Tuesday, March 31, 2015

88% heart attack reduction without drugs….

Today's post:  Tuesday, 3-31-2015

Got an email from a health researcher, Ben Ong, who had astoundingly useful news!

There’s  fast shortcut to an 88% reduction in your heart attack risk if you are a man over 40 or a woman past menopause – one of the people most likely to be at risk of a heart attack.

As many of you who have read my posts already know, because of my strong family history of heart attacks, some time ago I began to add many things to reduce my risk of heart attacks by 88% or maybe even over 95%.

Despite not knowing to do many of these things as a young man and having second hand smoke exposure at home where both my parents still smoked when I left for college and again at a job for a couple of years about 20 years ago, my blood tests show I have indeed managed to cut my risk that much.

In fact the readings are so good most recently even I was astounded. If the average American has a 45% risk of dying of a heart attack, at 15 to one less risk, my risk is closer to 3%.

But despite that the most effective few things I’ve done are not that many and have other health benefits, I’ve put in a lot of work.

Now it seems that there is ONE thing you can do for a few months to cut your heart attack risk by 88%.

That’s a huge shortcut to heart attack prevention!

That could protect you while you are putting the other protections in place also!

In his recent email, Ben Ong sent me this:

“….today, I'm going to tell you what causes most heart attacks
and a tip on how you can reduce your risk by up to 88%”
.....without doing exercise, changing your diet, or taking any
supplements.”

First let me explain the main cause of heart attacks. It is
certainly not what you might expect it to be. Nor will it be
anything you are likely ever to have heard before.

Women are protected and get far fewer heart attacks than men
while they are menopausal, but as soon as they become
postmenopausal, their incidence of heart attacks rises to match
those of men.

Have you ever wondered why that is the case?

You might guess that it is something to do with female hormones,
but you'd be wrong.

The answer is actually far simpler and far more surprising. It is because they
lose blood every month, as a result of which they produce new blood cells.
Why should that be the cause?

People have long thought that heart attacks were caused by
biological processes, and certainly things like pollution, bad
diet, a sedentary lifestyle and stress are all causal for all
disease, including heart attacks, but actually, the cause is a
physical one.

Blood circulates around the body and where it reaches an artery
that is a junction, that is to say where the blood is split up to
go into two different directions, that causes resistance and if
you were watching the blood flow, you would see eddies in the
same way that you would see the flow of any liquid coming up
against an obstacle. 

The physical problem is that those eddies cause constant abrasion
that damage the epithelial cells in the artery walls, resulting
in cholesterol coming along to try and patch and heal the damage.
So the first step towards a heart attack is set up.

So what is the solution? A number of studies have concluded that
if you donate or draw a substantial amount of blood once or twice
a year, thus creating the circumstances where the body produces
new blood cells, you reduce the viscosity of the blood. And that
causes less abrasion. 

The astonishing statistics in these studies reveal that doing
this can reduce your risk of a heart attack by up to 88%. That is
a very small effort for a very big reward. So, if you are a man
or a postmenopausal woman, donate blood.

There is one more factor and that is that all arterial disease
begins in the capillaries. The capillaries are tiny tubes that
are so small that blood cells cannot pass through them unless
they double over in order to pass through. That is a lot easier
for new blood cells to do. So this strategy to refresh your
capillaries will help with your capillaries.”

I had read that giving blood was protective for men over 40 and
women past menopause suggesting it was protective because it
prevented the buildup of too much pro oxidant or oxidizing iron
in the blood.  And, we do know that oxidized LDL and maybe even
HDL that is oxidized harm the endothelium or inner surface of the
blood vessels and trigger excess patching causing heart disease.

But apparently Ben has seen research showing the lower viscosity caused by new blood cells to replace the blood donated is far more important.

Another reason is that lower blood viscosity is likely to both lower high blood pressure AND make it less harmful to your arteries.

That too is a protective effect.

Either way, whether the protection is less than 88 % or even far less starting with the high protection I have now, I’ll begin donating blood every three months.

Whether it drops my 88 to 97% risk reduction to 90% to 99% or not, it will cut it some.

(AND I’m quite curious to see if it cuts my slightly too high blood pressure back a bit.

Right now it tends to run between 148 over 90 and 156 over 88 for an average of about 153 over 89. 

The best case scenario of a drop from lower viscosity of about 14 over 9 – a bit less than 10% -- would give me a range of about 134 over 81 to 142 over 79 and an average of about 139 over 80. That would drop me to high normal blood pressure

Since I have a second method known to cut blood pressure by about 20 over 4 I plan to access soon, the two together could get me to 114 over 77 to 122 over 75  with an average of 119 over 76. 

Doing both together would take me from low to slightly above low high blood pressure to an ideal blood pressure.)


The other thing of interest, is that I saw online that each time you donate blood, it saves the life of as many as 3 people.  If that’s the case and I give blood 4 times a year for 25 years, I might save 300 people.

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Thursday, March 26, 2015

Why vitamin K2 is so essential

Today's post:  Thursday, 3-26-2015

All healthy people have in common that they get enough vitamin K2..

This was the theme of the very persuasive email I got recently from Dr Al Sears

I knew vitamin K2 helped calcium go into bones to make them stronger and that it helped calcium STAY OUT OF your blood vessel walls.

And, I took K2 to begin with as I'd heard it helped cut excessive bleeding and bruising.
(I have that and have a bit less of it since I added K2.)

But Dr Sears research turns up a huge set of additional and critically important benefits!

[I added the bolding]

1. The bone building cut fractures by 65% 

2.  K2 helps your body make full use of vitamin D3 and vitamin A. (This may be part of its bone building effect.) 

3.  The heart and death rate protection are high:  "high levels of vitamin K2 lowered the risk of coronary artery disease by 57%.

It lowered calcium buildup in the arteries by 52%.

And it slashed the risk of death from any cause by 26%.3"

4.  K2 also helps prevent or even reverse many cancers.  (Acting as an activator or catalyst for vitamin D3 may be why this occurs.)

