For man the most important stressors are emotional. Three factors that universally lead to stress: uncertainty, the lack of information and the loss of control.

People find themselves trapped in lifestyles and emotional patterns inimical to their health. The higher the level of economic development, it seems, the more anaesthetized we have become to our emotional realities. We no longer sense what is happening in our bodies and cannot therefore act in self-preserving ways. The physiology of stress eats away at our bodies not because it has outlived its usefulness but because we may no longer have the competence to recognise its signals.

Like stress, emotion is a concept we often invoke without a precise sense of its meaning. And, like stress, emotions have several components. The psychologist Ross Buck distinguishes between three levels of emotional responses, which he calls Emotion I, Emotion II, and Emotion III, classified according to the degree we are conscious of them.

Emotion III is the subjective experience, from within oneself. It is how we feel. In the experience of Emotion III there is conscious awareness of an emotional state, such as anger or joy or fear, and its accompanying bodily sensations.

Emotion II comprises our emotional displays as seen be others, with or without our awareness. It is signalled through body language – “non-verbal signals, mannerisms, tones of voices, gestures, facial expressions, brief touches, and even the timing of events and pauses between words. They may have physiologic consequences – often outside the awareness of the participants.” It is quite common for a person to be oblivious to the emotions he is communicating, even though they are clearly read by those around him. Our expressions of Emotion II are what most affect other people, regardless of our intentions.

A child’s displays of Emotion II are also what parents are least able to tolerate if the feelings being manifested trigger too much anxiety in them. As Dr Buck points out, a child whose parents punish or inhibit this acting-out of emotion will be conditioned to respond to similar emotions in the future by repression. The self-shutdown serves to prevent shame and rejection. Under such conditions, “emotional competence will be compromised … The individual will not in the future know how to effectively handle the feelings and desires involved. The result would be a kind of helplessness.”

The stress literature amply documents that helplessness, real or perceived, is a potent trigger for biological stress responses. Learned helplessness is a psychological state in which subjects do not extricate themselves from stressful situations even when they have the physical opportunity to do so. People often find themselves in situations of learned helplessness – for example, someone who feels stuck in a dysfunctional or even abusive relationship, in a stressful job or in a lifestyle that robs him or her of true freedom

Emotion I comprises the physiological changes triggered by emotional stimuli, such as the nervous system discharges, hormonal output and immune changes that make up the flight-or-fight reaction in response to threat. These responses are not under conscious control, and they cannot be directly observed from the outside. They just happen. They may occur in the absence of subjective awareness or of emotional expression. Adaptive in the acute threat situation, these same stress responses are harmful when they are triggered chronically without the individual’s being able to act in any way to defeat the perceived threat or to avoid it.

Emotional competence required:

• The capacity to feel our emotions, so that we are aware when we are experiencing stress;
• The ability to express our emotions effectively and thereby to assert our needs and to maintain the integrity of our emotional boundaries;
• The facility to distinguish between psychological reactions that are pertinent to the present situation and those that represent residue from the past. What we want and demand from the world needs to conform to our present needs, not to unconscious, unsatisfied needs from childhood. If distinctions between past and present blur, we will perceive loss or the threat of loss where none exists; and
• The awareness of those genuine needs that do require satisfaction, rather than their repression for the sake of gaining the acceptance or approval of others.

Stress occurs in the absence of these criteria, and it leads to the disruption of homeostasis. Chronic disruption results in ill health. In each of the individual histories of illness in the book, ‘When the Body Says No’, one or more aspects of emotional competence was significantly compromised, usually in ways entirely unknown to the person involved.

Emotional competence is what we need to develop if we are to protect ourselves from the hidden stresses that create a risk to health, and it is what we need to regain if we are to heal. We need to foster emotional competence in our children, as the best preventive medicine.

References: i Scientific American January 31, 2012, ii Microbiology January 31, 2012 [Epub ahead of print], iii Topical Application of Honey in Treatment of Abdominal Wound Disruption, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, November 1992, Volume 32, Issue 4, pages 381–384, Winit Phuapradit MD, Nopadol Saropala, iv Sweet Salvation – WOUND HEALING v The Evidence Supporting the Use of Honey as a Wound Dressing, International Journal of Lower Extremity Wounds, 2006:5;40, vi Effectiveness of honey on Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms, Otolaryngology Head Neck Surgery, July 2009;141(1):114-8,

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During a root canal, there is no way to sterilize your tooth; after the root canal, dangerous bacteria hide out in the tooth and are unreachable with antibiotics
Root-canaled and filled teeth harbor bacteria that morph into very toxic forms, which then can migrate to other tissues in your body and cause serious medical conditions, including diseases of your heart, kidneys, bones, and brain
There is no other medical practice that permits leaving a dead body part inside your body, because it triggers your immune system to attack
If you have a diseased tooth, or if you’ve already had a root canal, I highly recommend consulting a biological dentist about have it extracted

Do you have a chronic degenerative disease?  If so, have you been told, “It’s all in your head?”

Well, that might not be that far from the truth… the root cause of your illness may be in your mouth.

There is a common dental procedure that nearly every dentist will tell you is completely safe, despite the fact that scientists have been warning of its dangers for more than 100 years.

Every day in the United States alone, 41,000 of these dental procedures are performed on patients who believe they are safely and permanently fixing their problem.

What is this dental procedure?

The root canal.

More than 25 million root canals are performed every year in this country.

Root-canaled teeth are essentially “dead” teeth that can become silent incubators for highly toxic anaerobic bacteria that can, under certain conditions, make their way into your bloodstream to cause a number of serious medical conditions—many not appearing until decades later.

Most of these toxic teeth feel and look fine for many years, which make their role in systemic disease even harder to trace back.

Sadly, the vast majority of dentists are oblivious to the serious potential health risks they are exposing their patients to, risks that persist for the rest of their patients’ lives.The American Dental Association claims root canals have been proven safe, but they have NO published data or actual research to substantiate this claim.

