Alternative Weight Loss

USDA Certified Organic – Dirty Little Secret: Neotame

Comments Off Written on January 11th, 2011 by Linda DeFever
Categories: Adrenal Fatigue, Alternative Health, Alternative Weight Loss, General health, Green Living, Nutrition, Your Health
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USDA Certified Organic’s – Dirty Little Secret: Neotame
Published on 01-02-2011

By Barbara H. Peterson – Farm Wars

Just when we thought that buying “Organic” was safe, we run headlong into the deliberate poisoning of our organic food supply by the FDA in collusion with none other than the folks who brought us Aspartame. NutraSweet, a former Monsanto asset, has developed a new and improved version of this neurotoxin called Neotame.

Neotame has similar structure to aspartame — except that, from it’s structure, appears to be even more toxic than aspartame. This potential increase in toxicity will make up for the fact that less will be used in diet drinks. Like aspartame, some of the concerns include gradual neurotoxic and immunotoxic damage from the combination of the formaldehyde metabolite (which is toxic at extremely low doses) and the excitotoxic amino acid. (Holisticmed.com)

But surely, this product would be labeled! NOT SO!!! For this little gem, no labeling required. And it is even included in USDA Certified Organic food.

The food labeling requirements required for aspartame have now been dropped for Neotame, and no one is clear why this was allowed to happen. Neotame has been ruled acceptable, and without being included on the list of ingredients, for:

USDA Certified Organic food items.
Certified Kosher products with the official letter k inside the circle on labels. (Janet Hull)
Let me make this perfectly clear. Neotame does not have to be included in ANY list of ingredients! So, if you buy processed food, whether USDA Certified Organic or not, that food most likely will contain Neotame because it is cost-effective, and since no one knows it is there, there is no public backlash similar to what is happening with Aspartame. A win/win situation!

But that’s not all. Just love chowing down on that delicious steak? Well, that cow most likely will have been fed with feed containing…..you guessed it…..Neotame! A product called “Sweetos,” which is actually composed of Neotame, is being substituted for molasses in animal feed.

“Sweetos is an economical substitute for molasses. Sweetos guarantees the masking of unpleasant tastes and odor and improves the palatability of feed. This product will be economical for farmers and manufacturers of cattle feed. It can also be used in mineral mixture,” said Craig Petray, CEO, The NutraSweet Company, a division of Searle, which is a part of Monsanto. (Bungalow Bill)

Why would we feed animals food that is so distasteful that we would have to mask the unpleasantness with an artificial sweetener? Most animals will not eat spoiled, rancid feed. They know by the smell that it is not good. Enter Sweetos (Neotame). Just cover up the unpleasant tastes and odors, and you can feed them anything you want to, courtesy of the oh, so considerate folks at Monsanto and company.

But of course, Monsanto is no longer associated with NutraSweet. In the time-honored tradition of covering its assets, Monsanto has a proven track record of spinning off controversial portions of its company that generate too much scrutiny, such as it did with the Solutia solution.

Says the Farm Industry News, “Monsanto, which has long resided in the crosshairs of public scorn and scrutiny, appears to have dodged at least one bullet by spinning off its industrial chemical business into a separate entity called Solutia a couple of years ago. Solutia has since been hammered by lawsuits regarding PCB contamination from what were once called Monsanto chemical plants in Alabama and other states” (Source Watch)

So what is the solution to this problem? Buy local organic food, know your local farmer, and don’t buy processed foods whether they are labeled “Organic” or not. This requires a drastic change in lifestyle that most will not want to make. For those who choose to ride the wheel of chance by succumbing to this genocidal adulteration of our food supply by those who stand to profit from our sickness and early demise, my only comment is….it is your choice. But for those of us who have decided to fight this battle one bite at a time by hitting these sociopaths in the pocketbook where it hurts……viva la revolucion!

Contact Linda

Call: 847-722-4376 for your free consultation

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What Is Your Story?

Comments Off Written on November 15th, 2010 by Linda DeFever
Categories: Alternative Health, Alternative Weight Loss, General health, Nutrition, Your Health
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by my friend Catherine Carrigan. Owner of Total Fitness

Recently, I was interviewing a new client who had been experiencing low back and hip pain and struggling with her weight for the past 10 years. She had visited a phalanx of Pilates teachers, personal trainers, chiropractors and physical therapists and had just found a new massage therapist who she was convinced would become her miracle healer.

“Nothing I have ever done ever works,” she basically told me.

Meanwhile, as she was sitting there detailing how nothing ever worked for her, she was slouched in a chair, her lower back compressed, with one leg crossed over the other, one hip hiked.

“Maybe it’s you,” I gently suggested.

“Maybe there was nothing wrong with all the help the other people tried to give you. Maybe you could change the way you sit, which is only bound to aggravate your back and hip pain. And maybe you could do critical point analysis to figure out what would actually work.”

Let’s review the basic Total Fitness equation:

Your Body=Your Exercise x Your Attitude x Your Rest x Your Nutrition.

As we recall from basic math class light years ago, any time you multiply anything times zero, you get zero.

This new client was working out literally an hour almost every day and feeling like she was getting nowhere. She is not alone and I don’t mean to pick on her because I hear her story several times a week. Far from being unique, she is common.

