Health News
2 Weeks to a Fit and Fabulous YOU!
Power-up your weight loss goals, boost your energy, and send up to 20 extra pounds packing in just 2 weeks! No time for lengthy meal prep? No problem! It’s a new year and you have new goals – for your health and your weight. Are you tired of feeling tired and don’t like what you see in the mirror? Let us help! If you: Want to jumpstart your weight loss goals Struggle to lose weight or have hit a plateau Crave carbs and sugars Fight energy slumps during the day Feel bloated after eating Can’t reach your weight loss goals with exercise alone Then it’s Smoothie Shakedown to the rescue! Our popular, time-tested Smoothie Shakedown can super-charge your energy level, break through that weight plateau, and jump-start your weight loss goals, just like it has for thousands before you! It’s so simple – a filling, satisfying smoothie for 2 meals each day, plus a complete meal with lean protein and unlimited vegetables. You won’t be tied to the kitchen, a slave to your cravings, or feel hungry while you’re on this plan. Check out these success stories: To Lose Inches and Pounds: “I’m so proud of how far I’ve come. I could NOT have done this without the Smoothie Shakedown. This plan has changed my life! I lost 17 pounds and 17 inches in two weeks on the Smoothie Shakedown alone.”– Chris P., Sanford, NC To Boost Your Energy: “The Smoothie Shakedown has left me nothing short of amazed. It is the first time I have lost weight and felt great while doing it. While I was skeptical of smoothies having the ability to keep me energized and not leave me hungry, that is exactly what they do. I don’t feel deprived of food or like I’m starving. My energy level is higher than ever! I wake up before my alarm clock feeling rested and refreshed.”– Casey S., Nashville, TN Even on the Go: “Staying fit and eating healthy is always a challenge, but even more so when you’re traveling and eating foods at airports or hotels. I’m a pilot for a major airline and travel every week. The smoothies are easy to pack in a travel cooler bag and give me energy for several hours until I can get a healthy salad or meal, which can be hard to find at airports. I lost 10 lbs on the 2-week Smoothie Shakedown, and lost the recent 20 lbs (going from a size 12 to a size 8) with my “modified” program during my 3 to 4-day trips.”– Cindee G. To Feel Good About Yourself At Every Age: “I highly recommend the 2-week Smoothie Shakedown kit. As a 58 year old woman I was able to lose 10 pounds by following the program. The shakes taste good and I wasn’t hungry during the day. Thanks for developing a healthy protein shake/supplements to get me back to feeling good about myself again!”– Susan H. The Low-Down on the Shakedown Smoothie diets are more popular than ever to lose weight fast. On Smoothie Shakedown, you swap 2 of your regular meals for 2 delicious smoothies, plus eat one healthy, satisfying meal. For the best boost to your metabolism, the ideal plan is to have your smoothies for breakfast and your evening meal, and make lunch your big meal of the day. If that doesn’t fit your hectic lifestyle, it’s not a problem – the beauty of Smoothie Shakedown is it’s flexibility – you can shake it up and schedule it the way that suits your lifestyle the best and you’ll still lose the weight. Don’t worry, we have recipes for every taste and lifestyle, whether you grab your smoothies on the go or enjoy making meals from scratch, we’ve got you covered. What makes this plan so successful? The secret is in the smoothies: Power-Up with Protein: Each smoothie contains 20 grams of the purest pea and rice protein for safe and successful detox and dieting. Starting your day with healthy plant-based protein balances your blood sugar, increases your energy, enhances your concentration, keeps cortisol levels in check and helps you handle stress better, promotes hormone harmony, balances your body’s pH, supports your liver and thyroid, curbs your appetite, and boosts your fat-burning metabolism while protecting lean muscle mass. Morning protein sets the stage for 12 hours of increased metabolic activity so your body can do its best work. Fight Fat with the Right Fats: Like protein, the right fats stabilize blood sugar and insulin levels, triggers fat loss, stimulate your fat-burning metabolism, and help you feel full longer. Essential Omega 3 and Omega 6 fats feed your body at the cellular level, boost brain power, soothe skin, stimulate calming neurotransmitters, boost immunity, reduce inflammation, balance hormones, and protect your heart and blood vessels. As an added bonus, these fats activate your brown fat, which is metabolically active fat that signals your body to burn the fat around your waist, hips, and thighs. Smart Carbs for Energy and Cleansing: Not all carbs are created equal. Low glycemic fruits and vegetables are loaded with enzymes and nutrients like vitamins, minerals, and fiber, which are crucial for cleansing, detox, balancing hormones, and fighting disease. Smoothie Shakedown is a low carb plan that supports healthy insulin levels, so these smart carbs are the only ones allowed during the two weeks of the plan. Get Things Moving with Fiber: Flax seeds and chia seeds are high fiber “superfoods” in your smoothies that help cleanse your colon and regulate healthy bowel function. Fiber is nature’s broom that binds up and sweeps out all the toxins those smart carbs detoxed, to keep them moving all the way out of your body. Without fiber, those toxins stay put and get reabsorbed, only to cause “false fat” and water weight. Bust the Bloat with Healthy Hydration: Pure, filtered water helps your bowel and kidneys do their job to flush fats and toxins from your body. While water is an important part of Smoothie Shakedown, it’s not the only way you’ll cleanse and stay hydrated. Ann Louise Gittleman’s signature cran-water is added to every smoothie to help flush out water weight and unsightly cellulite while cleansing your lymph. Rest and Digest: Believe it or not, your body is working hard when it’s trying to lose fat and preserve lean muscle mass. It’s essential to keep moving, but keep your exercise mild to moderate and rest when your body tells you to. Exercising too much can increase cortisol levels and halt weight loss progress, while depleting essential nutrients and skyrocketing stress hormones. It’s hard to rest when your energy levels soar, your mind feels clear, and your to-do list is a mile long, but your digestion and your successful weight loss depends on it. Say Yes to Supplements: Smoothie Shakedown isn’t just a diet, but also a detox. While the smoothies give your digestion a rest, your liver is working overtime to process all of the toxins that are released as toxic, stored fat is mobilized and flushed out. For lasting weight loss, it’s important to support your body through the detox process so the inflammation, water weight, and fat don’t come back. Our Smoothie Shakedown Bundle includes the centerpiece of the plan – plant-based Body Protein, plus stimulant-free Weight Loss Formula, Dieter’s Multivitamin & Mineral, and GLA-90 essential fats; all are crucial nutrients designed to work together to boost your fat-burning metabolism, support your body through cleansing and detox, and help balance blood sugar and insulin levels to curb cravings and reduce inflammation. It also comes with a complete Smoothie Shakedown Guide to the program that walks you through it step-by-step, and includes delicious recipes, an optional workbook, a guide to eating out smart while on the plan, and so much more! Lose weight in 2 weeks with our Smoothie Shakedown and get ready to love what you see in the mirror! The post 2 Weeks to a Fit and Fabulous YOU! appeared first on Your Health Keys.
