Cancer's Favorite Food - Found in Everything You Eat?
Pancreatic tumor cells use fructose to divide and proliferate, according to a study that challenges the notion that all sugars are the same.
Tumor cells fed both glucose and fructose used the two sugars in two different ways. This could explain why other studies have previously linked fructose intake with pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest cancer types.
According to MSNBC:
"Americans take in large amounts of fructose, mainly in high fructose corn syrup, a mix of fructose and glucose that is used in soft drinks, bread and a range of other foods. Politicians, regulators, health experts and the industry have debated whether high fructose corn syrup and other ingredients have been helping make Americans fatter and less healthy."
Sources: MSNBC August 2, 2010 Cancer Research August 1, 2010; 70: 6368 Reuters August 2, 2010
Are all sugars equal in terms of the health effects they produce?
Sooner or later, science will put this debate to rest once and for all. It's already been conclusively shown that fructose, most commonly consumed in the form of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), is FAR more hazardous to your health than regular sugar, but the corn industry still vehemently denies such claims.
Through successful PR campaigns, industry has managed to pull the wool over your eyes for some time now, but eventually even they will have to surrender to the scientific evidence...
Until then, propaganda machines like the Corn Refiners Association's site, SweetSurprise.com, will continue telling you that "research confirms that high fructose corn syrup is safe and no different from other common sweeteners like table sugar and honey. All three sweeteners are nutritionally the same," and that "though the individual sugars are metabolized by different pathways, this is of little consequence since the body sees the same mix of sugars from caloric sweeteners, regardless of source."
But are these metabolic differences of little consequence?
Far from it!
Fructose Speeds Up Cancer Growth
Research just published in the journal Cancer Research shows that the way the different sugars are metabolized (using different metabolic pathways) is of MAJOR consequence when it comes to feeding cancer and making it proliferate.
According to the authors:
" Importantly, fructose and glucose metabolism are quite different... These findings show that cancer cells can readily metabolize fructose to increase proliferation."
In this case, the cancer cells used were pancreatic cancer, which is typically regarded as the most deadly and universally rapid-killing form of cancer.
The study confirms the old adage that sugar feeds cancer because they found that tumor cells do thrive on sugar (glucose). However, the cells used fructose for cell division, speeding up the growth and spread of the cancer.
If this difference isn't of major consequence, then I don't know what is.
Whether you're simply interested in preventing cancer, or have cancer and want to live longer, you ignore these facts and listen to industry propaganda at your own risk.
How Does Sugar Feed Cancer?
Controlling your blood-glucose and insulin levels through diet, exercise and emotional stress relief can be one of the most crucial components to a cancer recovery program. These factors are also crucial in order to prevent cancer in the first place.
It may surprise you, but the theory that sugar feeds cancer was born nearly 80 years ago. Even more shocking, most conventional cancer programs STILL do not adequately address diet and the need to avoid sugars.
In 1931 the Nobel Prize was awarded to German researcher Dr. Otto Warburg, who first discovered that cancer cells have a fundamentally different energy metabolism compared to healthy cells.
Malignant tumors tend to use a process where glucose is used as a fuel by the cancer cells, creating lactic acid as a byproduct.[i] The large amount of lactic acid produced by this fermentation of glucose from cancer cells is then transported to your liver. This conversion of glucose to lactic acid generates a lower, more acidic pH in cancerous tissues as well as overall physical fatigue from lactic acid buildup.[ii] [iii]
This is a very inefficient pathway for energy metabolism, which extracts only about 5 percent of the available energy in your food supply. In simplistic terms, the cancer is "wasting" energy, which leads you to become both tired and undernourished, and as the vicious cycle continues, will lead to the body wasting so many cancer patients experience.
Additionally, carbohydrates from glucose and sucrose significantly decreases the capacity of neutrophils to do their job. Neutrophils are a type of white blood cell that help cells to envelop and destroy invaders, such as cancer.
In a nutshell, ALL forms of sugar are detrimental to health in general and promote cancer, but in slightly different ways, and to a different extent. Fructose, however, clearly seems to be one of the overall most harmful.
Connecting the Dots: Fructose—Uric Acid—Cancer and Chronic Disease Risk
One particularly interesting tidbit I noticed in this latest study is the mention of how fructose metabolism leads to increased uric acid production along with cancer cell proliferation.
In my first interview with Dr. Johnson, he explained just how detrimental the impact of fructose is on your uric acid level. Interestingly, ONLY fructose, NOT glucose, drives up uric acid as part of its normal metabolic pathways
And, the connection between fructose, uric acid, hypertension, insulin resistance/diabetes and kidney disease is so clear that your uric acid level can actually be used as a marker for toxicity from fructose -- meaning that if your levels are high, you're at increased risk of all the health hazards associated with fructose consumption and you really need to reduce your fructose intake.
For more information about this topic, please see this link.
Dr. Richard Johnson has written one of the best books on the market on the health dangers of fructose, called The Sugar Fix, which explains how fructose causes high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, diabetes and kidney disease. As I've mentioned previously, he does promote the use of artificial sweeteners in this book, which I cannot recommend. His research on fructose, however, is unsurpassed in my opinion.
Now it's safe to say that cancer, at least pancreatic cancer, is also definitely on the list of diseases that are directly linked to excessive fructose consumption.
So are Fruits Good or Bad for You?
This recommendation has created much controversy among many who regularly consume fruit and believe this recommendation does not apply to them.
Many who eat large amounts of fruit have no symptoms, just as those with high blood pressure may not have any symptoms. However lack of symptoms is no assurance you are not exposing yourself to some danger.
Please remember that over three-quarters of the population has insulin resistance.
How do you know if you have insulin resistance? If you have any of the following conditions it is a safe bet you have it:
• Diabetes
• High blood pressure
• Overweight
• High Cholesterol
• Cancer
If you have insulin resistance it would be strongly recommended to limit your total grams of fructose from fruit to below 15 grams per day (see the table below). If you believe you are very healthy and are an exception to this recommendation, then you can easily confirm if this is true for you by measuring your uric acid level.
If your uric acid level is greater than 5.5 than you have a risk factor and should limit your fructose consumption. The higher over 5.5, the stronger the risk factor is.
Keep in mind that fruits also contain fructose, although an ameliorating factor is that whole fruits also contain vitamins and other antioxidants that reduce the hazardous effects of fructose.
Juices, on the other hand, are nearly as detrimental as soda, because a glass of juice is loaded with fructose, and a lot of the antioxidants are lost.
It is important to remember that fructose alone isn't evil as fruits are certainly beneficial. But when you consume high levels of fructose it will absolutely devastate your biochemistry and physiology. Remember the AVERAGE fructose dose is 70 grams per day which exceeds the recommend limit by 300 percent.
