Enjoying Holiday Sweets Posted on November 19, 2015 by Dr. Carol Ann Fischer, DC

Sugar now has a bad reputation, as does fat. Both have been linked to a lot of degenerative diseases and unwanted health issues. So how do you make holiday cookies, cakes and pies without the traditional white sugar and solid white oil? You use good sugars and good oil.

No all sugars are the same. There are natural sugars and man-made sugars. Man-made sugar from corn used to be known as high fructose corn syrup. It has been renamed as fructose. Fructose was considered fruit sugar, but now it is a highly processed GMO corn sugar.

Fructose as a refined sugar spikes blood sugar rapidly, compared to natural sugars that are metabolized slowly as food. Another man-made sugar that has seen a name change contains aspartame. This artificial sweetener is now amino-sweet, with the same toxic chemical compounds.

Good fat in the form of oil is needed in all baked goods. The best fats and oils to use occur naturally as foods. Man-made oils are made by adding hydrogen gas to create a solid mass at room temperature. The process is called hydrogenation, and it produces a fat known as a trans fat or hydrogenated fat.

Trans fats are flat molecules, like a pad of paper. Good natural fat is like many crumpled up papers. Natural fats are easily used as building blocks by the body for the brain, nervous system and all cell membranes due to their shape. Only 18 days are needed for the body to use a good fat, while it takes 51 days to break down a trans fat.

This holiday season can be a time of great joy, and sharing many festive foods with family and friends. Join the growing movement of healthier food choices in preparing holiday sweets. Here is a simple guideline of what sugars & fats to avoid and what to use instead. Enjoy the sweetness of the holiday season!

  Avoid These Sugars & Oils                                     Replace With These Sugars & Oils

White Sugar (made from GMO corn), Fructose AKA High Fructose Corn Syrup	Stevia, Organic 100% Cane Sugar, Organic Honey, Organic Coconut Sugar, Organic Raw Sugar or Organic Maple Syrup
Commercially Prepared Oils, Shortening, Margarine (Usually rancid synthetic oils with added chemicals and food colors) Canola Oil /Cottonseed Oil (from GMO seeds)	Organic Coconut Oil Organic Cold-Pressed Food Oils (best in dark bottles) Organic Extra-Virgin Olive Oil

Not sure if you have any health issues as a result of your past dietary habits? Call( 734) 664-0339 to schedule a free dietary analysis with Dr. Sherry Yale, D.C. at TLC Holistic Wellness in Livonia, MI. She has provided holistic and nutritional recommendations using diet & whole food supplements for 26 years as a practicing chiropractor, holistic-wellness consultant.

Visit  TLC Holistic Wellness for more information and to learn about our free Holiday Gift for New Patients. 

Creating a New Look Posted on April 10, 2015 by Dr. Carol Ann Fischer

                                                  Creating A New Look 

By Dr. Carol Ann Fischer, BS, DC, ND

It is true that you are what you eat. To lose more weight stop eating fat storing foods and eat fat burning foods. An efficiently working metabolism helps with weight loss.

Having an efficient metabolism means correctly digesting foods, and burning stored body fat for fuel. Food digestion requires the proper combination of digestive enzymes produced by the stomach, liver and pancreas. Failure to digest efficiently results in the undigested food being stored as unwanted body fat. Personalized testing can determine the exact nutrients needed for efficient digestion.

All carbohydrates consumed become sugar, which is fat storing. Plus, sugar is hidden in all processed and man-made foods. Fruits, vegetables and all grains are natural carbohydrates. Your body converts natural, processed and man-made carbohydrates like potatoes, corn, rice, oats, pop, fries, chips, breads, pasta, cakes, candies, juices and cookies into sugar. Eating more sugar and/or carbohydrates than your body needs causes unwanted weight.

Your body needs 80-100 grams of carbohydrates daily for fuel, not the 300-600 commonly consumed. Carbohydrates are the kindling to the fire. The body burns them quickly and then burns the slower burning fuel, fat. The body cannot burn stored fat when excess carbohydrates are eaten. Instead, the excess is stored around your waist, hips and thighs.

Protein is a fat burning food that increases your metabolism, helps with weight loss, and builds muscle tissue. Protein is broken down into amino acids that make up your body. Avoiding protein or not eating protein can increase weight. Protein from both animal and plant sources can provide energy and stabilize blood sugar.

Eating fat does not make you fat. It actually increases weight loss. Insufficient good fat in your diet from fish oil, chia or flax seeds can cause low energy, poor concentration, dry skin and unwanted weight. Eating the wrong fat, or following a low fat diet deprives the body of needed essential fatty acids.