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Groundbreaking in Cancer News: Early Breast Cancer Detection
Researchers can now accurately detect breast cancer using only a drop of your blood – and this new test challenges everything we thought we knew about breast cancer. Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer in women worldwide, and is the leading cause of death for women age 40 to 55. Approximately 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime, and more than 90 percent of those women have no family history of the disease. Mammography is the current recommended screening tool, but with it’s high rate of false positives and increased risk of cancer just from its ionizing radiation, experts are recommending against it. A promising new screening that uses only a drop of blood detected more than 95 percent of breast cancers in recent worldwide studies, and shed groundbreaking new light on how it develops. Breast cancer, much like diabetes, is a metabolic disorder. Mammography Accuracy: False Positives Do More Harm Than Good The scenario goes like this – you go for your routine mammogram and are told an area of concern has been found. There’s a lump that needs to be biopsied and you are referred to a surgeon. While you wait days or even weeks for your appointment, the stress, worry, and even panic begin to build. You research everything you can and lean on your support network. You have the surgery and are sore and scared. You can’t think of anything else and lose sleep waiting for the biopsy results. In the meantime, you continue researching and find concerns over biopsies – their accuracy is controversial and they’ve been shown to spread cancer that was previously contained in a lump. But you trust your doctors so you don’t give it another thought. The results come and it’s not cancer – what a relief, right? Wrong! You’ve just experienced what it’s like to be a “false positive” in mammography screening. Your quality of life has been affected and you received unnecessary, invasive treatment associated with the screening. In some cases, this unnecessary treatment extends into more surgery, plus radiation and/or chemotherapy, because of the inaccuracy of the biopsy and its interpretation. While the statistics vary wildly between studies, depending on your age group, up to 56.7 percent of women experience a false positive result from a mammogram in a 4-year period. This means as many as 1 in 2 women will be told they may have cancer when they actually don’t. Some might see this as acceptable risk when so many lives are saved by mammograms, but actually, this isn’t the case. In a study published in the September 2010 New England Journal of Medicine, mammograms reduced cancer death rates by only 0.4 deaths per 1000 women. This means 2500 women have to be screened over 10 years for a single breast cancer death to be avoided. And the worst part? All that targeted, ionizing radiation may actually cause breast cancer. The Dark Side of Mammograms: Even Low Dose Radiation Causes Cancer We started screening for breast cancer using radiography in the 1960s and mammogram came into more routine use in the 1980s. Since we started, breast cancer rates have increased from 1 in 20 women to 1 in 8 women today. While a number of factors are involved in that increased incidence, one that has to be taken into consideration is the exposure to radiation from the mammograms themselves. Studies over the years have shown that between 1 and 10 percent of all breast cancers are caused by the radiation from repeated mammograms. The increased rates are seen in women under 40, women with larger breasts, and women with more than 35 screenings in her lifetime. Despite being advertised as “low dose” radiation, the average mammogram has the equivalent radiation of 1000 chest x-rays, and is being targeted to a smaller, more sensitive tissue in the body. As more experts become aware of the risks of mammography, recommendations are being changed to less frequent screening. Just the change from yearly mammograms to every other year cut the rate of radiation-induced breast cancer in half for women age 40-74. If you are looking for more reliable ways to detect breast cancer, 70 percent of breast cancers are found through breast self-exam, so that’s a good place to start. But, a new, promising screening test is on the horizon, with more than 95% accuracy, and it only requires a drop of your blood. New Breakthrough Shows Breast Cancer Is A Metabolic Disease and Is Detectable In Blood In a groundbreaking study done by an international team of 35 researchers from 17 sites spanning 3 continents, breast cancer was found to be a metabolic disorder, with similarities to diabetes. “This suggests that cancer is not a genetic disease arising solely from mutations as we have all been taught, but instead a metabolic condition that develops under the stress of cellular nutrient deprivation,” said Robert Nagourney, MD, senior author of the study. “Cells that cannot generate enough energy due to lack of oxygen, sugars or proteins, common to many cancers, use altered metabolic pathways to ensure their survival. Unfortunately these cancer cells’ success comes at the expense of the host patient.” What this means is cancer cells “talk” to each other and all the surrounding cells by using chemical signals like byproducts of metabolism. They trick blood vessels, immune cells, and connective tissues into participating and even contributing to the development of cancer. Breast cancer patients have specific changes to their metabolism that not only set them up for the cancer, but can be detected in their blood with more than 95 percent accuracy. The researchers examined and tested more than 200 different chemicals in the blood to prove that there are distinct metabolic differences between cancer patients and people without cancer that can be detected in a single drop of blood. This is in sharp contrast to the current cancer model that says cancer is caused by genetic mutations. Instead, this research shows that cancer cells borrow mutated and non-mutated cellular pathways to overcome any limitations in their nutrient supply. It explains how obesity, lifestyle, and diet all contribute to the formation of cancer. This research provides an entirely new approach to early detection and diagnosis, and gives researchers a whole new direction to turn when looking for new prevention and treatment strategies. Right now, this detection method is limited to breast cancer and is not in mainstream use, but studies are underway looking to extend this technique into detection of other types of cancers. Once again, the science of epigenetics, which looks at the environment our cells are in, is proving that when it comes to cancer, it’s more about your diet, your lifestyle, and the toxins you come in contact with and eliminate, than it is about your genes. Less than 10 percent of breast cancers are genetic. If you’re ready to cancer-proof your diet and lifestyle, then you need my new book, I Used to Have Cancer. In it, I share my story of overcoming cancer naturally and staying cancer-free and healthy for more than 30 years. The post Groundbreaking in Cancer News: Early Breast Cancer Detection appeared first on Your Health Keys.
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Finding Hidden Ingredients on Food Labels | What’s Really in Your Food?
What’s really hiding in the packaged “health foods” you buy might surprise you… Life has gotten so hectic we barely have time to run to the grocery store when we need to restock the pantry. So it’s a quick dash in, and a cursory look at what’s on the nutrition label to make sure it doesn’t contain too much sugar or preservatives and fits in with our new year’s resolution to eat healthier, and we’re on our way to a healthier lifestyle and smaller waistline. Sounds simple, right? Wrong. It seems like the more laws that are created to regulate food labels, the more complicated they are to read. This isn’t just because there’s more information on them, it’s also because manufacturers looking to cut costs and cut corners are finding more creative names and ways to sneak in food additives that have become unpopular with consumers because studies have shown they lead to disease. The problem is these food additives taste good, so innocent consumers are being duped into buying products they think are healthy, but in reality contain the same ingredients they’re trying to avoid, just listed under an unfamiliar name. Continue reading this blog post to find out what's in your food! Sugar According to the USDA, the average American consumes between 150 and 170 pounds of refined sugars per year. That’s more than some adults weigh, and breaks down to a full cup of sugar per day! You might see that number and think there’s no way you eat that much because you make a concerted effort to eat healthy and avoid added sugars. You could be right, or sugar could be hiding in plain sight – right on the label – under names and products that might not even have to be listed in the total sugars on the nutrition label. Here are more than 50 names sugar can be disguised as on a food label: Agave Nectar Barbados Sugar Barley Malt Beet Sugar Blackstrap Molasses Brown Sugar Buttered Syrup Cane Juice Crystals Cane Sugar Caramel Carob Syrup Castor Sugar Confectioner’s Sugar Corn Syrup Corn Syrup Solids Crystalline Fructose Date Sugar Demerara Sugar Dextran Dextrose Diastatic Malt Diatase Ethyl Maltol Evaporated Cane Juice Florida Crystals Fructose Fruit Juice Fruit Juice Concentrate Galactose Glucose Glucose Solids Glucose Syrup Golden Sugar Golden Syrup Grape Sugar High Fructose Corn Syrup Honey Icing Sugar Invert Sugar Lactose Malt Syrup Maltodextrin Maltose Maple Syrup Molasses Muscovado Organic Raw Sugar Panocha Raw Sugar Refiner’s Syrup Sugar Rice Syrup Sorghum Syrup Sucrose Treacle Turbinado Sugar Yellow Sugar Diets high in refined sugars contribute to inflammation, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, fatty liver, high blood pressure, and most chronic inflammatory diseases. Sugar can suppress immune function, cause blood sugar imbalance, and feed an unhealthy microbiome (think Candida and parasites) and even cancer. Sugar is hiding in everything from ketchup to sausage, lowfat milk and fruit juices and so much more. Careful label reading, looking for all of the above names, is important to reduce your sugar intake, especially when you are already fighting a disease or want to lose weight. Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) MSG was discovered in 1908 by a Japanese chemist named Ikeda Kikunae, who isolated the flavor enhancer from sea kelp, which was a common ingredient in broth at that time. He was looking for an inexpensive way to reproduce what was responsible for its distinct umami flavor and was so satisfying to the taste buds. MSG quickly became a status symbol for wealthy Japanese housewives to proudly display on their dining tables and serve generously to their guests. From there, it spread to China, Taiwan, and the US. In America, MSG came into heavy use in Chinese restaurants, and found its way into many processed foods, until scientists started questioning its possible role in migraines and other health issues. Prominent neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, MD, authored groundbreaking research and discovered MSG is a potent neurotoxin, crossing the blood-brain barrier and exciting brain cells to death. To date, MSG has been implicated in several neurological symptoms after eating, and has been found to excite brain cells to death, promote cancer growth, and contribute to obesity and cardiovascular disease. It’s one of the most harmful food additives and is now hiding in everything from frozen dinners to processed meats, salad dressings, broths, nut milks, and so much more. It goes by many names on food labels: Amino Acids Autolyzed Yeast Extract Broth (all types – vegetable, chicken, beef, etc.) Carrageenan Caseinate Citric Acid Concentrate Corn Oil Disodium Guanylate Disodium Inosate Gelatin Glutamate Glutamic Acid Hydrolized Protein Hydrolized Vegetable Protein Modified Corn Starch Mono Potassium Glutamate Natural Beef or Chicken Flavoring Natural Flavors Protein Sodium Caseinate Soy Protein Soy Isolate Stock Textured Protein Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) Whey Protein Concentrate Putting It All Together – Test Your Label Knowledge It’s one of those mornings – the kids woke up late and everyone is rushing out the door. You’re relieved you grabbed those protein bars last time you were at the store. They’re healthy, right? Well, let’s put our knowledge to the test and look at the ingredients in a popular protein bar. Ingredients are listed on labels with the most abundant first, so the further down the list it is, the smaller the amount that’s in that food product. The ingredients below appear in the same order they are on the label; the ones in bold print are all names for sugar; the ones in italic are known to be hidden sources of MSG: Chicory Root Extract, Almonds, Soy Protein Isolate, Sugar, Corn Syrup, Vegetable Oil (palm kernel, palm, canola), Coconut, Whey Protein Concentrate, Whole Grain Oats, Maltodextrin, Cocoa, Rice Flour,Fructose, Vegetable Glycerin, Rice Starch, Corn Starch, Water, Soy Lecithin, Salt, Natural Flavor, Propylene Glycol, Barley Malt Extract, Sodium Alginate, Calcium Chloride, Baking Soda, Caramel Color, Sodium Metabisulfite and Mixed Tocopherols. There are 5 forms of sugar in just one protein bar, 4 common names for MSG, and to be honest, the only ingredients in this bar that may be healthy – depending on the quality of the source – are chicory root extract, almonds, coconut, whole grain oats, and water. Do Your Homework Hidden sugars and MSG aren’t the only harmful ingredients hiding in common foods. Ask anyone who has had to track down a food allergy and they’ll tell you about tartrazine, the yellow dye that commonly causes severe allergic reactions and is hiding in many foods. Anyone concerned about their cholesterol can tell you that trans fats, which cause harm at the cellular level, aren’t even listed on food labels when they are less than 0.5 grams per serving. That may not seem like a lot, but it adds up over time and replaces healthy essential fats at the cellular level, which are critically important for repairing cells and making healthy new ones. Unfortunately, the list of harmful additives goes on. And, if you are buying packaged foods of any type –even if they seem healthy – you are guaranteed to be getting unwanted food additives. If you are experiencing digestive symptoms or have any unexplained health issues, it’s worth the time to do the detective work and learn what each ingredient on your food labels really is, and make sure it isn’t part of the problem. The post Finding Hidden Ingredients on Food Labels | What’s Really in Your Food? appeared first on Your Health Keys.
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What’s New in Cancer News: Is Cancer a Collagen Disease?
Collagen is more than just another pretty face. As the most abundant protein in the body, collagen is the intracellular “glue” that holds us together, all the way from our cells to our organs and even out to our skin. But collagen does more than play a supportive and restorative role in beautiful skin, thick hair, strong bones and blood vessels, flexible joints, and healthy organs; it also plays a dynamic role in the formation of tumors in the body, and how cancer spreads. Collagen Research Bridges the Gap Between Mainstream and Natural Cancer Approaches Before I get into the science of the collagen-cancer connection, I want to address the elephant in the room – bridging the gap between science-based mainstream medicine and natural alternatives that aren’t subject to conventional studies. I understand how hard it is to cross over from medical management of cancer to one that includes diet, supplements, and other natural options. Most natural approaches to cancer are largely based on personal experiences and traditional uses with no clear understanding of how or why (or if) they really work. This is in stark contrast to science, which conducts somewhat unbiased studies and reports results that apply to populations of people and not just one person’s story. Understanding the science behind the collagen-cancer connection brings us one step closer to bridging the gap between these two worlds and finding the best solutions possible to overcome this deadly disease. With research-based articles like this one, I’m trying to do my part to make this happen in my lifetime. And I’m excited to announce my new book I Used to Have Cancer will be released in April and will be featured in Publishers Weekly! Healthy Collagen is Essential for Surviving Cancer Pound for pound, collagen is stronger than steel, yet it remains flexible and pliable. When collagen is strong and healthy, it’s an impenetrable force that cancer cells can’t break through. This is important for survival, because ninety percent of cancer deaths are caused by it spreading, known as metastasizing, to other tissues and organs. Collagen is the gatekeeper that either allows or prevents this spread from happening. I was first introduced to Linus Pauling and his research over 30 years ago when I faced my own terminal cancer battle. They took patients like me, who medical doctors had all but given up on, and had a 100% success rate in stopping their cancers from spreading. Linus Pauling and Matthias Rath, MD later completed a 15-year study where they discovered cancer is a collagen disease that kills people when it spreads to the different tissues through the collagen. They found tumors secrete enzymes that break down a weak collagen matrix, essentially forming a tunnel that allows the cancer cells to travel through and spread to other parts of the body. To fight this, they pioneered the use of micronutrient synergy to strengthen collagen and stop cancer in its tracks. Fortunately, the research didn’t stop with them. Researchers have now looked further into the collagen connection to cancer, and found that while healthy collagen halts the spread of cancer, weak collagen actually works with the cancer and encourages its spread. According to a study published in Tumour Biology, collagen is a double-edged sword that can be recruited to work for the “dark side” of cancer and actually trigger a cascade of biological events that lead to cancer growth. Cancer can hijack even your best defenses and play them against you! In the big picture of cancer, Pauling and Rath opened the door for researchers to discover that cancer is about much more than tumor cells – it’s a disease of metabolic imbalance, where epigenetics and the cellular environment are key players in the development of cancer. This could explain why only 10 percent of cancers are genetic – because cancer is so good at manipulating the cellular environment it rarely needs the help of your genes to survive and thrive. This also explains why studies like this one from the Journal of Advanced Pharmaceutical Technology & Research conclude that diet plays a vital role in the prevention, development, management, and progression of cancer. Several studies have since been done showing the effectiveness of the micronutrient combination Pauling and Rath used to stop cancer metastasis, and also on new combinations that have been developed since. The most recent study results were published in the Cancer Metastasis Reviews, and researchers came to the conclusion that it isn’t the additive effective of more micronutrients that works, it’s the synergy of them all working together that is the key. This means that the research Linus Pauling and Dr. Rath started more than 45 years ago still holds true today, and no one has been able to improve on their therapeutic benefits by creating new combinations. Cancer-Proof Your Collagen There are more than 14 types of collagen in your body, and all are composed of several key nutrients that are only available through diet – your body can’t manufacture them. The three main building blocks you need to manufacture all the different types of collagen are vitamin C, and the amino acids proline and lysine. Deficiency in any of these 3 key nutrients leads to a collagen deficiency and opens the door for everything from heart disease to cancer and so much more. Once I gained a clear understanding through Pauling and Rath’s work that collagen was key to overcoming the cancer I was fighting, I added their vitamin C formula to my arsenal of anti-cancer tools and I saw immediate results. Decades later I had a toxic mold exposure and experienced low exercise tolerance and fatigue, and I worried it was heart disease. Testing showed 0% plaque in my arteries, which is also consistent with Pauling and Rath’s research that showed cardiovascular disease is essentially arterial scurvy – a deficiency in vitamin C that weakens the collagen in the blood vessels. If you’re like me, you’ve no doubt heard the hype around bone broth powders and collagen powders. My experience and research shows it’s more effective to supplement with the nutrients your body uses to make the types of collagen it needs the most at that time, and to eliminate habits that deplete vitamin C and weaken the collagen matrix. Eliminate Sugar and Choose Low Glycemic Carbs. Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs) are formed when sugars in the blood attach to proteins, then target collagen, making it dry, brittle, and weak. A high sugar diet speeds up this process even more. The best defense is to choose a diet low in carbs, with only a minimal amount of fruit, which limits sugar intake and halts the formation of AGEs. Quit Smoking. Even the chemicals present in secondhand smoke damage collagen proteins from your skin to your lungs, and cause you to age prematurely while increasing your cancer risk. Boost Collagen with Vitamin C, Lysine, Proline, and Supporting Nutrients. The original formula from Linus Pauling and Dr. Rath includes high dose vitamin C in combination with l-lysine, l-proline, EGCG (a green tea antioxidant extract), and quercetin (works synergistically with EGCG). Vitamin C makes your cells like an impenetrable fortress and strengthens the collagen matrix so no intruders – like free radicals and cancer cells – can get through and cause damage. Lysine not only builds collagen, but also blocks the enzymes that tumors secrete and prevent collagen from being broken down. Supplement with L-Arginine. Also used to build collagen, this amino acid is essential for protein synthesis, skin damage repair, and wound healing. In addition to collagen and elastin production, L-Arginine is commonly included in nutritional supplements for increasing nitric oxide production to promote healthy cardiovascular function. Add TMG (trimethylglycine) if You Are Vegan. This heart-healthy, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, potent detoxifier is also a rich source of glycine, another building block of collagen. Meats, eggs, and seafood are rich sources of glycine, which is why I recommend vegans use a supplement. TMG is best known for its energy-boosting effects, but also promotes healthy brain balance and good digestion, and is commonly recommended for those with an MTHFR genetic defect. Take Niacin (Vitamin B3). Not only does niacin promote healthy collagen production, it also decreases protein glycation, which is the process that forms AGEs from a high sugar diet. Taking niacin doesn’t mean you can keep eating sugar and avoid its negative effects though. In addition, niacin protects the skin and promotes cardiovascular health. I recommend inositol hexanicotinate, an immediate release form that is gentle on the liver and doesn’t cause skin flushing. The post What’s New in Cancer News: Is Cancer a Collagen Disease? appeared first on Your Health Keys.
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New Year – Your Weigh | Weight Loss Secrets for 2019
It’s time to find out what’s slowing down your metabolism and bring it back up to speed in the New Year! If you’ve put your heart and soul into countless diets only to maintain or even gain weight, it’s important for you to know that it’s not your fault the weight won’t come off. The key reason many conventional diets fail is because they don’t address the toxins being stored in your fat cells, and they don’t correct the shutdown of key fat-burning tissues in your body. The reason your friend stays skinny eating whatever she wants has nothing to do with luck or genetics, and has everything to do with her environment and metabolism. No diet in the world will work once your metabolism has turned toxic and sluggish. If you want to stay energized for life and finally lose the weight, all while putting the brakes on unhealthy aging, then you need to understand what caused your metabolism to slow down and become toxic in the first place. When researchers study a disease, they start by looking at the cellular level to find the underlying root cause behind it all. For instance, when you have a suspicious lump removed, a doctor who specializes in pathology looks at the cells of the lump under the microscope to determine exactly what the lump is made of. Why haven’t we been looking at the cell level to find the root cause when it comes to obesity, weight gain, and sluggish metabolism? Toxic cells lead to a toxic metabolism, and no diet will work once this sets in. But, when the cells are detoxified and key detox organs are given a rest, then your cells rebuild, mitochondria are powered back on, your energy level begins to build, and your fat-burning metabolism fires up and starts getting rid of unwanted pounds to reach a healthy weight. You become lighter – both physically and emotionally – and less toxic, with more energy to do what you love. Look into the reasons why your metabolism has slowed down below! The Top 20 Reasons Your Metabolism Has Slowed Down You’re too sweet. For decades conventional wisdom told us fats were our mortal enemies, so we loaded up on carbs and sugars. Obesity and diabetes skyrocketed, leaving the low fat proponents scratching their heads as to why our health declined and our weigh increased – too much sugar in the form of sugary drinks, sugar-laden low fat substitutes, and too many carbs. It’s time to throw conventional diets out the window and focus on low glycemic carbs, moderate protein intake, and healthy essential fat consumption. You have hormone resistance at the cellular level. Your cells can become insulin resistant and leptin resistant, which are both key hormones in regulating your fat-burning metabolism. Insulin resistance leads to chronic inflammation, and once you are resistant to leptin, your brain stops sending the signal to your cells to burn fat for energy and the result is more fat gain. You’re missing the right kind of fat to fire up your metabolism. Your body was built to run on healthy fats and we aren’t eating enough of them. Fats have been villainized for so long we are simply reluctant to add them back in at levels that nourish and heal our cells. The fact is, the right kinds of both Omega 6 and Omega 3 fats in the right ratio are needed to restore cellular health and ignite your fat-burning metabolism. You have chronic inflammation. You have to reduce your overall inflammation levels to lose weight, and it may be easier than you think. Chronic inflammation can be caused not only by insulin resistance and blood sugar imbalance, but also deficiencies in Omega 6 and Omega 3 essential fats, and high cortisol from chronic stress. You have problems with fat digestion. High fat diets like Keto and Paleo are all the rage right now, and while many experience dramatic weight loss, there are also many who can’t digest the fats required and instead experience bloating, digestive distress, weight gain or stalled progress. The problem isn’t your diet, it’s your gallbladder (or lack thereof). Your liver is stressed. Your liver is your main detoxification organ, responsible for the breakdown and elimination of both toxic cellular waste products and environmental toxins. Exposure to environmental toxins in air, water, and food can build up over time and bog down your liver’s normally efficient processing and elimination of these toxic substances. Once your liver is stressed, toxins are shuttled into your fat cells to be stored, and toxic fat cells don’t leave without a fight. Your fat cells are full of toxic waste. When toxins accumulate they get stored in your fat cells, and as a result you’re sick, fat, and tired and can’t lose weight. If you do manage to shed a few pounds, you release these toxins into your blood stream and feel sicker than you did before, which often leads to a rebound weight gain. Your bile is congested. Bile plays a major role in detoxifying your body. Once your bile becomes congested and thick with toxins, it leads to digestive disorders, thyroid problems, Type 2 Diabetes, hormone imbalances, depression, and so much more. There’s a vicious cycle created by obesity and toxic bile that only leads to more weight gain. The first step to cleansing bile is to take Bile Builderand get more choline and bitter foods in your diet. Your thyroid has “crashed.” The thyroid is the master regulator of your metabolism, and has a close relationship with bile and your gallbladder. When your bile becomes sluggish and toxic, it affects the health of your thyroid and slows your metabolism down, causing weight gain, even when thyroid blood tests look “normal.” You’re not in the protein “sweet spot.” Your muscles are a metabolically active tissue that is fueled by the amino acids in proteins. People with a higher lean body mass burn more calories – even at rest – than people with a higher fat mass. The key is to get the right amount of high quality