tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10571356557151653792024-03-02T09:29:22.592-08:00Are you too lazy to live?"Enable your body to function physiologically and biomechanically" - GENEGENEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00307674629588999995noreply@blogger.comBlogger383125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057135655715165379.post-90803828836740218762017-04-27T23:24:00.003-07:002017-04-27T23:24:29.853-07:00Mastering the three treasures in the body - Part 3<div style="text-align: justify;">
Job, my clients and personal life involvement have been taking my time quite a bit lately. I wanted to keep writing and sharing but was away travelling in the last month. Visited a lovely city during spring time, witnessed and experienced wonderfully evolved nature during this period of time. I thought taking mini regular vacations is crucial to regulate chronic stress level. Many of us burnt out without listening to the body, mind and soul 'signals'. A great REBOOT after back to back trips, and I'm back!<br />
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Now, let's resume where we left off. Ever felt you are constantly being judged by people around you? Try to remember the last time you did something which is life-changing, highly intense and perhaps spiritually stretched? When was it? How did you feel? Many people came across my life in the last 10 years or so, seeking for answers and understanding of purpose of life, solutions to the problems in relationships, health and wellness. What about you? </div>
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I'm sure any of you reading this would have so many questions about LIFE, generally. Maybe for fitness enthusiasts and professionals, the community of people are curiously interested about different ways to enable the body to become fitter and stronger. For medical professionals, perhaps a much better success rates in treating patients. As for some minority of homo sapiens, perhaps genuine interest to find the the purpose of life, to learn how to master oneself in all layers of human body, and achieve great health and wellness through living in harmony with the law of nature and the universe. </div>
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If anyone have read and understood the teachings of ancient taiost, or perhaps Yellow Emperor Classic of Internal Medicine, you will have better clarity and realize about living in harmony and in-sync with the universe. The human body is just a super minature form of the universe. Many ancient teachings of taiost have now been validated by 'civilized and modern science'. Remember Einstein? E= MC2, formula of quantum of physics, mass energy. The energy treasures of JING, QI and SHEN, is in fact a very similar concept of what was discovered by Einstein. Then, modern science have validated what was known thousands of years ago, where uterus muscle repetitively contracts during breastfeeding of a baby involving oral stimulation of the areolas of the mother. Studies also have now validated that scientists discovered one of the major contributor of Alzheimer's disease is due to lack of sexual hormones production to the brain. Guess what? This was known way back then before we even know laboratories and advanced testting methods.</div>
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You must wonder, what these discoveries have to do with three energies in the body? The answer is everything! Well, if you are smart enough, you will realize that all living things require energy to maintain internal organization (homeostasis). It is the energy that made human body as physical entity. When we talk about homeostasis, in ancient taoist teachings, they refer it to YIN and YANG. Many of us might heard of this word, or seen the peaceful symbol of two fishes in black and white. Today, I would like to share some wisdom and teachings of this concept. </div>
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As what the Yellow Emperor mentioned "The law of YIN and YANG is the natural order of the universe, the foundation of all things, mother of all things, the root of life and death". In healing, one must grasp the root of the disharmony, which is always subject to the law of YIN and YANG. YIN is passibe and quiet, while the nature of YANG is active and noisy. </div>
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YANG is responsible for expanding, and YIN is responsible for contracting. YANG is the energy, the vital force, while YIN is the substance, the foundation. The elements of fire and water are categorized into YIN and YANG. The fire being YANG, water being YIN. The functional aspects of the body is YANG and the nutritive aspect is YIN. So far so good? YIN is the feminine force, while YANG is the masculine force. Remember, foods or herbs is refined into JING or essence, which support the QI. And QI is required for transformation and bodily functions. When reards to this aspect, if the diet is improper, the body may be injured. JING will be depleted and exhausted. As we know, in the modern hectic world, many of us are thrashing our body with processed foods and stimulants. From sugars to </div>
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wheat and fast foods, alcohol, energy drinks and too much of caffeine could drain the vital JING essence. </div>
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The YIN and YANG should be in balance with each other in the body. If one is dominant or expresses too much of that energy, the body will suffer out of balance. If the YANG takes over, the YIN suffers and will be deprived and vice versa. Remember, when there is injury to the physical body, there is swelling. If QI energy level is damaged, it can cause pain due to blockage or stagnation. </div>
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As I mentioned in pevious post, the human body has five zang organs, the heart, liver, kidneys, spleen and lungs. The QI of the give zang organs forms the five spirits and give rise to the five emotions. The spirit of the heart is known as the SHEN which rules mental and creative functions. The spirit of the liver, the Hun, rules the nervous system and modulate the extra sensory perception. The spirit of the spleen, the Yi, rules reasoning power and logic. Then we have the spirit of the lungs, or also known as Po, rules the animalistic instincts, physical strength and stamina. Lastly, we have the kidneys spirit, the Zhi, rules the will, drive and survival instinct. </div>
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It is critical to realize that overindulgence in five emotions, anger, sadness, worry (fear), pensiveness and even happiness, can create imbalances. Negative emotions can injure the QI, and prolonged negative emotions of a person will cause dysfunctions of these vital organs especially the heart. Heaven and earth, masculine and feminine principles, the QI and the blood, all reflect the interplay of YIN and YANG. How would you apply the principle of YIN and YANG to the art of healing? As once the master said, "If the YANG QI is in excess, the body will have fever, difficult rapid breathing, dry throat and mouth, irritability and abdominal distress. If the YIN QI is in excess, the body will feel cold, shivering and spasms of the hands and feet".<br />
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GENEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00307674629588999995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057135655715165379.post-89214757094226201992017-02-06T01:16:00.000-08:002017-02-06T01:16:11.690-08:00Mastering the three treasures in the body - Part 2<div style="text-align: justify;">
In today' post, I will share the juicy part, the theory and explanation of what these three energies in the body represent and how they regulate with each other. Please take note that I'm NOT referring to fitness measurement of phosphagen, anaerobic and aerobic energy systems. These three internal energies are totally different entities which associated with vital organs, glands and spiritual and physical entity.<br />
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Let's jump straight into the juicy chunk of the theory understanding and background of how it all started. For approximately 8,000 years of Chinese history, ancient Taoist masters understood that retaining the seminal fluid during the act of love remained a deep secret. At first it was practiced exclusively by the Emperor and his innermost circle, who learned it from the Taoist sages that advised the court. These wise men claimed in earlier times it was a natural gift of all mankind. The Emperor needed the method to prevent impotence and illness; improperly educated monarchs were exhausted at an early age by the sexual demands of their wives and concubines. In aristocratic families it passed from father to chosen son alone, excluding wives, daughters and other family members. In this case, I'm referring to male practitioners or individual adults.<br />
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How was this powerful practice of energy and life-force cultivation and preservation become so well known? Yes, the yellow emperor during his reign compiled and documented the learning and what he practiced for the next generations of emperors and people of Taoist. The name of the emperor is Huang Di and what I will share is only a small portion of energy cultivation and preservation. Before we proceed further, let me briefly explain to you the 5 organs network which play a huge role in these three treasures in the body.<br />
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In the previous post, I mentioned about JING, CHI and SHEN. To better understand these three energies, you may think of money savings analogy. I usually would describe JING as fixed deposit in bank, CHI as savings account and SHEN as some sort of valuable investments from both JING and CHI. Another useful analogy would be a candle. Think of the quality of the wax of candle. The longer and better the quality is of a candle, it will be able to burn far longer, which translate into longevity. The fire of the candle, refers to CHI, the more stable the fire is, the longer the candle can burn and does not deplete nor overburned. For SHEN, it is the flame of the fire, or for some people might call it as aura. Imagine you hold a candle walking into a dark room, and trying to shed the light to lit up the room.<br />
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Now, for most people, by the time they read until this paragraph, doubts and disbelieve started to mount in their head and they might seem lost at this point. Well, I was too myself many years back, most of us were hardwired to believe on what can be measured, what is tangible and can be seen. But not many know how to measure how we feel. Whatever we do in life, almost all of them is about FEEL. From the delicious foods we eat, to visiting new city in a different country, to copulating with your partner or perhaps witness a disturbing road accident scene. Agree?<br />
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Just before I explain how each of these three energy does, I want to share the 5 vital organs role on functioning and regulating the 5 elemental phases which consist of wood, fire, earth, metal and water. These 5 elemental phases also correspond to the YIN and YANG of the universe. For Qi Gong and Tai Chi practitioners, you will understand much more of what I'm about to discuss here. In terms of Wood, it correlates with Spring, Fire correlates with Summer, Earth correlates with late Summer, Metal is autumn and Winter is water. The corresponding elements with the organs are wood/liver, metal/lung, earth/spleen, fire/heart and water/kidneys. As I have explained about JING, CHI and SHEN earlier, there are also two other substances which flow in the body, which is moisture and blood. To make it a clearer understanding, I present to you an illustration of these organs and elements connection below.<br />
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<span style="color: lime;"><b style="background-color: white;">LIVER</b></span> - WOOD - EAST - SPRING - GREEN - SOUR - ANGER<br />
(QI and BLOOD)<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red;"><b>HEART </b></span></span>- FIRE - SOUTH - SUMMER - RED - BITTER - JOY<br />
(SHEN)<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: yellow;"><b>SPLEEN</b></span></span> - EARTH - CENTRAL - LATE SUMMER - YELLOW - SWEET - DISTRESS/WORRY<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999;">LUNG</span> - METAL - WEST - AUTUMN - WHITE - PUNGENT - SADNESS/GRIEF<br />
(QI & MOISTURE)<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><b>KIDNEY</b></span> - WATER - NORTH - WINTER - BLACK - SALTY - FEAR<br />
(JING)<br />
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As you can see from the illustration above, the 5 organs correlate with the seasons, elements, taste, emotions, directions, colors, and also animals, sound and etc. I did not include a complete diagram of this correlation as it may get very complex to understand for many readers. From what we learn here, an individual can store much of the negative energy and emotions into these vital organs which govern the powerful three treasures JING, CHI and SHEN. The ones who often express anger will injure the liver the most, and the ones who live in fear for whatever reasons, may not have strong kidneys function, essence and JING reserved energy. Please bear in mind that all negative emotions are stored in the HEART, and for specific emotion, is additionally store in other organs as well.<br />
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During the spring, the weather and environmental conditions can affect the liver, while in summer the heart can be affected, and so forth. If the spring overreact the summer, the weather is abnormal, with spring weather then occurring in late summer. The body reaction to this is excessive liver/wood energy that overacts on the spleen/earth. When the seasons do not follow their natural cycle, energetic transformation, cold, flu and other illnesses will result.<br />
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GENEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00307674629588999995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057135655715165379.post-25524956371023490732017-01-25T20:24:00.002-08:002017-01-25T20:24:27.057-08:00Mastering the three treasures of the body - Part 1<div style="text-align: justify;">
In digital era, most of us have forgotten the wisdom passed on by our great grand parents, primal ancestors and surely the precious teachings by ancient Taoism and Ayurveda back in those days when lights were not even invented, nor any processed foods introduced to humans. Just walk to any individual and ask, "Do you know what are the three treasures in the body?" or "Can you explain what is the connection of the body, mind and soul?". There is high possibility every 9 out of 10 individuals look clueless and paused for 7 seconds and look blank on the face. </div>
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What has changed? Why have we all forgotten about the way of life? Why have we all so disconnected with ourselves and the universe? Why have we know so little about nature and not even know which foods are real and knowing how the body work? Most of my clients and individuals I asked about which learnings and wisdom passed on to him or her, the answer is NONE. Perhaps the circle of individuals I came across have very limited knowledge and teachings from any known sources or masters, but today's post is about me sharing and providing awareness of what I learnt, and what I have been practicing for years. As a certified Holistic Lifestyle Coach and a personal trainer, what I learnt and practiced for the last years is way beyond fat loss, body transformation, fitness nor general health. It's about nourishing life, bringing quality of life to a whole new level. Developing a stronger version of yourself to a greater level, on all layers, mental, emotional, physical, spiritual and sexual health. </div>
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As a note, before you continue reading this post, some of the content may 'push' some of the 'buttons' of your inner deep self, due to some of us practice and follow certain religious teachings and restrictions, or even cultural influences almost our entire life. For me, I was too as an individual who were born in a restricted religion environment and teachings of my parents and cultural factor too. But what I'm about to share here today, could be an eye opener to most of you readers, IF you have an open mind and giving yourself permission to empower yourself to feel and be better energetically.</div>
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As many of us heard and know about CHI or QI, which is energy, the word CHI is widely known and understood globally in many countries as of today. But how much do most of us know about CHI? I would reckon very few people really understood the concept of CHI. As most people focus too much on calories management from foods and diet, the understanding of how calories converts to ATP energy is vaguely understood and barely even scratch the surface of the entire understanding of how CHI energy is regulated and play a huge role in the human body. </div>
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Now, let's have some basic understanding of life and the universe flow of energetic field which evolve around everything on this planet earth. We as human are energetic beings and regulated by electrical and energy field, we are barely physical entity alone. In teachings of Ayurveda, chakras energy points exlained how the energy flow in the body, correlate with 7 rainbow colors, nature, and how each color relates to energy blockages or preservation in the body, mind and soul. In ancient Taoism, or now known as Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), three treasures are one of the most vital practice for thousands of years for optimal health and wellness. It is now being passed on and practice and taught by many practitioners and masters all over the world. </div>
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Let's talk a little bit about the well known Yellow's Emperor Classic of Internal Medicine manual. For some of us, we might have heard about it and read it. But very few people actual practice the teachings of the Yellow emperor and ancient Taoism. As most people have too much knowledge in the digital era, but unfortunately too little application in their daily lives. How about you? Did you apply what you know about health and wellness to your daily life?</div>
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Neijing, which is the Yellow Emperor classic medicine manual, consist of two sections. SuWen, explain and teach about fundamentals of organic and nature. LingShu, teaches the classic of acupuncture. As most people do not realize TCM is actually a practice largely from ancient Taoism and the Yellow Emperor manual was the core of the actual popularization of the entire teachings. For me, many of the teachings make sense to relate the universe with earth, nature and all living things on the planet. It is arguably the most interesting practical teachings one can absorb and apply in their daily life. In fact, many years ago, I was very skeptical about TCM and teachings of ancient Taoism. Until I fully understand and deep dive into what it is all about, it all become so clear of everything I read, learnt and trying to find out the answers I have been looking for all this while. </div>
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Before we go to the juicy interesting stuff, let me explain about the three treasures in the body. First, we have JING, which is also known as the principal energy, or reserved essence. Next, we have CHI, which many people know about this energy form, is the body most powerful energy, which is regarded as sexual energy. Lastly, we have SHEN, which is the spiritual energy, or also known as soul and spirit. Body, mind and soul concept derived from the western categorization reflect similar classification of JING, CHI and SHEN. For those who is totally clueless about this, please bare with me and continue reading.</div>
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The universe is filled with different kinds of dynamic energy, or 'CHI' The Tao, for each man is to creatively transform his energy over a course of a lifetime back to its original state of harmonious balance. Sexual essence, or 'JING' is a powerful, vital energy that is generated continuously within the human body. Both work together to feed and grow the soul and spirit, which is 'SHEN'.<br />
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Understanding the basics of these three energies in the body is one thing, but to allow oneself to have an open mind and absorb the knowledge is the most difficult barrier. First, mental and emotional blockages is usually the 1st roadblock for an individual to even allow him or her to try experience anything in life. Be it specific foods, new things to try, or even intimate or sexual physical practice. Without you giving yourself permission and removing most of the mental and emotional blockages, it will NEVER happen nor sucessful. For some people, it could be spiritual restrictions which prevent them from allowing and opening up the physical entity. In a nutshell, we as wild primate who has lived freely for thousands and even millions of years, have been largely 'locked' in an environment and cultural restrictions for most of our lifespan, but it is YOU, who will decide what you want to do to allow yourself to experience and try what's best for you and not others, and improve quality of your life, health and wellness into a whole new level you could never imagined. </div>
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GENEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00307674629588999995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057135655715165379.post-69387302982890644912016-03-28T20:01:00.002-07:002016-04-07T20:46:04.395-07:00Relieve for histamines mediated symptoms - Cold, dermatitis, hives<div style="text-align: justify;">
From time to time, most of the people I know suffer from cold, cough and flu. Most of these symptoms are histamines mediated via mast cells being unstabilized or reaction to some sort of triggers, usually from reactive foods or environmental stressors. Generally, people tend to consult a doctor whenever he or she is feeling unwell or having a simple cough or running nose. Typically, anti-histamine medications being prescribed to patients from all over the globe for symptom relieve. </div>
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Are you one of the majority who often dependant on pharmaceutical drugs to relieve health symptoms? Or do you prefer to allow the body to heal by itself and provide nutritional support and sufficient rest and hydration? Present day, we have more people who are dependant on pharmaceutical drugs then back in the early days of our grandparents or even great grandparents. Why is that so? Have we all been hardwired so deeply that we have forgotten how we evolve and the ability of the body to heal by itself?</div>
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When I browse through my refrigerator and kitchen wardrobe, I noticed a list of herbs and whole foods which are medicinal and beneficial to the body when comes to supporting the body of healing and inhibiting histamine release. I asked myself "Why on earth people are not using these herbs and foods to aid the symptom and help the body health faster?" With Mr.Google is just a click away for further research, and some of us still lucky enough to consult our older grandparent for herbal advise, I think we all should practice the ancestral approach as a first line of symptom relieve and treatment, and only apply pharmaceutical prescription as a last resort, if all else failed. </div>
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As someone who practice holistic health, I highly recommend you to try some of the potent anti-histamine herbs below to determine which one suit you best. Try it when you experience these symptoms, listen to your own body response to each herb applied. For some, it may be very effective in a short period of time, for others, it may take longer then expected. The end goal here is to be drug-free and practice nature-based protocol for healing and supporting the body to combat illnesses.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Lotus Root</span></b></div>
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This whole food contain immune-modulating effect with mast cell stabilising properties and a study found they inhibit the release of histamines by up to 70%. It also rich in Vitamin C.</div>
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Immunopharmacology and Immunotoxicology - Volume 32, Issue 3, 2010</div>
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http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/08923970903514830</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Turmeric </span></b></div>
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Turmeric has powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties. A study found that it inhibited mast cell activation to reduce histamines release. You can cook soup, curry dish or most of the meals with this herb, or take it as supplement (extract). The curcumin contained within tumeric is a powerful antioxidant. Antioxidants are very important for your overall health, vitality & well-being. </div>
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Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology - Volume 121, Issue 5, May 2008, Pages 1225–1231</div>
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http://www.jacionline.org/article/S0091-6749(07)03608-1/abstract</div>
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<b style="font-size: x-large;">Ginger</b></div>
