Is This the Reason It's Hard to Lose Weight?

Scientists have discovered why overweight people find it so hard to lose weight; the difference in the number of fat cells between lean and obese people is established during childhood. Although overweight people replenish their fat cells at the same rate as thin ones, they have around twice as many fat cells total. This means that the number of fat cells in a person remains the same, even after a successful diet. Until now, it was not clear that adults could make new fat cells. Many believed that fat mass was increased solely by incorporating more fats into already existing fat cells. In fact, people constantly produce new fat cells. Fat cells are replaced at the same rate that they die, about 10 percent every year. Obesity is determined by a combination of the number of fat cells and their size; they can grow or shrink as fat from food is deposited in them. Sources: The Telegraph May 4, 2008 Nature May 8, 2008; 453(7192):169 (Free Full Text Article) Nature Genetics May 4, 2008 [Epub ahead of print] (Free Full Text Article) Dr. Mercola's Comments:

Keeping up with this kind of craftiness is exhausting business indeed, but somebody’s got to do it. The alternative is to allow articles like this to cloud the minds of otherwise intelligent folks like you into thinking that weight has nothing to do with your lifestyle choices, and everything to do with the number of fat cells your parents so rudely handed down to you via the family gene pool. So let’s take a step back, and take a deep breath to oxygenate your critical thinking centers. According to the author of this Telegraph story, scientists have now discovered why it’s so difficult for overweight people to lose weight – they somehow ended up with nearly twice as many fat cells as their slimmer counterparts during childhood, which can be linked to a genetic aberration. And from this revolutionary knowledge, new treatment protocols (read: drugs) to attack the signals and genes in fat cells that control the formation of new cells, and/or gene manipulation, will undoubtedly be born. As Dr. Spalding said, "Until now it was not clear whether there was fat cell turnover in adults. Now we have established this does occur, we can target the process.” What’s Wrong With This Thinking? Quite frankly, there’s so many things wrong I don’t know where to begin, so let me just jump right into the middle. Remember my article in Thursday’s newsletter, Good News About Big Bottoms? Just recently scientists discovered that not all fat cells are the same. In fact, fat cells around your hips and bottom (subcutaneous fat) “communicate” and affect your metabolism in an entirely different way than the fat cells around your waistline and inner organs (visceral fat). According to those findings, a heavier bottom actually protects you from developing metabolic syndrome and diabetes, because your subcutaneous fat aids your metabolic functioning, whereas visceral fat around your gut predisposes you to those same diseases. So what could you reasonably assume might happen, were you to take drugs to eliminate fat cells, or fat cell renewal throughout your body? Who knows? But if the history of pharmaceuticals has taught us anything, it’s that the only thing that’s certain is that side effects are highly unpredictable, for the very reasons I wrote about in last Thursday’s article. And as far as the faulty gene theory goes, science has already debunked the "bad genes" theory, showing that good nutrition can overcome this predisposition! But, gene therapy is such a lucrative dream. No Big Pharma-funded scientist can bear to watch that dream die. What’s Fat Got to Do With It? Contrary to the popular belief that fat cells should be banished, they are an active and intelligent part of your body, producing hormones that impact your brain, liver, immune system and even your ability to reproduce. What’s more, the hormones your fat cells produce impact how much you eat and how much fat you burn. One of these hormones is leptin, which sends signals that reduce hunger, increase fat burning and reduce fat storage. That is, if your cells are communicating properly and can “hear” this message. If you eat a diet that is high in sugar and grains, the sugar gets metabolized to fat (and is stored as fat in your fat cells), which in turn releases surges in leptin. Over time, if your body is exposed to too much leptin, it will become resistant to it (just as your body can become resistant to insulin). And when you become leptin-resistant, your body can no longer hear the messages telling it to stop eating and burn fat -- so it remains hungry and stores more fat. Leptin-resistance also causes an increase in visceral fat, sending you on a vicious cycle of hunger, fat storage and an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and more. As Sadaf Shadan states in Nature, there are two contributing factors to an increase in fat mass: the number of fat cells, and how much fat each of them stores (their volume). So essentially, you can have fewer fat cells and still be overweight because each cell is “maxed out,” if you will, or alternatively, you can have more fat cells overall and be at an ideal weight simply because your fat cells are functioning properly and not storing excess fat. Either way, you’re in control here. What Genetic Mutation Disaster Happened in the 60’s? Interestingly enough, man has not always struggled with obesity. According to historical analysis, presented in the policy research study: Pub. 757, Public Policy in Global Health and Medical Practice, 2006, obesity began it's climb to become the second leading cause of unnecessary death, back in the 1960’s. Did man suddenly experience a mass genetic mutation at that time, giving rise to one of the leading health problems of today? No. Cultural changes, dietary changes and technological changes had a major impact on the evolution of obesity from then on. Americans, as well as many other countries, now live in a society that encourages excessive food intake, including non-food food-stuffs like processed foods and snacks, and discourages physical activity. If inappropriate diet and sedentary lifestyles created the problem, how can it be cured by messing around with your genes, or removing fat cells, either surgically or pharmaceutically? Do You REALLY Want to Lose Weight? Yes, it’s true: “The worst part of eating healthy and getting in shape is that you usually have to get out of bed yourself to do it” There is no Magic Pill. Some might help kick-start things temporarily, but they can’t keep you there. There are, however, four tenets of long-term optimal health and weight that remain the same, regardless of the cause: Eat a healthy diet that’s right for your nutritional type, paying very careful attention to keeping your insulin levels down Get plenty of sleep Manage your stress Exercise Remember, obesity is a direct result of poor dietary choices and insufficient exercise. If you simply can't make yourself eat a healthy diet or exercise regularly, then you might want try the hypnosis program I recommend to help end cravings and create a desire to eat right and exercise more. Final Thoughts People often ask me why I do this work. Am I not just wangling my own wares like everybody else? Well the answer is quite simply that I’ve seen far too much needless suffering through my years in medical practice. Absolutely needless suffering -- whether in the form of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, stress, you-name-it –because people were carefully manipulated and deceived by drug companies. The real tragedy is that they never explored the simple options that could relatively easily reverse their illness. The paradox is that most of these alternatives are as free as the air you breathe. Changing your eating habits, getting to bed at a decent hour, learning to say “no” when you’re overloaded, and going for a walk will cost you nothing. But the rewards can be priceless. Some people insist on calling me a quack because I would promote tanning without sunscreen -- among other things – a decade or so before science finally caught up, proving I wasn’t so crazy after all. Remember my favorite quote from Arthur Schopenhauer: All truth goes through three phases First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is widely accepted as being self evident. But that kind of opposition just stems from sheep-like, indoctrinated thinking. They may be exercising their free right to speech, but they’re certainly not exercising free thinking or free will. If they did, they wouldn’t just regurgitate scientific findings funded by industry, without asking some hard questions. I believe information is more powerful than pills when it comes to creating and maintaining optimal health. That’s why this newsletter is available to you three times a week, every week of the year. So stay informed, be the change, and spread it around as widely as you can. Dr Mercola.com

