Leaky Gut Syndrome; When You’re Sick of Being Sick, Look Here-Dr. Mark Hyman
Weight gain, bloating, fatigue, pain, headache, allergies, mood swings, hormone troubles, and eventually every possible symptom can result from this single reversible condition.
Your regular doctor may not catch it as they focus on individual symptoms as if they are all separate conditions. However, you have only one sick body and as it gets sicker you will experience more symptoms and be on more drugs unless we find the root cause. Leaky gut syndrome is a common root cause condition. It typically begins with digestive trouble which may go unnoticed. Typical digestive problems include bloating, acid reflux, or changes in stool from loose to constipation. If you were put on antacids or proton pump inhibitors (Prilosec, etc.) for any extended length of time then the likelihood of leak guy syndrome is even higher. These harmful drugs decrease an immediate symptom (such as acid reflux) while shutting down digestion. This increases the irritation that is probably already happening to your gut.
The small intestines (your gut) have the function of separating nutrients from waste. The nutrients enter the blood stream directly while the waste continues to the colon and is eventually evacuated. When digestion is not working then the small intestinal lining becomes damaged over time. The function of separating waste becomes weaker and weaker until waste is actually entering the blood stream. The next stop is the liver to filter the debris which also eventually becomes burdened leading to allergies, skin irritations, cravings for sugar, and randomly waking up between 3-4am (the time the liver goes into phase II detox). With the extra toxicity floating around, the body begins to hold on to weight.
Fat cells act as a secondary detox mechanism by storing difficult to eliminate toxins. Your fat cells become full of toxic waste that your body will not let go of until you heal up your liver and your gut! The liver directly affects the function of your thyroid so now your entire hormone system gets put out of balance. As you slump in energy with fatigue and malnutrition (you’re eating but at the same time starving because the small intestine also isn’t taking in nutrients very well) you’re adrenal glands try to pick you up to get through the day. The adrenals go into fatigue which, if you’re premenopausal, will drop your libido as your adrenals begin to play a more important role in sex hormones closer to menopause (this is also a set up for a rough transition into menopause; ladies listen up). You can see how leaky gut will have the average doctor chasing symptoms and band-aiding with drugs that will not address the root cause (pain relievers and Prozac are often where they start).
In treatment, I have to assess where to start and what parts of the system are in most need of support. There aren’t any one-size-fits all approaches to leaky gut. Some of my worst patients (came in most sick on the most amount of drugs) ended up being leaky gut cases in which every symptom improved once the root cause was addressed. What you need is a doctor that specializes in functional medicine which focuses on restoring function to organ systems instead of just medicating. I am certainly not anti-drug, but drugs do absolutely nothing for leaky gut syndrome (drugs aren’t bad, just not the right tool). I hope this was useful and don’t hesitate to comment if you have questions.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
The politics and science of cancer: The B17 coverup.
During 1950 after many years of research, a dedicated biochemist by the name of Dr. Ernest T. Krebs, Jr., isolated a new vitamin that he numbered B-17 and called 'Laetrile'. As the years rolled by, thousands became convinced that Krebs had finally found the complete control for all cancers, a conviction that even more people share today. Back in 1950 Ernest Krebs could have had little idea of the hornet's nest he was about to stir up. The pharmaceutical multinationals, unable to patent or claim exclusive rights to the vitamin, launched a propaganda attack of unprecedented viciousness against B-17, despite the fact that hard proof of its efficiency in controlling all forms of cancer surrounds us in overwhelming abundance. Why has orthodox medicine waged war against this non-drug approach? G. Edward Griffin, author of the book World Without Cancer contends that the answer is to be found not in science, but in politics, and is based upon the hidden economic and power agenda of those who dominate the medical establishment.
Each year, thousands of Americans travel to Mexico to receive vitamin B-17 (Laetrile) therapy. They do this because it has been suppressed in the United States. Most of these patients have been told that their cancer is terminal and that they have but a few months to live. Yet, an incredible percentage of them have recovered and they are living normal lives. However, the FDA, the AMA, the American Cancer Society, and the cancer research centres continue to pronounce that Laetrile is fraud and quackery. The recovered patients, they say, either had "spontaneous remissions" or never had cancer in the first place. If any of these people ultimately die after seeking Laetrile, spokesmen of orthodox medicine are quick to proclaim: "You see? Laetrile doesn't work!" Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of patients die each year after undergoing surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy, but those treatments continue to be touted as "safe and effective".
In the U.S. the FDA has tried to use strict regulations, not law, to ban vitamin B-17 for over 18 years. Vitamin B-17, or Laetrile Therapy is only used by some hospitals in Mexico, which treat cancer with nutrition. These hospitals achieve nearly a 100% recovery rate with virgin cases (localised tumours/cancers that have not yet been burned up with radiation, poisoned with chemotherapy, or cut into with surgery). A majority of Laetrile-treated patients report positive responses, ranging from increase in the feeling of well-being and even brighter outlook of life, to such noticeable reactions as an increase in appetite, weight gain and, frequently, restoration of natural colour, reduction or elimination of cancer-connected pain and cancer-caused fetor. In thousands of cases, total regression of all cancer symptoms has been confirmed.
The proof Krebs has presented over the years to support his claim is impressive. Centuries ago we used to eat millet bread, rich in B17, but now we chew our way through wheat which has none at all. For generations our grandmothers used to carefully crush the seeds of plums, greengages, cherries, apples, apricots and other members of the botanical family Rosaceae, and diligently mix them with their home made jams and preserves. Grandma probably didn't know why she was doing it, but the seeds of all these fruits are the most potent source of B17 in the world. In the tropics, large quantities of B17 are found in cassava, also known as tapioca. When did you last eat some?
Independent research has also proved that a Himalayan tribe known as the 'Hunza' never contract cancer of any kind so long as they stick to their native diet which is exceptionally high in both apricots and millet. However, once exposed to western diets they become as vulnerable as the rest of us.
The implications of these findings are staggering of course. If we managed to control Scurvy (vitamin C deficiency) centuries ago, how is it we cannot do the same for cancer today? The fact of the matter is that we could if our respective governments would allow it. Unfortunately most governments have buckled under the pressure exerted by the pharmaceutical multinationals, the American Food & Drug Administration, and the American Medical Association. All three have mounted highly successful 'scare' campaigns based on the fact that vitamin B17 contains quantities of 'deadly' cyanide; conveniently forgetting that vitamin B12 also contains significant quantities of cyanide, and has long been available in health food shops world-wide.
Dr. Kreb's B17 Laetrile was derived from apricot seeds and then synthesized into crystalline form using his own unique process. Suddenly, the American FDA bombarded the media with a story about an unfortunate couple who had poisoned themselves by eating raw apricot seeds in San Francisco. The story made headline news across the U.S.A. although several suspicious journalists never managed to establish the identity of the unfortunate couple, despite many determined attempts. But the multinational pharmaceutical/FDA boot had been put in with a vengeance. From that point onwards eating apricot seeds or B17 Laetrile became synonymous with committing suicide...
Back in the fifties Dr. Ernst Krebs proved beyond doubt that B17 was completely harmless to humans in the most convincing way possible. After testing the vitamin on animals, he filled a large hypodermic with a mega-dose which he then injected into his own arm! Drastic perhaps, but the adventurous Dr. Krebs is still alive and well today.
The vitamin is harmless to healthy tissue for a very simple reason: Each molecule of B17 contains one unit of cyanide, one unit of benzaldehyde and two of glucose (sugar) tightly locked together. In order for the cyanide to become dangerous it is first necessary to 'unlock' the molecule to release it, a trick that can only be performed by an enzyme called beta-glucosidase. This enzyme is present all over the body in minute quantities, but in huge quantities (up to 100 times as high) at cancerous tumor sites.
Thus the cyanide is released only at the cancer site with drastic results, which become utterly devastating to the cancer cells because the benzaldehyde unit also unlocks at the same time. Benzaldehyde is a deadly poison in its own right, which then acts synergistically with the cyanide to produce a poison 100 times more deadly than either in isolation. The combined effect on the cancer cells is best left to the imagination.
