I used to have a shake every day and still believe that a great shake with frozen berries ( and some vital nutrients) is probably the best way to start the day. Buy a few different single packet protein shakes and see which one you like. PS dont follow instructions, because if you do, it will taste like poop and you will be on your way to Dunkin Donuts tomorrow. Use one scoop instead or 2 half a packet. Find one that you like. Make sure there is enough frozen berries so you like the way it tastes. Think about it, You will be so far ahead of any other cereal or toast or bagel or some other fattening nutrition less breakfast. I would even go so far as to say frozen bananas are OK,, ( they are starchy not ideal if you are trying to lose weight) You are much better off with frozen berries , But again compared to what ? I am speaking to those of you that are still on bagels, cereal and other worthless breakfasts. Even a Frozen banana shake with a good protein or complete nutrition powder is a step up. Ideally again try to eventually find some berries that work for you. Try the small packets till you find one that you like before you buy a big canister.
Hard boiled eggs are a perfect portable fast food. As a matter of fact they are lightening fast food. They are my new favorite. I hard boil at least a half a dozen eggs a week, and use them for breakfast, late morning, early lunch, or late afternoon snack. They have a complete complement of amino acids. And I actually notice the omega 3’s actually put me in a good mood compared to days with other breakfast foods,
The reason I was inspired to write today was because I finally found out the way to make hard boiled eggs easy to peel… Steam them.. I just did my first batch for 30 minutes. The shell came off in one piece. So my lightening fast breakfast just got yet another minute faster. So start to finish a hard boiled eggs supplies a complete complement of amino acids and a full meal in less than a minute including preparation and clean up. PS on cholesterol. Your body makes 1000 mg of cholesterol every day. Your body also makes all of your hormones out of cholesterol. It is essential. Furthermore my mom had 300 cholesterol her whole life and lived healthy her whole life til her mid nineties. Fortunately she never saw a doctor because they would have insisted on cholesterol lowering medicine, and your guess is as good as mine as to the consequences or side effects of those drugs. Not the least of which would have been a depletion of CoQ10 which I have read would lead to congestive heart failure… That is pretty much recognized by the mainstream today and most doctors advise taking CoQ10 for those taking statins, But what about all the other side effects ? Cant really make a single point without segueing all over the place ? Am I OCD ? or is it just that you cant even mention how to make egg peeling easier without talking about eggs cholesterol and other breakfast options ?
I am going to present you with the research about a very simple supplement and you can decide if it makes sense for you. Just in case the FDA is reading this, “only a drug can cure a disease” as are your edicts. I am merely presenting the research from Pubmed the National Institute of Health so you don’t need to come knock down my door with 50 FBI agents.
I was doing some research yesterday for a friend about herpes. If you have it, you are actually in the majority, “Globally, an estimated two-thirds of the population under 50 are infected with herpes simplex virus.”
“In the Americas: 178 million women (49%), 142 million men (39%)” From the WHO . Not going to bore you, you can click and read their article (see FDA ? quoting from your favorite places the WHO, PUBMED National Institute of Health.
Lets move on to the “CURE” Lysine. You can stop reading now. I know first-hand. 30 years ago, I got a breakout every few months It was awful, embarrassing, and certainly put a wet blanket on my sex life. The antivirals are useless. Lysine works fabulously. The day it was “cured” was when I read an article that Lysine is so safe, that you can take it every day, and its great for your skin.
Instead of waiting for that itch or bump, I took it every day. Now I take it a few days a week and definitely after sex, solo or otherwise. But technically it is not cured. It is dormant. But dormant for 30 years works for me. That is why I put CURE in parenthesis, so the FDA does not put me in jail. I have not had a breakout in 30 years. If you are OK with those kind of results, you might want to start taking it.
I just found out why. It stops the virus from replicating. I was searching for safe levels of lysine, I found articles about lysine stopping viruses like the flu or Covid, WOW!!! Why wouldnt an antiviral affect another popular virus (covid) ? See the articles below from PubMED National Library of Medicine. So now you have a life saving reason to take Lysine besides a cold sore.
