10. Last time you tried to open a jar of olives you gave up and settled for a box of crackers. Why? You're losing it, baby! When it comes to muscle mass, we all experience a scary little process I call "The Great Decline." Every decade we lose muscle mass, and as we age the percentage of loss just keeps accelerating. By age 60, the average person will have lost one-third of his/her muscle mass. The good news: you can reverse it with resistance training. There's no age limit on your ability to add muscle and stop The Great Decline.
9. The phrase "Sitting AROUND the house" has more than one meaning -- and you'd like to avoid one of them. If you're reading this article, chances are you're interested in maintaining or losing weight. Too many people try to drop inches with diet alone, or by walking endlessly on the treadmill. Here's the bottom line: a pound of muscle burns 35 to 50 calories a day, just by sitting there on your body. A pound of fat burns about 3 to 5 calories a day. You do the math.
8. Your idea of "getting calcium in your diet" is a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. In your 30's, bone mass generally reaches its maximum level of growth. Then, in your 40's, it's another decline: your bone mass starts gradually decreasing. Once again, dumbbells save the day, as strength training maintains or even increases bone mass as you age.
7. Last time you slipped in the shower, you almost reenacted the "I've fallen and I can't get up" commercial. Poor balance and lack of muscular strength can result in falls, leading to fractures, broken bones, and worse. When performed properly, strengthening exercises increase flexibility and balance -- so you can stay on your toes.
6. Heart disease is so 2007. Heart disease risk is lower when your body is lean. The American Heart Association recommends strength training as a way to reduce risk of heart disease -- it helps you lose visceral fat (the fat around your internal organs), the most dangerous type of fat when it comes to cardiovascular health.
5. The idea of offering a piggy-back ride to a child is as horrifying as the latest Saw sequel.
Got back pain or posture issues? The best non-surgical alternative for remedying back problems is strength training along with good quality Chiropractic Care. A strong core supports your lower back and protects you from injury, and strong back muscles contribute to good posture.
The bonus: good posture naturally makes your abdomen look flatter.
4. Bladder-control issues bring back painful schoolyard memories.
Muscular agility is proven to help prevent incontinence. Moving on.
3. Psssst ... There are wild rumors going around that better sex can be ENJOYABLE. But you didn't hear it from me. Shhhh …
Resistance training is a must when it comes to reshaping your body, targeting "trouble spots," and transforming your figure into a younger, fitter, and, yes, sexier you. Not only does it help you improve your state of mind and ensure that you look terrific in a bathing suit ... but building muscle actually improves sexual function. (Before you run away from the computer to pick up your dumbbells, hang tight. We're almost finished reading.)
2. Lifting a bag of groceries doesn't have to be the greatest achievement of your day. Let's aim a little higher with our goals, shall we?
Nothing trains your body to perform functional movement for everyday living (bending, twisting, lifting, and reaching) like strength training.
1. I said so!
OK, all jokes aside ... Don't start your resistance training routine just because I told you to. Do it because you need to start building muscle now -- for all the reasons I just mentioned. Do it because muscle is about better coordination, agility and balance. Do it because muscle is about staying active and empowering yourself to enjoy life on a fuller level, from the boardroom to the bedroom. Do it because muscle revolutionizes your metabolism, transforms your body from the inside out, and is your best bet for reversing the aging process. In short, do it because muscle is about all the things you associate with youth -- and the clock is ticking for each and every one of us.
***Don’t forget that strength training can be done with any type of resistance. You can use dumbbells, barbells, stretchy bands or tubing, bendable rods, small hand weights, kettle balls or your own body weight. Please ask one of the doctors at Beck – Thibodeau Chiropractic for suggestions to get started safely.
(About the Author
Kathy Smith has stood at the forefront of the fitness and health industries for more than thirty years with a collection of books, videos, audios and DVD's on walking, cardiovascular health, nutrition, strength training, yoga, Pilates, menopause, dance, and all-things-exercise. She has sold over $500 million in lifestyle products and fitness equipment. In addition to her DVD library, Kathy is an accomplished author, with bestselling titles including "Feed Muscle Shrink Fat Diet" and "Moving Through Menopause". She has also contributed her expertise on health and wellness to countless media outlets, including the LA Times, USA Today, The Today Show, Oprah, The View, Larry King Live, and many more.
Source: Dan Thibodeau,DC; www.mercola.com; 11/18/11
***Please join my blog if you like the information and leave me comments if you have any.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
The New Epidemic Sweeping Across America (it's not a Disease)
• For the first time, deaths from properly prescribed drugs (37,485) now outnumber traffic fatalities in the United States (36,284).
• Drug-induced fatalities are being fueled by overdoses on prescription pain and anxiety medications. Fatalities doubled among teens and young adults: tripled among ages 50-69.
• Those most at risk from dying from this new drug crisis are people in their 40s, but teenagers and the elderly are also at risk.
• From 2001 to 2008, there was a 36% increase in hospital admissions, and a 28% increase in emergency room visits, among children 5 and younger who had accidentally ingested medication.
Death by medicine is a 21st-century epidemic, and America's "war on drugs" is clearly directed at the wrong enemy! Prescription drugs are now killing far more people than illegal drugs, and while most major causes of preventable deaths are declining, those from prescription drug use are increasing. These drug-induced fatalities are not being driven by illegal street drugs; the analysis found that the most commonly abused prescription drugs like OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax and Soma now cause more deaths than heroin and cocaine combined.
"Pharmageddon" is Upon Us
Pharmageddon is "the prospect of a world in which medicines and medicine produce more ill-health than health, and when medical progress does more harm than good" -- it is no longer a prospect but fully upon us. Those most at risk from dying from this new drug crisis are people you would least expect; the analysis revealed the death toll is highest among people in their 40s, but all ages, from teenagers to the elderly, and all walks of life are being affected. In fact, prescription drugs are now the preferred "high" for many, especially teens, as they are typically used legally, which eliminates the stigma of being a "junkie." Even if you don't have your own prescription, drugs of all kinds can be found in the nearest medicine cabinet in most homes.
These drugs are also now being sold on the black market and on street corners, where people who have run out of prescriptions are willing to pay upwards of $80 a pill to get their fix. Many become addicted after using the drugs for headaches or back pain, and teens are increasingly taking the pills from their parents to use recreationally, under the false assumption that they are safe.
As written in the Baltimore Sun:
"According to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, prescription drugs are second to marijuana as the drug of choice for today's teens. In fact, seven of the top 10 drugs used by 12th-graders were prescription drugs. More than 40% of high school seniors reported that painkillers are "fairly" or "very" easy to get. They also reported that they believed that if they were to get caught, there was less shame attached to the use of prescription drugs than to street drugs. This mirrors the perceptions of their parents, who when queried said that they felt prescription drugs were a safer alternative to drugs typically sold by a drug dealer."
How Many are Dying From Prescription Drugs?
Nearly 20% of Americans have used prescription drugs for nonmedicinal reasons, three-quarters of whom may be abusing them. Legal prescription drug abuse is a silent epidemic, and is part of the reason why the American medical system has become the leading cause of death and injury in the United States. Authored by Gary Null, PhD, Carolyn Dean, MD ND, Martin Feldman, MD, Debora Rasio, MD, and Dorothy Smith, PhD, the Death by Medicine article described in excruciating detail how everything from medical errors to adverse drug reactions to unnecessary procedures caused more harm than good.
Seven years after the original article was written, an analysis in the New England Journal of Medicine November 25, 2010 found that, despite efforts to improve patient safety, the health care system hasn't changed much. The original Death by Medicine article shows more of the same:
• In a June 2010 report in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, records spanning from 1976 to 2006 (the most recent year available) found that, of 62 million death certificates, almost 250,000 deaths were coded as having occurred in a hospital setting due to medication errors.
• 450,000 preventable medication-related adverse events occur in the U.S. every year.
• Adverse drug reactions cost more than $136 billion annually -- greater than the total cost of cardiovascular or diabetic care.
• Adverse drug reactions cause injuries or death in 1 of 5 hospital patients.
• The reason there are so many adverse drug events in the U.S. is because so many drugs are used and prescribed – and many patients receive multiple prescriptions at varying strengths, some of which may counteract each other or cause more severe reactions when combined.
There are numerous repercussions to a society that eats, breathes and sleeps prescription medications. ER visits for ingestion of prescription painkillers, such as Oxycodone, increased 101%. In 2009, there were nearly 4.6 million drug-related visits to U.S. emergency rooms, with more than half due to prescription medications – most of which were being taken exactly as prescribed. When you add in the growing numbers of people who are using these drugs, you begin to see the magnitude of the problem that the pharmaceutical industry is propagating. This problem is now seriously impacting the next generation. When you were a teenager you may have snuck a beer or two at a party … nowadays teens will mix a variety of prescription pills together in a bowl and take a mouthful of them like candy. Kids think this is a safe way to get high, since they see their parents taking the same medications all the time, but it often turns out to be deadly.
The Real Thugs of the Drug World
The "war on drugs" has focused nearly exclusively on the illegal trafficking of drugs like cocaine, heroin and marijuana, while pharmaceutical companies grow their businesses with the U.S. government's seal of approval. Make no mistake, the leading pharmaceutical companies are among the largest corporate criminals in the world, and they are nothing more than white-collar drug dealers. Although many fail to realize that prescription drugs can be just as addictive as illegal drugs. In fact, in many cases there's no difference between a street drug and a prescription drug. For example, hydrocodone, a prescription opiate, is synthetic heroin. It's indistinguishable from any other heroine as far as your brain and body is concerned. So, if you're hooked on hydrocodone, you are in fact a good-old-fashioned heroin addict. Aside from the nature of their business, fraud, kickbacks, price-setting, bribery and illegal sales activities are all par for the course for big drug companies. You can read the grim details in full here, but here is just a sampling of what the top drug companies are up to:
• Merck: With a long list of deaths to its credit, and more than $5.5 billion in judgments and fines levied against it, it was five years before Merck made its $30-billion recall of the painkiller Vioxx that I warned my readers that it might be a real killer for some people. After the drug was withdrawn, and 60,000 had already died, Merck picked up the pieces painlessly by getting a new drug fast-tracked and on the market.
That drug is Gardasil, a vaccine that so far has been linked to thousands of adverse events and at least 49 unexplained deaths. It's a situation that the FDA and CDC have been denying repeatedly, keeping their heads buried in the sand even as the adverse reports mount.
• Baxter: Dozens of recalls of products that caused deaths and injuries, at least 11 different guilty pleas to fraud and illegal sales activity, more than 200 lawsuits – many of them stemming from selling AIDS-tainted blood to hemophiliacs – and more than $1.3 billion in criminal fines and civil penalties.
• Pfizer: In the largest health care fraud settlement in history, Pfizer was ordered to pay $2.3 billion to resolve criminal and civil allegations that the company illegally promoted uses of four of its drugs, including the painkiller Bextra, the antipsychotic Geodon, the antibiotic Zyvox, and the anti-epileptic Lyrica.
How Can You Avoid Being Killed by a Prescription Drug?
There is a risk of side effects every time you take a prescription drug. No one expects these medications to kill them, but they can do just that, and it happens far more often than you might think! In a study recently released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, officials emphasized that people should not assume there's no risk in prescribed medicines. The only way to avoid all risk, including death, from prescription drugs is to not take them at all. It is your body, not your doctor's and not your pharmacist's, so it is up to you to make the decision of what drugs to take, if any. Be SURE you are aware of the risks of any medication prescribed to you, and weigh them against any possible benefit. Then you can make a well-informed decision of whether it's a risk you're willing to take.
Of course, of paramount importance is also taking control of your health so you can stay well naturally, without the use of drugs. If you adhere to a healthy lifestyle, you most likely will never need medications in the first place. This includes:
1. Proper Food Choices: You should be looking to focus your diet on whole, unprocessed foods (vegetables, meats, raw dairy, nuts, and so forth) that come from healthy, sustainable, local sources, such as a small organic farm not far from your home. For the best nutrition and health benefits, you will want to eat a good portion of your food raw. Nearly as important as knowing which foods to eat more of is knowing which foods to avoid, and topping the list is fructose. Sugar, and fructose in particular, acts as a toxin in and of itself, and as such drive multiple disease processes in your body, not the least of which is insulin resistance, a major cause of accelerated aging.
2. Comprehensive Exercise Program, including High-Intensity Exercise: Even if you're eating the healthiest diet in the world, you still need to exercise to reach the highest levels of health, and you need to be exercising effectively, which means including not only core-strengthening exercises, strength training, and stretching but also high-intensity activities into your rotation. High-intensity training boosts human growth hormone (HGH) production, which is essential for optimal health, strength and vigor.
3. Stress Reduction and Positive Thinking: You cannot be optimally healthy if you avoid addressing the emotional component of your health and longevity, as your emotional state plays a role in nearly every physical disease -- from heart disease and depression, to arthritis and cancer. Effective coping mechanisms are a major longevity-promoting factor in part because stress has a direct impact on inflammation, which in turn underlies many of the chronic diseases that kill people prematurely every day. Meditation, prayer, social support and exercise are all viable options that can help you maintain emotional and mental equilibrium.
4. Proper Sun Exposure to Optimize Vitamin D: We have long known that it is best to get your vitamin D from sun exposure, and if at all possible, I strongly urge you to make sure you're getting out in the sun on a daily basis. There is preliminary evidence suggesting that oral vitamin D may not provide the identical benefits, although it's still better than none at all. Just keep in mind that it's really best to get ALL your vitamin D from the sun.
5. Take High Quality Animal-Based Omega-3 Fats: Animal-based omega-3 fat is a strong factor in helping people live longer, and many experts believe that it is likely the predominant reason why the Japanese are the longest lived race on the planet.
6. Avoid as Many Chemicals, Toxins, and Pollutants as Possible: This includes tossing out your toxic household cleaners, soaps, personal hygiene products, air fresheners, bug sprays, lawn pesticides, and insecticides, just to name a few, and replacing them with non-toxic alternatives.
Sources: Los Angeles Times; MSNBC; Journal of Pediatrics; CDC Deaths: Preliminary Data for 2009; mercola.com; 11/13/11.
• Drug-induced fatalities are being fueled by overdoses on prescription pain and anxiety medications. Fatalities doubled among teens and young adults: tripled among ages 50-69.
• Those most at risk from dying from this new drug crisis are people in their 40s, but teenagers and the elderly are also at risk.
• From 2001 to 2008, there was a 36% increase in hospital admissions, and a 28% increase in emergency room visits, among children 5 and younger who had accidentally ingested medication.
Death by medicine is a 21st-century epidemic, and America's "war on drugs" is clearly directed at the wrong enemy! Prescription drugs are now killing far more people than illegal drugs, and while most major causes of preventable deaths are declining, those from prescription drug use are increasing. These drug-induced fatalities are not being driven by illegal street drugs; the analysis found that the most commonly abused prescription drugs like OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax and Soma now cause more deaths than heroin and cocaine combined.
"Pharmageddon" is Upon Us
Pharmageddon is "the prospect of a world in which medicines and medicine produce more ill-health than health, and when medical progress does more harm than good" -- it is no longer a prospect but fully upon us. Those most at risk from dying from this new drug crisis are people you would least expect; the analysis revealed the death toll is highest among people in their 40s, but all ages, from teenagers to the elderly, and all walks of life are being affected. In fact, prescription drugs are now the preferred "high" for many, especially teens, as they are typically used legally, which eliminates the stigma of being a "junkie." Even if you don't have your own prescription, drugs of all kinds can be found in the nearest medicine cabinet in most homes.
These drugs are also now being sold on the black market and on street corners, where people who have run out of prescriptions are willing to pay upwards of $80 a pill to get their fix. Many become addicted after using the drugs for headaches or back pain, and teens are increasingly taking the pills from their parents to use recreationally, under the false assumption that they are safe.
As written in the Baltimore Sun:
"According to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, prescription drugs are second to marijuana as the drug of choice for today's teens. In fact, seven of the top 10 drugs used by 12th-graders were prescription drugs. More than 40% of high school seniors reported that painkillers are "fairly" or "very" easy to get. They also reported that they believed that if they were to get caught, there was less shame attached to the use of prescription drugs than to street drugs. This mirrors the perceptions of their parents, who when queried said that they felt prescription drugs were a safer alternative to drugs typically sold by a drug dealer."
How Many are Dying From Prescription Drugs?
Nearly 20% of Americans have used prescription drugs for nonmedicinal reasons, three-quarters of whom may be abusing them. Legal prescription drug abuse is a silent epidemic, and is part of the reason why the American medical system has become the leading cause of death and injury in the United States. Authored by Gary Null, PhD, Carolyn Dean, MD ND, Martin Feldman, MD, Debora Rasio, MD, and Dorothy Smith, PhD, the Death by Medicine article described in excruciating detail how everything from medical errors to adverse drug reactions to unnecessary procedures caused more harm than good.
Seven years after the original article was written, an analysis in the New England Journal of Medicine November 25, 2010 found that, despite efforts to improve patient safety, the health care system hasn't changed much. The original Death by Medicine article shows more of the same:
• In a June 2010 report in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, records spanning from 1976 to 2006 (the most recent year available) found that, of 62 million death certificates, almost 250,000 deaths were coded as having occurred in a hospital setting due to medication errors.
• 450,000 preventable medication-related adverse events occur in the U.S. every year.
• Adverse drug reactions cost more than $136 billion annually -- greater than the total cost of cardiovascular or diabetic care.
• Adverse drug reactions cause injuries or death in 1 of 5 hospital patients.
• The reason there are so many adverse drug events in the U.S. is because so many drugs are used and prescribed – and many patients receive multiple prescriptions at varying strengths, some of which may counteract each other or cause more severe reactions when combined.
