Best Health And Wellness Info

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The following video quickly and easily dispels the popular myth that high cholesterol is the cause of heart disease.  While cholesterol plaque of the blood vessels is involved in the development of heart disease, the amount of arterial plaqueing that occurs is not proportionate to one’s blood cholesterol level.  What causes the accumulation of cholesterol in the arteries, and subsequently results in heart disease, is damage and inflammation of the blood vessel walls.  By controlling inflammation and keeping toxins like homocysteine under control, you can have a much greater effect on lowering your heart disease risk than you ever could by lowering your cholesterol. 

Cholesterol and Heart Disease

Stay tuned to my blog for more on natural remedies. 

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Dr Whiting on Diabetes and Hypoglycemia

The above is an excellent video by Dr.Whiting that explains how obesity, hypoglycemia, and type II diabetes are connected and how excess insulin (resulting from consuming too many carbohydrates) produces numerous health problems.  The video does a great job of explaining why the conventional “diabetes diet” that is commonly recommended is not an effective nor healthy approach to managing diabetes. 

Unfortunately, the conventional dietary recommendations for type II diabetes are focused on the fact that diabetics tend to develop problems with elevated blood lipids (cholesterol and triglycerides), but they fail to look at where these high lipid levels come from.  Because the focus is on blood lipids, the diet recommendations are to limit cholesterol and triglygeride (fat) intake.  But in most cases, very low fat diets tend to be very high carbohydrate diets.  As Dr. Whiting explains in the video, excess carbohydrate gets converted to fat, and for most people, a high carbohydrate intake will produce a far greater elevation of blood lipids than even a relatively high fat diet.  Thus, the often-recommended “diabetic diet” will typically cause diabetics to gain weight, develop even worse diabetic conditions, and have even more problems with elevated blood lipids and the problems they cause (cardiovascular disease and plaqueing in small blood vessels that lead to diabetic neuropathy, vision loss, etc.). 

Now, many doctors will dismiss these concepts, and many patients will continue down the path of destruction by following the conventional low-fat diet approach.  To the skeptics who believe that the conventional approach must be correct (otherwise why else would their doctor, the American Diabetes Association, etc. continue to recommend it), I offer the following challenge:  Test it yourself.  Try switching to the type of diet Dr. Whiting mentions (you can get more information from his website at http://www.healthyinformation.com/ or contact me for diet recommendations).  You don’t have to do it for very long - one or two weeks is usually sufficient to see a difference.  Try it for a couple of weeks and see what happens.  I can tell you if you follow the recommendations consistently for that length of time, you’ll likely see a drastic improvement in your blood sugar (be sure to monitor it closely, especially if you are taking insulin, because you’ll need to adjust your medication dosage accordingly).  And if not, you can always go back to the conventional diabetes diet. 

Now, a lot of people have trouble initially when they switch to a lower carbohydrate diet (this is not an extreme low-carb diet like Atkins, but it is much lower in carbohydrates than you are probably used to), not because it causes any problems (other than maybe some blood sugar swings the first day or two until the body adjusts), but because they are addicted to the carbohydrates and don’t like not eating them.  If you stick to it though, you’ll get used to it and most people actually don’t miss the pasta, the bread, the sweets, etc., once they’ve been off them for a couple of weeks.  So if your real reason for not wanting to try this other approach is that you are addicted to carbs, you need to make a decision as to what’s most important to you:  go on eating carbs and sufer the inevitable decline in your health, or tough it out for a couple of weeks until you get past your addiction and reap the long-term rewards of feeling better (usually surprisingly better), and being much healthier.  I hope that you will give this other approach to diabetes a try, and I wish you good luck!

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Magnesium is a widespread deficiency in the United States and being deficient in magnesium can have far-reaching health effects.  

Magnesium is needed for hundreds of biochemical reactions in the body.  It is critically important in muscle (including heart muscle) and nerve function.  It is involved in the functioning of the immune system and is necessary for healthy bones.  Magnesium is also important in blood sugar regulation and deficiency is likely involved in the development of Type II diabetes.  Magnesium acts through several mechanisms to protect cardiovascular health, such as helping to prevent congestive heart failure, preventing arrhythmias, lowering elevated blood pressure, and decreasing C-reactive protein (an inflammatory marker associated with atherosclerosis).  Deficiency is associated with ADHD and other behavior disorders.  Preliminary studies also indicate that magnesium helps prevent age-related memory loss.

 Good sources of magnesium include most nuts, green leafy vegetables, whole grains, beans, and some fish (interestingly, fish that are high in omega-3 fatty acids also are high in magnesium).  Drinking water in some areas can also be a good source of magnesium, but because many people use bottled or softened water, the magnesium content is often reduced. 

Officially, the U.S. Recommended Daily Intake for magnesium is 420 mg per day for adult men and 320 mg per day for women, but many experts recommend at least 500 mg per day for all adults.  The exception to this rule would be those individuals with kidney failure, as they are unable to remove excess magnesium from the blood and toxicity can result (blood monitoring of magnesium levels in cases of kidney failure is advised). 

Certain health conditions and medications can increase the need for magnesium, and in these cases, supplementation is recommended.  In particular, individuals with Chron’s disease, celiac disease, and alcoholism, and those taking diuretic medications can benefit from magnesium supplementation.

