Fat Kills You

Now, more that ever, concerned physicians are beginning to ask about and understand the role of non-drug therapies to assist patients with headache. These therapies, alone or in combination with medications can significantly impact on headache treatment.

This pleases me. As a Family Physician and Clinical Hypnotist with thirty years experience in the field, I applaud this trend. Certainly, a capable and compassionate physician will struggle to assist his/her patient find headache relief by whatever methods, complimentary, traditional or both. Much can be gained if we look at hypnosis as a helpful tool in the battle for headache relief.

As our understanding of how the brain works and which compounds or “neurotransmitters” control our pain response develops, we begin to suspect that relaxation therapies including hypnosis, may alter in a positive and fundamental way our brain chemistry such that pain relief is more likely. An interesting study was performed with patients who learned relaxation skills. The researchers checked the subjects’ monoamine oxidase levels-since monoamine oxidase is what metabolizes serotonin, a pain relief chemical, and found changes in those levels consistent with what you would expect with preventive drug therapy! The study suggests that it is not just a matter of feeling relaxed that’s important but actually learning via these relaxation therapies to turn off and on certain pain pathways in the nervous system by changing monoamine oxidase levels and consequently serotonin levels.

Only if you’re trying to fool the scale on a specific date and time.

Quick weight loss is advertised by diet marketers all the time. The marketing screams

"Lose 10 pounds over night, while you sleep”

You’ve heard them before, but you really don’t believe them do you? I hope you understand somewhere in the back of your mind that quick weight loss is neither real healthy nor long lived.

Quick weight loss should only be used if you’re weighing in too some kind of competition or test. And only under a doctor’s care. It can be dangerous if you’re not strong enough to handle the drain.

On the other hand, competitors do it all the time, but they understand the weakness overriding their efforts. They understand the importance of getting back into their original rhythm.

Most quick weight loss pounds are only water; very, very few fat cells. Your body will flush water out of your system and the scale will show an over night loss of some desired pounds. However, it doesn’t last long.

One of the common comments I hear from my female clients is, "Please don’t give me any weights work ? I don’t want any muscle, I just want to tone." The reasons differ from client to client, but it most often they seem to be based on a misunderstanding of what muscle is, how we build it, what it has to do with weight loss ? or some combination of the above. There’s a lot of misinformation outside of the fitness world about muscles and what they do, so I’d like to spend the next two articles exploring the realities behind the myths.

WHAT IS MUSCLE?

When I was younger, I’d never really thought about what the ’stuff’ between my skin and my bones was made of. I understood that muscles were what bodybuilders had, and fat was something that made you fat, and that I had some of each. I think, though, that I believed that they existed inside some kind of other substance that filled the space between my skin and my bones. Then, in secondary school, I learned that, in a healthy person, most of this magical substance was just muscle. In fact, I learned that, aside from my body’s networks of organs, blood vessels and nerves, and my skeleton there isn’t really much under my skin except for muscle and fat.

As I mentioned in Part 4 of my Real Health diet series, I believe that taking green foods, particularly spirulina and chlorella, is very important to your health. This article will focus on why you should take spirulina.

You may have heard these words, spirulina and chlorella before. What are they though? Basically they are green microalgae. They are microscopic plants which grow in fresh water. They are green due to chlorophyll.

It is sold in the form of powder. I take mine in veggie capsules. I believe the best comes from the Nutrex company in Hawaii. They sell under their own label. They also provide the spirulina that I buy from Jenny Lee Naturals, which sells a 580 capsule bottle.

First, spirulina. Spirulina is an amazing food. And it is a food, not a medicine. First, it contains protein. A lot of protein. Three times more protein by weight than beef. And this protein is more digestible than beef, so you take in more of it into your system. And spirulina contains complete protein, all eight essential amino acids.

The research in support of dietary omega-3 fatty acids (such as in fish oils) continues to flood the scientific literature. This is perfectly predictable given our genetic roots. In the wild, eating natural raw foods, we would be consuming large amounts of omega-3 fatty acids daily. But today, on processed, grain-based diets, we get little.

Instead, we have dramatically increased the consumption of omega-6 fatty acids. Although these too are essential in the diet, their excess results in a pro-inflammatory response that lies at the base of a mix of modern degenerative diseases such as arthritis, autoimmunities and heart disease. The natural diet should have a ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 of about 1:1, but today is more like 20 or 30 to 1! See a problem?

Certain fish, algae, some vegetables, grass-fed meats, wild meats, high omega-3 eggs, seeds such as flax and supplements help. Variety is always important. Any food may contain toxins, so varying the diet gives the body an opportunity to detoxify.

Fat is fuel. That is basically what it is. A solid concentrated form of fuel. They have more calories than proteins or carbohydrates. Here are the basic forms of fat.

Saturated Fats

This type of fat comes from animals and vegetables. It is only needed as a form of energy and because of its structure it is readily absorbed by our own bodies fat cells.

