Category Archives: anti-aging

4 Essential Supplements Everyone Should Take

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4 Essential Supplements Everyone Should Take

One of the most common questions I’m asked is “should I be taking daily supplements and if so, which ones?” If you have heard me speak you know I always say, “ it’s not what you eat, it’s what you can digest and absorb.” In an ideal world, your diet would be pristine and your gut would be in perfect shape to digest and absorb all of the micro and macro nutrients you need to stay healthy. Unfortunately, the modern world looks very little like that anymore.

Our Western diet is filled with nutrient-poor and calorie-dense processed foods, GMOs, and pesticides. Even our soil has become devoid of nutrients, which means that the food that’s grown in it has declined in nutritional value. We are constantly exposed to toxins in our food, water, air, and even personal care and cleaning products. Our stress levels have skyrocketed and many people are dealing with gut issues, such as Candida and SIBO, which interfere with proper nutrient absorption.

This combination of a decrease in nutrients in our food and an increase in stress, toxins, and gut issues like leaky gut is why we can no longer get all of the vitamins and minerals we need from food alone, and I believe everyone should use a few key supplements to maintain optimal levels of nutrients.

Because we are all unique individuals and biochemically different, the answer to which supplements should you take is not so black and white. In today’s world, I do believe that everyone should be taking supplements of some sort, but the best supplement regimen for you may be different than what’s best for your mother or sister or brother. That being said, there are some essential supplements that I recommend for everyone to take.

 

1. High-Quality Multivitamin

Since there is no way to know exactly which nutrients you’re deficient in without proper testing, I recommend a high-quality multivitamin to all my patients and their families.

The multivitamin I recommend should be high-potency and designed for optimal absorption and bio-availability, because like I said before, it’s what you can digest and absorb that counts. It should provide a wide range of vitamins and minerals, as well HCL to help with digestion and powerful carotenoids.

 

2. Omega 3

The benefits of omega-3 fatty acids are widely publicized. They reduce inflammation and may help lower the risk of chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer, and arthritis. And, because they are highly-concentrated in the brain, omega-3 fatty acids are also important for memory, cognition, and behavior.

In addition to maintaining sufficient levels of Omega 3, it’s also important to ensure you have a proper omega-3 to omega-6 ratio in your body. You need both of these fatty acids to stay healthy, but problems arise when your intake of omega-6 fatty acids (which are often inflammatory) outweighs your consumption of omega-3 fatty acids (which are anti-inflammatory).

Research suggests that humans evolved on a diet consisting of an omega-6 to omega-3 ratio of 1:1. The modern diet, which is full of processed foods, refined oils, and not enough fruits and vegetables, supplies an omega-6 to omega-3 ratio of 15:1 to 17:1. This ratio is highly inflammatory and a recipe for disease. This is where Omega 3 supplements come in.

You want to be particularly careful about the source of your omega 3 supplements because they are extracted from fish, so many of them contain mercury. The ones you use should be tested and certified mercury-free by a third-party. It should contain EPA and DHA – two omega-3 fatty acids that help balance your fatty acid ratio, reduce inflammation, and improve brain function. Those with rheumatoid arthritis or any other chronic pain condition can take up to 4 grams (8 softgels) a day to reduce inflammation and pain.

 

3. Probiotics

The future of medicine is turning toward your microbiome, the ecosystem of bacteria and other microbes that live in your gut, to prevent and reverse many diseases. We now know that nearly 80% of your immune system is located in your gut, and up to 95% of your serotonin (the neurotransmitter responsible for regulating mood) is produced in your gut.

This means that if the balance of bacteria in your gut is thrown off, it can lead to a whole host of problems, including autoimmunity, depression, anxiety, and leaky gut, to name a few. Taking a probiotic every day can help keep your microbiome in balance, which promotes a healthy GI tract, relieves digestive discomfort, promotes a normal bowel pattern, and supports overall wellness.

Not all probiotics are created equal, though. Many probiotics contain a mixed bag of bacteria strains, are often grown using dairy, soy, or yeast, and usually need to be refrigerated, making them difficult to travel with. It’s best to take a broad-spectrum probiotic that includes bacteria strains that are naturally found in your gut, and have been researched and proven to boost gut health and immune response.