But what about danger to the rest of the body's cells? Another enzyme, Rhodanese, always present in larger quantities than the unlocking enzyme beta-glucosidase in healthy tissues has the easy ability to completely break down both cyanide and benzaldehyde into beneficial body products. Predictably perhaps, malignant cancer cells contain no Rhodanese at all, leaving them completely at the mercy of the cyanide and benzaldehyde.
Any physician reading this article will probably be shaking with self-righteous indignation at this stage, muttering to himself: 'Yes, but where is the PROOF???'.
Right here! Most people have heard of 'spontaneous remission', where the cancer simply goes away, hopefully never to reappear. Spontaneous remissions are exceedingly rare and vary from one form of cancer to another. One virulent variety known as testicular chorionepithelioma has never been known to produce a single spontaneous remission. Perhaps for that precise reason, Dr. Krebs singled it out for special attention when proving the effectiveness of B17 Laetrile in providing total control for cancers. As Edward Griffin recounts:
In a banquet speech in San Francisco on November 19, 1967, Dr. Ernst T. Krebs, Jr., briefly reviewed six such cases. Then he added:
Now there is an advantage in not having had prior radiation, because if you have not received prior radiation that has failed, then you cannot enjoy the imagined benefits of the delayed effects of prior radiation. So this boy falls into the category of the "spontaneous regression..."
And when we look at this scientifically, we know that spontaneous regression occurs in fewer than one in 150,000 cases of cancer. The statistical possibility of spontaneous regression accounting for the complete resolution of successive cases of testicular chorionepithelioma is far greater than the statistical improbability of the sun not rising tomorrow morning."
Wisely perhaps, Griffin notes that because of the adverse publicity against B17 Laetrile, and because of the difficulties in obtaining the 'banned' substance, most cancer sufferers turn to the vitamin as a last resort, long after they have been burned by radiation therapy, and/or poisoned by chemotherapy. He points out that once the body organs have been savagely damaged in this way, there is little if any chance of B17 Laetrile being able to effect a cure. The body is simply too far gone.
Each year, thousands of Americans travel to Mexico to receive vitamin B-17 (Laetrile) therapy. They do this because it has been suppressed in the United States. Most of these patients have been told that their cancer is terminal and that they have but a few months to live. Yet, an incredible percentage of them have recovered and they are living normal lives. However, the FDA, the AMA, the American Cancer Society, and the cancer research centres continue to pronounce that Laetrile is fraud and quackery. The recovered patients, they say, either had "spontaneous remissions" or never had cancer in the first place. If any of these people ultimately die after seeking Laetrile, spokesmen of orthodox medicine are quick to proclaim: "You see? Laetrile doesn't work!" Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of patients die each year after undergoing surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy, but those treatments continue to be touted as "safe and effective".
In the U.S. the FDA has tried to use strict regulations, not law, to ban vitamin B-17 for over 18 years. Vitamin B-17, or Laetrile Therapy is only used by some hospitals in Mexico, which treat cancer with nutrition. These hospitals achieve nearly a 100% recovery rate with virgin cases (localised tumours/cancers that have not yet been burned up with radiation, poisoned with chemotherapy, or cut into with surgery). A majority of Laetrile-treated patients report positive responses, ranging from increase in the feeling of well-being and even brighter outlook of life, to such noticeable reactions as an increase in appetite, weight gain and, frequently, restoration of natural colour, reduction or elimination of cancer-connected pain and cancer-caused fetor. In thousands of cases, total regression of all cancer symptoms has been confirmed.
The proof Krebs has presented over the years to support his claim is impressive. Centuries ago we used to eat millet bread, rich in B17, but now we chew our way through wheat which has none at all. For generations our grandmothers used to carefully crush the seeds of plums, greengages, cherries, apples, apricots and other members of the botanical family Rosaceae, and diligently mix them with their home made jams and preserves. Grandma probably didn't know why she was doing it, but the seeds of all these fruits are the most potent source of B17 in the world. In the tropics, large quantities of B17 are found in cassava, also known as tapioca. When did you last eat some?
Independent research has also proved that a Himalayan tribe known as the 'Hunza' never contract cancer of any kind so long as they stick to their native diet which is exceptionally high in both apricots and millet. However, once exposed to western diets they become as vulnerable as the rest of us.
The implications of these findings are staggering of course. If we managed to control Scurvy (vitamin C deficiency) centuries ago, how is it we cannot do the same for cancer today? The fact of the matter is that we could if our respective governments would allow it. Unfortunately most governments have buckled under the pressure exerted by the pharmaceutical multinationals, the American Food & Drug Administration, and the American Medical Association. All three have mounted highly successful 'scare' campaigns based on the fact that vitamin B17 contains quantities of 'deadly' cyanide; conveniently forgetting that vitamin B12 also contains significant quantities of cyanide, and has long been available in health food shops world-wide.
Dr. Kreb's B17 Laetrile was derived from apricot seeds and then synthesized into crystalline form using his own unique process. Suddenly, the American FDA bombarded the media with a story about an unfortunate couple who had poisoned themselves by eating raw apricot seeds in San Francisco. The story made headline news across the U.S.A. although several suspicious journalists never managed to establish the identity of the unfortunate couple, despite many determined attempts. But the multinational pharmaceutical/FDA boot had been put in with a vengeance. From that point onwards eating apricot seeds or B17 Laetrile became synonymous with committing suicide...
Back in the fifties Dr. Ernst Krebs proved beyond doubt that B17 was completely harmless to humans in the most convincing way possible. After testing the vitamin on animals, he filled a large hypodermic with a mega-dose which he then injected into his own arm! Drastic perhaps, but the adventurous Dr. Krebs is still alive and well today.
The vitamin is harmless to healthy tissue for a very simple reason: Each molecule of B17 contains one unit of cyanide, one unit of benzaldehyde and two of glucose (sugar) tightly locked together. In order for the cyanide to become dangerous it is first necessary to 'unlock' the molecule to release it, a trick that can only be performed by an enzyme called beta-glucosidase. This enzyme is present all over the body in minute quantities, but in huge quantities (up to 100 times as high) at cancerous tumor sites.
Thus the cyanide is released only at the cancer site with drastic results, which become utterly devastating to the cancer cells because the benzaldehyde unit also unlocks at the same time. Benzaldehyde is a deadly poison in its own right, which then acts synergistically with the cyanide to produce a poison 100 times more deadly than either in isolation. The combined effect on the cancer cells is best left to the imagination.
But what about danger to the rest of the body's cells? Another enzyme, Rhodanese, always present in larger quantities than the unlocking enzyme beta-glucosidase in healthy tissues has the easy ability to completely break down both cyanide and benzaldehyde into beneficial body products. Predictably perhaps, malignant cancer cells contain no Rhodanese at all, leaving them completely at the mercy of the cyanide and benzaldehyde.
Any physician reading this article will probably be shaking with self-righteous indignation at this stage, muttering to himself: 'Yes, but where is the PROOF???'.
Right here! Most people have heard of 'spontaneous remission', where the cancer simply goes away, hopefully never to reappear. Spontaneous remissions are exceedingly rare and vary from one form of cancer to another. One virulent variety known as testicular chorionepithelioma has never been known to produce a single spontaneous remission. Perhaps for that precise reason, Dr. Krebs singled it out for special attention when proving the effectiveness of B17 Laetrile in providing total control for cancers. As Edward Griffin recounts:
In a banquet speech in San Francisco on November 19, 1967, Dr. Ernst T. Krebs, Jr., briefly reviewed six such cases. Then he added:
Now there is an advantage in not having had prior radiation, because if you have not received prior radiation that has failed, then you cannot enjoy the imagined benefits of the delayed effects of prior radiation. So this boy falls into the category of the "spontaneous regression..."
And when we look at this scientifically, we know that spontaneous regression occurs in fewer than one in 150,000 cases of cancer. The statistical possibility of spontaneous regression accounting for the complete resolution of successive cases of testicular chorionepithelioma is far greater than the statistical improbability of the sun not rising tomorrow morning."
