Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
February 17, 2012 Volume 3, Issue 4 The Human Body Can Heal Itself! Our body is perfectly able to heal itself and stay healthy when exposed to the right environment, including the correct types and levels of exposure to stressors and intakes of nutrients. All disease and dysfunction is created from the presence of external or internal stressors and/or malnourishment which restrict the body in its never ending attempt for self-maintenance. Health, function, physical appearance and longevity result from the body's successful endeavor for selfmaintenance, which is enabled by the absence of pathogenic stressors, and the presence of appropriate nourishment. Symptoms are simply clues to functional imbalances caused by external or internal stressors or the absence of appropriate nourishment. Symptoms generally represent the body's attempts at curing itself. A person who wants to achieve and maintain natural wellness must find and eliminate the external and internal stressors and provide appropriate nourishment to the body through behavior and diet (lifestyle). There is no denying that the human body needs outside help by conventional medicine to help it heal at times. Many people tend to forget that the body has an extraordinary immune system built in to help the body heal itself without outside intervention. The human body was created to heal itself and many times medicines that are produced to help our body heal, can create side effects that can cause other complications.The more an individual learns about how the body functions, the better prepared a person can be in make decisions concerning their overall health and quality of life. Every decision we make can affect our body function and how our body reacts when it isn't functioning properly. Diet, exercise, the environment and even social skills affect how our body operates and making poor choices in these areas can cause the body's built-in healing system to be limited or even malfunction. To keep the human body in a well maintained state of being, we have to give our body what it requires to rebuild itself and limit outside influences that break down our immune system. Take some time to educate yourself on how the body operates and learn a few tips to safeguard and sustain it. You are the only prevention your body has to keep it functioning at its highest potential. [1] Experts Urge Societal Control of Sugar! Sugar should be controlled like alcohol and tobacco to protect public health, according to a team of UCSF researchers, who maintain in a new report that sugar is fueling a global obesity pandemic, contributing to 35 million deaths annually worldwide from non-communicable diseases like diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Limiting the consumption of sugar has challenges beyond educating people about its potential toxicity. "We recognize that there are cultural and celebratory aspects of sugar," said Brindis, director of UCSF's Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies. "Changing these patterns is very complicated" Non-communicable diseases now pose a greater health burden worldwide than infectious diseases, according to the United Nations. In the United States, 75 percent of health care dollars are spent treating these diseases and their associated disabilities. In the February 2 issue of Nature, Robert Lustig, MD Laura Schmidt PhD, MSW, MPH, and Claire Brindis, DPH, colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), argue that sugar's potential for abuse, coupled with its toxicity and pervasiveness in the Western diet make it a primary culprit of this worldwide health crisis. According to Brindis, effective interventions can't rely solely on individual change, but instead on environmental and community-wide solutions, similar to what has occurred with alcohol and tobacco, that increase the likelihood of success. This partnership of scientists trained in endocrinology, sociology and public health took a new look at the accumulating scientific evidence on sugar. Such interdisciplinary liaisons underscore the power of academic health sciences institutions like UCSF. The authors argue for society to shift away from high sugar consumption, the public must be better informed about the emerging science on sugar. "There is an enormous gap between what we know from science and what we practice in reality," said Schmidt, professor of health policy at UCSF's Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies (IHPS) and co-chair of UCSF's Clinical and Translational Science Institute's (CTSI) Community Engagement and Health Policy Program, which focuses on alcohol and addiction research. Sugar, they argue, is far from just "empty calories" that make people fat. At the levels consumed by most Americans, sugar changes metabolism, raises blood pressure, critically alters the signaling of hormones and causes significant damage to the liver - the least understood of sugar's damages. These health hazards largely mirror the effects of drinking too much alcohol, which they point out in their commentary is the distillation of sugar. "To move the health needle, this issue needs to be recognized as a fundamental concern at the global level," she said. Worldwide consumption of sugar has tripled during the past 50 years and is viewed as a key cause of the obesity epidemic. But obesity, Lustig, Schmidt and Brindis argue, may just be a marker for the damage caused by the toxic effects of too much sugar. This would help explain why 40 percent of people with metabolic syndrome - the key metabolic changes that lead to diabetes, heart disease and cancer - are not clinically obese. The paper was made possible with funding from UCSF's Clinical and Translational Science Institute, UCSF's National Institutes of Health-funded program that helps accelerate clinical and translational research through interdisciplinary, inter-professional and transdisciplinary work. Many of the interventions that have reduced alcohol and tobacco consumption can be models for addressing the sugar problem, such as levying special sales taxes, controlling access, and tightening licensing requirements on vending machines and snack bars that sell high sugar products in schools and workplaces. "As long as the public thinks that sugar is just 'empty calories,' we have no chance in solving this," said Lustig, a professor of pediatrics, in the division of endocrinology at the UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital and director of the Weight Assessment for Teen and Child Health (WATCH) Program at UCSF. "We're not talking prohibition," Schmidt said. "We're not advocating a major imposition of the government into people's lives. We're talking about gentle ways to make sugar consumption slightly less convenient, thereby moving people away from the concentrated dose. What we want is to increase people's choices by making foods that aren't loaded with sugar comparatively easier and cheaper to get." "There are good calories and bad calories, just as there are good fats and bad fats, good amino acids and bad amino acids, good carbohydrates and bad carbohydrates," Lustig said. "But sugar is toxic beyond its calories." [2] Coconut Oil Touted As Alzheimer's Remedy Approximately 5.4 million people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and that number is expected to increase exponentially as baby boomer generation enters their golden years. There is an alternative fuel -- ketones, which cells easily accept. Ketones are metabolized in the liver after you eat medium chain triglycerides, found in coconut oil. Dr. Newport added coconut oil to her husband Steve's diet. Just two weeks later, he took the clock test again and demonstrated stunning improvement. "I thought at the time, was it just good luck? Was it a lot of prayer? Was it the coconut oil?" she said. "I thought, well, we're going to keep the coconut oil going." Three weeks later, Steve took the clock test a third time and continued to perform better on it. It wasn't just intellectually, he also improved emotionally and physically. For some people, coconut oil has proven to slow the progression of Alzheimer's and may have even prevented it. "He was not able