There are numerous repercussions to a society that eats, breathes and sleeps prescription medications. ER visits for ingestion of prescription painkillers, such as Oxycodone, increased 101%. In 2009, there were nearly 4.6 million drug-related visits to U.S. emergency rooms, with more than half due to prescription medications – most of which were being taken exactly as prescribed. When you add in the growing numbers of people who are using these drugs, you begin to see the magnitude of the problem that the pharmaceutical industry is propagating. This problem is now seriously impacting the next generation. When you were a teenager you may have snuck a beer or two at a party … nowadays teens will mix a variety of prescription pills together in a bowl and take a mouthful of them like candy. Kids think this is a safe way to get high, since they see their parents taking the same medications all the time, but it often turns out to be deadly.
The Real Thugs of the Drug World
The "war on drugs" has focused nearly exclusively on the illegal trafficking of drugs like cocaine, heroin and marijuana, while pharmaceutical companies grow their businesses with the U.S. government's seal of approval. Make no mistake, the leading pharmaceutical companies are among the largest corporate criminals in the world, and they are nothing more than white-collar drug dealers. Although many fail to realize that prescription drugs can be just as addictive as illegal drugs. In fact, in many cases there's no difference between a street drug and a prescription drug. For example, hydrocodone, a prescription opiate, is synthetic heroin. It's indistinguishable from any other heroine as far as your brain and body is concerned. So, if you're hooked on hydrocodone, you are in fact a good-old-fashioned heroin addict. Aside from the nature of their business, fraud, kickbacks, price-setting, bribery and illegal sales activities are all par for the course for big drug companies. You can read the grim details in full here, but here is just a sampling of what the top drug companies are up to:
• Merck: With a long list of deaths to its credit, and more than $5.5 billion in judgments and fines levied against it, it was five years before Merck made its $30-billion recall of the painkiller Vioxx that I warned my readers that it might be a real killer for some people. After the drug was withdrawn, and 60,000 had already died, Merck picked up the pieces painlessly by getting a new drug fast-tracked and on the market.
That drug is Gardasil, a vaccine that so far has been linked to thousands of adverse events and at least 49 unexplained deaths. It's a situation that the FDA and CDC have been denying repeatedly, keeping their heads buried in the sand even as the adverse reports mount.
• Baxter: Dozens of recalls of products that caused deaths and injuries, at least 11 different guilty pleas to fraud and illegal sales activity, more than 200 lawsuits – many of them stemming from selling AIDS-tainted blood to hemophiliacs – and more than $1.3 billion in criminal fines and civil penalties.
• Pfizer: In the largest health care fraud settlement in history, Pfizer was ordered to pay $2.3 billion to resolve criminal and civil allegations that the company illegally promoted uses of four of its drugs, including the painkiller Bextra, the antipsychotic Geodon, the antibiotic Zyvox, and the anti-epileptic Lyrica.
How Can You Avoid Being Killed by a Prescription Drug?
There is a risk of side effects every time you take a prescription drug. No one expects these medications to kill them, but they can do just that, and it happens far more often than you might think! In a study recently released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, officials emphasized that people should not assume there's no risk in prescribed medicines. The only way to avoid all risk, including death, from prescription drugs is to not take them at all. It is your body, not your doctor's and not your pharmacist's, so it is up to you to make the decision of what drugs to take, if any. Be SURE you are aware of the risks of any medication prescribed to you, and weigh them against any possible benefit. Then you can make a well-informed decision of whether it's a risk you're willing to take.
Of course, of paramount importance is also taking control of your health so you can stay well naturally, without the use of drugs. If you adhere to a healthy lifestyle, you most likely will never need medications in the first place. This includes:
1. Proper Food Choices: You should be looking to focus your diet on whole, unprocessed foods (vegetables, meats, raw dairy, nuts, and so forth) that come from healthy, sustainable, local sources, such as a small organic farm not far from your home. For the best nutrition and health benefits, you will want to eat a good portion of your food raw. Nearly as important as knowing which foods to eat more of is knowing which foods to avoid, and topping the list is fructose. Sugar, and fructose in particular, acts as a toxin in and of itself, and as such drive multiple disease processes in your body, not the least of which is insulin resistance, a major cause of accelerated aging.
2. Comprehensive Exercise Program, including High-Intensity Exercise: Even if you're eating the healthiest diet in the world, you still need to exercise to reach the highest levels of health, and you need to be exercising effectively, which means including not only core-strengthening exercises, strength training, and stretching but also high-intensity activities into your rotation. High-intensity training boosts human growth hormone (HGH) production, which is essential for optimal health, strength and vigor.
3. Stress Reduction and Positive Thinking: You cannot be optimally healthy if you avoid addressing the emotional component of your health and longevity, as your emotional state plays a role in nearly every physical disease -- from heart disease and depression, to arthritis and cancer. Effective coping mechanisms are a major longevity-promoting factor in part because stress has a direct impact on inflammation, which in turn underlies many of the chronic diseases that kill people prematurely every day. Meditation, prayer, social support and exercise are all viable options that can help you maintain emotional and mental equilibrium.
4. Proper Sun Exposure to Optimize Vitamin D: We have long known that it is best to get your vitamin D from sun exposure, and if at all possible, I strongly urge you to make sure you're getting out in the sun on a daily basis. There is preliminary evidence suggesting that oral vitamin D may not provide the identical benefits, although it's still better than none at all. Just keep in mind that it's really best to get ALL your vitamin D from the sun.
5. Take High Quality Animal-Based Omega-3 Fats: Animal-based omega-3 fat is a strong factor in helping people live longer, and many experts believe that it is likely the predominant reason why the Japanese are the longest lived race on the planet.
6. Avoid as Many Chemicals, Toxins, and Pollutants as Possible: This includes tossing out your toxic household cleaners, soaps, personal hygiene products, air fresheners, bug sprays, lawn pesticides, and insecticides, just to name a few, and replacing them with non-toxic alternatives.
Sources: Los Angeles Times; MSNBC; Journal of Pediatrics; CDC Deaths: Preliminary Data for 2009; mercola.com; 11/13/11.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Which Sleep Position is Healthiest?
Your preferred sleep position could be giving you back and neck pain, stomach troubles, or can even be aging you prematurely. CNN has listed both the best positions for your body, and worst.
The Best: Back position
Sleeping on your back prevents neck and back pain, reduces acid reflux, minimizes wrinkles, and helps maintain a perky chest. However, it is a bad position in terms of snoring.
Next Best: Side position
Sleeping on your side also prevents neck and back pain and reduces acid reflux, and it also reduces snoring. It's the best position for sleeping during pregnancy, if you sleep on your left side. However, it can be bad for your skin and your breasts.
Not Ideal: Fetal position
It's good for snoring less and sleeping during pregnancy, but it's not so good for neck and back pain, minimizing wrinkles, or maintaining your breasts.
The Worst: Stomach position
It's good for easing snoring, but it's bad for everything else. This position puts pressure on your joints and muscles, which can irritate nerves and lead to pain, numbness, and tingling.
Comments:
Getting a sound night’s sleep is an incredibly important part of optimizing your health and well-being, and one facet of restful sleep is the position in which you sleep. Most people naturally favor one sleep position over another, and it’s perfectly natural to listen to your body in this respect.
Whether you prefer sleeping on your back, side, stomach or somewhere in between, as long as that position equates to a good night’s sleep for you -- and allows you to wake up feeling refreshed and pain-free -- go ahead with it. If you’re waking up with back and neck pain, or struggling with snoring or acid reflux, adjusting your sleep position may help.
Sleeping on Your Back: The Best Position of All?
It’s generally accepted that the best sleep position is on your back. When you sleep on your back your head, neck and spine maintain a neutral position, and acid reflux symptoms are minimized. Because your face is not pushed up against a pillow, back sleeping may also be best for preventing facial wrinkles. When sleeping on your back no pillow is actually best for your spine, but a pillow that keeps your head and neck supported while still being relatively thin will also work. If you use a thick pillow you’ll lose out on some of the benefit of back sleeping, as this will push your head and neck forward, impacting your breathing.
The biggest downside to back sleeping, though, is that it may lead to snoring in some people. The New York Times reported one study found that 54 percent of snorers were "positional snorers," which means they only snored while sleeping on their backs. So switching to your side while sleeping is a simple trick to try if snoring is interfering with your sleep or your partner's sleep -- although it likely won't work to reduce snoring for everyone.
What about Side and Stomach Sleeping?
Side sleeping allows your spine to stay in a fairly neutral position while helping to reduce snoring issues in some people. If you like to put your hand under your head while in this position it can compress nerves in your shoulder and arm, making your fingers numb. You may also experience some tightness in your shoulder and neck muscles.
Sleeping on your side in the fetal position may lead to even more aches and pains, due to the fact that your body is tightly curled up for hours at a time. As for stomach sleeping, it’s generally regarded as the worst position of all because of the way it distorts the natural curve of your lower spine. Stomach sleeping may also impact your neck and lungs. Some people do find that sleeping on their side with a pillow between their knees radically improves their low back pain, as it tends to normalize the spinal curves and reduce pressure on your hips and knees.
The Best Sleep Position if You’re Pregnant
Sleeping on your back is generally not recommended during pregnancy, particularly during the later months, because the weight of your uterus presses on your spine, intestines and major blood vessels. Aside from leading to backache, this can reduce circulation to your baby as well as lead to low blood pressure and problems with breathing and digestive upset. Sleeping on your stomach will also become uncomfortable in the later months of pregnancy.
The best position overall during pregnancy is on your side, and particularly on your left side. This optimizes circulation and blood flow, increasing the amount of nutrients that reach your placenta and baby, while also allowing you to support your back, knees and stomach with pillows.
What Your Sleep Position Says About You
Your preferred sleep position may reveal clues about your personality, according to an analysis by Professor Chris Idzikowski of the UK’s Sleep Assessment and Advisory Service. For instance:
• The Fetus: Sleeping in the fetal position means you are tough on the outside but have a sensitive heart. You may also be shy at first when meeting new people.
• Log: People who sleep on their side with legs straight and arms straight at their sides are easy-going and social, but may be gullible.
• The Yearner: Side sleepers who stretch their arms out in front make slow decisions but stick with them once their mind is made up. They tend to be open in nature with an air of cynicism.
• Soldier: The solider position is flat on your back with arms down at your sides. Soldier sleepers are typically reserved and quiet but hold themselves to high standards.
• Freefall: Freefall is sleeping on your stomach with your head turned to one side and arms cradling your pillow. Freefallers may be nervy and brash but dislike criticism.
• Starfish: Sleeping on your back with both arms up over your head (bent at elbows) is the starfish position. Starfish sleepers are helpful and make good listeners, but they prefer not being the center of attention.
The analysis found that virtually everyone chooses one sleeping position to stick to, only 5 percent sleeping in a different position each night. The most popular position was the fetus, with 41 percent of survey participants (including twice as many women as men) sleeping in this position.
Simple Tips for Sound, Restorative Sleep
Choosing the best sleep position for you is only one part of proper “sleep hygiene.” Also incredibly important is making your bedroom a sleep sanctuary that is cool in temperature and free from light-emitting distractions like a TV, computer or iPad. Even the dim glow from your clock radio could be interfering with your ability to sleep -- and more importantly, your long-term health.
If your bedroom is not already pitch dark at night, I highly recommend installing blackout shades or thick drapes. Even the barely noticeable light from a streetlight, a full moon, or your neighbor‘s house can interfere with the circadian rhythm changes you need to fall asleep. You want your bedroom as dark as possible.
Alternatively, wear an eye mask to block out light, but this is a poor second-best option. As for temperature in your bedroom, studies show that the optimal room temperature for sleep is quite cool, as low as 60 to 68 degrees.
Keeping your room cooler than 60 degrees or hotter than 70 degrees can lead to restless sleep. This is because when you sleep your body's internal temperature drops to its lowest level, generally about four hours after you fall asleep. Scientists believe a cooler bedroom may therefore be most conducive to sleep, since it mimics your body's natural temperature drop.
For an additional boost, try taking a hot bath 90 to 120 minutes before bedtime. This increases your core body temperature, and when you get out of the bath it abruptly drops, signaling your body that you are ready for sleep.
Researchers have linked poor sleep to a number of health ailments, from short-term memory loss and behavioral problems, to weight gain and diabetes, for example. According to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), lack of sleep can even adversely impact more serious diseases, such as:
• Parkinson disease
• Alzheimer disease
• Multiple sclerosis
• Gastrointestinal tract disorders
• Kidney disease
A disrupted sleep cycle also adversely affects your body's production of melatonin, which is both a hormone and a potent antioxidant against cancer, thus raising your risk of breast cancer. So it’s incredibly important that you’re getting a sound night’s sleep.
If you're even slightly sleep deprived I encourage you to implement some of these tips tonight.
Source:
Mercola.com; CNN April 19, 2011; 10/15/11
The Best: Back position
Sleeping on your back prevents neck and back pain, reduces acid reflux, minimizes wrinkles, and helps maintain a perky chest. However, it is a bad position in terms of snoring.
Next Best: Side position
Sleeping on your side also prevents neck and back pain and reduces acid reflux, and it also reduces snoring. It's the best position for sleeping during pregnancy, if you sleep on your left side. However, it can be bad for your skin and your breasts.
Not Ideal: Fetal position
It's good for snoring less and sleeping during pregnancy, but it's not so good for neck and back pain, minimizing wrinkles, or maintaining your breasts.
The Worst: Stomach position
It's good for easing snoring, but it's bad for everything else. This position puts pressure on your joints and muscles, which can irritate nerves and lead to pain, numbness, and tingling.
Comments:
Getting a sound night’s sleep is an incredibly important part of optimizing your health and well-being, and one facet of restful sleep is the position in which you sleep. Most people naturally favor one sleep position over another, and it’s perfectly natural to listen to your body in this respect.
Whether you prefer sleeping on your back, side, stomach or somewhere in between, as long as that position equates to a good night’s sleep for you -- and allows you to wake up feeling refreshed and pain-free -- go ahead with it. If you’re waking up with back and neck pain, or struggling with snoring or acid reflux, adjusting your sleep position may help.
Sleeping on Your Back: The Best Position of All?
It’s generally accepted that the best sleep position is on your back. When you sleep on your back your head, neck and spine maintain a neutral position, and acid reflux symptoms are minimized. Because your face is not pushed up against a pillow, back sleeping may also be best for preventing facial wrinkles. When sleeping on your back no pillow is actually best for your spine, but a pillow that keeps your head and neck supported while still being relatively thin will also work. If you use a thick pillow you’ll lose out on some of the benefit of back sleeping, as this will push your head and neck forward, impacting your breathing.
The biggest downside to back sleeping, though, is that it may lead to snoring in some people. The New York Times reported one study found that 54 percent of snorers were "positional snorers," which means they only snored while sleeping on their backs. So switching to your side while sleeping is a simple trick to try if snoring is interfering with your sleep or your partner's sleep -- although it likely won't work to reduce snoring for everyone.
What about Side and Stomach Sleeping?
Side sleeping allows your spine to stay in a fairly neutral position while helping to reduce snoring issues in some people. If you like to put your hand under your head while in this position it can compress nerves in your shoulder and arm, making your fingers numb. You may also experience some tightness in your shoulder and neck muscles.
Sleeping on your side in the fetal position may lead to even more aches and pains, due to the fact that your body is tightly curled up for hours at a time. As for stomach sleeping, it’s generally regarded as the worst position of all because of the way it distorts the natural curve of your lower spine. Stomach sleeping may also impact your neck and lungs. Some people do find that sleeping on their side with a pillow between their knees radically improves their low back pain, as it tends to normalize the spinal curves and reduce pressure on your hips and knees.
The Best Sleep Position if You’re Pregnant
Sleeping on your back is generally not recommended during pregnancy, particularly during the later months, because the weight of your uterus presses on your spine, intestines and major blood vessels. Aside from leading to backache, this can reduce circulation to your baby as well as lead to low blood pressure and problems with breathing and digestive upset. Sleeping on your stomach will also become uncomfortable in the later months of pregnancy.
The best position overall during pregnancy is on your side, and particularly on your left side. This optimizes circulation and blood flow, increasing the amount of nutrients that reach your placenta and baby, while also allowing you to support your back, knees and stomach with pillows.
What Your Sleep Position Says About You
Your preferred sleep position may reveal clues about your personality, according to an analysis by Professor Chris Idzikowski of the UK’s Sleep Assessment and Advisory Service. For instance:
• The Fetus: Sleeping in the fetal position means you are tough on the outside but have a sensitive heart. You may also be shy at first when meeting new people.
• Log: People who sleep on their side with legs straight and arms straight at their sides are easy-going and social, but may be gullible.
• The Yearner: Side sleepers who stretch their arms out in front make slow decisions but stick with them once their mind is made up. They tend to be open in nature with an air of cynicism.
• Soldier: The solider position is flat on your back with arms down at your sides. Soldier sleepers are typically reserved and quiet but hold themselves to high standards.
• Freefall: Freefall is sleeping on your stomach with your head turned to one side and arms cradling your pillow. Freefallers may be nervy and brash but dislike criticism.
• Starfish: Sleeping on your back with both arms up over your head (bent at elbows) is the starfish position. Starfish sleepers are helpful and make good listeners, but they prefer not being the center of attention.
The analysis found that virtually everyone chooses one sleeping position to stick to, only 5 percent sleeping in a different position each night. The most popular position was the fetus, with 41 percent of survey participants (including twice as many women as men) sleeping in this position.
Simple Tips for Sound, Restorative Sleep
Choosing the best sleep position for you is only one part of proper “sleep hygiene.” Also incredibly important is making your bedroom a sleep sanctuary that is cool in temperature and free from light-emitting distractions like a TV, computer or iPad. Even the dim glow from your clock radio could be interfering with your ability to sleep -- and more importantly, your long-term health.
If your bedroom is not already pitch dark at night, I highly recommend installing blackout shades or thick drapes. Even the barely noticeable light from a streetlight, a full moon, or your neighbor‘s house can interfere with the circadian rhythm changes you need to fall asleep. You want your bedroom as dark as possible.
Alternatively, wear an eye mask to block out light, but this is a poor second-best option. As for temperature in your bedroom, studies show that the optimal room temperature for sleep is quite cool, as low as 60 to 68 degrees.
