These articles explore the body, the mind, the environment, and the systems that shape human health. Each piece is written to make complex ideas easier to understand, whether the topic is training, nutrition, sleep, stress, digestion, symptoms, physiology, disease, or the way modern life affects how we feel and function.
Strength, Health, & the Art of Living Well
Optimizing Vegetable Selection
All food is not created equal! Appearance matters when it comes to selecting the most nutritious foods at the super market. Use the following tips to select and prepare your veggies.
Artichoke:
The Globe or French artichoke is the most common variety as well as one of the most nutritious.
Artichokes are one of the highest antioxidant valued vegetables in the supermarket. You would have to eat 18 servings of corn or 30 servings of carrots to get the same benefits.
Due to their high respiration rate, it is important to buy the freshest artichokes you can find as both their flavor and health benefits decline with each passing day.
If you must store them, place them in the crisper drawer as soon as you get home and eat them within 1 or 2 days.
It’s not often that the inside of a vegetable is as nutritious as the outside but recent research has shown hat the artichoke heart is as nutritious as the leaves.
Steaming artichokes retains more nutrients than all other cooking methods.
Canned or jarred artichoke hearts are nutritious as well.
Asparagus:
When selecting asparagus, choose the bunch with the straightest spears. When asparagus is stored in a dark warehouse for a week or more, the spears length and bend upward in search of light giving them a contorted appearance. Additionally, if tips are starting to separate, have a yellowish cast, or mushy consistency these asparagus have been stored far too long. Once you select healthy looking spears, flip the bunch over; the cut end of the stalk should be smooth and moist.
Green asparagus has 7x more antioxidant than the colorless white variety.
Asparagus has a high respiration rate, similar to broccoli or artichokes. It loses much of its flavor and nutritional value within a day or two of harvest.
Cooked asparagus is more nutritious for you than raw. If you steam asparagus it will increase the antioxidant value by 30%.
For storing asparagus for more than a day, it is best to place the bunch in a microperforated bag and keep them in the crisper drawer.
Beets:
Beets are more nutritious after you steam, microwave or roast them.
If you cook them with the skin on and remove after they will retain more nutrients. The skin acts to keep water-soluble nutrients inside the beets.
Beet greens are more nutritious than the beets themselves, add them to salad or in a green smoothie.
Broccoli:
To increase nutrient absorption use Extra Virgin Olive Oil as part of your cooking of vegetables or as a dressing for salads will increase the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins.
Whole heads of broccoli are more nutritious than the pretrimmed florets. Sectioning broccoli into florets doubles its respiration rate, using up much of its antioxidant reserve in response to the “injury” of being cut into pieces. This leaves little for you, so buy whole head and trim them yourself before cooking.
Eating broccoli raw will give you 20x more of the compound called sulforaphane than cooked broccoli. Sulforaphane has been shown to reduce inflammation, slow again and fight cancer.
Frozen broccoli is convenient but is less nutritious.
Cooking broccoli in boiling water will cause half the nutrients to leach out into the water. Microwaving isn’t a good idea either as you can destroy have the nutrients in two minutes.
The best cooking method to retain the most nutrients for broccoli is to steam it for about 4 minutes. Or sauté them in extra virgin olive oil, this way they don’t lose any water-soluble nutrients because they are in contact with oil, not water.
If you keep broccoli for more than a day, place it is a resealable plastic bag, prick 10-20 small holes and then store in the crisper drawer for the best retention of nutrients and flavor.
Brussels Sprouts:
When selecting Brussels Sprouts, look for bright green, tight heads. Browning shows their age and reduced nutrient value.
Brussels Sprouts respire rapidly so treat them as you would Broccoli. Purchase them as needed. Use them when you get them or store in the refrigerator for the next day.
Frozen Brussels Sprouts have been shown to only contain 20% of the beneficial compounds of fresh Brussels Sprouts.
The best cooking method for the preservation of nutrients is to steam them for 6-8 minutes. Brussels Sprouts become less sweet and more bitter the longer they cook.
Cabbage:
Cabbage is lower in antioxidant than other crucifers, however still nutritious. The deeper the color the more nutritious.
Cabbage does not respire quickly and as such can be stored in the refrigerator for a week or two without losing many of its nutrients.
The longer the storage, the more compromise comes in flavor. In only a few days of refrigeration, 30% of its sugar will be gone along with the freshest flavor.
Prepare cabbage by cutting it and steaming it briefly to reduce odor and increase nutrient yield.
Carrots:
Deeper colored carrots are more nutritious than fairer varieties. Purple carrots have more antioxidant activity and potentially more health promoting benefits than the beta-carotene in orange carrots.
For the freshest, most nutritious and flavorful carrots, select those with their green tops still attached. Before refrigerating, cut the tops off to preserve the moisture in the carrot. Be weary, of purchasing carrots without the top as they are often several months old which will give them less flavor and nutritional content overall.
Baby carrots, while convenient, are just larger misshapen carrots that have their outer-skin whittled away. Like potatoes or Apples, the skin or outermost part of the vegetable or fruit is the most nutritious because it has to pump up the phytonutrient and antioxidant content in that regions to defend against UV rays, mold, insects, fungus and disease. When the outer most part of a carrot is whittled away, 1/3 of its phytonutrients go along with it.
Cooking carrots whole, then chopping them before plating will allow the carrots to hold onto more nutrients than if you chopped them beforehand.
Cauliflower:
Colorful varieties are higher in antioxidants than less colorful varieties. Purple cauliflower has been shown to have 2.5x more antioxidants, and Romanesca cauliflower has as much as 4x glucosinolates — the beneficial sulfur-containing compound that gives cruciferous vegetables their bitter taste and high nutrient density — than the standard white variety. However, white cauliflower has more cancer fighting compounds than either green or purple.
Frozen cauliflower, like most frozen vegetables has fewer nutrients than fresh varieties. The processing and freezing of cauliflower can destroy up to 40% of their phytonutrients.
Prepare cauliflower as you would broccoli, by steaming for 4 minutes or sautéing with a quality extra virgin olive oil.
Chives:
Garlic chives have more antioxidants than the most potent of onions
Corn:
Go for organic corn as it will have 50% more phytonutrients than conventionally raised corn.
Choose colorful varieties if possible; look for deep yellow, red, blue, black or purple as they are higher in phytonutrients than pale yellow or white corn. The same goes when searching for cornmeal.
Frozen corn has the same nutritional content as fresh yellow corn. It is better to steam frozen corn without thawing to retain more nutritional value.
Steam, grill or microwave corn but don’t boil it as nutrients will be lost in the water. Corn cooked in the husk will retain the most nutrients overall.
If you have no time for prep, canned corn can be as nutritious as fresh corn. The canning process reduces the vitamin C content, however it does not alter the phytonutrients with some even becoming more potent. Studies show that during the process of canning, the heat applied transforms certain phytonutrients into more active forms, making them easier to absorb. This may explain why canned corn has higher carotenoid content than fresh corn.
Garlic:
There has been no concerted effort to improve garlic for conventional farming and selling practices, therefore it contains most of its wild nutrients and anything you come across at the store is a great find. Look for garlic with plump, firm cloves with a tight outer wrapper.
Optimizing the nutrients of garlic is dependent on how you prepare it. To get the full benefit of garlic it is best to chop, crush or use a garlic press, then let the garlic rest for 5-10 minutes before use. Different enzymatic reactions occur when garlic is prepared this way allowing for the powerful compound called allicin to have it’s full effect.
Allicin has been found to have health promoting effects on atherosclerosis, diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
Kale:
Kale is one of the few vegetables that exceed the nutritional values of some wild greens.
Red-leaved varieties have a higher antioxidant value than green-leaves.
For those who are prone to kidneys or gallstones, the variety known as “Dino Kale” or Lacinato Kale are lower in oxalates.
Lettuce:
The most nutritious lettuce greens aren’t green, but red, purple, or reddish brown and then dark green — the deeper the hue the higher the phytonutrient content.
The arrangement of leaves on a lettuce plant plays a role in the phytonutrient content. Tightly wrapped plants like iceberg lettuce have less phytonutrient content than plants with loose or open leaves like romaine or red lettuce. If given a chose seek out the looseleaf varieties
As soon as you get home, separate the individual leaves, rinse and then soak them for about 10 minutes in very cold water. In addition to increasing the internal moisture of the greens which allows them to remain crisp longer, the cold water will reduce their temperature, slowing the aging process. Next, it is important to dry them, with a dry paper towel or salad spinner, as any moisture left on the surface will hasten their decay. Store in a plastic bag with 10-20 tiny prick holes, then place in the crisper drawer.
If you tear your greens into bite-sized pieces it will increase the antioxidant content, however if you do this make sure to eat it within a day or two.
Whole heads of greens are always fresher than bagged greens, this goes for all varieties. The longer the leaves stay in a bag the greater the reduction in antioxidants. If you do buy greens in a bag, look for mixtures that contain both red and dark green varieties. Be sure to check the “use-by” date and reject anything that has yellow, brown or withered leaves.
Onions:
The more strongly flavored the onion, the better for your health.
Red and Yellow onions pack more nutrients than White onions
Small onions have more nutrients per pound than their larger siblings
Potatoes:
The most colorful potatoes with the darkest skin and flesh — blue, purple, and red — will give you more antioxidants than yellow potatoes.
The Purple Peruvian potato has 28x more bionutrients than the Russet Burbank and 166x more than the Kennebec white potato
However, the Russet Burbank potato is still a good choice as it is higher in phytonutrients than most white potatoes.
Another good option is the Purple Majesty. It has been said that this potato has twice the anthocyanin amount of any other fruit or vegetable
Don’t peel your potatoes, if you do you’ll lose 50% of the antioxidant value
Store your potatoes in a cool dark place with plenty of ventilation. New potatoes can be stored in the refrigerator for a week or two but after than find a cool dark storage area with a temperature between 45-50° to prolong nutritional life of the potato.
Scallions (Green Onions):
Scallions are more like wild onions than any other variety, as such they are more nutritious than most other allumins
The long green leaves have a greater concentration of nutrients than the small white bulbs
Shallots:
Ounce for ounce shallots have six times more phytonutrients than the typical onion.
Spinach:
Bunches are fresher than bagged leaves. Spinach that’s been in a bag for only one week has just half the antioxidant benefits of freshly harvested.
Mid-sized leaves have more phytonutrients than baby spinach or large spinach leaves.
Compared to Spinach, Dandelion Greens have eight times more antioxidants, twice the calcium, three times the vitamin A and five times more vitamin K and E. Try mixing in Dandelion Greens to your next salad, just be careful as adding too much can make the salad a little too bitter for some. If this is the case add come acid from balsamic vinegar or fresh squeezed lemon.
As soon as you get home, separate the individual leaves, rinse and then soak them for about 10 minutes in very cold water. In addition to increasing the internal moisture of the greens which allows them to remain crisp longer, the cold water will reduce their temperature, slowing the aging process. Next, it is important to dry them, with a dry paper towel or salad spinner, as any moisture left on the surface will hasten their decay. Store in a plastic bag with 10-20 tiny prick holes, then place in the crisper drawer.
Sweet Potatoes:
Sweet potatoes are higher in antioxidants than regular potatoes.
The most nutritious varieties have purple and dark orange flesh, but remember you still need to consume the skin for the full benefits.
Avoid storing sweet potatoes in the refrigerator as they can develop a distinctly “off” flavor. Like normal potatoes, store sweet potatoes in a cool dark location.
Tomatoes:
Choose tomatoes that are deep red in color, they will have more antioxidants than yellow, gold or green tomatoes.
Size is equally as important as color, when selecting tomatoes. Small, dark red tomatoes are sweeter and more flavorful as well as having the most lycopene — the phytonutrient that gives tomatoes their red color and has been show to have benefical effect on the heart, blood pressure, osteoporosis and skin — per ounce. The red-colored cherry, grape and currant varieties are the most flavorful and carry the highest amount of lycopene. Additionally, smaller tomatoes will have more vitamin C than their heftier relatives.
Storing tomatoes in the refrigerator is not a good idea because when the internal temperature drops below 50°, it stops producing and exacerbates the loss of flavor and aromatic compounds. The longer the duration of refrigeration will make the tomatoes increasing less sweet and more bitter. Store at room temperature to preserve taste.
The longer you cook tomatoes the more health benefits you get. The heat breaks down cell walls and transforming nutrient compounds making them more available and easier to absorb. Just 30 minutes of cooking can double the lycopene content.
As such, canned tomatoes are the most nutritious sources of lycopene, due to the heat required in the canning process. Canned tomatoes are also more flavorful than what you would find in the produce section because they are picked when ripe and then processed immediately. Therefore, no flavor is lost along the way.
Tomato paste is the most concentrated source of lycopene you can find, with up to 10x more than a raw tomato.
New Research Shows Benefits of Collagen for Skin Conditions
Not all collagen is considered equal. Supplementation sources can vary from porcine, bovine or marine — all variations in quality and molecular weight can affect absorption and efficacy.
Collagen is broken down in the digestive tract, whereafter it enters the bloodstream and accumulates in various tissues depending on it's molecular weight. For superior absorption, a collagen supplement with low molecular weight is key.
Collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body, making it the most prevalent structural material in the human body after water. This is important when we understand that collagen is a necessary component for building beautiful skin. As much as 75% of the extracellular matrix is comprised of collagen.
In a recent research review the efficacy of collagen supplementation was tested for dermatological applications. The researchers looked at 8 studies using collagen hydrolysate (which has a low molecular weight) at doses ranging from 2.5-10 grams per day for a period of 6-24 weeks. These studies found a reduction of wrinkle volume, improved skin elasticity, increased skin moisture and a significant reduction in the degree of cellulite.
Additionally, The use of collagen has also expanded into treating such dermatological conditions as atopic and allergic contact dermatitis. The aforementioned review also looked at one 12-week study that sought to examine the effect of collagen supplementation with atopic dermatitis with a dose of 3.9 grams a day. Those who supplemented with collagen saw a significant decrease in immune response and inflammation after 12 weeks. Severity of skin eruption areas, skin hydration and itchiness were all reduced with collagen supplementation.
Collagen is effective in supporting various dermatological conditions such as wound healing, skin elasticity, and suppleness. Other applications for collagen supplementation include osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, improving blood pressure and insulin resistance. As with all things, quality is important. It is necessary to use a high-quality collagen supplement that is supported by clinical research and is of a low molecular weight in order to optimize absorption and intended results.
Source: Choi FD, Sung CT, et al. Oral Collagen Supplementation: A Systemic Review of Dermatological Applications. J Drugs Dermatol. 2019 Jan 1;18(1):9-16.
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Calm Down! CBD Oil for Anger and Stress
Guest post authored by Madeline Taylor from SundayScaries.com
Emotions are part of human life and throughout the course of our lives, we will go through the entire spectrum of feelings. There are some emotions that are directly related to events such as post-traumatic stress disorder and others that seem to pop up from nowhere. Anger and stress are two of the most powerful feelings that we can experience and if one is present, the other will be too.
Stress and anger are often accompanied by underlying anxiety and this is what makes it difficult to find an appropriate treatment. When these three emotions are all present in someone’s life, things can get out of control rather quickly and your quality of life is in jeopardy, especially if you don’t seek treatment. It is easy to overlook the fact that your anger could be a side effect of anxiety, especially if you haven’t been eating or sleeping properly and you may find that even the smallest of issues will suddenly seem like the end of the world is nigh.
Stress shouldn’t be taken lightly as, in severe cases, it can kill you. It causes hypertension, affects your nervous system, and can lead to depression. Furthermore, as there is still a stigma attached to those who seek medical treatment for seemingly minor emotional issues, many people choose to ignore the symptoms of stress and anger and hope that they will go away on their own.
The Effect of Pharmaceuticals on Mental Health Issues
When we feel like we are under a high level of stress or anxiety, there will likely come a point where a friend or colleague will point us in the direction of a physician to help us address our issues. It could be caused by a social anxiety disorder, increased stress levels through work, Post-traumatic stress (PTSD), or even because of chronic pain. And one of the most commonly prescribed treatments for anxiety is a benzodiazepine like Xanax. These pills will treat your symptoms almost immediately, but they are accompanied by a long list of harmful side effects—especially when used for long periods of time. Benzodiazepines are highly addictive and they can cause the following symptoms:
Nausea
Depression
Dry Mouth
Incontinence
Headaches
Shaking
Paranoia
Loss of appetite
Acne
How CBD Works for Anger and Stress
The past couple of years have seen the rise of alternative medicines such as CBD products like hemp seed oil, cannabis oil, and medical cannabis becoming increasingly popular. Medical marijuana and hemp oil (and all their derivatives) have been proven for use as an efficient and effective natural treatment for disorders like anxiety, depression, and stress and it is currently a hot topic in the medical industry. This has led to more studies being performed on cannabinoids and its potential therapeutic uses, as well as much more research scheduled to take place in 2019. While CBD oil is relatively new to the medical market, it has been used in ancient traditions for thousands of years to cure illness and provide relief from emotional issues like anger, stress, and anxiety.
Here are some of the ways that CBD is thought to alleviate the symptoms of anger and stress:
CBD is thought to cause pleasure hormones in the body to be released. These particular hormones are incredibly powerful, as they are responsible for inducing feelings of calm, reducing stress, and eliminating underlying anxiety.
Research has shown us that CBD positively affects the basolateral amygdala receptors that we naturally have in our bodies in order to process most of our sensory information.
The hippocampus is the part of our brain that is basically an emotional control center. CBD interacts with receptors in the hippocampus to stimulate positive emotions and the necessary chemicals to provide us with therapeutic comfort.
A daily dose of CBD oil has been found to reduce cognitive impairment.
CBD has powerful anti-inflammatory properties that help eliminate the effects that stress can have on our heart and arteries.
Another major factor to take into account, when looking at CBD as a viable treatment for emotional disorders, is the effect that CBD has on Serotonin levels in the brain. Science and anecdotal evidence have both demonstrated the positive effect that CBD has on the mood-enhancing chemicals in our brain. It triggers the release of these necessary chemicals and works to ensure that they are balanced in an entirely natural way. As an added bonus, it is not accompanied by any nasty side effects.
