Who is the Commander?

Who is the Commander? 

Hello everyone!  Welcome to my website! My name is Mark Denning.  Due to the past changes in my life, I feel motivated to share things with you.  One thing that I discovered is that the human body is awesome.  Its recuperative, healing powers are incredible.  This was emphasized by a hospitalization I had and the three weeks following it.  I had much time to reflect rest and become more informed as to the changes in my body with new health situations.  I have been a nurse for over twenty years.  And in that time, I have learned a little bit about many things.  Diagnosed as a diabetic and with a genetic blood clotting disorder, I had to learn much more than I ever knew to cope with my illness. 

 

Perhaps it could be as my colleague; Cherie Pepping described it as an “Epiphany” that had changed my life for the better.  Before being hospitalized, I had begun the road to enhanced wellness.  But deep inside, my body was gearing up for the scariest event that I would ever experience.  It took a skin infection in my leg to set the “ball rolling”.  It cascaded from there, and I even ended up in intensive care.  Being a nurse, we are sometimes characterized as not being an “optimal” patient.  So I had to assume the patient role.  I felt so ill that it was not difficult to be an “optimal” patient. 

 

Thankful to the members of the critical care transport team where I work, they assisted the physicians as to the fact that a “sleep apnea test” was desperately needed. I cannot be thankful enough to the team for ensuring the “commander” would one day be back on an ambulance.  I really thought a career change would have to be made.  But it was not needed.

 

During the time I was away from my job, my company had restructured, closed two stations, and people were concerned with their job status. In today’s economy, there is great anxiety, animosity, and general unrest.  It has been proven that stress can have a mild to severe effect on our bodies.  We are constantly thinking how to relieve this stress.  Some people may smoke, drink alcohol, and eat comfort foods that are high fat and high calorie.  These things may provide temporary, short term good feelings.  But in essence, the more we use these things to cope with stress we are really putting a burden on our bodies to be in “balance”.

 

One of the easiest things to do is to adjust the way we eat.  The food pyramid has been modified to inform people on the proper nutrition to fuel our bodies and our minds and now being gluten-free.  Fortunately with the nutrition changes that I had made before going in the hospital, my consult by a registered dietician was the easiest of all.  In fact she said “Mark keep going what you are doing”.  I was relieved to know that I was doing something right.  Further, after I met Dr. Peter Glidden ND and Dr Joel Wallach my health has reached a level that the MD's never could help me in a way through the use of NO medications!  I wanted to fire my MD, but he would'nt seee me anymore.  No worries!  I have total control of my health that was devastated 4 years ago. 

 

So in the spirit of preserving the human body and spirit, I will offer to my brothers and sisters blogs on wellness.  We will discuss things such as what to eat, how to rest effectively and detoxify our bodies to name a few. People that have achieved successes with adding wellness to their lives will also be featured.  Also putting tools in the “tool box of life” on coping effectively with stressors. No matter where you are in life we need to be aware of these things.  I would invite you to submit questions and ideas as to topics important to you.

 

Have an awesome and blessed day!

In The bible in Romans 12:1-2 Paul wrote:  And so my brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you.  Let them be a living and holy sacrifice-the kind he would find acceptable.  This is truly the way to worship him. Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.  Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. 

All of you are in my prayers-let us become more knowledgeable towards taking personal control of our  health and wellness!

The Masks of MSG

The Mask of MSG    (monosodium glutamate)

Most people know that a mask hides a face-but many of us don’t know the food masks that are out there.  One the ones most familiar is the food additive MSG.  Let’s discuss what MSG is and its potential effects on your body and your health. 

MSG is a food “enhancer”.  It is what is called a sodium salt of an amino acid-glutamic acid.  MSG doesn’t alter the actual taste of foods; it just enhances them by increasing the sensitivity of our taste buds.  In essence it tricks our brains into thinking foods taste better by stimulating our taste buds.  Generally, the more salty or processed a food is, the more MSG the food contains. 

Glutamic acid or Glutamate comes in 2 forms.  Both are found in natural protein rich foods such as most meats, most dairy products, seaweed, mushrooms, tomatoes, fermented soy products, yeast extracts, hydrolyzed proteins, nuts and legumes.  “Free” glutamic acid is metabolized to MSG in the body.  We get enough on our own.  Most of the MSG is found in processed foods.  Soups, gravies, salad dressings, bouillon products, ice cream, frozen entrées to name a few. 

The importance of use of MSG lends to its effects on the body.  It causes obesity and excitotoxicity.  Neuroscientists generally agree that glutamic acid (present in MSG) is neurotoxic and it kills neurons by exciting them to death.  Our children are very susceptible to MSG; it may cause damage to the part of the brain called the hypothalamus, which amongst other things controls our appetite.  MSG causes the pancreas to increase production of insulin, this in turn causes our blood sugar to drop-typically makes us hungry.  This is why we are hungry approximately 1 hour after eating MSG laden foods.  How many of us brag about being hungry after eating Chinese foods? 

One good result that occurred is that the Food and Drug Administration now requires all foods containing MSG to have it on the label.  The downside is MSG can be found in 39 other labeled ingredients. 

The ingredients that always contain MSG are:

Glutamate          textured protein        yeast extract     Glutamic acid     hydrolyzed protein     

Yeast food         calcium caseinate      autolyzed yeast   monopotassium glutamate   

Calcium caseinate     sodium caseinate     gelatin

The ingredients often contain MSG or create it during processing:

Artificial flavors     soy sauce    malt extract     whey protein     pectin    cornstarch    

Protein fortified ingredients        seasonings      soy protein isolate     malt flavoring  

Barley malt   whey protein   carrageenan     malt dextrin   pectin    enzymes   protease

Corn starch      citric acid   powdered milk    protein fortified ingredients    enzyme modified ingredients    ultra pasteurized ingredients    

so what physical systems can occur if one is msg sensitive; 3 grams of free glutamic acid caused these

symptoms when taken on an empty stomach;

-stomach cramps                 -facial swelling      -nausea, vomiting, diarrhea     -numbness/burning

-migraine headaches (implicated, not proven)       -frequent urination      -rapid heart beat

-depression     -extreme rise or drop in blood pressure    -panic attack    -light headedness

-anxiety     -shortness of breath   -loss of balance   -joint pain/stiffness   -dizziness    -blurred vision

-flu like symptoms

So we can see the effect of MSG on our bodies.  One of the things to know is that the human body is resilient.  It would take damage of approximately 70% of one area of the brain for one to notice changes.  Some parts are affected sooner and easier.  In part 2 of "The Masks of MSG"  We will discuss this.