Wisely perhaps, Griffin notes that because of the adverse publicity against B17 Laetrile, and because of the difficulties in obtaining the 'banned' substance, most cancer sufferers turn to the vitamin as a last resort, long after they have been burned by radiation therapy, and/or poisoned by chemotherapy. He points out that once the body organs have been savagely damaged in this way, there is little if any chance of B17 Laetrile being able to effect a cure. The body is simply too far gone.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
5 REASONS MEN GET A GUT
YOU HATE IT, AND SEE IT WHEN YOU LOOK IN THE MIRROR, BUT DON'T WANT TO BE TOLD YOU'RE DOING SOMETHING WRONG.
That's fine. So take this to heart so you don't have to visit your doctor and have HIM tell you!
1. Men like meat! You feel like a manly man when you make it, right? But you're not matching the portion size with your vegetables. You need twice as many vegetables on your plate as meat. And here's the rub about red meat. (pun intended) Nutritionists hardly need more evidence about the potentially negative health effects of eating red meat. For starters, the saturated animal fat in red meat contributes to heart disease and atherosclerosis. Recent research also shows that frequent red meat eaters face twice the risk of colon cancer as those who indulge less often. Red meat is also thought to increase the risks of rheumatoid arthritis and endometriosis. Not to mention it is VERY hard for the body to digest and gets caught in the little pockets of our digestive system.
REMEDY: Either eliminate it, or limit it to once a week. You'll be around long enough to thank me for that advice.
2. Men drink things from a container. Gatorade, soda, beer, red bull, monster, flavored water. All these have in common is SUGAR!!
REMEDY: Drink 2 LITERS/ day of good old fashioned water. Think of your loved ones every time you do!
3. QUIZ:
50 years ago, what produced 2,000lbs a year
Today produces over 50,000lbs a year?
A cow. How does a cow suddenly start producing over 25x more milk than it did 50 years ago? Do we have bionic cows? Could you become 25x more productive at your job in 50 years? Not without a bionic arm and never sleeping, right? So why are we drinking milk from an animal that we weren't born from? Milk that has drugs, antibiotics, hormones, that comes from cows that are on force feeding plans and specialized breeding. It's not natural and it's not good for us. It takes them 3 stomachs to digest their own milk and we think we can do it with ONE? It also has 24 more proteins designed for their own young that humans don't need and can't use. But we tax our bodies by ingesting it. There's nothing good about drinking cows milk. TV ads lie because they have jobs and a whole industry depending on your buying it. Ever seen a spinach commercial?
REMEDY: Drink more good old fashioned water. Think more of your loved ones every time you do!
4. 8 not 3. Hours that is. Deep sleep. It's difficult, we know. It's stressful being a man. Lots of people depending on you. A successful appearance to maintain. But that's no excuse. We will always have stress-it's not going away. We need to get better at managing it.
REMEDY: Put some headphones on a listen to THIS every night.
5. Is the gym the only place to stay in shape? NO! Of coarse not! If you have trouble getting yourself there, then be realistic!
REMEDY: Make a list of all the sports you enjoy and then pick one that you can start this week and then put it as an appointment in your calendar. Then keep the appointment! You know exercise is important, and not having time to do it is just an excuse! So, on behalf of all those that love you....get going!
AND THEN SIGN UP FOR ONE OF OUR PROGRAMS TO KEEP YOU GOING!
WWW.EVOBODYLUTION.COM
That's fine. So take this to heart so you don't have to visit your doctor and have HIM tell you!
1. Men like meat! You feel like a manly man when you make it, right? But you're not matching the portion size with your vegetables. You need twice as many vegetables on your plate as meat. And here's the rub about red meat. (pun intended) Nutritionists hardly need more evidence about the potentially negative health effects of eating red meat. For starters, the saturated animal fat in red meat contributes to heart disease and atherosclerosis. Recent research also shows that frequent red meat eaters face twice the risk of colon cancer as those who indulge less often. Red meat is also thought to increase the risks of rheumatoid arthritis and endometriosis. Not to mention it is VERY hard for the body to digest and gets caught in the little pockets of our digestive system.
REMEDY: Either eliminate it, or limit it to once a week. You'll be around long enough to thank me for that advice.
2. Men drink things from a container. Gatorade, soda, beer, red bull, monster, flavored water. All these have in common is SUGAR!!
REMEDY: Drink 2 LITERS/ day of good old fashioned water. Think of your loved ones every time you do!
3. QUIZ:
50 years ago, what produced 2,000lbs a year
Today produces over 50,000lbs a year?
A cow. How does a cow suddenly start producing over 25x more milk than it did 50 years ago? Do we have bionic cows? Could you become 25x more productive at your job in 50 years? Not without a bionic arm and never sleeping, right? So why are we drinking milk from an animal that we weren't born from? Milk that has drugs, antibiotics, hormones, that comes from cows that are on force feeding plans and specialized breeding. It's not natural and it's not good for us. It takes them 3 stomachs to digest their own milk and we think we can do it with ONE? It also has 24 more proteins designed for their own young that humans don't need and can't use. But we tax our bodies by ingesting it. There's nothing good about drinking cows milk. TV ads lie because they have jobs and a whole industry depending on your buying it. Ever seen a spinach commercial?
REMEDY: Drink more good old fashioned water. Think more of your loved ones every time you do!
4. 8 not 3. Hours that is. Deep sleep. It's difficult, we know. It's stressful being a man. Lots of people depending on you. A successful appearance to maintain. But that's no excuse. We will always have stress-it's not going away. We need to get better at managing it.
REMEDY: Put some headphones on a listen to THIS every night.
5. Is the gym the only place to stay in shape? NO! Of coarse not! If you have trouble getting yourself there, then be realistic!
REMEDY: Make a list of all the sports you enjoy and then pick one that you can start this week and then put it as an appointment in your calendar. Then keep the appointment! You know exercise is important, and not having time to do it is just an excuse! So, on behalf of all those that love you....get going!
AND THEN SIGN UP FOR ONE OF OUR PROGRAMS TO KEEP YOU GOING!
WWW.EVOBODYLUTION.COM
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Stress Tips: Calm Your Mind, Heal Your Body
by Dr Mark Hyman
WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR HEALTH, there is one factor that is more important than almost any other…
If it is missing from your life, it causes or worsens 95 percent of all illness. It has been associated with dramatic reductions in disease and increased longevity.
And it is more important than cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure, or any other risk factor in determining whether you will live a long and healthy life. But it doesn’t come in a pill, and it can’t be found in a hospital or in your doctor’s office.
What is this critical factor that determines so much about how healthy or how sick you are?
Your attitude, your social networks, your community, and your spiritual beliefs.
Put another way, the health of your mind and spirit and your sense of connection to your community has an immense impact on the health of your body. In fact, aside from eating breakfast, the biggest predictor of longevity is psychological resiliency — being able to roll with the punches that life throws at us.
We’ve known about this in medicine for a long time. I was recently browsing through my library and found an old book that I read in college called Mind as Healer, Mind as Slayer, written by a friend and leader in the field of mind/body medicine, Kenneth Pelletier. He is a clinical professor of medicine at the medical schools of the University of California, San Francisco and the University of Arizona.
His book was published in 1977. I wish I could say that a lot has changed since that book was published. Sure, we have filled in the gaps and learned more about the mechanisms through which the body affects the mind and the mind affects the body, but the basic truths remain the same.
There is a dramatic and powerful connection between your mind and body, and between your body and your mind. In fact, it really should not be called a connection because it is just ONE bidirectional system.
Unfortunately, few doctors accept or understand this fundamental reality about biology. So, in most doctors’ offices, you aren’t going to learn about the connection between your body and brain or how to use that connection to help you heal.
However, in this blog I am going to give you the tools to do that. I am going to explain how the body and mind are intimately connected and give you 10 tips you can use to calm your mind and heal your body.
Calming your mind is the last of the 7 Keys to UltraWellness; today you are going to learn how you can relax your way to vibrant health and optimal weight.
Americans live on caffeine and Prozac. We use substances to manage our moods. In fact, the four top-selling items in grocery stores are all drugs that we use to manage our mood and energy: caffeine, sugar, alcohol, and nicotine.