I found the research when I was searching to make sure there is no downside to taking Lysine. Lysine is an amino acid, a building block of protein. You get it from food. There are 21 different amino acids. They are found in protein. Lysine helps create collagen, connective tissue, skin and cartilage. Lysine is found in meat, poultry, fish, cheese, eggs and soybeans, to name a few. If you have liver or kidney disease you should not take the supplement without consulting with your doctor. But to repeat you should always consult with a doctor, especially if you have any particular issue or are taking any medication.
I wouldnt risk giving advice without knowing the “safe” levels. Here is the research on adverse events from PUB MED, (the National Library of Medicine) be Here is a study of adverse events. Read it. Who is going to take 17,000 mg a day for 100 days ? It comes in 250, 500 and 1000 So that would mean taking between 17 and 58 tablets depending on size. Should we laugh or take that study seriously?
I guess they do not want people to “cure” themselves, they want them to take drugs. To be clear, the research there has control groups and strict research protocols thats why you should always check PUB MED a lot of it is done at medical schools. But you still have to have common sense and follow the money. Drug companies fund most of the research. You rarely see research on a supplement because you cant patent something found in nature. Probably why we never heard about this research. You can buy it anywhere from anyone. It is inexpensive.
By the way, you can even drink too much water. Have you ever heard of hyponatremia? Thats when you drink so much water you actually dilute the sodium so low you could die. The overall mortality rate was 6.1% among all 45,693 hospitalized patients with hyponatremia. Too much of anything poses a risk. I read a bunch of articles. To close the door on that issue if you are drinking more than a few liters of water, consider adding sodium to it. Thats why gatorade was invented, to replenish essential salts. OK so dont take 50 lysine capsules a day ?
1st Study on how it works on viruses; Medical School Study on PubMED here is the abstract
Now we are getting into the weeds for those that care. Lysine helps (blocks replication), Arginine hurts ( boosts replication) they compete with eachother. Now you can read it with that understanding. Direct quote from the study “Amino acids have been implicated with virus infection and replication. Here, we demonstrate the effects of two basic amino acids, arginine and lysine, and their ester derivatives on infection of two enveloped viruses, SARS-CoV-2, and influenza A virus. We found that lysine and its ester derivative can efficiently block infection of both viruses in vitro. Furthermore, the arginine ester derivative caused a significant boost in virus infection. Studies on their mechanism of action revealed that the compounds potentially disturb virus uncoating rather than virus attachment and endosomal acidification. Our findings suggest that lysine supplementation and the reduction of arginine-rich food intake can be considered as prophylactic and therapeutic regimens against these viruses while also providing a paradigm for the development of broad-spectrum antivirals.
Here is their conclusion not mine “Lysine and Lys-ester can prevent SARS-CoV-2 and IAV infection, particularly in the entry stage. In contrast to that, Arg-ester can potently boost infection of both viruses. It would therefore be beneficial to consider the nutrient intake of COVID-19 and flu patients. We recommend the inclusion of lysine supplementation in addition to a reduced arginine intake for the prevention and treatment of SARS-CoV-2 and IAV infections”. PS for you work out guys and gals, watch your arginine intake it competes with Lysine and arginine boosts virus infection in case you missed that.
2ND Study about Covid only This is not from a sales or crunchy granola website. This is from PUB MED much of it is Medical School peer reviewed research. “20-week study period was large and stark: Just under 4% of the compliant test group presented flu-like symptoms, but none of the test group was COVID-positive; whereas 20% of the non-compliant control group presented flu-like symptoms, three-quarters of whom (15% overall of the control group) were COVID-positive.”
THIS IS HUGE; So over 20 weeks 5 times as many people, thats 500%, got covid, who were not taking lysine. For perspective the FDA approves devices and drugs that show 5 to 10% improvement. Our laser for hair growth adds 10%. Thats great if you are a woman who only lost 10% of 100,000 hairs But what about me with 100 hairs on my head? So now I have 110 hairs on my head vs 100?
