Currently viewing the tag: "Exercise"

I Walk, You Run, I’ll Get There

· By Peter Filak · Add Comment · In All, Exercise, Health, Spirituality & Stress
I can't help but chuckle when I see you on the trails. It's that same chuckle that stirs when I hear about fundraising for cancer research.

It’s a calm morning and as I round the corner where the scratches of this early morning shimmer cannot reach, my feet crunch uncomfortably through the audible frost that looks nor sounds nothing like the grass just a few steps back. Uncomfortable only because my feet are held captive—boxed in by these things you call ‘shoes’. All that separates me from snow-worthy temperatures is a thin layer of hemp and or linen and some warm woolen socks and glittens. I’m warm, content, and not the least bit burdened by my early morning stroll. Deep breaths of fresh cold air and even a short jaunt to the top of the waterfall.

You on the other hand…

You’re a middle-aged human pumping your fists against heart disease. A breast-awareness cancer-eating calorie crusher. A maniacal peddler whose finally taken to the bike, but not because Santa brought it.

I can’t help but chuckle when I see you on the trails. It’s that same chuckle that stirs when I hear about fundraising for cancer research. You make your body work so hard to filter all the bullshit of modern living—and then you hit the ground running? Grimace and all?

Do you really think clogged arteries that cannot deliver oxygen nor the nutrients your cells require, need more stress? Exercise is a fad. A big belly phenomenon. Our ancestors didn’t have $10 monthly memberships or chocolate brownie whey atop the fridge. They had the same diseases and disorders to contend with, whether recognized or not, but they fought it differently. Differently, but like us, ineffectively.

I look forward to my daily adventures. I look forward to no miserable huffin’ and puffin’s when I notch my first eight decades. Typing this makes me think of that old geezer at the YMCA fighting a war with the stiff abdominal board. Up, cringe, crunch. Down, cringe, pant. Repeat and I’ll cya tomorrow (no I won’t).

Life shouldn’t be so hard. Life shouldn’t be so complicated. And the best part—it’s not.

Osteoarthritis: Joint Carnage, I Mean *Cartilage

· By Peter Filak · Add Comment · In All, Diseases & Disorders, Health
OsteoarthritisThumb

After Reading: The Arthritis Cure, Revised and Updated: The Medical Miracle That Can Halt, Reverse, And May Even Cure Osteoarthritis By Jason Theodosakis, M.D., M.S. and Shelia Buff

“I had hoped to change arthritis treatment because the traditional treatments are, in my opinion, a violation of the physician’s Hippocratic oath to ‘Do no harm.” As Jason does, I too feel that the medical profession tactfully avoids the root causes of disease and only acts in the best interests of those signing their fancy-car-buying paychecks—”…in the long run they simply cover up the symptoms while the disease progresses further.”

These maskers of symptoms and villains of the real world can be identified as painkillers and anti-inflammatory medications. I had a hard time choosing between this book and another book when choosing an author I would like to collaborate with. One book offered all of the ‘alternative’ insight one could handle and the other—this one—,unlike the first, offered both insight and the actual breakdown of the disease process.

I hesitatingly chose this one because Jason approaches this—at least what I thought after reading the review and chapter breakdown—with the mindset that osteoarthritis can be thwarted with a set of natural-medical supplements—”…since they are substances we already consume, and also produce in very small quantities  in our bodies, glucosamine and chondroitin have no significant side effects.” I knew, prior to beginning the journeyed read, that these ‘supplements’ were natural bodily mediators and or found in the food we eat…

…but I didn’t know how important they were to any effect. Doctors can shove small-paper-cupped pills into your field-of-vision and towards your grasping hands, but unless you understand their function, you will be no better at improving your health. Understanding involves a realization of the bodily process and how this drug and or supplement interacts with that bodily process—understanding is not a realization or verbal acceptance of doctor’s, nurse’s, etc… surge of words. Their words are almost always more effective at combating the disease because their words are scapegoats of mental relief.

I am no advocate for the use of any supplements or medications, but the message offered within his book elevates them to another level. If you go too far, these supplements may be beneficial, but the true and underlying message is that one should never have to go ‘too far.’

POPULATION

70 Million Americans—one in every three

  • 60% of over-65 Americans—expected to double
  • 3 out of 5 of those under 65—”…not a disease just for the elderly.”
  • 10-20 years before noticeable symptoms
  • Leading cause of disability—17%
  • Age, obesity, diabetes, and joint injuries increase the numbers/risk

WHAT IS OSTEOARTHRITIS?

A quick break down reveals….—cartilage or the cushions at the ends of the afflicted joints degenerates; bone spurs and cysts may then develop and the structures around the joint—tendons, ligaments, and muscles—become strained and or inflamed—…but at a closer glance, one can come to see why Jason recommends these supplements over the current medication regimen and why studies fail to disclaim this evidence.

THREE MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT OSTEOARTHRITIS
  1. Normal part of aging.
  2. Simply a ‘wear and tear’ disease.
  3. Cannot be halted or reversed.

PARTS OF A JOINT

  • Joint capsule—a tough membrane that connects one bone to another.
  • Synovial membrane—secretes synovial fluid.
  • Articular cartilage—absorbs shock/slick surface.
  • Ligaments—attach bones to bones.
  • Tendons—attach muscles to bones.
  • Muscles
  • Bursae—fluid-filled sacs that provide cushion.
ARTICULAR CARTILAGE

Composed of somewhere between 65 and 85% of water, cartilage is designed with two functions in mind:

  1. Reduction of bone-on-bone friction.
  2. Blunting the constant trauma of daily life.

Jason compares this cartilage to ice—like two flat ice cubes rubbing together, but 5-8 times more slippery. As for the rest of its composition:

  • Collagen—elasticity, absorbs shock, and acts as a glue to hold proteoglycans together.
  • Proteoglycans
    • Made of protein and sugars.
    • Resilient—bounce back when stretched and rapidly absorb synovial fluid (sponge).
  • Chondrocytes
    • Produce new collagen and proteoglycans.
    • Enzymes remove the old ones.

In essence, joint cartilage functions as a sponge with synovial fluid being soaked up at rest and squeezed out with movement and pressure. Take a moment and visualize yourself walking, running, or participating in any form of movement. Our movement tends to behave in a dual nature in that it has an active state and a resting state—so as you walk, one side is squeezing out its synovial juices and the other is drinking it back up.

It is the chondroitin molecules’ magnetic effect that prevents these bodily sponges from flattening so easily like the one in your sink. These negatively charged molecules repel one another—just like the opposite poles of magnets do when you try to force them together—and this builds pressure and an even greater force of repel. It is the disuse, misuse, and environmental bombardment that can disrupt this process.

PHYSICAL STRESS ON YOUR JOINTS

“We do know that above a certain threshold, physical impact can cause normal cartilage cells to turn into ‘osteoarthritic’ cells.” As these cells become enlarged, rugged, and pockmarked—it may eventually wear through—they become very active in producing and destroying cartilage, but mostly of the latter. Your body’s half-hearted response is lacking because the newly produced cartilage, used to plug these cracks, is often of inferior quality. The synovium can also become inflamed and pump excesses of poor quality synovial fluid, which can then swell and induce both pain and a very restricted range of motion.

THEORIES ON PRIMARY OSTEOARTHRITIS
  1. AGEs—Advanced Glycation End products
    • Build-up of metabolic wastes—interferes with chondrocytes.
  2. Changes in subchondral bone
    • Hardening of the bone beneath the cartilage—reduction in ability to deform under stress.
  3. Enzyme/chemical signal out of control
    • Hypertrophy of chondrocytes disrupts proteoglycans.
  4. Bone disease
    • Alcoholism, infection, trauma, etc…
  5. Abnormal liver function
    • Hormones, growth factors, & other substances—aid in the cartilage & bone formation.

GLUCOSAMINE

To begin, I shall conclude…”…it can actually help the body repair damaged or eroded cartilage.”

  • Amino Acid—Glucose + Glutamine = Glucosamine
  • Major building block of proteoglycans.
    • Makes glycosaminoglycans (GAGs)—chainlike molecules whose function is to bind water in the cartilage matrix.
  • Stimulates chondrocytes.
  • Decreases production of enzymes.
  • Aids in keeping cartilage cells adhered to the cartilage matrix.
  • Decreases the production of nitric oxide—shown to promote an earlier cartilage cell death.
  • Inhibited the COX-2 enzyme in one study.
    • Possible explanation as for why inflammatory relief is achieved.

Before I proceed into a few of the studies regarding glucosamine, I must mention that Jason ‘believes’ there is no difference between the pill and natural form of glucosamine. My problem with this type of belief is the same one with most supplements and or drugs. When glucosamine is being produced by the body, there is a series of steps to that line of production, a very important series of steps. Taking the supplemental form jumps the line and avoids these steps altogether. We have become too reliant on this synthetic jump and I feel that although the ‘natural’ substance is being replaced in this case, it is not treating the root problem.

It may stimulate or kick these steps back into gear, but when did it become okay and or necessary to outsource the body’s functionality? I see it as a problematic solution because on the surface, it solves the problem, but beneath the surface, the problem may likely still exist.

In 2001, a three-year study involving 212 patients was published in the Lancet. The 106 participants taking glucosamine had no significant loss in joint space and their pain and levels of functioning improved significantly. As for the 106 on the placebo, they had an average joint space loss of 0.31mm and their pain and level of functioning slightly worsened. Another study chose the microscopic route and found that those taking glucosamine had healthy looking cartilage while that of the placebo group looked “sick.”

Jason also provides studies in which glucosamine is put up against anti-inflammatories. In two of these studies, glucosamine equalled the anti-inflammatories’ ability to decrease pain and improve function while in the other two, it exceeded. It was also noted, as we shall see shortly, that the anti-inflammatories tended to always drift back towards the pain and functional problems—it was glucosamine that appeared to be both long-acting and to have an improving effect on the actual disease process. So for the title bout, it is 1.5g/day of glucosamine versus 1.2g/day of ibuprofen.

  • Pain dropped significantly in both groups—first two weeks.
    • Ibuprofen provided much quicker relief.
  • After two weeks—ibuprofen pain relief began to fade.
  • At eight weeks—pain scale from 0 to 3 with three being the most painful.
    • Glucosamine—0.8 average & swelling stopped in 20%; 29% more had a good outcome.
    • Ibuprofen—2.2 average & swelling ceased in none.

…and to end, one must begin early, before symptoms begin to develop.

CHONDROITIN

“…long chain of repeating sugars, acts like a ‘liquid magnet’ and helps attract fluid into the proteoglycan molecules.” And the importance of this fluid and the chains:

  • Spongy shock absorber.
  • Sweeps nutrients into the cartilage.
    • Cartilage has no blood supply.
    • Without this supply → malnourishment → degeneration.
  • Chains have negative charges → repel → forms matrix → super water-retainer

In a 2001 Swiss, French, and American study, lasting two years and involving three-hundred patients—chondroitin vs. placebo—the x-ray revealed no significant changes amongst the chondroitin-ers and the expected cartilage loss at two years for the placebo-ers.

Chondrocytes are “…normally quiet in healthy cartilage…” and it is in trauma that they can become hypertrophied. As they become enlarged and overworked, the process becomes harder to stop, even with healthy cartilage.

  • Hallmark sign—”…destruction of cartilage occurs faster than your body can repair it.”
ROLES OF CHONDROITIN
  1. Protects existing cartilage from premature breakdown.
  2. Prevents age related death of chondrocytes.
  3. Stimulates production of proteoglycans, GAGs, and collagen.
  4. Increases synthesis of hyaluronan.
    • Can make the joint fluid thicker and a better shock absorber.
  5. Inhibits negative effects of interleukin-1 beta and blocks tumor necrosis factor.
  6. Mild anti-inflammatory effect.
  7. Works in synergy with glucosamine.
    • Neither glucosamine nor chondroitin have been shown to have adverse side effects.
    • Chondroitin appears to have a longer residual effect than glucosamine.

ASU—AVOCADO SOYBEAN UNSAPONIFIABLES

Unsaponifiable—”to make soap.” Jason writes that they are phytosterols and that there are so little in avocados and soybeans, that it needs to be extracted to be therapeutically useful. I must tangent from here before following the GPS’s suggested course of more information on phytosterols. I recently saw a commercial for a company that had bottled and pilled the antioxidants from blueberries—One BlūScience™ capsule provides the amount of pterostilbene found in over 500 cartons of blueberries. We will get to the benefits of these ‘labeled chemicals’ found naturally in foods, but I find it vibrantly important that you understand something first.

The more we investigate and label the chemical make-up and properties of our natural sources of food, the more corrupt the whole process becomes. Who would ever—if it is even possible—consume ‘over 500 cartons of blueberries’? Who would need that much of that specific chemical at any given time? The unfortunate answer is us, we, and who ever you be. We become the poor saps that think we can avoid and overcome years of misaligned nutrition by popping a yacht’s worth of one of a blueberry’s named ‘chemicals’ with only a sip of water, water that would only evaporate before landing on a real yacht.

Make a u-turn ahead, but don’t forget what you have learned in outstepping the average mindset of what it means to be ‘normal’ or ‘industrialized.’

Since the 1970s, phytosterol research has been utilized for gum disease—still is today. Where can we find these virally-labeled chemicals?

  • Plants—highest concentrations
    • Japanese/Vegetarian diet—400 & 345 mg/day respectively.
  • Seeds & nuts—intermediate levels
  • Fruit & veggies—lower levels
  • Animal products including fish—”void of phytosterols.”
    • Western diet—80mg/day

“…are to plant cells as cholesterol is to animal or human cells.” Although cholesterol is a cell wall component and a building block for certain hormones, “you don’t need to eat cholesterol however, because your liver will make it from various foods you eat.” These chemicals have been shown to lower cholesterol by blocking its absorption in the small intestine.

ASU STUDIES

2003 ASU Lab Research

  • Stimulates production of proteoglycans.
  • Decreases production of interleukins and other pro-inflammatory substances.

2002 ASU Cartilage Loss Study—2 years/163 people

  • Less severe osteoarthritis—no difference between it and the placebo group.
  • Worse than average osteoarthritis—0.43mm versus the placebo’s .86mm loss.