I like to think of attitude like a laser. Your attitude focuses your energy.

You can focus your energy for the good in a mindful, conscious way, or you can continue mindlessly hypnotizing yourself that only you are a special case, that nothing will ever work, that you alone can not be healed, lose weight, improve your metabolism, etc. etc. etc.

If you know anything about energy, where ever your mind goes, that is where your energy flows.

It’s like gravity. You don’t have to believe that gravity works, it just does.

I can make a simple, powerful visual demonstration of this very easily. If you stood next to me and focused your attention on your head, I could then take two of my fingers and push you any which way I choose.

But if you shift your focus of attention to your feet, imagining that three nails from your big toe, the pad of the big toe and your heel are nailing you to the ground, I can’t push you over.

If you are serious about improving your health and fitness, I recommend you sit down with yourself and have an honest conversation about what you actually BELIEVE.

The reason it is so important that you are honest with yourself about your story is that when people create a story for themselves, their ego/mind tries to be RIGHT.

Your ego will try so hard to be correct that you will go from one professional to another, diet to diet getting absolutely nowhere until and unless you face up to what you are actually telling yourself day after day.

Even if you have never read a single self help book, you can reflect on what Henry Ford said: “If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.”

Here’s a simple exercise.

FESS UP. Take out a sheet of paper and write down everything negative you have been telling yourself about your body and/or your fitness. Some common negative thoughts I hear include:

“Nothing I ever do ever works for me.”

“I can’t lose weight.”

“I hate to exercise.”

“I tried (fill in the blank) and I still hate to exercise.”

“Everybody in my family is heavy. I am destined to look like Aunt Ethel.”

“No matter what I eat, I am destined to look like Aunt Ethel.”

Even if you have a Ph.D. and are highly educated and successful like many of my clients, these still fall into the category of irrational thoughts. Some clues that you are thinking irrational thoughts are if you use words like never, everybody, always or can’t. The super bonus way to ask yourself if this is truly an irrational thought is this: If someone gave you $1 million and unlimited time and resources to fix the problem, would you be able to find a way to change the situation?

DISPUTE. Once you admit to yourself what you are actually saying inside your private thoughts, dispute the facts. Is it true? For example, if you are telling yourself, “I hate to exercise,” you are really hypnotizing yourself to believe that you hate ALL exercise. This type of thinking is not actually helpful and it would be better if you admitted that fact. You could point out to yourself that you just haven’t YET found a way of moving regularly that you enjoy. Maybe you haven’t found the right instructor, the right modality, the best class, or the best time of day. But it could possibly exist. If other people can find ways of moving around that they enjoy, then the possibility exists that you could too. If even one other person has healed themselves from your personal challenge, then the fact remains that it is possible you could too.

THINK AGAIN. Shift your mind into a positive frame of action. One of the best ways to do this is to create an affirmation. Even if you are so negatively focused that you are terribly stumped in this area, search for the best possible thought. Some suggestions:

I AM NOW DISCOVERING NEW, ENJOYABLE WAYS OF MOVING MY BODY

I AM DISCOVERING WHAT ACTUALLY WORKS

I AM DEEPLY GUIDED TO ALL RESOURCES AND PEOPLE WHO CAN ACTUALLY HELP ME

I AM NOW CHOOSING TO MANIFEST MY IDEAL BODY SHAPE

Look at your notes on your irrational, negative thoughts. Then make a list, “What I could say to myself instead.” In the beginning, you may have to catch yourself 100 times a day. When you catch your stinking thinking in mid-stink, repeat your more improved thought.

USE TRAINING WHEELS. I work with what I refer to as actual humans – i.e., not robots in textbooks whose lives are merely governed by calories in, calories out, who have no feelings and who follow every program to the letter once you give it to them. We actual humans sometimes have challenges with negative thinking, and if you are currently falling into that category, realize you could benefit from mental workouts, not just physical ones.

Just like we use props such as hand weights, cable machines, balls, exercise bands, balance boards etc. when we work out in the gym, there are helpful tools you can use for your mental workouts that serve as training wheels:

Index cards. Write your affirmations on index cards. Read them before you go to sleep and first thing in the morning.

Journal. Write your affirmations in a journal. Every time you catch yourself repeating those negative “everybody, can’t , never” thoughts, journal about where those beliefs came from. Are they yours? Did you pick up somebody else’s stinking thinking?

Smart phone apps. I personally had recorded about 45 minutes of affirmations in my own voice on my IPhone. Then when I uploaded the latest version of the software, it deleted all my hard work. I recently purchased an app called My Thoughts +, which includes the ability to add music of your choice, various background pictures and fonts, and you can review your affirmations in slide show fashion. You can use affirmations in any number of categories or create your own.

A rubber band on your wrist. Put a rubber band on your wrist. Every time you catch yourself slipping back into those self defeating thoughts, snap the rubber band and reframe your thinking.

Use a tape player. And for the multi-taskers who just don’t believe they can possibly fit it all in, record your affirmations on a tape player that you can listen to while working out.

