Category Archives: Health & Nutrition

Guide to Nutritional Supplements and weight management.

Health & Nutrition #74 by Nutrobalance

July 8, 2016Health & Nutritionhealth issues, healthier pizza, healthy weight losspinockio

Edition #74

Top 10 Most Common Health Issues

1. Physical Activity and Nutrition
2. Overweight and Obesity
3. Tobacco
4. Substance Abuse
5. HIV/AIDS
6. Mental Health
7. Injury and Violence
8. Environmental Quality
9. Immunization
10. Access to Health Care
click here !

6 Steps to a Healthier Pizza

When working towards health goals many food items just seem taboo. It is true some foods are higher in saturated fat, sugar, and calories than other foods but you don’t have to omit them if it’s something you love. People can maintain their weight loss and health goals more effectively with a plan that includes…
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The 4 Tips to Healthy Weight Loss that have Nothing to do with Diet and Exercise

Weight loss plans come in all shapes and sizes. Some are fad diets that are too restrictive to follow more than a couple of weeks, while others provide professional interaction with customized plans. All of them provide you guidelines on what you should and shouldn’t eat to ultimately reach your weight loss goals. No matter…

Improve your mental health naturally!

July 8, 2016Health & Nutritionmental healthpinockio

Mental health problems, like depression and anxiety are experienced by more people worldwide than any other physical disorder. According to predictions from the World Health Organisation, by 2020 depression will cause greater disability than any other mental or physical disorder.

This is a severe problem and it is common sense that we find effective solutions for these problems.
To-day most mental health problems are treated with psychological and pharmacological interventions.
The most common psychological treatments are known as cognitive-behavioural therapies (CBT), while antidepressants are the most common class of medication used to treat both depression and anxiety.

Other interventions are also effective, although not promoted as much as the previous mentioned treatments, including exercise, relaxation/ meditation, and sleep-based interventions.
Herbs and nutrients are also often used to treet mental health problems, but there is doubt whether they actually work.

The following more commonly used natural supplements will be reviewed to see if there is actually any evidence to support their efficacy.

1. Omega-3 fish oils.
There has been a substantial amount of research on the effects of fish oil, mostly in the   area of    depression, anxiety and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD ).
The overall evidence suggests that fish oil is moderate effective for these conditions.
In several meta-analyses it had been confirmed that fish oil can improve depressive symptoms that    occur in major depressive disorders and bipolar disorder.
The most effective fish oils for mental health are those ones that contain greater concentration of    EPA ( a type of omega-3 fat)

2. St John’s wort
This herb has always been very popular for the treatment of depression and there has been many good quality studies in several meta-analyses. St John’s wort has been shown to be effective for the treatment of depression. However, research on stress, ADHD and other mental health problems have not been so convincing. The major problem with St John’s wort is that it interacts with many medications.

3. Saffron
Positive studies on its effect on depression has increased over the last decade. Follow up studies    have all confirmed that saffron is effective for the treatment of depression.
In comparison with antidepressants such as Prozac and Trofanil, Saffron has proven to be as effective,    but with less side effects. Although it is the most expensive spice in the world, only a small amount    is needed, which make the cost quite affordable (approx $30 – $40 a month).
Another advantage is that in combination with pharmaceutical antidepressants, it was more effective    than the antidepressant alone.

4. Rhodiola rosea
This herb was originally used in Russia to enhance athletic performance. It was later discovered to be effective for stress, feelings of burnout, and depression. A few good quality European studies have indicated that rhodiola is helpful for improving mood and seems to be particularly helpful for people with stress related fatigue.
People who feel run-down, find it hard getting out of bed in the morning, lack motivation/drive, experience energy slumps in the afternoon, and feel quite flat, may also benefit from rhodiola.
Natural practitioners often refer to this condition as ‘adrenal fatigue’.

5. Theanine
This is an amino acid derived from green tea and is claimed to help people experience a relaxed and calm state. Some good studies indicate that it can reduce levels of stress hormones in the body (e.g. cortisol) and can move people’s brain waves into ‘alpha’ states. Alpha brain waves are associated with relaxation and meditation.
People with a mind that is constantly racing report positive effects from theanine. It has also shown to improve sleep in children with ADHD, and was even helpful for people with schizophrenia.

