Bridget's Most Recent Hot Tips
Holy COW – my meat is on steroids?!
Did you realise that “they” pump most meat available in the larger commercial supermarkets with hormones?
WHY?
Because
Hormones + some grains + cow = 4 kg gain in meat a day!
This is why commercial or grain fed beef is not necessarily the “best” for your body or the cow (for that matter).
Now, I love a good hearty steak. It gives you lots of iron (= muscles and energy) and meat is high in protein. However, not all steaks will make the cut.
Craig my butcher, was telling me today, that in Australia we have a meat association that grades meat. According to him, Coles and Woolies are not a part of this association (suprise).
The Meat Standards Australia (MSA) grade meat based on DNA and texture etc…. It is graded out of 17. My mate, Craig, only accepts meats less than 6. This means a better quality. The MSA also provides a down time until the cut will be at it’s optimum.
I was suprised to hear that the cow has usually been slaughtered and hung for approx 10 days before making it to the butcher. Then they let it “tenderize” depending on the MSA rating – which recommends how many days until it will reach it’s optimum. Eg MSA 3 @ 5 days.
Coles and Woolies apparently would need to leave their meat for 20+ days to achieve the same MSA rating.
All very interesting, if not a little obscure.
So I would suggest avoiding all exogenous hormones (ie ones your body doesn’t make itself) and eat “hormone free” beef where you can.
Cost – a little more expensive. Maybe worth a small chocolate bar difference. So worth it!
The Wellness Pyramid
The Wellness Pyramid is supplied by www.healthworld.com.au
What Causes the Aging Process?
Article by Andrea Hepner, The Period Pain Guru
www.periodpain.com.au
We all have to age. It’s a fact of life. No one gets out of it. Each year we get a older, chronologically speaking. But have you ever met a 50 year old person and thought they were really young? And have you met another person of the same age and thought they were really old? What is the secret to staying young?
Mr. Bill Anton says that it is not our cells that age us, but a decline in our hormones. It is only natural that our hormones decrease with age. For example, we don’t need the same amount of growth hormone (the hormone that makes us grow) when we are 80 years old as when we are a teenager. If we were still growing at 80, we would be a giant!
Hormones are chemicals in our body that lock onto cells and make reactions happen. For example, the hormone estrogen might come along and lock onto a cell and cause it to grow part of the uterus lining. When we don’t make the same quantities of these hormones, then these reactions start to decline.
What can we do, to keep the hormones that we have healthy?
We do need to look after our hormones. It is known amongst the natural healthcare industry that women who don’t have as much stress in their life, tend to cope with menopause a lot easier than women who are stressed.
Stress depletes our hormones at a much faster rate than our natural timeline.
Stress decreases a number of hormones. One is called progesterone, and when this is depleted, it can cause period pain, menstrual cramps and other nasty female hormone issues. Herbal and nutritional medicine can replete progesterone levels and have you feeling fantastic again!
The other hormone which is depleted is called DHEA. DHEA is our anti-aging hormone. Have you ever seen someone go through a very stressful situation and they have “Aged 10 years”. Unfortunately, unlike red wine, it isn’t a compliment. They age quickly because their DHEA levels lower. On the other side of the coin, spiritual leaders often look very young for their age. For example, I don’t know of a Buddhist Monk that looks old. This is because they meditate daily.
Meditation has been scientifically proven to increase DHEA levels. The study was partly conducted by Deepak Chopra where in older adults, daily practice of meditation, increased their DHEA levels. In clinical practice, I have found that people who see an acupuncturist for increasing calmness over a period of 3 months can improve DHEA levels significantly. So if the thought of meditation doesn’t seem practical in your life, try some acupuncture.
Other things that will help to keep your hormones healthy are eating enough good fat in your diet. Did you know that your hormones are made from cholesterol? If you are on cholesterol lowering medications long term, then you might want to get your healthcare professional to check that your hormones haven’t depleted. If you don’t get enough cholesterol in your diet, then your liver makes cholesterol.
Eating lots of fresh, organic fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds , legumes , fish and meat is really important to slow down the aging process. The nutrients that are in these foods help to make our body work better by providing anti-oxidants that help to reduce the aging process. Anti- oxidants stop the “wrinkles” on the inside of your body, thus making you healthier and help stop you from getting sick.