SET UP A COACHING APPOINTMENT. I use kinesiology to determine and clear limiting beliefs. You can do a lot of work on your own being honest with yourself about your stinking thinking. However, with kinesiology, we can go even deeper into your unconscious mind to identify what specifically is holding you back, at what age you started thinking that way and why and who these beliefs came from. Then I use my menu of healing work to figure out what will clear these issues so you can be done with them. Clearing your issues completely allows you to be more resourceful. That means you can take full advantage of everything you already know how to do to get the results you want.

Don’t lose your mind over your health and fitness program, just change it.

Contact Linda

Call: 847-722-4376 for your free consultation

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On Vegetarianism

Comments Off Written on November 14th, 2010 by Linda DeFever
Categories: Alternative Health, Alternative Weight Loss, General health, Green Living, Nutrition, Your Health
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By Venri Gurd

People choose to be vegetarian for many reasons, such has to avoid supporting cruelty to animals, for personal health, and for the health of the planet. Is vegetarianism really the best choice for achieving these objectives?

I’ve spoken to a lot of vegetarians as they come through my door for various reasons, and I know that the decision to avoid eating meat is not taken lightly. These people have struggled with the ethics of the issue, and have concluded that vegetarianism fits best with their integrity. I too have given the issue a great deal of thought, but ultimately I’ve concluded that it is possible to eat a diet that includes meat in a way that fully values the life of an animal as much as a vegetarian would, and does not compromise the planet.

Many people believe that eating red meat is inherently unhealthy. They believe that red meat causes cancer and heart disease among other things, so becoming vegetarian would ensure greater health. But what would one have eaten 1000 years ago if one lived in a northern climate where the land was covered in snow for 6 months of the year? What would one eat in the middle of winter? Would it be even possible to be a vegetarian under those circumstances? I would bet that in the winter, animal foods would provide most if not all of the food eaten.

According to scientists and medical doctors that travelled the globe visiting traditional cultures before contact with “white man’s food”, those cultures were all extremely healthy, had perfect teeth and bone structure, and NONE of those cultures were vegetarian. They did not even have words in their language for today’s chronic diseases.

Might it be that the reason red meat is linked to these diseases is that we are eating red meat from feed-lot animals that are not given their natural diet but instead one filled with antibiotics and hormones? They are kept confined in tiny pens so they get no exercise, and they are never let outside? Sick animals cannot make a healthy human.

However there is no evidence to show that eating meat from animals that ate their natural diet during their lifetime, and spent their days outside in the fresh air and sunshine is unhealthy. Pastured meat has a completely different fat profile than GMO corn-fed factory farmed meat. Pastured meat is higher in omega 3s and ALA, and is lower in saturated fat. Pastured animals have no need for antibiotics as they are healthy.

Most often when someone initially becomes a vegetarian their health improves dramatically, not only because this diet forces one to eat more vegetables, but also because usually vegetarians eat a whole-food diet and are more likely to avoid processed and packaged food. They are more likely to cook their food fresh, and will eat more of their food raw. These are huge steps in the right direction for improving health.

But human beings are omnivores, meaning our digestive tracts are designed to eat flesh foods. Some nutrients that we need to be healthy are extremely difficult to get without eating meat, and after a few years on a vegetarian diet, health can become compromised. A diet without meat means a diet very high in carbohydrates, which might be very problematic in sensitive individuals, even if those carbohydrates are whole.

If one needs animal foods to be healthy, is it a good idea to avoid them altogether? Do we fault the lion for eating a deer? Should the lion become a vegetarian too? Everywhere one looks in nature, life eats life and often killing in nature is far more brutal than what one would find in a meat-packing plant.

I agree that factory farming is terrible for the animals that have to endure that life. The animals spend their entire lives indoors crowded together, often standing or lying in their own excrement. They frequently don’t even have enough room to turn around. Beaks of chickens and tails of pigs are cut off. They are fed an unnatural diet they would never choose for themselves – one that accelerates their growth so they can be slaughtered sooner.

And because the pace that big-agribusiness animals are moved through the killing floor, sometimes the kill isn’t clean, and the animals also suffer a painful death. Anyone with a heart that sees animals in these terrible, smelly, over-crowded places would be horrified, and it is understandable that knowing of such cruelty, one might choose to become a vegetarian.

But what if the animal lives its life fully expressing its cowness, or chickeness, or pigness, ending with only one bad day? Cows and chickens out in the fields, the cows doing what cows do best – grazing with the herd, and chickens doing what they do best – scratching in the cow paddies for the maggots they like so much. Pigs wallowing in mud to keep themselves cool. To me it is different if I know the animal had a good life, and that I’m eating it after its one bad day. After all, we all will have to face that one bad day too, at some point.

If we were all to become vegan (a vegetarian that consumes no animal products at all, including no eggs nor dairy), which is certainly what some vegans believe is the right thing to do, one might ask what would become of the animals we currently raise to eat? I think if there were no more need for them, it would make no economic sense to raise them, and they would soon go the way of the dodo bird. Do we really want a planet with no cows, chickens or pigs? Would cows, chickens and pigs choose extinction for their species if given the choice?

I also wonder sometimes why we don’t seem to have the same concern over killing plants to eat. They are also life-forms that communicate and interact with other life-forms. Is it only life that has eyes and a beating heart that ethically we should not kill? Furthermore, many plants actually eat animal protein in the form of insects, so if it is okay for a plant to eat meat, surely we can feel okay about it too?

