How often do you find your Doctor treating your symptoms and not the problem? I regard myself as an intelligent person who can be assertive when appropriate, yet I still fall into the trap of coming out from my Doctors surgery without getting what I really need.
I have quite a troublesome arrythmia. When the heart rythmn is so irregular it causes the body to signal that something is seriously wrong, and it starts pumping cortisol around the show as a natural stress response. In turn, this causes a gastric response, with too much acid being produced. Combined, these symptoms can cause insomnia. During the previous two nights I had no sleep at all. I had hot tingling pain on various parts of my skin that seemed to move around my body throughout the night. It was like my nerve endings were fried. This was unusual, and I had to see my Doctor for another unrelated reason so I discussed this also. My doctor claimed the burning sensations and insomnia were due to stress. What did I come away with - more Losec! The stress was caused by the arrythmia, not the other way around.
I didn’t need Losec - I needed a way to stop the cortisone - a way to get the arrythmia under control. Obviously, the previous treatment is no longer effective. I was frustrated, not only with the Doctor, but also with myself for allowing the focus on the condition, not the problem. What happens to use when we walk into a Doctors room? I seem to develop temporary amnesia. So next time I am going to write myself a note, just to remind me exactly what I want treated.
Heard the saying ‘food is the spice of life’? Well, it seems we can go one step further and say that ’spices are the spice of life’. Spices are not only a way to invigorate an otherwise boring healthy meal. It seems that spices can help you burn more body fat.
According to the January 2006 issue of The Journal of Physiology and Behavior, numerous studies on several spices have increased thermogenesis in the body. Thermogenesis is simply heat - and since a calorie is a unit of heat, turn up your body heat and burn more calories.
Burn more calories - burn more fat. How easy is that.
If you want to know more about thermogenesis and is amazing body fat burning properties, get a free copy of a new handbook “The Radical Fatloss Blueprint.” It’s available for the next 21 days to anyone who owns a copy of “The Every Other Day Diet.”
As a sneaky peak - here’s the spices that work the best to help you burn bodyfat:
Capsaicin - the compound gives red chili pepper its heat, increased energy via heat expenditure by up to 23% after ingesting it at breakfast.
Black Pepper- increases body heat (thermogenesis) by bonding to TRPV1 receptors in the brain.
Turmeric - has both anti-cancer and pro-thermogenic support. Two for one!
Combine these three spices: Red chili pepper, black pepper and turmeric, and use them liberally (as you can handle them) on your lunch and dinner meals. Just don’t overdo it and end up with more heartburn than fatburn.
There is such a lot of confusion in the market as to what does and does not contribute to or cause breast cancer. No sooner does one theory emerge than it gets debunked two years later.
The common protection mechanism for women against breast cancer is frequent self examination and mammograms. Personally, I find mammograms a complete waste of time as I know at least 6 women who were diagnosed with breast cancer within 2 months of having mammograms. For that reason I insist on having an ultrasound to follow. This is particularly since I have already had two fibroadenomas removed from my breasts in my 20’s and 30’s, and the scar tissue alone can cause misdiagnosis on the mammograms.
Whilst I am a great supporter on embracing any modern medicine, my first line of defence is always my own health program - diet, fitness, emotional wellness.
In the following Video, Dr Mecola takes a new look at breast cancer and provides some valuable advice as to new tests for breast cancer, and simple everyday things women can do to help prevent breast cancer.
Takeaways
Include tests for Vitamin D and Fasting Insulin in your regular check ups
Optimize natural melatonin production by ensuring you sleep in a complete blackout environment - this is focused on the eyes. So use blackout drapes and an eye mask during the night. If you have to go to the bathroom during the night, use a red light penlight. Balance this night blackout with exposure to bright sunlight during the day. Both of these elements are required to maintain optimal levels of melatonin.
I came across this very good video by triathlete Ben Greenfield on the nutritional requirements for athletes training for the Iron Man. As most of you would know, the Iron Man is the elite fitness event in the triathlon circuit. Whilst most of you will not be training for such an event, you are very likely to be preparing for a hiking holiday, skiing holiday, or other event requiring endurance. Quite frankly, even looking after children during the holidays can be an endurance test to some!!
During preparation for such an event, the body must be correctly nourished to build muscle, not fat, and to ensure that it receives sufficient antioxidants and anti-inflammatories to aid muscle building and damage to joints and muscles - all characteristics we try to achieve with an antiaging nutrition and fitness program.
I urge you to take a look - you can download a powerpoint slide deck to follow along - as the slides in the video are not easy to see, but Ben makes a great job of talking to each point.
Burt Goldman, “The American Monk” admits that the method he used at the prime age of 80 to initiate a renaissance period in his life, is in his own word “a bit whacky”.
Burt leant to focus his mind in such a way to slow down aging, pick up new skills at will, and maintain perfect health. In the last few years of his seventies, Burt:
Published a book
Took up photography
Got his photographs in the International Photography Hall of Fame
Took up painting and set up an art website
Taught himself to sing and released a CD
Set up a new business
So just how did Burt achieve more in his so called ‘old age’ than many people achieve in a whole lifetime. Find out about Burt and his Quantum Jumping technique.
Following on from a recent post on new gene therapy to treat Parkinsons disease I caught up with the latest in stem cell therapy. There is a lot of controversy around stem cell replacement therapy - largely due to misinformation as to the source of embryonic stem cells.
Putting that aside, stem cell therapy not only is one of the greatest pathways to future treatment of age related conditions, but also poses a real pathway for the prevention of aging of all human tissue - including the skin.