proteins in your diet – too much or too little can cause metabolic problems. Your cells aren’t talking to each other anymore. Weight loss-resistance comes from a breakdown in cellular communication and lack of protein as a whole or specific amino acid deficiencies can be the sole cause. Your inner terrain isn’t as diverse as it used to be. Each person’s microbiome, which is their internal microbe community, is as unique as their fingerprint. Lean people have more diverse microbiomes than overweight people, and more diversity means a healthier, leaner, longer life. Probiotic, fermented foods are a great start to reseed your microbiome and increase your bacterial diversity, all while boosting your immunity and weight loss potential. You have uninvited guests in your intestines. Parasites are notorious for triggering weight gain, sugar cravings, anxiety, and insomnia, and are far more common than you realize. They are in the water we swim in, the water we drink, on the foods we eat, and in the soil we tend our gardens in. They are on the fur and tongues of the pets we share our homes and even our beds with. Spend thirty days with My Colon Cleansing Kit to cleanse the most common invaders from your intestines and remove this obstacle to your weight loss. You are chronically constipated. By a doctor’s definition, if you aren’t having a bowel movement after every meal you eat, you are constipated. Regular, healthy elimination is how we rid our bodies of the toxins our liver processes out. Without regular bowel movements, you can store up to 50 pounds of waste in your colon! You’ve been exposed to obesogens.Obesogens are endocrine disrupting chemicals that are known to cause weight gain, and are far too common in our everyday household products. If you use plastics (especially to heat foods in your microwave), nonstick cookware, canned foods, unfiltered tap water, anything with synthetic fragrances, non-organic personal care products or cleaning products, or have carpeting or stain-resistant furniture in your home, then you are being exposed to obesogens every single day. You have heavy metal toxicity. Every heavy metal we are exposed to carries a unique set of symptoms that accompany it, but most are endocrine disruptors that cause weight gain and fatigue. Environmental exposures include polluted air, car exhaust fumes, dental amalgams, cookware, personal care products, cosmetics, seafood, and so much more. You have copper imbalance. Copper overload is associated with estrogen dominance, low thyroid, fatigue, and weight gain, among other symptoms. It is much more common than you would think. It’s important to remove sources of copper your body can’t absorb, support your liver’s detoxification pathways, and choose bioavailable copper in foods as your only source of supplemental copper. You’ve been exposed to excessive radiation. Electropollution and nuclear radiation disrupt hormone signaling and communication, leading to weight gain. They also suppress your body’s natural antioxidant production, which affects your ability to heal. Use EMF-blocking devices on your phones, in your home, and make sure you don’t live close to a nuclear power plant or nuclear waste site. You’ve had exposure to mold or have biotoxin illness. The most common biotoxins come from mold, and exposure is cumulative, leading to fatigue, weight gain, and several other symptoms. One or more of your detox organs is impaired or missing. Detox is shared by all of your vital organs, including your liver, gallbladder, kidneys, colon, and lymphatic system. If one or more of these is missing or impaired, the others must compensate to do the work that’s needed, and the result is often a buildup of toxins resulting in a sluggish metabolism. Detoxification is key to staying slim, and because it’s our cells that do the work, true detox needs to reach to the cellular level, on a daily basis. How You Can Overcome Your Sluggish Metabolism The list of factors that can influence your metabolism and slow it down seems overwhelming, doesn’t it? Fortunately, they all respond to one simple yet powerful solution – Ann Louise Gittleman’s new Radical Metabolism plan! She spent countless hours researching health and weight loss at the cellular level and rewrote the rules of nutrition – again – to help you lose even the most stubborn weight. It doesn’t matter if you have a thyroid issue slowing you down, an autoimmune disease challenging your weight loss, or simply are looking for better health as you age – her plan has been successful for people of all ages and stages of health. And her 5 Radical Rules are written in a way that’s easy to understand and incorporate into your lifestyle, complete with menu plans and ways to detox your lifestyle so the weight doesn’t come back. It isn’t just a weight loss plan, it’s an easy-to-follow radical lifestyle to get your health back on track – all the way to the cellular level – and stay youthful, energetic, and vibrant, even into your golden years. The post New Year – Your Weigh | Weight Loss Secrets for 2019 appeared first on Your Health Keys.
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The Holiday Weight Loss Secret You Need to Know | Leptin Resistance
Imagine… Walking past a table full of holiday treats and not even being tempted by them. Finally fitting into that party dress you’ve had hanging in your closet. Saying no to late night cravings. Losing weight during the holidays. You can! With my holiday weight loss secret. Temptation starts with Halloween, with bowls of candy everywhere you go. Then it’s Thanksgiving, with beautiful tables full of favorite family comfort foods that are sure to put inches on our waistlines. And finally, there’s Hanukkah and Christmas, where decadent treats and holiday parties full of festive cocktails are practically a daily occurrence. It seems inevitable to gain at least a few seasonal pounds, but it doesn’t have to be that way. So, how do you lose holiday weight fast? Weight loss during the holidays starts with first understanding why you have cravings that seem impossible to resist, and then learning how to stop them in their tracks. Why Am I So Hungry? Hunger is a powerful, persistent force that drives us to eat in order to fuel our bodies and store energy for later. Ideally, the hunger mechanism is turned off once we’ve got enough energy stored – in the form of fat – to keep us going. But, for many of us, we’re not getting the signal to stop eating. It seems like we’re always hungry, craving foods we know really aren’t good for us, and packing on the pounds. Hunger is an essential part of our metabolism, and is controlled by a hormone called leptin. Leptin is produced by your fat cells, and tells your brain how much energy is available and where it needs to go. It signals when to be hungry, when to reproduce, and when to maintain and repair cells. When leptin is working properly, it will increase as your fat stores increase, which signals your brain to turn off hunger and feel full. Your brain then tells you to stop eating, stop storing fat, and start burning the energy in that fat. Ideally you should also feel energized when you have enough calories stored and available to burn. But for many of us, we have leptin resistance, and instead our weight goes up while our energy level goes down. Clues That Your Leptin is Rising For most of us, the problem isn’t willpower – it’s leptin resistance. Irresistable carb cravings that lead to overeating, all while feeling like you’re starving are the hallmark signs of leptin resistance. And as the inflammation increases from the leptin surges, other signs show up as well, including in your blood tests. If you have your yearly bloodwork and triglycerides are going up, leptin may be to blame. If your health care provider tests for hs-CRP (high sensitivity C-reactive protein), you may notice this is on the rise as well. You may also have all the signs of a thyroid issue, with tests being in the upper ranges of normal, all thanks to leptin. Chronic inflammation from high leptin levels takes its toll on your achy joints by breaking down cartilage, and also suppresses your immune system. And if all that isn’t enough, it also causes hormone imbalance, by signaling your ovaries to make more testosterone, and tips the scales to estrogen dominance, causing a whole cascade of hormone symptoms, including infertility. To stop leptin resistance in its tracks, we have to understand how we got here in the first place. What’s really behind it all may surprise you. Why Am I Leptin Resistant? Leptin resistance is a cousin to insulin resistance, and they are both triggered by the same environmental conditions. We’ve had decades of bad nutritional advice telling us to ditch the fat in favor of carbs, and all we’ve done is gain weight and develop chronic diseases like cancer and diabetes. This same diet that causes inflammation and chronic disease also causes such a surge in leptin production that your cells become resistant to it. The steady influx of carbs and sugars we’ve been duped into making the mainstay of our diets has caused our leptin resistance and weight gain. Whether it’s sugar, fruit juice, grains or processed foods, it all leads to leptin resistance and feeling hungry all the time. The key to reversing leptin resistance is in your diet – not just what you eat but when you eat. What to Eat to Lower Leptin For years now, researchers have been trying to develop a medication to lower leptin levels, without success. The right diet has been shown to consistently reverse leptin resistance and is the key to losing weight, staving off cravings, and getting your energy and health back. The diet that lowers leptin levels is: Low in carbs Moderate in good quality proteins High in essential Omega 3 and Omega 6 fats And keeps insulin and blood sugar levels consistent throughout the day, without highs or lows The best Christmas present you can give yourself this year is a copy of Ann Louise Gittleman’s Radical Metabolism, which not only has the ideal diet to lower your leptin levels, but helps you restore health at the cellular level while reversing a toxic metabolism. If you are fat, fatigued, and have all the signs of leptin resistance, this is the best diet and lifestyle plan for you. But what can you do during this indulgent season while you make plans to get your diet on track? Three Keys to Lower Leptin and Trigger Weight Loss During the Holidays Changing your diet during the holidays is no easy task. But the good news is there are things you can do in the meantime to rev up your metabolism, keep cravings in check, and start lowering your leptin levels. 