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Vitamin B3 during pregnancy

By Nadia Moredo, L.Ac.

Vitamin B3 during pregnancyMany of you have probably seen the recent news that vitamin B3, also known as niacin, can help prevent birth defects and pregnancy loss.

More research is needed before practitioners start recommending an increased dose of B3, and as with any vitamin or mineral, consuming it in its whole food state often results in better absorption. B3 is a water-soluble vitamin, meaning that excess niacin leaves the body through urination and needs to be replenished regularly.

Here are the top foods that you can include in your diet to make sure you are getting enough B3.

  • Fish is an excellent source of niacin. A portion of tuna per week, fresh or canned, can significantly increase your niacin intake. Tuna can be high in mercury, so limiting your serving to once weekly, and including other foods on this list can be a good way to increase niacin. Salmon is also a great source of niacin, and including bothe tuna and salmon in your diet can increase your omega-3 levels as well.
  • Poultry. Both chicken and turkey contain moderate to high levels of niacin. Adding poultry to your diet, along with other plant-based niacin-rich foods can give you a boost.
  • Meat. A serving of beef, pork and lamb all have moderate amounts of niacin. Liver has the highest amount. Including small portions of good quality, grass-fed meat in your diet can help prevent anemia in pregnancy, give a good sustained energy boost and increase niacin.
  • Mushrooms. Although the most niacin-rich foods tend to be animal based, mushrooms have a good amount of B3. The best varieties to add for niacin are shiitake, oyster and portabello.
  • Avocado. A great source of an array of vitamins and nutrients, fiber, and plant-based fats, avocados contain a modest amount of niacin. Adding half to a whole avocado to your diet daily can increase your overall niacin intake.
  • Sea veggies. An excellent source of trace minerals and iron, seaweed and other sea veggies contain small amounts of niacin. In addition to munching on nori, try wakame salads, sprinkling dulse on soups and salads, and cooking rice and other grains with kombu to up your daily niacin.
  • Whole grains. Brown rice and oats both contain moderate amounts of naturally-occurring niacin. Many pastas and cereals have been fortified with niacin, and these are fine to eat sparingly, while focusing more of your diet on whole grains.
  • Green peas. Including a cup of fresh or frozen peas in your salad or main meal can increase the amount of niacin you are getting.
  • Peanuts and Sunflower seeds. A great plant-based source of niacin. Eat as a snack, add to meals and include these nut butters to snacks to raise your niacin input.

If you are in your first trimester and nausea or food aversions make this list look impossible, don’t be concerned. Most good quality prenatal vitamins already contain a daily amount of niacin. Look on your label for vitamin B3, niacin, nicotinic acid or niacinamide. They are all forms of vitamin B3 and are easily absorbed.

If you are interested in supplementing your niacin intake, eat from the list above, and talk to your primary care practitioner to see if you should take a higher dose in vitamin form. In higher doses, niacin can cause flushing: redness, warmth, itching or tingling. Your practitioner can recommend a non-flush vitamin B3, a time-release vitamin B3 or increasing slowly to avoid this irritating side-effect. As always, the best way to get optimal nutrients is to eat a well-rounded, whole foods diet.

Related articles:

  • Vitamin B3 could help prevent birth defects
  • Metabolism and Congenital Malformations — NAD’s Effects on Development
  • Historic Discovery Promises to Prevent Miscarriages and Birth Defects Globally

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East Bay Acupuncture: Sean Michal Hall, East Bay Acupuncturist · Filed Under: Author: Nadia Moredo, Fertility, Pregnancy Tagged With: acupuncture, Acupuncture East Bay, Acupuncture East Bay Fertility, Nadia Moredo, Pregnancy, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B3 pregnancy

The Perfect Winter Breakfast: The Gingerbread Smoothie

By Gabriela Pierre, L.Ac.

The Perfect Winter Breakfast: The Gingerbread SmoothieI am a huge fan of healthy, homemade smoothies in the morning.

They are nutrient-dense and easy to make then take on-the-go. But, my appetite for them precipitously declines during the wintery months. The last thing I crave is something cold when it’s cold outside. I realized that the reason my summer berry smoothies didn’t call to me in the winter was a matter of ingredients. This winter I discovered my favorite winter smoothie: the gingerbread smoothie.

This delicious holiday smoothie recipe is filled with healthy, warming spices from ginger and nutmeg to cinnamon and cloves. These spices really pack a punch when it comes to nutrition and taste.