Five Powerful Reasons to Eat Slower

Can the act of eating slower change your life? Maybe so.

The Slow Food Movement grew out of Italy, some two decades ago, to counter the encroaching fast food movement. But it is not just about slow-cooked, healthy food -- it’s an entire lifestyle.

Eating slower has several benefits that, overall, may pave the way to a more fulfilling existence.

What can you gain from slowing down at mealtime?

• Lose weight. Eating slowly gives your body the time it needs to register that it's full, which curbs overeating.
• Gastronomic pleasure. You have to eat -- why not make it an enjoyable experience?
• Improved digestion. Digestion starts in the mouth, so the more you chew, the less work your stomach needs to do.
• Reduced stress! No time to defrag and meditate? Let mealtime be your moment of mindful being.
• Connect with the people around you.

ZenHabits.com July 13, 2007

Dr Mercola's comments:
www.mercola.com

The modern lifestyle is built around speed, but as a previous article pointed out, living the fast life may rob you of the good life. Once in a while, it’s good to stop and ask yourself, “Am I living my life fully, or am I just rushing through it?”

Incorporating the habit of eating slower can be that first step to a more relaxed, more fulfilling life—that moment each day when you “stop and smell the roses,” if you will.

Slowing down your eating will also help you better digest your food, as you will be chewing it more and mixing it with salivary digestive enzymes. Additionally, chewing helps stimulate intestinal digestive enzyme release.

People are slowly but surely beginning to recognize that certain “slow” times are a vital part of life—without them, you are missing some of the most important reasons for being alive. Once those moments are passed, you can’t get them back at a later “more convenient time.”

Eating slower also goes right along with the lifestyle of eating healthier food, rather than zipping through the nearest fast food joint. This combination of healthier selections, together with slowing down the whole eating process (and sharing time with others), can put you squarely on the right track toward a healthier body, mind and emotional state.

In addition to selecting as much fresh, locally grown organic foods as you can, following a diet that is custom made for your nutritional type will bring you optimal results.

When you eat just the right fuel that your body needs, your overall health will improve in many profound ways. You can expect to:

• Optimize your weight
• Improve your emotional well-being
• Have increased energy throughout the day
• Prevent chronic and degenerative diseases of all kinds
• Look and feel younger
• Avoid common illnesses, like colds and the flu
• Increase your mental focus
• Live years longer with a higher quality of life
• Feel satisfied and reduce or eliminate cravings

Please also remember that we offer a free Nutritional Typing Mini Course that explains even more about nutritional typing and all the benefits it offers.

How to Choose a Personal Trainer Who Will Help You Lose Weight

Firstly, you need to ask these 5 important questions:

• 1.What are your qualifications? Make sure you ask the trainer about their qualifications and experience to make sure they know what they are doing and you’re in safe hands.
  2.Do you keep with current research? Personal trainers should continually be updating their knowledge by attending seminars, workshops, books, etc., in order to provide you with safe and useful information.
• 3.Are you available on the time and days I’ve selected? A Personal Trainer needs to work around you, so you need to make sure they are available to fit into your schedule and give you the expertise and motivation you need to workout efficiently.
• 4.What is your pricing?
  Personal training can cost from as little as $25 up to $100+ per hour, so make sure you choose one that’s within your budget. Be sure to ask if their rate includes the use of the local gym. It’s a good idea to find out about the policy on additional fees, contracts, cancellations, and billing procedures.
• 5.Can you supply client references? A good personal trainer should have plenty of satisfied customers and won’t hesitate to let you contact them. You should ask them about the trainer’s strengths and weaknesses, if they were professional, informative, dependable and how well the trainer helped them reach their goal.
  

Extra Tips:

Determine your fitness goal, whether it is to lose some weight, run a marathon or being able to have enough energy to play with your kids. This helps narrow down personal trainers based on their experience and field of expertise.