Monounsaturated Fats

These kinds of fats are found in Olive oil, Peanut Oil, High-oleic safflower oil as well as others.

Polyunsaturated Fats

You can find polyunsaturated fats in cold water fishes, seed oils, and vegetable oils.

Trans Fats

These fats are manufactured fats. You can make these by transofrming unsaturated fats through heat and hydrogenation. These types of fats are thought to cause harm. They can lower your metabolism, decrease your testosterone levels, and raise your bad cholesterol levels among others.

Commercially produced foods contain alot of trans fats. Especially baked foods. To identify if the food you are buying has trans fats, look at the ingrediants and look for the terms hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated.

The word Ayurveda is made up of two Sanskrit words ayur and veda meaning ‘life’ and ‘knowledge’ respectively. Taken together they mean the ’science of life’; in a more limited sense, the term is used to imply the science of medicine.

Legend has it that Brahma, the Creator (a part of the Hindu holy trinity of gods) first perceived it and taught it to his sons, Daksha Prajapati. Subsequently, Lord Dhanwantri, the God of healing and the teacher of the medical sciences passed it on the prominent Hindu sages Atreya, Bharadvaja, Kashyapa, Sushruta, Parashara and Charaka. Sage Atreya’s disciple Agnivesha is said to have written the original Agnivesha Samhita around 1000 BC which has come down to us in the form of Charaka Samhita. This text is considered an authoritative pronouncement of Ayurvedic doctrine.

The universe is made up of the pancha mahabhutas or five primary elements:

Fire (Agni),

Water (jala),

Ether (akasha),

Earth (prithvi) and

Air (vayu).

An individual similarly according to Vedic philosophy, is made up of five layers: the physical body which is the outer layer and four inner layers: the astral body, the psyche, the intellect and the layer at which complete bliss can be felt.

It’s common to respond to stress by distracting yourself with your favorite comfort foods. Here are some ideas for healthier ways to cope when you’re under pressure:

1. Do a preemptive strike on unhealthy eating. Keep unacceptable foods out of the house. If you know a particular food will be irresistible to you when you’re stressed, make sure it is not within your grasp.

2. Keep your hands busy. Find something else to do with your hands besides eat. Keep the daily crossword handy, turn your attention to minor chores, surf the internet, or distract yourself by picking up the phone and calling your friends or family.

3. Reach for healthy snacks. If you have to eat, make sure that any foods you reach for will be healthy ones. Try crunchy vegetables like celery sticks, green-pepper strips, cauliflower buds, and broccoli florets. If you don’t want them plain, dip them in hummus or an eggplant dip. Prepare these snacks ahead of time, and keep them in front of your refrigerator.

4. Avoidance! If you find it hard to stop eating something once you’ve started, your best bet may be to avoid the food completely. Once you give in, it’s all too easy to overeat without thinking about it. Take it from me, the ultimate Peanut Butter Abuser!

It is shocking how many people are not taking advantage of the lessons from 21st Century research on cellular health. The syntax of disease is known by many researchers; and many of them are telling you what you can do to protect yourself. They wonder why so many still choose to age and ultimately die prematurely.

Throughout human history, infectious disease was the leading cause of death. By the 20th Century, non-infectious ailments like heart attacks, strokes and cardio-vascular disease along with cancer replaced it as the leading cause. Furthermore, this occurred among the industrial nations, despite greater wealth, better housing and so-called, better nutrition.

So, whether you live longer and healthier than your parents just may depend, not on your monetary wealth or your medical insurance card, but on how well you know and react to the mechanisms of disease in the modern world.

While the message of ancient wisdom has also spoken clear enough, leaving us clues for the last 6,000 years of mankind’s history, our modern world has equally spoken. In a world that has the greatest scientific research available, men, women and children still die prematurely. Why? Is there a root cause for this effect?

Make sure that no more than a quarter of your calories come from fat.

Cook your own meals at home and avoid eating at restaurants as much as possible.

Eat six to eleven servings of complex carbohydrates (fruits and whole grain breads, pasta and cereals), but avoid white flour when possible.

Don’t go too crazy on the protein. Too much doesn’t add muscle, contrary to popular belief. It just turns to fat.

Boycott mayonnaise and butter (or margarine). Get them out of your refrigerator. Learn to live without them.

Make your own smoothies. Those made commercially usually contain fattening syrups, but your homemade smoothies (without the gunk) are very healthy.

Use all the garlic, oregano, etc. that you want. Eating healthy doesn’t mean you can’t pack your food with flavor.

Pack a sandwich made with whole-grain bread for lunch. Breads with high fiber make you feel fuller than white bread.

Get at least 25 grams of fiber everyday. Not only does it ward off disease, but it actually blocks the absorption of calories.

Don’t be fooled by “fat free” labels. Many of these foods contain a lot of sugar, which eventually turns into fat anyway.