Reverse Heart Disease in 24 Days..... (8)

Hi folks - time to get nutty! No, I do not mean going mad, I mean it is time to ensure that nuts are part of your balanced nutrition. At least 5oz of nuts a week seems to reduce the risk of heart attack or heart disease by 33 percent. As usual, moderation is the key, with balanced nutrition the goal.Nuts contain mostly heart healthy unsaturated fats and are said to reduce LDL cholesterol levels. They also contain significant levels of protein, fibre and fat, helping you to feel fuller quicker, thus helping you lose weight, as you eat less. Furthermore, a Harvard School of Public Health study found a thirty percent reduction in type two diabetes risk - a serious heart disease risk factor - in women who ingested at least five one ounce servings a week in comparison to women who ate little or no nuts. Also, women who ate 5 tablespoons of peanut butter a week reduced type two diabetes risk by almost twenty percent.

So, what other nutrients are present in nuts? They include magnesium, manganese, protein, fibre, zinc and phosphorus. Some examples:

- Walnuts. One ounce of walnuts (about 14 shelled walnut halves) is all that is needed to meet the 2002 dietary recommendation of the Food Nutrition Board of the National Academies’ Institute of Medicine for omega-3 fatty acids.

- Almonds. One ounce of almonds (about 20 to 24 shelled whole almonds) provides 35 percent of your daily value for vitamin E. Vitamin E may help promote healthy aging.

- Peanuts. Though often discussed with nuts, peanuts are actually a legume along with dry beans, peas and lentils. One ounce of roasted peanuts provides about 10 percent of the daily value of folate, a B vitamin recommended to help reduce the incidence of birth defects and lower the risk of heart disease. Peanuts also are an excellent source of the cardiovascular health vitamin niacin, providing about 20 percent of the daily value. Nuts are cholesterol free and low in sodium - useful when seeking to reverse heart disease. So get nutty right now .....

To your abundant excellent health,

Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert

Sources:

Duke University Center for Integrative Medicine

Prevention: http://www.prevention.com/health/health/health-concerns/reverse-heart-disease-in-24-days/article

NUTS for Nutrition: Alice Henneman, MS, RD, Extension Educator University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension - Lancaster County, USA

Reverse Heart Disease in 24 Days..... (7)

Day seven - the job is not complete, not yet. It is time to take at least nine servings of fruit and vegetables a day. Yes, I know you were told five, but now we are talking about heart disease reversal, so we need to turn the ante up, five helpings will just not cut it. Cruciferous vegetables like kale, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and broccoli should be a mainstay as these contain generous amounts of anti oxidants and various heart nourishing and repairing phytonutrients. So take your time in the vegetable market or vegetable produce section today and select fruit and vegetables to cover all the colours of the rainbow. Enjoy.....

To your abundant excellent health,

Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert.

Sources:

Duke University Center for Integrative Medicine

Prevention: http://www.prevention.com/health/health/health-concerns/reverse-heart-disease-in-24-days/article

Juice Yourself Slim by Jason Vale

7lbs in 7 Days Super Juice Diet by Jason Vale

Reverse Heart Disease in 24 Days..... (6)

Sixth day in - and it is time to juice up! This is simple, quick and SO easy to do - but packs a big, highly nutritious punch, with numerous healthy benefits. Juice whole organic fruits and vegetables, waste nothing, all the benefits are obtained this way - enzymes, nutrients, minerals, vitamins you name it, you will get it. Experiment, have fun, create recipes, use fruits and vegetables of all the colours of the rainbow - red, green, violet, blue, yellow etc. Some of the numerous benefits?

Oranges for example contain folate which helps to reduce the levels of homocysteine in the blood - a known heart risk blood marker. Grape juicing releases flavonoids and resveratrol, both powerful anti oxidants that seem to discourage red blood cell clumping and artery blockage leading to heart attack and numerous circulatory problems. Vegetables like broccoli contain essential potassium and magnesium for optimal heart and circulatory health. Juicing is also an easy way of starting the life long process of increasing your fruit and vegetable intake, an crucial ingredient in your quest to living a long, healthy and happy life, while reducing reliance on animal protein for the bulk of your protein intake. Aim for up to eighty percent or more of your nutrition to be plant based. This is beneficial for both us and the planet called Earth in various ways. So start juicing up today, and watch your energy levels, health and well being soar!

To your abundant excellent health,

Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert

Sources:

Duke University Center for Integrative Medicine

Prevention: http://www.prevention.com/health/health/health-concerns/reverse-heart-disease-in-24-days/article

Juice Yourself Slim by Jason Vale

7lbs in 7 Days Super Juice Diet by Jason Vale

Reverse Heart Disease in 24 Days..... (5)

Fifth day, and I hope you like fish - especially oily fish. If not, you need a credible alternative, like flax seed oil or krill. Why? It is because omega 3 fatty acids, so necessary for heart and circulatory health - indeed the health of all the cells of the body - are available from oily fish like salmon, cod, mackerel, sardines and anchovies. Cod liver oil is another alternative, and is available in various forms, including odourless capsules. So no more excuses for those who turned up their noses at cod liver oil as children! Remember, eating one oily fish serving a week can reduce the risk of death from heart disease by up to a staggering fifty two percent. It is time to bite into that fish and swallow - if not, make sure you take a proper substitute, starting today.....


To your abundant excellent health,

Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert

Sources:

Duke University Center for Integrative Medicine

Prevention: http://www.prevention.com/health/health/health-concerns/reverse-heart-disease-in-24-days/article

Benefits of saturated fats http://www.stop-trans-fat.com/benefits-of-saturated_fats.html

Reverse Heart Disease in 24 Days..... (4)

Rough up your food intake - Day Four

Right, the fourth day of your quest to reverse or prevent heart disease is here, what do you do? It is time to rough up your food intake! No, no beating your food up, no matter how tempted you are! I simply mean it is time to take some more fibre - roughage.Research has revealed the more roughage you eat, the lower the risk of a heart attack. Fibre should be introduced gradually to help reduce the likelihood of stomach upset and wind - which could be embarrassing. Just reduce the amount of fibre eaten if these symptoms occur and gradually build your intake up, as tolerated. Whole grain bread, cereals like bran, oats, wheat bran - if you are not gluten intolerant, fresh vegetables and fruits, beans are all excellent sources of roughage, aiding elimination and detoxification. Try to ensure you eat between 25 -35 grams a day of fibre. You are now well on your way to reducing your risk of heart attack by 60 per cent. Just twenty more days to go......

To your abundant excellent health,

Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert

Sources:

Duke University Center for Integrative Medicine

Prevention: http://www.prevention.com/health/health/health-concerns/reverse-heart-disease-in-24-days/article

Reverse Heart Disease in 24 Days..... (3)

Hi there again,

This is the third installment in the series on reversing heaart disease in twenty four days, and today I will be talking about substituting harmful nutritional oils with beneficial types. Oils such as olive oil, especially extra virgin, cold pressed olive oil, canola oil, coconut oil and palm oil can be substituted for margarine in baking. Olive oil can be used in salads, but avoid frying, as harmful trans fats are produced in the process. Remember, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and saturated fats are all necessary for healthy nutritional balance and optimal health. For those who question the benefits of saturated fats nutritionally, there is ample evidence to support the intake of them here: http://www.stop-trans-fat.com/benefits-of-saturated_fats.html - also do some research yourself and see....

To your abundant excellent health,

Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert

Sources:

Duke University Center for Integrative Medicine

Prevention: http://www.prevention.com/health/health/health-concerns/reverse-heart-disease-in-24-days/article

Benefits of saturated fats http://www.stop-trans-fat.com/benefits-of-saturated_fats.html

Reverse Heart Disease in 24 Days..... (2)

Hi all, today I am posting the second step, to be commenced on day two of the quest to reverse heart disease - as used and advocated by the Duke University Medical Center in the USA with great success - see my previous blog entry for step one. The second step is to adjust your fat intake. Aim for fat ingestion to be twenty five percent of your calorific intake. Increase your intake of omega 3 fatty acids until there is a 3:1 ratio when compared to omega 6 intake. Eliminate trans fats like margarine from your food intake - these types of fats are highly dangerous to your heart and circulatory health. Monounsaturated, poly unsaturated and saturated fats are all part of a healthy fat intake. Remember that essential fatty acids cannot be manufactured by the human body and must be ingested if we are to have healthy brains and nervous systems, and indeed healthy body cells in general.

That is step two, watch out for step three in my next post. Remember, you can also use these steps to prevent heart disease - no need to wait till you have already had a heart attack or stroke....

To your abundant excellent health,

Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert

Reverse Heart Disease in 24 Days..... (1)

Hi all,

Over the next several posts I will be discussing small, easy, daily steps that can be undertaken to reverse heart disease in just over three weeks. These are not untried and unproven steps either, they are used by the prestigious Duke University's Center for Integrative Medicine to reduce heart attack risk by sixty per cent. What's more, if you've already had a heart attack, using this approach under a health professional's direction can cut chest pain (angina) in half, reduce the chances that you'll have to go back in the hospital by 50 percent, and give you all the energy you need to resume an active life. I will also let you in on a little secret - you can use these same steps to prevent heart disease in the first place!

The first step, day one: Drink Green Tea which contains various potent anti oxidants that lower cholesterol levels and possibly blood pressure. How to make one days supply - bring 20 oz water to a boil, drop in three decaffeinated green tea bags, cover, and steep for 10 minutes. Remove the tea bags, and refrigerate the tea. When cool, pour the tea into a container, add ice if you like, and sip throughout the day.

Watch out for the next steps in subsequent posts.....

To your abundant excellent health,

Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert


Sources:

Duke University Center for Integrative Medicine

Prevention: http://www.prevention.com/health/health/health-concerns/reverse-heart-disease-in-24-days/article

What you may need to know about statins..... (3)

A friend of mine recently commenced on statins, but stopped them sharpish. Why? Well, my friend developed some unwelcome symptoms. Psychological or not, it was a prudent decision. Statins can indirectly cause an alteration in brain function when they lower blood cholesterol levels. Cholesterol is essential for maintaining the integrity and action of serotinin receptors on brain nerve cells. These receptors in turn are crucial in influencing mood and psychological well being. Thus statins could lead to a raised risk of depression and anxiety states. No wonder there are so many psychiatric drugs that mediate their action through serotinin receptors! Statins, however are not among them....