ASU & NSAID USE—3 months and 260 people

  • NSAID/Analgesic intake—decreases by at lease 50% in almost 75% of those taking ASU.

Study in which ASU was switched out for the placebo—both groups on placebo at 6 months

  • “…positive effect continued for two more months.”
  • No side effects shown over the years.

NSAIDS

“Covering up your symptoms with pain pills without doing anything to improve your joint health makes about as much sense as ripping the wires out of your car’s dashboard if the engine warning light comes on!”

Some of the problems with NSAIDS:

  • Damage the stomach and small intestine → GI bleeds
  • Raise blood pressure
  • Acetaminophen and osteoarthritis
    • Kidney/Liver damage
    • A recent review found that a daily dose at or above 2g/day can cause severe stomach bleeding—previously thought to be kinder to the stomach when compared to NSAIDS and aspirin.

ARTHRITIS CURE STEPS

EXERCISE

“Without exercise, the cartilage becomes thin, dry, and more susceptible to damage.”

  1. Synovial fluid flows in and out and lubricates and nourishes the components of your joints while doing so.
  2. Strengthens supporting structures, and improves flexibility, range of motion, and shock absorption.
    • Strength loss often precedes osteoarthritis.
  3. Improves biomechanics and you essentially move better.
  4. Prevents joint deformity.
  5. Contributes to better emotional health.
  6. Reduces stress and promotes relaxation.
  7. Enhances sleep.
  8. Improves body composition and increases its resistance to other diseases.
  9. Improves insulin sensitivity.
  10. Builds up a reserve capacity.

Proper exercise can strengthen and maintain healthy bones for the rest of your life, but “you don’t have to lift hundreds of pounds to improve your strength.”

  • Obese people have strong bones—”If you gain just 10 pounds, you may be increasing the force certain joints must bear from 25 pounds up to 100 pounds.”
    • “The slower you lose weight, the better.”
  • “Never exercise through joint pain!”
  • Never stretch a cold muscle.
  • “…vigorous exercise actually increases the functional status of those with osteoporosis…”—Heed this advice with caution.
MAINTAINING A HEALTHY WEIGHT (OBESITY)

A 1990s study revealed that for every 10 pounds of extra weight, you increase your osteoarthritis risk by 1.4 times. Obesity is a vicious cycle, but it is also a choice. We can feel bad for the obese and they can feel bad for themselves, but there is something they can do. Continuing with their current trend, they become unable to exercise sooner or later, thus making their joint situation even less adequate. Diabetic neuropathy and the onslaught of obesity-related disease—practically every disease imaginable—will follow. It all affects your joints—diabetic neuropathy for instance, alters joint movement, balance, and sensation.

Jason writes: “…it’s what you do on a daily basis that makes the difference.” I am going to borrow my already borrowed quote from above about losing weight and crash dieting/exercising—”The slower you lose weight, the better.” I touched on this topic in my Kidney Stones article and I feel you should check that out. What most do not realize, is that their weight does not just go poof. Your weight has toxins, hormones, and bodily wastes stored within its fat cells. Losing weight too quickly or yo-yo-ing on diet and exercise plans will only put your body at an even bigger disadvantage.

Imagine that onslaught of toxins, hormones, and bodily wastes surging through your body as you pop a pill that promises to make you petite in under a few weeks. It overwhelms your entire system. We must also realize that fat is not the only thing to be digested, your muscles, bones, etc… will also have to be restructured in order to match your ‘new’ body’s requirements, which will be much less. Something the author brought up in my kidney stones article really opened my mind—digesting your ‘meat’ results in an “infusion of the same substances in your system as the digestion of meat.”

Jason recommends the Mediterranean diet—Lyon Diet Heart Study—and one low in arachadonic acid.

Common Weight Loss Characteristics

  1. Changes are for you, not others.
  2. Focus on fitness.
  3. Some exercise each day.
  4. Never skip meals.
  5. Watch fat intake.
  6. Alcohol, only in small quantities.
  7. Don’t count calories or ‘diet.’
  8. Don’t weigh yourself more than once/week.
  9. Realistic goals and be content with your body.
  10. Organized plan.
  11. Understand reasons for overeating and past failures.
DIET

“If you continually eat the same foods over and over (even foods high in nutrients), you may be missing out on important building blocks for your health.” I used to fall inline with a similar but less disastrous mentality, but this way of thinking is nothing other than an obsessive-compulsive train wreck. If you eat a variety of healthy foods each and every day, even if you eat that same variety each and every day, your body will be satisfied to say the least. If you rely mostly on processed and unnatural foods each and every day, you do have something to worry about.

FREE RADICALS

Combatted via antioxidants—Vitamins A, C, and E, & Selenium

  • Best “from fresh, whole foods rather than from supplements.”
BIOFLAVONOIDS

In virtually all plant foods…

  • Reinforce ability of collagen to form a strong matrix.
  • Prevent free radical damage.
  • Slow inflammatory response.
  • Prevent collagen destruction when inflamed.
  • Hasten the healing process.
  • Promote healthy capillary walls.
  • Aid in vitamin C metabolism.
FATTY ACIDS

Right off the bat, animal products are blasted via arachodonic acid—”…main food culprit when it comes to producing inflammatory prostaglandins.” Jason writes that it is found “entirely” in animal and saturated fats and results in inflammation, platelet stickiness, hardening of arteries, heart disease, and strokes. It is the unknown plight of the fork twiddler that such events amass for a big-bang of a surprise going away party—going away for ever.

It is the omega-3 fatty acids—Alpha-Linolenic Acid or ALA—found in plants, nuts, seeds, and natural foods, that blocks white blood cell-released prostaglandins and leukotrienes. Doubling up the number to the omega-6 fatty acids—Gamma-Linolenic Acid or GLA—can trigger inflammation in some people, hence why Jason urges a sense of balance. Take note that all of our healthy fats are essentially prepackaged and ‘pre-balanced’ in naturally sustainable food sources.

As for Eicosapentaenoic Acid—EPA—, linoleic acid has been shown to increase EPA levels. EPA has also been found in a few marine plants too—”…actually made by algae, plankton, and seaweed, which are then eaten by certain fish.” What I write next is a springboard of wisdom and a totally interesting view on the common interpretation of fish.

Whether it is a once daily small capsule you pop, an out-to-eat treat, or a Good Friday fry, fish has been pedestaled to such a position of superiority that even I had trouble attacking its ‘achievements.’ Land eaters eating fish are living longer, obliging faithfuls are avoiding the pits of a promised and much abhorred fiery h-e-double hockey sticks, and fish oil pills have been showing very promising evidence in nationally recognized studies.

To be quick with a dagger-to-back approach rather than a dragged about dramatic cat-and-mouse presentation, may I present the reader with this: “Not all fish are good sources of EPAs.” As mentioned, I had trouble tackling the fish phenomenon, but these eight words unleashed something. I instantly harbored cannibalistic thoughts and from that point on made it clear to myself that meat even at the healthiest level is not healthy.

Our bodies cannot process it properly. For this reason, if I were to live on hypothetical copies of myself—a meat I would consider extremely ‘healthy’—I do feel that I would come to the same eventual demise with disease in a hospital coffin. Jason writes that freshwater fish have relatively little of these fatty acids while cold water ocean fish have the greatest amounts. As for those fried-fish-fiery-pit avoiders, deep-frying destroys omega-3s! This clearly points to an ability to incorporate these fats into our bodies, yet it absconders the solitary necessity to survive with these fats alone.

FOOD ALLERGIES

According to Jason, when large molecules of food proteins enter the bloodstream, if we are allergic, then our immune system will identify them as invaders and proceed with an attack. An allergy can be acute or it can be delayed…

  • Many cases appear after antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, and acid-blockers—all alter the normal flora and promote gastrointestinal inflammation.
  • Delayed onset can be anywhere from 2 to 72 hours.
DIET MYTHS

“A good diet can help you control some of the symptoms of osteoarthritis, but there is no single diet that can ‘cure’ arthritis.” Jason mentions some dietary myths…

  • Removing nightshade vegetables.
  • Dong Diet
  • Rich in alfalfa

…but to say that there is no perfect diet is beyond a risk. Although I believe perfection cannot be achieved, I do believe it is achieved. I believe it is ever-changing, but not necessarily more perfect as it evolves. I believe we were and are supplied with an abundance of natural perfectness to live and survive. Nature adapts around itself in a perfect and evolving manner. We have unfortunately set out to spoil this system or ‘perfect’ it to our manipulated wants and needs. But our wants and needs are very unnecessary and only require more man-induced perfecting. I believe, as does the totality of evidence, that man-induced perfection and or the striving to achieve such an impossible rank, is the cause of disease, degeneration, and death at an age where we could still be young.

DEPRESSION

Jason notes that 9.5% of the general population are depressed at some point during a given year and that in an anxiety study—”…the patients who felt the most anxiety had the highest levels of pain and disability, no matter how much joint damage was visible on the x-rays.” So here are some general recommendations:

  • Exercise & positivity
  • Avoid sugar, caffeine, and fat/sugar-laden foods and instead eat veggies, fruits, and grains.
  • Sleep and relaxation—meditation and yoga
  • Avoid nightcap alcohol—”…can actually leave you feeling tired and unrested in the morning.”
  • Babies and touch study—gained 45-50% more weight while in the hospital.
    • Also noted to be more alert, active, and involved.
EIGHT STEPS TO PREVENT OSTEOARTHRITIS
  1. Prevent injuries
    • Teenage female soccer players with ACL injuries frequently have x-ray diagnosable osteoarthritis by age 30—34% report disability as result.
    • “The awareness needs to start in the young and with their parents.”
  2. “Almost all professional athletes pay the arthritis price later for their days in the spotlight.”
  3. Ensure proper recovery if you are injured.
    • Rest and do not resume activity.
  4. Maintain a healthy body weight.
  5. Exercise regularly.
  6. Optimize your biomechanics to counteract stress on you joints.
  7. Consider preventative use of chondroitin, glucosamine, and ASU.
  8. Use joint-supporting dietary supplements.

CELIAC DISEASE

Jason connects the dots of the vital necessity to properly and adequately absorb nutrients with joint health. He points out that celiac disease is indeed quite common—actually greatly under-diagnosed—and is found in 1 out of every 200 within the general population.

CONCLUSION

“…as you take the pressure off the affected joint and put it on another…” We have become a nation of chronic and dependent leaner-on-ers. If something feels awry or a bit off-kilter, we twist the kid-proof medicine cap off or we seek an even more invasive means to avoid the seemingly unavoidable. Leaning on one leg because the other one was bruised, banged-upped pretty badly, or broken and shattered just puts more pressure on that good-as-of-right-now leg.

Our bodies can only handle so much pressure until the once healthy and supporting leg eventually collapses too. Reducing and treating the symptoms is a symptom of stupidity in itself. We walk around in our white lab-coats and spring out of picture-boxes found in almost every room of every single house nowadays as if we know our bodies enough to outsmart them. If only more people could realize that each lean-on requires even more lean-ons…until the ultimate coffin door slams shut.

Jason writes about some statistically significant numbers showing how three supplements have been proven to promote better joint health, but what about joints in their naturally healthy states? Why do we need studies to prove the effectiveness of our body’s own handiwork? Why do we fail to recognize failures and recalls as failures and recalls? Why should anyone, including myself, ever even have to indulge in how the body functions, when it is likely that it will never be entirely understood, at least for the benefit of mankind?

Why is it that we proceed through life with a predetermined knowledge about how our bodies are going to fail miserably as if they were a box checked off by disease? There are no cemented laws decreeing one to failure, only individuals failing to walk a ‘different’ path.

Do you have osteoarthritis?

What seems to help—longterm?

Have you tried returning to the natural—food, exercise, and personal wellbeing?

More Diseases & Disorders

Hypertension: Duck, Duck, DASH

· By Peter Filak · Add Comment · In All, Diseases & Disorders, Health
HypertensionThumb

After Reading: What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Hypertension: The Revolutionary Nutrition and Lifestyle Program to Fight High Blood Pressure By Mark Houston, M.D., Barry Fox, Ph.D., Nadine Taylor, M.S., R.D.

Hypertension is as common as salting the fries and its existence is directly proportional to the amount of salt being used—we use salt in heaping loads not in pinches. “Of the more than 50 million hypertensive Americans, fewer than 14 million have it under control,” and it exists as a “silent killer” for the 1/3 who are unaware.

Much of the blame must be shouldered by the doctors who are not offering enough advice about nutrition, exercise, and other lifestyle factors but rather relying on conventional medicine. It is this lack of advice that provides this silent killer the opportunity to exhibit “…no obvious symptoms until the blood pressure is very high.”

Doctor…Doctor…how could you do this to me? His or her reply would note that it was essentially you that caused your hypertension and that you were likely not taking your meds or following the medically prescribed diet appropriately. Are you to blame? Is it you that must shoulder the weight? Let’s find out…

WHAT IS HYPERTENSION

“But since you can’t feel, hear, taste, or see the signs of hypertension, you can easily ignore it.”

Medically speaking, it is a numbers game. Common-sense speaking, it is not a numbers game. Do not misread me and believe that these numbers are unimportant. These numbers are like calories, grams of fat, and etc…—they are misleading. A stage two hypertension level is not misleading in that it does not necessitate treatment, it is misleading in the way we are nudged into treating it.

“I must emphasize that there are no magic pills or instant cures for high blood pressure”—”lifelong battle.”

After scanning those numbers I provided above and now reading that 32% of deaths resulting from hypertension-related heart disease occur with a systolic pressure less than 140 mmHg, would you go back up to those numbers to verify that ’140′ is in the stage 2 zone? Scroll up. Whole body shiver. Scroll down. More bad news: stage one has a greater risk of (compared to normal/high normal):

  • Heart attack: 31%
  • Stroke: 2x
  • Death rate: 43%

It is these itsy-bitsy misconceptions that should provide enough of a nudge into the awareness that stage 1 is not necessarily better than stage 2. It may be the better of the two evils, but then again there are no good evils—and then again, again, being below these levels does not technically clear you of all risks.

Hypertension is simply excess pressure, pressure that results in endothelial damage. It is this endothelial lining of cells that:

  1. Secretes hormones & substances that regulate blood pressure.
  2. Regulates the stickiness of the blood.
  3. Regulates the growth of the blood vessel wall.