"A study in the Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology, found vitamin K2 kills leukemia, pancreatic and ovarian cancer cells.4
It works by programming these cells to "self destruct."5
And men with the highest intake of K2 have 63% fewer cases of advanced prostate cancer.6

5. Vitamin K2 also protects the brain, fights rheumatoid arthritis, balances blood sugar, and boosts energy production in the mitochondria." [That last one is an anti-aging effect!]

Here's what Al Sears MD said in his email:

"Each year, I travel more than 20,000 miles to study what makes people healthy. But most other doctors don't get my research methods. 

Mainstream doctors only treat - and most researchers only study - sickness. They don't consider health. They look at a disease and then try to find a pill.
I'm different because I focus on what healthy people have in common. I ask what protects them from disease.

Western medicine has come to see people's ailments like little packages of symptoms to be drugged or cut out. It has lost sight of the whole person behind the rash or the tumor, and the emotional and environmental factors that have contributed or even caused the physical problems in the first place.

Even in medical school, I was different. I was inspired by a pioneering dentist and nutritionist named Weston A. Price - and I still am!

Dr. Price was different, too. He left his Ohio dental practice in the 1930s. And he went on a mission to find out why native tribes had naturally healthy teeth.

He lived among native peoples in different cultures across the globe. He traveled to Polynesia, Scotland, the Andes, New Zealand and even the Arctic.

As he traveled to these far-flung places, Dr. Price made a unique observation. People were healthier when they ate the traditional diet handed down to them by their ancestors.

Wherever he went, he found all native diets had one nutrient in common. This nutrient seemed to "activate"vitamins A and D, making them more effective. 

He called his discovery "Activator X." And today we know this nutrient to be vitamin K2.
And a growing body of research confirms what Dr. Price saw in the healthy native communities that he studied.

People who get enough of his Activator X, or vitamin K2, have perfect teeth... great physical strength... trim, muscular bodies… and NO chronic disease.

I've seen the same thing among the many traditional tribal communities I've visited. I've seen it in remote villages in Africa, the rainforests of South America and the mountains of Peru.
But when native people switch to a modern, Western diet full of sugar, refined flour, and vegetable oils… things change.

These communities very quickly develop all the chronic health issues of the West: cancer, heart disease, tooth decay, arthritis, diabetes, osteoporosis, depression, and dementia.

Mainstream medicine has tried to ignore Dr. Price's work for more than 70 years.  But now studies confirming his findings - and his conclusions - are mounting.

Research now shows:

"           Vitamin K2 builds strong bones. Researchers from Tufts University found that elderly people with the highest intake of vitamin K had a 65% lower risk of hip fracture than those with the lowest intake.1 And Harvard researchers following more than 72,000 women found those with the lowest intake of vitamin K2 had a 30% higher risk of hip
fracture.2

"           Vitamin K2 stops heart attacks. In a landmark Dutch trial, researchers followed 4,800 people. Their results revealed that high levels of vitamin K2 lowered the risk of coronary artery disease by 57%. It lowered calcium buildup in the arteries by 52%. And it slashed the risk of death from any cause by 26%.3

"           K2 kills cancer. A study in the Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology, found vitamin K2 kills leukemia, pancreatic and ovarian cancer cells.4 It works by programming these cells to "self destruct."5 And men with the highest intake of K2 have 63% fewer cases of advanced prostate cancer.6

Vitamin K2 also protects the brain, fights rheumatoid arthritis, balances blood sugar, and boosts energy production in the mitochondria.

Before you rush out to find vitamin K2, it's important to understand that vitamin K2 is NOT the same as vitamin K1.

Your body needs K1 for clotting blood when you're injured. You get this important vitamin from spinach, broccoli, kale, Swiss chard, and other leafy greens.

Your body also uses K1 to produce vitamin K2. The conversion happens in the intestines using your own gut bacteria.

But if you take antibiotics, the good bacteria in your gut can be wiped out. It won't be able to convert K1.

Fortunately, you can get vitamin K2 directly from some foods. Our primal ancestors got plenty from eating organ meats like liver.

Other rich sources are:
"           Meat
"           Full-fat milk
"           Cottage cheese
"           Butter
"           Cheese

But all of these foods MUST come from grass-fed animals.

You see, animals take in vitamin K1 from the grasses they eat. They convert it to vitamin K2 in their gut the same way we do. When you eat meat, fat, organs, and dairy from grass-fed animals you take in their vitamin K2. 

Animals fed on soy, corn or other grains don't get the vitamin K1 to convert to K2. Also cattle raised in factory farms are shot full of antibiotics, so they couldn't make the conversion in their guts even if they had vitamin K1.

If you ever take antibiotics or if you don't have access to grass-fed meat or dairy, you could be deficient in vitamin K2. That's why I recommend supplements. But make sure you get the right kind.

Vitamin K2 comes in several different forms called menaquinones.  They're numbered from four to nine. The higher the number, the more bioavailable and long-lasting the K2.
Look for vitamin K2 in the form of menaquinone-7. It's much more bioactive than menaquinone-4."


(I take 5,000 mcg a day of the menaquinone-4 form now and may add some menaquinone-7 at some point if I have fractures to heal.  But even if the 7 form in the much smaller amounts is 90% bioavailable and the menaquinone-4 is 10% bioavailable I likely get enough net effect now.)

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Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Why AVOID ALL soft drinks

Today's post:  Tuesday, 3-24-2015

Beside all kinds of additives it's best to avoid in soft drinks, the evidence is in over repeated studies.

1.  Regular soft drinks contain high fructose corn syrup which has been found to be both fattening and to cause type 2 diabetes and heart disease.  Worse, it seems ingesting high fructose corn syrup causes you to be hungry for and eat more sugary or starchy foods which at least triples both its fattening effect and the boost it gives your path to heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

2.  Diet soft drinks test as being WORSE than regular soft drinks.  

This has multiple causes.  One study found that even in two rat groups eating the same total calories, those fed artificial sweeteners got fatter.
On top of that, diet soft drink drinkers typically drink about fifty percent more of them a day than regular soft drink drinkers.
And, ingesting the artificial sweeteners is dramatically more effective at causing you to be hungry for and eat more sugary or starchy foods than regular soft drinks.

This is why repeated tests show that drinking diet soft drinks causes you to be fat and get type 2 diabetes MORE than drinking regular soft drinks.  