This recipe features just the right combination of protein, fat and minerals, not to mention it will kick-start that sluggish holiday digestion you’ve been complaining about for weeks, thanks to the ginger. And it doesn’t have to be served chilled. It can be consumed at room temperature if your heart so desires.

The Gingerbread Smoothie

  • 1 ripe banana, frozen or room temp
  • 1-1.5 cups unsweetened almond milk
  • 2 Tbsp. almond butter
  • 1 Tbsp. coconut oil
  • 2 Tbsp. molasses
  • ½ tsp. vanilla
  • 2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 2 tsp. ground ginger (or freshly grated)
  • 1 tsp. ground nutmeg
  • Pinch of ground cloves
  • Pinch of salt
  • Pinch of black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Thin with additional almond milk or water, if desired.

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East Bay Acupuncture: Sean Michal Hall, East Bay Acupuncturist · Filed Under: Author: Gabriela Pierre, Nutrition, Recipes Tagged With: gingerbread, gingerbread smoothie, gingerbread smoothie recipe, healthy smoothies, smoothie, smoothies, winter smoothie

The Placebo Effect

By Gabriela Pierre, L.Ac.

We’ve all heard the term mind over matter.

Generally, mind is understood to be synonymous with willpower in this motivational mantra. But what if we expanded the definition to encompass a wider meaning that not only includes our indomitable spirit but also our physical brain? If you have ever wondered how powerful an effect our minds have on our health and state of well-being, you are seeking to understand the very real and very elusive phenomenon that controlled scientific studies have disparagingly labeled as placebo effects.

While it may be challenging to tease out and quantify mathematically, placebo plays an important role in our health care experience. That experience begins the moment a patient interacts with a health care provider, however brief that encounter may be. What is said and how that information is communicated to the patient are key variables that can directly affect a patient’s prognosis. Factors such as time spent with a patient, bedside manner, warmth, empathy, physical reassurement and the communication of positive or negative expectations all play significant roles in health outcomes. [1]

This is especially true for patients with chronic illness who rely on ongoing care to manage their conditions. We have entered a new era of healthcare that is increasingly more integrative and addresses the inseverable connection between the mind and body. Mind-body medicine no longer exclusively resides in the realm of alternative and complementary medicine. Hard science has finally giving credence to the practice of mind-body medicine. Thanks to discoveries about pain control and stress management attributed to the placebo effect, the role of the mind as it relates to health and disease prognosis is once again entering Western health care full steam ahead. [2]

Unfortunately, the concept of placebo has gained a bad rap in the field of medicine since it became a codified standard in clinical trials. Having no pharmacological effect, placebo is most often used in clinical trials as a control for testing therapeutic interventions or pharmacological agents with known biological effects against fake or sham treatments. It wasn’t until more recently that some researchers have started to take a closer, more serious look at the placebo effect and have made a compelling case that there might also be a biological basis for the real effects produced by placebo controls on research participants.

It turns out that historically, clinical trials have greatly underestimated the real physiological implications that a person’s expectations of treatment have on treatment outcomes. In other words, our psychology is a powerful modulator of our physiology. Our perceptions and expectations have the power to quite literally activate different areas of our brains and trigger the release of various endogenous substances including endorphins, serotonin and opioids that can provide significant pain relief and elevate our mood. If you believe that a treatment will work, or conversely, that it won’t work, there is a good chance that you will be right either way. [3] The notion that we can distinctly separate our psychology from our biology is nothing short of impossible. We’ve come a long way from the Cartesian aphorism, I think, therefore I am to now assert that what we think can determine just how we are.

More than just a mystic self-fulfilling prophecy linking belief to behavior, some of us are biologically primed to respond to placebo. Preliminary research indicates that certain individuals with higher levels of dopamine are more likely to respond to placebo. [4] While we don’t fully understand which pain and pleasure pathways are activated and to what extent via the placebo effect, a strong case can be made for the effect placebo has in regulating various physiological processes including pain, mood, appetite, and memory. Research studies have shown that placebo may also have an effect on serotonin levels as well as our endocannabinoid system. [5] In fact, placebo can induce pain suppression in the body with an estimated analgesic effect equal to or greater than morphine. [6]

As physicians, caregivers, and patients alike, we cannot afford to underestimate the role our mental, emotional, social, and spiritual well-being affects our health down to the cellular level nor can we deny the importance of the patient-provider relationship in achieving desired health outcomes. Better understanding and implementation of the placebo effect has the potential to revolutionize medicine and change the way we deliver health care. Mind-body medicine that is practiced as a ritual of compassionate care can be the new gold standard of healthcare, ultimately giving patients their best chance at optimal health outcomes and longevity.