Then there is the question of saving the planet. Raising animals in factory farms is not sustainable. The “excrement ponds” full of antibiotic and hormone-filled animal waste leaches into ground water and runs off into streams, polluting our drinking water as well harming the fish and amphibian life. There is a huge carbon footprint farming this way due to the chemical fertilizers used to grow the feed, and the transportation costs to carry the corn to the animals. Feed-lot animals are raised on oil. Not raising animals this way would be far friendlier to the planet, and this is another reason that people turn to vegetarianism.

But the other option is to raise animals on solar power, not oil. Fence off a portion of a field, let the cows in and allow them to eat the food they are meant to eat – grass. The following day, move the electric fence to another part of the field, and give the cows access to fresh pasture. Three days later, let the chickens into the area that the cows were, so they can tramp through the cow paddies and find the maggots and other goodies. The chickens will also fertilize the field with their manure, and they will spread all this manure around with their pecking and scratching. Because the grass is now short due the the grazing, the roots will drop to match the height of the leaf above the ground. This further nourishes the soil, and causes rapid grass growth. In about 5 weeks, that area of pasture can be grazed again, and the process repeats itself.

The key to make the system work is it must be a mixed farm rather than a one crop / one animal farm. We need to copy how nature works, and help it along to make it more efficient. Plants nourish the animals, which nourish the plants with their waste, and around the circle we go. No antibiotics needed since the animals are not sick. No chemical fertilizers needed because the animal waste provides the nourishment the plants need. Far less expensive an operation, because there are fewer big, expensive, permanent buildings involved. Chickens are moved from field to field in light, wheeled structures that can be pulled by a tractor, and the cows can walk themselves. The cows are happy, the chickens are happy, the farmer is happy, and to top if off, this system of farming improves soil year to year, and it sequesters carbon! For more on this, read The Omnivore’s Dilemma, see Food Inc. or Fresh. Furthermore, this system of farming raises an enormous amount of food – as much or more than a factory farm.

We need to honour the food that nourishes us, and say thank you to the animals and plants that were sacrificed for our meal. This can be as much a spiritual practice as the spirituality that people seek by becoming vegetarian. We CAN choose what food we eat carefully, making sure the animals we eat lived a good life and only had one bad day rather than a lifetime of bad days. We CAN choose to shop from farmers who grow food in a sustainable way, and replenish the earth rather than deplete it by only choosing pastured animals along with organic, biodynamic or permiculture farming methods. In this way, even if we do choose to include animal foods in our diet, we can feel good about giving our bodies, our spirit, our conscience, and our planet what it needs to be healthy

Contact Linda

Call: 847-722-4376 for your free consultation

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It is About the Processing of Our Foods

Comments Off Written on November 5th, 2010 by Linda DeFever
Categories: Alternative Health, Alternative Weight Loss, General health, Green Living, Nutrition, Your Health
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The most important factor now, when considering food, nutrition and public health, is not nutrients, and is not foods, so much as what is done to foodstuffs and the nutrients originally contained in them, before they are purchased and consumed. That is to say, the big issue is food processing – or, to be more precise, the nature, extent and purpose of processing, and what happens to food and to us as a result of processing. Specifically, the public health issue is ‘ultra-processing’, as defined here. This is my basic proposal. It is illustrated and symbolised by the mass-produced double cheese-and-bacon burger above. Such products are made at distance as separate items that are trucked in, assembled, and made ready-to-heat and –to-eat at a fast food site.

The proposal that food processing has an impact on public health may seem obvious. But it is largely overlooked by conventional nutrition science. As now applied in policies, programmes and interventions, nutrition science has failed to have much significant impact on what is currently the uncontrolled pandemic of obesity. As a result, it is now seen by policy-makers and the public as not particularly relevant to their needs. To be blunt, our science has become somewhat discredited. One reason, as I maintain here, is that it continues to depend on concepts and food classifications devised almost a century ago, which are now obsolescent.

This commentary concerns the impact of food processing on human health. Its scope is relatively modest. It only very briefly touches on cultural and other social impacts of ultra-processed branded products, their use by transnational and other giant industries to displace traditional food systems and small businesses, and other economic impacts (1). It does not touch on the effects of the globalised food system in its present form on national and international stability, the living and physical environment, and the biosphere (2,3). Proper discussion of these fundamental and crucial issues is for a later

To read the rest of this article, click on this link

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Glycemia, Starch, and Sugar in Context

Comments Off Written on October 22nd, 2010 by Linda DeFever
Categories: Alternative Health, Alternative Weight Loss, General health, Nutrition, Your Health
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In the 1920s, “diabetes” was thought to be a disease of insulin deficiency. Eventually, measurements of insulin showed that “diabetics” often had normal amounts of insulin, or above-normal amounts. There are now “two kinds of diabetes,” with suggestions that “the disease” will soon be further subdivided.

The degenerative diseases that are associated with hyperglycemia and commonly called diabetes, are only indirectly related to insulin, and as an approach to understanding or treating diabetes, the “glycemic index” of foods is useless. Physiologically, it has no constructive use, and very little meaning.