Final Caveats As I knew 30 years ago, and the research just figured out, in the first study, Lysine competes with Arginine. I had a friend who is actually a heart surgeon who started to get a cold sore and asked me what to do. I gave him Lysine and he said the cold sore never expressed itself. He was sold and started taking it Sure enough I got a call a few months later he said, ” I am taking it but I still got a cold sore” I knew the problem, I asked are you taking a workout supplement? Of course he was. I said read the ingredients. It was thousands of milligrams of arginine. Arginine competes with Lysine. So up your dose of lysine.
I am not a doctor. You should check with your physician before you embark on any protocol no matter how seemingly innocent it seems. According to the FDA only a drug can cure a disease. Everything I write is merely my opinion based on my experiences over my many decades on this planet and the many protocols I have tried. Everyone should engage in routine checkups with their doctor even when they are feeling well. And you should absolutely see your doctor first if you are not feeling well or experiencing any symptoms or abnormalities. Your body knows best. When your body is sending you a signal it could be an indication of a serious underlying disease. You should never attempt to self medicate without first checking with your doctor. Something as seemingly innocent as a cosmetic condition could be the result of a serious underlying condition.
I am not a doctor. There are only my opinions and efforts to help my friends who are still suffering from their recent illness with some suggestions to reduce inflammation in their bodies. I went through thousands of pages for many hours on numerous websites. Even my summary is too long to read on a phone so I am going to highlight a few points to read and supplements to take.
There are a lot of viruses that linger in the body. Epstein Barr Virus, Herpes Virus, Lyme disease. All of these viruses ( when they cause an outbreak) cause inflammation, cold sores and much worse. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), also known as human herpes virus 4, is a member of the herpes virus family. It is one of the most common human viruses. EBV is found all over the world. Most people get infected with EBV at some point in their lives. More than 3.7 billion people under the age of 50 – or 67% of the population – are infected with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1). Covid is new to us. If it has a similar pattern or lingering effect we would not yet know that. However it seems that it does and that inflammation could potentially wreak havoc on your body. There are protocols to deal with it because clearly the incidence of “long covid” is real and prevalent. There has been much written about this and you probably know many people who have had covid that have lingering side effects. If you want to reduce inflammation in your body many of the suggested supplements in these long covid protocols are things you should be taking anyway. Start with melatonin, vitamin D, vitamin C, NAC, Zinc, omega 3 ( fish oils), curcumin and probiotics. There are other suggestions that are simple over the counter things that I have read on other websites and or been counseled by other doctor friends, like loratadine (claritin) and fomatadine ( pepcid). Interestingly pepcid, fomatadine works because it is a histamine-2 blocker Although it is not in the FLCCC protocol. If you want to go further Prednisone, a prescription santi inflammatory, is also recommended. So you can stop reading now simply take the vitamins I suggested three sentences earlier at the very least and the over the counter suggestions as well. However it would be a mistake to not mention vitamin D. A December 2021 study utilizing Interpretations from 54 studies, concluded that Dec 2021 Patients with low vitamin D levels present an increased risk of ARDS requiring admission to intensive care unit (ICU) or mortality due to SARS-CoV-2 infection and a higher susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection. You should ask for vitamin D levels when you get a blood test. Just google vitamin D deficiency there are studies that claim from 42% to 80% of covid patients were vitamin D deficient. In fact I already wrote about vitamin D and covid in October 2020. A simple $15 supplement could have save countless lives I have no idea why our government health experts are not telling us this.
Here is the complete protocol from FLCC preceded by their explanation as to why you might want to consider it and or if you might have long covid. Its a great website that has at least one protocol and their information. I will continue to post other studies and recommendations. In my opinion what we learned from this pandemic is not to wear a mask for the rest of our lives but to be cognizant of our weight and vitamin D levels. , and other healthy choices we can make.
Never disregard professional medical advice because of something you have read on a website. This is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment in regards to any patient. Treatment for an individual patient is determined by many factors and thus should rely on the judgement of your physician or qualified health care provider. Always seek their advice with any questions you may have regarding your medical condition or health.