Are we looking at the new fountain of youth. This short series of videos put together a couple of years ago, provides a great introduction to how stem cells work in various parts of the body. Check them out in our new section on Stem Cell Treatment For Aging
Changing seasons is a great time to detoxify they body. Regardless of whether you are suffering from over indulgence during holidays, or have been loading up on carbs to keep warm during the winter. A detoxification program is a great way to get rid of accumulated toxins and boost your natural detoxification system (your liver, kidneys and lungs).
Not only do your liver and bowel get a good clean, your cells will be leached of built up harmful pesticides, chlorine, bleach and ammonia, and carbon monoxide, all of which can cause disease.
Low Pace
Simply changing your diet can help relieve constipation related to poor diet, and accomplish the same thing that many herbal detoxification products do. It just takes longer. Constipation [ less than one bowel movement a day] means that harmful toxins are held in the bowel longer.
Medium Pace
Moderate your diet by reducing the amount of red meat, coffee and tea, alcohol, wheat and dairy products. Then take a detoxifying herbal supplement for 10-14 days. This speeds up the body’s natural detox process.
Fast Pace
Fasting for 1-3 days is a rapid detoxification and can cause a toxic rush if your body is heavy with toxins. Take medical advice before opting for this treatment. Avoid Fast Cleans detox plans such as those that consists of nothing but lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper.
Fasting can deny your body specific nutrients to be able to perform its job of detoxification, and can hence work against you.
Try to give your natural detoxification system a boost at least twice a year for a period of 10-14 days. You will be amazed at the results. And you can expect to lose a few pounds as a bonus!
The brain is an area isolated from many of the chemicals into the blood by the blood brain barrier, meaning that it is not accessible to many medications or therapies delivered orally or intravenously. In addition, around a third of Parkinson’s patients in the USA are in the later stages of the disease and resistant to medication.
More-precise methods to reach the brain have been developed, including improved brain imaging and the use of implanted stimulators. This is good news for Parkinson’s patients, and a number of new clinical trials for Parkinson’s in which a therapeutic gene or another treatment is delivered directly to a specific part of the brain are currently in progress.
As delivery technologies improve, so too are new therapeutics. Typical treatments include:
Drugs that replace the chemical messenger dopamine - however the benefits of these medications frequently decline over time.
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) - an electrode is implanted directly into the brain to send electrical pulses to the damaged part of the brain ,overriding the abnormal neural signaling that triggers tremors, rigidity, and other symptoms of Parkinson’s. While DBS is effective in reducing the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, it does not cure it.
Many companies are now searching for new alternatives which involve shorter surgical time and a better prognosis. One promising treatment is Gene therapy - currently being tested in clinical trials.
The therapeutic gene GAD, codes for an enzyme that catalyzes production of the chemical messenger GABA [cells that produce GABA are lost in Parkinsons] bypassing the area affected by cell death, and restoring balance to the circuit. Trials have shown a 29 percent improvement in motor function.
I just came across a really interesting video and concept called Super Brain Yoga, being used on young and old alike to help prevent and control various illnesses, including Alzheimers. Take a look:
This exercise is designed to pump up neuron and cell activity in the brain:
Hold onto the right ear lobe with left hand
Hold onto the left ear lobe with the right hand
Now swat up and down, breathing in on the way down, and out on the way up.
Continue building up to 5 minutes
Personally, I find the science behind it logical, and think it will benefit everyone. Just don’t do it where your neighbours can see you - they may think you have finally slipped over the edge!
One debate that seems never to die is whether supplements are food or nutrition, and whether supplements are necessary at all.
Let’s just step away from the food element for a bit, and just look at supplements our bodies need. Take for instance the equally active debate on hormone supplements.
Whether or not to take hormone supplements is a very personal decision, and one that must be done in consultation with your doctor. However, much disinformation makes making such a decision more difficult.
Firstly, many of the medical issues that have arisen from taking hormones is because either they were taken incorrectly [for example taking oestrogen without progesterone], or taken by people who had other medical conditions that meant they shouldn’t have been taking the hormone replacement in the first place.
Second, there are a lot of so called ‘natural’ alternatives that are proposed as equivalent solutions, until you get into how many you have to take to equate to the synthetically derived versions.
When considering hormone replacement therapy for antiaging purposes, all you are doing is upping your levels to those one would naturally have at a younger age – what is so ‘unnatural’ about that!
Human Growth Hormones have certainly come under fire, and are banned in many countries –
Testosterone replacement therapy is often only considered as a natural bodybuilding supplement, yet men require hormone replacement as much as women do. Yet strangely for body builders to be taking testosterone replacement is considered cheating – go figure!
Thyroid hormones are taken by many people – it is considered fine in the medical circles to take thyroid hormone supplementation – by the very same doctors that frown on HGH, as though HGH is something so unnatural.
Yet there are many ‘natural’ elements on this Earth that are highly toxic to the human body.
Hormone replacement and the taking of natural supplements vs synthetic supplements is a highly charged debate that I doubt will ever be solved. These are questions we must all solve for ourselves in terms of our own philosophy.
My view is that you spend thousands of dollars a year maintaining your home to it original condition, the same with your car, and you certain replace worn out clothes [and even ones that are not] – so what is so wrong with replacing those elements in your body that are tiring, and failing to produce ideal levels. It’s no different than recharging a flat battery.
So back to the debate as to whether supplements are food or some form of artificial nutrition - most so called ‘health foods’ are no more than just healthy foods. Going back to my previous post on how regulators seem fine to allow toxic trans fats in our foods but then want to regulate what health supplements we take.
My advice is to stop thinking of food as your nutrition – and consider nutrition for your body as a class of its own. Your body needs nutrition just as it needs sleep, cleansing, exercise and sex. Work out what your body needs, then where you will get it from. If that’s from food – good luck. If its from a combination of foods and supplements – then go do it. Instead of just menu planning for you and your family – do nutrition plans – then just present the nutrition in the most interesting way possible. Like marketing – it’s all in the packaging.