Immediate protection from death and disability….Today's post:  Tuesday, 2-27-2018

When I was younger seat belts were quite new and few cars had them.

The brilliant engineer father of a young man my age had installed them in his car.

We were going someplace in that car and I sat on my seat belt.  His dad asked me why I hadn’t put it on.  I replied that we were just going a few blocks.

He said, “Oh! So you know when you will be in an accident then!”

That made me stop and think as he meant it to do.

I’ve since discovered that a large part of driving and often most of it happens on such short trips to familiar places.  So your chances of being in an accident “going just a few blocks” at relatively low speeds are actually quite high during your driving and car riding experience. Two to seven such accidents over time are actually quite common!

Worse, in such accidents, seat belts almost always make sure you can walk away from the accident with only some bruises at worst.  But you can die or be disabled for life in seconds if you are NOT wearing your seat belt.

Now, most people do wear their seat belts and even drive or ride in cars with mostly safe airbags.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the many such accidents that happen and even freeway accidents never happened in the first place because your car has safety features that prevent them?

Now many cars do have such features.  And almost every accident my wife and I have been in would not have happened had we been driving a newer car with these safety features.

Although Tesla cars and others are comparable now, a few decades ago, only Volvo made a car that would enable you to survive a bad freeway crash and walk away from it.

An acquaintance’s wife was driving all their children in an older Volvo station wagon on the freeway.  Somehow someone cut them off in a way that caused the Volvo to roll over and over bashing its corners in the process.  They were all wearing their seat belts and were uninjured and walked away!   In a less crash resistant car, they would have all been dead.

Our daughter was driving her older Volvo in the rain on the freeway when a semi slammed into her from the side so hard it bashed her car into the median divider.  The g forces were such that even with her seat belt her wrist and knee and back were injured.  But with good medical care she made a full recovery.  In a less crash resistant car, she would have been dead.

So I am loyal to Volvos for a reason!

Since then my wife and I got a 2012 Volvo S60. 

While driving it we have been in several surprisingly expensive fender bender accidents that safety features newer Volvos you can now get would have prevented entirely!

My wife and I have each had accidents where we thought we had clearance to go around and were in a hurry.  Those were quite expensive to fix.  Now you can get a Volvo that will slam on the brakes if you start to do that.

(Many of the accidents on our freeways now that cause even worse damage and lost lives are from people driving without paying attention at freeway speed and slamming into cars stopped on the freeway.  If those cars had this safety feature these accidents would be avoided or they would have been reduced enough the deaths and injuries would be far less.)

I yelled at my wife just in time once when she was about to do that.  And once by the time I realized she was not stopping for a car in front of us she bumped into it mercifully with virtually no damage.  But this feature would have protected us both times!

Similarly, many parking lot accidents or those that kill toddlers and pets are from backing up when the rear view mirror is clear but the toddlers and pets are below that field of vision.  Now you can get a rear camera as an option where you see at the level of toddlers and pets so that no longer happens!

Those cameras also prevent common parking lot backup accidents!  Many people don’t see cars moving to behind them or miss them in the rear view mirror.  They delay slightly in backing up and by that time that car IS behind them.  With the rear camera you see that happening soon enough to stop!  (That feature would have prevented two of my accidents!)

There are also times that you are driving on the freeway and realize you are sleepy but believe you can get home or to where you are going.  Volvo now has a feature you can turn on that will keep you from drifting out of your lane thus avoiding driving into bridge supports!  And, it will give an alarm that may wake you if it needs to do this too much.

This feature alone could cut the death rate on freeways and expressways in half!

I asked Volvo to email me a link that describes the features you can get now.

And, they sent me this: 

The new Volvo XC90 (Available since 2015) was the first to have the 360-degree camera viewing available.

A good rundown of its features and options inside and out and what has then followed as standard or options on Volvo models since then is here:

https://www.volvocars.com/us/cars/new-models/xc90/features#/galleryview 

The list of features shown also lists several that protect you if are IN an accident as well as those that can help you prevent the most common accidents entirely!

Enjoy your driving  and  trips and travel safe!

How to avoid grains or eat them and still lose fat….Today's post:  Thursday, 2-22-2018

Yesterday someone shared a post on Facebook that I saw with a New York Times article with this headline:

"People who cut back on added sugar, refined grains and processed foods lost weight without worrying about calories or portion size"

I shared this with this comment:

"Adding whole grains and MSG and hydrogenated oils to that list is even more effective."

Today I got this reply:  "I had mixed results completely eliminating grain from my diet. I started doing much better/had better blood sugar regulation when I reintroduced whole grain to my diet. Curious what you're reading that says whole grain is as bad as refined grains.'

I replied:   "Hybrid whole wheat, IF you can find it, still is quite harmful. Starchy organic vegetables like yams and quinoa do make sense for trim people who burn a lot of calories as you were doing when I spoke to you last. Beans and lentils may work for you though they don't for some people. Lack of fiber and enough carbohydrates can be problematic sometimes; but you can get those without grains. My post last Thursday, 2-15, also lists foods with resistant starch that work for this too."

Then I added:  "Also, some people do OK eating foods made of organic whole grain rye and barley. Some people don't do as well with those."

(Hybrid wheat causes harmful in some people or just fattening problems and boosted inflammation in most people who eat it even if they aren’t aware of the cause or they don’t feel the big inflammation boost. 

And almost all breads, rolls, baked goods, packaged snacks, and packaged desserts that contain hybrid wheat are all or are 80 to 95 % refined hybrid wheat flour.  That’s true even if they are labeled (inaccurately) as whole wheat or are brown in color or have sesame seeds or wheat berries on the crust for a crunchy taste.)

Trim, younger people who mostly avoid the worst foods and eat well and are very active like the young man who commented WILL feel better and even have more stable blood sugar if they get some carbohydrates in moderation.

Mike Matthews also notes that some carbohydrates in moderation along with enough protein is necessary to build and add muscle.  The way to avoid fat gain by doing this he notes is to do this just enough to get that effect but not more AND to not do it all the time or when you are trying to lose fat.

It’s also true that a high protein very low carb diet can have too little fiber for good health

Next we’ll simply quote from last week’s post on ways to get this effect that work but do not use grains.

Then we will end with ways some people can eat grains and bread that don’t cause the problems that refined grain and whole hybrid wheat cause.