The take home message - do your due diligence and commence on all the lifestyle changes SO easy to implement (see my blog enteries on complementary methods of reducing your cholesterol levels). There is no need of creating new problems when this can be readily avoided.

To your abundant excellent health,

Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert


Sources:

The Cholesterol Truth Blog http://www.thecholesteroltruth.com/ Accessed online 05.08.2011

‘New Study Shows Using Statins Actually Worsens Your Heart Function’ published online 22.06.11, articles.mercola.com

‘Statin therapy decreases myocardial function as evaluated via strain imaging.’ Clin Cardiol. 2009 Dec;32(12):684-9.

‘Statin therapy decreases myocardial (heart) function’ published online, greenmedinfo.com

Health Sciences Institute: Are you risking heart failure by taking statins? Accessed online 31/07/2011

What you may need to know about statins..... (2)

Another serious problem that could be associated with statins is myopathy - which essentially causes muscle weakness or even rhabdomyolysis ie breakdown of muscle, with release into the blood - not a place where muscle should be! If heart muscle is affected, this could be potentially life threatening, as proper heart muscle function is integral to adequate pumping of blood round the body via the circulatory system. In the publication Clinical Cardiology, a research paper by a group of researchers at the Department of Medicine, Michigan State University involving twenty eight patients found significantly greater cardiac muscle function in the control group when compared to the group on statins. A small study, but definitely important enough to be repeated in a larger experimental group to shed more light on this worrisome outcome, to confirm or disprove these findings.

Statins also lower Co - enzyme Q10 levels by blocking synthesis of cholesterol, as the pathway for CoQ10 production is the same as that for cholesterol production. CoQ10 is an important heart nutrient, necessary for optimal cardiac function. To make matters worse, this nutrient and other essential fat soluble anti oxidants are transported by cholesterol, thus reduction in cholesterol leads to reduced transport of these essential substances. The result of all these problems could be heart failure as heart muscle becomes compromised. So the very thing that statins were supposed to avoid ends up being exactly the unwelcome end point arrived at - heart malfunction and heart failure, leading to death.

I will continue on this topic in my next posting, but I repeat what I said in an earlier post, risk benefit analysis of statins needs to be seriously explored, and credible, rational treatments decisions arrived at.

To your abundant excellent health,

Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert.

Sources:

‘New Study Shows Using Statins Actually Worsens Your Heart Function’ published online 22.06.11, articles.mercola.com

‘Statin therapy decreases myocardial function as evaluated via strain imaging.’ Clin Cardiol. 2009 Dec;32(12):684-9.

‘Statin therapy decreases myocardial (heart) function’ published online, greenmedinfo.com

Health Sciences Institute: Are you risking heart failure by taking statins? Accessed online 31/07/2011

What you may need to know about statins..... (1)

.......Fatigue, muscle pain, muscle wastage or rhabdomyolysis (which can be potentially fatal), cognitive impairment, liver damage, kidney failure, nausea, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, or constipation, dizziness, flu-like symptoms, migraines, forgetfulness, and disorientation.. these are side effects that you should usually see on a standard medication information leaflet for statins. For the avoidance of doubt, these drugs are used to reduce cholesterol levels for patients who have reported elevated cholesterol levels on testing. Now this is an increasingly controversial approach in prevention of heart disease. Why? Well, the answer to that partly lies in the quotation by the famed physician Sir William Osler - "From any attempted cure or treatment of disease which turns out to be worse than the disease itself, the good Lord deliver us". The side effects listed above would stop most people in their tracks. Now doctors need to carry out risk - benefit analysis for any drug, treatment, procedure, investigation - indeed any intervention that is part of their clinical management. Does the risk benefit analysis for statins stack up? Well, each patient and situation is different. But increasingly for me, I would be hard put to justify their use in a majority of cases. The risks I believe outweigh the benefits.

Why do I say this? Firstly, there are possible serious side effects not listed above - like type two diabetes. In a comprehensive meta analysis (essentially an aggregation of similar studies done under similar conditions and criteria) involving thirteen statin trials, each with at least one thousand patients - or more - in each trial, concluded that there was indeed an increase, even though very small, in the development of Type 2 diabetes in patients treated with statins. A more recent study, published in the Journal of American Medicine JAMA, analysed the data from previously published studies and the results indicate that intensive-dose statin therapy is associated with an increased risk of new-onset diabetes compared with moderate-dose therapy.

Another reason is motor neuron disease (MND) or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which is associated with the wastage caused by statin use. ALS is a chronic, progressive and often fatal neurological disease, with no cure. A study, carried out in 2008, revealed a high proportion of patients with ALS who received statin therapy before their ALS diagnosis, reported muscle weakness and pain associated with statin treatment. Yet, the health establishment is still slow to recognise ALS as an identified side effect of statins. The claim is that statins have been widely prescribed since the mid-1990s, which may mean that some patients may develop ALS for quite unrelated reasons. But furthermore, there have been reported links between the use of statins and the development of Alzheimers, Parkinsons and cancer.

The statin debate goes on...... part of which continues in my next blog entry.

To your abundant excellent health,

Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert

Sources:

‘Statins, neuromuscular degenerative disease and an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-like syndrome: an analysis of individual case safety reports from vigibase.’, Drug Saf. 2007;30(6):515-25.

‘Muscle Pain and Weakness With Statin Treatment May Herald ALS’ published online 26.09.08, medscape.com/viewarticle/581113

‘Statins and risk of incident diabetes: a collaborative meta-analysis of randomised statin trials’ The Lancet, Volume 375, Issue 9716, Pages 735 - 742, 27 February 2010

‘Balancing the benefits of statins versus a new risk— diabetes’ The Lancet, Volume 375, Issue 9716, Pages 700 - 701, 27 February 2010

Health Sciences Institute: Low cholesterol... but at what cost to your health? Accessed 22/07/2011

These Drugs May Turn An Enlarged Prostate into Cancer........

......This subject is vitally important to men of all ages and their loved ones, it is so important that I am reproducing an article by Dr Mercola on the crucial topic of prostate health in it's entirety. If nothing else it will hopefully further fuel debate and lead to more research and useful discoveries. It will also expose the drugs which when prescribed, can lead to an enlarged prostate turning cancerous. I have also included links to a video of an interview by Dr Mercola with Dr Rudi Moreck, a drug industry insider and an expert in chemistry, as it relates to food supplements. In this interview, he shares his knowledge about helpful supplements for prostate health.Ladies, the men you know need to be aware of this information, please pass it on. The article commences below.....

The topic of this interview—prostate health—is crucially important to all men, so I hope all female readers will share this information with the men in their lives. Thankfully, there are simple, effective strategies men can employ that may significantly reduce their chances of having to face prostate problems such as enlarged prostate or prostate cancer, and here I discuss those strategies with Dr. Rudi Moerck; a drug industry insider who is an expert in the chemistry of food supplements.

The Importance of Maintaining a Healthy Prostate

While prostate health becomes more important with age, particularly for men over the age of 60, it's worthwhile considering this issue far in advance. Although you may be able to reverse the damage, ideally you'll want to prevent these problems from ever occurring in the first place. Additionally, you need to be informed of the serious potential side effects of the drugs typically prescribed for an enlarged prostate.

"Generally, statistics are overwhelming. Men over 70 have almost a 50 percent chance of developing some sort of enlarged prostate," Dr. Moerck says. "The medical doctors call that benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH). The word 'benign' is very important because it doesn't mean prostate cancer. It just means an enlargement of the prostate.

There are many drugs on the market that are used to treat that; some of which have recently had to issue warning labels that if you have a benign prostate hyperplasia or BPH, it may turn into prostate cancer… Some of these drugs can actually increase the cancer [risk] or make it a much more aggressive cancer."

Clearly, this is a disturbing prospect. But according to Dr. Moerck, you also need to be careful with dietary supplements, as both supplements and drugs can feed prostate cancer, so it's important to seek professional advice.

That said,

"There are things you can do with your diet, and there are things you should do, generally, as a male that can help mitigate this problem," Dr. Moerck says. "… [T]he use of saw palmetto by the American Indians, especially in the Southern States where the saw palmetto plant grows, has been around for thousands of years, and has been used for prostate health for thousands of years."

Before we get into the use of saw palmetto, let's quickly review the drugs typically prescribed for enlarged prostate, which will further help you understand what makes saw palmetto such an attractive alternative.

Conventional Drugs for Enlarged Prostate

The two primary types of drugs prescribed for benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH, or enlarged prostate) fall into two classes:

Alpha-blockers
5-alpha-reductase inhibitors

Alpha-blockers relax smooth muscles, such as your bladder and prostate. Drugs in this class include Flomax, Hytrin, Cardura, and Rapaflo. While alpha-blockers can help improve urine flow, they do NOT reduce the size of your prostate.

The other class, 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors, includes drugs like Avodart and Proscar. Your prostate gland contains an enzyme called 5 alpha-reductase, which converts the male hormone testosterone to another androgen called dihydrotestosterone (DHT). It's the DHT that stimulates your prostate. This class of drugs inhibit 5 alpha-reductase, thereby blocking the conversion of testosterone DHT. As a result, they may help to actually shrink your prostate, but as mentioned earlier, these drugs come with significant risks, as they may also increase your risk of developing prostate cancer.

Conventional Recommendations are Flawed when it Comes to Testosterone

Many conventional experts do not recommend the use of testosterone because they believe it causes cancer, but it is actually the testosterone breakdown product DHT (dihydrotestosterone) that increases the risk of prostate cancer. The 5-alpha-reductase is the enzyme that is responsible for the conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (DHTTestosterone levels in healthy men typically decline with age, which actually is one of the reasons that prostate enlargement and cancer is caused, as the prostate gland requires testosterone to remain healthy.

One doctor who's trying to re-educate people on this point is Harvard-based Abraham Morgentaler, MD, FACS, author of Testosterone for Life. He has meticulously demonstrated that restoring testosterone levels in aging men does not increase their risk of prostate cancer. On the contrary, those with low testosterone are the ones at greater risk.