Keeping your room cooler than 60 degrees or hotter than 70 degrees can lead to restless sleep. This is because when you sleep your body's internal temperature drops to its lowest level, generally about four hours after you fall asleep. Scientists believe a cooler bedroom may therefore be most conducive to sleep, since it mimics your body's natural temperature drop.
For an additional boost, try taking a hot bath 90 to 120 minutes before bedtime. This increases your core body temperature, and when you get out of the bath it abruptly drops, signaling your body that you are ready for sleep.
Researchers have linked poor sleep to a number of health ailments, from short-term memory loss and behavioral problems, to weight gain and diabetes, for example. According to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), lack of sleep can even adversely impact more serious diseases, such as:
• Parkinson disease
• Alzheimer disease
• Multiple sclerosis
• Gastrointestinal tract disorders
• Kidney disease
A disrupted sleep cycle also adversely affects your body's production of melatonin, which is both a hormone and a potent antioxidant against cancer, thus raising your risk of breast cancer. So it’s incredibly important that you’re getting a sound night’s sleep.
If you're even slightly sleep deprived I encourage you to implement some of these tips tonight.
Source:
Mercola.com; CNN April 19, 2011; 10/15/11
Sunday, September 18, 2011
How To Succeed: The Secrets of the Masters
Rules to Guide Your Life by Dr. John Amaro, DC
On a bulletin board in my office, I have the following laws posted and have reviewed them daily for nearly 40 years. I am asked by patients and visitors a minimum of three to four times per week if they can have a copy. To read and study the following rules of life on a daily and weekly basis will, without question, positively impact your family, social life and practice.
Post these laws in a conspicuous place and read just one or two of them each morning. Do not try to intently study and focus on all of these laws daily. Take one law per day and focus on it for the entire day and evening. Once per week, read and review all the laws. Memorize them and make them an integral part of your life.
I first learned these laws in 1972 from one of my early mentors, a master of the martial arts and master of acupuncture in Kowloon, China. I can say without hesitation that each of these laws has made a major impact in my life, and I sincerely believe my practice and personal success would not have come as early as it did without these philosophies.
Lao Tzu has been credited with saying, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Best wishes on your life journey; you've taken the first step.
THE LAW OF CREATION: Whatever we think about and focus on, grows into reality. We create the situations we think about throughout the day. Think you will succeed, you will. Think you will fail, you will do that too. Focus on being sick, you end up creating the illness, focus on being healthy and vibrant, you create that as well. Think you are old, others will perceive you that way. Feel and think you are young, you will create that as well.
THE LAW OF ATTRACTION: We attract people, places, things and circumstances into our lives in direct proportion to our wants, needs and desires. People and situations come into our lives not by accident, but by our attraction and creation of the need.
THE LAW OF CONTROLLING OUR OWN LIFE: If we are not specifically controlling our own life and creating the circumstances which are necessary to meet our desires, we will become an instrument for others who do have control of their own life. We in essence will be used by others to meet their mission and destiny.
THE LAW OF RELAXATION: With physical laws, the harder we work, the more is accomplished. With mental laws, the more we relax, believe and expect to succeed with ease and confidence, the better the results.
THE LAW OF RECIPROCITY: Whatever we see in the universe sees us! Whatever attitudes, feelings, thoughts and desires we put out, regardless of if they are negative or positive, will always return to us.
THE LAW OF THE UNIVERSE (KARMA): Like the Law of Reciprocity, which deals with mental factors, the Law of Karma deals with physical manifestations. This law is what may affect our personal belongings, physical health and financial status. This law works both negatively or positively depending upon what we have put out in the universe.
THE LAW OF RETURN: Our rewards in life are in direct harmony with the value of our products, services or ideas. Very important!
THE LAW OF SUBSTITUTION: Consciously substitute all negative thoughts with positive ones immediately upon experiencing the negative thought. We can only experience one thought at any given time, therefore by substituting a positive for a negative, only positive will reach the subconscious.
THE LAW OF BELIEF: Whatever we believe with strong feelings becomes our reality. We are not limited by what we think we can do, but by what we think we can't do. Self-limitations are not based upon reality, but negative belief systems.
THE LAW OF PRESENT-TIME CONSCIOUSNESS: It is imperative that we live in the present as opposed to "tomorrow" or "yesterday." Preparing for tomorrow with righteous living and positive thoughts prepare us for what we will manifest; however, it is what we do today, right now (present-time consciousness) that is most important to achieve the rewards of life.
THE LAW OF PERSONAL GROWTH: "To become, act and feel as if." To become a successful practitioner, businessperson, parent, athlete, etc., act and feel as if you are already successful. The human spirit will act upon what it is given.
THE LAW OF EXPECTATION: We must know what it is we want to accomplish or obtain before the universe can manifest our desires. Most people don't know what they want due to unclear thinking and foggy mental vision.
THE LAW OF CLARITY: The clarity of our mind and thoughts is in direct proportion to the physical clutter in our lives. Take a look around you.
THE LAW OF CAUSE AND EFFECT: Within universal law, our thoughts are the cause; the conditions, either good or bad, are the effects. The outcome is totally dependent on our creation of thought. (See the LAW OF CREATION.)
THE LAW OF PERSEVERANCE: People who succeed never stop trying. People who stop trying, never succeed. You see it time and time again in life. Never stop trying and reach your dreams.
THE LAW OF FORGIVENESS: Forgiving all others is a necessary and effective purgative for a successful life. The law doesn't demand that we like the other person or situation, just that we forgive them and let go of the mental chains that entrap us.
On a bulletin board in my office, I have the following laws posted and have reviewed them daily for nearly 40 years. I am asked by patients and visitors a minimum of three to four times per week if they can have a copy. To read and study the following rules of life on a daily and weekly basis will, without question, positively impact your family, social life and practice.
Post these laws in a conspicuous place and read just one or two of them each morning. Do not try to intently study and focus on all of these laws daily. Take one law per day and focus on it for the entire day and evening. Once per week, read and review all the laws. Memorize them and make them an integral part of your life.
I first learned these laws in 1972 from one of my early mentors, a master of the martial arts and master of acupuncture in Kowloon, China. I can say without hesitation that each of these laws has made a major impact in my life, and I sincerely believe my practice and personal success would not have come as early as it did without these philosophies.
Lao Tzu has been credited with saying, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Best wishes on your life journey; you've taken the first step.
THE LAW OF CREATION: Whatever we think about and focus on, grows into reality. We create the situations we think about throughout the day. Think you will succeed, you will. Think you will fail, you will do that too. Focus on being sick, you end up creating the illness, focus on being healthy and vibrant, you create that as well. Think you are old, others will perceive you that way. Feel and think you are young, you will create that as well.
THE LAW OF ATTRACTION: We attract people, places, things and circumstances into our lives in direct proportion to our wants, needs and desires. People and situations come into our lives not by accident, but by our attraction and creation of the need.
THE LAW OF CONTROLLING OUR OWN LIFE: If we are not specifically controlling our own life and creating the circumstances which are necessary to meet our desires, we will become an instrument for others who do have control of their own life. We in essence will be used by others to meet their mission and destiny.
THE LAW OF RELAXATION: With physical laws, the harder we work, the more is accomplished. With mental laws, the more we relax, believe and expect to succeed with ease and confidence, the better the results.
THE LAW OF RECIPROCITY: Whatever we see in the universe sees us! Whatever attitudes, feelings, thoughts and desires we put out, regardless of if they are negative or positive, will always return to us.
THE LAW OF THE UNIVERSE (KARMA): Like the Law of Reciprocity, which deals with mental factors, the Law of Karma deals with physical manifestations. This law is what may affect our personal belongings, physical health and financial status. This law works both negatively or positively depending upon what we have put out in the universe.
THE LAW OF RETURN: Our rewards in life are in direct harmony with the value of our products, services or ideas. Very important!
THE LAW OF SUBSTITUTION: Consciously substitute all negative thoughts with positive ones immediately upon experiencing the negative thought. We can only experience one thought at any given time, therefore by substituting a positive for a negative, only positive will reach the subconscious.
THE LAW OF BELIEF: Whatever we believe with strong feelings becomes our reality. We are not limited by what we think we can do, but by what we think we can't do. Self-limitations are not based upon reality, but negative belief systems.
THE LAW OF PRESENT-TIME CONSCIOUSNESS: It is imperative that we live in the present as opposed to "tomorrow" or "yesterday." Preparing for tomorrow with righteous living and positive thoughts prepare us for what we will manifest; however, it is what we do today, right now (present-time consciousness) that is most important to achieve the rewards of life.
THE LAW OF PERSONAL GROWTH: "To become, act and feel as if." To become a successful practitioner, businessperson, parent, athlete, etc., act and feel as if you are already successful. The human spirit will act upon what it is given.
THE LAW OF EXPECTATION: We must know what it is we want to accomplish or obtain before the universe can manifest our desires. Most people don't know what they want due to unclear thinking and foggy mental vision.
THE LAW OF CLARITY: The clarity of our mind and thoughts is in direct proportion to the physical clutter in our lives. Take a look around you.
THE LAW OF CAUSE AND EFFECT: Within universal law, our thoughts are the cause; the conditions, either good or bad, are the effects. The outcome is totally dependent on our creation of thought. (See the LAW OF CREATION.)
THE LAW OF PERSEVERANCE: People who succeed never stop trying. People who stop trying, never succeed. You see it time and time again in life. Never stop trying and reach your dreams.
THE LAW OF FORGIVENESS: Forgiving all others is a necessary and effective purgative for a successful life. The law doesn't demand that we like the other person or situation, just that we forgive them and let go of the mental chains that entrap us.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Statin Drugs Actually Worsen Your Heart Function.
A study found that statin drugs are associated with decreased myocardial (heart muscle) function.
Statin use is known to be associated with myopathy, muscle weakness and rhabdomyolysis, a breakdown of muscle fibers resulting in the release of muscle fiber contents into the bloodstream. For the study, myocardial function was evaluated in 28 patients.
According to Green Med Info:
“There was significantly better function noted ... in the control group vs the statin group”.
The majority of people who use statin cholesterol-lowering drugs are doing so because they believe lowering their cholesterol will prevent heart attacks and strokes. How many of these people do you think would continue to take them if they knew these very same drugs have been linked to decreased heart muscle function and increased risk of stroke?
No one in their right mind?
The truth is, the usefulness of statin drugs has received tough scrutiny in recent months, and that scrutiny is well deserved. Take this study in Clinical Cardiology. It found that heart muscle function was "significantly better" in the control group (NOT taking the statin drug) compared to those taking statin drugs!
The researchers concluded:
"Statin therapy is associated with decreased myocardial [heart muscle] function."
What's often the end result when your heart muscle function is weakened or decreased? Heart failure!
How Statins May Actually Cause Heart Failure
The Clinical Cardiology study did not address causes, but it's widely known that statins lower your CoQ10 levels by blocking the pathway involved in cholesterol production -- the same pathway by which Q10 is produced. Statins also reduce the blood cholesterol that transports CoQ10 and other fat-soluble antioxidants. The loss of CoQ10 leads to loss of cell energy and increased free radicals which, in turn, can further damage your mitochondrial DNA, effectively setting into motion an evil circle of increasing free radicals and mitochondrial damage.
There are no official warnings in the U.S. regarding CoQ10 depletion from taking statin drugs, and many physicians fail to inform you about this problem as well. Labeling in Canada, however, clearly warns of CoQ10 depletion and even notes that this nutrient deficiency "could lead to impaired cardiac function in patients with borderline congestive heart failure." As your body gets more and more depleted of CoQ10, you may suffer from fatigue, muscle weakness and soreness, and eventually heart failure, so it is imperative if you take statin drugs that you take CoQ10.
Statins Fail Miserably at Heart Attack Prevention
Originally, statin drugs were prescribed for secondary prevention, meaning the prevention of a second heart attack or stroke if you'd already suffered one and had clear signs of heart disease. But today a majority of people taking the drugs are doing so for primary prevention, i.e. "preventive medicine" -- to help prevent people with certain risk factors of heart disease -- although otherwise healthy -- from having a heart attack or stroke in the first place.
This switch came largely as the result of the JUPITER study, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2008. It boasted that statin drugs could lower the risk of heart attack by 54 percent, the risk of stroke by 48 percent, the risk of needing angioplasty or bypass surgery by 46 percent, and the risk of death from all causes by 20 percent.
As you might suspect, the funding for this study came from Astra-Zeneca, the maker of statin drug Crestor -- and once again, we find that industry-funded claims of health benefits for highly profit-producing drugs need to be viewed with a healthy dose of skepticism. Two years after the original study came out; three articles were published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, refuting the claims by the industry-funded JUPITER study.
One of these studies titled Cholesterol lowering, cardiovascular diseases, and the rosuvastatin-JUPITER controversy: a critical reappraisal, carefully reviewed the methods and the results of the JUPITER trial and concluded that the trial was flawed and the results "do not support the use of statin treatment for primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases …"
In addition, a second study, a meta-analysis of 11 randomized controlled trials, found no evidence to back up the JUPITER trial claim that statins can reduce your risk of death when used as primary prevention against heart disease.
Increased Risk of Stroke, Serious Side Effects
Statin drugs are frequently prescribed like candy for tens of millions of Americans, but you need to think long and hard before deciding to take your physician up on this prescription, as they have very real, and very steep risks, and they are NOT right, nor safe, for everyone. Case in point, a new study found that statin drugs actually increase your risk of having a type of stroke caused by bleeding in the brain if you've already had one before. Among such patients, the risk of a second stroke was 22 percent in those who took statins compared with 14 percent in those who did not.
There are two reasons why this might happen: the drugs may either lower your cholesterol too much, to the point that it increases your risk of brain bleeding, or they may affect clotting factors in your blood, increasing the bleeding risk.
At GreenMedInfo.com you can see 71 diseases that may be associated with these drugs, and this is only the tip of the iceberg. There are actually over 900 studies showing the risks of statin drugs, which include:
Cognitive loss Neuropathy Anemia
Acidosis Frequent fevers Cataracts
Sexual dysfunction An increase in cancer risk
Pancreatic dysfunction
Immune system suppression
Serious degenerative muscle tissue condition (rhabdomyolysis) Hepatic dysfunction. (Due to the potential increase in liver enzymes, patients must be monitored for normal liver function)
Oftentimes statins do not have any immediate side effects, and they are quite effective, capable of lowering cholesterol levels by 50 points or more. This makes it appear as though they're benefiting your health, and health problems that appear down the line are frequently not interpreted as a side effect of the drug, but rather as brand new, separate health problems.
But there's an ever-growing body of evidence showing that potentially serious side effects begin to manifest several months after the commencement of therapy. Further, according to a review published in the American Journal of Cardiovascular Drugs, adverse effects are dose dependent, and your health risks are also amplified by a number of factors, such as:
1) Drug interactions that increase statin potency, 2) Metabolic syndrome, 3) Thyroid disease, 4) Other genetic mutations linked to mitochondrial dysfunction
High blood pressure and diabetes are linked to higher rates of mitochondrial problems, so if you have either of these conditions your risk of statin complications increases. Additionally, since statins can cause progressive damage to your mitochondria over time, and your mitochondria tend to weaken with age anyway, new adverse effects can develop the longer you're on the drug.
Are You Taking a Statin for No Reason?
For certain individuals who are at very high risk of dying from a heart attack, statin drugs may be useful -- but this is only true if you have strong heart attack risk factors (NOT if you simply have "high" cholesterol levels). It is important to note that it is also not necessary for you to remain on the drug for the rest of your life. Once your cholesterol ratios have been optimized by a course of treatment on statins, you can safely go off them if you have changed your diet. So, odds are very high -- greater than 100 to 1 -- that if you're taking a statin, you don't really need it.
The only two subgroups that might benefit are:
• Those at very high risk of heart attack (based NOT on your cholesterol levels but on your heart attack risk factors)
• Those born with a genetic defect called familial hypercholesterolemia, as this makes you resistant to traditional measures of normalizing cholesterol
If you are not in one of those two categories, statin drugs are an unnecessary health risk you're better off avoiding -- and you definitely want to avoid the trap of taking them to lower your cholesterol when your cholesterol is actually well within a healthy range. I have seen a number of people with total cholesterol levels over 250 who were actually at low risk for heart disease due to their elevated HDL levels. Conversely, I have seen many people with cholesterol levels under 200 who had a very high risk of heart disease, based on their low HDL.
Further, if you take statin drugs unnecessarily, there's a good chance your cholesterol levels will become too low, which is dangerous since your body NEEDS cholesterol -- it is important in the production of cell membranes, hormones, vitamin D and bile acids that help you to digest fat. Cholesterol also helps your brain form memories and is vital to your neurological function. There is also strong evidence that having too little cholesterol INCREASES your risk for cancer, memory loss, Parkinson's disease, hormonal imbalances, stroke, depression, suicide, and violent behavior – so keeping your cholesterol high enough is important.
Do You Want to Optimize Your Cholesterol?
The goal of the tips below is not to necessarily lower your cholesterol as low as it can go; the goal is to optimize your levels so they're working in the proper balance with your body.
Seventy-five percent of your cholesterol is produced by your liver, which is influenced by your insulin levels. Therefore, if you optimize your insulin level, you will automatically optimize your cholesterol. This is why my primary strategies for optimizing your cholesterol have to do with modifying your diet and lifestyle:
• Reduce fructose, grains and sugars in your diet. It is especially important to eliminate dangerous sugars such as fructose, which is found in soda and most processed foods. If your HDL/Cholesterol ratio is abnormal and needs to be improved it would also serve you well to additionally eliminate fruits from your diet, as that is also a source of fructose.
Once your cholesterol improves you can gradually reintroduce fruits at levels that don't raise your cholesterol.
• Consume a good portion of your food raw.