Note: The placebo effect imparts its benefits in addition to the non-placebo effects inherent to each type of medical intervention. If you’re interested in reading about acupuncture research that has been placebo-controlled, or some of the proposed non-placebo mechanisms of action for acupuncture, check out the links below:

Research

Electro-Acupuncture and IVF: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21862001
Acupuncture and depression: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27400468
Acupuncture and chronic low back pain: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23026870
Acupuncture and migraines: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27351677
Acupuncture and pediatric tonsillectomy pain: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25851423
Acupuncture analgesia: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24949296
Acupuncture and chronic pain: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4036643/
Acupuncture, women’s health, mechanisms of action: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3962314/
Acupuncture, mechanisms of action: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11388686

Footnotes

1. Kaptchuk TJ, Kelley JM, Conboy LA, et al. (2008). Components of placebo effect: randomised controlled trial in patients with irritable bowel syndrome. BMJ. 336(7651): 999-1003.
2. https://report.nih.gov/nihfactsheets/viewfactsheet.aspx?csid=102
3. Wells, R. E. (2012, March). To Tell the Truth, the Whole Truth, May Do Patients Harm: The Problem of the Nocebo Effect for Informed Consent. Am J Bioeth,12(3), 22-29.
4. Coeliac L., Klinger R. Flor H. Bingel U. (2013). Placebo analgesia: psychological and neurobiological mechanisms. Pain. 154(4), 511-4.
5. Hall, K. T., & Loscalzo, J. (2015, May). Genetics and the placebo effect: The placebome. Trends in Molecular Medicine, 21(5), 285-294.
6. Hall, K. T., & Loscalzo, J. (2015, May). Genetics and the placebo effect: The placebome. Trends in Molecular Medicine, 21(5), 285-294.

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East Bay Acupuncture: Sean Michal Hall, East Bay Acupuncturist · Filed Under: Acupuncture, Author: Gabriela Pierre, Orthopedics & Pain Management, Placebo Effect Tagged With: East Bay acupuncture, Gabriela Pierre, orthopedics, pain management, placebo controls, Placebo Effect, The Placebo Effect

How to Make Delicious, Nutrient-Dense Smoothies

By Sean Michael Hall, L.Ac.

Having a smoothie for breakfast can be one of the healthiest habits you develop, if it consists of the right ingredients.

Most mornings my breakfast consists of about 2 pint glasses worth of blended vegetables, fruit, seeds, herbs, grass-fed whey protein and various superfoods. It only takes 3 to 5 minutes to make, assuming all of the ingredients are handy. Though it is a liquid, it fills me up for 4 or 5 hours until lunch.

Most importantly, I know that I will always have at least one meal every day that is loaded with lots of superfoods known to support sustained energy levels, a strong immune system, vibrant looking, clear skin and general vitality. Plus, many of these ingredients have potent anti-inflammatory effects and are known to decrease your chances of getting cancer and other major illnesses.

This article offers guidelines and specific foods I recommend using, not a specific recipe. Make sure your kitchen is well stocked with the necessary fresh ingredients once a week, and then have fun combining them each morning. Simply add 1 or 2 ingredients from each of the seven categories below to a high-powered blender. You will learn quickly how much of each ingredient to add to create a well-balanced smoothie that tastes great.

Vegetables to Use In Smoothies1) Vegetables

  1. Celery
  2. Fennel Root
  3. Cucumbe
  4. Baby Greens Mix (arugula, chard, spinach, kale)
  5. Spinach

These are my favorite vegetables to add, but get creative and use whichever vegetables you enjoy. I usually choose both a watery vegetable like celery or cucumber, along with a leafy green vegetable like spinach or the baby greens mix. Two large celery sticks or a 1/2 cucumber along with a large handful of greens is an example of what I typically use. I usually don’t add root vegetables, but you can!

