Dr. Jonny Recommends Q&A

In your opinion, what's the most overrated health food?

It's a tie between canola oil and agave nectar/syrup. Both are pretty much a triumph of marketing over facts. Starting with the former, the processing of commercial canola oil is like sausage making-the de-gumming, deodorizing and other hideous high heat procedures it undergoes in order to make it palatable make its reputation as a "health" oil pretty questionable. The only canola oil I consider even mildly acceptable is cold pressed and organic, and even then just as a salad oil, but there are much better ones. As for agave, it's funny to me that the same people who are outraged about the overuse of high fructose corn syrup are wild about this stuff. The composition of high fructose corn syrup is 55% fructose 45% glucose, while agave is between 55-90% fructose!

Thinking about the adage of breakfast being the most important meal (and we'll just call it "very important")-what foods go into yours?

Anything from a piece of wild salmon; to an egg, spinach, and apple scramble; to a raw food bonanza of berries, coconut flakes, nuts, and Greek yogurt sprinkled with probiotic powder.

So you're, er, "pro" probiotics, even in powder form?

Absolutely. Probiotic powders (or in some cases capsules) are on many nutritionists top ten-even top five-supplement lists. Health begins in the gut, where nutrients are absorbed, and if the gut is overrun with bad bacteria and has a limited amount of good bacteria, many systems are affected (including immunity). Probiotics have a nice research resume for being effective for many things-and we don't get enough of them because we don't eat enough fermented foods like yogurts, pickles, and kim chee.

What's your favorite new food find-anything you've just discovered and can't get enough of?

I'm a serial monogamist when it comes to food, and I've been in love with frozen cherries for a while now. Mixed with raw milk or yogurt they're my favorite edible nighttime treat. Cherries contain a whole family of beneficial plant chemicals called anthocyanins; some of which are particularly effective as anti-inflammatories. This is why cherries are so well known as a folk remedy for gout. Because frozen vegetables and fruits are picked and frozen at the height of ripeness, they're always a very good alternative when you can't get fresh.

How about a top health mistake people tend to make?

Believing high cholesterol causes heart disease. Fully half of the people who have heart attacks have normal cholesterol. And fully half of the people with "elevated" cholesterol have no cardiovascular disease. In my book that makes cholesterol a pretty lousy predictor for heart disease, even though lowering it produces 20 billion in revenue for the makers of Lipitor and Zocor combined.

Supplements. What's your take?

The standard party line from the dinosaurs at the American Dietetic Association is that you can get everything you need from food. Try getting a decent dose of COQ10 from food-or alpha lipoic acid, or saw palmetto, or even vitamin D. Those people are idiots. You can get all you need from food if by "all you need," you're talking about enough to prevent a severe vitamin deficiency disease. Supplements allow us to handcraft a program that provides nutritional support for a wide variety of conditions. You might be able to manage without supplements, but you can manage without indoor plumbing also. The question is why would you?

What are three amazing foods we should be eating more of-and why?

I like blueberries, wild salmon, and grass-fed beef. Blueberries, for all the reasons you've heard before. Wild (not farmed) salmon, for its omega-3s, the antioxidant astaxathin (which gives it that pink color), and the protein. And grass-fed beef because it has none of the problems associated with commercial supermarket meat-no antibiotics, steroids, hormones and other potential carcinogens-along with a higher omega-3 content, some CLA (conjugated linolenic acid, an anti-cancer anti-obesity fat), and it's humanely raised on top of it.

Many thanks to Camille and Sara at Svelte Gourmand for this interview.

Candida: The Quiet Invader

Picture if you will, a garden with two things growing in it: Flowers and Weeds.

If the weeds are kept under control, they really don't do much damage and the flowers will bloom everywhere. If, however, the garden becomes overgrown with weeds, it's a whole different story.

Your gut is exactly like that garden, but instead of being populated with flowers and weeds it's populated with what's poetically called "gut flora", the many organisms which reside in the intestinal tract. In your gut, the part of the flowers are played by beneficial bacteria called probiotics, while the part of the weeds is played by a nasty little microbe known as Candida albicans.

Candida albicans is actually a fungus, but in "normal" circumstances it lives in peace with the rest of the gut flora and isn't much cause for concern. Unfortunately, this peaceful coexistence is often disrupted by a number of factors, resulting in an overgrowth of candida which can cause havoc everywhere in the body, affecting our immune system, hormone balance and even our thought processes(1). Most common symptoms include:

• bloating

• constipation or diarrhea

• fatigue

• brain fog

• mood swings

• sugar cravings
  

• yeast infections
  

Anything that can affect the natural ecology of the gut can cause an overgrowth of candida, but the usual suspects are...

• antibiotics

• birth control pills

• sugar (the favorite food for these little buggers)
  

Antibiotics, for example, can easily alter the delicate balance between "good" and "bad" bacteria in your gut (and, for women, in the vagina) by killing off many of the good bacteria that help keep the yeast fungus (Candida) under control. Without the good bacteria to keep Candida in check, the little buggers multiply like rabbits, ultimately damaging the intestinal lining and destroying cells.