So please BE CAREFUL with your fruit consumption. You simply MUST understand that because HFCS is so darn cheap, it is added to virtually every processed food. So even if you consumed no soda or fruit, it is very easy to exceed 25 grams of hidden fructose in your diet if you are consuming anything processed.
If you are a raw food advocate, have a pristine diet, and exercise regularly, then you could be the exception that could exceed this limit and stay healthy. But in my experience that is certainly the exception and not the norm.
So please, carefully add up your fruits based on the table below to keep the total fructose from fruit below 15 grams per day.
Fruit Serving Size Grams of Fructose
Limes 1 medium 0
Lemons 1 medium 0.6
Cranberries 1 cup 0.7
Passion fruit 1 medium 0.9
Prune 1 medium 1.2
Apricot 1 medium 1.3
Guava 2 medium 2.2
Date (Deglet Noor style) 1 medium 2.6
Cantaloupe 1/8 of med. melon 2.8
Raspberries 1 cup 3.0
Clementine 1 medium 3.4
Kiwifruit 1 medium 3.4
Blackberries 1 cup 3.5
Star fruit 1 medium 3.6
Cherries, sweet 10 3.8
Strawberries 1 cup 3.8
Cherries, sour 1 cup 4.0
Pineapple 1 slice
(3.5" x .75") 4.0
Grapefruit, pink or red 1/2 medium 4.3
Restricting Fructose Consumption is Crucial Part of a Comprehensive Cancer Treatment Plan
Reducing (or preferably eliminating) fructose and other added sugars, as well as limiting grain carbohydrates from your diet, is usually a primary priority on my list of cancer reducing strategies, and for good reason.
This dietary strategy should also be part of your comprehensive cancer treatment plan.
By severely reducing your intake of fructose and carbs in your diet, you help stave off any potential cancer growth, and "starve" any tumors you currently have.
It also bolsters your overall immune function, because sugar decreases the function of your immune system almost immediately.
Unfortunately, few cancer patients undergoing conventional cancer care in the US are offered any scientifically guided nutrition therapy beyond being told to "just eat healthy foods." I believe many cancer patients would see major improvement in their outcome if they controlled the supply of cancer's preferred fuel, glucose, and stayed clear of fructose to significantly reduce tumor proliferation.
Starving Cancer – Another Up-and-Coming Strategy
Before I go into further cancer prevention strategies, I'd like to remind you of another recent cancer research development I recently wrote about, namely 'starving' cancer by eating foods that prevent angiogenesis.
Angiogenesis (too many blood vessels) is a hallmark of cancer as the tumor actually needs blood in order to grow (this is how it feeds on the glucose in your bloodstream). But angiogenesis appears to be preventable by consuming foods that are natural inhibitors of excessive blood vessel growth.
When you regularly consume these foods, you can effectively starve any microscopic cancerous growths, effectively preventing them from growing further and becoming dangerous.
According to Dr. Li, who is currently leading this research, resveratrol from red grapes, for example, have been shown to inhibit abnormal angiogenesis by 60 percent. Even more potent is the ellagic acid found in strawberries.
Other potent anti-angiogenetic foods include:
Green tea Berries: strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries Cherries
Citrus: oranges, grapefruit, lemons Kale Turmeric
Nutmeg Artichokes Parsley
Garlic Tomato Maitake mushroom
Logically, different foods contain different potencies of anti-angiogenetic compounds. Some foods have even been found to be more potent than current anti-angiogenetic drugs! These include parsley and garlic.
But interestingly, when researchers evaluated a combination of two of the LEAST potent teas, for example, they discovered that this combination tea had greater potency than any given tea by itself.
"There's synergy," Li states, which should come as no surprise to those of you who are well-versed in holistic nutrition.
It is this synergy that makes fresh, whole foods so potently nutritious!
The sum is far greater than the individual parts, and this is why it's far more important to focus on eating a diet of whole, organic foods, rather than obsessing about individual nutrients.
Other Cancer Prevention Strategies
Aside from avoiding fructose and other added sugars (which means cutting out not only soda and sugary beverages, but also processed foods since most are loaded with HFCS), and incorporating more anti-angiogenetic fare into your diet, here are several additional strategies you can incorporate to virtually eliminate your cancer risk:
1. Normalize your vitamin D levels with safe amounts of sun exposure. This is one of the most effective, and least expensive, cancer prevention strategies available to most people. Ideally, you'll want to monitor your vitamin D levels to make sure your levels stay within a therapeutic range year-round.
2. Get appropriate amounts of animal-based omega-3 fats.
3. Exercise. One of the primary reasons exercise works is that it drives your insulin levels down. Controlling insulin levels is one of the most powerful ways to reduce your cancer risks.
4. Have a tool to permanently erase the neurological short-circuiting that can activate cancer genes. Even the CDC states that 85 percent of disease is caused by emotions. It is likely that this factor may be more important than all the other physical ones listed here, so make sure this is addressed. My particular favorite tool for this purpose, as you may know, is the Emotional Freedom Technique.
5. Only 25 percent of people eat enough vegetables, so by all means eat as many vegetables as you are comfortable with, preferably fresh and organic.
Ideally, you'll also want to determine your nutritional type, as some veggies are better than others, depending on your type. In addition, if you are a carb nutritional type, for example, you may need up to 300 percent more vegetables than a protein nutritional type.
6. Maintain an ideal body weight.
7. Get enough high-quality sleep.
8. Reduce your exposure to environmental toxins like pesticides, household chemical cleaners, synthetic air fresheners and air pollution.
9. Boil, poach or steam your foods, rather than frying or charbroiling them.
References
________________________________________
• [i] Warburg O. On the origin of cancer cells. Science 1956 Feb;123:309-14.
• [ii] Volk T, et al. pH in human tumor xenografts: effect of intravenous administration of glucose. Br J Cancer 1993 Sep;68(3):492-500
• [iii] Digirolamo M. Diet and cancer: markers, prevention and treatment. New York: Plenum Press; 1994. p 203
Friday, August 27, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Top foods to stay away from
Great article relating how process foods affect your gut flora and how important that is to your health.
The Foods You Shouldn't Touch With a Ten Foot Pole
Posted By Dr. Mercola | August 24 2010 | 126,161 views
Scientists compared youngsters from a rural African village with another group living in Italy and found a dramatic difference. The African children had less obesity-linked bacteria, and more fatty acids which protect against inflammation.
The diet of the African children was similar to that of people living in the modern Western world thousands of years ago. Of the Italian children, only those who were still breast-feeding harbored bacteria resembling the African children's.
The trillions of microbes that inhabit your gut help you to digest food, protect against disease-causing bugs and limit inflammation.
