The Power of Potassium

Posted on October 7, 2010 by Nicola

Potassium is a vital mineral for brain health. Low potassium levels also contribute to high blood pressure and increases the risk of kidney stones. So just how much potassium does one need on a daily basis, and what are the main sources of potassium?

Recommended Daily Dosage of Potassium

The recommended daily dosage of potassium is 4700 mg

Sources of Potassium

Good sources of potassium are:

  • Citrus fruits – 500mg a piece
  • Fish – 400 mg per average serve
  • Bananas – 400 mg per piece
  • Beets

Next time you get muscle cramps – you are likely to be dehydrated and lacking in potassium. When travelling in hot climates I always carry a small pottle of P Salts – these tiny pills dissolve in a few seconds once you put them under your tongue.

Posted in Cellular Health, Diet | Tagged , | 3 Comments

I Have Cancer – So Do You!

Posted on October 7, 2010 by Nicola

Did you know that we all have cancer. Cancer cells are just cells that have not formed correctly. This can be from a number of reasons – but a primary reason is that the cells are so overloaded with toxic substances that they mutate as they divide. The cells in our body are constantly renewing themselves. As the body ages, this process gets more difficult to sustain efficiently. Add to that the toxins we surround ourselves in and ingest, and the cells struggle to reproduce correctly. The body is equipped to deal with getting rid of a certain level of these cells – but if your toxin level is too high, the cells remain and continue to repliczte as mutated cells – Cancer.

So what can you do?

Apart from reducing your toxins there are certain nutrients that help rid the body of these mutated cells in different parts of the body:

  • Tumeric – targets ovarian cancer
  • Sunflower seeds - the Vitmain E in these seeds acts on lungs, skin and pollutants
  • Red Peppers – Vitamin C – helps any healing process and reduces the risk of cancer
  • Sunlight and Shrimps – Vitamin D helps prevent breast cancer as well as having a positive impact on lowering blood pressure

A daily dose of Vitamin D is 1000 iu.

To boost your body’s ability to reduce inflammation – take aspirin and/or Co-Enzyme Q10  every day.

Take care of your body – and it will take care of you.

Nicola

Posted in Cancer, Food Facts | Leave a comment

How to Ease Neck Pain

Posted on October 5, 2010 by Nicola
I have osteoarthritis of my cervical spine with C6-7 subluxed forward. This results in constant nagging pain across my skull and shoulders. In looking at other causes of neck pain, there seem to be three common causes:
  1. Strain to muscles of neck and/or shoulders
  2. Misaligned cervical vertebrae
  3. Osteoarthritis of the cervical vertebrae
Any one of these can cause the vertebrae to move out of alignment, which in turn causes a massive increase in the ‘effective weight’ of the head. Let me explain this a bit further. The weight of the average head is around 10 pounds. If a lower vertebrae in the cervical spine slips forward slightly, the weight of the head is now displaced from the normal vertical alignment. This effectively creates an arm to the weight – and can increase the efffective weight of the head to around 100 pounds. Ten times more!!
Treatment of neck pain varies from aspirin, paracetamol or ibuprofen. However, some very good non-drug treatment can be very effective. Two in particular are:
  1. Cold or Heat packs – place one pack on the back of the neck and the other on the front of the chest.
  2. Exercise - stand with feet hip width apart. Raise hands up at the sides, elbows bent with palms facing forward as if you are signalling someone to stop. Move the arms back to pull the scapulae together, then forward to release the pull. Repeat rythmically for 10 repititions. Repeat 2-3 sets. Do this several times throughout the day, especially if you work on a computer.
Support Your Neck When Sleeping
The position of your neck during sleep will also have a big impact. Use a feather pillow rather than a foam pillow. Either arrange the pillow so that a pad of feathers supports under the neck, or roll up a soft towel and stuff it into the pillow case down the length of the pillow. Position this under the neck so your head then falls on the pillow at the top.
Posted in Arthritis, Pain Management | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Does Healthy Eating Cost More?

Posted on September 13, 2010 by Nicola

I received an email newsletter from Jon Benson recently that addressed the long held myth that heating healthily costs more. In tight economic times when we are all looking at our grocery budget, I thought I would pass on some of Jon’s findings.  Jon dispelled the myth that eating healthy costs too much.