CBD Is not Addictive
CBD oil is a cumulative substance, meaning that it builds up in our body and works away behind the scenes. This is why it should be taken as a routine supplement each day, instead of when you are right in the clutches of a panic attack. Good quality CBD oil is extracted and processed in a way that allows it to override the psychoactive effects of THC (another important compound in the cannabis plant—the one that gets you high) this means that you won’t be walking around like a zombie and CBD oil is perfectly safe to take at work and it won’t impair your ability to drive or be productive. One of the primary risks of treating anxiety with traditional pharmaceuticals is an addiction and this, in turn, contributes to even more stress! CBD is completely non-addictive and you can take as much or as little as you like, without experiencing withdrawal symptoms.
Final Thoughts
While CBD oil is an incredibly powerful natural substance, not all oils are created equal. Before making a purchase, always check that the oil you are looking at is full spectrum and extracted in a chemical-free process. One of the biggest appeals of using CBD oil is the fact that it is completely non-toxic, so making sure that it is as pure as possible is going to be the key to success. It is also not a quick fix and should ideally be taken as part of a balanced diet and combined with exercise, which is also another incredibly effective way of eliminating stress from our lives. Finally, know that it is completely safe to experiment with dosage. What works for one person, might not be effective for another. Therefore, always start by taking a lower dose and increase it until you notice a positive change with regards to your anger and stress.
SOURCES:
Additional Notes on CBD:
While THC, the psychoactive chemical found in cannabis, is a restricted substance that is not legal in several states and countries, the compound cannabidiol is: Mary Barna Bridgeman and Daniel T. Abazia, “Medicinal Cannabis: History, Pharmacology, And Implications for the Acute Care Setting,” Physical Therapy 42, no. 3 (March 2017): 180–188, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5312634/
CBD is a cannabinoid that composes up to 40 percent of the marijuana plant: Alline Cristina Campos et al., “Multiple Mechanisms Involved in the Large-Spectrum Therapeutic Potential of Cannabidiol in Psychiatric Disorders,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 367, no. 1607 (December 2012): 3364–3378, https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2011.0389
CBD acts as an antagonist of THC by turning off or turning down anything that would activate the receptors through which THC exerts its effects. CBD itself does not, like THC, attach to receptors associated with addiction, so it is neither addictive or habit-forming: Shenglong Zou and Ujendra Kumar, “Cannabinoid Receptors and the Endocannabinoid System: Signaling and Function in the Central Nervous System,” International Journal of Molecular Sciences 19, no. 3 (March 2018): 833, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms19030833; Expert Committee on Drug Dependence, “Cannabidiol (CBD) Critical Review Report,” World Health Organization, June 2018, https://www.who.int/medicines/access/controlled-substances/CannabidiolCriticalReview.pdf
CBD also has no psychoactive effects, and there is a growing body of research to support CBD use for recovery: Bridgeman and Abazia, “Medicinal Cannabis: History,” 180–188, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5312634/
CBD is particularly potent against inflammation, which is one of the leading contributors to conditions like heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and nephritis: Natalya M. Kogan and Raphael Mechoulam, “Cannabinoids in Health and Disease,” Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience 9, no. 4 (December 2007): 413–430, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3202504/; Martin Frisher et al., “The Role of Cannabis and Cannabinoids in Diabetes,” The British Journal of Diabetes & Vascular Disease 10, no. 6 (2010): 267–273, https://doi.org/10.1177/1474651410385860; Claudia Ho, Dan Martinusen, and Clifford Lo, “A Review of Cannabis in Chronic Kidney Disease Symptom Management,” Canadian Journal of Kidney Health and Disease 6 (2019): 2054358119828391, https://doi.org/10.1177/2054358119828391
CBD is also effective against acute inflammation, which you might encounter, say, after a long day of racing or working out… CBD can also reduce levels of the inflammatory compound interleukin-6: Prakash Nagarkatti et al., “Cannabinoids as Novel Anti-Inflammatory Drugs,” Future Medicinal Chemistry 1, no. 7 (October 2009): 1333–1349, https://doi.org/10.4155/fmc.09.93
The problem with CBD is that it is not naturally highly bioavailable because CBD oils, capsules, and powders are not water soluble. Considering that your body is over 60 percent water, you have to find a way to overcome this problem to enjoy the benefits of this cannabinoid: Natascia Bruni et al., “Cannabinoid Delivery Systems for Pain and Inflammation Treatment,” Molecules 23, no. 10 (October 2018): 2478, https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules23102478
Turmeric plays a significant role here because the isolated curcuminoids (which are the active ingredients of a high-curcumin-containing turmeric plant) mix with the cannabinoids and terpenoids of CBD, causing their bioavailability to explode: Bruni et al., “Cannabinoid Delivery Systems,” 2478, https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules23102478
When you take CBD with curcumin or turmeric high in curcumin, you can get five to ten times the effects: Grant Hosking, “The Synergistic Effects of Turmeric and CBD,” Modern Nature, February 12, 2019, https://modernnature.com/blogs/articles/the-synergistic-effects-of-turmeric-and-cbd; Kelly Harrington, “Combining Hemp Extract and Curcumin,” Healthy Goods, April 12, 2019, https://healthygoods.com/blog/combining-hemp-extract-and-curcumin/
CBD topical lotions can be just as effective as or more effective than oral CBD supplementation for spot-targeting joints: D.C. Hammell et al., “Transdermal Cannabidiol Reduces Inflammation and Pain-Related Behaviours in a Rat Model of Arthritis,” European Journal of Pain 20, no. 6 (July 2016): 936–948, https://doi.org/10.1002/ejp.818
recommend just 10 to 20 mg of CBD if you have never used it before: Kerstin Iffland and Franjo Grotenhermen, “An Update on Safety and Side Effects of Cannabidiol: A Review of Clinical Data and Relevant Animal Studies,” Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research 2, no. 1 (2017): 139–154, https://doi.org/10.1089/can.2016.0034
Take Your Vitamins!
“Do you know that most of us today are suffering from certain dangerous diet deficiencies which cannot be remedied until depleted soils from which our food comes are brought into proper mineral balance? The alarming fact is that foods (fruits, vegetables and grains) now being raised on millions of acres of land that no longer contain enough of certain minerals are starving us — no matter how much of them we eat. The truth is that our food vary enormously in value, and some of them aren’t worth eating as food… Laboratory tests prove that the fruits, the vegetables, the grains, the eggs, and even the milk and the meats of today are not what they were a few generations ago.”
— 74th Congress, 2nd session (senate document no. 264) 1936
It has long been thought we can eat a balanced diet and remain healthy, yet, increasing rates of illness and disease have proven otherwise. The Department of Agriculture has estimated that 99% of Americans have some type of nutrient deficiency. This becomes important when we understand that our body’s require adequate nutrition to simply stay alive and significantly more nutrients if we wish to optimize our health and lifespan in this increasingly stressful and polluted world.
Why has this happened? Very simply, the food we eat — fruits, vegetables, grains, etc. — is being grown in soil which has become depleted in minerals from modern agricultural practices. In turn, our soil has become so impoverished that it has negatively effected the nutrient yield of the foods we consume. Research from the Life Extension Foundation in 2001 showed the vitamin and mineral content of several foods has dropped dramatically between 1963 and 2000. For example: Collard greens were shown to have a 62% loss of vitamin C, 41% loss of vitamin A, 29% loss of calcium, 52% loss of potassium and an 84% loss in magnesium! Furthermore, in 2004 the Journal of the American College of Nutrition found similarly significant declines in the vitamin and mineral content of over 43 crops grown in US markets.
Adding proof to the claims of nutrient insufficiency through dietary intake, lets take a look at a 2002 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The authors examined several nutrients including vitamins A, B6, B12, C, D, E, K, Folic Acid and Carotenoids to which they concluded that the current US diet, while sufficient to prevent acute vitamin deficiency diseases, such as scurvy and pellagra, is inadequate to support long-term health. Continuing the theme, in a 2006 study from the journal Advances in Therapy it was stated: “Only supplementation was able to significantly boost nutrient levels and confer beneficial effects on general welfare, physical performance, and resistance to infections. Therefore, it appears that nutritional supplements are advisable for everyone.”
How can we optimize our nutrient intake? Along with eating as fresh, local and wild as possible, the incorporation of a high-quality, nutraceutical grade supplementation program is warranted. It is essential to find a supplement company which guarantees both potency and purity of their products, can provide proof of their effectiveness in human trials, with all ingredients are Generally Recognized As Safe. A good place to start is with The Comparative Guide to Nutritional Supplements by Lyle MacWilliam. This provides a comprehensive review of over 1,300 products in the United States and Canada.
What should I take? The following is a list of fundamental recommendations to get you started:
MultiVitamin
Most people do not meet their vitamin and mineral needs through diet alone, and as we have learned above, it would be hard to get all the nutrients we need from food alone. Supplementing with a MultiVitamin is essential to optimize health and performance, however most multivitamins you find in retail stores contain inefficacious, synthetic forms of vitamins and mineral that aren’t readily absorbed (or even usable) for your body. Therefore, it is imperative to find quality brands like NutriDyn or ATP.
Fruits & Greens Powder
A 2014 meta-analysis of 16 studies found that “higher consumption of fruits and vegetables is associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality, particularly cardiovascular mortality.”* However, less than 10% of Americans consume sufficient amounts of fruits and vegetables per day. The NutriDyn Fruits & Greens provides 20+ servings of fruits and vegetables in a single scoop and tastes great.
Magnesium
Magnesium is the second most abundant mineral inside human cells, or at least it should be. It is essential for over 700 enzymatic reactions in the body, such as normal nerve and muscle function, supporting the immune system, keeping a steady heart beat, helps bones remain strong and it is also needed to regulate blood glucose levels. According to Carolyn Dean, author of The Magnesium Miracle, as much as 80% of Americans are magnesium deficient. This is largely due to unsustainable farming practices and the use of Roundup which binds magnesium, removing 50% of what little is left in the soil.
EPA/DHA Fish Oil (Omega-3)
The majority of animal protein — beef, poultry, pork — in America is fed an unnatural diet of grains containing soy/corn. The downstream effect of this is inferior quality meat that is higher in inflammatory Omega-6’s and lower in Omega-3’s. On top of this, the Standard American Diet consists of highly processed foods, also high in these same inflammatory oils. Historically, it has been estimated that humans evolved eating a diet close to equal in Omega-6 and 3 fatty acids**. However, the current ratio in the Western diet is closer to a 15:1 to 30:1 ratio. This is cause for a host of inflammatory diseases. Improving your Omega-3 ratio can improve insulin sensitivity, lower triglycerides, mitigate the effects of stress, and has the ability to turn on lipolytic genes (fat burning genes). Additionally, out of 14 omega-3 trials, which followed patients for an average of 2 years, the overall reduction in mortality was almost twice as good as statins, 25%. This is significant for at least 2 reasons: 1) that is a huge difference, and 2) the studies only lasted 2 years on average, meaning that the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids are fast-onset and robust. In other words, statins take ~50% longer and are only ~50% as good as omega-3 fatty acids.
References:
* https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6426a1.htm
** Simopoulos AP. Omega-3 fatty acids in health and disease and in growth and development. Am J Clin Nutr. 1991 Sep; 54(3):438–63.)
You're Not Fat, You're Pre-Skinny! Tips to Get There
Fat is the common enemy, we all share, in modern society. Beach season is coming! We can’t live without it, as it is a necessary component of our health, yet we shun its existence at every glance. The issue of moderating weight gain, more specifically fat gain, is no longer thought to be as simple as “calories in, calories out.” Fat Chance by Robert Lustig addresses the full spectrum of how fat gain (a.k.a. obesity) is a combination of several factors: physics, biochemistry, endocrinology, neurology, psychology, social circles and environmental surroundings. The complexities around why we gain fat are far more complex than the weight loss industry would have you believe. That said, I want to give you my top take-a-way’s from this book:
Diet coupled with weight training works better for weight loss.
When you go on a diet to lose weight, do you know what you are losing? You lose some fat, but you’re actually losing more muscle unless you lift weights while you’re dieting in order to prevent muscle loss. Maintaining, and even adding muscle, is beneficial for weight loss because it improves your body’s ability to use incoming calories to fuel muscle instead of being stored as fat.
Our body seeks balance in order to maintain our current weight.
Therefore, a reduction in calories in an effort to lose weight will be unsuccessful as energy expenditure is reduced to meet the decreased energy intake. On a caloric deficit you will, at the onset begin to lose subcutaneous fat (the fat underneath the skin), however in a primal effort to save you from starvation, your body’s leptin (fullness hormone) levels will fall. This will create an overpowering sensation to reduce the activity of your metabolism and find something to eat. This is often why starvation diets do not work for very long—the body is looking to restore weight balance.
Evolutionarily, the metabolism of fat and carbohydrates developed separately.
We possess the ability to thrive on diets at opposite ends of the spectrum. The hunters ate fat, whereby the liver would beta-oxidize (the process by which fatty acids are broken down by the mitochondria) what it needed for its use and would then export any excess LDL to be taken up by the adipose tissue. Conversely, the gatherers ate carbohydrates (glucose) and upon absorption, the liver would extract what it needed. Insulin would clear the rest out of the bloodstream and drive it into the muscle for energy or adipose tissue for energy storage. Each system worked for the energy that came in, but when our modern diet combines these it is easy to get a caloric surplus.
Our entire society likes to consume both fats and carbohydrates at the same meal, for no other reason than it tastes good. Who doesn’t like steak and potatoes?! As food became more readily available, we began to overload both sides of our metabolic pathways with the breakdown of fat and the glycolysis of carbohydrates in the same meal. Both of these metabolic processes convert the food we eat into fuel for our mitochondria—the furnace that drives our metabolism—in the form of the compound acetyl-CoA. Our hypercaloric diet is wreaking havoc on the mitochondria as fuel is pouring in from both directions too fast to process efficiently. A single high-fat, high-carb meal is no problem but to keep this up for ten thousand meals in a row is most likely the cause of your creeping weight gain.
Alter your environment for systemic change.
The environment is what drives biochemistry—the hormones of insulin, ghrelin, PYY and cortisol—therefore, if you want to affect your weight you have to change the environment.
a. Get your insulin down to reduce your body fat and improve leptin resistance. You can do this by lifting weights to increase muscle mass, as well as by consuming whole foods that contain fiber.
b. Get your ghrelin down to reduce hunger. Start the day with a high protein (e.g., grass-fed meats) and fat (e.g., nuts or avocados) meal. This will reduce ghrelin and stabilize your blood sugar more than a meal consisting of high carbohydrates, so you will feel satiated longer and burn more calories just sitting. The protein has a higher thermic effect, than carbohydrates, which means that the body uses more energy to metabolize the protein we consume.
c. Get the PYY up to hasten your satiety. Putting food in our stomach lowers your ghrelin but doesn’t stop you from eating more. The signal for satiety, or the switch to turn off the meal is Peptide YY. Between the stomach and the PYY cells are a lengthy twenty-two feet of intestine. It takes time for the food to get there, so instead of shoveling the food down, practice patience. If you are still hungry at the end of the meal try waiting 20 minutes before going for seconds.
d. Get the stress down, to reduce your cortisol. Cortisol is your short-term friend by your long-term enemy. A stressful environment liberates stored glycogen, which in turn raises blood sugar that begins the cascade of insulin and eventual insulin resistance. Any bit of exercise will have a beneficial affect on your cortisol levels.
The moral of this story is that, there is way more to process of gaining and losing weight than those weight loss commercials would have you believe. If it were that easy, we would all be famous instagram models, however it is not. So don't beat yourself up if you haven't found the right process to get you where you want to be. It is out there and I'd be happy to help.
Nutrition Primer: How to Start Eating Better
It hard to know where to start when it comes to bettering your health, but step one is always going to be about improving your nutritional habits. Take a look at the following questions to get an idea of where you should start.
Question #1: Where do I start when trying to improve my nutrition?
The first thing people often do is choose a diet they have be researching or one that their friend recommends, but jumping into any diet is not always the best choice. Food provides the body with energy, as well as information, and if you completely change what you are consuming chances are you are going to have a hard time adapting. Headaches, digestive issues and wild cravings are generally the mainstay of radical changes in diet. So instead of jumping on the Paleo, Ornish, low-fat, Mediterranean or vegetarian bandwagon, first address the issue of eliminating nutritional deficiencies.
Most people will be surprised to find out that they, in fact, have any deficiencies at all, but the research shows that more than 80% of the population has at least one. And who knows, the very reason you have sought out to read this article – weight gain, sleep disturbance, digestive issues, etc. -- could be rectified with a simple adjustment of your diet, without rushing into a full overhaul.
To eliminated any underlying deficiencies it is best to start with the following:
- Adding more quality proteins by using less lunch meat and favoring more free-range, wild caught or grass-fed meats
- Increasing vitamins and minerals by choosing a colorful variety of vegetables and fruits
- Allowing room for sufficient healthy fats by using coconut oil to cook, olive oil in salads, full-fat dairy or avocado as a snack
- Drinking more water. Try adding a cucumber or lime slice for some flavor.
Establishing optimal eating habits are done one step at a time. By making small changes over time you are positively altering your environment, ultimately creating a lifestyle change that is much better than any crash diet you can subscribe to.
Question #2: What’s the Best Diet to Follow?
There really is no “best diet.” What works best for one person, is probably not going to work for another. Those who have found success with a low-fat/high-carb diet (Jenny Craig) would probably find success with the equally restrictive high-fat/low-carb diet (Atkins). Macronutrient (carbohydrate/fat/protein) restrictive diets work well for weight-loss because they limit one of the body’s main sources of fuel — fat or carbohydrate. However, due to their intensive restrictions, when the majority of start to slip with temptation they tend to slip all the way off the diet and regain the weight.