Consider where you want to work out. Location can often determine your selection of trainers. Personal Trainers perform their workouts with you in their studio, local gym or they can even come to you.

Some trainers are willing to train small groups; using this method will reduce your cost. If you have a friend who has the same goal as you, think about working out together at a reduced price.

After your first workout with your Personal Trainer, ask your self these questions?

1. Will I be able to get along with this trainer and look forward to working with him/her?
2. Does the trainer have good listening skills and communicate well?
3. How motivated does the trainer make you feel?
4. How does your body feel after the session?

James Penn is an expert at planning fitness training programs and especially abdominal routines. You can learn exactly what he teaches for free at http://www.firmupyourabs.com/ including abdominal workouts and abdominal exercises to help you lose abdominal fat.

The Best Way to Get Enough Calcium

A new study suggests that calcium from food sources may be more effective than calcium from supplements.

It found that women who get most of their daily calcium from food sources have healthier bones and greater bone density, even though those who took more supplements tended to have higher average levels of calcium.

Researchers asked 183 postmenopausal women to document their diet over the course of a week, after which their bone mineral density and estrogen were tested.

Women who got at least 70 percent of their daily calcium from food sources instead of supplements took in the least calcium (830 milligrams per day, on average), but higher spine and hip bone density than women consuming 1,030 milligrams of calcium per day primarily from supplement sources.

Women who got calcium in relatively even amounts from both food and supplemental sources had both the highest bone mineral density and the highest calcium intake (1,620 milligrams per day).

Calcium from dietary sources is usually more completely absorbed than calcium from supplements, which could explain the difference. Women who got getting calcium from foods also had higher estrogen levels; estrogen is needed to maintain bone mineral density.

The connection between dietary calcium and estrogen is as yet unknown, although it could be the result of eating plant sources containing the hormone.

Those who got calcium from food sources might have also taken in more vitamin D, which would aid in calcium absorption.American Journal of Clinical Nutrition May 2007, Vol. 85, No. 5, 1428-1433Yahoo News June 27, 2007

Dr Mercola's comments:

This study bears out what common sense would tell you: getting calcium from food is far better than getting it from a pill. But for many of us common sense is not very common and we seek to maximize our convenience and swallow our vitamins and minerals conveniently rather than focus on receiving them from high quality supplements.

Ah, if life were just that easy that simply swallowing a few pills would solve our nutritional needs. While supplements of course can be useful, they should be viewed just as that, supplements to a high quality diet that is used in addition to not in place of a high quality diet.

As often happens when it comes to food, quality is more important than quantity; even though the women taking supplements had higher average levels of calcium, the women who got their calcium from food had stronger bones.

Calcium from food is simply better absorbed and utilized by your body than synthetic calcium from a pill.The best food source of calcium out there is that from raw milk (NOT conventional, pasteurized milk) and other raw dairy products. Dark green, leafy vegetables is another great source of calcium.

Of course, it’s not just calcium that you’re better off getting from whole foods, it’s all nutrients. Your best choice is always to favor getting nutrients the way nature intended.

Vitamin D is also important for calcium absorption, so along with your raw milk and vegetables, make sure that you are getting plenty of safe sun exposure this summer.

Because of this, adequate vitamin D levels help to prevent osteoporosis and hip fractures. You should also remember that, just as exercise and diet work in tandem to beat obesity, the same can be said for osteoporosis.

Strengthening bone mass, especially during puberty, can build a good foundation that can last a lifetime. In fact, there is a stronger connection between exercise and improved bone density among teens than taking calcium.

Finally, make sure your diet contains healthy levels of omega-3 fats, which are the stealth dietary weapon in preserving your bone density.

Even many nutritionists are not aware of the important relationship between healthy bones and optimal fat intake.

Sex to Earthquakes: What Causes Heart Attacks

By Robin Lloyd, LiveScience Senior Editor
http://www.livescience.com/

Anger really can trigger a heart attack.

But then, so can:

• getting sick,
• being too hot,
• being too cold,
• air pollution,
• lack of sleep,
• grief,
• overeating,
• natural disasters,
• exercise and sex.

In fact, simply waking up is the worst thing you can do if you're trying to avoid a heart attack.

Heart attacks, strokes and cardiac arrests seem to come out of the blue, but actually most occur upon rising in the morning, according to the July 2007 issue of the Harvard Heart Letter.

Before waking, our bodies release stress hormones into the bloodstream to give us the energy to get out of bed, but this also strains the heart slightly. That bump can cause a cardiac event if one's arteries already are rife with festering cholesterol-rich plaque. The dehydration that normally occurs after a night of sleep also puts a plaque-plagued circulatory system at risk.

Also, heart medications wear off during the night.

A bout of anger can increase the chances of having a heart attack up to 14-fold for two hours following a flare-up, the Letter states.

Strenuous exercise such as shoveling snow or running can be a trigger, but exertion is much less likely to cause trouble in people who exercise regularly. So stay in shape, the authors advise.Infectious diseases such as pneumonia and the flu can also trigger heart attacks and strokes.

The fact is that most people sleep too little, rise and shine, make love, shovel snow, eat too much, overheat, argue and recover from the flu without getting a heart attack. "Still, knowing what sets off heart attacks, strokes or cardiac arrests can help you avoid triggers or blunt their power," the Letter states.

wellness works comments:

As you can read from the article, there are many circumstances that can trigger a heart attack, and all should be taken into consideration. But if you have a pre-existing condition, this is what effect the emotion of anger can have on your bodily systems, especially your circulatory system.