Fortunately, I had some early mentors like Dr. Tom Stone and Dr. Douglas Cook, who educated me on this issue nearly 20 years ago. Were it not for a brilliant pioneering dentist who, more than a century ago, made the connection between root-canaled teeth and disease, this underlying cause of disease may have remained hidden to this day. The dentist’s name was Weston Price—regarded by many as the greatest dentist of all time.

Weston A. Price: World’s Greatest Dentist

Most dentists would be doing an enormous service to public health if they familiarized themselves with the work of Dr. Weston Pricei. Unfortunately, his work continues to be discounted and suppressed by medical and dental professionals alike.

Dr. Price was a dentist and researcher who traveled the world to study the teeth, bones, and diets of native populations living without the “benefit” of modern food. Around the year 1900, Price had been treating persistent root canal infections and became suspicious that root-canaled teeth always remained infected, in spite of treatments. Then one day, he recommended to a woman, wheelchair bound for six years, to have her root canal tooth extracted, even though it appeared to be fine.

She agreed, so he extracted her tooth and then implanted it under the skin of a rabbit. The rabbit amazingly developed the same crippling arthritis as the woman and died from the infection 10 days later. But the woman, now free of the toxic tooth, immediately recovered from her arthritis and could now walk without even the assistance of a cane.

Price discovered that it’s mechanically impossible to sterilize a root-canaled (e.g. root-filled) tooth.

He then went on to show that many chronic degenerative diseases originate from root-filled teeth—the most frequent being heart and circulatory diseases. He actually found 16 different causative bacterial agents for these conditions. But there were also strong correlations between root-filled teeth and diseases of the joints, brain and nervous system. Dr. Price went on to write two groundbreaking books in 1922 detailing his research into the link between dental pathology and chronic illness. Unfortunately, his work was deliberately buried for 70 years, until finally one endodontist named George Meinig recognized the importance of Price’s work and sought to expose the truth.

Dr. Meinig Advances the Work of Dr. Price

Dr. Meinig, a native of Chicago, was a captain in the U.S. Army during World War II before moving to Hollywood to become a dentist for the stars. He eventually became one of the founding members of the American Association of Endodontists (root canal specialists).

In the 1990s, he spent 18 months immersed in Dr. Price’s research. In June of 1993, Dr. Meinig published the book Root Canal Cover-Up, which continues to be the most comprehensive reference on this topic today. You can order your copy directly from the Price-Pottenger Foundationii.

What Dentists Don’t Know About the Anatomy of Your Teeth

Your teeth are made of the hardest substances in your body.

In the middle of each tooth is the pulp chamber, a soft living inner structure that houses blood vessels and nerves. Surrounding the pulp chamber is the dentin, which is made of living cells that secrete a hard mineral substance. The outermost and hardest layer of your tooth is the white enamel, which encases the dentin.

The roots of each tooth descend into your jawbone and are held in place by the periodontal ligament. In dental school, dentists are taught that each tooth has one to four major canals. However, there are accessory canals that are never mentioned. Literally miles of them!

Just as your body has large blood vessels that branch down into very small capillaries, each of your teeth has a maze of very tiny tubules that, if stretched out, would extend for three miles. Weston Price identified as many as 75 separate accessory canals in a single central incisor (front tooth). For a more detailed explanation, refer to an article by Hal Huggins, DDS, MS, on the Weston A. Price Foundation website.iii(These images are borrowed from the Huggins article.)

Microscopic organisms regularly move in and around these tubules, like gophers in underground tunnels.

When a dentist performs a root canal, he or she hollows out the tooth, then fills the hollow chamber with a substance (called guttapercha), which cuts off the tooth from its blood supply, so fluid can no longer circulate through the tooth. But the maze of tiny tubules remains. And bacteria, cut off from their food supply, hide out in these tunnels where they are remarkably safe from antibiotics and your own body’s immune defenses.

The Root Cause of Much Disease

Under the stresses of oxygen and nutrient deprivation, these formerly friendly organisms morph into stronger, more virulent anaerobes that produce a variety of potent toxins. What were once ordinary, friendly oral bacteria mutate into highly toxic pathogens lurking in the tubules of the dead tooth, just awaiting an opportunity to spread.

No amount of sterilization has been found effective in reaching these tubules—and just about every single root-canaled tooth has been found colonized by these bacteria, especially around the apex and in the periodontal ligament. Oftentimes, the infection extends down into the jawbone where it creates cavitations—areas of necrotic tissue in the jawbone itself.

Cavitations are areas of unhealed bone, often accompanied by pockets of infected tissue and gangrene. Sometimes they form after a tooth extraction (such as a wisdom tooth extraction), but they can also follow a root canal. According to Weston Price Foundation, in the records of 5,000 surgical cavitation cleanings, only two were found healed.

And all of this occurs with few, if any, accompanying symptoms. So you may have an abscessed dead tooth and not know it.  This focal infection in the immediate area of the root-canaled tooth is bad enough, but the damage doesn’t stop there.

Root Canals Can Lead to Heart, Kidney, Bone, and Brain Disease

As long as your immune system remains strong, any bacteria that stray away from the infected tooth are captured and destroyed. But once your immune system is weakened by something like an accident or illness or other trauma, your immune system may be unable to keep the infection in check.

These bacteria can migrate out into surrounding tissues by hitching a ride into your blood stream, where they are transported to new locations to set up camp. The new location can be any organ or gland or tissue.

Dr. Price was able to transfer diseases harbored by humans to rabbits, by implanting fragments of root-canaled teeth, as mentioned above. He found that root canal fragments from a person who had suffered a heart attack, when implanted into a rabbit, would cause a heart attack in the rabbit within a few weeks.