ENDOTHELIUM

“The endothelium is, in fact, an endocrine organ which means that it manufactures and secretes hormones locally and directly into the bloodstream.”

FUNCTIONS/RESPONSIBILITIES
  1. Contraction & Dilation via hormones
    • Nitric oxide if blood pressure is too high—dilates.
  2. Function of Platelets
  3. Thickness/Thinness of blood
  4. How white blood cells stick to the arterial walls
  5. Inflammatory Process
  6. Growth, Thickness, & Stiffness of vascular muscle
  7. Helps control oxidative stress
    • “akin to biochemical thievery”
    • Unbalanced molecules snatching electrons from other substances.
    • Antioxidants: Body manufactures them and we can get them from food.
HYPERTENSION & THE ENDOTHELIUM

Along with its buddies—high cholesterol, diabetes, aging, and genetic hypertension—hypertension is not a dormant out-of-sight-out-of-mind feature because you cannot feel, hear, see, or taste it—it betrays your body by continually damaging it. As pressure rises, smalls cracks and lesions will form and endothelial dysfunction will be the end result after an often flawed immune response appears on the scene to begin the repair process. This crime scene is perfect for the development of plaque, a sticky combo of cholesterol, fat, calcium, and cellular debris. The immune cells burrow in and “set up camp”, and…

ARTERIO- VS ATHERO-

Atherosclerosis is when arterial walls become thick, fibrous, and calcified because of the build up of plaque. When plaque builds up it reduces the diameter of the artery and thus builds pressure (hypertension).

Arteriosclerosis acts similarly to thicken, stiffen, and calcify the walls of arteries, but it is due to a decreased blood supply.

Arterio- & Athero- obviously beget one another. If there is plaque and the diameter is reduced, then the blood supply is reduced too. If blood supply is reduced, damage is a given, and although blood supply is not rampant, immune mediators will work their way to the scene.

BP = CO X SVR

Blood Pressure equals Cardiac Output times Systemic Vascular Resistance. More simply put, blood pressure equals force times resistance. Just as in an air-filled balloon or a packed-by-mom school lunch in a brown paper bag or a crowded auditorium, force and resistance each play an integral part. An overly filled balloon may pop; a too-many-snacked brown paper bag may rip; and a crowded auditorium may turn riotous—these contribute to force, but blood pressure is force multiplied by resistance. That balloon is tied; that brown-bagged lunch will likely have to be ripped open to unearth its goodies; and you want space to move, you best book it for the exits and leave the auditorium.

Those examples mentioned above offer an analogical insight into blood pressure, but they are too easily controlled. Our arteries cannot be untied, ripped apart, and easily exited . Our arteries—Mark provides this analogy—are more like a garden hose. With a firm grip and a great sense of humor, one can thumb-tip the nozzle of a garden hose and spray some innocent bystanders. It is that decreased diameter resistance that yields a much more powerful rush of water.

It won’t last forever:

  • Maybe you get tired and your finger gets dislodged.
    • Translation: plaque can become dislodged too → embolus → clog somewhere else.
  • Maybe the resistance from behind the finger has begun to wear down the hose or even spring a leak.
    • Translation: arteriosclerosis & atherosclerosis
  • Maybe both will happen…
FACTORS THAT SEND THE HEART INTO OVERDRIVE
  1. Narrowed Arteries
  2. Being Overweight
    • Fat = tissue = needs blood supply too.
    • “…a pound of fat contains about a mile of capillaries.”
  3. Emotional Stress
    • Fight or Flight = Increased: Heart Rate, Blood Sugar, Cholesterol, and Blood Pressure
  4. Psychological Factors
    • Personality: Aggressiveness, etc…
  5. Physical Stress
    • “Yet too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.”
      • Exercise
      • Pain
      • Heat/Cold
      • Lack of Sleep
      • Illness
    • When done appropriately, the heart pumps more efficiently:
      • Decreased atherosclerosis
      • Decreased blood fats
      • Decreased vascular resistance
  6. Smoking
    • Increases arterial wall tension and speeds rate of muscular contraction.
    • Crowds oxygen with carbon monoxide → less oxygen per unit of blood.
      • Need more blood to satisfy oxygen requirements → hypertension
  7. Hormonal Regulators
  8. High Sodium Diet
    • Draws water back into the body—more water equals more volume and an increased vascular pressure.
  9. Pregnancy
    • Can have as much as 50% more blood during the later stages.

HYPERTENSION & YOUR BODY

BRAIN & ALZHEIMER’S

“…number one cause of dementia in the U.S. may actually be hypertension, which causes a condition called vascular disease.” We fall victim to the belief that we can outsmart the degeneration of the brain in a way that only skirts around the obvious. It is a “white matter disease” and I urge you to recognize the significance of this. Simply put, if you don’t use it, you will likely lose it, but if you abuse it, you will surely lose it. Read more about it: Link, Link.

EYES

Capillaries are networks of the smallest blood vessels in the body. Now imagine that garden hose from before again. Could you exert that same thumb to nozzle technique on a hose with the dimensions of a strand of your hair? Probably not, and this is where you now imagine plaque or any form of bodily debris clogging these small vessels—your eyes have small arteries too!

HEART

A high blood pressure will certainly weaken your vasculature, but what about your heart? It is a pump, a pump that can potentially be surgically replaced in the future. It is not a fresh roll of toilet paper, just hung after reaching the brown cylinder of its ancestor. It becomes bigger, stronger, and eventually weaker. Hypertension is like your body going to the gym constantly. Professionals refer to it as cardiomegaly. In layman’s terms, a hypertensive heart is like Arnold Schwarzenegger after too many years of heavy lifting and…, weak, flabby, and ready to surrender.

80% of patients also have coronary artery disease. Low HDL levels, high LDL levels, and high triglycerides is the perfect construction plan for new plaque settlements along the walls of your arteries. Your heart needs a blood supply to nourish, oxygenate, and essentially power it to pump. When blood levels are tinkering on disastrous and your heart, the ultimate blood machine, is crying because it itself is not getting enough blood, that is called a heart attack.

KIDNEYS

Hypertension overwhelms the kidneys with its force and the toxins rushing its way via the blood. It ends with your body drowning “in its own waste” and begins with the kidneys being unable to filter these toxins—uremia. Another factor is the enzyme renin which is released by the kidneys in an effort to help regulate blood pressure. As the system progressively fails, so does its ability to regulate.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

FACTORS YOU CANNOT CHANGE
  1. Age
  2. Genetics
  3. Race
    • 1/3 of African-Americans have hypertension, compared to 1/4 of Caucasians.*
  4. Sex
    • Females: less hypertension before age 60 and more after age 60.*

*I am nowhere near convinced that race and sex make you more likely to suffer from hypertension. I feel that there are too many controllable factors not being taken into account by the vast majority of suffers to jump to such conclusions.

FACTORS YOU CAN CHANGE
  1. Alcohol Abuse
  2. Drugs
  3. Poor Diet
  4. Lack of Exercise
  5. Obesity
  6. Smoking
  7. Education/Income
  8. Emotional Stress

NUTRITION

VITAMINS & MINERALS
  • Potassium & Sodium Balance
    • High potassium & low sodium = hypotension
    • Low potassium & high sodium = hypertension
    • Average American Intake: 1:2 (Potassium:Sodium)
      • Ancestors Intake: 5:1 (Potassium:Sodium)
  • Calcium
    • Adequate intake can lower hypertension.
  • Vitamin D
    • Low levels linked to:
      • Hypertension
      • Elevated VLDL
      • Body’s ability to clear fat slows
    • Aids in calcium absorption
  • Vitamin E, B6, & Zinc
    • Lower in hypertension
  • Magnesium
    • Inversely proportional to blood pressure: High Magnesium Diet = Low Blood Pressure
PROTEIN

Some population studies show that a higher protein diet can lower blood pressure, but “…animal protein is less effective than non-animal protein.” Mark recommends 1.0-1.2g/kg of body weight.

OMEGA FATTY ACIDS

Mark offers eight reasons why omega-3s are the best:

  1. “…spur the body to increase production of substances that encourage the blood vessels to relax.”
  2. Improve insulin sensitivity
  3. Quell inflammation
  4. Reduce stickiness tendency
  5. Reduce fibrinogen—a clotting factor
  6. Reduce irregular heart beat
  7. Reduce blood fat
  8. Reduce coronary problems and diseases

Omega-6s:

  1. Protect against saturated fats.
  2. Enhance production of artery relaxing substances.
  3. Block stress induced hypertension.
FISH OIL STUDY
  • Group 1: Made no changes
    • Systolic & Diastolic, no notable changes.
  • Group 2: 1 meal of fish
    • Systolic: ↓6.0
    • Diastolic: ↓3.0
  • Group 3: Lost weight
    • Systolic: ↓5.5
    • Diastolic: ↓2.2
  • Group 4: 1 meal of fish and lost weight
    • Systolic: ↓13.0
    • Diastolic: ↓9.3

The results are blatantly obvious. There are no pills that can save you and only a modified lifestyle can protect you and fend off hypertension. Mark also uses a few pages to mention some olive oil studies and I recommend you refer to my article on heart disease to see whether an oily diet is right for you or not.

VITAMIN C

“The rational for taking vitamin C supplements is folkloric.”

The NHANES-II Study has been following 14 thousand Americans since 1975 and has recognized vitamin C, which can relax arteries and aid in reversing endothelial dysfunction, as another piece to the hypertensive enigma. Some studies have shown that vitamin C has a bigger effect on those with hypertension—the NHANES-II Study found that low plasma levels of vitamin C were found in 20% of white men and 30% of black men.

I quote myself from earlier: “1/3 of African-Americans have hypertension, compared to 1/4 of Caucasians.” These numbers are more than vaguely similar in nature and this may help explain the gap between races.

OTHER NUTRITIONAL FACTORS
  • Coenzyme Q10
    • Not essential—we manufacture it in our bodies.
    • Mark writes that levels do decrease with age, hypertension, atherosclerosis, and diabetes mellitus.
      • I find this misleading though. Age is not a predetermined set of years, it is a result of how you proceed throughout life. A unhealthy lifestyle begets some nasty results while a health-focused lifestyle begets more life.
  • Flavonoids
    • Fruits, Veggies, Grains, Tea, Wine, Licorice – Free Radical Scavengers
  • Celery
    • “Back in the 19th century, celery was considered a delicacy.”
    • Antihypertensive & Diuretic
  • Garlic
    • Natural ACE inhibitor
  • Seaweed
    • Works “…as well as captopril…”
    • Natural ACE inhibitor
  • Fiber
    • Reduces endothelial dysfunction
    • Reduces cholesterol
  • L-Arganine
    • Helps make nitric acid
DASH-1 DIET

The implementors behind DASH—Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension—are no different than the typical whimsical mind of an American dieter. They too sought miracle ingredients, but, again like us, they found none. Instead of retreating and accepting hypertension as just another part of life, they pushed forward and sought to see how these touted foods worked together in synergy.

“They also seem to avoid developing the steep rise in systolic blood pressure that we see so often in the rest of the population.”

“And the stricter the vegetarian diet, the lower the blood pressure levels.”

 DASH-1 STUDY

Eight weeks, 459 adults, 27% of which had hypertension, the results were:

  • GROUP 1*
    • Standard American Diet: No change
  • Group 2*
    • Similar Diet, but with more fruits and vegetables: Blood pressure dropped
  • Group 3*
    • DASH-1 Diet: Blood pressure dropped faster and more
      • High in fruits and vegetables
      • Low fat dairy
      • Low: cholesterol, saturated fat, and total fat

*Each diet contained about 3000 mg of sodium. With all three being asterisked, I feel it is safe to assume that there is not one single factor that predisposed one to hypertension. Likewise, treatment and or prevention work best as a synergy.

DASH-II DIET
  • 429 Subjects
    • Blood Pressures: 129-59/80-95 mmHg
    • 57% African-American
    • 57% Women
    • 41% Hypertensive
  • Group 1: Standard American Diet
  • Group 2: DASH-II Diet

Each subject consumed a specific level of sodium for one month at a time:

  1. 4.300 mg
  2. 2,400 mg
  3. 1,500 mg

Cutting back the salt intake reduced the blood pressures in both groups.

Group 1 utilized both salt restriction and hypertensive medications and their average reductions were:

  • Systolic: 11.5 mmHg
  • Diastolic: 6.8 mmHg

Group 2 showed greater reductions, compared to group 1, with each sodium reduction.

THE MESSAGE: “You can lower your blood pressure significantly by following the DASH-II diet and restricting your sodium intake to 1,500 mg/day, or less. And you can expect to see results that are equal to those achieved throughout monodrug therapy for mild hypertension. These results are immediate, sustainable, and inexpensive.”

AUTHOR’S MODIFIED DASH DIET

His advice is a little confusing at first—recommends decreasing fruits—but then slightly clears it up—most people will be doubling their fruits and vegetables. It is important to note that he is an advocate for raw fruits and vegetables.

  • Saturated Fats: Avoid
    • Potential Sources: Snacks, Canned Foods, MSG, Baking Soda/Powder, and Meds
  • Protein: 1.0-1.2 g/kg of body weight per day
  • Fat: 25-35% of total calories
    • Omega-3s: 10%
    • Omega-6s: 10%
    • Omega-9s: 50%
    • Saturated Fats: ≤30%
      • This is a point of disconnect for me. He clearly writes off saturated fats—high in LDLs and trigylcerides—and he clearly contradicts himself with his ‘modified’ diet.
  • Carbohydrates: Avoid Simple Carbs—spike your blood sugar levels.
    • Simple: Processed, canned, and baked foods, white rice, sodas, table sugar, etc…
    • Complex: Fruits and vegetables
  • Water: Eight 8 ounce glasses each day
  • Fiber: Get naturally…
    • Too much, especially the handcrafted form, can disrupt the absorption of vitamins and other vital components.

OBESITY

  • Excess tissue necessitates a greater blood supply—‎”…a pound of fat contains about a mile of capillaries.”