This is just a selection of herbs and nutrients with goodresearch-based support for their mental health benefits. There are other options available, including s-adenosyl-methionine (SAME) for depression.
Kava for anxiety, B-vitamins for stress, and glycine/magnesium for sleep.

If you are interested in using natural supplements, make sure you purchase them from a reputable company.
Preferably an Australian one because Australia has the most rigorous testing for natural supplements in the world.

Toxaemia – hidden Havoc

July 4, 2016Health & Nutritionchronic illness, degenerative diseases, enervation, stress, toxaemia, waste productspinockio

Why is every second person in Australia suffering from a chronic or recurring illness? Orthodox medicine tend to look for a germ as the cause of a particular disease (though not always for chronic or degenerative diseases), and where no germ can be found,the cause may be given as unknown.

Natural Health sees a completely different picture. It recognize that almost all illnesses today are diseases of civilisation – which means diseases of lifestyle – the underlying causes of our vast range of health problems, plus premature aging, become perfectly clear.

The basic causes of all illnesses are to be found in everyday living: modern diet, stress,
lack of exercise, pollution in air and water and man-made chemicals are the five key areas.

There is an almost inevitable progression from modern lifestyle to deterioration within the body….to disease. Understanding this enables us to gain control of our physical and mental well being.

For many people, at the top of the list of these lifestyle aspects is the typical modern way
of eating, which is too concentrated, supplying an excess of fat, protein and refined carbohydrates, deficient in fiber, vitamins and minerals. And contains food additives,pesticides and stimulants such as coffee, tea, salt, pepper and alcohol.
(Alcohol depresses the mind but stimulates elimination.)

The inevitable result of this kind of eating is that toxic waste-products of metabolism are formed more rapidly than they can be eliminated by the liver and kidneys and so build up in the body. This condition is referred to in Natural Health as ‘toxaemia’ or ‘acidoses’ – because the wastes tend to be acidic in nature and so tissue fluids become more acidic than they should be.( In conventional medicine the word ‘toxaemia’ is used to relate to specific conditions.

Synthetic chemicals, including air and water pollutants, pesticides, food additives and drugs, are often toxic and contribute to toxaemia.

Lack of exercise means that circulation is sluggish and is not given the regular boost that is needed to flush waste products out of the tissues and to the eliminative organs for detoxification and removal from the body. Poor tone of muscles and organs results from lack of exercise as surely as night follows day.

Stress and inadequate sleep devour vital nerve energy and leave insufficient available for normal activities that include digestion, assimilation of nutrients and elimination of wastes. As a result, waste products build up even more quickly and the toxaemia increases further.

The effects of negative attitudes such as anger, resentment, bitterness, intolerance and greed may be likened to putting grit in the bearings of an engine – our system wears out sooner. In contrast, positive attitudes such as love, kindness, tolerance and generosity oil the bearings for smooth running. Negative attitudes indirectly contribute to toxaemia.

In coping with the demands of everyday living – plus the toxins – overworked organs and tissues become exhausted or, more correctly enervated ( depleted in nerve energy ) Enervation diminishes elimination, which further increases the toxaemia, so a vicious circle is created. The combination of toxaemia and enervation is the basic cause underlying most diseases. There are no doubt other specific causes, but the toxaemia that is just about dominant in Western society is almost always a prerequisite.

Health & Nutrition #73 by Nutrobalance

July 1, 2016Health & Nutritionactivity, healthy eating, medical errors, science based nutritionpinockio

Edition #73

Medical Errors now 3rd leading cause of death in the USA

May 4, 2016
Source:: Johns Hopkins Medicine
Summary:: Analyzing medical death rate data over an eight-year period, patient safety experts have calculated that more than 250,000 deaths per year are due to medical error in the U.S. Their figure surpasses the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) third leading cause of death — respiratory disease, which kills close to 150,000 people per year. read more.….; Exercise Preserves Brain Function
People who exercise into later life are smarter than those who do not exercise. To prove that exercise preserves brain function, studies must show that the loss of brain function with aging is not just genetic. Identical twins have exactly the same genes, so a study on twins can yield stronger results to show which environmental factors help to prevent loss of brain function. A new study from King’s College in London showed that of 162 healthy pairs of twins, ages 43 to 73, the ones with the strongest legs were the smartest (Gerontology, Nov 10, 2015). read more…..