Fresh Fruit for Smoothies2) Fruit (frozen or fresh)

  1. Wild Blueberries
  2. Strawberries
  3. Raspberries
  4. Blackberries
  5. Boysenberries
  6. Acai Berries
  7. Marion Berries
  8. Cherries
  9. Pineapple
  10. Pomegranate

As you can see, I love berries. And the fruit component of my smoothies often consists solely of them. Berries, in many ways, are the most nutritious fruit because they are loaded with a variety of anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer and blood sugar regulating nutrients, without a lot of extra fructose.

I prefer frozen berries, for 3 reasons:

  1. They are affordable! Fresh berries are very expensive, so if I am eating them every day cost is a major deterrent
  2. Berries are usually frozen very close to the time they are picked, which preserves many of the healthy constituents until the time you eat them. Often, by the time you eat berries from the store, they have been picked a week or more in the past, losing vital nutrients with each passing day.
  3. They help create a moderately cold, more drinkable smoothie without having to add ice.

Keep in mind; organic berries are a must, as conventional berries are high on the list of most pesticide-laden fruits.

Seeds & Nuts in Smoothies3) Seeds & Nuts

  1. Pumpkin Seeds
  2. Black Sesame Seeds
  3. Sunflower Seeds
  4. Chia Seeds
  5. Flax Seeds
  6. Macadamia Nuts
  7. Brazil Nuts

I usually add a medium handful of 1 variety each morning. My refrigerator is stocked with all, so I will rotate through them each week. Seeds have a broad spectrum of nutrients that are linked to vibrant health. They are especially loaded with minerals that are easily absorbed, plus healthy fats, protein and fiber.

4) Herbs & Spices

  1. Turmeric Rhizome
  2. Ginger Rhizome
  3. Fresh Basil
  4. Fresh Cilantro
  5. Fresh Parsley
  6. Fresh Mint
  7. Clove, Cinnamon, Fennel, Cardamom and/or Ginger (powdered)

Turmeric and ginger are so healthy that I include a thumb worth of each in my smoothie every morning. I almost always include a handful of fresh basil or cilantro since they are such potent anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer plants. In the winter, I add a teaspoon of combined powdered spices to support digestive fire. All of the above ingredients add a very unique and, in my opinion, pleasant taste to the smoothie.

Add protein to your Smoothie5) Protein

PaleoMeal by Designs for Health

PaleoMeal is a grass-fed whey protein powder that also includes many other metabolism boosting, blood sugar regulating nutrients, like L-Glutamine, Creatine, Zinc, Magnesium and Chromium.

It is the best protein powder on the market that I have seen, so I use it every morning. If you do not tolerate dairy, Designs for Health has non-dairy options. I do not recommend any protein powder containing soy protein isolates or whey from cows that are not grass-fed.

Coconut Oil - Add Fat to Smoothie6) Fat

  1. 1 to 2 tsp. Coconut Oil
  2. 1/2 Avocado
  3. Yogurt (full-fat, non-sweetened)

A large body of research now tells us how important fats and oils are in helping our body absorb and utilize the nutrients in fruit, vegetables, herbs and spices. Adding a good amount of olive oil to salads, sautéing spices in ghee, adding butter to steamed broccoli, turmeric powder in whole milk, and adding fat to your smoothies can greatly increase the percentage of nutrients absorbed. Plus, each of the above 3 foods has many additional health benefits.

Superfoods & Adaptogenic Herbs in Smoothies7) Superfoods & Adaptogenic Herbs

  1. Matcha (powdered green tea)
  2. Maca Root Powder
  3. Goji Berries
  4. Spirulina, Chlorella and/or Blue-Green Algae Powder
  5. Ashwagandha Powder
  6. Royal Jelly or Bee Pollen
  7. Cocoa Powder (unsweetened)

There is enough research showing benefit for each of the above to warrant the cost. Add a decent amount of 1 or 2 each morning. Again, vary the ingredients each day so that you are getting some of each, each week.

The sweetness factor!

Most people will not want to drink a smoothie that is not at least mildly and pleasantly sweet. If you have plenty of protein, fat and fiber in the smoothie, then sweetening your smoothie moderately is perfectly healthy.

One or two of the following ingredients, added to taste, will do the trick:

  1. Tart Cherry Concentrate (it’s actually very sweet)
  2. Fresh Pineapple (if any juice has separated out, that will be especially sweet)
  3. Pomegranate Juice
  4. Cherry Juice
  5. Fresh, In-Season, Juicy Stone-Fruit (especially nectarines and peaches)

Combine, Blend and Drink!