II. We posted this last week:

“You can keep off fat best if you eat a variety of foods you like or at least are used to eating AND you avoid getting excessively hungry.

Note:  All these methods work best or work at all if you no longer eat or drink excess sugar or high fructose corn syrup or artificial sweeteners or any hybrid wheat or much of any grain. 

This includes foods and drinks and “food-like substances” made of these things.

Since these things cause rebound and excessive hunger, eliminating them is half the battle.

But you can do much more after that:

1.  Resistant starch and health OK oils can keep you from getting too hungry and are proven to help people keep off the fat they have lost if you eat them in moderation and in controlled amounts. 

Got an email recently suggesting plantain sliced into discs and sautéed lightly in extra virgin olive oil as an effective way to do this.

The resistant starch in the plantain and the health OK oil in the extra virgin olive oil is likely to be one effective way to do this. They both turn off hunger quite well!

Adding some garlic or onions to the plantain slices or organic spices you like can make this an enjoyable addition.

Resistant starch, just like the fiber in green and nonstarchy vegetables, is filling and very low glycemic.

Resistant starch and the fiber in nonstarchy vegetables and health OK fats and oils help you enjoy your food and feel full enough to be less hungry.

Resistant starch also feeds the kinds of bacteria that tend to prevent you from gaining back fat you have lost.

Bananas, yams, sweet potatoes, and beans and lentils also do this because they are high in resistant starch.

I like peeled and shredded boiled or steamed yams with a bit of Kerrygold butter and cinnamon.

Lentils may have too many lectins for some people.  But cooked, they have resistant starch and abundant nutrition and are very low glycemic. I eat just a little every day.

Lightly sautéed organic potato slices or diced small potatoes that are then chilled overnight are high in resistant starch and far lower glycemic than they would be if not chilled overnight.

2.  Raw tree nuts you aren’t allergic to and avocados have health benefits so great people who eat them regularly get a positive boost to their health as great as if they quit smoking!

And, if they avoid the things that fatten listed above, people who eat these foods get to eat more calories and be less fat!  This is a proven effect by actual tests!

(Cashew nuts are one exception for most people as they are quite high in lectins.)

These foods are very filling and are ZERO glycemic or very nearly so.  They taste good enough and are filling enough one way they do this is to make it MUCH easier to do without the harmful and fattening foods and ingredient listed first.

But that more calories result even suggests that people who eat raw tree nuts they aren’t allergic to and who eat avocados, are able to burn more calories too!”

Added this week:

Resistant starch foods and starchy organic vegetables give you some carbohydrates but release them slowly which does lead to stable and healthy blood sugar levels.

Eating them with a health OK oil or fat boosts this effect.

In fact, raw tree nuts for those not allergic have so much health OK oils, protein, and fiber they are ZERO glycemic.

Some people don’t feel as well or lose fat if they eat nuts because of the lectins in tree nuts.

Cashew nuts are quite high in lectins. I discovered a relative reacts quite badly to cashews because of this high lectin content; but is fine with walnuts and almonds and pecans.

I believe if most people who aren’t allergic eat tree nuts other than cashews in moderation, this can do for them what whole grains would have in keeping their blood sugar levels low and stable.

3.  Beans and lentils are high in both kinds of fiber AND resistant starch.  They have lectins but when thoroughly cooked in water that is then discarded and then cooked in water a second time, this lessens this effect.

And, lentils both have fewer lections and more protein and are lower glycemic than other beans.

Except for people allergic to them this use of beans and lentils also can substitute for whole grains.

The wonderful other news is that beans and lentils are very inexpensive and high in protein.  This too is a good way to replace wheat and other grains.

III. Ways some people can eat grains and bread that don’t cause the problems that refined grain and whole hybrid wheat cause:

If you otherwise eat a low inflammation lifestyle with zero grains and are not highly reactive to gluten, organic whole grain rye and organic barley and breads made from them can be a way to eat grains and bread on some days and in moderation.

And, it also helps to use a health OK fat or oil with them such as Kerrygold Irish butter from grass fed cows or extra virgin olive oil.  (In the United States, California extra virgin olive oil is fresher and has fewer other oils added to it than most imported extra virgin olive oils.)

Sliced Dubliner Kerrygold Irish cheddar cheese from grass fed cows also works.

These health OK oils reduce the glycemic effects of the grain.

That’s most important for whole grain rye or refined barley.  Less refined barley is actually low glycemic!

Refined grain buckwheat flour is gluten free or nearly so, so this can be combined with almond flour or eaten in moderation to make bread that can be less fattening or harmful to eat.

Lastly, wheat that is an original, NOT hybridized wheat, does contain gluten but the early far less stiff and harmful kind in smaller amounts.  And sprouted such wheat is lower glycemic also.

 

In addition, it can be blended with other spouted grains and seeds to make a very low glycemic bread.

If you want a more “regular” bread for sandwiches some days a company called “Food for Life” makes such a bread with biblical names for the source of the mixture used.  Whole Foods carries it.

Of their bread our local Whole Foods carries, my wife likes their Ezekiel 4:9® Sesame Sprouted Whole Grain Bread best.

But she also likes Genesis 1:29® Sprouted Whole Grain and Seed Bread too.

Last but far from least, when she was testing her blood  sugar several times a day, she found that any hybrid wheat based bread or other food caused huge jumps in her blood sugar.

But these Food for Life biblical breads hardly increased her blood sugar at all.

Conclusion:

You can get the overly hyped but sometimes real benefits of whole grains without using them at all.

And, if you eat the best kinds and limit how often and you eat them with health OK fats or oils many people can still eat some grains and still lose fat they keep off.  

More ways and reasons to stop migraines….Today's post:  Tuesday, 2-20-2018

A Medscape email I got last Friday, 2-16-2018 reported a study showing that people who get migraines are more likely to get several dangerous or quality of life harming heart conditions.

Simply put, people who get migraines are more likely to get heart attacks, strokes, and conditions that lead to heart failure.

The study said that people who have migraines are proven to be more at risk to get MI, VTE, and atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter 

(MI is a heart attack; VTE is dangerous blood clots that start in veins; and atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter can cause strokes and heart failure and quality of life issues from feeling out of breath to dizziness to weakness.)

This means that things that turn off or prevent migraines very likely also can prevent or stop those conditions!