The Telegraph reports:
"Pediatrician Dr Paolo Lionetti … and colleagues said children in industrialized countries who eat … 'Western' diets may reduce microbial richness — potentially contributing to a rise in allergic and inflammatory diseases in the last half-century."
Sources:
The Telegraph August 2, 2010
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences August 2, 2010 [epub ahead of print]
Obesity is not the only health risk your child faces if he eats a diet consisting mainly of processed foods and snacks. As illustrated by this study, a junk food diet – with is a largely denatured diet, devoid of "live" nutrients such as healthy bacteria – can also set the stage for asthma, eczema, and a variety of allergies, inflammatory conditions and autoimmune diseases.
Sadly, as the Western-style diet spreads across the globe, much of the natural microbial diversity that is so crucial to good health is actually starting to disappear! Here, the authors stress the importance of "preserving this treasure of microbial diversity from ancient rural communities worldwide."
Indeed, the importance of eating a gut-healthy diet cannot be underestimated. Your gut plays a major role in your physical and even mental health, and having a healthy gut entails maintaining a balance of "good" and "bad" bacteria – something you simply will not accomplish by eating highly processed, "dead" foods.
Until recently, most doctors dismissed the notion that your digestive system did much of anything outside of breaking down food, but in recent years scientists have revealed just how inaccurate this thinking was.
For example, an estimated 80 percent of your immune system is actually located in your gut, so supporting your digestive health is essential to also supporting your immune system, which is your number one defense system against ALL disease.
Therefore, it should come as no major surprise to find out that lack of beneficial bacteria in your intestines will also allow allergies, inflammation and autoimmune diseases to flourish where they might not otherwise.
Common signs and symptoms that you may need to address your intestinal balance include:
• Gas and bloating
• Constipation or diarrhea
• Nausea
• Headaches
• Fatigue
• Sugar cravings, and cravings for refined carb foods
Chances are, if you or your entire family eats a lot of processed junk foods and fast foods, this list may be a description of a more or less an everyday "normal" state for you
So What Foods Should You Avoid Like the Plague?
Soda
In my mind this is where most people will get the biggest payoff for the amount of effort involved. The average person consumes more than one gallon of soda per week. Reducing or eliminating soda from your diet is one of the easiest shifts to make.
Most diet sodas are worse than regular sodas, as you can read in my recent review on aspartame. When people ask me what is safer to drink: diet or regular soda, I ask them what they would rather be hit in the head with -- a baseball bat or a sledgehammer? It's a tough call, but I think a case can be made for regular soda being the lesser of two evils...
That said, regular soda with its high sugar content promotes yeast overgrowth, which in turn promotes allergies. In fact, many people with yeast-related allergies and food sensitivities tend to have sugar cravings, which is doubly problematic since it actually feeds the yeast that is already overgrown in their systems.
While many of you are not likely consuming many sodas, it is vital to understand the importance of this simple change for your friends and family who are not as health savvy as you. Gentle persistent encouragement of this principle will have massively profound implications on their health.
Fortunately there are simple alternatives that are relatively easy to implement. The best is pure clean water. I just completed a four-hour video interview with a leading water industry water expert and hope to share that with you in the next few weeks for more details.
For those who are really struggling, you can purchase carbonated water and use flavored liquid stevias for a taste that is very similar to most sodas. You can also use Turbo Tapping, which is a highly effective, free EFT tapping technique.
Doughnuts and Pastries
Overall these foods are worse than soda as they not only contain sugar, typically in the form of high fructose corn syrup, but they also contain dangerous trans fats. The reason I did not list this one first is that they are not consumed by as many people on a regular basis.
For more information about how trans fats promotes allergies, while saturated fats relieve them, please see this previous article.
French Fries
Oh, they taste so good, but are ever so bad for you as they are loaded with the worst types of fat on the planet -- typically highly refined and genetically modified omega 6 oils, such as corn, canola, and soybean oils.
If you’re still unaware of the link between allergies and genetically engineered food ingredients (particularly soy), please review this recent article by GMO expert, Jeffrey Smith.
These highly processed omega-6 oils are bad enough if you eat them in the form of unheated salad dressing, but when these oils are heated to a high temperature, they transform into a potent mixture that is sure to destroy your health.
Avoid these like the plague. Be particularly careful when ordering hamburgers and other similar foods in a restaurant as most will include fries by default, and once they are at your table they're hard to resist. So please be sure to order a healthier alternative.
Nearly All Breakfast Cereals
Breakfast is, without question, the single most challenging meal to eat outside of your home. Most of the typical breakfast offerings will drag your health down. The most commonly consumed breakfast are breakfast cereals, which are merely disguised forms of high fructose corn syrup loaded with genetically modified (GM) grains. But pancakes, French toast, waffles, scrambled eggs and rolls don't do much to improve your health either.
Many may wonder about the scrambled egg concern but the high heat oxidized cholesterol in the eggs and severely damages it. Far better to have the eggs MINIMALLY cooked or better yet raw eggs.
Processed Foods and Snacks
In addition to these specific examples, processed foods in general can contribute to allergies for a number of different reasons. Most processed foods contain a variety of food colorings, flavors, preservatives, and other additives can have a major impact. Junk foods also has a detrimental effect on your gut flora, which has major consequences for your overall health, weight control, and the development of allergies.
The Many Health Benefits of Maintaining Healthy Gut Flora
The ideal ratio between the bacteria in your body is 85 percent "good" and 15 percent "bad." That's right – you need FAR more beneficial bacteria (probiotics) than you might think in order to maintain the right balance.
The key here is to avoid as many processed foods as you can. This is a challenge because over 90% of the foods that Americans eat are processed and the number source of calories is high fructose corn syrup. So the general principle is to avoid processed foods, but some foods are more particularly pernicious than others so let me give you some examples.
This ratio is essential for:
• The proper development and function of your immune system
• Protection against over-growth of other microorganisms that could cause disease
• Digestion of food and absorption of nutrients
• Producing vitamins, absorbing minerals and eliminating toxins
As you can see, probiotics perform a wide variety of functions, which renders them useful and beneficial for a number of health concerns, including the prevention or control of:
• Food and skin allergies in children
• Vaginitis
• Premature labor in pregnant women
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Recurrent ear and bladder infections
• Chronic diarrhea
One of the ways friendly bacteria help prevent allergies, infections and inflammatory conditions is by training your immune system to distinguish between pathogens and non-harmful antigens, and to respond appropriately.
When you're deficient in these healthy bacteria, your immune system is ill equipped to address the many pathogens and antigens entering your system on a daily basis, and health problems can easily ensue.
Your Gut's Microflora Also Impacts Your Weight
The microflora in your digestive system is also emerging as a major player in weight management, and needless to say, junk food and weight gain typically go hand in hand.
