The Dr. Lam Show

Tackling Hunger, Food Sensitivities and Weight Issues

May 30, 2021 Dr. Lam
The Dr. Lam Show
Tackling Hunger, Food Sensitivities and Weight Issues
Show Notes Transcript

Do you struggle with your weight? It may not be completely your fault. There are a range of things that can interfere with your weight loss efforts, from food sensitivities to insulin levels. If you struggle with Adrenal Fatigue, beware of the fasting diets out there as they might not be right for your body. Find out how to tackle hunger correctly.

1:20 - Why do Adrenal Fatigue sufferers have to eat often?
2:35 - Types of foods that cause more hunger
6:40 - Key organs in the Bioenergetic Circuit
10:10 - Food sensitivities vs. Food Allergies
12:15 - How to deal with Histamine Issues
14:45 - Compounds that help with histamine overload
16:15 - Types of Fasting and how to go about it safely

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Dr. Carrie Lam, MD:

Do you struggle with your diet and have difficulty losing weight? Do you find yourself eating constantly or reacting badly to certain foods, even those that are supposed to be good for you? Your body is complicated and when you have adrenal fatigue, it can react in unexpected and damaging ways. If you have adrenal fatigue and struggle with food, and food sensitivities in your diet, we are here to help. This is the Dr. Lam show. And we're here to empower you to take control of your health. If you find the show very useful, you like the topics, make sure you hit the like button and subscribe, and watch our YouTube channel. This is the best way to make the show more visible, so that other people who need the information can find it. So thank you for joining us today. I'm Dr. Carrie Lam. And I specialize in family medicine, and also holistic health for many years.

Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD:

Hi, I'm Dr. Jeremy Lam, I'm an expert in chronic conditions and preventative health. So first off, let's take a look at one of the issues that most often interfere with your desires to lose weight. And that's constant hunger. So why do people with adrenal fatigue have to eat so often and why do they get this constant hunger? One of the reasons is because of the body's stress response. When your body is stressed, it metabolically wants to keep on fighting it, by using sugar. So when stress arrives, the body needs more sugar to overcome stress. The sugar load in our body tends to go down when you encounter stress, because it's been used up, so it's like a gasoline tank, the faster you're on the car, when there's more stress, the faster you use up gasoline, and therefore you need to replenish that. So for people with a lot of stress, have the urge to eat because their insulin level fluctuates. So the sugar level and the insulin level can be affected. Do certain foods actually make people more hungry Dr. Carrie?

Dr. Carrie Lam, MD:

The type of food that can make a difference on your hunger levels are the types of foods that breaks down faster. Those are high glycemic foods. Carbohydrates that tend to be broken down easily and release energy are higher glycemic foods. On the other hand, proteins and fats are more sustaining, as they don't break down as fast as carbohydrates. It also depends on the kind of breakdown in terms of proportion, and how much energy it gives your body. That's why when you eat a piece of bread, or pasta or crackers or cakes, you get really hungry soon after, because it spikes your insulin much faster than protein like beans or nuts. So proteins or fibers would make you feel fuller for long. Dr. Jeremy, what's the physiology behind this hypoglycemia or low sugar?

Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD:

The sugar imbalance in the setting of adrenal fatigue is not necessarily hypoglycemia, which means sugar level is not technically low in the blood. In fact, the sugar level can be normal, but they feel irritable. like shakiness, jitteriness, not feeling so nice. And they feel better when they have some snacks at regular intervals. So, how does this happen if their blood sugar levels are not actually low? Imagine you're coming going up on a roller coaster and on your way down, it's not really that drop, it's more your heart beating really fast. Similarly, with blood sugar, a rapid drop in blood sugar, can be leaving you with that sensation of hypoglycemia even though the levels are actually normal. And this is normally regulated. But if this regulation is compromised, such as adrenal fatigue, then you start to have those feelings of jitteriness and low sugars even though again, that level is not actually low.

Dr. Carrie Lam, MD:

So you actually check your blood sugar levels, and the actual absolute number might not be low, but it's just the relative drop. That makes you feel that hunger and sugar, drop hypoglycemia, feelings. If you're healthy, you can manage this drop or this hanger feeling and balance the sugar in the way your body wants. However, if you have neuroendometabolic stress response that is affecting the bioenergetic circuit, where it is the regulation of your body by sugar, and stress, then you might have even more unbalanced sugar feelings throughout the day. So before, during or after you eat every meal, you might have spikes all day. And with these spikes, comes heart palpitations or feelings of dropping of sugar like jittery, wired or tired even at night and wake you because you get hungry. You're fasting at night, and your body regulates the breakdown of energy, but if you get hungry in the middle of night, you'll wake up and that may not be the right way to deal with this hunger. The bioenergetic circuit is such a critical part and intertwined with this adrenal fatigue that a lot of people have. So what are

Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD:

The key organs that are in the bioenergetic circuit is first the thyroid, the liver, and pancreas. The thyroid is responsible for your metabolism and the energy that you need to function. The pancreas releases insulin regulating the blood sugar in your body and the liver processes and metabolizes the toxins. So these three are important in the bio-energetic circuit. But other signs of bioenergetic circuit dysfunction is, feeling sluggish after a meal, and feeling hungry again. You may have a dull ache in the liver area, sometimes have brain fog, and difficulty concentrating and cannot remember things. Other symptoms include, migrating discomforts around the joints and some people might struggle losing weight, or even gaining weight. the key organs that we talk about in the bioenergetic All these can point to really a bioenergetic circuit circuit. isruption.

Dr. Carrie Lam, MD:

So if you're the type of adrenal fatigue sufferer that feels hungry every two hours to three hours, you have to look at what you're actually doing in terms of your metabolic structure curve. Listen to your body, take a very detailed history with a knowledgeable person and practitioner to help you to map out what your body needs, the type of food to eat, and how often. So if your body says you need food every two hours, listen to your body, give it a snack, but instead of taking a high carb snack, do it with protein or fat, or broth, which is very good. And so listen to your body about when it needs and when it doesn't need food, your body will change with time. You should see the sugar cravings and the hunger goes away with time as you continue to balance all the other circuits in your body. So depending on each person, you can eat every two hours or you can eat every three hours. As you get stronger, the less disruption you should have until the body kicks in. So then the signs might be as your body gets better and you start healing from your adrenal fatigue, you might not need to eat as often. These are the basics behind the feelings of constant hunger that disrupts your diet efforts. And this sugar roller coaster can be very distressing, difficult to manage. It can definitely be dealt with. So if you need more specialized help on your nutritional needs, you can definitely talk to one of our staff and when you call our phone number 714709 1000 and we will be able to come and balance those hunger needs tell you which snacks to take and balance your sugars. Okay. Dr. Jeremy, tell us about this next issue that we're going to talk about that's very common.

Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD:

A lot of people with adrenal fatigue, complain of food sensitivities. They cannot eat all kinds of food. Now why is that? Well, first let's discuss the difference between food sensitivity and food allergy. This is a very important distinction because a food allergy is a medical situation that is mediated by IgE or immunoglobulin E. This is when you hear people say when they eat some peanuts they can't breathe, and go into anaphylactic shock and this can be fatal. These are food allergies. What we're going to be talking about, is food sensitivities where you're not tolerant to certain types of food, but it's not to the degree of an allergy where you cannot function. So Dr. Carrie, what are the causes of food sensitivities?

Dr. Carrie Lam, MD:

The way to look at food sensitivities, instead of looking at IgE, you might look at IgG which is another type of immunoglobulin. Also, there are other types of chemicals in your body responsible for sensitivities. Most common one is called histamine, which is both a neurotransmitter and an immunomodulator. And it's found all over your body in different types of cells. And what does histamine do? It's a fundamental chemical that has stimulatory properties. But what it can do is produce alertness in your brain cause basal dilation, meaning opening of your peripheral arteries in the gut. It also has this type of basal dilation effect. But if you have a lot of histamine in the body, you can also get some itching, just like allergies, springtime allergies, some sniffling, congestion, migrating discomfort in your joints, brain fog if it's affecting your gut, due to sensitivities to different foods. And so, what are some ways some people can deal with this when they have a lot of histamine Dr. Jeremy?

Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD:

The most obvious choice is to take over the counter drug, called antihistamines. They block the action of histamines. But this is just a band aid approach and is not reducing histamine, just solving the problem temporarily. That's why oftentimes, people would take antihistamines, but they don't last very long. They find that they have to increase the dose to help with the symptoms. So yes, having too much histamines can lead to itching and the antihistamines can help with that.

Dr. Carrie Lam, MD:

Where do we mostly get histamine from? If you are known to have a lot of food sensitivities, then you might think about our histamine diet to reduce that histamine production. What type of foods have a lot of histamine? They would be ones that are fermented, or even leftovers, highly processed food, fermented cheese, processed meats, like sausages, salami. Certain vegetables have more histamine than others like tomatoes, spinach, eggplant, they release a little more histamine than others. And so these are not universal. The histamine diet is a hard diet to follow and shouldn't be done long term, because it's very restrictive. But if you find that, you're very inflamed, and there's really nothing else because you're just reacting to all the foods then you want to think about the histamine diet to reduce your inflammation.

Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD:

Yes, the anti histamine diet can be pretty hard to follow. So, doing an elimination diet, where you find what foods you're sensitive to, and in a guided way is an appropriate way to figure out what foods is causing your histamine overload.