The destructive emotions of the human mind are many, and the individual who understands how to control and neutralize their e-motion is indeed fortunate.

During fits of anger, every function of the body operates in an extravagant fashion, all bodily work is performed in a most wasteful manner. All muscles become tense ands contracted. This tenseness pervades even the sympathetic nervous system.

As a result, sympathetic discharge creates pronounced circulatory changes. The heart beats more rapidly and with greater amplitude. The smaller blood vessels contract in spasmodic fashion. This constriction of the arteries, together with increased heart action, produces a higher blood pressure and more effective circulation through the organs involved in bodily action.

Thus the heart is overworked, the circulation, digestion and elimination are interfered with; and breathing becomes deeper and more rapid. The entire physical mechanism is disoriented.

Concept Therapy Institute, Rays of the Dawn, Natural Laws of the Body, Mind and Soul.

www.concept-therapy.org

Why Americans Keep Getting Fatter

The average American eats 142 pounds of sugar a year, or about 2.5 pounds each week.

That's a 23 percent increase over the last 25 years, and it is a major cause of the currently soaring rates of obesity and diabetes.

Dr. David Ludwig, who treats childhood obesity at Boston Children's Hospital, says that one of the problems is the fact that the average convenience store is a nutritional disaster area.

Ludwig says that highly processed carbohydrates and refined sugars are causing hormonal changes that "drive hunger, cause overeating, and increase the risk of diabetes and heart disease."

Sugar in some form is present in nearly every packaged product in a grocery store, including spaghetti sauce, salad dressing, peanut butter, mayonnaise and ketchup. CBS News June 17, 2007

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

If you haven't read my recent article, Finally Science Confirms the Secret Key to Weight Loss, I would encourage you to do so, as it documents recent studies that support the insulin connection to weight loss and maintaining optimal weight. Due to deceptive nutritional labels and general lack of knowledge of where the hidden sugars are, Americans are eating far more sugar than they know. When searching for sugar, you must also keep a vigilant eye out for high fructose corn syrup and those dangerous artificial sweeteners. These are included in a wide variety of foods that you might not normally suspect. When consumed in the massive quantities, sugars cause hormonal changes that lead to overeating. And don't forget, carbohydrates found in processed foods, such as white bread and rice, break down to glucose and affect your body in the same way as refined sugar does. Any meal or snack high in carbohydrates or sugars generates a rapid rise in blood glucose. To adjust for this rise, your pancreas secretes the hormone insulin into your bloodstream, which lowers your glucose (sugar) level. Insulin is, though, essentially a storage hormone, which is used to store the excess calories from carbohydrates in the form of fat. Insulin, stimulated by the excess carbohydrates in overabundant consumption of grains, starches and sweets, is responsible for all those bulging stomachs and fat rolls in thighs and chins. Even worse, high insulin levels suppress two other important hormones -- glucagons and growth hormones -- that are responsible for burning fat and sugar and promoting muscle development, respectively. So insulin from excess carbohydrates promotes fat, and then wards off the body's ability to lose that fat. Excess weight and obesity lead to heart disease and a wide variety of other diseases. But the ill effects of grains and sugars does not end there. They suppress the immune system, contributing to allergies, and they are responsible for a host of digestive disorders. They contribute to depression, and their excess consumption is, in fact, associated with many of the chronic diseases in our nation, such as cancer and diabetes. If you're still not convinced that life can be twice as sweet without sugar, take a look at these 76 ways sugar can ruin your health.

Seven Ways Your Body Tells You You're Hungry ... Even When You're Not

This interesting Time article details seven reasons why you may eat more food than your body really needs.

Factors involved in overeating can be subtle and unobvious.

Reasons for eating when you aren't hungry can include:

• Time of Day. Your body is conditioned to eat at certain intervals through routine. If you normally eat breakfast and find yourself in too much of a rush one day, your body will signal it's starving.
• Sight of Food. The body anticipates when food is about to enter the system. That's why your mouth starts watering at the sight of Mom's homemade pie.
• Alcohol. Drinking has a tendency to impair judgment, which can lead to indulging in more food than usual.
• Refined Carbs. Any meal or snack high in grain and sugar carbohydrates typically generates a rapid rise in blood glucose. To compensate for this, your pancreas secretes the hormone insulin into your bloodstream, which lowers your blood sugar. This "crashing" usually leads you right back to the fridge in search for more food.
  

You can check out the link below for the remaining items that can make you lose control over your eating.
Time.com

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

There are a variety of problems that lead to overeating. Some of them are familiar and widely publicized, such as stress and the holiday season (not to mention both of them combined!)

Others, however, are not -- although the judgment-impairing properties of alcohol are well-known, few people think about them in relation to food.

Carbohydrates, especially refined carbohydrates, but even whole wheat grains are perhaps the most important item on Time's list. They do their dastardly dead by raising your insulin levels. You may have noticed hunger setting in within just a few hours after a hefty pasta meal, this is due to elevated insulin levels.

We all need a certain amount of carbohydrates, but too many people are addicted to grains, potatoes and sweets, consuming far too many dangerous carbs that can lead to serious chronic health problems like diabetes and cancer.