A healthy body is composed of 25% fat. Your body uses this fat in all cell membranes, and in nerve and brain cells. The fat found around the abdomen and thighs is caused by the consumption of bad fats and excess sugars, not essential fatty acids. To lose weight, eat good fat, protein and eliminate excessive sugars from your diet.

The key to weight loss is a balanced diet of protein, vegetables, fruits and good fats, and drinking ½ your body weight in ounces of healthy living water. Combining good food choices with a simple exercise program, and healthy water can result in weight loss. There is help to end the frustration from failed weight loss programs. A digestive evaluation, plus a dietary analysis based on body type, age, weight and height can help determine what foods you need to create a New You.

Call Dr. Linda Solomon, DC, CCWFN at TLC Holistic Wellness in Livonia (734) 664 - 0339. She has provided holistic and nutritional recommendations using live water, diet & whole food supplements for 30 years as a practicing chiropractor, whole foods-wellness consultant. Visit http://www.tlcholisticwellness.com/  for more information, and free public workshop dates.

Sweets for Your Sweetie

By Dr. Carol Ann Fischer, D.C., N.D.

Valentines Day is the one day that we give something sweet to someone we care about. Show your affection by giving the gift of sweets with real ingredients. There are many different types of sweeteners available today, from natural to man-made synthetics.

Man-made sugars are causing health issues and creating hidden food allergies. The three most common food allergens are wheat/gluten, dairy and corn. Many digestive issues, migraines and headaches, brain fog, aches and pains, chronic sinus congestion and asthma/allergies are related to hidden food allergies.

Most processed foods now contain some form of sweetener. Of the three food allergens, corn is the only food that is used to make sweeteners. For those with corn sensitivities, eating sweets made from corn can be the cause of many unwanted health issues.

Corn is used to make sweeteners because it is cheaper and twice as sweet as table sugar. It is absorbed only 40% as quickly as glucose and causes only a modest rise in blood sugar. Corn has been altered to make high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), sorbitol, xylitol, fructose, sweet & low, sucrose, maltodextrin, poly dextrose, inosital, and saccharin. The average person today consumes 60 pounds of HFCS, which is approximately 19% of the average person's diet.

This man-made HFCS has replaced sugar as the sweetener in many beverages, candy and foods such as breads, cereals, breakfast bars, luncheon meats, yogurts, soups and condiments. In 2009 The Wall Street Journal reported that half of the tested samples of HFCS also contained mercury. Mercury is the most toxic substance known to man, and it is now combined with HFCS.

HFCS with mercury were found in nearly a third of 55 popular brand name food and beverage products. HFCS is now the first or second highest labeled ingredient. HFCS alters body chemistry by causing the growth of fat cells around vital organs, setting the stage for heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. HFCS interacts with oral contraceptives and elevates insulin levels in women on "the pill,” setting them up for diabetes. It also raises serum triglycerides significantly and LDL cholesterol levels. HFCS has no enzymes, vitamins, or minerals and robs the body of its micronutrients in order to metabolize it.

Sucralose or Splenda is another man-made sugar substitute that is high in chlorine. Splenda is made by binding three chlorine atoms to a molecule of sugar. When the body attempts to metabolize this chemical sugar it makes dioxin, a cancer causing chemical that can trigger fatigue, headaches, dizziness, brain fog, nausea, depression, digestive issues and joint pain.

Seventy percent of American women consume Sucralose daily. Sucralose is found in nearly 4,000 food, beverage and health-care products, including diet drinks, ice cream, protein bars, salad dressings, over the counter drugs, chewing gum, vitamins and toothpaste

Another man-made sweetener is Aspartame, commonly known as Nutra-sweet or Equal. Aspartame is now present in 6,000 products and used in over 90 countries. It is even registered with MSG, an aspirin derivative and Mercury Thiomerosal by the FDA for use in vaccines. 

Nutra-sweet is manufactured in North America in Aiken, South Carolina in a genetic engineered GMO bacterial factory. The parent company is Monsanto, maker of the popular weed killer, Round-UpÒ. Aspartame consumption through diet pop has recently been linked to MS, Systemic Lupus and Fibromyalgia.

When aspartame is consumed it breaks down into these neurotoxic substances: Methanol (wood alcohol), Formaldehyde (embalming fluid, also found in commercial cosmetics), Formic Acid, (ant sting venom) and DKP (a known brain tumor agent). All of the man-made sugars HFCS, Nutra-sweet and Splenda, along with mercury can accumulate in the body and cause toxicity reactions.