A better way to ask the question would be; “What is the right nutritional approach that will create a positive long-term, systemic change in my life?” It is definitely a much harder question to answer correctly, which is why it is often not asked. As stated in question one, making small nutritional changes can have that positive affect and allow for insight as to what makes your body work more efficiently. The caveat to that is we all have limitations, whether they be financial or health related that will need to factor in to your nutritional choices. In the end, the best diet is one that is going to allow the individual to thrive in every endeavor.
Question #3: Is Counting Calories Important for Weight Loss?
No, counting calories is not something you should spend your time on when it comes to weight loss. Eating should be enjoyable, not reduced down to a math problem. When we choose to count calories with the intention of losing weight, the general approach is to take in less calories than we’re used to. Calories-in, calories-out right? Well, it’s not that simple as energy expenditure would be reduced to meet the decreased energy intake. So a calorie is not really a calorie because your caloric output is controlled by your body and is dependent on the quantity and quality of the calories ingested.
Besides, by counting calories you are essentially outsourcing appetite awareness to the food-label gods. Instead, think about regaining control of your portions with the hand-measuring system. Here is how it works:
- Your palm determines your protein portion
- Your fist determines your veggie portion
- Your cupped hand determines your carb portions
- Your thumb determines your fat portions.
Question #4: Should I Avoid Carbs?
Avoiding carbs is not necessary for weight management, nor achieving optimal health. However, if the majority of your dietary carbs come from a box – pastas, cereals, donuts, pizza – it would be best to reevaluate your choices in order to reach your goal. The quality of your carbohydrates is important in terms of nutritional content and the toll it play on our body.
When we eat a food containing carbohydrates, the digestive system will break them down into sugar allowing it to enter the blood. This causes our blood sugar to rise and in response the pancreas secretes insulin – a hormone that shuttles sugar out of the blood and into the cells to be stored at energy. When this happens we blunt our ability to burn fat and instead use the easily accessible energy within our blood.
Sugar is the biggest offender especially if it enters the blood stream as glucose, which doesn’t need to be broken down by enzymes, so it’s absorbed immediately. Starch can be in the same boat when it comes to raising blood sugar, sometimes worse if it's in the form of gluten-containing, nutrient-depleted grains (e.g., pastas, cereals, donuts, pizza). So where does that leave us?
Do not avoid carbs. Instead make better choices. The following is a list of possible replacements for when you are meal planning:
- Low Starch Vegetables such as baby corn, jicama, kohlrabi, rutabaga, water chestnuts, cauliflower, mushrooms, onions, turnips, green beans, cucumber, bean sprouts, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, artichokes, okra, zucchini, green peppers all have a high ratio of fiber and nutrients compared to the content of carbs present.
- Moderate Starch Veggies like sweet potatoes, beets, or carrots are still reasonable but it is wise to watch the serving sizes.
- Low-Sugar/Low-Fructose Fruits such as Kiwifruit, Blueberries and raspberries, Grapefruit/lemons/limes, melons, pears with skin, and coconuts are decent choices that have their place in a season context, however avoiding fructose altogether is likely a safe bet for most people especially those who are obese.
- Gluten-free grains are acceptable for people who have the genetic ability to process carbs, but grains often irritate the digestive system as well as blood sugar control mechanisms for a significant amount of people.
If you found these helpful and would like answers to more questions feel free to contact using the links below:
Weapons of Mass Construction: Amino Acids
Adapted from Eric Braverman's The Healing Nutrients Within
What do carnivores, vegetarians and omnivores all have in common? They all require protein in order to sustain and optimize life. Protein is the second most abundant substance in our bodies after water. It constitutes ¾ of the dry weight of most body cells. It is involved in the biochemical structure of genes, blood, tissue, muscle, collagen, skin, hair, and nails, and is a major constituent of all the many hormones, enzymes, nutrient carriers, infection-fighting antibodies, neurotransmitters and other chemical messengers in the body. This continuous process of building and regeneration is necessary for life and requires a non-stop supply of protein.
All protein is made up of different combinations of amino acids – essential or nonessential – that are consumed as part of our diet. The body breaks down these dietary proteins into individual amino acids and then reassembles them to build the specific structures needed within the body. Like carbohydrates and fat, protein is composed of hydrogen, oxygen and carbon, Yet, protein also contains nitrogen, which provides it with the ability of bodily repair and construction.
People do not realize how busy the human body is and to make it worse the need for quality protein intake often goes unrecognized in our hypercaloric environment. To illustrate, every second bone marrow makes 2.5 million red cells; every four days the lining of the gastrointestinal tract is renewed; and every 24 days a person has the equivalent of new skin. All this continuous repair work requires the building blocks of protein; amino acids.
The liver has the ability to produce about 60% of the amino acids we need, while the remaining 40% must be obtained from our diet. At present, the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for protein is between 44 to 56 grams per day. Yet, in America most people eat two to three times that amount and even vegetarians consume upwards of 80 to 100 grams a day!
So one would think that as long as we are eating adequate amounts of protein, containing the essential amino acids, we should be covered, right? The answer to that question is dependent on the individual person. The body’s requirement for essential amino acids is determined by our age group, degrees of stress, energy requirements, digestive capabilities, infection, trauma, environmental pollution, processed foods and one’s personal habits such as smoking and drinking. All these factors influence the need and availability of protein and its amino acid constituents. Additionally, one has to factor in nutrient deficiencies as there are multiple vitamins, namely pyridoxine (vitamin B6), riboflavin (vitamin B2) and niacin (vitamin B3), that act as cofactors (a substance important for the activity of the enzyme) which are instrumental in the metabolism of amino acids.
It is for these reasons that while we adequately meet our recommended daily amount of protein, it may by no means be broken down and used efficiently. This is extremely important to recognize when we understand that each amino acid is designed for a specific purpose and cannot be interchanged. If our diet fails to provide, or our lifestyle uses up, any given essential amino acid problems can arise. The following list is taken from Eric Braverman’s The healing Nutrients Within to illustrate how different amino acids play a large role in our overall health and wellness:
- Arginine has been shown to act similar to and in some cases replace viagra for restoring erectile function and a sagging libido. It has also been found to increase sperm count
- New research measuring the breakdown products of bone in hydroxyproline may prove more advantageous for assessing bone loss than the standard bone density test
- Scientific evidence shows that boosting energy levels in the brain with phenylalanine and tyrosine is key to weight loss
- Melatonin and tryptophan have established themselves as multipurpose nutrients to improve sleep, defuse anxiety and slow down the aging process. Recent studies show promise for the use of tryptophan in the treatment of autism
- Homocysteine has gained recognition as a major independent risk indicator for cardiovascular disease. New research suggests it may also pretend neural tube defects, sickle cell disease, rectal polyps, and liver failure, and may contribute to depression, dementia and loss of brain function in the elderly
- Tyrosine can help cocaine and alcohol abusers kick their habits and combat the effects of stress, narcolepsy, chronic fatigue, and ADD
- Amino acid blood levels are increasingly serving as important indicators of physical and mental illnesses. They provide major nutritional and biochemical clues for more effective treatment
- Carnitine has been shown to offer significant protection against the common side effects of Depakote (a popular drug used for seizures and psychotic disorders). Its derivative N-acetyl-carnitine may surpass the metabolic potency of carnation in the brain, where it has been found to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease
- Scientific evidence continues to mount showing N-acetyl cysteine… to be perhaps the most powerful detoxifier in the body. It is now found in every emergency room as an antidote to overdose cases and as well can render harmless everyday environmental toxins.
- New, modified GABA compounds such as gabapentin (Neurotin) and tigabine (Gabitril) are producing improved uptake in the brain and appear to be important products in the control of seizures and anxiety disorders. Early studies indicate GABA may also be correlated to a decrease in benign prostatic hypertrophy.
- Research with serine compounds show that blocking serine metabolism may serve to prevent autoimmune activity present in psychoses
- Glutamic and Aspartic acids create additional neurotoxic damage in the brain following stroke. New drugs that block the action of the excretory amino acid transporters (EAATs) have recently been approved.
- BCAAs promote optimal muscle growth and improve performance… additionally they also offer promise for staving off muscle loss as we age.
As the research in the area of amino acid therapy continues to grow we can firmly apply the idea of Pfeiffers Law: if a drug can be found to do the job of medical healing, a nutrient can be found to do the same job.
Dr. Chris Bump: Magnesium—The King of Minerals
In this presentation Dr Christopher J Bump discusses the value of magnesium supplementation for those individuals who experience anxiety, poor quality of sleep and acute joint pain. Magnesium is critical to muscle relaxation, energy metabolism and protein synthesis and in the US over 55% of adults are deficient in magnesium.
Link to Video Presentation
Can You Retrain Your Taste?
Sugar consumption and your tastebuds
A 2016 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition examined the effect of reduced simple sugar intake on a group of “healthy” men and women. The study broke the participants up into two groups, with one group assigned a low-sugar diet and the other group continuing to eat their usual high-sugar diet. After 3 months of this, both groups were left to eat however they pleased for yet another month. Each month during the study, participants were asked to rate the sweetness and “pleasantness” of vanilla puddings and raspberry beverages that varied in sugar concentration.
After the third month of dieting, the low-sugar group rated the pudding to be around 40 percent sweeter than the control group, regardless of how much sugar the pudding contained. The conclusion was simple: “changes in consumption of simple sugars influence perceived sweet taste intensity.” Meaning that the less sugar you eat over the long term, the more things taste sweeter and, therefore, tastier.
Researchers found that the low-sugar group took on average two months for their tastebuds to recognize any difference in sweetness and pleasantness—and yet another month for that sweetness to intensify.
The takeaway here? A little patience will yield long-term dividends.
But what about salt addiction?
If you’re a bit of a salt junkie, you might be keen on learning how to break the habit. It’s a perfectly reasonable goal to have, particularly if you’ve been diagnosed with hypertension. (You might want to find out if you’re among the “salt-sensitive” in the population—about 50% of those with hypertension by some estimates— before chalking up your high blood pressure to salt intake.)
Similar to sugar, lowering intake of sodium-rich foods has been shown to decrease your reliance on salt. An impressively long 1-year study found that “reduction in sodium intake and excretion accompanied a shift in preference toward less salt.” Researchers surmised that the mechanisms behind this reduction in salt addiction were varied, and included physiological, behavioral, and context effects. Not the ultra-conclusive reasoning you were hoping for, but it looks as if particularly overzealous salt cravings should drop significantly when you switch to a naturally salt-moderated, low processed-food diet.
Still, let’s not neglect some stubborn truths.
While the health and scientific community continues to hate on salt, very few studies have examined the importance of salt for maintaining a healthy body. While these studies may be relatively few, evidence suggests that salt may play an essential role in excreting cortisol (the “stress hormone”) from the body, thereby improving recovery time from stressful events and situations.
Salt has also been shown to decrease strain during exercise by increasing hydration. Studies indicate that knocking back a sodium-rich beverage prior to exercising increases plasma volume, which in turn reduces the strain on your body during exercise and helps you reach higher levels of performance.
And all those other clever uses…
And then there’s the point that salt just makes food taste better…. Just make a point of sticking with the good stuff—high quality sources like Himalayan pink salt, Real Salt, and Celtic sea salt. These natural, unrefined versions provide all of the taste of salt and, unlike table salt, still include all the essential minerals your body needs to rehydrate those cells and help to evenly distribute all that sodium.
The factors behind taste
If your body has been inundated with sugar-intensive processed foods for the last few years/decades, it may be a little confused as to what it actually wants to taste. Rewiring your tastebuds, then, is no small task for both your brain and your digestive system.
Luckily, all that’s required of you is to stay the course of good eating. That said, it’s helpful as always to understand the bigger picture.
Gut Health
There isn’t much it seems the gut isn’t involved in, and taste is no exception apparently. A team at the Department of Neuroscience at Mount Sinai School of Medicine discovered that the taste receptor T1R3 and the G protein gustducin are located in the gut, as well as the mouth. These taste receptors are essential to tasting sweetness in the foods we eat, and we now know that they play an important role in sensing glucose within our gastrointestinal tract.
This role goes far beyond simply “tasting” carbohydrates and other sugary or sweet foods within your gut. When you eat these foods, the sweet-sensing taste receptors in your large intestine activate the release of hormones that promote insulin secretion and regulate appetite. This means that if your gut health is lacking, its ability to sense carbs and produce insulin may be impaired.
Obesity
A 2012 study published in the British Medical Journal found that obese kids develop an insensitivity to taste. Researchers examined close to 200 children between the ages of 6 and 18, half of whom were a normal weight and half classified as obese. Each of the participants was asked to place 22 taste strips on their tongue, simulating each of the five levels of taste at varying intensities.
Obese children found it significantly more difficult to differentiate between the different taste sensations, and were particularly insensitive to salty, umami and bitter tastes. Children who were obese also gave lower intensity ratings to sweet foods, meaning they needed more sugar in foods to achieve the same sensation of sweetness.
The take-away is simple: the more weight we put on, the less likely we are to enjoy the food we eat or to recognize the mounting sugar or salt levels we likely take in for the same taste experience. There may be more of a lag time in rejuvenating full taste sensitivity if we’re reversing obesity as well as shifting our diets, but the end point is the same.
By Mark Sission
Nutrient Depletions from Prescription Drugs
Prescription drugs have side effects. That is, they have effects which are besides the intended effect. This can vary from person to person.
The intended effects of drugs are mostly to stop a process in the body, hence the “anti-” designation: anti-inflammatory, anti-biotic, anti-hypertensive. These altered processes are most likely produced as the body’s compensation for an imbalance somewhere. When you stop a natural process with a drug, like the stomach producing acid, there are consequences. The symptom – heartburn – may be gone, but the body does not function the same, and over time will result in compromised health.
One way to understand some of these side effects is that the drugs cause certain nutritional deficiencies when taken over time. Prescription drugs can deplete nutrients through many mechanisms, including impaired nutrient absorption, storage, transport, metabolism, or even excretion.
There are a large number of studies in medical literature which report the nutrient depletion of certain drugs. I’m sure your drug package insert does not list these, and most doctors who prescribe the drugs are not aware of them. I believe that everyone would serve themselves by becoming informed health consumers.
To that end, here is a list of nutrient depletions for common prescription drugs. This is meant to simply be a starting point, with common brand names of drugs listed. There are several handbooks (see resources at the end), so you can look it up in more detail. If you feel that it is in your best interest to take your prescribed drug, then you will probably have a better health outcome and reduce the risk of the drug’s side effects by supplementing with the listed nutrients.
5-Aminosalycyclic acid (for bowel inflammation)
Sulfasalazine, Colaza1, Mesalamine
Depletes: Folic acid
Anemia
Aranesp, Epogen, Procrit, Neulasta
Depletes: None reported
Antacids (H2 Blockers, Proton Pump Inhibitors)
Nexium, Prevacid, Protonix, Maalox, Mylanta,Tagamet, TUMS, Pepcid, Zantac
Depletes: Calcium, Vitamin B12, Phosphorus, Vitamin D, Folic acid, Iron, Zinc, Vitamin B1
Antibiotics
Amoxicillin, Ampicillin, Pennicillin, Tetracycline, Cephalosporin, Ciprofloxacin
Depletes: Bifidobacteria, Lactobaccillus, Biotin, Potassium, Vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, B12, Vitamins C, E, K, Inositol, Magnesium, Zinc
Anticoagulants
Warfarin
Depletes: None reported
Anti-Depressants (SSRI)
Lexapro, Zoloft, Prozac, Paxil
Depletes: Folic acid, Vitamins B6, B12, D, Essential Fatty Acids, Sodium
Anti-Diabetics
Actos, Metformin, Glucotrol, Avandia
Depletes: CoQ10, Folic Acid, Vitamin B12
Low magnesium levels may predispose to this condition.
Anti-histamines
Singulair, Zyrtec
Depletes: Essesential Fatty Acids
Anti-Hypertensives (ACE inhibitors, Beta-Blockers)
Toprol-XL, Norvasc, Lisinopril, Furosemide, Chlorthalidone, Clonidine, Propanolol
Depletes: CoQ10, Phosphorus, Potassium, Sodium, Zinc, Calcium, Magnesium, Vitamin B1
Anti-Inflammatories
Aspirin, Acetaminophen, Ibuprofen, Naproxen
Depletes: Folic acid, Iron, Potassium, Sodium, Vitamin C, Glutathione
Bronchodilators
Advair Diskus, Singulair, Albuterol
Depletes: Potassium
Cholesterol-Lowering (STATINS)
Lipitor, Zocor, Pravachol, Cholestyramine, Colesevelam, Fenofibrate
Depletes: CoQ10, Beta-carotene, Calcium, Folic acid, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Vitamins A, B12, D, E, K
Corticosteriods
Prednisone, Hydrocortisone, Prednisole, Bethamethasone
Depletes: Calcium, Folic acid, Magnesium, Potassium, Selenium, Vitamins A, B6, C, D, K, ZInc
Diuretics
Furosemide, Hydorchlorothiazide, Triamterene
Depletes: Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium, Sodium, Vitamins B1, B6, C, Zinc, CoQ10, Folic acid
Gout
Colchicine
Depletes: Vitamins A, D, B12, Folic acid, Iron, Potassium
Hormone Replacement Therapy
Estrace, Premarin, Prempro, Alora
Depletes: Vitamins B1, B2, B6, B12, C, Magnesium, Biotin, Pantothenic acid
Laxatives
Metamucil, FiberCon, Citrucel, Colace, Glycolax, Milk of magnesia, Dulcolax
Depletes: Vitamins A, D, E, Calcium, Sodium, Potassium
Oral Contaceptives
Ortho Cyclen, Ortho Novum, Ortho TriCyclen, Triphasil, Seasonale, Yasmin, Ethinyl Estradiol plus Norgestrel
Depletes: Beta-Carotene, Vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, B12, C, Folic acid, Biotin, Pantothenic acid, Magnesium, Zinc, Tryptophan, Tyrosine
Psychotherapeutics
Seroquel, Risperdal, Zyrexa, Haldol, Amitriptyline
Depletes: Vitamin B2, CoQ10
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Enbrel, Remicade, Methotrezate
Depletes: Folic acid
Sleep Aids
Ambien, Lunesta, Restoril, Sonata
Depletes: None reported, but those that act on the GABA-A receptor may deplete Biotin, Calcium, Folic acid, Vitamins B1, B12, D, K
Thyroid
Synthroid, Levothryoxine sodium
Depletes: Iron
All drugs have a hidden side effect that is rarely mentioned. They use up and deplete nutrients. Since they are a chemical, they use up vitamins, minerals, amino acids, essential fatty acids, and other nutrients in the works of metabolizing and detoxifying the drug. Therefore, all drugs cause nutrient depletion. And they rob us of nutrients that we could have used to heal our body.