1. Hemp for the Holidays Hempseed oil is rich in the essential Omega 6 and Omega 3 fats and has “golden ratio” your body needs to nourish cells, curb cravings, and trigger fat loss. Aim for at least one tablespoon per day drizzled over vegetables, mixed into salad dressings, or even taken by the teaspoonful with meals. 2. It’s Not Just What You Eat But When You Eat That Makes the Most Impact Intermittent Fasting has taken the dieting world by storm, and for good reason – it resets your leptin levels, cuts your hunger, and makes you feel full faster. Intermittent fasting isn’t a calorie restriction – it’s about getting all of your calories for the day in an 8 to 10 hour window of time during the day, so your body goes through an extended overnight fast. This pattern of eating can easily be accommodated during the holidays to keep your immune system tuned up and your weight loss on track. For instance, if you have a schedule full of evening holiday parties, simply start your eating around 10am and finish no later than 8pm, to give your body a long enough overnight fast to reset your hormone levels. 3. Get Radical and Give Your Metabolism a Boost Healthy eating through the holidays is a challenge, there’s no doubt about it. But you can curb your cravings, give your metabolism a boost, and help lower your leptin levels with the herbs found in our Radical Metabolizer Dietary Supplement for metabolism. Help your body burn fat for energy, slim your waistline and curb your appetite, making it easier to say no to tempting treats and sugary festive cocktails. The post The Holiday Weight Loss Secret You Need to Know | Leptin Resistance appeared first on Your Health Keys.
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5 Simple Detox Hacks to Keep You Healthy for the Holidays
Stay healthy and happy through the holidays with these quick and easy detox hacks. During the busy holiday season it can be hard to find time for self care, but no time is more important to support our bodies than when we are stressed, busy, and being exposed to winter colds and flus. While good diet goes a long way towards preserving our health, no diet can replace the need for detox, which cleans out all of the cellular debris and toxic chemicals we come in contact with on a daily basis. Here are 5 things you can do right now to detox your body naturally and boost your energy and immunity. 1. Get Moving Exercise does so much more than boost your moods and slim your waistline. When it comes to detox, exercise acts as a pump for your lymph, getting it to where it needs to go in your body. Your lymphatic system is responsible for “taking out the trash” from your cells, and without exercise, those toxins can’t go anywhere. Unlike your circulatory system, which has the heart to pump blood wherever it needs to go, the lymphatic system doesn’t have it’s own pump – it relies on the movement of your muscles and joints for its circulation. Lymph fluid contains powerful infection-fighting white blood cells, and an entire network of vessels and nodes that go all the way from your brain to your toes delivers these essential germ fighters to your tonsils, spleen, thymus, bone marrow, and digestive system, which are all critical structures in your lymphatic and immune systems. That same network picks up your cellular toxins and carries them out of circulation, to be dumped into the subclavian veins that sit at the base of your neck. While it may seem like a daunting task to get enough exercise to move the lymph from as far away as your legs, all the way up to your neck to go through the detox process, let me assure you it’s easier than you think. Stretching, yoga, tai chi, bouncing on a rebounder, and even walking are enough to get your lymph moving. If you don’t already exercise, start small – park farther away from the stores when you shop, take the stairs instead of elevators and escalators, and take the time to do simple stretches throughout the day. 2. Sweat It Out It may come as a surprise, but your skin is a major detoxification organ. There are a number of toxic chemicals and even heavy metals we come in contact with that can be eliminated through sweating. And there’s no better way to sweat in the winter months than spending time in a sauna. There are several types of sauna to choose from, everything from traditional dry and steam saunas to modern ozone to infrared, and as long as it makes you sweat, you’ll detox. I personally use far infrared sauna. It’s been shown to penetrate to the deeper tissues and increases cellular energy production, so I feel relaxed and energized afterward. Because I travel a fair amount, I have a Relax Portable Sauna, which is low EMF and fits easily in the back of my car. 3. Stay Regular Your body relies heavily on your digestive system to remove unwanted toxins and escort them out of the body. Constipation is no laughing matter. If you aren’t moving your bowels after every meal, then by definition, you are constipated, and holding on to those waste products is costing you your health. When you are constipated, you can store up to 50 pounds of toxic waste material in your colon, waiting to be eliminated. As it sits there, your body recycles everything it can. Toxic bile gets circulated back to the liver to be re-used, and as a result becomes thick and sludgy, which affects everything from your weight to your thyroid health. Your body extracts every bit of fluid it can from the waste and your kidneys have to filter all that wastewater, which puts a strain on them. The waste sitting in your colon then becomes hard and dry, making it harder to move through, so as it sits, your body shuttles those toxins into your fat cells to be stored since they can’t be eliminated. The end result is water weight, bloating, and fat gain. Whatever the reason behind your constipation, it’s important to get things moving again. People who are constipated are often deficient in magnesium, and supplementing daily with this mineral is known to relax the muscles of the colon and relieve constipation. Repopulating your digestive system with healthy bacteria by supplementing with a good probiotic is another way to boost the cleansing power of your digestion and relieve constipation. It’s also a good way to boost immunity during the winter months. Finally, if constipation has been a long-term problem for you, then a 30-day colon cleanse should be on your list of new year’s resolutions. A good colon cleanse contains gentle but effective pH balanced herbs that clean out unwanted toxins and harmful microorganisms, while rebalancing with the right intestinal flora. 4. Build Better Bile Your liver is the hardest working detox organ in your body. When your liver cleanses your body, it dumps all the toxic waste into the bile, which carries those toxins to be eliminated from the body. When bile isn’t flowing properly, either because it’s become thick and sludgy, or you have a fatty liver that can’t produce good quality bile, or because you don’t have the nutrients to support good bile production, then your body can’t fully detoxify itself. According to Ann Louise Gittleman: “Bile has such a substantial role in detoxification that there is already a 75 percent bile deficiency by the time allergies, arthritis, and inflammation in joints and muscles develop – conditions with a direct relationship to unnecessary toxins in the body. By the time cancer or chronic illness is diagnosed, a whopping 90 percent deficit has already occurred.” A key to detoxifying your body is building better bile, and taking a supplement like our Bile Builder to support healthy bile production. This is especially important when you don’t have a gallbladder, because your gallbladder is the storehouse for bile and normally releases bile into the small intestine for fat digestion and elimination of toxins. If your metabolism is toxic, you suffer with fatigue, and you can’t lose weight no matter what you’ve tried, then Ann Louise Gittleman’s new Radical Metabolism must-read for you. 5. Coffee Enemas – the Ultimate Detox and Energy Booster If you’re feeling sluggish, fatigued, bloated, and are looking for a stronger detox, then consider getting your daily coffee in a new way. Coffee enemas help to relieve constipation, cleanse your bile, boost your energy, and support your liver while you detox. All throughout history coffee enemas have been used for everything from digestive issues to natural cancer protocols, migraine therapy, fighting the flu, autoimmune diseases, and whole body wellness. Coffee enemas help cleanse the colon by releasing waste and plaque stuck to the walls of the colon, and stimulate removal of parasites and other unwanted organisms. They also help detoxify the liver by stimulating the bile ducts to open and release bile, and promote up to a 600 percent increase in the production of glutathione, a powerful antioxidant that stimulates cellular detox and protects DNA from damage. Coffee enemas can be done weekly or even multiple times daily, depending on the protocol you follow. I recommend no more than once daily. For best results, use a good quality organic coffee, so you aren’t flooding your colon with pesticides and molds. The post 5 Simple Detox Hacks to Keep You Healthy for the Holidays appeared first on Your Health Keys.