I recommend 100 billion units daily for healing gut damage, infections, and imbalances, and 30-60 billion units daily for maintenance.

 

4. Vitamin D

Vitamin D is unique in a couple of important ways. First, your body can make its own vitamin D when your skin is exposed to sunlight. Second, vitamin D is converted into a hormone in your body. Hormones are your body’s chemical messengers, they travel through your blood to your tissues and organs activating chemical reactions that control everything from metabolism to growth and development to mood. Over 50,000 of the chemical reactions in your body require the presence of adequate amounts of vitamin D in your blood. The vitamin contributes to bone strength, heart health, and cancer prevention. Vitamin D also plays an important role in your immune system, and can be a determining factor in whether or not you develop an autoimmune disease.

Conventional medicine defines vitamin D3 levels of 30 to 100 ng/mL as normal, but I always recommend keeping your vitamin D3 levels around 60 to 90 ng/mL for optimal health. If your vitamin D3 levels are low, you can take 5,000 to 10,000 IU per day until you reach your ideal level.

Never take more than 5,000 IU of vitamin D3 per day without a physician’s supervision and regular blood testing.

It is wise to accept that supplementation, with the best quality ingredients, is essential to Stay Healthy.

 

The Million-Dollar Question: “How Much Sleep Do I Need?”

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Based on the 2013 International Bedroom Poll by the National Sleep Foundation, 25 percent of Americans report having to cut down on sleep due to long workdays. On average, Americans get only 6.5 hours of sleep on weeknights, although 7.25 hours is needed in order to function optimally. Canadians fare slightly better in this regard. On average, Canadians get just over seven hours of sleep per night.

Sleep is imperative for physical and mental health. Remember, cutting back on even just a few hours of sleep every night can have serious, far-reaching effects on your health.

As a general rule, children, especially infants, need significantly more sleep than adults. Sleep experts recommend the following for different age groups:

How Much Do Newborns Sleep
    • Toddlers (1 to 3 years old ) – 12 to 14 hours a night
    • Preschoolers (3 to 5 years old) – 11 to 13 hours a night
    • School-aged children (up to 12 years old) – 10 to 11 hours a night
    • Teenagers – About 9 hours a night

Use your child’s mood as an indicator to determine if he or she is getting enough sleep. Excessive fussiness, irritability, crying, or tantrums are often linked to lack of sleep. Frequent yawning throughout the day is another dead giveaway that your child may need more snooze time.

How Much Do Newborns Sleep?

Babies do not have regular sleep cycles until they’re about 6 months old. While newborns sleep about 16 to 17 hours per day, they may only sleep for 1 or 2 hours at a time. As babies get older, they need less sleep. However, different babies have different sleep needs. It is normal for a 6-month-old to wake up during the night, and to go back to sleep after a few minutes.

To ensure your baby will always get a good night’s sleep, I advise you to follow these safe sleeping habits:

  • Let your baby sleep on his/her back at night or even during nap time to avoid chances of accidentally rolling onto his/her stomach.
  • Remove toys or pacifiers with strings or cords from your baby’s crib or sleeping area to prevent risks of choking or strangulation.
  • Make sure the room’s temperature is not too hot or too cold for your baby (preferably somewhere around 70 degrees Fahrenheit).
  • Keep your baby’s sleeping area smoke-free at all times.
  • Shelter your baby from exposure to toxins by using only organic beddings and mattresses free from harmful chemicals and chemical flame retardants. These dangerous compounds can also be found in nursing pillows, car seats, changing table pads, high chairs, strollers, portable cribs, sleeping wedges, walkers, and other baby care products.

How Much Sleep Is Too Much?

Too much of something can be bad for you. While there are a lot of Americans who lack sleep, there are also some who may be sleeping more than they should – a habit that can also have negative effects on your health.

Sleep Deprivation

In one study, researchers revealed that people in their 60s and 70s who sleep nine hours or more each night have a more rapid decline in their cognitive function than those who sleep between six and eight hours. Surprisingly, the long sleepers (9 hours or more) comprised a large portion (40 percent) of the 2,700 study participants. Another 49 percent were considered normal sleepers (6 to 8 hours), while 11 percent slept just five hours or less.