Honestly, think about that for a moment. You may not realize it, but for every pound you gain and every hinderance that opposes your body, it must be met with an equally impressive opposition in order to maintain a balance. Blood, being the carrier of the hammers and nails to life, must work to reach every spec of your body. When it fails to do so, you fail too, spec by spec. Obesity is a window pleading with a help wanted sign for a business that will never succeed. Workers will come and workers will go, their work having never amounted to much more than an effortful failure.

  • Insulin resistance and blockade.

As the pancreas juices up its engines to pump out more insulin—‎can be helpful as it is a natural response—‎sodium retention can be elevated. It is too much insulin in the circulation that precedes this and only acts to increase blood volume. Just as in that balloon, brown bag, and auditorium, a greater volume always results in greater pressure, and in this case, a higher incidence of atherosclerosis too. Read more about the effects of blood sugar and diabetes.

  • Lose ten pounds—‎shown to help decrease blood pressure.

Only a healthy weight is a healthy weight and there are no in betweens. Our lickety-split temptation to shed it quickly or even gain it quickly—‎bodybuilders and their gaining seasons—‎is a burden to the body and can, potentially, be dangerous. An understanding of kidney stones will help clarify this.

CAFFEINE CONTROVERSY

Caffeine, a stimulant that meets resistance and subsides after 30-60 minutes and sometimes days, often provides more than that morning or mid-afternoon jolt—”A single cup of coffee drives up your blood pressure and heart rate and makes your arteries stiffer almost immediately, although these effects tend to be short-lived (mentioned just above).”

Other than the satisfaction this jolt provides to many as they splurgingly throw handfuls of money its way, the idea of caffeine is conflicting, especially in how we seize the cup quite a few times each and every day. A short little rant, followed by two studies, is undeniably necessary—for heaven’s sake people, it may save your life (not the coffee).

Stimulation acts to discourage the depressing calm (antonyms) and mediate a balance. As a coffee drinking society, we are no longer on the brink of being stimulated, we are drowning it. We are not splashing around in its joyous waters of ecstasy, we are self-submerged beneath reality and blockaded from practicality. Our body can naturally make itself aware, a form a stimulation, but we choose a different path, a path of infinite resistance.

Staying up too late, working too hard, masticating the unimaginable, and etc…—then we seek to be stimulated because we are in a depressed state. It is an unrestricted up and down fueled by our desire to avoid reality and exceed the limits. It all averages out though…Rant complete.

In the first of two studies, two cups of coffee were provided to a 150 pound individual.

  • Systolic: ↑ 5-9 mmHg*
  • Diastolic: ↑ 3-8 mmHg*

*If caffeine free for 12 hours or more, these blood pressure changes rectified themselves. If caffeine free for 12 hours or more… who the hot-place, opposite of in-the-sky-above-the-clouds heaven, can’t remember its name, beneath our feet about a million miles, do these scientists think they are talking too! Seriously, does anyone know a one-cupper of coffee. I know some no-cuppers, me and not many others, but even a two-cupper is a rarity. Whether it is an energy drink or Folgers in your cup, this is not a society where 12 hours or more can lapse without another rant.

Two-hundred and fifty milligrams of caffeine (2 1/2 cups of drip coffee) was the protocol for the second study. Three times each day for seven days, participants indulged and had significant increases in their diastolic blood pressures 24 hours after the first cup. It’s okay though, it subsided within a few days…

ALCOHOL

Alcohol is a vasodilator—evidenced by bloodshot eyes and the ruddy complexion of the joyous fellow—and causes the body to react with vasoconstriction. Studies show that 1 1/2 to 2 drinks increases both the risk and severity of hypertension. Some other reasons to avoid:

  1. Empty calories → gain weight.
  2. Interferes with nutrition and dulls appetite
    • Blocks absorption (vitamins, etc…)
  3. Release of cortisol
    • Promotes sodium retention and potassium loss → increases blood pressure

EXERCISE

  1. Decreases Blood Pressure, LDLs, Triglycerides, and Blood Sugar
  2. Increases HDLs
  3. Improves endothelial function & Increases nitric oxide
  4. Reduces formation of blood clots
  5. Burns Calories & Reduces total body fat
  6. Improves blood flow
  7. Helps manage stress
    • Burns off stress hormones, releases tension, and eases anxiety and depression

“…Avoid bulking up and overdoing it. And if you feel that you’re straining, ease off.” I completely agree with this, yet he offers a conflicting Harvard Alumni Health Study in which he forgets to take a stand. Burning calories, 2,100/week, decreased the participants risk of coronary artery disease by 10%. Continued improvement with a 19% reduction was achieved by setting fire to 4,200 calories, but reductions only plateaued after this level.

I can put gas into a car to get me from point ‘a’ to point ‘b’, and for argument’s sake, let us imagine that my journey in miles is my life in years. I also know how much gasoline it will take me to get from sperm to eternal rest. If I for some reason choose to over-fill it for the journey, would my car become obese? No. A puddle would splash into existence beneath my feet and only my receipt would print out a heftier number. I find this Harvard Study misleading based on this reasoning.

It is misleading because, do we need to burn more calories than we need to burn? Obviously we do not, but unlike an automobile, our bodies can unwillingly be forced to adapt, saving the ground beneath our feet from a puddle of fries…and I wish I could say the same for that receipt. This redundancy is both idiotic and extremely taxing on your only automobile through life, your body.

Mark also writes that anything that can make you strain, including heavy weight lifting, isometric exercises, rope climbing, sit-ups, and push-ups, should be attempted in a safe and aware manner—”…certain resistance exercises that drive your blood pressure up…”

How shall we proceed then? Mark tells us that sedentary people have a “20 to 50 percent increased risk of developing hypertension” compared to fit and active people. He also recommends reaching an intensity or a higher heart beat, and maintaining it. Forty-five minutes of aerobic exercise and fifteen minutes of resistance exercise each day, coupled with the loss of 4,200 calories per week, is also on his regimen.

I feel a structured plan will work because I know from personal experience. I feel a calorie counting plan will inevitably fail though, as the majority of you already know. Knowing that a brisk walk can be enough though, should be intriguing enough to engage you more fully. He writes that systolic blood pressure elevates during a walk and tends to drop afterward. In a study with mildly hypertensive men, the drop lasted 8-12 hours after the exercise. So, minus the calorie counting, relaxed aerobic exercise coupled with some manageable resistance exercise may be your best bet.

STRESS

The fight or flight response, a sympathetic response, leads to:

  1. Increased heart rate
  2. Vascular resistance
  3. Thickening of blood
  4. Platelet Stickiness
  5. Stress hormones
    • Adrenaline, Cortisol, and Norepinephrine

…all factors that contribute to hypertension. Some studies lead one to believe that mental stress is the boulder that breaks the back, when compared to physical stress. Chronic stress injures the endothelium and subdues blood vessels and may eventually overburden them into an inability to correct themselves after stress. And this is why chronic stress can lead to atherosclerosis and hypertension.

According to the authors, this is what works:

  • Progressive Relaxation
  • Mediation
    • Especially Transcendental
      • Example: concentrate on one word (love).
      • Associated with ↓ atherosclerosis, ↓ cholesterol, and ↓ rates of hospitalization.
  • Exercise
  • Deep Breathing, Yoga, T’ai Chi, etc…

CONCLUSION

I hope after reading this that you come to the same conclusion I do. I hope you see that hypertension cannot be treated mono-therapeutically. You cannot just lose ten pounds or decrease your salt intake by a couple of table spoons and expect it to just go poof. Your vessels may relent and blow a gasket eventually, but that is a different poof and likely your last.

Maybe it’s unfair for me to impose such restrictive advice upon you because you cannot possibly imagine all this complex mumbo-jumbo going on within you or maybe you need to realize that your actions culminate and essentially provide the answer at the other end of the equals sign in your existence equation. Spoiler Alert: hypertension is presenting at epidemic levels, and you are to blame.

Do you have hypertension?

What causes it?

What lifestyle modifications have helped you?

More Diseases & Disorders

New Year’s Re-Solution: 5 Tips

· By Peter Filak · 2 Comments · In All, Exercise, Food, Health
NewYearsThumb

If you take the word from what haunts many and excites them in the same respect and break it down into its two root words, you get re- and -solution. We take this word as meaning: a firm decision to do or not to do something, a definition provided by a few taps on my computer, but a fate chosen by you.

Re- simply means to give it another go and in this case, it means to give the solution another go(!)? Think about that for a moment. A solution is a means of finding the proper order and with every New Year’s celebration, many contemplate and only the “brave” attempt to set things straight.

Is the solution to lose fifteen pounds in fifteen seconds, is it to join a gym and only go on the 32nd through the 38th of each month (those days do not exist…), or is it to be merry and simply enjoy the festivities and what follows?

If these actually worked and we could all joyfully reap the benefits, then yes, these would all be the solution. Instead, we continue to seek the solution again next year, when this year’s solution failed like the previous ones, even with that built-up pep talk you gave yourself for the 72hrs leading up to your olympic-like feat of superhuman willpower.

Here are five tips to finding your New Year’s REAL-Solution:

ONE

A solution is often something permanent, yet the concrete should never become solid. It is something to improve upon as you make your journey through life. It is not doing the same thing every year and expecting different results, that is the definition of insanity.

TWO

A solution is both realistic and tangible. Choose something that can be accomplished within a set period of time and can endure the remaining trials of life without constant grief.

THREE

A solution should be beneficial to you and this can be the most difficult aspect of the process. Do something that makes you feel better, whether emotionally or physically—a great one interweaves both—and avoid doing it just to please the outside world. If the outside world wished you would stop drinking, that is okay and would be a wonderful accomplishment, but if the outside world wished you had a new nose or a bigger set of… silverware, think twice and proceed gently.

FOUR

A solution should be challenging on your willpower. Don’t choose something that will be accomplished and forgotten within an hour of completion while the benefits seep up up and away. A challenging solution will be memorable and thus be carried further on into your lifelong journey.

FIVE

A solution should have no preset permanent obstacles within its way. A path of this nature leads to rationalizing every inch you deviate from the solution. It leaves you feeling confident about how well you are proceeding, until those inches become miles and it is New Year’s Eve once more. A permanent obstacle can be food cravings and your allowance to eat them on “free” days, or the “definitely do it tomorrow” self pep-talks, or even the blaming of others for why this task can no longer be achieved.

I challenge you this New Year’s to find the real solution in your life. Strive to complete it with all your might. It may seem so small and unworthy of attention to others, and maybe even you, but as long as it incorporates the above tips, you will succeed. This will not be your last solution in life but it will certainly begin the snowball effect. As you conquer this one, you conquer another, then another—often bigger and more beneficial—and sooner or later, maybe even by next year, you won’t be worrying about losing that fifteen pounds in fifteen seconds, or going to the gym when it is likely not open, or even just enjoying the holidays and all it has to offer because that’s what “we” do.

Instead, you will be ahead of the game, actually, you will no longer be involved in this twisted game. You will be healthier and motivated to proceed on in your limitless journey. Find joy in your life by finding the solution.

To anyone celebrating a holiday this time of the year: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Do you make New Year’s Resolutions (share)?

Have you succeeded (longterm)?

What helped you or what prevented you?

Epilepsy: Carpe Vitam

· By Peter Filak · 3 Comments · In All, Diseases & Disorders, Health
Epilepsy

After Reading: Treating Epilepsy Naturally: A Guide to Alternative and Adjunct Therapies By Patricia A. Murphy

Forget Carpe Diem…

“…we need to dispel one myth promulgated by the medical profession: that prescribed medication and/or brain surgery are the only effective ways to treat seizures.”

“A seizure can be a response to stress, hypoxia (low oxygen), poorly controlled diabetes, alcoholism, drugs, low blood sugar, food allergies, even heart problems.”

Epilepsy is a condition believed to be rooted in the malfunction of electrical activity within the brain, via the nerves. It is diagnosed by the presence of recurrent seizures and tests such as the EEG which measures your electrical activity while noting abnormal variations. Putting a name to a condition and labeling the afflicted is easy, but treating and preventing it seems completely unattainable.

Can lifestyle modifications in diet, exercise, and stress ease the pressure to find a cure and eliminate our need to tinker with our surroundings in order to heal the internal? Do we become stuck with a diagnosis or do we choose sit and eat with it every day for the rest of our lives (pun possibly intended)?

NUTRITION

It is estimated that one to two out of every 100 in America have epilepsy and a Columbia University study has linked epilepsy with migraines. It found that 11% of the general public experience migraines compared to the twenty percent of epileptics. Sugar, chocolate, dairy, caffeine, and white flour, which can all be found in a nicely packaged factory produced square nowadays, are triggers to both epilepsy and migraines.

Patricia writes: “…they discover that a very small portion of food, far less than they previously ate, will start symptoms again.” We are designed to eat a certain way, we cannot be redesigned in order to fulfill some money-making scheme. We can and do become altered, both at the cellular level and at the environmental level, but never do we become redesigned.

CELIAC DISEASE

The Lancet has directly linked gliadin to eighteen different medical conditions, including epilepsy, autism, and celiac disease. Gliadin is believed to be the portion of the gluten protein found in grains that is responsible for our inability to properly digest it. We as a people (probably everyone) lack this ability to some extent and in referencing the results from the Italian Working Group Study, this becomes something we cannot ignore.

Seventy-seven percent of the patients (patients had cerebral calcification and epilepsy) had the symptoms of celiac disease. Not everyone is affected to the extent where the antibody reaction to gliadin produces an unobliging internal environment of inflammation, but everyone is indeed affected. Can seizures be the end result of a disrupted gastrointestinal tract? I would rank this at a more than a maybe.

MILK

“I hold milk and milk products to be absolute poison for anyone with any neurological disorder,” Dr. Robert Fried. Patricia writes that milk (cow) contains about twenty-five different proteins, five of which have been consistently linked with food allergies.

Patricia expands a bit on a very interesting concept of how milk can have deleterious effects on our health and be a promoter of epileptic activity. Acid base balance is literally part of the equilibrium that is kept within our bodies. It is this system that works diligently to counteract and maintain certain pH levels (7.35-7.45 are usually the accepted values), and it is the calcium in milk that depletes our very own calcium, thus disrupting this internal harmony.