For an interesting article that contains a lot more information about this, read Abraham Morgentaler's report Destroying the Myth About Testosterone Replacement and Prostate Cancer. It explains how unfortunate assumptions have led to a dogmatic belief that testosterone replacement increases your risk of prostate cancer—a belief that might now be preventing many men from being optimally healthy. He writes:

"In 2004, when my article in the New England Journal of Medicine was published, there were 15 of these longitudinal studies examining the relationship of hormones and prostate cancer. Since 2004, there have been approximately a half-dozen more. Not one has shown any direct relationship between the level of total testosterone in a man's blood and the subsequent likelihood that he will develop prostate cancer.

Specifically, average total testosterone (T) levels were not higher in the cancer group compared to men without cancer, and men with the highest T values were at no greater risk for later developing prostate cancer than men with the lowest T values.

… At the end of immersing ourselves into this literature for a full year, Rhoden and I were stunned by the fact that there was not a single study in human patients to suggest that raising testosterone increased the risk of prostate cancer."

Saw Palmetto for Prostate Health

So, to recap, enlarged prostate and prostate cancer is caused, not by testosterone, but by excessive DHT. This is where saw palmetto works and can make a big difference.

According to Dr. Moerck, the medical literature contains as many as 100 clinical studies on saw palmetto. One of the first prostate drugs on the US market was actually saw palmetto, released by Eli Lilly Company back in the early 1870's.

"The mechanism of action of saw palmetto is not fully clear," Dr. Moerck says. "We are certainly not making any drug claims, but the anecdotal evidence suggests that there is a reduction in the conversion of testosterone into the dihydrotestosterone, and therefore, men that take saw palmetto will have slightly higher levels of testosterone in their body…That's a good thing...

It turns out that if you don't have enough testosterone in your body it can cause all kinds of problems like gaining weight, breast enlargement in men, and problem with urinating. So saw palmetto alone, or with pumpkin seed or lycopene is an interesting proposition … It's something that you should definitely try."

I agree with Dr. Moerck.

Trying a high quality supplement like saw palmetto before you resort to a drug is well worth it, considering the stern warnings that accompany some of these drugs. Granted, not all of the drugs have cancer warnings, but those also do not work on actually shrinking your prostate; they're just ameliorating your symptoms. And all drugs come with a list of potential side effects.

(Keep in mind that the average number of side effects per drug today is 70! So make sure you read the fine print and review the list of side effects for any and all drugs before taking them.)

As for saw palmetto, it does not increase your risk of prostate cancer. It decreases it. And if your body doesn't need it, it will do no harm. If you do choose to use a supplement, please understand that you need to be careful of the brand. As I explain below, most brands on the market are close to worthless because they use the inactive form of the plant.

Dosing and How to Identify High Quality Saw Palmetto

Dr. Moerck recommends a daily dose of 320 mg of saw palmetto oil (supercritical CO2 extract). Quality is extremely important, however. Saw palmetto is an effective supplement, but only if it's from a high quality source! Unfortunately, more than half of all the saw palmetto products on the market are ineffective for this very reason…

"Most will not work for you because of one very simple reason," Dr. Moerck explains. "Somebody had the bright idea a few years ago to take dried saw palmetto berries, picked in Florida, and grind them up and put them in a capsule. The berries themselves, those so-called green berries, do not have a lot of oil in them—maybe 8-9 percent oil. So if you put 300 or 500 mg of green berry powder in a capsule, you're only going to get 35 mg of oil. Whereas the right dose, the clinically trial dose, is 320 mg."

According to Dr. Moerck, these ineffective products include most of the mass-marketed saw palmetto supplements found in drug- and grocery stores.

"… [T]hey'll say 'Serenoa repens 320 mg as berry.' That's not 320 mg of oil. That's berry powder. It does not work… It is incredibly bad stuff… It gives people false hope."

What you want is the supercritical extract of saw palmetto oil. This oil can be made three different ways:

Ethanol/alcohol extraction (darker oil that still contain some of the micronutrients, such as chlorophyll)
Hexane extraction (yellow oil resembling corn oil that does not contain any micronutrients. May contain residue of hexane, which is toxic)
Supercritical CO2 extraction
The highest quality oil comes from the third extraction method, using liquid carbon dioxide and ultra-high pressure to extract the oil from the berries. According to Dr. Moerck, supercritical CO2 extraction is the cleanest extraction method known today, aside from eating the food whole. And, the higher the pressure used, the more micronutrients are left in the oil, such as lutein, lycopene, zeaxanthin, and chlorophyll.

The highest quality products are the organic supercritical-extracted saw palmetto oils, which are very dark green in color. Only one or two out of every 20 brands will be of this high quality. Next in line are:

Ultra-high or High pressure-extracted oils (rose colored)
Super critical oils
Low pressure-extracted oils (yellow colored)
Synergistic Benefits Between Saw Palmetto and Other Nutrients

Evidence also suggests that certain nutrients may synergistically heighten the benefits of the saw palmetto.

"There are a number of nutrients that have been used traditionally," Dr. Moerck explains. "One of them is organic pumpkin seed oil, which is a good nutrient… It's slightly less effective than saw palmetto [alone]… because it is a different mechanism of action…"

However, when buying a combination product, beware that saw palmetto oil is far more expensive than pumpkin seed oil. Some supplements will therefore contain mostly pumpkin seed oil and very little saw palmetto oil, resulting in a less effective product. Remember the threshold of what you want, as far as a daily dose, is a minimum of 320 mg of the saw palmetto oil.

"I would not go more than twice that [amount]," Dr. Moerck says. "I have to also mention that the fatty acids in saw palmetto are free fatty acids. They're very acidic. If you take a lot of it, it could cause some stomach upset. I recommend taking it with food…"

You don't want to take saw palmetto on an empty stomach because it's a fat soluble supplement, so it will not absorb well without a little bit of fat. I recommend taking it with eggs, which contain phospholipids that enhance absorption of fat soluble nutrients.

The other nutrient that works well with saw palmetto is lycopene, and there's a growing body of evidence indicating that lycopene is beneficial for prostate health. One excellent food source is tomatoes, including organic, non-sweetened tomato sauce. Animal studies have shown that of all the carotenoids, lycopene is the one that accumulates in the prostate of male animals, and this holds true for humans as well.

"[T]he prostate is a very important organ. It just so happens to have the urinary tract that goes right through the middle of it. So that when your prostate starts growing or swelling, it will cut off urinary flow… There has been some good reports of lycopene helping that," Dr. Moerck says.

"It is also one [nutrient] that is being investigated to prevent prostate cancer. I'm not making any claims about that. I'm just saying it's being investigated for that, and it's something that I'm going to keep an eye on. It's very interesting."

A third nutrient that has been found to offer significant protection against prostate cancer is vitamin K2. For more information about that, please refer to this previous article. Although I don't typically recommend a whole lot of supplements, vitamin K is one of the few supplements you may want to seriously consider because many people don't get nearly enough of it on a daily basis through the foods they eat.

The Importance of Vitamin D for Prostate Health

To protect against prostate cancer, you also want to optimize your vitamin D levels, ideally by exposing your bare skin to natural sun light on a regular basis. Evidence suggests that vitamin D may be one of the most potent variables associated with a lower risk of prostate cancer.

Thankfully, vitamin D's impact on your cancer risk is becoming increasingly well-documented, and there are now well over 800 scientific studies confirming the link between vitamin D deficiency and multiple types of cancers, including prostate cancer. For example, according to a 2005 study, men with higher levels of vitamin D in their blood were half as likely to develop aggressive forms of prostate cancer as those with lower amounts. Another study published two years ago found that men with higher levels of vitamin D in their blood were seven times LESS likely to die from prostate cancer than those with lower amounts.

Testing your vitamin D levels is done by a simple blood test. Anything below 20 ng/ml is considered a serious deficiency state, which will increase your risk of breast and prostate cancers, and autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. The OPTIMAL value that you're looking for is between 50-70 ng/ml. However, previous research has suggested that maintaining a slightly higher level of 70 ng/ml may be optimal for cancer prevention.

If you can't get regular sun exposure, you may want to consider using a safe tanning bed or an oral vitamin D3 supplement. However, be aware that when using a supplement, regular testing becomes even more important to make sure you're staying within therapeutic range.

Exercise Your Body… and Your Prostate

Exercise is another important factor for prostate health. You need to exercise, especially as you get older.

"Also… have sex on a regular basis, which involves exercising your prostate," Dr. Moerck advises. "It's a difficult thing to talk about… [and] in older people [it can] become an issue because of lack of a partner and those things. But it's something that every man should think about… I recommend sex on a regular basis… No matter what your age. My recommendation is a minimum of once a week. Probably two times a week for older people."

One of the reasons for why regular sex promotes male health is that not only does it exercise the prostate, but when a man does not have regular sexual activity, the sperm and other fluids must be reabsorbed into his body. Eventually, that can cause certain immunological issues.

Dietary Recommendations for Prostate Health

Diet is another factor that can greatly impact prostate health. You'll want to eat as much organic (preferably raw) food as possible. Foods that support prostate health include vegetables and fruits rich in vitamins, cartenoids, and lycopene. One 2009 study identified the following foods as being particularly beneficial against prostate cancer:

Tomatoes
Cauliflower
Broccoli
Green tea
Limit carbohydrates like sugar, fructose, and grains as much as possible to maintain optimal insulin levels, which will help reduce your cancer risk in general. Highly processed or charcoaled meats, pasteurized dairy products, and trans fats correlate with an increased risk for prostate cancer and should also be avoided.

Safer Prostate Cancer Screening Methods

Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer found in American men, other than skin cancer. Conventional testing for prostate cancer includes a biopsy. However, this practice has recently come under increased scrutiny due to the increased risk of hard-to-treat bloodstream infections, according to a recent article by NPR. Dr. Moerck advises using the classical test for enlarged prostate, which is a simple physical exam. He also recommends using instrumentation that does not involve radiation, such as ultrasound or magnetic imaging.