Your gut flora is by no means the only underlying reason for this, but it does play an important part.
Multiple studies have shown that obese people have different intestinal bacteria than slim people, and it appears that the microbes in an overweight body are much more efficient at extracting calories from food.
Researchers have also suggested that certain bacteria may cause low-grade inflammation in your body, further contributing to obesity and difficulty to lose weight.
One such study found that the bifidobacteria counts taken from infants at the age of 6 months and 12 months were twice as high in healthy weight children as in those who became overweight, while S. Aureus levels were lower.
Interestingly, this finding may explain why breast-fed babies are also at a lower risk of obesity, as bifidobacteria flourish in the guts of breast-fed babies.
The breast-fed Italian babies in the study above were also the only ones harboring bacteria resembling the African children's, which indicates your "diet may dominate other factors such as ethnicity, sanitation, geography or climate," the researchers said.
Two previous studies found that obese people had about 20 percent more of a family of bacteria known as firmicutes, and almost 90 percent less of a bacteria called bacteroidetes than lean people. (Firmicutes help your body to extract calories from complex sugars and deposit those calories in fat.)
This latest study confirms those results, as here too, the African children had significantly higher levels of Bacteroidetes and far lower levels of the firmicutes linked to obesity.
How to Optimize the Bacteria in Your Gut
Fortunately, influencing the ratio of bacteria growing in your body is relatively easy. One of the most important steps you can take is to stop consuming processed and sugary foods. This includes cutting down on grains, as most grains are quickly converted into sugar in your body.
Keep in mind, of course, that if you or your children need to lose some excess weight, balancing your gut bacteria is only one part of the equation. Regular exercise and addressing any emotional blocks are also very important.
When you eat a healthy diet low in sugars and processed foods, one of the major benefits is that it naturally causes the good bacteria in your gut to flourish.
Yet, even with an extremely low-sugar diet, there are other factors that influence your gut bacteria. Antibiotics, chlorinated water, antibacterial soap, agricultural chemicals, pollution -- all of these things help to kill off your good bacteria. This is why it's a wise choice to "reseed" your body with good bacteria from time to time by taking a high-quality probiotic supplement or eating fermented foods.
In the past, people used fermented foods like yogurt and sauerkraut to support their digestive health, as these foods are rich in naturally beneficial bacteria. This is still the best route to optimal digestive health.
Healthy choices include:
• Lassi (an Indian yoghurt drink, traditionally enjoyed before dinner)
• Fermented milk, such as kefir
• Various pickled fermentations of cabbage, turnips, eggplant, cucumbers, onions, squash and carrots
• Natto (fermented soy)
If you were to eat a diet rich in fermented foods that have NOT been pasteurized (as pasteurization kills the naturally occurring probiotics), then you would likely enjoy great digestive health without any additional supplementation.
However, if you simply do not like any of these types of fermented foods, your next best option is to use a high quality probiotic supplement.
I have used many different brands over the past 15 years and there are many good ones out there. I also spent a long time researching and developing my own, called Complete Probiotics, in which I incorporated everything I have learned about this important tool over the years.
Keep in mind, however, that processed foods in general will destroy healthy microflora and feed bad bacteria and yeast, so you can't use the drug approach to probiotics -- meaning, you can't maintain a diet high in processed foods while taking a probiotic supplement to counteract the ill effects.
You may be able to temporarily suppress some of the troublesome symptoms caused by that kind of diet, but it won't work in the long run.
The Foods You Shouldn't Touch With a Ten Foot Pole
Posted By Dr. Mercola | August 24 2010 | 126,161 views
Scientists compared youngsters from a rural African village with another group living in Italy and found a dramatic difference. The African children had less obesity-linked bacteria, and more fatty acids which protect against inflammation.
The diet of the African children was similar to that of people living in the modern Western world thousands of years ago. Of the Italian children, only those who were still breast-feeding harbored bacteria resembling the African children's.
The trillions of microbes that inhabit your gut help you to digest food, protect against disease-causing bugs and limit inflammation.
The Telegraph reports:
"Pediatrician Dr Paolo Lionetti … and colleagues said children in industrialized countries who eat … 'Western' diets may reduce microbial richness — potentially contributing to a rise in allergic and inflammatory diseases in the last half-century."
Sources:
The Telegraph August 2, 2010
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences August 2, 2010 [epub ahead of print]
Obesity is not the only health risk your child faces if he eats a diet consisting mainly of processed foods and snacks. As illustrated by this study, a junk food diet – with is a largely denatured diet, devoid of "live" nutrients such as healthy bacteria – can also set the stage for asthma, eczema, and a variety of allergies, inflammatory conditions and autoimmune diseases.
Sadly, as the Western-style diet spreads across the globe, much of the natural microbial diversity that is so crucial to good health is actually starting to disappear! Here, the authors stress the importance of "preserving this treasure of microbial diversity from ancient rural communities worldwide."
Indeed, the importance of eating a gut-healthy diet cannot be underestimated. Your gut plays a major role in your physical and even mental health, and having a healthy gut entails maintaining a balance of "good" and "bad" bacteria – something you simply will not accomplish by eating highly processed, "dead" foods.
Until recently, most doctors dismissed the notion that your digestive system did much of anything outside of breaking down food, but in recent years scientists have revealed just how inaccurate this thinking was.
For example, an estimated 80 percent of your immune system is actually located in your gut, so supporting your digestive health is essential to also supporting your immune system, which is your number one defense system against ALL disease.
Therefore, it should come as no major surprise to find out that lack of beneficial bacteria in your intestines will also allow allergies, inflammation and autoimmune diseases to flourish where they might not otherwise.
Common signs and symptoms that you may need to address your intestinal balance include:
• Gas and bloating
• Constipation or diarrhea
• Nausea
• Headaches
• Fatigue
• Sugar cravings, and cravings for refined carb foods
Chances are, if you or your entire family eats a lot of processed junk foods and fast foods, this list may be a description of a more or less an everyday "normal" state for you
So What Foods Should You Avoid Like the Plague?
Soda
In my mind this is where most people will get the biggest payoff for the amount of effort involved. The average person consumes more than one gallon of soda per week. Reducing or eliminating soda from your diet is one of the easiest shifts to make.
Most diet sodas are worse than regular sodas, as you can read in my recent review on aspartame. When people ask me what is safer to drink: diet or regular soda, I ask them what they would rather be hit in the head with -- a baseball bat or a sledgehammer? It's a tough call, but I think a case can be made for regular soda being the lesser of two evils...
That said, regular soda with its high sugar content promotes yeast overgrowth, which in turn promotes allergies. In fact, many people with yeast-related allergies and food sensitivities tend to have sugar cravings, which is doubly problematic since it actually feeds the yeast that is already overgrown in their systems.