ACID/BASE COMPENSATION

As calcium is used up via acid base balance, acidosis is what results, and this is a “calamity for seizure sufferers.” No need to worry yet, our body has compensatory mechanisms that can correct and regulate this system and according to Patricia, the kidneys are responsible for 35% of the workload and the rest is covered by our lungs. Take a deep breath and let it ease itself out slowly.

There’s no debate, your brain needed that, as well as every cell within your body. We are not equipped with the ability to breath only a couple times a day or even not at all. We are equipped in a way that our brain regulates the breathing process, a process in itself that goes about like a tip-toer in the background. We do have the ability to make adjustments: deep breathing, holding our breath, gasping… but each has its consequences (positive or negative).

As we become acidotic due to our body’s inability to adapt to what the dairy industry suckered us into, our lungs compensate by hyperventilating. Rapid breathing restores the balance (positive), but constricts blood vessels throughout the body and in our very vascular brain (negative). Our vessels transport blood, our blood transports oxygen and nutrients, and our vessels are now constricted!

Various body parts will scream for that oxygen and nutrients, but due to the compensatory maintenance, they must endure. This is why Patricia believes that milk can possibly be a causative agent for seizure activity. Seizures are your body telling you something is not right, whether your epilepsy was caused by trauma or by unknown reasons, something is obviously out of whack.

BRAIN ALLERGIES

William Philpott, M.D.: “fifty percent of seizures may be related to maladaptive reactions to foods, chemicals, or inhalants.” Patricia refers to these effects on the central nervous system as being brain allergies. Whether the brain allergy is induced by milk, eggs, wheat, or another environmental toxin, it can cause people to become confused, act drunk, or even have a seizure.

Kids can be tormented with:

  • Fatigue
  • Aggression
  • Irritability
  • Tantrums
  • Depression
  • Learning Disabilities
  • Inability to Concentrate

Adults can suffer from:

  • Manic depression
  • Phobias
  • Other Mental Disorders

Whether or not you choose to believe these connections, you should take allergies seriously.

A double-blind placebo controlled study in which a food regiment was followed to remove possible food allergens, further exposed food as a likely culprit. When re-introduced with the food, fifteen out of the sixteen participants had their symptoms reappear. The placebo group, given foods that were not deemed allergenic, had no reappearance of their symptoms.

ROTATING DIET?

Patricia recommends a rotating diet in order to avoid food sensitivities and she writes that sometimes it is not due to a poor diet, but malabsorption. My opinion, a rotating diet eliminates the causative agent some of the times, but never completely, and it is a poor diet and inefficient lifestyle that leads to an inflamed and over-burdened gut.

ALCOHOL

Walter Alvarez, M.D. took a retrospective look at the effects of alcohol on families. He found that 38% of the epileptics had a higher presence of alcoholism within the family compared to the presence of additional epileptics. Alcohol is a poison, an addiction, and its effects on neurotransmitters are similar to those of sugar, white flour, and refined carbs. Withdrawal from alcohol can lead delirium tremens, which is Latin for “shaking frenzy” (need I say more).

CAFFEINE

It is estimated that Americans drink 400 million cups of coffee each and every day. Like alcohol, coffee adversely affects blood sugar by raising it. Coffee is a stimulant and it amplifies your dependency through its addictive pull, and on a lighter note, it also helps constrict blood vessels so they cannot get sufficient oxygen and nutrients to the rest of your body. Withdrawal symptoms are then fledged throughout your body, and include headaches (possible coincidence?).

SUGAR

Patricia terms sugar (refined/unnatural) as “antinutrition” because it uses up vitamin stores and corrupts lipid metabolism. “Complex carbohydrates in most fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, break down into glucose more slowly than other carbohydrates” (also great sources of fiber) whereas simple carbs, such as those found in pastries, french fries, and pizza, bring constipation and low blood sugar levels along for the ride—constipation and low blood sugars are two common symptoms in epilepsy.

R. B. Allen believes that 50-90% of epileptics experience constant or periodic low blood sugar levels. Specific foods hit the system too quickly and yield an overproduction of insulin which drops your sugar levels. So, what happens when your body does not get its much needed supply of fuel?

  • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • Fatigue
  • Shakiness
  • Headaches
  • Inability to concentrate
  • And even seizures

Fruit often gets lumped into this category too, but Patricia notes that fructose, the fruit sugar, accounts for only 5% of the net weight for most fruits.

SENSE OF TASTE

Yet again, another author (Patricia) mentions reorientation of our sense of taste, leaving artificially sweetened and manipulated foods tasting too sweet or even unbearable. These sugars provide no vitamins, minerals, enzymes, or fibers, yet they can be found everywhere:

FIBER

As mentioned above, fiber plays an all-so-important role in removing bodily wastes. If a diet constantly consists of a bombardment of non-nutritious and pro-inflammatory substances while lacking a good source of fiber, this trashy food will park itself in the garage (gut) and remain running (disaster-to-be). Your body will do a dandy job in trying to eliminate these wastes, but an insufficient diet disallows it of this ability. These wastes will recirculate and the brain is a future stop…

EXCITOTOXINS

“…when brain cells are exposed to these substances, they can become overly excited and fire very rapidly until they are exhausted to death,” Dr. Robert Blaylock.

“…chronic exposure to them can cause increasing damage.”

From what I learned in school over the years, especially college, I came to understand that our brains have the best defense system around. This defense system was responsible for blocking certain drugs and postponing the acceptance of others (SSRTIs, etc…). I learned that the blood brain barrier was impenetrable and this concept become impenetrable in of itself and I felt no need to delve any deeper.

According to Patricia though, some parts of the brain are not as protected as we would like them to be and they can even function as a “backdoor” access point to the rest of the brain. One such part, the hypothalamus, can apparently be affected by:

  • Various Toxins
  • Excitatory Proteins
  • Mercury
  • Iron
  • Low Blood Sugar
  • Etc…
MSG

MSG, a taste enhancer, found often with these labelings…

  • No MSG - my favorite for obvious reasons
  • Flavoring
  • Natural Flavoring
  • Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein
  • Spices

…is an excitotoxin. High doses have been shown to cause cell death, low doses cause impairments over time, and the FDA only requires ingredients to be listed if they make up at least one percent of the total product. At this rate, companies can stick just about anything they wish into a product and you would never know, and if they did list it, a misleading label would prompt no further investigation.

In a safety report on MSG for the FDA: “motor disturbances and changes in seizure threshold have been noted in numerous studies,” yet it was deemed safe. Glutamate (MSG) has the ability to slowly seep through the “impenetrable” barrier of the brain and also the placenta. Yes, your children are not spared from its deathly grasp. If there is one thing neurologists know about newborns and children in general, it is that their brains are growing at amazing rates. Does it help to know that glutamate can be found in formulas, vitamins, and medications?

ASPARTAME

Another excitotoxin, aspartame, has been “accused of causing more than ninety side effects and contributing to brain damage, seizures, and cancer.” An astounding 80% of FDA food complaints have been about aspartame, yet you can find it on labels today. Between 1973 and 1990, those over 65 years of age have been dealt a blow: brain tumors are up 67%!

Aspartame has also been shown to increase the brain levels of phenylalanine and methanol. Methanol is converted to formic acid and formaldehyde, two “powerful neurotoxins.” Just as with MSG, aspartame is also capable of crossing the placental barrier and…

Aspartame has also been shown to increase free radicals (highly reactive substances).

Nutrasweet, a deceiving name, an unnatural sweetener, and utilizer of aspartame, has funded studies which were submitted to FDA to “prove” the efficacy of aspartame use. Funding for studies from the company that would be directly affected by the results is often thought to be off kilter. Not only did Monsanto, who owns Nutrasweet, fund these studies, they also hired government officials who approved them to work for Nutrasweet afterwards. Some of these studies showed evidence of the development of brain tumors and or death in mice… but this offers no proof of causing tumors within humans(?)!

NEUROTOXINS

“Since pesticides purpose is to kill living organisms, what potential effect might it have on humans, especially humans prone to seizures.” Some “interfere with biochemical interactions in the brain and cause seizures,” Mary Gilbert, M.D.

BABY FOOD

If animal studies show that even low-level injections and cause seizure activity, why do we allow such things as baby foods to have these pesticides within them. We wonder why disease is on the rise, I wonder why a toxin that was banned in 1920(!) can be found in baby food (oh yeah, less than one percent…). It was the Environmental Working Group Study that found sixteen pesticide residues within eight commonly eaten baby foods (Gerber, Heinz, and Beechnut).

It is recommended that you buy organic foods because “exposure over a prolonged period is more insidious and harder to detect” and organic foods have been found to be 75% richer in minerals.

HEAVY METALS

Heavy metals weigh in on the toxic side too. Mercury has been shown to cause:

  • Birth Defects
  • Brain Damage
  • Linked to various types of Mental Disturbances

Do not take it lightly when the media portrays some parents as quacks because they believe vaccinations are derailing their children. Instead, take a stand, and become informed about it. Some things sound crazy when they are interpreted by the uninformed, uneducated, and unopened minds of society, but with studies that can link aluminum to brain damage and nervous system disruption, can we actually sit quietly?

Aluminum found in:

  • Painkillers
  • Deodorants
  • Antacids
  • Table Salts
  • Some Flours

Patricia briefly mentions GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) or “frankenfoods,” as they call them in Europe. Long story short: these foods have had their DNA altered (by us), and DNA is the substance responsible for the “me-ness” or pretty much everything in every living thing.

HEALING FOODS

Patricia goes into great detail about the benefits of minerals, vitamins, and amino acids with epilepsy and shares valuable information about each. A diet specifically produced for use by epileptics, the ketogenic diet, was touched upon next.

KETOGENIC DIET

“Dr. Freeman says that several children have died as a result of unsupervised ketogenic diets.” “The diet is not nutritionally adequate, so multivitamins and mineral supplements…” I do share these quotes from this book in order to scare you and I urge you to recognize and acknowledge the seriousness of nutrition and your dietary choices.

Ketones are the residue or waste products of metabolized fats. In school, I learned about ketones and their relation to diabetes (DKA: diabetic ketoacidosis). DKA is a condition that is not sought after in the diabetic community, it is feared and treated as an emergency. So, how can epileptics profit where diabetics would shrivel?

Unlike diabetics, those with epilepsy do not have a diagnosed blood sugar condition and they may be able to more appropriately handle this emergency situation. That is my highly speculative opinion and it likely overshoots by quite a bit. My theory rattles the rim because this diet does indeed put the body in an overly awkward situational crisis.

Awkward because it seems to dissipate seizure activity while encouraging unhealthy consumption simultaneously. Some studies do back this diet up though: One from the 1930s: “completely controlled seizures in 50% of children on diet and markedly improved seizure control in 75%.” Another followed children aged 1-16 years for one year and found that 50% had greater than a 50% reduction while 27% of the studied population experienced a 90% reduction (Children averaged 410 seizures/month and tried six medications on average, prior to the study).

This diet lost a ton of grounding with the introduction of anticonvulsants, but is this the classic swap one evil for another? Our lives and our health should not be compromised due to our inability to negotiate our needs.

The ketogenic diet consists of:

  1. Getting 90% of your calories from fat
    • Butter, oil, heavy/whipped butter
  2. Entertaining a low protein and low carb appetite
  3. Avoiding all sugar
  4. Restriction of fluids – 1 oz/lb of body weight

A high fat diet has also been associated with:

  • Stunted growth
  • Constipation
  • Elevated cholesterol

If I haven’t scared you yet, it may benefit you to reread the last few paragraphs.

Patricia also mentions that children fare better with this diet because children have a greater ability (4-5x) to extract ketones from the blood to the brain.

“…forced to burn fat instead of sugar.” To me, this diet is like trying to fix your mother’s most cherished and recently chipped vase with a sledge hammer. You cannot force your body to do anything without some kind of consequence. Seizure activity may diminish, but other illnesses are surely sneaking their way in. I do not know much more about this diet than what was presented in the book, but it would be interesting to see how different diets affect epilepsy (vegetarian, vegan, etc…). In short, I do not find this option to be very appealing, let alone healthy.

STRESS

“You can have the best diet in the world, but if you are self abusive, anxious, or unhappy, your nervous system and digestive system may suffer.”

Patricia shares that “stress is a leading cause of seizures” and offers insight into various ‘stress busters’:

  • Biofeedback
  • Progressive Relaxation
  • Yoga
  • Meditation
    • A meditation study resulted in one third less seizures for those who meditated for the three months, unlike the control group.
  • Exercise
DEEP BREATHING

Breathing is so amazing, so complex, and so simple in that we can control it, alter it permanently or periodically, and because it can dramatically change us. “Breathing deeply from the diaphragm comes naturally to healthy babies. Unfortunately, many of us lose this natural capacity when we get older and acquire poor breathing habits.”

As mentioned in my article about fibromyalgia, a body that is constantly stressed or in the ‘fight or flight’ mode, has a diminished ability to heal itself and promote relaxation. Deep breathing turns on this relaxation response and settles the storm, and with time, it wards off future storms.

BRAIN WAVES

There are four types of brain waves (mentioned):

  1. Beta – awake, concentration, and possibly anxious
  2. Alpha – awake and relaxed
    • Lower levels in Epileptics.
  3. Theta – drowsy and before sleep
    • Thought to induce seizures.
  4. Delta waves – sleep
EXERCISE

“Ironically, seizures while exercising are rare, and overall, exercise helps reduce seizures.” You do not have to fear the hyperventilation effects of exercise either, this occurrence has been shown to improve the EEG reading (measures electrical activity within the brain). Patricia recommends that you do not exercise within four hours of sleepy time though.

MIGRAINES

Migraines and seizures are often accompanied by auras and Patricia offers a very interesting tactic in using auras to defend against the approaching seizure. She recommends attacking them directly:

  • Deep breathing to calm yourself.
  • Smelling something else (if it is a smell aura).
  • Pin-pricking above the tingling or tickling sensation of the aura.
  • We can also attack seizures with our sleep (another leading cause of seizures).

CHILDREN

One study found that 78 out 88 children achieved disappearance of epilepsy and migraines when food allergies were removed.

