dairy is a bit of a grey area on an anti-inflammatory diet and should be eliminated in the initial phase.  If you do eat dairy, stick to organic, and pasture raised or grass-fed.

Essential Fatty Acid Balance

Fatty acids are important for the body. Most of us have heard of omega fatty acids, but did you know that they are not all equally important? In fact, we should probably reduce some of them in our diet and increase others significantly. Most of us eat far too many omega 6’s and not enough, omega 3’s. A helpful motto might be: “Nix the 6, and eat the 3” when it comes to choosing your meals.

Omega 6: Overconsumed

Omega 6 contributes to the inflammatory process.  They are necessary but only in moderation.

Examples are safflower, sunflower, corn, soy, and most nuts; grain fed beef, dairy, and chicken; as well as farmed fish.  Omega 6 is also present in processed and fast foods, which is another reason to avoid these convenient foods if we want to heal.

Omega 3: Underconsumed

Omega 3’s reduce inflammation, speed metabolism, and are necessary for brain development and function.

Examples are flax, hemp, pumpkin seeds, and walnuts; organic free range/grass fed beef, chicken, and dairy; as well as cold water fish and algae.

Antioxidant Rich Whole Foods

What an antioxidant-rich whole foods diets comes down to is:  “Eat More Vegetables!”

Benefits of Vegetables

Vegetables have three key benefits:

1. They are antioxidants helping to combat cell-damaging free radicals and reduce inflammation
2. They contain phytonutrients, compounds that promote health and decrease disease risk
3. They are rich in natural fiber that helps us maintain digestive regularity and contribute to satiety and blood sugar control.

Have you ever heard of nutrient density? This is a term that measures the nutrient concentration in food, per calorie. Vegetables are at the top of this list. Low in carbohydrates but chock full of vitamins and minerals, veggies come in a rainbow of colors, and each color signifies a unique nutrient composition.

Color Compound Benefit

• Red Lycopene is an antioxidant that has shown to cut the risk of prostate cancer. Examples are tomatoes, watermelon, cara cara oranges, grapefruit, red peppers, cabbage, and guavas.
• Orange Beta-carotene is an antioxidant that supports the immune system. Examples are sweet potato, carrots, pumpkins, mangoes, cantaloupe, and apricots.
• Yellow-orange contains vitamin C and flavonoids, and they may inhibit tumor cell growth and detoxify. Examples are lemons, oranges, peaches, citrus, bell pepper, and apricots.
• Yellow-white Anthoxanthin lowers cholesterol and blood pressure. Examples are jicama, onions, garlic, mushrooms, and parsnips.
• Green Folate builds healthy cells. Examples are collards, kale, spinach, lettuce, asparagus, avocado
• Green-white Indoles contain lutein and can eliminate excess estrogen and carcinogens. Examples are brussel sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower.
• White-green Allyl sulfides protect against cancer and support the immune system. Examples are garlic, onion, chive, and asparagus.
• Blue Anthocyanins protects against free radicals. Examples include: Plums, blueberries, purple grapes, eggplant
• Red-purple Resveratrol promotes heart health. Examples include: plums, berries, grapes, cranberries

About Madia

Madia graduated from Bauman College of Holistic Nutrition in 2013 after completing a BA in Environmental Studies and Exercise Sports Science at UCSB. Shortly after Bauman, she started her consulting business “My Healing Habits” that began from her own experience with healing an autoimmune condition. She enjoys educating on how to heal inflammatory and autoimmune conditions and believes in the food-as-medicine approach.

In this second part of the Wheel of Health in Multiple Sclerosis, we will address the psychological factors that can be affecting the health of your body.

The Wheel of Health in Multiple Sclerosis – Stress and MS

“The psychosocial factors are closely associated with MS onset and may play important roles in the development of the disease.” — study on the “Relationship between Psychosocial Factors and Onset of Multiple Sclerosis”

In most books, these psychological factors will all be grouped into one chapter on stress and MS.  In this presentation, Eva M Clark divides that stressors into four clear psychological and social categories and explains how it’s not what has happened in our lives but how we cope with those moments that can create havoc in the body.

Eva M Clark splits stress and MS into two main factors, social and psychological factors.