Worse, diet soft drinkers get significantly fatter bellies than regular soft drinkers!

Conclusion:  So, if you want to avoid being fat with a big belly, avoid BOTH regular and diet soft drinks.  And do it 24 7 -- ALL the time.

People who want to lose fat they keep off and who have stopped ALL soft drinks routinely lose a good bit of fat AND their craving for treats goes away once they get used the situation.

Even better their risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes drops like a rock.

THAT  also will drop their blood test readings of LDL cholesterol and triglycerides and excess blood sugar low enough to predict good health.  AND this can enable you to avoid the drugs to do that your doctor might otherwise want you to take!

By stopping drinking heart attack starters every day, you get MORE health protection than the drugs can give you!

This post was prompted by this email from Everyday Health I got recently:

I found it, Brief and convincing and informative:

Quit Your Soda Habit

1.  Americans continue to guzzle extra calories through sugary drinks like soda — which come with many health dangers. 

Soda consumption has been linked to an increased risk for heart disease and diabetes, as well as to rising rates of obesity. 

Research published in 2011 by the University of Bangor and Bristol suggests that drinking soda can actually trigger sweet cravings by dulling your sensitivity to sweet tastes, sparking a vicious cycle of eating sweet foods and drinks. 

“As taste satisfaction levels drop, the more sweet foods are consumed,” Dr. Hans-Peter Kubis from Bangor University’s School of Sport, Health & Exercise Sciences, who led the study, said in a statement.

2.  Diet soda fiends aren't off the hook either: Recent research published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found that diet soda intake is directly related to abdominal obesity in adults over the age of 65. 

The increase in waist circumference among diet soda drinkers was three times the amount in non-drinkers. 

Isn't it about time you and your family kicked the soda habit?

[The artificial sweeteners are not safe in the huge amounts diet soft drink drinkers consume.

AND there is evidence they cause even more of the sugary food cravings creation and boosting found for regular soft drinks because the artificial sweeteners are so much sweeter than real sugar!]