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Ginger is a rhizome that inhibits allergic reactions. It has traditionally been used as an H2 inhibitor but a study shows that it also acts as a mast cell stabiliser. You can boil ginger soup, or cook with your meals, or even make ginger tea when you have cold or cough. It is also antioxidant, anti-viral, anti-inflammation, and anti-tumor effects.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Chamomile</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #404042; font-family: ChronicleDisp-Light;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">A study has shown that chamomile acted in a dose-dependent manner to inhibit histamine release from mast cells. It is also beneficial to calm down the nervous system and enable one to sleep better. Most people tend to consume chamomile in the form of tea. </span></span></div>
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Journal of Ethnopharmacology - Volume 137, Issue 1, 1 September 2011, Pages 336–340</div>
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http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378874111003941<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Thyme</span></b><br />
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Thyme is very rich in Vitamin C and has anti-histamine properties. It also has anti microbial benefits and can stabilize mast cells. It can be eaten raw or cooked with meals or take it as supplement.<br />
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Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry - Volume 69, Issue 1, 2005<br />
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1271/bbb.69.1</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Holy basil (Tulsi)</span></b></div>
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Regarded as queen of herb, it has many herbal and medicinal properties to the human body. Arguably ranked as the best herb to regulate immune system and stress pathway, this plant also is very effective to reduce histamine production in mast cells.</div>
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The Internet Journal of Pharmacology - Volume 7 Number 1</div>
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GENEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00307674629588999995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057135655715165379.post-9616914606660055232016-01-25T17:42:00.000-08:002016-01-25T17:42:52.463-08:00Caffeine - Are you an addict? (Part 2)<div style="text-align: justify;">
As I have just covered the details of world's most popular and widely consumed beverage, let's now move to another addictive drink, sodas or also known as soft drinks. How much difference between both beverages in terms of caffeine dose or chemicals content? Let's deep dive a little bit on this popular beverage.</div>
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Remember when you go to the toilet often in the day but you didn't even drink much of water? Your skin started to feel dry and at times, you may feel headache too. From where we left off in previous post on coffee, the same can have adverse effect on the body with soft drinks or other similar 'energy drinks' too. As more then 45 million Americans suffer from chronic headaches, many of us are depending on painkillers or pain drugs (migraine and headache) on regular basis. Remember the vital nutrients and minerals lost from the caffeine of coffee what what I explained in previous post? The same can occur in these soft drinks too. </div>
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To continue what what we left previously, caffeine in coffee and also soft drinks can act as diuretic and pulls water from the colon. Thus, the spasm can emulate diarheaa episodes in certain people. Caffeine also causes major vasoconstriction in blood vessels and also around fascia muscles areas. Most people thought that drinking more water to hydrate the muscles and fascia (from the dehydration of coffee and caffeinated beverages) can fix the problem. Bear in mind that muscles are the lowest in totem pole and act as slaves to the body. Vital organs and the gut will absorb the vital water first hand, before reserving it for the muscles. For for those who suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome, caffeine is a big problem for them. Caffeine can constrict that tunnel and causes pain. </div>
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In today's world, neck pain and headaches are as common as lower back pain. When one consume foods or drinks which has caffeine, sugar and also gluten, it is a perfect recipe of headaches, migraines and even joints pain. At any point of time when you combined caffeine with sugar, your adrenals are shot and thrashed! One good example is any ice blended coffee products of Starbucks or similar commercial coffee drinks. It doesn't matter which brands of coffee shops as long as it contain both caffeine and sugars. </div>
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Now, soft drinks or sodas. Do you know how much of caffeine is in a can of a commonly consumed soda? It's about 35-38mg in one can. As many people not only consume coffee, soft drinks is another addition to a caffeinated daily ritual. Most people don't realize that sugars (9-11 tablespoons) are added into these soft drinks to cover the bitter taste of caffeine. Remember the coca-cola million dollar secret recipe? Although the sales of coca-cola and pepsi is slightly lower then years ago, they are still the powerhouse of commercial soft drinks globally. </div>
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Before you pick up that can of coke or soft drink, I want you to realize what I'm about to share with you in the following. Awareness is a pre-requisite to change. I want you to know what is happening inside your body when you consume that can of soda, it will likely to blow your mind if you find out. Let's get started. First 10 minutes upon consumption, 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. You don't vomit immediately because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down. Approximately 20 mins after drinking that soda, blood sugar spike, and insulin release is triggered, your are in hyperglycemic state, your liver response by turning fructose into body fat. What happen next? 40 minutes in, caffeine absoption is almost completed, your blood pressure increase, your liver reponse again by dumping more sugar into your bloodstream. Your brain starts to produce dopamine and stimulate brain pleasure system, and that makes you feel good. Within an hour mark, the phosphoric acid binds to vital nutrients such as calcium, zinc and magnesium in your lower intestines and these minerals are depleted through urination. Your body is losing vital minerals and water. And finally, when your body is trying to pulls down insulin level, it now experience hypoglycemic, which is low blood sugar. In other words, your body suffer from sugar crash, and become sluggish. Your body will then tend to look for another quick hit of energy and the roller coaster ride has begun.</div>
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For some of you who just read the mental elaboration of the soft drink affect, two things will most likely takes place. One person may now be aware of the devastating affect in this beverage, and resolute to reducing or eliminating this drink from his or her diet. The other person may be thinking " I don't give a damn" and continue his or her usual poor toxic diet. I also would want to rewind back a little bit about coffee, as some of you might decide to consume decaffeinated coffee product, and thinking that it somehow healthier. Well, yes there are pros and cons to decaffeinated coffee. But the primary reason most people consume coffee is to get that energy hit and caffeine. Meanwhile, decaff coffee beans are usually higher in mold and mycotoxins due to removal of caffeine. Caffeine is a protective mechanism used by the plant itself to bend off invaders including mold and fungus. The decaff coffee industry then contribute and 'sell' off its caffeine to the soft drinks industry as a way to make more money. </div>
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I remember way back during my time about close to 25-30 years ago, there are lower rates of obesity and diabetic patients. We have blamed saturated fats and cholesterol for far too long (60 odd years?), we have screwed up big time for this massive dietary mistake, and more people are now dependant on sodas and coffee to keep their energy levels up in he day on regular basis. This has become a daily ritual and most people adrenals can no longer function normally without these stimulants. </div>
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When anyone asked me about the 'perfect storm' for any meals or foods adverse affect, my answer to them is "Sugar, caffeine and wheat". These 3 substances of mixed cocktail is a perfect combination to wreck havoc in the body and causes massive reaction and inflammation. I call it The Perfect Storm, or also known as The Cytokine Storm by many health professionals. And what would those combination of foods be? A classic example is a typical fast food meal, or bakery food with coffee, which is a typical breakfast in western countries. </div>
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How about alcohol or perhaps even wine? I have many people who debate that wine consumption has its own health benefits and how true is that? Well, I do agree in certain aspect about the benefits of wine but the cons outweigh the pros if you review it comprehensively. Alcohol drinks or even wine, have the same metabolic affect as soft drinks, minus the buzz. Some of the alcoholic beverages especially wine can increase Ig-E antibodies which will likely to result in allergic reaction for certain individuals. And of course, alcohol is neurotoxic to the brain and causes injury to the liver and gut too. It's a poison to the brain, period. It's also another form of stimulant, similar to soft drinks and coffee, but may response a little different in terms of delivering false energy to an individual. </div>
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Anyone experiencing digestive problems or suspected of leaky gut or even celiac disease, staying away from alcohol is highly recommended. Especially alcoholic beverages made and fermented with wheat, rye and barley, it's destructive to the gut damaging the musocal lining of your intestines. Some may wonder what if I consume alcohol once in a while, would that be alright? Well, if its occasional one glass in months, and if you don't suffer from adverse symptoms from wine or alcoholic consumption, I assume it should not be as bad, but listening to your body is crucial. </div>
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Also, please bear in mind that regular alcohol consumption can lead to esophageal and phyloric valves and sphincters dysfunctions. Many people are suffering from GI disorders, conditions such as GERD, acid reflux, gastritis, heartburn, severe bloating and flatulence, etc. When musocal barrier is breaking down, the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) will stay open, and substances such as foods and stomach will reflux upwards. Please take taking anti-acid medications will not solve anything and in fact it will make it worst long term.</div>
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Finally, what should you do if you are addicted to stimulants such as caffeine and sugars? Fix your overall diet first, and NOT exercise more! If you seriously need to consume coffee, ensure it is organic and add some healthy fats (coconut oil, ghee or grass fed butter) in each serving. Go to bed early to avoid energy and blood sugar dsyregulation. Drink more quality clean water throughout the day, and slowly reduce the consumption of caffeinated beverages from week 1, 2, 3 and so on. Invest in a good quality water filter at home. Add a pinch of quality unprocessed sea salt into every 1 litre of water. It will replenish the lost minerals from the caffeine and sugars flushed out from the body. Last but not least, you can refer to the urine color chart below to check if your are drinking enough water for your own bodyweight. </div>
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<u><b>Am I drinking enough water?</b></u></div>
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From the above chart, you want to be drinking enough water to match the color of your urine to no.1 and no.2. If your urine color is no.3, you are dehydrated. You may suffer from muscles cramps if the color darkens to no.4. If it matches the color further down the chart from 5 to 8, you are at health risks! Most people are severely dehydrated of quality water and the body is made of 70% water. </div>
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GENEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00307674629588999995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057135655715165379.post-43875527522302202522016-01-17T17:10:00.002-08:002016-01-17T17:10:36.338-08:00Caffeine - Are you an addict? (Part 1)<div style="text-align: justify;">
As new year has begun, many people have set their goals and new year's resolution for 2016. Some might set sights on weight loss, for others, could be changing unhealthy habits and lifestyle. As most people are more interested in goals which are physically visible, how many pay attention to smaller lifestyle details which may impact their transformation and health or even fitness goals? Things such as regular or daily stimulants which are robbing your vitality, energy, nutrient reserves and even suppressing the immune system. </div>
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Today, we will discuss about common stimulants which are very popular amongst most people at present day. The ones in particular are coffee, soft drinks (sugars) and even alcohol. Let's just take United States for example, Americans consume an average of 3.5 cups of coffee per day, and close to 300 cans of soft drinks per year. Coffee, is the most popular beverage in the world, and soft drinks come very close second. Reason? These 2 substances are one of the most potent stimulants and contain very addictive properties which trigger dopamine in the brain and tricked the body into producing 'fake' energy boost. </div>
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As 80% of Americans drink about 3-5 cups of coffee daily, most people are not aware of what's going on inside the body. As I've blogged about coffee before, it is important to realize that this popular beans are heavily contaminated with pesticides and chemicals during farming and harvesting. It is in fact one of the most pesticides laden crops/substances in the world, apart from another stimulant cigarette. Depending on the quality of the beans, commercial coffee beans are high in mold, which contain mycotoxins. Mycotoxins have been shown in studies to cause cancer and the ability to inhibit peristalsis in the GI tract is devastating to overall digestive and immune health. </div>
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Let's take an average individual who 'loves' coffee. When I asked most people, they admitted that they love and enjoy coffee, but they do not know why they are so dependent on this beverage on daily basis. "Are you addicted to coffee?" Almost all of them replied 'NO". In this post, we will determine if you are an addict to these substances. In certain cases, some people may be addicted and dependent on more then one stimulant on daily basis. If you want to find out how well your body can function without any stimulatory substances, keep reading and you will find out in the end of this post. </div>
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Let's focus on coffee for now. As most people do not know why drinking coffee is mandatory in the morning and throughout the day, some may argue that this coffee beans have its health benefits such as antioxidants, but for majority drinkers, all they know is they need it to get them up and running in the morning, and provide energy during the day while at work.The same apply with consuming breads, where most people just don't know why they can't stop eating wheat based foods. </div>
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For some people, coffee might seemed to be their energy provider, but most people don't realize that it DO NOT provide raw energy in the body. In fact, it borrowed energy and stress hormones which are produced from the adrenal glands.An average cup of coffee has about 100mg of caffeine. Caffeine does not produce or give energy to the body, but it steal and produce 'fake' energy which mimic as tension which one feel in the body. For some people, they feel the tension in the muscles after consumption of coffee and others may feel other side effects such as palpitation and breathing difficulties. Caffeine makes the body move when it doesn't want to. </div>
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Coffee, contain more then 700 substances and chemicals in the beans itself. As the most heavily sprayed crop in the world, coffee has a half life affect to the body. Most coffee drinkers are fast in absorption, but slow in detoxing the caffeine and other substances in the beverage itself. Assuming you consume coffee at 9am in the morning, it will require approximately 6-8 hours to lower the cortisol stress level down to 50% as the body trying to detox the caffeine out from the system. Meaning, by 3-5pm, the first cup of coffee still has the effect of production of cortisol stress hormone at half potency by that time. Imagine if you hit another cup after lunch from your favorite coffee shop. How would your adrenals handle it if this continue chronically on regular basis for months or even years? How would the quality of sleep be for that night? Most people are wired and tired, and unable to enjoy deep REM sleep most nights. But again, depending on different individuals, some may handle and metabolize caffeine better then the other. Any dose of more then 100mg of caffeine per consumption per day will likely to trigger sleep problems at night.</div>
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Please take note that pharmaceutical drugs such as birth control pills and other common medications interfere with the ability and efficiency of detoxing caffeine from the body. It is also important to know that caffeine and toxins passed through the placenta and breast milk. For pregnant women or breast feeding mothers, this would be an important piece of information as fetus has no ability to detox caffeine and toxins. Also, caffeine half life and production of cortisol in a fetus or baby is longer then adults. </div>
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<u>Caffeine Consumption/Dependant Scale: Coffee, Soft drinks or any caffeinated drinks</u></div>
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<span style="color: #f1c232;"><b>100-300mg - Danger zone, sleep issues ( not necessary insomnia )</b></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red;">400-600mg - Addiction, likely hood of reoccurance ulcers, fibrocystic breasts</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red;">700- 900mg - Addiction, energy issues</span></b></div>
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If any of you falls between 400mg or more on daily basis, you are likely an addict to coffee and dependant on caffeine to get your day going. I know some people might say "I just have a cup of coffee a day". That may be alright for most people, but when you look at the cup size and strength level of the coffee, the caffeine dose may well be over 400-500 mg in that one serving. There are people would love coffee due to the flavor and smell. That may be fine if there are no withdrawal symptoms when he or she stops drinking coffee for couple of days. </div>
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I have clients who mentioned that sleeping hours are almost the same as couple years back before the 'addiction' kicks in. But, most of them noticed the quality of sleep and immunity decline overtime. The quality of mood also diminishes as consumption of coffee prolonged, although coffee may triggers dopamine production upon ingestion, but if this is ongoing chronically for long term, your body will be depleted of this hormone. If one is depleted of dopamine, he or she will lose the quality of mood and feeling happy. It is as powerful, if not more potent then serotonin when comes to mood and being happy. </div>
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For most people, they claimed that they feel fine and great when they have their caffeine fix on daily basis. But when you take away coffee or even soft drinks, they feel lousy and unable to function mentally and physically. No more blood sugar triggers, no dopamine production. As we live in the digital social world, majority of us are nightcrawlers. Almost everyone now sleep after 12 midnight. If you add poor sleep cycle with cups of coffee during the day, you will be experiencing brain fog and poor energy fluctuations throughput the day. No deep sleep, you will feel unrested and tired the next morning, doesn't matter how many hours you slept. When one is sleep deprived or not getting regular deep quality sleep, the body loses the capacity to heal itself. </div>
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Another thing which happen in the body is depletion of vital minerals in the body. You will lose minerals such as magnesium, iron, potassium, B-Vitamins, calcium, sodium, zinc, etc. Coffee and caffeine create this sensation of providing false energy in the body, but it rob the host of nutrients which needed for actual energy production. One of primary reason for anemic patients are problems with low level of iron in the body, and regular coffee consumption will make it worst or could be the main contributor to that disease. Melatonin, which is a repair hormone only increases when one sleep especially during proper circadian cycle. It is also a potent antioxidant which repair and restore the body for healing purpose. It is also important to realize that there is approximately 60% reduced blood flood to the neck and head musculature from the effect of caffeine. It also increase blood pressure in the brain as well. </div>
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For someone who is concern about posture, regular consumption of caffeinated drinks can aggravate the poorly aligned posture due to reduced blood flow and tension build in the muscles area. You may perform a test of standing against the wall. If your tailbone, scapulars and head are not able to touch the wall without trying to force the posture, its a basic assessment for postural alignment.<br />
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Meanwhile, let's have a quick look at the caffeine content table for some of the most popular drinks which create false energy in the body. As you can see, it only require one Starbucks Brewed Coffee (Venti) to hit the 400mg dose of caffeine. So much for just one cup of coffee? Stay tuned for next post which I will focus on other caffeinated beverages such as soft drinks.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiexQz2aKvEMkar54CH_Sk1yZJcwJKEFeCbSMfrFkN1XknjlpJ8jLCWk7zsNXTQjksvRcuVvls67ry1gJhyphenhyphen7rjWR4jMWB43PfVleF32zU8bxQGOzp_Ij_BmYZ5CZI1UfURSrN8riIG3vpRR/s1600/caffeine-content-of-popular-drinks-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiexQz2aKvEMkar54CH_Sk1yZJcwJKEFeCbSMfrFkN1XknjlpJ8jLCWk7zsNXTQjksvRcuVvls67ry1gJhyphenhyphen7rjWR4jMWB43PfVleF32zU8bxQGOzp_Ij_BmYZ5CZI1UfURSrN8riIG3vpRR/s400/caffeine-content-of-popular-drinks-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Content table derived from healthyprotocols.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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GENEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00307674629588999995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057135655715165379.post-43792715664558690292015-12-27T19:01:00.004-08:002015-12-27T19:01:29.249-08:00How to create peace points? <div style="text-align: justify;">
As all of us are living in a hectic fast-paced lifestyle, most of us have forgotten to find time for ourselves, especially having an intimate with our own body, mind and soul. With that, I don't mean going shopping alone buying clothes and handbags or the things we want in shopping mall. Nor playing online games with your desktop, or watching long hours of TV on the couch eating junk food. </div>
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First of all, what is peace points? Most of you readers might be wondering what on earth that is? As I just completed blogging about 'Workout' activities as something YANG and catabolic type of physiological stimulation, today's discussion is about the opposite of hectic, chaos, racing mind, sympathetic, etc. It is ways to find to find your soul and get to know yourself each time when you needed it most. It's the small little thing which we can do for ourselves, each time when we connect with our inner soul, on daily basis. In other words, it's a form of healing when one is out of sorts or disconnected from nature and the body. </div>
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To maintain a sense of self and equal equilibrium and have capacity to engage things in life. From cell phones to TV to internet to social networking, our lives are bombarded with distractions and sometimes we need to give permission to ourselves to get away from the buzz and all the hectic stuff around us. We are so busy and so crowded through medias and electronics and we know what phones and handbags our neighbors are using, or celebrities private lives and even your colleague's bad day in toilet. Most of us spent more time knowing others' problems and happenings, then reserving quality time with their own lives and loved ones. It's cruel irony and sad reality. </div>
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We really owed it to ourselves to shut off these gadgets and give a period of time to go off the grid and disconnect. Else, we will end up like most of the celebrities and rich people where many of them spend lots of money on so called medical and health care, psychiatrist, doctors, drugs, psychologist, etc. Getting out in nature and taking care of your body, which is ultimately yours by calming and stretching the body and create more space in the body. Especially living in a hectic stressed out world at present time, creating peace point can provide us with some sense of inner peace.</div>