He discovered he could transfer heart disease to the rabbit 100 percent of the time! Other diseases were more than 80 percent transferable by this method. Nearly every chronic degenerative disease has been linked with root canals, including:

Heart disease
Kidney disease
Arthritis, joint, and rheumatic diseases
Neurological diseases (including ALS and MS)
Autoimmune diseases (Lupus and more)

There may also be a cancer connection. Dr. Robert Jones, a researcher of therelationship between root canals and breast cancer, found an extremely high correlation between root canals and breast cancer.iv He claims to have found the following correlations in a five-year study of 300 breast cancer cases:

93 percent of women with breast cancer had root canals
7 percent had other oral pathology
Tumors, in the majority of cases, occurred on the same side of the body as the root canal(s) or other oral pathology

Dr. Jones claims that toxins from the bacteria in an infected tooth or jawbone are able to inhibit the proteins that suppress tumor development. A German physician reported similar findings. Dr. Josef Issels reported that, in his 40 years of treating “terminal” cancer patients, 97 percent of his cancer patients had root canals.  If these physicians are correct, the cure for cancer may be as simple as having a tooth pulled, then rebuilding your immune system.

Good Bugs Gone Bad

How are these mutant oral bacteria connected with heart disease or arthritis?  The ADA and the AAE claim it’s a “myth” that the bacteria found in and around root-canaled teeth can cause diseasev. But they base that on the misguided assumption that the bacteria in these diseased teeth are the SAME as normal bacteria in your mouth—and that’s clearly not the case.

Today, bacteria can be identified using DNA analysis, whether they’re dead or alive, from their telltale DNA signatures.

In a continuation of Dr. Price’s work, the Toxic Element Research Foundation (TERF) used DNA analysis to examine root-canaled teeth, and they found bacterial contamination in 100 percent of the samples tested. They identified 42 different species of anaerobic bacteria in 43 root canal samples. In cavitations, 67 different bacteria were identified among the 85 samples tested, with individual samples housing between 19 to 53 types of bacteria each. The bacteria they found included the following types:

Capnocytophagaochraceavi
Fusobacteriumnucleatumvii
Gemellamorbillorum viii
Leptotrichiabuccalis
Porphyromonasgingivalis ix

Are these just benign, ordinary mouth bugs? Absolutely not. Four can affect your heart, three can affect your nerves, two can affect your kidneys, two can affect your brain, and one can infect your sinus cavities… so they are anything BUT friendly! (If you want see just how unfriendly they can be, I invite you to investigate the footnotes.)

Approximately 400 percent more bacteria were found in the blood surrounding the root canal tooth than were found in the tooth itself, suggesting the tooth is the incubatorand the periodontal ligament is the food supply. The bone surrounding root-canaled teeth was found even HIGHER in bacterial count… not surprising, since bone is virtual buffet of bacterial nutrients.

Since When is Leaving A Dead Body Part IN Your Body a Good Idea?

There is no other medical procedure that involves allowing a dead body part to remain in your body. When your appendix dies, it’s removed. If you get frostbite or gangrene on a finger or toe, it is amputated. If a baby dies in utero, the body typically initiates a miscarriage.

Your immune system doesn’t care for dead substances, and just the presence of dead tissue can cause your system to launch an attack, which is another reason to avoid root canals—they leave behind a dead tooth.

Infection, plus the autoimmune rejection reaction, causes more bacteria to collect around the dead tissue. In the case of a root canal, bacteria are given the opportunity to flush into your blood stream every time you bite down.

Why Dentists Cling to the Belief Root Canals are Safe

The ADA rejects Dr. Price’s evidence, claiming root canals are safe, yet they offer no published data or actual research to substantiate their claim. American Heart Association recommends a dose of antibiotics before many routine dental procedures to prevent infective endocarditis (IE) if you have certain heart conditions that predispose you to this type of infection.

So, on the one hand, the ADA acknowledges oral bacteria can make their way from your mouth to your heart and cause a life-threatening infection.

But at the same time, the industry vehemently denies any possibility that these same bacteria—toxic strains KNOWN to be pathogenic to humans—can hide out in your dead root-canaled tooth to be released into your blood stream every time you chew, where they can damage your health in a multitude of ways.

Is this really that large of a leap? Could there be another reason so many dentists, as well as the ADA and the AAE, refuse to admit root canals are dangerous? Well, yes, as a matter of fact, there is. Root canals are the most profitable procedure in dentistry.x

What You Need to Know to AVOID a Root Canal

I strongly recommend never getting a root canal. Risking your health to preserve a tooth simply doesn’t make sense. Unfortunately, there are many people who’ve already have one. If you have, you should seriously consider having the tooth removed, even if it looks and feels fine. Remember, as soon as your immune system is compromised, your risk of of developing a serious medical problem increases—and assaults on your immune system are far too frequent in today’s world.

If you have a tooth removed, there are a few options available to you.

Partial denture: This is a removable denture, often just called a “partial.” It’s the simplest and least expensive option.
Bridge: This is a more permanent fixture resembling a real tooth but is a bit more involved and expensive to build.
Implant: This is a permanent artificial tooth, typically titanium, implanted in your gums and jaw. There are some problems with these due to reactions to the metals used. Zirconium is a newer implant material that shows promise for fewer complications.

But just pulling the tooth and inserting some sort of artificial replacement isn’t enough.

Dentists are taught to remove the tooth but leave your periodontal ligament. But as you now know, this ligament can serve as a breeding ground for deadly bacteria. Most experts who’ve studied this recommend removing the ligament, along with one millimeter of the bony socket, in order to drastically reduce your risk of developing an infection from the bacterially infected tissues left behind.

I strongly recommend consulting a biological dentist because they are uniquely trained to do these extractions properly and safely, as well as being adept at removing mercury fillings, if necessary. Their approach to dental care is far more holistic and considers the impact on your entire body—not JUST your mouth.