It may also mean that things that prevent or turn down the risk of stroke, MI, VTE, and atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter may prevent or stop migraines!

Because there are many ways that work to prevent migraines, many of which also help prevent heart attacks and strokes, AND because the drugs too often used from OTC pain relievers to beta blockers and more are so horribly harmful, we did a three part series on effective ways to prevent migraines about nine months ago.

Stop migraines without drugs and why.....Tuesday, 5-23-2017

Stop migraines without drugs and why.....Tuesday, 5-30-2017

(This was part two.)

Stop migraines without drugs and why.....Tuesday, 6-6-2017

(This was part three.)

Many of the methods listed can be done within a few weeks.  And, when you do one or two that remove the causes of your migraines, they stop. 

Sometimes your migraines become far less frequent and become much milder; but that’s a BIG improvement.  And if you do the other things you’ve not yet begun, you can get rid of those too!

Four I’ll list from that series that can work really fast are:

1.  If you have migraines, it’s very likely you are deficient in magnesium, maybe severely deficient.

If you drink any soft drinks, regular or diet, or consume other things with high fructose corn syrup or eat any hybrid wheat, your body uses what magnesium it has to process excess carbs and sugars.

And, since you may not eat greens or organ meats or tree nuts or take magnesium supplements, you may become severely deficient in magnesium.  In fact, this is quite common, unfortunately.

If this is causing your migraines and you quickly upgrade what you eat and drink to organic and naturally raised real foods and drinks instead and begin to take magnesium, you may become migraine free in just a few weeks.

2.  If you have migraines, it’s also quite likely you are deficient in the B Complex vitamins  

And, since you may not eat greens or organ meats or tree nuts or take a good set of B vitamin supplements, you may also be severely deficient in the important B Complex vitamins.  In fact, this is quite common, unfortunately.

In the same way, if you begin to eat organic greens and organ meats and take a balanced B Complex vitamin such as Solgar’s Stress Formula B Complex with C and Whole Foods niacin or No Flush using inositol hexaniacinate, and a chewable 1,000 mcg B12, and folic acid, if lack of these was causing your migraines, they will stop!

3.  MSG causes migraines and is deliberately hidden in dozens of foods because it helps make junk foods and even real foods more addictive.  (Yes, that helps make MSG fattening too!)

If you stop eating any condiments or spice blends that list “spices” or even “natural spices” and eat no foods from a fast food eatery, you will stop getting migraines from this source!

Eating or taking ginger; eating curried foods that have turmeric or taking curcumin from turmeric; take at least 10,000 iu of vitamin D3 plus a vitamin K2 supplement, does the exact opposite of MSG and can slash migraine pain or stop it entirely.

4.  Some migraines are caused by a pinched or squeezed nerve in your neck.  Competent treatment by a chiropractor stops this AND the migraines it causes.

So if your migraines are horrible, or the first 3 methods don’t stop them, seeing a chiropractor may simply turn them off.

You can also turn off or dramatically slash your risk of heart attacks in just a few weeks.

This recent post and the comment I added contain methods that do this and that quickly.

Fast Heart Protection without drugs….Tuesday, 1-9-2018

If you have migraines, this new research suggests you might want to add these things that you aren’t already doing from the lists above.  

If you have migraines, you are more likely to have a stroke:

The recent study found you are more likely to get:

VTE, dangerous blood clots that start in veins; and atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter all often cause strokes.

So if you have migraines, doing the things that slash your risk of stroke is worth doing!

The most effective way known to prevent BOTH ischemic or blood clot caused, strokes AND to also prevent hemorrhagic, or bleeding, strokes at the same time is to eat one or more pieces of organic fresh fruit each day.  (Organic blueberries and blackberries test as doing this best; but even eating a banana will help!)

This provides natural vitamin C and the complementary micronutrients that make your blood vessels both stronger AND more flexible.

Taking fruit extract supplements also works.  Taking even one will help.  I take bilberry and elderberry extract, grape seed extract, and cherry extract besides my daily fruit serving.

Atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter can cause strokes, heart failure, and quality of life issues.

Binge drinking or even special event extra drinking of alcoholic drinks can cause them or turn them on.  So can getting a big dose of MSG in holiday foods you normally don’t eat.

MSG causes BOTH these nasty things AND migraines.  Avoid any intake of MSG if you can possibly do so!

And, sticking to light moderation and drinking good quality red wine and very seldom more or anything else or not drinking alcohol are also things you might do well to consider if you get migraines!  

My Monthly Fatloss Report February 2018.....

Today's post:  Monday, 2-19-2018

A.  Here's the key news:

1.  Fat Loss Report, measured on Saturday, 2-17-2018

Lost 1.7  pounds from 167.1 last month to 165.4.

My chest measured 38, a loss of a quarter inch.  This is half an inch bigger than several months ago when I was 37 & a half inches.

(This shows I’ve kept the muscle gains I think.)

My waist measurement went up a quarter inch to about 41 and a three quarter inches to about 42 and a three quarter inches.  (These are the normally slightly tight and the totally relaxed measures.)

My hips measured about 37 and a half.   That’s still half an inch more than 37 not long ago. (This also shows I’ve kept the muscle gains I think.)

My too high heart rate and diastolic blood pressure I developed after Thanksgiving is still happening. 

My heart rate and mean blood pressure have dropped as I stopped taking green tea extract and Guarana extract and extra coffee on arriving at work.  I also cut my wine intake in half – 3 days a week instead of 6. 

(Excessive and repeated stress and a handful of binge drinking episodes when I was younger and taking the synephrine and the other stimulants on top of that are the likely causes.)

I also may have become magnesium deficient from taking a diuretic and the Zantac acid reducer.  So, I’ve begun using a topical magnesium supplement besides the 800 mg of magnesium I take.

When I saw the doctor and got an EKG and then an Echocardiogram, they found I had something called atrial flutter and occasionally AV block and slightly thickened and now also slightly leaky heart valves.

The doctors want to put me on the dangerous and harmful drug blood thinners.  Mercifully, I know better because that guarantees I’ll get worse over time and die younger and become unable to exercise decently.

Then too, I already take several  supplements that do that job better and more safely in combination than the drugs can do.  This is so much the case that taking even one dose of the drug blood thinners could cause me to bleed to death internally.

