Doctorweblog. About Health & Medicine

If I had to pick the one "most vital" immune mineral, it would be zinc. Study after study has shown that zinc rebuilds every area of our immune health. Dr. Carl Pfeiffer, a researcher at the Princeton Brain Bio Center, was the first to shed light on the amazing immune-positive effects of zinc, several years ago. Unfortunately, his work was largely unrecognized until recently, when scores of studies have confirmed his work.

Dr. R. K. Chandra, an internationally acclaimed immunologist now working at MIT, treated a group of children suffering from a rare and deadly skin disease. All of the children had very poor immune responses, and they had very low levels of zinc in their blood. Remarkably, their immune responses returned to normal only a short time after these children began taking zinc supplements.

I recently treated a patient for whom zinc spelled the difference between tragedy and hope. A sixteen-year-old named Jonathan was left severely brain damaged after a tragic auto accident. This once-bright young man was paralyzed, unable to talk or communicate, dependent on intravenous nutrition. He also developed raw, ugly sores on his arms, legs, and face. My tests showed two interesting facts: first, his immune system was severely weakened and couldn’t mount even an average immune response. Second, he had an abnormally low zinc level.

I started giving him zinc supplements, and an amazing change occurred. Within three weeks, his immune response was back to normal, and the angry skin sores were well on the way to healing. He began to be able to eat solid foods. After three months, his weight had increased to normal, he had learned to use a wheelchair, was more alert and, for the first time since the accident, he could communicate with others.

While zinc supplementation produces dramatic results in sick people, it also powerfully benefits those of us who seem absolutely healthy. For example:

Zinc keeps crucial immune organs like the thymus and lymph nodes healthy

Zinc boosts the number of your fighting T cells

Zinc makes your T cells fight microorganisms more effectively

Zinc strengthens your macrophages (scavenger cells)

It is vital to get enough zinc daily because your body is able to store very little of this essential immune mineral. You do have reserves of several kinds of "strategic minerals" (calcium, iodine, and iron, for example), but scientists have discovered that the body has very small zinc reserves. Because of this, if we do not get enough zinc in our diet, or if factors in our lives deplete our small reserves, we may find ourselves with a deficiency of this immune power mineral.

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The following lists some basic tasks and resources which can be used by the fat loss counsellor in exploring the psychological component of excess body fatness. More detailed therapy should be referred to a qualified professional psychologist.

Current attitudes.

1. Identify current thoughts, feelings and attitudes to fat loss: What for? Why now? How long for? What then? Ensure clients recognise that permanent fat loss means lifestyle change.

2. Clarify expectations of fat loss: What problems are anticipated that it will solve? How else could these problems be dealt with? If any of these expectations are perceived negatively, how else could the problem be managed?

3. Clearly define a lifestyle which is both acceptable and achievable, which will maintain a lower level of both fat intake and body fat level.

History.

1. Explore previous experiences of fat/weight loss: What worked, What didn’t? What lasted? How were relapses dealt with? Understand what went wrong or right and how this time is different.

2. Deal with family leftovers, experience of fatness in the family, food messages, how eating, drinking and exercise played a part in the family life and what impact these still have.

Obstacles.

1. Identify which important aspects of lifestyle keep the client from losing fat: food choices, feelings/experiences which seem associated with inappropriate eating, time pressure, stress, lack of regular exercise, food knowledge?

2. Identify times during the day/week which represent the most difficult times to control eating: Mealtimes? Snack times? Going to work? Going home? Eating out?

Knowledge.

1. How good is the client’s knowledge of what is in food? How is this used? What else is happening at times when fattier food is deliberately chosen?

2. Increase knowledge of low-fat shopping, cooking, recipe modification and food skills associated with developing palatable, low-fat foods.

Stress management.

1. Identify possible connections between perceived stress and eating behaviour.

2. Develop effective stress management techniques which do not involve the use of food, in conjunction with other regularly used ’self-nourishing’ activities.

3. Plan and use time consistent with lifestyle aims (i.e. incorporating deliberate and incidental exercise, food choices and meal planning).

4. Develop and practice assertiveness, with self and others.

Habit management.