State of Mind
We are currently in an age of Gen Y and technology. For older generations, it sometimes seems overwhelming and all too hard to know where to start in keeping up with the latest gadgets. But keeping your mind young is the key to decreasing the aging process. Being excited to learn new things and being happy within ourselves is the real key to living life young.
“What we think about most, we create”
So will you age? Yes. However, there are things that you can do in your daily life that will help to slow down the aging process so that you life a long, healthy and happy life.
The Period Pain Guru & Naturopath Andrea Hepner has been helping women who experience period pain and related symptoms for many years. She is also a specialist in hormonal imbalance and fertility issues. To contact Andrea Hepner for treatment call 1300 21 44 25 or go to <a target=”_new” href=”http://www.PeriodPain.com.au/”>www.PeriodPain.com.au</a>
Intuition and period pain
Intuition and period pain
Article written by Andrea Hepner the Period Pain Guru
Website: http://www.periodpain.com.au/
Women these day’s seem to have it all- a family, a career, money. We are driven, we have achieved great things and great things have been accomplished. We have burned our bra’s and we have fought long and hard for women’s rights. But has the pendulum swung too far?
Do we really want it all?
The issue is often when we keep going, running ourselves into the ground until we reach empty. And that is when our health starts to decline. We might stop cooking the nutritious meals because we get home from work too late. We might have one too many cups of coffee to ‘get us going in the morning’. We might get to bed too late, to get that deadline in, or get the kid’s clothes washed. But what we are really doing, is not listening to our intuition.
Are you suffering from period pain every month? Do you get cranky every month? Do you yell and scream? Do you need to take time off work? Are you doubled over in pain?
Do you listen to your intuition?
It is really important that we start to listen to our intuition. We need to listen to our body so that we know when we have had enough . We need to make sure we get some “Me Time”. Me Time might be focusing on our breath for a minute each day or it might be reading our favorite magazine for 10 minutes before bed. Or it might be taking a walk along the beach.
It’s about creating boundaries. Boundaries help to create balance. Being “Balanced” is a concept and term thrown around in our language these days like sand through the hour glass. It is something else that we now have to obtain. And something that a lot of people feel that they “fail” at, thus , ironically, it becomes another stress in our lives. Here are 3 Steps to help you create more Boundaries, and therefore balance in your life so you can listen to your intuition more.
1) Write a list of all the things that you enjoy doing. You might not have time to do all of them, but pick one or two and write them in your diary as if they were an appointment. If your boss rings you up and asks you to do a morning shift on Wednesday, you can check your diary and genuinely say that you have something on- your boss doesn’t need to know that it is a morning walk.
2) Write a list of the things that you don’t enjoy doing. Of course there may be some things that you have to do (ie. like cleaning), but can you change any of the things you don’t enjoy doing? For example, do you have to work back late every night? Or can you finish at 5pm two nights a week. Every small boundary you create, will help you achieve some balance.
3) Draw a mind map of the essences of you. For example, it might say Me- laughter, likes drawing, calmness, happy. Pin it up somewhere where you can look at it frequently to make sure that you are living in alignment with who you really are. If you feel you are not living your life in congruency with yourself, work towards making changes so you can.
You might be asking, what does this have to do with intuition and period pain? When we get caught up in a daily grind that doesn’t serve us well , our radiant spirit and our intuition can decline. We stop listening to ourselves as much. This often leads to female health problems. In clinical practice, I often see that period pain is associated with the stress from our daily lives, the stress that stops us from listening to our intuition. From looking at the human biochemistry, we can track why we get period pain when we are highly stressed. It is because our stress hormone called cortisol robs one of our female balancing hormones called progesterone. When we don’t have enough progesterone, we can experience period pain.
So how are your stress levels? Do you need to listen to your intuition? Do you need to create some boundaries? This is one of the steps in helping to decrease your period pain and live your life the whole month through.