Social Factors

Our relationships play an important role in our health.  Cancer research shows that adequate community support plays a strong role in healing.  It is not any different with multiple sclerosis.  Do you feel supported?  Are you able to ask for help? Are you too dependent emotionally (codependence) or too independent (isolated) with others?  Unhealthy relationships can let us, and our bodies, feel hopeless, and can be a constant source of stress.

Psychological Factors

Emotionally Expressive

One area most of us struggle with is expressing our feelings.  Is it ok to express them or have you grown up learning to repress them for fear of making someone else uncomfortable?  Repressing anger, pretending that you are not grieving, living with a continuous sense of guilt or shame effects your mental and physical health. The expression “It’s been eating me up inside.” describes the reaction of the immune system to these emotions quite accurately.

Self-Respect

How we relate to others is an important factor but so is how we relate to ourselves.  Most of us have been phrased as children when we are nice to others but are we nice to ourselves?  Allowing yourself to have a harsh inner critic, self loathing, putting yourself down anytime you make a mistake (not something you would do to another) and putting your job’s needs (workaholic) or a family member’s needs above your own is a sign that there is work to be done to gain self-respect, self-love, and greater self-care.  By always beating yourself up, you are telling your immune system to protect everyone else but yourself.

Be Your Authentic Self

“We have two basic needs – to have healthy attachments and to be our authentic selves.” — Dr. Gabor Mate “When the Body Says No”

Learning to care for yourself above all else is a hard one to master and not something taught in childhood, yet it’s necessary.  Without a greater focus on yourself and your needs, you won’t discover what your unique gifts, dreams, and desires are.  Life is not about getting all A+’s, reaching the next promotion, and always competing with others, but about becoming your most authentic self.  And your body knows that.

This presentation was made by Eva M Clark at the MS Self-Help Group of Santa Cruz.

In this episode, Palmer Kippola begins our journey with foods for MS.

Through her research to reverse her multiple sclerosis and, afterward to help others, Palmer Kippola developed six main categories to address when diagnosed with MS.  She details them in her book, “Beat Autoimmune.”  The key areas that she will discuss in the Creating Health series and her book are:

• Food
• Infections
• Gut health
• Hormone balance
• Toxins
• Stress

In today’s episode, Palmer Kippola will focus on the importance of food.

Foods for MS

Multiple autoimmune experts have stated that 6–100% of symptoms may be resolved by removing autoimmune trigger foods.  So it doesn’t serve us to ignore the importance of the impact on food and symptoms. When healing your MS with food, the “gold standard” is to:

• Lower inflammation
• Boost energy
• Identify food sensitivities
• Find foods that resonate
• Unburden your immune system
• Relieve unwanted symptoms

To begin to lower the inflammation, you must first find the foods for MS that trigger your system the most.  Palmer and functional medicine practitioners recommend doing what Palmer calls a food vacation – spending 30 days without eating any of the main trigger foods and then incorporating them back into your diet one by one to discover which ones trigger inflammation (each of us is different so its important to learn which foods work with your body).  Doing a 30 days food vacation gives the body sufficient time to repair and for you to determine if diet will help your symptoms of MS.

This list of foods for MS is largely influenced by Dr. Terry Wahls, MD, who was propelled to fame with her inspirational TEDx talk.  She later wrote a book to share how a Paleo lifestyle and specific nutritional protocol fueled her astonishing journey from being bound to a tilt-recline wheelchair to enjoying the freedom of riding miles on her bicycle “The Wahls Protocol: A Radical New Way to Treat All Chronic Autoimmune Conditions Using Paleo Principles”

Palmer prioritizes the elimination of gluten for anyone with multiple sclerosis. It was the main factor in her MS.  She immediately noticed improvements by eliminating this food.  This might not be the main trigger of your MS, but, according to David Perlmutter, MD in “Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar–Your Brain’s Silent Killers” to control our health outcomes through diet, and especially if we have a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer’s or MS, we need to consider the effects of grains in the brain. In his book, he dispels the popular myths that a low-fat, high-carb diet is good and cholesterol is bad, and offers a simple path to prevention and even disease reversal.

Listen below as she answers the questions the group had the month after this food for MS presentation:

Foods for MS is part of the Creating Health Series. If you would like to receive these presentations as they are published directly in your inbox each month, please sign up for our newsletter. Don’t be left behind. There is help.

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