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Monday, March 23, 2015

My monthly fatloss report....
Today's Post:  Monday, 3-23-2013
[This month’s report is a mixed review with some positive and some negative events to report. I both gained some leverage and lost some. That status seems like AND IS where I’ve been stuck for some time!
My hope of course, is that I’ll gradually make progress by relentlessly continuing the things that have lost and kept off the fat I no longer have;
Having the things I’ve added get traction and gradually help lose some more fat;-- AND find things with more leverage that work well when I try them -- and then keep doing them also!]
A.  This month’s report:
1.  The big news is that I got a new scale and am two and a half pounds lighter than I thought I was.
My old, old analog scale I knew measured me a bit low and guestimated that to be by five pounds.  So if it had me at 160 pounds, considered myself to be 165 pounds.
Last month, our old scale did have me at 160 pounds; but the new digital and much more accurate scale had me at 162.5.  So my real weight is 2.5 pounds less than I thought it was!
I actually weigh 162.5 instead of 165 pounds.  With my waist still fat, this is a small positive but a nice one even so!
This month it still had me at 162.5.  AND, my weekly partial weight in was exactly the same every single week since last time!  After my indicated weight jumping up and down every week with the old scale that was quite a pleasant surprise!
2.  The better news is that my waist and other measures went down.
Even better, my waist went down one inch while my chest and hips only went down half an inch.
(My next step is to do the same as I did with the scale and get a more accurate tape measure.)
Summary for the past month is simple:
A month ago we had just moved in at our new and MUCH smaller location.
My fatloss progress was decent a month ago because the move itself had burned so many calories and disrupted my normal eating patterns enough that my weight had returned to my current normal weight.  But the very high stress also had caused my waist measurement to go up.
Since then the return to normal stress levels and my ability to resume my exercises in our new location has been good enough that my waist measurement gain reversed.
3.  My cardio program upgrade news:
a)  Several months ago I wrote:
“Apparently, the progress in my new PACE or high intensity cardio session of 5 sets I added of abdominal exercises -- both toned my muscles and tightened them up or maybe added some of the three pounds over the last two months as muscle.
I’ve now gone from 14 reps to 90 of the 98 reps I plan for each of the new 5 sets!
Clearly it has helped me to gain muscle instead of fat.  I may well be burning 300 calories or more each week than I was a few months ago.”
b) Last month I wrote: “Since we moved and slightly before, everything is so changed and cramped, to get to work on time, I’ve had to almost eliminate that whole extra cardio program!” (I also had to give up my once a week Nordic Track.)
c) Since that report last month, I dropped the most time consuming and unpleasant and least effective of the five new sets and have found a way to resume doing the remaining four new sets besides the four high intensity ones I’ve long ago become so skilled at doing. Once again, I’m doing all 8 sets, the 4 previous ones plus the 4 new ones three times a week.  So when I get the new 4 sets back to 98 reps each, I expect to lose some extra fat.
The bad news is that the 4 new sets are challenging enough and the weather has warmed up enough it will be more challenging to get from 56 reps per set to 98 per set again.
But I’ll keep on it until I get back to 98 each!
4. I have kept up the added vegetables.  I’m actually doing well with maintaining it each week!
Losing enough more fat to cut it from my belly fat as I want to do will mean adding even more vegetables than I eat now as Vitamix drinks.
My routine clearly still lacks enough intake of daily organic vegetables.
(Over a week it averages about 4 a day now and for fat loss it needs to be 7 to 10 each day.)
But the fair intake 5 days a week and good intake on my two strictest days each week is now stable and routine and I can continue that easily.  So any fat it has helped me keep off or any health benefits of it will stay as good as they are until I can do more!
Several months ago I bought and read a book that suggests that both adding even more vegetables AND taking one week in four where I also eat less of many other foods – other than vegetables, may produce net and sustainable fat losses.
I’m still limited in what I can do now.  BUT, I am on the right track and will do what I can get to now and plan for much more when I can.
(Possible change in this one!  See the last piece of news at the end of this post!)
5.  As I mentioned above, one of the continuing good news stories is my strength training.  The progress is still VERY slow but if I continue getting stronger every week or two AS I HAVE BEEN for the past several months and continue for another few years and am able to add back more safe to do leg exercises and make that progress with them, I will keep adding muscle when most people 15 years younger than I lose that much muscle or even more in the same time period!
a) Much to my great shock, I’ve actually gotten stronger on a few upper body exercises despite the disruption from our move!  Hooray!
(Between now and my April report, I’ve thought up a new way to see if I can boost my one weak exercise without setting back the ones in which I’m doing well.  I’ll put it last. That way while it may be a bit weaker at first the extra effort I add will allow my strong sets to keep progressing.)
b) Last month I reported that I had a small setback on healing the stress fracture in my left foot.  This was understandable from the need to carry so many boxes and focus more on getting the job done than being careful with it.  “I’ll just pause my rehab a week or two longer.  I’ll get it healed and strong again eventually. It was already a several month project.  So adding a week or two won’t make that much of a change.”
Since my February report and less stress on it from the carrying for the move, the stress fracture seems a bit better and my VERY slow rehab is not bothering it. I didn’t have to pause my progress after all!
AND, I found an old post I’d forgotten that shows research found that adding the supplement strontium DID cause new bone cells to form AND that, besides your bones becoming heavier and denser, taking strontium ALSO leaves your bones flexible with the result of far few fractures!
So, once my order for the strontium supplement comes in, my healing of my stress fracture AND preventing new ones looks likely to do VERY well indeed!
c) Overall, my muscles LOOK a bit bigger, particularly my arms and shoulders; and though my middle is still fat, my thighs have some definition and are clearly hard and toned.
So even though I’ve not gained enough muscles in size or weight to increase how much they weigh and the calories they burn as I’d like to do ---  After another year or so, I may gain a pound or two of muscle at an age when most people lose 5 pounds of muscle instead!
6.  It’s just a matter of time too to the day I can get and use the Vitamix to boost my vegetable intake enough to lose some fat that way.   
And, I did just find out that removing a few things for a week once a month may enable me to lose fat that week every month.
And, by maintaining the extra vegetables all month, that plus the continuing improvements in my exercises may really get me there.
So the conclusion is that despite being hammered more than usual by outside negative influences, I’m still maintaining most of my efforts that lost fat for me to begin with.  AND, I’m still adding promising new things that are working already or might work.
AND, I plan to both continue doing that and have even more in the pipeline for as soon as I can manage to add them.  
B.  New & earlier news on ways to do more than I have been able to until now:
1.  One of the health emails I got had a new supplement that you had to pay to get and get information on that promised to almost wipe out the effect of stress on abdominal fat.
This sort of thing usually is smoke and doesn’t work in practice. 
But it WAS a potential solution to the exact problems I have.  If true, it would enable me to lose as much as the entire 24 pounds of belly fat I’m still carrying.
I then looked up the information that WAS in the ad on Google to see if there was more information elsewhere for free.
Here’s what I found: 
The effect may in fact be real but not enough by itself to do more than half the job without adding a safe way to boost my level of growth hormone closer to my youthful levels.
(And the existing supplements using it have other ingredients to help it boost heart health which I’ve already done.  So not only are those likely a bad fit for me, they might not be entirely safe as my heart indicators have almost gone past optimum now!)
However, this class of active ingredient is in lemon and orange peel. 
And, at Whole Foods I can get the organic lemons and oranges that would make them safe to add to my Vitamix drinks often enough to at least lose 12 pounds of belly fat.
This is VERY interesting to say the least. 
Last month while eating at a restaurant, I got a fish dish and ate most of the lemon rind.  I found this easier and far less sour than eating the main part of the lemon!
And, I got some organic lemons and an organic orange at Whole Foods to try in the next few days. I was also able to eat the peel for those with no trouble eating them.  But the set up was a bit more time to do than I have had since.
I WILL need the Vitamix to add enough EVERY DAY consistently enough to do much. 
And I think I may be more in need of the safe growth hormone boost I don’t yet know how to get.
If drinking the whole organic lemons in a Vitamix drink only helps me cut 3 pounds of belly fat once I begin it, I’ll be very pleased.
And when I add the Vitamix and more organic vegetables every day, I may lose another 9 pounds of belly fat.
The other possibility is that adding back two faster recovery supplements might enable me to do more on my strength training and get some growth hormone boost and lose more belly fat from that.  (Astaxanthin is one of them.)
2.  Wow! I’d forgotten a post I’d written on a natural compound that acts as if it was an anabolic steroid but has NONE of the expense or lack of safety or side effects of anabolic steroids!
Ursolic acid is the compound.  It seems to make the growth hormone and fat removal hormones you already have much more effective. 
This was so true in the tests, it looks like it may make you stronger, your muscles bigger, and make you less fat even without exercise.  (This was thought by the researcher to be possibly a way to help cancer survivors and people in nursing homes who can’t currently exercise maintain to their muscles.)
Needless to say when added to a decent strength training program, it likely would be a massive help.
A month’s supply of the supplement costs $89.95!  So it was out of reach for me at the time and now.  But there is some in Brewer’s yeast and the oregano and basil I add several days a week to my dinners.  I’ve been making do with that small amount as what I could then and now afford. (The richest source is red apple peels.  But it is extremely hard to get apple peels – even those listed to be organic – that haven’t been sprayed with something you’d not want to eat tons of.)
BUT, now I’ve been reminded, I will try the supplement when I can afford it!!
3.  There are two vegetables that when juiced at the level of the Vitamix, cause drops in blood pressure comparable to the drugs for high blood pressure or even better but which have ZERO side effects if the vegetables are organic!
a)  Celery for those not allergic to it, has an ingredient that does this.  But in order to work, you need to eat the celery itself to get the ingredient in massive and affordable doses AND along with the cofactors in the celery it needs to work!
b)  Juicing beets also has a similar effect with a big extra work out boost!
It seems that to get the boost in nitric oxide that relaxes your blood vessels and improves the health and flexibility of your endothelium, the insides of your blood vessels, you need to get nitrates from vegetables in contact with the saliva in your mouth.
The workout bonus is that besides the much better blood flow, this also may boost growth hormone levels after your workouts!
In fact, beet juice has been tested to show performance enhancement!!
So, I’ve long planned to add this one!
But I’ve no funds yet for the Vitamix for either one.
c) Here’s the brand new news!
I’ve got to make do with what of this I can do with our existing blender if I want to avoid taking drugs that will ruin my quality of life because our recent move’s stress drove my blood pressure up enough it will harm my kidneys if I don’t do that OR get it done with this!
And, I CAN afford the organic celery!  Plus, I CAN afford the nitrates plus not have to have the mess of beets!  The superfood dark greens like kale and cabbage and water cress I already should be eating more of ALSO have that level of nitrates.
I plan to have a positive report on that next time!
So, the conclusion is that some of what I’m doing and will keep doing is working.  I’ll keep doing them all!
And I have several planned improvements likely to work and these new and very promising things that might – one of which I’ll try before next time.
Report on this for March:
I’ll keep up the beet root extract supplement in case it has some effect.  But for lowering my blood pressure, it looks like I’ll need the Vitamix and more vegetable intake daily.
Or I may need to clear out some calcified plaque buildup in my arteries or get even more stress relief.
So far the supplements haven’t dropped my blood pressure enough.  So I need to do more.
The good news is that the nitrates are a MUCH better solution than the blood pressure drugs.  And that is certain!  

