Category Archives: Supplements

10 Reasons Why You Should Take Supplements

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Dave Asprey

Why should you take supplements:

1. Your Diet is not nutritious enough

Grains and most forms of modern dairy  can deplete nutrient stores and interfere with nutrient absorption.  They are toxins in themselves, which increases your nutrient needs.

2. Soil Depletion

Improper farming practices deplete the soil of nutrients.  When plants are repeatedly grown on the same land, the soil loses nutrients faster than they can be replaced.  Over time, the plants have fewer nutrients to grow.  Fertilizer contains just enough nutrition for the plant to survive until harvesting, but not enough to support human health.  This results in plants that have 75% fewer micronutrients.  In addition, most plants are not harvested fresh.  They sit on trucks, shelves, and counters for weeks before being eaten.  Over time, the nutrient content of these plants decreases.

Most modern fruits and vegetables are grown to increase their sugar content, not their nutrient value.  As a result, most of the common fruits and vegetables are artificially high in fructose and sugar and lower in key nutrients.

When plants contain fewer nutrients, the animals that eat these plants are also malnourished.  A study published in the Journal of Nutrition and Health found copper levels in the UK have dropped by 90% in dairy, 55% in meat, and 76% in vegetables.

3. Water Depletion

Water is also depleted of minerals due to modern production methods.  There is a huge variation in the mineral content of bottled and tap water, with tap water generally having more.  Water filters remove important minerals such as magnesium, which was a main source of magnesium for early humans.  If you don’t use a filter and you don’t have a well, it’s likely you’re consuming dangerous amounts of fluoride and/or are deficient in magnesium.  This could explain why people who drink water higher in calcium than magnesium develop more myocardial infarcts and ischemic heart disease.

4. Low Calorie Diets Are Low Nutrient Diets

Consuming a low calorie diet means you’re consuming fewer total micronutrients.  Humans are designed to consume a large amount of calories, and it doesn’t make you fat.  When you eat less (as everyone says you should), it’s easy to become malnourished.  When you’re consuming low quality foods, you have to eat even more to obtain the right amounts of nutrition.  This is one more example of why food quality matters.

What do we mean by low calorie?  According to this study most diets require 27,575 calories to supply all the essential micronutrients.  If you’re eating less than that, you’re deficient in nutrients.

Animal foods are generally higher in calories and nutrients, so it’s no surprise that’s where the majority of calories came from in early human development.  Since the modern trend is to reduce the consumption of animal foods, people are consuming fewer nutrients.

Pesticide-treated vegetables are lower in phenolics than organic ones.  This is because polyphenols are produced as a defense against bugs and pathogens.  When there is no reason to defend themselves, the plant stops producing polyphenols.   Fresh fruits and vegetables grown at home in well fertilized soil are going to be higher in nutrients than USDA organic versions.

There is also evidence that glyphosate – RoundUp herbicide – chelates minerals in crops on which it is sprayed. Unfortunately, organic is not always possible due to financial or logistical reasons.  Even when you can find organic foods, they aren’t necessarily better.

6. Grain-fed Meat & Conventional Dairy

Compared to grass-fed meat, grain-fed meat is abysmally low in antioxidants, micronutrients, fatty acids, minerals, and vitamins.  Grains are not a food for humans or herbivorous animals.  When herbivores are fed grains, they become malnourished, just like humans.  Grain-fed meat and farmed seafood can also serve as a carrier for more toxins, which increases nutrient needs.

Raw, unpasteurized, unprocessed, full-fat dairy can be good for you, but the kind most people buy at the grocery store is not healthy.  The majority of nutrients in milk are found in the fat (cream).  When you remove or reduce the fat, you are removing and reducing the nutrient content.  Pasteurization destroys some of the nutrients in both skim and full fat milk.  Conventional dairy is also high in aflatoxin and other mycotoxins that were in the cattle’s feed.

If you eat grain-fed meat or conventional dairy – supplementation is a good idea.

7. Toxin Exposure

Your body needs nutrients to deal with toxins.  When more toxins are present, you need more nutrients.  If you’re living in a cave or the garden of Eden, this will be less of a concern.  If you’re like the rest of us mortals – you’re exposed to a litany of toxins on a daily basis.

Here are just some of the things your body has to contend with:

    1. Xenoestrogens (plastics, BPA, some molds, petroleum products).
    2. Industrial solvents and cleaners.

Our bodies weren’t designed to deal with these toxins using only nutrition from food. They just weren’t. So if you plan to get your nutrition only from food, you should plan to get your toxins only from the Garden of Eden. Good luck with that.