While many of you are not likely consuming many sodas, it is vital to understand the importance of this simple change for your friends and family who are not as health savvy as you. Gentle persistent encouragement of this principle will have massively profound implications on their health.
Fortunately there are simple alternatives that are relatively easy to implement. The best is pure clean water. I just completed a four-hour video interview with a leading water industry water expert and hope to share that with you in the next few weeks for more details.
For those who are really struggling, you can purchase carbonated water and use flavored liquid stevias for a taste that is very similar to most sodas. You can also use Turbo Tapping, which is a highly effective, free EFT tapping technique.
Doughnuts and Pastries
Overall these foods are worse than soda as they not only contain sugar, typically in the form of high fructose corn syrup, but they also contain dangerous trans fats. The reason I did not list this one first is that they are not consumed by as many people on a regular basis.
For more information about how trans fats promotes allergies, while saturated fats relieve them, please see this previous article.
French Fries
Oh, they taste so good, but are ever so bad for you as they are loaded with the worst types of fat on the planet -- typically highly refined and genetically modified omega 6 oils, such as corn, canola, and soybean oils.
If you’re still unaware of the link between allergies and genetically engineered food ingredients (particularly soy), please review this recent article by GMO expert, Jeffrey Smith.
These highly processed omega-6 oils are bad enough if you eat them in the form of unheated salad dressing, but when these oils are heated to a high temperature, they transform into a potent mixture that is sure to destroy your health.
Avoid these like the plague. Be particularly careful when ordering hamburgers and other similar foods in a restaurant as most will include fries by default, and once they are at your table they're hard to resist. So please be sure to order a healthier alternative.
Nearly All Breakfast Cereals
Breakfast is, without question, the single most challenging meal to eat outside of your home. Most of the typical breakfast offerings will drag your health down. The most commonly consumed breakfast are breakfast cereals, which are merely disguised forms of high fructose corn syrup loaded with genetically modified (GM) grains. But pancakes, French toast, waffles, scrambled eggs and rolls don't do much to improve your health either.
Many may wonder about the scrambled egg concern but the high heat oxidized cholesterol in the eggs and severely damages it. Far better to have the eggs MINIMALLY cooked or better yet raw eggs.
Processed Foods and Snacks
In addition to these specific examples, processed foods in general can contribute to allergies for a number of different reasons. Most processed foods contain a variety of food colorings, flavors, preservatives, and other additives can have a major impact. Junk foods also has a detrimental effect on your gut flora, which has major consequences for your overall health, weight control, and the development of allergies.
The Many Health Benefits of Maintaining Healthy Gut Flora
The ideal ratio between the bacteria in your body is 85 percent "good" and 15 percent "bad." That's right – you need FAR more beneficial bacteria (probiotics) than you might think in order to maintain the right balance.
The key here is to avoid as many processed foods as you can. This is a challenge because over 90% of the foods that Americans eat are processed and the number source of calories is high fructose corn syrup. So the general principle is to avoid processed foods, but some foods are more particularly pernicious than others so let me give you some examples.
This ratio is essential for:
• The proper development and function of your immune system
• Protection against over-growth of other microorganisms that could cause disease
• Digestion of food and absorption of nutrients
• Producing vitamins, absorbing minerals and eliminating toxins
As you can see, probiotics perform a wide variety of functions, which renders them useful and beneficial for a number of health concerns, including the prevention or control of:
• Food and skin allergies in children
• Vaginitis
• Premature labor in pregnant women
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Recurrent ear and bladder infections
• Chronic diarrhea
One of the ways friendly bacteria help prevent allergies, infections and inflammatory conditions is by training your immune system to distinguish between pathogens and non-harmful antigens, and to respond appropriately.
When you're deficient in these healthy bacteria, your immune system is ill equipped to address the many pathogens and antigens entering your system on a daily basis, and health problems can easily ensue.
Your Gut's Microflora Also Impacts Your Weight
The microflora in your digestive system is also emerging as a major player in weight management, and needless to say, junk food and weight gain typically go hand in hand.
Your gut flora is by no means the only underlying reason for this, but it does play an important part.
Multiple studies have shown that obese people have different intestinal bacteria than slim people, and it appears that the microbes in an overweight body are much more efficient at extracting calories from food.
Researchers have also suggested that certain bacteria may cause low-grade inflammation in your body, further contributing to obesity and difficulty to lose weight.
One such study found that the bifidobacteria counts taken from infants at the age of 6 months and 12 months were twice as high in healthy weight children as in those who became overweight, while S. Aureus levels were lower.
Interestingly, this finding may explain why breast-fed babies are also at a lower risk of obesity, as bifidobacteria flourish in the guts of breast-fed babies.
The breast-fed Italian babies in the study above were also the only ones harboring bacteria resembling the African children's, which indicates your "diet may dominate other factors such as ethnicity, sanitation, geography or climate," the researchers said.
Two previous studies found that obese people had about 20 percent more of a family of bacteria known as firmicutes, and almost 90 percent less of a bacteria called bacteroidetes than lean people. (Firmicutes help your body to extract calories from complex sugars and deposit those calories in fat.)
This latest study confirms those results, as here too, the African children had significantly higher levels of Bacteroidetes and far lower levels of the firmicutes linked to obesity.
How to Optimize the Bacteria in Your Gut
Fortunately, influencing the ratio of bacteria growing in your body is relatively easy. One of the most important steps you can take is to stop consuming processed and sugary foods. This includes cutting down on grains, as most grains are quickly converted into sugar in your body.
Keep in mind, of course, that if you or your children need to lose some excess weight, balancing your gut bacteria is only one part of the equation. Regular exercise and addressing any emotional blocks are also very important.
When you eat a healthy diet low in sugars and processed foods, one of the major benefits is that it naturally causes the good bacteria in your gut to flourish.
Yet, even with an extremely low-sugar diet, there are other factors that influence your gut bacteria. Antibiotics, chlorinated water, antibacterial soap, agricultural chemicals, pollution -- all of these things help to kill off your good bacteria. This is why it's a wise choice to "reseed" your body with good bacteria from time to time by taking a high-quality probiotic supplement or eating fermented foods.
In the past, people used fermented foods like yogurt and sauerkraut to support their digestive health, as these foods are rich in naturally beneficial bacteria. This is still the best route to optimal digestive health.
Healthy choices include:
• Lassi (an Indian yoghurt drink, traditionally enjoyed before dinner)
• Fermented milk, such as kefir
• Various pickled fermentations of cabbage, turnips, eggplant, cucumbers, onions, squash and carrots
• Natto (fermented soy)
If you were to eat a diet rich in fermented foods that have NOT been pasteurized (as pasteurization kills the naturally occurring probiotics), then you would likely enjoy great digestive health without any additional supplementation.