• Make sure you are getting plenty of high quality, animal-based omega 3 fats, such as krill oil. Research suggests that as little as 500 mg of krill per day may lower your total cholesterol and triglycerides and will likely increase your HDL cholesterol.
• Eat the right foods for your nutritional type. Examples of heart-healthy foods and fats include olive oil, coconut and coconut oil, organic raw dairy products and eggs, avocados, raw nuts and seeds, and organic grass-fed meats as appropriate for your nutritional type.
• Exercise daily. Make sure you incorporate exercise, which also optimize your human growth hormone (HGH) production. When you exercise you increase your circulation and the blood flow throughout your body.
• Avoid smoking or drinking alcohol excessively.
• Be sure to get plenty of high-quality, restorative sleep.
Sources: mercola.com; Clinical Cardiology, December 2009; 8/18/11.
Statin use is known to be associated with myopathy, muscle weakness and rhabdomyolysis, a breakdown of muscle fibers resulting in the release of muscle fiber contents into the bloodstream. For the study, myocardial function was evaluated in 28 patients.
According to Green Med Info:
“There was significantly better function noted ... in the control group vs the statin group”.
The majority of people who use statin cholesterol-lowering drugs are doing so because they believe lowering their cholesterol will prevent heart attacks and strokes. How many of these people do you think would continue to take them if they knew these very same drugs have been linked to decreased heart muscle function and increased risk of stroke?
No one in their right mind?
The truth is, the usefulness of statin drugs has received tough scrutiny in recent months, and that scrutiny is well deserved. Take this study in Clinical Cardiology. It found that heart muscle function was "significantly better" in the control group (NOT taking the statin drug) compared to those taking statin drugs!
The researchers concluded:
"Statin therapy is associated with decreased myocardial [heart muscle] function."
What's often the end result when your heart muscle function is weakened or decreased? Heart failure!
How Statins May Actually Cause Heart Failure
The Clinical Cardiology study did not address causes, but it's widely known that statins lower your CoQ10 levels by blocking the pathway involved in cholesterol production -- the same pathway by which Q10 is produced. Statins also reduce the blood cholesterol that transports CoQ10 and other fat-soluble antioxidants. The loss of CoQ10 leads to loss of cell energy and increased free radicals which, in turn, can further damage your mitochondrial DNA, effectively setting into motion an evil circle of increasing free radicals and mitochondrial damage.
There are no official warnings in the U.S. regarding CoQ10 depletion from taking statin drugs, and many physicians fail to inform you about this problem as well. Labeling in Canada, however, clearly warns of CoQ10 depletion and even notes that this nutrient deficiency "could lead to impaired cardiac function in patients with borderline congestive heart failure." As your body gets more and more depleted of CoQ10, you may suffer from fatigue, muscle weakness and soreness, and eventually heart failure, so it is imperative if you take statin drugs that you take CoQ10.
Statins Fail Miserably at Heart Attack Prevention
Originally, statin drugs were prescribed for secondary prevention, meaning the prevention of a second heart attack or stroke if you'd already suffered one and had clear signs of heart disease. But today a majority of people taking the drugs are doing so for primary prevention, i.e. "preventive medicine" -- to help prevent people with certain risk factors of heart disease -- although otherwise healthy -- from having a heart attack or stroke in the first place.
This switch came largely as the result of the JUPITER study, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2008. It boasted that statin drugs could lower the risk of heart attack by 54 percent, the risk of stroke by 48 percent, the risk of needing angioplasty or bypass surgery by 46 percent, and the risk of death from all causes by 20 percent.
As you might suspect, the funding for this study came from Astra-Zeneca, the maker of statin drug Crestor -- and once again, we find that industry-funded claims of health benefits for highly profit-producing drugs need to be viewed with a healthy dose of skepticism. Two years after the original study came out; three articles were published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, refuting the claims by the industry-funded JUPITER study.
One of these studies titled Cholesterol lowering, cardiovascular diseases, and the rosuvastatin-JUPITER controversy: a critical reappraisal, carefully reviewed the methods and the results of the JUPITER trial and concluded that the trial was flawed and the results "do not support the use of statin treatment for primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases …"
In addition, a second study, a meta-analysis of 11 randomized controlled trials, found no evidence to back up the JUPITER trial claim that statins can reduce your risk of death when used as primary prevention against heart disease.
Increased Risk of Stroke, Serious Side Effects
Statin drugs are frequently prescribed like candy for tens of millions of Americans, but you need to think long and hard before deciding to take your physician up on this prescription, as they have very real, and very steep risks, and they are NOT right, nor safe, for everyone. Case in point, a new study found that statin drugs actually increase your risk of having a type of stroke caused by bleeding in the brain if you've already had one before. Among such patients, the risk of a second stroke was 22 percent in those who took statins compared with 14 percent in those who did not.
There are two reasons why this might happen: the drugs may either lower your cholesterol too much, to the point that it increases your risk of brain bleeding, or they may affect clotting factors in your blood, increasing the bleeding risk.
At GreenMedInfo.com you can see 71 diseases that may be associated with these drugs, and this is only the tip of the iceberg. There are actually over 900 studies showing the risks of statin drugs, which include:
Cognitive loss Neuropathy Anemia
Acidosis Frequent fevers Cataracts
Sexual dysfunction An increase in cancer risk
Pancreatic dysfunction
Immune system suppression
Serious degenerative muscle tissue condition (rhabdomyolysis) Hepatic dysfunction. (Due to the potential increase in liver enzymes, patients must be monitored for normal liver function)
Oftentimes statins do not have any immediate side effects, and they are quite effective, capable of lowering cholesterol levels by 50 points or more. This makes it appear as though they're benefiting your health, and health problems that appear down the line are frequently not interpreted as a side effect of the drug, but rather as brand new, separate health problems.
But there's an ever-growing body of evidence showing that potentially serious side effects begin to manifest several months after the commencement of therapy. Further, according to a review published in the American Journal of Cardiovascular Drugs, adverse effects are dose dependent, and your health risks are also amplified by a number of factors, such as:
1) Drug interactions that increase statin potency, 2) Metabolic syndrome, 3) Thyroid disease, 4) Other genetic mutations linked to mitochondrial dysfunction
High blood pressure and diabetes are linked to higher rates of mitochondrial problems, so if you have either of these conditions your risk of statin complications increases. Additionally, since statins can cause progressive damage to your mitochondria over time, and your mitochondria tend to weaken with age anyway, new adverse effects can develop the longer you're on the drug.
Are You Taking a Statin for No Reason?
For certain individuals who are at very high risk of dying from a heart attack, statin drugs may be useful -- but this is only true if you have strong heart attack risk factors (NOT if you simply have "high" cholesterol levels). It is important to note that it is also not necessary for you to remain on the drug for the rest of your life. Once your cholesterol ratios have been optimized by a course of treatment on statins, you can safely go off them if you have changed your diet. So, odds are very high -- greater than 100 to 1 -- that if you're taking a statin, you don't really need it.
The only two subgroups that might benefit are:
• Those at very high risk of heart attack (based NOT on your cholesterol levels but on your heart attack risk factors)
• Those born with a genetic defect called familial hypercholesterolemia, as this makes you resistant to traditional measures of normalizing cholesterol
If you are not in one of those two categories, statin drugs are an unnecessary health risk you're better off avoiding -- and you definitely want to avoid the trap of taking them to lower your cholesterol when your cholesterol is actually well within a healthy range. I have seen a number of people with total cholesterol levels over 250 who were actually at low risk for heart disease due to their elevated HDL levels. Conversely, I have seen many people with cholesterol levels under 200 who had a very high risk of heart disease, based on their low HDL.
Further, if you take statin drugs unnecessarily, there's a good chance your cholesterol levels will become too low, which is dangerous since your body NEEDS cholesterol -- it is important in the production of cell membranes, hormones, vitamin D and bile acids that help you to digest fat. Cholesterol also helps your brain form memories and is vital to your neurological function. There is also strong evidence that having too little cholesterol INCREASES your risk for cancer, memory loss, Parkinson's disease, hormonal imbalances, stroke, depression, suicide, and violent behavior – so keeping your cholesterol high enough is important.
Do You Want to Optimize Your Cholesterol?
The goal of the tips below is not to necessarily lower your cholesterol as low as it can go; the goal is to optimize your levels so they're working in the proper balance with your body.
Seventy-five percent of your cholesterol is produced by your liver, which is influenced by your insulin levels. Therefore, if you optimize your insulin level, you will automatically optimize your cholesterol. This is why my primary strategies for optimizing your cholesterol have to do with modifying your diet and lifestyle:
• Reduce fructose, grains and sugars in your diet. It is especially important to eliminate dangerous sugars such as fructose, which is found in soda and most processed foods. If your HDL/Cholesterol ratio is abnormal and needs to be improved it would also serve you well to additionally eliminate fruits from your diet, as that is also a source of fructose.
Once your cholesterol improves you can gradually reintroduce fruits at levels that don't raise your cholesterol.
• Consume a good portion of your food raw.
• Make sure you are getting plenty of high quality, animal-based omega 3 fats, such as krill oil. Research suggests that as little as 500 mg of krill per day may lower your total cholesterol and triglycerides and will likely increase your HDL cholesterol.
• Eat the right foods for your nutritional type. Examples of heart-healthy foods and fats include olive oil, coconut and coconut oil, organic raw dairy products and eggs, avocados, raw nuts and seeds, and organic grass-fed meats as appropriate for your nutritional type.
• Exercise daily. Make sure you incorporate exercise, which also optimize your human growth hormone (HGH) production. When you exercise you increase your circulation and the blood flow throughout your body.
• Avoid smoking or drinking alcohol excessively.
• Be sure to get plenty of high-quality, restorative sleep.
Sources: mercola.com; Clinical Cardiology, December 2009; 8/18/11.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Obesity Surgery Even Worse Than Thought
A study has found that nearly half of a group of patients who received gastric band surgery for weight loss over ten years ago had the bands removed because of medical complications. The study is the first to track laparoscopic gastric band surgery outcomes over a long period. The bands eroded in almost a third of the patients, and sixty percent went on to undergo additional weight loss surgery in spite of the bands.
According to the New York Times:
"Researchers concluded that the adjustable gastric band surgery, which is growing in popularity in the United States, 'appears to result in relatively poor long-term outcomes.' The results 'are worse than we expected,' said Dr. Jacques Himpens ... lead author of the new study."
Furthermore, significant bone loss has been shown to occur in teens receiving gastric bypass surgery, the same result that occurs in adults receiving this more invasive type of stomach surgery. Researchers took bone density measurements every three months for two years after the teen's surgeries and according to USA Today found that:
"Two years after the surgery, the bone mineral content of the 61 obese teens studied had declined, on average, by 7.4 percent."
However gastric banding is not the magic bullet panacea that it is being promoted as. There are powerful forces at work that motivate those who struggle with obesity to consider this option. There is no question that it is occasionally effective but at what price? Since NO ONE was ever designed to have their gut artificially shortened, there are inevitable damages that occur in everyone undergoing this procedure. So the question becomes a risk/benefit analysis. We make these types of judgments every day and some risky procedures are worth it. We all know that we can die when we travel by plane or auto yet most of us are willing to take that risk. However when you carefully examine the complications I review below, it is hard to imagine any rational individual ever choosing these procedures. The results of the first ever long-term gastric banding study are now in, and they are not promising.
Over a third of the adults receiving the surgery experience eroding bands, while a whopping 60 percent need additional surgery to address their weight problems.
Gastric Banding Surgery up Ten-Fold Since 2000
Gastric banding, known as the Lap Band, has increased in popularity for two main reasons.
• First, the number of obese Americans has now surpassed the number of merely overweight Americans, which brings the total number of either overweight or obese to almost three quarters of the American population. And the increase is seen mostly in the number of obese people, according to the National Center for Health Statistics:
"Although the prevalence of obesity has more than doubled since 1980, the prevalence of overweight has remained stable over the same time period."
• Secondly on February 16, 2011 the FDA approved lowering the BMI (body mass index) to qualify for health care-covered gastric banding surgery from 40 to 30 if health related conditions are present.
Remember it's hard to sustain a BMI of 30 for very long without exposing yourself to "health related conditions" like sleep apnea, GERD, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis and certain cancers. A BMI of 30 is the minimum threshold to qualify as obese. So in other words, the requirements for this surgery have changed from morbidly obese to just barely obese, resulting in millions of more Americans qualifying for health care-covered gastric banding surgery. Gastric bypass surgery, on the other hand, is both more invasive and still available only for the morbidly obese (those with a BMI of 40 or higher).
Gastric Bypass and Gastric Banding Surgeries are NOT Normal
Gastric bypass refers to creating a small thumb-size pouch in the upper stomach which connects directly to the small intestine, thereby bypassing the majority of the stomach and leading to a greatly reduced stomach size. It is the more invasive procedure of the two surgeries, but less widely performed due to increased BMI requirements to qualify for insurance coverage.
Gastric banding refers to a surgery that inserts an inflatable silicone band into your stomach to create a smaller stomach size. Short-term, these procedures usually do produce significantly greater weight loss compared to lifestyle modification.
Both procedures limit the amount of food you can consume, and the rapid weight loss is clearly the natural effect of this forced starvation produced by the smaller stomach size. But in exchange for this rapid weight loss, the health risks are VERY high, and long-term safety and effectiveness according to the featured article above are "worse than expected".
Some of the side-effects listed on Lapbandsurgeryfaq.com can include:
Vomiting- A common side effect. Due to overeating or eating large chunky food. Eating in a hurry or drinking water on an empty stomach can cause this. The important thing is it results with lap band slippage and slippage can cause hospitalization or re-operation. Nausea is also common.
Gastro esophageal reflux- Often a problem of an eating disorder. When you lay down after eating you may experience heart burn. This may be caused due to tightness of lap band system.
Difficulty swallowing- This is the problem of passing food from mouth to stomach. This results with reflux and vomiting.
Constipation- This is also a normal lap band surgery side effect. Happens due to the liquid food eaten.
Stomach obstruction- If your lap band is not placed at correct position then you can have an obstruction of the stomach opening. This problem has been reported by almost 14% of banders.
Esophageal dilation- This happens after the enlargement of the esophagus. This means your pouch becomes too large and there is the problem of pushing food by the esophagus. As a result you can have bleeding, perforation, painful swallowing, heart burn etc.
Gallstones—Gallstones can form and cause abdominal pain with indigestion and vomiting because of rapid weight loss.
Gastric perforation- Tearing of stomach wall. As a result of this, food comes of your stomach. It may cause infection or other severe problem. It may require transplantation, otherwise repair is also an option.
Pancreatitis- enlargement of the pancreas. You can have breathing problems, bacterial infection etc.
Lap band slippage—lap band may slip from its place due to any reason like vomiting and this can result in hospitalization and re-operation.
Other possible lap band surgery side-effects include diarrhea, hair loss and protein deficiency, rejection of lap band by your body, infection, band erosion, leakage from the balloon, esophageal dilatation, and pouch dilatation.
Besides all of these side-effects, a third of the adults in the study featured above had the band erode and 60 percent needed additional surgery. So a third of the time the band becomes non-functional and over half of the time further surgery is needed. Not exactly an inspirational long-term performance record, is it?
Death Can Result from Gastric Banding or Gastric Bypass
Would you be willing to trade your life for the possibility of losing weight? This is a serious question as both of these surgeries can lead to death.
As stated directly on Lap-Band's safety information page:
"You should know that death is one of the risks. It can occur any time during the operation. It can also occur as a result of the operation. Death can occur despite all the precautions that are taken."
What else is buried on the Lap-Band safety page? Disclaimers letting you know that along with the laundry list of possible complications, there's a chance you may not lose any weight at all:
"Complications can cause reduced weight loss. They can also cause weight gain … It is possible you may not lose much weight or any weight at all."
So weight loss surgery, which includes gastric banding and the more invasive gastric bypass, may seem like a simple quick fix, but they are NOT a safe solution because of the many negative long-term health consequences inherent with both of these surgical options. Over 40 percent of weight loss surgeries result in major complications within six months, including black-outs, malnutrition, infection, kidney stones, bowel and gallbladder problems, liver failure, and, again, an increased risk of death. All surgeries have inherent risks, but bariatric surgeries seem to have a much higher ratio of complications. In fact, you are far more likely to suffer an adverse event from these types of surgeries than not.
A More Natural Approach to Weight Loss
Lifestyle modification is the more natural way to address your weight loss concerns since it more permanently treats the source of the problem rather than using a surgically inserted Band-Aid to curb overeating. Addressing your diet and lifestyle without surgery is also much safer, and in the long run, much more effective, as this option will not present you with all of the risks of side-effects and complications that accompany these surgeries, not to mention the "worse than expected" outcomes. While exercise is crucial for everyone seeking to control their weight it plays a variable role in its important. For those that are massively overweight the single most important element will be the foods that are selected. So don't expect doing two to three hours of cardio will work miracles, it, won't. You have to focus on food first.
Fasting and using freshly squeezed organic green vegetable juices are two of the more powerful interventions to rapidly normalize your weight. Other healthy lifestyle tips that will help you to reach your ideal weight naturally requires just three basic steps:
• Eat a healthy diet that's right for your nutritional type, paying very careful attention to keeping your insulin levels down, primarily by avoiding fructose as much as possible. When you eat for your nutritional type, you eat the foods that are right for your biochemistry, and these are the foods that will push your body toward its ideal weight. A healthy diet means eliminating soda and processed junk foods, along with eating non-GMO and organic options whenever possible. Again, organic green vegetable juicing and fasting are key elements when seeking to lower large amounts of weight.
• View exercise as a drug. When you're trying to lose weight, a casual walk here and there is not going to cut it. There are a number of routes you can go here, but ideally, you need to exercise each and every day. It is simply impossible to optimize your health and weight without regular exercise. Fortunately, there's a highly effective exercise strategy that can dramatically reduce your workout time and maximize your weight loss; it's called Peak Fitness.