If you need to find a biological dentist in your area, I recommend visiting toxicteeth.orgxi, a resource sponsored by Consumers for Dental Choice. This organization, championed by Charlie Brown, is a highly reputable organization that has fought to protect and educate consumers so that they can make better-informed decisions about their dental care. The organization also heads up the Campaign for Mercury-Free Dentistry.

References:

i Weston A. Price Foundation
ii Price-Pottenger Foundation
iii Weston A. Price Foundation June 25, 2010
iv Quantum Cancer Management
v American Association of Endodontists
vi Journal of Clinical Microbiology February 2007
vii Journal of Clinical Microbiology July 2003
viii Clinical Infectious Diseases June 1996
ix Science Daily January 4, 2011
x The Wealthy Dentist July 12, 2011
xi ToxicTeeth.org

True meditation appears in consciousness spontaneously when awareness is not being manipulated or controlled. When you first start to meditate, you notice that attention is often being held captive by focus on some object: on thoughts, bodily sensations, emotions, memories, sounds, etc. This is because the mind is conditioned to focus and contract upon objects. Then the mind compulsively interprets and tries to control what it is aware of (the object) in a mechanical and distorted way. It begins to draw conclusions and make assumptions according to past conditioning.

In true meditation all objects (thoughts, feelings, emotions, memories, etc.) are left to their natural functioning. This means that no effort should be made to focus on, manipulate, control, or suppress any object of awareness. In true meditation the emphasis is on being awareness; not on being aware of objects, but on resting as primordial awareness itself. Primordial awareness is the source in which all objects arise and subside.

As you gently relax into awareness, into listening, the mind’s compulsive contraction around objects will fade. Silence of being will come more clearly into consciousness as a welcoming to rest and abide. An attitude of open receptivity, free of any goal or anticipation, will facilitate the presence of silence and stillness to be revealed as your natural condition.

As you rest into stillness more profoundly, awareness becomes free of the mind’s compulsive control, contractions, and identifications. Awareness naturally returns to its non-state of absolute unmanifest potential, the silent abyss beyond all knowing.

- Adyashanti

Poor dietary and lifestyle choices are at the root of our skyrocketing obesity rates. Knowing which lifestyle strategies give you the greatest return can help make weight management into a “non-issue”
Avoiding sugar/fructose and refined grains, and increasing vegetables and healthy fats are four of the “Master Keys” to successful, long-term weight management and optimal health
Knowing which type of exercise is the most efficient is essential if you want to reach your fitness and weight goals with the least amount of struggle
For optimal health and weight management, keep your total fructose intake below 25 grams of fructose per day if you’re in good health, and below 15 grams/day if you’re overweight or have any chronic health conditions.

By Dr. Mercola

In today’s world it’s more difficult than ever to keep your weight under control, as evidenced by the fact that over 2/3 of all American adults are now overweight or obesei, as are one in three children.

Part of the blame rests with the processed food corporations that spend billions of dollars marketing unhealthy foodsii as “healthy choices.”

So what do “naturally thin” people know that the rest don’t?

David Zinczenco, editor in chief of Men’s Health magazine, and Matt Goulding address this question in a recent article featured on Yahoo Healthiii, stating that most thin people tend to live by a series of “laws” that keep them from gaining excess weight.

These seven rules are simple enough that most can follow them:

Avoid “Dieting”: By dieting, you’re setting yourself up to gain more weight than ever.
Avoid “Fat-Free”: Fat doesn’t make you fat; you need fat in your diet to help you process certain nutrients.
Sit Down to Eat: Eating more slowly and savoring your meal boosts levels of two hormones that make you feel fuller.
Plan Your Meals and Snacks: Planning your responses to hunger helps you shed pounds faster.
Eat Protein: Those who eat moderately high levels of protein (including organic animal protein) are twice as likely to lose weight and keep it off as those who don’t eat much protein.
Move Around: “Fit people stay fit by having fun.”
Watch Less TV: Nearly 30 percent of people who watch more than four hours of TV a day have a BMI of 30 or higher.

(To read more about these rules, please see the original article.) I do believe Americans in particular have traded convenience for health, and that is partly visible in the list above.

Staying lean includes skipping conveniences like fast food and driving everywhere you need to go… It’s important to understand that poor dietary and lifestyle choices are at the very root of skyrocketing obesity- and disease rates. But, while the seven “laws of thin people” compiled by Zinczenco and Goulding are good ones, from my experience these rules are still coming up a short. So, below I will review several more that I believe are CRUCIAL factors for successful long-term weight management and optimal health.

Rule #1: Severely Limit Fructose in Your Diet

It is important to understand that your diet is THREE times more important for controlling your weight than your exercise. It’s very easy to sabotage any benefit you’d receive from exercise by consuming fructose-laden foods and beverages, including sports drinks, sodas, and fruit juices. If you consume any processed foods or sweetened beverages at all, reading the labels is a necessity. You may be shocked to realize just how much sugar is in the products you consume on a regular basis.

Why is limiting fructose so important for weight management and optimal health?

The reasons are numerous, but if I could make you memorize just one thing that can truly help you improve your health, it would be that eating fat does not make you fat; eating excessive fructose does! If you were to view soda with the same disdain most people give to a chunk of lard, you’d be on the right track… Ironically though, the lard would actually be more healthful for you than the soda!

Fructose simultaneously prevents weight loss and promotes fat storage, by:

Diminishing your satiety (feelings of fullness) as it does not stimulate a rise in leptin, one of the most powerful hunger and fat storage regulators in your body. And, of course, when you’re feeling hungry you tend to eat more.