Once you've been diagnosed with prostate cancer, the conventional treatments include surgery to remove the prostate gland, or radiotherapy. Alas, more recent research has begun to question these invasive treatments as well. They might actually be unnecessary for most men diagnosed with a low grade of the disease.

Prostate cancer is typically slow growing, and the five-year survival rate for all stages of prostate cancer combined is 99 percent, the 10-year survival rate is 91 percent, and the 15-year survival rate is a healthy 76 percent.

So it is very much a disease that can be managed … if you make the appropriate lifestyle modifications. Ideally, you'll want to pay close attention to your prostate health early on—avoid waiting until you're in your 60's. Dr. Moerck recommends taking saw palmetto at least by the time you hit 50, even if you have no signs of problems. Perusing a high quality saw palmetto, along with the other healthy lifestyle recommendations discussed above, can help you prevent prostate problems from developing in the first place.



Related Links:

Walnuts Slow Prostate Tumors
Slash Your Prostate Cancer Risk -- With Sunlight!

Video Link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtyispYiD9I&feature=relmfu - Part one of three

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU4hPmfHOIo&feature=relmfu - part two.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bjq1CzTsILg&feature=relmfu - part three


To your abundant excellent health,

Dr Ike,

Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert

One of the silent causes of the obesity epidemic.........

Obesity is spreading like wildfire, in adults and children, worldwide. It is not just the bane of advanced countries, many less developed countries in Africa, Asia, South America etc are seeing increasing occurrence - even alongside nutritional disorders due to starvation like kwashiorkor and marasmus ie disorders of protein energy malnutrition. But this is not really news, the real news is that there is one cause that has been overlooked - and it is so simple to remedy. It affects nearly twenty five percent of us, silently and increasingly - most of us are totally unaware we have it.This is because it can only be confirmed by taking a piece of the liver and looking at the liver tissue under the microscope - a liver biopsy.

So what is this cause? It is called non alcoholic fatty liver disease by medics - basically a fatty liver due to factors other than booze intake, another common cause of a fatty liver.A researcher Chris Masterjohn in an article published by the Weston A. Price Foundation calls non alcoholic fatty liver disease - NAFLD - "an epidemic of nutritional imbalance." According to Medscape Reference, a stunning eighty percent of obese people have a fatty liver. For avoidance of doubt, a fatty liver is not useful, in fact it can be deadly - markedly increased risk of type two diabetes, liver cancer and heart disease occurs with it. Livers are not meant to be laden with fat. But the good news is that this is a reversible condition, although the earlier the better, before irreversible damage occurs.

What then can you do? Two basic things - Alter your nutritional intake and increase your intake of the B vitamin choline. The reversing effect of choline on non alcoholic fatty liver disease has been known for over eighty years according to nutritional researcher Dr Spreen, but seems to have been lost in the shuffle. Chris Masterjohn writes about NAFLD: "It is likely caused by the overabundance of calorie-rich, nutrient-poor refined foods and the banishment of traditional sources of choline like liver and egg yolks from the modern diet"(Emphasis mine). For several years, due to a belief that cholesterol was a major harmful factor in heart disease, people were advised not to eat egg yolks, a rich source of choline, but get rid of them! To be honest, I never took to this advice - egg yolks are delicious. But even more than that, they are nutritious. In addition to reducing NAFLD risk, choline also checks the rise of homocysteine (the amino acid that promotes artery plaque build-up), facilitates memory storage, muscle control, and kidney function, prevents fatigue and insomnia, and helps maintain healthy cell membranes.

Apart from eggs and liver, choline is also found in wheat germ, cod, salmon, broccoli, bacon, shrimp, pistachios, Brussels sprouts, and flaxseed. The recommended adequate intake for choline is 425 mg per day for women and 550 mg per day for men. So as part of a healthy balanced nutritional intake increase your intake of choline containing foods, starting today. Also select vitamin and mineral supplements that are effective (see my blogs on selecting effective vitamin and mineral supplements) and contain adequate choline.

To your abundant excellent health,

Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert

Sources:

"Effect of Vitamin E or Metformin for Treatment of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Children and Adolescents" Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 305, No. 16, 4/27/11, jama.ama-assn.org

"A Silent Epidemic of Nutritional Imbalance" Chris Masterjohn, Weston A. Price Foundation, 4/1/11, westonaprice.org

Health Sciences Institute:Discover the real culprit behind the obesity epidemic (2011)

Medscape Reference: "Fatty Liver" Dawn Sears, MD et al accessed 08/07/2011.

How to choose the best probiotic for your needs......... ....(3)

The concluding post on choosing the best probiotic for your needs. As I said in my previous post, I will commence with discussion of prebiotics....

7. The importance of prebiotics:Prebiotics are non-digestible food ingredients that stimulate the growth and/or activity of bacteria in the digestive system in ways claimed to be beneficial to health. They were first identified and named by Marcel Roberfroid in 1995. As a functional food component, prebiotics, like probiotics, are conceptually intermediate between foods and drugs. Depending on the jurisdiction, they typically receive an intermediate level of regulatory scrutiny, in particular of the health claims made concerning them.
Typically, prebiotics are carbohydrates (such as oligosaccharides), but the definition may include non-carbohydrates. The most prevalent forms of prebiotics are nutritionally classed as soluble fibre. Prebiotics like Fructooligosaccharides have been shown to stimulate the growth of probiotics in the body. Therefore, it may be a good idea to consider a synbiotic supplement with both probiotics and prebiotics in one supplement. The effects of synbiotics can be longer lasting, giving you more health benefits.

8. Beware of additives: This might be stating the obvious, but make sure there are no added sugars, colourings or flavourings in your probiotic (especially in those aimed at children) to make them more appealing.

9. Value for money: Look out for manufacturing packaging tricks, like ‘billions per gram’ as opposed to 'per capsule'. A typical probiotic capsule is roughly 250mg so listing billions per gram can mislead people into thinking it is a much higher dose than it actually is in reality. Other tricks to look out for include small pack sizes and high daily dosages. A simple way to compare the value of probiotics is by dividing the retail price by the course length, and again by the billions count per capsule. When it comes to probiotics, you usually get what you pay for.

Hopefully these points should help you as you choose a probiotic which will be most beneficial for your individual needs.

To your abundant excellent health,

Dr Ike,
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert

Sources:

McFarland, L.V. & Bernasconi, P. (1993) ‘Saccharomyces boulardii : A review of an innovative biotherapeutic agent.’ Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease; VOl. 6. Pp. 157 – 171.

Hochter, W. et al (1990) ‘Saccharomyces boulardii in acute adult diarrhoea. Efficacy and tolerance of treatment.’ Munchener Medizinische Wochenschrift; Vol. 132 (12) pp. 188- 192.

Cetina-Sauri, G. & Basto, S. (1994) ‘Therapeutic evaluation of Saccharomyces boulardii in children with acute diarrhea. Annales de Pediatrei; Vol. 41 (6) pp. 397-400.

Dr Benes, Z. et al (2006) ‘Lacidofil (Lactobacillus acidophilus Rosell-52 and Lactobacillus rhamnosus Rosell-11) alleviates symptoms of IBS.’ Nutrafoods, Vol. 5 pp 20 – 27.

Vanderhoof, J.A. et al. (1999) ‘Lactobacillus rhamnosus (GG) in the prevention of antibiotic –associated diarrhea in children with respiratory infections: a randomised study. Pediatrics 1999; 104(5): e64.

EFSA Panel Members, ‘Scientific Opinion on the substatiation of health claims related to non characterised microorganisms pursuant to Article 13(1) of Regulation (EC) NO 1924/2006’ EFSA Journal 2009, (7):1247, pp. 64.

Chapman, C.M.C., et al., (2010) ‘Health Benefits of probiotics : are mixtures more effective than single strains ?’ European Journal of Nutrition; Vol 50 (1) pp.1-17.

Kumar et al. (2005) ‘Beneficial effects of probiotics & prebiotics on human health’ Pharmazie Vol. 60 (3) p. 163-171

Saavedra, J. & Tschernia, A. (2002) ‘Human studies with probiotics and prebiotics: clinical implications.’ British Journal of Nutrition, Volume 87 (6) Supplement s2, pp. 241 – 246.

Health Sciences Institute (2011)Your guide to finding the best probiotic to suit your needs

How to choose the best probiotic for your needs (2) ...........

....... Continuing from my previous blog entry, major credit goes to the Health Sciences Institute, the gastroenterologist Dr Georges Mouton and the sources listed at the end of this entry. As promised I commence the blog entry with discussion about the microorganism concentration in your probiotic dosage.....


4. Strength in numbers: A good, strong probiotic should have at least 1 billion microorganisms per daily dose... anything less would have a limited effect. To put things in perspective, the human body is home to over 100 trillion bacteria. So, even children need billions of good bacteria in supplements to reap their benefits. But there’s no point in taking a probiotic with a high number of 'friendly' bacteria if it is of poor quality.

5. Time of manufacture guarantee: Probiotics are of a delicate nature. Whether they are kept in the fridge or on the shelf probiotics will lose viability. This means that ‘billions count at the time of manufacture’ will decrease with time. Therefore high quality probiotics should be made with plenty more billions than what is stated on the pack. Always opt for a billions count which is viable until the time of expiry.

6. Too much of a good thing: In general, it is good to take a number of different probiotic strains. However, a high quality multi-strain probiotic will contain 5 or 6 different probiotic strains, and not 20. Too many probiotic strains have been shown to ‘cannibalise’ each other within the capsule. Make sure your probiotic supplement has been tested to ensure that the different strains used can survive together in harmony!

On that note, that is the end of today's blog entry. Next time, I will commence with a look at the importance of prebiotics (notice, not probiotics). What exactly are prebiotics? Find out in my next blog entry...

To your abundant excellent health
Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert.

Sources:
McFarland, L.V. & Bernasconi, P. (1993) ‘Saccharomyces boulardii : A review of an innovative biotherapeutic agent.’ Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease; VOl. 6. Pp. 157 – 171.

Hochter, W. et al (1990) ‘Saccharomyces boulardii in acute adult diarrhoea. Efficacy and tolerance of treatment.’ Munchener Medizinische Wochenschrift; Vol. 132 (12) pp. 188- 192.