Insulin is important in the regulation of blood sugar, but its importance has been exaggerated because of the diabetes/insulin industry. Insulin itself has been found to account for only about 8% of the “insulin-like activity” of the blood, with potassium being probably the largest factor. There probably isn’t any process in the body that doesn’t potentially affect blood sugar.

Glucagon, cortisol, adrenalin, growth hormone and thyroid tend to increase the blood sugar, but it is common to interpret hyperglycemia as “diabetes,” without measuring any of these factors. Even when “insulin dependent diabetes” is diagnosed, it isn’t customary to measure the insulin to see whether it is actually deficient, before writing a prescription for insulin. People resign themselves to a lifetime of insulin injections, without knowing why their blood sugar is high.

Insulin release is also stimulated by amino acids such as leucine, and insulin stimulates cells to absorb amino acids and to synthesize proteins. Since insulin lowers blood sugar as it disposes of amino acids, eating a large amount of protein without carbohydrate can cause a sharp decrease in blood sugar. This leads to the release of adrenalin and cortisol, which raise the blood sugar. Adrenalin causes fatty acids to be drawn into the blood from fat stores, especially if the liver’s glycogen stores are depleted, and cortisol causes tissue protein to be broken down into amino acids, some of which are used in place of carbohydrate. Unsaturated fatty acids, adrenaline, and cortisol cause insulin resistance.

Click on this link to read more of this article by Dr. Ray Peat

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Tips for Choosing a Grass Fed Supplier

Comments Off Written on October 18th, 2010 by Linda DeFever
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1. Make sure your rancher raises grass fed beef so that you can take advantage of the health benefits associated with higher omega-3 fatty acids, CLA, lower saturated fats, lower cholesterol, and fewer calories.

2. The cattle should be grazing in an open, clean pasture and with no use of artificial supplements, grain or animal by-products (mad cow disease is transmitted via cows eating animal by-products).

3. Your grass farmer should be committed to using NO herbicides, NO pesticides, NO hormone implants, NO antibiotics.

4. Cattle must be moved directly from pasture to processor with no stop in a feedlot. The incidence of E.coli is dramatically reduced in cattle raised on forage and mad cow is not an issue with forage-raised beef.

5. Make sure your beef is processed in a plant that takes pride in processing each animal one at a time… not the big, high speed, factory assembly-line processing plants. This will contribute greatly to the purity of your beef.

6. Your beef should be processed in a USDA inspected facility whose HACCP protocol is of the highest standard. Also, this processor should use NO chemical baths, NO chlorine and NO irradiation for treating your beef… a common process in large assembly line operations.

7. Choose a grass farmer who adheres to high ethical standards in the humane treatment of livestock. Raising cattle as they were intended to be raised… on open pasture, not in confined pens full of mud and manure.

8. Your grass farmer should incorporate genetics, grazing management protocol, and low stress handling of the animals in concern for the high quality of the beef produced and the consistency of quality.

9. Your grass fed beef should be dry aged for tenderness and flavor enhancement. Grass fed beef needs dry aging for the full experience of gourmet beef.

10. Your grass farmer should be committed to a management protocol with the greatest of concern for the environmental integrity of the land. They should practice rotational grazing which naturally replaces the nutrients removed from the soil.

Josh Rubin

http://www.eastwesthealing.com

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Why Bone Broth is Important

Comments Off Written on October 15th, 2010 by Linda DeFever
Categories: Adrenal Fatigue, Alternative Health, Alternative Weight Loss, General health, Gluten Free Recipes, Nutrition, Recipes, Uncategorized, Your Health
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Stock Pot

Good broth will resurrect the dead,” says a South American proverb. Said Escoffier: “Indeed, stock is everything in cooking. Without it, nothing can be done.”

A cure-all in traditional households and the magic ingredient in classic gourmet cuisine, stock or broth made from bones of chicken, fish and beef builds strong bones, assuages sore throats, nurtures the sick, puts vigor in the step and sparkle in love life–so say grandmothers, midwives and healers. For chefs, stock is the magic elixir for making soul-warming soups and matchless sauces.

To read more click on the link below

http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/515-broth-is-beautiful.html

Contact Linda

Call: 847-722-4376 for your free consultation

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The Thyroid

Comments Off Written on October 1st, 2010 by Linda DeFever
Categories: Adrenal Fatigue, Alternative Weight Loss, Nutrition
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Could thyroid be THE most important hormone in the body? According to Dr. Ray Peat PhD, it can help increase calorie burning, accelerate healing, initiate regeneration, keep sex hormones levels high, lower inflammation, improve digestion and create an overall feeling of happiness. The thyroid gland cannot do this alone. It needs the right diet and life stylefactors to support it.

SYMPTOMS OF LOW THYROID

Symptoms of hypothyroidism (low) are: fatigue, cold hands and feet, weight gain, low body temps, poor reflexes, high (usually in the 90′s) or low pulse rates, infertility (men and woman), depression, poor concentration, constipation, dry hair and skin, and as you age the outer third of the eyebrow can disappear as well as the hair on the bottom two-thirds of the leg.

