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Anna Abele

About Anna Abele

https://drabele.com

Posts by Anna Abele:

Stress

Stress

Stress is one of the more important risk factors affecting health in this country today. It contributes to insomnia, anxiety, obesity, heart attack, type 2 diabetes, ADD and a whole host of other miseries that don’t have serious sounding disease names. Lets start by talking about how this happens- how stress works and doesn’t work in our bodies and the changes it can trigger.

Cortisol hormone is our primary stress hormone. This makes it sound bad and it is not. Cortisol helps us to adapt to stress by improving our ability to think or fight our way out of a stressful situation.

Increases:

  • Short term physiologic increases in cortisol hormone give us increased access to stored blood sugar, more energy, better mental alertness, less inflammation, improved vision and a whole host of other benefits.
  • Long term increases in cortisol hormone can cause insomnia, anxiety, difficulty focusing, irritability, weight gain, type 2 diabetes, reduction in immune function, poor digestion, and the list goes on.

Decreases:

  • Short term physiologic decreases in cortisol hormone make us tired, and fairly foggy brained (think the day after staying up all night or the feeling that you are about to get sick).
  • Long term decreases make us feel like we want to sleep all the time, but can also make it hard for us to sleep at night. Low cortisol can reduce motivation, and excitement and so is sometimes confused with depression; our pain levels can increase and we can have much greater levels of general inflammation, sluggish digestion, muscle weakness and fatigue.

Cortisol hormone acts as an anti inflammatory (cortisone and prednisone and their derivatives are both medications that are patterned after cortisol hormone)- when it is in balance it keeps us from feeling most of the normal wear and tear that our bodies experience.

In its most severe manifestations non-physiological Cortisol increases can cause PTSD and cushings disease.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil Reduces Fracture Risk

Extra Virgin Olive Oil Reduces Fracture Risk

High extra virgin olive oil consumption reduces fracture risk in 55-80 year olds

A study looking into dietary interventions for osteoporosis related fracture risk showed little or no difference in most dietary factors. Olive oil consumption made no difference until they specifically looked at the individuals with very high unrefined extra virgin olive oil consumption. In this group there was a 51% decreased fracture risk compared to all other groups studied.

The authors of this study conclude that higher consumption of EVOO reduces the risk of osteoporosis-related fractures in an older Mediterranean population.

Reference: García-Gavilán JF, Bulló M, Canudas S, et al. Extra virgin olive oil consumption reduces the risk of osteoporotic fractures in the PREDIMED trial. Clin Nutr. 2017

Insomnia and Weight Gain

Insomnia and Weight Gain

Antioxidants reduce the impact of insomnia on weight gain.

Studies have suggested that sleeping less than 6 hours a night can contribute to hunger (by increasing ghrelin hormone) and a lack of satiety or full feeling (by decreasing leptin).

Studies also suggest that higher antioxidant intake can decrease ghrelin (hunger) and increase leptin (satiety).

A new study now suggests that the increased odds of obesity related to short sleep duration could potentially be modified by higher consumption of dietary antioxidants- for the first time demonstrating the interaction between these 2 variables.

Reference: Doo M, Kim Y. The Consumption of Dietary Antioxidant Vitamins Modifies the Risk of Obesity among Korean Men with Short Sleep Duration. Nutrients. 2017;9(7).

Food

Food
Healthy Food
This is my nephew with one of his chickens- their eggs are beautifully healthy because they have the freedom to roam around eating what a chicken would naturally choose to eat- bugs and greens and wild seeds. They also have fresh air and water and so have less disease than a chicken that is always caged- which means they don’t need antibiotics in their feed to keep them healthy.

Food is made up of 3 categories- Protein, Carbohydrate and Fat. All 3 of them are good for you; necessary for your survival, in fact.

Protein

  • Vegetable proteins come from foods like nuts and seeds and beans. Some grains have enough protein to count as well. Vegetable proteins are always a combination of carbohydrate, protein and some fat. Vegetable proteins do not have all of the essential amino acids (essential meaning we need them and cannot make them), so knowledge of food combining is necessary if you are going to eat these exclusively (legumes combined with grains and vegetables is a good shorthand for making sure you have complete proteins).
  • Animal proteins come from meat, eggs, bone broths and organs of animals. These are mostly protein and fat with very little to no carbohydrate at all.
  • Dairy products come from animal milks and can be made into cheese, yoghurt, and many more foods. Yoghurt has less carbohydrate than milk because the organisms used to culture milk eat the sugars. This is true of other cultures as well (kefir, cultured cheeses etc..). Dairy products are made of carbohydrate, protein and fat.