Fundamentals of Food
Fundamentally speaking, food is energy and we use the calories in food along with vitamins and minerals to carry out specific tasks like digestion, regeneration and repair (sleep), detoxification as well as managing our stress. All these things require energy to power their actions which is why when it comes to sitting down to a meal, thinking about what you're eating is such a profound aspect of your decision making process. It would be best to have a diet tailored to you specifically but not everyone has access to a professional to undergo a consultation. Therefore it is my intent to give you a guideline of how best to make decisions that optimize your health when it comes to deciding what to eat.
What will it do to my blood sugar?
When we eat a food containing carbohydrates, the digestive system will break them down into sugar allowing it to enter the blood. This causes our blood sugar to rise and in response the pancreas secretes insulin, a hormone that prompts cells to absorb blood sugar for energy. When this happens we blunt our ability to burn fat and instead use the easily accessible energy within our blood.
Sugar is the biggest offender especially if it enters the blood stream as glucose, which doesn't need to be broken down by enzymes, so it's absorbed immediately. Starch can be in the same boat when it comes to offending blood sugar, sometimes worse if it's in the form of gluten-containing, nutrient-depleted grains. So where does that leave us?
The best choices are always based upon the following criteria: Low starch vegetables (baby corn, jicama, kohlrabi, rutabaga, water chestnuts, cauliflower, mushrooms, onions, turnips, green beans, cucumber, bean sprouts, brussel sprouts, asparagus, artichokes, okra, zucchini, green peppers) have a high ratio of fiber and nutrients compared to the content of carbs present. Moderate starch veggies like sweet potato, beets, or carrots are still reasonable but it is wise to watch the serving size. Low-sugar/low-fructose fruitssuch as Kiwifruit, Blueberries and raspberries, Grapefruit/lemons/limes, melons, pear with skin, and coconuts are decent choices that have their place in a season context, however avoiding fructose altogether is likely a safe bet for most people especially those who are obese. Lastly some gluten-free grains are acceptable for people who have the genetic ability to process carbs, but grains often irritate the digestive systemas well as blood sugar control mechanisms for a significant amount of people.
Does it contain quality protein?
Many foods from both animal and plant origin contain protein, but not all protein is created equal. Protein from high quality animals, think grass-fed, free-range or wild-caught, contain a superior nutrient profile containing essential amino acids as well as essential nutrients like B-12, Omega 3's and Carnitine that are often lacking in a vegetarian diet but are necessary for optimal health.
Protein is broken down into organic compounds called amino acids. There are 13 essential, meaning they cannot be produced from other substances and must be consumed, and there are 12 that are considered nonessential. A protein is considered complete when it has the appropriate quantities of amino acids for optimal absorption. Meat and fish are considered complete proteins; foods such as rice and beans are considered incomplete proteins because they are lacking in certain amino acids. As such vegetarians need to pay special attention to combining their foods so they their amino acid profiles complement each other -- an example of a good combo would be rice combined with beans or chickpeas.
This is whymeat consumption becomes superior as most forms of vegetable proteins are needed to be accompanied by large quantities of carbohydrates to achieve complete protein status. Getting quality protein at every meal is important to not only maintain healthy blood sugar levels but to supply your body the amino acids needed for structural repair.
What kind of dietary fat does it supply?
This is generally the most misunderstood aspect of optimizing your diet. To give you the basics there are 3 types of fats you should include in your diet; saturated (Eggs, Butter, Ghee, and Dairy Fat, Fresh (not processed) Meat), mono-unsaturated (Macadamia Cashew, Almond, Pecan Brazil and other varies of nuts or seeds, avocado, olives/olive oil, peanut and canola oil) and poly-unsaturated (wild-caught fish ). Under all circumstances avoid trans-fats (deep fried foods, margarine, donuts, fast foods).
The ratios have long been debated as to how much you should consume, and there is probably not ever going to be one absolute answer. So look at it like this: if you are on a low carb diet make sure you include a decent amount of saturated and mono-unsaturated fat as they are good for your energy metabolism and saturated fat and cholesterol help maintain healthy cell repair mechanisms. Poly-unsaturated should be included at lower quantities as they are sensitive to oxidation, but they include specialized roles to help optimize cell function, cognitive behavior and inflammatory modulation. Avoid the toxic range of omega 6 oils (palm, soybean, rapeseed, and sunflower) never cook with these poly-unsaturated fats.
Fats are the best source ofenergy for human metabolism, help provide the raw materials for all sex hormones and don't influence blood sugar. Important tip: eating high carb and high fat at the same meal is not a good idea as insulin promotes fat storage in the wrong environment!
Monounsaturated fats are found in olive oil, peanut oil, canola oil, avocados, nuts and seeds. Polyunsaturated fats are found in many vegetable oils, including safflower, corn, sunflower, soy and cottonseed oils, as well as in nuts and seeds. The omega-3 fatty acids can be found in flaxseeds, walnuts and some fatty fish, such as salmon and herring, while omega-6 fatty acids found in pecans, Brazil nuts and sesame oil.
What is the Nutritional Status?
This description does not refer to calories or macronutrient (protein/fat/carb) breakdown but instead refers to vitamins, minerals antioxidants and phytonutrients. These are the specific nutrients that run the machine that is our body. All chemical reactions taking place in our bodies require vitamins, minerals are building blocks for structural components in our bodies, antioxidants and phytonutrients influence genetic expression while protecting us from excessive damage potential free radicals may create. They also have specific benefits under circumstantial conditions. For example, brassica vegetables help hormone metabolism in the body, turmeric and ginger help modulate inflammation processes and specific bitter foods help optimize digestion processes.
Here is a simple criteria to follow:
Start with a foundation of low starch, high fiber vegetables with different colors
Add in quality proteins from wild or properly raised conditions
Utilized high quality fats as a primary energy source and as a way to enhance nutrient absorption from other foods in the form of good oils
Consistency is the key with diet, and the more time you take to research and consider your options, the better your decision making criteria will be.
Book Notes: Balance Your Hormones, Balance Your Life by Claudia Welch
“If you can’t explain a concept to a six year old, you don’t fully understand it” — Einstein
PART ONE
Hormones — Ambassadors of Yin and Yang
if we can understand yin and yang, we have a simple framework for understanding the function of any hormone in the body and specifically the complex stress hormones (yang) and sex hormones (yin)… Whether we are talking about a liver cell, heart cell, fingernail cell, brain cell, or carbon molecule, each has form and substance. This is Yin. Each also has an energy that organizes, transforms, and directs the substance. This is Yang. Yin is mostly about mass, yang is mostly about energy. Yin is the thing operated on, yang is the operating force.
Women’s dominant sex hormones, like estrogen and progesterone, have a predominantly yin influence in the body, whereas stress hormones, like adrenaline or cortisol, have a predominantly yang influence.
we are affected physically and emotionally by every quality with which we come into contact. The general rule is: like increases like.
Sex Hormones — The Ambassadors of Yin
estrogen is more yin than progesterone
These are the three main estrogens and their glads of origin:
Estradiol is produced in the ovaries and in the adrenal glands. It is considered the most potent of the three main estrogens. After about the age of 50, or after surgery to remove the ovaries, it becomes the job of our adrenal glands to supply some of our estrogen, in the amounts we require (or to provide the biochemical precursors that our bodies can use to synthesize estrogen)
Estrone is produced by the placenta during pregnancy, by fat tissue, and to a much lesser extent by muscle tissue. Estrone is the major estrogen for post-menopausal women, even though they will not be growing placentas, because the liver can transform estrone into estradiol and vice versa
Estriol is produced by the placenta and, to a lesser extent, by the liver. It is some times called the “pregnancy estrogen” and is not a major player after menopause
Progesterone, testosterone and other hormones can serve as estrogen precursors. These precursor hormones are synthesized in the ovaries, adrenal glands, and throughout the entire body in fat, bones, muscle, skin, brain, and other tissue. Thus precursor hormones, body tissues, and even ovaries continue to provide estrogen after menopause. In fact, it is possible for an overweight woman to have more estrogen after menopause than a thin woman has before menopause, simply because of the amount of estrogen in her ample fat tissues.
To make estrogen, we also require aromatase and estrogen receptors. Aromatase is an enzyme that can instantaneously transform even precursor hormones, like testosterone, into estrogen. Like estrogen, aromatase decreases after menopause; but happily, it also becomes more potent. Also like the estrogen precursors, aromatase is widely available in our bodies before and after menopause. It is found mostly in fat and muscle tissue, but also in bones, blood vessels, brain tissue, and breasts.
If we have too little estrogen (yin), we may get vaginal dryness, dry skin, hot flashes and night sweats
“Good vs Bad” Estrogen
We have seen that estradiol is the most potent estrogen produced in our bodies. It is created in the ovaries and adrenal glands. From there the body converts it to ether good estrogen (2-hydroxyestrone) or toxic estrogen (16-apha-hydroxyestrone). I have not encountered an explanation in Western medicine about why the body would choose to convert it to bad estrogen. According to Eastern medicine, whether the conversion is to good or bad estrogen depends on whether the liver, the body metabolic processes, and the body’s qi are functioning optimally. Bad estrogens are longer lived than good ones and stimulate breast cell proliferation, so they can be a factor in developing breast cancer, which is associated with an increased rate of cell production. There is also some indication that when estrogen is not metabolized in our bodies in a timely manner, it stagnates and becomes problematic or “bad” estrogen
Progesterone: Yang within Yin
the yin hormone that is more yang than estrogen. Progesterone prepares the uterus for the fertilized egg and maintains pregnancy, but perhaps its main function is to keep estrogen in check in a woman. It is produced in the ovaries until after menopause, in the adrenal glands of both men and women, and in the testes of men…
estrogen follows progesterones lead. for example, the body can make estrogen from progesterone, but it can’t make progesterone from estrogen
estrogen stimulates the growth of uterine lining, progesterone serves to hold the lining in place
Excess estrogen increases body fat, fluid retention, blood clotting and great cancer, and creates other problems — each of which progesterone serves to counteract
if progesterone levels are low, we may experience some symptoms similar to those of estrogen deficiency. This may be because there is not enough progesterone for the body to use as raw material to make estrogen.
Estrogen can be made in any tissue in the body and serves to build and nourish us both before and after menopause. Progesterone serves to support estrogen and to act as the check in nature’s check and balance system, so that estrogen’s influence does not become dominant.
Stress Hormones — The Ambassadors of Yang
Sex Hormones are the major yin hormones; stress hormones are the major yang hormones.
Adrenaline and cortisol are the two major players of yang
DHEA — a prohormone that balances cortisol much like progesterone balances estrogen
Adrenaline and cortisol are closely related. In fact whenever adrenaline increases, cortisol levels rise. Adrenaline provides a short term stress response and decreases quickly. Cortisol increases when adrenaline does, but stays active longer
If high stress becomes a way of life, cortisol becomes a permanent guest in the bloodstream.
there are substances that serve to counteract the effects of cortisol. One is DHEA, the “yin within the yang” and balances the negative effects of cortisol
two other yang hormones are Oxytocin and Prolactin
Cortisol: Yang within Yin
Cortisol is a yang stress hormone produced in the outer portion of the adrenal glands. It controls the metabolism of carbohydrates, fats and protein and plays an important role in infection fighting, blood sugar balance, immune response, thinking, and other healthy functions. In excess, cortisol can cause problems. It is a risk factor for depression, osteoporosis, weight loss or gain problems in the cardiovascular system, high blood pressure, and a host of other issues. There is a strong link between increased cortisol and depression and solid evidence of lower bone mineral density in women with increased cortisol.
If a woman is pregnant, another source of stress can come from her developing child. Studies have shown that an unborn baby’s adrenal glands may enlarge substantially in utero to supply its mother with the stress hormones that her body is demanding. This can create problems for the mother and for the child. If a child is born with already overtaxed adrenal glands, Eastern medicine would suspect that she may have a naturally lower tolerance for stress and be especially prone to a hypersensitive nervous system and its related hormonal dysfunction from her day of birth onward.
the more cortisol we have in the bloodstream, the more sensitive we become to stressful events
too much cortisol circulating in the body leads to overall hormone resistance, including thyroid resistance. This means that the body becomes desensitized to these hormones and more may be required to do the same job. Eastern medicine would suggest that this winds up taxing the organs or glands that produce these hormones. Excess cortisol also hinders the optimal function of many other essential hormones, such as sex hormones. Further, it promotes the breakdown of all yin in the body, including the bones, skin, muscles, and brain. In excess it can lead to protein breakdown, which in turn leads to muscle-wasting and osteoporosis, and blocks progesterones ability to support bone density. And it decreases libido. Many women mistakenly think that excess cortisol is directly responsible for their weight gain. This is not the case. Cortisol by itself actually breaks down tissue and can cause weight loss, but it can hinder the optimum function of insulin in a process that leads to the weight gain around the waist that many women find so heard to lose.
If cortisol is too high for too long, it causes accelerated aging, even when normal amounts of estrogen and progesterone are circulating in the body. When cortisol is high, it relegates the body’s resources to the extremities and keeps them on standby so that the body can be ready to run or fight. This starves the body’s vital organs of energy and compromises the immune system. This process contributes to increased blood sugar, high cholesterol, heart disease, memory loss, and osteoporosis. A weakened immune system can also play a role in the development of cancer and recurring infections, especially of the respiratory system.
After a time, or after a particularly traumatic experience, this process exhausts the adrenal glands. Rather than responding to stressors by secreting stress hormones they collapse and can no longer produce enough cortisol. Now or cortisol is too low rendering us lethargic numb achy and vulnerable to infections, viruses, and other malignant influences. We may also develop allergies and diabetes. Put colloquially, we may feel like shit when our cortisol is either too low or too high and or hormonal balance is subsequently disturbed
DHEA: Yin within Yang
DHEA serves to buffer, balance, or antidote increased cortisol in the body. Like cortisol, it is also made primarily in the adrenals. It can act as a weak estrogen and can be used to make estrogen or testosterone. It is said to reduce “bad” cholesterol, increase muscle mass and energy, and build and repair protein. These are all qualities that are yin in nature and balance the negative effects of increased cortisol in the body, which we can consider the main job of DHEA
Oxytocin and Prolactin
Oxytocin and Prolactin are naturally occurring hormones in both men and women, but are found in higher levels in women, which allow us to have different options for stress response than men. Although both men and women experience a fight or flight response to stress, women have these bonus hormones that offer an alternative plan of action.
Understanding How Yin and Yang Hormones Interact
Survival Always comes First
Basically, the body works the way a hospital does. Emergencies get priority. Comfort is nice, but it’s secondary to survival. This means that although the body enjoys the nourishing influence of yin hormones, it grants priority to yang stress hormones that will help us survive a crisis—run away from a lion. We must first survive in order to reproduce. The bottom line is: sex hormones are nice but stress hormones are essential. As you can imagine, immediate survival is a far greater priority than having supple skin, plump breasts, or even a healthy, non irritable bowel. This is how our body’s natural intelligence views things. If we run low on sex hormones or stress hormones or both, and there’s not enough raw material available to make both, a choice must be made. and the body makes it. It prioritizes stress hormones.
We have seen that progesterone can be used to make estrogen when needed, but it can also be used to make cortisol. This is not a reciprocal relationship. Stress hormones cannot return progesterones’s favor by shape-shifting into progesterone when the body requires more sex hormones. This reflects the body’s priorities. When we are under chronic or extreme stress, any available resources are allocated to support the body’s stress response instead of its reproductive function.
This strategy of putting the needs of our survival systems first might work as a short-term arrangement, but for many of us, it becomes a way of life. Herein lies the problem. The adrenal glands have already had to work overtime to produce all the stress hormones getting triggered buy our modern lives. Then they have to pump our sex hormones or DHEA to reestablish the balance between yin and yang, which was thrown out of whack by all the stress hormones in the first place
Little by little, we deplete both our sex hormones and our stress hormones. And because all these hormones—estrogen, progesterone, HDEA, and cortisol—are produced directly or indiscreetly in the adrenal glands or ovaries, it is not surprising that these organs burn out. They are not bottomless reservoirs that can subsidize a stressful lifestyle indefinitely without consequence. They have limitations, as do the rest of the endocrine organs, like the thyroid gland and the pancreas, for example. All endocrine glands secrete hormones, and when stress hormones are too high for too long all the endocrine glands are at risk. When they burn out the result is that or bodies cannot produce enough sex or stress hormones. The stage is then set for difficulties and discomfort. This is true at any age, but is especially pronounced during and after menopause.
At age 35, progesterone naturally begins to decline. At around 50, sex hormones decrease significantly. A postmenopausal woman produces 40-60% of the sex hormones that she did before menopause. Additionally, by the time she is 80, a woman has only 10-25% of the stress tampering DHEA that a 20 year old does.
Take Home Messages from Part One
Eastern medicine considers that there are two fundamental operating principles of nature around us and within us: (1) a nourishing and calming principle called yin and (2) an energizing, mobilizing, and activating principle called yang.
within our bodies sex hormones are predominately yin and stress hormones are predominantly yang
both yin and yang hormones are essential to the maintenance and preservation of our bodies as well as or species
Living a life that has a good balance between yin and yang—this is between nourishment and activity—leads to balances hormone levels before, during and after menopause
too much yin or too much yang throws off the balance in our minds, bodies and hormones
when we live too stressful a life we put a great demand on our yang stress hormones and the main organs or glands that generate or secrete them. this creates a relative increase of yang in relation to yin
when our stress hormones are in danger of running low our sex hormones can snap shift into stress hormones to meet the demand. this drains our sex hormones and results in hormone imbalance.
chronic hormone imbalance of this sort is at the root of most health problem women have, both pre and post menopause
synthetic hormones, whether in the form of hormone replacement therapy or birth control pills, increase the risk of breast cancer heart attack stroke and all forms of dementia.
bioidentical hormones may not carry the same risks but are still best used as a stopgap measure while improving one’s diet, lifestyle and stress management.