HYPERTHROIDISM

High or hyperthyroidism is rare. It is referred to as Grave’s disease. It results in a high metabolism. When you are truly hyperthyroid you have a feeling of well being high temps, high pulse, and can eat 2500 calories and not gain weight. This disease is often diagnosed by a blood test, but still may not be reliable with physical symptoms.

ALL ABOUT THE THYROID

I want to back up a bit. What exactly is the thyroid? The thyroid gland is located in the front and at the bottom of your neck. It produces two hormones T3 and T4. T3 is the active form thyroid hormone and can be used immediately by the cells. T3 comes from T4 and this conversion happens in the liver. You can see how a good healthy liver is important to our health.

Your thyroid will produce adequate thyroid hormone when you are in good health. If your winters are long and dark you might find your metabolism slowing down. This is because the thyroid gland needs sunlight.

If your food is highly processed and contains soy, corn, cotton seed or any oil the remains liquid when cold, if you are on the pill or taking HRT,  using an IUD, if you eat too much meat or are a vegan you might be seriously slowing down your thyroid.

YOUR LIVER AND YOUR THYROID

If your liver is not overburdened with polyunsaturated fats (PUFAS) and hormones like estrogen, and the liver has ample supply of sugar, it can readily convert T4 to T3.

The liver is the factory of the body, it stores sugar as glycogen for later use, organizes proteins and fats for distribution and breaks down toxins and hormones.

You cannot live without sugar! It is the most important fuel for the human body, When you increase your sugar intake you speed up the conversion of T4 to T3 in the liver. If you have more T3 the body can store it in the liver, brain and muscles. This is important – once you have enough good stored sugar your life will change.

LOW BLOOD SUGAR AND ENERGY

You store sugar as glycogen in the liver, brain and muscles. When you store more efficiently your blood sugar levels are more stable. This means that you have the back up sugar or glycogen to get through long periods without eating.

You can store sugar in the liver, brain and muscles. When you store sugar more efficiently your blood sugar levels are more stable. This means that you have back up sugar or glycogen to get through long periods without eating. At night your sleep can become deeper and more relaxed because your sugar can help lower adrenalin. High adrenalin at night can cause nightmares, erratic sleep and night sweats. Throughout the day when you are busy you can depend on stored sugar to keep you going until you eat again. When your blood sugar levels drop, adrenalin rises which causes you to feel nervous and unfocused. Even though your body releases fat to burn as a back up fuel, this is not the best way to make good energy as fat produces less energy per gram than sugar.

ACTIONS OF T3

The hormone T3 increases the rate of calorie burning, For this to happen sugar, oxygen and an enzyme called cytochrome oxidase need to be present in the cell for energy production. It is the thyroid hormone T3 and sunlight that activate this enzyme.

If you are overweight, tired, anxious or cannot sleep at night, it is quite possible that your thyroid hormones and your sunshine quotient are lacking.

When cellular energy production drops. your cells are less efficient. When this happens, instead of producing high quality energy, the sugar in the cells tend to ferment or turn into lactic acid. Lactic acid in turn can lower thyroid function.

References:

1. www.raypeat.com

2. Interview with Ray Peat by Mary Shomon

3. From PMS to Menopause by Ray Peat

4. Thyroid – Guardian of Health by Philip G. Young, MD

5. The Thyroid by James McGlavack

6. My dear mentor and friend

Contact Linda

Call: 847-722-4376 for your free consultation

vitalityincorporate

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The Keys to Good Digestion and Weight Loss

2 comments Written on September 21st, 2010 by Linda DeFever
Categories: Adrenal Fatigue, Alternative Weight Loss, Nutrition
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Do you suffer from

1. Burping, indigestion, pain or reflux?

2. Bloating or Gas?

3. Constipation or IBS?

Why do you think you experience these symptoms? They do not just happen. They come from the very foods you eat.

There are foods that are meant to be consumed by humans and then there are foods that are fit for cows to eat. Unlike a cow, we cannot digest or utilize plant foods. As a result when we eat plant foods (with the exception of ripe fruits and underground vegetables), we often have digestive symptoms.

Skipping meals or the long fast when you sleep can also disturb your digestion. When you do not eat for long periods of time your blood sugar will drop and adrenalin rises, shunting much of the circulation to your heart and lungs for fight or flight activity. Your digestion stops when you are in a flight or fight situation.

When your digestive tract does not get good blood circulation the activity in your gut slows down. If this happens enough times, the consequences can be quite serious. Your gut can become quite inflamed and swollen (poochy lowers abs) and it cannot move the foods through your digestive tract correctly. Foods begin to putrefy and bacteria will multiply as gas forms. Rotten foods, and little movement can injure the lining of your digestive tract. Bacterial endotoxin, a poison formed from bacteria, can get into circulation. This can make you very sick.

If you have inflammation, pain, swelling, fatigue, insomnia or almost any unpleasant symptom, chances are you have a gut problem/bowel problem. All health begins in the digestive tract. This is where your nourishment comes from.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT KIND OF A DIGESTIVE SYSTEM YOU HAVE?

Do you digest food like a bird, cow or lion? Most people do not know. This is probably one of the most fundamental questions in human physiology, because the way you digest your foods determines what food you should be eating for excellent health and vitality.