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Most people I know don't even have time to eat as they have such a busy schedule. It's a self destructive habit to constantly surround yourself with people particularly when you eat. When you watch people eat and talk, they barely even chew their foods and swallow down chunks of it. The next thing you know, they have parasite infections, digestive problems, elimination problems, skin problems, attitude problems, headaches, etc. Eating is a sacred event and one should have a relationship with food. </div>
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Spend time exercising alone. Spend time doing things you love alone, such as doing art or singing. As some people prefer going to the gym with a training buddy, there is nothing wrong with it. But, training alone with maximum focus on your entire session without distraction is a win. If you walk into commercial gyms, you will be blasted with loud music and TV programs and people talking all over the place. Not to mention group classes which at times could be deafening and giving you headache more then benefit the body.<br />
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One of the peace points techniques is called the single pointed focus. Imagine you give 100% focus in that very moment, be it holding a static crow stance for 2 mins, or bottoms up heavy kettlebell static press up, or pressing with every muscle in the body with maximum contraction, against the wall. Bear in mind, doing a chest press or bodycombat class is not a single pointed focus. The goal is an alone time, quiet time, fully present in that moment and totally focus. In that moment, the rest of the world seize to exist. A peace point, as you choose to exercise and take care of yourself.<br />
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Ask yourself, do you really need loud music or a group of friends to exercise? If you really listen to your body and choose to do it for yourself, you DO NOT need all these factors to accompany you to perform this activity. Try enjoy the irrational, from making art to music and singing or anything driven by your soul. Nothing to measure, nobody to compare or compete, just having good old irrational fun. Most people just afraid to perform or even attempt anything in their lives, because they are afraid others judge them and say things which make them feel bad. Remember, this is your life, and you can't always control what people say about you. Don't let it affect what you love to do the most, your passion and what your soul tells you to do.<br />
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Meanwhile, below are some of the tips to create peace points:<br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f;">- Build them into your schedule, don't buy excuses</span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f;">- Eat alone, have relationship with the food, develop spiritual experience during the meal</span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f;">- Take breaks at work and allow yourself to think nothing!</span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f;">- Have sense of humor, allow yourself to jokes with others</span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f;">- Enjoy nature whenever possible, especially barefoot</span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f;">- Shut off your cell phone or leave it behind during your peace points moment</span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f;">- Use travel time to enjoy yourself rather then busy working or constant worrying</span><br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f;">- Play and have alone fun</span><br />
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Bottom line is, whatever you do, keep it irrational, not measurable. Playfulness is the measure of intelligence. Stop worrying about what your colleagues or friends say about what you are going to do. Be it something which might sound silly or your good friend tells you that it's a bad idea. Let your soul guide you, spending more alone time in quiet environment is far more beautiful then you can ever imagine. Picture yourself exploring a serene rainforest surrounded by nature, the silence and peace of mind in that moment will make you realize how much you have been disconnected from nature and your own body and soul. Before I sign off, I would like to wish all of you a very Happy Holidays!<br />
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GENEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00307674629588999995noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057135655715165379.post-91851722427636311112015-12-13T20:36:00.001-08:002015-12-13T20:36:03.528-08:00Workout - No Pain, No Gain ( The ugly truth ) - Part 2<div style="text-align: justify;">
As year 2015 coming to an end, many of us start to set new resolutions for next year. Some are a bit more realistic, for some, it's a disconnection between the mind and heart. I've got clients and friends who want to make more money from the job they hate, even though their heart tell them NO. And we then have people want to lose a far-fetched 20kg for that 6 months period but poor mindset will always setup for failure and further demotivation. As for most typical Malaysians, they want a quick fix for almost everything in their lives, including health, weight loss and getting into shape. Is it long term sustainable? Definitely NO.</div>
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In today 2nd part, we will focus and discuss more about working-out. A popular topic and exercise routine which everyone is raving about where ever you go. For instance, you ever hardly see anyone doing a para-sympathetic stimulated exercise in commercial gyms. Or what I would call it as work-in exercise. Going all out performing workout or catabolic type of exercises is a recipe for self-destruction. We no longer live in a slow paced low stress life which our ancestors lived hundreds or thousands years ago. Our ancestors don't have to worry about bills to pay, our if your neighbors or friends have fancier cars or handbags, or a complicated relationship which is affected by current social networking environment. One thing for sure, most of us have to bear with the jobs we hate and enslaving our souls and body to corporate companies or bosses we dislike. All these mental and emotional stress, add to other layers of stressors we have in our lives, including nutritional, thermal, biochemical, spiritual and physical (which I will discuss shortly.)</div>
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Now, imagine you decide to start exercising or 'workout'. What do you decide and do? Join gym membership? Join the crossfit community? YouTube home workout? Or just typical jogging or biking? Let's look deeper into what these common types of workout or exercise routines will impact your body as a whole. To stimulate real life scenario, let's take an individual who is working a 9-6pm typical office job with medium to high level of stress at work. </div>
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<span style="color: #6aa84f; font-size: large;"><b><i>Scenario A - Female adult 35 years old, overweight</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #660000;"><b><i>Office worker who sits regularly daily for prolonged period of time, a typical lordosis posture combined with kyphosis and weak glutes and tight hamstrings. With regular complains of </i></b></span><b style="color: #660000;"><i>lower back tightness and pain, this female also has job stress and inability to sleep properly at night. Diet is out of control, primarily eat outside foods most of the time and cravings </i></b><b style="color: #660000;"><i>for sugars and wheat have becoming an addiction. She is also a heavy mobile phone user and expose to constant man-made EMF devices such as wireless routers, TV and laptop. </i></b><b style="color: #660000;"><i>In addition, she hates her job and having relationship problem with her spouse. Now, let's evaluate the total stress output for this individual, prior to adding 'workout' routine later on.</i></b></div>
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<span style="color: #660000;"><b><i>Diet - Poor (processed and non-organic, toxic and inflammatory) - HIGH cortisol level</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000;"><b><i>Sleep cycle - Poor sleep quality, deprived - medium to HIGH cortisol level</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000;"><b><i>Thermal stressor - High exposure to EMF radiation - HIGH cortisol level</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000;"><b><i>Mental and Emotional stressor - Job and Relationship - HIGH cortisol level</i></b></span></div>
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<b><i>Physical stressor - ??? Unknown yet</i></b></div>
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What would a typical 35 years old overweight female choose in the most typical fashion for an exercise program? Regular jogging routine? Or maybe join a gym membership and participate in the bodycombat or RPM night classes? Or perhaps maybe subscribe to a personal training one on one session? The question is, what do all these exercise routines have in common? Yes, workout, expanding energy which involve in catabolic activity. It doesn't matter if you jog for 60-90 mins nightly, or intense bodycombat or RPM classes in the gym after office hours in the evening, or complete a full hour of weight training when darkness increases. Working out, triggers stress hormones, stressing out the adrenal glands and stimulate sympathetic nervous system. Although some may say that it has benefits of improving mood, burn fat and improve sleep quality, etc. That's true, if the workout movement and program is executed and prescribed correctly to that particular INDIVIDUAL. Not to everyone else. Think of a house on fire and you pour more Molotov cocktail and gasoline into it. Does that make any sense?<br />
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As what Paul Chek classified as 'The Virgin Reps'. A new exercise takes about 350 properly executed reps to integrate the movement pattern with the nervous system. A poorly executed repetitions for that new exercise will require up to 10 times the amount of reps performed, to rehabilitated with corrective exercises, due to faulty patterns recruitment. meaning, much more reps of corrective exercise to reprogram back the nervous system as to also reverse the faulty pattern which was integrated previously. This is something the conventional fitness industry is not taught, and many personal trainers and coaches failed to identify that the nervous system is directly in-sync with the muscular system. </div>
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Having goals to lose weight and looks better physically may be a typical outward perception. Most people too obsessed about how they look from the outside, but what happen to how they feel and health status? In the year of 1900, the statistics for cancer is 1 in every 30 people. In year of 1980, it's 1 in every 5 people. By the year of 2000, it's 1 in every 3 ppl. The latest statistics showed that it's 1 in every 2 people will develop cancer and die of this man-made lifestyle based disease! And guess what, another 10 years from now, almost everyone will get cancer and most likely die of this condition.</div>
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Bear in mind, toxicity and stress are two major contributor to most of the chronic diseases. Both of these factors lead to inflammation and eventually added into layers of total stressors. As muscular systems is the always the slave to the vital organs and glands, over training or prolonged workout type of exercises will only stressed out the adrenals and immune system even further. Not to mention dysfunctions in vital organs will impact the functions of the muscles performance and recovery. Example, inflammation of the gut from poor diet (wheat, sugars, processed foods) can deactivate the intrinsic abdominal core muscles, leading to a spiral downward of postural alignment to the feet. This can happen vice versa, as dsyfunctions of certain muscle areas can steal the nutrients, oxygen and bloodflow of attached vital organs or even spine, both sharing same neurological pathways.<br />
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Some of you readers might be wondering, this sounds like me. Age 30's, overweight, fatigue, often bloated, cravings for sugars and wheat, and stressed out. When each time you look in the mirror, you are often not satisfied or happy with how you look physically, and also emotionally and spiritually, you are unhappy and unfulfilled deep inside of your soul. Most people perceive themselves as OUTWARD (physical body --> skin --> bones --> organs --> ligaments --> tissues --> cells --> atom) expression. And very few people look at themselves as INWARD (atom --> cells --> tisues --> ligaments --> organs --> bones --> skin --> physical body) expression. The question is, which one is you? Ask yourself honestly.<br />
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The lesson from this scenario is to really listen to the body, identify the layers of stressors of this female individual. The total output of stress accumulated will determine if she needs more stress on the adrenals and physiology. Or perhaps perform movement or activity which balance out the autonomic nervous system and chakras? Burning fat would be the last thing the body does, if the there is on going crisis such as chronic inflammation level, toxicity and underlying infections. Many middle age women end up gaining more weight long term while doing prolonged cardiovascular/endurance type of exercise or end up losing tons of muscle mass which is so vital for metabolism as age is catching up.<br />
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<b style="color: #f9cb9c; font-size: x-large;"><i><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">Scenario B - Male adult 30 years old, obese</span></i></b><br />
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Me on behalf of male adults, I will tell a common scenarios of such individuals who wants to lose weight or get into shape. Common goals include losing 20kg in 6 months period, or get into a 'normal' male figure as his main objective. Doesn't matter what it takes or what he will do, all that matters is achieve this goal. If this sounds familar, keep reading.<br />
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From real life experiences of overloading myself with toxic commercial protein powders and supplements, to eating tons of grains and refined carbs, and hours and hours of physical intense training weekly. That was ME many years back! Confession of a so called fitness enthusiast or body-building wannabe. Fit, toxic and sick. Ok, confession over. Let's get back to this obese male adult who wants to have the body of his dream.<br />
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Now, let me add more details of the previous and current history of this male adult in terms of medical, health, physical and exercise. Let's take a look below.<br />
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<b><u><span style="color: #e06666;">Profile:</span></u></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>Has been inactive physically, did not exercise in years, very deconditioned and suffering from chronic lower back pain. Ocassional knee pain combined with stiff neck.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>Diagnosed with hypertension, diabetes, regular migraines and sleep problems, insomnia. Poor bowel movement, regular constipation and bloating. Easily feels exhausted and severe cravings for sugars. Diet consists of high carbs based and processed foods.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>Spent most time sitting at desk during work and at home, very limited exposure to sun and outdoor.</i></span><br />
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Does this profile sounds familar to many overweight male adults at present time? I think so. Why did I say so? Majority of my male clients have the same exact profile, literally. Poor posture, noticeable muscular imbalances, low energy levels, intense sugar cravings, poor inflammatory diet, and long list of symptoms and medical conditions, and primarily leading a sedentary lifestyle.<br />
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Let me ask you (guys) bluntly about what would your typical next action plan is? Joining gym membership? Crossfit? Marathon? Three most commonly participated training of as recent time, especially crossfit and marathon community is growing like never before. For someone who is more ambitious, the more glamorous hardcore crossfit training might suit him or her, or setting certain fitness goals such as completing marathon might favor one's liking. The funny thing is, most of the ones who participated in marathon training think that it is a healthy lifestyle. I'm not fully supportive of prolonged endurance type of training especially then ones who are having multiple stressors in their lives. It will only make things worst in terms of health and wellness.<br />
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Why marathon participation is increasingly popular? Firstly, it's lost cost investment. All you need is a pair of running shoes and you do not need any gym membership or having to pay for training facilities ( in most cases ). But for crossfit training regime, of course you need to pay for a membership for crossfit facility, and hopefully you have a highly skilled experienced coach to really train and look after you. All of training programs or regimes, crossfit is ranked 2nd highest in terms of injuries, latest reports from IHRSA confirmed.<br />
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What would happen to your fat loss or body transformation goals if you get injured? If it's serious, those goals will be halted and down the drain. If its minor but coupled with chronic joint pain, the quality of life and wellness could most likely be impaired, as it could disrupt your sleep quality, how you feel (mood), and even performance in daily functions and exercise or even playing your favorite sport.<br />
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Most people especially guys beat themselves up in the gym trying to achieve the body similar to male models in fitness magazines. Majority of them ended up stressing the adrenals even more, and having a compromised suppressed immunity is a bad idea, exposing oneself to infections and higher level of inflammation. You might build a nicer body showing off to your Facebook pals but developing adrenal fatigue or other chronic diseases years down the road would be disaster. Same concept with building a house with weak foundation but expensive furniture and appliances, in the end, an inevitable catastrophe.<br />
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As a holistic health coach and personal trainer, I always explain the importance of building health ahead of fitness. The 5 elements of life and pathway to health is crucial in anyway how one look at it. Earth, Fire, Water, Air and Movement. All these elements work synergistically to integrate a holistic body, mind and soul to an individual. How the mind feels, it will impact the body and soul, and vice versa.<br />
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Remember, if you lead a 'sympathetic-dominance' lifestyle, be it chronic prolonged workout routines, or even mental and emotional stress, you will throw your own biochemistry off balance, and your risk of developing DIS-EASE will be higher, once homeostasis is no longer in place. Before I sign off, below are the indicators when you should or should not perform workout exercise.<br />
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<b><i><u>When should I WORK-OUT?</u></i></b><br />
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<span style="color: #e06666;">- Listen to your body at all times is the key. If you are exhausted or low energy level by the end of the office work day, the last thing you want is further stressing out your adrenals and producing more cortisol. Instead, you should get more rest/sleep and goin to bed by 10pm is vital for repair and restoration. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #e06666;">- If you experienced DOMS (Delay onset muscle soreness), it is a sign your body is still recovering from previous exercise session. Come back again for more resistance workout </span><span style="color: #e06666;">once you feed your body with high quality nutrition and sufficient sleep, with less onset soreness. Ideally, you can perform myofascial release for faster recovery.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e06666;">- If your workout or performance in the gym or during current training session is poor or sluggish, your body is NOT ready and still recovering.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e06666;">- When your menstrual is cycling, those period should be your rest days. Reproductive and ovulation do not mixed with physical stressor, which translate to survival. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #e06666;">- No workout or sympathetic type of physical activities after 7pm. You should be winding down and getting ready to relax and sleep. Melatonin sleep hormone should be highest during sundown or bedtime, elevating your cortisol stress hormone hours before sleep would disrupt your repair cycle. Remember, your muscles growth and anabolic activities are at its peak during circadian rhythm. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #e06666;">- Best time to perform any sympathetic stimulated activity is during daytime, preferably in the morning. Go all out with intense or weight bearing exercise if you feel energetic (not after a coffee or energy drink dose) and rested enough from the day before. Avoid long hours of workout session, and you should stop once you feel as if you are struggling or depleted.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #e06666;">- If you are suffering from chronic pain (lower back or joints pain), the last thing you want is participating in an intense workout session, especially heavy lifting. Fix the biomechanics dsyfunctions and muscular imbalances with corrective exercises and proper rehabilitation. You might want to look at your diet as most people are eating highly inflammatory foods which deactivated the intrinsic deep core muscles due to inflammation of the gut. </span><br />
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GENEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00307674629588999995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057135655715165379.post-18168467563716856752015-12-06T01:16:00.000-08:002016-03-28T21:08:26.564-07:00Workout - No Pain, No Gain ( The ugly truth )<div style="text-align: justify;">
We have all heard it all over the place. Gyms, work place, friends, jogging buddies, fitness groups, bootcamps, online training programs, crossfit communities, etc. No pain no gain! How much truth would most people know about this approach? It's a hype around conventional fitness world, but yet few know what is really happening with the body physiologically and psychologically, if this approach is followed for a prolonged period of time. </div>
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As the concept of 'burning calories' floods almost the entire population especially the weight loss paradigm and its followers, we have been led to believe that the only way to lose weight and be healthier is to exercise (workout) more, and eat less (caloric restriction). We have been hardwired to think that working out in the gym is the way to go, but guess what? We have more gyms and fitness studios ever existed in the history of mankind, yet we have the sickest and more overweight people on the planet earth then ever before. In terms of common sense, one will realize that we don't need an IQ of 160 (equivalent to Einstein) to figure out this statistic. It doesn't make any sense at all. </div>
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Going back to the future a few generations ago, our great grand parents and ancestors do not even know what calories is, nor is there any gym available. But guess what, our ancestors are so much stronger, functional, healthier and better shape then most of us. How can that be even possible? They don't 'workout' in the gym, they don't count calories every single meal, nor do they even have any dietary experts and personal trainers. That's the million dollar question most people DON'T even ask themselves. No one even bother asking common sense related questions, and we all kept following so called diet, fitness and health advises/programs available out there. </div>
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First thing first. What makes sense? What works for sure every single time? Have we all lost track of how we should live our lives or integrating primal patterns? Back to basics, how humans evolved for millenia, what made humans @ caveman, able to reproduce and stay functional and healthy for thousands if not millions of years. Do we ever train and move on fix machines, cardio centric treadmills or even stationary bicycles? How many of us know how humans suppose to move functionally? Apart from countless generations of moving contra-laterally and bi-pedal, our primal ancestors (including us) were meant to do activities such as hanging our shoulders on bars like apes, walk, run, sprint, crawl and even animal-based movements. A better question, how often do we even practive such primal movements? Daily? Six days a week? Almost 2 hours per session in the gym?</div>
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When we talk about workout or exercise, we first need to understand what workout actually means. Most people thought of workout as an activity to burn calories, burn body fat, build muscles or even improve fitness and health. But what 'workout' actually means? </div>