• Manage your stress. Tools like the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) are your friend and ally when it comes to losing weight. For some, emotional eating is more complex and an experienced EFT practitioner may be able to help unravel some of your deeper emotional issues that are impacting your weight.
As you naturally start to shed your unwanted pounds by following this healthier lifestyle, you will be stepping into a future with a greatly reduced risk of all the degenerative diseases that are linked to being overweight and obese, giving you a greater chance at a longer life to enjoy your newfound optimal health.
Sources:
New York Times, Archives of Surgery, USA Today, Pediatrics, mercola.com; 6/19/2011
According to the New York Times:
"Researchers concluded that the adjustable gastric band surgery, which is growing in popularity in the United States, 'appears to result in relatively poor long-term outcomes.' The results 'are worse than we expected,' said Dr. Jacques Himpens ... lead author of the new study."
Furthermore, significant bone loss has been shown to occur in teens receiving gastric bypass surgery, the same result that occurs in adults receiving this more invasive type of stomach surgery. Researchers took bone density measurements every three months for two years after the teen's surgeries and according to USA Today found that:
"Two years after the surgery, the bone mineral content of the 61 obese teens studied had declined, on average, by 7.4 percent."
However gastric banding is not the magic bullet panacea that it is being promoted as. There are powerful forces at work that motivate those who struggle with obesity to consider this option. There is no question that it is occasionally effective but at what price? Since NO ONE was ever designed to have their gut artificially shortened, there are inevitable damages that occur in everyone undergoing this procedure. So the question becomes a risk/benefit analysis. We make these types of judgments every day and some risky procedures are worth it. We all know that we can die when we travel by plane or auto yet most of us are willing to take that risk. However when you carefully examine the complications I review below, it is hard to imagine any rational individual ever choosing these procedures. The results of the first ever long-term gastric banding study are now in, and they are not promising.
Over a third of the adults receiving the surgery experience eroding bands, while a whopping 60 percent need additional surgery to address their weight problems.
Gastric Banding Surgery up Ten-Fold Since 2000
Gastric banding, known as the Lap Band, has increased in popularity for two main reasons.
• First, the number of obese Americans has now surpassed the number of merely overweight Americans, which brings the total number of either overweight or obese to almost three quarters of the American population. And the increase is seen mostly in the number of obese people, according to the National Center for Health Statistics:
"Although the prevalence of obesity has more than doubled since 1980, the prevalence of overweight has remained stable over the same time period."
• Secondly on February 16, 2011 the FDA approved lowering the BMI (body mass index) to qualify for health care-covered gastric banding surgery from 40 to 30 if health related conditions are present.
Remember it's hard to sustain a BMI of 30 for very long without exposing yourself to "health related conditions" like sleep apnea, GERD, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis and certain cancers. A BMI of 30 is the minimum threshold to qualify as obese. So in other words, the requirements for this surgery have changed from morbidly obese to just barely obese, resulting in millions of more Americans qualifying for health care-covered gastric banding surgery. Gastric bypass surgery, on the other hand, is both more invasive and still available only for the morbidly obese (those with a BMI of 40 or higher).
Gastric Bypass and Gastric Banding Surgeries are NOT Normal
Gastric bypass refers to creating a small thumb-size pouch in the upper stomach which connects directly to the small intestine, thereby bypassing the majority of the stomach and leading to a greatly reduced stomach size. It is the more invasive procedure of the two surgeries, but less widely performed due to increased BMI requirements to qualify for insurance coverage.
Gastric banding refers to a surgery that inserts an inflatable silicone band into your stomach to create a smaller stomach size. Short-term, these procedures usually do produce significantly greater weight loss compared to lifestyle modification.
Both procedures limit the amount of food you can consume, and the rapid weight loss is clearly the natural effect of this forced starvation produced by the smaller stomach size. But in exchange for this rapid weight loss, the health risks are VERY high, and long-term safety and effectiveness according to the featured article above are "worse than expected".
Some of the side-effects listed on Lapbandsurgeryfaq.com can include:
Vomiting- A common side effect. Due to overeating or eating large chunky food. Eating in a hurry or drinking water on an empty stomach can cause this. The important thing is it results with lap band slippage and slippage can cause hospitalization or re-operation. Nausea is also common.
Gastro esophageal reflux- Often a problem of an eating disorder. When you lay down after eating you may experience heart burn. This may be caused due to tightness of lap band system.
Difficulty swallowing- This is the problem of passing food from mouth to stomach. This results with reflux and vomiting.
Constipation- This is also a normal lap band surgery side effect. Happens due to the liquid food eaten.
Stomach obstruction- If your lap band is not placed at correct position then you can have an obstruction of the stomach opening. This problem has been reported by almost 14% of banders.
Esophageal dilation- This happens after the enlargement of the esophagus. This means your pouch becomes too large and there is the problem of pushing food by the esophagus. As a result you can have bleeding, perforation, painful swallowing, heart burn etc.
Gallstones—Gallstones can form and cause abdominal pain with indigestion and vomiting because of rapid weight loss.
Gastric perforation- Tearing of stomach wall. As a result of this, food comes of your stomach. It may cause infection or other severe problem. It may require transplantation, otherwise repair is also an option.
Pancreatitis- enlargement of the pancreas. You can have breathing problems, bacterial infection etc.
Lap band slippage—lap band may slip from its place due to any reason like vomiting and this can result in hospitalization and re-operation.
Other possible lap band surgery side-effects include diarrhea, hair loss and protein deficiency, rejection of lap band by your body, infection, band erosion, leakage from the balloon, esophageal dilatation, and pouch dilatation.
Besides all of these side-effects, a third of the adults in the study featured above had the band erode and 60 percent needed additional surgery. So a third of the time the band becomes non-functional and over half of the time further surgery is needed. Not exactly an inspirational long-term performance record, is it?
Death Can Result from Gastric Banding or Gastric Bypass
Would you be willing to trade your life for the possibility of losing weight? This is a serious question as both of these surgeries can lead to death.
As stated directly on Lap-Band's safety information page:
"You should know that death is one of the risks. It can occur any time during the operation. It can also occur as a result of the operation. Death can occur despite all the precautions that are taken."
What else is buried on the Lap-Band safety page? Disclaimers letting you know that along with the laundry list of possible complications, there's a chance you may not lose any weight at all:
"Complications can cause reduced weight loss. They can also cause weight gain … It is possible you may not lose much weight or any weight at all."
So weight loss surgery, which includes gastric banding and the more invasive gastric bypass, may seem like a simple quick fix, but they are NOT a safe solution because of the many negative long-term health consequences inherent with both of these surgical options. Over 40 percent of weight loss surgeries result in major complications within six months, including black-outs, malnutrition, infection, kidney stones, bowel and gallbladder problems, liver failure, and, again, an increased risk of death. All surgeries have inherent risks, but bariatric surgeries seem to have a much higher ratio of complications. In fact, you are far more likely to suffer an adverse event from these types of surgeries than not.
A More Natural Approach to Weight Loss
Lifestyle modification is the more natural way to address your weight loss concerns since it more permanently treats the source of the problem rather than using a surgically inserted Band-Aid to curb overeating. Addressing your diet and lifestyle without surgery is also much safer, and in the long run, much more effective, as this option will not present you with all of the risks of side-effects and complications that accompany these surgeries, not to mention the "worse than expected" outcomes. While exercise is crucial for everyone seeking to control their weight it plays a variable role in its important. For those that are massively overweight the single most important element will be the foods that are selected. So don't expect doing two to three hours of cardio will work miracles, it, won't. You have to focus on food first.
Fasting and using freshly squeezed organic green vegetable juices are two of the more powerful interventions to rapidly normalize your weight. Other healthy lifestyle tips that will help you to reach your ideal weight naturally requires just three basic steps:
• Eat a healthy diet that's right for your nutritional type, paying very careful attention to keeping your insulin levels down, primarily by avoiding fructose as much as possible. When you eat for your nutritional type, you eat the foods that are right for your biochemistry, and these are the foods that will push your body toward its ideal weight. A healthy diet means eliminating soda and processed junk foods, along with eating non-GMO and organic options whenever possible. Again, organic green vegetable juicing and fasting are key elements when seeking to lower large amounts of weight.
• View exercise as a drug. When you're trying to lose weight, a casual walk here and there is not going to cut it. There are a number of routes you can go here, but ideally, you need to exercise each and every day. It is simply impossible to optimize your health and weight without regular exercise. Fortunately, there's a highly effective exercise strategy that can dramatically reduce your workout time and maximize your weight loss; it's called Peak Fitness.
• Manage your stress. Tools like the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) are your friend and ally when it comes to losing weight. For some, emotional eating is more complex and an experienced EFT practitioner may be able to help unravel some of your deeper emotional issues that are impacting your weight.
As you naturally start to shed your unwanted pounds by following this healthier lifestyle, you will be stepping into a future with a greatly reduced risk of all the degenerative diseases that are linked to being overweight and obese, giving you a greater chance at a longer life to enjoy your newfound optimal health.
Sources:
New York Times, Archives of Surgery, USA Today, Pediatrics, mercola.com; 6/19/2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Bone Strengthening Drugs Cause Fractures!
Orthopedic surgeons and bone specialists have been seeing an increasing number of unusual fractures among long-term users of bisphosphonate bone-strengthening drugs such as Fosamax, Actonel, Boniva and Reclast.
The latest and largest study suggests that women who've been on bisphosphonates for more than five years have a nearly three times higher risk of these fractures. Since tens of millions of women take bisphosphonates, this suggests thousands of them may suffer devastating atypical fractures every year.
According to NPR:
"... [A] growing number of experts agree ... that the risk of such fractures should discourage premature use of the drugs... [T]he take-home message is: Don't start one of these drugs too early ... [and[ don't stay on one of these drugs longer than necessary."
For 15 years women have been able to take a class of drugs called biphosphonates, which are marketed directly to consumers as a so-called treatment for osteoporosis. While the drugs do show some short-term effectiveness at preventing hip fractures in severe cases of osteoporosis, multiple studies are now beginning to point to the drugs causing some unusual bone problems in many older women. Researchers state these unusual bone problems are rare, but with millions of more women beginning to reach the age when these drugs are commonly prescribed (as the baby boom generation turns grey), perhaps these rare effects are now in danger of becoming quite common. I believe this is another classic illustration of the failed drug model. Once again, this is an instance of pills being over-prescribed, mainly through the direct-to-consumer marketing, resulting in increasing unnecessary risks for the majority of people taking these drugs, and especially in people taking these drugs longer than five years.
Also, as so often happens with pharmaceutical drugs in the US, the FDA allows them to be sold on the market before they are actually proven to be safe! Only later, when large-scale problems start to get reported in the media, are the drugs re-evaluated for safety, and often the new studies citing problems with drugs are done by a third-party unrelated to the drug manufacturers or the FDA (never by the FDA itself, because the FDA is loathe to interfere with its drug-company-client-partner profits). This is part of the broken health care model currently in effect in the US, where the FDA sees its mission as rushing drugs to market for maximum profits for corporations (it's said drug companies lose one to two million dollars for every day that a drug is kept off the market!), instead of thoroughly evaluating a new drug or new class of drugs for safety in order to protect the public.
What are Biophosphonates and What Does the New Study Say about Them?
Loss of bone mass is one of the common signs of aging, because as you age your existing bone is absorbed by your body while new bone is created to replace it. But in the case of osteoporosis, the formation of new bone falls behind the rate of bone absorption, leading to weakened, thinner and more brittle bones. A thinning hipbone is a major concern if you are elderly, because any fall increases the risk of a broken hip, which always carries a great risk of complications and usually requires prolonged specialized care for recovery. It's estimated that 25% of elderly people suffering a hip fracture die as a direct result.
Biphosphonates are branded and marketed under these names: Aredia, Fosamax, Boniva, Actonel, Zometa and Aclasta
Non-nitrogenous versions that work through a different cellular mechanism are branded and sold under these names: Didronel, Bonefos, Loron, Ostac and Skelid
All these different marketing names belong to the class known as biphosphonates. But these drugs may not be the magic bullet for thinning bones that the drug companies would lead you to believe. The new study above found that women taking biphosphonates for five years or longer actually showed signs of having weaker femurs. Taking this drug long-term you have about a three times greater risk of suffering a very unusual fracture either at the socket connecting the femur to the hip, or in the upper femur itself (which is usually the strongest part of the bone).
More Women Hurt than Helped by these Drugs
This means that for every woman gaining a benefit in their hips from taking a biphosphonate for a short-term, there are many more women out there in danger of weakening their femur bones as a result taking this class of drugs long-term. The problem is, thanks to the drug companies' multi-million dollar PR campaigns, many doctors AND the public today believe this class of drugs should be given even before bone density starts dropping, meaning the vast majority of women currently taking biphosphonates are beginning them too early, and staying on them too long. Experts are beginning to agree that only women with documented osteoporosis should even consider taking these drugs, and not stay on them for a very long duration if they do use them. But will the treatment of osteoporosis now change thanks to this new study and studies like it that have been appearing for the last few years?
It's not likely, because the drug companies usually let nothing stand in the way of their profits.
Although the FDA has already included a warning against long-term use on the label of these drugs, the direct-to-consumer marketing continues unabated, ensuring that many older women will show up at their doctor's office demanding a prescription for the drug that they mistakenly believe will strengthen their bones with little risk of ill effects, since nothing in the advertisement mentions long-term risks associated with biphosphonates.
Although the advertisement does mention (because they are forced to by law) some disturbing potential side effects, including: Difficult or painful swallowing, Chest pain, Severe or continuing heartburn, Severe joint, bone or muscle pain
Other side effects, listed by WebMD include: Abdominal pain, and irritation of the esophagus, Headache and pain in muscles and joints, Constipation, diarrhea, and increased gas (flatulence), Allergic reactions
Other Problems Associated with Biphosphonates
Some media reports have indicated that biphosphonates have been associated with osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ), also called "jaw death". ONJ occurs when your jawbone is weakened to the point that it "is no longer alive", because unlike other bones in your body there is a limited supply of blood to the jaw, which is not sufficient to grow new bone. And this class of drugs is reported to permanently weaken the jawbone, leading to a chronic, painful, and disastrous outcome. According to a study in The Journal of Endodontics:
"There are an increasing number of reports of bisphosphonate-associated osteonecrosis of the jaws that have substantial implications for the patient and for the treating dentist."
That is quite an understatement if you are no longer able to use your jaw to chew your food!
Another study involving cancer patients indicates that as many as 1 in 10 women taking biophosphonates will develop this jaw problem. So, a potential 10 percent chance of having your jaw "die" as a result of taking this medication is clearly a cause for alarm if you don't already have a fairly serious case of osteoporosis. But that's not all, another study has linked biphosphonates to an increased risk of erratic heart rhythms, called atrial fibrillation. Also a 2010 study suggests that the risk of oesophageal cancer increased with 10 or more prescriptions for oral bisphosphonates and with prescriptions over about a five-year period. This same study also cites research stating:
"Adverse gastrointestinal effects are common among people who take oral bisphosphonates for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis; they range from dyspepsia, nausea, and abdominal pain to erosive oesophagitis and oesophageal ulcers."
How to Reduce your Risk of Osteoporosis
Prevention, once again, is a much preferable route than trying to "cure" osteoporosis symptoms with the drug companies' offerings, so here are some top ways you can reduce your risk of having to deal with osteoporosis in the first place: Optimize your vitamin D levels, Avoid processed foods and artificial sweeteners, Increase your Omega 3 intake, Get some exercise, including weight-bearing exercise like resistance training, Women should always maintain healthy levels of estrogen, Avoid steroidal drugs.
The Truth about Osteoporosis and Calcium Deficiency
I'm sure you've heard that the cause of osteoporosis and the key to its prevention revolve around calcium, right? Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. Dr. Robert Thompson, M.D., wrote an entire book on this subject called, The Calcium Lie, which explains that bone is comprised of at least a dozen minerals and the exclusive focus on calcium supplementation is likely to worsen bone density and increase your risk of developing osteoporosis! As mentioned in this previous article, Dr. Thompson recommends the use of unprocessed salt as a far healthier alternative to calcium supplementation. I recommend using Himalayan salt as it is an excellent way to feed your body the trace minerals it needs to function optimally.
Steer Clear of Steroids
According to a study done at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, there is a strong link between osteoporosis and the use of steroids," so says senior author Steven L. Teitelbaum, M.D., Messing Professor of Pathology and Immunology:
"High-dose cortisone is the second most common cause of osteoporosis, and we currently have no real treatment for this serious side effect. Given how frequently these drugs are used to treat many different conditions, that's a major clinical problem."
The conclusion of the study revealed that although the steroid cortisone appears to inhibit the ability of osteoclasts to dismantle old bones in genetically normal mice, the inability of the skeletal structure to renew itself may cause bones to weaken dramatically from aging and stress.
Other Foods that Lead to Bone Loss
Processed and fast foods are the worst stuff you can put into your body. In order for your body to function optimally. Processed foods such as potato chips, French fries, microwaveable "meals", soda and candy contain very little nutrients and are chock full of undigestible fats and dangerous additives such as high fructose corn syrup, aspartame and preservatives. When cooking, I advise you to avoid most all omega-6 based oils such as corn, safflower or soy oil. These oils are loaded with highly processed, damaged omega 6 fats, which contribute to inflammation in your body. Instead, I recommend using healthful olive- and coconut oils.
Prevent Bone Loss with Appropriate Sunshine Exposure
The health benefits of vitamin D cannot be overstressed. An alarming number of people in the United States are vitamin D deficient, and vitamin D deficiency can lead to a host of health problems, including osteoporosis. Despite what you may have heard, appropriate sunshine exposure is not bad for you. It is healthy and necessary. Just 15 to 20 minutes of sun exposure per day can make a dramatic improvement in your health, and appropriate sun exposure is the ideal way to maintain your vitamin D levels in the optimal range.