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Thursday, March 19, 2015

You CAN have more energy AND be calm and stress resistant

Today's post:  Thursday, 3-19-2015

Most people know they’d like to have both those things!

1.  What few people know is that there ARE ways to do that now that are available!

2.  AND there is a new device that is beginning to show in tests that it can do this by itself. 
And, it may make the other things even more effective.

The device is called the Thync.

Before dates, you’d love to turn down the jitters and feel at your best.

While studying or studying for finals you’d love to have a way to wake up and have your mind sharp  that is even better and gentler than coffee. 

And, you’d love to have a way to turn off any exam worries or jitters so you can be at your best.

The Thync device just tested to do both and passed with flying colors I found out earlier today!

In addition to that. I’ve needed both effects badly enough that I also know what else that is time efficient enough to be actually doable now is available. (I list them later in this post.)

I.  Here are many other ways to use the ability to have these two things once you can have them reliably.

To experience less burn out during very challenging work or life experience that goes on for weeks AND to recover faster and more completely afterwards.

To be most productive at work.

Before important meetings or doing tasks in a team doing a high pressure or important task.

To avoid high blood pressure.  To de-stress or turn down high blood pressure with no time added to your day.

To help stop insomnia.  To get more refreshing and restorative sleep.

To help turn off stress driven and stress triggered migraines.

To de-stress before or after dinner with less wine.  (This can help with fat loss and can help keep you safer and healthier compared with drinking a lot more for stress relief.)

To double or triple or quadruple the success people have when they quit smoking AND do it without nicotine or high side effect drugs!! 

(A few people get a high from nicotine just like coke addicts.

But most people would quit smoking if they could get the fast stress relief they think they get from smoking with slow drags and if they could get the fast wake up they DO get from fast drags AND the other way to do these things made them healthier instead of killing them!)

II. Many supplements and practices also do these two things. 

a) Tai Chi works; some versions of Yoga that include the slow breathing work; the Resparate works for some people.  But each of these demands a LOT of time from people who practice them.

Meditation also works but not as well and takes even more time each day to do.

b) But there ARE foods and supplements that do these two things -- and are time efficient enough most people can fit them in to their lives.

*Lemon balm herb tests to increase a feeling of calm AND boost your higher mental skills at the same time. In addition, lemon balm may increase the length of your telomeres as it shows anti-aging effects.  You can get it and drink it as a tea.  But a faster and simpler way to get it is to get the lemon balm supplement from Paradise Herbs and take one just after you get up, one just after lunch, and on days you have an after dinner class or meeting, take one just when you get home for dinner.

*People who drink a Vitamix drink with several kinds of nutritious, organic, green vegetables two or more times a day report this exact effect! 

They report feeling a powerful and quite noticeable increase in energy that’s quite gentle. It’s simply suddenly there with no jitters or side-effects.

*We now know one of the main reasons this happens and also lowers high blood pressure or prevents it during times of stress. 

It’s because things like water cress and kale and beets and celery are each quite high in nitrates and ingesting them in amounts that high causes nitric oxide release inside your blood vessels.

THAT does the incredibly desirable double!  Your blood vessels relax and get healthier AND because they are now wider and your blood viscosity gets lower, your brain literally gets a supercharge from having so much better circulation!

(Blood pressure drugs lower blood pressure but REDUCE blood flow to the brain. So people who take them feel less energetic or dizzy or tired or mentally fuzzy.  Arrghh!)

*The supplements that you can take if you haven’t a Vitamix to use that do some of this are beet root extract, freeze dried beet juice, and the amino acid l-citrulline.  (Beets are high in nitrates and l-citrulline has tested to cause nitric oxide release.)

I’m just now experimenting to see if taking the beet root extract is enough to lower my slightly too high blood pressure.  And, I’m checking to see if adding several spoonfuls a day of the freeze dried beet crystals adds to the effect.

* Research DOES show that getting enough nitrates which for sure happens with the Vitamix drinks is quite effective and lasts about 6 hours.

So, once when you first get up, once just after lunch, once when you first get home for dinner, and one just before bedtime will give you this effect 24 hours a day!  

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Tuesday, March 17, 2015

CoQ10 article reports the REVERSE of what the researchers found!

Today's post:  Tuesday, 3-17-2015

"Study refutes benefits of popular-anti-aging supplement" sounds like the researchers found that the supplement had no anti-aging effects.

Nope.  That is not at all what they found!   

They found it wasn't that great at being an anti-oxidant.  So what?!  There are plenty of foods and other supplements that are great anti-oxidants.

What people take CoQ10 and its much stronger form, ubiquinol, for is its effect on cellular energy and as an anti-aging supplement by helping you continue that effect when it would otherwise gradually disappear.

The researchers found that CoQ10 DID have that effect!

The real title for what they actually found would have been:  

Despite showing few antioxidant effects, study finds CoQ10 does have an anti-aging effect.

This article must have been paid for by the drug companies it's so stupidly written and thought out and pro-drug.

(The writer of the article is competent enough I know from her other work that I think she just reflected the write up she got as it was given to her.)