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<span style="color: #f6b26b;"><b><i>Work</i></b> - Physical or mental effort or activity directed toward the production or accomplishment of something</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f6b26b;"><b><i>Out</i></b> - Away from a usual or original place</span></div>
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Think for a moment of credit card usage. I'm sure most people who own credit card realize the consequences if he or she is unable to fully pay back the total amount for each billing month. Imagine you spent USD300 for that particular month, but if you don't have the sufficient resources (money) to pay back in full, what's going to happen? Yes, you will be in debt or resources/money owed and penalty will incurred. It's the same with what happened when we 'workout' and do not realize we could be expanding way too much resources then we could actually restored back. </div>
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If one kept focusing on working-out., the prolonged regular sessions of expanding resources (nutrition, vitality and energy) will cause physiological deficit, impacting the health and reserves of vital organs and glands in the body. Building brick house with woods is another silly analogy which is similar to this scenario. The popular hype of 'no pain no gain' workout paradigm, is a cliche which derived from military training which is based on survival protocols, a very sympathetic dominant mental and physically drained environment. </div>
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Since fitness magazines,TV shows and youtube channels have all commercialized and publicly hardwired the images of six pack abs and ripped physical bodies, this obsession has become global priority, for some, it's an addiction. Ever since the publicity and popularity of bodybuilding in the days of Arnold Schwarzenegger, it has over spilled to the fitness industry. Ridiculous amount of money has snowballed ever since decades ago, with bodybuilding supplements has become a powerhouse in sports and fitness world. </div>
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We have lost the primal instincts of how humans suppose to move and live, not to mention the health of muscoloskeletal systems and biomechanics. We have more incidents of lower back and joints problems then ever in the history of mankind, yet there are more physical therapists and orthopeadic surgeons born every year. How can that be? Research has shown that up to 80% of all orthopeadic injuries are chronic, meaning, non-acute and no physical contacts with another person which resulted in the injured individual. And the cruel irony is, the experts in the field don't even know what causes the injuries in the first place, not to mention how to rehabilitate safely and effectively. Thus, reoccuring injuries, and it has become more common in the field of sports, fitness and even general population. </div>
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As most people tend to forget that the muscular systems act as 'slaves' to the vital organs and glands in the body. When I mention the word 'slave', what I meant was the muscles will always provide the resources and reserves to the organs and glands which share the same neurological pathways. Always remember, vital organs and glands always have first priority when it comes to resources and reserves in the body. Reason? It's the body survival mechanism to keep the host alive at any given situation.<br />
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When we talk about building and maintaining good health, it is plain common sense to realize that priority is set towards the immune system, vital organs and glands and gut health. Depending on which studies, the immune system consist of 70-80% of gut flora. Gut health is one of the most important pillars of health, and almost all diseases start in the gut. Now, from my years of personal training and coaching clients, i have yet to find an individual (Malaysians) who really develop relationship with his or her body. Most of them don't even know how to listen to their body signals when it is in crisis or state of stress. But guess what, tons of people too obsessed with what's in front of the mirror, building a six pack abs or losing pounds of fat in time for the wedding event in few months period. </div>
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Before we deep dive into 'workout', let's discuss the fundamentals of how our immune system and hormonal system work, from the perspective of energetic and autonomic stand point. We have the sympathetic and para-sympathetic nervous system. YIN and YANG, or the anabolic and catabolic activities. A question everyone should be asking themselves, "Which is more important, health or fitness?". Or another question one should be asking, "Does feeling energetic, happy and pain free matter more then looking good on the physical side?"<br />
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To be bluntly honest, almost all of us will only do something about our health if there is a life threatening situation impending or your doctor mentioned " Your health screening result is alarming, you better do something about it immediately". To make changes in our life, it takes commitment and some level of self-discipline. Most people do not want to make lifestyle changes or any change at all, because they are in comfort zone, even though they know it will kill them. Smoking and alcohol consumption are two good examples of mentioned scenario. Firstly, awareness is the pre-requisite to change. Next, mindset is what determine what an individual decide and take action. Doesn't matter if it's planning and preparing your own healthy meals, or spending time with your kids more then on social networking and friends. A healthy mind reflect a healthy body.<br />
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To be continued...stay tuned..</div>
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GENEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00307674629588999995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057135655715165379.post-52174635147065053422015-11-15T00:44:00.000-08:002015-11-15T00:44:06.023-08:00Sleep Deprivation : Am I getting quality sleep?<div style="text-align: justify;">
Another health talk event took place recently at my work place and another 'specialist' doctor from a private hospital came by to give her presentation. This time, the health talk focus on 'Stress Management'. It was one of the most shocking health talks I have ever attended, and worst still, it was conducted by a medical professional.<br />
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What was presented during the health talk? The following, is the advise by that medical doctor...<br />
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<i>"You can eat whatever you want to stay healthy. You can drink whiskey daily, and life is not worth it without coffee. It is not worth it to prepare and bring your own healthy home cook meals to office at work. You should stay awake late at night do the things you want such as watching your favorite TV show and going to bed on time is not important. We only need 6 hours a day of sleep and that is sufficient."</i><br />
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I felt as if she is giving advise to the audience based on her own lifestyle and liking. Maybe the doctor has her own opinions and how she lives her life, but giving such misinformed and poor health advise will only misguide the already unhealthy group of people in this country. The first advise itself is a death sentence for everyone, to eat anything you want to stay healthy? Most people don't realized that most conventional medical doctors have less then a handful hours of lectures in diet and nutrition in their 5-6 years of medical degree. </div>
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By eating whatever you want during the day or at night, it will most likely impair your sleep quality due to blood sugar dsyregulation and impacting your adrenals at the same time. Wonder why you are awake by 2-3 am in some nights? And by consuming regular coffee daily, the caffeine will trigger stress hormones and the effect of half-life (6 hours) will only decrease depending on the last consumed timing. If you hit that cup of joe by 2pm, your adrenals will release cortisol and epinephrine, but cortisol will remain circulating in the blood for up to 6 hours, meaning by 8pm, the half-life potency will only decrease to 50%. This will surely making exhausted by the end of the day, feeling wired but tired and being able to sleep naturally by 10pm is almost impossible. Besides, most consumed coffee products are processed and non-organic, high in pesticides, mold and mycotoxins. </div>
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If you have read my previous posts about sleep, I have explained in details how sleep deprivation can cause long list of physiological and psychological problems. Not to mention weight gain, diabetic and out of sync circadian rhythm. A more serious complications, increased risk of heart disease, cancer, intestinal permeability, autoimmune disease, and of course, reduced healing capacity. </div>
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As most people either don't know what to do about it, for some, the need for sleeping pills or eating a high sugar/carbs meal before bed. As I have blogged about some of the ways to have better sleep, below are some of the 'revised and tuned' versions of getting deep restorative sleep. The number one remedy for anti-aging, healing and feeling focus and happy. </div>
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<b><span style="color: #93c47d;">1) Oxytocin- release activity (<i>sleep naked with your partner, enable more hugs, great sex</i>)</span></b></div>
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A 2009 study published by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, had the following say about oxytocin.</div>
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"Oxytocin can induce anti-stress-like effects such as reduction of blood pressure and cortisol levels. it increase pain thresholds, and stimulates various types of positive social interactions. In addition, it promote growth and healing."</div>
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The release of this hormone not only beneficial to your relationship, but also to your health. It is also known as the love hormone. One of the ways to trigger the release of such hormone is getting regular sleep with your partner in NAKED form. The bonding skin to skin with someone you love during sleep will trigger oxytocin. Another way is to give someone as many hugs as you could on daily basis. Finally, favorite topic of all, SEX. Not only mind-blowing, toes-curling orgasmic sex will triggers huge amount of oxytocin and endorphins, it is a potent sleep booster! It numb your senses and decrease pain, making your eyes so heavy, falling asleep in no time, hitting that deep REM sleep. Oxytocin release up to 5 times more then normal level during this copulating process. </div>
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<b><span style="color: #93c47d;">2) Sleep with the moon, wake up with the sun (circadian rhythm)</span></b></div>
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A study published in the Annals of Epidemiology showed that getting regular less than six hours of sleep per night can lead to an increased risk of both heart disease and type 2 Diabetes. The researchers analyzed six years worth of data from just under 1500 participants, all between the ages of 35 and 79. On their results, the study authors wrote,</div>
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"Short sleep duration was associated with an elevated risk of IFG (incident-impaired fasting glucose). Not only can this elevated blood sugar lead to heart disease and diabetes, it can also lead to gain weight, which comes with its own risk of debilitating health issues, as well."</div>
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Now, most people don't realize that we have all been sleeping according to circadian rhythm since humans evolved thousands if not millions of years ago. Before artificial lights were invented, all of us have had quality sleep cycle. I remember my parents said that my great grandmother go to bed as early as before 9pm, and wakes up by 6am. Those years before TV, computers and internet were commercialized, our old folks were living a healthy life, and insomnia was almost never heard of. People don't even know about sleeping pills nor any sleep supplements. We have an epidemic of sleep disorders and insomnia is one of the common symptom. Is insomnia a deficiency of sleeping pill? Definitely not. </div>
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<b><span style="color: #93c47d;">3) Shorter, quality, functional exercise (HIIT, weight training)</span></b><br />
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HIIT has been shown in studies to provide multiple benefits to the body, which includes lower stress level, better sleep at night and more effective in burning body fat. It is a smarter way of training and less damaging to the body hormonally and physically. It has been shown to burn body fat up to 10 times more effective then steady state cardio. Bear in mind, prolonged cardio or endurance exercise has been shown to increased risk of heart disease. There are many studies which explain why and how elevated cortisol hormone cause damage to the heart muscles during these types of physical exercises. The goal of exercise, is to control the over stimulation of cortisol stress hormone during the session. Avoid performing strenuous exercise at night, and at least 3 hours before your bedtime (10pm). Cortisol suppress your sleep hormone melatonin, preventing you from quality restorative sleep. </div>
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<b><span style="color: #93c47d;">4) Disconnect!</span></b><br />
Switch off all electronic devices including TV, radio, wireless router, mobile phone (airplane mode), artificial lights at home and inside the bedroom by latest 10pm. Unless you have something to attend, make it a routine to hit the bed by 10pm. All these man-made EMF and interference will disrupt your sleeping hormones receptors causing poor sleep quality. <br />
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<i><u>Journals/References:</u></i><br />
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http://www.jneurosci.org/content/35/28/10135.short<br />
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2656292/<br />
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21075236<br />
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22621349<br />
http://www.journalsleep.org/viewabstract.aspx?pid=27617<br />
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2902103/<br />
http://www.annalsofepidemiology.org/article/s1047-2797(10)00113-4/abstract<br />
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15834840<br />
http://eurheartj.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/12/05/eurheartj.ehr397.abstract<br />
<br />GENEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00307674629588999995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057135655715165379.post-43827901415988177492015-11-07T21:11:00.002-08:002015-11-08T00:10:07.465-08:00WOD - Primal movement <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
When the chips are low, when you feel a little exhausted from work at office, and if you don't feel like being a mouse on a wheel at the gym for an hour or so, or shooting your adrenals in the loud music pumping RPM class late at night, you might go for nature-based outdoor primal movement.</div>
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As indoor buildings which include gyms are 95% more polluted then outdoor in terms of air quality, a short drill of primal movement outdoor around nature might just be the tonic for you after a stressful day at work. Unless you are cultivating energy (work-in exercise), a quality short whole body movement circuit (6-7 rounds) is beneficial yet does not produce high amount of cortisol production.</div>
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Avoid strenuous workout session at least 3 hours before you actual circadian rhythm (10pm), due to cortisol suppressing melatonin sleep hormone which can prevent you from getting quality deep sleep.</div>
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When you workout, your body breaks down, catabolic state. Your body rebuild itself (anabolic) during para-sympathetic phase during sleep. Bottom line, you will achieve optimum growth and results if you go to bed early and feed your body with high quality nutrition from whole foods and non of that junk nor toxic protein powders.</div>
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Enjoy the nature and move freely and rediscover the inner child in you. Enjoy the short exercise video below shot at local training ground. </div>
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GENEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00307674629588999995noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057135655715165379.post-38362480024697411642015-11-01T03:55:00.000-08:002015-11-01T03:56:27.669-08:00Microwave oven - One of the most dangerous kitchenware ever invented! <div style="text-align: justify;">
As I observe many people in my workplace going in and out of the pantry, one of the most frequently used kitchen appliances is the microwave oven. Apart from the coffee machine, this would arguably rated as 2nd most used appliance in my workplace or most offices. It is also prized for convenience and common in most homes, as most people are not aware of the harmful affect of using microwave oven.</div>
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In reality, most people tend to spend most of their time at work (job), or doing something else which is lower priority or less important on their daily routine. Let's face it, social networking, watching late night TV, playing online games, etc. The same group of people usualy complain about having no time to prepare their foods or too expensive to spend on organic whole foods. What happen next? Regular take-away meals on daily basis, more exposure to microwave radiation on the foods, developing more digestive problems, setting up food intolerance, malnutrition, etc. </div>
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Today, I will briefly share with you the 4 known issues with using microwave oven. It is hazardous and alarming to our body and health, and many more people should be aware of heating up foods with microwave oven, instead of being ignorant about it. One important note for breastfeeding mothers. If you are feeding your baby with your own milk/infant milk formula, DO NOT heat it with microwave oven before giving it to your infant! The baby's immune system is yet to fully developed and will incur more damage to the body then adult.</div>
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<b><i><u><span style="font-size: large;">Why microwave oven is so dangerous? </span></u></i></b></div>
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- It's a radiation based electrical appliance. It alter the particles and destroy most of the nutrients and live enzymes of the foods you are about to consume. In a nutshell, you are eating a nutrient depleted almost-dead meal. This will impair your digestion and assimiliation capacity and creating food intolerance in the process, if prolonged use of microwaved foods. </div>
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- Assuming you are buying your meal from outside, packed in a so called 'microwavable plastic' container, or even bringing your own home-cooked non-organic meal in a low quality plastic tupperware. The heating process using microwave oven will leech the chemicals (easily more then 30-50) into your foods. These chemicals are known as obesogens (phthalates, atrazine, BPA, PFOA, etc), also known as estrogen mimickers or endocrine disrupters. It will make you fat, confuse your body mimicking higher amount of estrogen level and increased risk of cancer. </div>
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- What is even worst, is it create a new breed of pesticides during radiation heating process from the existing amount of pesticides in the foods, creating a pesticides factory in your gut! A new host of pesticides never found by scientists and your liver has no idea how to metabolize these toxins. </div>
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- Study has shown exposure to devices such as microwave oven, can affect the heart.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #93c47d;">according to Dr. Magda Havas of Trent University. Dr. Havas says:</span></span></div>
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<i style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #93c47d;">"This is the first study that documents immediate and dramatic changes in both heart rate and heart rate variability caused by an approved device that generates microwaves at </span></i></div>
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<i style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #93c47d;">levels well below (0.3 percent) federal guidelines in both Canada and the United States."</span></i></div>
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<i><u>How to reduce the amount of obesogens exposure?</u></i></div>
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- Avoid drinking/shower unfiltered water</div>
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- Avoid drinking from cans and bottled water/beverages</div>
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- Be aware of air-fresheners and fragrance products</div>
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- Avoid cooking with no-stick pan and consuming microwave popcorn</div>
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<b><i><u>Journals/References: </u></i></b></div>
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http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/34532034.html</div>
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http://www.litalee.com/documents/Microwaves%20And%20Microwave%20Ovens.pdf </div>
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http://healingtools.tripod.com/thn4.html</div>
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http://www.goodhealthinfo.net/radiation/health_efx_western.htm</div>
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http://www.magdahavas.com/2010/04/01/dect-phones-affect-the-heart/ </div>
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GENEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00307674629588999995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057135655715165379.post-33404412127284429202015-10-18T21:36:00.000-07:002015-10-18T21:36:53.804-07:00Leaky Gut - Do you have it? (Assessment)<div style="text-align: justify;">
Leaky gut? What on earth is that? The question being thrown at me many times over the last year or so, and a condition more people beginning to realize they may be suffering from it. Before we proceed further, please take note that up to 80% of our immune system comes from the gut. What does that tells us? Our gut is extremely crucial for optimal health and prevention of most diseases.<br />
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We have heard many times "You Are What You Eat". That may sound right in some way, but in fact, "You Are What Your Body Can Break Down". Seeing undigested foods in your poop, or unable to digest fats or protein from the foods you eat, there is no way your body can achieve optimum nutrients assimilation. You could be suffering from atrophy of the villi or chronic inflammation of the mucosal lining of the gut and in most cases, patients end up misdiagnosed by their doctors.<br />
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Unless you undergo functional lab testing, endoscopy procedure may be your only best bet to find out what is wrong with your gut. Most commercial standard health screening DO NOT include testing to investigate what is going on with your GI tract, especially your gut. There are couple of functional lab test companies (BIOHEALTH & CYREX) which are available in many countries, but you have to locate the practitioners or functional medical doctors to work with you on the test kits, results and protocols.<br />
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But, what else can we do if we can't get hold of these functional test kits and want to find out if we suffer from leaky gut? If there any assessment of other home test available? As I always tell all my clients and friends, no one will know better then yourself in regards to your own body. Not even your doctor, nutritionist, personal trainer or any health expert. All you need, is really listen and in-sync with your own body. It is signalling to you all the time, the symptoms and how you feel. From bloating to brain fog and constant fatigue and insomnia, the brain-gut axis is regulating each other all the time.<br />
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If you research in pubmed, you will not find studies/journals associate with leaky gut. Use the keyword 'intestinal permeability', and there you go, a whole list of studies related to this condition. Triggers which damage and cause gut permeability include wheat, sugar, toxins, most grains, chronic stress and primarily anything which raises cortisol stress hormone in an extended period of time.</div>
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Some of you readers might be wondering, why is this assessment important? Isn't the conventional health screening sufficient? Most health screening tests are just the 'tip of the iceberg' overview of what is really going on with your body. The below assessment is a manual, more detailed symptoms and lifestyle based data retriever, if functional lab testing is not possible. But, if you are able to run the functional lab for intestinal musocal screening and cross match with below questionnaire results, that would even further determining the severity of the intestinal permeability.<br />
