Vitamins and Supplements That Help With Anti Aging Care

A common question asked by many health conscious people is whether it is necessary to take a multi-vitamin or dietary supplement each day. The real simple answer depends on the quality of your diet. The human body has a certain requirement for all known vitamins and minerals which have been conveniently categorized as 'Recommended Daily Allowances' (RDA by the FDA). These minimal requirements for vitamins and minerals were developed half a century ago to make public the smallest amount of each substance required to prevent diseases which were associated with an RDA deficiency. Current research is continually proving that the RDA specifications are not always the optimal dose necessary to prevent vibrant health into old age.To supplement or not supplement, that is the question. Most...

Read more »

Posted in: Diet and Nutrition,Supplements

Heart Disease is Reversible

Evidence has been mounting over recent years indicating that Coronary Artery Disease is not only preventable, but actually reversible. You could possibly slow it down by eating a 'low-fat' diet and taking a variety of drugs (statins, ACE Inhibitors and Beta-Blockers), but sooner or later those little blobs of foamy plaque would invade the inner lining of your coronary arteries and cause a heart attack.Linus Pauling documented 30 or so years ago that Vitamin C was essential for the vascular system to avoid the 'cracks' which occur in the heart vessels. Lack of Vitamin C caused a 'scurvy' of the arteries which permitted the tiny vascular abrasions (caused by high blood pressure, poor diet and too much fast food!) which then needed to be patched up by the body, leading to the genesis...

Read more »

Posted in: Heart Disease

You Are What You Eat - Dietary Modification Principles

Everybody has heard that eating too much without sufficient exercise causes weight gain, and cutting back on the calories and more exercise will result in weight loss. If only it were that simple. There are many other considerations to factor into the overall 'calories in - calories out' equation.First, you must understand the three building blocks of nutrition: carbohydrates, protein and fat. While it is not the intention of this blog to delve deeply into the biochemical properties these macronutrients, it is important to understand that each has a profoundly different effect on your body and is used differently around the body. For example, the much maligned fat is preferentially used for the creation of cholesterol and is incorporated into the cell membranes of all tissues, especially...

Read more »

Posted in: Calorie Restriction,Diet and Nutrition

The Diabetes Epidemic - Don't Be a Statistic!

Health professionals are perplexed by the sudden explosion of diabetes cases. Teen and pre-teen children are developing the disease in record numbers, predisposing them to a lifetime of increased risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke, blindness and dialysis. What has changed to cause this alarming uptick in diabetes over the last 40 years, and how can we protect ourselves from this insidious malady?Statistics show that diabetes and pre-diabetes has increased by 33% over the last 40 years. By some estimates, nearly 1 in 10 Americans is either diabetic or showing metabolic signs which will quickly become a full blown case of the disease, although many people are unaware they have the condition. The question is, what has changed over this time to have caused this epidemic? While there...

Read more »

Posted in: Diabetes,Diet and Nutrition

Immune Health Starts in the Stomach

One of the primary ways that macro and micronutrients assimilate into the body is through the mouth. Through the processes of eating (and breathing to a smaller extent), we receive our dietary needs and quite a bit more. Trapped in with the food are also viral and bacterial particles which must be filtered. Located throughout the digestive tract is an estimated 3 to 5 pounds of 'good' bacteria which live synergistically in our body, the primary intent of which is to immediately detect and eliminate those outside invaders which can be the source of so much discomfort to us.While it is not the intent of this blog to go into extensive depth on the topic, suffice it to say there are a number of things which can compromise this delicately balanced system. Among them is consuming a diet...

Read more »

Posted in: Diet and Nutrition,Immune Health

Calorie Restriction With Optimal Nutrition (CRON) - Life Extension?

It has been know for nearly 80 years that restricting calorie intake leads to an extension of life among most animal species. Many have speculated that the same principles may apply to humans as well, although it is a difficult theory to prove scientifically due to the extreme time frame required to conduct the experiment (in excess of 120 years!) Nevertheless, it is an intriguing theory which could provide many additional, healthy years to one's lifespan.Calorie Restriction requires that 20% - 30% less calories are consumed below the normal level eaten. For example if 2500 calories are required to maintain a healthy weight, then around 1800 calories would constitute a restricted dietary lifestyle. The other component is to ensure that sufficient required vitamins and mineral nutrients...

Read more »

Posted in: Calorie Restriction,Diet and Nutrition

Excess Calories - Too Much Junk!

We all know that full feeling after consuming a large meal. That same sensation is felt at the cellular level as your body attempts to cope with the massive overflow of calories, and the breakdown by products of your meal. The human body has an amazing capacity to accomodate extra fuel intake which has been necessitated through evolutionary starvation periods. The few extra pounds which we retain are an example of energy storage.While it is well documented that excess fat on the midsection is directly associated with a number of serious illnesses, we typically don't think about the additional stress our tissues endure at the cellular level. Each of the trillions of cells in the body is required to burn fuel for energy and just as in your household, must eliminate the waste on a...

Read more »

Posted in: Calorie Restriction,Diet and Nutrition,Paleo Diet

Saturated Fat - Not Really the Devil?

Strong scientific evidence is now arriving which indicates that the much maligned saturated fat we have all been told to avoid for more than 50 years is really not that bad for you all. As a matter of fat, some saturated fat is required for health and cellular construction. That said, this is not a green flag to begin eating foods containing lots of fats because as it turns out, saturated fats are a close neighbor to the real culprits in destruction of our health.The main reason for the association between cardiovascular disease and saturated fat is back in the 1950's, researchers began to notice that those individuals with the highest sat fat intake also seemed to exhibit the highest incidences of heart attacks and related cardio problems. But a true analysis into the problem was...

Read more »

Posted in: Diet and Nutrition,Saturated Fat

Evolutionary Importance of Fish Oil

For those who understand that who we are today is the environmental evolution over many thousands of years and generations, it is not difficult to understand that our bodies have adapted to depend on the biologic components which were in ready supply during our march through time. As our bodies evolved from ape through to homo-sapien, we have remained a viable species because of our ability to utilize the vitamins, minerals and fatty acids which were part of our diets and environment.We spent much time in warm climates wearing little clothing... our skin produced massive quantities of Vitamin D which all of our cells adapted for survival. Early man ate fish and free-roaming grass fed animals, both of which were high in the Omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA. Prior to the mass breeding...

Read more »

Posted in: Diet and Nutrition,Omega-3 Fats

Vitamin D Levels Dramatically Lower Cardiovascular Risk

It has been widely reported that US deaths from cardiovascular disease has recently overtaken cancer as the Number 1 killer of people of all ages. The news media has been quick to blast these headlines everywhere. And the pharmaceutical companies are also quick to tell all who will listen that their latest and greatest drug will lower total cholesterol and LDL-C, thus reducing heart attack risk. If only it were that simple... and true!The problem is that many recent reports have proven that cholesterol (and even the much maligned LDL-C) are really not your enemy. In fact, they are critical blood components which provide our bodies with the ability to synthesize new cells, form hormones and a large variety of other critical cellular functions. When these levels are artificially reduced,...

Read more »

Posted in: Heart Disease,Vitamin D