Less Depression with Mediterranean Diet --- It's Not About the Pasta (Per Se)

In case you’ve missed previous studies extolling the benefits of the Mediterranean diet, researchers have just produced another one.

This particular study found a reduced risk of depression in people eating a Mediterranean diet: rich in vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, whole grains and fish; low in meat; moderate in dairy and alcohol; and high in monounsaturated fats compared to saturated. Authors of the study, which appeared in the October 2009 issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, found that people who followed this diet most closely had a more than 30 percent reduction in their risk of depression.

Study authors aren’t certain what’s at work here, but note that components of the Mediterranean diet can fight inflammation, improve cardiovascular function, and repair free radical damage, all of which might help prevent depression. Previous studies suggest that the monounsaturated fats in olive oil might protect against depression, as well.

This all makes sense to me. Not only olive oil but other mainstays of the Mediterranean diet contain protective nutrients. Among them:

• Red wine and grapes contain resveratrol, a powerful antioxidant thought to slow cell damage caused by free radicals.

• Garlic and its active ingredient allicin have selective anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-viral properties. Eating garlic tends to promote a healthy balance of bacteria in the gut.

• Oregano has anti-inflammatory properties, helpful since inflammation is implicated in a range of chronic conditions from arthritis to heart disease to dementia.

• Tomatoes contain lycopene, another powerful antioxidant and phytonutrient that may aid the health of the eyes, among other things.

• Fish contains omega-three fatty acids, essential for brain function and previously found to have positive effects on depression.

When it’s fresh and made from whole grains, pasta might be part of the picture – whole grains are often a good source of B vitamins, also known to help mental health -- but just a part.

As the study authors write, “The role of the overall dietary pattern may be more important than the effect of single components.” They add, “The synergistic combination of a sufficient provision of omega-three fatty acids together with other natural unsaturated fatty acids and antioxidants from olive oil and nuts, flavonoids and other phytochemicals from fruit and other plant foods and large amounts of natural folates and other B vitamins in the overall Mediterranean dietary pattern may exert a fair degree of protection against depression.”

You can find the original announcement of these study results here.

Journaling for Wellness

The oldest diary I have dates back to fifth grade, when most of my scrawled entries mention the forts I built with my friends or how much I wished I could stay home from school. Sometimes, though, I also turned to those diary pages to pour out my woes, and so I learned young about the healing effects of writing.

Experience tells us these healing benefits are real, and lately, scientific studies as well show that journaling can have actual physical effects. Certain writing techniques can lower blood pressure and improve the body's immune function, for instance, and there are other benefits, too. What's called "expressive writing" is now often used to help people heal from emotional trauma.

Expressive writing is among the things we'll talk about in the class I'm leading, "Journaling for Wellness," this Wednesday at the Jutila Center in Hancock. We'll cover how to practice this kind of writing to benefit your own health. We'll also delve into using affirmative writing to support wellness, and using journals to help reach various wellness goals.

I'm adding a couple of topics that are new since I presented this class last summer. Because people have asked for more information about Dietrich Klinghardt's Five Levels of Healing, I'll say a few things about that and about how journaling fits in with the five levels. I'll also talk about how dream journaling can support health and healing, and how journaling can be combined with meridian tapping techniques -- such as Mental Field Technique (MFT) or Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) -- for increased effects.

You're invited to bring your pens and paper to join us this Wednesday, November 4, at 6:30 p.m. at Room 324 in the Jutila Center. That's located at 200 Michigan Street (the old hospital building) in Hancock. The class will run for about an hour; cost is $10 at the door. Hope to see you there!

Making Natural Wellness Choices

Lately, we’ve seen tremendous growth in the availability of services and products related to natural health. The Optimal Wellness classes now running at the Jutila Center in Hancock serve as one example: the group of us who are teaching have offered sessions on natural detox techniques, herbal remedies, essential oils, meditation, stress management, mindfulness, field control therapy, chakras, and more.

In fact, sometimes the sheer number of natural healing options can be overwhelming. Recently one woman asked me, “With all these possibilities, how do you know where to start?”

It’s a good question, and the answer will vary from person to person. A good practitioner can help you work this out, or you can learn holistic self-help practices on your own. However you choose to explore natural wellness, here are some guidelines to help you plan and prioritize.

1) Consider your budget. If you have limited funds, start with practices that don’t cost money. For instance, a simple meditation practice, sitting quietly and focusing on the breath, costs nothing and can bring wellness benefits in as little as a few minutes a day. Other low- or no-cost options include a daily walk, stretching or yoga, meridian tapping techniques such as MFT or EFT, and regular doses of laughter.

2) Consider the basics. Do you follow such foundational practices as healthy eating, drinking enough water, getting adequate exercise, and getting enough sleep? A stack of supplements will have limited effect if you consume too much sugar or compromise your sleep by working in front of a computer screen late at night. I admit it! I am sometimes guilty of both. We all can benefit from reviewing our basic health habits from time to time to keep wellness on track.

3) Consider the old medical edict, “First do no harm.” It’s a corollary of considering the basics, and can really help prioritize especially if you’re just starting to clean up your natural health act. Take the junk out of your diet, clean toxic products out of your house or workplace. You might be surprised at how much difference just this can make.

4) Consider your health priorities. If you have specific wellness goals, choose the methods that address those best. For instance, acupuncture and acupressure techniques have shown effectiveness in pain management; nutritional approaches can often aid allergies.