Cetina-Sauri, G. & Basto, S. (1994) ‘Therapeutic evaluation of Saccharomyces boulardii in children with acute diarrhea. Annales de Pediatrei; Vol. 41 (6) pp. 397-400.

Dr Benes, Z. et al (2006) ‘Lacidofil (Lactobacillus acidophilus Rosell-52 and Lactobacillus rhamnosus Rosell-11) alleviates symptoms of IBS.’ Nutrafoods, Vol. 5 pp 20 – 27.

Vanderhoof, J.A. et al. (1999) ‘Lactobacillus rhamnosus (GG) in the prevention of antibiotic –associated diarrhea in children with respiratory infections: a randomised study. Pediatrics 1999; 104(5): e64.

EFSA Panel Members, ‘Scientific Opinion on the substatiation of health claims related to non characterised microorganisms pursuant to Article 13(1) of Regulation (EC) NO 1924/2006’ EFSA Journal 2009, (7):1247, pp. 64.

Chapman, C.M.C., et al., (2010) ‘Health Benefits of probiotics : are mixtures more effective than single strains ?’ European Journal of Nutrition; Vol 50 (1) pp.1-17.

Kumar et al. (2005) ‘Beneficial effects of probiotics & prebiotics on human health’ Pharmazie Vol. 60 (3) p. 163-171

Saavedra, J. & Tschernia, A. (2002) ‘Human studies with probiotics and prebiotics: clinical implications.’ British Journal of Nutrition, Volume 87 (6) Supplement s2, pp. 241 – 246.

Health Sciences Institute Publications (2011)

How to choose the best probiotic for your needs (1) ...........

This is based on the research and reports of the gastroenterologist Dr Georges Mouton, guiding how we can choose the best probiotic for our individual needs:

1)Different probiotic strains: Probiotics have different genera, species and strains with a diverse range of properties and benefits for the person taking them. The best probiotic supplements acknowledge this and apply specific strains to target specific health conditions. For example, the Saccharomyces boulardii strain will help with diarrhoea and the Lactobacilli strains can help those taking antibiotics. When it comes to probiotics, there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’, because we all have varying needs and a different bacterial make-up in our digestive tracks.


2) It’s all in the research: It’s important that the probiotic you choose lists the individual probiotic ‘strain’ names, because the health benefits of probiotics are species- and strain-specific. For instance:

Lactobacillus = genus
acidophilus = species
NCFM® = strain

When you have the actual probiotic strain name (and not just the genus and species), you should be able to Google it and see a list of clinical trials which have successfully proven the benefits of that specific strain.

3) Quality control: As well as being scientifically tested for specific health conditions, probiotic strains should all pass the following criteria to help guarantee their effectiveness:

* Ability to survive at room temperature (even refrigerated probiotics need to be stable whilst away from the fridge)

* Ability to resist gastric acidity & biliary salts (so that they survive their journey to your gut, where they get to work)

* Ability to stick to the intestinal wall (it is only then that probiotics can multiply in the gut)

* Ability to inhibit pathogens once in the intestines


In-vitro testing (testing for safety in humans) should be carried out on probiotics to make sure they can pass these essential criteria. Again, these tests are carried out on probiotic strains themselves, and not just the genus and species.....

I will continue in my next blog entry, commencing with information on microorganism concentration in your daily probiotic dosage.


To your abundant excellent health,


Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert


Sources:

McFarland, L.V. & Bernasconi, P. (1993) ‘Saccharomyces boulardii : A review of an innovative biotherapeutic agent.’ Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease; VOl. 6. Pp. 157 – 171.

Hochter, W. et al (1990) ‘Saccharomyces boulardii in acute adult diarrhoea. Efficacy and tolerance of treatment.’ Munchener Medizinische Wochenschrift; Vol. 132 (12) pp. 188- 192.

Cetina-Sauri, G. & Basto, S. (1994) ‘Therapeutic evaluation of Saccharomyces boulardii in children with acute diarrhea. Annales de Pediatrei; Vol. 41 (6) pp. 397-400.

Dr Benes, Z. et al (2006) ‘Lacidofil (Lactobacillus acidophilus Rosell-52 and Lactobacillus rhamnosus Rosell-11) alleviates symptoms of IBS.’ Nutrafoods, Vol. 5 pp 20 – 27.

Vanderhoof, J.A. et al. (1999) ‘Lactobacillus rhamnosus (GG) in the prevention of antibiotic –associated diarrhea in children with respiratory infections: a randomised study. Pediatrics 1999; 104(5): e64.

EFSA Panel Members, ‘Scientific Opinion on the substatiation of health claims related to non characterised microorganisms pursuant to Article 13(1) of Regulation (EC) NO 1924/2006’ EFSA Journal 2009, (7):1247, pp. 64.

Chapman, C.M.C., et al., (2010) ‘Health Benefits of probiotics : are mixtures more effective than single strains ?’ European Journal of Nutrition; Vol 50 (1) pp.1-17.

Kumar et al. (2005) ‘Beneficial effects of probiotics & prebiotics on human health’ Pharmazie Vol. 60 (3) p. 163-171

Saavedra, J. & Tschernia, A. (2002) ‘Human studies with probiotics and prebiotics: clinical implications.’ British Journal of Nutrition, Volume 87 (6) Supplement s2, pp. 241 – 246.

Do Statins Cause Diabetes and Heart Disease?

This is a controversial topic, not because the science and evidence is not sound, but because of the vested commercial interest in statins. A good friend of mine called Jim told me how when his cholesterol level was reported as elevated, he was advised to commence taking statins. However, he was so troubled by his research into the side effects of these drugs, he decided to dig deeper. His findings convinced him to take a different route - nutritional, exercise and healthy lifestyle modification. Today, he is much the healthier for it - with lowered cholesterol levels to boot.

So today I am posting an article by Mark Hyman MD, a respected and accomplished practitioner of functional medicine and healthy lifestyle advocate, because this article raises some serious questions that need answers. There needs to be a debate, and more information as well as research done, so that what health professionals call proper, rational risk - benefit analysis can be carried out when deciding to place patients on these drugs - or not. His article follows below:

I WAS READING A SCIENTIFIC PAPER in the Journal of the American Medical Association a number of years ago by Dr. David Jenkins from the University of Toronto. He showed that using a combination of soy, fiber, almonds, and plant sterols (cholesterol-lowering fats) could lower cholesterol levels as much as statin medications.(i) Diet can lower cholesterol as much as statins — a surprise to many but common in my practice. Using a comprehensive approach of diet and lifestyle change, I routinely see effects that are more powerful than any medication. That was not why the article struck me. It was a finding buried in the text of the paper.
What I found fascinating was that the patients who lowered their cholesterol with statins had higher levels of insulin, while those who lowered their cholesterol through diet had lower insulin levels. Why is that important? Because elevated insulin levels are the first step on the road to diabetes — they make you gain weight around the middle, cause high blood pressure, increase inflammation, and promote stickiness of the blood. Each of these conditions, in turn, contributes to heart attacks and heart disease.
On reading this, the question that lingered in my mind was: Did statins contribute to the development of pre-diabetes and diabetes which are among the most significant risk factors for heart disease? In other words, did lowering cholesterol with statins — a treatment purported to reduce the risk of heart disease — actually increase the risk of heart disease by some other mechanism?
In treating thousands of patients with pre-diabetes, diabetes, high cholesterol, and heart disease, I have noticed one thing: Lowering insulin through diet and lifestyle corrects almost all of the risk factors for heart disease. It lowers blood pressure, increases good cholesterol (HDL), lowers triglycerides and bad cholesterol (LDL), leads to weight loss, lower levels of inflammation (C-reactive protein), and thins the blood. Lowering insulin even increases the light fluffy harmless cholesterol and lowers the level of small dense harmful cholesterol particles.
Lowering insulin is a good thing. However, statins — the best selling class of drugs on the market — appear not to do this. Do they actually increase the risk for diabetes and thus heart disease by increasing insulin levels?

The Truth about Statins and Insulin
The answer, according to a recent study in the Lancet, is yes statins do increase the risk of diabetes.(ii) The authors completed a meta-analysis of both published and unpublished randomized controlled trials from 1994 to 2009 for a total patient group of 91,140 who were treated with statins or a placebo. In the patients treated with statins there was a 9 percent increase in the risk of diabetes. The authors suggest this is a minimal risk and that current guidelines for cholesterol treatment should not change. I would suggest we think a little more deeply.
The study did not analyze any data for pre-diabetes, which dramatically increases the risk of heart disease well before a formal diagnosis of diabetes can be made. It could be that by taking these medications many people developed pre-diabetes or their pre-diabetic condition worsened. If this is true, the full risk of statins was not appreciated. The researchers also failed to consider a simple question: Why should we use a medication with significant potential risks when other treatments have proven MORE effective for reducing the risk of heart disease?
The treatment I’m talking about is dietary and lifestyle change-popularly referred to as lifestyle medicine. The recent “EPIC” study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine studied 23,000 people’s adherence to 4 simple behaviors-not smoking, exercising 3.5 hours a week, eating a healthy diet (fruits, vegetables, beans, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and low meat consumption), and keeping a healthy weight (BMI less than 30). In those that adhered, 93 percent of diabetes, 81 percent of heart attacks, 50 percent of strokes, and 36 percent of all cancers were prevented. (iii)
The fundamental focus of lifestyle or functional approaches (which includes nutrition, exercise, and stress management) is the restoration of normal function and balance in each individual. When you do this, risk factors and symptoms go away automatically. Conventional interventions, on the other hand, are primarily focus on blocking, interfering with, or excising a biochemical or physical manifestation of disease. This is the reason biology shifts towards normal when using lifestyle medicine, instead of medication, and the only side effects are good ones: weight loss, more energy, better sleep, increased well being, a reduction of most disease, and increased longevity.
While it is still a matter of public debate, there is ample evidence that lifestyle therapies equal or exceed the benefits of conventional therapies such as medication and surgery. Nutrition, exercise, and stress management can no longer be considered alternative medicine. They are essential medicine, and often the most effective and cost-effective therapies to deal with the chronic disease epidemic that afflicts millions of Americans and is now the primary cause of death worldwide.