FROM FLCC ALLIANCE I am going to edit this for readability than post it as a PDF as well as the link.
“The Long Haul COVID-19 Syndrome (LHCS) is an often debilitating syndrome characterized by a multitude of symptoms such as prolonged malaise, headaches, generalized fatigue, sleep difficulties, smell disorder, decreased appetite, painful joints, dyspnea, chest pain and cognitive dysfunction. The incidence of symptoms after COVID-19 varies from as low as 10% to as high as 80%. LHCS is not only seen after the COVID-19 infection but it is being observed in some people that have received vaccines (likely due to monocyte activation by the spike protein from the vaccine). A puzzling feature of the LHCS syndrome is that it is not predicted by initial disease severity; post-COVID-19 frequently affects mild-to-moderate cases and younger adults that did not require respiratory support or intensive care.
The symptom set of LHCS in the majority of cases is very similar to the chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS)/myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, although in LHCS, symptoms tend to improve slowly in the majority of the cases. Furthermore, the similarity between the mast cell activation syndrome and LHCS has been observed, and many consider post-COVID-19 to be a variant of the mast cell activation syndrome. LHCS is highly heterogenous and likely results from a variety of pathogenetic mechanisms. Furthermore, it is likely that delayed treatment (with ivermectin) in the early symptomatic phase will result in a high viral load, which increases the risk and severity of LHCS.
Although numerous reports describe the epidemiology and clinical features of LHCS, studies evaluating treatment options are glaringly sparse. Indeed, the NICE guideline for managing the long-term effects of COVID-19 provide no specific pharmacologic treatment recommendation
Just in case you thought we were being fringe here. Let me take some recommendations from the National Institute of Health The NIH You know the Department of Health and Human Services. That is as mainstream as it gets
Of course is starts with a disclaimer and repeats the absurd law of the land, “by law, dietary supplements are not allowed to be marketed as a treatment, prevention, or cure for any disease; only drugs can legally make such claims”. I am just going to liberally take what I think are the few honest statements from their very long discussion. “In addition, thousands of individuals—possibly 10% to 75%—who have had COVID-19 report symptoms of “long COVID” (including fatigue, muscle weakness, sleep difficulties, and cognitive dysfunction) for several months after the acute stage of illness has passed [4-7].” Feel free to go directly to the source. “People require several vitamins and minerals—including vitamin C, vitamin D, and zinc—for proper immune function, and clinical deficiencies of these nutrients can increase susceptibility to infections [14,19].” Interesting I thought only drugs can help us.
I am just going to put a quick snapshot here for my lazy friends, since some of you probably have many of these supplements laying around anyway but would recommend reading the details on their website.
IVERMECTIN
And of course no discussion would be complete without a discussion of Ivermectin. Here is a brief overview with the source. “Repurposed medicines may have a role against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The antiparasitic ivermectin, with antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties, has now been tested in numerous clinical trials. Twenty-four randomized controlled trials involving 3406 participants met review inclusion.” The Article is here at the American Journal of Therapeutics I am liberally quoting out of context. I suggest you go to the article to read it. “Meta-analysis of 15 trials found that ivermectin reduced risk of death compared with no ivermectin (average risk ratio 0.38, 95% confidence interval 0.19–0.73; n = 2438; I2 = 49%; moderate-certainty evidence). …..Low-certainty evidence found that ivermectin prophylaxis reduced COVID-19 infection by an average 86% this is interesting since it is a $2 drug in most countries. ($2 for a whole week of it). Try getting it here.
HERE IS ANOTHER PROTOCOL
Say what you will about chiropractors vs MDs. This is free information and why wouldnt everyone want to improve their gut health, their energy and improve their vitality. PS if its free where is the monetary incentive vs $157 billion on vaccines according to Reuters. Again I got vaccinated and vaccines have an important role. Vaccines that have been around for a long time, like Polio Small Pox, for example and other life threatening diseases have a risk reward safety ratio that is unquestionable.