The Period Pain Guru & Naturopath Andrea Hepner has been helping women who experience period pain and related symptoms for many years. She is also a specialist in hormonal imbalance and fertility issues. To contact Andrea Hepner for treatment call 1300 21 44 25 or go to <a target=”_new” href=”http://www.PeriodPain.com.au/”>www.PeriodPain.com.au</a>
Take Aways and salt – Pizza Hut Pizza
Sodium Content in Take AWAYS – FISH
Which FISH is best?
MacDonalds Filet-O-Fish
REGULAR BUN: Wheat Flour, Water, Yeast, Sugar, Vegetable Oil (Canola), Iodised Salt, Gluten, Soy Flour, Preservative (282), Emulsifiers (471, 472e, 481), Malt Flour, Mineral Salt (170), Antioxidant (300, 304, 307, 330), Enzyme (1100), Vitamin (Thiamin, Folate) FISH PORTION: Fish [Alaskan Pollock or Hoki, Water, Acidity Regulator (451)], Water, Batter [Modified Food Starch (1422), Yellow Corn Flour, Cellulose Gum, Bleached Wheat Flour, Salt] Breader [Wheat Flour, Bleached Wheat Flour, Salt, Whey, Dextrose, Dried Yeast, Sugar, Paprika (160c) and Turmeric (100) Extract, Black Pepper]. TARTAR SAUCE: Pickles, Water, Soybean Oil, Distilled Vinegar, Onions and Onion Extracts, Modified Corn Starch, Egg Yolks, Corn Syrup Solids, Sugar, Salt, Spice, Vegetable Gum (415), Capers, Preservative (202), Dextrose, Dehydrated Parsley, Spice Extracts CHEESE: Cheese (Milk, Salt, Starter Cultures, Enzyme (rennet)), Water, Butter, Milk Solids, Food Acid (331, 260), Salt, Colours (160b, 160c), Soy Lecithin, Preservative (200), Acidity Regulator (339). Contains gluten, egg, milk, soy and fish. REGULAR BUNS are produced on equipment that also produces products containing sesame seeds. Note: Fish portion is cooked in canola oil blend..
Sodium per burger 573mg (aim less than 2000mg per day)
Fat per burger 13.1g
Carbs per burger 31.4g
Chemicals etc 22!
Fish and chips
Dietary sodium is measured in milligrams (mg). The most common form of sodium used is table salt, which is 40% sodium. One teaspoon of table salt contains 2,300 milligrams of sodium. Battered or breaded and fried has approx 480mg of sodium.
Fish Fillet
Nothing beats a fresh fillet from a trawler or from a place that sells FRESH fish.
Take Aways and salt – Pizza Hut Pizza
Pizza Hut, Dominos and Eagle Boys Pizzas
“..We believe eating sensibly, combined with appropriate exercise, is the best solution for a balanced lifestyle. Pizza can be a part of a well-balanced meal. Ingredients in our pizzas include protein, complex carbohydrates, Vitamin A and calcium. And, depending on the toppings you choose, our pizzas have items from all of the four major food groups – meat, dairy products, fruits and vegetables, and grains! So take a closer look within our menu for suggestions when counting kilojoules and fat grams…” This is a “cut and paste” from www.pizzahut.com.au
OK, let’s look at the salt content.Remember keeping sodium under 2000mg a day is a must!
Sodium in Pizza Hut 6″ Personal Pan Pizza®SODIUM MILLIGRAMS Pepperoni Lovers® 1,760 mg Sausage Lovers® 1,600 mg Veggie Lovers® 1,150 mg
http://www.dietbites.com/Sodium-In-Foods/sodium-pizza-hut.html Dominos
I couldn’t find fat nor salt contents listed after looking for 10 minutes on their website.
However, their Brooklyn pizza base contains the following….