Leptin resistance, just like insulin resistance, is also one of the most significant factors underlying a vast array of diseases. For example, it plays a significant if not primary role in the development of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, autoimmune diseases, reproductive disorders, and perhaps the rate of aging itself.
Not suppressing ghrelin (also known as “the hunger hormone”). Glucose, on the other hand, does suppress ghrelin, making you feel satiated
Slowly, if consumed chronically, causing insulin resistance, which hampers weight loss efforts
Converting directly to fat more readily than any other sugar. It is also known to raise triglycerides significantly
Robbing your body of micronutrients while assimilating itself for use (in the case of foods containing high fructose corn syrup. Whole fruits on the other hand does not have this particular problem as the fruit contains all these extra nutrients along with the fructose)

With all these simultaneous factors coming into play every time you consume fructose, it’s easy to see why a high-fructose diet can propel you into a vicious cycle of over-eating while also being malnourished.

My recommendation is to keep your total fructose intake below 25 grams of fructose per day, if you’re in good health. Most people will also benefit from limiting your fructose from fruit to 15 grams a day, and, if you need to lose weight, you likely will need to limit your total fructose consumption to 15 grams a day total, including that from fruit.

Rule # 2: Reduce Your Grain Carb Consumption
Excess weight     Depression     Bloating     High blood pressure
Fatigue and frequent sleepiness     Brain fogginess     Low blood sugar     High triglycerides

If you experience any of the following symptoms, chances are very good that the excess carbohydrates in your diet are, in part or whole, to blame: the primary reason for cutting out as many grain carbs as possible is because grains convert into sugar in your body, spiking your insulin levels. Eventually, your body becomes insulin resistant, and that’s when the majority of the problems really set in. Obesity is just the beginning. Insulin resistance is in fact one of the hallmarks of nearly every chronic disease known to man, from diabetes, to heart disease, to cancer.

If you want to be optimally healthy and normalize your weight, reducing your carb consumption is essential. This includes:

Breads and baked goods (ALL grains, including organic ones)
Rice
Pasta
Potatoes

We all need a certain amount of carbohydrates, of course, but, through our addiction to grains, corn, sweets and other starchy and sugary foods, we are consuming far too many. Your body’s storage capacity for carbohydrates is quite limited, so here’s what happens to all the excess: they are converted, via insulin, into fat and stored in the adipose (fatty) tissue.

Rule # 3: Increase Your Healthy Fat Consumption

Carbs (sugars) provide your body with energy, but it’s fast burning and doesn’t satisfy very long. Once you decrease carbs in the form of sugar/fructose and grains, you need to replace them with increased amounts of vegetable carbs and healthy saturated fats. Fats will not only make you feel satiated longer than carbs, but will also provide you with high quality fuel your body needs. And, while eating grains and sugars will raise your insulin levels and promote insulin resistance, eating fat does not. However, the quality of the fats is very important. Loading up on margarine and vegetable oils is asking for trouble as these types of trans fats have been linked to:

Cancer: They interfere with enzymes your body uses to fight cancer     Decreased immune function: They reduce your immune response     Obesity
Diabetes: They interfere with the insulin receptors in your cell membranes     Problems with reproduction: They interfere with enzymes needed to produce sex hormones     Heart disease: Trans fats can cause major clogging of your arteries

At the other end of the spectrum you have saturated fats, which are:

Preferred fuel for your heart

Useful antiviral agents (caprylic acid)

Useful for lowering cholesterol levels (palmitic and stearic acids)

Carriers for important fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K, and required for the conversion of carotene to vitamin A, for mineral absorption, and for a host of other biological processes

Effective as an anticaries, antiplaque and anti fungal agents (lauric acid)

Modulators of genetic regulation and prevent cancer (butyric acid)

Sources of healthy fats that you’ll want to add to your diet include:

Olives and Olive oil (for cold dishes)     Coconuts, and coconut oil (for all types of cooking and baking)     Butter made from raw grass-fed organic milk
Raw Nuts, such as, almonds or pecans     Organic pastured egg yolks     Avocados
Grass fed meats     Palm oil     Unheated organic nut oils

Another healthful fat you want to be mindful of is animal-based omega-3. Deficiency in this essential fat can cause or contribute to very serious health problems, both mental and physical, and may be a significant underlying factor of up to 96,000 premature deaths each year. For more information about omega-3′s and the best sources of this fat, please review this previous article.

Rule # 4: Avoid All “Diet” Foods, Especially Diet Sodas

Soda, in my opinion, is one of the primary health threats. A single can of Coke contains about 10 teaspoons of sugar. However, the alternative may be even worse. Diet sodas, which typically contain either aspartame or sucralose (Splenda), or a combination of both, can wreak havoc on your health in just as many ways as fructose, but since they are manmade chemicals, the toxic ramifications and side effects can be magnified.

Billions of dollars worth of advertising tells you that diet soda gives you all the pleasure of a sweet beverage or snack without any of the worries associated with excess calories. Too bad it really is too good to be true.

In fact, artificial sweeteners have actually been positively linked to weight gain—not weight loss! More recent research has demonstrated that your brain can tell the difference between real and artificial sugar, and not only are artificial sugars less satisfying to your brain at a cellular level, they also increase your craving for the real thing. So artificially sweetened foods and snacks, and diet soda in particular, must be avoided if you don’t want to fuel sugar cravings.

Rule # 5: Be Sure to Eat PLENTY of Organic Vegetables

One of the best ways to improve your health is to make sure you’re eating plenty of fresh, minimally processed high quality vegetables, ideally locally-grown and organic, with a majority of them consumed raw. One simple way to boost your vegetable intake is to juice them. I highly recommend it to anyone working to restore or improve their health. You can review my comprehensive approach to how to juice on my vegetable juicing page.

And for every vegetable you pack onto your plate or into your glass, you’ll have less room for all those other simple carbohydrates that can expand your waistline.

Rule # 6: Optimize Your Exercise Program

A healthy diet and exercise go hand in hand when it comes to creating and maintaining optimal health. If you are struggling with your weight, exercise is clearly one of the key factors that can synergize the effects of healthy food choices. But did you know that by making some minor changes in the types of exercises you engage in, you can speed up and dramatically improve the results?

