Can coffee make you fat?

Hey Gang;

Sorry for the slow update.   From this point on the blog will be updated on the 15^th of every month.

That being said, let’s get down to business.  This month we’re going to discuss the Hot topic of Coffee and its effects on your metabolism.  (Pun very much intended)

                Lately there has been research suggesting that coffee may be hindering your progress in the battle of the bulge. Ok, it doesn’t just suggest it.  It outright confirms it.

  Here’s why…

                When you consume caffeine first thing in the morning it wakes you up and gives you a little extra boost to get out the door.  That boost fires off the sympathetic nervous system (your fight or flight response).  Any time this system is fired it turns up the adrenal glands, moves blood away from your trunk and into your arms and legs, pupils dilate, heart rate increases and digestion essentially shuts down so it suppresses your appetite.

You initially burn more calories and fat stores from the night before, but there is a rebound effect.  Your body now thinks it has to replenish the fat stores you burned previously because you’re now in starvation mode.  To complicate matters, caffeine causes disruptions in glucose metabolism which trigger fat storage hormones like Lipoprotein Lipase and insulin.  

                To make matters worse coffee will also cause uncontrollable cravings for sweets.  This all has to do with the fact that your body is incredibly efficient and smarter than you or I.  If you stress the body, it will respond according to a caveman’s needs.  We have only been eating the way we do and taking in stimulants like coffee for a few hundred years.  That’s nowhere near long enough for the human body to adapt to what we’re doing to it.  Further, we’re under more stress than we ever have been in history coupled with the fact that we’re taking in more caffeine than ever before.

                Taking in caffeine at any level triggers an acute insulin resistant environment in the body.  This response over time can lead to type II diabetes.  Let’s look at the effects of coffee on a diabetic.

·         It has an adverse effect on glucose (sugar) metabolism.

·         Produces a higher average of glucose concentration for that day.

·         Exaggerates post prandial (after nap) glucose responses.

That being said, I still love coffee.  But if you’re trying to lose weight and failing, coffee, caffeine, energy drinks and sodas may be a big culprit.  If you’ll cut coffee out of your day for a week, and you can get past the caffeine headache, you’ll see results in the waistline.

If this post was helpful to you, please share it with someone you love.

God Bless-

-Doc-

Interesting study

Some of you may have seen my post on Facebook this week about this study.  If not, you may want to take a minute to read this.  This is probably one of the best studies being done with regard to childhood development.

http://www.nationalchildrensstudy.gov/Pages/default.aspx

Take care,
Doc

Fibromyalgia

I would first like to say thank you to those who inspired me to start this blog.  We’ll be covering several topics from nutrition, to exercise.  We will also have a condition of the month covering everything from how it occurs to treatment options that are available.  My goal is to give you the big why.  Why things occur, what led up to the problem, and is there hope once you’ve got the problem.

Our mission here is to give our patients the same quality of care that we would give our own families.

This month…

Fibromyalgia.

The Mayo clinic’s definition is as follows.

Fibromyalgia is a disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain accompanied by fatigue, sleep, memory and mood issues. Researchers believe that fibromyalgia amplifies painful sensations by affecting the way your brain processes pain signals.

Ok, so what does that tell you, other than it hurts?

Not much. 

Let’s start with pain itself.  Pain is the brain’s response to an injury or perceived injury.  The body is trying to protect itself. 

There are 2 types of pain, The sharp stinging fast pain and the slow deteriorative nagging and throbbing pain.

Think of when you burn yourself on a stove, you pull back immediately out of reflex.

You feel pain and react, but it’s momentary, then you wait for a few moments to find out how bad it’s really going to hurt. 

This is an example of the nerve fiber types you have in your body.

• Type A Thick mylenated fiber that conducts joint position sense, pressure, temperature etc.
• Type B Thick mylenated fiber that conducts joint position sense, pressure, temperature etc.

Both of these require a great deal of oxygen to function and are very fast conducting

• Type C Thin unmylenated, slow conductors that have a primary purpose of conducting pain (these are the ones causing slow aching, nagging body ache type pain.)

So let’s say a person is in a high state of stress, and is overloaded with home duties, taking care of a family, work functions, traffic, the cleaners etc.  This means that the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight nervous system) is already ramped up as well as the pain pathways.  (Pain is stressful) 

With higher levels of stress, shallower breaths are taken, which will cause fatigue, will starve the larger A and B fibers that diminish and help regulate pain levels, and will cause a person not to be able to think clearly.  (becoming more emotional)

This happens because the brain only eats three things, sugar, water, and oxygen.

Now let’s say there is a trauma to the body, a sprained or broken ankle for instance.

Now the pain reflex is going strong with an added stress of daily life, coupled with the worry of expense, time off of work, ability to pay for the work done at a medical facility.  Pain and stress go hand in hand until there is a tipping point in the brain.

Due to all of the stress placed upon the body, it gets a case of give up.  Now all incoming stimulus is interpreted as pain. 

There is no A and B fiber stimulation to diminish pain levels.

The IML has been stimulated to a point where it fires immediately upon any stimulus. (think in terms of a deer trail being run on so often that it becomes a superhighway)

There is a high level of stress that is now being exacerbated by incoming pain levels, which is in turn causing more stress.

Less oxygen is getting to the brain and musculature so there is a great deal more depression anxiety and muscle atrophy.

It now hurts to move so the exact thing you should be doing to help decrease your pain levels is the last thing you want to do.

So now you’re in a mess. 

How do you turn this around?

Thankfully, there are options.  Unfortunately none of them are a quick turnaround.

The answer is to:

• Increase oxygenation to the tissues of the body and brain.
• Stimulate the A and B fibers to diminish pain.
• Retrain the neural pathways of the spinal cord to accept input as things other than pain.
• Stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system.
• Decrease stress.
• Exercise.

Some of these things you can do on your own, some of them require assistance.  I don’t care who you see to get the help you need, but I would urge you to see a chiropractor, a neurologist, or a pain management specialist.

Take care of yourselves the best way you know how and I promise to do the same.

Thank you so much for your time and attention.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at 972 722 2500 or drdent@docsbodyshop.com

Doc.

Up and running

We're off!  Thank you for visiting Docs Body Shop Chiropractic blog.  I am excited about this idea and hope to publish some interesting and thought provoking information on this site.  You can sign up to follow me and be in the "know".

Take care and we'll talk soon.
Doc