Domino’s uses corn meal in the preparation process, but not as a topping. Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin Folic Acid), Water, Malt, Sugar, Whey, Malted Barley Flour, Yeast, Soybean Oil. Zzesty Blend: Butter Flavored Oil (Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Soy Lecithin, Artificial And Natural Butter Flavoring, Vitamin A Palmitate And Beta-Carotene for Color), Imitation Parmesan Cheese (Water, Modified Food Starch, Casein And Or Caseinate, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Cellulose Powder, Salt, Sodium Phosphates, Stabilizers [Mono And Diglycerides, Guar Gum, Carrageenan], Natural Flavor, Lactic Acid, Sorbic Acid [As A Preservative]), Onion And Garlic, Spices, Salt, Lactic Acid, Butter Flavor, Tomato Powder, Bell Pepper. Dextrose, Citric Acid, Extractive Of Paprika And Lemon And Orange Oil With No Greater Than 2% Calcium Silicate And/Or Soybean Oil Added to Prevent Caking, Corn Meal (used in preparation).http://www.dominos.com/home/menu/ingredients.jsp
You don’t need a nutritional back ground to appreciate that there are many ingredients in their pizzas other than flour, water and a bit of yeast – NOW that’s scary!
Eagle Boys I couldn’t find the Eagle Boys ingredients panel after 5 mins on their website and have given up! Clearly best we don’t know!
Take aways and salt – Nandos
Sodium Content in Take AWAYS
NANDOs chicken
Remember under 2000mg a day in sodium is a must! The last column is the sodium content.
OK a poor scanning of the Nando’s ingredient’s panel, but it gives you the idea.
Fresh Flame Grilled chicken 1/4 chicken has 937 mg of salt! Chicken steak has 1440mg of sodium
A seemingly healthy Vege burger has 1065mg and a serve or regular spicy rice has 1325mg!
If that is all you have for the day, you can get away with that much sodium. But for the majority of us who will eat other things over the day – this is too much!
This is straight from the Nandos brochure that was posted to me – I couldn’t find the information on line.
Take Aways and salt – Subway
Table salt (specifically the sodium content of salt), can lead to fluid retention, weight gain (water retention) and high blood pressure.
The daily recommended limits for sodium are 2000mg. That is, try to keep your sodium consumption to under 2000mg per day.
If you have high blood pressure or kidney problems, keep your sodium to under 1500mg per day.
There are many hidden sources of sodium: Miso, gravies, flavour enhancers, stock cubes, pre-cooked meals and take aways. This is the first in a series about take aways from leading take-way chains and the sodium (salt) content in their foods.
Subway rolls and wraps
This is simply a “cut and paste” job from http://www.subway.com/subwayroot/menunutrition/nutrition/nutritionfaqs.aspx
Subway Carb Conscious Wraps – Calorie Information for Subway Wraps.
Based on wrap, lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, green peppers, pickles & olives. If you are on a sodium restricted diet, please note that the Subway Wraps are high in sodium content. Net carbs equals net carbs minus total carb dietary fiber.
SUBWAY FOOD
SODIUM MILLIGRAMS
Sodium in Subway Veggie Sandwich 6″ 500 mg
Sodium in Subway Meatball Sub 6 “ 1,550 mg
Sodium in Subway Cold Cut 6″ 1,590 mg
Sodium in Subway Club 6″ 1,160 mg
Sodium in Subway Sweet Onion Teriyaki 6″ 1,100 mg
Food Item Calories Fat Grams Cholesterol mg Sodium mg Carbs Grams Fiber grams Protein Grams
SUBWAY CARB CONSCIOUS WRAPS
Wrap Only (5 net carbs) 120 4.5 0 680 13 8 14
Chicken & Bacon Ranch 440 10 90 1670 18 9 41
Tuna Wrap 440 6 45 1310 16 9 27
Turkey Breast & Bacon Melts With Chipolte Southwest (includes cheese)
440 10 65 1870 20 9 34
Turkey Breast Wrap 190 1 20 1290 18 9 24
Test results – understanding your own results..
I believe having a basic understanding about your own results is important as it helps you understnad things that are good for your body and things that are negative and how to avoid them.
The following is an up-to-date guide of what is considered normal or out of range. These recommnedations may change in time as our understanding of the human body improves and refines.