8. Nutrient Absorption Declines With Age

Several studies have shown kids need more nutrients to support growth, and older people need more nutrients due to malabsorption.  As people age, they often begin taking medications which can interfere with nutrient absorption.  This means you need to take more nutrients in the most absorbable form possible.

9. Exercise Increases Nutrient Needs

Athletes often think tons of exercise is the key to a long and healthy life (it’s not).  They are among the first to denounce supplements as unnecessary, often with the idea that exercise is the best medicine.  I don’t advocate high amounts of exercise, but this is an important point.  If you’re doing enough exercise to substantially deplete energy reserves, you’re also using more nutrients for energy production and recovery.  As a result, athletes are at an even higher risk of nutrient deficiencies.  Since many athletes eat a low nutrient, high toxin diet – this is a serious concern.

10. Supplements May Help You Live Longer

Aging is a natural process, but it’s not fun.  If there are supplements than can delay this process, why not take them? There is good reason to believe a higher intake of nutrients may prolong life. If supplements can buy you a few more years of quality life, why not take them?

11. Expense & Health

Whether we like it or not, our diet is not sufficiently nutritious. Avoiding supplementation due to the cost factor is false economy.

Choose supplements wisely and Stay Healthy.

The power of removing nutrient deficiencies

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Here’s just one example (of many): Research in the British Journal of Psychiatry shows that providing fish oil and a multivitamin to prison inmates reduces aggressive and violent behavior by 35% and decreases antisocial behavior by 26%.
Also, a paper published in Nutrition Reviews shows that giving children fish oil and a multivitamin improves both their behavior and intelligence scores. (Who doesn’t want a smarter, better-behaved kid?)
That’s the power of removing nutrient deficiencies. When our bodies don’t have the nutrients they need to do their work, we all suffer. But as soon as we get these nutrients, we thrive.

Stay Healthy.

Fiber is Fab

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Adapted from Dr. Mercola

Why Is Fiber So Important?

It is actually because your body can’t digest fiber that it plays such an important part in digestion. Soluble fiber, like that found in cucumbers, blueberries, beans, and nuts, dissolves into a gel-like texture, helping to slow down your digestion. This helps you to feel full longer and is one reason why fiber may help with weight control.

Insoluble fiber, found in foods like dark green leafy vegetables, green beans, celery, and carrots, does not dissolve at all and helps add bulk to your stool. This helps food to move through your digestive tract more quickly for healthy elimination. Many whole foods, especially fruits and vegetables, naturally contain both soluble and insoluble fiber.

9 Health Benefits of Fiber
  • Blood sugar control: Soluble fiber may help to slow your body’s breakdown of carbohydrates and the absorption of sugar, helping with blood sugar control.
  • Heart health: An inverse association has been found between fiber intake and heart attack, and research shows that those eating a high-fiber diet have a 40 percent lower risk of heart disease.
  • Stroke: Researchers have found that for every seven-grams more fiber you consume on a daily basis, your stroke risk is decreased by 7 percent.
  • Weight loss and management: Fiber supplements have been shown to enhance weight loss among obese people, likely because it increases feelings of fullness.
  • Skin health: Fiber, particularly psyllium husk, may help move yeast and fungus out of your body, preventing them from being excreted through your skin where they could trigger acne or rashes.
  • Diverticulitis: Dietary fiber (especially insoluble) may reduce your risk of diverticulitis – an inflammation of polyps in your intestine – by 40 percent.
  • Hemorrhoids: A high-fiber diet may lower your risk of hemorrhoids.
  • Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS): Fiber may provide some relief from IBS.
  • Gallstones and kidney stones: A high-fiber diet may reduce the risk of gallstones and kidney stones, likely because of its ability to help regulate blood sugar.
What Are the Healthiest Sources of Fiber?

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“…the current average fiber intake in the United States is about 13 grams a day for women and 17 for men. Increasing these amounts by seven grams a day would bring them close to the recommended levels of 21 to 25 grams for women and 30 to 38 for men. ‘Seven grams a day increase is an achievable goal…’ ‘You’re talking about… increasing vegetable and fruit by two portions a day.’”

If your diet could use more fiber, resist the urge to fortify it with whole grains. (And most certainly avoid fiber -fortified breakfast cereals!) Whole grains contain anti-nutrients that may damage your health. Instead, focus on eating more vegetables, nuts, and seeds. The following whole foods, for example, contain high levels of soluble and insoluble fiber.