1.  What the researchers actually found was that CoQ10 was not much of an anti-oxidant which some people have indeed believed.

But the best source for antioxidants is getting them along with the complementary nutrients in real food or in specific antioxidant supplements that are known to have other health benefits.

So that's not really that much of a big deal. 

2.  CoQ10 and its active form, ubiquinol, are known to be health boosters and anti-aging supplements precisely because they keep mitochondria functioning well!

Mitochondria are the internal generators of energy inside each of your cells.  

When they are all, 100% of them, healthy and at full strength you have the energy of a healthy 10 year old.  But when over 90% of them are dead and the rest are not at full strength you tire very easily cannot move much which tends to happen in very elderly people over 90 years old.

The researchers found that CoQ10 DOES indeed HAVE THIS Anti-Aging effect.

That means the headline, "Study refutes benefits of popular-anti-aging supplement" is precisely the opposite of what they found! 

Because the researchers suggest that drug companies make a mitochondria saving drug based on CoQ10 and that consumers not take CoQ10 which already safely delivers that effect, this is clearly written up as a pro drug company report.

But when they add this, there is zero question their write up is a deliberately anti-supplement slanted article:

"Dietary supplements cost a lot of money to patients throughout the world - money that would be better spent on healthy food. What's more, the hope for a quick fix makes people less motivated to undertake appropriate lifestyle changes."

Real food as in organic vegetables and fruit IS worth spending money on instead of packaged snacks and dessert and fast food and soft drinks.

There is even a legitimate case that this is more powerful than most supplements.  

But the question they researched overall is if you add taking CoQ10 to that as well, does it have anti-aging effects?

They found the answer was YES.  It was NOT a NO for the most important anti-aging effect!

Further, other research shows that the supplement, the ubiquinol form of CoQ10, ALREADY available as a supplement, is now much more effective at this anti-aging effect.

They say that you need to wait on the drug companies to see if they can make a safe drug to do that.

This is baseless pro-drug company propaganda. This facts show it's not the case.

Here's the link to their surprisingly biased article:

Study refutes benefits of popular anti-aging
supplement
http://mnt.to/l/4v25
Commonly used to combat aging, ubiquinone is a
dietary supplement that is hailed for its antioxidant properties. But it may not
be an antioxidant after all, a new study finds.

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Thursday, March 12, 2015

Three sets of ways to boost your testosterone…. 

Today's Post:  Thursday, 3-12-2015

This blog is in three parts.

1.  The first one is an article that came to me in an email. 

[As I often do, I comment at key points with my comments set off with these kind of brackets.  >>> ]

I put his article first because it explains:

why more people today need to boost their testosterone;

and what they lack or suffer with if they don’t;

AND what benefits they gain if they do.

This first set of things also uses no supplements or drugs to work!

And, it’s unusually well done.  I leave in the credits so you can look up the article’s author and his other work!  If you like it, by all means do so!

2. The second one is two ways to avoid two common pitfalls that can cut your testosterone in half.  So you can almost double your testosterone by removing those two things that lower it otherwise!

3.  The third part has the set of inexpensive supplements that boost testosterone and have other health benefits -- plus the somewhat more expensive two supplements that are mostly testosterone boosters that work.

1.  Part one is an article that came to me in an email.  [As I often do, I comment at key points with my comments set off with these kind of brackets.  >>> ]

I put it first because it explains: why more people today need to boost their testosterone;
and what they lack or suffer with if they don’t;
AND what benefits they gain if they do.

This first set of things also uses no supplements or drugs to work!

And, it’s unusually well done.  I leave in the credits so you can look up the article’s author and his other work!  If you like it, by all means do so!


Here it is:

http://blog.paleohacks.com/4-dietary-pitfalls-that-lower-your-testosterone-levels/

4 Dietary Pitfalls That Lower Your Testosterone Levels -

See more at: http://blog.paleohacks.com/4-dietary-pitfalls-that-lower-your-testosterone-levels/#sthash.iIaRcuX7.dpuf

While it’s normal for testosterone levels to decrease as you age, the rate of decline seems to be at an all-time high. Today, men’s testosterone levels are 25% lower than two decades ago. This doesn’t just affect your libido or ability to build muscle.

The latest research shows that low testosterone levels may leave you more susceptible to chronic conditions like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and depression.

[In addition, higher testosterone levels do NOT cause cancer!


AND lowering testosterone in cancers that grow faster with higher levels of testosterone has recently been shown to be dramatically inferior to effective prevention and treatments that avoid the harmful side effects of low testosterone on exactly that list of diseases Dr Mark just listed!]

How do you know if you have low testosterone? A blood test for bioavailable and free testosterone will tell you exactly where you stand,

but the most common symptoms seen in clinical practice are:

low sex drive, fatigue or poor energy, increased body-fat, decreased muscle mass, low mood and irritability. 

[People, both men and women, who have enough testosterone do have more energy, feel better, are less irritable, and have more libido and more enjoyment!]

Turn on the TV during the next big football game and you’ll see commercials for the latest gels and creams as a quick fix for low testosterone. While these may address symptoms in the short-term, they won’t address the root cause of your low testosterone.

How can you restore you energy, mood, lean muscle, and libido? The answer is not in a bottle…it’s on your plate!

Here are the top 4 nutrition pitfalls that can strongly contribute to low testosterone:

1. You Don’t Eat Enough Saturated Fats
Over the past three decades doctors and dietitians have told you to AVOID saturated fats like the plague. In particular, saturated fats from animal sources were vilified as disease causing 
and harmful for your health. Interestingly, this span of time coincides with a significant decline in testosterone levels in men…and it is no coincidence! 

[Animal fat sources of saturated fat ONLY cause harm if they come from animals fed grains that are GMO and/or sprayed with pesticides and herbicides.  And the harm then does NOT come from the saturated fat!  The harm then comes from the pesticides and herbicides bioconcentrated in the fat AND the very high levels of pro-inflammatory omega 6 oils in the fat from the grain feeding.

Dr Mark IS right that “grass-fed” is best because animal-sourced saturated fats that come from animals fed with unpolluted pasture or grass or organic spouts do NOT have these harmful effects.]