Healthy Eating Over 60

Your body changes as you get older, but a balanced diet will help you stay healthy. Here’s what to eat and how to keep healthy as you get older.

Whatever your age, it’s important to eat a healthy, balanced diet. This means you should try to eat:

plenty of fruit and vegetables – aim for at least five portions of a variety of fruit and veg a day
some bread, rice, potatoes, pasta and other starchy foods – choose wholegrain varieties if you can
some milk and dairy foods
some meat, fish, eggs, beans and other non-dairy sources of protein – try to eat at least two portions of fish a week, including a portion of oily fish
just a small amount of foods and drinks that are high in fat or sugar.

Want To Become Lean And Muscular, And To Improve Your Fitness? Without Endless Gym Training??

Rather than committing hours of your week to fitness training and still be, ing unhappy with how your body looks, I’ll show you how to train hard, with heavy weights, once or twice a week to get you leaner than regular jogging ever made you.
visit: http://muscle-health-fitness.com

Recipe of the Day – Broccoli Salad

With smoky bacon, tomatoes and chives click here!

More Health & Nutrition from Nutrobalance
Facts about Fats
Facts about Fat Storage
Activity makes You feel Great!

Physical Activity makes you feel great!

June 28, 2016Health & Nutritionfitness, HDL cholesterol, heart benefits, physical activity, physical beautypinockio

Physical activity is one of the four aspects of lifestyle, which have a major influence
on our health and well being. The other three are: nutrition, stress, and synthetic chemicals.
Nevertheless, half the Australian population doesn’t have adequate exercise and one in eight adult is totally sedentary. I refer to my article: Benefits of Exercise

Being fit does wonders for the working of our bodies and minds, for our attitudes and moods and for the prevention of degenerative diseases and early aging.
The evidence for benefits in relation to heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure are
overwhelming. More recent evidence confirms that there are benefits also for the prevention of adult-onset diabetes, osteoporosis, colon cancer, anxiety and depression.

In contrast to these benefits, sedentary living may be responsible for as much as one-third
of the fatal cases of heart disease, colon cancer and diabetes.

When we analyze the large number of benefits which are responsible for being fit, it’s easy
to get motivated to get started with activity, or to keep it up, whatever the case may be.

We have to keep in mind that it is important for any physical activity that it should be
enjoyable, otherwise there is a big change that we discontinue sooner or later.
It is important to think of fitness as part of normal health and part of our normal life,
not just an eccentric hobby. It may surprise you that only a small amount of regular
physical activity can make the difference between a body which is sluggish, lethargic,
lacks tone and is overweight and one which is energetic, fit, trim and good looking.

Walking is the best exercise you can have, because it’s natural.
Good long brisk walks give a lot of benefits- the whole body begins to respond.
You breath properly, your circulation and heart benefits, and it’s good for the mind
and positive thinking.

It’s only in recent years that fitness gurus have recognized the supremacy of brisk walking.
In contrary to jogging, brisk walking provides a lot of benefits without any problems.
Walking is almost as important as the right food. You need to eat properly and exercise
properly, the two together gives you the best results.

The internal organs of the body need tone and for this most of them depend almost entirely on physical activity. As we breathe deeply, the diafragm – which separates the chest from the abdomen – rises and falls repeatedly, massaging all the internal organs, particularly the stomach, small intestine, bowel, lungs and liver.
The stretching and relaxing of the intestines is vital in preventing that widespread form of
‘self poisoning’ : constipation. Exercise does keep you regular!

The heart is a much more powerful and efficient organ than is commonly thought and
is capable of meeting all the emergencies of life. The fear that exercise will damage a
healthy heart appears to be entirely wrong. Muscle fatigue occurs long before heart strain.

In preventing heart disease and stroke, regular physical activity is a major factor in raising
the beneficial HDL form of blood cholesterol, while leaving the level of harmful LDL
cholesterol unchanged. As far as fat is concerned, studies have shown that even a high-fat
diet coupled with exercise is safer than a low fat diet with no activity at all.
For protection against heart disease I refer to an article in Nutrition Studies.:
exercise & cardiovascular health.

At its peak during intense physical activity, a healthy heart might level off at a pulse of 190
or less without strain, whereas in an unfit person the heart might be pushed to 220 or more, which is dangerously high.

The fitter you are, the slower will be your resting pulse rate.
The typical rate at rest is about 72 beats per minute, but for a fit person,
this may fall to 65, 55 or even 45, if you are very fit.