to run. He was able to run again," she recalled. "He could not read for about a year and a half, but after two or three months he was able to read." One of those people is Steve Newport, whose Alzheimer's has slowed considerably. Some of his symptoms even reversed, thanks to the unlikely treatment prescribed by his wife, Dr. Mary Newport, a physician who runs a neonatology ward at a Tampa, Fla., hospital. "Instead of being very sluggish, not talking very much in the morning, he would come out in the morning with energy, talkative, and joking, and he could find his water and his utensils," Dr. Newport said. She documented Steve's success in a book titled, Alzheimer's Disease: What If There Was A Cure? Dr. Newport received many "thank you" letters from people whose loved ones were suffering from Alzheimer's. Each of the letters claimed their family member was helped after they followed Steve's diet. Dr. Newport became determined to help her husband after the severity of his disease was discovered through an Alzheimer's test in which the person being tested is asked to draw a picture of a clock. "He drew circles and several numbers just in a very random pattern, didn't really look anything like a clock," she said. Expensive Power Punch While coconut oil is encouraging, there's something much more powerful. "The doctor pulled me over to the side and said, 'You know, he's on the verge of severe Alzheimer's at this point, he's beyond moderate," Dr. Newport recalled. A team of biochemists, led by Professor Kieran Clarke at England's Oxford University, have developed a ketone ester that packs a punch ten times greater than coconut oil. "So that was very, very devastating news," she said. "It reaches quite considerably higher levels," Clarke said. "You can get whatever levels you want depending on how much you drink." Dr. Newport began learning everything she could about her husband's disease. "It appears to be a type of diabetes of the brain and it's a process that starts happening at least 10 or 20 years before you start having symptoms and it's very similar to type 1 or type 2 diabetes in that you develop a problem with insulin," she explained. The problem is, they need millions of dollars to mass produce it. "It's very expensive. So we can't make very much of it ourselves," Clarke said. "What we would like is funding so we could scale up and make it." Alternative Brain Fuel "Of course there's no real profit in manufacturing stuff like that, and so people really don't want to fund that sort of thing," he said. In this case, insulin problems prevent brain cells from accepting glucose, their primary fuel. Without it, they eventually die. Continued on Page 4 ... [3] Continued From Page 3 ... Coconut Oil Touted As Alzheimer's Remedy Coconut Oil Myths The health benefits of coconut oil include hair care, skin care, stress relief, maintaining cholesterol levels, weight loss, increased immunity, proper digestion and metabolism, relief from kidney problems, heart diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes, HIV and cancer, dental care, and bone strength. These benefits of coconut oil can be attributed to the presence of lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid, and its properties such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-fungal, antibacterial, soothing, etc. So until a high potency ketone ester is available to the general public, coconut oil is still a good ketone source. Just make sure it's pure, in other words, nonhydrogenated. Avoid any hydrogenated oil, including coconut oil, because hydrogenated oils are the same thing as dangerous trans fats. Check the list of ingredients for the word, "Hydrogenated." Some people are afraid to eat coconut oil because they think it's bad for your heart. It's very healthy. How is Lauric Acid Used by our body? Dr. Beverly Teter is a lipid biochemist researcher at the University of Maryland and an expert in the area of dietary fat. The human body converts lauric acid into monolaurin which is claimed to help in dealing with viruses and bacteria causing diseases such as herpes, influenza, cytomegalovirus, and even HIV. It helps in fighting harmful bacteria such as listeria monocytogenes and heliobacter pylori, and harmful protozoa such as giardia lamblia. As a result of these various health benefits of coconut oil, though its exact mechanism of action was unknown, it has been extensively used in Ayurveda, the traditional Indian medicinal system. The Coconut Research Center has compiled various references on scientific research done on coconut oil. She said that years ago, coconut oil was criticized for raising cholesterol. Scientists have since learned there are two kinds of cholesterol -- LDL, the bad kind, and HDL, which is very good for you. HDL, the good cholesterol, is the kind that coconut oil raises. "So they put out the message that it increased serum cholesterol," Teter explained. "The truth of the matter is, it was helping the profile of the serum cholesterol." "That never has been corrected in the public press, and I think that's the reason people have misconceptions about it," she said. Composition of Coconut Oil: Coconut oil consists of more than ninety percent of saturated fats (Don’t panic! First read to the last word. Your opinion may change), with traces of few unsaturated fatty acids, such as monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Virgin Coconut Oil is no different from this. Let us have a bit detailed study of this. Defense against Disease Not only does coconut oil improve cholesterol levels, Teter said the way it helps the brains of some Alzheimer's patients can even be extended to people with Parkinson's disease, ALS , epilepsy, dementia, even schizophrenia and autism. • The Saturated Fatty Acids: Most of them are Medium Chain Triglycerides, which are supposed to assimilate well. Lauric Acid is the chief contributor, with more than forty percent of the share, followed by Capric Acid, Caprylic Acid, Myristic Acid and Palmitic. • The Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids: Linoleic Acid. • The Monounsaturated Fatty Acids: Oleic Acid. • The Poly-phenols: Gallic Acid, which is phenolic acid. These poly-phenols are supposed to be responsible for the fragrance and the taste of Coconut Oil and Virgin Coconut Oil is rich in these poly-phenols. • Certain derivatives of fatty acid like Betaines, Ethanolamide, Ethoxylates, Fatty Esters, Fatty Polysorbates, Monoglycerides and Polyol Esters. • Fatty Chlorides, Fatty Alcohol Sulphate and Fatty Alcohol Ether Sulphate, all of which are derivatives of Fatty Alcohols. • Vitamin-E and Vitamin K and minerals such as Iron. Coconut oil also kills bacteria, making it a natural antibiotic without the negative side effects. Teter said because of that, it also helps defend against viruses like HIV and herpes. "The coconut oil tends to keep the bacteria down so that if you're assaulted with a virus, your immune system can concentrate on the virus. It doesn't have to concentrate on 27 other bacteria that day," she explained. As always, consult your doctor before making any dietary changes and ask about the addition of coconut oil to your diet. YouTube Video! Coconut Oil Touted as Alzheimer's Remedy CBN.com - YouTube The Health Benefits of Coconut Oil [4] Carbs Are Killing You! After all those years of not eating red meat and cutting back on the mayonnaise, science now tells us it’s carbs, not fat, making Americans overweight. This interesting infographic designed by Column Five Media for Massive Health describes in depth the way in which carbohydrates make the body store fat. “One of the reasons we did this infographic is because we are finding through the data we are collecting via The Eatery that people are not very good at judging the health of certain foods,” says Andrew J. Rosenthal of Massive Heath. “One of our users was starting off each morning with a Jamba Juice fruit smoothie, thinking it was a really healthy substitute for breakfast. Every day as he used The Eatery, he got feedback that his smoothie was not nearly as healthy as he had rated it. He had no idea how high the sugar and carb content was. We’ve heard about loads of “ah-ha!” moments like this particularly about