WOMEN

In a study with greater than two million subjects, the general population was found to have a 33% higher fertility rate when compared to epileptic women. According to Patricia, estrogen is a pro-convulsant, progesterone has a seizure protective effect, and this is likely linked to why 30% of epileptic women report catamenial (menstrual-related) seizures. Women tend to accumulate water a few days before they menstruate in order to be prepared for the eventual fluid loss, this is a buildup of pressure that can cause premenstrual seizure activity.

To help alleviate menopausal symptoms, Patricia recommends:

  • Exercise
  • Vitamins
  • Reducing meat, alcohol, sugar, and refined carbs.

MEN

38-71% of epileptic men been found to be hyposexual and have lower fertility rates. In one study, men who ate organic food produced 43% more sperm.

ELDERY & CONCLUSION

Patricia writes that the incidence of epileptic seizures rises dramatically after the age of sixty and that this may be due to the build up of unhealthy practices and habits over time. In my opinion, this is no coincidence. How can it be a coincidence that a disease process typically takes greater control of its host at a specific age? It cannot.

Our daily choices affect how many tomorrows we will have. We can have as many tomorrows as we set out to have, but we often lack the ability to achieve something tomorrow that can be achieved today (Now!). Do not put your natural pursuit of health and your intertwining relationship with the natural world onto tomorrow’s to do list. Carpe vitam (seize the life) because carpe diem (seize the day) is just not enough. Life is a daily process, ignorance occurs in weeks, months, years, and lifetimes. Grab hold and seize life for all of its purpose.

Do you have epilepsy (share what has worked for you)?

Do you know anyone with epilepsy?

Is it possible to heal naturally, or can we only benefit from what we create?

What are your feelings about this topic and health in general?

More Diseases & Disorders

Endometriosis: Whimpering Wisdom

· By Peter Filak · 5 Comments · In All, Diseases & Disorders, Health
Endo-150x150

After Reading: Endometriosis: The Complete Reference for Taking Charge of Your Health By Mary Lou Ballweg and the Endometriosis Association

Normally in the female reproductive system, the uterine lining responds to hormones during the menstrual cycle in order to prepare for a potential pregnancy. This involves the shedding off and bleeding more commonly known as the “period.” Some other areas of the body have growth responses to these hormones too, except these other areas lack the ability to be expunged from the body, resulting in:

  • Internal Bleeding
  • Degeneration of Blood
  • Tissue Shedding
  • Inflammation of Surrounding Areas
  • Scar Tissue Formation.

“Female pain (“womanly pain”) is not normal.” This statement also encompasses painful sex and painful menstruation – NOT NORMAL. Pain has been found to affect women more so—Fibromyalgia: 9x, Migraines: 3x, Athritis, and Temporomandibular disorders—than men as noted by a National Institutes of Health study. Imagine a world where your doctor, your neighbor, and even your family and close friends viewed your pain as womanly and below actual pain standards or as just plain normal. Many women live in this world and many women are treated in a way that only hides their pain, rather than fixing it.

“Immunotherapy treatment approach, a change in diet, and exercise – all considered alternative – are often the most effective in relieving pain.”

CANDIDA ALBICANS

“…it’s fair to say that no other approach to endo (term commonly used for endometriosis) treatment has given as consistent and long-term positive results as has treatment for Candida albicans allergy/infection and its related problems.” Candida has been found to bind with estrogen, progesterone, and corticosterone and can even make us allergic to our very own hormones by creating antibodies against them.

ALLERGIES

One study found that women with endo, as well as their families, were more prone to have allergies and it is believed that one in every five to six have allergies. These numbers bring eery insight into the madness created by the Industrial Revolution, a “progression” that unlinked the bond between rarity and allergy. Mary Lou believes it is vital to not downplay our allergies, especially with links such as Candida causing:

  • Hives
  • Asthma
  • Irritable Bowel Syndrome
  • Endo
  • Psoriasis
HOW TO AVOID CANDIDA
  1. Take allergies seriously.
  2. Use antibiotics only when needed and do not overuse.
    • Antibiotics can wipe out the good bacteria which keep it in check, giving rise to super-infections (resistance).
    • Antibiotics are also known to be found in animal products (meat).
  3. Birth control can exacerbate it.
  4. NSAIDS can lead to inflammation and a leaky gut.
  5. Balance essential fatty acids.
    • Precursors to prostaglandins (moderate inflammation).
    • “Slow down production of harmful prostaglandins by reducing the presence of the essential fatty acid precursor arachadonic acid, which is found in abundance in dairy products and meat.”
  6. Avoid magnesium deficiency.
  7. Supplement healthy bacteria.
  8. Avoid use of chemicals, perfumed paper, deodorant soaps and sprays, and other feminine hygiene products.
  9. Avoid chlorinated pools and spermicides which can cause vaginitis.
  10. Avoid wearing tight clothing.
    • Keeps the vagina moist and thus promotes Candida growth.

“But the blessing of the anti-Candida diet is the complete loss of a ‘sweet tooth’.” Mary Lou writes about studies that show how sugar has been shown (200x more) to promote Candida growth. Mold sensitivities can even be triggered by dried fruits, cheese, and frozen fruit juices and this is why she recommends more veggies, whole grains, and the avoidance of sugar and yeast. Unfortunately, she falls victim to the mentality that a little here and a littler there will not hurt and this is why she believes you do not have to give these triggers up forever. My opinion, a poison is a poison forever.

NUTRITION

PROSTAGLANDINS

Food is estimated to be the third best treatment for endo, preceded by Candida/immunotherapy and exercise. Prostaglandins, mentioned just above, are an extremely important concept to understand and this book offers some very intriguing information on this topic. Linoleic and Linolenic acid are the two mentioned and described. Would it shock you to know that the typical American diet is high in the ‘bad’ prostaglandin (Linoleic acid)?

Linolenic acid, the good one, has been shown to:

  • Prevent inflammation
  • Prevent clotting
  • Dilate vessels
  • Slow cholesterol
  • Remove fluid from the body
  • Improve nerve function
  • Aid in T-cell function (immunity)

As for linoleic acid:

  • Causes inflammation
  • Promotes platelet aggregation (clotting)
  • Induces the kidneys to retain salt (hypertension)

The ‘bad’ prostaglandin can be converted to the good prostaglandin, but many things can impede this process:

  • Diabetes
  • Aging
  • High alcohol intake
  • High cholesterol
  • Stress hormones
  • Low vitamin and mineral levels
  • Elevated trans fatty acids

Meat and dairy are densely packed with these ‘bad’ prostaglandins and thus interfere with essential fatty acids. Linolenic acid can be found in:

  • Seeds
  • Nuts
  • Human milk
  • Fish oil

Intake of these foods bypasses the conversion process of the ‘bad’ one.

One study showed that a low-fat vegetarian diet was associated with reduced pain and intensity during the period and another found an association between menstrual pain and low intake of linolenic acid (good).

ANTIESTROGENIC

“One possible approach to lowering estrogen levels might be to try lowering body fat content in general, since fat cells are a source of estrogen in the body, and obese women have been found to have higher estrogen levels than lean women.” About a third of estrogen within a woman’s circulation during her premenopausal years is due to the conversion of androgens (hormone) into estrogen by fat cells. That is a very large percentage, but it is this conversion process that accounts for the majority of the estrogen in the circulation during menopause.

ESTRADIOL

Estradiol is believed to be the most active form of estrogen and vitamin B6 has been shown to aid in converting it to a less potent form. Estriol is the less potent form which does not cause tissue proliferation. You can successfully deplete your body of vitamin B6 by consuming:

  • Sugar
  • White bread & other refined carbs
  • Alcohol
  • Caffeine
  • Antibiotics
  • And by being stressed
LOWERING ESTROGEN

Yes, you can control your estrogen levels by other means, rather than through medication or even surgical procedures. A vegetarian diet has been shown to be associated with decreased estrogen levels in women, both before and after menopause. It was discovered that a diet rich in fiber was able to bind the fiber with the estrogen and excrete it via feces. Cruciferous veggies (broccoli, etc…) have all been shown to help lower estrogen levels.

PHYTOESTROGENS

Phytoestrogens, or “weak naturally occurring estrogens” found commonly in soy and flaxseed (1/100,000 as strong as estradiol), have varied results from the studies performed thus far. Some link it to having the ability to block the receptor site from the more potent estrogen and others link it to infertility. From the reading and information I have delved into thus far, I would definitely recommend avoiding the unnatural and the non-organic sources of these naturally occurring estrogens.

VITAMINS & MINERALS

Vitamins and minerals are severely affected by our lifestyle decisions and this book offers a wealth of information about how our daily choices affect us, both in the short and long term. “Iron is so potentially dangerous that I recommend blood testing before prescribing it for anyone.” Those are the words of Elmer Cranton, M.D (President of the American College of Advancement in Medicine). In short, those nutritional facts found on most labels, are vitally important. Vitally important in that we need those building blocks of food to survive and also in that we need to avoid overuse through vitamin supplementation and to decrease and or eliminate our intake of fortified foods.

INSULIN

John R. Mathias M.D. believes that women with endo experience a seizure-like activity of the fallopian tubes and GI tract due to the over-secretion of insulin. This excess release is believed to lead to excessive bad prostaglandins. John recommends reducing high glycemic foods such as potatoes, bread, corn, pasta, etc… Increasing (some) fruit and veggies (especially green) is advised.

ENVIRONMENTAL TOXINS

“If we design a compound to be toxic to an insect cell, why does it surprise us when we find out that the same compound is toxic to human cells?”

Environmental toxins have the ability to act like hormones and disrupt the natural order of things… and cause endo in animals. Human studies would be unethical, but they are performed anyway? These chemicals can be released into our environments and flooded into our food sources with ease and studies only provide the after effects in the long run. Avoid exposure and avoid becoming part of the unethical non-study.

PVC & DEHP

I read something in this book that absolutely irked me and nudged me further away from any belief in our healthcare system. You know those IV bags, IV lines, and all of those flexible and soft plastics found in hospitals? PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) is the chemical responsible for that lovable texture and for an endless list of harmful effects due to its ability to run off and leach from these soft plastics into that medicine that has been draining into you all day.

In 2002, the FDA recognized that “Precautions should be taken to limit the exposure to the developing male to DEHP.” DEHP is the toxic additive found in PVC that leaches at the whims of your doctor’s orders. The FDA also recommends that non PVC/DEHP products be used in those at high risk (male newborns/pregnancy and puberty).

Lab studies (animals of course) show damage to:

  • Heart
  • Liver
  • Ovaries
  • Testes
  • Lungs
  • Kidneys
  • …but the FDA only warns about the effects on the male reproductive system and sperm.
DIOXIN

More exposure means more problems and this greatly affects the chronically ill and other longterm patients. An even worse and more dire scenario unfolds when these materials are burned, forming dioxins which are touted as the most dangerous chemicals known to man. I believe Mary Lou mentioned in the book about how the FDA’s report on dioxin is about two to three thousand pages in length, all concerning its harmful effects on the human body.

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that medical waste is the third largest source of dioxin emissions into the air. Wind then carries these harmful chemicals to the grounds we walk, the waters we drink, and foods we eat (animals, fish, dairy, produce, and etc…). One study showed that 79% of monkeys exposed to dioxin developed endo, with the severity being directly proportional to amount of exposure. As written by Mary Lou, we need to avoid contaminated foods by opting for organically grown foods found lower on the food chain.

PERFUMES & FRAGRANCES

I always thought those who smelled “too good” or “too nice” were just too heavily doused in perfume or cologne. They smell alright, sometimes, but have you ever walked into a Bath and Body Works? Your olfactory center is overloaded with the stimulating smells bombarding your nostrils. The information I gathered from reading this section is absolutely crippling to the idea of using these products. It makes me wonder if studies will ever exist to see how those working in such stores fare in the long run, especially those working for entire shifts.

The FDA’s standpoint on these concoctions of natural oils, aroma chemicals, and solvents in alcohol bases: “Appears to be causing adverse reactions in an increasing number of individuals.”

Tolane, a chemical found in most fragrances according to a 1991 report by the Environmental Protection Agency, is linked to headaches, nausea, and narcosis. Musk AETT (used from 1955-76) was utilized as both a fragrance and a masking fragrance (unscented products). This chemical was withdrawn not because of its seemingly amazing abilities, but rather its hidden ability to cause permanent brain damage (studies noted other chemicals acted similarly). Phthalates, which one study found in 100% of fragrances and 72% of all cosmetics tested, cause birth defects.

REGULATION OF THE FRAGRANCE & COSMETIC INDUSTRY

“Fragrance and cosmetic industry is the least regulated industry,” -Dr. John Bailey of the FDA. “Fragrance can contain up to 600 ingredients.” A 1989 National Institutes of Occupational Safety study found that 884 out of the 2,983 chemicals used in the fragrance industry, were toxic and heavily linked to:

  • Cancer
  • Birth defects
  • Central nervous system disorders
  • Skin and eye irritations
  • Allergic reactions
  • Chemical sensitivities.

This information is absolutely astonishing when you think about how many people load these thousands of chemicals onto their bodies, often more than once each day. Whether we inhale them, absorb them through our skin, or lick that tasty strawberry off our lips, these chemicals always find a way into our bodies. We have become the self-induced vectors of future diseases and disorders.

DISEASES & DISORDERS WITH ENDO

“The constant production of antibodies against self tissue can lead to chronic inflammation and all the ‘fun’ that goes with it.”  Those with endo have been found to be more sensitive to allergies and have weakened natural killer cells (“exhibit decreased cytotoxicity”). The body’s immune system is unable to stop the endometrial growths appropriately and the individual is left with the inability to prevent an attack against themselves. A compromised immune system opens the door to many possibilities, none of which we want.

INFERTILITY

Being unable to reproduce or make new life can become the harsh reality for many. This inability affects about one third of those with endo, and interestingly, endo affects about one third of those afflicted with infertility. Two treatment options often promoted to fix this problem: surgery and or fertility drugs. The results for surgery are conflicting and not completely reliable, hence the need for more studies. Menopausal symptoms can often still exist after surgical or natural menopause.”…like throwing gasoline on the fire.” That is how one patient’s doctor explained fertility drugs, due to their innate ability to promote endo.

THYROID ISSUES

Even mothers with poor performing thyroids have been dealt with more children with lower iodine levels and birth defects. Shockingly, thyroid dysfunction and these end results often exist even with mild or no symptoms. More shocking, but not really, PCBs and dioxin have been shown to decrease thyroid levels.