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10 Reasons Why You Need Sleep For Health & Healing
Sleep is so much more than a time of rest – your body needs those zzz’s to recharge, revive and restore everything that’s kept you going strong during the day. Sleep encompasses one-third of our lives, and impacts everything about how well we live in the other two-thirds. It is just as important as the food we eat, the air we breathe, and the water we drink. But everyday life has become so hectic that our busy lifestyles often have us burning the midnight oil just to get everything done. The stress alone is enough to keep us awake late at night with our minds racing and unable to shut off. Add in hormone changes that wake us for no reason in the middle of the night, and it’s no wonder over 70 million Americans suffer with sleep problems. Studies show people are chronically sleep deprived not only because of our demanding lifestyles, but also because of a lack of education of just how important sleep is to our health. So let’s look at 10 reasons your body needs at least 7 hours of quality sleep nightly to stay healthy. Staying Slim and Trim Make sure a full night’s sleep is part of your weight loss plan. Sleep is essential for a healthy metabolism, and studies show that sleep loss increases your risk for obesity. Lack of sleep affects your levels of ghrelin and leptin, which are hormones that increase hunger and appetite – especially those carb cravings. Stress hormones also rise, insulin resistance increases, and blood sugar spikes, leading to Type 2 Diabetes. Staying awake longer also means meal times become more spread out, disrupting the body’s internal clock and natural rhythms. Eating when we’re supposed to be asleep increases the risk of metabolic syndrome and obesity even more. The good news is you can reverse it by hitting the pillow – the same studies also show that getting optimal sleep – 7 to 9 hours – results in a smaller waistline. Brain Power Your brain needs sleep more than any other organ in the body. Even just the loss of 2 hours of sleep per night is enough to dull reflexes, decrease attention, and impair memory. Sleep promotes creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. How many times have you woken up with a great idea or new solution to a problem that’s been plaguing you? While you sleep, your brain is surprisingly hard at work. Its lymphatic system is busy detoxing and flushing out beta-amyloid protein, which is the precursor to plaques seen in Alzheimer’s disease. Your brain is also consolidating memories into long-term storage, and “prunes” the ones it doesn’t need. Sleep deprivation triggers the same mechanisms that severe anxiety does, and makes us more sensitive to anxiety and more prone to depression. Dreaming during REM sleep actually helps us process emotions and remain more mentally clear during the day. Grow New Stem Cells Getting enough sleep is essential for healthy bone marrow, which is where stem cells are made. These stem cells are essential for repairing everything from your brain to your bones, your immune system, and so much more. Stanford researchers have found that a sleep deficit of just 4 hours is enough to cut the activity of these stem cells in half. For stem cells to travel to where they’re needed in your body, you first need to get a full night’s sleep. Better Bone Density It takes more than calcium to build strong bones. Chronic sleep deprivation leads to a decrease in bone mineral density, which leads to osteoporosis, decreased bone formation, and lower levels of vitamin D, which starts a chain reaction that also affects your hormone balance and immune system health. The optimal amount of sleep for the best bone density seems to be 8 to 9 hours of quality sleep per night. Fight Off the Flu Sleep deprivation suppresses your immune system and decreases your ability to fight off colds, flu, and more serious infections. Sleep is when the lymphatic system cleanses itself and when your immune cells become the most active. Your immune system uses those precious hours of sleep to regenerate itself and to “remember” infections you’ve come in contact with and successfully fought off. This memory is essential to not repeatedly having to fight off the same infections. Heart Health The better you sleep at night, the healthier your heart is. Sleep deprivation doubles your risk of cardiovascular disease, and getting 5 hours of sleep per night or less dramatically increases your risk of hypertension, coronary heart disease, and diabetes. As the number of hours you sleep at night goes down, your stress hormones increase incrementally, as do your insulin levels and overall level of inflammation. This results in damage to blood vessel walls, which leads to plaque formation, hypertension and even heart attack. Love Your Liver Traditional Chinese Medicine has mapped out a 24-hour clock of when each organ regenerates itself. The liver’s “golden hours” are between 1am to 3am, and you must be asleep for optimal restoration. Production of cholesterol by the liver peaks in the evening, then it transitions into detoxifying, breaking down stress hormones like adrenaline, and balancing blood sugar levels. Insomnia has been shown in studies to lead to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, and type 2 Diabetes. Hormone Harmony It only takes one or two nights of sleep deprivation to dramatically affect your hormone balance. The first hormone affected is cortisol, a stress hormone, which rises in the evening and gives you that bedtime “wired but tired” feeling that then contributes even more to sleep loss. Next, insulin increases, as does insulin resistance, which results in blood sugar imbalance and even type 2 Diabetes. Suprisingly, the next hormone affected by lack of sleep is TSH, which slows your thyroid function after only 6 days without enough sleep. At this point, since your stress hormones and thyroid hormones are both out of balance, your sex hormones follow suit and levels start to drop, beginning with progesterone. This creates a vicious cycle, because low progesterone and high cortisol levels both cause insomnia, making it even harder to catch up on your much needed sleep. A Healthy Sex Life Just one week without enough sleep is enough for testosterone levels to drop. Testosterone is important for both men and women to have a healthy sex drive and strong sexual performance. If you chronically short yourself on sleep, not only will you have less interest in sex and decreased performance, but fertility can also suffer. Beauty Rest Beauty sleep isn’t just a catch phrase, it’s the real deal. While you sleep, blood flow to your skin increases, moisture levels on the surface increase, and the pH of your skin balances, all of which results in a healthy, youthful glow. The longer you go without sleep, the more your skin will look dull, dry, and even ashen. What To Do When You Can’t Sleep According to the Centers for Disease Control, insufficient sleep is a public health epidemic, so you are far from alone if you struggle with slumber. Researchers have found these are the keys to a better night’s sleep: The first key to getting a good night’s sleep is in your bedroom: low light, no screens, no electronics within 3 feet of your comfortable bed, and a cooler temperature will get you off to a great start. While it’s tempting to scroll social media on your cell phone or fall asleep with the TV on, these are two things that are proven sleep stealers. The second key is to get enough exercise and movement during the day. Exercise should be kept to daylight hours, and should be moderate; enough to get your heart rate up and your blood pumping. Third, no stimulants – like caffeine and B vitamins – after 3pm, earlier if you’re more sensitive to their effects. Your stress hormones need calming influences in the evening hours to bring them down, so you can fall asleep easily. Finally, give your hormones a helping hand. Melatonin is the one hormone you can’t sleep without. Supplementing with at least 3 milligrams before bedtime can lead not only to a better night’s sleep, but to lower blood pressure, better digestion, and better stress tolerance over time. Support your thyroid with Thyro-Key, and your stress hormone balance with our Adrenal Formula. If sleep still eludes you, and you know you’re in hormone havoc, then consider applying ProgestaKey at bedtime for natural hormone support. 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Nutrient Depletion from Prescription Medications | Are They Worth It?