It’s true.

The key to boosting weight loss and getting the most out of your exercise routine is to make sure to incorporate high-intensity, short-burst-type exercises, such as my Peak Fitness Program, two to three times per week. Several studies have confirmed that exercising in shorter bursts with rest periods in between burns more fat than exercising continuously for an entire session.

This has been shown to hold true even when the session is not done at an extremely high intensity.

This may be because these types of exercises are the closest to how the human body was designed to move—like that of a hunter-gatherer. A recent study highlights the benefits of this type of daily movement. The researchers noted that the ideal “exercise prescription” would include the following aspects of normal hunger-gatherer living:

A variety of exercises performed regularly (weight training, cardio, stretching, etc.)     Alternate difficult days with easier days     Exercise outdoors, which helps maintain vitamin D levels and improve mood
Interval training sessions performed once or twice a week     Weight training at least twice a week     Walk and run on softer, uneven terrain, such as grass and dirt, possibly barefoot or using “simpler shoes that do not drastically restrict foot motion or alter natural foot strike dynamics”
Exercise with a friend to receive social stimulation as well     Ample time for rest after physical exertion     Recreational activities, including dancing and sex

I completely agree that variety is yet another key to getting the most benefits from your exercise. A sound, well-rounded regimen would include:

High intensity interval exercises
Conventional aerobics
Strength training
Core exercises like Pilates
Stretching like Yoga or active isolated stretching

If you’re like most Americans, you probably have between a few and several unnecessary pounds you’d prefer not to be carrying around every day. I’m here to tell you that not only is it possible to take off the extra weight with a little thoughtful planning, it is also possible to keep the weight off simply by following a few sensible guidelines above and my nutrition plan.

But there’s also no denying radiation can be harmful beyond measure.

Disasters such as Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and more recently, Fukushima revealed the devastation of high-levels of radiation on the human body.

As with anything that can be both blessing and curse, the trick is to anticipate exposure whenever possible, and prepare for it as much as possible.

Today, I’ll share with you an easy way to prepare for low level exposure, such as a trip to the dentist, an annual mammogram, or even a trip through airport security.

You also might be surprised to know how much radiation you get without your knowledge and consent, which makes protecting yourself even more important…

I’ve shared many benefits of magnesium with you in the past. It plays an important role in bone development and has a symbiotic relationship with calcium. It’s also critical for your heart health. In fact, it is one of the few “crossover” natural remedies used regularly in ER’s across the country for patients exhibiting symptoms of heart attack.

But you might not realize that magnesium is a powerful detoxifier, and can protect you – and even undo damage – when you are exposed to radiation.

In fact, prior to the Chernobyl disaster, Austrian dairy farmers wanted to improve the health, longevity and production of their cows. So they added magnesium and other minerals to the soil. After Chernobyl, when food and soil was contaminated for miles, they discovered the cheese from the re-mineralized areas had no radioactivity whatsoever. Austrians would stand on line for hours for a chance to purchase this particular cheese in the wake of the disaster.

This is an extreme example, but one that shows the important role magnesium plays in radiation protection.

Magnesium supports the body in producing glutathione – one of the body’s primary protective agents against oxidative stress. Magnesium deficiency – and the resulting loss of glutathione – robs you of natural protection against damage from cigarette smoke, environmental toxins, and yes, exposure to radiation.

While medical tests aren’t the only sources of radiation exposure, they are the most easily anticipated, and give us the most chance to prepare in advance. Same with the new unavoidable airport security devices. At least you know when you’ll be travelling and can prepare in advance.

But what about all the other sources of radiation exposure in your life?

Radiation exposure is far from a new, manmade phenomenon. It is present naturally, in everything from sunlight to soil. And as such, our body also has some protective resources, such as magnesium and glutathione, to counteract this natural phenomenon.

But we have certainly done our fair share to add to our load of natural exposure. Which means we also need to increase our awareness and add extra precaution for our cells, to compensate.

At one time, medical and dental tests and procedures accounted for the lion’s share of exposure in this country – as much as 15% of your exposure every year. So taking measures in advance of known procedures involving radiation is one of the most sensible approaches to limiting the effects of your exposure.

In recent years, we’ve added more and modern devices that increase our exposure to radiation – such as microwave ovens, cell phones, and laptops. You may choose to simply avoid exposure to these items. But for many people, that’s unrealistic. Better instead to add some magnesium into your diet and to your supplement regimen to boost your cells’ natural ability to handle the extra load.

And there is one more reason you might want to take additional magnesium before a trip to the dentist in particular…

A little over two years ago, the FDA broke down and reversed their earlier opinion about the safety of amalgam fillings that contain mercury. It was a long time coming.

And while it’s good news that we are finally being told the truth about the danger of amalgam fillings, and we have safer alternatives today – it doesn’t help the millions of people who have had mouths full of metal fillings since they were kids.

This is yet another reason to increase your magnesium intake before and after a trip to the dentist. Magnesium also offers protection against highly toxic mercury. Whether you are having amalgam fillings removed, or simply having other work done, your exposure to the mercury from these fillings could escalate. When you combine the increase of mercury leeching into your system, with the radiation exposure from the x-rays, a simple trip to the dentist isn’t simple at all.

My recommendation is that you work with a holistic dentist who is sensitive to these issues, and who knows how to minimize your exposure. Protect yourself with magnesium supplementation before and after a visit to the dentist to support your cells. And then, keep your teeth as healthy as possible all year long so you can limit yourself to just one dental visit a year!
This article appears courtesy of Advanced Natural Medicine, the natural health newsletter that lets you in on the newest discoveries and latest breakthroughs in natural medicine

Curcumin, an active component of the Indian curry spice turmeric, may help the body slow tumor growth in prostate cancer patients whose cancers become resistant to androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), a study by researchers at Thomas Jefferson University suggests.