CANCER
  • Ability to metastasize
  • Reduced natural killer cells
  • Presence of oncogenes
  • Angiogenesis
  • Loss of tumor suppression
  • Defective apoptosis (programmed cell death)
  • Hormonally affected
  • Affected by lifestyle choices

…sounds like cancer, right? Sounds like cancer and endometriosis. These are some of the commonalities shared between these two malignancies.

“Most cancers are the result of genetic mutations that occur after we are born.” Few of these cancers are due to the inherited mutations (oncogenes). “Having an oncogene for a particular cancer does not mean getting that cancer is inevitable.” An adoptee study mentioned revealed that cancer correlated to the adopting family rather than the biological parents.

Cancers specifically linked to endo include:

  • Breast
  • Ovarian
  • Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma
  • Melanoma
ALCOHOLISM

Theories exist, just as breast cancer exists, that a weakened immunity and nutritional deficiencies can result from an intake of alcohol. Studies show that those who drink one or more drinks a day, can increase their cancer risk by as much as 50%. Two drinks a day has been shown to raise estrogen. It is important to mention that some studies (mentioned in book also) find that moderate consumption protects against heart disease. My belief, poison is poison, if you want wine, go eat some grapes.

WWII CHEMICALS

Weed killers, most of them if not all, contain dioxin. Roundup, a herbicide owned by Monsanto, has been found to work well with most genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Some of these overly tampered organisms become intolerant though, and need the additional spanking (more herbicide, etc…) …thus becoming even more altered. Non-hodgkins Lymphoma has been linked to the advent of new chemicals that came about after WWII.

TANNING

Have you ever gone for a “fake” tan at one of those tanning salons? Have you ever rationalized this experience for your need to get a base-tan prior to your exotic cruise coming up soon? Have you ever heard that the rays (UV-A) emitted by these machines have been linked to skin aging and non-melanoma skin cancer? Research also overly suggests that this is not an effective means of getting a base tan and this is why I urge you to seek beauty through health (natural aging) and avoid “faster” routes.

CANCER DIETS

As for diets and cancer, unhealthy fats have the ability to absorb and produce estrogen. One study revealed that women with higher trans fatty acid levels had a 40% greater risk of developing breast cancer. The Healthy Iowa Women study (consisting of 35,156 women ages 55-69) linked protein and fat to cancer. A high fat and high protein diet increased the risk for non-hodgkins lymphoma and risk was deescalated with a greater consumption of fruits.

Some anticancer activity substances mentioned were:

  • Raspberries
  • Walnuts
  • Cruciferous Vegetables (broccoli, etc…)
  • Tomatoes
  • Turmeric
  • Fish/Fish Oils
  • Green Tea

In total, these are substances with the most exposure (not enough), in reality, healthy foods promote a healthy internal environment. Eat more of these and you will have more of these -> YEARS TO LIVE.

BPA

A recent news story brought to light the need-to-know information about how canned foods contain substances that made many people throw away their plastic bottles a few years back. We are in the year 2011 and quickly approaching 2012, a 1995 study discovered that estrogen (xenoestrogen) existed in cans coated with plastic inside. This book was published in 2003 and another study found the presence of BPA in the liquid of preserved veggies and the water of autoclaved (heated under high pressure for sterilization) cans. The news of yesterday should not become the news of today, followed by an epidemic of highly preventable conditions and diseases.

CALORIC INTAKE

High-caloric intake has been associated with early puberty and total lifetime exposure to estrogen, but studies of lean verse obese vary. A longer exposure to anything toxic, including estrogen, synergizes over time and increases your odds of cancer and other various malfunctions of the body. The American Institute of Cancer offers these dietary guidelines:

  1. Eating right, remaining physically active, and maintaining a healthy weight can cut cancer by 30-40%.
  2. Diet with no smoking – 60-70%.
  3. A simple change of incorporating five servings of fruits and veggies into your daily intake – 20%.
  4. We can prevent 375,000 cases per year with a healthy diet!
SOME FURTHER RECOMMENDATIONS
  1. Start young.
  2. Avoid alcohol consumption.
  3. Avoid dairy with Bovine Growth Hormone and IGF (Insulin-like Growth Factor)
    • We cannot breakdown IGF due the milk protein casein—this is an extremely interesting and possible milk-killing factoid. The growth factor typically gets a lot of the deserved blame, but if it is the milk protein at the deck wheel…
    • Baby formulas wreak their own havoc with poor nutrition: 51% linoleic acid (‘bad’ stuff) vs 7% linolenic acid (good stuff).
  4. Sleep in the dark.
    • Melatonin, which regulates estrogen, can be adversely affected by light stimulation.
  5. Avoid the use of talc.
    • Baby diapers have dioxin too.
  6. Filter showers to avoid the heated chlorine gases that are toxic.
  7. Eliminate pesticides and herbicides.
  8. Drink purified water from glass containers (don’t leak) and drink plenty of water which functions to hydrate and flush out toxins and wastes within the body.
  9. Breastfeeding reduces the amount of toxins within you, but understand that these toxins go to the baby.
    • “Weight loss releases organochlorines stored in body fat, which travel into the blood and from there into breast milk.”
    • Breast milk has also been shown to be protective against celiac disease.
    • Limit your exposure to toxins because they will affect you and your children too.
    • Breastfeeding is the way to go, but just as you can mess up every other function of your body with an unhealthy lifestyle, you can do great harm to your children with this natural source of milk.
  10. Limit sun and radiation exposure.
  11. Exercise.
DIGESTIVE HEALTH & FOOD SENSITIVITIES

When the body’s environment and normal bacterial flora is up and running, studies show half as many allergy disorders exist compared to the control group (Lactobacillus given to non-control group). Mary Lou writes that we need to avoid foods we are sensitive to in order to avoid adversely affecting our children. Even hypertension, a real danger in pregnancy, is linked by some studies to prostaglandin release due to sensitivities and allergies.

EXERCISE & SOFT DRINKS

A Boston study may make you think twice about soft drinks, even rationalizing them with exercise. The results: Girls who were physically active and drank soda were five times more likely to fracture bones. The researchers were unsure to why this association existed, but one theory blames phosphorous, which is abundant in soft drinks, for stealing calcium from the bones and gradually weakening them over time. Mary Lou writes that we should avoid:

  • Extreme weight loss
  • Smoking
  • Sedatives
  • Alcohol
  • Caffeine
  • …but perform weight bearing exercise in order to promote bone health.

CONCLUSION

Dr. Malcom Pike: “We could get rid of 85% of American breast cancer by starting with ten year olds, keeping them on a low fat, high fiber diet, exercising them heavily and keeping them slim.” We can do this. We can live longer.

“The EPA estimates that over 95% of human exposure to dioxin is through our food.” “You are the environment and the environment is you.” That quote is amazing—We are not only what we eat, we are how we live too. Live healthy, be healthy, and achieve optimal health.

Do you have endometriosis?

Has nutrition and or any other lifestyle modifications helped you?

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Exercise + You ≠ Misery

· By Peter Filak · Add Comment · In All, Exercise, Health, Spirituality & Stress
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You truly have to know that exercise is meant to be a healthful activity, whether for improved health or just to maintain it. When doctors, nurses, educators, and medical shows recommend various forms of exercise, they, hopefully, do not recommend lifting weights like the majority of people do at the gym or spending hours upon hours on that treadmill every day. That is not a healthy form of exercise, let alone a healthy behavior. You may be getting in shape, but is it worth it?

This is a difficult concept for many people to understand today because there are so many mixed signals and blind spots when it comes to exercising properly. Your cousin Rick or your trainer Sally might offer you advice about how you are supposed to be exercising, but their advice is probably tainted. Tainted by the impression that excessive and grueling or even a notion that once-in-a-whiling it is healthy. Coupled with dietary advice and other lifestyle suggestions, we are often at a disadvantage from the get go.

Do you have to be that big-muscled guy or that skinny and fit young chick? Can you achieve this without grueling exercise and what seems like nine to five shifts at the gym or on the pavement? Will you be able to maintain such a level of fitness for the rest of you life? More importantly, do you want to?

It is sad, I even kind of hate to see it. I am talking about that fifty to sixty year old man or woman who never felt it necessary to add exercise to their to-do-lists for the past however many years. Their faces, when you see them doing some crunches or jogging, say it all: Pain from this seemingly tortuous activity.

Use or lose it, and they lost it. Just as there is no such thing as a wonder pill that will cure you of your obesity, there is nothing that can instantly remove that writhing feeling of pain. Can they overcome this pain and turn exercise into something meaningful and beneficial? They can, but I truly believe they’ve lost much of that ability.

Overuse it and you will surely lose it too. This one goes out to all those used-to-be HUGE bodybuilders and marathoners who felt it necessary to hurdle the natural limits of their bodies and keep pushing forward. It happens when you reach that age when four hour shifts, then three, two, and so on are no longer permitted by your body. Muscle turns to fat, fat turns your gym membership into an official couch membership with a complementary cane and pain medicine as needed.

You still exercise at this point, but you need that couch membership to deal with the strenuous exercise you still put yourself through. For some reason, you feel the need to: lift inhumanly amounts of weight, run/bike/etc… distances that would deem a car ready for new tires, and let the small hand on the clock do more than a few laps around along side you. As time continues, that small hand on the clock does indeed lap you and you are left to face reality.

Our bodies can deteriorate due to nutritional inadequacies, but they can also deteriorate from the literal daily grind. Exercise is supposed to be challenging. It is a challenge we are always meant to win and only we can rig the results to be not in our favor. I personally believe it is wickedly awesome to see how our bodies can perform when confronted with these grueling feats, but that exists purely as entertainment for me. Do what you have to, avoid rationalizing it, and strive to LIVE longer with a longterm focused exercise strategy.

What is your favorite form of exercise?

Do you actually enjoy it?

Do you see yourself continuing this form of exercise into old age (an age defined only by you)?

Diabetes: Type Avoidable

· By Peter Filak · 5 Comments · In All, Diseases & Disorders, Health
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After reading: Blood Sugar 101: What They Don’t Tell You About Diabetes By Jenny Ruhl

“No matter how serious your diabetes might be at diagnosis, it is unique among the serious chronic diseases in that it is the only condition where you, the patient, with only a small amount of help from your doctor and no heroic medical interventions can achieve normal health.” Borrowed from the very beginning of this book, this quote poses two very important questions: Can you trust the professionals (Doctors, Organizations, and etc…) and more importantly, can you trust you (!)?

So how can sugar cause such reckless and seemingly endless consequential symptoms? Is it the doctor, is it because you’re obese due to a sedentary lifestyle, or is it because of the mad world we have created? Here are Jenna’s feelings: “You didn’t cause your diabetes through reckless overeating and criminal laziness… diabetes is not caused by obesity”; “Unless you have damaged genes, you can eat until you drop and though you may get very fat and develop quite a few other health problems, your blood sugar will remain functional and you will never develop diabetes.”

Agree or disagree? You do not have to decide now, but you will, and I myself will uncover my decision shortly.

INSULIN

Type 2 diabetes results from receptors not responding appropriately to the hormone insulin. Insulin is responsible for opening the cell’s front door and letting glucose (sugar) enter. Normally, cells accept glucose when they need it for energy purposes or it can be stored for later use as glycogen in our muscles and liver. When the dead bolt is jammed and insulin is incapable of transferring sugar into the cell, it builds up in the blood, your organs began to fail, and you die (<- Long story short, you don’t actually die after nine syllables).

Insulin is produced by the beta cells of the pancreas. Unfortunately, the pancreas is also responsible for the release of digestive enzymes which aid in chemically eating your food. Unfortunately because this is one area I would have to disagree with Jenna. Our bodies are very interconnected, especially when one organ is responsible for two very important functions. If one were to fail, do you think that would affect the other? It most certainly would, hence why overeating and consuming the wrong foods and beverages can overwhelm your pancreas and inadvertently overwhelm the beta cells too.

PHASES OF INSULIN RELEASE

There are two phases of insulin release:

  1. The first phase keeps a small amount of insulin in your blood stream at all times.
    • Lost in pre-diabetes – Losing this function does not make you diabetic, clinically speaking.
  2. The second phase is the real time release – when you eat
    • Phases out when you officially become diagnosed.

In a three year study performed in Mexico City, blood sugars were shown to change rapidly to dangerous levels without previous history of such levels. These changes, averaging 108mg/dL/surge, were masked by levels that were consistent with the levels of those whose levels remained normal throughout the study. How can this be?

ENERGY RESERVES

Your body knows when you need energy and your body knows how to interpret the signals in order to achieve wellness within. If these signals get messed up—cells not getting sugar due to insulin malfunctioning—your body kick starts its internal generator. Keep in mind, if insulin is unable to get glucose into the cell, the glucose remains in your blood. The generator consists of the liver and your muscles. It is here that stored glycogen (stored sugar) can be transformed into a usable energy and released into the blood stream, and then insulin takes over…but (?)…

Eventually, even your stored glucose can run out, but your body has methods to get around this too. Protein from food can be converted to sugar, and if that runs out, protein from your muscles will be utilized. It is a vicious cycle that ends in death after a late diagnosis.

LATE DIAGNOSIS

“Only when your beta cells can’t bring your blood sugar down to near normal levels after eight hours will you be diagnosed as diabetic by a doctor who relies on the fasting blood sugar test. Unfortunately, it is this fasting blood sugar test alone that most doctors use to screen for diabetes. This means you may actually have had diabetes for up to a decade before your doctor gives you a formal diagnosis.”

BETA CELLS

Infections, toxic chemicals, pesticides, drugs, and pancreatic tumors can all cripple your beta cells, but obesity is often being labeled as the prime suspect. Obesity has its health hazards, but a Mayo Clinic study with autopsied pancreases from patients whose medical histories were known, tells a slightly different story. Each autopsied patient was obese but each autopsied patient revealed something different depending on their blood sugar levels:

  • Normal levels: 50% more beta cells than normal – grew new ones
  • Prediabetic levels: lost 40%
  • Diabetic levels: Lost 63%

These results do not paint an image of being obese as a worthy opportunity, they paint a picture of our bodies being able to adapt to their environments. Be warned, over-adapting downgrades your health and will eventually overwhelm you.