PART TWO
Feeling Crummy—Our Best Early Warming System
Considerations
Avoid eating too many flour products, especially ones made form refined white flour. Many of us begin our day with toast and cold cereal made from flour, have a sandwich for lunch, eat cookies or a pastry for a snack and for dinner have pasta and a flour based dessert, such as cake. Although flour is a convenient quick way to satisfy craving and appetite, having a lot of it tends to clog the digestive system and smother the digestive ability.
In addition to lowering your intake of white flour, avoid alcohol, refined sugar and more than one caffeinated beverage (8 to 12 ounces) daily. These items often hinder the digestive process or aggravate the nervous system and end up acting like poison in the body.
If you drink coffee, buy organic
Make a list of the processed foods you now eat. See which can be most easily eliminated or can be replaced by a whole grain substitute. IF you do buy processed foods like cookies and breads, at least read the ingredients list. The fewer ingredients the better. The more mystery ingredients—the ones that sounds like chemicals instead of food—the less the chance that you are purchasing anything that could be called “whole"
Buy organic meat and dairy products. Buy organic produce and grains whenever possible
Top 10 foods to buy organic: any meat, any dairy, celery, peaches, strawberries, apples, blueberries, spinach, kale, and potatoes. The Environmental Working Group [EWG] regularly updates their “dirty dozen” list of fruits and veggies with the most pesticide residue: LINK
Avoid hydrogenated fats (lard, shortening, margarine) and never eat trans fats
Artificial sweeteners are okay—for killing ants
Avoid iced drinks with meals as they hinder the digestive process.
Improve Your Lifestyle
Wake as early as you can
Slow down in general. Stop multitasking. It dissipates energy. Studies have shown that multitasking has a detrimental effect on mental processes even when you are not engaged in it. Do one thing at a time. This will encourage focused calmer energy.
Menstruation
Why We Have Cycles
When yin and yang are out of balance in quantity or quality, she may suffer painful, heavy, scanty or irregular periods, headaches, skin breakouts, or extreme emotions accompanying her cycle
Menstrual blood is rich in immune cells and is the only blood in the body that doesn’t clot. This means that when menstrual blood flows, it freely bathes and cleanses the uterus, cervix and vagina with its antibacterial, antiviral properties.
Eliminating Cycles
the more cycles a woman has in her life, the greater her overall exposure to monthly surges in estradiol
Side Effects of Eliminating Cycles
Depo-Provera (form of birth control through injection of synthetic progestin) causes bones to leak calcium, possibly predisposing a woman to osteoporosis after menopause. Don’t take longer than 2 years
Eastern Medicines Take on Menstruation
Western medicine believes it can control a woman’s cycles and health better than nature can. From an Eastern perspective, intentionally stopping a woman’s period will lead to stagnation in her reproductive organs and to adulteration of the natural intelligence of the body—both conditions that lead to health concerns ranging from irregular heavy bleeding to endometriosis, tumors, and endocrine disorders.
If a woman’s yang hormones are balanced her cyclic timing is regular. When her yin hormones are balanced, she has both good quality and quantity yin and her cycle is neither scanty or too heavy.
Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda agree that a woman’s cycle should naturally be about 28 days from the first day of her period to the first day of her next period. Her cycle should be three to five days and have healthy, moderately bright red blood in a moderate amount. She should have no cramps or discomfort and no emotional upset before, during or after her cycle.
Menstrual Difficulties
Scanty or Absent Periods
as yin relates to substance, a scanty cycle usually indicates a lack of good quality yin—or good quality nutrition most commonly due to not eating enough or exercising too much
it is well documented that a woman’s period may become scanty or irregular, or even disappear if she engages in strenuous athletic activities or if she has insufficient nutrition. Intense physical training consumes a lot of yin. It is important for a woman to replace that yin, otherwise her nourishment in general and her sex hormones in particular will diminish
When estrogen is reduced due to excessive exercise over a prolonged period, it not only affects the menstrual cycle but may also contribute to increased risk of heart disease and dangerously low bone density
Eastern Medicine on Scanty Periods
a scanty menstrual flow is usually an indication of blood deficiency. Chinese medicine sees blood as a subset of yin, so we say that there is insufficient yin to support a woman’s menstrual flow. A woman will usually develop insufficient yin for one of two reasons. The first is that she is not consuming enough. The second is that she is burning through food, drink, and rest faster than she is replenishing it.
What Should You Do?
nourishing herbs that promote yin
Ayurvedic: shatavari, vidari, or ashwagandha
TCM: dang gui, shan yao, sheng di huang, and shu di huang
Heavy or Painful Periods
when menstrual flow is too heavy or painful, conventional medicine may diagnose uterine fibroids, endometriosis, or dysfunctional uterine bleeding.
Uterine Fibroids
Uterine fibroids are hard or soft masses of muscle tissue that can appear in any layer of the uterus and are most always benign. They may exist without any symptoms, or can cause abdominal, back or menstrual pain; a feeling of wight or pressure in the lower abdomen or bladder; frequent urination; constipation; infertility; and most commonly heavy or irregular menstrual bleeding.
Uterine fibroids range from microscopic in size to 3 pounds or even larger, expanding the uterus as if there was a full term pregnancy. If they are small, that may cause not problems, however if they are large or in a crucial spot they can block fallopian tubes, prevent implantation of the embryo or otherwise hinder conception. As many as 80% of women may get uterine fibroids, and the risk is increased by obesity—a sign of excess, poor quality yin. Fibroids are estrogen dependent and hormone sensitive, and their growth can be stimulated by estrogens and even by progestins (synthetic progesterone hormones) designed to counter some of the negative effects of estrogen.
Endometriosis
a condition whereby cells that belong to the uterus lining migrate outside the uterus, invading local tissues and organs and sometimes migrating as far as the lungs or even the nose. When a woman’s uterine lining sloughs off each month, creating her cycle, endometrial cells that have migrated outside of the uterus do so too, but unlike the cells inside the uterus, they don’t have an ext path. The resulting internal bleeding can cause inflammation, cramping and sometimes incapacitating pain and scarring that may lead to infertility. Endometriosis is stubborn. It can even recur after a hysterectomy, so it is useful to try to resolve it without surgery. It is exacerbated by estrogen and exposure to estrogen like pollutants like dioxin.
a german study showed that women with endometriosis were more likely to have higher levels of PCBs
Eastern Medicine on Heavy Bleeding
When we are stressed out, we often hold our breath and clench our bodies. Where we clench varies. Some women hold their stress in their shoulders, others in their abdomen and other sin their reproductive organs. Eastern medicine teaches us that bodily tissues will coalesce around what the body’s energy is doing. IF your life force is flowing smoothly, your blood and tissues will be healthy and supple. If it stagnates, blood will stagnate and you will get ischemic muscles (muscles with decreased blood flow). The longer qi and blood stagnate the more stubborn the pain will be and greater the chance that masses, fibroids, or endometriosis will develop. In case of reproductive stagnation, a woman may have a pattern of holding stress in that area or there may be something in her life that is encouraging stagnation there.
Castor oil has an astounding ability to penetrate through the tissue, dissolve obstructive masses and relax and open vessels. In this case, castor oil packs, can break up the stagnation in and around the uterus, relax the tissues and blood vessels and support free movement of qi.
What Can You Do?
Herbal formulas
Yong jing wan is a good common formula.
Tailor a formula from tian san qi, churn xiong, hong hua, shan yao, and dang gui
Eastern Medicine on Irregular or Missed Cycles
If qi stagnates in the reproductive organs, there will be an obstructive influence in the channels of blood or qi, and we would treat it similarly to how we treat heavy bleeding. If deficient yin is the problem, we would ensure that the woman’s diet and lifestyle support proper nourishment, and we would treat it similarly to how we treat scanty periods
Birth Control
Breast Cancer — one study showed that after less than a year of using synthetic progestin only pills, there was a 60% greater risk of breast cancer. If a woman develops breast cancer before age 44, the chances are good that she has used combined oral contraceptives, meaning synthetic estrogen combined with progestin. If she uses the Pill before age 20, her risk of breast cancer may double.
Higher Levels of CRP — Higher levels of C-reactive Protein have been linked to women’s taking oral contraceptives. Higher levels of CRP are associated with increased risk of heart disease. When the liver detects inflammation in the system, it produces CRP, which is not found in the blood under normal circumstances… If birth control is taken before a woman is 20, there is evidence that birth control pills reduce levels of important vitamins such as b6 and folic acid and increase the risk of breast cancer
Books for further reading
Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control by Weschler
The Pill: Are you sure its for you by Bennett
Fertility and Conception — Four Crucial Elements
a woman’s cycle and therefore her fertility are negatively affected by exposure to environmental toxins, low sperm counts, infection-related scarring in the reproductive organs, hormonal irregularities, diet, low body fat, smoking, drug and alcohol use.
A team of scientists at the University of Rochester found that even minimal exposure to numerous chemicals was linked to higher risk of genital abnormalities in baby boys. The team, which examined 134 boys, found that women with higher levels of phthalate-related chemicals in their blood were more likely to give birth to boys with undescended or small testicles, small penises or a shorter distance that usual between the genitals and the anus
A study at the University of Missouri has experts concerned that chemicals in oral contraceptives and some man-made chemicals, like ethinylestradiol and bisphenol A may lead to fetuses having damaged prostates and urethras.
Between 1938 and 1991, men’s sperm counts in 21 countries including the united states plunged an average of 50%, while testicular cancer tripled… this is due to the men having exposure in utero and as newborns to estrogen like chemicals in their mothers blood and milk
A Canadian study in 2002 revealed that mice living in a polluted environment passed on twice as many DNA mutations to their offspring as did mice that lived in cleaner environments
The Reproductive System
if a woman doesn’t have enough stored energy in the form of good quality yin, she may have difficulty ovulating, lose her period altogether, or be unable to sustain a pregnancy. If she has excess poor-quality yin, problems such as obesity or blocked passageways may hinder the conception process
poorly digested food are considered poor quality yin
unsaturated fats increase insulin sensitivity and calm inflammation in the body, trans fats do the opposite
Good quality sleep and relaxation promote a calm spirit and support nourishment essential to health and conception but too much sleep or lounging may serve to increase yin beyond a healthy level, if there is already adequate yin
Eastern Medicine on Conception
Panchakarma is a unique aspect of Ayurvedic medicine. It is a detoxification regimen designed to rid the body of toxic material
Breast Health
Estrogen like pollutants, aptly called endocrine disruptors have detrimental effects in the body
breast tissue is rife with estrogen receptors and so may be particularly vulnerable to the nasty effects of chemical pollutants
If reducing avoidable exposures to xenoestrogens [by-products of industrial or chemical processing that have estrogen-like effects] were to make it possible to avert even 20% of breast cancers every year (four times more than are caused by inheritance of flawed genes), at least 36,000 women — and those who care about them — would be spared this difficult disease
Alcohol
One of the ways that alcohol leads to an increased cancer risk is that it interferes with estrogen metabolism. Healthy kidneys and liver (which is taxed by alcohol consumption) are vital to maintain a proper estrogen balance. A healthy liver break down excess estrogen in the blood and sends it to the kidneys, which flush it from the body. If alcohol compromises liver health, the liver may not break down excess estrogen efficiently. Instead, the excess estrogen will get reabsorbed into the blood and continue to circulate.
Radiation (Mammograms)
The US Preventive Services Task Force is an independent panel of experts that analyzes data and then advises the medical community on appropriate medical protocol. From 2002 until November 2009, they encouraged women to have yearly mammograms beginning at age 40. Their message was heavy on the “early detection saves lives” line. In November 2009, after analyzing the most current data available, they reversed their recommendations. Now regular mammograms are recommended only for women fifty and over, and even then only every other year instead of annually. The task force concluded that although these new recommendations would provide nearly the same protective benefits as the old ones, the negative effects would be roughly halved. The negative effects cited are the increased risk of unnecessary treatments, such as biopsies and treatment of cancers that are so slow growing they would never threaten a woman’s life and the significant anxiety and physical discomfort related to such procedures and treatments.
Additionally you can do nothing or opt for Self Breast Examination, but upon further analysis it is not clear that the SBE method is particularly helpful. In fact, it may present more problems than solutions. In a trial in China, conducted over about 10 years, 266,000 women were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One groups received regular periodic instruction in the SBE method and frequent reminders to practice it. The control croup received no instruction or reminders. After 10 years, the number of deaths due to breast cancer was almost identical. The group that practiced SBE had more women who had benign breast biopsies. This would seem stop show that women did find more lumps, but the lumps were benign and it might have been preferable not to find them in the first place than be subjected to the subsequent sometimes costly and ultimately unnecessary fear-inducing procedures that determined their benign status
Synthetic Hormones
for most women, the most important risk factor for breast cancer is lifetime exposure to estrogen. With each menstrual cycle, a woman is exposed to a surge in estradiol, the most potent of the three main types of estrogen. Therefore, the more cycles she has in her lifetime, the greater her overall exposure to estradiol. This means that the later a woman’s menarche, the earlier her menopause, the more pregnancies she has, and the more she nurses, the less she is exposed to the surges in estradiol that accompany her cycle. Indeed, less breast cancer is seen in these women than their sisters with early menarche, late menopause, fewer pregnancies and less nursing.
Eastern Medicine on Breast Health
Toxic Sludge (Ama) — Ama is a sticky, toxic sludge created from poorly digested matter. It is also a by product of exposure to pollutants… Ama arises from toxic external chemicals that have an affinity with breast tissue, from ingested chemicals that have the same affinity from poor-quality food, or from poorly digested food. In each case, ama circulates in the bloodstream and lodges in the breasts if there is stagnation in the chest area.
Healthy digestion and elimination reduces the amount of ama that circulates in the bloodstream, and hence the levels of ama that are available to pollute breast tissue.
Soy is easier to digest if it is cooked well, consumed as warm soy milk, tamarin, tofu, miso, or tempeh and preferably eaten with fresh ginger.
Stagnation — we encourage stagnation by hold our breath, breathing shallowly and not having physical movement of our breast tissue
We rarely get cancer of the biceps, the hearth or other muscles. Eastern medicine would explain this by observing that energy and blood get pumped through muscles on a regular basis, bringing nutrition and acting as an efficient waste removal system. For example, even if we are not bench pressing weights, the muscles in our arms get used multiple times every day and blood pumps through them, brining nutrition and removing waste debris. This self cleaning system is not as efficient in breast tissue, which has less blood flow because unlike muscles our breasts are only mostly comprised of the more passive adipose (fat) tissue.
Throughout our lives breast tissue remains relatively stagnant compared to muscles. To further ensure a lack of healthy flow of prank through our breasts, we should our breath, pack our breast into bras (often underwire — which serves to hinder the flow of prank to them), apply antiperspirants that hinder the flow of prank and sweat and we get massaged by masseurs who avoid touching our breasts. We rarely perform the tidy, finger-tipped breast self exams we are taught and when we do they are hardly stimulating. Aside from a little foreplay our breasts may never see much action. With one notable exception: breastfeeding.
Getting Rid of Stagnant Sludge
Panchakarma — ayruvedic detoxification — studies have shown that within a few days about 50% reduction in fat-soluble toxins associated with chemical pollutants were seen without negative effects. Fats and lipids in the body store fat soluble lipophilic toxins, whose half-lives may be several years, but panchakarma practices use healthy fats in such a manner as to loosen and remove those toxins.
Additionally, it is important to ensure that diet, lifestyle and stress level are appropriate for each of us so that the digestive fire is strong. Then further ama formation is not fostered and any ama is eliminated from the body, little by little over time.
What to Do
Avoid use of antiperspirants. Deodorants my be fine, but antiperspirants discourage toxins from exiting the skin in the armpits, thereby causing an undue concentration of toxic material near the breast. Be sure your deodorant doesn[t contain triclosan or phthalates (Fragrance is often code for phthalate!!)
Avoid caffeine, especially coffee. If you have coffee, make sure it is organic and try to limit it to one cup daily made with half decaf. Coffee is grown in places outside the US that use very strong pesticides and chemicals, which are estrogenic in nature and so are not good for women’s reproductive and breast health. Coffee itself, even organic coffee, tends to have an affinity with breast tissue and often has a negative effect on it and other reproductive tissue. When you couple this natural affinity with the malefic effects of the chemical residue associated with nonorganic coffee, it is likely to be an unhealthy brew… haha
Massage your breast. Because breasts are mostly adipose tissue, they do not have at the quantity of blood flow available in many other parts of our bodies where there is more muscle tissue with blood pumping through. So the ama that has collected in the tissue over time is allowed to stagnate and putrefy, or the tissue simply becomes denser.
Keep a bottle of castor oil, Banyan Botanical’s Breast Balm, untested sesame oil or other appropriate massage oil in the shower. Each time you take a shower, warm some oil or balm in your hands and massage it vigorously into the breast tissue and around the area of the breasts including the armpits. In general if your breasts are lumpy, castor oil is better. If not, Breast Balm is particularly pleasant
if you have any lumps, it is best to avoid massaging them until you determine with your health care practitioner that it is safe to do so
Then follow up with a self exam of the breasts as taught by a qualified healthcare practitioner. This works in the oil further, as well as allows you to become familiar with the feel of your breast tissue at different times of the month
Then let the hot water of the shower rinse off the oil. Don’t use soap. Ayurveda teaches that it is good to leave a little oil on the skin.