5) Consider your comfort level. Which practices appeal to you, and which do not? Do you prefer to go slowly and be gentle when caring for yourself, or would you rather make sweeping, transformational changes? Flower essences, for instance, often have gentle effects, while certain detox practices such as juice fasts can instigate more radical changes.

6) Consider learning a form of applied kinesiology, also called muscle testing. Using muscle testing can help you get a better read of what your body might need at any particular time. I’m trained in Autonomic Response Testing or ART, which works best when you use one or two people to test a third. There are several methods of muscle testing, some of which you can use on yourself.

7) Consider the holistic nature of healing. I’m a student of Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt’s Five Levels of Healing, which looks at how different healing modalities affect us on the spiritual, intuitive, mental, and emotional/energetic levels as well as on the physical. Physical symptoms are most often what remind us that we need to tend to our health, but these other levels have a powerful effect on our well-being. Be sure to include them in whatever you do to nurture your own health and wellness.

8) Consider writing a wellness plan, or wellness checklists. With all the options available, it can be hard to keep track of the practices you want to pursue. When I first started seeing a naturopath, for instance, I’d sometimes get a dozen or more recommendations per appointment. I had trouble remembering them all through the day, so I wrote up checklists that I taped into my calendar to help me track the remedies I took and practices I wanted to follow. I still do this for myself, and find that it helps me establish new and better habits. It also helps me track my progress, and see which things are more or less effective at keeping me well.

Do you have further suggestions for guidelines to consider in making natural wellness choices? If so, please comment below -- I’d love to hear them!

As always, I offer the above information for educational purposes only. It is not intended to diagnose or treat any particular disease. Please consult as needed with a health care provider before making changes in your health care practices.

Supplements to save your ears

Rock musicians, construction workers, and others exposed to ear-jarring noise might want to up their intake of magnesium, beta-carotene, and vitamins C and E, recent studies suggest. A cocktail of these nutrients appears to protect against hearing damage caused by exposure to loud noise.

The anti-oxidants in the mix – beta-carotene, vitamin C, and vitamin E – help prevent hearing loss by scavenging free radicals that damage inner ear cells in the case of loud noise exposures. The mineral magnesium aids blood flow to the ear and assists healing.

Studies done by University of Florida, University of Michigan, Washington University in St. Louis, and the company OtoMedicine found benefits from giving this supplement mix before loud noise exposure as well as up to three days after such exposures.

Definitely something to consider if you want to preserve your hearing! Researchers added that physical ear protection – e,g,, ear plugs or hard-shell ear protectors – remains the best way to prevent noise-induced hearing loss.

You can read more about the studies in this University of Florida press release.

Thanks to the excellent website of the Acoustic Ecology Institute, where I first found this tidbit.

Learning about Field Control Therapy

Last week I had the pleasure of attending Vicki Usitalo’s class, “Internal Cleansing for Vitality, Wellness and Weight Loss.” The class covered the basics of homeopathy and Field Control Therapy (FCT), which Vicki provides for clients through her business Preventive Health Maintenance.

Toxins and pollution are a major cause of illness, Vicki explained to our class. Chemicals, heavy metals, and radioactive particles can get lodged in our DNA, where they can damage cells and affect health. To keep this from happening, it's important first to avoid toxins as you can. But in addition, Vicki said, “It’s very important to cleanse what’s already in the system to allow for optimal healing.”

This is what Dr. Savely Yurkovsky designed FCT to do. A cardiologist, Dr. Yurkovsky at one point had a family member sick from radiation and chemical exposures which Western medicine could do little to resolve. Dr. Yurkovsky then embarked on an extensive program of study to find anything that could help, and Field Control Therapy was the result.

Dr. Yurkovsky began training other health care providers in FCT as of 1999, and Vicki – already an RN – received her training a few years later. She also attends periodic update sessions to stay current with FCT techniques.

At her FCT sessions, Vicki has clients relax on a massage table as she uses bio-resonance testing – a form of muscle testing – to determine what needs to be cleansed from the cells, and what strengths of various homeopathic remedies are needed to do this. After about an hour of testing, the client usually leaves with a four- to six-day program for taking a series of homeopathic remedies to cleanse certain organ systems.

A line-up of homeopathic remedies for a recent FCT program devised by Vicki Usitalo.

These remedies are gentle, yet their effects can be powerful. Some people do not notice side effects, but when I do one of Vicki’s FCT programs, I usually develop deep fatigue for the first day or two. This is likely a sign that my body is ridding itself of toxins. By about the third day of the program, my energy levels usually rebound and I feel better than ever. I’m impressed with the results I’ve gotten, and I know of medical doctors, too, who are impressed with Yurkovsky’s system.

As of now there are not many FCT practitioners in the country. The Western U.P. is thus extremely lucky to have Vicki providing this service right here in Hancock. According to Vicki, FCT can be particularly useful for people with chronic conditions such as recurring sinus infections or urinary tract infections, or people suffering from pain of undetermined origin. It can also improve digestion, increase mental and visual clarity, decrease food cravings, and support health in a variety of other ways.

Vicki can be reached at Preventive Health Maintenance, 906-487-7468. Her website is www.preventive-maintenance.com, and her office is located in the Jutila Center in Hancock, Michigan. Later, I hope to add information on how you can find a Field Control Therapy practitioner if you live elsewhere in the country.