1. ‘Reframe’ eating habits which contribute to overfatness as ‘curious and interesting’ as opposed to ‘immoral or bad’.

2. ‘Stalk’—describe eating, drinking, exercise avoidance habits or routines and develop strategies for interrupting these. Monitor self-talk, identify triggers for over-eating and thinking patterns associated with these. Challenge beliefs about self body image.

3. Evaluate social environment for social support. Develop ways to protect self from ‘high risk’ situations.

Relapse management.

1. Identify and develop a clear strategy for dealing with relapses. This includes strategies for dealing with celebrations and festivities, times of high stress and pressure, times of boredom alone and negative mood states.

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There is some inter-conversion between nutrients such as protein being converted to glucose (gluconeogenesis) for release into the bloodstream, but under normal conditions, the capacity to convert one nutrient into another for storage is very limited. Also, humans have little capacity to ‘waste’ extra energy by burning it off. This process, which has been termed luxuskonsumption, is common in animals such as rats but is very limited in humans. Therefore, the examination of each macronutrient as a separate entity is necessary and is summarised below.

Alcohol. There is an inconsistent relationship between reported alcohol intake and body mass index, with many studies showing that drinkers of large amounts of alcohol have lower body weights. This has led to hypotheses that alcohol calories may be subject to inefficient oxidation, thereby diminishing the impact of alcohol calories on energy balance. In heavy drinkers, there does seem to be an inefficient burning of alcohol because the addition of alcohol to a weight maintenance energy diet does not result in weight gain. Virtually all ingested alcohol is metabolised in the liver and this process produces energy. None of it is converted directly into fat. The main pathway is via the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase and this should theoretically produce 7kcal/g of alcohol. However, alcohol also appears to induce another series of liver enzymes to burn it and this pathway produces far less energy for use than the usual one.

Alcohol, perhaps because of its toxic potential, is the top priority fuel for burning and, if present, displaces fat and, to a lesser extent, carbohydrate and protein as fuel sources for energy needs. Hence, while alcohol does not directly turn into body fat, it will certainly send any spare fat in the diet into storage. So it appears that the so-called ‘beer gut’ may not be full of beer calories, but rather full of the chips and nuts that accompanied the beer which have been sent to the fat cells for storage. A sobering fact though is that although alcohol does stimulate its own burning, it does not satisfy hunger, and indeed may stimulate appetite. The nature of beer is such that the type of food that is likely to be eaten with it will probably be high in fat (can you imagine beer and fruit rather than beer and nuts?). The sugar which is in the beer, wine and mixes may have an effect on reducing appetite and therefore counter the stimulation of appetite by the alcohol. Overall, we could consider alcohol as ‘half-balanced’ as a form of energy in the body and a potential promoter of weight gain.

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Maureen Pence lost 45 pounds by drowning her appetite before every meal.

Maureen, of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, had resigned herself to being overweight. She liked to eat and dined out often. But when her father, a retired physician, suffered a heart attack, her attitude changed. At age 31, she knew that she had to get serious about slimming down. So she followed the standard weight-loss advice, trying to eat healthier and exercise more. This was easy enough—when she was at home.

Maureen’s job as a production manager for a chemical company required her to eat out frequently with clients. Finding something relatively healthy to order from the menu usually wasn’t a problem. But the portions were huge, and Maureen—well, she was hungry.

Then one day, Maureen drank a full glass of water before she went to a restaurant. She found she wasn’t as ravenous when she ordered, and she didn’t wolf down her meal. In fact, she left some of her food uneaten. Quite by accident, she had discovered a weight-loss trick.

“I started drinking a big glass of water before all my meals and taking sips between bites,” Maureen says. “I was amazed at how full it made me feel.”

Gradually, she was able to lose 45 pounds. Today, at age 36 and 153 pounds, Maureen is a slender and happy size 10.

WINNING ACTION

Start every meal with water. Like Maureen, you can keep your appetite in check by drinking an 8-ounce glass of water before every meal. And make sure the water is ice cold; your body has to burn almost 8 calories to raise the water temperature to 98.6°F. In fact, if you were to drink eight 8-ounce glasses of ice-cold water a day, you’d burn about 62 calories. That adds up to more than a pound’s worth of calories in just 2 months.

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