The brain works at a great rate, for which it needs abundant nutrients and oxygen.
Without oxygen we become tired and yawn. Increased circulation clears the brain and
sharpens the senses.

Because the nervous system also steps up its rate of functioning, repetitive exercise makes
nerve control more efficient and more automatic. The more efficiently we walk or run,
the less energy is needed.

Active muscles receive increased nerve impulses, blood supply and greater nutrition.
Development of the whole area takes place. Even the bones that are involved become
tougher, denser and less liable to breakage.

Some people will tell us – possibly to try to convince us or themselves that exercise
is unnatural or unnecessary – that they don’t care for big, bulky muscles.
Women sometimes believe that exercise will make them over-muscled and unfeminine.
While it is true that exercise can be used to build big bulging muscles, the amount of
exercise required for body building is far more than for normal fitness.

The physical beauty of a man or a woman is due largely to the quality and shapeliness
of the muscles. Properly developed muscles which in repose do not bulge, but are
smooth in contour and firm in appearance, giving a pleasing and attractive outline,
which was obviously part of nature’s plan!
Only physical activity and good health can achieve and maintain the body beautiful!

Facts about Fat Storage

June 27, 2016Health & Nutritionbody fat, fats in the diet, trans fatpinockio

The industry around weight loss is well aware of the fact that low-calorie diets cause fast loss of muscle and fat. For this reason, the market is saturated with fiber bars, liquid meals and light weight cereals.

We live in a society of instant coffee,….. while-you-wait, etc.
Fast results are essential for continuous sales results.
The average consumer is not aware of the fact, that when they are losing fat, they lose muscle also.

Nutrition scientists have known for many years that reducing calories to 800 – 1200 per day, which is below the essential energy requirement of the body to maintain vital functions, causes you to cannibalize your own muscles for fuel.
On these diets, muscle provides up to 45% of the energy deficit. If the deficit in essential energy requirement is 500 calories per day, then up to 225 calories will come from muscle breakdown. n only four weeks on such a diet, you can lose 1.5 kg of vital muscle. In your muscles is all your energy created by burning of fats, carbohydrates and proteins in the mitochondria of each and every cell.

Even an ounce of muscle lost, lowers basic metabolic rate of fuel consumption and reduces your ability to burn body fat. So all diets that are below the essential energy requirement of your body are a guaranteed recipe for failure.

Besides the fact of losing muscle,which is your body’s engine, the weight loss ndustry
also know that fast fat loss guaranties regain of fat. The physiology behind it has been known for decades.

Fast fat loss alerts the potent defenses of the body of its energy reserve.
The quantity and activity of the lipoprotein lipase enzyme increases immediately, which is the body’s main mechanism that collect digested fat from the bloodstream and stuff it into fat cells.
Lipoprotein lipase get hold of every fat molecule and even disable your body to use it for energy.In order to make up the deficit, you have to burn more muscle.

However, as muscle is your basic structure, it is harder for your body to burn it than fat.
As a result, your metabolism slows down, which reduces your ability to burn fat.
Toxic wastes build-up as a result of burning proteins. This can make you sick and cranky.

This activity does not help you to control your appetite, which becomes more ravenous.
It gets even worse. If you can’t resist the inconvenience any longer and succumb to
real food, the lipoprotein lipase has become so efficient, that you regain seven weeks painful fat loss in almost seven days.

But the biggest problem is that you don’t get any of the lost muscle back.
So the final result of the diet is that there is no change in body fat but a big loss in muscle.
This loss of part of your engine causes further fat gain as it reduces your ability to burn
the fat you have.

Overweight people using low-calorie diets lose so much muscle that they set their bodies up for permanent obesity, when they use them repeatedly.

Facts about Fats

June 24, 2016Health & Nutritionbody fat, diseases, fatty acids, good oils, liinoleic acid, overweight, saturated fat, saturated fats, trans fats, unsaturated fatspinockio

Since March 1990 the US health authorities suggested that all Americans over the age of two should reduce their daily intake of saturated fats below the 10% of total calories and their total intake of fat below 30% of daily calories. These suggestions were first introduced in the 1960’s and were at that time a fair representation of the evidence that saturated fats and excessive total fats in the diet can be the cause of cardiovascular disease and certain cancers.