“A significant percentage of patients with mild, moderate, and even asymptomatic cases that didn’t require hospitalization have long haul COVID symptoms.[2] A major international study of nearly 4,000 people showed:
The prevalence of 203 symptoms in 10 organ systems (an average of 14.5 symptoms in 9.1 organ systems);
80% of patients reported persistent fatigue;
73% reported tiredness after exertion;
58% reported cognitive dysfunction;
56% reported sensorimotor symptoms such as loss of sense of taste;
Among COVID-19 survivors who weren’t hospitalized, serious health risks linger for at least a year. In one follow-up study of nearly 152,000 patients treated in the VA health system, a year after diagnosis, the risk of developing heart failure was 39% greater; the risk of developing a fatal blood clot was 119% higher, and the risk of having a stroke was 29% higher.[4]“
“Underlying causes of long-haulers syndrome
Why is long-haulers syndrome so common and long-lasting, even among people who experienced only mild illness? Underlying inflammation, particularly inflammation related to being overweight or obese, may be the upstream cause.
The majority of Americans entered the pandemic already in a state of chronic, low-level inflammation from excess visceral fat. Approximately 42% of Americans are overweight; 75% are overweight or obese. More than 100 million Americans, or nearly half of all adults, have prediabetes (metabolic syndrome) or Type 2 diabetes. That means 1 in 3 adults has prediabetes; 1 in 10 adults has diabetes. Only 12% of the adult population can be considered metabolically healthy.
Excess weight, particularly from excess visceral fat, markedly increases the severity of COVID-19. Visceral fat, found in the abdominal region, infiltrates the organs in the abdomen, including the liver and pancreas. It adds to the body’s overall weight but isn’t as visible as subcutaneous fat.”
Mitochondrial support for reducing fatigue
Immune activation
Gut health
Managing and modulating inflammation, particularly from blood sugar issues and obesity
Mitochondrial support includes a range of supplements that can help return the mitochondria to normal energy production, such as: B vitamins: 60 mg/day; CoQ10: 300 mg/day; acetyl-L-carnitine: 1,000 mg/day; NMN (nicotinamide mononucleotide), a precursor to NAD+: 200 mg/day; alpha-lipoic acid (ALA): 600 mg/day; NAC/liposomal glutathione: 500 mg/day; magnesium: 200 mg/day; zinc: 40 mg/day; selenium: 200 mcg/day; vitamin C: 2000 mg/day.
Medicinal mushrooms to improve immune activation: reishi, maitake, lion’s mane, chaga and shiitake.”
“Make sure you’re getting eight to 12 servings of phytonutrients a day from vegetables, fruits, spices, herbs, and tea,” she advises. Phytonutrients such as EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate, a polyphenol found in green tea) and curcumin (found in turmeric) can decrease inflammation and rebalance the immune system. insufficient levels of zinc and selenium are associated with worse outcomes from viral infections. Good sources of zinc include oysters, hemp seeds and pumpkinseeds, beans, nuts, and animal protein; sources of selenium include mushrooms, Brazil nuts, and seafood.
Nutraceutical Combination recommended for daily use
Vitamin D3 2,000-4,000 IU/day
Zinc: Read the note below for the recommended dose
Quercetin 500 mg per day. Take at least 4 hours apart from your Zinc since the two compete for absorption.
Melatonin (tablet): Begin with 1 mg and increase as tolerated to 3 mg taken thirty to sixty minutes before bed. This supplement makes some people groggy in the morning. If this is the case, take the supplement before bed or not take it.
Vitamin C 500 mg: 1 each morning and one each evening: Vitamin C is good for prevention only.
Flu shot unless contraindicated
Anyone seeing a pattern here ? If you are over the age of 25 you probably have some inflammation in your body. Clearly there is no harm in taking supplements that are anti inflammatory in nature. And for those that think they might have some residual tiredness or inflammation from Covid or even the covid vaccine you probably will benefit from adopting at least some of the supplements in these protocols. Personally I added the ivermectin and took 20 mg a day of prednisone for about 5 days and I feel like a million bucks compared to I couldnt even make it through a shopping trip at Costco a week ago. My bout with Omicron lasted 2 weeks, one week pretty sick, a second week definitely still sick, coughing tired, lathargic, sweating through three tshirts a night. Either by coincidence or by the protocol I was really all better in just a few days.