An Epidemic of Stress-Related Disorders
According to Hans Selye, MD, the man who coined the word “stress” and first mapped out its biological effects, “The modern physician should know as much about emotions and thoughts as about disease symptoms and drugs. This approach would appear to hold more promise of cure than anything medicine has given us to date.”
Selye’s words are as true today as they were on the day he wrote them.
We are seeing an epidemic of stress-related disorders in our society, including depression, anxiety, autism, attention deficit disorder, memory disorders, and dementia, and these disorders are making the pharmaceutical industry highly profitable.
You see, Americans live on caffeine and Prozac. We use substances to manage our moods. In fact, the four top-selling items in grocery stores are all drugs that we use to manage our mood and energy: caffeine, sugar, alcohol, and nicotine.
But how do we really deal with the root of this problem? You use the MOST powerful pharmacy in the world — which is right between your ears!
A little later, I will tell you how to use your brain to fix your health problems. First, I want to share a story that illustrates the power the mind has to harm or to heal.
The Power of the Mind-Body Connection
Tom, a long-term patient of mine, came to see me after his wife died. He suddenly developed heart failure. His heart just wouldn’t pump. It was flooded with grief molecules, hormones like adrenalin, noradrenalin, and cortisol.
His case is far from being the only documented case in which grief caused cardiovascular problems. The New England Journal of Medicine recently published a study about how grief or emotional trauma can cause heart failure — literally a broken heart.
Rather than giving Tom drugs for “heart failure” as I was taught in medical school, I suggested he get healing touch, a form of energy and emotional healing. Sounds a bit out there, huh? Well, he followed my advice and dramatically recovered. Touch, not medication, healed his heart.
I think we can all learn a lesson from Tom and other cases like his.
95 percent of all illness is caused or worsened by stress.
In school, we all learned how to read and write, but we never learned how to use our minds to help us with the most important survival skills of all: staying happy and healthy!
Other cultures differ in their training. Herbert Benson, MD, of Harvard Medical School, has demonstrated the amazing power that trained Tibetan meditators use to control their physiology by slowing their metabolism, changing their heart rates and brain waves, and raising or lowering their body temperature.
He even documented on film an ancient practice called tumo, the generating of internal heat, performed by initiated Tibetan monks. The monks are wrapped in icy cold sheets and must use their internal heat to dry them, possibly by actively burning something called brown fat. As a result, they can sit naked on a snowy mountaintop all night and not freeze, keeping warm with their internal heat.
That’s something most of us don’t have any consciousness of, or control over. Imagine if you could turn on fat burning and lose weight with your mind!
That is how powerful our mind and our beliefs can be.
But in the West we aren’t even taught how to cope with the day-to-day frustrations of life. We live under constant chronic stress and we are not trained to address this stressful psychic load that is the burden of the 21st century.
This is unfortunate, because stress is killing us.
Just consider these facts:
95 percent of all illness is caused or worsened by stress. Low socioeconomic status is associated with poorer health outcomes and higher risk of death from all causes. This is not because of poor health habits, but because of feelings of powerlessness and loss of control. Internalized racism and stress are associated with high amounts of belly fat.
Stress hormones damage the hippocampus — the memory center in the brain — causing memory loss and dementia.
In a study of people who volunteered to have cold viruses injected into their noses, only people with a high level of perceived stress got colds. Women with metastatic breast cancer survived twice as long if they were part of a support group.
Belonging to a group — a religious group, a bowling club, a quilting group — reduces risk of death from all causes and increases longevity, despite health habits.
In a study of doctors, those who scored high on hostility questionnaires had a higher risk of heart attacks than those who smoked, were overweight, had high blood pressure, or didn’t exercise.
So, if you don’t think the mind has the power to influence your body, think again.
The good news is that you can change your beliefs and attitudes and their effects on your mind and your body. You may need to learn a few new skills, like stress reduction techniques, but it can be done.
However, our beliefs and attitudes aren’t the only things that matter. Our mind and brain function is also influenced by what happens in our bodies. By addressing the 7 Keys to UltraWellness, “mental” problems can often be cured — without changing our beliefs.
The effects of beliefs and attitudes are important. There can be no question of that. But the effects of imbalances in our core body systems on our mental state and brain function are just as important and are mostly IGNORED by traditional medicine.
The systems in your body that affect mood and brain function include hormones, immune system, gut, detox system, energy system, nutritional status, and other environmental inputs.
For example, I saw a man who was completely stressed out and anxious. He had palpitations and drank four martinis a night just to calm down. He also had severe muscle cramps and eye twitches.
These are obvious signs of magnesium deficiency. But stress, alcohol, caffeine, and sugar all deplete magnesium. He was trapped in a vicious cycle.
What he needed wasn’t Valium or Prozac, but rather to address why he was magnesium-deficient and then fix it through detoxification, treating his yeast overgrowth, cutting out alcohol and caffeine, and supplementing with the relaxation mineral, magnesium, to calm his nervous system.
That, in combination with other tools for calming the mind and the body, will help him reset his nervous system. By using these tools together, he’ll be taking advantage of both the body-mind effect and the mind-body effect, thereby optimizing his treatment.
You can do the same thing. By employing the following techniques, you can leverage the power of your brain and body to calm your mind and bring healing.
10 Tips for Calming Your Mind
Here is what we know about how to influence the mind-body and the body-mind system. Consider these essential survival skills. You cannot thrive without them!
Address the Underlying Causes of Stress — Find the biological causes of problems with the mind by working on the 7 Keys to UltraWellness. Mercury toxicity or a magnesium or vitamin B12 deficiency or a toxic gut chemical or a gluten allergy could be changing your brain. So, by changing your body, you can change your mind!
Relax — Learn how to ACTIVELY relax. To engage the powerful forces of the mind on the body, you must DO something — you can’t just sit there watching television or drinking beer.
Learn New Skills — Try learning new skills such as meditation, deep breathing, yoga, biofeedback, and progressive muscle relaxation or take a hot bath, make love, get a massage, watch a sunset, or walk in the woods or on the beach.
Move Your Body — Exercise is a powerful, well-studied way to burn off stress chemicals and heal the mind, so just do it! It has been proven to be better than or equal to Prozac for treating depression.
Optimize Your Nutrition — Clean up your diet from mind-robbing molecules like caffeine, alcohol, and refined sugars and eat regularly to avoid the short-term stress of starvation on your body.
Supplement — Take a multivitamin and nutrients to help balance the stress response, such as vitamin C; the B-complex vitamins, including B6 and B5 or pantothenic acid; zinc; and most important, magnesium, the relaxation mineral.
Try Herbs — Use adaptogenic herbs (herbs that help you adapt and balance your response to stress) such as ginseng, Rhodiola rosea, Siberian ginseng, cordyceps, and ashwagandha.
Use Heat Therapy — Take a hot bath or a sauna to help your body deeply relax and turn on the relaxation response.
Change Your Beliefs — Examine your beliefs, attitudes, and responses to common situations and consider reframing your point of view to reduce stress.
Find a Community — Consciously build your network of friends, family, and community. They are your most powerful allies in achieving long-term health.
In the 7 Keys to Ultrawellness, which this post was originally part of, I introduced you to a set of new ideas and concepts that have the power to transform your health personally and to transform health care as a whole. It is no small job in either case, but it is essential to stem the impending tsunami of ill health and economic burden facing us, our children, and our children’s children.
The solution is a fundamental change in our worldview about health — a view that helps us get to the core of illness, learn self-care, take control, and empower ourselves to transform our own health and turn our “sick care” system into a health care system.
Each of us can contribute and make small changes that will have a big effect as we move toward vibrant health and vitality as individuals, and as a society.
Take control of your health today using the techniques I have outlined in this series of blogs, and you will become part of a growing movement that is working toward fundamentally changing the way we understand the body and practice medicine in this country.
To your good health,
Mark Hyman, MD
WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR HEALTH, there is one factor that is more important than almost any other…
If it is missing from your life, it causes or worsens 95 percent of all illness. It has been associated with dramatic reductions in disease and increased longevity.