Nutrition science made mighty advances since the recommendations made their laborious way through the heavy committies of the US health authorities. The advice of the 1960’s is now obsolete.
We know now that if you follow current government advice on fat intake you are most likely going to DAMAGE YOUR BODY BEYOND REPAIR. That’s putting it heavy, but as you will see, the new evidence is without dispute.

Fat is your body’s major fuel and some people still think that you have to eat much of it in order to keep your energy level high. They got it wrong. A slim man of 85 kg who has only 10% body fat carries 7% of that fat as a fuel store. This fat store weight 5500 grams and holds 49,500 calories,at 9 calories per gram, which is enough to run for a hundred miles.

In contrast to his fat store, his other major source of fuel,his 450 grams of glycogen, holds only 1800 calories, at 4 calories per gram. The limit on energy is always glycogen, because your muscles cannot function properly without a minimum level of glycogen.

So even a very slim person never runs out of fat. You need to eat very little in order to maintain a sufficient fat store. This means between 10% and 15% of daily calories should be sufficient.
If your body should ever need any extra, it can easily convert proteins and carbohydrates into fat.

Body fat is put on much easier by eating fat than by eating other food. The current government advice that it’s ok to eat 30% of daily calories in fat encourage you to eat a lot of it. The result is waddling before us. Four in every ten American adults are overweight and it’s getting worse every decade.

Overwhelming evidence shows that even moderate overweight is a direct cause of many diseases and the risk of disability and death is on the increase in almost all diseases.
It’s obvious that our health authorities with their current advice on fat intake are making you sick.

All fats are made of fatty acids, consisting of a fat part and an acid part. Their chemical make-up consists of a carbon chain made of carbon and hydrogen atoms.
The length of the carbon chain depends on the type of fat. Short-chain fats such as
butyric acid in butter have four carbons. Fish oils and the long-chain fats that comprise most of our brain, have 20 to 24 carbons.

Besides the fat our body use for fuel, it requires many special fats. They function as part
of the cell membranes around every cell and as parts of your brain, inner ear, eyes, adrenal glands and sex organs.

Our body can make these special fats only if it gets the right raw materials from our diet, which are two essential fats our body can’t make: linoleic acid and alpha-linolic acid.
Both of which are long chain (18 carbons). For optimum health, these two fats have to be provided by our diet. The body can transform them in any other kind of fat it needs.

Unfortunately, essential fats are scarce in the average diet. The best source of linoleic and alpha-linolenic acids is flax or linseed oil. Other sources are: pumpkin seeds, walnuts, soybeans and canola oil. Dark green leaves of leaf vegetables also contain small amounts.
Good but expensive oil sources used in supplements are blackcurrant seed oil, borage oil,evening primrose oil and fish oils.

The fat content of common seed oils is shown in the table. This table applies only to cold-pressed,unprocessed oils that have not been hydrogenated. As you will see, when even the best oils are processed into margarine and cooking oils,they lose their healthful attributes.

The percentage of fats in vegetable oils. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Polyunsaturated Fats       Mono- Saturated
Linoleic   alpha-linolenic Unsaturated    Fats
Acid          Acid   Fats
______________________________________________________________________________________

The Good Oils
——————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Flaxseed         15         54        22      9
Pumpkin seed     45         15        32      8
Soybean 42         11        32     15
Walnut 50          5        29     16
Canola 26          8        57      9
——————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Second Best
——————————————————————————————————————————————————–
Almond 17          –       68     15
Virgin Olive 12          –       72     16
Safflower 70          –        1     12
Sunflower 66          –       22     12
Corn 59                 25     16
Sesame 45          –       45     13
Rice Bran 35          –       45     17
——————————————————————————————————————————————————–
The Bad Oils
——————————————————————————————————————————————————–
Peanut 29         –        56     15
Cottonseed 48         –        28     24
(May contain toxins)
———————————————————————————————————————————————————
The Ugly Oils
———————————————————————————————————————————————————
Palm    9          –        44     48
Palm kernel    2          –        18     80
Coconut 4          –         8     88
These percentages hold only for fresh unprocessed, cold-pressed oils that have not been hydragenated.
———————————————————————————————————————————————————-                     Saturated and Unsaturated Fats.