 Stay tuned for more information from my natural remedies blog.
 

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Chocolate Does Have Some Health Benefits, But Try To Control Yourself!

Recently dark chocolate has been touted for its health benefits that stem from its high antioxidant content.  Among other things, dark chocolate seems to improve circulation to the heart (reducing the risk of angina and heart attacks), reduce blood pressure, raise HDL (”good” cholesterol), and decrease cardiovascular mortality.

All of these are good things of course, but it should be noted that these effects occur with a relatively small amount of chocolate - about an ounce to an ounce and a half per day.  It should also be pointed out that these health benefits are for dark chocolate, preferably a minimum of 60% cacao (and higher is better), with the least amount of sugar possible.

It has been my observation that some individuals will use the potential health benefits of chocolate as a reason why they are eating it - many times a LOT of it!  There’s certainly nothing wrong with eating chocolate for its health benefits, nor is there anything wrong with eating chocolate from time to time because you enjoy it, but be careful.  One or two ounces per day is fine and the sugar content of that amount is not terribly high.  It’s a different story though when you start to snack on chocolate several times per day, and the daily intake goes way beyond an ounce or two.

Unless you are eating unsweetened chocolate, the sugar content will sneak up on you the more chocolate you consume.  It doesn’t take long before you are getting a hefty dose of sugar.  In most cases, 2 ounces of dark chocolate will have about 25 grams of sugar - which for many people is enough carbohydrate all by itself to stimulate enough insulin release to actually prevent them from burning any fat for 1 to 2 days!  For anyone with weight control issues, that’s a big deal. 

In addition, with a high sugar intake day in and day out, there is a high risk for developing Type II diabetes, which will more than wipe out any health benefit the antioxidants in the chocolate will provide. 

So, sorry to be a killjoy to all of you who were eating those candy bars because you heard chocolate was healthy.  If you enjoy a little dark chocolate for a reasonably healthy dessert - go for it.  Just don’t kid yourself that eating a candy bar every day is good for you.

For more health informationa and weight control tips, stay tuned to my natural remedies blog

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Omega 3 fatty acids are getting more and more good press as an important part of preventing a number of common health problems.  But why is supplementing with Omega-3’s so important?

First you have to understand that supplementing with Omega-3 fatty acids does not give you “extra” of these beneficial fats.  In fact, most supplementation recommendations probably give most people the minimum they need to balance the other fats in their diets.  Various studies have indicated that indigenous cultures (which typically have very low rates of cancer, heart disease, arthritis, and other chronic conditions) consume a ratio of omega-6 fats to omega-3 fats of approximately 1:1 to 2:1.  Currently in the United States, that ratio ranges from 20:1 to more than 30:1!

Why the huge difference?  First of all, grains and most commercially produced vegetable oils are primarily omega-6 fats and these are staples in the modern American diet.  Second, the primary source of omega-3 fats in the American diet used to be from meats, fish, eggs, and poultry.  What do I mean used to be?  Don’t we still eat those foods in relatively large quantities?  Yes, but what those foods are being fed has changed.

 At one time, most of the meat and poultry came from “free-range” livestock, meaning the animals ate insects and plants that grew wild in their environment.  Insects and plants are high in omega-3 fats, so the animals that eat them are likewise high in omega-3’s.  Today though, most commercially raised meat, poultry, eggs, and even farm-raised fish, are fed primarily grain - which is high in omega-6 fats, not omega-3’s, so the meat, eggs, and fish are also high in omega-6.  This combined with our own tendency to eat a lot of grain-based foods has led to a dramatic shift in the ratio of fats in our diets. 

This shift in the dietary fat ratio with very little omega-3’s being consumed sets us up for a wide variety of health problems.  Because omega-3’s are essential to a number of biochemical processes, the lack of these important fats has led to a general increase in problems that include depression, inflammatory conditions (such as arthritis and allergies/asthma), and cardiovascular disease.  There is even speculation that a lack of omega-3’s may be at least partially involved in the development of neurodegenerative disorders and some types of cancer. 

In any event, except for those very rare individuals who eat almost no grains AND who consume primarily free-range meats, wild game, and/or wild-caught fish, I strongly recommend taking a high-quality supplement at a dosage of 1000 mg of omega-3 fatty acids per day.  Omega-3 supplements are usually made from fish oil, or may be from krill oil.  In either case, if you are getting a good product from a reputable company that has independent lab certificaton of their supplements (as to purity and potency), you should be fine. 

For those who are strict vegans and do not consume animal products of any kind, I suggest using flax seed oil supplements(at least 1000 mg per day).  Flax oil is not high in omega-3’s but the fats in it can be converted to omega-3 in the body in most individuals.  There are some people who cannot efficiently make the conversion to the needed omega-3’s, and if you are having problems with depression and/or inflammatory conditions despite taking flax oil, you may want to consider fish oil, or you may want to try walnut oil (which is high in omega-3’s).  Another option is to try evening primrose or borage oil , as these contain fatty acids that don’t require as much conversion in the body to produce omega-3 fats. 

Stay tuned to my natural remedies blog for more nutrition information for a healthy life!

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