We can’t just look at the cost of a healthy diet just in terms of the cash we spend at the supermarket – we really need to look at the cost in three areas

Cash Spending

  • $1 buys 2 medium size sweet potatoes or… small fries from a fast food joint
  • $1 buys 2 red peppers  or… a can of pop
  • Make a chicken salad at home for $3 or buy a bag of cookies
  • $2 buys a bowl of oatmeal with fruit & protein powder or… large bag of chips
  • Pay $3.50 for 18 eggs  or… a burger from a fast food joint
  • For breakfast are you investing your $3.50 for a large bag of oatmeal  or 4 chocolate bars
  • Will you pay $10 for a sub combo from a fast food joint, or 6 Chicken Breasts
  • Is paying $15 for 2 salmon fillets  healthier than a large pizza?

[Costs from Scott Tousignant's fitness blog]

When you start breaking down your spending on ALL food items, it’s often not about cost – it’s about healthy choices.

Getting More For Your Money

If we look at the more expensive food items – such as meat – we have to get a little more creative to make our dollar go a little further. Consider the nutrition you are getting from meat and ask yourself if there is another way to get certain elements. For instance:

Reduce - You don’t need to be eating meat every day of the week, in fact it is much healthier not to. 3-4 times a week is quite sufficient, so substitute some inexpensive canned tuna, eggs, and vegetarian dishes. It’s amazing how filling and tasty these dishes can be with a little effort. There are plenty of great recipes online.

Expand - Use tofu to bulk out chicken and beef recipes – the taste of tofu pretty much disappears when combined properly.

Rationalize - You don’t need to buy all your meat from the local butcher or supermarket. Check online for bulk meat deals. Look at alternative farming – grass-fed beef is less expensive and has more taste, and organic chickens can be purchased online at a reasonable price and delivered.

Health

The savings in cost on improving your health pay dividends way beyond the cost of food. Eating a healthier diet improves your immunity, saving $$$’s on cold remedies and lowers overall health costs. You have more energy to achieve more – less days off work, and it even helps with the stress levels.

So take another look at your spending on food – not just the direct grocery costs, but also on the indirect costs of a bad diet. You will be surprised. Love to hear what you find – any great tips for other readers would be appreciated.

Nicola

Your Antiaging Coach

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Our Spiritual Painting

Posted on August 27, 2010 by Nicola
Part of living at our best is being in touch with our mind-body-spirit connection.
Our Spiritual journey cannot begin until we are ready. Until we open our minds to the now. This requires us to stop in the moment and just experience being in that moment. It is about letting go of the expected and experience the injected.
I have just finished listening to the story of grief of a brave young man who tragically lost his 19 year old twin brother to a motorcycle accident. He explained his spiritual awakening using the metaphor of a painting on the wall. This painting represented his expectation of how his life was going to be. At the death of his brother that painting lay shattered in many pieces on the floor. He could do little more than just stare at those pieces, not knowing how he would move forward. The pieces could not be put back together again and be the same picture. He had to still his mind enough to enable him to recognise that he needed to build a new picture and hang it back on the wall. This took a level of engagement with his life that could only happen after he had allowed himself to grieve.
Nobody is raised to know how to deal with such a loss. We each stumble through our first grief as novices. It is only through the open hearts and helping hands of others that we find our way again – not to the same life, but to a new life. That is a critical distinction. So many try to hold on to the expectation of the old life and will not let go – until we let go of the old life picture, we cannot compile a new one.
Ryan, thank you for sharing your story. I so admire you and your family, and wish you much happiness in your new picture.
Nicola
Posted in Spirituality | 1 Comment

Lemon Zest Helps Prevent Skin Cancer

Posted on June 25, 2010 by Nicola

With the summer months enticing us out to the beaches, we need to review our sun protection methods.

Skin cancer is the most common cancer, affecting more than 2 million people in the United States each year. Squamous Cell Carcinoma [SCC] is a type of non-melanoma skin cancer and is highly treatable if diagnosed and treated early.

Living in New Zealand, with our harsh solar conditions, we are all particularly conscious of skin cancer. Naturally, we are cautious about sun protection, but I was searching the other day for some more preventative measures against skin cancer. One I came across was lemon zest.