Saturated fats have all their carbon atoms ’saturated’ with hydrogen atoms. They have no empty hydrogen spaces to link up with the hydrogen of other molecules in your body.
As a result, they can only be used by your body for energy. Unsaturated fats have empty spaces where hydrogen atoms are missing. These spaces form special keys that can fit the locks of other molecules in your flesh.

Health authorities would have you believe that saturated fats come mainly from meats
and raise cholesterol levels and vegetable oils are unsaturated and keep cholesterol down. They are wrong!

It’s true that meats, cheese, eggs and milk are high in saturated fats, but so are palm oil, palm kernel oil and especially coconut oil. Many foods are loaded with saturated fats. They raise cholesterol and low density lipoproteins (LDLs) and damage your health
just as much as the greasiest fatback bacon.

Also contrary to government health recommendations, recent evidence shows that not all saturated fats are bad. Carefully controlled studies now indicate that medium chain triglycerides (MCT’s) which are saturated fats extracted from coconut oil, don’t raise cholesterol. Neither does the saturated fat stearic acid.

To make things worse, we know now that many of the so-called polyunsaturated fats approved by our health authorities, raise cholesterol over the moon because of what food processing has done to them. Remember, the good oils in the preceding table remain healthy only if they are unprocessed. Have a look at what’s happening to them on the way from the field to your table.

Cis Versus Trans Fats.
Almost all natural fats exists in so called a cis configuration. That means the hydrogen atoms on the carbons are all on the same side of the molecule. Because of their light electrical charge, the hydrogen atoms repel each other and put bends in the carbon chain, like a series of overlapping horseshoes. These bends are the essential shape of the molecule, the key which fits the precise locks in your body that enable the special biological functions in your body to take place.

This essential cis configuration is destroyed by modern processing methods, like heating,hydrogenation, bleaching and deodorizing. These procedures are applied to almost all mass-produced fats and oils. They change the healthy cis configuration into an unhealthy trans configuration. Chemically, the hydrogen atoms become rotated so that they lie on opposite sides of the fat molecule. The molecule then straightens out and loses its key shape that links with your cells in order to perform the biological functions of fats.

Your body is very adaptable. Although the trans fats no longer fit its locks, it still has to try and use them for the essential functions of fats. In cell membranes for example, trans fats cause the membranes to leak, thereby disrupting cellular metabolism and permitting toxic substances to enter the cell. We know now that trans fats incorporated into cells membranes cause abnormal cell functions that is implicated in both cardiovascular diseases and cancers.

Recent studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine also show direct disease
effects. Young, healthy males show elevated cholesterol levels and elevated low density
lipoproteins (LDLs) , if placed on a high trans fat diet for only three weeks.
These elevations in cholesterol and LDLs are as high as those reached by feeding subjects
a diet high in saturated fats from palm and palm kernel oils.

Identifying Trans Fats
All process oils contain trans fats. The more solid the oil, the higher the trans fat level.
Liquid vegetable oils contain up to 6% trans fats and margarine and shortening
up to 58%.
You can identify trans fats in other foods by looking for the words “hydrogenated” or partially hydrogenated in the ingredients list. You will find these words on the labels of many breads, candies,baked goods, chocolate, frozen dinners and processed meat products. If you want the best of health, don’t eat them.

The whole of Europe has had mandates against trans fats for some years.
Many European foods now state specifically on the labels that they are made with cis fats, the healthy kind, even margarine. Buy and use only the good oils. Especially buy and use organic flax oil, it will go a long way to protect your health.

Smart Fats.
There are other important health reasons for using organic flax oil as a regular part of your nutrition. To understand them you have to know a little about what your body does with the two essential fats: linoleic acid and alpha-linolenic acid. Along the way I will show you why the two fish oils, eicosapentanic acid (EPA) and docosahexanoic (DHA) are such powerful protection against disease. It is vital to know about these essential fats if you want to protect your health.

The next figure shows the sequence of special fats that your body makes from dietary essential fats. As you can see, lnoleic acid from your diet is the start of the omega-6 sequence of fats.
Like all fats in biochemistry, it has a descriptive number, cis 18:2 omega-6.
Sounds complicated but it’s really quite simple. The number merely describes a series of bumps and hollows just like those on your car key.

Note first that the fats are in cis form. Biochemists know that only the cis form works in the human body. The first figure, in this case 18, represent the number of carbons that make up the length of the chain. The second figure, in this case 2, represent the number of hollows in the chain,that is, empty spaces for hydrogen atoms. These spaces create part of the key that fits the locks for specialized functions of fats in your body. The third figure, in this case 6, refers to the number of carbons along the chain where the first empty space occurs. This position creates the rest of the key.