Exercise to Prevent Bone Loss
Remember that bone is living tissue that requires regular physical activity in order to renew and rebuild itself. Peak bone mass is achieved in adulthood and then begins a slow decline. Exercise is very important in maintaining healthy bone mass. Weight-bearing exercise is one of the most effective remedies against osteoporosis. Your bones are actually very porous and soft, and as you get older, your bones can easily become less dense and hence, more brittle. Especially if you are inactive. Resistance training can combat this effect because as you put more tension on your muscles it puts more pressure on your bones, which then respond by continuously creating fresh, new bone. In addition, as you build more muscle, and make the muscle that you already have stronger, you also put more constant pressure on your bones.
Osteoporosis in Men
Here is something about osteoporosis in men you may not have realized: Men over the age of 50 are at greater risk for developing osteoporosis than prostate cancer. Men develop this disease because of a condition called hypogonadism, which may lead to shrinking in height by several inches. Risk factors in men include: Alcoholism, Obesity, Smoking, Gastrointestinal disorders, Sedentary lifestyle, Lack of sunlight exposure
Men with pre-existing conditions such as asthma, emphysema, Crohn's disease, herniated disks, and autoimmune disease taking steroids such as prednisone or cortisone are increasing their risk of developing osteoporosis that much further.
Sources: NPR, The Journal of American Medicine; May, 21 2011.
The latest and largest study suggests that women who've been on bisphosphonates for more than five years have a nearly three times higher risk of these fractures. Since tens of millions of women take bisphosphonates, this suggests thousands of them may suffer devastating atypical fractures every year.
According to NPR:
"... [A] growing number of experts agree ... that the risk of such fractures should discourage premature use of the drugs... [T]he take-home message is: Don't start one of these drugs too early ... [and[ don't stay on one of these drugs longer than necessary."
For 15 years women have been able to take a class of drugs called biphosphonates, which are marketed directly to consumers as a so-called treatment for osteoporosis. While the drugs do show some short-term effectiveness at preventing hip fractures in severe cases of osteoporosis, multiple studies are now beginning to point to the drugs causing some unusual bone problems in many older women. Researchers state these unusual bone problems are rare, but with millions of more women beginning to reach the age when these drugs are commonly prescribed (as the baby boom generation turns grey), perhaps these rare effects are now in danger of becoming quite common. I believe this is another classic illustration of the failed drug model. Once again, this is an instance of pills being over-prescribed, mainly through the direct-to-consumer marketing, resulting in increasing unnecessary risks for the majority of people taking these drugs, and especially in people taking these drugs longer than five years.
Also, as so often happens with pharmaceutical drugs in the US, the FDA allows them to be sold on the market before they are actually proven to be safe! Only later, when large-scale problems start to get reported in the media, are the drugs re-evaluated for safety, and often the new studies citing problems with drugs are done by a third-party unrelated to the drug manufacturers or the FDA (never by the FDA itself, because the FDA is loathe to interfere with its drug-company-client-partner profits). This is part of the broken health care model currently in effect in the US, where the FDA sees its mission as rushing drugs to market for maximum profits for corporations (it's said drug companies lose one to two million dollars for every day that a drug is kept off the market!), instead of thoroughly evaluating a new drug or new class of drugs for safety in order to protect the public.
What are Biophosphonates and What Does the New Study Say about Them?
Loss of bone mass is one of the common signs of aging, because as you age your existing bone is absorbed by your body while new bone is created to replace it. But in the case of osteoporosis, the formation of new bone falls behind the rate of bone absorption, leading to weakened, thinner and more brittle bones. A thinning hipbone is a major concern if you are elderly, because any fall increases the risk of a broken hip, which always carries a great risk of complications and usually requires prolonged specialized care for recovery. It's estimated that 25% of elderly people suffering a hip fracture die as a direct result.
Biphosphonates are branded and marketed under these names: Aredia, Fosamax, Boniva, Actonel, Zometa and Aclasta
Non-nitrogenous versions that work through a different cellular mechanism are branded and sold under these names: Didronel, Bonefos, Loron, Ostac and Skelid
All these different marketing names belong to the class known as biphosphonates. But these drugs may not be the magic bullet for thinning bones that the drug companies would lead you to believe. The new study above found that women taking biphosphonates for five years or longer actually showed signs of having weaker femurs. Taking this drug long-term you have about a three times greater risk of suffering a very unusual fracture either at the socket connecting the femur to the hip, or in the upper femur itself (which is usually the strongest part of the bone).
More Women Hurt than Helped by these Drugs
This means that for every woman gaining a benefit in their hips from taking a biphosphonate for a short-term, there are many more women out there in danger of weakening their femur bones as a result taking this class of drugs long-term. The problem is, thanks to the drug companies' multi-million dollar PR campaigns, many doctors AND the public today believe this class of drugs should be given even before bone density starts dropping, meaning the vast majority of women currently taking biphosphonates are beginning them too early, and staying on them too long. Experts are beginning to agree that only women with documented osteoporosis should even consider taking these drugs, and not stay on them for a very long duration if they do use them. But will the treatment of osteoporosis now change thanks to this new study and studies like it that have been appearing for the last few years?
It's not likely, because the drug companies usually let nothing stand in the way of their profits.
Although the FDA has already included a warning against long-term use on the label of these drugs, the direct-to-consumer marketing continues unabated, ensuring that many older women will show up at their doctor's office demanding a prescription for the drug that they mistakenly believe will strengthen their bones with little risk of ill effects, since nothing in the advertisement mentions long-term risks associated with biphosphonates.
Although the advertisement does mention (because they are forced to by law) some disturbing potential side effects, including: Difficult or painful swallowing, Chest pain, Severe or continuing heartburn, Severe joint, bone or muscle pain
Other side effects, listed by WebMD include: Abdominal pain, and irritation of the esophagus, Headache and pain in muscles and joints, Constipation, diarrhea, and increased gas (flatulence), Allergic reactions
Other Problems Associated with Biphosphonates
Some media reports have indicated that biphosphonates have been associated with osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ), also called "jaw death". ONJ occurs when your jawbone is weakened to the point that it "is no longer alive", because unlike other bones in your body there is a limited supply of blood to the jaw, which is not sufficient to grow new bone. And this class of drugs is reported to permanently weaken the jawbone, leading to a chronic, painful, and disastrous outcome. According to a study in The Journal of Endodontics:
"There are an increasing number of reports of bisphosphonate-associated osteonecrosis of the jaws that have substantial implications for the patient and for the treating dentist."
That is quite an understatement if you are no longer able to use your jaw to chew your food!
Another study involving cancer patients indicates that as many as 1 in 10 women taking biophosphonates will develop this jaw problem. So, a potential 10 percent chance of having your jaw "die" as a result of taking this medication is clearly a cause for alarm if you don't already have a fairly serious case of osteoporosis. But that's not all, another study has linked biphosphonates to an increased risk of erratic heart rhythms, called atrial fibrillation. Also a 2010 study suggests that the risk of oesophageal cancer increased with 10 or more prescriptions for oral bisphosphonates and with prescriptions over about a five-year period. This same study also cites research stating:
"Adverse gastrointestinal effects are common among people who take oral bisphosphonates for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis; they range from dyspepsia, nausea, and abdominal pain to erosive oesophagitis and oesophageal ulcers."
How to Reduce your Risk of Osteoporosis
Prevention, once again, is a much preferable route than trying to "cure" osteoporosis symptoms with the drug companies' offerings, so here are some top ways you can reduce your risk of having to deal with osteoporosis in the first place: Optimize your vitamin D levels, Avoid processed foods and artificial sweeteners, Increase your Omega 3 intake, Get some exercise, including weight-bearing exercise like resistance training, Women should always maintain healthy levels of estrogen, Avoid steroidal drugs.
The Truth about Osteoporosis and Calcium Deficiency
I'm sure you've heard that the cause of osteoporosis and the key to its prevention revolve around calcium, right? Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. Dr. Robert Thompson, M.D., wrote an entire book on this subject called, The Calcium Lie, which explains that bone is comprised of at least a dozen minerals and the exclusive focus on calcium supplementation is likely to worsen bone density and increase your risk of developing osteoporosis! As mentioned in this previous article, Dr. Thompson recommends the use of unprocessed salt as a far healthier alternative to calcium supplementation. I recommend using Himalayan salt as it is an excellent way to feed your body the trace minerals it needs to function optimally.
Steer Clear of Steroids
According to a study done at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, there is a strong link between osteoporosis and the use of steroids," so says senior author Steven L. Teitelbaum, M.D., Messing Professor of Pathology and Immunology:
"High-dose cortisone is the second most common cause of osteoporosis, and we currently have no real treatment for this serious side effect. Given how frequently these drugs are used to treat many different conditions, that's a major clinical problem."
The conclusion of the study revealed that although the steroid cortisone appears to inhibit the ability of osteoclasts to dismantle old bones in genetically normal mice, the inability of the skeletal structure to renew itself may cause bones to weaken dramatically from aging and stress.
Other Foods that Lead to Bone Loss
Processed and fast foods are the worst stuff you can put into your body. In order for your body to function optimally. Processed foods such as potato chips, French fries, microwaveable "meals", soda and candy contain very little nutrients and are chock full of undigestible fats and dangerous additives such as high fructose corn syrup, aspartame and preservatives. When cooking, I advise you to avoid most all omega-6 based oils such as corn, safflower or soy oil. These oils are loaded with highly processed, damaged omega 6 fats, which contribute to inflammation in your body. Instead, I recommend using healthful olive- and coconut oils.
Prevent Bone Loss with Appropriate Sunshine Exposure
The health benefits of vitamin D cannot be overstressed. An alarming number of people in the United States are vitamin D deficient, and vitamin D deficiency can lead to a host of health problems, including osteoporosis. Despite what you may have heard, appropriate sunshine exposure is not bad for you. It is healthy and necessary. Just 15 to 20 minutes of sun exposure per day can make a dramatic improvement in your health, and appropriate sun exposure is the ideal way to maintain your vitamin D levels in the optimal range.
Exercise to Prevent Bone Loss
Remember that bone is living tissue that requires regular physical activity in order to renew and rebuild itself. Peak bone mass is achieved in adulthood and then begins a slow decline. Exercise is very important in maintaining healthy bone mass. Weight-bearing exercise is one of the most effective remedies against osteoporosis. Your bones are actually very porous and soft, and as you get older, your bones can easily become less dense and hence, more brittle. Especially if you are inactive. Resistance training can combat this effect because as you put more tension on your muscles it puts more pressure on your bones, which then respond by continuously creating fresh, new bone. In addition, as you build more muscle, and make the muscle that you already have stronger, you also put more constant pressure on your bones.
Osteoporosis in Men
Here is something about osteoporosis in men you may not have realized: Men over the age of 50 are at greater risk for developing osteoporosis than prostate cancer. Men develop this disease because of a condition called hypogonadism, which may lead to shrinking in height by several inches. Risk factors in men include: Alcoholism, Obesity, Smoking, Gastrointestinal disorders, Sedentary lifestyle, Lack of sunlight exposure
Men with pre-existing conditions such as asthma, emphysema, Crohn's disease, herniated disks, and autoimmune disease taking steroids such as prednisone or cortisone are increasing their risk of developing osteoporosis that much further.
Sources: NPR, The Journal of American Medicine; May, 21 2011.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Top 10 Food Additives to Avoid
Some food additives are worse than others. Food Matters suggests these as the top ones to avoid:
Artificial Sweeteners Aspartame, also known as Nutrasweet and Equal, is believed to be carcinogenic and accounts for more reports of adverse reactions than all other foods and food additives combined. The sweetener Acesulfame-K has been linked to kidney tumors. All artificial sweeteners are bad news.
High Fructose Corn Syrup High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) increases your LDL ("bad") cholesterol levels and contributes to the development of diabetes.
Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) Is used as a flavor enhancer. It is an excitotoxin, a substance that overexcites cells to the point of damage or death.
Trans Fat Numerous studies show that trans fat increases LDL cholesterol levels and increases your risk of heart attacks, heart disease and strokes.
Common Food Dyes Artificial colorings may contribute to behavioral problems in children and lead to a significant reduction in IQ.
Sodium Sulphite This is a preservative used in processed foods. People who are sulfite sensitive can experience headaches, breathing problems, and rashes. In severe cases, it may cause death.
Sodium Nitrate/Sodium Nitrite This common preservative has been linked to various types of cancer.
BHA and BHT Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydrozyttoluene (BHT) are preservatives that affect the neurological system of your brain, alter behavior and have the potential to cause cancer.
Sulphur Dioxide Sulphur additives are toxic and in the U.S., they have been prohibited in raw fruit and vegetables. Adverse reactions include bronchial problems, low blood pressure, and anaphylactic shock.
Potassium Bromate This additive is used to increase volume in some breads. It is known to cause cancer in animals, and even small amounts can create problems for humans.
If you've ever read the ingredients lists on packaged foods, you know that there's a lot more in food these days than in the past. Virtually every processed food now contains a long list of preservatives, colorings, flavorings, emulsifiers and more -- and unless you're shopping at a natural specialty store, gone are the days when a loaf of bread contained just a few ingredients. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) definition, a food additive is "any substance the intended use of which results or may reasonably be expected to result -- directly or indirectly -- in its becoming a component or otherwise affecting the characteristics of any food." There are currently more than 3,000 food additives added to foods in the United States; ideally, you should steer clear of all or most of these, but if you're just getting started the 10 listed above are an excellent starting point of additives to remove from your diet as soon as possible.
What are You Really Eating?
When you purchase a package of cheese, you expect it to contain milk and salt … bread you'd expect to contain flour, yeast, etc., and when you pick up a can of beans, you may think it only contains beans. In reality, cheese is commonly laced with preservatives and colorings. Bread contains high fructose corn syrup, preservatives and sometimes trans fats. And even canned beans typically contain additives including corn syrup, coloring and sweeteners, along with being packaged in a can that probably leaches BPA from its lining. If you're like most Americans who spend 90 percent of their food budget on processed foods, you're eating your share of these additives and then some … which is concerning when you begin to look into their potential effect on your health: Cancer, Hormone Disrupters, Behavior Problems and Lowered IQ.
Processed Foods Depend on Additives
When foods are processed not only are valuable nutrients lost and fibers removed, but the texture, natural variation and flavors are lost also. After processing, what's actually left behind is a bland, uninteresting "pseudo-food" that most people would find entirely unappetizing. Food manufacturers must add back in nutrients, flavor, color and texture to processed foods in order to make them palatable, and this is why they become loaded with food additives. Most commonly, additives are included to: slow spoilage, prevent fats and oils from becoming rancid, prevent cut fruits from turning brown, fortify or enrich the food with synthetic vitamins and minerals (which are lost during processing) and improve taste, texture and appearance
When reading product packages, some of the most common food additives to watch out for:
Sodium benzoate, sodium nitrite, potassium sorbate, BHA, BHT, fructose, high fructose corn syrup, aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame potassium (acesulfame-K), etc.), FD&C Blue Nos. 1 and 2, FD&C Green No. 3, FD&C Red Nos. 3 and 40, FD&C Yellow Nos. 5 and 6, Orange B, Citrus Red No. 2, monosodium glutamate (MSG), hydrolyzed soy protein, autolyzed yeast extract.
The Simplest Way to Avoid Food Additives?
Ditch the processed foods. Swapping your processed food diet for one that focuses on real, whole foods may seem like a radical idea, but it's a necessity if you value your health. When you put the history of food into perspective, it's actually the processed foods that are "radical" and "new." People have thrived on vegetables, meats, eggs, fruits and other whole foods for centuries, while processed foods were only recently invented.
The frozen food business didn't begin until the mid-1920s when the General Seafoods Company began selling crudely frozen fish fillets, and fast food restaurants didn't get a foot hold until after World War II. TV dinners didn't even come around until the 1950s … before that it was a home-cooked meal or no meal at all. If you rely on processed inexpensive foods you will simply exchange convenience and short-term cash savings for long-term health miseries.
When it comes to staying healthy, avoiding processed foods and replacing them with fresh, whole foods is the "secret" you've been looking for.
If you have any questions about food additives, please ask us. We can let you know about allergy elimination, this treatment can help to reduce or eliminate food sensitivities along with other allergies such as animal and outdoor allergies.
Sources: Food Matters, mercola.com, 4/17/11
Artificial Sweeteners Aspartame, also known as Nutrasweet and Equal, is believed to be carcinogenic and accounts for more reports of adverse reactions than all other foods and food additives combined. The sweetener Acesulfame-K has been linked to kidney tumors. All artificial sweeteners are bad news.
High Fructose Corn Syrup High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) increases your LDL ("bad") cholesterol levels and contributes to the development of diabetes.
Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) Is used as a flavor enhancer. It is an excitotoxin, a substance that overexcites cells to the point of damage or death.
Trans Fat Numerous studies show that trans fat increases LDL cholesterol levels and increases your risk of heart attacks, heart disease and strokes.
Common Food Dyes Artificial colorings may contribute to behavioral problems in children and lead to a significant reduction in IQ.
Sodium Sulphite This is a preservative used in processed foods. People who are sulfite sensitive can experience headaches, breathing problems, and rashes. In severe cases, it may cause death.
Sodium Nitrate/Sodium Nitrite This common preservative has been linked to various types of cancer.
BHA and BHT Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydrozyttoluene (BHT) are preservatives that affect the neurological system of your brain, alter behavior and have the potential to cause cancer.
Sulphur Dioxide Sulphur additives are toxic and in the U.S., they have been prohibited in raw fruit and vegetables. Adverse reactions include bronchial problems, low blood pressure, and anaphylactic shock.
Potassium Bromate This additive is used to increase volume in some breads. It is known to cause cancer in animals, and even small amounts can create problems for humans.
If you've ever read the ingredients lists on packaged foods, you know that there's a lot more in food these days than in the past. Virtually every processed food now contains a long list of preservatives, colorings, flavorings, emulsifiers and more -- and unless you're shopping at a natural specialty store, gone are the days when a loaf of bread contained just a few ingredients. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) definition, a food additive is "any substance the intended use of which results or may reasonably be expected to result -- directly or indirectly -- in its becoming a component or otherwise affecting the characteristics of any food." There are currently more than 3,000 food additives added to foods in the United States; ideally, you should steer clear of all or most of these, but if you're just getting started the 10 listed above are an excellent starting point of additives to remove from your diet as soon as possible.