Carbohydrate

  • Fiber

    These very simply are carbohydrates that our bodies cannot make into sugars. They are primarily used to clean out the body and keep us regular.

  • Complex carbohydrates

    These require some work to make into sugars. This allows the body to access the sugars slowly over a period of time instead of all at once.

  • Sugars

    These are simple- literally. They require almost no effort to make them into useable sugar. The problem with these is that when they are eaten alone our blood sugar rises sharply and can fall quickly when they are used up.

Fats-

  • Omega 3’s are anti-inflammatory, they reduce pain, improve mood, concentration, and raise good cholesterol among other things. Nuts and seeds, cold water fish, and grass fed meats are good sources.
  • Omega 6’s can be anti-inflammatory or pro-inflammatory. Most of the animal source Omega 6’s are pro-inflammatory. Nuts and seeds have omega 6’s that can be anti-inflammatory or pro-inflammatory. We use some omega 6’s to combat eczema, regulate sex hormones, and the rest of the list is way to long for a web site.
  • Cholesterol has a really bad reputation because it is a major component of the arterial plaques that form and can cause heart attack and stroke. There are many important things that our bodies use cholesterol for including: building all of our hormones, lining all of our cells, repairing our intestines, covering our nerves and facilitating connections in our brains.
  • Triglycerides are a blood measure of fats that our bodies produce mostly in response to too much sugar. They are also the form that many of the natural dietary fats are found in.

Here are some resources for finding good quality food:

Enterprise Farm:
Facebook Website

Simple Gifts Farm:
Facebook Website

Greenfield Farmers Market:
Facebook Website

Amherst Farmers Market:
Facebook Website

Brattleboro Farmers Market:
Website

Botanical Medicine

Botanical Medicine

Humans have used plants as medicines for as long as we have recorded history.  Many of the pharmaceuticals that are used today are either direct compounds of plants or somehow derived from them.

Qualified practitioners can be hard to find-it can even be difficult to determine if you have found one once you are working together.  Almost all botanical knowledge that we have in the US has been passed down from one herbalist to another.  There is some research based knowledge being added to that pool of information now, but let us not forget that the herbalists gathered, refined and maintained this knowledge for centuries before doctors came along.  Naturopathic schools vary widely in the amount of education on botanicals that they provide- there is a base of required knowledge, but study beyond the required curriculum is what makes a Naturopath into an expert herbalist.  I, personally, studied herbal medicine for 8 years before going to naturopathic school and have continued my studies for the last 15 years of my practice.  

Botanical Medicines can be broken into 3 categories- Nutritional Medicine, Moderate Strength Medicine, and Low Dose or Very Strong Medicines, and while I use all 3 categories, I never give a low dose when a nutritional medicine would work.

Nutritional Medicines include things that I hope you are familiar with like kale and spinach, apples and pears, garlic and onions and all of the plants that we eat daily.  It also includes things that you might not be eating, but could partake of freely and regularly just like you do your fruits and vegetables like Nettle leaf, Hawthorne berry, Astragalus root, Milky oats, Ginger, Turmeric… and I could go on and on and on.  These herbs can be powerful healers and are, for the most part, safe to eat freely.  This is not to say that there are never any problems with nutritional medicines- people have allergies, sensitivities and there are drug interactions sometimes- the most common food here is grapefruit which interacts with lots of medicines because it changes your liver’s ability to process them.

Moderate Strength Medicines are the things that most of us think of as botanical medicine.  They are stronger than food and have actions that can be powerful allies in healing, but in moderation are fairly safe.  These include popular herbs like echinacea, goldenseal, arnica (topically), St. John’s Wort, American Ginseng and thousands of others.  These herbs are most appropriately used to treat an ailment of some kind.  They are usually used for a specific period of time and then stopped (this is not always true when dealing with chronic illness).  These herbs, for the most part, stimulate the body to do something that it is not doing well, or that we want it to do more (an example of this is that most herbal anti virals don’t actually attack viruses, but stimulate the part of our immune system that does).  Rarely an herb in this category will take over the function or process in the body for us (Senna actually creates muscle contractions in the colon- causing us to have a bowel movement- it takes over the nervous system of the colon to do this- this is one of the reasons that it can become habit forming).