Given that I am reducing or stopping several causes and do have the excess clotting protection, it would be desirable to stop the atrial flutter and heal the valves too; but I do not need to be in a crashing rush to do so.

To the extent these problems result from injuries or injury to my endothelium in the blood vessels new research has found that the vitamin D3 and K2 I take will heal that over time.

The topical magnesium sometimes also does this.

And, platelet rich plasma might well heal my valves and heart rhythm controls entirely when I can afford to add that.

Then, if I still need to fix the valves or they get worse, Stanford Medical School and their attached hospital now can fix them using material from my heart and resulting in better pumping than what the standard procedure has been.  And, best of all, it works so well, there is zero need to take drug blood thinners after the procedure.

It’s also encouraging that my heart is able to power me to new records for pushups while this is going on!  To me this shows the things I’ve done to strengthen it have worked.

(Not long ago I was pleased if I could do 40 to 44 pushups the one day a week I test that each week each Monday.  

Monday this week – earlier today --I did 112 pushups total up from my previous record of 104!)

2. I’ve discontinued the 20 mg of Synephrine completely because it did not change my results that much and it did cause an elevated heart rate and may have caused the atrial flutter and valve damage.

So for me the Synephrine definitely a bad idea – or taking it while extra stressed was.

I did seem to gain muscle without gaining fat when I was taking the Synephrine.

So, for a younger person with far less stress and stress driven slightly high blood pressure, they might be OK with it.

However, given the damage it is known to cause and apparently did cause in me, I no longer think Synephrine safe enough for even younger people to use and that other methods should be used instead.

The bioflavonoid supplement with 100 mg of rutin, I’ve discontinued when I ran out since it seemed not to add any extra effect to the parsley and oregano dried spices I have also been taking.

The apigenin in these herbs and their other phytonutrients do help you recover from exercise and build bone and muscle and heal your gut.  So I have continued those.

3.  My food intake recently has been quite consistent and my overall results of about the same with a bit of up and down reflects this.  

I set a new record for my short daily exercise walk/run combo recently

4. My stress level, already high, was high the last few weeks for several reasons.  

*For me, as for many people, having enough money for at least a minimum OK lifestyle with zero chances of severe money problems reduces stress. 

This has gotten slightly but significantly better lately. So it is less stressful too.

*For me, even more than other people who also have it but at a lower level, having an ally who is unusually supportive and of some help sharply lowers my stress level.

 This part is going well as one ally has become more supportive recently and one good ally who I’d lost touch with is back and supportive.

*Worry about my recent heart rhythm and valve problems has caused me some increase in stress.

5.  I'm currently making an extra effort to overcome this recent stress. Emulating the Seal way of using my training and keeping on no matter what IS helping.  

The new nose breathing I posted on Tuesday, 10-5-2017 also DOES seem to be helping.  It DOES help to avoid the brain freeze I tended to get when I mouth breathed when under high stress.

6.  I believe my continued persistence and continuing to both follow up on successful efforts and finding new and promising things to check on AND doing so, 

WILL enable me to lose my excess fat remaining and keep it off.

7.  I’m continuing to find new ways to boost my metabolism and add bone and muscle that I’m beginning to use.

As my new strength training method helps me get stronger; I get better at it; and I can get to the heavier weights to use it on, it DOES begin to look like I’ll add enough muscle that by eating about the same and continuing to get better at the lower carb effort, I’ll finally get back to weighing 161 pounds with far less fat than I have had.

Conclusion:

 I’ll achieve the financial leverage I need.

I’ll get the active allies I need.

 AND I’ll begin to use all of the metabolism boosters I’ve found to add to the ones I’ve been using.

(That includes adding a weekly workout at a gym with heavy barbells and adding these new techniques and trying the BulletProof Vibe.

I HAVE added a special set of exercises once a week that I'm already doing standing in the space the BulletProof Vibe allows.  That way, I'll be ready to go when I get one to try!

The last bit of good news this month is that I’m still getting stronger in the two key exercises in this special set of exercises.

The other two pieces of good news is that besides the metabolism boost and removing excess lymph and fluid to cause some loss in weight and inches and increasing muscle mass --

combining platelet rich plasma treatment with using the Vibe may heal my left foot and even my heart valves perhaps.)       

Keep off fat AND hunger….Today's post:  Thursday, 2-15-2018

You can keep off fat best if you eat a variety of foods you like or at least are used to eating AND you avoid getting excessively hungry.

Note:  All these methods work best or work at all if you no longer eat or drink excess sugar or high fructose corn syrup or artificial sweeteners or any hybrid wheat or much of any grain. 

This includes foods and drinks and “food-like substances” made of these things.

Since these things cause rebound and excessive hunger, eliminating them is half the battle.

But you can do much more after that:

1.  Resistant starch and health OK oils can keep you from getting too hungry and are proven to help people keep off the fat they have lost if you eat them in moderation and in controlled amounts. 

Got an email recently suggesting plantain sliced into discs and sautéed lightly in extra virgin olive oil as an effective way to do this.

The resistant starch in the plantain and the health OK oil in the extra virgin olive oil is likely to be one effective way to do this. They both turn off hunger quite well!

Adding some garlic or onions to the plantain slices or organic spices you like can make this an enjoyable addition.

Resistant starch, just like the fiber in green and nonstarchy vegetables, is filling and very low glycemic.

Resistant starch and the fiber in nonstarchy vegetables and health OK fats and oils help you enjoy your food and feel full enough to be less hungry.

Resistant starch also feeds the kinds of bacteria that tend to prevent you from gaining back fat you have lost.

Bananas, yams, sweet potatoes, and beans and lentils also do this because they are high in resistant starch.

I like peeled and shredded boiled or steamed yams with a bit of Kerrygold butter and cinnamon.

Lentils may have too many lectins for some people.  But cooked, they have resistant starch and abundant nutrition and are very low glycemic. I eat just a little every day.

Lightly sautéed organic potato slices or diced small potatoes that are then chilled overnight are high in resistant starch and far lower glycemic than they would be if not chilled overnight.

2.  Raw tree nuts you aren’t allergic to and avocados have health benefits so great people who eat them regularly get a positive boost to their health as great as if they quit smoking!

And, if they avoid the things that fatten listed above, people who eat these foods get to eat more calories and be less fat!  This is a proven effect by actual tests!