Addressing the Global Burden of Chronic Disease
Chronic disease has replaced infectious and acute illnesses as the leading cause of death in the world, both in developed and developing countries.(iv) In 2002, the leading chronic diseases, including heart disease (17 million), cancer (7 million), chronic lung diseases (4 million), and diabetes (1 million), caused 29 million deaths worldwide. These ailments are almost entirely attributable to lifestyle risk factors including poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, and tobacco and alcohol use. The misperception that these diseases affect primarily developed and affluent societies has led to a misappropriation of resources, which fails to deal with the exponential growth of chronic lifestyle- and diet-related disease.
By 2030, 50 million will die from preventable chronic diseases compared to less than 20 million from infectious diseases. We need to include chronic disease in our global efforts to improve health. In Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere, the major admitting diagnoses to the largest and main public health hospital where I worked after the earthquake in January 2010 was not tuberculosis or AIDS, but heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension related heart failure.
The major global health policy makers and agencies do not allocate appropriate resources to the prevention of chronic lifestyle diseases either because they have yet to recognize the problem or the economic and social benefits of focusing on chronic disease are underestimated. Heads of state, health ministries, the World Health Organization, academic and research institutions, non-governmental organizations, private donors, the World Bank, and the United Nations allocate only a fraction of their resources to chronic disease prevention despite a rich evidence base for the role of lifestyle and diet in the prevention of the major chronic diseases.
When compared to doing nothing, the argument can be made for high cost, technological interventions. When compared to changing our medical care system from one focused on treating end-stage disease, to one whose goal is to prevent disease and promote optimal health through nutrition, lifestyle, stress management, and adjunctive complementary therapies, the conversation shifts dramatically.

Diet, Lifestyle, and Chronic Disease: A Model for Increased Quality of Care and Lower Costs
Let’s briefly look at the science of nutrition and compare it to efforts for preventing or treating chronic disease with medication. This will highlight the powerful, cost-effective, and critical role nutrition plays in the cause, prevention, and treatment of chronic illness.
Science provides a firm foundation for moving nutritional and lifestyle interventions to the center of medical practice and public policy.(v) A single nutrient, food, or lifestyle habit when studied as an isolated intervention, while helpful, may not show significant effect, but when assessed collectively, the power of lifestyle over pharmacological approaches to prevent and treat chronic disease is overwhelming. That is why we have to stop looking at single nutrients or interventions and look at the whole picture. In his recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. David Ludwig of Harvard calls for a shift from a nutrient-based to a whole foods-based approach to our dietary guidelines.(vi) He indicts our current dietary guidelines showing how these recommendations have led to our chronic disease epidemic. Let us eat food, he says — real, whole, fresh, complex, interesting food. It’s the whole picture, not just fats or carbs or this or that nutrient that makes a difference.
For example, healthful lifestyle practices in an elderly population that included eating a whole foods Mediterranean-style diet, exercising moderately, not smoking, and moderate alcohol consumption were associated with nearly a 70 percent reduction in death from all causes.(vii) What’s remarkable is that these people didn’t start this healthy lifestyle until they were 70 years old, yet they still reduced their risk of death by 70 percent compared to a similar group of elderly who didn’t follow a healthy lifestyle.
Other studies(viii), (ix), (x) showed similar results including an 83 percent reduction in heart disease,(xi) 91 percent reduction in diabetes in women,(xii) and a 71 percent reduction in colon cancer in men.(xiii)

The Lyon Diet Heart Study,(xiv) showed a 79 percent reduction in heart disease in patients with established heart disease after a few years of following a Mediterranean diet. In another study of patients with existing heart disease, an integrated lifestyle approach of a plant-based diet, exercise, smoking cessation, and stress reduction found a 50 percent reduction in heart attacks and heart disease related deaths.(xv)
The evidence is simply overwhelming that healthful dietary patterns which include whole grains, legumes, nuts, vegetables, fruits, olive oil, fish, and, perhaps, moderate alcohol intake are associated with a decrease in chronic disease and death from all causes. The harmful effects of trans and certain saturated fats, refined carbohydrates, and other food additives or toxins are well known in the medical literature.
It is time to start putting into practice what we know, and stop the domination of our medical practice by the pharmaceutical industry. The Lancet paper on how statins increase the risk of diabetes should be front-page news. Medications such as statins that cost more, are less effective, and lead to serious side effects including diabetes should not be our first line of treatment for preventing or treating heart disease. The recent proposal that statins be handed out with cheeseburgers and fries at fast food restaurants is dangerous and misses the point.
You can’t eat a horrible diet, avoid exercise and expect to be healthy. A whole foods, plant-based diet, moderate physical activity, not smoking, and creating a supportive social network of friends and family is the best medicine. It works in ways we don’t yet understand and don’t need to-just eat real food, enjoy, and don’t worry. Your body knows what to do from there.......

This excellent and wide ranging article by Dr Hyman should be a wake up call for all those who are faced by the prospect of taking statins - why not dig deeper and work with your doctor or other health professional from a better informed position? After all, it is your life at stake!
Also, the serious questions raised reveal the necessity of further large scale, high quality research. I leave you with this thought provoking quote from Dr Hyman:

Nutrition, exercise, and stress management can no longer be considered alternative medicine. They are essential medicine.


To your abundant excellent health,

Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert.

Sources:

(i) Jenkins D.J., Kendall, C.W., Marchie, A., et. al. 2003. Effects of a dietary portfolio of cholesterol-lowering foods vs Lovastatin on serum lipids and C-reactive protein. JAMA. 290(4): 502-10
(ii) Sattar, N., Preiss, D., Murray, H., et. al. 2010. Statins and risk of incident diabetes: A collaborative meta-analysis of randomised statin trials. Lancet. 375(9716): 735-42.
(iii) Ford E.S., Bergmann M.M., Kroger J., et. al. 2009. Healthy living is the best revenge: findings from the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition-Potsdam study. Arch Intern Med. 169(15): 1355-62.
(iv) Yach D., Hawkes C., Gould C.L., et. al. 2004. Global burden of chronic diseases: Overcoming impediments to prevention and control. JAMA. 291(21): 26
(v) Rimm E.B., and M.J. Stampfer. 2004. Diet, lifestyle, and longevity-the next steps? JAMA. 292(12): 1490-2. No abstract available.
(vi) Mozaffarian, D. and D.S. Ludwig. 2010. Dietary guidelines in the 21st century-a time for food. JAMA. 304(6): 681-682.
(vii) Knoops K.T., de Groot L.C., Kromhout D., et. al. 2004. Mediterranean diet, lifestyle factors, and 10-year mortality in elderly European men and women: The HALE project. JAMA. 292(12): 1433-9.
(viii) Trichopoulou A., Costacou T., Bamia C., et. al. 2003. Adherence to a Mediterranean diet and survival in a Greek population. N Engl J Med. 348(26): 2599-608.
(ix) Salmeron J., Manson J.E., Stampfer M.J., et. al. 1997. Dietary fiber, glycemic load, and risk of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in women. JAMA. 277(6): 472-477.
(x) Liu S., Willett W.C. 2002. Dietary glycemic load and atherothrombotic risk. Curr Atheroscler Rep. 4(6): 454-461.
(xi) Stampfer M.J., Hu F.B., Manson J.E., et. al. 2000. Primary prevention of coronary heart disease in women through diet and lifestyle. N Engl J Med. 343: 16-22.
(xii) Hu F.B., Manson J.E., Stampfer M.J., et al. 2001. Diet, lifestyle, and the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus in women. N Engl J Med. 345: 790-797.
(xiii) Platz E.A., Willett W.C., Colditz G.A., et. al. 2000. Proportion of colon cancer risk that might be preventable in a cohort of middle-aged US men. Cancer Causes Control. 11(7): 579-588.
(xiv) de Lorgeril M., Renaud S., Mamelle N., et. al. 1994. Mediterranean alpha-linolenic acid-rich diet in secondary prevention of coronary heart disease. Lancet. 343: 1454-1459. [published correction appears in: Lancet. 1995; 345(8951): 738]
(xv) Ornish D., Scherwitz L.W., Billings J.H., et. al. 1998. Intensive lifestyle changes for reversal of coronary heart disease. JAMA. 280: 2001-2007.

Are you tired all the time?

If you are, you might find the substance NADH - Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide helpful. Also known as Coenzyme number one, this substance has recently become available as a nutritional additive, and is a key player in cellular metabolism along with ATP, promoting production of greater levels of ATP and hence higher energy levels available for driving cellular processes. NADH is involved in more than a thousand different metabolic processes. No wonder people feel tired all the time if they lack NADH...

Hence a growing body of evidence from researchers and doctors shows the significant effect of NADH on keeping us energetic and healthy. So do some due diligence on this compound for yourself - you never know, this might be the missing energy link you have been searching for....

