There’s a new study talking about the increasing number of people suffering from Celiac disease, which is routinely classified as an allergic reaction or inflammatory response to gluten. Gluten is the protein found in wheat, barley and rye….which is contributing to the bloating, gassy, indigestion like symptoms they get when they eat those foods.

For a long time mainstream medicine didn’t want to recognize that all those digestive problems were attributed to our diet, but the evidence has become so overwhelming. They still want to place the blame on "too much acid" as the problem, but it simply isn’t the case, when you look at how the human body functions.

When you are under stress and in that "fight or flight" mode your digestive functions are inhibited or slowed down. This happens because you can’t have both your "fight or flight" mode and "resting/digesting" mode working at the same time. So if you are always in that stress (eating on the run, in a hurry, in the car, etc…) mode, your digestive system is unable to make the necessary digestive enzymes or hydrochloric acid (HCL) which is critical in digesting protein. Therefore the thought that all those digestive problems are a result of "too much acid" are ridicules, it’s simply the fact that your digestive system isn’t running efficiently.

A lot of the bloating, indigestion, reflux and heartburn people get are a result of food sensitivities that are brought about by eating gluten, dairy, corn, soy and coffee. They are the biggest offenders and one of the reasons we started making the NatraLean health bars, which don’t contain any of those potential food allergens. But what the study didn’t say or talk about was WHY!

Why is there an increase in the number of people suffering from celiac disease? This is where researches and clinicians like myself separate, because researches make money by doing more research. Whereas doctors and other clinicians like myself make a living by helping people overcome their health complaint. And as I see it the number one reason why there is an increase in Celiac, as well as, an increase in the number of people suffering from digestive problems are a result of stress and diet.

Stress not only inhibits your digestive system from functioning properly, but all the cortisol your adrenal glands are producing are slowing eroding the intestinal lining of your digestive tract. This makes your digestive system that much more sensitive to food sensitivity and allergens…which promotes the digestive problems. Add the fact that more people are eating more processed, refined foods today than they did a couple of generations before us.

It is the perfect storm for ill health or as I like to call it Dys-Function and that "vicious cycle" so often seen as the reason behind so many health problems and why our first goal in helping anyone overcome their health problems is to "Restore Normal Function." If stress is part of the problem, add Adrenal Fuel….to repair those exhausted and fatigued adrenal glands. If digestive problems are part of the problem…restore normal digestive function. If it is elimination…address that problem….and on and on it goes. Once you start restoring normal function…you can start restoring your health!

        

In case you haven’t heard, but I hope you have…because it is starting to get some national media, but the leading cause of liver failure is caused by acetaminophen, which is commonly found in; Tylenol, Excedrin, Theraflu, Nyquil, etc.

This little over the counter medication, that is believed to be harmless, is also responsible for almost 500 deaths and over 56 thousand emergency visits to the hospital each year.  But there could possibly be help on the way.  It is possible that the FDA may place a Black Box warning on the package, which is the highest warning placed on any product for its safety or lack of safety.

Manufacturers of this product don’t want that to happen because it could cost them several million dollars in revenue, when you consider that last year sales of this over the counter medication exceeded two billion dollars.  There is no guarantee that the FDA will do the smart thing and place that Black Box warning, because there are many doctors, I suspect who have a connection with the manufacturer, saying that the drug is perfectly safe.

It is hard to believe any doctor on the FDA panel would say this over the counter medication is safe after they look at the evidence.  What’s disturbing is the fact that if a nutritional product or supplement caused a tenth of the damage as acetaminophen has – it would be all over the news and pulled from the market.

Those are the dangers of acetaminophen, which most people take for pain, but the alternative, which is aspirin and or ibuprofen is just as dangerous, because they both cause ulcerations in your digestive system and harm your kidneys.  It’s like giving up a broken leg for a broken arm!

The safe and natural approach for dealing with pain and inflammation is to increase the amount of essential fatty acids in your diet. We’re talking about eating more of the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oils, flax oil, olive oil, as well as, in nuts and seeds and of course cold water fish (salmon, mackerel, tuna, sardines, etc). 