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Remember, if your body can't break down the foods you eat, the assimilation capacity will be impaired, and that translate into poor digestion and malnutrition. Doesn't matter if you are eating organic whole foods or the healthiest diet on the planet. If you have leaky gut, the risk of autoimmune disease is almost inevitable, as every autoimmunity condition has a leaky gut component. It is now the third leading cause of death globally, behind heart disease and cancer. Your gut, is the most important pillar of health and the foundation of optimal health and disease prevention.</div>
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<u>Questionnaire assessment:</u></div>
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<li>Did you get less then 8 hours of sleep most night?</li>
<li>Do you crave for sugar, sweets or breads?</li>
<li>Do you ever go more then 1 day without a bowel movement? </li>
<li>Do you have eczema, rashes or acne?</li>
<li>Do you have autoimmune condition/disease such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, Hashimoto's, Psoriasis, MS, etc?</li>
<li>Do you struggle with depression, anxiety or lack of mental clarity and focus?</li>
<li>Do you have low energy level or frequent fatigue?</li>
<li>Are you currently taking any medications or aspirin/ibuprofen?</li>
<li>Do you have multiple foods sensitivities or food allergies? Example, gluten and dairy</li>
<li>Are your stress levels moderate to high?</li>
<li>Have you ever struggled with any type of candida, yeast or fungal infections?</li>
<li>Do you have thyroid condition or sluggish metabolism?</li>
<li>Do you have frequent diarheaa or loose stools?</li>
<li>Do you have gas, bloating or other digestive issues once or more per week?</li>
<li>Do you struggle with seasonal allergies?</li>
<li>Do you have a very busy life?</li>
<li>Do you have IBS, Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn's disease?</li>
<li>Have you ever been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease?</li>
<li>Do you suffer from any type of pain including joint pain or headaches?</li>
<li>Do you get sick often (more then 2 times per year) or feel like you need an immune system boost?</li>
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Now, if you scored 1-2 from the list of questionnaire, there is a high chance you have leaky gut. And if you scored 3 or more, you definitely have a intestinal permeability. In modern society, it would be rare for someone to get score zero in this leaky gut assessment. Unless you are very healthy and have been eliminating prescription drugs, stimulants such as sugars, wheat, alcohol and symptom free, you may be at low risk of suffering from leaky gut. </div>
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GENEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00307674629588999995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057135655715165379.post-66477882984162953952015-09-27T19:11:00.004-07:002015-09-27T19:11:35.597-07:00Wrist Pain/Carpal Tunnel - What to do? <div style="text-align: justify;">
As we are seeing more people suffering from wrists pain or carpal tunnel syndrome, there are more desk jockeys at present time then decades ago. Conventionally, when we have a pain in a specific location in the body, we tend focus on that spot. Basically, treating the symptoms, aspirin for headache, or surgery for low back conditions. In this post, we are going to dive into some of the main triggers for wrists pain and what we can do to reduce or get rid of that problem.</div>
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As a sufferer myself, many years back, I experienced minor wrists pain and I didn't know what were the causes and how to fix it. For a moment, I thought it was regular hours of playing badminton as a sport when I was younger. Then, I found out by self experiment that it was combination of both foods reactivity (inflammation of the joints) and chronic poor sitting posture, and massive usage of computers. I was skeptical during the first phase of research, but I had to remove the reactive foods and amend my sitting posture and perform corrective exercises to counter the over used of forearm flexor muscles. </div>
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It is important to realize that wrist pain condition or similar carpal tunnel syndrome could be more then one causal factors. It may be solely due to one chronic trigger, or perhaps combination of poor physical posture due to chronic sitting, regular use of forearm flexor muscles (primarily using computers and writing) and also foods which causes inflammation of the joints. And for most people, depletion of certain nutrients can also prevent the nerves tissues from regenerating and healing itself. </div>
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Most people tend to think of physical pain is mainly if not solely because of wrong movements or poor posture integration. Example, how many people would believe that gluten or wheat can cause inflammation of the joints? Or WGA in grains bind to tissues in the joints and cause low level inflammation? And in most common cases, sugar. especially processed sugars and carbohydrates can lead to increased levels of Advanced Glycation End-Products (AGEs) which lead to further inflammation. </div>
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The goal here is to reduce or remove foods which cause inflammation, and implement a diet which is anti-inflammatory and support nerves tissues repair and healing. If you are eating a high sugars, wheat and trans fat diet, there is a very high chance you may experience joints pain somewhere in the body. You are literally flooding your body with high amounts of cytokines and inflammatory chemicals. Joints pain is the least of the concern here, with cardiovascular disease and cancer are some of the bigger health problems that you will potentially face if poor diet prolong for years. </div>
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Although there are no guarantee that any solution can fix this condition entirely and permanently, I hereby provide some of the simple (if not easy) steps to practically implement in your daily lifestyle. For some, you may feel the difference almost immediately or within 24 hours, but for others, it may take a little longer to see improvements. Bear in mind, this is a non-invasive protocol, yet natural and non drugs based. </div>
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1) Straight fingers Pressed </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKpvdQ7J3TYcxXzqUj50NL-AgqHcF9jQNi43pEC3vEhtpcUeO6K65RczrDGpl8UqCSme09Fpuuvn4BL0Y4Cv7aTYnSQo5hGDsm7OxUZiMcQi_i4SavwV6kxa6vdHfd7UCWq-XMWdFd1h6k/s1600/20150914_202513.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKpvdQ7J3TYcxXzqUj50NL-AgqHcF9jQNi43pEC3vEhtpcUeO6K65RczrDGpl8UqCSme09Fpuuvn4BL0Y4Cv7aTYnSQo5hGDsm7OxUZiMcQi_i4SavwV6kxa6vdHfd7UCWq-XMWdFd1h6k/s400/20150914_202513.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Straighten all fingers as much as possible, you should feel the upper arm muscles contract.</td></tr>
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2) Palm Stretching</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP19XzQltNYSxP7PRkbJjux1aipI4WJRnjZ0KtCRj2FtyLllAJjFdoGgbP0cIsabzMejihH7ixHZ0NT1kCxdAD6iln5twEVBR7NtT6-Oj2pNNvb9SuZspVEELEAV8yjCT82Re4tQpD2WjV/s1600/20150914_203440.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP19XzQltNYSxP7PRkbJjux1aipI4WJRnjZ0KtCRj2FtyLllAJjFdoGgbP0cIsabzMejihH7ixHZ0NT1kCxdAD6iln5twEVBR7NtT6-Oj2pNNvb9SuZspVEELEAV8yjCT82Re4tQpD2WjV/s400/20150914_203440.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stretch out the fatigue overworked muscles of the bottom part of the forearm. Perform this stretch for 30-45 secs each palm.</td></tr>
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3) Pectorals myofascial release</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEion3p7QuVGY7NIBSjTduCjvvye7aPo_2AhO6vQkUzfZZo5afaJukPnKNVFnIHtWTx8zSMYm36N4YajPpM3KDZpYhWFao2gpS2pLF69tQEDTNKxEkVPfq7Rukiijml39BL_mW2s_tfrdJjJ/s1600/20150914_203607-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEion3p7QuVGY7NIBSjTduCjvvye7aPo_2AhO6vQkUzfZZo5afaJukPnKNVFnIHtWTx8zSMYm36N4YajPpM3KDZpYhWFao2gpS2pLF69tQEDTNKxEkVPfq7Rukiijml39BL_mW2s_tfrdJjJ/s320/20150914_203607-1.jpg" width="209" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You could either use a myofascial ball, lacrosse ball or even pointed rehab tool (seen in pic) for pectoral muscles release. Focus on deep breathe inhale and exhale for 90-120 secs for each pectoral area.</td></tr>
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4) Removal or inflammatory foods</div>
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<li>-Wheat or wheat based foods</li>
<li>- Refined sugars</li>
<li>- Trans fat (vegetable oils)</li>
<li>- MSG</li>
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5) Nutrition/supplement</div>
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<b>Magnesium oil</b> - Supplement form, or diet rich in magnesium as mineral. It help relax blood vessels and muscular tissue that can cause compression of nerves in carpal area. For magnesium oil, apply topically onto the area which is experiencing pain, massage for couple of minutes and let it absorb into the skin.</div>
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<b>Wintergreen essential oil</b> - Contain analgesic effect, calms down inflammation. Apply few drops topically onto the area of the wrists. You can mix with coconut oil too. </div>
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<b>Vitamin B6 and B12</b> - Supports nerves tissues to regenerate and heal. Some of the foods are organs meats. seafoods, and high quality organic free range animal based products. Foods which contain a complete range of B complex.</div>
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<b>Anti-inflammatory foods</b> - Ginger, turmeric, bromelain (pineapples), Omega 3 rich foods, organic vegetables, etc</div>
GENEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00307674629588999995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057135655715165379.post-89967849710658750272015-09-16T01:50:00.002-07:002015-09-17T00:56:59.177-07:00Depression : Is it seratonin or SSRI deficiency? (Part 5)<div style="text-align: justify;">
As we have discussed and learnt about various factors which could trigger depression or similar brain disorders, the question we should all be asking ourselves (including medical professionals), are we suffering from SSRI deficiency? Or are we all in need of pharmaceutical drugs to address this medical condition? </div>
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Depression, is now regarded as the 2nd leading cause of disability globally, and it is certainly affecting many people around the globe. People who suffer from depression tend to experienced conditions such as sleep disruptions/insomnia, eating disorders, digestive dysfunctions, mood problems, and for some, social detachment. </div>
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From a sabotaging poor diet to inflammation, why are these factors not looked into by conventional dietitians, medical doctors and even alternative health professionals? Bear in mind that our body works as entire unit itself, and not isolated parts or systems. For instance, whatever happens to the mind, it will reflect the physical body, or whatever happen to the physical body, we will feel it in the heart or our soul. And if your heart is hurt, we will feel it mentally and also physically as well. Trying to only treat serotonin chemistry in the brain is more like only attempting to clean one small part of the entire dirty car which needed a comprehensive wash. Sounds like an easy fix to the problem, an easy way out convincing patients that a pill will fix your depression, and you depend on it for as long as possible. </div>
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Let's dive into some of the ways to manage the factors which could contribute to depression or similar brain dsyfunctions. We will also look into some of the alternative anti-depressants for natural solutions and treatments. </div>
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<b><u>DIET</u></b></div>
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A huge factor which directly impact the brain and mood. Brain fog, headaches, mood swings, energy level fluctuation, all these are symptoms of primarily related to foods one consume. You can try to do an experiment to convince yourself, below is a simple.</div>
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<i><span style="color: #e69138;">Test 1</span></i></div>
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Eat a bowl of cereals with low fat milk, add with 2 slices of any bread of your choice. Sounds like a 'healthy' morning breakfast right? Low fat, grains and perhaps even whole wheat bread. Observe your [ mental clarity and focus, energy levels, cravings, bloating, gas ] and after 1 hour,and for the next 3 hours or so. How you feel after 1-3 hours upon ingestion of those foods will tell you a lot about the state of the brain, mental and physiological functions. Remember, you are eating a carbohydrates based meal, a low fat content, which what the dietary guideline recommended. </div>
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<i><span style="color: #e69138;">Test 2</span></i></div>
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One whole avocado. A very high fat low carbs food/meal. Perform the same observations and ensure both these tests are done on separate days. Please sleep on the same time the night before, for fair accurate assessment. </div>
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Apart from the simple test, bear in mind that eating a typical Western American diet, or even high carbs non organic home-cook meals coupled with wheat, it is a recipe for chronic inflammation of the brain and the rest of the body. The goal is to feed the brain its preferred fuel and nutrients, and remove or reduce as much inflammatory food groups or ingredients from your diet. Stop fueling the fire in the brain!</div>
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<b><u>ALTERNATIVES NATURAL ANTI-DEPRESSANTS</u></b></div>
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<li>Chamomile</li>
<li>Tulsi (Arguably the most potent anti-stress herb on the planet)</li>
<li>Licorice root ( help to regulate cortisol pathway, not meant for everyone, avoid drinking at night)</li>
<li>Turmeric (curcumin) (shown in studies to combat inflammation in the brain)</li>
<li>Coconut oil ( one of the superfoods to reduce inflammation and provide ketones for the brain)</li>
<li>Omega 3 fatty acids</li>
<li>Magnesium Oil (apply topically on the skin)</li>
<li>Raw cacao powder (rich in trytophan and magnesium)</li>
<li>Brocolli sprouts or sulfur based supplements (key in detoxification to eliminate toxins)</li>
<li>Ashwagandha (help support thyroid and regulate stress, avoid night consumption for some people)</li>
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<b><u>MANAGING TOXICITY, FREE RADICALS, INFLAMMATION</u></b><br />
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Anything that you put in your mouth, water or foods, will likely to determine if it's pro-inflammation or anti-inflammation. Doesn't matter if it's water or cheeseburger, your body will either classify the ingested substance as foreign invaders or nutrients for assimilation. It will either attack the pathogenic substance or digest the nutrition in the foods for the body's benefits. If it's activating immune response from either the the soda beverage you consume, or perhaps fluoride exposure from various sources, free radicals and inflammation will occur.<br />
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Be it from sugar or wheat in the foods you consume, or fluoride in the toothpaste or even polluted air which inhaled in the lungs, oxidative stress is coupled with stolen electron resulted in domino affect in the body, and inflammatory cytokines such as IL1, IL6, IL17 and TNF- Alpha will be flooding the gut, brain and the rest of the body too. As I've elaborated in previous post about inflammation, how it affect the conversion of tryptophan to 5-HTP, as BH4 is extremely fragile to oxidative stress. Same apply with conversion of phenylalanine to tyrosine to DOPA, your reward or pleasure hormone and also a critical neurotransmitter called dopamine.<br />
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Imagine, an average Joe, eating his typical processed foods diet on daily basis, high in refined sugars and wheat, that itself is enough to trigger high amount of inflammation in the gut, and thus, activating the GUT-BRAIN AXIS. Whatever happens in the gut, it will affect the brain. If you have regular brain fog, that's your brain on fire. Bloating primarily represents inflammation in the gut, be it from food sensitivities or just inflammatory foods such as grains, wheat, soybean, nuts, legumes, sugars, dairy products, etc.<br />
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The end goal is to remove these foods from the diet first hand, and identify the top of your list REACTIVE foods. Then, you might want to add more bio-available anti-oxidants from organic whole foods or supplements, whichever suit your better in long run.<br />
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<b><u>EXERCISE</u></b><br />
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By now, everyone know exercise is good for you. Be it brisk walking in the park, or high intensity training, some movement is better then no movement. Is that right? Of course there are good and not so ideal form of exercises. As I blogged before, there are certain extreme exercises which may cause more damage then benefits to the body and health.<br />
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For instance, an individual has loaded his GI tract with sugars and wheat based foods for breakfast and lunch. Daytime stress level is high at work, and he or she decided to hit the gym at night for RPM or 90 mins or treadmill. The amount of cortisol produced throughout the day and night for this person, not only increased permeability of the gut, but resulting in even higher amount of oxidative stress and inflammation.<br />
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Solution? Simple. Listen to your body. Whenever you feel exhausted at work or lack of sleep the night before, avoid long duration cardiovascular type of exercise, or any extreme long bouts of training especially at work. You can either meditate in a dark quiet room, or relaxing form of yoga or energizing chakras work in exercises. Breathing exercises is beneficial to restore balance to the biological oscillators. And of course, go to bed early by 10pm latest.<br />
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<b><u>VITAMIN D</u></b><br />
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Sun exposure is crucial, when it comes to regulating the neurotransmitters in the body and brain. As many people are avoiding the sun like a plaque, we are not only seeing more mental and brain disorders, and also chronic degenerative diseases such as cancer and stroke. This potent hormone regulate all vital neurotransmitters needed for brain functions, and it also inhibit inflammatory responses in the body. It is also a powerful anti-cancer substance needed to keep us all healthy. The darker your skin tone is, the more sun exposure you need. Get tested for 25-Hydroxy Vitamin D level, to find out if you are deficient in Vitamin D.<br />
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Now, what next? Where do I start? With so much of information, most people may feel overwhelmed, and for some, they may give up before trying any of these factors management and hitting the pills back again.<br />
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Do what you think you can first hand, and if you are a depression or anxiety patient, do not taper off the meds immediately before you manage your diet, lifestyle and factors which I discussed. Try natural alternatives anti-depressant solutions, different individuals will achieve various results. Remember, no one is destined to suffer from depression or similar brain disorders. Same apply with other neurological or chronic degenerative diseases.<br />
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GENEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00307674629588999995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057135655715165379.post-74089872543172881392015-09-06T23:59:00.003-07:002015-09-07T00:02:27.914-07:00Why Malaysia has become one of the most diabetic countries in ASIA?<div style="text-align: justify;">
I think this has to stop, I mean seriously. The population has become the VICTIM of health problems, particularly diabetes, obesity and chronic degenerative diseases. Strolling along the parks or window shopping in shopping malls have become a regular sight of noticing overweight obese people all around you. Being officially certified fattest country in South East Asia, Malaysia has become a nation of embarrassment, which regards to health status and weight management. </div>
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In today's post, I would want to share with you all about one of the many cases which came to me, stories and real life experiences from my clients, and friends. Many of us are still in the dark about what conventional dietary professionals are taught, and is REALLY being prescribed as diet plan or protocol to their clients. How many of us realized that most of the Degrees of Dietetics and Nutrition are sponsored by Food and Pharmaceutical companies?</div>
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Imagine this, you are overweight and diabetic, and you need help to fix your diet and get your health and weight back on track. The next thing in your mind is getting professional help, in this case, consult a Registered Dietitian or Nutritionist. So, what do you do? Of course in almost every case, most people would either go to a hospital or contact these professionals. With high hopes of getting your life back on track, and being positive that you can get help to reverse diabetes from so called dietary experts, you have no idea what's coming next. </div>
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A client of mine, recently came to me with desperate help of tackling her husband's health condition and hopefully being able to be normal healthy adult again. An individual and a patient of diabetes, and recent sufferer of Pulmonary TB ( being on antibiotics for 6 months ), he went to a specialist hospital and consulted a registered dietician. Keep reading...</div>
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I urged my client to bring me the diet plan which was prescribed to her husband, and after days of waiting, she finally sat down and showed me the Diabetic Dietary Plan. It was disastrous, utterly a recipe for diabetes, obesity and pro-inflammatory. The diet plan was so simple, and below are the translated version of Bahasa Malaysia.</div>
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Panduan Pemakanan Untuk Kawal Diabetes - <b><span style="color: #cc0000;">Food Guideline for Managing Diabetes</span></b><br />
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<u><b>Diabetes Diet Plan? </b></u><br />
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Nasi - Rice<br />
Mihun - Noodles<br />
Macaroni/Spagetti/Mee - maccaroni, spagetti, noodles<br />
Bubur Nasi - Porridge<br />
Tosai - Made of flour and black lentils? High glycemic index<br />
Putu Ayam - made of rice flour, usually eaten with refined brown sugar<br />
Bun Kosong - Plain Bun<br />
Roti - Bread<br />
Oat (Mentah) - Oats<br />
Biskut Krim Kracker - Biscuit Cream Cracker<br />
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Ubi Kentang - Potatoes (starchy carbs)<br />
Ubi Keladi - Yam (starchy carbs)<br />
Labu Merah - Pumpkin (starchy carbs)<br />
Kentang Putar - Mashed Potatoes (starchy carbs)<br />
Jagung - Corn<br />
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From the above diet plan for diabetic patient, it is a recipe for dysregulating blood sugar and insulin resistance, developing diabetes, and setting one for other chronic degenerative diseases such as heart disease, cancer, etc. A heavily high glycemic carbohydrates dietary plan, grains based protocol. It sounded more like a diet meant for developing diabetes. Where are the healthy fats? Where are the leafy green organic vegetables? What happen to ancestral animal based foods? </div>
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I wonder, why are rates of diabetes and obesity keep alarmingly increasing in industrialized countries such as USA, Australia and UK? Why wouldn't we become overweight, diabetic and diseased with the dietary recommendations endorsed and prescribed by dietary professionals as such? Even countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt are now influxed with American fast foods and processed foods too.These countries are one of the most obese and diabetic in the world. </div>
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As everyone knows the food pyramid and the endorsement and recommendations from so called dietary experts in respective countries, we are all getting from bad to worst, while trying to eat a so called 'healthier' low fat, high carbohydrates diet. To be precise, a high glycemic refined carbohydrates diet loaded with sugars. </div>
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Now, back to my client's husband case. He was given a general pamplet of Food Guideline for Managing Diabetes. No assessment made, no detailed testing conducted, pamplet given, and was asked to follow the diet plan for 3 months. It sounded very similiar to what American Dietitics Association professionals would prescribed to their clients in general. A diet plan based on calories in calories out, high GI carbohydrates blood sugar spiking foods, and no management on micronutrients nor inflammation, how would it be possible to even scratch the surface of managing blood sugar or reversing diabetes? Not to mention toxicity (such as pesticides, chemicals) in the foods or even intolerances and sensitivities? </div>