Cholesterol is the building block for all your hormones, including sex hormones like testosterone. Studies show athletes training intensely and following low-fat diets suffer from lower testosterone levels, whereas athletes following high-fat diets – in particular saturated fats – are able to mitigate exercise-induced reductions in testosterone.1

Adopting a Paleo diet is a great way to optimize your intake of healthy saturated fats. Include one to four tablespoons of butter (grass-fed is best), ghee (clarified butter), coconut oil or red palm oil daily with your meals. Remember, saturated fats have a high smoking point making them a great choice for pan-frying or stir-frying. Or, simply add them to your veggies before you eat!  [Whole Foods carries organic coconut oil.] [Eating butter cold or only gently warmed or melted is also better for you than heating it until you get harmful AGE’s in it.]

2. You Sabotage Deep Sleep With Late Night Snacks

Simple sugars trigger the release of serotonin, your happy neurotransmitter, providing you with some relief and comfort after a busy day. Unfortunately, an evening bowl of ice cream or chocolate dessert raises your blood sugar hormone insulin and interrupts your sleep hormones.

[Small snacks of mashed avocado and nonstarchy green vegetables or raw nuts if you aren’t allergic can stop real hunger with virtually no sugar if you have real hunger later at night. Also you can eat more of them with your dinner.  Then you may then have to eat them later less often.]

High evening insulin delays melatonin production (your sleep hormone) and ultimately affects your testosterone and growth hormone production overnight. Growth hormone, the “fountain of youth” hormone, teams up with testosterone during deep sleep to build lean muscle and support deep, rejuvenating sleep.

Don’t sabotage your testosterone-building sleep. Replace sugary snacks in the evening with
frozen grapes or berries, or enjoy a cup of herbal tea (mint, chamomile, rooibos) to help relax your nervous system. Be sure to aim for at least 7 hours of sleep per night. [Decaf coffee with grass fed or organic half and half also works.]

3. You Eat Too Many Carbs (And Simple Sugars)

If you are overweight or out of shape you likely have poor insulin sensitivity. This means that your body does not process carbohydrates very efficiently, resulting in consistently elevated insulin levels in your bloodstream.

Chronically high insulin leads to the over-production of a hormone called androstenedione, which competes with testosterone in the body, resulting in low testosterone. Androstenedione is also five times weaker than testosterone, meaning you are getting far less bang for your buck.

Therefore, if you are overweight the best way to boost testosterone levels will be to improve 
your insulin sensitivity by losing weight. This is a very common scenario that suppresses testosterone production. Simply adopt a high protein, high fat, low carb (less than 100 g per day) Paleo diet and your testosterone levels will be back on the rise in no time (your libido too!). (Note–If you are already very lean, these rules don’t apply. A very low carb diet for too long can excessively elevate stress hormones and suppress testosterone.)

[For fat loss and health, also eat or drink as a Vitamix drink six to 10 servings of organic vegetables a day and one or two organic servings of whole fruit. 

And, for a bit more carbs for those already lean and/or after your heavy workouts, use beans and lentils and nuts if you aren’t allergic or high carotene organic vegetables like yams and sweet potatoes and carrots and squashes and some pumpkin puree with nothing else added.  Even properly cooked quinoa in moderation can help.

In addition, with these sources of carbs you can often eat more than 100 grams of carbs a day and still get the full low carb effect!]

4. You Drink Too Much Alcohol 

Did you know that the medical definition of a binge drinking session is only five units of alcohol for a male and four for a female? A recent study found the average number of drinks on a night out is between 8-9 drinks per person. This is almost twice the amount of the medical definition of a binge (perhaps a “double binge” is the appropriate term!).

Typically, the higher your alcohol intake, the greater your weight gain around the abdomen. Unfortunately for men, the more fat you store around your belly, the greater the activity of an enzyme called aromatase, which converts your precious muscle building testosterone to estrogen.

A simple way to restore testosterone levels is to cut out alcohol completely for 1-4 weeks. If your schedule and client outings won’t allow complete abstinence, try cutting your intake by 50% and not consuming more than 2-3 drinks in a single day.

[Another way to drink with far less of this effect is to take two non-consecutive days a week where you drink no alcohol and limit yourself to one or one and a half or two drinks a day the other five days that week.]

Beer is the worst offender as it is mildly estrogenic, offers up an excess of calories, and contributes to the classic ‘beer belly’. [Dark beer is the best for you.  And no matter what kind, aim for one a week or less.]

Opt for red wine (high in aromatase inhibiting resveratrol) or spirits–neat, on the rocks, or mixed with soda water. [Red wine has the most heart protective other nutrients AND the resveratrol plus the related phytonutrients in red wine almost cancel out the cancer causing effects of the alcohol!]

Finally, if you follow a bodybuilding style workout–training different body parts multiple days of the week–then you may want to tweak your program to boost low testosterone.

The research is clear that compound movements such as squats, deadlifts, and Olympic lifts (cleans, snatches, jerks) are hands down the best way to naturally boost your testosterone levels. Simply combine lower body and upper body exercises into the same training day and you’ll maximize your hormone-building potential. [The power lifts of squats to parallel and back up and deadlifts allow you to use the most weight and use the most muscle and work best for this purpose.  Leg presses and heavy clean and jerks Olympic style are nearly as effective.
So are split squats and slow rep lunges holding heavy dumbbells in each hand.]

[Doing super slow rep strength training with one set of an exercise for each of the key areas of the body using weights you can do 10 to 20 reps with and keep doing more each time until you can do over 25 and then increasing the weight also works!  The clients of The Perfect Workout coached program do this workout twice a week with two recovery days in between.]

If you are training three days per week perform deadlifts on day one, Olympic lifts on day two, and squats on day three. Add in compound upper body movements like bench press, push press, chin-ups, pull-ups, inverted rows and dips and you’ll increase your testosterone and lean muscle in no time.

Be sure to include whey protein isolate (40 g for men, 30 g for women) after each training session to accelerate recovery and promote muscle protein synthesis. If you can digest dairy, full-fat milk 
(750 ml-1L) is an excellent post-workout choice.