Normal results for tests
| Test | Blood levels | Saliva or other levels | Ideal | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Reproductive female | Post menopausal female | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) | Follicular stage (day 1-14): 1-6 U/L
Ovulation (day 14): 6-17 U/L Luteal phase (day 14-28): 1-6 U/L |
20-100 U/L | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Luteinising Hormone (LH) | Follicular stage (day 1-14): 1-15 U/L
Ovulation (day 14): 22 – 56 U/L Luteal phase (day 14-28): 1-15 U/L |
15-100 U/L | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prolactin (PRL) | PRL: 3.8 – 23.8 µg/L | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oestradiol (E2) | Follicular stage (day 1-14): 1-6 U/L
Ovulation (day 14): 6-17 U/L Luteal phase (day 14-28): 1-6 U/L |
Blood 70-200 pmol/LL
Saliva 4-6 |
2-10 pmol/L
6-18 6-14 |
4-8
6-10 4-8 |
||||||||||||||||||||
| Progesterone (P4) | Follicular stage (day 1-14): 1-6 U/L
Ovulation (day 14): 6-17 U/L Luteal phase (day 14-28): 1-6 U/L |
Blood < 6nmol/L
Saliva 1000-1500 |
50-200
50-200 200-1000 |
200
200 1500 |
||||||||||||||||||||
| DHEAS | Reproductive female
DHEAs: 0.8 – 10.2 µmol/L |
2.5 – 25 | 15-20 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Testosterone | Reproductive female
Free testosterone: < 4 pmol/L/L Total testosterone: < 4 nmol/L/L SHBG: 30-90 nmol/L/L |
Menopause 80 | Follicular 15-90
Ovulation 15-90 Luteal 15-90 |
80
80 80 |
||||||||||||||||||||
| Cortisol | Blood am: 200 – 650 nmol/L
Blood pm: 80 – 400 nmol/L 8pm reading should be <50% of the morning level Urine levels (24hr) 100-330nmol/day |
5-65 nmol/L
1-12 nmol/L |
25 nmol/L
4 nmol/L |
|||||||||||||||||||||
| Iron | Adult female
Ferritin : 15 – 200 Iron: 10-30 µmol/L Iron binding capacity: 45 – 80µmol/L Transferrin saturation: 0.15 – 0.45 (15-45%) Transferrin: 1.7 – 3.0 g/L |
20 µmol/L | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| TSH | 0.4 – 5.0 mlU/L | <2.5 mlU/L | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| T3 | Free T3: 4.0 – 8.0 pmol/L | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| T4 | Free T4 : 10-25 pmol/L | 15-20pmol/L | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Glucose Tolerance Test GTT |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
Testosterone and women
Testosterone (TT) is produced by women in small amounts. There are issues associated with low and high testosterone levels. Testosterone is made by the adrenal glands, ovaries and muscles. In post menopausal ladies, testosterone is made by the adrenal glands and muscles.
When a lady has her ovaries removed (for example with a total hysterectomy) or becomes menopausal, her testosterone levels can plummet, causing problems. Many health professionals over look this important hormone for men and for women as a cause for low energy and low libido.
Testosterone can:
- To improve mood, memory and brain integrity
- Help with muscle mass, strength and stamina
- Assist with the prevention of osteoporosis
- Increase sex drive
- Make the lady feel good.
High testosterone
With increasing frequency, I am finding ladies have elevated testosterone levels. At this point in time (2010), there is not a great deal of research into why ladies increase their testosterone levels, except it is probably a combination of a stress response (the adrenal glands make the stress hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline, and therefore stress probably increases supply of TT), a lack in the mineral zinc, possible exposure to violent visual stimuli (video games, movies) and maybe an exacerbation by certain foods.
We know that elevated stress causes TT to rise (due to an over-active adrenal response). As well as exercise and sport (muscle mass). So possibly simply the perception/emotion of “competing” increases our stress response and some survival mechanism takes over and we secrete more testosterone. Who knows. There isn’t much literature to support this theory either way to be honest – not that I am aware of at this point in time. By please if you do know of any supporting or relevant information, always forward it to admin@byebyebridget.com . It helps keep us up to date too.
What is scary is that testosterone imbalances in women lead to the development of secondary male sexual characteristics. Facial hair, increased body hair, receding hair line, acne on the face, neck and shoulders, deep voice, anger, rage, infertility and stubborn weight loss are all signs that a women’s testosterone maybe out of balance.
Whether the sudden rise in young women street and school fighting is due to high testosterone levels is yet to be proven. However, I am sure elevated a hormone imbalance of sorts is a major part of the problem or food additives.
I will up –date this as research gives us a better idea of the reasons behind the rises. HQ