Alpha-linolenic acid from your diet is 18:3 omega-3, the start of the omega-3 sequence of fats. Alpha-linolenic acid is converted by your body first into EPA, then into DHA. DHA is vital to health because most of your brain is made of it. A shortage of DHA causes inevitable brain degeneration and is now believed by researchers to be one factor in America’s current epidemic of Alzheimer disease.

EPA and DHA are also the two omega-3 fats found in fish, especially oily fish like salmon,mackerel and sardines. If you eat these fish then you get your DHA preformed, saving your body a lot of work in making it. Now you know there’s some truth to the notion that fish is brain food.

OMEGA-3s FIGHT CANCER.
Omega-3 fatty acids produce vital chemical messengers in your body, called prostaglandins.
Studies have shown that some of these prostaglandins can kill breast, lung and prostate cancer cells stone dead. From this evidence, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute declared that omega-3 fats have “potential clinical usefulness” in cancer treatment.

This evidence is vital to your health because studies show that omega-6 fats, although they are essential for some functions, also produce inflammatory prostaglandins that promote cancer growth. Omega-3 fats keep this cancer effect of omega-6 fats under control.
For optimal resistance to cancer, you have to keep your intake of omega-3 fats dominant over omega-6.

Unfortunately, the American diet is very low in alpha-linolenic acid (omega-3), but high in linoleic acid (omega-6). Most vegetable oils have little or no omega-3 fats and a lot of omega-6 fats. The only common oil that contains a healthy balance is organic flaxseed.
That’s why it’s so important for good health.

The benefits of omega-3 fats don’t stop with cancer. The evidence is impressive that a high intake of omega-3 fats (about a tablespoon of organic flaxseed oil per day) goes a long way to inhibit cardiovascular disease, adult-onset diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.
Include omega-3 in your nutrition every day!

For more articles about nutrition and weight management,visit:

WELCOME TO MY HEALTH AND FITNESS BLOG

Health & Nutrition # 72 by Nutrobalance

June 24, 2016Health & Nutritionpinockio

Edition #72

Dr. Campbell’s recommendations for Dietary Guidelines

Submitted to the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee on April 30, 2015.

In 1980, the first report by the Dietary Guidelines (DG) Advisory Committee was authored by two friends of mine, the late Harvard School of Public Health Professor Mark Hegsted PhD (representing the McGovern Committee and the USDA) and Allan Forbes MD, formerly FDA Chief of Nutrition. I have remained keenly interested in the 5-year reports ever since. continue reading….

Mediterranean Diet: Embrace the fat

What comes to your mind when you think about a diet high in fat? Do you think of a healthy diet that could lower your risk of heart disease and help you lose weight? Probably not. But that’s exactly what the Mediterranean Diet is. The Mediterranean diet emphasizes healthy fats (nuts, fish, olive oil), fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and even a daily glass of wine.

When it comes to fat, it’s important to remember that not all fat is created equal.
continue reading …….

Food as Medicine: Preventing and Treating the Most Dreaded Diseases with Diet

Dr. Greger has scoured the world’s scholarly literature on clinical nutrition and developed this new presentation based on the latest in cutting-edge research exploring the role diet may play in preventing, arresting, and even reversing some of our most feared causes of death and disability. continue reading……

Recipe of the Day by Lindsey Toth click here!!

More Health and Nutrition by Nutrobalance:
Olive oil
The Benefits of Raw Food

The Benefits of Raw Food

June 20, 2016Health & Nutritionbacteria, enzymes, raw food, therapeutic value, vitaminspinockio

It is a well known fact that with high temperatures when cooking, some vitamins will be destroyed, particularly vitamin C and vitamin B9 (folic acid). It may also render minerals inorganic and denature some proteins, and it certainly destroys the life force in raw plant food.

Cooking kills all enzymes. Their activity increases as the temperature rises, but only up to 42 degrees C, after which enzyme activeness slows down. If the food is heated to 48 degrees C for more than half an hour, all enzymes are completely destroyed. In contrast, dry heat would not be destructive to enzymes until around 150 degrees C,
but this is theoretical, as all foods contain moisture.