Chia seeds Berries Vegetables such as broccoli and Brussels sprouts
Root vegetables and tubers, including onions and sweet potatoes Almonds Psyllium seed husk, flax, and chia seeds, Inulin
Green beans Cauliflower Beans such as kidney beans and Chickpeas
Peas

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A simple “rule” to remember is simply to get most of your fiber in the form of vegetables, not grains. And not breakfast cereals!

Be Healthy.

5 Reasons To Add More Protein To Your Diet

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One of the fastest ways to calm your hunger and sugar cravings is by eating protein. You probably know protein is great for keeping you satisfied, but did you know it can also decrease your cravings?That’s because protein puts the brakes on our neuronal reward system, the brain chemicals that make us feel good and motivate us to get more food, even when we’re not hungry. When we’re low in protein, cravings take over and crack the whip in search of a quick fix. Here are a few ways to combat cravings with protein:
1. Many times when a sugar craving hits, your body is really crying out for protein.

When you’re low in protein, your system knows it needs energy, and you crave foods that will give you fuel fast. Unfortunately, those high-sugar impact foods that you’re in the mood for, will only raise your blood sugar and trigger an insulin response, which shuts off fat burning.

Instead of reaching for a cookie, fill up on a handful of almonds or a yogurt, that way you’ll curb cravings for sweets by giving your body the kind of sustained energy it really needs.

2. Make sure you have a protein-rich breakfast.

One study found that a high-protein breakfast suppresses ghrelin, your hunger hormone, far better than a high-carbohydrate breakfast. Another study found a moderate- or high-protein breakfast curbed cravings in overweight and obese young people. Instead of having a carbohydrate-rich breakfast like cereal that will leave you hungry a couple of hours later, try a protein shake that will keep you full and focused for much longer.

3. You should have a sufficient amount of protein in all of your meals.

How much protein should you consume daily to get those crave-crushing benefits? One meta-analysis concluded 25 – 30 grams of protein at each meal benefits weight loss, appetite and other health factors. Based on my three decades working as a nutritionist, I’ve found the average woman should get 75– 80 grams daily, whereas most men should get 100– 120 grams of protein a day.

These numbers aren’t set in stone. Your weight and body composition will influence the amount of protein you need. Those needs increase if you’re under stress, if you’re healing or if you’re doing some heavy resistance training.

4. Find the right protein sources for your diet.

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The best sources of protein include high-quality animal protein, including grass-fed beef, free-range chicken, wild-caught low-mercury fish and (if you’re not intolerant) eggs.

Vegans and vegetarians sometimes find meeting their protein quota challenging, and supplementation ma be helpful in addition to plant-based high-protein foods like quinoa, legumes and nuts and seeds.

Whether you’re short on time or don’t have much of an appetite, a shake becomes the perfect higher-protein breakfast that takes minutes to prepare, but keeps you full, focused and crave-free for hours. Those are among the reasons I call a protein shake my number one needle mover for fast, lasting fat loss.

5. Make sure you’re not rushing through meals.

Even if you’re eating enough protein, you may not be assimilating it well. Speed eating, drinking too much fluid with your meals, not chewing enough, or low stomach acid (including if you take acid blockers) can all interfere with absorption. Low stomach acid becomes a real concern if you’re over 30 or under stress, which includes most of us.

Your goal, then, becomes eating enough protein but also digesting it well.

Do you know how much protein you’re consuming at meals? Do you find eating a higher-protein diet keeps you full longer or otherwise benefits you? Share your thoughts below.

From JJ Virgin.

And Stay Healthy.

3 Pillars for Beating Cancer

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 Prof. Keith Scott-Mumby MD, MB ChB, PhD

 I call my three pillars to beat cancer the “survival triangle.”  They are simple, proven fighters that will make you a winner against this devastating disease. Taking a single one and making it part of your life will make a huge difference in your overall health.

If you utilize all three, it will change your life.

Now, before anything, let me say that traditional cancer treatment (surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation) does its part to help patients survive cancer.

Unfortunately, they don’t address the root cause of cancer. They treat the tumors that result. They kill the cancer cells and a lot of healthy cells along the way. Conventional cancer modalities treat the disease…not the patient.