And it is more important than cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure, or any other risk factor in determining whether you will live a long and healthy life. But it doesn’t come in a pill, and it can’t be found in a hospital or in your doctor’s office.
What is this critical factor that determines so much about how healthy or how sick you are?
Your attitude, your social networks, your community, and your spiritual beliefs.
Put another way, the health of your mind and spirit and your sense of connection to your community has an immense impact on the health of your body. In fact, aside from eating breakfast, the biggest predictor of longevity is psychological resiliency — being able to roll with the punches that life throws at us.
We’ve known about this in medicine for a long time. I was recently browsing through my library and found an old book that I read in college called Mind as Healer, Mind as Slayer, written by a friend and leader in the field of mind/body medicine, Kenneth Pelletier. He is a clinical professor of medicine at the medical schools of the University of California, San Francisco and the University of Arizona.
His book was published in 1977. I wish I could say that a lot has changed since that book was published. Sure, we have filled in the gaps and learned more about the mechanisms through which the body affects the mind and the mind affects the body, but the basic truths remain the same.
There is a dramatic and powerful connection between your mind and body, and between your body and your mind. In fact, it really should not be called a connection because it is just ONE bidirectional system.
Unfortunately, few doctors accept or understand this fundamental reality about biology. So, in most doctors’ offices, you aren’t going to learn about the connection between your body and brain or how to use that connection to help you heal.
However, in this blog I am going to give you the tools to do that. I am going to explain how the body and mind are intimately connected and give you 10 tips you can use to calm your mind and heal your body.
Calming your mind is the last of the 7 Keys to UltraWellness; today you are going to learn how you can relax your way to vibrant health and optimal weight.
Americans live on caffeine and Prozac. We use substances to manage our moods. In fact, the four top-selling items in grocery stores are all drugs that we use to manage our mood and energy: caffeine, sugar, alcohol, and nicotine.
An Epidemic of Stress-Related Disorders
According to Hans Selye, MD, the man who coined the word “stress” and first mapped out its biological effects, “The modern physician should know as much about emotions and thoughts as about disease symptoms and drugs. This approach would appear to hold more promise of cure than anything medicine has given us to date.”
Selye’s words are as true today as they were on the day he wrote them.
We are seeing an epidemic of stress-related disorders in our society, including depression, anxiety, autism, attention deficit disorder, memory disorders, and dementia, and these disorders are making the pharmaceutical industry highly profitable.
You see, Americans live on caffeine and Prozac. We use substances to manage our moods. In fact, the four top-selling items in grocery stores are all drugs that we use to manage our mood and energy: caffeine, sugar, alcohol, and nicotine.
But how do we really deal with the root of this problem? You use the MOST powerful pharmacy in the world — which is right between your ears!
A little later, I will tell you how to use your brain to fix your health problems. First, I want to share a story that illustrates the power the mind has to harm or to heal.
The Power of the Mind-Body Connection
Tom, a long-term patient of mine, came to see me after his wife died. He suddenly developed heart failure. His heart just wouldn’t pump. It was flooded with grief molecules, hormones like adrenalin, noradrenalin, and cortisol.
His case is far from being the only documented case in which grief caused cardiovascular problems. The New England Journal of Medicine recently published a study about how grief or emotional trauma can cause heart failure — literally a broken heart.
Rather than giving Tom drugs for “heart failure” as I was taught in medical school, I suggested he get healing touch, a form of energy and emotional healing. Sounds a bit out there, huh? Well, he followed my advice and dramatically recovered. Touch, not medication, healed his heart.
I think we can all learn a lesson from Tom and other cases like his.
95 percent of all illness is caused or worsened by stress.
In school, we all learned how to read and write, but we never learned how to use our minds to help us with the most important survival skills of all: staying happy and healthy!
Other cultures differ in their training. Herbert Benson, MD, of Harvard Medical School, has demonstrated the amazing power that trained Tibetan meditators use to control their physiology by slowing their metabolism, changing their heart rates and brain waves, and raising or lowering their body temperature.
He even documented on film an ancient practice called tumo, the generating of internal heat, performed by initiated Tibetan monks. The monks are wrapped in icy cold sheets and must use their internal heat to dry them, possibly by actively burning something called brown fat. As a result, they can sit naked on a snowy mountaintop all night and not freeze, keeping warm with their internal heat.
That’s something most of us don’t have any consciousness of, or control over. Imagine if you could turn on fat burning and lose weight with your mind!
That is how powerful our mind and our beliefs can be.
But in the West we aren’t even taught how to cope with the day-to-day frustrations of life. We live under constant chronic stress and we are not trained to address this stressful psychic load that is the burden of the 21st century.
This is unfortunate, because stress is killing us.
Just consider these facts:
95 percent of all illness is caused or worsened by stress. Low socioeconomic status is associated with poorer health outcomes and higher risk of death from all causes. This is not because of poor health habits, but because of feelings of powerlessness and loss of control. Internalized racism and stress are associated with high amounts of belly fat.
Stress hormones damage the hippocampus — the memory center in the brain — causing memory loss and dementia.
In a study of people who volunteered to have cold viruses injected into their noses, only people with a high level of perceived stress got colds. Women with metastatic breast cancer survived twice as long if they were part of a support group.
Belonging to a group — a religious group, a bowling club, a quilting group — reduces risk of death from all causes and increases longevity, despite health habits.
In a study of doctors, those who scored high on hostility questionnaires had a higher risk of heart attacks than those who smoked, were overweight, had high blood pressure, or didn’t exercise.
So, if you don’t think the mind has the power to influence your body, think again.
The good news is that you can change your beliefs and attitudes and their effects on your mind and your body. You may need to learn a few new skills, like stress reduction techniques, but it can be done.
However, our beliefs and attitudes aren’t the only things that matter. Our mind and brain function is also influenced by what happens in our bodies. By addressing the 7 Keys to UltraWellness, “mental” problems can often be cured — without changing our beliefs.
The effects of beliefs and attitudes are important. There can be no question of that. But the effects of imbalances in our core body systems on our mental state and brain function are just as important and are mostly IGNORED by traditional medicine.
The systems in your body that affect mood and brain function include hormones, immune system, gut, detox system, energy system, nutritional status, and other environmental inputs.
For example, I saw a man who was completely stressed out and anxious. He had palpitations and drank four martinis a night just to calm down. He also had severe muscle cramps and eye twitches.
These are obvious signs of magnesium deficiency. But stress, alcohol, caffeine, and sugar all deplete magnesium. He was trapped in a vicious cycle.
What he needed wasn’t Valium or Prozac, but rather to address why he was magnesium-deficient and then fix it through detoxification, treating his yeast overgrowth, cutting out alcohol and caffeine, and supplementing with the relaxation mineral, magnesium, to calm his nervous system.
That, in combination with other tools for calming the mind and the body, will help him reset his nervous system. By using these tools together, he’ll be taking advantage of both the body-mind effect and the mind-body effect, thereby optimizing his treatment.
You can do the same thing. By employing the following techniques, you can leverage the power of your brain and body to calm your mind and bring healing.
10 Tips for Calming Your Mind
Here is what we know about how to influence the mind-body and the body-mind system. Consider these essential survival skills. You cannot thrive without them!
Address the Underlying Causes of Stress — Find the biological causes of problems with the mind by working on the 7 Keys to UltraWellness. Mercury toxicity or a magnesium or vitamin B12 deficiency or a toxic gut chemical or a gluten allergy could be changing your brain. So, by changing your body, you can change your mind!
Relax — Learn how to ACTIVELY relax. To engage the powerful forces of the mind on the body, you must DO something — you can’t just sit there watching television or drinking beer.
Learn New Skills — Try learning new skills such as meditation, deep breathing, yoga, biofeedback, and progressive muscle relaxation or take a hot bath, make love, get a massage, watch a sunset, or walk in the woods or on the beach.
Move Your Body — Exercise is a powerful, well-studied way to burn off stress chemicals and heal the mind, so just do it! It has been proven to be better than or equal to Prozac for treating depression.