carbs, when users of The Eatery learn, through a tight feedback loop, that their decisions aren’t nearly as healthy as they thought.” [5] Statins Associated With Significant Increase in Diabetes Risk According to a new study, statins (cholesterollowering drugs) may significantly increase the risk of diabetes in postmenopausal women. The study was published online January 9 in the Archives of Internal Medicine by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Boston. baseline, 7.0% of women were taking statins, with 30% of women taking simvastatin, 27% taking lovastatin, 22% taking pravastatin, 12.5% taking fluvastatin, and 8% taking atorvastatin. During the study period, 10,242 cases of diabetes were reported. Statin use at baseline was associated with a 71% increased risk of diabetes; however, after adjusting for potential confounding variables, the risk of diabetes associated with statin therapy dropped to 48%. The association was observed for all types of statins. Dr. Ma noted, "The association between diabetes risk and statin therapy was not observed with any one type of statin, and it seems to be a class effect." The researchers reviewed new data from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), which suggested that the risk of diabetes is higher than that noted by previous studies; the Boston researchers reported a 48% increased risk of diabetes among the women taking cholesterol-lowering medications. A significantly increased risk of diabetes was observed in Caucasian (49%), Hispanic (57%), and Asian (78%) women. Among African Americans, who composed 8.3% of the population studied, there was an 18% increased diabetes risk associated with statin use at baseline. This increase was not statistically significant. Statin use and diabetes risk was also observed in women across a range of body mass indices (BMIs less than 25.0, 25.0–29.9, and greater than 30.0 kg/m2). Women with the lowest BMI ( less than 25.0 kg/m2), appeared to be at a higher risk of diabetes compared with obese women; the investigators theorized that this finding was related to hormonal differences between the women. "With this study, what we're seeing is that the risk of diabetes is particularly high in elderly women, and this risk is much larger than was observed in another previous meta-analysis," noted senior investigator DR Yunsheng Ma. "For doctors treating patients, we would like them to really look at the risk-benefit analysis, especially in different age groups, such as older women." Annie Culver (Mayo Clinic; Rochester, MN), a pharmacist and lead investigator of the study, noted that close monitoring and an individualized riskversus-benefit assessment is really a good thing, as well as an emphasis on continued lifestyle changes." She added that as the population ages, and because these patients have a higher vulnerability to diabetes anyway, monitoring for diabetes in statintreated patients becomes more important. In an editorial, Dr. Kirsten Johansen (University of California, San Francisco), Editor of the Archives, noted that the increased risk of diabetes in women without cardiovascular disease has "important implications for the balance of risk and benefit of statins in the setting of primary prevention in which previous meta-analyses show no benefit on allcause mortality." Recently published data noted the potential risk of diabetes with statin therapy. In June, DR Kausik Ray (St George's University; London, UK) and colleagues published a meta-analysis of “PROVE-IT, A to Z, TNT, IDEAL, and SEARCH.” The meta-analysis, which is a complication of studies on a particular topic, evaluated five trials that involved high-dose statin therapy. The researchers reported a significantly increased in the risk of diabetes with higher doses of statins. Another meta-analysis published in the journal Lancet in 2010 by DR Naveed Sattar (University of Glasgow, UK) also found that cholesterol-lowering medications were associated with a 9% increased risk of diabetes. Only 7% of women in the WHI study were taking statins; however, currently that number would be significantly higher, making the potential risk of diabetes for postmenopausal women significantly more widespread. Dr. Ma noted that physicians need to evaluate the risk of diabetes as well as the potential benefits of statin therapy in elderly female patients, and start statins after lifestyle interventions have been attempted. YouTube Videos! The diabetes risk from statins - YouTube Cholesterol, Statins, The Truth Revealed! Part 1 MUST SEE! - YouTube In the Boston study, the researchers reviewed WHI data of 153,840 postmenopausal women aged 50– 79 years old. Information about statin use was obtained at enrollment and three years later; the Boston analysis includes data until 2005. At Cholesterol, Statins, The Truth Revealed! Part 2 YouTube [6] Reasons to Eat Grass-Fed, Pastured and Wild Animal Products over Grain-Fed Animal Products 1. Grass fed beef contains up to 5 times more CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) then grain fed beef. the benefits of fish oil. http://www.ajcn.org/ content/70/3/560S.full.pdf+html Grass fed beef contains much more omega-3 fatty acid than grain fed beef. Human beings are also meant to consume a specific ratio of omega-3 fatty acids to omega-6 fatty acids. The typical American diet is currently consuming somewhere between 1 to 11 and 1 to 30 (omega-3 to omega-6) and this is hypothesized to be a major cause of modern illness. A healthy intake of omega-3 to omega-6 should be somewhere between 1 to 2 and 1 to 4 parts omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids. Grass fed beef has a fatty acid profile of about 1 to 1.5 whereas grain fed beef is closer to 1:7.6. You can obtain Omega-3 from plant sources (flax, hemp) but they must first be converted to their active components EPA and DHA in the body. Unfortunately plant sources of Omega-3 convert very poorly to the usable forms EPA and DHA in the body. EPA and DHA is readily found in animal products, making them a superior source of omega-3s. Why is this important? CLA is a naturally occurring fatty acid found in meat and milk. CLA has been shown to reduce your risk of heart disease, decrease body fat in obese individuals and has been linked to a reduced chance of acquiring breast cancer. CLA has also been shown to reduce tumor growth in rats when it is present in small amounts in the diet. Heart disease and cancers are two of the top killers in the United States. If we can decrease deaths in this area we’d really be helping ourselves out. Cheese and milk for the win! One of the best sources of omega three fatty acids is wild caught fish. Some people are afraid to eat fish because of a fear of mercury. However, eating fish is so beneficial it trumps the potential problems associated with mercury consumption. The FDA makes a very interesting argument that eating fish is a whole lot safer for you then not eating fish. The risk of succumbing to a disease by not eating fish is greater then eating the mercury that accompanies fish. Also, the literature shows us that eating fish is more beneficial then taking a fish oil supplement in raising our body omega 3 levels. So go eat some fish. 2. Grass fed beef and dairy as well as pastured hen’s eggs contain more omega-3 fatty acids then its grain fed counterpart. Just be aware that farm raised fish do not have the same nutritional value as wild caught fish in the same way that grass fed beef differs from grain fed beef. Also, in July 2003 the Environmental Working group reported that farm raised fish contains 16 times more PCBs then the wild caught variety. The environmental protection agency states that PCBs can cause cancer, reproductive and neurological problems, among other things. More information on PCBs can be found here -http://www.epa.gov/osw/ hazard/tsd/pcbs/pubs/effects.htm 3. Grass fed/pastured and organic animals have healthy livers Omega-3 fatty acids have gotten much media attention lately and are associated with a myriad of health benefits. Some benefits include a decreased risk of heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, renal disease, ulcerative colitis, COPD and Crohn's disease. I won’t bore you all with