(Cashew nuts are one exception for most people as they are quite high in lectins.)

These foods are very filling and are ZERO glycemic or very nearly so.  They taste good enough and are filling enough one way they do this is to make it MUCH easier to do without the harmful and fattening foods and ingredient listed first.

But that more calories result even suggests that people who eat raw tree nuts they aren’t allergic to and who eat avocados, are able to burn more calories too!

3.   A high or high moderate intake of health OK protein foods also helps you to be less hungry.

Doing so supports building or keeping bone and muscle that burn calories for you.

(Adding effective strength training of your larger muscles as well sharply increases this effect because you also burn enough more calories you can eat more without adding fat!)

Health OK protein foods take longer to digest and release energy slowly and help you feel full.  Then, when you do get hungry it’s moderate. 

AND, one study found that getting enough protein helps people on lower calorie intakes from being less active or triggering the famine response.  The same study found that lower calorie intakes of the same amount but low in protein slashed the energy people had and made them much hungrier.

4.  Studies also have found that limiting carbs or calories or both one or two days a week but not every day helps people lose fat as well as doing it every day.  But doing it enables you to keep the fat off when those who did it every day did not!

One reason for this is that it makes it so much more doable to keep doing than cutting back all the time.

This makes it a permanent lifestyle upgrade. 

(Cutting calories and stopping simply causes the fat to return and wastes your efforts. The upgrade to cutting back one or two days a week as a permanent change is MUCH more effective!)

Doing these things every week, you CAN keep off fat you lose without hunger! 

You can keep from being excessively hungry and yet keep off the fat you lost too!  

Love and Hearts….Today's post:  Tuesday, 2-13-2018

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Tomorrow is February 14, Valentine’s Day.

I’ve long thought that it is really 3 holidays in one!

Every February 14, we celebrate:

*Love and caring.

*Helping your heart be strong, stay strong and healthy – and heal if it is hurt. 

                                              (That’s why February is US National Heart Month.)

*Love making and pleasuring your lover.

1.  Love and caring.   This is having warm and happy feelings and feeling your lover is special for their strengths and good actions and good values. They feel you find their real self special and know them.

In her book SuperBetter, Jane McGonigal suggests many ways to remember these good things about your significant other or lover; ways to touch or speak to them to do this.

She makes the point that when people live together there are always discomforts and sudden problems.  You misunderstand something or your significant other breaks something or the weather causes a bad delay or worse.  Some people even call days with extra events like this bad hair days.  A wise woman I once knew told her kids, don’t bug me today if you can avoid it, I’m really grouchy today!

Jane McGonigal even says it’s important to notice these instead of ignoring them!

Her trick to a good relationship, her action strategy, is to make a few good things happen for your significant other each day so there are always more good things than bad. It doesn’t take a lot some days.  One bad thing and three good ones works.  Two bad ones and four good ones works. And the good ones can be really fast to do often.

Do something they ask you to do when they ask you to do it even if it takes some effort and flexibility on your part.

Give them a warm smile and feel warm towards them.  Give them a hug.

Truly want good things to happen to them and for them.  Help them enjoy their favorite things even if some of those are not your favorites.

*Do the things that make YOU feel better and avoid the things that make you feel irritable or depressed.

We covered how to do that in our post last Monday, 2-5:  Good friends & relationships protect your health.

Do things that make you and your friends and family feel good and enjoy being together.  

Avoid the foods and drinks and oils that make you irritable and depressed.  Take omega 3 oils and the omega 3 DHA and live a low inflammation, health supporting lifestyle so the omega 3 oils work better.  The omega 3 oils not only make people a lot less irritable, they even do so when the people getting them don’t realize they are less irritable or why!

This makes your love life and your enjoyment of your friends and family work much better!

2.  Helping your heart be strong, stay strong and healthy – and heal if it is hurt. 

These same actions reduce your inflammation and your harmful small particle LDL and your triglycerides and oxidized lipids. They boost your protective HDL too!

Two other things you can do are slash or eliminate your use and intake of canola oil and to do the other things you aren’t already doing that reduce your risk of heart problems FAST.

[See my post:  Fast Heart Protection without drugs….Tuesday, 1-9-2018

          AND see the comment I added with additional ways to cut heart disease risk within day or a few weeks to very, very low!]

a)  Despite having some plant derived omega 3 oils, canola oil has been found to increase mental impairment recently.  (That study was on Medical News Today and other sources recently.)

This is because of the high level of inflammation boosting omega 6 oils in Canola oil.  The processing chemical residue, and the easy oxidation of the omega 3 oils in processing with high heat and in any cooking done with canola also produce this effect.

The researchers who did this study who did not know these things about canola were surprised.

The people who knew these things about canola oil were not surprised. 

Extra virgin olive oil, avocados and organic and unprocessed tree nuts for those not allergic to them avoid these problems.

So do saturated fats from coconuts, chocolate, and milk, eggs, cheese, butter, and meat from animals fed unpolluted grass and other of their natural foods.

Omega 3 oils from wild caught fish and seafood and the purified omega 3 supplements and DHA omega 3 supplements do the opposite of what canola oil does!

b) Dr Al Sears saw this canola oil study and gives the history of how canola oil was & is processed and rebranded industrial rape seed oil that contains erucic acid that causes heart lesions. 

A separate article, see below, says the amount now of erucic acid in canola oil is a trace amount. 

BUT far less of a harmful ingredient is NOT as good as oils which have NONE!

Because of this and the processing chemical residues –

and its pro-inflammatory high omega 6 content—

and the plant omega 3 that gets easily oxidized—

 and the small amounts of hydrogenated oils formed by the high processing heat, canola oil is NOT a good for you oil and should be avoided if at all possible.

https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/know-your-fats/the-great-con-ola/

This article has the history as well.  It also says that canola oil does tend to be harmful by causing the stiffening of your cell walls from the oxidized plant omega 3 oils.

It says that eating canola with some health OK saturated fat prevents that stiffening.  (You can also take PS a phospatidyl serine supplement, which softens cell walls as an antidote.)

The best way to protect your heart from these harmful effects of canola oil is to stop using it or severely minimize eating things that contain it.

3.  Love making and pleasuring your lover.

One way is to create good feelings and get in synch with your lover’s mood.

When this is done well enough you can ask and hear and do what is most pleasing, that works really well.