Optimize Your Nutrition — Clean up your diet from mind-robbing molecules like caffeine, alcohol, and refined sugars and eat regularly to avoid the short-term stress of starvation on your body.
Supplement — Take a multivitamin and nutrients to help balance the stress response, such as vitamin C; the B-complex vitamins, including B6 and B5 or pantothenic acid; zinc; and most important, magnesium, the relaxation mineral.
Try Herbs — Use adaptogenic herbs (herbs that help you adapt and balance your response to stress) such as ginseng, Rhodiola rosea, Siberian ginseng, cordyceps, and ashwagandha.
Use Heat Therapy — Take a hot bath or a sauna to help your body deeply relax and turn on the relaxation response.
Change Your Beliefs — Examine your beliefs, attitudes, and responses to common situations and consider reframing your point of view to reduce stress.
Find a Community — Consciously build your network of friends, family, and community. They are your most powerful allies in achieving long-term health.
In the 7 Keys to Ultrawellness, which this post was originally part of, I introduced you to a set of new ideas and concepts that have the power to transform your health personally and to transform health care as a whole. It is no small job in either case, but it is essential to stem the impending tsunami of ill health and economic burden facing us, our children, and our children’s children.
The solution is a fundamental change in our worldview about health — a view that helps us get to the core of illness, learn self-care, take control, and empower ourselves to transform our own health and turn our “sick care” system into a health care system.
Each of us can contribute and make small changes that will have a big effect as we move toward vibrant health and vitality as individuals, and as a society.
Take control of your health today using the techniques I have outlined in this series of blogs, and you will become part of a growing movement that is working toward fundamentally changing the way we understand the body and practice medicine in this country.
To your good health,
Mark Hyman, MD
Monday, May 28, 2012
7 Most alkaline foods
1. SPINACH -All leafy greens should be eaten in abundance but spinach is easy to buy, easy to use in recipes and salads and is delicious. Baby spinach or fully grown spinach are Nutritional powerhouses and are incredibly alkaline. As with all green foods, spinach is rich in chlorophyll (see more about the health benefits of chlorophyll here), a potent alkaliser and blood builder. It is also super high in vitamin K, vitamin A, manganese, folate, magnesium, iron, vitamin c, vitamin b2, calcium, potassium, vitamin e, dietary fiber…I doubt there is a more all round healthy food on earth and I highly encourage you to eat spinach throughout the day, every day.
2. KALE -Kale is another leafy green beauty that is widely known for its Cancer-Fighting, Cholesterol-Lowering, Antioxidant-rich, and Detoxifying goodness. Less popular than spinach, but only because it has a history of being cooked poorly – when done right it is absolutely delicious. If you eat kale 2-3 times per week you’ll know it. Like spinach it is massively high in vitamin K, vitamin A and vitamin C and being Leafy Green it also has a huge Chlorophyll content. The reason it is so powerful against the Cancer Fight is that kale contains at least four Glucosinolates. Glucosinolates are really easily converted by the body into cancer fighting compounds. Also quite amazing for Lowering Cholesterol.
3. CUCUMBER The beauty of cucumber is it’s water content – 95%. That is phenomenal and you won’t find that anywhere else. It’s the daddy of water-content. This of course makes it an incredibly hydrating food to consume, that ALSO contains superb amounts of antioxidants, including the super-important lignans. These highly beneficial polyphenols have more commonly been associated with the cruciferous vegetables, but their content in other veggies such as cucumbers is gaining more and more attention. Cucumbers contain a right load of lariciresinol, pinoresinol, and secoisolariciresinol , three lignans that have a huge and very strong history of research in connection with Reduced Risk of Cardiovascular disease as well as several cancer types, including Breast, Uterine, Ovarian, and Prostate Cancers. The best thing about cucumber is that they provide the base for practically every alkaline soup, smoothie and juice – giving you a very alkaline, very nutritious base that also tastes great. In terms of the actual nutrient RDA per serve, cucumbers contain fair amounts of vitamins K and C, and slightly less of vitamin A and the B vitamins. Cucumbers also contain the following alkaline minerals: calcium, iron, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, selenium, copper, manganese, iron and zinc.
4. BROCCOLI - Broccoli is just a must. If you are serious about living with health, energy and vitality you simply have to eat broccoli, if not on a daily basis, then at least 4 times per week. Broccoli has been proven over and over and over again to be incredibly powerful in inhibiting Cancers, supporting the Digestive System, the Cardiovascular System, the Detoxification processes in the body and also supporting the Skin, metabolism, İmmune system, being an Anti-Inflammatory and providing ample Antioxidants. Eaten raw its a Hugely Alkaline, Hugely Nutritious food. Please eat lots and lots of it. Put it in salads, juices, smoothies, etc.
5. AVOCADO -I eat a LOT of avocado. Not a salad, smoothie or soup goes by without me adding at least 1/2 an avocado per person. I probably eat at least five-seven per week, myself. Now, I know a lot of people give avocado a bad rep because it is a high-fat food (85% of it’s calories come from fats) – but this is totally insane. These are good fats that will not make you gain weight. If anything, due to the high content of oleic acid (making it an Omega 9 fat and very similar to olive oil), it can lower total cholesterol level and raise levels of high-density lipoproteins (HDLs) while lowering low-density lipoproteins (LDLs), also known as the “bad” cholesterol. Oleic Acid also slows the development of heart disease, and promotes the production of Antioxidants. These beneficial omega oils also help speed the metabolism, actually leading to weight loss rather than gain. So now we’re over the fat issue, avocado also contains a wide range of other nutrients that have serious Anti-İnflammatory, Heart Health, Cardiovascular Health, Anti-Cancer, and Blood Sugar Benefits. Containing key Antioxidants such as alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, lutein, selenium and more – it is a powerful, alkaline, nutrient-dense superfood.
6. CELERY - Celery, like cucumber is a favourite because it’s alkaline AND really high water content, so is used very frequently as a base in juices and soups (not so much smoothies as you have to juice it first…and then you have double the washing up). One of celery’s big benefits is it’s vitamin C level, which has the well known benefits – but two of it’s lesser known nutrients are phthalides which have been shown to Lower Cholesterol and coumarins which have been shown to inhibit Several Cancers. The beauty of vitamin C rich foods are that they help with the most common and most challenging health concerns – they support the İmmune system, inflammation (so helps with Arthritis, Osteoporosis, Asthma etc), and vitamin C also helps significantly with Cardiovascular Health. If you are on a weight loss journey, you’ll also be happy to hear that this alkaline staple contains plenty of potassium and sodium and so is a diuretic – meaning it helps rid the body of excess fluids.
7. CAPSICUM / BELL PEPPER / PEPPER - The antioxidant superpower, bell pepper is sweet, crunchy and refreshingly delicious when eaten raw. Impressively beneficial to our health cartenoids are highly researched and get a lot of attention in the health field and bell peppers contain over 30 different members of the carotenoid nutrient family. The only other food that is close to this is Tomato and all other foods are also-rans. Bell peppers have shown up in research relating to decreasing the risk of Cardiovascular Disease, type II Diabetes, Macular Degeneration, Cancer, inflammation and more. Alongside these lesser known or more complex-named antioxidants, bell pepper is one of, if not the best food source of the more common antioxidants: vitamin C, vitamin A and vitamin E. In fact, bell peppers contain twice as much vitamin C as oranges. Here are just SOME of the antioxidants bell pepper contains: - Flavonoids – luteolin – quercetin – hesperidin - Carotenoids – alpha-carotene – beta-carotene – cryptoxanthin – lutein – zeaxanthin - Hydroxycinnamic Acids - ferulic acid – cinnamic acid.
So, here's your challenge! Go to the store, buy 2 each and eat all of them in a week! Let me know how it goes!
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
The Root Cause of Anxiety and Depression That Few Suspect
By Dr. Mercola
When you think about strategies to achieve optimal brain performance, you may think about doing crossword puzzles or learning a new language... adding more sleep or even eating more omega-3 fats may also come to mind.
Most people would not automatically think about their gut when they think about brain health... but this is actually a perfect place to look, one that may very well hold the secret to improving your mood, mental health and preventing other brain-related diseases, like Parkinson's.