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Are these dietary professionals bad people? Of course NO! Same apply with medical doctors who are not taught nor educated about information and fields which they are misinformed. I believe these professionals want to help their patients or clients, but in sad reality, the industries of diet, nutrition, and health/medical, have been so corrupted and powerfully influenced by the food and pharmaceutical powerhouses. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the specialist hospitals in Malaysia, diatetics group</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A dietary plan for diabetic patient? </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An organization which the population seek advise for dietary help, is sponsored by food and pharmaceutical companies. </td></tr>
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<u>Reference: </u><br />
http://www.eatdrinkpolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/AND_Corporate_Sponsorship_Report.pdf<br />
<br />GENEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00307674629588999995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057135655715165379.post-46492682132919336652015-08-16T19:09:00.002-07:002015-08-16T19:10:04.132-07:00Kidney Cleanse & Rejuvenate - Weekly Tonic<div style="text-align: justify;">
The kidneys are probably one of the most under appreciated organs in the body. Perhaps, the least most talked about organs, where silently regulating so many bodily functions without us even realizing it. When asked most people to name one function of these vital organs, you would be lucky to have 1 out of 50 people able to provide the answer correctly. These organs are delicately powerful are considered as the last stop for filtration and part of detoxification pathway. It's a cleansing organ. </div>
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We eat and eat all the time, gulp down beverages loaded with sugars and chemicals on daily basis. Have often we think about our detoxification organs such as liver and kidneys? The kidneys are working hard every single day to cleanse and detox your body by filtering anywhere from 180-200 quarts of blood. They collect excess fluid and waste and excrete them out as 1-2 quarts of urine daily. The nephrons first filter fluid and waste, while preventing blood cells and large molecules like proteins from passing through. The filtered fluid then goes through a tube that adds needed minerals back into the bloodstream and removes wastes. Urine is the final product.</div>
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The kidneys are crucial organs because they have the job of keeping blood composition stable, which allows the body to function well. When your kidneys are in good shape, they:</div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;">Prevent the buildup of wastes and extra fluid in the body</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Keep levels of electrolytes stable, such as sodium, potassium, and phosphate</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Produce an active form of vitamin D that promotes strong, healthy bones (if you have chronic low vitamin D and you supplement with it, look to tune up kidney health)</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Release hormones that help make red blood cells and regulate blood pressure</li>
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<i><u>Symptoms of congested kidneys:</u></i><br />
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<li>Low libido</li>
<li>Weak nails</li>
<li>Brain Fog</li>
<li>Lower back Pain</li>
<li>Edema</li>
<li>Poor Balance</li>
<li>Poor Physical Development</li>
<li>Bladder conditions/dsyfunctions</li>
<li>Kidney stones</li>
<li>Infertility</li>
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<b><u><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">The Recipe:</span></u></b><br />
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1 cup unsweetened cranberry juice<br />
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A teaspoon of chlorophyll (chlorella)<br />
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Quarter cup of raw apple cider vinegar (organic)<br />
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Juice of two freshly squeezed lemons (use mixture of lime if desired)<br />
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<span style="color: #93c47d;">Optional: a few drops of liquid stevia</span><br />
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Why These Ingredients?<br />
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<b>Cranberry Juice</b><br />
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Cranberries prevent bacteria, primarily E.coli from attaching to the wall of the bladder. This means that infections cannot stick around inside your body. Most people know this, but what they don’t know is that a lot like a full-bodied red wine, cranberries are high in tannins. Tannins are an active ingredient in cranberries that work by helping your liver remove excess cholesterol out of your blood while flushing out bacteria and toxins from your kidneys. So, cranberries can help your other major detoxification system, the liver, to do its job better as well.</div>
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<b>Chlorophyll</b><br />
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Chlorophyll is just a powerful nutrient for health and a health food that often gets overlooked. It has many benefits for the human body well beyond the kidneys. It’s essential to the process of photosynthesis known as 'the building block for life'. Chlorophyll contains the trace element of iron which is helpful for anemia, low energy, and headaches.</div>
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Chlorophyll has an affinity for blood; indeed chlorophyll has been shown to increase oxygen uptake in the blood, which can increase energy, relieve fatigue and improve many blood disorders. There are tons of heavy metals polluting our environment on daily basis. Mercury is one of the common heavy metals, a potent toxin in its own right that can damage your brain, central nervous system and kidneys, and is especially dangerous for children, fetuses, pregnant and nursing women and people who have high levels of mercury.</div>
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Chlorophyll also contains vitamin C, inorganic salt, and is alkalizing. The combination of these things allows chlorophyll to assist in toxin removal, especially from the kidneys. Studies show it has kidney-protective properties and may also reduce the risk of kidney stones.</div>
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<b>Raw Apple Cider Vinegar</b><br />
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It helps detoxify the liver because it helps break down fats. Apple cider vinegar also helps prevent kidney stones from forming and helps remove bad bacteria E. Coli is usually at the root of a urinary tract or bladder infection. With adding both apple cider vinegar and cranberry juice together, bad bacteria will be depleted because they work synergistically together.</div>
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<b>Lemon Juice</b></div>
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Good old-fashioned lemon juice has been shown to increase citrate levels in the urine. Citrate is a known inhibitor of calcium stone disease. This means plain lemon juice is a powerful tool to discourage kidney stones from forming.</div>
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** This can be made and consumed on weekly basis, or couple of times per week, depending on your diet, lifestyle, exposure to toxins and status of your detoxification pathway, especially the kidneys. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo courtesy from MedicineNet</span></td></tr>
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<br />GENEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00307674629588999995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057135655715165379.post-91531100974430096772015-07-26T03:40:00.000-07:002015-07-26T03:40:16.134-07:00Depression : Is it seratonin or SSRI deficiency? (Part 4)<div style="text-align: justify;">
As we have learned in previous post of how toxins and inflammation can derail the health of our brain and triggering depression, today will be something different. We will get to know how our master metabolic gland can cause depression and symptoms as such. And yes, I'm referring to thyroid gland. This very important gland is much more well known amongst women, especially the ones who are suffering from thyroid disorders or diseases. </div>
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People of all sorts, from an obese individual who easily feel cold, to hair loss and dry skin classic group of females, and not to mention the ones who have hard time trying to lose weight and maintain it long term. All these common thyroid symptoms are becoming more prevalence amongst the population, especially the last decade or so. You would easily see a 40% bodyfat woman in your workplace or cinema wearing long sleeve sweater, or the same old faces of 'treadmill buddies' in the gym all year round unable to shed off those fats in the body. </div>
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Some are 'officially' diagnosed with hypothyroidism, and for others, an autoimmunity condition called Hashimotos Thyroiditis or Graves. Either or, if you are one of these patients, you could say good bye to feeling great. Apart from that, the conventional diagnosis and treatment is way far off from effective or helping the thyroid related condition. For most cases, treatments using pharmaceutical drugs, it create more problems then fixing anything at all.</div>
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Today, we will discuss about thyroid, and how its' conditions can mimick the symptoms of depression. As most people know what thyroid gland is and it's functions, let's just call it the master metabolic controller. And yes, for whoever concern about losing bodyfat and looking good, this gland is your best friend. Once you finish reading today's post, you will learn to show care for it much more, then years of thrashing it with chronic stress levels, fluoridated and chlorinated water and substances, sugars, wheat (gluten) and other thyroid destroying compounds. </div>
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The thyroid gland is kind of a master gland. It affects just about every single cell in the body. What I like to think about what the thyroid does, in very simple terms, it actually speeds us up or slows us down. If we have an overactive thyroid, our metabolism will be quicker. Our heart rate is going to be faster. We are going to feel a little bit irritable, a little bit edgy. On the other hand, if we have an under-active thyroid, that's going to slow us down. We are going to be digesting slower, our metabolism's going to be slower. We are going to be thinking slower too. We might not be as motivated, we might be more tired. We are not going to feel as excited about life as we normally would have.</div>
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The question is, can thyroid be one of the root cause of depression? Basically, an under-active thyroid is associated with symptoms of slowing down. You think about people who maybe have brain fog. People will have symptoms of depression. They will have symptoms of fatigue. Of course, that sounds a lot like depression. Other things that happen is they may not be as motivated as they normally were, so that's apathy. That is another symptom of depression. Often times, thyroid disorders can be misdiagnosed as depression.</div>
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Thyroid working too slow or too fast. Now, let's jump a little bit into autoimmune disease for this particular gland. There are two main things that can go wrong with the thyroid. You can either have hyperthyroidism. The most common cause of that is going to be Graves' disease. This is an autoimmune condition. The other spectrum is Hashimoto's, which is the primary reason for having an under-active thyroid. That’s also an autoimmune condition.</div>
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People who have Graves disease will be more likely to have anxiety and panic attacks. They might be very, very irritable. Some patients might be even hospitalized for psychotic disorders. With Hashimoto's, in the early stages of it, what's happening is as the immune system begins to attack the thyroid gland, we have an initial transient hyperthyroidism because a lot of the thyroid cells are being dropped into the blood stream. All of these thyroid hormones are going to be too high. Then, all those get cleared out, and then all of a sudden the thyroid is no longer producing enough hormone. Then, you will be hypothyroid or you will have an under-active thyroid. This can mimic the symptoms of bipolar disorder.</div>
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In the advanced stages of Hashimoto's, people are going to feel more depressed. But in the early stages they might feel the ups and downs. Some of these patients are on heavy-duty psychotropic medications. They were hospitalized. Where in fact it was their thyroid disorder that was causing this.</div>
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The other interesting thing about Hashimoto's is that it's not really necessary to have an impaired function of the thyroid gland. Just having the Hashimoto's antibodies can be associated with feeling unwell and feeling depressed and feeling anxious and schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder. People with mental health issues have been found to have greater rates of thyroid antibodies.</div>
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The immune system basically makes antibodies to recognize foreign invaders such as bacteria, viruses, different kinds of pathogens of that sort. In autoimmune disease what happens is the immune system mistakenly makes self-antibodies. In the case of thyroid disease, the immune system will start making antibodies to the thyroid gland. Thyroid peroxidase antibodies, thyroglobulin antibodies, are the two main antibodies in Hashimoto's.</div>
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What's causing the body to trigger the antibodies? Some of the causes are going to be, if I can put them in the main categories, are food sensitivities, nutrient deficiencies, impaired ability to handle stress, impaired ability to handle toxins, gut permeability or a leaky gut, as well as chronic infections. A very good example would be someone ingesting loads of gluten in almost every meal, causing severe immune reaction and release of antibodies. Cereals for breakfast, sandwich for lunch, pasta or pizza for dinner, that would sum it up for a chaotic immune reaction in terms of dietary factor. </div>
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For certain groups of medical professionals, it is known as molecular mimicry. That's one of the leading autoimmune theories, where the immune system recognizes something, a foreign enemy in the body, and kind of takes a snapshot of what that protein structure looks like. Then, basically it will walk around with that little snapshot. It’ll look for cells that look similar. If there's a protein sequence that is found in gluten or on a pathogen, that is similar to that of the thyroid gland, then the immune system will be attacking both.</div>
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You must be asking, "Are the doctors just not being trained on this?". Well well, if you are consulting or getting help from conventional medical doctors, good luck to you. One of the things that doctors are trained to do is just do a screening test for thyroid disease, which is known as the TSH test, thyroid stimulating hormone. This is actually a pituitary test. It doesn't measure what's happening in the thyroid gland exactly. It just measures the communication pathway. If everything is normal with you, with your communication pathways, the TSH test, if you have an underactive thyroid, is going to be elevated. For many of the alternative or holistic/clinical practitioners, TSH test is regarded a very ineffective approach and waste of time. </div>
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We want to look at thyroid antibodies, because these can be elevated for sometimes decades before you see a change in TSH. They can actually cause a lot of their own set of symptoms, even if you have normal thyroid function. Thyroid peroxidase antibodies, TPO antibodies, and thyroglobulin antibodies are two of the biggest ones that are going to be present in about eighty to ninety percent of people with Hashimoto's.</div>
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It would be wise to get levels of free T3 and free T4 checked, which are the thyroid hormones. Those should be somewhere in the upper half of the reference range. Those are going to have slightly different reference ranges depending on the lab that you go through. Sometimes, those numbers can uncover if you have a thyroid disorder before the other numbers can. Also, looking at reverse T3 is another test that sometimes may be implicated in an under-active thyroid where all of the other labs may be normal. </div>
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In reality, thyroid disorders are one of the most misdiagnosed of all health conditions. Most patients are not aware that thyroid medications are fluoridated and some of them contain fillers coated with gluten. If you do your own research, you will find out some shocking truths about these drugs.<br />
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GENEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00307674629588999995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057135655715165379.post-36287374234536923462015-07-12T03:33:00.000-07:002015-07-12T03:33:37.533-07:00Depression : Is it seratonin or SSRI deficiency? (Part 3)<div style="text-align: justify;">
In 1955, there were 38,000 people in the United States that were diagnosed as depressed. In recent years, the latest statistics showed 9 million people suffered from depression. That's a huge rise from just decades, less then 60 years of gap. We're not talking about a little bit depressed. Depressed enough that they're disabled, unable to go to work. It's the number two leading cause of disability now in terms of people not being able to show up for work anymore. It's clearly on the rise. This is happening all over the world, in many industrialized countries. </div>
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When we talk about mood issues or depression, serotonin is the first word usually comes into mind. But how many people or even health or medical professionals know who the word serotonin means? Sero, serum, like blood, and tonin or tonifier. When they first discovered serotonin, one of its actions is that it constricts the blood vessels. Before they understood that it was a neurotransmitter, it was operating in your brain, they could see it outside the brain in the blood vessels causing things to constrict.</div>
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Serotonin is both inside your brain and outside your brain. Now we're talking about the serotonin outside the brain. It's mostly made in your gut in these enterochromaffin cells in the digestive tract. They produce 95-96% of all the serotonin in the body in the digestive tract. Your gut or also known as your second brain makes it. In the gut itself, it causes peristaltic action or contraction of the gut. That's its job there. You get tons of serotonin, you would get loose stools or diarrhea.You don't have enough serotonin you could get constipated. This again is just the serotonin in the gut.</div>
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In today's post. let's talk about toxins and free radicals affect on the brain and depression. First off, there is report from American Academy of Pediatrics that <b>74 billion</b> pounds of chemicals that are being imported or produced in the United States every single day! Is it possible then that the rise in chemicals could be associated with the rise in many of the chronic diseases we're seeing today? </div>
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When you look at these chemicals and each and every one of them has some component of degrading mitochondrial function, whether it's in the electron transport chain, complex 1, complex 2, or whether it's in the Kreb's cycle or intermediates or co-factors. </div>
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Let's go down to the basics. What is the mitochondria? It's the energy powerhouse of the cell. What it means is it's where you take in your outside sources of fuel. Your carbohydrates, your amino acids. your fatty acids, and you turn them into what would be considered cellular currency, something called adenosine triphosphate or ATP. It's the powerhouse. It takes in the nutrients and makes energy out of them. I'm not going to explain too much of details as you can do further research on mitochondria from the internet. </div>
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Now, let's discuss about oxidative stress. Oxidative stress basically means destabilization, stealing of an electron from the outer orbital of a compound. Let's say you had alpha lipoic acid. Alpha lipoic acid normally has a very generous ability to give somebody an electron. When it gives somebody an electron, it's missing an electron. Alpha lipoic acid doesn't behave badly when it's missing an electron but if you have a toxin. Another example could be some benzene compound from cigarette smoke, and you're missing an electron, that substance will circulate around in the body. It will find a tissue and it will steal an electron from that substance. In doing so, it causes instability. Think of someone who always borrow money from you. Let's say your colleague or friend who always come to you and say " I need to borrow 30 bucks from you", and this loaning money activity keeps repeating again and again and causes instability. And of course, you know that something is really wrong here.<br />
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On the other hand, then there is the 'anti-oxidant' groups of people. These people often very generous and offer a helping hand. They are often giving and reduce the damage caused by the borrowers. Basically, oxidative stress means there are too many environmental people or constituents in your cell that are stealing all the time, these electrons.<br />
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The question is, what oxidative stress has to do with depression? What you can do is you can cause oxidative stress by exciting the immune system. Sometimes the immune cells will go around and attack constituents, let's say harmed cells, or let's say bacterial invaders. They’ll actually form oxidants in order to combat that particular damage or that particular organism. You can actually form radicals, what they call free radicals, that are unstable and steal electrons by activating the immune system constantly.<br />
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One good example, inflammation itself can cause that. If you don't have enough of the antioxidants around, you can destabilize in so many different ways. Any chemical that comes in that can pull off an electron. Mercury, another example, is a known toxin that everybody knows about. It can rob really, really quickly, destabilize the cell and form free radicals.<br />
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Think about it for a second. Digestion is the key for activating the inflammatory response, for activating the immune cells. You have more then 70% of your immune cells in your intestinal tract. All you have to do is excite them and then they'll secrete those inflammatory cytokines which will then end up next stop in the liver, activating the Kupffer cells there.The next step after that is the brain, activating the microglia and opening up the blood-brain-barrier. We now see there is a tight association with intestinal permeability and blood-brain-barrier permeability.</div>
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Lifestyle factors such as poor diet, smoking tobacco, things of that sort all cause oxidative stress. Now what does the oxidative stress have to do with depression? So many different ways. Let's take a simple one that everybody will understand. Let's take, for example, tryptophan metabolism. Many people when they're depressed, they'll take something called an SSRI, a selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor. This is to keep serotonin around in the synapse longer so you will actually have activation from serotonin, the feel-good neurotransmitter. That feel-good neurotransmitter has to be made from something right?<br />
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There are building blocks for serotonin. The prime building block is tryptophan. Tryptophan is the<br />
least common amino acid in the human body. You're lucky if you're getting couple of grams per day. It's tough to have it around so you really want to be efficient at turning tryptophan into things that you<br />
need for proper mood like 5-HTP and serotonin but, guess what? The first step in the metabolic process, the biochemical step from taking tryptophan into 5-HTP needs a co-factor.<br />
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The co-factor is called BH4. This co-factor is very prone to oxidative stress and unstable. BH4 is also needed for other neurotransmitters such as dopamine. Phenylalanine to tyrosine and tyrosine to L-Dopa, and this very co-factor is needed but extremely prone to oxidative stress. Dopamine is known as the reward neurotransmitter. You feel accomplished in life. You feel secure with yourself.<br />
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So, if you have high level of inflammation and oxidative stress, a basic math calculation and common sense will tell you that you may not feel as happy and secure in your life due to depleted BH4 co-factor. The end products of needed neurotransmitters are low and insufficient. You may suffer from mood swings or feeling lousy most of the time.<br />