Another way is to do the things that protect your heart very well because the resulting good blood flow to the sensitive areas increases their ability to function and to transmit pleasure to you!

(We just listed many things that do this!)

The third way is to do the right regular exercises!  This works for men and, surprisingly, it works as well or better for women.

Effective strength training causes testosterone release in both men and women.  It is less in women but it’s enough to make a difference.

Of more importance is that effective strength training and safely done yoga cause you to feel your body and focus on how it feels.  When you are at work or doing errands or chores, you don’t have this focus.  By doing these exercises you develop your ability to feel your body and give those parts of it extra blood flow. 

This transfers very well to love making!  

Quick way to feel better and lose fat too….Today's post:  Thursday, 2-8-2018

A.  Would you like these solutions to these challenges that work in very short sessions?

People who are working to lose fat have several challenges -- and often they want to look better by losing fat.

Another challenge is that they are often short on time to do the exercise needed.  They may want more results from the exercises they do in growing more muscles or becoming more fit.

There is a way that may work for you to do these things and more.  I’ve listed it at the end of my monthly fatloss reports with some of why I think it will help me get the results I have not yet gotten.

It IS a bit pricey and I’ve not yet used one to give you a report on my experiences because of that.

But, you may be very glad if you get one and use it well!

1.  It can enable you to get better results in 15 minutes or even 7 than you can get doing strength training for half an hour.  You can build more muscle and burn more calories by using it!

If you only can fit in 7 minutes a few times a week at home or at your office, this device can help you do enough to make a real difference for you.

2.  Combining this device, Bulletproof’s VIBE with the bone broth we posted on last time has been shown to speed healing of joints and tendons and muscles. The bone broth gives you the nutrients and growth factors and the VIBE gets more of them to the area you need to heal.

3.  If you sit so much that you get slowed down by the excess fluid in your legs from not moving or have excess fat in your gut or both, using Bulletproof’s VIBE causes your lymph to circulate so much better, this problem stops.

This reduction of trapped water in your lymph can cause you to lose weight on the scale, lose inches on your waist, and be a lot lighter on your feet.

4.  Some people even report an increase in mental energy after using it.  This can be great to use just before you leave for work so you show up with extra energy to tackle your day.  Or, it can be used to refresh you when you get home so you have more energy for your family or friends or just reading without falling asleep!

B.  Here’s the email with part of that from Bulletproof itself.  [The comments in these brackets are mine.]

“1. Hack Your Muscles, Plus Shrink Love Handles & Muffin-Tops…

Olympic athletes and pro sports teams have been using this same technique for years to build stamina, accelerate recovery and break new records. All in as little as 15 minutes a session (or just a minute or two in between meetings). So how does whole-body vibration do so much in so little time?

While conventional workouts with weights and machines only stimulate about half of your muscle fibers – when you stand on a whole-body vibration plate at a frequency of 30 vibrations per second, it engages a full 95% of your muscle tissue, including both your ‘slow-twitch’ and ‘fast-twitch’ fibers.’ That means you can get the benefit of a full day’s worth of movement in just a matter of minutes.

Bonus: Unlike normal workouts that typically raise your stress hormone (cortisol) levels for up to 20 hours, making it harder to recover or burn fat… studies show vibration training can actually decrease your cortisol by 27%.

Not only that, at the same time it can give your good hormones a boost: One study showed up to 460% more growth hormone from just 10 sessions on a vibration plate.”

[I have a set of 7 exercises I do with dumbbells in fifteen minutes that can be done standing on a vibe.  I can’t easily get heavier dumbbells or make myself work extraordinarily hard when I do this now.  But if using the vibe produces the results of dumbbells twice as heavy and working that much harder without exhausting me as it sounds like it does, that could be a huge advantage!]

2. Detox & Rejuvenate…

Besides building muscle and bone strength, one of the biggest benefits of moving around is helping your lymph system circulate. You have three times more lymph fluid in your body than blood, and its job is to clean out dead cells and waste (think of it as your body’s janitor).

The difference is, your lymph system doesn’t have a heart to keep it flowing – so to make it circulate, you need to shake things up. It’s one reason why long periods of sitting make you weak, and when you ditch the built-up toxins in your lymph system, your mitochondria (and by extension, your body and brain) simply work better.

It’s also the reason why taking a long walk, jogging on a treadmill or jumping up and down on a trampoline can leave you feeling refreshed as your lymph system drains and rids your body of pent-up kryptonite.

No wonder whole-body shaking has been a key part of various forms of tai-chi and yoga for hundreds of years…

And the good news is, if you don’t have time for a daily walk or trip to the gym, you can shortcut kicking your lymph system into gear in just a few minutes. All by standing on a vibration plate for a few minutes during a work break, or while you watch TV.”

[I find I get better information faster by reading; and I sit most of my day at work.  So I plan to use it after I get home with my feet on it but elevated while I sit and read.  I think that will remove the excess fluid that I get in my legs and ankles from sitting all day and burn calories too!]

3. Power Up Your Cells…

As you might have read in my latest book, Head Strong, scientists in Germany recently discovered that free radicals make the water in your tissues “stickier.” And vibration causes microscopic changes that make it easier for your mitochondria to do their jobs more efficiently.

Yes — as strange as that sounds, it turns out that because all of your cell membranes are made up of tiny droplets of fat suspended in water, the minute piezoelectric charge produced by vibration actually subtly changes the state of the water in your cells in a way that helps you generate more energy.

Sure, you could spend your spare time jumping rope, doing jumping-jacks, or bouncing on a trampoline to get this energizing boost – or you can use a Vibe to get all the bounce you need (at the optimal frequency of 30 vibrations per second) in a fraction of the time.

That’s why I always keep one next to my standing desk during the day to hop on for a couple minutes anytime I need a pick-me-up… and it’s also why I make Bulletproof Vibes available at the Bulletproof Coffee Shops in L.A. to give visitors a quick spring in their step as they wait for their coffee.”

[Note that Bulletproof, as of 2-1-2018, last week, had a 10% off introductory offer on the VIBE.

That might still be available as you read this or they might have another one if you read this later.

My experience has been that ordering from Bulletproof is chancy and its system is buggy.

But you can get Bulletproof products on Amazon who has a superb system to order and deliver products.

And once Amazon has your current shipping preference you don’t have to enter it every time or guess if your package will go where you want it to go.]  