Does Your Gut Hold the Key to Better Brain Health?
You may not be aware that you actually have two nervous systems:
1. Central nervous system, composed of your brain and spinal cord
2. Enteric nervous system, which is the intrinsic nervous system of your gastrointestinal tract
Both are actually created out of the same type of tissue.
During fetal development, one part turns into your central nervous system while the other develops into your enteric nervous system.
These two systems are connected via the vagus nerve, the tenth cranial nerve that runs from your brain stem down to your abdomen.
It is now well established that the vagus nerve is the primary route your gut bacteria use to transmit information to your brain. That's right... while many think of their brain as the organ in charge, your gut actually sends far more information to your brain than your brain sends to your gut.
To put this into more concrete terms, you've probably experienced the visceral sensation of butterflies in your stomach when you're nervous, or had an upset stomach when you were very angry or stressed. The flip side is also true, in that problems in your gut can directly impact your mental health, leading to issues like anxiety, depression, and autism.
For instance, in December 2011 the Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility reported the novel finding that the probiotic (good bacteria) known as Bifidobacterium longum NCC3001 has been shown to help normalize anxiety-like behavior in mice with infectious colitis.i
Reportedly, the bacteria's effect on anxiety involves modulating the vagal pathways within your gut-brain connection:
"As B. longum decreases excitability of enteric neurons, it may signal to the central nervous system by activating vagal pathways at the level of the enteric nervous system."
Separate research also found the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus had a marked effect on GABA [an inhibitory neurotransmitter that is significantly involved in regulating many physiological and psychological processes] levels in certain brain regions and lowered the stress-induced hormone corticosterone, resulting in reduced anxiety- and depression-related behavior.ii
When researchers severed the vagus nerve, GABA receptor levels and the animals' behavior remained unchanged after treatment with L. rhamnosus, confirming that the vagus nerve is most likely the primary pathway of communication between the bacteria in your gut and your brain.
Interestingly, just as you have neurons in your brain, you also have neurons in your gut -- including neurons that produce neurotransmitters like serotonin, which is also found in your brain. In fact, the greatest concentration of serotonin, which is involved in mood control, depression and aggression, is found in your intestines, not your brain! (Perhaps this is one reason why antidepressants, which raise serotonin levels in your brain, are often ineffective in treating depression, whereas proper dietary changes often help.)
Abnormal Gut Flora Fosters Abnormal Brain Development
There is a close connection between abnormal gut flora and abnormal brain development—a condition Dr. Campbell-McBride calls Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS). GAPS is the result of poorly developed or imbalanced gut flora and may manifest as a conglomerate of symptoms that can fit the diagnosis of autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), attention deficit disorder (ADD) without hyperactivity, dyslexia, dyspraxia, or obsessive-compulsive disorder, just to name a few possibilities.
Dr. Campbell believes autistic children are born with perfectly normal brains and sensory organs, but once their digestive system becomes a major source of toxicity instead of being a source of nourishment, they start to develop autistic symptoms. This theory fits in well with new research published by the American Society for Microbiology, which identified a bacteria (Sutterella) that is unique to the intestines of children with autism.
The researchers reported:
Your gut bacteria are an active and integrated part of your body, and as such are heavily dependent on your diet and vulnerable to your lifestyle. If you consume a lot of processed foods and sweetened drinks, for instance, your gut bacteria are likely going to be severely compromised because processed foods in general will destroy healthy microflora and sugars of all kinds feed bad bacteria and yeast.
Your gut bacteria are also very sensitive to:
When you consider that your gut is your "second brain," it becomes easy to see how your gut health can impact your brain function, psyche, and behavior, as they are interconnected and interdependent in a number of different ways. Fortunately, optimizing your gut health is remarkably easy.
Here are my recommendations for optimizing your gut bacteria:
When you think about strategies to achieve optimal brain performance, you may think about doing crossword puzzles or learning a new language... adding more sleep or even eating more omega-3 fats may also come to mind.
Most people would not automatically think about their gut when they think about brain health... but this is actually a perfect place to look, one that may very well hold the secret to improving your mood, mental health and preventing other brain-related diseases, like Parkinson's.
Does Your Gut Hold the Key to Better Brain Health?
You may not be aware that you actually have two nervous systems:
1. Central nervous system, composed of your brain and spinal cord
2. Enteric nervous system, which is the intrinsic nervous system of your gastrointestinal tract
Both are actually created out of the same type of tissue.
During fetal development, one part turns into your central nervous system while the other develops into your enteric nervous system.
These two systems are connected via the vagus nerve, the tenth cranial nerve that runs from your brain stem down to your abdomen.
It is now well established that the vagus nerve is the primary route your gut bacteria use to transmit information to your brain. That's right... while many think of their brain as the organ in charge, your gut actually sends far more information to your brain than your brain sends to your gut.
To put this into more concrete terms, you've probably experienced the visceral sensation of butterflies in your stomach when you're nervous, or had an upset stomach when you were very angry or stressed. The flip side is also true, in that problems in your gut can directly impact your mental health, leading to issues like anxiety, depression, and autism.
For instance, in December 2011 the Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility reported the novel finding that the probiotic (good bacteria) known as Bifidobacterium longum NCC3001 has been shown to help normalize anxiety-like behavior in mice with infectious colitis.i
Reportedly, the bacteria's effect on anxiety involves modulating the vagal pathways within your gut-brain connection:
"As B. longum decreases excitability of enteric neurons, it may signal to the central nervous system by activating vagal pathways at the level of the enteric nervous system."
Separate research also found the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus had a marked effect on GABA [an inhibitory neurotransmitter that is significantly involved in regulating many physiological and psychological processes] levels in certain brain regions and lowered the stress-induced hormone corticosterone, resulting in reduced anxiety- and depression-related behavior.ii
When researchers severed the vagus nerve, GABA receptor levels and the animals' behavior remained unchanged after treatment with L. rhamnosus, confirming that the vagus nerve is most likely the primary pathway of communication between the bacteria in your gut and your brain.
Interestingly, just as you have neurons in your brain, you also have neurons in your gut -- including neurons that produce neurotransmitters like serotonin, which is also found in your brain. In fact, the greatest concentration of serotonin, which is involved in mood control, depression and aggression, is found in your intestines, not your brain! (Perhaps this is one reason why antidepressants, which raise serotonin levels in your brain, are often ineffective in treating depression, whereas proper dietary changes often help.)
Abnormal Gut Flora Fosters Abnormal Brain Development
There is a close connection between abnormal gut flora and abnormal brain development—a condition Dr. Campbell-McBride calls Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS). GAPS is the result of poorly developed or imbalanced gut flora and may manifest as a conglomerate of symptoms that can fit the diagnosis of autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), attention deficit disorder (ADD) without hyperactivity, dyslexia, dyspraxia, or obsessive-compulsive disorder, just to name a few possibilities.
Dr. Campbell believes autistic children are born with perfectly normal brains and sensory organs, but once their digestive system becomes a major source of toxicity instead of being a source of nourishment, they start to develop autistic symptoms. This theory fits in well with new research published by the American Society for Microbiology, which identified a bacteria (Sutterella) that is unique to the intestines of children with autism.
The researchers reported:
"Many children with autism have gastrointestinal (GI) disturbances that can complicate clinical management and contribute to behavioral problems. Understanding the molecular and microbial underpinnings of these GI issues is of paramount importance for elucidating pathogenesis, rendering diagnosis, and administering informed treatment.Here we describe an association between high levels of intestinal, mucoepithelial-associated Sutterella species and GI disturbances in children with autism. These findings elevate this little-recognized bacterium to the forefront by demonstrating that Sutterella is a major component of the microbiota in over half of children with autism and gastrointestinal dysfunction (AUT-GI) and is absent in children with only gastrointestinal dysfunction (Control-GI) evaluated in this study."