You also want to decrease the amount of saturated fat in your diet.  It’s not that saturated fat is bad as many people want you to believe, but the real problem is that we consume too much of the saturated fats in NOT Enough of the unsaturated fats, due to processed, refined, fast foods.  This is an important part of the whole pain and inflammation process, because saturated fats trigger inflammation, which leads to pain.

The unsaturated fats, both the mono and polyunsaturated fats are your body’s natural anti-inflammatory hormones.  Because we are eating too much saturated fat, we are not allowing our body to provide its own anti-inflammatory response.  This is why we also give someone who comes to the office complaining of pain – Sea Energy.  It is a highly concentrated dosage of fish oils that you take when your diet isn’t as good as it should be.  It helps balance out the saturated to unsaturated fats in your diet and helps your body deal with all the inflammation without the use of any medications and their potential risks.

I love fish oils and give Sea Energy to anyone complaining of pain, arthritis, fibromyalgia, heart disease, depression and of course menopause.  Fish oils are one of the super seven supplements we should all be taking for overall preventative health.

FYI…if you have been taking aspirin for joint pain (osteoarthritis) it will prevent the rebuilding of the degenerated joint and cartilage, which is why glucosamine and chondroitin are great for rebuilding cartilage.  I always start with fish oils and once we get the pain and inflammation under control…do we go after the glucosamine and chondroitin. 

        

 

Last week another study came out stating that many of the over the counter sleep aids, cough medicines and allergy products that contain benedryl can lead to cognitive decline, memory loss, dementia and Alzheimer. These are all problems that affect the brain as we age, unfortunately the continued use of these products seem to speed up the decline of our brain.

The common over the counter drugs are Benadryl, Dramamine, Excedrin PM, Nytol, Sominex, Tylenol PM and Unisom. They all contain the over-the-counter (OTC) drug benadryl (diphenhydramine), which are also commonly used in cold and cough medicines and allergy formulas. Any OTC medication labeled as "PM" is probably going to have benadryl and it will begin to erode and affect normal brain function.

The problem with so many OTC is that people often think that they are safe. But the person is still ingesting some type of chemical into their body that has side effects. It can alter they way your body functions by altering or changing the metabolic pathways the body is designed to follow.

If a good night sleep is the problem, I suggest you grab a bottle of Neuro Calm. It’s is formulated to increase all the chemical brain messengers that help you relax and calm down. It literally helps you increase your serotonin and GABA, two neurotransmitters (brain messengers) that help the body relax and calm down. Most people who struggle with insomnia, depression, anxiety and mood swings have created an imbalance in those important brain messengers. The drugs that are prescribed for these type of problems only manipulate – what little brain messengers you produce. Whereas Neuro Calm helps the body produce more of those important neurotransmitters.

I know I talk a lot about Sleep in my new book "Five STEPS Closer…" but there I am talking about what you feed your subconscious mind when you do sleep, not about getting a good night sleep. Both are important, but here I am focusing more on feeding your subconscious mind some positive, nourishing foods to chew on while your sleeping.

The food we feed our body are no different than the foods we feed our mind. Some foods can have positive healing affects, while others can have destructive, negative affects. Fruits and veggies are good for the body – cookies and cakes aren’t. Positive thoughts of joy and happiness are great for the mind – Worry, fear and anxiety are negative destructive thoughts for the mind. The great things is, we get to chose which ones we want to eat more of!

The goal should be to get a good nights sleep, so your body and mind can awaken refreshed and vitalized each morning.. If you aren’t, there are some things you probably need to change in order to make that happen. The question I always leave to you – are you going to take that step and make those changes. Remember, if you keep doing what you’ve been doing – you’re going to keep getting what you’ve been getting. Is stress part of the problem?  Are your adrenal glands depleted and exhausted? Could it be your diet and blood sugar?  These may be part of your problem and need to be addressed.  The Healthy Steps (IRS) approach is a simple to follow program that can walk you through those healing steps

Don’t forget these OTC medications were designed to be used for no more than 90 days. How long have you been using them? How much destruction has it done on you or someone you know?  There are natural solutions for these problems that work to compliment your body, not manipulate it.  I encourage you to search more throughout the Blog and go to the "resource" section of the website and read many of the articles that can help with this and many other problems.