As we all know, prescription medications come with side effects. But did you know one of those side effects is depletion of essential nutrients? When diagnosed with a chronic condition, many health-minded people search for natural solutions first. But, if the illness is caught in an advanced state, sometimes prescription medications are unavoidable. Yet few – if any – health care professionals inform you of the nutrients these medications deplete and the potential side effects that may result. On the flip side, there are nutrients that may enhance the effectiveness of your medication, which you also may not be aware of. There are also nutrients that are health protective or simply increase your quality of life while you are taking certain medications. Let’s take a look at the nutrient interactions of the most common medications being prescribed, and the recommendations for restoring healthy levels. Antibiotics Every major class of antibiotics, even when taken for a short time, can deplete all of the B vitamins, calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc, vitamin K, and probiotics. The B vitamins can be supplemented – with their methylated forms for the best bioavailabity – during the course of the antibiotics. Probiotics are best supplemented at least 2 hours away from antibiotic doses, at least twice daily, with a high quality formulation like Flora-Key, and should be continued for several months after completing the antibiotics to rebalance your intestinal flora. The minerals like calcium, magnesium and zinc should be supplemented once you have completed the antibiotic course, because they can block the absorption of the antibiotic and limit its effectiveness. Antidepressants – the SSRIs and SNRIs We are heading into the season that is simultaneously known to be the most joyful yet also has an increase in suicide rates. Depression, whether it’s seasonal or situational, doesn’t discriminate; it strikes all ages, races, and cultures and can be truly devastating. Thankfully, the stigma around it has lessened in recent decades. As a result, prescription medication use is on the rise. Far and away the most common class of these medications is the SSRIs and SNRIs, like Prozac, Lexapro, Cymbalta, Effexor, and many others. These medications slow the speed in which our neurotransmitters travel and leave the body. When they travel at the fast rate that’s commonly seen in depression, the neurotransmitters we use to maintain our moods are quickly depleted and the result is low moods, energy, and motivation. The two nutrients these drugs deplete are folate and melatonin. Because of the prevalence of the MTHFR gene mutation, the most bioavailable form of folate to supplement with is the 5-MTHF form, and a dose of at least 400mcg is recommended. Melatonin has to be kept lower than normal for these medications to be effective, so if you are experiencing symptoms of depletion like insomnia, fatigue, and irritable bowels, then supplementing with 3 milligrams of a sublingual melatonin at bedtime and talking to your prescriber about taking your antidepressant in the morning is the best solution to increase levels without interfering with the effectiveness of your medications. If you are taking one of these medications and it just isn’t enough to get you feeling good again, consider taking SAMe (S-Adenosyl Methionine) to increase the effectiveness of your medication. According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, studies show this methylation supporting supplement works together with your SSRI or SNRI to help increase your moods. St. Johns Wort and 5-HTP should not be used with these medications, however, and are not acceptable substitutes for the SAMe. Antidepressants – Amitriptyline (Elavil) The other commonly prescribed class of antidepressants is used not only for depression, but also for bipolar depression and insomnia, and is becoming more widely used for other health conditions like anxiety and chronic fatigue syndrome as well. These are the tricyclics, and the most common is Elavil, or amitriptyline. These medications have been around much longer than the SSRIs have, and as a result, have many side effects and nutrient depletions, some of which are very serious: Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) deficiency, which is associated with fatigue, worsening depression, irritability, memory loss, confusion, weakness, poor coordination, decreased stomach acid, low appetite, indigestion, and abnormal heart rhythm. Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) deficiency, which leads to fatigue, indigestion, migraines, headaches, sensitivity to light, eye itching and irritation, cheilosis (cracked corners of the mouth), and seborrheic dermatitis. Vitamin B6 deficiency, which can cause fatigue, irritability, worsening depression, poor concentration, memory loss, carpal tunnel, PMS, and heart disease. Tyrosine deficiency, which is associated with worsening depression, fatigue, mood disorders, weakness, weight gain, dry hair, low blood pressure, low body temperature, hypothyroid, joint pain, apathy, edema and swelling, flu-like symptoms, hoarse voice, and PMS. CoQ10 deficiency can lead to muscle pain, periodontal disease, high blood sugar, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, and cardiomyopathy. This is probably one of the best examples of how a medication can simultaneously help and harm you. The longer you take this medication, the more depleted you can become in these nutrients, several of which cause worsening depression. So, by taking this antidepressant, you can actually become more depressed over time as these nutrients are depleted. In the case of this medication, micronutrient testing through SpectraCell Labs or the NutrEval from Genova Diagnostics would be very helpful to guide how much to supplement with. Anxiety Medications – the Benzodiazepines These medications are some of the most commonly used, and unfortunately, are addictive and easily abused. These medications increase the metabolism of Vitamin D, which also decreases calcium absorption. If you are taking Xanax, Ativan, Valium, Restoril, or another “benzo” for either insomnia or anxiety, have your Vitamin D blood levels checked before supplementing, and take Osteo-Key to supplement calcium and support calcium absorption. Also depleted is melatonin, which will cause worsening insomnia, fatigue, ADHD, and irritable bowel, as well as increasing the risk of breast cancer. Supplementing with 3 milligrams of melatonin is recommended to maintain healthy levels while on these medications. Hormone Replacement and Birth Control Pills Whether you take hormonal contraception (e.g. birth control pills) or hormone replacement therapy, these medications cause the same deficiencies. Magnesium should be supplemented with at least 400 milligrams per day in divided doses. Vitamin B6 (at least 5 milligrams), Folate (at least 400 micrograms), and vitamin B12 (1000 micrograms) should be taken daily in their methylated forms for best absorption. Calcium and vitamin D may increase the absorption of these hormones, so it’s important to supplement with these consistently if you plan to supplement them at all. Changing the amounts you take of these nutrients may change the hormone dose you need. Stomach Acid Reducing Medications Any time stomach acid levels drop, the pH of the stomach increases, and several nutrients aren’t absorbed as well, leading to depletion. In the case of H2 agonists like Zantac and Pepcid, the nutrients depleted include folate, vitamin B12, vitamin D, iron, calcium, and zinc, and protein digestion is also affected. Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) like Nexium, Prevacid, and Prilosec deplete all of these nutrients plus magnesium. When you look at the list of what’s not absorbed and becomes depleted, it’s easy to see how osteoporosis and anemia are common side effects of taking these medications long term. So many nutrients are depleted that a good multivitamin plus Mag-Key and Osteo-Key are recommended together, all taken with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to temporarily increase acidity for better absorption. Do not supplement iron unless your healthcare provider recommends it based on blood testing. Interestingly, 6 milligrams of melatonin is known to help normalize stomach acid levels, as well or better than Prilosec taken alone, and does not interfere with the effectiveness of the medications. It can take up to 6 weeks for melatonin to be effective, but may be the natural solution you’re looking for to balance healthy stomach acid levels and prevent nutrient depletions. How to Find Which Nutrients Your Medication May Deplete If you are taking a medication that hasn’t been listed here and want to know which nutrients you may need to supplement, there’s a website you need to know about. Jeffrey Gladd, MD, created mytavin.com, a free research-based website where you can enter the names of the medications you are taking and generate a list of nutrients depleted by those medications and what symptoms they may be causing. Other good resources include the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) websites. We hope this article provided you with useful information about nutrient depletion from prescription medications. The post Nutrient Depletion from Prescription Medications | Are They Worth It? appeared first on Your Health Keys.
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