What Factors Lead to Compromised Gut Bacteria?Other links between your gut and your brain health have also been established, including:
- A study published in Neurogastroenterology & Motility found mice that lack gut bacteria were found to behave differently from normal mice, engaging in what would be referred to as "high-risk behavior." This altered behavior was accompanied by neurochemical changes in the mouse brain.iv
- Research in PNAS found that gut bacteria may influence mammalian early brain development and behavior, and that the absence or presence of gut microorganisms during infancy permanently alters gene expression.v(In a similar way, probiotics have also been found to influence the activity of hundreds of your genes, helping them to express in a positive, disease-fighting manner.)
Through gene profiling, they were able to discern that absence of gut bacteria altered genes and signaling pathways involved in learning, memory, and motor control. This suggests that gut bacteria are closely tied to early brain development and subsequent behavior.
Your gut bacteria are an active and integrated part of your body, and as such are heavily dependent on your diet and vulnerable to your lifestyle. If you consume a lot of processed foods and sweetened drinks, for instance, your gut bacteria are likely going to be severely compromised because processed foods in general will destroy healthy microflora and sugars of all kinds feed bad bacteria and yeast.
Your gut bacteria are also very sensitive to:
- Antibiotics
- Chlorinated and fluoridated water
- Antibacterial soap
- Agricultural chemicals
- Pollution
Because of these latter items, to which virtually all of us are exposed at least occasionally, it's generally a good idea to "reseed" the good bacteria in your gut by taking a high-quality probiotic supplement or eating fermented foods. This is important for everyone, but imperative if you are a woman who is pregnant, as your newborn depends on you for its initial gut flora. Many women of reproductive age are deficient in a wide range of vitally important probiotic strains—a deficiency that transfers to their offspring, and may set the stage for any number of problems.
Optimizing Your Gut Flora, and Thereby Your Brain Function, is EasyAdding injury to insult is the significant decrease in breastfeeding. We now know that breastfed babies develop entirely different gut flora compared to bottle-fed babies. Infant formula never was, and never will be a healthy replacement to breast milk, for a number of reasons -- altered gut flora being one of them.
When you consider that your gut is your "second brain," it becomes easy to see how your gut health can impact your brain function, psyche, and behavior, as they are interconnected and interdependent in a number of different ways. Fortunately, optimizing your gut health is remarkably easy.
Here are my recommendations for optimizing your gut bacteria:
- Eat fermented foods, as these are the best route to optimal digestive health as long as you eat the traditionally made, unpasteurized versions. Healthy choices include various pickled fermentations of cabbage, eggplant, cucumbers and onions. We will be posting loads of information on how to do this shortly. If you regularly eat fermented foods such as these that, again, have not been pasteurized (pasteurization kills the naturally occurring probiotics), your healthy gut bacteria will thrive.
- Probiotic supplement. Although I'm not a major proponent of taking many supplements (as I believe the majority of your nutrients need to come from food), probiotics are definitely an exception. I have used many different brands over the past 15 years and there are many good ones out there. I also spent a long time researching and developing my own, called Complete Probiotics, in which I incorporated everything I have learned about this important tool over the years. If you do not eat fermented foods, taking a high-quality probiotic supplement is definitely recommended.
- If you're a new mom, breastfeed your baby. It's not just a matter of vitamins, minerals, proteins and fats that makes breast milk far superior to formula. Research shows that breast milk also contains substances that may significantly enhance your baby's gut and brain developmentvi -- a gift that will literally last a lifetime.
Monday, April 23, 2012
No Sugar?
Day 2 now: No sugar. Do you have any idea how hard that is? Do you realize how much sugar you consume? You may not think it's alot. BUT, try to eliminate it for ONE day. That means no sugar in your coffee, no sugary cereal, pancakes, waffles, oatmeal, or jelly on your toast. Nothing for your iced tea, no soda, no candy bar, or dessert after dinner.
And I have successfully gone 2 days now without ANY kind of sugar. None from fruit, white sugar, brown sugar, honey, molasses, sweetener, creamer, nothing. It's been very difficult. But, it's worth it. Listen to this interview with John Douillard. It's an hour and has many valuable concepts in it. And the last question he was asked "What is the one thing you would recommend to be eliminated from the diet." Without hesitation he answered "Sugar". Wow, that's really interesting. I can think of 10 things that you would think were worse than sugar.
But, here's why:
1. Fructose elevates uric acid, which decreases nitric oxide, raises angiotensin, and causes your smooth muscle cells to contract, thereby raising your blood pressure and potentially damaging your kidneys.
Increased uric acid also leads to chronic, low-level inflammation, which has far-reaching consequences for your health. For example, chronically inflamed blood vessels lead to heart attacks and strokes; also, a good deal of evidence exists that some cancers are caused by chronic inflammation.
2. Fructose tricks your body into gaining weight by fooling your metabolism—it turns off your body's appetite-control system. Fructose does not appropriately stimulate insulin, which in turn does not suppress ghrelin (the "hunger hormone") and doesn't stimulate leptin (the "satiety hormone"), which together result in your eating more and developing insulin resistance.
3. Fructose rapidly leads to weight gain and abdominal obesity ("beer belly"), decreased HDL, increased LDL, elevated triglycerides, elevated blood sugar, and high blood pressure—i.e., classic metabolic syndrome.
Fructose metabolism is very similar to ethanol metabolism, which has a multitude of toxic effects, including NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease). It's alcohol without the buzz.
And to make it worse...
sugar consumption trends of the past 300 years:
In 1700, the average person consumed about 4 pounds of sugar per year.
In 1800, the average person consumed about 18 pounds of sugar per year.
In 1900, individual consumption had risen to 90 pounds of sugar per year.
In 2009, 50% of us now consume 180 pounds of sugar per year!
Sugar is loaded into your soft drinks, fruit juices, sports drinks, and hidden in almost all processed foods—from bologna to pretzels to Worcestershire sauce to cheese spread. And now most infant formula has the sugar equivalent of one can of Coca-Cola, so babies are being metabolically poisoned from day one if taking formula.
No wonder there is an obesity epidemic in this country.
And I have successfully gone 2 days now without ANY kind of sugar. None from fruit, white sugar, brown sugar, honey, molasses, sweetener, creamer, nothing. It's been very difficult. But, it's worth it. Listen to this interview with John Douillard. It's an hour and has many valuable concepts in it. And the last question he was asked "What is the one thing you would recommend to be eliminated from the diet." Without hesitation he answered "Sugar". Wow, that's really interesting. I can think of 10 things that you would think were worse than sugar.
But, here's why:
1. Fructose elevates uric acid, which decreases nitric oxide, raises angiotensin, and causes your smooth muscle cells to contract, thereby raising your blood pressure and potentially damaging your kidneys.
Increased uric acid also leads to chronic, low-level inflammation, which has far-reaching consequences for your health. For example, chronically inflamed blood vessels lead to heart attacks and strokes; also, a good deal of evidence exists that some cancers are caused by chronic inflammation.
2. Fructose tricks your body into gaining weight by fooling your metabolism—it turns off your body's appetite-control system. Fructose does not appropriately stimulate insulin, which in turn does not suppress ghrelin (the "hunger hormone") and doesn't stimulate leptin (the "satiety hormone"), which together result in your eating more and developing insulin resistance.
3. Fructose rapidly leads to weight gain and abdominal obesity ("beer belly"), decreased HDL, increased LDL, elevated triglycerides, elevated blood sugar, and high blood pressure—i.e., classic metabolic syndrome.
Fructose metabolism is very similar to ethanol metabolism, which has a multitude of toxic effects, including NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease). It's alcohol without the buzz.
And to make it worse...
sugar consumption trends of the past 300 years:
In 1700, the average person consumed about 4 pounds of sugar per year.
In 1800, the average person consumed about 18 pounds of sugar per year.
In 1900, individual consumption had risen to 90 pounds of sugar per year.
In 2009, 50% of us now consume 180 pounds of sugar per year!
Sugar is loaded into your soft drinks, fruit juices, sports drinks, and hidden in almost all processed foods—from bologna to pretzels to Worcestershire sauce to cheese spread. And now most infant formula has the sugar equivalent of one can of Coca-Cola, so babies are being metabolically poisoned from day one if taking formula.
No wonder there is an obesity epidemic in this country.
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