Dr. Carrie Lam, MD:

There are also some natural compounds in supplements that can be used, but it is very dose dependent and don't ever do it without an experienced practitioner recommending it for you. Those compounds are like quercetin, bromelain, they have antihistaminic properties. And even mangosteens have compounds that helps histamine release and holy basil. But, you have to make sure that it's right for your body and you're taking the right dose, sometimes taking one or two might not be enough, and you have to increase it to maybe six, three times a day for it to actually work. Vitamin C is useful, as well as bromine in fish oil to reduce overall inflammation. Looking at the whole person and how the adrenals are related will be important in that inflammation pathway. If you've really enjoyed our podcast so far, I invite you to like and subscribe, and definitely hit the bell below if you have any notification, so that you can get notifications for every episode that we put out every week.

Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD:

Food sensitivities can be very subtle, so if you believe you have some of these subtle signs, don't try to fix them on your own because they could get worse. Don't be afraid to reach out and call us at 714-709-8000 for help from a nutritional expert. And lastly, the final part of today's podcast is going to be talking about fasting. So what are the some different ways that you can fast Dr. Carrie?

Dr. Carrie Lam, MD:

Intermittent fasting is very popular nowadays where you can fast for 16 to 18 hours, you eat two meals, either breakfast and lunch, or lunch and dinner, within six hours. There are different types of fastings. Others can eat regularly for five days, and then fast for two whole days. And then there are even more extreme fast where people go for 10, 20 or even 40 days at fasting centers and not eat anything but just drinking water. We'll go through what's good and what's bad. So Dr. Jeremy, what are some benefits of these types of fasting?

Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD:

Well, fasting is beneficial because when you're fasting, you're depriving your body from the food and also ensure that you don't put in extra food into your body. So you're basically running on your reserve. That's the good part, because you're not overeating, and allowing your body to rest, and your liver to work less. That's key - your liver is working less and processing the toxins and metabolites. And in doing so, you're using up your reserve. When you're using up that reserve, the body is resting and your insulin resistance and growth hormone output improves. And so those are some of the benefits of fasting. Not only just intermittent fasting, but other types of fasting as well. But you just have to make sure that your body is in the condition to deal with fasting.

Dr. Carrie Lam, MD:

In case of intermittent fasting, your body starts burning fat around 16 to 18 hours. That's why you need to fast for that time period. After that, if you have a heavy carb diet then that actually cancels out. So for most people who are fasting, it would be better to have a more fatty diet because you would burn fat and not use the sugar. This is what your body really wants. In adrenal fatigue, though, you want to have that fat replacement, because actually fat is a critical building block for making all hormones like estrogen, testosterone, progesterone. So having the right quantity and proportion of fat is very important. And we talked a little about the long term fasting, but you should definitely do it in a center and not just by yourself at home. It's important to avoid too much acidity in your blood so you can go into ketosis. You want to always make sure you get checked and you're hydrating enough because ketosis, ketogenic diets require a lot of preparation. If your body goes into ketosis, it goes into a very acidic state, which you have to be strong enough to handle. So a lot of times people with adrenal fatigue with body's already stressed out, will stress out further by putting into an acidic state. Don't fast without your doctor's recommendation, unless you have some experience in it. If you're doing long term fasting, definitely go to a center, because a lot of times the common symptom of adrenal fatigue is actually hunger. We talked about that in the beginning of the podcast. And so if you actually have a lot of hunger, and you ignore your body's signs, and fast instead, that can be also very stressful to your body. So listening to your body and giving it the righ thing at the right time is very important.

Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD:

Also, we want to give the body the proper time for nutrient feeding, and proper time for rest. We always have patients asking us, is it good to fast and you have to take a personalized approach to whether your body can handle it or not. Fasting can crash your system causing irreversible damages, like Dr. Carrie mentioned, specially if you're in the late stages of adrenal fatigue. If you're in the earlier stages, then maybe you can handle it more if your body's strong. So it's really knowing when to press on the gas with fasting and also know when it's not the right time, which can make things worse. So it's also titrating those times properly as well but all types of fasting should be done under supervision and not by yourself, to ensure that it's something that your body can handle.

Dr. Carrie Lam, MD:

We hope we answered your questions about tackling hunger, food sensitivities, and fasting. And you always want to look at what the deeper issues are behind your food struggles. If you're struggling with your diet, or need extra help you can always access to additional educational material online with us at lamclinic.com or call us at 714-709-8000 for a free initial phone call. We invite you to make sure you like share subscribe to our podcast, and hit the notifications button. For more future episodes on the Dr. Lam show. We're here to empower you to take control of your health.

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