Category Archives: Mind and Body

Cancer – Causes and Prevention

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Causes of Cancer

  • Genetic – only 10%.

Having a genetic predisposition does NOT condemn us to actually suffering from the disease.

  • Poor Nutrition – 30%.

Sugar feeds cancer. Green tea, 5 – 8 cups a day, reduces recurrence of breast cancer.

  • Inflammation and Infections
  • Obesity
  • Environmental Toxins.

 

So this means that if we can maintain a healthy lifestyle, we can beat our genetics.

What constitutes a healthy lifestyle?

  • Optimum nutrition. 9-13 servings of vegetables, including 1-2 fruit, per day. Ideally free of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Definitely free of Genetic Modification.
  • Nutritional supplements to cover the gap between what we can consume and what our body actually needs.
  • Optimum exercise
  • Optimum sleep
  • Stress reduced, mindful living

That’s it! It’s always simple to remain healthy.

Depression – are drugs really the answer?

The top-selling antidepressant drug today is Cymbalta® (generic name duloxetine) which is supposed to help maintain serotonin and norepinephrine levels in the brain. Estimates show that reported sales of the medication are more than $4 billion annually. But if serotonin is not related to depression, all that money is being spent for a drug that has little benefit.

A recent study at the John D. Dingell VA Medical Center and Wayne State University School of Medicine suggests that some of these drugs are worthless for fighting this problem.

Prozac and similar drugs to boost serotonin levels enjoy huge sales even though reports show that up to 70 percent of the people taking these medications do not get any relief from their depression.

In the latest study, scientists found that lab animals without any serotonin in their brains did not show symptoms of depression although they were very aggressive and demonstrated compulsive behavior.

The scientists believe that their data strongly suggest that serotonin is actually not an important factor in depression.

Much better results are obtained with

Omega 3 supplementation

Repair of ‘Leaky Gut’ with avoidance of toxins and use of prebiotics. Healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables, and oily fish. Omit refined carbohydrates.

Exercise

Meditation

Social support group

Maintaining adequate vit D levels, exposure to sunshine.

8 hours of sleep.

Simple, doable strategies with no side effects!

Stay Healthy.

Want your children to be smarter?

Can we actually get smarter? You bet!

Simple ways to feed our brain, exercise the brain, improve its function:

1. EFA – ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS

If there’s just one thing you’re willing to do, let it be this one. Eat fatty fish such as wild salmon, or take supplements. At all ages. Including the unborn or breast feeding infant, including the elderly grandparents. Especially students. Certainly adults with medical conditions ( Sole caveat: Patients on blood thinners please inform your doctor before planned surgery.)

omega

2. SLEEP

Adequate sleep is a must for the brain to assimilate all the information it has gathered, and to form new pathways.

Remember, grandma always said – sleep well before an exam? Well, she was right!

sleep

3.HERBS

Turmeric, Ginger, Garlic, Oregano, Rosemary can improve neural transmission and reduce inflammation. We Indians are so fortunate most of these are a natural part of our diet!

4. NO SUGAR

Repeat, NO SUGAR. It can cause plaques and increase insulin resistance. And refined flour is metabolised to sugar, therefore it acts just like sugar in the body. Therefore, NO sweetened drinks and no chain store burgers and pizzas.

Alzheimers is often called Type III Diabetes.

no sugar

5. LEARNING

Its exercise for the brain and, just like physically exercising the body makes it stronger, mental exercise makes the brain ‘stronger’. Playing mind games is good activity.

6. CLEAN WATER which does not contain neurotoxins like Fluoride and Chlorine.

7. OXYGEN

Rejuvenates and strengthens brain cells.

8. MEDITATION

Even if we can get in 10 to 15 min a day of meditation, it improves attention and performance. 

9. HIGHER POWER

Phenomena like ESP demonstrate that there is more to it than meets the eye. Ever have a flash of insight? Tuning in to a Higher Intelligence could improve our own!

So. Simple, small steps, carried out regularly, can bring great results!

Emotional Metabolism

I came across this great video explaining the reasons for emotional eating.

I thought it was so important, that I am reproducing the text below, with a link to the video.

And this is exactly how the mind body connection works. Once we understand our thoughts and emotions, and we are able to guide them to a ‘better’ way of thinking, we can overcome any illness, any challenge.

Here goes! Hope you enjoy it.

Hi, I’m Emily Rosen, Chief Operating Officer for the Institute for the Psychology of Eating.

Today’s topic: What is Emotional Metabolism?

I love the word metabolism.

It sounds scientific, it sounds important, it has a kind of sexiness to it – and even if you don’t exactly know what it is, most people know that they want a better, hotter and higher functioning metabolism.

Our metabolism is the process by which we take the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink, and all the substances that enter our body – and transmute them into needed fuel and building blocks for biologic survival – while neutralizing whatever it is that’s toxic to human form and function.

Metabolism is wonderful.
Let’s have more of it.

Well actually, we do have more metabolic power than we realize. Not only do we have our biological metabolism, we also have a lesser known one: Our Emotional Metabolism.

Most of us experience emotions as something that happens to us.