What are You Really Eating?
When you purchase a package of cheese, you expect it to contain milk and salt … bread you'd expect to contain flour, yeast, etc., and when you pick up a can of beans, you may think it only contains beans. In reality, cheese is commonly laced with preservatives and colorings. Bread contains high fructose corn syrup, preservatives and sometimes trans fats. And even canned beans typically contain additives including corn syrup, coloring and sweeteners, along with being packaged in a can that probably leaches BPA from its lining. If you're like most Americans who spend 90 percent of their food budget on processed foods, you're eating your share of these additives and then some … which is concerning when you begin to look into their potential effect on your health: Cancer, Hormone Disrupters, Behavior Problems and Lowered IQ.
Processed Foods Depend on Additives
When foods are processed not only are valuable nutrients lost and fibers removed, but the texture, natural variation and flavors are lost also. After processing, what's actually left behind is a bland, uninteresting "pseudo-food" that most people would find entirely unappetizing. Food manufacturers must add back in nutrients, flavor, color and texture to processed foods in order to make them palatable, and this is why they become loaded with food additives. Most commonly, additives are included to: slow spoilage, prevent fats and oils from becoming rancid, prevent cut fruits from turning brown, fortify or enrich the food with synthetic vitamins and minerals (which are lost during processing) and improve taste, texture and appearance
When reading product packages, some of the most common food additives to watch out for:
Sodium benzoate, sodium nitrite, potassium sorbate, BHA, BHT, fructose, high fructose corn syrup, aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame potassium (acesulfame-K), etc.), FD&C Blue Nos. 1 and 2, FD&C Green No. 3, FD&C Red Nos. 3 and 40, FD&C Yellow Nos. 5 and 6, Orange B, Citrus Red No. 2, monosodium glutamate (MSG), hydrolyzed soy protein, autolyzed yeast extract.
The Simplest Way to Avoid Food Additives?
Ditch the processed foods. Swapping your processed food diet for one that focuses on real, whole foods may seem like a radical idea, but it's a necessity if you value your health. When you put the history of food into perspective, it's actually the processed foods that are "radical" and "new." People have thrived on vegetables, meats, eggs, fruits and other whole foods for centuries, while processed foods were only recently invented.
The frozen food business didn't begin until the mid-1920s when the General Seafoods Company began selling crudely frozen fish fillets, and fast food restaurants didn't get a foot hold until after World War II. TV dinners didn't even come around until the 1950s … before that it was a home-cooked meal or no meal at all. If you rely on processed inexpensive foods you will simply exchange convenience and short-term cash savings for long-term health miseries.
When it comes to staying healthy, avoiding processed foods and replacing them with fresh, whole foods is the "secret" you've been looking for.
If you have any questions about food additives, please ask us. We can let you know about allergy elimination, this treatment can help to reduce or eliminate food sensitivities along with other allergies such as animal and outdoor allergies.
Sources: Food Matters, mercola.com, 4/17/11
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
No Whey! Protein Improves Heart Health.
A whey protein rich ingredient may improve blood vessel function in healthy individuals, reports a new randomized, double-blind study. Two weeks of supplementation resulted in a 1.5 percent improvement in blood flow. According to the researchers, the whey protein-derived ingredient may work via an angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE)-inhibitory activity. ACE inhibitors work by inhibiting the conversion of angiotensin I to the potent vasoconstrictor, angiotensin II, thereby improving blood flow and blood pressure. Whey protein, a by-product of milk and cheese production, was promoted for its health benefits as early as 420 B.C. At that time, Hippocrates, also known as “the Father of Medicine,” recommended whey to his patients.
These days, evidence continues to mount in favor of whey, often referred to as the gold standard of protein.
The Many Health Benefits of Whey Protein
Whey protein, which is available as a protein powder, has been linked to a variety of health benefits, such as:
• Helping your pancreas-produced insulin work more effectively, which helps maintain your blood sugar level after a meal.
• Promoting healthy insulin secretion.
• Helping to promote your optimal intake of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals needed for your overall wellness.
• Supporting your immune system, as it contains immunoglobulins.
• Helping you preserve lean body tissue (particularly during exercise) as it delivers bioavailable amino acids. Ingesting protein within a half hour after exercise helps increase lean muscle mass. I use the whey protein as a vanilla shake or with fruit mixed in it.
• Maintaining blood pressure levels that are already within the normal range.
This latest study adds to the last benefit listed above, as it found that supplementation with the whey-derived peptide NOP-47 had a positive impact on vascular function in healthy people. Blood flow in the arm improved by 2.7 percent per minute following whey protein supplementation, but did not change for those in the control group who took a placebo. Whey has also been shown to benefit colicky babies, and may help prevent at-risk infants from developing allergies.
Whey Protein’s Impact on Your Insulin Levels
Previous research has shown that whey protein appears to allow the insulin produced by your pancreas to work more effectively, thus lowering your blood sugar level after a meal. This is important as research suggests lowering your blood sugar levels after meals may be more beneficial for your health than lowering fasting blood sugars.
As you’re probably aware of already, improving your insulin secretion and metabolism of glucose is imperative for optimal health. This is one of the foremost reasons for avoiding sugars and grains, as overconsumption of grains and sugary foods has a negative impact on both, and is a prime factor in developing type 2 diabetes.
If you or someone you know has pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes, it's important for you to use every tool available (as long as it does you no harm) to normalize your blood sugar levels. It appears whey protein can help, but the effects will be far more substantial if combined with exercise. Also remember that although high-quality whey protein can be an excellent addition to your diet, it should not be used in place of proper diet and exercise, the two mainstays of diabetes management.
Take Quality and Source Into Account
If you are interested in adding whey protein to your diet -- a smart move for the reasons noted above and much more -- I urge you to be very cautious of which brand you choose, as there can be extreme variations in the quality of the whey.
Most whey products contain whey protein derived from pasteurized, commercial dairy sources. When selecting a whey product, I strongly recommend making sure it’s made from raw, grass-fed milk, in order to obtain all of its immune-enhancing benefits.
In addition, I want to reiterate that I promote supplements to complement your healthy diet, NOT as total meal replacements. And that holds true for whey protein supplement as well.
But if you’re on the go a lot, a high quality whey protein supplement can be more beneficial, and is a far better choice than most other nutritional bars and processed convenience snacks. So when you use whey protein, chose a product that is from New Zealand to ensure less use of pesticides and herbicides. Chose a product that is cold processed to maintain as much of the nutrition and digestive enzymes as possible.
My favorite whey protein product is Dream Protein. You can call our office to get it or order it online at www.FirstShake.com/3556. They do offer free sample packets if needed.
Sources: NutraIngredients, Nutrition Journal, mercola.com; 3/23/11
These days, evidence continues to mount in favor of whey, often referred to as the gold standard of protein.
The Many Health Benefits of Whey Protein
Whey protein, which is available as a protein powder, has been linked to a variety of health benefits, such as:
• Helping your pancreas-produced insulin work more effectively, which helps maintain your blood sugar level after a meal.
• Promoting healthy insulin secretion.
• Helping to promote your optimal intake of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals needed for your overall wellness.
• Supporting your immune system, as it contains immunoglobulins.
• Helping you preserve lean body tissue (particularly during exercise) as it delivers bioavailable amino acids. Ingesting protein within a half hour after exercise helps increase lean muscle mass. I use the whey protein as a vanilla shake or with fruit mixed in it.
• Maintaining blood pressure levels that are already within the normal range.
This latest study adds to the last benefit listed above, as it found that supplementation with the whey-derived peptide NOP-47 had a positive impact on vascular function in healthy people. Blood flow in the arm improved by 2.7 percent per minute following whey protein supplementation, but did not change for those in the control group who took a placebo. Whey has also been shown to benefit colicky babies, and may help prevent at-risk infants from developing allergies.
Whey Protein’s Impact on Your Insulin Levels
Previous research has shown that whey protein appears to allow the insulin produced by your pancreas to work more effectively, thus lowering your blood sugar level after a meal. This is important as research suggests lowering your blood sugar levels after meals may be more beneficial for your health than lowering fasting blood sugars.
As you’re probably aware of already, improving your insulin secretion and metabolism of glucose is imperative for optimal health. This is one of the foremost reasons for avoiding sugars and grains, as overconsumption of grains and sugary foods has a negative impact on both, and is a prime factor in developing type 2 diabetes.
If you or someone you know has pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes, it's important for you to use every tool available (as long as it does you no harm) to normalize your blood sugar levels. It appears whey protein can help, but the effects will be far more substantial if combined with exercise. Also remember that although high-quality whey protein can be an excellent addition to your diet, it should not be used in place of proper diet and exercise, the two mainstays of diabetes management.
Take Quality and Source Into Account
If you are interested in adding whey protein to your diet -- a smart move for the reasons noted above and much more -- I urge you to be very cautious of which brand you choose, as there can be extreme variations in the quality of the whey.
Most whey products contain whey protein derived from pasteurized, commercial dairy sources. When selecting a whey product, I strongly recommend making sure it’s made from raw, grass-fed milk, in order to obtain all of its immune-enhancing benefits.
In addition, I want to reiterate that I promote supplements to complement your healthy diet, NOT as total meal replacements. And that holds true for whey protein supplement as well.
But if you’re on the go a lot, a high quality whey protein supplement can be more beneficial, and is a far better choice than most other nutritional bars and processed convenience snacks. So when you use whey protein, chose a product that is from New Zealand to ensure less use of pesticides and herbicides. Chose a product that is cold processed to maintain as much of the nutrition and digestive enzymes as possible.
My favorite whey protein product is Dream Protein. You can call our office to get it or order it online at www.FirstShake.com/3556. They do offer free sample packets if needed.
Sources: NutraIngredients, Nutrition Journal, mercola.com; 3/23/11
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Foods That You Should Eat More Often.
It's impossible to talk about health without coming back to the basics, namely food. The state of your physical health is the result of what you put into your body, and how you live your life. Unfortunately, the financial situation of most people is strained these days, to say the least. But that doesn't mean you can't maintain good health through your diet.
It's a common misconception that buying pre-packaged processed foods is less expensive than eating fresh and cooking from scratch, but don't fall for this notion. When you consider the nutrient value of fresh versus processed-to-death denatured foods and the subsequent health consequences of each choice, it's quite clear that you can eat well and improve your health and still not spend a fortune.
Kale - It's loaded with vitamin C, vitamin B, and calcium, and costs just over a dollar a bunch.
Winter Squash - It's just a few dollars a pound, it's a good source of vitamin B6 and folate.
Sweet Potatoes - They're full of fiber, protein, vitamin A, and vitamin C.
Adzuki Beans - Adzuki beans contain some of the highest levels of protein of any variety of beans, and they also contain high levels of potassium, fiber, B vitamins, iron, zinc, and manganese.
Black Beans - These are a good source of folate, dietary fiber, manganese, protein, magnesium, vitamin B1 (thiamin), phosphorus, and iron.
Sunflower Seeds - Raw sunflower seeds contain 76 percent of the RDA for vitamin E.
Almonds - Almonds are good for heart health and loaded with vitamin E.
Unpasteurized grass-fed milk -- Raw organic milk from grass-fed cows contains both beneficial fats and bacteria that boost your immune system. An great source of vitamin A, zinc, and enzymes, raw organic milk is not associated with any of the health problems of pasteurized milk such as rheumatoid arthritis, skin rashes, diarrhea and cramps.
Whey protein -- Even if you don't have access to raw milk, you can use a high-quality, cold processed whey protein derived from the milk of grass-fed cows to receive much of the same health benefits. Whey protein contains beta-glucans and immunoglobulins, which protect your immune system and support your body's natural detoxification processes.
Fermented foods -- Boost your immunity by adding traditionally fermented foods. The most healthful fermented food is kefir -- an ancient cultured, enzyme-rich food full of friendly microorganisms that balance your "inner ecosystem" and strengthen immunity. Other good fermented foods include natto, kimchee, miso, tempeh, pickles, sauerkraut, and olives.
Raw organic eggs from free-range chickens – Many people are deficient in, especially high-quality protein and fat. A single egg contains: Nine essential amino acids. Six grams of the highest quality protein. Proteins are nutrients that are essential to the building, maintenance and repair of your body tissues such as your skin, internal organs and muscles. They are also the major components of your immune system and hormones. Lutein and zeaxanthin for your eyes. Choline for your brain, nervous and cardiovascular systems and naturally occurring B12. As long as you have a good source for fresh, organic eggs, you need not worry about salmonella if you choose to eat them raw.
Grass fed beef -- Grass-fed beef is very high in vitamins A, B12 and E, omega-3 fats, beta carotene, zinc and the potent immune system enhancer CLA (conjugated linoleic acid). Many organically raised cows are fed organic corn, which you don't want. However, most grass-fed cows are raised organically.
Coconut oil -- Besides being excellent for your thyroid and your metabolism, coconut oil is rich in lauric acid, which converts in your body to monolaurin – a compound also found in breast milk that strengthens a baby's immunity. Its medium chain fatty acids, or triglycerides (MCT's) raise your body's metabolism and fight off pathogens such as viruses, bacteria and fungi. Additionally, coconut oil may serve as a natural treatment for Alzheimer's disease, as MCT's are also a primary source of ketone bodies, which act as an alternate source of brain fuel that can help prevent the brain atrophy associated with dementia. Choose an organic coconut oil that is unrefined, unbleached, made without heat processing or chemicals, and does not contain GM ingredients.
Berries and Raspberries – They rate very high in antioxidant capacity compared to other fruits and vegetables and are also lower in sugar. Other good fruits include cranberries, which have five times the antioxidant content of broccoli, and decrease total cholesterol and bad cholesterol levels in animal studies. Unsweetened cranberry juice has also been traditionally used to successfully treat urinary tract infections.
Broccoli – This humble vegetable is indeed a superfood with near miraculous powers of healing and disease prevention. It contains the highest amount of isothiocyanates, a cancer-fighting compound, of all the crunchy vegetables. Isothiocynates work by turning on cancer-fighting genes and turning off others that feed the disease. Other vegetables containing isothiocyanate include: Brussel sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, arugula, watercress and horseradish. Research has shown that eating cruciferous vegetables can significantly reduce your risk of breast, bladder, lung and prostate cancer. Best of all, you don't need to eat massive amounts of these veggies to take advantage of their health benefits. Studies have shown that just 10 spears a week (5 servings) can make a difference in your health.
Chlorella – A superfood if there ever was one, chlorella is a single-cell freshwater algae that acts as an efficient detoxification agent by binding to toxins (most of which promote chronic inflammation), such as mercury, and carrying them out of your system. The chlorophyll in the chlorella helps you process more oxygen, cleanses your blood and promotes the growth and repair of your tissues.
Tea – As for beverages, clean pure water is a must for optimal health, but if you want another beverage, a good choice with added health benefits is high quality herbal teas. Matcha tea is the most nutrient-rich green tea and comes in the form of a stone-ground powder, completely unfermented. The best Matcha comes from Japan and has up to 17 times the antioxidants of wild blueberries, and seven times more than dark chocolate. Tulsi is another tea loaded with antioxidants and other micronutrients that support immune function and heart health.
Source: Planet Green, January 11, 2011; mercola.com
It's a common misconception that buying pre-packaged processed foods is less expensive than eating fresh and cooking from scratch, but don't fall for this notion. When you consider the nutrient value of fresh versus processed-to-death denatured foods and the subsequent health consequences of each choice, it's quite clear that you can eat well and improve your health and still not spend a fortune.
Kale - It's loaded with vitamin C, vitamin B, and calcium, and costs just over a dollar a bunch.
Winter Squash - It's just a few dollars a pound, it's a good source of vitamin B6 and folate.
Sweet Potatoes - They're full of fiber, protein, vitamin A, and vitamin C.
Adzuki Beans - Adzuki beans contain some of the highest levels of protein of any variety of beans, and they also contain high levels of potassium, fiber, B vitamins, iron, zinc, and manganese.
Black Beans - These are a good source of folate, dietary fiber, manganese, protein, magnesium, vitamin B1 (thiamin), phosphorus, and iron.
Sunflower Seeds - Raw sunflower seeds contain 76 percent of the RDA for vitamin E.
Almonds - Almonds are good for heart health and loaded with vitamin E.
Unpasteurized grass-fed milk -- Raw organic milk from grass-fed cows contains both beneficial fats and bacteria that boost your immune system. An great source of vitamin A, zinc, and enzymes, raw organic milk is not associated with any of the health problems of pasteurized milk such as rheumatoid arthritis, skin rashes, diarrhea and cramps.
Whey protein -- Even if you don't have access to raw milk, you can use a high-quality, cold processed whey protein derived from the milk of grass-fed cows to receive much of the same health benefits. Whey protein contains beta-glucans and immunoglobulins, which protect your immune system and support your body's natural detoxification processes.
Fermented foods -- Boost your immunity by adding traditionally fermented foods. The most healthful fermented food is kefir -- an ancient cultured, enzyme-rich food full of friendly microorganisms that balance your "inner ecosystem" and strengthen immunity. Other good fermented foods include natto, kimchee, miso, tempeh, pickles, sauerkraut, and olives.
Raw organic eggs from free-range chickens – Many people are deficient in, especially high-quality protein and fat. A single egg contains: Nine essential amino acids. Six grams of the highest quality protein. Proteins are nutrients that are essential to the building, maintenance and repair of your body tissues such as your skin, internal organs and muscles. They are also the major components of your immune system and hormones. Lutein and zeaxanthin for your eyes. Choline for your brain, nervous and cardiovascular systems and naturally occurring B12. As long as you have a good source for fresh, organic eggs, you need not worry about salmonella if you choose to eat them raw.