Good friends & relationships protect your health….Today's post:  Monday, 2-5-2018

Here are some quotes from an email I got today from Shaun & Karen Hadsall about the high importance of having friends and good relationships with them.

As usual, I’ll add some related things that can help you use and benefit from the information.

1.  Here are the quotes about having friends:

The good ones make us laugh. Help us create life-long memories. And pick us up when we're feeling down.

This complicated and stress-ridden world just seems much more enjoyable and fulfilling when we share our daily lives with close, supportive friends.

In fact, research shows that having at least a few, high-quality friends is a scientifically-proven requirement for you to feel consistent happiness in your life.1

And this is especially true as you get older...

As you age, additional research has also revealed that your healthy connections with friends is a stronger predictor of your mental and emotional wellbeing than even connections with your family.2

Plus, it's almost unbelievable how many physical health benefits you experience from your rock-solid friendships...

Did you know having strong friendships actually protects your health as much as someone who quits smoking or exercises regularly?3

And even crazier, that socially "isolated" people are more than twice as likely to die from heart disease as those with a solid social circle?”

Summary:  Good times spent with friends make life worth living.  And, it is one essential part of having a happy life.

The other two parts that create this health effect are the emotional security of having a few good friends as a proven stress protector and the actual support when you need it.

Shaun’s email has this quote:

“ "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up." - Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 “

And even if you get up on your own most of the time, knowing you have some friends who can do this relieves stress enormously.

On author found that NOT having this or thinking you don’t can result in an over 20 point increase in high blood pressure when stressed.

Small wonder with effects like that one, that having good relationships with friends and/or family members is so health protective.

The email Shaun sent also had some ideas for ways you can add a friend or two if like so many people these days, you haven’t many now.  Here are those quotes:

“Do you have someone, anyone, who you can trust to love you, care for you, and support you—even if they knew all your deepest, darkest secrets?

Experts believe you need between 3 and 5 close friends for optimal well-being.”

“….So if you think you do need more friends in your life today—just like myself—then you only need to do 1 simple thing....

Be proactive and take action:

Join a local group—such as a recreational sports league or church gathering...

Invite your neighbors over for dinner or out to eat...

Attend workout classes (I think my wife, … has made at least 20 friends doing this)...

Reconnect with an old friend with whom you've lost touch...

And lastly, if possible, mend your broken relationship with that one friend you regret losing...

Myself? I've made it a personal goal to establish closer friendships with 2-3 guys locally this year.”

These quotes were from a colleague of Shaun’s who had moved to a new area.

2.  You can get a good bit of these same benefits from acquaintances and family members who you don’t see often or even live in the same part of the country!

In her book, SuperBetter: The Power of Living Gamefully by Jane McGonigal, she has what she calls PowerUps and ways to add positive experiences to your days to balance the normal bad news and stresses each day brings.

Her way of doing it is to email friends and acquaintances a quick thank you note for something they did that helped you or just made you smile or feel good.

While doing it she says to wish them well and feel warm and loving thoughts about them or feel you are also sending them.

Unbelievably, she has read research that shows that doing this boosts your serotonin and dopamine release in your brain enough to make you feel a LOT better and have more energy and make you healthier!

This needs no drugs or even supplements to do!  It’s safe and it works very, very well.

If you haven’t time to send emails or you do feel that way but do not have that person’s email, it even works to send them the message telepathically or pray for them while feeling these warm and supportive thoughts! 

This works for sure for you!  Incredibly, there are even some reports that people have had good things happen about that time too. 

I’ve found that this also works for friends and family who are far away and who you seldom see in person, by liking their posts on Facebook that have good news or wishing them the best when it’s bad.

Some of the younger people in my extended family are on Facebook as are my two brothers and my sister – and their children plus my daughter and son in law.

Some of their posts show their kids really looking happy or doing something well or they post something wise or thought provoking or just a pretty landscape or sky that’s near them.

I find that Liking these and adding some relevant and positive comments sometimes while I think well about them has this effect for me.

3.  All these things are easier if you feel good rather than irritable or depressed.  Sometimes this makes it possible to do them at all or to do them well enough to work.

Studies have found that eating wild caught fish high in omega 3 oils or even taking the omega 3 DHA or a purified omega 3 supplement causes you to be MUCH less irritable and even think better!

One study where they gave men in prison an omega 3 supplement found that the men felt so much less irritable the sections that got the supplement instead of a placebo had enough fewer fights, there were less injuries and the prison saved money on having to stop fewer bad fights and treat these injuries!

So if you do these things, you may be less irritable too! 

Why not try it?

Other studies have shown that drinking soft drinks and eating packaged foods causes the people who do so to become depressed.

And, many people who stop them both totally also stop being depressed or are much less so.

So following the lifestyle that enables you to stay healthy and is a low inflammation lifestyle that has you do both things, gives you a double benefit!

You get its direct protection AND it also enables you to add good feelings and support to your acquaintances, friends and family and get this extra benefit too!  

Look better and feel better while you lose fat too….Today's post:  Friday, 2-2-2018 

People who are working to lose fat have several challenges -- and often they want to look better by losing fat.

Just found out that something used when fasting to help keep essential electrolytes while doing so and make it more doable ALSO does several other very valuable things too:

It helps remove cellulite in women losing enough fat to do that part of the job.

It reduces wrinkling and helps prevent or cure baggy skin in those who lose a significant amount of fat.

It increases your ability to use walking or strength training to build bones that are strong and burn calories!  (This also helps prevent or reverse osteoarthritis.)

Part of the way it does this is by containing a lot of vitamin K2 that sends your blood calcium to build bones and removes it from your blood vessel walls!

And, it helps prevent or heal minor injuries, strains, tendon problems, and osteoarthritis!

*The email I got with this information called it a “magic elixir.”

It’s bone broth from grass fed cows!

When you get beef bones from 100% grass fed cattle from an online source that is reliable or from Whole Foods and bake it first to break down the bone and marrow and then simmer it slowly for about an hour in water, the resulting broth is very high in all the things your body needs to do ALL this.

1.  On days you fast, having beef broth with just enough Kerrygold grass fed Irish butter to add that flavor and with any added flavors or spices you like, it’s actually nice to do.