Thus cooking and pasteurisation completely destroy the natural, health-giving enzymes that are present in all raw foods.

Like vitamins, enzymes are present in all vegetable and animal tissue in their natural state.
They are the biological catalists that trigger off all the millions of chemical changes that are taking place within the human body, every second of our life. There are tens of thousands of enzymes working away in our body – with something like 50.000 in the liver alone! And each of them has his own specific purpose.

When food intake is above starvation level and all the necessary nutrients are provided, the less food that is consumed on a long-term basis by humans, animals
and insects, the longer they live.
When the air temperature raises, causes insects to be much more active, but they die sooner because their enzymes are used up more rapidly. Enzyme supply may well be the yardstick of vitality.

It is accepted in general, that the enzymes in food cannot work in our bodies, although Dr. Edward Howell has written a book :”Food Enzymes for health and longevity”, in which he states that there is strong evidence to the contrary.

The enzymes in raw food commence the digestion of each morsel the moment the food’s cell walls are ruptured by chewing. The food enzymes assist our own digestive enzymes, easing the load on the organs that produce our enzymes, particularly the pancreas. When humans eat cooked food, the pancreas is enlarged due to overwork.
In fact, oriental people on a high carbohydrate cooked diet, mainly rice, have pancreas approximately half as big as Westerners .

All animals in the wild consume abundant enzymes in their always raw diets. Some have a separate stomach in which the food enzymes pre-digest food before the body’s digestive enzymes are called upon, for example, the rumen in the cow.

The enzyme content of organically-grown food that has ripened at its source (on the tree, vine etc.) is significantly higher than conventionally-grown foods.

When raw food enzymes reach the bowel, they encourage the friendly gut bacteria by binding any oxygen present, thus eliminating the aerobic conditions in which harmful bacteria grow and cause putrefaction, toxaemia and ultimately degenerative diseases, including cancer.
When the harmful bacteria are gone, beneficial bacteria, like acidophilus and bifido bacteria can flourish and carry out their vital functions, including the manufacture of B vitamins, digestion of fiber, and production of natural ‘antibiotics’ against pathogenic bacteria.

In the highly cooked Western diet, a high incidence of arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and other degenerative conditions is exactly what can be expected as a result of enzyme damage.

In contrast, the remarkable therapeutic value of a short-term diet of raw fresh fruits and vegetables and/or their juices, which have been employed all over the world, is exactly what we would expect.

Olive oil: the key to curing cancer?

June 17, 2016Health & Nutritioncancer treatmentpinockio

Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), long-known for its heart health benefits, has now been identified for its rapid destruction of cancer cells. While scientists have proven that the oleocanthal compound found in EVOO causes cell death in cancer cells, they have been unable to provide an explanation for this phenomenon until now. Paul Breslin, David Foster, and Onica LeGendre offer answers in their paper “(-)-Oleocanthal Rapidly and Selectively Induces Cancer Cell Death Via Lysosomal Membrane Permeabilization (LMP),” published in Molecular & Cellular Oncology.

In their recent study, the researchers discovered that the key to understanding the toxic effect of oleocantha in cancerous cells lies in its reaction with the lysosomes of the cell, where the cells store waste: the oleocantha ruptures the cancer cell lysosomes causing cell death within 30 minutes to an hour while leaving un-cancerous cells unharmed. This suggests that the lysosomal membranes of cancerous cells are weaker than those of uncancerous cells. Because of oleocantha’s targeted damage to cancer cells, it may prove an ideal option for therapeutic cancer treatment.

Paul Breslin, co-author of the study, said “The mechanism of killing cancer cells and sparing healthy cells, lysosomal membrane permeabilization, has been hypothesized as a possible mechanism of effectively killing cancer cells and sparing healthy tissues but has never been realized before. Our realization of this makes this paper of particular therapeutic interest for cancer treatment.”

The study’s focus on the effect of oleocantha on cancerous and un-cancerous cells leads to larger implications about the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet, which is rich in EVOO. Breslin stated, “the Mediterranean diet is known to be associated with a reduced risk of many different kinds of cancer. Whereas the entire diet likely has many benefits, this study points directly to the olive oil phenolic, oleocanthal, as playing an especially important role in these observations. As more people turn to the Mediterranean diet as a healthy life option, oleocanthal is growing in its significance as a key active component of this diet.”

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