the details but if you’re interested take a look at this big old study. Its a definitive guide to Organic, pasture raised animals graze on what they were biologically evolved to eat. Because of this their livers contain safer levels of heavy metals and other toxins when compared to grain fed meats. Keep in mind that all meats will contain some heavy metals regardless of source. Liver contains an enormous amount of easily absorbable Vitamin A, modest amounts of Vitamin D, CLA, Vitamin K2 and Continued on Page 8 ... [7] Continued From Page 7 ... Reasons To Eat Grass Fed ... some nifty nutrients not found from other food sources like Coenzyme Q10. of the proposed deleterious effects and decide to supplement with vitamins A and E instead you may want to rethink that idea. An article published in the Vitamin D has recently been in the news because it appears that many Americans have been becoming deficient in vitamin D for a variety of proposed reasons including underexposure to the sun, use of sun blocks, suboptimal levels of vitamin D in the diet and obesity. Vitamin D is incredibly important in the body and has even been linked to reduced risk of bone diseases, cancers and muscle weakness. It is believed to have a link to multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes and even may have performance enhancement benefits for sport. For more information about the health benefits of vitamin D check out this link. ( http://www.thorne.com/ altmedrev/.fulltext/10/2/94.PDF ) Unfortunately, due to getting less Vitamin D in our diets and underexposure to the sun our vitamin D levels have declined in recent years. Keep in mind that as much as 50% of the population appears to be deficient in Vitamin D and it may appear wise to seek out additional sources of vitamin D in the diet. Vitamin D is found in very few sources of food, the main reason why we fortify our foods with it. The best sources of dietary vitamin D are from liver, especially fish liver and other fatty fish. Journal of the American Medical Association looked at 68 randomized trials and 230,000 participants to take a look at the effect of supplemental betacarotene, vitamin A and E on mortality (deaths). Unfortunately, the usage of vitamin A and E supplements significantly correlated with increased mortality! This means that taking long term vitamin A and E supplements may lead to death earlier then without it. Using supplemental vitamin A and E products may not be advantageous, but we still need vitamin A and E in our diets. Eating whole foods from sources such as animal products seems to fit the bill here. Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is another useful compound that is only really found in a few select food sources including animal liver and heart. Coenzyme Q10 has been found to be helpful in reducing hypertension, heart failure, as well as decreasing your risk of atherosclerosis after a recent heart attack. Your body naturally produces CoQ10, but its ability to produce it declines with age (as your risk for heart disease rises). Another interesting factoid is that statin drugs inhibit your body’s ability to produce CoQ10 by inhibiting the same pathway used by the body to produce cholesterol. Given the prevalence of statin drugs being used in the US it might be prudent to add some of this nutrient to our diet. Another reason to get your nutrition from whole foods, IE: vegetables, fruits and pastured animal products come from a 2009 article from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. They offer the idea of food synergy. In other words we don’t completely understand the complex interaction of nutrients contained in food once they enter the body to be digested. The nutrient mixture found in whole foods appears to have benefits above and beyond single nutrient supplementation that in many cases is not fully understood yet. With all the information that has been presented in this article as well as the health benefits vitamins and minerals have in the human body it makes sense that a multivitamin would be essential to optimal health right? Well, maybe not. In a 2009 study from the Archives of Internal Medicine following 160,000 post menopausal women over 8 years, multivitamin supplementation had little to no influences over common cancers (breast, ovarian, endometrial, colorectal, lung), cardiovascular disease, heart attack, stroke and all cause mortality. 4. Grass-fed / pastured meats are higher in vitamins and antioxidants Grass fed beef has been shown to contain higher levels of vitamin A and E as well as the antioxidants glutathione and Super Oxide Dismutase. This study provides evidence that 50% of the US population gets less then 50% of the RDA for vitamin A. By the way, vitamin A and E are found in large amounts in liver, pate anyone? Research shows that there is up 3 times more alpha tocopherol and 7 times more beta carotene in grass fed beef then grain fed. Beta carotene is a precursor to vitamin A in the human body and alphatocopherol is a heavily researched form of vitamin E. Beta Carotene is also a well studied antioxidant. If you are afraid to consume meat because of some Supplementation may not be the best way to get the vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that our bodies need. Maybe we should just be eating high quality real food to achieve optimal health? 5. Grass fed beef has less of the saturated fatty acids that increase cholesterol. Continued on Page 9 ... [8] Continued From Page 8 ... Reasons To Eat Grass Fed ... There is much controversy right now about whether saturated fat causes heart disease. The literature beef fat contains could make you rethink trimming all the fat from your steak. 6. Grass fed dairy products contain more vitamin K2. Vitamin K2 is a form of vitamin K that has been getting some very interesting attention lately. This vitamin should not be confused with its brother vitamin K1 which is present in certain vegetables. K2 has been shown to decrease the risk of heart disease as well as reducing fracture occurrence in the elderly. Unfortunately vitamin K1 does not have the same health benefits. Vitamin K2 is found in cheese, eggs, butter, liver, beef, chicken liver and fermented foods like natto. Vitamin K2 is believed to be highest in animals able to range freely on the pasture and eat the grass and plants around them, although there is no research I have found t support this position. Dr. Weston A. Price popularized this idea. also goes both ways. This topic is kind of like the elephant in the room as far as nutrition topics go. The general idea is that higher levels of saturated fat eaten correlates to increased blood levels of cholesterol. High blood levels of cholesterol are theorized to cause heart disease. This is a very simplistic view and not all types of saturated fats raise cholesterol. Whoa! Information overload. I think it helps to look at some published research when you are making the decision to decide what is good and what is bad in your own diet. Conventional wisdom may tell us that meat is bad but much research says the contrary. It is to be hoped that this is some thought-provoking and can help give you some direction with your nutrition. I don’t believe that marketing, politics and rumors should make up the majority of what we know about health. Lets try to take a more scientific approach! Some types of saturated fat can preferentially increase HDL (the “good” cholesterol) like lauric acid, found predominantly in coconut. Some types of saturated fats raise cholesterol more then others. Cows contain the saturated fats palmitic acid, myristic acid and stearic acid. Myristic acid has been shown to increase cholesterol levels as well as palmitic acid to a lesser degree. Stearic acid on the other hand is neutral as has been shown to have no influence on cholesterol levels. Contrary to popular belief, fat from animals is not entirely saturated and contains small amounts of polyunsaturated acids as well as a hefty amount of monounsaturated fatty acids. 