One of the most exciting discoveries in the past 30 years was a simple supplement derived from broccoli sprouts. There are countless peer reviewed medical schools studies regarding the simple ingredient that is concentrated in the growing sprouts, vs the broccoli. The sprout has a particular ingredient that has proven benefits in blocking many types of cancer both in animals and in humans. The particular ingredient or class of compounds are called sulforafanes. “In 1992 Johns Hopkins scientists found a new and highly concentrated source of sulforaphane, that helps mobilize the body’s natural cancer-fighting resources and reduces the risk of developing cancer, Sep 19, 1997″ To be clear only a drug can cure a disease.
There are over 2200 articles on Pubmed.gov ( the National Institute of Health website). NIH or PubMed publishes research from medical schools from all over the world. All of the research here is peer reviewed research published in medical journals which you can read. I was inspired to write this after speaking to one of the leading legal minds in this country who has actually written many of our laws. Ironically, although technical, its not as bad as reading legal documents. Its not that complicated. Most of the studies state the intention, then there are pages of statistics and a conclusion. Rarely do we see such a large body of evidence all supporting the reduction of all kinds of cancer. Again I have to repeat my caveat from other posts. THE LAST THING I WANT YOU TO DO IS FOREGO SEEING YOUR Doctor, or seeking conventional care. Almost every cancer is curable if caught early enough. It can be deadly to ignore the options of conventional care. Sometimes the window for conventional care is extremely small. Certain cancers grow to advanced stages that are untreatable in a matter of months. If you healthy there are a lot of supplements besides vitamin C that you can take now to reduce your risk of ever having to make the life and death decision about a disease as deadly as cancer in the future. Another caveat, you can only take most of these vitamins and supplements now, while you are healthy. Dont think for a minute that if you get sick thats when you will take them. Because the situation is exactly the opposite. Many vitamins enhance your body’s ability to “flush” your liver. So while your body is healthy eliminating the few cells that might be “errant” in your system and making your immune system’s job easier, all is great and you are helping your body do its job. However if you get sick and need to take a life saving drug, you absolutely can not take any supplements. The same process that would be eliminating toxins and “bad cells” would be flushing the life saving drug out of your body so it would not be able to help you. So sorry to be repetitive but we are talking life and death. Seek the advice and opinion of your doctor. If you really want to go “au natural” find a DOCTOR who is “complementary” or “alternative” or “integrative”. That would be a medical doctor or MD who know when you can still use vitamins or supplements for your care. You can not know when or what you can use if you are sick. A complementary doctor might give you a schedule when you can take certain vitamins or supplements that doesnt interfere with your conventional care. Sorry this is such a long post but it is vital that you understand when you can take advanatage of all the wonderful supplements or ‘Nutraceuticals” that are available to you. PS a nutraceutical is a nutrient that is as powerful as a pharmaceutical. Ready for you first test drive ? Read all about sulforaphanes here at pubmed. Sulforafanes. Once again to be repetitive only a drug can cure a disease. More on that in the next post
I wrote an answer on Quora I think is worth sharing here. The question was where to start when you want to lose weight. 1. Drink two glasses of water before every meal, this alone will make you so full you will not be able to eat much. 2. Allow your stomach to shrink. Hunger pangs means your stomach is shrinking. Once it shrinks be aware. It will take less food to feel full. Pause before you eat that next slice of pizza. You might have eaten 3 slices previously, but if your stomach has shrunk you will be full now after two or even one. Wait 20 minutes. Your satiety signal from your brain doesnt come for at least 20 minutes after you are full. Dont fall for high carb diets. If you dont eat any fat you will never feel full. Actually if you really practice just these few tips you will lose weight. Emotional eating is a different problem. Ask yourself if you are hungry. People are rarely hungry. We eat out of habit and emotionally. Simply ask yourself if you are hungry each time before you eat, that alone will help you lose weight. Simple is better. You will do great if you can incorporate just those few suggestions. If you want to go more in depth, Weigh yourself every day. You must have a scale that measure body fat. Because if you are losing fat, ( replacing fat with muscle) because you are working out, your weight will not reflect that. Those scales are now very inexpensive. You can buy them online or at most retail stores. When you weigh yourself its merely to stay on target a few pounds might be water weight. Notice how much water you are drinking. But on the other hand if you seem to have consistently gained a few pounds its time to ramp up your efforts. Dont unconsciously gain weight. You need daily feedback. Weigh yourself with the same amount of clothes or none, at the same time of day with the same amount of water each day.
