A muscle cramp is a painful, involuntary contraction or spasm of a muscle. They usually occur in the calf or foot, mostly at night when the body is resting. If you’re getting recurrent muscle cramps it could be a sign that you are deficient in some important nutrients.

For muscle contraction and relaxation to occur there needs to be a balance of important minerals in our muscles. These minerals are magnesium, calcium, potassium and sodium. If our levels of these minerals are low, the result can be frequent muscle cramps. Below is a list of foods you can eat to make sure you’re getting enough of these minerals in your diet.

Magnesium: nuts e.g. almonds and cashews, seeds, wholegrain cereals, kelp, eggs (also look at our article on Magnesium foods in the nutrition section of our chiropractic downloads)

Calcium: dairy products, almonds, sesame seeds, green leafy vegetables, sardines, egg yolk

Potassium: All vegetables, avocado, bananas, citrus fruit, nuts, sunflower seeds

Sodium: Celery, cheese, peas, table salt, tuna, sardines, sauerkraut

There are a few vitamins that can be helpful in getting rid of muscle cramping. B vitamins enhance circulation to the muscles, and help to maintain proper muscle tone. Other useful vitamins are vitamins E and C, which also help to improve circulation to the muscles. Below is a list of foods you can eat to get more of these vitamins into your diet.

Vitamin B: Brewer’s yeast, liver, whole-grain cereals, tuna, beans, lentils (also look at our article on Vitamin B foods in the nutrition section of our chiropractic downloads)

Vitamin E: Nuts, seeds, beef, egg yolk, wheat germ

Vitamin C: citrus fruit, broccoli, strawberries, parsley, blackcurrants

If you suffer from muscle cramps it could be a sign that you are lacking in some important vitamins and minerals. Your practitioner at KingsWilliam can help you to work out which vitamins and minerals you need, and the best way to get them into your diet, so you can get rid of painful muscle cramps for good!

From:

The Nutrient Bible, Henry Osiecki

Prescription for Nutritional Healing, James F Balch and Phyllis A Balch

In this latest nutrition download on “Vitamins and Minerals from Whole Food: Zinc”, we have given you a few simple food choices that will enhance your zinc uptake.

Check this download from the chiropractic website that gives a brief description of whole food sources for the B Complex Vitamins.

Ancient peoples knew the importance of good gut function. To be healthy and get the best out of the food you eat, you need a healthy mix of good bacteria in your intestinal tract. The term we use for these bacteria is “probiotics”.

I’ve heard different estimates of the number of different types of bacteria in a human gut but the most common one is 39. I’m often confused as to how a man made capsule containing 3 varieties of bacteria can replace the 39! I think whole food is the best way to go on this.

Fermented food is what you should be eating. This is where food is preserved for longer periods without the use of freezers or canning machines. Good quality yoghurt is fermented milk. Sauerkraut is a German dish of fermented cabbage. Korean Kimchi is fermented cabbage with other vegetables and spices.

Many people, especially children don’t like the taste of these foods. What’s an easy way around this? Try making fermented carrots and ginger – look in the “Nutrition” section on the downloads page. You should also try making a yoghurt cheese. Keep the water that drips out (whey) then add it to drinks or fermented foods that you want to prepare. Whey contains many of the bacteria that are needed in the gut.

Yoghurt cheese and whey takes virtually no effort at all.

Buy some good quality yoghurt and strain it through a piece of muslin (you can buy this from a fabric shop).

What’s left in the muslin after a few hours is a delicious cream cheese. The water that drips out is the whey.

Collect the whey and store it in a jar in the refrigerator.
It will keep for a few months.

Add a tablespoon of whey to any drinks you give your children.
They won’t taste it and it will be doing their gut the world of good!

Adapted from “Nourishing Traditions” by Sally Fallon ( a wonderful book!!)

Eating breaks down our food into carbohydrates called simple sugars. These can then be used to make an energy molecule called ATP which we either use immediately or store. Glycogen is the energy store in the liver and fat is the energy store in the body. By far the most common simple sugars in our diet are glucose and fructose. Sucrose, what we usually call sugar, has to be broken down to these substances as well.

We have a number of “control mechanisms” in place to stop us from eating more than we should. The hypothalamus in the brain is the appetite control centre. There are also substances in our body that tell us when to stop eating. Insulin and leptin tell us when we’ve had enough carbohydrates and proteins. CCK tells us when we’ve had enough fats. An enzyme called PFK-1 controls the conversion of glucose to ATP. This is so we don’t end up with too much ATP to convert to energy stores. Too much ATP in our system means that PFK-1 stops making it.