30% of the fat from cows is oleic acid, the same healthy monounsaturated fatty acid found in olive oil. Oleic acid has been shown to decrease cholesterol, lower blood pressure and decrease risk of stroke. CLA is a polyunsaturated fat found in beef fat as well with health benefits discussed earlier. Grass fed beef has less palmitic and myristic acid and more stearic acid then its grain fed counterpart. This means that grass fed beef should be less influential on cholesterol levels. Grass fed beef has less fat in general because grass fed cows tend to have less intramuscular fat. This means you are getting less saturated fat per serving of beef and the fat that you do eat has less of an effect on your cholesterol levels. If saturated fat does affect your risk for heart disease, eating grass fed over grain fed beef should decrease your risk for heart disease. In reality, the fat is where many of the beneficial nutrients discussed previously are stored including CLA. This along with the heart healthy oleic acid Remember, the source of your food and what your food eats has everything to do with your health as a result. [9] Reasons Cancer Is Increasing! Cancer rates are not rising because we’re deficient in man-made painkillers. Cancer is increasing because of our man-made toxic environment. Here’s something positive about cancer that most people don’t know… Cancer was almost unknown in ancient times. Why is this good news? Because it means you don’t need any scary science to prevent it. In a study completed just recently and published in the journal Nature, researchers looked at tissue samples from hundreds of Egyptian mummies. There should have been evidence of cancer in all of them, according to modern cancer statistics. Mummification would have preserved any sign of tumors. Instead of finding cancer in nearly every mummy … they found only a single case. The hundreds of other mummies showed no sign of cancer at all. These results would be impossible if cancer were not an entirely modern plague. Statistically, it could not happen. send signals to your body to repair your DNA. If the response is deficient, or no help comes at all, those cells become vulnerable to cancer. What happens today that did not happen in our native environment is that those breaks occur a lot more often. They’re caused by things like environmental pollutants and chemical ingredients in food. Our bodies haven’t adapted to the huge increase in these man-made toxins over a very short period. So let me be as clear as I can: Cancer isn’t a “normal” part of life. Toxins and chemicals are interfering with your natural ability to defend yourself. The most important thing you can do is to strengthen your cells, so they’re more diseaseresistant. That means making sure your body has the energy and the nutrients to repair and maintain those cells. The three most important nutrients you need to keep your cells strong are also the ones chronically deficient in today’s world. They are vitamin C, vitamin D and CoQ10. 1. Vitamin C is an antioxidant that disarms damaging free radicals before they can attack healthy cells and stimulate tumor growth. We also now know that the protective caps on the ends of your DNA, called telomeres, are very sensitive to this kind of damage. The shorter your telomeres, the older your cells act and the more susceptible they are to becoming cancerous. The new, exciting discovery about vitamin C is that it’s very effective at defending you against this process and protecting your DNA. It wasn’t because Egyptians didn’t live long enough to get cancer. The mummies had evidence of age-related problems like brittle bones and hardened arteries. What we should be doing today is trying to mimic the environment we had back then. That’s what we should be paying attention to. Researchers from some of the largest institutions in Texas are trying to help. They recently revealed how cancer begins. It starts with weakened cells. Strands of DNA sometimes get broken through your body’s natural processes. Your cells then We get some vitamin C from our food, but not nearly enough. The foods with the most vitamin C include dark green, leafy vegetables, and “super-fruits” like the acerola cherry. Also, you probably don’t think of them this way, but peppers are the rulers of vegetable vitamin C. Watercress is also a littleknown but rich source of vitamin C. If you choose to supplement, try to get 1,500 mg twice a day if you’re healthy. If you’re under much stress, or if you are sick, you can take as much as 20,000 mg per day. Continued on Page 11 ... [10] Continued From Page 10 ... Reasons Cancer Is Increasing! 2. Low Vitamin D levels are strongly linked to cancer. A report out of a university in Nebraska showed that vitamin D has the potential to lower the risk of all cancers in women by 77 percent. Researchers at the University of California San Diego found you can lower your risk of breast cancer by 50 percent, and colon cancer by more than 65 percent, simply by boosting your vitamin D levels through sunlight, diet or supplements. A Harvardsponsored report published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute revealed that when men raise their vitamin D intake, they can lower their overall risk of cancer death by 29 percent, drop rates of “digestive tract” cancers by 43 percent (throat, stomach and colon), and reduce death rates from these cancers by 45 percent. plus a combination of other antioxidants and essential fatty acids. The entire group had a partial remission of the cancer. Two of the patients received larger doses of CoQ10 (390 mg) and their tumors disappeared. In no way am I saying stop your cancer treatment and only take CoQ10. What I am showing you is the power of this important nutrient against cancer. The best way to get CoQ10 is by eating red meat from grass-fed animals. Grain-fed meat is not a good source of CoQ10. If you want to supplement, the form you get is very important. I recommend 50 mg of the ubiquinol form, which is 8 times stronger and is better absorbed than the old form. The best source of vitamin D is sunshine. Your skin produces vitamin D when the sun’s rays shine on you. Ten to 20 minutes of sun gets you a full day’s supply of it. To supplement with vitamin D, make sure you take the natural form, D3. I recommend at least 2,000 IU per day. 3. CoQ10 is one of the most overlooked nutrients. The government doesn’t even have a recommended daily intake for it. It’s the fuel your cells use to make energy. That means it’s the primary source of energy for the immune cells that get suppressed by cancer. CoQ10 restores their ability to fight back and attack cancer cells. Like vitamin C, it’s also a powerful antioxidant that blocks free radicals from damaging your DNA. Besides helping to prevent cancer, there are many clinical trials in which CoQ10 helps heal people who already have cancer. In one, researchers in Denmark studied a group of breast cancer patients. They gave them CoQ10, [11] Organic Farming Organic farming is the process by which crops are raised using only natural methods to maintain soil fertility and to control pests. The amount of crops produced by conventional farming methods is often larger than that of organic farming. Conventional farming, with its heavy use of manufactured fertilizers and pesticides (agrochemicals), has a greater negative effect on the environment. In comparison, organic farming produces healthy crops while maintaining the quality of the soil and necessary for plant growth. Read more: Organic Farming - humans, body, used, water, process, plants, form, energy, methods, animals, air, effects, cause, plant, surface, Soil fertility, Managing pests http://www.scienceclarified.com/Oi-Ph/OrganicFarming.html#b#ixzz1lPwysXKk Organic' Certification Gives Farmers A Tough Road No crops here have been treated with pesticides, herbicides or chemicals of any sort. However you can't call what's produced on Newcomb's Potomac Vegetable Farms "organic." That word has been tightly regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture since 2002. "We were certified organic for 13 years, before the federal government got involved," says Newcomb, who now calls her farm's produce "ecoganic" as a way to encourage customers to ask how it was grown — or, even better, come see for themselves. "We are still doing everything the same way, but just aren't getting certified." Across the USA, many small-scale farmers