Low Dose Herbs are herbs that should never be taken without expert guidance.  They have what we call a small therapeutic window which means basically that the toxic dose is very close to the helpful dose.  Many of these herbs have been used to make pharmaceuticals.  Digitalis is a great example of this.  Because the plant has varying levels of digoxin in it- which can either prevent or cause a heart attack depending upon dosage, I recommend the prescription be used- where the dose of digoxin is tightly controlled.  There are pain relieving herbs that I use 5 or 10 drops to an ounce (these herbs can be used in an ounce of other helpful herbs (often anti-inflammatory herbs in the case of pain) or just in an ounce of water so that a therapeutic dose of a fraction of a drop can be given).  Many herbs that are moderate strength externally can be used low dose internally as well- for example, Arnica Montana should be used internally with great care, but can be used topically as an oil or salve fairly liberally.

Warmer Weather

Warmer Weather

Starting in May I will not be seeing patients on Fridays.

I have often made this change in the summer months because doctors visits slow and I need time in my garden. This is not a trend toward reducing practice hours in general, just my summer schedule beginning.

I hope you all can take a bit more time for yourselves as well as the weather warms and the outdoors becomes more appealing. We all need to prioritize the things that we love in this life- enjoy.

Anna

The New Massachusetts License

The New Massachusetts License

Thank you all so much for helping us make this a reality.

Massachusetts has passed a bill to license Naturopathic Doctors.

What this means:

  • Some time in September (or later) naturopaths will be elligible to apply for a license in Massachusetts.
  • Some time after this I will be licensed there.

What this doesn’t mean:

  • I will not be changing my Vermont Primary care practice at all.
  • No where in the bill do they mention insurance coverage.
  • I will still not be able to be a primary care physician in Massachusetts.
  • There is no provision in the bill for prescribing rights in Massachusetts.
  • Naturopaths cannot do acupuncture under this bill (unless they are licensed acupuncturists already)
  • If you are a holistic practitioner in Massachusetts who is not a licensable Naturopath this bill will in no way impact your legal status at all (although you may be asked not to use the term Naturopath as it will have a legal definition in the state).

Welcome Carol

Welcome Carol

Part time office manager

Sometime in October I actually hired Carol. I did not update this because it is not my strong suit and because we had a lot to catch up on.

Carol is magnificent and I hope she will stay for a very long time.

Thank you to everyone who applied and encouraged friends or family to apply. I hope you are all well.

Kombucha – A Beverage with Culture

Made of a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY)- the SCOBY eats your tea and sugar producing natural acids that have health benefits for some (not apparently for the FDA though- or they haven’t studied it enough)- this information is not intended to take the place of health advice or be used as such.  While most of what I have written here has some research behind it most of the studies are small and could be misinterpreted in their use for human health- always contact a medical professional who knows you and your history for any health advice that you may need.

KOMBUCHA CONTAINS:

ACETIC ACID: Slows or reduces the growth of many harmful bacteria. It is the primary acid in vinegar.

BUTYRIC ACID: Reduces intestinal inflammation, plays an important role in GI barrier integrity and speeds mitochondrial function.

ENZYMES: Are proteins that act as catalysts many are anti inflammatory, aide in digestion, reduce pain, reduce scarring etc…

GLUCONIC ACID: Is effective against many yeast infections such as Candida and thrush. It also acts as a delivery system for many minerals making them more easily absorbed.

LACTIC ACID: Found in Kombucha is helpful for the digestion.

MALIC ACID: Is used to support cardiovascular health, reduce fibromyalgia pain (when taken with magnesium), reduce wrinkles (when applied to the skin) and improves energy.

NUCLEIC ACID: is a building block of DNA and genetic expression in all living things.  That said it is unclear if we can use dietary sources of it in this way, but hey if it can protect our genetics seems worth a try.