As mentioned, all you need to do is choose 1 or 2 ingredients from the seven categories above. Add them to a high-powered blender, pour and drink. I use a Vitamix blender, but you can probably get by with a less expensive model. Again, think of this as a full meal.

For me, that means I will want to drink 2 or more pint glasses each morning. Some experimentation is in order, and the only way for you to find the perfect smoothies with the right flavor and consistency for you, is to do it a few mornings in a row. I bet, your first smoothie will be delicious, and they will just get better over time.

Here’s an example of my breakfast this morning:

1/2 Cucumber
1 stalk Celery
1 large handful Baby Greens (chard, spinach, arugula)
1 small handful frozen, organic Boysenberries
1 small handful frozen, organic Strawberries
1 handful Pumpkin Seeds
1 thumb Ginger Rhizome
1 thumb Turmeric Rhizome
1 handful fresh Cilantro
1 scoop PaleoMeal
1 rounded tsp. Coconut Oil
1 Tbsp. Maca Root Powder
1 small handful Goji Berries

Plus: a long squeeze of Tart Cherry Juice Concentrate for sweetness, and enough Coconut Water to result in the desired consistency.

This yielded 2.5 pints of smoothie, which was the perfect amount to last me 5 hours until lunch.

Final Thoughts

  1. I go shopping each Sunday to make sure I have enough of all of the above ingredients to allow for varied smoothies throughout the week. Keeping your kitchen well stocked is essential. Once the ingredients are there, it only takes a few minutes to blend them.
  2. If your fruit, vegetables or added sweetening agents didn’t include enough liquid, as is usually the case, you will need to add enough water, coconut water, chilled green tea or juice to find the right consistency.
  3. All smoothies are not healthy! Compare the smoothie I’ve described to a typical smoothie consisting of banana, apple juice, ice and a soy-based protein powder and the difference should be apparent. The ingredients I’ve mentioned above are the best anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and general health promoting foods on the planet. Your smoothie should have no fillers. A breakfast consisting of nothing but those foods is the best thing you can do for your health. In addition to exercising regularly, sleeping enough and having fun, of course!
  4. And finally, breakfast is the easiest meal to make into a routine. Anything that becomes a routine part of life is easy to maintain for the long-term with very little effort on your part. Buy the ingredients this coming Sunday, do it three mornings in a row, and you’ll be hooked!!

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East Bay Acupuncture: Sean Michal Hall, East Bay Acupuncturist · Filed Under: Adaptogenic Herbs, Author: Sean Michael Hall, Nutrition, Recipes Tagged With: anti-inflammatory, balanced smoothie, breakfast smoothie, East Bay Nutrition, healthy habits, making smoothies, nutrition, Sean Michael Hall, smoothies

Green Juice Recipe

By Sean Michael Hall, L.Ac.

Green Juice RecipeWarm, summer days are the perfect time of year to enjoy fresh juice. And juice that you make yourself or with loved ones is by far the best. Nothing compares to farm fresh produce, straight from juicer to mouth. Once you’ve taken a look at my juicing guidelines, give this recipe a try. It’s by far my favorite.

Green Juice Recipe

1 large Cucumber
1 medium Fennel bulb (with greens)
1 bunch Celery sticks
1 bunch Spinach
1 bunch Parsley (Italian)
1 medium Lime (with peel)
1 medium Apple (with peel & core)
1 thumb Gingerroot (more or less to taste)

Directions: You can either juice or blend this recipe. If you want to preserve all of the fiber and make it more of a meal, you can blend it. Make sure you have a relatively powerful blender. If you want a light, refreshing beverage a juicer is required.

I love this recipe! It tastes amazing, and the emphasis on green vegetables makes it super healthy. The exclusion of cruciferous vegetables makes it easy to digest. The spinach and parsley both provide a broad range of nutrients and other health promoting ingredients. The fennel, lime and ginger aid digestion and give the recipe a robust, unique flavor. The apple gives a touch of sweetness, without adding too much sugar.

The great thing about juicing is that the possibilities are endless. Why not visit a farmer’s market this weekend? Get creative!

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East Bay Acupuncture: Sean Michal Hall, East Bay Acupuncturist · Filed Under: Author: Sean Michael Hall, Detoxification, Nutrition, Recipes Tagged With: East Bay Nutrition, easy juicing recipe, green juice, green juice recipe, jucing, juicing recipe, natural health, nutrition, vegetable juice

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