To your abundant excellent health,

Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert

Sources
^ a b c Pollak, N; Dölle C, Ziegler M (2007). "The power to reduce: pyridine nucleotides—small molecules with a multitude of functions". Biochem. J. 402 (2): 205–18. doi:10.1042/BJ20061638. PMC 1798440. PMID 17295611.
^ a b c d e f g Belenky P; Bogan KL, Brenner C (2007). "NAD+ metabolism in health and disease" (PDF). Trends Biochem. Sci. 32 (1): 12–9. doi:10.1016/j.tibs.2006.11.006. PMID 17161604. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
^ Unden G; Bongaerts J (1997). "Alternative respiratory pathways of Escherichia coli: energetics and transcriptional regulation in response to electron acceptors". Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1320 (3): 217–34. doi:10.1016/S0005-2728(97)00034-0. PMID 9230919.
^ Windholz, Martha (1983). The Merck Index: an encyclopedia of chemicals, drugs, and biologicals (10th ed.). Rahway NJ, US: Merck. p. 909. ISBN 911910271.
^ Biellmann JF, Lapinte C, Haid E, Weimann G (1979). "Structure of lactate dehydrogenase inhibitor generated from coenzyme". Biochemistry 18 (7): 1212–7. doi:10.1021/bi00574a015. PMID 218616.
^ a b Dawson, R. Ben (1985). Data for biochemical research (3rd ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 122. ISBN 0-19-855358-7.
^ a b Lakowicz JR, Szmacinski H, Nowaczyk K, Johnson ML (1992). "Fluorescence lifetime imaging of free and protein-bound NADH". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 89 (4): 1271–5. doi:10.1073/pnas.89.4.1271. PMC 48431. PMID 1741380.
^ Jameson DM, Thomas V, Zhou DM (1989). "Time-resolved fluorescence studies on NADH bound to mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase". Biochim. Biophys. Acta 994 (2): 187–90. PMID 2910350.
^ Kasimova MR, Grigiene J, Krab K, et al. (2006). "The free NADH concentration is kept constant in plant mitochondria under different metabolic conditions". Plant Cell 18 (3): 688–98. doi:10.1105/tpc.105.039354. PMC 1383643. PMID 16461578.
^ Reiss PD, Zuurendonk PF, Veech RL (1984). "Measurement of tissue purine, pyrimidine, and other nucleotides by radial compression high-performance liquid chromatography". Anal. Biochem. 140 (1): 162–71. doi:10.1016/0003-2697(84)90148-9. PMID 6486402.
^ Yamada K, Hara N, Shibata T, Osago H, Tsuchiya M (2006). "The simultaneous measurement of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide and related compounds by liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry". Anal. Biochem. 352

How to - and why you should - increase your Vitamin D levels...... (2)

...... Continuing from the previous post - I was about to provide the common reason why most multivitamin supplements do not contain 8000 IU of Vitamin D. Becky Jacobs, a worker for the US company NorthStar Nutritionals, offered an explanation: She said that supplement makers like NorthStar often avoid loading up any supplement formulation with too much vitamin D (or any other component) to give customers who take multiple supplements more flexible control over their dosage.

So the best way to get your full measure of D (after some daily direct sunlight exposure, of course) is to take a good quality supplement of D3 — that's the same form of the vitamin that's produced in your skin after exposure to sunlight.
Dr. Wright also recommends a consistent intake of dietary sources that contain vitamin D3, including salmon, sardines, and cod liver oil.

Some topics are just too urgent to let go, so here's an important tip for boosting your personal vitamin D level.By some estimates, 90 per cent of the population is D deficient. But evidence shows you can move yourself closer to the fortunate 10 percent by following one simple habit.

Cleveland Clinic researchers asked a group of 17 subjects to take D supplements with their largest meal of the day.

Results: Over three months, absorption of the vitamin was improved and blood levels of D increased, on average, by more than 55 percent! And that held true for nearly all subjects, whether their intake was just 1,000 IU daily, or 50,000.

So simple, but given the enormous importance of vitamin D in fighting cancer, improving heart health, and preventing type 2 diabetes, depression, and cognitive decline, this little study may prove to be a very big deal. Of course, large scale research is needed, but this looks very promising....

To your abundant excellent health,

Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert

Sources:

- Health Sciences Institute

- Nutrition and Healing Newsletter

-"Not Enough Vitamin D May Boost Depression Risk" Stephen Daniells, NutraIngredients-USA, 5/14/10, nutraingredients- usa.com

How to - and why you should - increase your Vitamin D levels...... (1)

...... to what clinical nutritionist Dr Wright calls the "tropical optimum" ie the amount of Vitamin D you would naturally get via sunlight if you lived in the tropics. He advocates a minimum of 5000 IU a day for those of us in more temperate climes. This is backed up by new research from the University of California, San Diego carried out over a five year period on 3600 adult participants. This involved Vitamin D blood level measurement and completing a questionnaire twice a year detailing their nutritional and supplement intake, sun exposure and general health status. Results showed that adults need 4,000 to 8,000 IU of vitamin D daily to cut their risk of certain cancers and other diseases by half.


Now some people would say that 8000 IU a day is a very high level of intake. But the fact is that with just 30 minutes of full body exposure to sunlight, your body produces at least 10,000 units of vitamin D. So if 8,000 IU were harmful, we'd see lifeguards, gardeners, and football players etc - all those working or playing in the sun - dropping like flies from Vitamin D toxicity - but that is not the case. So why is it that most supplement preparations do not contain these levels, you ask? It is a good question, but read why in my next blog entry....

To your abundant excellent health,

Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert

Sources:

- Health Sciences Institute

- Nutrition and Healing Newsletter

-"Not Enough Vitamin D May Boost Depression Risk" Stephen Daniells, NutraIngredients-USA, 5/14/10, nutraingredients- usa.com

How to protect your eyesight, kidneys and heart in one fell swoop.....

...... through the ingestion of a nutrient that most doctors have never heard of, much less know it's uses. This was definitely not taught at medical school! Now the average medical practitioner or nutritionist will tell you that the B group of vitamins are water soluble. But as with most things in medicine and life, there are exceptions - in this case the B vitamin benfotiamine, a fat soluble form of thiamine aka vitamin B1. Thiamine is an essential nutrirnt for the maintenace of kidney,heart and eye function, and the fat soluble form remains longer in the body tissues than the water soluble one, due to it's deposition in body fat, rather than it being lost via the urine.

Benfotiamine is also a crucial factor in carbohydrate metabolism, helping to prevent glucose induced oxidative cell damage. For example in vitro studies ie studies outside the body, usually cell and tissue culture based studies - sseem to reveal that benfotiamine protects the cells lining blood vessels from oxidative damage. We know where that could end up - blood vessel and heart disease. So this nutrient is definitely one to consider adding to your shopping list, especially as it is five times better absorbed than thiamine. It is not available in your usual run of the mill multivitamin combo - like I said before, many nutritionists will look at you blankly when asked about it, so what chance do the stack 'em high, bank profits higher (without much or no customer benefit) brigade have? But I say: do your own research on this fat soluble B1 vitamin and come to your own conclusions - your body may be the better for it when taken!


To your abundant excellent health,

Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert

Sources:
^ Yamazaki M (1968), Studies on the absorption of S-benzoylthiamine O-monophosphate : (I) Metabolism in tissue homogenates. Vitamins 38 (1) 12–20.
^ M.L. Volvert, S. Seyen, M. Piette, B. Evrard, M. Gangolf, J.C. Plumier and L. Bettendorff (2008) Benfotiamine, a synthetic S-acyl thiamine derivative, has different mechanisms of action and a different pharmacological profile than lipid-soluble thiamine disulfide derivatives. BMC Pharmacology 8: 10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2210-8-10
^ Reducing Glycation Reactions for Better Health and Longer Life
^ J Lin, A Alt, J Liersch, RG Bretzel, M Brownlee (2000 May). "Benfotiamine Inhibits Intracellular Formation of Advanced Glycation End Products in vivo". Diabetes 49 (Suppl1) (A143): 583.
^ Since AGEs are the actual agents productive of diabetic complications, in theory, if diabetic patients could block the action of AGEs completely by benfotiamine, strict blood sugar control, with its disruption of lifestyle and risks to health and life by severe hypoglycemic episodes, could be avoided, with revolutionary implications for the treatment of diabetes. Hammes HP, Du X, Edelstein D, Taguchi T, Matsumura T, Ju Q, Lin J, Bierhaus A, Nawroth P, Hannak D, Neumaier M, Bergfeld R, Giardino I, Brownlee M (2003) Benfotiamine blocks three major pathways of hyperglycemic damage and prevents experimental diabetic retinopathy. Nat Med 9(3):294-299
^ Stirban A, Negrean M, Stratmann B, et al. (2007). "Adiponectin decreases postprandially following a heat-processed meal in individuals with type 2 diabetes: an effect prevented by benfotiamine and cooking method". Diabetes Care 30 (10): 2514–6. doi:10.2337/dc07-0302. PMID 17630265.
^ Stracke H, Hammes HP, Werkmann D, et al. (2001). "Efficacy of benfotiamine versus thiamine on function and glycation products of peripheral nerves in diabetic rats". Exp. Clin. Endocrinol. Diabetes 109 (6): 330–6. doi:10.1055/s-2001-17399. PMID 11571671.
^ Stirban A, Negrean M, Stratmann B, et al. (2006). "Benfotiamine prevents macro- and microvascular endothelial dysfunction and oxidative stress following a meal rich in advanced glycation end products in individuals with type 2 diabetes". Diabetes Care 29 (9): 2064–71. doi:10.2337/dc06-0531. PMID 16936154.
^ Babaei-Jadidi R, Karachalias N, Ahmed N, Battah S, Thornalley PJ (2003). "Prevention of incipient diabetic nephropathy by high-dose thiamine and benfotiamine". Diabetes 52 (8): 2110–20. doi:10.2337/diabetes.52.8.2110. PMID 12882930.

Why our overweight children - and adults - will cost us millions....(2)

Continuing from the previous post....

As I posted previously, adequate nutrition and exercise are the mainstays of both prevention and management of overweight and obese children and adults. But what strategies and methods using these in combination were found by the report to be most cost effective? I will discuss these below. But first, the Chair of the Committee remarked that centralized, coordinated, strategic intervention was necessary - in other words a London wide strategy for tackling obesity. This no doubt is true. But I stress again, any strategy that does not take into account the need for proper parental or guardian education, accountability and responsibility is doomed to failure.

This is borne out by the findings of those who compiled the report. The most cost effective strategies were those that combined nutritional advice and physical activity. No real surprises there! However, a key point here is that people need to be regularly motivated to continue to make the right choices and take appropriate action - and this is where the the support of an experienced, dedicated and inspirational health coach becomes invaluable, the missing link, so to speak....


To your abundant excellent health,

Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert.

Sources:

Edmonton Advertiser and Herald

Tipping the Scales: Report published by the London Assembly's Health and Public Services Committee.

Why our overweight children - and adults - will cost us millions.... (1)

..... That is the shocking message from a report into childhood obesity in London, UK by the London Assembly's Health and Public Service Committee called Tipping the Scales. This report reveals that childhood obesity costs Londoners an eye watering 7.1 million pounds a year. Even worse, if this obesity trend is not reversed, these same children are projected to cost a staggering 111 million pounds a year on attaining adulthood. London has become the obese child capital of Britain - twenty per cent of London children are clinically obese, with the borough of Westminister -yes, where the Royal Wedding took place - worst hit (28 per cent) and leafy Richmond - Wimbledon country - least (12 per cent).