Perimenopause and Menopause
Menopause is when it has been a year since our last period, and it is driven and accompanied by more dramatic changes with our sex hormones. Perimenopause is considered to last anywhere from a couple years to twelve or more before menopause and although this is not implicitly stated the term tends to be applied more to women who are experiencing discomfort with the transition
At menopause there is a more drastic change in our levels of sex hormones, but this isn’t necessarily a problem. Since we not longer make and bear babies, we no longer need to maintain the potential to nourish another being. We still require nourishment ourselves, however and provided we have not consumed too much yin in our earlier years by plowing through life’s obstacles our bodies can still provide us with what we need. Postmenopausal women still produce 40 to 60% of their premenopausal levels of hormones, that estrogen falls only 40 to 50% at menopause, and that we have the ability to synthesize sex hormones sufficient for our natural postmenopausal needs via the adrenal glands and our various bodily tissues. We have also seen that to make estrogen, we need estrogen precursors and aromatase — the enzyme necessary to convert precursors into estrogen — and we have both of these just about everywhere in our bodies even after menopause. SO we have great potential to synthesize sufficient estrogen.
Estrogen deficiency may simply be due to a long term excess of stress hormones draining our sex hormones. Adding more estrogen via hormone replacement therapy without calming the stress in our lives is like pouring water into a bucket with a hole in it.
Stress renders us less responsive to normal amounts of hormones and pretty much ensures hormonal imbalance. For example, a woman with excess cortisol but normal amounts of estrogen may get hot flashes or other symptoms typically associated with estrogen deficiency. IF this woman were to treat these symptoms with estrogen replacement therapy, she would possibly then develop estrogen dominant symptoms such as weight gain, water retention, and mood swings. This is also the case with other sex hormones (or thyroid hormone) and if this goes unchecked long enough it creates a general resistance to our own hormones…. The main problem is, by the time we reach menopause many of us have already drained our reserves of yin sex hormones in the service of our yang stress hormones. Now when our ovaries are producing a smaller quantity of sex hormones, our adrenal glands are supposed to kick in and produce more of the hormones and hormone precursors we need. But what if these glands are already burnt out from producing lots of stress hormones to manage our stressful lives over the last 20 years and by producing the DHEA required to assuage the effects of excess cortisol? Answer: They will be tapped and tired out and unable to deliver our postmenopausal hormonal requirements.
If yin is deficient we may not have enough nourishing qualities to keep us grounded, cool calm and lubricated.
Hot flashes are a good indicator of hormonal imbalance. About 80% of menopausal women will experience at least one hot flash, making this a significant symptom accompanying menopause. Generally the more intense they symptoms of menopause the more out of balance the hormones are.
Eastern Medicine on Perimenopause and Menopause
if you focus on treating insomnia, for example, without addressing its cause (hormonal imbalance due to excess stress), you will have to treat it forever.
As we age, our yin hormones decrease. Menopause marks the most dramatic drop. From this point onward, a woman has less of a buffer against physical or emotional stress
Ayurveda considers that menopause marks a major turning point for a woman. Its a time of transition when she is naturally suited to begin an inner journey. Up to now in her life, it was natural for her to educate herself, raise a family, develop her profession and engage fully in the world. Menopause is the time to reverse the momentum of her involvement in the activities of the world, turn this energy inward and begin to plumb the depth of her soul.
What to Do
herbal supplements:
shatavari, 3 to 5 parts (unless you have uterine fibroids or fibrocystic changes in your breasts, in which case I would omit it)
vidari, 3 to 5 parts
dang gui, 3 to 5 parts
shan yao, 3 to 5 parts
licorice, 2 to 3 parts (unless the woman has high blood pressure
sheng ma, 1 to 3 parts
if you suffer from insomnia, try taking two tablets of Banyan Botanical’s I Sleep Soundly an hour before bed
Heart Health
Women’s vs Men’s Heart Health
One study found that the top six signs of a heart attack in women are unexplained or debilitating fatigue that doesn’t go away with sleep, difficulty sleeping, shortness of breath, indigestion, nausea, and tightness and pain in the back arms jaw or neck
women's heart disease is often different from men’s. Women can be more likely, for example, to have clear coronary arteries but have microvascular disease, where there is a constriction or stiffening of the smaller arteries that nourish the heart, leading to oxygen deprivation to the heart muscle
women who took an estrogen-progestin supplement had a 26% higher risk of heart disease. And estrogen replacement therapy alone instead of reducing the incidence of congestive heart disease as hoped, increases the risk of gallbladder diseases and clot related problems such as stroke and pulmonary embolism
Eastern medicine would say that Nancy (who had it all. was slim, ran five miles a day, never smoked had “perfect” blood pressure, a family history of longevity, watcher her diet and was only 39, yet developed microvascular disease and was prescribed four heart medications) not only had it all but had too much. Too much ambition too much pushing beyond her natural limits. In general she had too much activity that depleted her yin, the nourishing element in life.
running is one of the exercises that can deplete yin
One good way to build yin is to nap — Occasional napping carried a 12%lower mortality rate, whereas regular nappers enjoyed a 37% decreased risk.
How could yin deficiency lead to microvascular stiffness? Generally, insufficient yin in the body can lead to a reduction in the flexibility of blood vessels, increased heat that dries and stiffens vessels, or constriction of vessels.
Inflammation and Heart Health
inflammation occurs when the body detects infection and dispatches white blood cells to the site. For example, white blood cells may respond to deposits on blood vessel walls as a threat and arrive on the scene to remove them. Inflammation is a natural defense mechanism of the body, but is not meant to be on the job 24/7
Stress
when we experience physical or emotional stress, stress hormones are increased in the body and sympathetic nervous system is overstimulated. When this happens, hormone-like substances called eicosanoids also become imbalanced. Their imbalance is associated with tissue inflammation.
Ongoing Low Level Inflammation
C-Reactive Protein, a protein not found in the blood under normal circumstances. The liver produces CRP when it detects inflammation in the system. Chronic low grade infections associated with such conditions as gum disease, hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic tissue injuries, or colitis increase CRP.
In women, CRP seems to be a better predictor of cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks and strokes, than LDL cholesterol. Persistent inflammation may lead not only to heart attacks but possibly to colon cancer, Alzheimer’s and many other diseases as well.
Environmental Toxins
One substance that has been shown to block the body’s inflammatory process is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is found in marijuana. HOWEVER, before you run out to score some weed to protect your heart, it is important to know that the study was on mice that were fed THC. Smoking cannabis may actually damage the heart.
Exercise
Can you touch your toes? If you can, your cardiac arteries are likely more flexible than those of someone who can’t. Why would that matter? because supple arteries allow blood to move more freely through the body than stiff ones, which require the heart to work much harder, possibly leading to a greater risk for heart attack and stroke.
Emotions
The heart is a remarkable organ. Modern medicine is only beginning to realize its importance and relationship to stress and emotions. In 1983, the heart was reclassified as an endocrine organ because it produces and releases a number of mood-altering hormones, including dopamine, oxytocin, norepinephrine and atrial natriuretic factor, which affects blood vessels, the kidneys, adrenal glands and the brain. Remarkably, we find oxytocin levels in the heart as high as concentrations in the brain. Our thoughts become biology as these hormones have far-reaching effects in physiology.
Alcohol
A 2006 Danish study including 27,000 men and nearly 30,000 women determined that although men reduced their chances of heart disease with one drink daily, women did better with one drink weekly.
Osteoporosis
A woman’s risk increases if she has vision problems (especially with depth perception), if she is tall or weighs less in her fifties than she did at age 25, or if she has had broken any bones (wrists, ankles, hips) after age 20. Her risk also increases if her mother experienced broken bones. If a woman has a hip fracture before she turns 80, chances that her daughter may suffer a similar fate increase roughly threefold
the most critical time to precent bone loss is during the first 5 years after menopause. This is the time in a woman’s life when she will lose bone mass most quickly, between 1 and 2% per year. In general, women gain bone mass until they are 25 years old, level off until age 35, then lose about a half a percent per year until menopause. After the 5 year post menopausal drop, bone loss slows down to about 1% per year and back to half a percent again after age seventy.
There are 2 major reasons for excessive bone loss. The first involves a process whereby specialized cells called osteoclasts dissolve the old bone cells too fast. This process is catalyzed by too much yang, which occurs when the body is marinated in stress hormones. The second is an insufficient number of fresh, healthy bone cells —osteoblasts— coming in to rebuild the bones. Eastern medicine would say that this is a result of not enough yin, or substance (i.e. bone mass) relative to yang.
Hormones and Bone Loss
Stress hormones are crucial for survival: however, in excess they promote the breakdown of all yin in the body, that is, all structural material including the bones, skin, muscles, and brain. This leads to a double assault on bone health. First bone mass is decreased by high levels of cortisol. Second, many tissues that produce estrogen are depleted, resulting in decreased production of estrogen. Estrogen slows the development of osteoporosis, and it has been common for doctors to prescribe synthetic estrogen (balanced with a progestin if the woman has a uterus) to combat osteoporosis.
Calcium, Diet, Exercise
The origin of calcium is not milk, it’s in the soil and it gets taken up through the root systems of plants, which are then eaten by cows. So, to get enough calcium, what we really need to eat are plants.
Some sources show that increased protein hinders calcium absorption.
We need hydrochloric acid and vitamin D to get calcium from the stomach to the blood stream. Then we need micronutrients, progesterone or testosterone, and exercise to get it from the blood into our bones. If nutrients are available but don’t get circulated via the bloodstream and absorbed into the body and its deeper tissues, they are wasted.
Yin (structural material, like nutrients) and Yang (movement and exercise) support each other
When women engaged in simple strength training exercises designed by the Tufts scientists, they gained about 1% bone density in their hips and spine over the course of a year, their balance improved and bone fractures were prevented.
Osteoporosis Drugs
When taking a bisphosphonate pill, it is important to drink a full glass of water and to sit or stand for a while afterward so the medication doesn’t irritate, ulcerate, or otherwise damage the esophagus. Esophageal troubles caused by bisphosphonates may lead to other problems and end up all but incapacitating women who had been otherwise active and healthy. When we are elderly, we can be especially vulnerable to a pattern where initial harmful evens trigger a whole series of negative reactions
this drug has the potential to affect anyone’s digestion in a negative way, leading to poor-quality yin in the body. If poor-quality yin feeds the bones, the resulting bone quality will be inferior as well
Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia
although modern science does not know what causes Alzheimer’s disease, it does know that people with Alzheimer’s have protein deposits in the spaces between their nerve cells (called plaque) or within the nerve cells (called tangles). Plaque or tangles may hinder free communication between nerve cells or directly affect their health.
if we change our behavior, our bodies and minds change too
Eastern Medicine on Alzheimer's
there are at least two major causes for buildup of plaque or angels (which Ayurveda would include under the umbrella term ama, or toxic sludge in the body). One cause is underlying heat or inflammation, which causes the body to create a buffer to protect its tissues from being affected. This buffer can be ama. Another cause is the inefficient digestion of all that we ingest—food, drink, and environmental pollutnats such as insecticides and pesticides. The resulting ama circulates in the body and lodges in the heart, brain and other vulnerable tissues. In either case, the ama can manifest as plaque, tangles or other sticky material. Western medicine is beginning to suspect that plaques and tangles exist in response to other factors
PART III
Importance of Diet and Lifestyle
A recent study of the effect of lifestyle and diet on longevity revealed an interesting connection with an enzyme called telomerase, which guards against age related cellular damage. Telomerase repairs and lengthens the protective ends (called telomeres) of our chromosomes. If these catlike ends shorten, they leave our chromosomes more susceptible to damage or death, which quickens the aging process. Factors like smoking, obesity, and sedentary lifestyles are known to be associated with shorter telomeres, and evidence suggests that telomeres and lower telomerase levels are risk factors for heart disease and cancer. Appropriate diet and lifestyle appears to increase telomerase levels by about 29%
Quality and Quantity of Food
Pippali, a common herb in Ayurveda, related to the black pepper we use in cooking is warming and supports digestive function if there isn’t enough heat in the body
In Ayurveda, digestive capacity and strength (or “fire”) is called agni and is very yang.
Ayurveda says that it is desirable to have a good appetite because that means our digestive fire is strong enough to transform what we eat into the energy and refined biological substances that our body needs to maintain health. Poor appetite indicates low digestive fire, which means that when we do eat, our food will not be well digested and become ama and excess, poor quality fat.
There is also an Ayuvedic remedy to increase the digestive fire and create true appetite: Take a slice of fresh ginger about an eighth of an inch thick. Put a pinch of rock salt on it, with a few drops of lime juice. Chew this about 30 minutes before meals.
Food, Medicine, and Poison
He that takes medicine and neglects diet wastes the skills of the physician —chinese proverb
Ayurveda teaches us that food—nourishment—is anything we ingest that is digested well, nourishes us, and passes through the body without any negative effects. Medicine is that which enhances digestive ability and poison is that which hinders it. IF we can’t digest what we are eating even if it is the organically sprouted and juiced nectar of the gods, then it is considered poison to us.
It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know what sort of disease a person has — Hippocrates
Ama, or Toxic Sludge
How does poor digestion lead to the formation of ama and subsequently to disease? We ingest stuff. It gets broken down into smaller and smaller particles, is absorbed into the blood stream and does to nourish and build our tissues. If what we ingest is digested well and completely, the molecules absorbed are high-quality, refined, biologically useful building material for strong, healthy tissues. If either what or how we eat is problematic, the food stuff will be poorly digested and the resulting molecules are sticky, toxic sludge molecules
The vulnerable areas of the body are called khavaigunyas in Ayurveda
Ayurveda teaches us that if digestion is weak, it affects not only the transformation process in the digestive tract, but also the transformation going on in other tissues in the body, such as the muscles, bones and organs. Either our own digestive and transformative processes are strained due to a history of poor dietary or lifestyle choices or we have been over exposed to toxic chemicals.
Eat in a Calm environment — A full third of the nervous system is associated with the guts. IT is impossible to digest our food well when we are stressed out. When we are calm, our digestive organs are relaxed. When relaxed, they are more likely to function optimally.
What to Eat
Enzymes and compounds in fruits and veggies
Phytochemicals, such as lutein, beta-carotene, allicin (in garlic), isoflavones (in soybeans), lycopene (in tomatoes), flavanoids (in green and black teas), sulforaphane glusosinolate (SGS; in broccoli and especially in broccoli sprouts), and lignans (in flaxseeds)
Inducers (eg sulforaphane) of enzymes that do useful things like detoxifying carcinogens
Glucosinolates, which are found in cruciferous vegetables, especially broccoli sprouts but also Brussel sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower
Vitamins, minerals, antioxidants
High fiber, which may prevent colorectal cancer and cardiovascular disease
Eastern medicine focuses on whole foods rather than any particular component of that food (focusing on the benefits on any individual vitamin, mineral, antioxidant that a given whole food has is more of a sales tactic to generate revenue than anything else)
Chocolate
The Journal of the American Medical Association has reported the healthy effects of dark chocolate (however, white chocolate and even dark chocolate with milk didn’t make the grade.) It’s plant phenols — specifically the cocoa phenols — seem to be responsible for lowering blood pressure and delivering megadoses of antioxidants
A daily does of Triphala (a mixture of 3 herbs) is a common practice in Ayurveda, and can help maintain a healthy digestive tract, provided you have no acute illness or diarrhea, are not preggers, do not have your period or have other contraindicated conditions. Trifle helps support a healthy gastrointestinal tract and provides a very gentle daily detox to counteract exposure to unavoidable environmental pollutants. (available at banyanbotanicals.com)
Meat
I’ve often thought there out to be a manual to hand to little kids… called “Welcome to Earth” and one thing I would … tell them about is cultural relativity… A first grader should understand that his or her culture isn’t a rational invention; that there are thousands of other cultures and they all work pretty well; that al cultures function on faith rather than truth; that there are lots of alternatives to our own society… Cultural relativity is defensible, attractive. It’s a source of hope. It means we don’t have to continue this way if we don’t like it. — Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
If someone is weak, it is often due to a weak digestive system that dos not digest or absorb food completely or well.
meat contains substances that cause an increase in homocysteine levels, which in turn is associated with increased risk of heart disease. High homocystine levels irritate the linings of arteries, increasing the likelihood that they will clog, whereas the folate and vitamin b6 found in vegetables and grains reduce homocysteine levels — another reason to minimize the meat and maximize the veggies is that meat is a source of excessive phosphorous which causes a loss of calcium in the body.
Blood follows qi (energy) and qi follows shen (spirit). If spirit is disturbed, energy will become disturbed and then the body will immediately or ultimately become disturbed.
What Not to Eat
many fast foods have high levels of acrylamide, a substance the EPA defines as colorless, crystalline solid that is probably a human carcinogen. It induces gene mutations and stomach cancer in animal tests and is known to cause damage to the central and peripheral nervous system.
the New York Times reported on a study by researchers at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, wherein it was demonstrated that the cardioprotective effects of fresh garlic on rats were decreased if the garlic was crushed and left two days to dry. The drying process allowed volatile chemicals to dissipate, apparently diluting their potency
When we feed ourselves substandard edibles and process them in extreme ways, we provide our guts with substandard building blocks of nutrition. Poor quality building blocks lead to construction of poor tissues. Poor tissues construct a feeble body.
Acai berries are said to have 10 times the amount of anthocyanin (antioxidant pigments) that red wine has and yerba mate is sed to contain more antioxidants than red wine.
Cola — the phosphoric acid in cola beverages binds to calcium in the but and prevents it from being absorbed
It is curious to note that much of the practice of using pesticides and insecticides can be traced back to WWII. During the war, chemicals were developed for use in chemical warfare. After the war, when they could no longer be used toward such a sinister purpose, the companies were able to find a new use for the chemicals: insecticides and pesticides. This Allowed them not to waste the chemicals and instead to find financial reward in their continued use. Using the same chemicals that were designed to cause human beings suffering to spray on what they eat seems like an odd logic
Essential Elements of a Healthy Lifestlyle
Wake Up Routine
Wake early ( at the same time every day)
Clear your face, teeth and mouth. Brush your teeth, scrape your tongue and gargle with warm water. The tongue accumulates bacteria overnight. This helps diminish their numbers.