do not feel the need to become certified organic, even if their method of farming would meet or exceed federal standards. It's a phenomenon that can be credited in part to the eat-local movement and the explosion of farmers markets, where consumers can meet, ask questions of and even visit the people who grow their food. Many locavores feel they don't need a third-party certification for something they've seen with their own eyes. Still, not all small farmers opt out. Take Katie Kulla of Oakhill Organics, a 17-acre family farm outside Portland, Ore. She and her husband, Casey, sell organic seeds, and they must comply with USDA rules to use the "O" word. "Every year, I have to make the decision all again," Kulla says. "I don't think the restaurants we sell our vegetables to would care at all if we were not certified. They care about the quality." "My customers put faith in me to provide them exactly what I say I'm growing," says Polyface Farms' Joel Salatin, a poultry, beef and pork farmer in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley who was featured in the film Food Inc. and who wrote Folks, This Isn’t Normal: A Farmer's Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People and a Better World. "Polyface is open to any visitor, unannounced, 24/7/365 … unescorted. That's our credibility." Brian Leitner, executive chef and CO-owner of Nettie's Crab Shack in San Francisco, agrees, saying the big issues are how something is produced, where it's produced and that it's produced sustainably: "Knowing who is growing your product is key." How is a non-certified-organic farmer to market a product? Like Newcomb and her "ecoganic" crops, many create terminology. At Polyface, Salatin has come up with catchy terms including "salad bar beef" and "pastured poultry." Proponents of certification would argue that unregulated terminology leaves the consumer uncertain. Indeed, having credibility in the community is how these farmers are able to make ends meet. Many do all the farm-work themselves, while keeping the books, selling at farmers markets and getting the word out. Maintaining paperwork required to be USDA certified organic is more than many can handle. Salatin says he would need another full-time staffer. Back in Northern Virginia, Newcomb scans her 7 acres. "The organic certification process serves the needs of large-scale farmers who ship their products and can't be in touch with the people who are buying them," she says. "When you live where your market is and sell to your neighbors, what more could you ask for?" Some farmers "are no longer playing the organic licensing game due to its onerous bureaucratic qualities," Salatin says. "It does not address many of the important variables — like techniques for soil fertility, weeding and employee treatment — so charlatans receive credentials along with true-blue producers." YouTube Video! Organic Farming - Amyjo Johnson speaks at Google YouTube [12] Obesogens: Chemicals That Pack on the Pounds! While previous animal and test tube studies have demonstrated the potent pound-packing ability of these compounds, a recent human trial conducted by Dr. Steven Perrine confirms it. Participants in Dr. Perrine’s study lost an average of 15 pounds over two weeks - simply by eliminating obesogens! Sounds easy right? Not so fast. Even if you’re eating a low-glycemic, high protein and healthy fat diet, while also engaging in vigorous exercise… you may still accumulate fat and have a difficult time burning it off. Don’t throw in the towel and chalk it up to heredity just yet. The real reason behind those stubborn pounds could be toxins in your food and environment. Eliminating contact with obesogens is no easy feat. That’s because these chemicals are found everywhere – from product packaging and cookware to lotions and beauty products… as well as in healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, fish and meats. The good news is that with a little knowledge you can do a lot to avoid obesogens and their hormone-hampering effects. Here are twelve simple tips to reduce or eliminate your exposure to obesogens in 2012: 1. Choose Organic Produce: Pesticides and fungicides mimic the hormone, estrogen. They also impair thyroid function and increase fat cell growth, contributing to weight gain. Eat only organic foods that have not been treated with chemicals. Of utmost importance are the “Dirty Dozen” which contribute to 90% of our pesticide exposure including: non organic peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, kale, lettuce, imported grapes, carrots, and pears. 2. Say Sayaona to Soy: Soy contains daidzen and genistein – estrogen-like compounds that can increase fat stores and body weight. Soy is also a crop that’s highly contaminated with pesticides, giving you a “double dose” of obesogens. 3. Go Grass-fed & Pasture Raised: You already know the nutritional superiority of “animals raised right. Here’s another reason to choose grass-fed and pasture-raised: Grain and soy fed animals contain a powerful cocktail of obesogens – from growth hormones to PCBs and other estrogen mimics, known to alter human hormones and promote the storage of fat. 4. Avoid Farm-Raised Fish: Along with being fed soy and cornmeal, farm-raised fish are administered a wide variety of chemical compounds that act as hormone mimics. Always choose wild, sustainable seafood. 5. Ban the Cans: Can liners contain bisphenola (BPA) – one of the most potent obesogens known. The exception to this rule are the You see, our environmental landscape and food supply have changed more in the last 60 years than in the last 10,000 years of human existence. Our bodies are exposed to more toxins today than ever before. Many of these toxins are obesogens. In other words, they are chemical compounds that have an impact on your hormones and genetics, altering the way your body uses calories and stores fat. Because your endocrine (or hormonal) system is highly sensitive and precisely tuned, it can be easily thrown off kilter by these hormone mimics, hijacking your body’s regulatory systems that control body weight. Obesogens work in three ways. They: 1. Encourage the body to store fat and reprogram cells to become fat cells 2. Promote insulin resistance, causing the pancreas to pump out of this “fat storage hormone” 3. Prevent the appetite-reducing hormone leptin from being released, shutting off the “I’m full” signal Dr. Bruce Blumberg, professor of biology at UC Irvine and the man who coined the phrase “obesogens, says: “The role of obesogens in fat accumulation raises questions about the effectiveness of just diet and exercise in helping people lose pounds and maintain a proper weight”. Continued on Page 14 ... [13] Continued From Page 13 ... Obeseness: few companies that have taken the initiative to create BPA-free can liners including Vital Choice (sardines, salmon, etc), Eden Foods (beans) and Native Forest (coconut milk, fruits, veggies). 6. 7. 8. 9. - Avoid All Plastics: Plastics contain a variety of chemicals that impair hormone function. Avoid plastic food storage containers, shower curtain liners, plastic water bottles, and plastic wrap. Make sure you never microwave in plastic. And if you have to use a plastic water bottle be sure to avoid those with recycling codes #3 or #7. - Bid Farewell to Fragrance: Laundry detergents, dryer sheets, soaps, shampoo, cleaning products, perfumes, lotions and other products containing “fragrance” act as potent endocrine disruptors. Choose natural, sustainable options instead and boycott artificially fragranced products for your home and personal care needs. - Avoid Microwave Popcorn: Popcorn is not a healthy, low glycemic food to begin with. But microwave bags add perflorinated compounds (PFCs) – endocrine disruptors known to promote tumors – to the mix. Also be sure to avoid roasting bags and greaseresistant food packaging that also contain PFCs. - Choose “Edible” Beauty Care Products: Everything that goes on your skin enters your body. By choosing only personal care products that have 100% natural ingredients, you can ensure you’re not being exposed to potent and common endocrine disruptors including parabens, phthalates and triclosan (found in antibacterial products). 