The situation in these patients is that, over time, prostate cancer cells can start to become resistant to hormonal therapies designed to block the release and/or uptake of androgen (testosterone), which is an important male hormone in the development and progression of prostate cancer: Two known nuclear receptor activators, p300 and CPB (or CREB1-binding protein), have been shown to work against androgen deprivation therapy, and with their help, sophisticated tumor cells sometimes bypass the therapy (become ADT resistant).

But the TJU team, led by cancer biologist Karen Knudsen, PhD, have observed in a pre-clinical (animal) study that supplementation with curcumin may support suppression of p300 and CPB.

As described in their report, published in the February issue of Cancer Research, they began by studying prostate cancer cells subjected to hormone deprivation – both without curcumin and with curcumin in doses that were “physiologically attainable.” (Previous studies, which found similar results, had involved doses that were not realistic.)

They found that the curcumin supported greater ADT results, and reduced cell numbers compared with ADT alone. Moreover, the curcumin was found to be a potent inhibitor of both cell cycle and survival in prostate cancer cells.

Next, the researchers investigated curcumin supplementation in a study involving mice that were castrated to mimic ADT. They were randomized into two cohorts: curcumin and control. Tumor growth and mass were significantly reduced in the mice supplemented with curcumin, the researchers report.

These data demonstrate for the first time that curcumin helps the body to both hamper the transition of ADT-sensitive disease to castration-resistance, and block the growth of established castrate-resistant prostate tumors, the researchers say. And “It also has implications beyond prostate cancer, since p300 and CBP are important in other malignancies, like breast cancer.”

Note: This information has not been evaluated by the FDA. It is general information and is not meant to prevent, diagnose, treat or cure any illness, condition or disease. It is very important that you make no change in your healthcare plan or health support regimen without researching and discussing it in collaboration with your professional healthcare team.

Vitamin B12 is found almost exclusively in animal tissues, which vegans and vegetarians do not typically eat. The few plant foods that are sources of B12 are actually B12 analogs, which blocks the uptake of true B12 and actually increases your need for it.
B12 is stored in your liver, kidneys and other body tissues. As a result, a deficiency may not be apparent for about seven years.
Initial symptoms of deficiency include: lack of motivation, apathy, mental fogginess, muscle weakness and fatigue. Chronic long-term B12 deficiency can lead to serious conditions such as depression, dementia, and fertility problems.

The average non-vegetarian stores between 2,000 and 3,000 picograms of B-12 per day.

B-12 helps change homocysteine into methionine.

When this does not happen, homocysteine levels increase, which recent research has associated heart disease and deterioration of the arteries and nerves.

Although many vegan foods are said to have active B-12, few are proving to actually raise B-12 or prevent its loss.

There are a variety of symptoms of B-12 deficiency, which is a danger for vegans and live fooders.

The initial symptoms can include low energy, but it can eventually cause permanent nerve damage, depression, numbness and tingling in the hands and feet, nervousness, paranoia, hyperactive reflexes, impaired memory and behavioral changes.

According to Dr. Cousen’s Blog:

“Consistent research over the last decade has shown that vegans and live food people of all ages and sexes have a much higher risk of becoming B-12 deficient …

This deficiency is particularly true with newborn babies …

The good news that one major study … showed, in studying 37 vegan children was that there was normal growth and development in children who were breastfed for 6 months at a minimum, when there was B-12 supplementation …

It is my medical opinion, as a vegan since 1973 and live fooder since 1983, and as a person committed to supporting all those who choose to become healthy live food vegans, that it would be wise to incorporate some B-12 supplementation in your diet.”

By Dr. Mercola

Some may disagree with me, but it is my observation and belief that a strict vegan diet, one that includes no sources of animal protein whatsoever, can be dangerous — even deadly for certain individuals. I realize that many make this dietary choice based on ethical or spiritual convictions, and I have no disagreements with that.

However, there are very often health consequences to veganism, namely missing critical nutrients needed to optimize your health. As Dr. Gabriel Cousens, who is a devoted live-food vegan himself, explains in the blog linked above, one such nutrient is vitamin B12 — which would make a wise addition to the diets of virtually all vegans.

Why Vegans are Often Deficient in Vitamin B12

The few plant foods that are sources of B12 are actually B12 analogs. An analog is a substance that blocks the uptake of true B12, so your body’s need for the nutrient actually increases. Vitamin B12 is found almost exclusively in animal tissues, which vegans and vegetarians do not typically eat, including foods like:

Beef and beef liver Lamb
Snapper Venison
Salmon Shrimp
Scallops Poultry and eggs

This is why vitamin B12 deficiency is extremely common in strict vegetarians and vegans, but many are unaware there’s a problem until it’s too late. Even though vitamin B12 is water-soluble, it doesn’t exit your body quickly in your urine like other water-soluble vitamins. Instead, B12 is stored in your liver, kidneys and other body tissues, and as a result, a deficiency may not show itself for a number of years.

This is a serious concern, because after about seven years of B12 deficiency, irreversible brain damage and other problems can result. (The exception is infants and children, in which extensive B12 reserves have not yet been established, so deficiency signs and symptoms tend to become apparent more rapidly.)