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On the other side of the coin, In states of inflammation, in states of oxidative stress, you will up regulate certain enzymes, an enzyme called IDO. This IDO enzyme actually will degrade tryptophan. Instead of pushing tryptophan through the serotonin pathway, when you have a lot of inflammation, when you're activating the microglia in the brain, for example, and you have chemical exposures, you've got stress, you have whatever it is that's activating the microglia, then you'll actually turn on these cytokines, and in turn, it turn on IDO enzymes. Cytokines is inflammatory, can activate IDO enzymes, and cause oxidative stress.<br />
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This IDO enzyme then will, instead of taking tryptophan to serotonin, will take tryptophan down this kynurenine pathway. The kynurenine pathway can actually end up producing something called quinolinic acid. It is neurotoxic and a toxin that actually binds to a very excitatory receptor in the brain called NMDA. It can lead to anxious and depressive type symptoms. In a nutshell, inflammation, oxidative stress play a crucial role in brain health and arguably one of the most important variables in determining if one is at risk of depression.<br />
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<i><b><u>References/Journals: </u></b></i><br />
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26130057<br />
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26028548<br />
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25900439<br />
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25865484<br />
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25825158<br />
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26083579<br />
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25907742<br />
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GENEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00307674629588999995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057135655715165379.post-38856428162161136732015-06-28T19:34:00.000-07:002015-06-28T19:34:19.510-07:00Depression : Is it seratonin or SSRI deficiency? (Part 2)<div style="text-align: justify;">
As we have witnessed in recent years (till present time), there are much more cases of mental disorders amongst the population. From depression to bipolar disorders and even ADHD which is common with children nowadays, how often we ask ourselves why is this happening? Instead of popping pills like candies without proper extended diagnosis and functional investigation in a more holistic approach, the medical condition diagnosis and treatment look hopeless and broken. In this case, we are referring to mental health and depression.</div>
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As we walk into a doctor's office, most of the patients have less then 30-45 seconds before the medical doctor interrupt you and reach for that prescription pad. How often does a medical doctor really listen to a patient? Not to mention thorough assessments and find out about your digestion, sleep quality, hydration, movement or even diet and nutrition. The problem is, most conventional medical doctors are not trained to do such investigation and assessments, and legally speaking, these medical professionals are concern of being sued or stripped off their doctors' licenses if practice any other approaches which is against the code of conduct or agreement. </div>
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In today's post, let's discuss how certain genes may play a vital role in susceptibility of mental disorders or depression. Before we continue, or if you are on SSRI medications, please take note that this is NOT a medical advice nor treatment. Do consult your medical doctor for advise before you take any action yourself. Although the facts presented here are primarily based on research and literatures, always work with your medical doctor especially if you are on anti-depressant drugs. </div>
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As we have all heard about how genes may affect our body and health and susceptibility of diseases and medical conditions, how much truth in that? Well, according to the largest human genetics research (The Human Genome Project), the scientists have concluded that our genes could affect our health and susceptibility of disorders or diseases, but only 5% in most individuals. In a minority, some people may inherit up to 10% of gene makeup from their ancestors. What does that tell you? Does it mean that you are born to develop diabetes or depression? Do you have to give up your life because your parents or grandparents died of heart disease or cancer? Of course not. Yes, if you inherit certain genes which may increase the susceptibility of certain medical conditions, you can still take control of your life and health, by determining and controlling other variables and factors in life, such as diet, environmental stressors, stress levels, toxins exposure, exercise, etc.</div>
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As it is easy to give up on taking control and ownership of our lives, blaming others and playing the finger pointing game, many of us are living in 'Child's mind in an adult's body'. These individuals tend not to take responsibility of their lives and bodies, and often stay in comfort zone in most of the time, looking for quick fixes and ignoring what is happening around them and not listening to the body's signs and symptoms. </div>
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Now, let's bring up the discussion of MTHFR. For most people, it is something new, but in the field of medicine, more and more medical doctors are aware of this, thankfully. MTHFR genetic mutations has been critical in terms of susceptibility of long list of diseases including depression and other mental/neurological disorders. This will be one of the three genes I will discuss in this post today.</div>
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What is MTHFR? Well, you can google many different websites with similar elaborations and explanation what it is all about. Yes, I have to admit that the entire MTHFR understanding is very complex, but I will try to make it easy to understand for you readers out there. Before I continue, let me make it clear that I'm NOT the expert of this field. Based on my own intensive research and reviewing literatures conducted on MTHFR, I'm hoping to share this important awareness to more people especially my own clients. </div>
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Let's think of it as 2 different phases of 'ball passing' for the entire MTHFR process to complete successfully. The methylation process in the body is so complex, that I think intensive and thorough research with hours and hours of reading medical journals is required to fully understand how it actually work. the acronym of MTHFR is methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase. Forget about the scienfitic name, but you have to realize that folate is the key nutrient needed to produce the end phase of methyl-folate before being passed on to 2nd phase. </div>
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Please take note that we are still discussing about how MTHFR could affect mental health and depression. Although there are other long list of medical conditions such as cancer, heart disease, autoimmune disease, etc which are more susceptible if one inherit one or two of the copies of MTHFR mutated genes. If an individual inherit one copy of the mutated genes, he or she is associated with 30-40% of reduced capacity of enzymes activity for the body to do its job. And if you inherit both the mutated copies of MTHFR genes, the association is 60-70% and that's bad news. </div>
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Let's zone in abit on phase 1 for MTHFR process. Think of walking down the stairs or passing the ball from one end to the other. There are few (primarily 5) steps in phase 1 prior to successfully making the end product of methyl-folate. Think of first step of the stairs where folate needs to bind to its receptors and making its way to final step in order to successfully become active form of methyl-folate. The are other factors why certain people unable to successfully produce sufficient amount of methyl-folate in the body. One of the reasons are due to synthetic supplement form of folic acid. Most people have heard of this nutrient as it is prescribed by medical doctors to patients especially women. Bear in mind, folic acid is NOT recognized by the body and is not bio-available. None of us should be taking this synthetic form of supplement. Folic acid from supplements will block the receptors of folate in the cells and disabling natural folate from binding into its own receptors. This will cause problems as it will reduce the body's capacity to produce the end product of methyl-folate.</div>
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You must be asking, "What if my doctor tell me to take folic acid?" Well, do your homework and research, bring the concern to your doctor and work with him. Always remember, your doctor is suppose to work with you on your medical condition, and you have every right to fire your doctor if you feel he or she is incompetent and refuse to look at the medical literatures you are presenting right in front of him. </div>
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Now, assume that your body can make methyl-folate with flying colors, you still need another nutrient called Methylcobalamin (B12). Both of these bio-available B vitamins are then passed on to next phase with involved SAMe. What is SAMe? First of all, it is a powerful natural anti-depressant, and also pre-cursors to neurotransmitters such as serotonin, melatonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. It is needed to produce these vital neurotransmitters that keep us happy, optimistic, mentally focused, calm and able to sleep well too. It is the body's primary methyl donor, which does tons of critical stuff.</div>
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For some people, the first phase of methyl-folate and B12 production may be ideal, but they have problem producing sufficient SAMe in the body, the crucial methylation pathways will also suffer, resulting in long list of biochemical and physiological disorders. These methyl donors are critical for the completion of both phases to successfully do its job. Please note that methyl-folate gets handed off along with methylcobalamin, which is B12. It’s the body’s number one active form of B12. There’s three of them. To keep it simple, methylcobalamin is number one, most active in circulation. It tag teams with the methylfolate.<br />
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Next, we then have genetic variable called MAO-A. Monoamine oxidase A, known as X linked genes, a 'fast-reacting' genes which produces enzymes to clear out or destroy serotonin neurotransmitters in the brain. What that means is women have two genes for MAO, because it’s X. They have two X chromosomes. Men, have an X and a Y. Women can burn through their 5-HTP faster because their MAO-A enzyme, they have twice as much as men. Bear in mind, women typically have twice the amount of these MAO-A enzymes in the body/brain then most men do. What that means is women are more susceptible to depression because that MAO-A is clearing out that 5-HTP faster than the men. Thus, the rate of serotonin depletion in women is much higher then men. Other neurotransmitters such as dopamine may also be depleted in some people with higher amount of MAO-A enzymes. Wonder why more women are suffering from depression compared to men?<br />
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Another genetic variable which is CBS genes. It is arguably the number one gene which is associated with high level of homocysteine. If someone has elevated homocysteine, their ability to make neurotransmitters and have them work goes way down. If you have the CBS problem, and that’s a slow down of the gene, same with MTHFR. Now, you must be asking yourself, with all these concerns about possible genes mutation which may increase the susceptibility of depression, where can I get tested? Or what should I do? I have list down couple of websites which provide these specific genetic profile testing and I will be back soon for next post on other variables which can play a role in depression. Stay tuned.<br />
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<u><i>Where can I get tested?</i></u><br />
http://moleculartestinglabs.com<br />
https://www.23andme.com<br />
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<i><u>MTHFR, MAO, CBS journals:</u></i><br />
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1810582/<br />
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18370582<br />
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26021967<br />
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24123968<br />
http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/gene/MTHFR<br />
http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=207557<br />
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25828849<br />
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25961058<br />
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26028548<br />
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24443391<br />
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24577139<br />
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24091066<br />
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25528761<br />
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GENEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00307674629588999995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057135655715165379.post-25914656747064353062015-06-20T22:44:00.004-07:002015-06-20T22:44:58.732-07:00Depression : Is it seratonin or SSRI deficiency? (Part 1)<div style="text-align: justify;">
Have you ever feel depressed or anxious from time to time? Have you ever been diagnosed with depression or any mental disorders? As more people are being diagnosed with depression, it is the world’s second biggest cause of disability, according to a study by researchers from The University of Queensland. If you are one of victims and seeking for alternative solutions or knowing more about this condition, this topic series may well be your life safer.</div>
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As experts predicted that this condition will likely be the number one cause of disability globally in years to come, the statistics are not looking good, in terms of conventional diagnosis and treatment, and many more people are suffering from this illness, as of present time and future. Is there one approach or treatment for every different individual? It is often easy to apply the same 'one size fits all' approach to every patient when he or she walks into the doctor's clinic. But, many of us now realized that in terms of disease diagnosis and treatment, conventional paradigm of medical drugs may well be a huge failure, accompanied with side effects which cause more problems (side effects) to the body then attempting to fix anything.</div>
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In a similar analogy, conventional approach for patients who suffer from fever to go on paracetamol or aspirin, or in the field of dietary, or cancer patients undergo chemotherapy/radiation for a hopeful treatment. Most authors of diet books will claim that their own diet protocol is healthy and suit everyone else and there is no difference between many fitness professionals who proudly endorse their own workout DVDs and claim to be the best weight loss program ever. </div>
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We humans, are biochemical individuals, and with our own unique physiological adaptation and built, genes are being expressed constantly, be it from our diet, lifestyle or environmental stressors. Thus, 'one size fits all' approach by treating all depressed patients with SSRI drugs seemed to be an easy puzzle to solve. Does it really work? How effective is SSRI drugs? </div>
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In conventional medicine, SSRI (anti-depressant) drugs are prescribed to patients primarily diagnosed with depression or showed any symptoms of anxiety or similar mental disorders. It is primarily based on a neurotransmitter model. The idea is to recycle and use the available seratonin neurotransmitters in the brain for a longer period of time. However, this approach failed to assess other factors or possibilities for triggering or increase the likelihood of depression in an individual. As for some patients, it may worked for a short period, but the root cause was never investigated, and in most cases, the condition worsen and new sets of symptoms may appear overtime. Same apply for most alternative treatments, where patients are given Tryptophan or 5-HTP supplements to treat depression. For most people, it may improve the condition and make that individual feels better, but still, the underlying cause is yet to be identified, although this approach is a natural and less side effects. </div>
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Some of the possible factors we will learn in this topic discussion includes gut to brain axis, co-factors function of primary neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine, the role of chronic inflammation in depression, toxins and diet as one of the culprits in making an individual become depressed, and also certain genes which can deplete one's serotonin faster then others or block production of neurotransmitters. If you have read my earlier posts on Brain Chemicals, this would be an extension and updated version of brain health and depression.<br />
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As statistics have shown that up to 60% of total patients have unsuccessful results or effect from anti-depressant drugs during 1st prescription from doctors. For some, they may feel better but it is not a long term fix and will never address the root cause of the problem. The general idea of anti-depressant drugs is meant to use and recycle the available serotonin in the brain longer, but what if certain people naturally have low serotonin production? How many conventional doctors actually dig deeper and ask the question why this is happening? Or is it solely serotonin deficiency?<br />
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There are so many variables and factors which could cause depression. For the ancient tribes or population, they believed that depression is a gift from god, a visitation of guardian angel to look at your life, what is wrong with your life. Why are you depressed? How are you living your life? Going for a pill prescribed by a doctor sounds so simple and aiming for a quick fix, and that merely mask the symptoms of what is actually going on physiologically and psychologically.<br />
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Stay tuned. </div>
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<i><u>Reference/Journal: </u></i></div>
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http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001547</div>
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GENEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00307674629588999995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057135655715165379.post-75799225942021811742015-06-08T20:43:00.001-07:002015-06-08T20:43:34.134-07:00Vitamin E: What you need to know<div style="text-align: justify;">
Supplements are selling better then ever, in pharmacies, health food stores and online supplement websites too. Many of us, are consistently relying on supplements to support our health and body and spending big bucks monthly on some of the so called 'supplements'. The questions is, how much do you know about the quality, ingredients and effectiveness of these supplements? Do you know that some of these supplements may do more harm then good? </div>
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Today, I want to discuss about Vitamin E supplement. Yes, the ones which are widely sold and available in almost all pharmacies and health stores. As few have good knowledge about nutrition and how the body works, we tend to be influenced by commercials and so called health experts, and rely on paying for supplements hoping to slow down the decline of our health, or tackle some of our health symptoms along the way. But, how many of us, really know that the almost all of the Vitamin E products sold in the market are synthetic, partial and low quality? </div>
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Many clinical trials unfortunately use synthetic (man-made) vitamin E on participants, which do not confer healing benefits. Would you expect it to? They use a fraction of the whole molecule of vitamin E called “ALPHA” tocopherol, and for this reason their results are bad. Well of course!! What do you think happens to a human being when you cheat them out of 7 other parts of vitamin E? Think about it, seriously, take a moment to think. How far can you possibly get building that puzzle with one piece? I would say, not very. </div>
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What do you think happens to humans when you give them lab-created compounds that do not match what naturally occurs in nature? Vitamin E is awesome, and it’s just as awesome as vitamin A, vitamin D and other essential nutrients that your body requires for optimal health. Vitamin E is a fat-soluble nutrient so it feeds and nourishes fatty tissue, especially your heart, pancreas, liver and brain. Your brain loves E, especially if you’ve had a TBI (traumatic brain injury).</div>
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Vitamin E is like super fuel for your brain but if you take a low-quality form. Sadly, there’s a lot of junk out there. Unnecessary fillers, binders, colors, excipients, even the isomer of your E. Same with other nutrients such as ketones (from coconut or palm oil), choline, curcumin, and healthy fats. Now, check this out. Do you see “dl- alpha tocopherol” on your label? All synthetic forms of vitamin E are labeled with a dl- prefix. The synthetic form is generally 50% less bio-available to human body. Natural E has the d- prefix only (not dl) and is easily recognized by your cells.</div>
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Natural E, as it occurs in nature is part of a family of 8 compounds, alpha tocopherol is just one of them! So when you take conventional E supplements you are getting one-eighth of what you should be getting. Worse than taking one-eighth of pure vitamin E, when you take poor quality supplements of E, you are flooding your body with one isomer, and thus depleting the other 8 forms of E. Eventually, it will get tilted out of balance. </div>
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Now, let's talk a bit about tocotrienols. This is the less talked about puzzle piece of natural E. Collectively speaking, the tocotrienols (all four of them) have very strong antioxidant activity. Tocotrienols are 50 to 70 times more potent than tocopherols and penetrate deeper into fatty tissues like your brain, and liver. Tocotrienols are found in mostly in palm oil, soybean oil and rice bran oil with trace amounts in wheat, rye and barley. Please do take note on the contamination of gluten in these products. Other sources of tocotrienols include oats, grapefruit seed oil, nuts especially walnuts and hazelnuts, high quality olive oil, flax seed oil, sunflower oil. Again, do take note on the vegetables oils which may do more harm then good to the body due to oxidized fats (trans fat) and other chemical compounds during processing. </div>
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Meanwhile, did you know “gamma” tocotrienol protects mammary tissue? That is huge news to women who live in fear of breast cancer or those who have recovered. There is also another brand new study on asthma, comparing tocopherols with tocotrienols, where the researchers come right out and said, “Clinical trials of tocopherol supplementation to assess the impact of antioxidant activity in asthma have yielded equivocal results. Tocotrienol exhibits greater antioxidant activity than tocopherol in several biological phenomena in vivo and in vitro.” The favorable results were just published (May 2015) in Pulmonary Pharmacology and Therapeutics. I have included both studies in the links down below. </div>
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There are many studies which showed positive results which tied to this awesome nutrient. It is crucial that our body assimilate sufficient amount of Vitamin E for bodily functions on daily basis. Diet and nutrition is crucial, and ensuring the gut health for optimum digestion and assimilation is the key prior to investing on any of these supplement products. Although today's post is about Vitamin E, but the message here is to be aware of the supplement products you buy in the market or any pharmacies. The end goal is still to focus on your diet and lifestyle factors especially stress levels. Chronic stress will depletes most of your anti-oxidants levels and neurotransmitters as well. And if you would to purchase any Vitamin E supplement, ensure it is non-synthetic and contains not only a single form. </div>
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<u>Complete Vitamin E:</u></div>
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<b><i>alpha tocopherol</i></b></div>
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<b><i>beta tocopherol</i></b></div>
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<b><i>delta tocopherol</i></b></div>
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<b><i>gamma tocopherol</i></b></div>
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<b><i>alpha tocotrienol</i></b></div>
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<b><i>beta tocotrienol</i></b></div>
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<b><i>http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25956071</i></b></div>
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<b><i>http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15792944</i></b></div>