        

Hey Guys,

I have never done this before, but after one minute of evaluation....my heart was being pulled and I wanted to help these friends of mine. 

They have adopted a third child....a blood sibling to their first adopted child.  They weren't looking for a third child, but when they were made aware of Samuels coming they knew they had to adopt him.  They are wonderful parents, and recognize the blessings God has given them.

Unfortunate for them they are in need of assistance for this third adoption.  I am reaching out to all those who come to my blog to learn about health to take a moment of their time and if you are able to help this family, it would be a tremendous blessing.

I am a big believer that God can do amazing things, and puts us in situations to strengthen our faith, so I am asking those who can help this family....do as your heart leads.

you can go to  http://adoptingsamuel.shutterfly.com/ to learn more about this family's journey.

I appreciate all your support and would have never thought about doing something like this, if I wasn't pulled so hard to help this young family.

Blessings,

Dr. Len Lopez

        

The biggest reason people struggle with fatigue and weight gain is because they are burning the wrong fuel! The body is designed to burn calories to produce energy. It does this by burning calories from the breakdown of either carbohydrates, protein (lean muscle) or fats.

Successful weight occurs when you burn stored fats for energy. The patients I see, who are always struggling with their weight are burning carbs and proteins, NOT stored body fat. This is also critical for those who suffer from fatigue and lack of energy, because you produce two and a half times more energy when you breakdown fats for energy instead of carbs and proteins.

The first step in overcome your fatigue and weight problem is to find out how well your metabolism is functioning. I encourage you to use our online health quizzes to see how well your metabolism is functioning, are you burning the wrong fuel? If you don’t score well, the next step is to identify is your metabolism out of whack due to the wrong diet? Could it be stress (Take the Stress Test), which is a huge factor on whether or not your body burns or stores fat.

Don’t assume or be confused that weight loss is all about how many calories you eat and burn. If you haven’t been successful with your dieting results, it could be because you are focusing on the wrong things. I encourage you to learn more by ordering a copy of "To Burn or Not to Burn, Fat is the Question." I would than begin to follow our Healthy Steps (IRS) Program, which addresses these key issues.

If you are struggling with what to eat, are you eating enough good meals to make a difference, are you exercising, getting a good nights sleep....download "5 STEPS Closer..." my new accountability and motivational journaling system.

        

The only way to add shape and tone to a muscle is to exercise it – stress it out – stimulate it. If you don’t use it you will lose it theory! We all know that squats, lunges and leg presses will give us that shape and tone we want for our backside. But wouldn’t it be great to get those same benefits when you do your aerobic workout? Especially when we know so many of our clients, both male and female are looking to add shape and tone to their rear-ends.

Treadmills, stair steppers, elliptical machines and stationary bikes are great for aerobic conditioning and are highly recommended. But those machines don’t activate or stimulate our hamstrings and gluts enough to add shape and tone to our butt muscles. Almost everyone wants a nice, shapely, toned bottom and strength training will definitely address that when properly performed. But did you know that all your hours on those indoor aerobic machines add nothing to your gluts.

When you walk, jog or climb stairs you stimulate all the muscles of the lower body. The continual contraction of the quadriceps, hamstrings and gluteus is what moves us down the road or track. The various exercise machines that are designed to simulate running, climbing and biking are great for the aerobic part of the workout. Unfortunately, due to the design of the machine - the equipment ends up doing all the work we want our hamstrings and gluteus to do. This is why they are not great for adding tone and shape to our bottoms.  Don't get me wrong, I think they are great for aerobic conditioning, but don't expect to tone up your butt muscles with them!

Basic Bio-Mechanics….

Let’s first look at the basic walking or jogging movement to better understand why those machines don’t help tighten up our gluts. When you step forward with your lead leg, it is the hip flexor and quadricp muscle that contracts and extends your leg forward. As your front foot hits the ground…what pulls you forward is the contraction of your hamstrings and glut muscles. The continual contraction of all the muscles around the thigh makes walking a complete workout for the lower body.