Since your body's storage capacity for carbs is rather limited, when you consume more than you need they are converted (via insulin) into fat and stored as fat, thereby increasing both your waistline and your risk for nearly every chronic degenerative disease.

Currently, we face an obesity epidemic. If it is not reversed we will, for the first time in history, see children living shorter lives than their parents.

I am committed to helping as many as possible wake up long before that. That is one of the primary purposes of this newsletter -- to reverse this catastrophic trend by providing the tools to escape from the ravages of poor food choices and reliance on dangerous band-aid drugs.

Important steps you can take are:

• Retool your diet based on your body's unique nutritional type.
• Use the many resources on my Web site to start an exercise program that works best for you.
• If you need a boost you can use brown seaweed that help accelerate your metabolic rate and help you loose weight.
• Address emotional issues that contribute to your physical health by learning an effective energy psychology tool like the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT).

Sicko Medical System Debated

If you haven't seen Sicko yet you simply MUST. It is, without a doubt, one of the BEST films I have ever seen.

To make it easier for you I have provided the link to the film FREE in Google Video below.

The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee has joined other nursing organizations that are hosting 3,000 screenings Michael Moore's film Sicko, which premiered June 29.

The film argues that for-profit insurance companies should be eliminated, as they are financially motivated not to provide the best medical care, but instead to deny claims and withhold care as often as possible.

A press conference held on Capitol Hill featured clips from the film, along with testimony from congressmen who favor greater government involvement in medicine.The film has already started debates on the subject; film maker Stuart Browning has made a short internet movie attempting to debunk Moore's claim that 45 million Americans have no health insurance and no access to medical care.

Other critics have argued that guaranteed health care is not always as good as the film claims, sometimes resulting in death because patients have to wait too long for medical care. AAPS June 24, 2007

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

If you haven't yet seen Sicko I would STRONGLY encourage you to do so. Michael Moore did an absolutely outstanding job of documenting many of the major problems that are currently wrong with the current medical system.

The movie chronicles Moore's interpretations of the problems with the conventional health care industry. And no matter what Moore's critics may argue, there can be no debate that the current medical system, run by multi national corporations with an eye on their profits rather than on your health, is fatally flawed.

What I would caution you though is to ignore Moore's solutions. He would have the US government pay for all the care for the uninsured. While the movie makes some compelling arguments and it might make sense for acute traumas, the bulk of the disease in this country are chronic degenerative diseases.

With the government NOT paying for these expenses the US is already paying more than two trillion dollars a year for "health care" and headed to three trillion per year by the end of the decade.

If the government assumes these costs it will bankrupt the country even faster.
The real solution to all the non trauma disasters that Michael documents is to revert back to natural healing that treats the cause of the disease. I carefully document a comprehensive plan in my ne book, Take Control of Your Health.

A 2001 U.S. study showed that about half of all bankruptcies in 2001 were the result of medical problems -- and most of those who went bankrupt for this reason (more than three-quarters) were covered by health insurance at the start of the illness. Medical bankruptcies affect more than 2 million annually.

It is true that the guaranteed health care practiced by almost all other industrialized nations isn't always perfect. It costs money in taxes, and there can be long waits, especially for problems that are not critical. But most people are already shelling out thousands of dollars each year in insurance premiums, and long waits are infinitely preferable to simply being denied care because the insurance company doesn't want to pay out -- a situation that happens far more often than you might think.

There is no question that we have an ever-increasing insurance crisis in this country for medical coverage. Please don't let the media persuade you otherwise -- this problem is only going to get worse. The solution is to change the entire system. Unless we change the system, drug companies will continue to extract hundreds of billions of dollars from our economy with virtually no benefit -- other than making themselves richer.

The solution is to redirect the spending to care that will build the health of the country. When our nation is focused on health achievement, rather than disease treatment, the total cost of providing medical care would dramatically decline, because healthy people require less medical resources.

Four Ways to Lower Your Blood Pressure Without Drugs

Up to 90 percent of high blood pressure cases are thought to be caused by lifestyle habits that constrict blood vessels.

When your blood vessels are constricted tightly, your heart must work much harder to keep your blood flowing, hence the higher blood pressure.Increasing a compound in your blood known as nitric monoxide can help to open constricted blood vessels and lower your blood pressure. Four ways to increase nitric monoxide in your blood are:

• Aerobic exercise
• Taking a warm bath
• Breathing in and out through one nostril (by closing the other nostril and your mouth)
• Eating bitter melon, which is rich in amino acids and vitamin C
  Indigo World 2007

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

Successfully treating high blood pressure without medications is really very simple. It is actually one of the easiest things that our staff does in the office, and we are able to help nearly all of the patients that see us discontinue their blood pressure medications.

While high blood pressure is a serious condition, it's also one that can easily be treated by:

• Following a healthy nutrition plan
• Exercising
• Getting emotionally balanced

Insulin is a major reason that high blood pressure persists. Most hypertensive patients have insulin receptors that are blunted; they don't work very well anymore. Therefore, the body needs to generate more insulin to get them to work.

This can lead to devastating consequences, as excessive insulin will cause serious complications -- far more so than blood sugar -- and is one of the prime causes of complications from high blood pressure and diabetes.

So the first step is to eliminate most grains and all sweets from your diet until your blood pressure and weight normalize; sugars and grains only tend to make your insulin levels remain elevated. Another way to lower your insulin levels would be to use exercise wisely.

Most overweight hypertensive patients require a very comprehensive set of aerobic and anaerobic relatively intense exercise.