GENETICS & OBESITY

“They are finding that to develop diabetes, you need to have at least one of many different metabolic flaws. Most of these flaws appear to be genetic in origin. Some are inherited, but others are caused by exposure to chemical toxins.” The twin studies are available to clearly distinguish whether diabetes is genetic (it is), but does that mean bad habits are not to blame in these studies (Jenna believes so)?

A lot of bad habits involve putting our bodies into compromised situations by indulging in the foods we eat and the lifestyles we lead. The actions we take and the meals we chew do indeed affect our genetics, thus our environment affects our genes. We then unzip these freshly battered and abused genes and pass them on to the next generation.

In a study comparing lean individuals with insulin resistance to lean individuals with normal insulin sensitivity, glucose was found to convert differently. Those with insulin resistance converted it into triglycerides, a trend leading to abdominal obesity. As for the non-resisters, they converted it into glycogen appropriately. Here is where Jenna incorporates her belief that low carb diets lead to weight gain, not fat. David provides statistics that shed some light on this: “Between 1976 and 2000, America has decreased its fat intake by 11% and its calories by 4%, yet obesity is up an astounding 31%!”

TOXINS

As for environmental toxins, they too have been found to influence diabetes. In an Indian study where subjects of equal body sizes were compared, PCBs in the blood translated to 4x more diabetes, and pesticides translated to even higher numbers.

A CDC study found that 92%, of the 2,500 subjects tested, had BPA in their urine—animal studies have shown that BPA reduces insulin sensitivity.

Some drugs linked to diabetes:

  • Beta-blockers
  • Antipsychotics
  • Steroids
  • Chemotherapy
  • Anti-rejection
  • SSRIs

 FOOD

A diabetic diet is geared towards lowering blood sugar and reclaiming stability within the body. Jenna starts out by offering three ways to effectively lower blood sugar:

  1. Diet
    • Carbs should be lowered.
    • Fat doesn’t affect blood sugar.
    • Protein can affect blood sugar, but it takes roughly seven hours for it to be converted by the liver.
  2. Portion control
    • It is vital that you know what you are eating while avoiding the temptation to overdo it, an activity no body should have to adapt to.
  3. Add Low Carb Veggies & Berries
    • Shown to improve blood pressure, cholesterol, and triglycerides.
CARBOHYDRATES

When you begin to reduce the amount of carbs that you will be eating, your body will resort to fisticuffs. Your body became all too well acquainted with your previous dietary habits and relies on you for that continued activity. When you lower your carb intake, your body will feel starved, even though it most certainly is not, and will signal your brain to urge you into eating more, like you used to. Cravings are born and one can even experience false hypoglycemic events.

During these times, when people have their brains playing tricks on them, Jenna recommends low carb snacks and this advice: “We do this knowing that an occasional spike is not going to kill us as likely as we are meeting our blood sugar targets most of the time.” She is referring to off-meals or planned cheating, which she believes is okay once in a while and terms it a “safety valve.”

SAFE CHEATING

The only thing effective about “safety valve” eating is the guarantee that you will never overcome your cravings and you will continue to eat yourself to death with unsafe blood sugars. Jenna has been on a low-carb diet for six years and she still has cravings! Her belief that self denial of carbs should not be monk-like is her rational for why cheating has become okay in her life. She believes eating the things that you have always eaten and have always loved is vitally important to maintaining this diet.

Honestly, how can a diet be effectively modified if one is only modifying around the current diet to make it work? There is no compromising with disease, you cannot work around its edges and expect it to remain dormant and never conquer our richly disease-promoted bodies. Cravings can be tough, but they can also be eliminated. Diets fail because they always aim to work around the edges of the current dietary choices. Jenna believes a “restrictive” diet will lead to a failed diet and binges of the bad foods, but cravings are the culprit, and if you maintain them, they will thrive.

It is also important to recognize that most of the foods consumed today, did not exist many yesterdays ago. We created them. We developed cravings. We fell in love with the killer. And to say that these foods are a necessity and a past-time is completely untrue.

LOW BLOOD SUGAR RAISING FOODS

Jenna does offer the benefits of low blood sugar raising foods:

  1. You stop feeling hungry after a couple of weeks.
  2. Your cravings begin to disappear.
    • Never completely, unless you choose that path.
  3. Your sense of taste changes.
    • Vegetables taste better and sweets can become unpleasant.
FAT

Another area that is quite misleading: Jenna claims she lost 18% of her body weight on a low-carb diet and this was driven by her belief that no one should worry about fat because it is not evil. Jenna falls into the category that motivated me to gather all of the interconnections among diseases, especially the lifestyle modifications that have proven to be successful. She comes off as believing that curing diabetes with a low-carb diet is the only problem. Yes, this book is clearly diabetes focused, but diets should be focused on the whole of the body because it is the whole of the body that entertains the ability to eliminate disease.

“A healthy low-carb diet should not be a low fat diet, nor should it be a high protein diet.” This is extremely crucial information, but only if read correctly. Eat the healthy fats—she writes about how most people get 60-70% of their calories from fat—and avoid marketing ploys that present protein as healthy only in abundance.

GRAINS

When eaten with a lot of fat, carbs tend to digest at a slower rate. This holds true for pizza and ice-cream which can display deceptively good readings on your glucometer. Pastas, which seem to be resistant to digestion, even the low carb variety, will raise your blood sugar four to five hours later. “Healthy whole grains,” when compared to sugary cereals, do win the fight outright, but they still raise your blood sugar to dangerously high levels.

SUGAR-FREE & ARTIFICIAL FOODS

As for those sugar-free foods and ones containing sugar alcohols, they are just a bunch of lab created carbs. Lab created does not mean perfect and it most certainly does not mean human ready or even capable. These carbs break down into glucose within our bodies, but only if we have the enzyme to do so. Those lacking this enzyme have to deal with bowel symptoms such as diarrhea and gas (enjoy!). Artificial sweeteners have also been shown to increase appetites in both humans and rodents (MSG mentioned).

SUPPLEMENTS

Jenna starts this section with a very important topic: The regulation of supplements. Unfortunately, supplements often contain fillers, non-nutritive white powder, metal, etc…, and only receive regulation upon lethality. When people die, supplements can get recalled and replaced by new ones the next day. Personally, I cannot believe I can go into a store and purchase papaya enzyme extract pills and avoid the true source of this supposed enzyme.

Jenna mentions some additional supplementing downfalls:

  • Soy has been shown to be toxic on the thyroid glands and to make users more susceptible to allergies.
  • Cinnamon studies have not revealed any true effectiveness against diabetes.
  • Chromium has shown little or no effect on diabetics and non-diabetics.
  • Selenium has been shown to increase the risk for diabetes.
  • The best by far, dark chocolate has been shown to lower blood pressure, by two systolic points.
    • The participants in this study had constant blood pressures in the upper 140s and the endorsed chocolate group showed drops so lacking in benefit, that the patients remained at damaging levels. Unfortunately, the news takes these stories and swindles them into success stories and rationals worthy of a chocolate binge.
FRUCTOSE

Jenna also mentions fructose and purports that all fructose is bad for diabetes. Fructose is found in all fruits, honey, and most notably in products that contain high fructose corn syrup. She writes that fructose enters the body then “beelines for the liver” and becomes fat, a process that leads to increased insulin resistance and decreased leptin, a protein responsible for the regulation of appetite and body fat levels. Although she recommends low carb berries, she rather recklessly groups all fructose-containing foods together. With a little common sense, one can see why a piece of fruit and a manufactured product high in high fructose corn syrup should not be grouped together.

EXERCISE

Exercise increases our muscles’ sensitivity to insulin both during and for a few hours after the activity. As an added benefit, exercise builds more muscle which in turn can become even more sensitive to insulin. This is absolutely amazing, but everything needs to be balanced.

Jenna writes about the importance of:

  1. Being Safe
  2. Protecting our Joints
  3. Not Overdoing It
  4. Not Overstimulating our Hearts

Both walking and swimming are effective means of exercise and both can eliminate many of the problems associated with exercise. Those with diabetes often have tendon thickening which causes compression of the nerves (pain), thus the importance of adequate but safe exercise. Jenna also recommends avoiding sports drinks when exercising because they tend to skyrocket your blood sugar.

DIABETES WITHOUT LIFESTYLE MODIFICATIONS

NEUROPATHY

“Neuropathy did not correlate to any particular fasting blood sugar level, nor did it correlate to any particular A1C level (some believe A1C just measures at two weeks rather than three months)!” The length of pain experienced by the patients did however correlate with how high over 140mg/dL they were—140mg/dL is considered a “mildly elevated level” or pre-diabetic level, but nerve damage occurs after two hours of being at or above this level.

Sadly, most have it when they are finally diagnosed with diabetes, even those without the diagnosis tend to operate with some diabetic symptoms. Nerves are responsible for a lot more than pain…

  • Bood pressure
  • Heart beat
  • Sexual response
  • Movement of food through the digestive tract
  • Immunity
INFECTIONS

If there is one thing diabetics are known for, it is their ample ability to harvest infections like a preschool classroom. This interference with the nerve-brain connection does lead to infections and often amputations or organ failure. Jenna writes that amputations are the result of the inability our nervous system in signaling that an attack is taking place while there is a clogging (excess glucose) of the vessels supplying the much needed nutrients to the nerves. In short, the nerves die while vessels clog almost simultaneously and then you get the big chop!

SAFE BLOOD SUGAR LEVELS

In another study performed by a doctor within an acute care setting (intensive care unit), he was able to reduce the patient death rate by 29.3%. He achieved these results by utilizing insulin to keep their blood sugars below 140mg/dL, at all times. Kidney failure and their stay times within the ICU were also reduced. Imagine if their blood sugars were kept at much lower levels, no where near the currently accepted pre-diabetic levels.

110mg/dL is another level considered to be within acceptable limits, even more so than that mentioned above. Apparently levels where beta cells start to die off is considered normal. Apparently it is okay to promote death within our society. It does depend on how long we are exposed to these levels, but should we be exposed at all? A rat cell study in accordance with this study found that if the failing rat beta cells were taken out of high concentrations of sugar and placed in lower concentrations, they could revive (we can too).

RETINOPATHY

In a large study among pre-diabetics, it was revealed that one in twelve had retinopathy changes (vision changes). They developed “diabetic” retinopathy despite the fact that they did not reach those diagnosing levels.

CANCER

A Swedish study that consisted of 64,597 participants, for duration of ten years, found a link between cancer and diabetes. When blood sugar levels were over 110mg/dL or over 160mg/dL after a glucose tolerance test, there was a very strong increase in cancer. No one can hide, as evidenced by the fact that body weight did not play a role in these results, but everyone can find it in themselves to make healthier choices.

HEART DISEASE

According to the Framinham Heart Study, LDL nor total cholesterol predict heart attacks, triglycerides and the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL are the true predictors. Handcrafted sugars have been linked to heart attacks and seem to be the reason why half of all people who have heart attacks have normal cholesterol levels. How about at the “normal” pre-diabetic levels? Your risk more than doubles!

A1C

I briefly mentioned the A1C above and I bring it up again in order to make a few more studies and their results a little more significant. This test measures the amount glucose carried by red blood cells and translates the results into how well you are managing your diabetes over a longer period. A blood cell’s lifespan is typically around 120 days and this test is used to measure your average levels within a three month span. As I mentioned earlier and although this method is considered a go-to gold standard, it is still debated as to how effective it really is, but this method needs to be understood for your own health and wellbeing.

Independent of…

  • Age
  • Body Mass Index
  • Waste-to-Hip Ratio
  • Systolic Blood Pressure
  • Serum Cholesterol Concentration
  • Cigarette Smoking
  • History of Cardiovascular Disease

…one study found that the A1C is more effective at predicting heart attack risk. Those with an A1C of less than 5% had the lowest risk (more on percentage levels soon). Another study found that 4.6% showed the lowest risk and risk only doubled with every one percent increment. A 4.6% A1C is thought to translate to an average blood sugar of 86mg/dL.

DIABETICS DESTINED TO DETERIORATE?

Within the text, Jenna brings up a toxic myth claiming that you must deteriorate. A huge study, the UKPDS (UK Prospective Diabetes Study) “proved” that we indeed must deteriorate and that there is nothing we can do. Unfortunately, doctors rely on this information and use it as rational for not recommending lifestyle modifications to their patients. This study monitored glucose control and found that no matter how well the participants controlled their levels, they all deteriorated.

I forgot to mention—doctors also forget to read this too—the “good control” in this study was an A1C level of 7.0%! What was it that I said before (?), risk doubles every one percent increment and this is a two point four percent increment! The “good control” on this commonly called upon study translates to an average blood sugar somewhere around 172mg/dL! Jenna brings some amazing insight here: remember that this is an average level and does no justice to the ranges experienced. Blood sugars can be spiking over three hundred for a couple hours and drop to seventy, resulting in the previously mentioned average (this is an extremely scary notion).

“Think of it this way: How would you feel if your doctor said that most patients who quit smoking develop lung cancer—after defining ‘quit smoking’ as smoked fifteen cigarettes a day?”

A Japanese study very similar (very) to the big UKPDS study found different results. They carried out their research by keeping the A1Cs of their participants steady. By lowering post meal blood sugars (stabilization), the results revealed little or no deterioration. The average A1C achieved in this study was 7.0%, just as in the UKPDS. I do not feel I need to say any more…

CONCLUSION

Chronic diseases such as diabetes take time to develop. Time consists of micro-damages adding up and compacting into more widespread damage. This damage can often be termed with the prefix “pre”, or as we know it, not that important right now. Unfortunately, these prefixed terms are often misplaced and cause more than enough damage and destruction within the lives of many. We do not need to be relegated to a lifestyle fixated in impossibilities and safety zones that provide only the premise of protection. It is so hard to find your way through life in a manner that is both healthy and enjoyable. Even those that have found much success often get lost in the confusional mess and lose their way. Evolve your life around being healthy and avoid placing habits and addictiveness at your center. It is you that needs to be maintained and cared for, not some silly external factors.

Do you have diabetes?

What lifestyle modifications have helped you?

What are your feelings on nutrition and diabetes?

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