It’s warm and soothing and helps you with any hunger.  In fact, the saying hunger is the best sauce, is why when drinking it when not hungry can be unpleasant; but drinking or spooning it when it’s warm and you ARE hungry ranges from doable to actually tasting good!

You can also make it much better for you and safer to do the fast and -- even taste better -- by steaming some chopped broccoli and carrots and onions and chard -- and then adding that liquid after filtering those out, to the broth for the last five minutes of simmering.

2.  When you are not fasting, you can also use this rich broth to make savory stews with:

Diced slow cooker cooked grass fed beef and onions and just enough broth to cover them.

(Adding chili powder and no sugar tomato sauce or pasta sauce with no MSG or “spices” listed on the label and extra virgin olive oil and cayenne pepper to your taste with just enough bone broth to cover them also works.)

Or, diced slow cooker cooked grass fed lamb and curry spice and turmeric and black pepper and just enough broth to cover them makes a decent lamb curry stew!

1.  If you want to look better as an important reason to lose fat and keep it off AND if you want to not look worse, bone broth can really help.

I found out that the main cure for cellulite is to add muscle and remove fat enough to get to youthful but not too low bodyfat from Mike Matthews.  His article on the subject has very convincing pictures to show this is so! 

So do the strength training for your legs and buttocks and chest and lower and upper back to get rid of cellulite and lose enough fat also to do that.  (Doing strength training for the parts of you that are flabby or show cellulite beyond that can help if you add them to this but won’t work at all without doing it.)

If you are older you may need a bit more to restore the collagen in your skin to finish the job of removing cellulite.

The wonderful news is that eating this kind of bone broth on fasting days or in stews the rest of the time four times a week or more has done this!

2.  If winding up with baggy skin is something you would rather not have or have far less by losing quite a bit of fat, the strength training to add muscle to replace the fat helps. 

AND, eating this kind of bone broth on fasting days or in stews the rest of the time four times a week or more has avoided this problem or made it much less if done after you already have baggy skin.

3.  Doing this also sharply increases your ability to use walking or strength training to build bones that are strong and burn calories!  (This also helps prevent or reverse osteoarthritis.)

The broth from bones and bone marrow contains all the most useful amino acids and collagen that your body needs to do this. Proline and glycine in their most bioavailable form do this. Bone broth has lots of them!

The broth from bones and bone marrow also contains glucosamine and chondroitin in their most natural and bioavailable form AND lots of the bioavailable magnesium that is essential to bone building at that most people in the United States are deficient in.

(Taking vitamin K2, particularly in the MK7 form also enhances this effect by sending calcium in your blood to bone building and removing it from your blood vessels! 

Weston Price found that bone broth contains a lot of bioavailable K2 and this “intrinsic factor” was one of the most important causes of the good health and strong bones and good teeth in the many different groups he studied.  He was a research Dentist; so the extremely good teeth these peoples had got his attention! )

4.  If you have joint pain that keeps you from many kinds of exercises or even much walking, the reduction in the calories burned and the other effects of no exercise can keep you from losing fat or from keeping off fat you’ve lost.

This is on top of feeling lousy and in pain at times!

The OTC drugs most people now take for this kind of pain have dangerous side effects if you take them at all often.  Many people with this problem take enough of one or more of these every day to cause serious other problems from liver failure to heart attacks to sudden internal bleeding that can be fatal.

But people who eat and live a low inflammation lifestyle that we posted last on how to do on Tuesday, 12-19-2017, often avoid this or have so much less of it they can still exercise enough for losing fat and keeping it off.

But what if some of the pain is from losing the collagen pads that normally allow your joints to move smoothly?

Eating bone broth on fasting days or in stews the rest of the time four times a week or more has been shown to help your body simply rebuild your collagen pads!

5.   You can also have muscle pulls and tendon strains keep you from continuing to do the effective exercises.

Would you like to have fewer of them—or none?  Would you like the ones you get to be relatively minor?  Would you like to be able to recover so fast you need little or even no downtime to recover from them?

We’ve posted on the finding that taking at least 10,000 iu a day of vitamin D3 with enough K2 has been shown to do each of these things.

Eating bone broth on fasting days or in stews the rest of the time four times a week or more has been shown to do each of these things ALSO!

That means that doing both is extremely effective!!

6.  The bonus effects on your health are extraordinarily numerous and valuable!

For example, if you have fatty liver, you can get rid of it by switching to the low inflammation lifestyle that we posted last on how to do on Tuesday, 12-19-2017.

But what about the liver damage before that takes effect?

The glycine that is so bioavailable and plentiful in bone broth that it can help heal this damage:

One study “glycine showed significant improvements in recovery from alcohol-induced fatty liver disease.”

(So has taking milk thistle. Again, why not do both?)

7.  An important health benefit of bone broth that impacts fat loss and quality of life is that it removes a cause of autoimmune disease!

Research has found that besides vitamin D3 deficiency or exposure to toxins, autoimmune disease is commonly caused when your gut gets holes in it that allow proteins from things you eat to enter your blood where your immune system then attacks them.

The broth from bones and bone marrow contains all the most useful amino acids and collagen that your body needs to do prevent this or heal it if it has already happened by keeping your gut lining healthy and completely intact and sealed. Proline and glycine in their most bioavailable form do this. Bone broth has lots of them!

This benefits fat loss in three ways:

a) Many autoimmune diseases cause you to have less energy or feel depressed or both which can cut into your ability to exercise.

b) Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that causes joint pain and even partial destruction which can make exercise hurt more or even less safe to do.  Turning it off besides the other joint pain removers and rebuilders can keep that problem from getting any worse or even healing it in some cases. (Surprisingly, moderate exercise while using these for healing seems to make it work better and remove pain faster!)

c)  The drugs commonly given to remove the symptoms of autoimmune disease can both force fat gain and prevent fat loss.

We found research that taking these drugs once a week can sometimes be effective for removing the symptoms of autoimmune disease without this forced fattening effect.

The better news is that other research has found that eating bone broth on fasting days or in stews the rest of the time four times a week often heals the gut and stops this cause of autoimmune disease.

Then when the autoimmune disease needs no symptom removal since it no longer exists, the fattening symptom removal drugs can simply be discontinued.

(Note that some of these drugs have to be stepped down a step at a time to avoid harmful rebound effects that stopping them cold can have.

The once a week method is done before this becomes necessary or after some of this stepping down.)