12. Store Foods and Filtered Water in Glass Containers: Chemicals in plastics easily leach into food and water, contaminating them with hormone disruptors. Always store your foods and fresh filtered water in inert containers, preferably glass. Besides keeping obesogens out of your body starting today, it’s also important to detox from those that have made their way in. You see, obesogens aren’t readily eliminated by the body. They get stored in your fat cells and drip out their “hormonal instructions” over time in small but highly bioactive doses… for as long as 20 years! But you can help purge these pudge-makers by enjoying frequent infrared saunas (scrub well with soap afterwards!), add high quality spirulina, chlorella and cilantro to your daily regimen (compounds in these plant foods bind to toxins and carry them out of the body) and cleanse your liver with lots of clean water, cruciferous veggies, garlic, onions and detoxifying herbs like milk thistle. While the weight of the obesity epidemic can be more appropriately blamed on super-sized junk food than on tiny chemicals, there’s no doubt that that these compounds impact our hormonal systems, our weight regulation mechanisms and ultimately our long term health. So if you’re already doing everything else right, 10. Say “NO” to Nonstick: The nonstick coating material – PFOA – is a powerful hormone disruptor that can leach into foods when heated. Opt instead for ceramic-coated nonstick cookware or cast-iron. 11. Filter Your Water: As more chemicals are being used, our water supplies are becoming increasingly contaminated with hormone mimics. Be sure to use a high quality water filter to remove toxins, disinfectants and other municipal “additives” from your drinking water. Alternately, opt for spring or mineral water bottled at the source in glass bottles. Also, because we absorb chemicals from showers and baths, install a high quality shower filter. [14] Your Diet May Be Causing Your Acne! Acne is the scourge of adolescence. Scores of kids begin their ascent into adulthood with the appearance of blemishes and pimples all over their faces and bodies. Common antidotes like cleaning pads and exfoliation products fill up the medicine cabinets of bathrooms, while more severe prescriptions such as tetracycline (a wide-spectrum antibiotic) and creams containing benzoyl peroxide are invoked as a last ditch attempt to keep the blight at bay. It’s just a part of growing up, right? Well, maybe for modern people, but certainly not for everyone, and definitely not for indigenous peoples living in their traditional manner. According to Seth Roberts: “Several years ago I asked my friend Katharine Milton, a Berkeley anthropologist, whether the indigenous people she studies have acne. No, she said, unless they eat foreign food.” So, based on this anecdote we can begin to suspect that diet might play a role in the development of acne, counter to what many dermatologists will say to their patients. My dermatologists always told me that diet was not an issue. Is that because they had an interest in selling prescriptions? I hate to be cynical… If diet is a causative factor, what foods are to blame? Well, at the simplest we can suggest foods which are outside of one’s personal genetic and cultural profile. “Foreign food”, as the anthropologist explained. For most of us, this opens up the field to a wide range of Neolithic foods, such as dairy, grains, and soy. There are some studies which have sought to explore some of the relevant food connections to acne, not least among them being dairy. From one study in particular, an evaluation of questionnaires by some 47,355 women found a positive association between the incidence of acne and the total intake of milk and that of skim milk. If there is a strong connection between dairy and acne, then what is the mechanism by which it acts? I must admit that I have a strong personal interest in this subject. You see, it appears that dairy is a very strong causative factor in the breaking out of pimples on my back and shoulders. I was suspicious of it for years, but after more recent repeated elimination diets and reintroductions of diary I’m fairly certain it’s the cause. The most dramatic example of this was earlier this year when I was trying out all kinds of fermented dairy products like Greek yogurt, and cottage cheese as part of a little experiment. Each week I was increasingly consuming dairy of this sort till I was sitting down and eating a large bowl of full-fat Greek yogurt for lunch each day. Curiously though, one day I noticed a warm pink bump in the middle of my back. I thought it might be some sort of benign dermato fibrosis (which I had have removed before) but the bump seemed to be getting bigger, and eventually became somewhat painful to touch. Eventually it became abscessed and I had to get it lanced. My general practice doctor diagnosed it as a sebaceous cyst before the lancing, but following the procedure and finding no actual indication of a cyst, determined that it was merely a “pimple on steroids”. He couldn’t believe that an adult would develop acne like that, but the evidence seemed clear. I stopped with the dairy for a few months and no other problems cropped up. That is, until I decided again to try out the Greek yogurt and sure enough, within a week or so I had breakouts and another couple of small warm bumps showing up on my lower back. Worried that I might end up down the same road again, I immediately stopped the dairy again, and within a few weeks the blemishes and bumps receded. Sure, this is just an anecdote, hardly a clinical study, but this experience has convinced me of the potential that dairy can have for skin issues (in some people).Keep in mind, I was eating high fat, high quality Greek yogurt. Curiously, there are several vectors through which dairy can potentially cause acne. I recently stumbled onto an excellent infographic by Christian Wernstedt, the author of the blog VitalObjectives.com. Continued on Page 16 ... [15] Continued From Page 15 ... Your Diet may Be Causing Your Acne Check out the flow-chart below. I can see here, that there are several ways by which dairy, as well as other Neolithic foods, can cause problems. One of the central themes is gut dysbiosis or impaired intestinal function. In a blog post by Melissa McEwen, she expounds upon the gut-brain-axis, a phenomenon where the health of the gut is mirrored by that of the skin and the overall mental and emotional health of the individual. In short, when your intestines are in dire straights the issues within are commonly revealed outwardly by symptoms such as acne, and psychologically by conditions like depression. “Studies found that people with acne have circulating endotoxins from gut bacteria in their blood, which healthy controls did not have. These endotoxins belong in the gut, not in the blood and it’s likely they got there through abnormal intestinal permeability. Eventually the body develops reactions to these toxins, which have been connected to depression and anxiety.” Her article cited cases where milk fermented with lactobactillus reduced acne, but in my case it didn’t seem to provide any kind of reprieve. Perhaps, the quantity I consumed was far more than what was acceptable. It’s hard to say since my “experiments” weren’t controlled for every possible confounding variable. Still, I have not had any more cases of these mega pimples, and I’ve been going without yogurt and cottage cheese since the last episode. My take away from this experience has been that your skin can be a valuable tool for understanding the overall health of your body. If the eyes are the windows to your soul, then perhaps your skin is the vinyl siding of your house. Okay, maybe that’s a weird analogy. It seems that our skin isn’t just our first line of defense when we interact with the world, it’s also one of the first causalities when our body is under dietary assault. It is to be hoped that as we raise awareness about the benefits of eating ancestral and traditional diets, we can one day realize a world where teenagers (and even adults) don’t have to cover up their faces over embarrassment from skin breakouts. [16] PRIMAL RECIPES Primal Pumpkin Pancakes These Primal Pumpkin Pancakes are packed with the fat-torching trifecta of protein, fiber and healthy fats. That's not all. They're also rich in beta-carotene and other antioxidants thanks to pumpkin and spices. Serves 4 | Active Time: 10 minutes | Total Time: 20 minutes Ingredients • 1/4 cup(s) canned organic pumpkin • 1/4 cup(s) coconut milk • 3 large organic pastured eggs • 1/2 tsp organic vanilla extract • 4 Tbsp Bob’s Red Mill Organic Coconut Flour • 2 Tbsp(s) Nutiva Organic Extra-Virgin Coconut Oil • 1/4 tsp(s) Celtic sea salt • 1 tsp(s) Simply Organic Pumpkin Pie Spice • 1/4 tsp SweetLeaf® Stevia Extract • 1/4 tsp(s) non-aluminum baking soda Preparation 1. Preheat a safe, nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. 