Even oncologists who understand that toxins and inflammation are the underlying cause of millions of deaths globally from cancer every year aren’t addressing prevention techniques that will keep these patients from coming back with another cancer in a year or five years.

Even if you fully expect traditional treatment to “cure you,” alternative methods can help you with the side effects you’re going to experience, keep your body stronger, and guard you against another episode of cancer in your future.

Alternative choices can improve your quality of life and help you endure treatments such as radiation that leave the body (and immune system) ravaged and weak. The “war” against cancer leaves as much destruction as a real war.

Pillar #1 – DIET

Cancer represents the biggest fight of your entire life.  You need to be as fit and healthy as you can be to meet the challenge. In order to handle the demands of exercise, to terminate infection and bacteria, to fight the effects of age, your body is going to need the right fuel.

That is why diet is the first pillar of beating the root causes of cancer.

Anyone (medical professional or otherwise) who tells you that diet does not affect your health or ability to fight disease is a liar. Period.

Diet is everything. Even the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that around 40% of cancers are caused by diet (I think the numbers are actually much higher). What you choose to put in your mouth may mean the difference between life and death.

That isn’t dramatic, that is fact.

Eating a diet filled with junk food, dyes, preservatives, excess sugar, caffeine, or other “empty” calories cannot and will not feed your body. If your body doesn’t get the right vitamins and minerals – it stops running. Just like a car without gas.

Dietary requirements must be assessed based on each individual’s specific needs. Remove any foods (no matter how much you love them) that cause stress to your immune system.

My personal suggestion is to fill your diet with fresh, organic foods (where possible), salads, smoothies, and brightly colored produce. Remember that dairy, soy, grains, and even certain produce can be unknown stressors. Avoid white sugar, white flour, white rice, processed foods, dairy, and soy.

Pillar #2 – Emotional Cleansing

Negative emotion as a root cause of cancer is reality. There is far too much science to back this stance up, so keep an open mind.

Stanford psychiatrist, Dr. David Spiegel, was a skeptic when he began his study on the influence of negativity on breast cancer patients. He was shocked to discover that at the ten-year survival checkup, those women who included therapy in their lives survived twice as long as those who did not.

You read that right…there was a 50% better survival rate by purging negative emotion.

Another Yale research study found that cancer spread faster in women who had “repressed personalities.” They defined the word “repressed” as having intense feelings of hopelessness and not having the ability to express anger, fear, or other negative emotions.

In other words, they bottled it all up inside and it made them sicker, faster.

Stress is known in the traditional and alternative communities as a major cause of inflammation. It is one thing everyone agrees on (though traditional medicine’s answer is another prescription). Inflammation has been discovered at the base of all known diseases.

In other words, stress will kill you through cancer or heart attack or autoimmune disease…if you allow it to control your life. Balanced emotions equal a balanced physiological system.

Pillar #3 – DETOXIFICATION

There are countless stressors in our modern world and many of them are foods, people or situations, and products we allow into our lives. We’ve talked about the first two. Let’s discuss the contamination most people never consider.

Personal pollution is as dire as environmental pollution and we are surrounded by both at every turn. Pollutants are in our soil, water, and air and that means they are in our food supply. Those are harder to control (even organic foods are grown on the same planet we’ve corrupted with countless toxins).

You can control what you put on your body, what you put in your body, and how you maintain the environments you live in most (your home and work space).

If you haven’t heard about the chemical soup found in cosmetics, household goods, and everyday cleansers, I urge you to do some research on it right now. From heavy metals and arsenic to formaldehyde and parabens…products you buy every day at your local market are filled with endocrine disruptors, estrogen mimics, and outright poison to the cells in your body.

Big Business (food manufacturers, chemical producers, and even personal care manufacturers), and Big Pharma (drugs, drugs, drugs) don’t care about your health. They don’t care about “curing” anything at all because then…how would they make money?

Every time you use cosmetics, shampoos, conditioners, antiperspirants, paints, household cleaning agents, laundry detergent, or any host of other products…you are playing Russian Roulette with your health.

These deadly toxins don’t just pass through your system. No, that would be bad but your (healthy) immune system would be able to control most of the fallout. What makes many of these chemicals so dangerous is that they accumulate in your body, gradually building up (bit by bit) to levels that are toxic according to any agency.

The True Causes of Cancer

There are many things stressing your body each and every day. Junk nutrition, high levels of stress, and chemical contamination push these stressors past the brink of what your body can handle.

Eliminate them from your life.

Live Healthy to Stay Healthy.