Remember, candida (a yeast fungus) are living organisms, and they produce their own set of toxins. "Greater numbers of candida produce greater amounts of toxins, which further irritate and break down the intestinal lining", explains Liz Lipski, PhD, CNN. "This damage allows macromolecules of partially digested food to pass through (the gut wall)". The immune system takes one look at those partially digested molecules, realizes they don't belong, treats them as invaders and sends out a bunch of antibodies. "The net result is increased sensitivity to foods and other food substances, and to the environment", explains Lipsky.

What to do, what to do?

Number one with a bullet is to stop feeding them. Since sugar is their number one source of fuel, the typical effective "anti-yeast" diet looks a lot like Atkins. At the very least, avoid sugar, grains, alcoholic beverages, and yeasted breads. Even fruits (dried or fresh) are eliminated during the "kill-off" phase. (You can eat all the grass-fed beef, free range poultry and eggs, vegetables, yogurt, nuts and seeds you want.)

While starving the yeast cells, you want to make sure to nurture the good bacteria that keep them in check. The best way to do this is with probiotics. Lactobacillus probiotics are particularly good at keeping Candida albicans under control(2), but a good broad-spectrum probiotic supplement- containing lactocacillus and bifidobacteria-- is always a good idea. Remember, probiotics are living organisms, and- like Candida- they need their own source of fuel. Probiotics love to dine on FOS or fructoogliosaccharides. These molecules are also called "prebiotics" and many good probiotic formulas also contain some of these as well.

Many other substances are helpful in killing off candida. At the top of the list is garlic ("my personal favorite", says Lipsky), capryllic and lauric acid (both found in coconut oil), oil of oregano, pau d'orco and grapefruit seed extract. A terrific weapon in the anti-candida arsenal is olive leaf extract. Olive leaf contains the active ingredient oleuropein which has strong anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties. Barlean's Olive Leaf Complex is a particularly recommended brand that comes in a liquid form that's easy to take and tasty to boot.

Many practitioners recommend a strict "anti-yeast" diet for at least three weeks, and then suggest reintroducing "banned" foods slowly as your gut gets healthier. When Candida are killed, it may produce an antibody response that can result in a temporary worsening of symptoms (the "die-off" effect or Herxheimer reaction). "(Because of this) it's important to begin therapeutics gently with small doses and gradually increase", says Lipsky. "If your symptoms are still aggravated, cut back (on the yeast killers) and then gradually increase".

And for women- for whom vaginal yeast infections are a particular concern- consider internal applications of healthy bacteria in addition to oral supplementation. Ann Knight, DC, a holistic chiropractor in Thousand Oaks, California has had much success with this protocol. "A broad spectrum probiotics mixed with yogurt and inserted into the vagina can be very effective", she says.

In some cases more serious weapons- like the antifungal med Nyastatin- may be called for, but remember, if you're still feeding the yeast with sugar (and foods that the body treats as sugar) you're kind of defeating the purpose. The cornerstone of the best diet for getting rid of yeast is eliminating sugar.

Which is also, come to think of it, one of the cornerstones of the best diet for overall health.

References

1. "Digestive Wellness", Elizabeth Lipsky, PhD, CNN
   
2. "The Probiotic Rescue" Allison Tannis, RD, MSc
   

My New Daily Drink!

It's not too often I get excited about the addition of a new product to the vitamin store, but this one is worth getting excited about.

Innate Response has come out with one of the best tasting drink mixes I've ever sampled, but the real news is what's in it. Each 100 calorie serving contains:

• 15 grams of fiber (in an almost unheard of perfect mix of 8 grams soluble and 7 grams insoluble)
  
• 5 grams of protein
  
• 3 billion probiotics
  
• over a gram of plant-based omegas.
  
• Not only that, it's only 100 calories.
  

Here are some of the reasons why I'm so excited about Clinical Metacore:

Number 1: Most of us don't get nearly enough fiber. The average American gets between 4-11 grams a day and every major health organization recommends between 25-38 grams. Our Paleolithic ancestors got at least 50 or more. In virtually every study, high fiber diets are associated with better health outcomes. Fiber helps control blood sugar, makes you feel full so you don't overeat, and helps protect against colon cancer. Clinical Metacore offers a remarkably easy (and tasty!) way to get a whopping 15 grams of healthy fiber into your diet on a daily basis.

Number 2: More and more nutritionists are putting "probiotics" on their short list of the most important health-promoting supplements you can take. Probiotics help support a healthy gut, contributing to better digestion, assimilation of nutrients, and a stronger immune system. Clinical Metacore contains a whopping 3 billion probiotics from the important families of lactobacillus and bifidobacterium.

Number 3:
Clinical Metacore also contains over a gram of plant-based omegas, not to mention 5 grams of protein. And because of all the fiber, it's as low glycemic as you can get. Plus it only has 100 calories.

Number 4: Best of all Clinical Metacore tastes great. It comes in four flavors. The cacao bean and cinnamon chai are out of this world. And while I'm personally not a huge fan of the berry vanilla, thers love it. (I'm looking forward to trying the vanilla bean as well- I'll let you know what I think.)

You can try these in single serving sizes, which are also terrific for travel. Try a few and see which you like best then get the large size of that flavor. Or trust me- you can't go wrong with the Chai or the Cacao!

Along with Barlean's Greens, this is my new "daily drink." When you try it, you'll see why."

Try Clinical Metacore »