Toxic Metal Removal Through Restored Protein Anabolism. Focus: Mercury Toxicity
September 4, 2008
Toxic metals exist in our environment as pollutants in our air, soil, water and consequently our food supply. We face the added challenge of the toxic metals in our fillings (silver/mercury amalgams) and the thimerosol mercury compound that has been used as preservative for over half a century in our vaccinations. These metals build in our tissues causing our systems to malfunction on many different levels
Mercury has basically two forms: Organic and inorganic, and both are toxins. Inorganic mercury is found in or near: thermometers, barometers, dental fillings, batteries, electric wiring and switches, fluorescent lights, pesticides, fungicides, vaccines, paint, skin-tightening creams, spills, antiseptic creams, pharmaceutical drugs and ointments. Organic mercury becomes methyl mercury when combined with carbon by water or soil organisms. It can bioaccumulate and pass up the food chain. This occurs in marine life and can be found in farm animals and produce. Humans can convert inorganic to organic forms. The concentrations in the body are highest in the brain and kidneys. It has also been reported in the red cells, liver, muscle tissues, and gall bladder.
Functional Foods: What They Are And How They Work
August 31, 2008
In the brain, a typical protein can live for approximately ten days. The thoughts, feelings and memories of a human being are made up of what was in the stomach only a few days before. As you can see, in choosing one’s diet, you actually can determine who and what you are going to become.
About 2500 years ago, Hippocrates said, "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food."
Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals are designer foods and supplements that are combined with nutritional value that are disease-preventative and have medicinal benefits. These are usually natural products which may reduce or prevent chronic and acute disease or promote good health.
Many chronic and acute diseases are caused or irritated by nutritional imbalances or deficiency. The link between diet, disease and the ability to process thought are sometimes subtle and complex. Many studies suggest that some 40% of cancers are linked to dietary choices. Unhealthy eating habits are sometimes caused by farming practices, lack of money, and a manufacturing industry that promotes the ignorance of true, beneficial nutrition.
Glutamates
August 27, 2008
Approximately 30 years ago, food manufacturers were competing against the American Homemaker for consumable dollars. Women, traditionally prepared food fed to the family and the food prepared came fresh and cheap!
Food scientists knew then that we have glutamate receptors on our tongues. Humans are driven to eat foods containing glutamates, even when we can’t taste them. Glutamates can enhance taste or the sensation of taste, but it also causes a chemical reaction soon after the glutamate receptors are activated.
Monosodium glutamate (MSG) and other glutamates (called free glutamates) can appear naturally in foods or may be included as additives by manufacturers in order, among other reasons, to increase the popularity of their products.
When glutamates are added to foods, they can release high levels of insulin, which cause changes in the metabolism. In a report written by Drs. N.A. Togiyama and A. Adachi and published in the medical journal Physiological Behavior, applying monosodium glutamate to the tongues of animals will release high levels of insulin within three minutes.
The hunger that follows such an insulin response could increase cravings, cause weight gain, and if repeated over tine, increase the likelihood of adult-onset diabetes.
Antioxidants and Your Health
August 21, 2008
Get back to the basics - eat fresh at home and neutralize free radical oxidation, which is rusting away your body, by eating a variety of foods high in antioxidants every day.
Why? Antioxidants, as the name implies, help prevent oxidation, may help increase immune function and possibly decrease risk of infection and cancer.
A few of the better known antioxidants include carotenoids– the substance that gives fruits and vegetables their deep rich colors. Apricots, broccoli, pumpkin, cantaloupes, spinach and sweet potatoes, are some good choices in addition to lycopene in tomatoes. Vitamin C and E are also good antioxidants.
What’s a Free Radical Anyways?
As cells function normally in the body, they produce damaged molecules called free radicals. These free radicals steal parts from other molecules such as fat, protein, or DNA, thereby spreading the damage.
This damage continues in a chain reaction, and entire cells soon become damaged and die. This process is useful because it helps the body destroy cells that have outlived their usefulness and kills germs and parasites. However, this damage, when left unchecked, also destroys or damages healthy cells.
Functional Foods Are Becoming More Popular…
August 17, 2008
Established in 1989 by Stephen DeFelice, "Foundation for Innovation in Medicine" defined "Nutraceutical", as a food, dietary suppplement, or medical food that has a medical or health benefit, including the prevention and treatment of disease. Today, it is hard to separate the definition of Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods. In 2002, the Nutraceutical or Functional Food industry had evolved into a lucrative 20.2 billion dollar a year market, and is here to stay.
According to a Business Communications Co, Inc. report, "Functional/Nutraceutical/Wellness Foods and Beverages" (RGA-109R), the Nutraceutical or Functional Food industry could almost double in value by 2007 with sales estimated to be more than 37.7 billion dollars. The reason for this growth:
Increased interest in maintaining better health.
Increased information available regarding the link between diet and health.
Lack of health insurance or limited funds for consumers to spend on health care and prescription medication.
Recent changes in food laws that affect label and product claims.
A growing number of people who are aging and interested in a more healthy lifestyle.
