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JosieA · 02-26-2010, 06:51 PM

I'm a 42 year old female. After a recent trip to the dentist, I discovered that I have bone loss and my gums are receding (from overbrushing). She doesn't think that the gums are diseased, but I do get a lot of tartar, especially between the front teeth. After years of skipping breakfast and lunch, bingeing on fast food, and drinking soda and iced tea, I decided to turn over a new leaf.

I've kicked the soda habit and I've been off soda and all sweet drinks for 2 months now. I've also been off of all sugary, sticky foods (with the exception of dark chocolate) and I'm off of high fructose corn syrup. I'm taking vitamins C, E, folic acid, calcium, and coenyme q10. And drinking water throughout the day. I've been on my new eating regimen for 3 weeks. Here's a typical day's meals:

Breakfast: banana, milk, hardboiled egg, shredded wheat
Lunch: water, carrot, wasa whole grain flatbreads, cheddar cheese, garbanzo bean salad (with broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, cucumber, dill, parsley, olive oil), sunflower + sesame seeds
Dinner:chicken, zucchini/ broccoli, mango, pineapple, milk, side salad, potato/ whole grain pasta
Snack:almonds, dark chocolate

Here are my questions/ problems:

1) I am so tired this week...but my mood is good. You'd think that I'd feel like an 18 year old by eating all this good stuff.

2) I have a tingling (sometimes burning) sensation in between my teeth (especially the front ones) after I eat crunchy carrots and salad. It's not pain. It's just a tingly sensation like after you eat a mint. My mouth does feel really clean. What could be causing this?

3) I am so hungry. Last weekend, after a huge breakfast of healthy foods: scrambled eggs and zucchini, whole grain toast, fruit salad, milk...I ate lunch 30 minutes later...a healthy lunch, but shouldn't my body be able to hang in there a bit longer? Am I eating enough food?

4) I've been doing a lot of research on calcium. Since I drink a lot of milk and eat a lot of diary, I'm only taking one calcium supplement per day. What foods interfere with calcium's absorption?

5) When will I start seeing physical results of my new eating regimen? Although I haven't had anything sweet or greasy in months, my husband noticed that my pores were full of blackheads! When will this all clear up?

6) Of course after I started, there was something on the news about taking too many vitamins. How can you make sure that you're getting just the right amount?

7) I'm not trying to lose weight. I'm really trying to improve my overall health (especially my teeth and gums.) How can you make sure that you're eating the right foods to address certain body conditions? I want all those vitamins getting up there to my teeth and gums.

My cravings for soda and fast food have totally disappeared!

So, it's been surprisingly easy to stay on this regimen. Last week, there were two boxes of delectable donuts laid out in front of me. I just admired them and then ate a carrot instead.

So far so good.

Thanks for your help.

Josie

tjlhb · 02-26-2010, 09:40 PM

Regarding the calcium... do you get any sun exposure on your skin to generate vitamin D? If not, then you may not be getting enough vitamin D which is needed to effectively use calcium, as well as other purposes. Food sources include some fish, a little from egg yolks, fortified foods, and supplements.

JosieA · 02-27-2010, 07:52 AM

Yes! I'm taking Vitamin D supplements with the calcium.

JohnR41 · 03-08-2010, 11:30 AM

You said you have been doing a lot of research on calcium. Well, it depends on where you do your research. If you go to a site that's sponsored by the meat & dairy association, they will of course advise you to eat a lot of dairy. If the site is by a doctor, is that doctor employed by the dairy association? Or employed by a retail grocery chain? Sometimes it's not easy to tell. You have to ask yourself, "what is the motivation?"

I rely mostly on books because I feel I can get a better understanding of the authors motivation and what he/she is trying to accomplish. In "The China Study" the author states that animal protein interferes with calcium absorbtion. Of course it's true that dairy is a rich source of calcium but how much of it can you retain? It has calcium but being animal protein, it causes your body to excrete calcium. So are you any better off? It's doubtful.

Population studies have shown: Areas with the highest dairy consumption have the worst bone health. I suppose it could be debated: Maybe they eat too much meat or don't get enough vitamin D. But I wouldn't put too much faith in dairy for bone health.

If your system is working properly, you should have the ability to regulate calcium. If you eat little calcium, your body will tend to hold on to what you've got. If you get a lot of calcium in your diet, your body will take what it needs and discard the rest.
But taking large amounts of calcium supplemets for a long period of time can interfere with your body's ability to automatically regulate it.

The best way to get calcium into your muscles and bones is by eating lots of leafy greens and little, if any, animal protein. The China Study showed: In rural areas of China where the main diet was from plants, the people had strong bones.

dreamer89 · 03-10-2010, 11:44 AM

not knowing you or anything, I will meander a guess, your in a detox phase.

when we change our diets for the better especially after eating so bad for years, (I speak from experience) it seems we should feel better but the good nutrtion and decrease in bad stuff is your body's cue to heal itself.

that means detoxing. right now I am in the middle of feeling bad too and not sure if it is detox or illness. it just doens't feel the same as my illnesses I have had in the past. I too upped my nutrition worked on getting my insulin resistance reduce hence lowering insulin, if I am detoxing then it just might lead to another infection.

it really is weird like you I have stopped craving ice cream and other junk when i tried for years to stop that stuff to no avail. when I started to eat a more mediterrean diet (recommned for those with metabolic syndrome) and stopped most grains except the most highest fiber I could find, these cravings gradually stopped.

as for calcium you need fat to absorb it better that is why whole milk is better than low fat. you do better if you get it in natural food sources like green leafy, organic milk is better than regular milk, almonds, kefir or yogurt, you need other nutrients as well to help heal.

by the way i never heard of receding gums from overbrushing, I will have to be aware of that because I use a power brush and I don't want to overdo it. sometimes I tend to use it more than a couple of times a day. you can floss to help remove the plaque before it becomes tartar. you might even find that after following a healthy diet for a long period of time your tartar problem will be easier to help because our saliva is a natural anitbiotic, but only if we are healthy.

RRR

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