However, if you simply do not like any of these types of fermented foods, your next best option is to use a high quality probiotic supplement.
I have used many different brands over the past 15 years and there are many good ones out there. I also spent a long time researching and developing my own, called Complete Probiotics, in which I incorporated everything I have learned about this important tool over the years.
Keep in mind, however, that processed foods in general will destroy healthy microflora and feed bad bacteria and yeast, so you can't use the drug approach to probiotics -- meaning, you can't maintain a diet high in processed foods while taking a probiotic supplement to counteract the ill effects.
You may be able to temporarily suppress some of the troublesome symptoms caused by that kind of diet, but it won't work in the long run.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Sleep time
Great info on how many different ways lack of sleep affects your health. Since I have been using Standard process I have also found that feeding the liver and taking the portion of vit B that is calming really works no matter how hard core the case is or what type of sleep meds you have been on.
This Daily Mistake Can Make You Obese and Forgetful
People who sleep either more or fewer than seven hours a day, including naps, have an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, according to a new study.
Sleeping fewer than five hours a day more than doubles your risk of being diagnosed with angina, coronary heart disease, heart attack or stroke. And sleeping more than seven hours also increases your risk of cardiovascular disease; more than nine hours of sleep results in a 50 percent increase in risk.
The Daily Telegraph reports:
"The most at-risk group was adults under 60 years of age who slept five hours or fewer a night. They increased their risk of developing cardiovascular disease more than threefold ... Women who skimped on sleep ... were more than two-and-a-half times as likely to develop cardiovascular disease."
In related news, researchers have also found that sleeping in after a few days of missed sleep can help restore you after missed sleep, nearly erasing any lingering sense of fatigue and mental fuzziness.
How much recovery sleep you need to feel recharged depends on how much sleep you've lost.
In the study, volunteers deprived of about three hours of sleep a night for five nights felt nearly, but not quite, back to normal after ten hours of sleep.
To help you get the optimal amount of sleep each night, U.S. News & World Report suggests:
"... [T]ry removing all electronic media devices — BlackBerry, TV, computer — from your bedroom. These distractions … are a prime reason many of us turn out the lights an hour or two later than we originally intended."
Sources:
The Daily Telegraph August 3, 2010
Physorg August 1, 2010
U.S. News & World Report August 4, 2010
Sleep 2010;33(8):1037-1042
Sleep 2010;33(8):1013-1026
According to this year's "Sleep in America Poll" by The National Sleep Foundation, the majority of Americans are not getting enough shut-eye. Only about four in 10 respondents reported getting a good night's sleep every night, or almost every night, of the week.
Despite it being so common as to be considered "normal" by many, lack of sound sleep extracts a heavy toll on your health, both mentally and physically.
How Lack of Sleep Impacts Your Health
Your circadian rhythm evolved over hundreds of generations to align your physiology with your environment. Your body clock is "set" to sleep at night and stay awake during daylight hours, just like your ancestors did.
If you deprive yourself of sleep, or switch your waking/sleeping rhythm due to shift work, for example, you send conflicting signals to your body.
Too little sleep impacts your levels of thyroid and stress hormones, which in turn can affect your memory, immune system, heart and metabolism, and much more. Over time, lack of sleep can lead to:
• High blood sugar levels and an increased risk of diabetes -- Sleep-deprived subjects tend to eat more sweet and starchy foods rather than vegetables and dairy products. Researchers suspect these cravings stem from the fact that your brain is fueled by glucose (blood sugar); therefore, when lack of sleep occurs, your brain searches for carbohydrates.
In short, sleep deprivation puts your body into a pre-diabetic state, and makes you feel hungry, even if you've already eaten.
• Weight gain -- When you are sleep deprived, your body decreases production of leptin, the hormone that tells your brain there is no need for more food. At the same time it increases levels of ghrelin, a hormone that triggers hunger.
• Accelerated aging
• Hypertension (high blood pressure) Depression
• Increased risk of cancer by altering the balance of hormones in your body. (Tumors grow two to three times faster in laboratory animals with severe sleep dysfunctions)
Likewise, working on a non-traditional schedule, which may include staying up all night, throws off your body's circadian rhythms. Attempts to sleep at inappropriate phases of the circadian cycle will usually result in shorter sleep episodes and more awakenings.
The short-term effects of shift work can be likened to symptoms of jet lag, such as daytime sleepiness, disturbed sleep, gastrointestinal problems and blunted alertness. Long-term, however, this state can take a toll, as shift workers continue live out of synch with their daily surroundings.
A number of studies indicate shift workers face a higher risk of heart disease -- possibly due to the metabolic effects of working and sleeping unusual hours.
In the latest study published in the journal Sleep, your risk of heart disease and stroke are also significantly increased if you sleep more, or fewer, than seven hours per day:
• Less than 5 hrs/night doubles your risk of angina, coronary heart disease, heart attack or stroke
• More than 7 hrs/night increases your risk of cardiovascular disease
• More than 9 hrs/night increases your risk of cardiovascular disease by 50 percent
Although the researchers were unable to determine the direct causative relationship between certain amounts of sleep and cardiovascular disease, they believe it is related to your endocrine and metabolic functions.
As mentioned earlier, sleep deprivation can impair your glucose tolerance, reduce your insulin sensitivity and raise your blood pressure, all of which are associated with hardening of your arteries.
Can You Really Repay a Sleep Debt?
The second Sleep study mentioned above found that by sleeping in, say on a Saturday, you can relieve some of the symptoms of sleep deprivation.
According to David Dinges, head of the sleep and chronobiology unit at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine,
"An additional hour or two of sleep in the morning after a period of chronic partial sleep loss has genuine benefits for continued recovery of behavioral alertness."
However, for most people who don't sleep well, it has become a lifestyle pattern, and sleeping in on the weekends is not going to undo the damage being done.
A chronic lack of high-quality sleep simply cannot be recovered. You may feel rested and mentally sharper after sleeping in, but the mental benefit is temporary, while the graver health hazards are compounding.
Remember, your body does most of its repairs during sleep, so not getting enough of it can impair your immune system, leaving you less able to fight off diseases of ALL kinds.
What's the Ideal Amount of Sleep?
There have been many varied theories on this over the years, but it seems we're getting closer to answering this question – at least scientifically.
Interestingly, while doing research on behalf of federal agencies "to find ways to reduce sleep need," Dr. Dinges discovered that many of the published reports on chronic sleep restriction over the past 100 years had failed to adequately control how much sleep was actually obtained by the subjects, and did not take into account caffeine intake and a number of other variables that can influence your sense of alertness and cognitive performance despite lack of sleep.