Visualize. That is way more important than willpower. Dream and visualizing how sexy you are going to look in that little black dress and feel wearing that bikini in the first time in years. If you are conversely dreaming how good that slice of pizza is going to taste you lose, not weight but your quest to lose weight. You need to flood your conscious and subconscious with positive visualizations of how great you are going to look and feel. I would even go so far as to imagine the worst foods ( you should never eat anyway) to taste bad and have the true negative effects they actually have. Imagine. If you are constantly thinking about how much damage the coca cola and its 10 teaspoons of sugar are doing to your body besides gaining weight. If you have a look at the pictures of people getting amputations because of diabetes its not going to take much willpower to make a better choice. Your choices are 100% imagination. Even when you wife or husband asks you what you want to eat, you actually stop and imagine what you are in the mood for. How about imagining what is going to get you to your goals of happiness and looking great and feeling great ?
Could avoidance of all sun exposure by always wearing sun protection lotion do more harm than good?
It depends. You would definitely have to supplement with vitamin d. There are also other hormones that are regulated by your exposure. Your exposure to sun and light affect circadian rhythms, sleep, wake cycle, moods, depression, happy chemicals, and endorphins. When I go to Florida in the middle of the winter, after one day of sun I feel like a million dollars. Is that a direct hormonal response to the sunlight to my endorphins, or is it additional massive amounts of vitamin D ? I dont think we have enough research. We do have literally thousands of studies about vitamin D. Indications are that we are all deficient. In short I would say you would definitely do more harm than good. Alternative medicine gurus say that avoidance of the sun causes all types of cancers. I have read studies that with the exception of skin cancer, “anecdotally” those with more sun exposure have less of all kinds of cancers. Correlation does not equal causation. Just because we see numbers pointing in one direction we can not conclude A equals B. We need research. But how do you do a lifetime of research and eliminate all the other mitigating risks ? Maybe people who get more sun are more active. Is that the real reason ? Maybe those who get more sun are healthier eaters and that is the reason. Sadly as far as hard core scientific research is concerned with an animal that lives 100 year, it is almost impossible to set up experiments with strict controls on all variables. So you are just going to have to use common sense and place your bets on your lifestyle choices. I would recommend that you get sun whenever you can without sunscreen of any kind unless you live in a sunshine state then you should wear sunscreen. New York or further North we definitely dont get enough sun. But i would definitely not sun bathe without protection and especially be careful of areas prone to skin cancer like ears, neck and hands. But we do need sun. So sorry its a split decision but I think you understand. Be prudent, consider your location and time in the sun and either cover up or seek more. We do need a certain amount of sun. Ideally 20 minutes full body exposure is good, but protect those areas that get sun all the time like your face hands, neck and ears. PS one of my favorite books is “lights out” its a huge study on light disturbing our hormones and draws a line between too much artificial light and not enough restorative sleep and every disease known to modern man, which were “coincidentally” unknown before lights, electricity and staying up late with artificial light.
PS we are always studying the best sunscreens for our patients http://www.precisionaestheticsmd.com and removing those ugly sunspots on the face and hands.