Drink a glass of warm water. This stimulates a bowel movement and cleanses the gastrointestinal tract
Eliminate
Apply cooling salve or cool water to the eyes. This refreshes the eyes
Gargle with salt water and use a net pot to irrigate the nail cavities with salt water. These steps should only take bout 3 minutes. Put 1/4 teaspoon of nonionized sea salt in the bottom of your net pot, fill with warm water and follow the clear directions that come with the pot. We are all exposed to a multitude of pathogens everyday especially if we work or live with a lot of other people. Being exposed to pathogens is not the problem. The problem is problemeration of the pathogens, which often occurs in the nasal passages or throat. Rinsing the nasal passages and gargling with salt water helps us avoid proliferation of bacteria and viruses that we are exposed to and prepares us nicely for doing some breaking exercises.
Meditate, engage in quit contemplation or read inspiration material for 15 to 60 minutes. If
Sleep — too little sleep contributes to diminished yin. It creates a relative excess of yang, leading to excess circulating of stress hormones
Improving sleep:
make sure to exercise at the same time every day and outdoors if possible. This is helpful in aligning with natures rhythms and may benefit the pineal gland functions which support our natural biorhythms
Apply warm bhringraj oil to the soles of your feet and your scalp before bed.
Environment
Since WWII, environment polluting chemical many of which are termed endocrine disruptors have become increasingly widespread in our environment, in certain pesticides, drugs, fuels, stain resistant clothing and furniture treatments, lawn care products, personal care items, cleansing products and plastics among other sources. As DuPont used to say about Teflon, “its everywhere”… And probably in everyone too. In one survey of 27 body burden studies (body burden is the term to describe the amount of environmental pollutants that are found in a persons body) every single participant was found to have PCB’s and organochlorine pesticides in their bodies, even people who were born after PCB’s were banned. Even unborn babies where found to have “hundreds of chemicals in their little bodies.” It turns out that the human body is like a sponge, soaking up water is permeating its environment.
Pesticides and Chemicals
Some that are more commonly heard of are 2, 4 dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (also called 2,4-D, this is a pesticide used on lawns and an active ingredient in Agent Orange); phthalates (used as plastic softeners and cosmetics, among other things); DDT (now banned); ozone destroying CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons); bisphenol A (BPA); various chlorinated and brominated compounds such as polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs, used as fire retardants and close cousins of PCBs); dioxin, triclosan (an ingredient in many antibacterial products) and many others. Some like POPs (persistent organic pollutants) include many halogen (chlorine, bromine, fluorine, or iodine) atoms that have long half-lives (between 2 and 10 years) in the bodies of animals and humans and in the environment.
When the US began to phase out leaded gasoline in the 1960s, one of its additives —ethylene dibromide (EDB)— needed a new home. So Great Lakes Chemical Corporation, the largest supplier of EDB, began to supply it to farmers as a pesticide. When the EPA abruptly suspended all agricultural uses of EDB in 1983 because of evidence that it was carcinogenic and a mutagen that was contaminating groundwater, EDB was reincarnated as a flame retardant. Back in the day, flame retardants were marketed as protection against the dangers of fire due to cigarette smoking. Flame retardants have increased in use ever sine. So now they’re ubiquitous. They’re on our clothes, furniture, car upholstery or otherwise in contact with our bodies. EDB is not the only chemical used as a flame retardant, nor is it the only toxic one.
Many of these chemical can cause inflammation in the body. When the liver detects this inflammation in the system it produces C-Reactive Protein. High levels of CRP are an indicator of increased risk for heart disease.
Endocrine disruption caused by these chemicals can result in decreased follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), decreased natural progesterone, and blocked function of aromatase and decreased estradiol levels
Modern science knows that the higher an organism is on the food chain the more concentrated these chemicals become in its body. For example, small fish exposed to chemicals in plant food are algae are eaten by bigger fish. They in turn are eaten by even bigger fish. Then a human consumes this bigger fish so that the pollutants are most highly concentrated in the human at the top of the food chain. The only organism higher in the good chain that this human being is the breastfed infant. Breastmilk can be a concentrated delivery system for environmental toxins. For Example in 1970 the Environmental Defense Fund found that the levels of DDT in great milk were up to 7 times greater than in cow’s milk sold in stores.
Avoiding Chemicals
try to use pots and pans and utensils that are made of stainless steel, cast iron, heat resistant ceramic, glass or wood, to avoid leading out toxic chemicals into hot food and liquids
avoid nonstick cookware
avoid using plastic “to go” cups, especially with hot liquids
always read labels
don’t put anything on your skin that you wouldn’t put in your mouth. The skin is the largest organ in the body and will absorb chemicals as well as anything else applied to it
store food in glass, stainless steel or ceramic containers
avoid using plastic wrap, especially on hot food
if you are a meat eater, buy organic
buy organic food and drinks whenever possible
avoid canned soft drinks — they are lined with BPA
Avoid PVC products (vinyl plastics or polyvinyl chloride) or products that are associated with phthalates. PVC products are often identified with the number 3, the letter V or the letters PVC inside or underneath the universal recycling triangle. They also may have a distinct odor, like that of vinyl shower curtains.
Try cloth shower curtain rather than PVC vinyl ones
if it smells toxic it probably is — whether it contains PVC, phthalates or some other chemical and therefore try to minimize smelly stuff in your building and living choices as well as in choices related other aspects of your environment
Go green, literally with plants: English ivy, Gerbera daisies, Madagascar dragon tree, potted mums, and variegated snake plant are just some examples
Avoid personal care products that list “fragrance” or “parfum” as an ingredient
Stress Management
Stress has at least 3 readily observable causes. The first cause is a mixture of multitasking, too much ambition and too much activity. This combination robs us of time for contemplation, relaxation, and cooking healthy food. The second cause is related to the first. It’s the illusion that we are in control of everything and that if we don’t keep juggling all the ball, the show will end in humiliation and disaster. This self-imposed perspective leads to an overblown sense of responsibility and tremendous fear of impending doom. A third sources of stress is unavoidable external circumstances, like some illness, accidents, or the sickness or death of parent or children.
Basic Deep Breathing
lie on your back with a pillow under your knees. Place your hands on your lower abdomen. Breathe through your nose throughout the entire exercise. Close your eyes. Imagine your torso is like a vase. Just when you fill a vase with water, the water fills the bottom of the vase first and gradually and fills the middle and then the upper portions of the vase, feel your breath filling first your lower abdomen then middle and then upper body.
Breath will follow prana and prana will follow your focus. They are as inseparable as a show from a tree. As breath fills your lower abdomen, prana irrigates the organs of elimination and reproduction. As it fills the middle portion of your torso, prana irrigates the digestive organs. As it fills your upper torso, it irrigates the lower, middle and upper lobes of the lungs and heart
as you inhale your breath very slowly fills first the lower, then the middle then the upper portions of your torso, and finally rises to about 8-10 inches above your head. Keep the attention here for a few seconds and then allow your exhale (through the nose) to very slowly surrender your breath back down the path it took on its way up. Prana will follow the breath back down through the upper, then middle portions of the torso and return to the lower abdomen.
Continue breath like this for about 5 minutes, keep your hands on your lower torso. You should feel your lower abdomen rise as you begin your inhale. As your breath fils your middle torso, it will rise too. When it fills your upper torso, your entire torso should feel expanded. Likewise each section should relax as you exhale your prana down through each section
If you feel any tight areas in your body as you are breathing, you can try “breathing into” those areas until they feel free and easy. If you don’t experience the feeling of “breathing into” an area, place your hand over that tight areas and imagine there is a straw that reaches into that area from outside your body. Imagine that you are not breathing through your nose but through that straw directly into that tight area. As the breath enters the tight area, the area quickly releases and becomes free. Engage in this releasing process for about 5 minutes. Then go back to breathing fully through the entire torso. If emotions come up, continue to focus on the breath, rather than on the emotions
Allow your breath to return to normal. Bring your attention back to the room you are in and slowly open your eyes.
Changing Lifestyles, Changing Lives
Scientists once thought brain damage was irreversible and that memory loss and metal atrophy were an inevitable side effect of again. In recent years however, breakthroughs in the field of neuroplasticity have revealed the brain’s ability to form new nerve connections to compensate for disease or injury, to rewire, repeater and adapt to new or changed environments
Some mentors are fond of saying: “it is wise to live with reality, otherwise reality will certainly come to live with you.” If we are constantly trying to change what is, constantly pushing for things to be different, we can injure ourselves. Many of us are the habit of chasing our ambitions, for example, even beyond the point where the body has reached its limits. We push and push and being to get headaches; we take painkillers and push on. We begin to get constipated; we take some laxatives and keep on. We get anxious; we take Prozac or St. John’s wort, and press on. We ignore the body’s SOS signals to stop whatever it is we are doing to damage it. Renaissance physician Paracelsus said, “Man is ill because he is never still.” Some of us need to hit the wall — have some significant crisis or illness — before we respond. Even when we finally turn our attention toward healing body and spirit, we may do so reluctantly.
“Perhaps more souls are lost to heaven by the sense of duty to earth than by downright sin and evil” — Kirpal Singh
Take Home Messages About Diet
eat meals at regular times everyday
eat in a calm, clean environment. if you are upset or distracted you could eat perfect goods yet not digest them well
eat only when hungry. if you never have a true appetite, increase your exercise, especially in the early morning, and take the following remedy a half hour before meals: thoroughly chew a then slice of fresh ginger with a pinch of rock salt and a spray of lime juice
eat right quantity of food. Eat almost to the point of satisfaction so the digestive fire is never overly taxed
Chew food thoroughly. Take a deep breath and a moment of quit after swallowing your last bite and before you go on to your next activity
eat most foods warm. cold food is more difficult to digest. if you are going to eat raw or cold food or drinks, it is best to consume them at midday or in hot weather, when the warmth of the atmosphere can support you digestive fire
enjoy drinks at room temperature, warm or hot. cold drinks hinder digestive capacity
consume organic foods and drinks whenever possible
eat simple food when life is complicated. the more complicated your physical or emotional life, the more simple your food should be.
Enjoy mostly whole, freshly cooked foods including cooked grains, beans, veggies, and some fruit. If you are too thin, favor more nourishing heavy dense foods like yams, squashes, stews, some beans, dairy — if you can tolerate it, and whole grains. If you re too heavy, favor more lightening motivating foods like greens, light soups some spices some beans and less grains.
enjoy beans which are equally nourishing and motivating. They are often difficult to digest if not prepared well. To make them more digestible ask them in cool water overnight and then cook them until they are mushy, preferable with a piece of kombu and spices like cumin, coriander or ginger, and a pinch of asafetida (also called hing), which aids digestion. When the beans are finished cooking you can discard the seaweed if you don’t like the taste or texture.
In general, when you eat heavy foods like grains, beans dairy, or mashed potatoes or squashes, consider adding some turmeric, black pepper, and ginger to them in the cooking process. Cumin, coriander, and fennel are also suitable for most people. Considering that as you may well be eating grains, legumes, or dairy on a regular basis, you will also be reaping the benefits of these amazing spices
be a vegetarian that eats a first size portion of organic, grass fed, or wild caught meant. Be sure it is organic as any meat concentrates environmental pollutants more than dairy and much more than vegetables and fruits. When eating meat, you should consume it in a form that is easily digestible, such as in a soup
Eat lost of veggies
Veggie sprouts, especially broccoli sprouts are packed with vitality. Have two to three tablespoons of broccoli sprouts daily, if you have access to them and can digest them. If you can’t digest them well raw, you can add them to stir-fried veggies, steamed veggies and soups, when they are finished cooking
Eat some dark chocolate daily, if you know you can tolerate it. Having a small square or a piece the size of a truffle, except when you are sick or have poor digestion. Skip it if it give you migrants, menstrual pain or any other uncomfortable symptom
Drink unrefined or “cloudy” varieties of fruit juice at least three times a week.
Use extra virgin olive oil and other cold pressed high quality oil.
Use pots, pans, and utensils made of stainless steel, cast iron, heat-resistant ceramic, glass, and or wood to avoid toxic chemicals leaching into hot food and liquids
store your food in glass, ceramic, or stainless-steel containers instead of plastic, to avoid estrogenic chemicals leaching into your food
Diet Related things to Avoid:
foods that cause you to have uncomfortable digestive symptoms. If you have gas, bloating, heartburn, intestinal noise, diarrhea, or constipation, you are not digesting well. You will need to change fighter what or how you are eating.
frozen, canned, or leftover food. It is considered old and harder to digest than freshly cooked foods
refined sugar. there is nothing inherently wrong with the sweet taste. It is nourishing for the body, provided it is associated with naturally sweet foods like apples, yams, grains, or natural sweeteners like raw honey, maple syrup or barley malt, and it is taken in moderation. But refined sugar is highly processed and like other highly processed foods, comes with nasty side effects. For example: over the past 20 years, the US per capita consumption of sugar has increased from 26 to 135 pounds a year. No surprisingly, diabetes has increased 70% in the past decade alone.
Cold food is harder to digest than warm foods. Some cold food, like ice cream or salad is okay in the middle of the day or in warm weather when environmental heat supports your internal digestive fire. This is why we tend to enjoy salads and ice cream more in the summer, and hot chocolate and soups in the winter
Cold or carbonated drinks tend to hinder digestive capability
Raw food (fruits, veggies, salads) especially 9in the morning and evening. They are okay to have in the middle of the day or in summer
Highly processed or fast foods, and products made with refined white flour such as pasta, white bread, cakes, pastries, cookies, and breakfast cereals.
Highly processed or cold forms of soy, like soy isolate powered ( especially if it is consumed cold), soy shakes, soy based fake meats or soy ice cream. Especially avoid these in the morning, evening or cold weather, when there is no environmental heat to support the capacity of your digestive fire, as they are difficult to digest. Also avoid them in you have symptoms of estrogen dominance, like uterine fibroids or fibrocystic breasts.
Saturated fat and trans fat. Avoid deep fried foods. It is heavy to digest
Caffeine, especially in coffee. If you do drink coffee, be sure it is organic. Non organic coffee is grown with chemicals that can disturb hormonal balance
Alcohol. It interferes with calcium metabolism, healthy breasts and sound sleep. It is also associated with increased risk of many cancers, including breast cancer.
Phosphates. They decrease calcium absorption. Foods that contain phosphates include cola, root beer, alcohol, coffee, and meats.
Non organic meat, fish, and dairy. Meat contains the highest concentration of estrogen-like chemicals. The higher on the food chain, the more true this is. Dairy contains lower concentration than meat, but more that fruits and vegetables.
Non organic food in general, especially if you are pregnant or nursing. The estrogen like chemicals that go into its production cause hormone sensitive disorder in the body, and fetuses and infants are especially vulnerable to their damaging effects.
Freaking out if you have to eat nonorganic foods sometimes. The stress of being rigid and fearful may well outweigh the negative effect of a little nonorganic food
Eating while anxious, upset, emotional, bored or distracted. It disturbs digestion.
Eating on the go. IT also disturbs digestion.
Excessively spicy foods, unless you are positive that you are someone for whom this is a healthy practice
Heating, eating or storing food or drink — especially if they are hot — in plastic or styrofoam containers or plastic “to go” cups, because estrogenic chemicals may leach into your food and drink. IF you have to use plastic containers or lids, be sure your food is at room temperature before covering or storing it.
Using plastic wrap on your food, especially hot food.
Lifestyle
emphasize overall health over symptom management.
Have a daily routine. This allows the nervous system to relax. Your routine should incorporate all the important elements of your life. Try to include the most important ones early in the day, before other events of life obstruct your efforts
Have an exercise routine that is appropriate for your current condition. Start by learning how to feel qi or prana. Then choose a 20 min daily exercise routine that is good for you. In general, if you are too thin, a mental stretch from of yoga, tai chi, qi gong or other mental routine is best. If you are too heavy, more vigorous forms of exercise like strenuous forms of yoga or logging are more appropriate. Look to improve or maintain your flexibility so that at a minimum, if you are sitting on the floret your legs strain in from of you you can bend from your hips and touch your toes. In addition to your regular exercise routine, add a brisk 20-30min outdoor walk at the same time every day. Outdoor exercise is beneficial to support your internal natural rhythms.
Include at least a little meditation or quite contemplation in your daily routine. This allows a minimum of a few minutes a day when you feel free of responsibility. It also affords a sense of communion with yourself and the divine.
If you are extra stressed, and have no contraindications, practice some mental pranayama (breathing exercises) daily. Like abhyanga, it has a quieting effect on the nervous system, and a balancing effect on the mind and hormones.
Learn how and when it is okay to cheat on your diet or in your lifestyle habits. As a general rule, cheat only a little and only when you feel healthy and rested. We can least afford to learn on vices when we most want to. In times of stress, we need to eat and live as well as possible.
Use disciple to achieve balance and then employ awareness to keep it there. Don’t trust your craving until you are balanced and healthy.
Educate yourself on your current condition and the appropriate lifestyle and dietary choices of you.
Digest emotions as you do food. Buried, denied or unprocessed emotions become mental ama in the same way that undigested food becomes physical ama.
End or improve any toxic or strained relationships, including the relationship with yourself.
Eliminate any poisons in your life, to the extent possible. If this means pharmaceutical drugs, first improve your diet and lifestyle, then look to eliminating or lessening medications.
Respect your body’s natural urges. When you are truly hungry, eat. When you are truly thirsty , drink. When you are truly tired, rest. Surrender the pace and needs of your body
Laugh
Engage in mentally stimulating burt not stressful activities
Do less multitasking and give more full attention to one thing at a time.
Watch less than 10 hours of TV a week
Avoid environmental pollutants like PVC, BPA, phthalates, and dioxins
Avoid organic chemicals that have “cholera” as part of their name, such as chlorophenol weed killers (e.g. 2,4-D, which is used by some commercial lawn services)
If you have to be exposed to environmental pollutants, surround yourself with houseplants like English ivy, gerber daises, Madagascar dragon trees, pot chrysanthemums, and variegated snake plants.
Only put on you skin what you would consider putting in your mouth. Avoid chemical-packed lotions from major department stores.
For additional resources for Hormone Testing check out Testing.com.
Detoxing Estrogens
Generally women are interested in losing fat on the buttocks and hips. These areas are often associated with a malfunction of the various mechanisms of estrogen detoxification.