Show your sweetie how much you really care by giving real sweets this Valentines Day. Look for Valentine sweets that are not made from corn with high fructose corn syrup or vanillin flavoring (artificial vanilla), or artificial sweeteners. Good sweets have real flavorings, real sugar and real ingredients. Most of the better Valentine sweets are available in local health food stores and specialty shops.

Disclaimer: The recommendations in this article are not to be taken as medical advice. If your diet or health is not what it should be, consult a qualified wellness consultant to evaluate toxicity levels, determine the cause of your health issues, and for specific recommendations. In Livonia, MI, TLC Holistic Wellness has doctors that are trained to evaluate your sugar handling ability and your toxicity levels from man-made sugars. Call (734) 664 - 0339 to schedule a no-charge consultation today. 

For the Love of Chocolate posted 28 Jan 2015 by Dr. Carol Ann Fischer, BS, DC, ND

                                   For the Love of Chocolate

Now that Valentines Day is just around the corner, let’s focus on what sweets you can get for your sweetie. If you are one of the millions of people who love chocolate, rejoice! There is a health benefit from consuming this delectable and delicious treat.

Chocolate contains many different components that make people fall in love with it. Most people think that it is the sugar that they crave, or the caffeine kick. Be aware that caffeine is a stimulant and can cause a hormone imbalance. While that may be true for some people, there are some goodies in chocolate.

Chocolate actually contains the relaxing mineral, magnesium. Most people associate magnesium with calcium. The body needs more calcium than magnesium at a ratio of 32:1. Calcium and magnesium are only two minerals of the many minerals and trace minerals that make up the human body.

One of the many benefits of magnesium is that “feel good” feeling. Magnesium actually calms the nerves and relaxes muscles. This is why millions of women crave chocolate at certain times of the month. When chocolate is eaten, the magnesium causes the consumer to feel less irritable and more relaxed.

There are good chocolates and bad chocolates. A bad chocolate is defined as one that has very little chocolate and a lot of additives. These chocolates should be avoided if you are looking for the “happy and satisfied” feeling that good chocolate can create.

Many of the cheaper brands of chocolate contain fillers and additives, including high fructose corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup recently made headlines for its secondary component. It seems that over 50% of the high fructose corn syrup contains mercury.

Good chocolate has only a few key ingredients without fillers and artificial flavors. There are even terrific tasting chocolate bars without a lot of sugar. Imagine, eating a delicious chocolate, without raising your blood sugar.

Sugar goes by many names. In fact there are 42 separate names for sugar so that it can be used in commercial foods. By naming sugar something other than sugar, most people do not realize that they are in fact consuming sugar.

The average American consumes 120 pounds of sugar a year, a low estimate. Before there was packaged food, the average sugar consumption was 30 pounds a year. Sugar has been implicated in many degenerative health conditions from Diabetes to Heart Disease. There are at least 146 reasons to not make your diet high in sugar.

A dietary analysis can easily spot if you are consuming too much sugar. Most people are not aware of the amount of sugar they consume every day. The key is the total amount of sugar that you consume in ratio to the fats and proteins that you eat.

If you love to eat breads and pasta, or rice and potatoes, you are feeding your body sugar. If you skip meals, you are altering your blood sugar, and will have a stronger desire to eat sugar. If you drink fruit juice, wine or pop, you are consuming liquid sugar.

The body has to use additional stored vitamins in order to efficiently metabolize sugar. This depletes key vitamin and mineral reserves, like magnesium and the whole Vitamin B complex. When you eat more sugar than is needed by your body, weight gain is inevitable. Excess consumed sugars are stored as unwanted body fat.

It is the desire for magnesium that can drive the urge to eat chocolate. This desire indicates a mineral deficiency of magnesium, and its partner, calcium. Magnesium helps the body metabolize fats, proteins and sugars, as well as minerals and vitamins, like Vitamin D. Where there is a magnesium deficiency, there are other missing nutrients too.

Sugar issues and weight issues also indicate a hormone imbalance. When hormones are in balance the body does not have unwanted weight or different food cravings. The correct nutritional supply of needed vitamins and minerals need to be present in order for the body to have balanced hormones.

Simple non-invasive tests are available to determine nutritional deficiencies. Dietary analysis and a review of lifestyle habits can also reveal if you have sugar handling issues or a hormone imbalance. You do not have to live with an overload of sugar, or guilt over eating chocolate. It is possible to have your chocolate and enjoy it too, especially if your body has all the vitamins, minerals and trace minerals that it needs. Call TLC Holistic Wellness at (734) 664 -0339 to schedule a no-charge consultation to see what how your body is dealing with sugar.