Emotions – meaning feelings, come and go. Some of us are more emotional. Some less. Some of us have difficulty controlling our emotions. Others keep them under tight control. Sometimes, our emotions get the best of us. Other times, our emotions reflect the best of who we are – our care, our compassion, love, courage, faith and so on…

The term “Emotional Metabolism” affirms that we are constantly experiencing a flux of emotions generated from within, and we experience emotions that impact us from the outside  – the feelings of others. And emotions must be processed just as we need to process any food that enters our system.

Our emotional metabolism is the part of us that does it’s best to take in the emotions that work for us, while protecting against the kinds of emotions that bring us down. In other words, feelings of all kinds must be digested, assimilated, and if they don’t serve us – neutralized and excreted.

Have you ever felt stuck clogged up, frozen, or in a bind – that’s your emotional metabolism being a bit constipated.

Have you ever felt that someone came at you with anger or judgment that was unjustified, and you walked away feeling assaulted or stunned. That’s emotional metabolism feeling beat up – kind of like eating a bad meal.

Have you had times in life where it felt that the stars were all aligning for you, you were in a great mood, in a flow, humming along, and nothing could pierce your good vibes. That’s your emotional metabolism running, super high and efficient.

Here’s the point:

It may be just as important to pay attention to emotional metabolism as it is to nutritional metabolism. Both are not only essential to life – they ARE life.

Like nutritional metabolism, emotional metabolism requires attention, study, constant scrutiny, and curiosity. Both can have us experiencing constipation, weakness, fatigue, over activity, under activity, and more.  Just as we can walk through life eating junk food and unknowingly harming our health, so too can we go through life constantly generating and taking in “junk food emotions” – constant worry, jealousy, judgment, fear, unwarranted anger, self attack, disappointment and more.

My suggestion is this: we need to make emotional metabolism a conscious process. We need to actively and intelligently participate in the regulation and experiencing of our own feelings. Just as it’s a great idea to elevate your nutritional understanding, we need to do the same with the eternal ebb and flow of our feelings.

This is actually not some fanciful notion.

The late great scientist Candace Pert wrote a groundbreaking book called Molecules of Emotion. Her work demonstrated that essentially, every thought and feeling has a chemical equivalent in the body. And indeed it must. We are biochemical beings. And all chemicals in the body are involved in the overall process of metabolism. Some common molecules of emotion include serotonin, dopamine, PEA, oxytocin, estrogen, testosterone, acetylcholine, the endorphins, enkephalins, and a long and still to be discovered list of peptide molecules.

Here’s a very simple way you can put the concept of emotional metabolism to practical use in your life: Oftentimes, we hold back our emotions. After all, who wants to be all out there and upfront about the anger we’re experiencing, our rage, depression, hurt, grief, fear, or disappointment. These are emotions a lot of people tend to hide or suppress.

We might even choose to mask our feelings of love, desire, and intimacy – simply because they intimidate us.

The result is emotional constipation. The result is a sluggish emotional metabolism. The result is an artificial buildup of emotional content in our system that needs an outlet. Oftentimes, when we’re emotionally constipated and can’t or won’t express our feelings, or even admit them to our own self – we look to alleviate the stress of holding back our emotions with something that gives us comfort.

For example, food.

The act of suppressing one’s emotions is literally a physiologic stressor for the system. It’s no different than needing to take a pee and holding it in too long. It’s not natural, it’s not necessary, and it hurts.

The stress that comes along with emotional withholding always seeks an outlet. Again, food is one such common outlet. For many people, overeating, binge eating, and this fascinating experience called emotional eating – is indeed our emotions calling out for some airtime. Our feelings want our attention. And when they can’t get our attention, they can make us have all kinds of unwanted eating behaviors – which then get our attention in a big way.

Feelings are meant to be felt. That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to act on every single feeling. When a feeling is felt, it then has a natural lifespan and our emotional metabolism regulates it in a natural way.

So here’s the remedy: start to feel your feelings. Be honest about them. See what’s beneath them. Listen to what they’re asking of you. Let them wash over your body. Stop fighting them.  Stop trying to hide them. Stop pretending that you’re not having those feelings. Be real.

The result will be a better emotional metabolism, and most likely a much happier relationship with food.

I hope this was helpful.

 

Eating with heart, mind and soul

What is it that we are truly hungering for? Our craving are like a crying baby who is trying to draw our attention. When the baby cries, the mother cradles the baby to try to calm the baby right away. By acknowledging and embracing our cravings through a few breaths, we can stop our autopilot of reaching out to the pint of ice cream or the bag of chips.”

Mindful eating is eating with intention and attention:

  • Eating with the intention of caring for yourself
  • Eating with the attention necessary for noticing and enjoying your food and its effects on your body.

 

 

As we practice this regularly, we become aware that we don’t need to eat as much, whereas when people just gulp down food, they can eat a lot and not feel full.

eating

 

Also, very important, the true benefits of the food we consume are realized only when we are truly invested in the experience of eating it, and visualizing our body deriving nourishment from it. And that is the best diet to adopt, one that will automatically lead to optimum weight and optimum health. 

 

From Psychology of Eating