As we compare the same movement with the treadmill you will see that the contraction of the quadriceps to extent the leg forward are the same. The problem or weakness of this exercise on a treadmill - for toning is the simple fact that as your foot hits the ground, instead of having to contract the hamstrings and gluts to propel the body forward. The machine will automatically throw your lead leg – back! Because of the mechanical action of the machine, the hamstrings and gluts don’t get stimulated. And if you don’t use it or stress it – you don’t tone it!

The shortcomings for the treadmill and all other aerobic machines are a result of the very nature of the apparatus. When you look at a stair stepper you will see that instead of having to contract your hams and gluts to propel your body up the stairs….it is the weight of your "lead" leg that causes the foot pedal to descend. Even though it feels like you are going up a flight of stairs – it’s not the same thing. Like the treadmill you are not stimulating the gluts anywhere close to the level that they need to be in order to stress them. It’s like doing the proverbial "12 ounce" curls…..we can do those all day and they won’t add any shape to our biceps.

As far as the elliptical machine and stationary bike – they have the same inherent problems. Step forward on the elliptical machine or press down on your bike pedal and without having to contract the hams and gluts the other leg is ready to activate the quadriceps again. Again you are basically omitting the need of the hamstrings and gluts muscles to perform these exercises. I know some cyclists that do activate their hamstrings when they pedal, by pulling the pedal around. But it is only the well trained, elite cyclist who rides with "clips" that gets that benefit. They are still not activating or stressing their gluteus muscles.

Look at the physique of a runner, sprinter and that of a cyclist. You will see that those runners who actually train on "mother earth" have well developed quads, hams and gluteus. Cyclists on the other hand have much larger quadriceps in proportion to their hamstrings, because the primary stroking motion is done with the quads.

Don’t get me wrong. I am a big fan of these machines for training, but I always try to encourage my patients/clients to get their aerobic training on ‘mother earth." When you do that you can kill two birds with one stone…..the aerobic benefits along with the toning benefits of our gluteus maximus.  If you want to add shape and tone to your back side, try interval running, sprint work or doing some real stairs.

Dr. Len Lopez is a nutrition and fitness expert and author of To Burn or Not to Burn – Fat is the Question, and "5 STEPS Closer." He is the host of Action Steps for Health and a frequent guest on radio and television. His approach to health and fitness is based on TEE-Time Philosophy of getting the most for your Time, Energy and Effort. Use the online health quizzes and check to see if you are staying in your fat-burning zone at DrLenLopez.com or call 972.458.0099

        

It's Here!!!!  My new book "5 STEPS Closer..." the only personal growth program that taps into your "visual" and "kinesthetic" learning centers to help you change the habits and attitudes that may be holding you back in your pursuit for better health, wealth and happiness. I encourage you to download a copy and start tracking how well you feed your body, mind and spirit in a day.

The book is easy to read and incorporates some of the principles I have been using in my practice to help my patients with their physical health.  In short, we all know the principle that "you are what you eat and think" so the question is what do you eat and think throughout the day?

Often times patients will tell me they eat well when they are trying to improve their health, but it isn't until we begin to track and record their daily food intake that we find out exactly how well they are doing.  The same is true with regards to how well we feed our mind, are we feeding it with positive, uplifting thoughts or do we feed our mind with constant negative thoughts and emotions?  It isn't until you make a conscious effort and track to see what kinds of thoughts are being feed to your mind.

That is what the STEPS Program is all about.  STEPS is an acronym for:


 

Each day you shade-in the footstep for the action you took. 

• If you ate well for the day, you shade-in the "E" 

• If you did some physical exercise, shade-in the "P"

• If you spent some time on your spiritual walk, shade-in the "S"

etcetera.....it takes no more than a couple of minutes each day, but by the end of the week you will have drawn a picture for yourself that you can quickly see - and it will activate your 'visual' learning center.  The physical aspect of shading-in the letters will activate your "kinesthetic" learning centers.

There has never been another journaling system like it!  It's practical and so powerful!!!

There are other motivational and journaling systems out there, but none of them incorporate the use of your "visual" and "kinesthetic" learning centers.  This is important and one of the reasons why so many people can't break those habits and attitudes that are limiting and holding them back.  When you can visually see how many steps you have taken and how much closer you are to whatever goal and dream you have for yourself, you can really begin to make some changes for the better.