Why Vitamin B12 Deficiency is Serious

In the beginning, B12 deficiency may prompt changes in your mood, such as lack of motivation or feelings of apathy. It can lead to mental fogginess, memory troubles, muscle weakness and — one of the hallmark signs — fatigue. Vitamin B12 is fittingly known as the energy vitamin, and your body requires it for a number of vital functions, including energy production, as well as:

Proper digestion, food absorption, iron use, carbohydrate and fat metabolism Healthy nervous system function Promotion of normal nerve growth and development
Help with regulation of the formation of red blood cells Cell formation and longevity Proper circulation
Adrenal hormone production Healthy immune system function Support of female reproductive health and pregnancy
Feelings of well-being and mood regulation Mental clarity, concentration, memory function Physical, emotional and mental energy

Over time, if long-term, chronic B12 deficiency develops it can lead to serious, irreversible conditions including:

Depression Dementia and Alzheimer’s Anemia
Neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions Female fertility and childbearing problems Heart disease and cancer

Among pregnant women, nursing women and infants, the effects of vitamin B12 deficiency can be particularly devastating. Pregnant women with B12 deficiency carry an increased risk of having a baby born with neural tube defects, a class of birth defects affecting the infant’s brain and spinal cord. Spina bifida, which can cause paralysis, is a type of neural tube defect, as is anencephaly, which is fatal. A B12 deficiency has also been linked to infertility and repeated miscarriages

If your diet doesn’t include animal products and you’re breastfeeding, your baby could also develop brain abnormalities due to a vitamin B12 deficiency. Earlier this year you may have seen the tragic story of 11-month-old Louise Le Moaligou, who died from complications associated with vitamin deficiencies, including B12, allegedly caused by her mom’s vegan diet. According to a study on the Hallelujah Diet — a strict vegan diet — by researcher Michael Donaldson, Ph.D. of Cornell University:

“Our study revealed early signs of vitamin B12 deficiency in 26 of the 54 people tested, after following the Hallelujah Diet for as little as two to four years.”

He noted not only that vegan food sources of vitamin B12 are sparse, but that deficiency is especially dangerous for pregnant and nursing moms and infants:

“Based on the published studies and our results, adequate vitamin B12 status of vegans cannot be taken for granted. Pregnant women, nursing mothers, infants, and small children are particularly vulnerable to B12 shortages. Ensuring adequate B12 is critical for normal neurological development and maintenance, with shortages resulting in permanent damage.”

Why Can’t You Get B12 from Plant Foods?

If you’re a vegan, you may be thinking you can just eat a selection of plant foods that contain B12 — such as sea vegetables, fermented foods like tempeh and algae like spirulina — and be just fine. But this is not the case because these foods contain B12 analogs along with active B12. The result is that eating these foods may ultimately make your B12 levels worse.

As Dr. Cousens explained:

“Up until this time, many of us have felt that additional supplementation for live fooders with sea vegetables or probiotic formulas was sufficient for protection against B-12 deficiency. This does not seem to be the case. In macrobiotics, who primarily cook their food, we see a very high percentage of children actually having growth retardation due to low B-12 intake. Many of us have felt that spirulina, Klamath Lake Algae, all the sea vegetables had enough active B-12 to avoid a B-12 deficiency.

Although the research is not fully in, we do know that … these substances do have human active B-12. The problem is they also have a significant amount of analog B-12 that competes with the human active B-12 … Using the methyl malonic acid reduction approach, which is now the gold standard, research showed that when people used dry and raw nori from Japan, the dried nori actually made the methyl malonic acid (MMA) status worse, which means it actually reduced the B-12 status.

Therefore it could possibly worsen a B-12 deficiency. Raw nori seemed to keep the methyl malonic acid at the same level, meaning it did not harm the B-12 status, but the research showed it did not particularly help it either. No food in Europe or the U.S. has been tested for lowering methyl malonic acid.”

The other argument often used by vegans is that your body produces vitamin B12 from bacteria in the large intestine, so additional sources are not necessary. While it’s true that your body does produce B12 in this way, your body will not be able to absorb it. As Dr. Cousens stated:

“There is one exception to this lack of vegetarian B-12 active food, which is that we do produce B-12 from bacteria in our large intestine, but since this B-12 is produced in the area below where B-12 is reabsorbed, it is really not available for absorption.”

What Options do Vegans Have?

If you are open to it, I would first suggest adding some animal foods into your diet, as B12 is available in its natural form only in animal food sources. This doesn’t necessarily have to be meat — eggs and dairy are options also. Top foods to include are:

Grass-fed beef and beef liver
Organic, free-range chicken
Raw milk
Organic free-range eggs

Seafood is another option, but one I don’t recommend eating unless you can be certain it is not contaminated with mercury and other pollutants. If you don’t consume enough of these animal products to get an adequate supply of B12, I recommend a vitamin B12 supplement.

Even if you do eat animal foods, a supplement can be beneficial if your body’s ability to absorb the vitamin from food is compromised, which is especially prevalent as you age. When you get older, the lining of your stomach gradually loses its ability to produce hydrochloric acid, which releases vitamin B12 from your food. If you’re over 50, it’s safe to assume you are not absorbing vitamin B12 at an optimal level.

But, truth be told, most multi-vitamins sold today are a complete waste of money when it comes to their B12 quality and absorption potential.

Part of the reason vitamin B12 is so difficult to absorb and requires an additional protein — intrinsic factor — that binds to vitamin B12 and allows your body to absorb it into your bloodstream is because it is a massively large molecule when compared with other vitamins.

Because it is far larger than any other vitamin, it requires extraordinary measures to actually push this molecule into your blood. But if your body doesn’t produce enough stomach acid, which can occur as you age and also with other conditions like indigestion, heartburn and gastric reflux disease (GERD), then you’re not producing enough intrinsic factor either.

Fortunately, a technology has been developed that can reduce the effective size of the vitamin B12 molecule and help you absorb it into the fine capillaries under your tongue. The delivery system for these microscopic droplets of vitamin B12 is a fine mist you spray into your mouth, which bypasses the intrinsic factor problem and is much easier, safer and less painful than having your doctor inject you with a vitamin B12 shot.

Whichever option you choose — animal foods or a high-quality spray mist supplement — I recommend you begin consuming it immediately if you’re a vegan, as doing so could help you circumvent serious health problems looming in your future.