To find out if you’re getting enough sleep, observe how long it takes you to fall asleep. If you fall asleep within a few minutes of your head hitting the pillow, chances are you’re most likely sleep deprived. A well-rested person, on the other hand, will take about 10-15 minutes to fall asleep at night.

5 Simple Secrets to a Sound and Restful Sleep

If you’ve been tossing and turning in bed and have been experiencing some difficulty sleeping at night, I recommend giving these simple lifestyle changes a try:

  • Stop watching television or using any of your electronic gadgets at least an hour before going to bed. The blue light from these devices tricks your brain into thinking it’s still daytime and messes up your circadian rhythm.
  • Do not eat a heavy meal or spicy foods close to bedtime.
  • Take note of key factors that disrupt your body’s healthy melatonin production. These include electromagnetic field (EMF) sources and too much light in your bedroom. Switch off Wi-Fi devices and remove all electronics from your room. You can also wear an eye mask or turn off all the lights so you can sleep in total darkness.
  • Keep the temperature in your bedroom at 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius). According to studies, the optimal room temperature for sleep is quite cool, between 60 to 68 degrees F (15.5 to 20 degrees C). However, keeping your room cooler or hotter than that range can lead to restless sleep.
  • Make sure your pillows and mattresses are made from wholesome organic materials that do not contain harsh substances like chemical flame retardants. Studies have shown that flame retardants have numerous side effects, especially in children. In fact, approximately 90 percent of Americans have some level of flame retardant chemicals in their bodies.

Sleep well and Be Healthy.

4 Reasons You Should Be Drinking Bone Broth Every Day

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Dr. Kellyann Petrucci
bone-broth

Bone broth reportedly helps with weight loss, reducing wrinkles, and digestive function.
If you’re battling weight creep, fatigue, wrinkles, and other signs of aging, I know it’s tempting to reach for an artificial “fix”—a diet pill, an energy drink, or a shot of Botox. But I have a better prescription for you. It’s one of the world’s most powerful healing and anti-aging foods: bone broth.

Bone broth is trendy right now, with everyone from NBA stars to celebrities like Shailene Woodley and Gwyneth Paltrow raving about it. But that’s not why I tell my patients to drink this slow-simmered broth made from the bones of meat, chicken, turkey, or fish.

In fact, I was a fan of bone broth years before it became the “in thing.” More than a decade ago, I discovered the healing and fat-melting properties of this liquid gold and made it the core of my anti-aging and weight loss transformations. In addition, I drink it myself every day. Here’s why.

Bone broth heals your gut

Bone broth is packed with collagen, which turns into gelatin when you cook it — gelatin is one of the most potent gut healers on the planet. Gelatin is loaded with glycine, a powerful anti-inflammatory amino acid, and it’s rich in other healing nutrients including magnesium, proline, and arginine.

Gelatin’s gut-healing properties are important because in order to stay slim and healthy, you need to have a rock-solid gut. In fact, as a clinician who specializes in transforming sick and overweight patients into healthy, slender people, I can tell you that nothing is more important to your health than a strong gut. Here’s the story.

Your gut is home to the trillions of microbes that scientists call your microbiome. Think of this microbiome as an ecosystem — one that’s either in balance or out of balance. If it’s in balance, you have a wide diversity of good microbes and very few bad ones. If it’s out of balance, two very dangerous things can happen:

The bad microbes can multiply rapidly, churning out toxic chemicals.

Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) can occur. In SIBO, microbes overpopulate your gut, overwhelming it.

There are many reasons why your gut can get out of balance. Here are some of the primary ones:

Antibiotic use, which kills trillions of good microbes.

A diet of the wrong foods, which starves them.

Stress, which poisons their environment.

Antacids, NSAIDS, and other gut-altering medications, which change the “chemistry” of their ecosystem in harmful ways.

When bad microbes gain too much control in your gut, or when good microbes multiply too rapidly, they produce chemicals that cause inflammation. This inflammation damages the wall of your intestine, causing intestinal permeability, or a “leaky gut.” This allows bacteria, toxins, and waste to escape into your bloodstream where your immune system identifies them as alien to your body, triggering a flood of inflammatory chemicals.