5 STEPS Closer..." will compliment any program you are currently following.  It simply provides a way for you to hold yourself accountable to some of the most fundamental steps in life.

• What do you feed your body?
• What do you feed your mind?
• What do you feed your spirit?

In less than two minutes a day you can track how well you are doing.  Journaling is great, but who has the time to write everything down or the time to re-read what they wrote.  Simply turn back to any week in your life and you will quickly see how many STEPS you took and quickly be able to answer why you are or aren't any closer to achieving the health, wealth and happiness you are looking for in life

I encourage you to download "5 STEPS Closer..." and see for yourself if you are taking the most fundamental STEPS in your life?

        

When we talk about adding lean muscle tissue and having a healthy libido you have to talk about testosterone for both men and women. A couple of things you need to understand about testosterone are, both men and women produce testosterone. The pathway to produce it is very dependent on healthy adrenal function, especially after 40 years of age. The adrenal glands are important because they are involved in the production of your sex hormones (estrogen, progesterone, testosterone and DHEA – our anti aging hormone).

The best way to increase your testosterone for both men and women is with exercise and sleep. Those two things will help raise your testosterone levels better than anything. If you want to increase your testosterone for your libido, fertility or to add muscle….get some good sleep and some physical exercise. The more intense the workout the more testosterone surge you will produce. A walking program will help increase your testosterone levels, but if you add some speed walking or interval walking (walk fast and slow over the course of your walk) or weight training, you will cause a bigger spike in your testosterone levels.

What works against, or reduces testosterone levels are refined, processed, junk food snack, dessert or anything that causes a huge blood sugar surge late in the evening or before you go to bed. This is especially important for men because if you do eat these processed, refined sweets late in the evening it will cause some of your testosterone to convert into estrogen or DHT. Neither of them are a good thing.

Yes, men make estrogen, you’ll make more if you eat those late night snacks because your testosterone will convert into estrogen. This is easy to see in men as they approach 40 and beyond, because they start losing their stamina and drive, they have a harder time adding lean muscle to their body, but they also seem to be adding more fatty tissue in their chest. If you go to the beach, you can quickly see men without their shirts on who are retaining more fatty tissue in their chests.

Let’s not forget that erectile dysfunction is a huge problem associated with decreased levels of testosterone. Could it be related or exacerbated from our diet, lack of physical exercise and poor quality of sleep? I think so! The worse thing men and women can do is eat junk foods or high glycemic food in the evening. This will drive down your testosterone levels and ruining your libido.

The second reason to stay away from the sweets in the evening is because it will also cause your testosterone to convert into DHT (dihydrotestosterone), which leads to an enlarged prostate and seems to show evidence of being closely associated to male pattern baldness.

FYI….if you are taking statin drugs to lower your cholesterol, it causes a decrease production in testosterone. Lower levels of testosterone is associated with depression. Remember elevated cholesterol and blood pressure is NOT the CAUSE, they are simply markers (signals) that your cardiovascular system is in jeopardy and needs attention. To simply lower those markers with a drug without taking into consideration what caused them to elevate is not the way to truly address the potential heart problem.

The Stress and Diet Connection…

Exercise and sleep are how we raise our trigger our testosterone levels to increase, but you have to make sure your body has the necessary nutritional resources to make those hormones. Don’t assume the body has an endless supply or capability to make those hormones. Your diet - the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, amino and fatty acids are what is needed to build these hormones. If you are not supplying your body with these nutrients, how can you expect your body (adrenals and testes) to build those hormones.




Why, the health of your adrenal glands are important is easily understood when you follow the diagram. You will see that your adrenals make your stress hormones, cortisol and adrenaline, but they also make a host of other hormones. What’s important is if your adrenals are always having to make your stress hormones, it may not have enough resources to make an adequate supply of DHEA or the other downstream hormones. This is why constant stress and adrenal exhaustion can lead to lower DHEA, testosterone, estrogen and progesterone levels. Your adrenals are spending all its resources combating all the stress in your life.