It is my experience that changing one's diet and exercise will normalize blood pressure in over 85 percent of people. However, there are clearly some individuals where unresolved current or past stresses are the primary culprit in high blood pressure.

Additionally, many individuals are unable to make the lifestyle changes necessary to normalizing their blood pressure because of emotional self-sabotaging behavior.

This is where energy psychology tools are absolutely invaluable.

We use the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) in our office -- it's a simple tool that can help you in this area. Many people initially are skeptical about EFT because it is so different than other treatments, but it is clearly one of the most helpful tools that I have ever used in taking care of patients.

I've compiled a comprehensive page that includes all the details you need to treat high blood pressure without drugs.

Wellness Work's comments:

While I aggree with Dr. Mercola's methods to reducing blood pressure, I would also recommend talking and working with your Doctor closely before stopping or reducing any medication. As some cases might be more serious than others.

The Natural Way to Rid Yourself of a Migraine Headache

BY
Dr. Mercola

It is possible to stop headaches by stimulating your body's natural painkilling ability.

By putting pressure on a nerve just under your eyebrow, you can cause your pituitary gland to release painkilling endorphins immediately.


You can learn more about the details of the method by clicking at Squidoo Health & Medicine.

Another method for releasing endorphins is to take 10 teaspoons of cayenne pepper in a glass of water. Endorphins are released by the brain when the cayenne hits your stomach lining.

Other useful techniques include:

• Putting a cold compress on your forehead or behind the neck
• Massaging the ears and ear lobes
• Massaging the "crown" of your head -- the ring of muscles that circle the head where a crown would sit
  Squidoo Health & Medicine June 18, 2007

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

Headaches can be basically divided into two types, tension and migraine.

Americans spend more than $1 billion every year to get relief from migraines. The pain associated with migraines can be incredibly debilitating. I have seen a number of patients who were seriously contemplating suicide because the pain was so bad.

Many of the drugs used to treat migraines are effective in relieving this severe pain and are a welcome relief. Unfortunately they do absolutely nothing to treat the cause and in fact actually contribute to the problem as after a short while they actually cause rebound headaches themselves.

This is very similar to drinking large amounts of coffee or soda for awhile and then trying to go off. If you go cold turkey off of caffeine you will most likely have a severe withdrawl headache.

Fortunately, there are many natural treatment options that exist to treat migraines. These should always be considered first, as drugs to treat migraines can actually make the problem worse.

In addition to the massage and endorphin-release techniques linked above, I have been incredibly impressed with the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), a type of psychological acupressure, is also a remarkably effective tool to relieve the pain of migraines.

Most migraines also seem to include a food-based reaction relating to wheat, dairy, sugar, or artificial preservatives or chemicals. Eliminating these foods and incorporating the principles of my nutrition plan frequently improves migraines.

One final, simple tip to free yourself from migraine pain -- start an exercise program. This will help to improve your response to stress along with the underlying inflammatory conditions that can trigger migraines.

Brain Scans Reveal Why Meditation Works

If you name your emotions, you can tame them, according to new research that suggests why meditation works.


By Melinda Wenner, LiveScience.com


Brain scans show that putting negative emotions into words calms the brain's emotion center. That could explain meditation’s purported emotional benefits, because people who meditate often label their negative emotions in an effort to “let them go.”


Psychologists have long believed that people who talk about their feelings have more control over them, but they don't know why it works.


UCLA psychologist Matthew Lieberman and his colleagues hooked 30 people up to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machines, which scan the brain to reveal which parts are active and inactive at any given moment.


They asked the subjects to look at pictures of male or female faces making emotional expressions. Below some of the photos was a choice of words describing the emotion—such as “angry” or “fearful”—or two possible names for the people in the pictures, one male name and one female name.


When presented with these choices, the subjects were asked to pick the most appropriate emotion or gender-appropriate name to fit the face they saw.


When the participants chose labels for the negative emotions, activity in the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex region—an area associated with thinking in words about emotional experiences—became more active, whereas activity in the amygdala, a brain region involved in emotional processing, was calmed.


By contrast, when the subjects picked appropriate names for the faces, the brain scans revealed none of these changes—indicating that only emotional labeling makes a difference.
“In the same way you hit the brake when you’re driving when you see a yellow light, when you put feelings into words, you seem to be hitting the brakes on your emotional responses,”



Lieberman said of his study, which is detailed in the current issue of Psychological Science.
In a second experiment, 27 of the same subjects completed questionnaires to determine how “mindful” they are.


Meditation and other “mindfulness” techniques are designed to help people pay more attention to their present emotions, thoughts and sensations without reacting strongly to them. Meditators often acknowledge and name their negative emotions in order to “let them go.”


When the team compared brain scans from subjects who had more mindful dispositions to those from subjects who were less mindful, they found a stark difference—the mindful subjects experienced greater activation in the right ventrolateral prefrontral cortex and a greater calming effect in the amygdala after labeling their emotions.


“These findings may help explain the beneficial health effects of mindfulness meditation, and suggest, for the first time, an underlying reason why mindfulness meditation programs improve mood and health,” said David Creswell, a UCLA psychologist who led the second part of the study, which will be detailed in Psychosomatic Medicine.

Wellness Work's Comments:

In order for someone to learn the art of meditation, they must learn how to concentrate their mind on a single object for an extended period of time.