But obese adults cost London even more - a mind blowing 883.6 million pounds a year, according to the same report. No wonder James Claverly, Chair of the Health and Public Services Committee said "Childhood obesity is a major problem with serious health and economic consequences for London". No kidding! I wonder what the figures are like where you live? Why not do little research and find out? I will be interested to hear from you!

The cold hard truth is that this is a problem that is easily avoided. Proper nutrition, proper exercise are the mainstay, we know that. So why these staggering levels of obesity? This report offers a partial answer, at least in London - lack of focus of exercise initiatives ie not geared exclusively towards obesity reduction and poor coordination of these available initiatives. Maybe, but I believe the answer lies closer to home - that is, in families. I am going to be blunt - it is time for parents and guardians to be actually that - parents and guardians! If you cannot cope, seek expert help early - there will be less heart ache and cost for both you and your child in the long run. This scandal must come to an end - starting NOW. Our children's very lives depend on it, not just in London, but also elsewhere, especially in most advanced countries!


To your abundant excellent health,

Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert.

Sources:

-Edmonton Advertiser and Herald

-Tipping the Scales:Report published by the London Assembly's Health and Public Services Committee

The case for - and against - flowers in hospital..........

Lots of nurses don't say it with flowers - at least when on duty in hospital. Imperial College London research involving two hospitals in London apparently showed quite a number of nurses believe that flower handling gets in the way of their work. They may have a point, to an extent. After all, a thirty five year old study found that the water in which flowers had been placed often contained high levels of bacteria. Now bacteria control is undoubtably a huge challenge in the UK and beyond, but a subsequent study could not find any evidence that the water for these flowers ever caused any infection.

Another study showed that patients who had floral arrangements in their rooms had better clinical outcomes when compared to those with none. They had:

- less fatigue,

- less pain,

- reduced anxiety and heart rate,

- lower systolic blood pressure

- reduced need for analgesics post surgery all associated with flowers in their rooms. So, more power to the flower, I say.

To your abundant excellent health,

Dr Ike
Functional Health Expert and Holistic Health Coach.

Sources:

"Should Flowers be Banned in Hospitals?" Ivanhoe Newswire, 12/30/09, ivanhoe.com

Health Sciences Institute

How to lower cholesterol without drugs (2).........

Continuing from part one....


* Eat healthy fats: These include olive oil, coconut and coconut oil, organic raw dairy products (including butter), avocados, raw nuts, seeds, eggs (lightly cooked with yolks intact) and organic, grass-fed meat.


* Exercise: When you exercise you not only increase your circulation and the blood flow throughout your body, but you also strengthen your immune system, giving your body a better chance of fighting an illness before it has the opportunity to spread.


* Avoid smoking and drinking excessive amounts of alcohol.


* Address your emotional challenges and stress, get professional help where necessary.

These measures are cheaper and safer than drugs, and if used consistently from an early age, will help prevent cellular damage that leads to cholesterol levels rising in the first place. You see, cholesterol rising points to cellular damage - cholesterol is a marker of such damage, rather than the culprit. So prevent cellular damage using these simple and easily implemented techniques!


To your abundant excellent health,


Dr Ike
Health Coach and Functional Health Expert

Sources:

- Health Sciences Institute

- "Do Cholesterol Drugs Do Any Good?" published online, January 17, 2008, BusinessWeek.com

- ‘The Cholesterol Myth that is Harming Your Health’ published online 10.08.2010, articles.mercola.com

How to lower cholesterol without drugs.......

Hi guys and gals,

These are basic measures that all of us can implement to prevent our cholesterol blood levels from ever rising:

# Omega-3 is key: Make sure you’re getting plenty omega-3 fatty acids. Research has shown that as little as 500mg per day can lower your total cholesterol and triglyceride(blood fat) levels and increase your HDL ‘good’ cholesterol.


# Say no to sugar: Eliminate sugar (especially refined sugar) from your diet. There was time when there was no refined sugar as part of our nutritional intake whatsoever - and we were much the healthier for it. Get rid of your sugar addiction, if you have one - now. You will not regret it!


# Eat a good portion of your food raw, especially vegetables like broccoli, carrots, beetroot and garlic, which have all been shown shown to help reduce LDL cholesterol.

To be continued......


To your abundant excellent health,

Dr Ike
Holistic Health Coach and Functional Health Expert.

Checking in to a hotel? What you need to know.....

..... According to Renata McCarthy who is now a lecturer at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration, but started out in the industry as a housekeeping manager for a major US hotel chain - in some cases, the cover that protects a duvet may not be changed from one guest to another if the bed has a top and bottom sheet... Not good! Skin cells (humans shed about 1.5 million cells or cell clusters an hour when they sleep), human hair, bodily secretions, fungi, bacteria, dust, dust mites, lint, insect parts, pollen, cosmetics and more can collect - with unhealthy results.

Another no-no are the bedspreads, according to Philip Tierno. Hotel bedspreads, or the quilts inside duvet covers, don't get thrown in with the sheets for a daily wash.


Also Philip Tierno, a director of microbiology and immunology at New York University's Langone Medical Centre, who has carried out hotel room research says some hotels can be a source of cold, flu and gastrointestinal viruses, which can be spread by touching unclean surfaces. So here are some helpful tips they have given:


* Turn down the bedspread or duvet cover and pull it to the end of the bed, avoid coming into contact with it as much as you can.

* Wipe down the sink faucets, bathroom countertop, toilet handle and shower faucets with a damp towel or hand disinfectant (the gel-type you can pick-up at the Duty Free at the airport).

* Wipe down all door handles and knobs including the entryway and bathroom, phone, TV remote, and refrigerator.

* Avoid using water glasses in the room. A recent investigation showed that many hotel chains do not clean the glasses at all. So it would be safe to assume that they are dirty and have merely been wiped to ‘look clean’ and could easily have been used by previous guests.

He actually travels with an impervious mattress and pillow cover to protect against the unseen debris that guests leave behind, literally buried over time, in those supposedly clean, fluffy and comfy beds. So be aware, and maybe think about taking your own, or ask the hotel if they use these types of beddings - it just might save you some unpleasentness on your next hard earned holiday!


To your abundant excellent health,

Dr Ike,
Functional Health Expert and Health Coach

Sources:


A microscopic look at hotel hygiene’ published online, 25.02.11, edition.cnn.com

Health Sciences Institute

What just THIRTY minutes of exercise and proper nutrition can do for you........

A Brigham Young University study found that a combination of just 30 minutes of cardio exercise a day along with a switch to healthier nutritional intake dropped the participants’ health risks for:

# diabetes

# cancer

# and heart disease dramatically in just 6 weeks!

Now this may not be ground breaking news to you, but are you actually exercising and eating right? Once again food for thought - and time for action!

To your abundant excellent health,

Dr Ike
Functional Health Expert and Health Coach.

References:

Health Sciences Institute
Brigham Young University

Three tips to help you decide what to eat...

There are three guidelines given by natural hygienist Roz Gruben and raw food coach Roger Haeske on how to choose what to eat:

- You should be able to gather it without weapons.

- You shouldn't have to wear any clothing or protective gear to
gather it. (Forget honey)

- You should be able to make a whole meal of the food - Garlic alone not included!

This will make our nutritional intake as close to that of our earliest ancestors as presently possible, enabling us to live healthier, longer lives - as part of an all round healthy lifestyle approach of course. There will be less illness - obesity, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension cancer etc. Nothing radically new here - but how many of us are actually seeking to live in this manner? Food - pardon the pun - for thought!


To your abundant excellent health,

Dr Ike
Functional Health Expert and Health Coach

85% of Adult Cancers are Entirely Avoidable........

.....That is the mind boggling assertion from WHO- yes the World Health Organisation, no less. But of course, they have the research to back it up. In addition, fifty per cent of these adult cancers can be related to nutritional deficiencies in the food intake of the so called developed world. The bottom line - the pandemic of adult cancer world wide but especially in the developed world can be markedly reduced by a radical rethink in our nutritional intake. To a lot of people, this is not news. But to a larger body of people, it is. For both camps however, the informed nutritional data is relatively thin on the ground. Hopefully, I will weigh in my own small way with whatever knowledge I have accumulated. As always, feedback and sharing of information are welcome.

To your abundant excellent health,

Dr Ike
Functional Health Expert and Health Coach.

Source:

World Health Organisation.

Danger of Bottled Water in the Car..........

This is an important safety tip in circulation, sent to me by my brother in law - I am reproducing it in it's entirety. Some of you may have seen it elsewhere already, some have not. But it is too important to miss out on, so it's better to play safe.


Please send it on!!!!
Bottled water in your car is very dangerous!


On the Ellen show, Sheryl Crow said that this is what caused her breast cancer. It has been identified as the most common cause of the high levels of dioxin in breast cancer tissue.

Sheryl Crow's oncologist told her: women should not drink bottled water that has been left in a car. The heat reacts with the chemicals in the plastic of the bottle which releases dioxin into the water. Dioxin is a toxin increasingly found in breast cancer tissue. So please be careful and do not drink bottled water that has been left in a car.
Pass this on to all the women in your life. This information is the kind we need to know that just might save us! Use a stainless steel canteen or a glass bottle instead of plastic!

LET EVERYONE WHO HAS A WIFE / GIRLFRIEND / DAUGHTER KNOW PLEASE!
This information is also being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center:
No plastic containers in microwave. No water bottles in freezer. No plastic wrap in microwave.

A dioxin chemical causes cancer, especially breast cancer..Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies. Don't freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic. Recently, Edward Fujimoto , Wellness Program Manager at Castle Hospital , was on a TV program to explain this health hazard.

He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us. He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers...This especially applies to foods that contain fat.

He said that the combination of fat, high heat and plastic releases dioxin into the body.

Instead, he recommends using glass, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results, only without the dioxin. So, such things as TV dinners, instant soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else.

Paper isn't bad but you don't know what is in the paper. It's just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc..

He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons...

Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Saran wrap or Cling film, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food. Cover food with a paper towel instead.

This is an article that should be sent to anyone important in your life!


To your abundant excellent health,

Dr Ike
Functional Health Professional and Health Coach.