Many of these previous flawed studies have perpetuated the myth that you can safely make do with less than eight hours of sleep a day.
As it turns out, sleeping less than eight hours a night has significant cumulative consequences.
According to Dr. Dinges,
"Loss of sleep insidiously affects sustained attention, cognitive speed and accuracy, working memory, reaction time, and overall behavioral capability, often without the sleep-deprived person being aware of the deficits.
… These experiments have consistently demonstrated that neurobehavioral deficits develop in proportion to the dosage of sleep that people were allowed each night. When sleep was less than eight hours night after night, subjects showed systematic accumulation of cognitive impairments.
Across 10 days of restricted sleep, participants became progressively worse and eventually entered a zone of impairment comparable to that found after total sleep deprivation. This is a zone of impairment where it would be unsafe to drive or engage in other safety-sensitive tasks."
Likewise, chronic disease states such as heart disease and diabetes take time to develop, and are therefore also influenced, long-term, by your sleeping habits over time.
That said, what IS the ideal amount of sleep?
Well, despite what you just read above, there's no one magic number that covers everyone at every age and circumstance.
Your age and activity level will determine your sleep needs to some extent. Children and teens, for instance, need more sleep than adults. However, your sleep needs are individual to you. You may require more or less sleep than someone of the same age, gender and activity level.
Part of the reason for the difference has to do with what the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) calls your basal sleep need and your sleep debt:
• Basal Sleep Need: The amount of sleep you need on a regular basis for optimal performance
• Sleep Debt: The accumulated sleep lost due to poor sleep habits, sickness, environmental factors and other causes
Studies suggest that healthy adults have a basal sleep need of seven to eight hours each night, corresponding nicely with the research findings just discussed.
But your individual sleep requirement may be anywhere between six and nine hours of sleep a night.
Your best bet is to listen to your body!
If you still feel tired when the alarm goes off, you probably aren't getting sufficient sleep.
It's best to observe how you feel immediately upon awakening rather than after you're up and moving around. Those first few moments of wakefulness, before your mind fully kicks into gear, are a better measure of how your body is feeling.
How to Improve Your Sleep
First of all, if you're staying up late watching TV, surfing the Web, or working, it's time to set some limits. Determine a set bedtime for yourself, just as you do for your children, and avoid watching TV or using electronics for about an hour prior to going to bed. It is too stimulating to your brain, making it more difficult to "shut down" and fall asleep.
Instead, try spending this wind-down time doing something that soothes and relaxes your mind. You may want to spend time journaling, meditating, sipping herbal tea, washing your face, or reading a calming or spiritual book.
I also recommend getting to bed as early as possible. Your bodily systems, particularly your adrenals, do a majority of their recharging or recovering during the hours of 11 p.m. and 1 a.m., so you should definitely try to be asleep during those hours.
If you're having trouble falling or staying asleep because your mind is still racing or you're emotionally overwhelmed, I recommend you use Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) for insomnia.
Other tips for getting good quality sleep include:
• Avoid before-bed snacks, particularly grains and sugars. This will raise blood sugar and inhibit sleep. Later, when blood sugar drops too low (hypoglycemia), you might wake up and not be able to fall back asleep.
• Eat a high-protein snack several hours before bed. This can provide the L-tryptophan need to produce melatonin and serotonin.
• Keep the temperature in your bedroom below 70 degrees F. Many people keep their homes and particularly the upstairs bedrooms too hot.
For a comprehensive list of practical solutions for sleep problems, be sure to read my 33 Secrets to a Good Night's Sleep.
If you're even slightly sleep deprived I encourage you to implement some of these tips tonight, as high-quality sleep is one of the most important factors in your health and quality of life.
This Daily Mistake Can Make You Obese and Forgetful
People who sleep either more or fewer than seven hours a day, including naps, have an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, according to a new study.
Sleeping fewer than five hours a day more than doubles your risk of being diagnosed with angina, coronary heart disease, heart attack or stroke. And sleeping more than seven hours also increases your risk of cardiovascular disease; more than nine hours of sleep results in a 50 percent increase in risk.
The Daily Telegraph reports:
"The most at-risk group was adults under 60 years of age who slept five hours or fewer a night. They increased their risk of developing cardiovascular disease more than threefold ... Women who skimped on sleep ... were more than two-and-a-half times as likely to develop cardiovascular disease."
In related news, researchers have also found that sleeping in after a few days of missed sleep can help restore you after missed sleep, nearly erasing any lingering sense of fatigue and mental fuzziness.
How much recovery sleep you need to feel recharged depends on how much sleep you've lost.
In the study, volunteers deprived of about three hours of sleep a night for five nights felt nearly, but not quite, back to normal after ten hours of sleep.
To help you get the optimal amount of sleep each night, U.S. News & World Report suggests:
"... [T]ry removing all electronic media devices — BlackBerry, TV, computer — from your bedroom. These distractions … are a prime reason many of us turn out the lights an hour or two later than we originally intended."
Sources:
The Daily Telegraph August 3, 2010
Physorg August 1, 2010
U.S. News & World Report August 4, 2010
Sleep 2010;33(8):1037-1042
Sleep 2010;33(8):1013-1026
According to this year's "Sleep in America Poll" by The National Sleep Foundation, the majority of Americans are not getting enough shut-eye. Only about four in 10 respondents reported getting a good night's sleep every night, or almost every night, of the week.
Despite it being so common as to be considered "normal" by many, lack of sound sleep extracts a heavy toll on your health, both mentally and physically.
How Lack of Sleep Impacts Your Health
Your circadian rhythm evolved over hundreds of generations to align your physiology with your environment. Your body clock is "set" to sleep at night and stay awake during daylight hours, just like your ancestors did.
If you deprive yourself of sleep, or switch your waking/sleeping rhythm due to shift work, for example, you send conflicting signals to your body.
Too little sleep impacts your levels of thyroid and stress hormones, which in turn can affect your memory, immune system, heart and metabolism, and much more. Over time, lack of sleep can lead to:
• High blood sugar levels and an increased risk of diabetes -- Sleep-deprived subjects tend to eat more sweet and starchy foods rather than vegetables and dairy products. Researchers suspect these cravings stem from the fact that your brain is fueled by glucose (blood sugar); therefore, when lack of sleep occurs, your brain searches for carbohydrates.
In short, sleep deprivation puts your body into a pre-diabetic state, and makes you feel hungry, even if you've already eaten.
• Weight gain -- When you are sleep deprived, your body decreases production of leptin, the hormone that tells your brain there is no need for more food. At the same time it increases levels of ghrelin, a hormone that triggers hunger.
