Organic--but is it safe?

The New York Times recently published an article entitled, "It’s Organic, but Does That Mean It’s Safer?" which raised questions about food safety related to the salmonella outbreak related to organically farmed foods.

It's important right from the outset of this blog to shatter the fantasies that we maintain about organic food as it is packaged and consumed in suburban America. The organic food industry is just that--another industry, another corporate enterprise. Many of the most visible organic food players are owned now by corporate suits like Kellogs (owns Kashi) and General Mills (owns Cascadian Farms), and Coca Cola (owns Honest Tea). What is more, the standards of organic food production allows for the use of artificial preservatives. Free range animals can be couped up except for a few hours a day when a tiny door is opened to a tine caged plot of dirt. If the chicken walks around or not is due to the vagaries of fate.

What is more, organic meats come from animals fed organic corn and organic soy beans which impart organic inflammatory products that acidify the blood and organic estrogen that may affect boys' fertility and possibly increase a woman's risk of breast and ovarian cancer in certain sub-groups. (Organic cancer anyone?)

Anything that is packaged, wrapped, or frozen is not going to be very good for you--even if it is organic. It still uses too much organic salt, too much organic fat and way too many resources like plastic wrappers, waxed paper cartons that will be thrown away and not recycled...

As a nation, we need to move beyond buzz words and sweet notions of where our food comes from how it arrives on our table. We need to become more involved in local agriculture, support regional growers and be willing to make more food ourselves from fresh ingredients. It is no longer sufficient to trust the government or big corporations to ensure not only the lack of danger but the wholesomeness of our food. For starters, everyone who is interested or passionate about food should read Michael Pollen's "Omnivore's Dilemma" (2007, Penguin paperback) which is a true eye-opener in this regard.

Adrenal Mood connection

I recently returned from a show in New York that was for health care providers. My company, Aroma MD was exhibiting. Usually at these shows, our sleep product, Sweet Sleep is the hands down best seller. It seems like everyone could use a little more sleep these days. But what is interesting is that this time, our mood and adrenal product, Mood Master was the best seller--by far.

What's the connection between mood and the adrenal glands you may ask, or between adrenal health and sleep? It's all connected, and it's only getting worse.

Adrenal fatigue is fast becoming one of the biggest health problems or seemingly healthy people. Let me explain: There is a concept in European medicine, particularly in endobiogeny, that organs can be dysfunctional while all the blood tests and imaging studies are normal. I call this "functional dysfunction." This means that you can get by, but you're only running on 3 gears instead of 5. This is the classic example of when a doctor says "You're tests are fine. You're not sick" and you think "But I feel terrible. How can I have normal labs and not feel normal?" That's functional dysfunction.

The adrenal gland is the first responder to stress. It makes adrenaline and it makes your natural cortisol hormone. Stressors--from noise pollution like city traffic, or light pollution from city life or working night shifts, emotional and physical stress that go one too long start to exhaust the adrenal gland's ability to respond to stress.

When the adrenal gland is over-stimulated and it can't make enough cortisol or adrenaline, two things happen. First, you have a hard time using your blood sugar and keeping up energy levels. Fluctuating blood sugar levels lead to swings in emotions and concentration because blood sugar is the only fuel the brain can use, so if sugar levels are even slightly unsteady, so is your Brian function. When your body needs to grab more sugar from your food, it uses too much serotonin--your good mood brain transmitter--in the gut. This is because 95% of serotonin is used in the gut for digestion. Only 5% is used in the brain for mood. So, your gut steals serotonin from the brain for the gut and then you get depressed and you're tired.

The second thing that happens from adrenal over-stimulation is that you make too much DHEA, a hormone that in high levels puts people on edge and makes them quick to anger and reduces their tolerance levels. So now you're moody, tired, cranky and depressed.

The funny thing is, even though people feel tired with adrenal fatigue, they have a hard time sleeping because they get a second wind with an adrenaline burst late at night.

So, if you are getting dark circles under your eyes, have trouble getting started in the morning, or feel a brain fog until around 10AM, or feel uncontrollably tired between 2-4pm and have altered mood or depression, you may have adrenal fatigue and minor depression.

The key is to get a good night's sleep. That's where a natural sleep aid like Sweet Sleep is helpful. It naturally increases the hypnogenic factors that help you sleep at night, and reduces stress levels. 

Mood Master helps in two ways: 

• ENERGY: Mood master contains energy-giving essential oils like grapefruit and clary sage. By taking over some of the role of adrenaline and resting part of the adrenal gland which lets it build up reserves. Over time, say 3-12 months, you should start to get more energy back and have steadier mood. 
• MOOD: Mood master contains mood-balancing essential oils like clary sage and clove, and anti-depressant essential oils like lavender and grapefruit. By improving mood, you reduce emotional stress and improve tolerance to external stressors.

Work with an experienced health care provider to help you manage your condition. You may need other supplements like vitamin C, which helps make nor-adrenaline, or SAMe, which helps make adrenaline, or B vitamins which help manage stress. There are also natural cortisol type plant products from the young shoots and buds of the sequoia and oak trees, or from dogwood and black current bud.