OXALIC ACID: Is an antiseptic (meaning it inhibits many kinds of bacteria), acts as a reducing agent (lowers oxidation)- in large amounts can cause digestive distress.

AMINO ACIDs: A group of acids which are the building blocks of protein. Your muscular system is made of proteins.

Kombucha also contains Vitamins like B’s and C

  • Kombucha is a Probiotic– it increases biodiversity of your microbiome which may protect against a widely divergent list of maladies including; colitis, autoimmunity, allergies, mental illness, neurodevelopmental disorders as well as simple yeast and bacterial overgrowth.  Kombucha may be helpful after a course of antibiotics for this reason.
  • Kombucha alkalizes the body by binding minerals in your diet which are alkaline and helping your body to absorb them.
  • Kombucha made with tea has all of the benefits of drinking tea.  EGCG (in green tea) has been shown to reduce the rate of progression of prostate cancer, reduce the risk of skin cancer.  Research on green tea has shown increased metabolism (weight loss) energy and improved mood.
  • Kombucha is a much healthier and lower calorie and sugar alternative to soda.

A SCOBY is generally made of these yeasts and bacteria: (some of this content is poached from Wikipedia- not all of it)

Acetobacter: aerobic (requiring oxygen) bacterial species which produce acetic acid and gluconic acid. Acetobacter strains also build the scoby. Acetobacter xylinoides and Acetobacter ketogenum are two strains found in kombucha.
Saccharomyces: This includes a number of yeast strains which produce alcohol and are the most common types of yeast found in kombucha. They can be aerobic or anaerobic (requires an oxygen-free environment). Many strains of saccharomyces have been studied for use with people (and mice) who have ulcerative colitis to good effect.
Schizosaccharomyces pombe: A yeast species commonly called “fission yeast”.  It gives Kombucha some of its sour flavor.
Brettanomyces: Another collection of yeast species, either aerobic or anaerobic, commonly found in kombucha and capable of producing alcohol or acetic acid.
Lactobacillus: A type of aerobic bacteria that is sometimes, but not always, found in kombucha. These frequently colonize the human GI tract- and are a part of out beneficial bacteria.
Gluconacetobacter kombuchae is an anaerobic bacteria unique to kombucha. It feeds on nitrogen that is found in tea, and produces acetic acid and gluconic acid as well as building the SCOBY mushroom.
Zygosaccharomyces kombuchaensis is a yeast strain that is unique to kombucha. It produces alcohol and carbonation as well as contributing to the SCOBY mushroom body.

Fruit- good or bad?

Fruit- good or bad?

Fructose is getting lots of bad press these days.

In the 80’s fructose was the wonder sugar.

It was all natural, didn’t spike your blood sugar, and what could be better for you than fruit?

Then along came high fructose corn syrup and we learned that you can go too far.

It doesn’t spike your blood sugar because it is easier for your body to store it as fat than it is for your body to burn it.  Triglyceride levels increase the risk of heart attack and stroke

So what do we do about fruit?

Some fruit is very high in fructose (high fructose corn syrup is about 50% fructose)- dates are bout 30% fructose while apples are more like 6% fructose- blueberries, lychees, all dried fruits, grapes, persimmons, pomegranates, apples, pears and quinces are above 5%.

2.5-5% fructose foods include bananas, blackberries, cherries, raw figs, jack fruit, kiwi fruit, loquats, mandarin oranges, mangoes and star fruit.  2.5-1% white cabbage, carrots, eggplants, fennel, nectarines, passionfruit, peaches, plums, green olives, pumpkins, squash, rutabagas, sweet potatoes, turnips, black currants, chives, grapefruit, guava, honeydew melon, oranges, pineapple, raspberries, red chilies, shallots, strawberries, tangelos, tomatoes and watermelon.

Less than 1% fructose fruits are apricots, avocados, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, grapefruits, lemons, limes, rhubarb, celery, Chinese cabbage, cucumbers, green chilies, green peas, iceberg lettuce, mushrooms, parsley, parsnip, radishes, artichokes, asparagus, bean sprouts, beetroot, broad beans, broccoli, cranberries, endive, ginger, green beans, potatoes, pumpkins, snow peas, spinach, sweet corn, tamarillo fruit, watercress and zucchini.