When your immune system keeps encountering these escaped gut toxins day after day, it eventually gets stuck in the “on” position. Your warrior cells keep releasing toxic chemicals, even though there’s no war to fight. This causes chronic inflammation — and we now know that this chronic inflammation underlies every disease of aging, from obesity and diabetes to heart disease and cancer.

Gelatin helps transform a leaky gut into a strong barrier, healing chronic inflammation and making your entire body healthier. As a result, you’ll lose extra pounds more easily, feel more energetic, and even discover that skin problems like eczema start to clear up.

Bone broth erases your wrinkles

High-end wrinkle creams are packed with collagen, which firms and strengthens the cells in your skin. However, it’s far more effective to build collagen from the inside . When you drink bone broth, it’s like mainlining the components of collagen to your skin.

Bone broth also contains hyaluronic acid, which hydrates your skin, erasing fine wrinkles. (Babies’ skin is loaded with hyaluronic acid, which is why it’s so soft.) Again, you can pay big money for skin creams containing this wrinkle blaster — or you can feed it straight to your cells, the natural way.

Bone broth helps you lose weight fast

Unlike the watery broth you get in a can, bone broth is rich, hearty, and satisfying. When you drink a cup, you’ll feel like you’ve eaten a full meal, even though you’re only taking in around 50 to 60 calories. As a result, you won’t experience cravings, even if you cut down drastically on your food intake.

When my patients need to lose weight rapidly, I tell them to do two semi-fasts a week, eating nothing but bone broth on those days. Many of them initially aren’t sure they can do it. However, they quickly discover that the weight melts right off them, and they’re amazed at how effectively bone broth stops their cravings for sugar and junk food.

Bone broth protects your joints

Your joints contain cartilage, a slippery Teflon-like coating that allows the joints to slide over each other without grinding. Similarly, animal bones contain cartilage. In addition to being rich in collagen, cartilage is packed with glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate — the same nutrients many doctors prescribe as supplements to keep joints young and healthy.

A randomized, double-blind clinical trial in 2015 found that oral chondroitin and glucosamine were as effective as the arthritis drug Celebrex in reducing pain, swelling, and functional limitations caused by knee osteoarthritis. And because they’re natural nutrients, glucosamine and chondroitin have a perfect safety profile — unlike Celebrex, which is a potentially dangerous drug.

You can make bone broth in your own kitchen

Here’s one of the best things about bone broth: You don’t need a prescription for it! All you need is a big pot or a slow cooker, several pounds of bones, some spices and vegetables, and a few hours to let your broth simmer.

Think about it: What other medicine can help you lose weight, make you look younger, give you more energy, heal your joints, and erase your wrinkles without a prescription, a trip to the drug store, or any side effects other than a warm, happy, satisfied feeling? That’s why bone broth is the core of my weight-loss and anti-aging transformations… and why it should be the core of your own health regimen as well.

It’s always simple to Stay Healthy.

Immune Booster: Echinacea

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Jon Barron 

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“Not only are natural immune boosters safer than the drug-based approach (having fewer side effects), they are also far more powerful than their pharmaceutical counterparts. Let’s take a look at some of the more powerful immune boosters available.

Echinacea (purple coneflower) is truly a miracle herb. It was ‘discovered’ in the late 1800s by a traveling salesman named Joseph Meyer, who learned about it from the Plains Indians while traveling out West. He brewed it up as an alcohol tincture and sold it as a cure-all—demonstrating its effectiveness by letting rattlesnakes bite him and then drinking his tonic. Needless to say, he never got sick, from whence comes the phrase ‘snake oil.’

How does Echinacea work? First, it contains echinacoside, a natural antibiotic comparable to penicillin in effect, which can kill a broad range of viruses, bacteria, fungi, and protozoa. This makes it invaluable in wound healing and in the treatment of infectious diseases. Research has also reported Echinacea’s efficacy in treating colds, flu, bronchitis, and tuberculosis. Echinacea also contains echinacein, a biochemical that protects against germ attack by neutralizing the tissue-dissolving enzyme hyaluronidase, produced by many germs. Among the many pharmacological properties reported for Echinacea, macrophage activation has been demonstrated most convincingly. One study showed that Echinacea extracts can boost T-cell production by up to 30 percent more than immune-boosting drugs.