• Accelerated aging
• Hypertension (high blood pressure) Depression
• Increased risk of cancer by altering the balance of hormones in your body. (Tumors grow two to three times faster in laboratory animals with severe sleep dysfunctions)
Likewise, working on a non-traditional schedule, which may include staying up all night, throws off your body's circadian rhythms. Attempts to sleep at inappropriate phases of the circadian cycle will usually result in shorter sleep episodes and more awakenings.
The short-term effects of shift work can be likened to symptoms of jet lag, such as daytime sleepiness, disturbed sleep, gastrointestinal problems and blunted alertness. Long-term, however, this state can take a toll, as shift workers continue live out of synch with their daily surroundings.
A number of studies indicate shift workers face a higher risk of heart disease -- possibly due to the metabolic effects of working and sleeping unusual hours.
In the latest study published in the journal Sleep, your risk of heart disease and stroke are also significantly increased if you sleep more, or fewer, than seven hours per day:
• Less than 5 hrs/night doubles your risk of angina, coronary heart disease, heart attack or stroke
• More than 7 hrs/night increases your risk of cardiovascular disease
• More than 9 hrs/night increases your risk of cardiovascular disease by 50 percent
Although the researchers were unable to determine the direct causative relationship between certain amounts of sleep and cardiovascular disease, they believe it is related to your endocrine and metabolic functions.
As mentioned earlier, sleep deprivation can impair your glucose tolerance, reduce your insulin sensitivity and raise your blood pressure, all of which are associated with hardening of your arteries.
Can You Really Repay a Sleep Debt?
The second Sleep study mentioned above found that by sleeping in, say on a Saturday, you can relieve some of the symptoms of sleep deprivation.
According to David Dinges, head of the sleep and chronobiology unit at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine,
"An additional hour or two of sleep in the morning after a period of chronic partial sleep loss has genuine benefits for continued recovery of behavioral alertness."
However, for most people who don't sleep well, it has become a lifestyle pattern, and sleeping in on the weekends is not going to undo the damage being done.
A chronic lack of high-quality sleep simply cannot be recovered. You may feel rested and mentally sharper after sleeping in, but the mental benefit is temporary, while the graver health hazards are compounding.
Remember, your body does most of its repairs during sleep, so not getting enough of it can impair your immune system, leaving you less able to fight off diseases of ALL kinds.
What's the Ideal Amount of Sleep?
There have been many varied theories on this over the years, but it seems we're getting closer to answering this question – at least scientifically.
Interestingly, while doing research on behalf of federal agencies "to find ways to reduce sleep need," Dr. Dinges discovered that many of the published reports on chronic sleep restriction over the past 100 years had failed to adequately control how much sleep was actually obtained by the subjects, and did not take into account caffeine intake and a number of other variables that can influence your sense of alertness and cognitive performance despite lack of sleep.
Many of these previous flawed studies have perpetuated the myth that you can safely make do with less than eight hours of sleep a day.
As it turns out, sleeping less than eight hours a night has significant cumulative consequences.
According to Dr. Dinges,
"Loss of sleep insidiously affects sustained attention, cognitive speed and accuracy, working memory, reaction time, and overall behavioral capability, often without the sleep-deprived person being aware of the deficits.
… These experiments have consistently demonstrated that neurobehavioral deficits develop in proportion to the dosage of sleep that people were allowed each night. When sleep was less than eight hours night after night, subjects showed systematic accumulation of cognitive impairments.
Across 10 days of restricted sleep, participants became progressively worse and eventually entered a zone of impairment comparable to that found after total sleep deprivation. This is a zone of impairment where it would be unsafe to drive or engage in other safety-sensitive tasks."
Likewise, chronic disease states such as heart disease and diabetes take time to develop, and are therefore also influenced, long-term, by your sleeping habits over time.
That said, what IS the ideal amount of sleep?
Well, despite what you just read above, there's no one magic number that covers everyone at every age and circumstance.
Your age and activity level will determine your sleep needs to some extent. Children and teens, for instance, need more sleep than adults. However, your sleep needs are individual to you. You may require more or less sleep than someone of the same age, gender and activity level.
Part of the reason for the difference has to do with what the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) calls your basal sleep need and your sleep debt:
• Basal Sleep Need: The amount of sleep you need on a regular basis for optimal performance
• Sleep Debt: The accumulated sleep lost due to poor sleep habits, sickness, environmental factors and other causes
Studies suggest that healthy adults have a basal sleep need of seven to eight hours each night, corresponding nicely with the research findings just discussed.
But your individual sleep requirement may be anywhere between six and nine hours of sleep a night.
Your best bet is to listen to your body!
If you still feel tired when the alarm goes off, you probably aren't getting sufficient sleep.
It's best to observe how you feel immediately upon awakening rather than after you're up and moving around. Those first few moments of wakefulness, before your mind fully kicks into gear, are a better measure of how your body is feeling.
How to Improve Your Sleep
First of all, if you're staying up late watching TV, surfing the Web, or working, it's time to set some limits. Determine a set bedtime for yourself, just as you do for your children, and avoid watching TV or using electronics for about an hour prior to going to bed. It is too stimulating to your brain, making it more difficult to "shut down" and fall asleep.
Instead, try spending this wind-down time doing something that soothes and relaxes your mind. You may want to spend time journaling, meditating, sipping herbal tea, washing your face, or reading a calming or spiritual book.
I also recommend getting to bed as early as possible. Your bodily systems, particularly your adrenals, do a majority of their recharging or recovering during the hours of 11 p.m. and 1 a.m., so you should definitely try to be asleep during those hours.
If you're having trouble falling or staying asleep because your mind is still racing or you're emotionally overwhelmed, I recommend you use Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) for insomnia.
Other tips for getting good quality sleep include:
• Avoid before-bed snacks, particularly grains and sugars. This will raise blood sugar and inhibit sleep. Later, when blood sugar drops too low (hypoglycemia), you might wake up and not be able to fall back asleep.
• Eat a high-protein snack several hours before bed. This can provide the L-tryptophan need to produce melatonin and serotonin.
• Keep the temperature in your bedroom below 70 degrees F. Many people keep their homes and particularly the upstairs bedrooms too hot.
For a comprehensive list of practical solutions for sleep problems, be sure to read my 33 Secrets to a Good Night's Sleep.
If you're even slightly sleep deprived I encourage you to implement some of these tips tonight, as high-quality sleep is one of the most important factors in your health and quality of life.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
I'm Back
I know it has been months again since my last entry, but I am rested and ready to write again. Today I want to talk a little about Omega-3's, Dr. Dan Murphy had a great article in the July issue of American Journal of Clinical Chiropractic. The key points of this study on neuropathic pain are that using high doses (varying from 2400-7200 mg/day of epa + dha)had clinically significant pain reduction. This included Fibromyalgia, ridiculopathies, carpal tunnel and burn injury.
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