To help ensure you are making adequate levels of testosterone, make sure your adrenals are working fine. Use our "Online Health Quizzes" to see if stress is part of your problem. If you want to go a step further the 24 Hour Saliva test is an objective laboratory test that accurately measure how stress is impacting your adrenal glands. If either tests show stress and adrenal exhaustion are the problem, begin to nourish your depleted adrenal glands with Adrenal Fuel, a comprehensive formula that nourishes and balances those important hormones. If a good nights sleep is a problem, add Neuro Calm to help the body relax and unwind at the end of the day. They are part of my AM-PM stress recovery program.

FYI…you can never rebalance your reproductive hormones (estrogen, progesterone, testosterone) if you adrenals are exhausted and fatigued.

Supplements to help keep your testosterone from converting into estrogen are saw palmetto, pygeum, along with the mineral zinc.

Don't forget to sign-up for my Blog postings so you can always get each post sent directly to you when they come out.  And don't forget to tell someone about this site....especially if they want to hear about how to address the real cause of the problem.

        

I’m sure you have all heard about the latest study slamming red meat and blaming it for an increased rise in cancer and heart disease, but is the real problem red meat or is it the way it is raised. I’m not going to get into all the details and accuracy of the study and the fact that the people were accessed on their own self reporting as to what they ate.

What I want to talk about is the differences that come about when you eat a hamburger or steak that has come from a ranch that follows conventional feeding practices or those that allow ‘free-range’ feeding. There is a huge difference in the quality of the meat based on the conditions and the feed these animals are given.

I’m not even going to go into all the hormones and antibiotics you are exposed to when you eat meat from a grocery store, fast food or family restaurant. They all contain a certain amount of hormones and antibiotics that are not helpful to your overall health.

The point I really want to talk about is the differences in the amount of the good, monounsaturated fats you get when you eat ‘range feed’ beef compared to animals that are raised on typical feedlots for giant retailers. Animals that are conventionally raised are given a diet high in grains, which is not the standard diet for most farm animals. This causes their body, the meat we eat, to be highly dense in saturated fats. On the other hand, animals that are allowed to eat their natural diet, which is grass, produce meat that has a nice ratio of saturated to monounsaturated fats.

The problem isn’t saturated fats – it’s the ratio of saturated fats to monounsaturated fats that are the problem. Or more specifically the problem is that people are eating more foods that have only a small amount of monounsaturated fats.  Most people who consume meats that are conventionally raised are eating lots of saturated fats, whereas if they ate meat that had a higher ratio of monounsaturated fats, their health would be drastically different and much improved.

The ratio of saturated to monounsaturated fats back in the 1900’s and from wild animals were about four to one (4:1). Unfortunately with the development of the massive feedlots and the use of grains to fatten up these animals has changed the ratio to about nineteen to one (19:1). This huge shift has made the American public susceptible to heart disease, cancer, arthritic pain, diabetes, hormonal and chemical imbalances. The reason is a lack of the important monounsaturated fats, not because saturated fats are bad. 

I and many other doctors don't believe saturated fats should be blamed for all the health problems out there.  I don't believe saturated fats, insulin or cortisol are inherently bad for us, but when we have an imbalance caused by over-consumption we create problems. 

There is more and more research showing the benefits of omega 3 fatty acids and fish oils being beneficial, but the reason these supplements are so helpful is that people aren’t getting enough in their daily diet. Fish oils and other omega 3 fatty acids are found in our diet. The question is are we eating enough of them or are we choosing foods that are lacking in those important nutrients?

If you are a meat lover, as I am, don’t be hoodwinked into believing all red meat is bad. If you do than you are basically throwing the baby out with the bath water. The benefits of ‘free range’ beef and other meats are immense when you start adding up all that it does and doesn’t have. No Dangerous Hormones or Antibiotics and Lots of the essential fatty acids found in monounsaturated fats. Remember our diet is supposed to provide us with most of the nutrients we need to stay healthy, but when you fall short is when you should supplement. If you have or continue to eat conventional red meat, realize that your ratio of saturated to monounsaturated fats are out of balance and may need some supplementing with Sea Energy to help restore balance.