The problem with these control substances is that they work on glucose not fructose. This means that when we eat sugary food, our control mechanisms don’t come fully into play. We just keep eating because we don’t know we’re full and we convert the extra energy into circulating fatty acids in the blood stream and then to fat for storage.

Here’s an edited example from “Sweet Poison” by David Gillespie, to illustrate this point. The author talks in “calories” instead of “kilojoules” but you’ll get the idea:

A glass of whole milk contains 8g of fat, 8g of protein and 11g of carbohydrate in the form of lactose. Lactose is broken down into glucose. The hypothalamus accurately counts calories and controls the consumption of milk by monitoring the carbohydrates (using insulin and leptin), fat and protein (using CCK). The hypothalamus “sees” every single one of the 146 calories in the glass of milk. All the hormonal responses are triggered and I feel appropriately full for having consumed those calories. A similar quantity of apple juice contains no fat, no protein, 14g of fructose, 6g of glucose and 4g of sucrose (24g of sugars in total). The 4g of sucrose is broken down into an extra 2g of glucose and 2g of fructose. So, the drink effectively contains 16g of fructose and 8g of glucose. This is a total of 96 calories but the hypothalamus only “sees” 32 from the glucose. The 64 calories provided by the fructose goes undetected. To feel as full as I would after consuming the same quantity of milk, I would need to drink five times as much apple juice. If I actually did that I would create 35g of circulating fatty acids ready for storage as fat. Not too many people would drink that much apple juice but they frequently consume large amounts of soft drink. If you “drink fructose” with a meal, the fructose gives our body permission to consume many more calories without feeling full while converting them to fat.

Moral of this whole story: Avoid all foods with added sugar if you want to control your weight.

When it comes down to it, grandma would only recognise  food that is fresh and whole.  Processed, fast food shouldn’t be on the menu.  If you’re a parent and think that taking your children to a fast food outlet is a treat then please rethink.  If you’re not sure what I mean by fresh, whole food then look in the downloads “Nutrition” section for the article on “Basic Principles of a Whole Food Diet”.

The problem with eating healthily of course, is that you have to plan. This is something you’ll get used to but it will take a few weeks to develop a system that works.  We’ve been eating this way at home for the last 20 years so we’re on automatic. On the weekend we plan our meals for the week and buy fresh ingredients.  We don’t have food that contains additives. That means preservatives, flavours, colours etc.  Often we’ll cook a larger meal and freeze the left over so that when we come in late during the week we’re not stuck cooking for a long time.  We also have a rule that says if you can’t prepare a weekday recipe in 20 minutes then forget it.

Try changing gradually.  If you have take away every so often, that’s not such a big deal.  If you have it a few times a week then maybe it’s time to change to a healthier option.  Look in the downloads “Kids stuff” section for “Can the additives” if you need some guidance with what counts as an additive.

Try it.  Enjoy the new you and the change in your children.

David Gillespie, the author of “Sweet Poison”, was 40kg overweight, lethargic, sleep-deprived and about to become the father of six. He knew he had to lose weight but had run out of diets to try. After doing some reading on evolution, he decided to cut added sugar from his diet. He immediatley started to lose weight and he kept it off. That made him examine the connection between sugar (especially fructose), obesity rates and the diseases that have only become common since the twentieth century.

I’m reading the book and attempting to monitor the food I eat so that added sugar is only a minor part of my diet. I need to lose between 3 and 5kg and that’s something I haven’t been able to do for a number of years. Let’s see what happens.

In the mean time I’ve had Sarah check my cholesterol, insulin and glucose using kinesiology. All is well so I just need to get on with losing that weight.

If you want to listen to the podcast of Ockhamsrazor on Radio National try this link:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/ockhamsrazor/stories/2009/2621415.htm

3rd August

Not a good weekend for sticking to the weight loss regime.  I had a Kit Kat on Saturday and another on Sunday!!!  That’s my husband’s fault he brought home some Kit Kats from Europe the other day.  They aren’t as sweet as the ones sold here.  That means they taste heaps better and are harder to resist.  But, the good news is that I’m still losing weight.

Pineapple Special
1 pineapple
5 cm piece of fresh ginger
1 tablespoon of linseed (flaxseed)

Vegie Carotene Catapult
3 carrots
1 red capsicum
1 spear of broccoli
half a golden sweet potato

Cold War
4 carrots
1 orange
1 cm fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic

Triple Orange
3 carrots
1 orange
half a melon

All these recipes are from “The big book of juices and smoothies” by Natalie Savona
If you want more, ask reception to photocopy one for you.