Current health issues also influence the market, consumers are interested in weight loss and weight management, heart disease, bone density, cancer, diabetes, ect., how to prevent or recover from these diseases and lead more nutritious lives.
True Culprits of High Cholesterol
August 12, 2008
What if I told you tap water and homogenized milk may be two of the biggest culprits in skyrocketing rates of high cholesterol? Cholesterol is actually being produced by our own bodies all of the time as a natural mechanism to combat oxidation when our bodies are diseased. Therefore, if we are not well, our cholesterol levels are likely to be higher regardless of what we eat that contains cholesterol. Having too low of a cholesterol level is just as bad as having too high.
Avoiding eggs and other foods that naturally contain cholesterol may not be the best solution, nor taking cholesterol-lowering drugs with their plethora of harmful side effects. For example, eggs are actually extremely healthy in moderation, being that they contain nutrients present at the beginning of life. Fatty meats are often harmful simply because fats store toxins, and animals not raised naturally have often been injected with antibiotics, hormones, steroids, and graze on grounds containing pesticides and fertilizer residue.
Two of the most harmful, and most common, everyday products we are ingesting that contribute to high cholesterol, and thus plaque in the arteries, are homogenized milk and chemically-treated tap water.
Eating Healthy in a Time-Starved World
August 7, 2008
Americans are literally running out of time. Achieving a work-life balance, which is still a luxury for tens of millions of working parents, has been overtaken by an even greater demand: a work-life-nutrition balance. Unfortunately, this increasing demand for nutrition has not been accompanied by a useful strategy that enables people to reclaim time from their harried lives.
The result of this dilemma has been an additional layer of stress applied on top of an already stressful life. This has further highlighted stress as America’s top health problem something that was first brought to public attention in the early 1980s, and has since more obvious in the 2 decades since then[i].
Once the link between time mismanagement and stress is made ? and it is virtually axiomatic at this point that this link exists[ii] — a range of adverse health and nutrition consequences often result. The vicious cycle that ensues is harrowing and known to most people through direct experience, or via painfully seeing it manifest in the life of a family member, friend, or colleague.
Exposing the Best Source of Protein Myth
August 3, 2008
An American culture that is marked by a chronic lack of time and the need to achieve is often in pursuit of the "best" something or other. These "best" lists tend to improve time efficiency they help people make quick decisions without a lot of research or "trial and error".
However, as with most inventions, there is a potentially harmful application of these very popular "best" lists. There are situations where the need to identify the best of something obscures the real truth that, quite simply, there is no single best ranking. In other words, the best of something is in reality a combination of many things. Within the world of nutrition, there arguably is not a more clear ? and dangerous ? expression of this truth then in looking at protein.
The world of nutrition is not short on "best" opinions for sources of protein. Some camps lobby in favor of whey protein as the best, while others advocate soy. Some claim that meat and poultry are the best source of protein, while others swear that a plant-based item such as spirulina ranks at the top. There are so many opinions ? each one claiming to support the best source of protein ? that consumers are often left less informed after reading a few of them, rather than more educated.
Finding the Elusive Complete-Protein Source
July 28, 2008
Images of "protein powder" containers with accomplished bodybuilders on their labels help inform consumers that protein is a critical macronutrient in strength training success. Yet what is sometimes lost in this protein-bodybuilding link is that protein is an essential component for everyone, regardless of physical activity. Even those who live sedentary lives must ensure that their protein intake is complete and balanced.
The importance of protein in diet is undeniable. Protein creates digestive enzymes, transports other vitamins and nutrients, builds and repairs body tissue, and helps keep harmful bacteria at bay[i]. These are bodily system function that all people need ? not just bodybuilders and other athletes.
Eating the appropriate composition of protein in meals is, however, proving to be an unusually difficult challenge for many Americans. To begin with, many protein sources are not considered "complete" because they do not provide all of the required amino acids necessary in order to build newer proteins. These incomplete proteins are often derived from fruit, grain, vegetable, and nut sources[ii]. However, the alternative to these incomplete protein sources ? such as meats and dairy ? present their own unique dietary challenges.
Inactive Alert: Essential Proteins for Sedentary People
July 24, 2008
The importance of protein in diet has been clearly established by nutritional scientists, and widely accepted by athletes. Among other vital functions, protein is indispensable for creating muscle. Just as important is protein’s essential ability to repair damaged muscles after training[i].
While the value of protein in diet has been accepted and promoted within the athletic community, it has been less well disseminated within the very large sedentary population. Currently making up about 25% of Americans[ii] ? or 1 in every 4 people ? sedentary people are defined as those who undertake less than half an hour of moderate physical activity per day[iii].
A key problem to solve, therefore, is that the bulk of these sedentary Americans do not know that they are, or more likely are not, getting enough protein in their diet. This large group of sedentary people reflects the myth that protein-rich nutrition is important only for athletes and those who are physically active. The Reference Daily Intake[1] amount for protein is 50 grams, and most sedentary people are not coming close to meeting this standard.