It seems that a particular compound in lemon peel, d-Limonene, helps to prevent squamous cell carcinoma by up to 34%. D-Limonene helps to keep skin cancer cells from growing and multiplying. It makes up more than 90 percent of citrus-peel oil. An Arizona based study showed that those who consumed the most citrus zest had the lowest rates of SCC.  And in this case, the more the better – the more lemon, orange, and grapefruit zest the people consumed, the more they were protected from SCC.

For more on Skin Cancer and How To Prevent Skin Cancer

Nicola

Posted in Antiaging Treatments, Cancer, Skincare | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

The Sour Truth About Sugar

Posted on April 23, 2010 by Nicola

Sugar is one of the deadly aging foods that can have extremely bad impact on your health – but you know that right?  You do your best to avoid sugar laden softdrinks, sweets and cookies. But do you also apply the same caution to tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce,  bologna and pretzel?

If you don’t think you consume a lot of sugar, take a look at these stats:

The average sugar consumption per person has risen from 4 pounds a year in the year 1700, to 18 pounds in 1800, 90 pounds in 1900 and a staggering 180 pounds in 2009. That’s half a pound a day!!

So where is this sugar consumption coming from:

  • Processed foods – Many so-called low-fat foods are higher in sugar than their full fat counterparts.
  • Infant formula – has the sugar equivalent of one can of Coca-Cola – I really wish I was kidding

No wonder 32 percent of Americans are obese and an additional one-third are overweight. This excess weight increases your risk for deadly conditions such as heart disease, kidney disease and diabetes.

So just why are we so immune to poisoning ourselves and our children. Is it just that we are unaware. Go to your refrigerator and pantry and start looking at food labels. Where once we knew how much sugar was in each serving [because we prepared it from raw ingredients]; today the sugar is easily hidden in most foods you purchase. I mean, sugar in baby formula…that’s child abuse in my book.

I asked my dentist why we now have to suffer that sickly ‘Cherry’ flavoured mouthwash in surgeries. His answer was, children don’t like the taste of peppermint. Probably because as parents we have screwed up their tastebuds from day 1.

When I travel from NZ, I often find flavoured products such as milkshakes or chocolate far too sweet – the sugar content is significantly higher than we are used in in NZ.

With so many of us searching for ways to slash our budgets – try dumping 80% of processed food you buy. You will reduce your sugar intake, your fat intake and your salt intake in one shot. You will save money….and most importantly, you will greatly improve your chance of good health in the future.

You owe it to yourself, and your family!

Posted in Diet, Food Facts, Weight Management | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Tinnitus – Fraud of the Rings

Posted on April 8, 2010 by Nicola

Do you hear ringing, when there is nothing ringing….it’s all in your head!!  This condition would drive me to drink. I am super sensitive to noise of any type, so can only imagine the frustration and irritation one must experience with Tinnitus. Tinnitus is the perception of sound in the ear, when there is no external source – most sufferers describe it as a ‘ringing in the ears’.

Although not a disease, Tinnitus is a symptom of a number of different underlying causes, including ear infections, wax in the ear, allergies that prevent fluid draining from the sinuses or a side effect of some medication. It is also a natural hearing impairment that may be a result of genetic hearing loss or hearing loss associated with age.

I have yet to hear of any truly effective medical interventions for Tinnitus, other than for conditions where treating wax or fluid build up relieve the symptoms. However, there are a few simple things you might like to try at home.

  • Eliminate or at least reduce the intake of caffeine and quinine [found in Tonic Water]
  • Avoid large doses of aspirin and alcohol
  • Take Vitamin B12 – a deficiency in B12 is a known cause of Tinnitus
  • Mask out the irritation with Biofeedback and/or White noise.

If you have experienced Tinnitus and have found a solution, we would love to hear from you.

Nicola

Posted in Aging Conditions, Wellness | Tagged | Leave a comment

Reliable Measure of Men’s Health

Posted on March 23, 2010 by Nicola

According to television celebrity doctor Dr Oz, “a mans penis is the dipstick to his health”. Changes in health of men is reflected in the change of sexual performance.