Below you will find an explanation of the different kinds of digestion of mammals on earth:

Carnivores: eat protein in the form of animal prey. Will eat eggs and milk, never vegetables. Use enzymes for digestion.    Ex: lions, jaguars, house cats.

Omnivores: eat animals, fruit, nuts, grains and vegetables, in that order of preference/nutrition. Use both enzymes and symbiotic bacteria for digestion. Stomach and intestines present. Can survive best on animal products and fruits. Cannot fully digest but often eat nuts, seeds, grains and vegetables. Ex: birds, raccoons, pigs, bears, dogs and human beings.

Herbivores: eat grasses and above ground vegetable matter that contains cellulose, never protein matter. Use symbiotic bacteria for digestion. Rumen, reticulum, omasum, and in some caecum present. Ex: cows, goats, horses, sheep, giraffes, bison, phytoplankton. These animals can convert cellulose in plants to protein and polyunsaturated fats in plants to saturated fats.

HUMAN DIGESTION

Humans are like a bird or a dog or any omnivore. We secret digestive enzymes from your pancreas to break down food, bile from your liver to emulsify fats. Your intestines contain bacteria digesting organisms that  do a very minor part of the digestion. This bacteria also makes some of your B and K vitamins.

This means we can eat everything on the planet BUT we cannot digest everything. This inability to digest cellulose and polyunsaturated fats causes indigestion and in some cases sickness.

The best food for humans are: dairy, meat (not from the conventional grocery store) , gelatin, cage free organic eggs, organic butter (raw if you are able), coconut oil, ripe fruit and underground vegetables.  The best source of good is from carrots and bamboo shoots (preparation is required). Both of these foods have the ability to absorb bacteria, toxins and estrogen from the digestive tract. They do not irritate the gut.

Foods like grains (wheat, rye and rice) nuts, seeds and polyunsaturated fats (PUFAS) will cause lipid peroxidation and free radical formation which lowers cellular energy production. Phytates in these foods will lower mineral absorption. These foods also contain protein digesting inhibitors which slow down the digestion of protein, causing purification.

CONSTIPATION

We all believed that these high fiber foods were good for us and kept us “regular”. Salads, grains, wheat bran, oatmeal and flax seeds were touted as the cure. The question is do you want a roto rooter or a nice easy bowel movement? Forcing bulky foods like raw vegetables, whole grains, wheat bran and flax seeds is like pushing waste through your digestive tract. This is like forcing garbage down a pipe without breaking it up first, This is tough going! The lining of your gut is not made of metal or copper but made of human tissue. These foods have always made me poochy, constipated and really uncomfortable.

The key to propelling food and waste through your gut is muscular tonicity and lots of digestive enzymes to break down food.

HOW DIGESTION WORKS

Peristalsis is an in and out movement of your digestive tract from your esophagus in your throat to your rectum and anus. You propel the food forward with and in and out movement.

Digestive Enzymes are made in the stomach and pancreas. These enzymes break down food to their smallest denominator.

Bile is made in the liver and stored in the gall bladder is critical for breaking down fats and also for cleaning the digestive tract.

All these activities keep food moving and breaking apart to be absorbed into the blood.

WHAT GOES WRONG WITH DIGESTION?

-Plant foods that are indigestible contain cellulose and PUFAS. These materials are damaging to the gut walls and soon the damaged cells start to swell up and slow down the muscular movement of your gut. High adrenalin from low blood sugar also causes poor circulation of nutrients and oxygen to the gut.

-Peristaltic movement stimulates the release of digestive enzymes like amylase for carbohydrates, lipase for fats and protease for protein. Poor movement lowers the levels of enzyme release.

FIXING THE PROBLEM!

-Eat foods that heal not harm your gut. Gelatin (I use Great Lakes), dairy, ripe fruits are on the top of my list. Gelatin lowers PUFAS, dairy is easy to digest (like for a baby) and contains all the nutrients needed for healing and ripe fruits add sugar for energy .

-Eat smaller meals and more often. Try to eat the same time each day.

-Add cooked and ground bamboo shoots or raw carrots in the afternoon with some protein and fat to help absorb the toxins that have been created.

-Add well aged Cascara Sagrada (an herb made from bark of a special tree), which can lower inflammation and stimulate the digestive tract to start moving normally. I like Sonnes 9A.

-Use very small amounts of coffee to get the gut moving.

Contact Linda

Call: 847-722-4376 for your free consultation

vitalityincorporate

Dedicated to my mentor and friend

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Fat Soluble Hormones – Some Basics

Comments Off Written on September 20th, 2010 by Linda DeFever
Categories: Adrenal Fatigue, Alternative Weight Loss, Nutrition
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The Anti-Stress Hormone


Hormones protect us.  They protect us from getting really sick and dying.  Here are some of the roles that hormones play:

  1. Protect from blood sugar dropping too low – without sugar in the blood we pass out and die from lack of fuel
  2. Keep calcium at normal levels in the blood – our heart depends on calcium every second as do our bones and teeth
  3. Protect from too much salt leaving through the kidneys – salt( sodium) keep the circulation open and efficient, we go into shock without salt
  4. Protect cells from damage – damaged cells produce low energy that leads to inflammation

Hormones help the body adapt to its environment.  If you are pregnant, nursing, ill, mal-nourished, over exercising or highly stressed your hormones have to work even harder to keep the body in balance.