There are two primary varieties of Echinacea: Echinacea purpurea and E. angustifolia. They are similar, but also have complementary properties. Formulas that use both are more likely to be effective. It’s also worth noting that potency runs from seed (greatest potency) to root to leaf to almost none in the flower. And, of course, herb quality is paramount.

Over the last few years, there have been several studies that claimed to debunk Echinacea’s ability to boost the immune system and fight colds. Suffice it to say that the studies were either flawed in design (reviews of previously flawed studies), used the wrong parts of the Echinacea plant (flowers and leaves rather than roots and seeds), or used it at the wrong strength. Forget the studies—Echinacea still stands as one of the best immune boosters available.”

Why choose good quality supplements : A Doctor Explains

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Maybe your doctor recommended you start taking a supplement. Maybe you stumbled across an article somewhere that suggested a certain variety would cure what ails you. Or maybe you heard that everyone over a certain age should be taking a daily multivitamin.

There are any number of reasons to take a nutritional supplement. And in today’s world, where our internal detoxification systems are running at capacity, our diets tend to be less than ideal, and our lifestyles can be hectic and stressful, I find that taking the appropriate supplement can be a critical part of a healthy life.

In my medical practice, I’ve seen again and again that the right supplements in the right doses can help patients reverse complex symptoms and regain energy and vitality.

You might have heard common multivitamins referred to as “bedpan bullets.” Do you know why? Because they are often so full of binders and fillers that the tablets make it all the way through the digestive system perfectly intact. Meaning: You’re not even absorbing the vitamins and minerals.

I view drugs and supplements as the same thing — both should be produced under exacting standards.  A supplement needs to contain exactly the ingredient your body needs in pharmaceutical quality. If it doesn’t, you’re not getting the medicine you need.

The second problem is that the supplements that can be bought in grocery stores and health food stores might contain ingredients that are actually harmful to consume.

A few recent examples illustrate how supplement businesses are abusing this lack of oversight. Just this fall, the Oregon Attorney General accused supplement giant GNC of selling products labeled “all-natural” that were actually laced with Picamilon, a synthetic drug prescribed in Russia to treat neurological conditions. Earlier this year, a similar debacle happened in New York that resulted in entire product lines being pulled from shelves after the attorney general’s office found major retailers were selling supplements that were inaccurately labeled and even potentially dangerous.

And a 2013 study into herbal supplement quality that looked at 44 herbal products from 12 different companies concluded:

“Most of the herbal products tested were of poor quality, including considerable product substitution, contamination and use of fillers. These activities dilute the effectiveness of otherwise useful remedies, lowering the perceived value of all related products because of a lack of consumer confidence in them.”

As a functional medicine physician who builds treatments based on an individual’s precise biochemistry, I prescribe supplements daily.

Unfortunately, I feel I can’t just send my patients to any store to buy the supplements. For example, I recommended melatonin to one of my first clients who was complaining of sleep problems. She bought some from a grocery store and it didn’t work. She came back and complained, so I gave her high-quality melatonin instead. She slept like a baby.

It does me little good to be a physician with four board certifications and dual masters’ degrees if my patients end up with low-quality supplements to try my treatments. The treatments will simply not be effective.

So how are the right supplements made? Quality, pharmaceutical-grade supplements have extensive control measures. They assay the raw ingredients for impurities and heavy metals and test to be sure it’s the exact genus and species that is effective. Then, after the supplements are made, they batch test it all again to be sure they’re pure and contain the right amount of active product. They reject batches of raw materials due to impurities or lack of active ingredient. It raises the question: Isn’t this the way all supplements should be made?

But for now, you can’t assume that all supplements and multivitamins are of the same quality, or even that the tablets are safe to take.

That’s why I recommend buying only “pharmaceutical grade” supplements, the highest level of quality.

And if you go to your grocery store pharmacy and don’t see anything of quality available, look for pharmaceutical-grade supplements. You’ll be doing yourself, and the industry, some good.

Stay Healthy.