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GENEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00307674629588999995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057135655715165379.post-44043686145819690702015-05-13T19:15:00.000-07:002015-05-13T19:15:11.319-07:00Statin Nation II - A documentary everyone MUST watch, if you are concern about heart disease and real cause<div style="text-align: justify;">
If you have watched Part 1 of Statin Nation, you will enjoy this documentary for sure. Statin Nation II reveals the truth about heart disease, and the culprits behind this silent killer, which have killed millions of people around the world. This second installment of the documentary explains and shows the viewers of the real cause of cardiovascular disease, interviewing top scientists, doctors and researchers all over the world.<br />
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In 1961, Ancel Keys adopted the idea of saturated fats causes heart disease. And in 1984, cholesterol was then to be blamed for heart disease as published by TIME magazine. Till now, in June 2014, TIME magazine admitted that we were wrong the whole time! From 1961 to 2014, more then 50 years of flawed science and screwed up made by so called scientists or health professionals, we are now back to square one, where our ancestors ate lots of saturated fats and cholesterol and were super healthy.<br />
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As I have just received my copy of this documentary, I have to say that it's brilliant, yet mind blowing. It's a documentary which you will want to watch it over and over again, and share it with your loved ones. </div>
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<i>Short clip of Professor Sultan from Statin Nation II</i></div>
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Video link: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/sn2/119674349<br />
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<i>Short clip of Familial Hypercholesterolemia from Statin Nation II</i><br />
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https://vimeo.com/122587702<br />
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GENEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00307674629588999995noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057135655715165379.post-63304644003142337822015-04-26T19:27:00.000-07:002015-04-26T19:27:16.791-07:00Maintaining fitness of a lifetime, and better health - Overtraining & Adrenal Fatigue (Part 13)<div style="text-align: justify;">
Ironically, as I'm writing this final post about adrenal fatigue and stressors which affect our health and energy levels, I had to endure a stressful week myself. Being someone who is very conscious about my own body and soul, I was relieved a bad week in my workplace had passed, and lots of healing and restoration needed, as I'm trying to get back on track to balance out my autonomic nervous system. I just realized how some of my friends have to endure for years, working in a stressful job day in day out, even on weekends, these folks do not have peace of mind. Most of these people I know are either in high position managerial status or working in sales department. In today's post, I will try to blog with a mildly foggy brain (still recovering), about energy levels in relation to mitochondria and adrenal functions, as well as how blood sugar dsyregulation is vital to maintaining health and fitness.<br />
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Low energy cannot always be traced to low adrenal function per se. The fault, in fact, may lie at the very foundation of cellular energy, your mitochondria. These are the bean-shaped powerhouses within each cell that use oxygen to convert the energy in food to chemical energy in order to fuel the cell's activity. Therefore, any significant damage or alteration in mitochondrial function has the potential to greatly affect your energy levels.<br />
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Source: <a href="http://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/scientific-images"><span class="Hyperlink-10">www.nia.nih.gov</span></a></div>
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Many forms of stress and/or toxic exposure can damage our mitochondria, not the least of which includes other damaged mitochondria. As mitochondria age in our cells, they become progressively inefficient and potentially toxic, and acute damage can trigger the permeabilization of mitochondrial membranes to initiate apoptosis or necrosis. Another major source of mitochondrial dysfunction is prescription and over-the-counter medications, which may explain many of their adverse effects. All classes of psychotropic drugs have been documented to damage mitochondria, as have statins, analgesics such as acetaminophen, and many others. </div>
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Damage to mitochondria is now understood to play a role in the pathogenesis of a wide range of seemingly unrelated disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, dementia, Alzheimer's, epilepsy, migraine headaches, strokes, neuropathic pain, Parkinson's disease, ataxia, transient ischemic attack, cardiomyopathy, coronary artery disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, diabetes, etc.</div>
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If your mitochondria are not working right, then you don't work right either. In fact, energy-intensive organs like the heart and the brain are especially dense with mitochondria which means they are especially vulnerable if the mitochondria are compromised. Mitochondrial respiration produces adenosine triphosphate, better known as ATP, a storehouse of chemical energy. However, the process also generates damaging free radical activity. </div>
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Scientists recognize mitochondrial dysfunction as a key biomarker of aging. And researchers have recorded evidence of 50 percent more mitochondrial damage in the brain cells of humans over the age of seventy compared to middle-aged people. Mitochondrial dysfunction and death are now definitively linked to the development of virtually all killer diseases of aging, from Alzheimer's and type 2 diabetes to heart failure.</div>
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Consider for a moment that one of the characteristics of seemingly depressed adrenal function is a state of chronic fatigue. What we choose to eat for energy can make an enormous difference in terms of how our body regulates our physiological energy levels. When it comes to energy availability, we need to ask ourselves the following question: What are the two fuels the brain and body are able to make primary use of? The answer is glucose and fat. Dietary fat is eventually broken down into what are called ketones or ketone bodies. The body's principal ketone is beta-hydroxybutyrate, which is burned for fuel, along with free fatty acids (outside the brain).</div>
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I look at a carbohydrate-based diet and metabolism as keeping your metabolic woodstove going by using little more than kindling. Starchy foods like brown rice, beans, whole grains, and sweet potatoes, all effectively operate functionally like twigs on that metabolic fire. White potatoes, white rice, white bread, pasta, and cereal are more or less like crumpled paper thrown on that fire. Alcohol and sweetened beverages are like gasoline or lighter fluid.<br />
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Blood sugar fluctuations throughout the day on a
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All of us, even slender people, have a supply of fat on our bodies that could potentially keep us going for close to a month, though I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. But almost nobody stores more than a couple thousand calories of glycogen at any given time, at least not very efficiently. You can burn that off rather quickly, so it needs to be constantly replenished. </div>
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And think about this. Who do you suppose might profit from you constantly having to replenish your energy levels with metabolic kindling? I would submit that a carbohydrate-based diet or metabolism is a better way to serve multinational corporate interests than it is to serve your own best health. Considering that all print, radio, and television media is presently owned and monopolized by no more than about five of these corporate interests, don't expect to hear about the virtues of what I am describing in the mainstream news anytime soon.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Which diet is the healthiest?</span></b><br />
As we browse through any bookstore in diet section, we find ourselves pondering which diet book is really good or rated as the healthiest amongst all. Some of us may feel confuse as most books contradict each other and of course all authors claim that their diet protocols are the best and everyone should be follow what they proposed in the book.<br />
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The question is, is there one size fits all diet? From Paleo to Vegan, or Atkins to 20 bananas a day diet, which one will be crowned as the undisputed king of all diets? Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but there is no one size fits all diet. Each individual has his or her own metabolic type, different biochemical and physiological responses, and even different body type structurally. If there is really a single diet which is the most effective and healthiest, everyone would be symptom-free and achieve the best shape of their lives.<br />
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For instance, person A may do alright eating predominantly vegetables in a meal, but person B may feels sluggish and hungry after just an hour. In other case, you may be feeling great having eggs for breakfast, but I may be feeling foggy or excess mucus production after that. A particular food may benefit or do well in a person, but could turn out to be intolerant or sensitive, or even trigger a negative immune reaction for another person.<br />
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Bare in mind, we are not talking about conventional dietary guidance or wisdom such as calories in and out, but in order to find out if any form of eating plan or protocol suit you, you have to listen to your body, and eating in accordance to your own metabolic type and eliminate food intolerance and sensitivity too. Besides, having a lifestyle and diet which maintain a steady blood sugar level is extremely crucial. As for all my clients. I will have them keep track of their daily diet and lifestyle logbook updated from time to time for evaluation and fine tuning to achieve better results. <br />
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Short term goals or long term sustainable? Are you fit but sick?</span></i></b><br />
As we all know, almost all of us want to have the body we came across in fitness magazines or Hollywood movies. From fitness models to celebrities or even some unknown figures we seen in the gyms, the surroundings have created a desire which made most of us focus on what is in front of the mirror, but forgotten about what is even more important. health.<br />
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From workaholic to fitness enthusiasts. how many of us really listen to our body? How many of us will put health ahead of fitness or the job which is slowly killing the soul and body? From 'I need to lose weight in 2 months in time for an occasion', to 'I need to have six pack abs within 6 months', all these goals are nothing but direct reflection of a concious state of mind, failing to align with the soul, the heart and falling off the holistic paradigm which usually turn out to be a sick but fit individual. In most cases, a good looking physical body masked by a crying misaligned mind and soul filled with pain, exhaustion and diseased-laden self.<br />
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Have you ever fall sick more then couple of days in a year? Are you regularly battling with symptoms such as constipation, diarheaa, sinus infections, bloating, gas, headaches, low energy levels, low libido, acid reflux. dry hair and skin, joints pain, etc? Many people who are obsessed about getting fit or building the body they always wanted, tend to lose track and derailed from what the body actually need to survive and achieving optimal health. You can't build a brick house with woods, remember?<br />
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From news we read to people we know, the so called fit people suffered from serious health problems and for some, drop dead at early age from heart failure. The question is. are you fit but sick?<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><i>I know I know...now what? </i></span></b><br />
From a humble person to an egoistic alpha male personality, decision is always up to you in the end to make your choices. My goal in this post is to provide you the list of 'in a nutshell' self evaluation and action items to do, and the rest is within your control. Remember, knowledge is not power, but applied knowledge is POWER.<br />
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- In terms of exercise, workout is only part of the entire equation. If you are a stressed out individual or has a stressful job or relationship (or any form of mental, emotional or nutritional stress), the last thing you want to do is to bang yourself out day after day in the gym for a long period of time. Integrating specific work-in exercises will help to balance out the body-mind-soul and giving the adrenals some rest and enable better results, repair and growth.<br />
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- How would I know if I'm a sick and suffering from poor health? There are some key biomarker tests to run to give yourself a baseline data of telling you your state of health. But not everyone can get hold of functional lab tests such as Intestinal Muscosal Barrier and Functional Adrenal Stress profile. Another test I would highly recommend is Cyrex Array 5 Multiple Autoimmune Reactivity Screen. And for anyone who is concern about risk of heart disease, running homocysteine and CRP high sensitivity tests are valid and important biomarkers. You can get both these tests done in conventional hospitals and certain clinics.<br />
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<b>http://www.cyrexlabs.com/CyrexTestsArrays/tabid/136/Default.aspx<span style="font-size: large;"> </span></b><br />
<b>http://biohealthlab.com/</b>
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- Breathing. Yes, everyone is lacking this crucial foundation of health and autonomic regulation. The most important fundamental regulatory mechanism for digestion, detoxification and all other survival functions in the body. The ones who are sympathetic dominance (stressed out), tend to have shallow breathing and typically more then 12 breathes per minute.<br />
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- Measure your blood sugar level after every meal (around 40-45 minutes after completion of a meal). Of course you don't have to measure it daily for the entire year, but start off with maybe 14 days to obtain a pattern of how your typical diet affect blood sugar levels. It is extremely important to find out if your are insulin resistance, or suffering from poor blood sugar dsyregulation, which is a recipe for diabetes and cancer. Remember, cancer cells feed on sugars.<br />
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- In conjunction with blood sugar measurement, one can perform pulse test after every meal. Do a 60 secs pulse test after about 20-30 mins upon ingestion of any foods or meal. Compare it with your average pulse, anything more then 4 pulses is a sign of negative immune reaction against that particular food. Do a daily logbook recording of your own data, for both blood glucose measurement and pulse testing.<br />
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- Have a private alone time by yourself. Reserve at least 20-30 mins each day, alone in a room or a place where there is no disturbance or any communication of sorts. An ideal scenario would be during night time in a dark quiet room, listen to your soul and have a moment of peace for the day. No mobile phone, no TV, no kids barging in the room, no nothing.<br />
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GENEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00307674629588999995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1057135655715165379.post-41957225313373175812015-04-03T02:10:00.000-07:002015-04-03T02:10:11.242-07:00Maintaining fitness of a lifetime, and better health - Overtraining & Adrenal Fatigue (Part 12)<div style="text-align: justify;">
Are you sugar or fat burner? Have you ever thought which fuel your body utilize to burn day in day out? As most people are eating according to their emotions and cravings, many of us are eating with accordance of USDA food pyramid, but for some, it's a diet protocol eating plan. The question is, how would you know if your body is running on fats or sugars as fuel?<br />
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As I've just recently returned from an awesome Holistic Lifestyle Coach certification, I recalled my mentor Jo Rushton was discussing about how most people are living on sugars, caffeine and other stimulants day in day out, just to get their energy levels going. Apart from burning out the adrenals from these stimulants, you are turning your body into a 'sugar-burner', instead of fat burning machine. Most people are walking un-rested, tired and wired. As there are more insulin-resistant homo-sapiens then ever before on this planet, most of us are stimulants dependency, from world most popular beverage coffee to sugar coated foods, we are indeed WIRED! <br />
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With sky high cortisol stress hormone pouring out day and night, the adrenals are just being stressed to the limit, and disaster is awaiting (could be years or decades). I'm talking about autoimmunity, Addison's disease, poor sex life and reproductive health, sluggish thyroid and a long list of other problems.<br />
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There are several reasons why your cortisol levels may be floundering. It can take a lot of detective work to figure it out, but there is always an underlying answer and most of the time there is plenty that you can do to improve things naturally. Most things people do to self-medicate aren't helpful in the long run. For example, got a Red Bull habit? It's time to break your dependency on that trashy stimulant. Love bungee jumping or sky diving? You may have to forgo the adrenaline rush if you want to save your adrenals. Got a sweet tooth? There are healthier and more sustainable ways of boosting your energy and alertness. Diets high in sugars and starches, and poor and irregular eating habits put you on a roller-coaster ride of constantly using your adrenals to manage your blood sugar. And that is a surefire way of adding unnecessary stress to your own personal stress hormone factories.<br />
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The first big challenge is to pinpoint whether the adrenal glands are truly at fault or if there is some other culprit. For instance, what looks or feels like adrenal burnout can also be potentially related to one or more of these conditions or situations:<br />
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<li>Free radical processes </li>
<li>Malignancy (cancer) </li>
<li>Pituitary gland hypofunction (manifesting here as low ACTH). This tends to appear on blood chemistry tests as low TSH coupled with low T4 </li>
<li>Other secondary hypothyroidism related to low T4 or elevated thyroid binding globulin (TBG) found occurring at times with extreme chronic stress. </li>
<li>Primary hypothyroidism (with or without autoimmunity) </li>
<li>Abrupt withdrawal from long-term steroid use leading to down regulation of cortisol receptors </li>
<li>Iron deficiency </li>
<li>Insufficient cholesterol perhaps due to taking a statin or eating a very low-cholesterol or vegan diet </li>
<li>Other nutritional deficiencies, such as of certain B vitamins, fat soluble nutrients, or essential fatty acids </li>
<li>Malabsorption (digestive disorders, leaky gut, etc.) </li>
<li>Autoimmune disorders in general </li>
<li>Chronic or extreme, acute stress that either depletes or exhausts the body's steroid hormone stores </li>
<li>Blood sugar dysregulation! A diet high in sugar and starch or poor and irregular eating habits can lead to a roller-coaster ride when you are constantly using your adrenals to manage your blood sugar. Adrenals were not designed to manage your blood sugar levels 24-7. </li>
<li>Too frequent stimulation from substances like coffee and nicotine, excessive exercise, or risky experiences that give you a big adrenaline rush </li>
<li>Burning the candle at both ends.</li>
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Remember that adrenal hormones are all about survival. The push to survive takes precedence over absolutely everything else, including producing sex hormones and their precursor, immune-enhancing DHEA. Think about it. If a saber-toothed tiger is chasing you, how much priority are sex hormones to your survival in that moment? And if you are metaphorically being chased by saber-toothed tigers 24-7, how are your sex hormones (not to mention your sex life) going to be after a while? Not exactly the best prelude to date night.</div>
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The phenomenon called pregnenolone steal refers to the body's ability to shunt steroidal hormone production away from sex hormones, leading to big problems, uncomfortable symptoms of androgen deficiencies for men, and hormone dysregulation and uncomfortable PMS and menopausal symptoms for women. If you had read my previous posts, I've explained about PREGNENOLONE STEAL. </div>
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The pregnenolone steal occurs when the body virtually steal the pregnenolone needed for the production of other steroidal hormones in an attempt to keep pace with the demand for more cortisol during periods of stress. Cortisol is a critical survival hormone and (as previously pointed out) the need for survival always trumps everything else. Women are frequently prescribed hormonal creams in an attempt to counter this underlying trend and ameliorate uncomfortable symptoms. But without addressing the foundational problem and only putting a Band-Aid over the symptoms, all too frequently the problem only deepens. The only true solution lies in identifying and addressing the underlying source of stress driving the need for cortisol. The complexity of the interrelationships between steroidal and other hormones in the body should never be ignored and cannot ultimately be overruled by medications.</div>
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It's certainly not that your body is too stupid to make enough testosterone or estrogen or progesterone. Your body is slowing its production of certain hormones for a reason, and addressing it is the only way to restore healthy hormone levels. Your body will eventually have its way and persist in its efforts to depress your hormone levels, even if you feel some short-term relief from hormone creams and other bio-identical supplements. There is a place for them and a time for them, but, in my opinion, they are greatly overused.</div>
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Anyone remember President John F. Kennedy? He is one of the most famous sufferer of a form of adrenal autoimmunity called Addison's disease. Adrenal autoimmunity is extremely common today, but Addison's disease is only rarely if ever diagnosed. Why is this? </div>
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According to the current medical standards of diagnosis, you are unlikely to be diagnosed with Addison's disease until you have a minimum of 90 percent of your adrenal tissue already destroyed. But by that point you have already been producing adrenal antibodies for years if possibly even decades! If your tissue destruction is only half of this, maybe just 45 percent, I promise that you will notice it in every part of the way you feel and how you function in your life. However, you are unlikely to get answers from your family physician or even an endocrinologist, and you are not going to know what's wrong with you unless you have specialized tests designed to look for the early signs of this.</div>
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So you could be suffering an autoimmune adrenal
process (and be symptomatic) for years and years without actually being
diagnosed with Addison's disease. In the meantime, you are going to be
calling it chronic fatigue or adrenal burnout and wondering why all
the adrenal supplements you are taking don't work. Before I sign off this post, let me present to you some of the list of symptoms of adrenal autoimmunity.</div>
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Some of these symptoms are due to depressed levels of aldosterone and other corticosteroids, which is why these complaints are also commonly characteristic of adrenal burnout:</div>
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<li>Chronic physical and mental fatigue </li>
<li>Unexplained low blood sugar symptoms and carbohydrate cravings </li>
<li>Salt cravings </li>
<li>Craving for stimulants, such as caffeine and nicotine </li>
<li>Chronic low blood pressure </li>
<li>Weakness </li>
<li>Stress intolerance </li>
<li>Weight issues </li>
<li>Dizziness, especially when you stand from sitting </li>
<li>Muscle or joint pain, or both </li>
<li>Gastrointestinal disturbances or abdominal discomfort, or both </li>
<li>Anxiety </li>
<li>Depression </li>
<li>Increased skin pigmentation over time </li>
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Stay tuned for final post of this entire topic.</div>
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GENEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00307674629588999995noreply@blogger.com0