Any of my patience who come to me complaining of heart disease (elevated blood pressure or cholesterol), arthritic pain, PMS, hot flashes, night sweats and depression will always be given a bottle of Sea Energy to help improve that ratio and improve their health.

If you want to keep learning more and keep seperating the hype from the truth when it comes to health and fitness I encourage you to sign up for my Blog.  Each time a write a posting you will be notified.  Seach the archives of the blog or go to my website and read the many differet articles on health and fitness.

        

If you struggle with lack of focus, inability to concentrate or comprehend – it doesn’t matter if you are an adult or child, a lot of the problem is found in how well you keep your blood sugar stable.

You need to understand that when your blood sugar drops the brain is not able to function as well as it is supposed to.  The brains primary source of fuel comes from carbohydrates, sugar….glucose, whatever you want to call it. Carbohydrates get broken down into sugars and than into glucose, but when glucose is falling because you either skipped a meal or ate the wrong foods, it causes your blood sugar to drop.  When blood sugar is low your brain is unable to process information as you would like it to…thus lack of focus, inability to concentrate or comprehend, the inability to make sound judgment or rational decisions.

For a child the symptoms are the same, the only difference is that a child doesn’t realize all the social etiquite that comes from being quiet in a classroom and their inability to process information or concentrate is reflected in the fact that they don’t listen to what they are told.

Overcoming this problems begins by controlling your diet and keeping your blood sugar stable.  So the first step is you can’t skip a meal.  Skipping breakfast is the worst thing you can do followed by eating a breakfast made of nothing but refined white flour and sugar…such as a bagel, muffin, pancake, waffle or cereal, along with a cup of coffee.  These types of meals cause your blood sugar to surge and than rapidly fall, and the problems come about when blood sugar is low.  If the meal is made with 100% whole grain…the problem is not as bad, but depending on how good your body is at controlling your blood sugar i.e. good adrenal function.  Or how long ago you started cleaning up your diet.

You have to eat protein with each of your meals.  You don’t have to eat a whole chicken, but you need at least 4-8 oz of protein with each meal.  If you follow those two simple steps, you can make major inroads to your ADD/ADHD problems.  I would also suggest two other important steps that will take you the rest of the way. 

Add fish oil to your daily diet.  Use Sea Energy, 2-4 capsules a day and start eating more almonds, pecans, walnuts, etc… along with cooking with olive oil and adding fish to your diet a couple of times a week.  These good fats, the omega 3’s are critical in production of your chemical brain messengers and hormones, so add them to your daily diet for at least a month to give them a good test.  Also, cut back on all your trans fatty acids, the partially hydrogenated oils that are found in almost every packaged and fast food.

Lastly take all the dairy, wheat, corn, soy, coffee and artificial sweeteners out of your diet for at least 2 weeks. Many times these foods are unbeknownst to us, irritating our digestive system and leaving a byproduct of waste that is irritating our nervous system.

Don’t forget to stay away soft drinks, fruit juices and most energy drinks because they are loaded with refined sugars and also other stimulants that further depletes the adrenal glands.  I mention the adrenal glands because when blood sugar drops the adrenals kick in and have to balance out the blood sugar.  If the adrenals are already exhausted and fatigued, they don’t offer much help.  This is why it is important to keep your blood sugar stable with your diet and not depend on your adrenals to do it for you.

If you are looking for a good substitute you can use or offer to your kids, let me introduce you to the NatraLean health bar.  They have a great balance of protein to fats and carbs to help keep your blood sugar stable, they are also made with NO dairy, gluten, wheat, corn, soy, trans fats or artificial sweeteners.  Best of all they are Great Tasting.

Don’t forget that good adrenal function is critical in helping controlling blood sugar, if you suspect your adrenals may be overworked, due to stress, add some Adrenal Fuel for at least 30 days and see if that doesn’t help turn things around. 

If you want more information about blood sugar and how important it is to staying in your "fat-burning" zone, grab a copy of "To Burn or Not to Burn - Fat is the Question," search the Blog to find other related articles or the archive of articles that have been written.  I hope you learned something from this information.  If you haven't already signed up for the Blog or newsletter, I encourage you to if you are one of the many people who are looking for answers on how to become or stay healthy, Natually!