2. In a small bowl, mix together coconut flour, baking soda, stevia, salt and pumpkin pie spice with a whisk. 3. In another bowl, whisk together eggs, coconut milk, vanilla and pumpkin puree. 4. Gradually add the coconut flour mixture to the egg mixture as you whisk the ingredients together until well combined. 5. Add coconut oil to the pan by teaspoons, swirling to fully coat bottom. 6. Spoon the batter into the pan in whatever size you prefer. The batter will be thick, so gently shape your pancakes with the spoon. Cook 1-2 minutes per side, watching carefully (Note: These do not bubble like regular pancakes, so keep an eye on them as they cook. Check the edges to see if they're done. Pancakes should be a deep golden with no raw batter on sides). 7. Serve with a small drizzle of real maple syrup, grass-fed butter or ghee, chopped pecans or plain. Bacon Wrapped Smoky Chicken Thighs Serves 4 Ingredients: 1 4 bone-in, skinless chicken thighs 2 8 slices of bacon 3 2 tsp Smoky Spice Blend Smoky Spice Blend: Ingredients: 1 1 Tbsp chipotle powder 2 1 Tbsp smoked paprika 3 1 Tbsp onion powder (eliminate to make this FODMAP-free) 4 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon 5 1 Tbsp sea salt 6 1/2 Tbsp black pepper Preparation: Preheat oven to 375. Sprinkle the chicken thighs with 1 tsp of Smoky Spice Blend, then wrap each one in 2 strips of bacon. Sprinkle with the remaining Smoky Spice Blend and bake for approximately 40 minutes. Enjoy! [17] PRIMAL SNACKS Chocolate Almond Butter Cups Serves 12 Ingredients: • 1 Tbsp Coconut Oil • 1/4 C Coconut Cream Concentrate • ½ Tsp Vanilla Extract • OPTIONAL: 3 Tbsp Maple Syrup, divided • 3 Tbsp Almond Meal (use homemade if you have it) • 3 Tbsp Cocoa Powder (unsweetened) • Dash of Cinnamon • 2 Tbsp Raw Almond Butter • Pinch of Celtic sea salt Tools: • a whisk • mixing bowls • a rubber spatula • a plastic bag, one corner snipped off • a mini muffin pan • mini muffin paper liners Preparation: 1 Melt coconut oil over a low flame and whisk in half of the coconut cream, the vanilla extract and (optionally) 2 Tbsp of maple syrup. When that’s blended together, whisk in the rest of the coconut cream. Once that’s combined, whisk in almond meal, cocoa powder and cinnamon. Pour into a paper-lined mini muffin tin just enough to coat the bottom of each hole (this recipe made 9 for me but you can make them bigger or smaller). Place your tin in the fridge or freezer until that sets and is hard. 2 While the first part of the cups are chilling, (optional) whisk the almond butter with 1 Tbsp of maple syrup and a pinch of sea salt. Then load in the almond butter into a plastic bag and snip the tip off of the end to make a homemade pastry bag. 3 Remove the hardened chocolate from the fridge/freezer and continue to pipe a small amount of almond butter into the center of each one. Be sure to allow an edge of chocolate to show all around the peanut butter so that the rest of the chocolate you pour in has more chocolate to bind with. 4 Pour the remaining chocolate over each almond butter dollop until they’re covered and place back in the fridge/freezer. [18] Working Out At Home For demonstrations of each exercise just click on blue links Keeping fit without gym access is not difficult. If anything, it is cheaper, quicker, and more simple than fussing with memberships, traveling to and from a gym to work out, and most importantly, feeling confident enough to do so in front of other people! If you are thinking, "What about buying your own equipment? Isn't that expensive?" The answer is yes, considering the equipment you are likely thinking of looks like an alien probing device that might steal your kidney while you are sleeping. Most home workouts require no equipment at all. If you do wish to add weight-bearing exercise to your routine, this can be accomplished simply and with little cost to you. The exercise machines we see in gyms are certainly impressive, and if you like shiny things as much as I do, those machines are fun to look at and make you feel cool to use. However, few of these exercise machines recreate natural movements. For example, let's look at the bench press (which requires one of the least complicated set ups, simply requiring a bench, a bar, weights, and something to set the bar on). How often in your daily life do you get into a situation where you must push a relatively large amount of weight straight up from a completely horizontal position? I expect your answer to be "not that often!" My point is, being fit should mean being able to handle what life throws at you with physical preparedness and efficiency, the most important aspect of which is carrying your own body weight safely. To develop this kind of fitness we must recreate natural movements (if you are at all familiar with Crossfit, this should not be a foreign idea). Below are a list of exercises that recreate natural movements and can be done with or without weights and equipment, based on your preference. 1. Air squats: if you wish to add weight, hold something with both hands against your chest. If you want to add weight and make the movement more difficult, hold something above your head, and be careful for goodness sake! 2. Burpies: my definition of a burpie is the same as Crossfit's, where you start in a standing position, drop to a plank position, jump your knees in toward your elbows so you are crouching, shoot you legs back out to plank position, jump straight up in the air and clap your hands above your head while in the air... and that is ONE burpie. 3. Running 4. Kettle bell swings: ok, so this one requires equipment and is a weight-bearing exercise by nature, but you don't need a kettle bell to do it. You can use anything with weight that you can hang onto with both hands and swing from between your legs in a squat to above your head and back down without it flying away. 5. Sit-ups 6. Pull-ups 7. Jumping!! (straight up will do) So here's the point: you can do any one or combination of the above listed movements) to make a killer work out from home, or wherever you find yourself, without equipment. A quick example of how you might pair those movements in a way in which you could measure progress would be doing 10 air squats, 10 burpies, and running 200 meters for time. You could also do a number of rounds. If you think you have more physical ability, you might do 3 or 4 rounds of the above mentioned sequence for time, do so every other day in rotation with a different sequence, and compare results (hoping of course to get faster). If you don't believe that you can get just as fit working out at home without equipment as you can at a gym, you will certainly believe me after trying four rounds of the sequence above as fast as you can. This type of cross-training is quick and efficient. It's not just great for people who work out at home, but also a great approach for those with little time or who travel a lot and must stay fit on the road. There are countless ways to combines these movements into simple equipment-free workout routines, but remember that the key to getting a good workout is having the proper form! Have a great home workout! [19] Living a Primal Lifestyle Listen live on Fridays Between Noon EST and 1PM. Follow Nico de Haan on Show Host Nico de Haan Living A Primal Lifestyle Links Archived shows Health Signals Newsletter iTunes podcast On tour in Michigan 2005 February 3 & 10, 2012, Living A Primal Lifestyle Episodes Archive of Friday 02/03/12 Archive of Friday 02/10/12 [20]