The penis relies on a good blood flow to get and maintain an erection. Any health problem that impacts circulation in general will be reflected in the quantity of blood flow to the penis, leading to varying degrees of sexual dysfunction. When performance issues arise, most men refuse to admit there is a problem – preferring to blame lack of emotional or psychological engagement with their spouses as impacting their level of desire, rather than seeking out the alternative – a medical reason.

In most instances, sexual dysfunction is a medical condition, for example:

Lowering testosterone levels – leading to lowered libido. A commonly ignored causal factor is the amount of fat on the body. Fat produces oestrogen, which in men, leads to a reduction in testosterone. So the bigger the belly, the bigger the problem below it.

The remedy is to use gels or injections to remedy the lack of testosterone, and to exercise to trigger testosterone production.

And let’s sign off with a few facts around sexual performance in men:

  • The average times a man has sex in a year = 58
  • The average length of an erect penis is 5.4″
  • Lose 35 lb and one inch more penis becomes visible
  • Stop smoking and gain 1cm

If you want more information on this topic – try the book Size Matters: The Hard Facts About Male Sexuality That Every Woman Should Know

Posted in Antiaging, Wellness | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Revisiting Antioxidants

Posted on March 11, 2010 by Nicola
Antioxidants are a group of organic substances know as carotenoids that include vitamins C and E, vitamin A, selenium (a mineral). Carotenoids are the pigment compounds that give many fruits and vegetables their vibrant colors, with beta-carotene is the most well know carotenoid. Antioxidants work by destroying free harmful radicals. Free radicals can damage cell walls, genetic material within cells and other cell structures. This leads to cell malformation – the changes that contribute to aging, cancer, heart disease, stroke and many other ailments associated with natural aging. . Over time such damage may lead to disease.
The higher your toxic intake from food, environmental pollutants, toxic chemicals from smoking and drugs, the higher your need for antioxidants.
There are different ways to boost your antioxidant power house
Antioxidants used to boost the bodies ability to produce a number antioxidant enzymes, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase, and catalase, that destroy many types of harmful free radicals. Supplements of these enzymes can also be taken, however absorption is typically low.
Supplements the body needs to make these enzymes may be more effective are more potent – including the minerals managanese, zinc and copper for SOD and selenium for glutathione peroxidase.
Vitamins and minerals are effective antioxidants in their own right – such as vitamin E, vitamin C, lutein, lycopene, vitamin B2, coenzyme Q10, and cysteine (an amino acid). Herbs, such as grape seed, bilberry, turmeric (curcumin), ginkgo, milk thistle and green tea also contain powerful antioxidant compounds. This appears to be the most effective way to increase your antioxidant stores.

Antioxidants are a group of organic substances know as carotenoids that include vitamins C and E, vitamin A, selenium (a mineral). Carotenoids are the pigment compounds that give many fruits and vegetables their vibrant colors, with beta-carotene is the most well know carotenoid. Antioxidants work by destroying free harmful radicals. Free radicals can damage cell walls, genetic material within cells and other cell structures. This leads to cell malformation – the changes that contribute to aging, cancer, heart disease, stroke and many other ailments associated with natural aging. . Over time such damage may lead to disease.

The higher your toxic intake from food, environmental pollutants, toxic chemicals from smoking and drugs, the higher your need for antioxidants.

There are different ways to boost your antioxidant power house

  • Antioxidants used to boost the bodies ability to produce a number antioxidant enzymes, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase, and catalase, that destroy many types of harmful free radicals. Supplements of these enzymes can also be taken, however absorption is typically low.
  • Supplements the body needs to make these enzymes may be more effective are more potent – including the minerals managanese, zinc and copper for SOD and selenium for glutathione peroxidase.
  • Vitamins and minerals are effective antioxidants in their own right – such as vitamin E, vitamin C, lutein, lycopene, vitamin B2, coenzyme Q10, and cysteine (an amino acid). Herbs, such as grape seed, bilberry, turmeric (curcumin), ginkgo, milk thistle and green tea also contain powerful antioxidant compounds. This appears to be the most effective way to increase your antioxidant stores.
Posted in Antiaging Products, Cancer, Diet | 13 Comments