Grass fed beef -- Grass-fed beef is very high in vitamins A, B12 and E, omega-3 fats, beta carotene, zinc and the potent immune system enhancer CLA (conjugated linoleic acid). Many organically raised cows are fed organic corn, which you don't want. However, most grass-fed cows are raised organically.
Coconut oil -- Besides being excellent for your thyroid and your metabolism, coconut oil is rich in lauric acid, which converts in your body to monolaurin – a compound also found in breast milk that strengthens a baby's immunity. Its medium chain fatty acids, or triglycerides (MCT's) raise your body's metabolism and fight off pathogens such as viruses, bacteria and fungi. Additionally, coconut oil may serve as a natural treatment for Alzheimer's disease, as MCT's are also a primary source of ketone bodies, which act as an alternate source of brain fuel that can help prevent the brain atrophy associated with dementia. Choose an organic coconut oil that is unrefined, unbleached, made without heat processing or chemicals, and does not contain GM ingredients.
Berries and Raspberries – They rate very high in antioxidant capacity compared to other fruits and vegetables and are also lower in sugar. Other good fruits include cranberries, which have five times the antioxidant content of broccoli, and decrease total cholesterol and bad cholesterol levels in animal studies. Unsweetened cranberry juice has also been traditionally used to successfully treat urinary tract infections.
Broccoli – This humble vegetable is indeed a superfood with near miraculous powers of healing and disease prevention. It contains the highest amount of isothiocyanates, a cancer-fighting compound, of all the crunchy vegetables. Isothiocynates work by turning on cancer-fighting genes and turning off others that feed the disease. Other vegetables containing isothiocyanate include: Brussel sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, arugula, watercress and horseradish. Research has shown that eating cruciferous vegetables can significantly reduce your risk of breast, bladder, lung and prostate cancer. Best of all, you don't need to eat massive amounts of these veggies to take advantage of their health benefits. Studies have shown that just 10 spears a week (5 servings) can make a difference in your health.
Chlorella – A superfood if there ever was one, chlorella is a single-cell freshwater algae that acts as an efficient detoxification agent by binding to toxins (most of which promote chronic inflammation), such as mercury, and carrying them out of your system. The chlorophyll in the chlorella helps you process more oxygen, cleanses your blood and promotes the growth and repair of your tissues.
Tea – As for beverages, clean pure water is a must for optimal health, but if you want another beverage, a good choice with added health benefits is high quality herbal teas. Matcha tea is the most nutrient-rich green tea and comes in the form of a stone-ground powder, completely unfermented. The best Matcha comes from Japan and has up to 17 times the antioxidants of wild blueberries, and seven times more than dark chocolate. Tulsi is another tea loaded with antioxidants and other micronutrients that support immune function and heart health.
Source: Planet Green, January 11, 2011; mercola.com
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Dr. Dan continues Advanced Rating in Activator Technique
Dr. Dan Thibodeau continues Advanced Proficiency Rating in Activator Technique.
Pheonix, Arizona: Activator Methods International has announced that Dr. Dan Thibodeau of Appleton, Wisconsin has continued his Advanced Proficiency Rating in the Activator Methods Instrument Adjusting Technique for the 2011 calendar year. Such an acheivement is a reflection of his commitment of time and energy to complete the rigorous continuing education program. This designation puts Dr. Thibodeau in an elite class of Chiropractors who are expertly trained in the world's number one instrument adjusting techniques. He is the only Activator Proficiency Rated doctor in Appleton.
Dr. Thibodeau has been practicing at Beck - Thibodeau Chiropractic in for 11 years. He graduated from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1989 and specializes in treating patients with this gentle technique that is proven through clinical trials to provide relief for numerous ailments.
Pheonix, Arizona: Activator Methods International has announced that Dr. Dan Thibodeau of Appleton, Wisconsin has continued his Advanced Proficiency Rating in the Activator Methods Instrument Adjusting Technique for the 2011 calendar year. Such an acheivement is a reflection of his commitment of time and energy to complete the rigorous continuing education program. This designation puts Dr. Thibodeau in an elite class of Chiropractors who are expertly trained in the world's number one instrument adjusting techniques. He is the only Activator Proficiency Rated doctor in Appleton.
Dr. Thibodeau has been practicing at Beck - Thibodeau Chiropractic in for 11 years. He graduated from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1989 and specializes in treating patients with this gentle technique that is proven through clinical trials to provide relief for numerous ailments.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Drug Companies Lying, Cheating and Bribing.
Prescription drugs continue to be dangerous.
Novartis Pharmaceuticals will pay $442 million dollars in penalties for marketing an epilepsy medicine for unapproved uses and then bribing and paying kickbacks to medical doctors to prescribe it and five of its other drugs.
Johnson & Johnson continues to have legal troubles as it conducts a phantom recall by circumventing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and buying up its defective painkillers Tylenol and Motrin so no one would know. Congressmen say there is “too cozy” of a relationship between the FDA and Johnson & Johnson.
GlaxoSmithKline agrees to pay $460 million dollars to resolve lawsuits regarding its diabetes drug Avandia. It turns out the drug can cause heart attacks and strokes in diabetics – the very things it is supposed to prevent. The company is facing 10,000 lawsuits with a worse-case scenario of payments of about $500,000 dollars each. Avandia, with $3 billion in annual sales is still in the air as the FDA decides whether to pull it completely off the market.
Pfizer was fined $2.3 billion dollars for illegally marketing drugs. Yes that’s $2.3 billion dollars. Federal prosecutors called the drug maker a “repeating corporate cheat” for bribing medical doctors to sell their drugs.
Some physicians continue to prescribe estrogen despite the fact that it has caused an estimated 17,500 cases of breast cancer every year. Most women have quit these prescriptions, with a resultant dramatic drop in breast cancer cases. The first such drop in cancer incidence since the war on cancer began over 30 years ago.
Conclusion: So in today’s times, drug maker fines and penalties for fraud, cheating, bribing and lying are now running in the billions of dollars.
Sounds like just another day at the pharmaceutical office, business as usual.
Source: Health Alert; September 2010 and December 2010
Novartis Pharmaceuticals will pay $442 million dollars in penalties for marketing an epilepsy medicine for unapproved uses and then bribing and paying kickbacks to medical doctors to prescribe it and five of its other drugs.
Johnson & Johnson continues to have legal troubles as it conducts a phantom recall by circumventing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and buying up its defective painkillers Tylenol and Motrin so no one would know. Congressmen say there is “too cozy” of a relationship between the FDA and Johnson & Johnson.
GlaxoSmithKline agrees to pay $460 million dollars to resolve lawsuits regarding its diabetes drug Avandia. It turns out the drug can cause heart attacks and strokes in diabetics – the very things it is supposed to prevent. The company is facing 10,000 lawsuits with a worse-case scenario of payments of about $500,000 dollars each. Avandia, with $3 billion in annual sales is still in the air as the FDA decides whether to pull it completely off the market.
Pfizer was fined $2.3 billion dollars for illegally marketing drugs. Yes that’s $2.3 billion dollars. Federal prosecutors called the drug maker a “repeating corporate cheat” for bribing medical doctors to sell their drugs.
Some physicians continue to prescribe estrogen despite the fact that it has caused an estimated 17,500 cases of breast cancer every year. Most women have quit these prescriptions, with a resultant dramatic drop in breast cancer cases. The first such drop in cancer incidence since the war on cancer began over 30 years ago.
Conclusion: So in today’s times, drug maker fines and penalties for fraud, cheating, bribing and lying are now running in the billions of dollars.
Sounds like just another day at the pharmaceutical office, business as usual.
Source: Health Alert; September 2010 and December 2010
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Chiropractic Saves 40% on Care.
A new study finds that care for low back pain initiated with a chiropractor saves 40% on healthcare costs when compared with low back pain care initiated through a medical doctor, the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) announced recently.
The study, featuring data from 85,000 Blue Cross Blue Shield beneficiaries, concludes that insurance companies that restrict access to chiropractic for low back pain treatment may inadvertently pay more for care than if they removed such restrictions.
Published in the well known Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics (JMPT), the new study looked at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee’s intermediate and large group, fully insured population over a two year span.
Comments:
- Why would insurance companies want to pay more for low back pain care?
- Why did Canada drop all Chiropractic care from their government paid national health care several years ago?
- If 80% of the entire population has back pain at least once in their life, that would cost insurance companies and or the government a lot more money.
- Why not embrace Chiropractic care as a lower cost alternative to expensive medical care for low back pain!
Source: American Chiropractic Association, Chiropractic Economics; 1/20/2011
The study, featuring data from 85,000 Blue Cross Blue Shield beneficiaries, concludes that insurance companies that restrict access to chiropractic for low back pain treatment may inadvertently pay more for care than if they removed such restrictions.
Published in the well known Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics (JMPT), the new study looked at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee’s intermediate and large group, fully insured population over a two year span.
Comments:
- Why would insurance companies want to pay more for low back pain care?
- Why did Canada drop all Chiropractic care from their government paid national health care several years ago?
- If 80% of the entire population has back pain at least once in their life, that would cost insurance companies and or the government a lot more money.
- Why not embrace Chiropractic care as a lower cost alternative to expensive medical care for low back pain!
Source: American Chiropractic Association, Chiropractic Economics; 1/20/2011
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Don't Get Sick This Winter!
Bacteria present naturally in your body and sometimes found in food could keep cold and flu viruses at bay. According to a study, young children who drank a mixture of such bacteria, known as probiotics, had fewer colds, needed fewer antibiotics, and missed fewer days of school. Researchers have already shown that probiotics can benefit those who are ill, and the bacteria are thought to boost the immune system's response to invaders.
For most of you reading this, cold and flu season is here, and with it comes the yearly push urging you to get a flu vaccine to stay healthy. If you take nothing else away from this article, let it be this: you have at your disposal tools to bolster your immune system and drastically reduce your risk of colds and the flu. You do not need a vaccine to do this. In fact, a vaccine could easily make your health worse. One of these “tools” is good bacteria, or probiotics.
Eighty percent of your immune system is located in your digestive system, so--it makes perfect sense that probiotics would be very effective at warding off cold and flu viruses Remember, a robust immune system is your number one defense system against ALL disease, and in order to keep your immune system in top working order you must have a healthy balance of good to bad bacteria in your gut (the optimal balance is about 85 percent “good bacteria” and 15 percent “bad”). The researchers in this new study actually found quite significant benefits among 3- to 5-year-old children who received either a single strain or combination of probiotics twice a day for six months.
Compared to the placebo group, the single and combination probiotic groups had reduced fever by 53 percent and 73 percent respectively, decreased coughing by 41 percent and 62 percent, and reduced runny noses by 28 percent and 59 percent.
Why are Probiotics so Important?
In many cultures, probiotic-rich food and drinks, such as the fermented superfoods natto, kefir, lassi (an Indian yogurt drink) and sauerkraut, are an integral part of the daily diet. If you eat a diet rich in fermented foods like these that have NOT been pasteurized (pasteurization will kill the probiotics), then you will likely enjoy great digestive, and immune system, health. However, if you find yourself strongly drawn to processed foods or rely on mostly cooked foods, as is commonplace in the United States, the balance of bacteria in your digestive tract will have a hard time staying optimal.
This is most unfortunate because this ratio between the "good" bacteria and the other bacteria is one of the critical factors determining your optimal health, as the good bacteria are essential for:
• Proper development of your immune system; Protection against over-growth of other microorganisms that could cause disease; Digestion of food and absorption of nutrients
The probiotics in your gut also play a role in helping numerous bodily functions, such as:
• Digesting and absorbing certain carbohydrates; Producing vitamins, absorbing minerals and eliminating toxins; Keeping bad bacteria under control; Preventing allergies.
Sugar is also an incredibly efficient fertilizer for growing bad bacteria and yeast in your gut, so if you indulge in a lot of it you’re fueling the bad bacteria rather than the good. Likewise, stress, pollution, and taking antibiotics can further upset the balance in a negative way. Since helpful bacteria are increasingly absent in most people’s diets, it is important to purposely include foods that contain live probiotic bacteria in your diet, or take a probiotic supplement -- especially since flu season is here.
Here’s What You Need to Know to Avoid the Flu This Year
Now is the time to start making healthy changes that will keep you virtually immune to cold and flu viruses. If you follow the tips I recommend, you can easily sail through each and every winter (and fall, spring and summer) without so much as a case of the sniffles.
How do I know this?
Follow these simple guidelines.
• Optimize your vitamin D levels. Vitamin D deficiency is the likely cause of seasonal flu viruses. Getting an optimal level of vitamin D will help you fight infections of all kinds. In fact, the largest study yet of the association between vitamin D and respiratory infections found people with the lowest blood vitamin D levels reported having significantly more recent colds or cases of the flu.
• Eat plenty of probiotic-rich fermented foods, or take a high-quality probiotic supplement to support your digestive and immune system health.
• Avoid or Limit Sugar. Sugar decreases the function of your immune system almost immediately and a strong immune system is key to fighting off viruses and other illness.
• Get Enough Rest. Just like it becomes harder for you to get your daily tasks done if you're tired, if your body is overly fatigued it will be harder for it to fight off cold and flu viruses.
• Reduce Stress. We all face some stress every day, but if stress becomes overwhelming then your body will be less able to fight off the flu and other illness.
• Exercise. When you exercise, you increase your circulation and your blood flow throughout your body. The components of your immune system are also better circulated, which means your immune system has a better chance of finding an illness before it spreads.
• Take a good source of animal based omega-3 fats, which is crucial for maintaining health.
• Wash Your Hands. Washing your hands will decrease your likelihood of spreading a virus to your nose, mouth or other people.
Also, be careful not to overdo it. Washing your hands too much can actually remove much of the protective layer on your skin and increase your chances of acquiring an infection.
Source: mercola.com, ABC News, Reuters; January 2, 2011
For most of you reading this, cold and flu season is here, and with it comes the yearly push urging you to get a flu vaccine to stay healthy. If you take nothing else away from this article, let it be this: you have at your disposal tools to bolster your immune system and drastically reduce your risk of colds and the flu. You do not need a vaccine to do this. In fact, a vaccine could easily make your health worse. One of these “tools” is good bacteria, or probiotics.
Eighty percent of your immune system is located in your digestive system, so--it makes perfect sense that probiotics would be very effective at warding off cold and flu viruses Remember, a robust immune system is your number one defense system against ALL disease, and in order to keep your immune system in top working order you must have a healthy balance of good to bad bacteria in your gut (the optimal balance is about 85 percent “good bacteria” and 15 percent “bad”). The researchers in this new study actually found quite significant benefits among 3- to 5-year-old children who received either a single strain or combination of probiotics twice a day for six months.
Compared to the placebo group, the single and combination probiotic groups had reduced fever by 53 percent and 73 percent respectively, decreased coughing by 41 percent and 62 percent, and reduced runny noses by 28 percent and 59 percent.
Why are Probiotics so Important?
In many cultures, probiotic-rich food and drinks, such as the fermented superfoods natto, kefir, lassi (an Indian yogurt drink) and sauerkraut, are an integral part of the daily diet. If you eat a diet rich in fermented foods like these that have NOT been pasteurized (pasteurization will kill the probiotics), then you will likely enjoy great digestive, and immune system, health. However, if you find yourself strongly drawn to processed foods or rely on mostly cooked foods, as is commonplace in the United States, the balance of bacteria in your digestive tract will have a hard time staying optimal.
This is most unfortunate because this ratio between the "good" bacteria and the other bacteria is one of the critical factors determining your optimal health, as the good bacteria are essential for:
• Proper development of your immune system; Protection against over-growth of other microorganisms that could cause disease; Digestion of food and absorption of nutrients
The probiotics in your gut also play a role in helping numerous bodily functions, such as:
• Digesting and absorbing certain carbohydrates; Producing vitamins, absorbing minerals and eliminating toxins; Keeping bad bacteria under control; Preventing allergies.
Sugar is also an incredibly efficient fertilizer for growing bad bacteria and yeast in your gut, so if you indulge in a lot of it you’re fueling the bad bacteria rather than the good. Likewise, stress, pollution, and taking antibiotics can further upset the balance in a negative way. Since helpful bacteria are increasingly absent in most people’s diets, it is important to purposely include foods that contain live probiotic bacteria in your diet, or take a probiotic supplement -- especially since flu season is here.
Here’s What You Need to Know to Avoid the Flu This Year
Now is the time to start making healthy changes that will keep you virtually immune to cold and flu viruses. If you follow the tips I recommend, you can easily sail through each and every winter (and fall, spring and summer) without so much as a case of the sniffles.
How do I know this?
Follow these simple guidelines.
• Optimize your vitamin D levels. Vitamin D deficiency is the likely cause of seasonal flu viruses. Getting an optimal level of vitamin D will help you fight infections of all kinds. In fact, the largest study yet of the association between vitamin D and respiratory infections found people with the lowest blood vitamin D levels reported having significantly more recent colds or cases of the flu.
• Eat plenty of probiotic-rich fermented foods, or take a high-quality probiotic supplement to support your digestive and immune system health.
• Avoid or Limit Sugar. Sugar decreases the function of your immune system almost immediately and a strong immune system is key to fighting off viruses and other illness.
• Get Enough Rest. Just like it becomes harder for you to get your daily tasks done if you're tired, if your body is overly fatigued it will be harder for it to fight off cold and flu viruses.
• Reduce Stress. We all face some stress every day, but if stress becomes overwhelming then your body will be less able to fight off the flu and other illness.
• Exercise. When you exercise, you increase your circulation and your blood flow throughout your body. The components of your immune system are also better circulated, which means your immune system has a better chance of finding an illness before it spreads.
• Take a good source of animal based omega-3 fats, which is crucial for maintaining health.
• Wash Your Hands. Washing your hands will decrease your likelihood of spreading a virus to your nose, mouth or other people.
Also, be careful not to overdo it. Washing your hands too much can actually remove much of the protective layer on your skin and increase your chances of acquiring an infection.
Source: mercola.com, ABC News, Reuters; January 2, 2011
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