The mind has been compared to a ship without a rudder, you can't steer it, you can't direct it, you wind up wherever the tide takes you. As long as we allow our mind to run around aimlessly from one thought to another without awareness we are at the mercy to wherever it takes us.

Descipling the mind is the first step towards developing a sound meditation practice.

Second, developing awareness in your meditation practice, will allow you to descriminate to which thoughts you want to give your attention to.

The one great law is; like attracts like, positive thoughts attract positive things in your life. Desciplining and awareness will allow you to choose and descriminate to what kind of life you want to create in the physical world.

To start your practice, find a confortable and peaceful place, where you won't be disturbed.

Focus the mind on the breath is a simple and effective technique to get the mind under our control.

Inhale slowly through your nose, hold the breath for a few seconds and then exhale slowly through your mouth. Allow the mind to follow the breath and if you find yourself drifting off to whatever thought comes around seeking your attention, just be aware, let it go, don't identify with it and bring your focus back to the breath.

Start with this exercise a few minutes a day and slowly increase your time.

Just like the light bulb has illuminated the outer world, meditation will illuminate your inner world, it will bring greater health, peace of mind and true happiness.

Seek and you shall find!

Exercise Grows New Brain Cells By Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience Staff Writer

Recent research published in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
found that exercise stimulates the growth of new brain cells.

Previous research showed physical exercise can have antidepressant effects, but until now scientists didn’t fully understand how it worked. The new finding suggests, the new cells
could be why exercising relieves depression.

According to the study done on rats, by Astrid Bjornebekk of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and her colleagues studied rats that had been genetically tweaked to show depressive behaviors, plus a second group of control rats. For 30 days, some of the rats had free access to running wheels and others did not.


Then, to figure out if running turned the down-and-out rats into happy campers, the scientists used a standard “swim test.” They measured the amount of time the rats spent immobile in the water and the time they spent swimming around in active mode. When depressed, rats spend most of the time not moving.


“In the depressed rats, running had an antidepressant-like effect after running for 30 days,” Bjornebekk told LiveScience. The once-slothful rodents spent much more time in active swimming compared with the non-running depressed rats.


The researchers also examined the hippocampus region of the brain, involved in learning and memory. Neurons there increased dramatically in the depressed rats after wheel-running.


Past studies have found that the human brain’s hippocampus shrinks in depressed individuals, a phenomenon thought to cause some of the mental problems often linked with depression.


“The hippocampus formation is one of the regions they have actually seen structural changes in depressed patients,” Bjornebekk said.


Running had a similar effect as common antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) on lifting depression.

wellness works comment:

We can see that exercise has many positive effects on the body as well as the mind.

If you are beginner, always exercise with proper caution. You can hire a personal trainer who is certified and can guide you with proper lifting and stretching techniques.

Sunburn Remedies Hiding in Your Closet

BY Dr. Mercola

If you realize you've stayed out in the sun a bit too long, a quick rummage through your kitchen cabinets can provide you with the relief you need.

Here are some all-natural home remedies you can use for sunburns:

• Aloe Vera -- Take some leaves from an aloe plant and refrigerate them. You can peel off the top layer of leaves and apply the side of the leaf with flesh exposed directly to the sunburn. Aloe is very effective in relieving pain and inflammation.


• Baking Soda Compress -- Dissolve baking soda in water, and make a compress using a clean cloth. Alternately, put 1/2 cup of baking soda into your tepid bathwater, then let the affected area air dry.


• Cucumbers -- Rub the sunburned area with fresh cucumber slices.


• Lemon Water -- Mix the juice of three lemons into two cups of cold water, and then sponge the mixture onto the sunburn.For a complete list of instructions, and 20 more great home remedies to tackle sunburn, click on the link below.
  Nadraszky.com June 8, 2007
  

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

It's the beginning of summer for most of us, which means it's time to catch some Vitamin D!

Sunshine is one of the best, most misunderstood health remedies out there. Sun exposure can help you fight off depression and offers protection against several types of cancer by as much as 60% or more.

Best of all, the only cost is to make sure you get your body outside.

Too much of it, however, can result in varying degrees of sunburn, which should be avoided as this damages the skin and can lead to certain types of skin cancer down the road.

Prevention is, as with so much else, much better than looking for a cure after the damage has been done.

But if you do sunburn, I hope the above natural remedies help you to minimize the problem.

Here are some tips to help you prevent sunburns while still getting your daily dose of sunlight:

Reduce your exposure to the sun particularly during the hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. when the sun is the strongest.

At the beginning of the season, limit your exposure to the sun to as little as 10 minutes a day. Progressively increase the time in the sun so that in a few weeks, you will be able to have normal sun exposure with little risk of skin cancer.

Consuming many whole vegetables will increase antioxidant levels in your body, which will provide protection against any sun-induced radiation damage. It is frequently low levels of antioxidant in your skin that is one of the primary reasons why you get a sunburn.

Before you pack your beach bags and haul off to the beach, you might also want to review my article on Five Ways to Protect Your Kids This Summer, for more tips on sun and summer safety.

The 10 Things That Will Cause You to be Fat

The 10 Things That Will Cause You to be Fat

It's well known that:

• poor food choices and
• sedentary lifestyles

are the two most likely causative factors of the current epidemic of obesity.

But many scientists believe that other factors must also be involved in such a sudden and dramatic rise in obesity over the last few decades.