[While eggs have more complete protein, whey has the protein that matches the amino acid balance of your muscles almost exactly and so whey has been shown to be the most effective muscle building protein!  Jarrow sells an unflavored whey and a grass fed whey.]

There you have it, correct these four common dietary pitfalls, modify your workout regime, and your testosterone levels will be back on the rise.

Symptoms of low libido, fatigue, weight gain and low mood will soon subside without the need for costly creams and gels!

Give your body the right nutritional building blocks to maintain a healthy testosterone balance.

References
Volek J et al. Testosterone and cortisol in relationship to dietary nutrients and resistance exercise.
Ho CH et al. The Prevalence and the Risk Factors of Testosterone Deficiency in Newly Diagnosed and Previously Known Type 2 Diabetic Men. J Sex Med. 2014 Dec 2.
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. CDC, 2012;61. Vital Signs: Binge Drinking Prevalence, Frequency, and Intensity Among Adults — United States, 2010.
Hickson RC et al. Successive time courses of strength development and steroid hormone
responses to heavy-resistance training. J Appl Physiol 1994;76:663-670.

Dr. Marc Bubbs

Dr. Marc Bubbs, ND is a Naturopathic Doctor, Strength Coach, Author, Speaker, and Blogger practicing in Toronto, Canada.

He believes that diet, exercise, and lifestyle factors have the most profound impact on your overall health and performance.      [The research shows he is correct.]

Marc is the author of
 The Paleo Project – A 21st Guide to Looking Leaner, Getting Stronger, & Living Longer

and currently serves as the Sports Nutrition Lead for Canadian Men’s Olympic Basketball Team.

2. Part two is ways to avoid two common pitfalls that can cut your testosterone in half. 

So you can almost double your testosterone by removing those two things that lower your testosterone otherwise!

a)  Radiation from cell phones that are turned on and worn near where your body produces testosterone are PROVEN to cut your testosterone levels by 20 to 40%.

[That effect plus a diet high in sugars and GMO grains and fewer people who exercise are behind the lower testosterone levels in people today.]

So, leave your cell phone off unless you are calling out or have reason to expect a call.

Or, wear it on the outside part of your body in a belt mounted holster or pouch.

Or, if you are up for the risk of losing it, putting your cell or smart phone in your purse or brief case also works.

b)  Your body makes more testosterone if you avoid too much heat to the area that makes it! 

This can increase or slash how much testosterone you have.

Men make more testosterone by wearing boxer underwear than men who wear briefs.

It also helps to sleep without sweatpants or a pajama bottom on warmer nights.

Lastly, if in winter you let your room drop to 60 degrees and use a warm hat, socks, and blankets instead of using more heat  --
--  that saves money AND increases your testosterone!

And, if you heat-proof &/or air condition your house so that your bedroom at least stays below about 73 degrees in summer, that can also help. 

(Oddly, it may even save money to cool your bedroom to 68 degrees in summer because if your house is well insulated with double pane windows, your air conditioning is more efficient and the electricity also costs less then than the same amount of cooling does in the late afternoon!

Lowering your bedroom to 68 degrees at night is even better for testosterone creation if you can do it.)

3.  Part three has the set of inexpensive supplements that boost testosterone and have other health benefits -- plus the somewhat more expensive two supplements that are mostly testosterone boosters that work.

aThe inexpensive supplements that boost testosterone and have other health benefits:

Taking 3,000 to 5,000 iu a day of vitamin D3 or even 10,000 is dramatically health protective in something like over a dozen different ways!  (Much less than 3,000 iu a day and the health benefits disappear. It isn’t until at least 1700 iu a day that they begin to show up reliably.)

It’s quite inexpensive to do. People who do are less likely to die of infections or get chronic diseases. This may even include protection from mental decline  People who do are less likely to get or keep autoimmune diseases. They get over colds and flu faster if they get them at all. AND they are far less likely to get any kind of cancer. Lastly, if they take this much D3 and get enough vitamin K2 and weight bearing exercise they will have and keep MUCH stronger bones.  D3 does a wonderful double!  It both massively boosts your immune system AND helps it ONLY attack things it should attack.

(This level of D3 is what people once got every summer from sunlight conversion and is totally safe.  Synthetic D2 may not be safe in amounts that high; but naturally sourced D3 is the safe and protective one.)

A very nice extra I recently found out, is that people who get this much D3 also boost their testosterone levels!!

b) Zinc from oysters or lots of wild caught seafood or nuts if you aren’t allergic or supplements in the 15 mg to 50 mg a day range also boost your immune system and increase your testosterone and may even be cancer protective from the immune system boost.

Note that over 50 mg a day can boost your immune system if you do it once and then take less.  But if you take more than 50 mg of zinc every day, the effect reverses and LOWERS your immune system.  Zinc supplements are also inexpensive.

c) Fenugreek as a spice and supplement has two effects besides its distinctive aroma.  It prevents or helps prevent blood sugar spikes AND it boosts your testosterone!

Fenugreek may have interaction effects in people taking drugs to lower blood sugar or who have gotten too low blood sugar from their drugs.  But for everyone else it’s quite safe.

And, like D3 and chelated zinc or zinc citrate, fenugreek supplements are quite inexpensive.

b)  The somewhat more expensive two supplements that are mostly testosterone boosters which do work

*Tribulus  (NOW sells it and you take two capsule at bedtime.  It’s not as cheap as the first ones; but Tribulus isn’t pricey either. Besides men, it has increased libido in some women too.)

**Tongkat Ali (This one apparently works by preventing conversion of testosterone to other things and results in more “free” or actually usable testosterone in your blood; and is best used by men as I understand it.)

( Solaray sells Tongkat Ali by itself and their version is not as cheap as the first set; but also is relatively inexpensive.)

***

(There is also a third one, DHEA, that has tested to increase libido in older women which may increase testosterone --  and may have anabolic effects to help with muscle growth in men also.)

In conclusion, if you do all or most of these things, you can increase your testosterone or ensure it stays high.

That gives you more ability to build muscle and keep off unwanted extra fat.

It makes you feel better and have more energy on most days.

And, it boosts your libido and increases enjoyment.

Lastly, if you do it right, it is safe to do and far safer than its earlier reputation according to recent research.  

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