Coaches, and nutritionists alike who are aware of this phenomenon will often resort to dietary supplements to solve this problem. Some are excellent, others less so, especially the cheap imitations. This strategy should be part of a broader set of interventions which include curtailing certain life habits and specifically on improving nutritional habits.
Most people often forget the basics, it is far easier to have an expert tell you to take 2 capsules per meal of product x than it would be to use a method that is less fashionable, like taking fiber.
Fiber, for a better butt?!? Yes
The body produces hormones which in turn must be recovered or excreted (out of the body). In the case of estrogen, most are excreted in the stool and the availability of fiber is part of the process. Think of it as a kind of magnet for your body to rid itself of unneeded hormones. Without a good intake of fiber you cannot receive the full benefits from supplements such as DIM or Calcium-D-Glucarate.
The best way to approach this, just as with any weight loss process, is through the diet. We know that vegetables from the brassica family are not only rich in fiber, but most contain a host of beneficial molecules for overall optimal health. Therefore the first step should be to gradually increase the consumption of brassica vegetables which will facilitate a greater supply of fiber, thus eliminating unwanted accumulation of fat.
High Protein Diet Has No Harmful Effects
Many people are under the impression that high protein diets are evil and cause all types of diseases, however a recent study says that notion is nonsense.
A study published in the Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism found that in resistance-trained men that consumed a high protein diet (~2.51–3.32 g/kg/d) for one year, there were no harmful effects on measures of blood lipids as well as liver and kidney function. In addition, despite the total increase in energy intake during the high protein phase, subjects did not experience an increase in fat mass.
A High Protein Diet Has No Harmful Effects: A One-Year Crossover Study in Resistance-Trained Males
Why We Need to Supplement
The word is out—it pays to take your vitamins.
In 2002, the American Medical Association (AMA) reversed its long-held anti-vitamin stance and began to encourage all adults to supplement daily with a multi-vitamin. A landmark review of 38 years of scientific evidence by Harvard researchers, Dr. Robert Fletcher and Dr. Kathleen Fairfield convinced the conservative Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) to rewrite its policy guidelines regarding the use of vitamin supplements. In two reports, published in the June 19, 2002 edition of JAMA, the authors concluded that the current US diet, while sufficient to prevent acute vitamin deficiency diseases, such as scurvy and pellagra, is inadequate to support long-term health.
Insufficient vitamin intake is apparently a cause of chronic diseases. Recent evidence has shown that suboptimal levels of vitamins (below standard), even well avocet those causing deficiency syndromes, are risk factors for chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and osteoporosis. A large portion of the general population is apparently at increased risk for this reason. — Dr. Fletcher and Dr. Fairfield
In the study, the authors examined several nutrients, including vitamins A, B6, B12, C, D, E, K, folic acid and several of the carotenoids (including alpha and beta carotene, cryptoxanthin, zeaxanthin, lycopene and lutein). Among their conclusions, they noted:
- folic acid, vitamin b6 and B12 are required for proper homocysteine metabolism, and low levels of these vitamins are associated with increased risk of heart disease (homocysteine is a sulphur-containing amino acid that, at high blood levels, can damage the cardiovascular system);
- inadequate folic acid status increases the risk of neural tube defects and some cancers (a neural tube defect is an incomplete closing of the spinal cord that occurs early in fetal development);
- vitamin E and lycopene (the red pigment found in ripe tomatoes) appears to decrease the risk of prostate cancer;
- vitamin D is associated with a decreased risk of osteoporosis and fracture when taken with calcium (osteoporosis is a hollowing out of the bones caused by the loss of calcium);
- inadequate vitamin B12 is associated with anaemia and neurological disorders (anaemia is a decrease in number of red blood cells or a lack of hemoglobin in the blood);
- low dietary levels of carotenoids, the brightly colored pigments in peppers, carrots and fruits, appear to increase the risk of breast, prostate and lung cancers (carotenoids belong to the family of nutrients called bioflavonoids);
- inadequate vitamin C is associated with increased cancer risk; and
- low levers of vitamin A are associated with vision disorders and impaired immune function
In a striking departure from JAMA’s long held anti-vitamin stance, the authors concluded that, given our modern diet, supplementation each day with a multi-vitamin is a prudent preventive measure against chronic disease. The researchers based their guidance on the fact that more than 80% of the American population does not consume anywhere near the five servings of fruits and vegetables required each day for optimal health.
JAMA’s previous comprehensive review of vitamins, conducted in the 1980’s, concluded that people of normal health do not need to take a multivitamin and can meet all their nutritional needs through diet alone. Since that time, nutritional science has compiled an impressive wealth of studies affirming the health benefits of supplementation as an adjunct to a healthy diet. The American Medical Association’s about-face in light of the Fairfield-Fletcher studies, and its public declaration that supplementation is now deemed important to your health, underscores the strength of the scientific evidence that now prevails.
The Case for Supplementation
We now have convincing evidence that the lifetime risk of cancer; heart disease; stroke; diabetes; neurological disorders, such as multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease); macular degeneration; osteoporosis; Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia can be reduced by providing the cells of the body with sufficient amount of the right nutrients.
One of the first human studies to substitute the benefits of vitamin supplements was announced in 1992 and showed that men who took 800 mg/day of vitamin C lived six years longer than those who consumed the US Food and Nutrition Board’s recommended daily allowance of 60 mg/day. Published in the journal Epidemiology, this ten year follow-up study showed that high vitamin C intake extended average lifespan and reduced mortality from both cardiovascular disease and cancer.
A compelling report that high-potency supplements extend human lifespan was published in August 1996, in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The study involved 11,178 elderly people who participated in trial to establish the effects of vitamin supplements on mortality. Supplementation with vitamin E, alone, reduced the risk of overall mortality by 34% and reduced the risk of coronary disease mortality by 47%. However, when vitamin C and E were used together, overall mortality was reduced by 42% and coronary mortality dropped by 53%, demonstrating the synergistic effects of multiple vitamin therapy. What made these findings of even greater significance was that the study compared people who took low potency one-a-day multivitamins to those who took higher potency vitamin C and E supplements. Only those participants taking high-dose vitamin C and E supplements benefitted.
A 1997 study published by the British Medical Journal evaluated 1,605 healthy men with no evidence of pre-existing heart disease. Those men deficient in vitamin C were found to have a 350% increased incidence of sudden heart attacks compared to those who were not deficient in vitamin C. The authors concluded that vitamin C deficiency, as measure by low blood levels of ascorbate, is a significant risk factor for coronary heart disease.
A massive cohort study, published in 1998, investigated the risk for colon cancer in 88,756 nurses who took folic acid (a B-complex vitamin) as part of a daily multivitamin supplement.
The study found that intakes of 400 mg/day or more of folate, compared to intakes of 200 mg/day or less, were strongly related to lowered risk. While no significant protective effects were noted over shorter periods, an inverse relationship between folate intake and cancer risk became apparent after five years of use. After 15 years, a remarkable 75%reduction in the risk of colon cancer was noted among those women taking the supplements containing the B-complex vitamin. The authors concluded that longterm use of multivitamins might substantially reduce the risk for colon cancer, an effect likely related to the folic acid contained in these products.
In this same study, nurses who took multivitamins containing vitamin B6 also reduced their risk of heart attack by 30%. The evidence revealed that the more vitamin B6 they took, the lower the risk was of suffering a sudden cardiac event. These finding support those of another cohort study conducted in Norway that demonstrated a combination of folic acid and vitamin B6 can reduce homocysteine levels by up to 32% in healthy individuals. Homocysteine, a harmful amino acid at high blood levels, can markedly increase the level of inflammation and oxidative stress in blood vessels, which can precipitate both heart attack and stroke.
In 2005, an international coalition led by Canadian researchers at McMaster University, Ontario, provided evidence that a comprehensive ‘cocktail’ of nutritional supplements can significantly improve lifespan in animal models. The nutrient mixture, containing 31 nutrients common to many better quality broad-spectrum supplements available on the market, targeted key factors in the again process, including the proliferation of reactive oxygen species (ROS aka free radicals), inflammatory processes, insulin resistance and mitochondrial dysfunction. In the study, the treatment group of mice exhibited an 11% increase in lifespan compared to normal mice who did not receive the supplement cocktail. Previously, the same researcher established that the supplement cocktail completely abolished severe cognitive decline expressed by aging untreated mic. The results from these animal-model experiments demonstrate that broad-spectrum dietary supplements may be effective in ameliorating the effects of again and age-related pathologies where simpler formulation have generally failed.
The benefits of supplementation with n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega-3 fats) after a heart attack are well documented. Omega-3 fatty acids, commonly found in cold-water fish, nuts and grains, dramatically reduce the risk of premature death in high-risk individuals. A 2008 study on post-myocardial infarction (heart attack) patients revealed a significantly lowered likelihood of dangerous cardiac arrhythmia and an 85% reduction in the risk of premature death by simply maintain an optimal level of omega-3 fats in the diet. Moreover, these protective effects are also seen in healthy populations. In healthy people with no evidence of heart disease, men and women appear to achieve the same level of protection against premature death by supplementing with omega-3 oils from fish and nuts. In a 2010 Norwegian study, elderly men with no evidence of overt heart disease who supplemented with fish oil experience a 47% reduction in the risk of premature death compared to those who did not supplement. Similarly, a large Australian study found that women with the highest levels of omega-3 consumption from nuts and fish had a 44% reduction in the risk of premature death from inflammatory disease. The protective effect was dose-related to the level of omega-3 intake. The ability of omega-3 fats to reduce the level of systemic inflammation through the production of anti-inflammatory prostaglandins (primitive cell signaling hormones) appears to be the source of their protective talents.
A 19-year study of colorectal cancer rates found the relative risk in men with poor vitamin D status was almost triple that of men with sufficient vitamin D. In a meta-analysis conducted on research worldwide from 1966 to 2004, researchers from the University of California concluded that 1,000 IU/day of vitamin D lowers an individual’s risk of developing colorectal cancer by as much as 50%. A 2006 review of vitamin D status and cancer risk in the northeastern United States concluded that efforts to improve vitamin D status through vitamin D supplementation could markedly reduce cancer incidence and mortality at low cost and with few or no adverse effects. A 2008 review of current research findings on the cancer-protective effects of vitamin D concluded that intakes of between 1000 and 4000 IU per day protect against cancers of the breast, colon, prostate, ovary, lungs and pancreas. Lastly, a 2009 review on ultraviolet radiation, vitamin D and cancer concluded that circulating levels of vitamin D play an important role in determining the outcomes of several cancers. According to the authors of this review, support for the sunlight/vitamin D/cancer link is scientifically strong enough to warrant the use of vitamin D in cancer prevention and treatment protocols.
These studies and their finding are but a few of the thousands of independent scientific reports confirming the efficacy of supplementation with high quality nutritional supplements as a prudent, preventative measure for optimal health and disease prevention.
The Other Side of the Coin
To be certain, the premise of life extension and disease prevention through supplementation does not have universal support amongst the scientific community. As is inevitably the case, in an evidence based discipline there will arise conflicting studies that cast doubt on the evidence. Many researchers argue that supplements provide a convenient and effective means for supplying the optimal intakes of essential nutrients required to support long-term health; others counter that there is no conclusive proof that supplements provide any real health benefits at all.
Unfortunately, much of the debate is framed by a media more interested in selling newspapers than in ferreting out the truth. Sloppy reporting, distorted editorial sensationalism, and conflicts of interest by researchers and publishers have unnecessarily alarmed the public and have treated to destroy its trust in complementary health care. Health conscious consumers and medical practitioners alike have become frustrated at the mixed messages promulgated through the headlines: one day we are told something is good for us and the next day we are told it is bad for us. Why do so many recently published studies appear to refute the prevailing scientific evidence about the benefits of natural approaches to wellness? How can vitamin E be good for us one day and bad for us the next? For once, why can’t the experts just get it straight?
If it is of any consolation, it may be helpful to understand that science never progresses smoothly—there will always be new findings that appear to refute long established theories. Controversy is the crucible for change and paves the road that science must travel to arrive at a final truth. Unfortunately, media bias and conflicts of interest place unnecessary detours along the way.
Firstly, the consumer must understand that out of 100 clinical studies that investigate a particular effect, probability dictates that five of these studies—no matter how well designed—will show results that are not real. There will always be a statistical fluke in the bunch.
Secondly, about one-fifth of clinical trials investigating a particular effect will not have the needed number of subjects to show a statistically significant result. This occurs because in most clinical trials the probability of finding a real result, known as the power of a test, is set at a minimum of 80%. Consequently, there is up to a 20% chance of missing your mark and failing to find a different when one actually exists. This is merely the gremlin of probability at work.
Thirdly, some investigations are just bad science, improperly conducted, poorly reported and inadequately reviewed. Unfortunately, as has been the case in several recent studies, their findings attract an inordinate amount of attention from a media hungry for headlines.
Except from NutriSearch's Comparative Guide to Nutritional Supplements, 5th Professional Edition.
Questions Concerning Soy Safety
While there are those out there who continue to praise soy as some kind of miracle food, evidence continues to emerge which exposes its many faults and raises questions about its safety.
Soy and other foods and herbs with estrogen-mimicking properties are often recommended to menopausal and post-menopausal women because high consumption may lead to amelioration of some of the symptoms associated with the natural decline in estrogen levels. They are also sometimes included in protocols designed to reduce the effects of excess estrogen in women with “estrogen dominance” and elevated levels of the estrogen fractions associated with higher rates of breast cancer. Phytoestrogens bind to estrogen receptors in the human body, thereby blocking the binding of the body’s natural estrogen. And since these plant estrogens have a much milder effect than true estrogen, they are believed to help with some of the symptoms associated with excess estrogen. Soy seems to play both sides of the coin: it has estrogenic effects, but can also be used to lessen estrogenic effects. Head spinning yet? Perhaps this is why the results of studies looking at soy and female health are so mixed.
Soy is also touted as a good source of protein, because it is one of the only complete proteins among plant foods (meaning it contains all the essential amino acids; although like all legumes, it is low in methionine). However, what is often not mentioned in the same sentence when soy is being touted as a plant-based protein source is that soy is also notorious for interfering with digestion of the very protein it provides. Soy contains trypsin inhibitors—compounds that reduce the efficacy of digestive enzymes—and these hardy anti-nutrientswithstand a high level of processing, so they’re still present in most commercial soy foods.
While Asian diets—commonly cited for being more health-promoting than Western diets—do contain soy products, they are usually prepared by traditional fermentation methods that reduce the potency of the digestive inhibitors and anti-nutrients. Moreover, soy sauce, miso, natto, and edamame are consumed in small quantities, and sometimes only as a garnish. Soy consumption in Asia is a world apart—no pun intended—from soy consumption in the modern United States, where vegetarians and vegans following plant-based diets can sometimes be better referred to as “soytarians.” They consume unprecedented amounts of soy, largely in the form of highly refined, puffed, extruded, and otherwise processed foods, such as soy milk, soy-based breakfast cereal, soy “chicken,” soy “cheese,” textured vegetable protein, and other soy-based foods marketed as imitation meat and dairy products.
Adults who have made a deliberate decision to consume a lot of soy aren’t the only ones affected by soy’s potentially adverse effects. With 25% of infant formula in the U.S. being soy-based, developing babies can be unwitting participants in an experiment that may have negative consequences for their long-term health.
A recent study sheds light on a possible connection between increased seizure rates in autistic children fed soy formula, as compared to those fed dairy formulas. The author also found an association between soy formula consumption and epilepsy. The study identified a comorbidity of autism and epilepsy of 1.6–3.8%, which is higher than in the general population. Within that, among soy-fed infants there was a 3.6% rate of epilepsy, which is over twice as high as the 1.7% among non-soy fed infants. These numbers might seem very small, but as the author points out, “These may be considered by some readers as small percentages in each group who had seizures, but the two-fold or greater differences between soy and non-soy diets are statistically significant. Pharmaceutical interventions that reduced the incidence of febrile seizures or epilepsy by 2-fold would be in demand.”
It’s important to note that these were associations, and they do not necessarily imply causality. However, similar findings relate soy consumption to seizures in other populations, as shown in an animal model of neurological diseases. Nevertheless, although the study was small and retrospective, it raises concerns which, when combined with other studies that sound the alarm, suggest people should be more cautious when ingesting large amounts of soy products that may have adverse effects on the body’s endocrine and neurological functions—particularly in populations as vulnerable as developing infants.
For more information check out the Whole Soy Story
Calcium Supplements May Damage the Heart
After analyzing 10 years of medical tests on more than 2,700 people in a federally funded heart disease study, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine and elsewhere conclude that taking calcium in the form of supplements may raise the risk of plaque buildup in arteries and heart damage, although a diet high in calcium-rich foods appears be protective.
In a report on the research, published Oct. 10 in the Journal of the American Heart Association, the researchers caution that their work only documents an association between calcium supplements and atherosclerosis, and does not prove cause and effect.
But they say the results add to growing scientific concerns about the potential harms of supplements, and they urge a consultation with a knowledgeable physician before using calcium supplements. An estimated 43 percent of American adult men and women take a supplement that includes calcium, according the National Institutes of Health.
“When it comes to using vitamin and mineral supplements, particularly calcium supplements being taken for bone health, many Americans think that more is always better,” says Erin Michos, M.D., M.H.S., associate director of preventive cardiology and associate professor of medicine at the Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “But our study adds to the body of evidence that excess calcium in the form of supplements may harm the heart and vascular system.”
The researchers were motivated to look at the effects of calcium on the heart and vascular system because studies already showed that “ingested calcium supplements — particularly in older people — don’t make it to the skeleton or get completely excreted in the urine, so they must be accumulating in the body’s soft tissues,” says nutritionist John Anderson, Ph.D., professor emeritus of nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health and a co-author of the report. Scientists also knew that as a person ages, calcium-based plaque builds up in the body’s main blood vessel, the aorta and other arteries, impeding blood flow and increasing the risk of heart attack.
For more information be sure to look at the article on Johns Hopkins Medical site.