A group of 20 obesity experts has determined the 10 most plausible additional explanations, which include:

• Not enough sleep:

People who sleep less than seven hours a night tend to have a higher body mass index (BMI) than people who sleep more. This could be because sleep deprivation alters metabolism. Leptin, the hormone that signals satiety, falls while ghrelin, which signals hunger, rises -- and this boosts appetite.

• Prenatal effects:

Children of obese mothers are much more likely to become obese themselves. While this is likely due in part to genetics, there is also evidence of "intrauterine programming."

• New drugs:

Many types of drugs, including neuroleptics, anticonvulsants, antihypertensives, protease inhibitors, and diabetes medications, have been shown to cause weight gain.

• Pollution:

Low levels of industrial chemicals such as pesticides, dyes, resins and solvents can lead to weight gain. Mice given small amounts of the pesticide dieldrin more than doubled their body fat, and hexachlorobenzene, another pesticide, caused rats to gain weight even when they only ate half as much.

International Journal of Obesity November 2006; 309(11): 1585-1594
New Scientist November 3, 2006

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

If these causes of weight gain sound very familiar, it may be because most are variables I've covered here previously. Of the ones above and the several more in the article itself, I've discussed:

• Lack of sleep
  

If you sleep less than six hours per night you will radically decrease the sensitivity of your insulin receptors, which will raise your insulin levels. This is a surefire way to gain weight as the insulin will seriously impair your body's ability to burn and digest fat. It will also increase your risk of diabetes.

• Using drugs
  

A surprising number of prescription drugs have weight gain as one of their side effects. Popular drugs like beta blockers and birth control pills are good examples.

• Pollution
  

This is a surprising one, but long-term exposure to many of the chemicals in our environment have recently been strongly associated with weight gain. Pervasive fire-retardant chemicals like PDBEs are a good example.

• Stopping smoking

While this is a good thing overall, it is very common for this to cause weight gain. I helped my sister stop smoking 20 years ago and she has never been able to lose the 100 pounds she gained after stopping.

However, what the article refers to as "The Big Two" -- sedentary living and a lack of exercise and making unhealthy food choices -- are undoubtedly the biggest factors in the epidemic of obesity sweeping the United States and other industrialized nations.

Exercise and nutrition go hand-in-hand.

There is no doubt that both physical activity and a proper diet can:

• Help treat health problems
• Lower your risk for diseases
• Help you live a long life full of energy and passion

One of the most important factors in helping you achieve good health is to have a diet based on eating the right foods for your specific genetics and biochemistry. One of the ways you can determine this is through metabolic typing.

The foods that may be healthy for others are not necessarily healthy for you, and vice-versa. Thus, eating according to your specific type is the proven way to ascertain which foods work best for you.

Also, controlling your insulin levels is important to optimize your health. You see, when you eat grains and sugar your insulin levels increase.

When insulin levels increase, you are telling your body to store carbohydrates as fat and to not release any of the stored fat. (This makes it very difficult for you to use your own stored body fat for energy.)

So the excess carbohydrates in your diet not only make you GAIN WEIGHT, they make sure you keep that weight on. By cutting grains and sugars from your diet you will not only tame your weight but also fight illnesses.

A daily exercise routine is another main factor in accomplishing optimal wellness.

The key to exercising is to make sure you are using it effectively. By doing so, you will ensure all your hard efforts are not wasted and are having a positive effect on your body.

To aid you in your exercise efforts, there are three important variables to keep in mind:

• Length of time
• Frequency
• Intensity

I encourage my patients to gradually increase the amount of time they are exercising to one hour a day. Initially the frequency is daily. This is a treatment dose until you normalize your weight or insulin levels. Once normalized, you will only need to exercise three to four times a week.

You should exercise hard enough so that it is difficult to talk to someone next to you. However, if you cannot carry on a conversation AT ALL, then you have gone too far and need to decrease the intensity.

There are some good comments on this article at Vital Votes. You can comment yourself or vote on the comments by registering at Vital Votes.

See the Glass as Half Full? Your Health Will Thank You

Being optimistic may increase physical health and mental functioning, a recent study showed.

Researchers assessed health survey results of 447 patients who completed a personality test in the 60s and a follow-up self-assessment in the 90s.

When the tests were compared, it was found that pessimists reported poorer physical and mental functioning, as well as lower quality of life, than optimists.

Additionally, out of eight measured scales (physical functioning, physical role limitations, bodily pain, general health perception, vitality, social functioning, emotional role limitations, and mental health), pessimists scored lower than the national average on five of them.

The results supplement a past study that indicated optimists tend to live longer than pessimists do.

However, while these finding suggest that attitude may play an important role in health, questions remain about whether this can be applied practically by health care practitioners.

Mayo Clinic Proceedings August 2002;77(8):748-53

Dr. Mercola's Comment

Your mental attitude has a major influence on your health. A truth of life is that the thoughts you consistently focus on are often manifested into reality.

Wouldn’t it be nice to manifest some good things in your life? We tend to get what we expect, so focus on expecting some good things, even when life seems to be saying otherwise.

W. Clement Stone, who passed away earlier this year, was fond of promoting being an inverse paranoid.

He took the position that the world was conspiring to make him happy and successful and that everything that happened to him was for his own good.

This is a marvelous attitude to take and one that can easily be adopted by using psychological acupressure techniques like EFT.

If you haven’t looked at the free EFT manual yet, it provides you with a comprehensive resource for learning this effective technique. You can go to the Affirmations and Goal Setting Page for effective strategies on how to implement positive perspectives.