The hormones that are secreted and protect you from serious failures in the body like low blood sugar are called anti-stress hormones.

The anti-stress hormones come in two types:

-Hormones with long term side effects

-Hormones that are highly protective and have no side effects

Adrenalin and cortisol are two hormones that are secreted from the adrenal glands and they raise blood sugar by utilizing the body’s own tissues.  But if adrenalin and cortisol remain chronically high they have side effects like:

    1. Increased heart rate
    2. Breakdown of  tissue like skin and muscle to raise blood sugar levels
    3. Osteoporosis
    4. Atrophy of brain tissue
    5. Increased fat around the middle
    6. Edema

Parathyroid hormone, which is secreted from the parathyroid gland (behind the thyroid gland in the neck), can normalize blood levels of calcium by taking it from bone, but it also can:

  1. Cause bone loss
  2. Slow down metabolism or calorie burning
  3. Increase calcium spurs
  4. Increase cortisol

* The parathyroid hormone levels normalize when there is enough calcium in the diet and there are high levels of vitamin D and progesterone.

Aldosterone secreted from the adrenal glands when sodium levels drop in the blood can:

  1. Increase blood pressure
  2. Increase cortisol

* The aldosterone levels normalize when there is enough salt in the diet, as well as protein and pregnenolone and progesterone.

Protective hormones that do not have side effects at normal levels:

  • Thyroid hormones – increases calorie burning, relaxes the cells, makes protective hormones with cholesterol and vitamin A – pregnenolone, stimulates the production of  vitamin D, helps to keep blood sugar levels stable, and stimulates the production of digestive enzymes.
  • Pregnenolone – the mother hormone of all steroid hormones made from cholesterol, thyroid hormone and vitamin A, is also a brain protecting neurosteoid.  This means that pregnenolone protects the nerves in the brain from damage due to poor energy supply, high estrogen, high cortisol, heavy metals and lack of oxygen.  Ray Peat, PhD states that pregnenolone and sucrose tend to prevent over production of cortisol.  According to Dr. Peat, pregnenolone can sometimes very quickly allow swollen tissues to release their water. Pregnenolone and sugar can suppress the production of adrenalin and quickly lower stress. And last but not least pregnenolone can act as a powerful anti aging hormone by acting as an antifibromatogenic agent.  Fibrin is a toughening of the tissues as we age.
  • Progesterone – is the hormone made from pregnenolone.  Its roles are prolific.  It protects the mother and baby during pregnancy, and protects the thymus gland, which is the key gland for the immune system.  Progesterone relieves anxiety, improves memory, protects the brain cells, and lowers intra ocular pressure in the eye in certain people.  It can prevent seizures, promote respiration and improve the tone of the blood vessels.  It can, as well, improve the efficiency of the heart, slow down aging, and promote healthy bone growth.
  • DHEA (dydroepiadrosterone) is one of the three “youth related hormones” coined by Ray Peat, PhD.  The other two are pregnenolone and progesterone.  DHEA can act as an antioxidant and in a study it decreased lipopolysaccharides (endotoxin that are made from bacteria in the gut and get into circulation).  DHEA can also help to stimulate bone building.  Ray Peat found that DHEA can lower cortisol and decrease weight around the mid-section.  But DHEA converts into estrogen so should be used sparingly and only for a very short period of time.

Steroid hormones are those hormones that use cholesterol as their base therefore they are fat soluble. Steroid hormones are called adaptive hormones because they help the body adapt to stress.  Adrenalin and parathyroid hormones are also adaptive hormones but they are not made from cholesterol.  Adrenalin is made in the adrenals and parathyroid hormone is made in the parathyroid gland.  They are both made from protein.

Pregnenolone and progesterone stimulate their own production, so the more that your body makes or the more you take the more you will have.  Both of these hormones lower cortisol and other anti stress hormones that have side effects.

You can add pregnenolone and progesterone to your dietary supplements.  DHEA can be taken at very low doses for short periods of time as it can convert to estrogen, which can be highly pro inflammatory.

Both men and women can take pregnenolone. There are no known side effects for pregnenolone.  Many people feel a mental lift and positive feelings as well as an increase in libido.  It is best to purchase the pure pregnenolone powder . Consult a professional for how to use.

Progesterone is fat soluble, and Ray Peat, PhD has found that it fully dissolves in vitamin E without the side effects from using vegetable oils.  Progesterone is commonly used by women (men can use small amounts on their skin), but there be side effects in high amounts. Please do not take any hormones unless you have been tested and please work with a professional for best possible results

References (www.raypeat.com):

  1. “Progesterone, Pregnenolone and DHEA:- Three Youth Associated Hormones”
  2. “Fats and Degeneration”
  3. “Water:  Swelling, Tension, Pain, Fatigue, Aging”
  4. “Preventing and Treating Cancer with Progesterone”
  5. “Menopause and its Causes”
  6. “Osteoporosis, Harmful Calcification and Nerve/Muscle Malfunction”

Contact Linda

Call: 847-722-4376 for your free consultation

vitalityincorporate

.

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