The uneducated practice of alternative or complementary medicine or even orthomolecular ( mega doses of vitamins) can absolutely be dangerous !!! I am the biggest health nut and pop dozens of supplements daily. But I studied first. We just watched an episode of strange deaths. Some nut job poisoned himself with vitamin A. Anyone taking supplements should know at least the fat soluble ones like A, E, K. You must have some level of understanding even to take a few vitamins. Most water soluble vitamins like vitamin C and most B vitamins will harmlessly wash out of your body every day. Other vitamins, like vitamin A, can literally kill you if you are stupid enough to take toxic amounts. Herbs are also something to be extremely careful with. Some herbs are extremely strong. Remember ephedra ? A few people died from that. Its pretty much speed in herbal form. Most drugs were actually modeled on herbs. Where do you think the drug companies got the idea for ephedrine ? Plus you have to consider if its going to interact with any drugs or pre-exisiting conditions. Also they compete with each other, so by overdosing with one supplement you could create an imbalance or shortage of another one. I can think of countless issues where I have been helped as well as times I was surprised at a side effect. For example some make you more photo sensitive. I remember taking St John’s Wort and getting a really bad sunburn. I am olive skinned and rarely burned in my whole life. But the absolute worst thing you can do is to avoid getting proper, or conventional treatment because you are trying your alternative path first. I honestly dont know what I would do if I got cancer. I have seen and listened to alternative cures both here and in Europe at the World Anti Aging Congress. But I also know that for certain types of cancer, if treated early there are many conventional therapies that are extremely effective and have very high cure rates if caught early. Also if you wait until it is spread throughout your body even the best conventional cures might be hopeless. If you are lucky and have a good complementary or integrative doctor that understands how to integrate alternative and conventional therapies for the best possible outcomes you would be in the best hands. But don’t do it yourself and dont take anything without telling your doctor no matter how much of a health nut you are. Certain supplements are terrific for your liver. But if you need a medication and the supplement or vitamin is clearing your liver out too quickly the medication will not be in your system long enough to be effective. So there is no blanket answer except for no, without proper education, yes with a good integrative doctor. That would be someone who is an MD and also a PHD in biochemistry and nutrition and or organic chemistry who also has clinical experience. Its a very new field of medicine and you should seek out the most experienced providers to assist you who work with conventional doctors that are open minded to complementary alternative treatments to integrate with your conventional treatment. But again I cant emphasize enough do not wait to get a conventional opinion on the speed and progression of whatever is ailing you. PS if you want a great education, the vitamin companies that sell exclusively to doctors have a tremendous amount of great research that together with guidance from a qualified practitioner can be carefully integrated into your treatment. But dont do what my friend recently called me and did. He got me on a three way call with his cousin and father in law who had cancer, for my opinion about a specific natural “cancer cure” That is simply absurd. There are dozens of different types of cancer that could be at various degrees of progression. Unless you have a medical degree and are also a PHD in biochemistry and a ton of experience with different complementary medicines and the knowledge of how they can interact or effect a specific treatment you have no business messing with people’s lives. That being said the time for alternative therapies is before anything bad happens. Limit your exposure to the thousands of cancer causing chemicals. There is nothing wrong with taking the brocolli sprouts and other wonderful natural substances that detox harmful cells before they get expressed as cancer. There is a theory that we constantly have damaged cells. Our body naturally eliminates them with our T cells and killer cells. Its only when our system is overwhelmed that it becomes expressed as cancer. Dont wait til things get that far gone. You can live very well without all of the cancer causing ingredients and chemicals. Paradoxically the wonderful natural supplements that eliminate “bad cells” or cancer cells or help your liver flush out all of the toxins will also flush out the drugs before they have a chance to help you. This is a compelling reason to take all of those wonderful supplements now. Because you literally cant, or will be betting your life if you wait until you have a serious disease before you pay attention to your health and embrace complementary or natural remedies.
Although I cant even find complete agreement on what the best fermented food are for you to eat, I do believe that they play a large role in your immune system and in breaking down your foods. There is a ton of research and focus on “probiotics” lately. Basically your gut has around 3 pounds of friendly bacteria which kill off bad bacteria, help you digest food and fight off infection. Many believe that it is so important it deserves to be called an organ or an organ system. Depending on where you live the actual strains might be a little different. Been to Mexico lately ? Well their guts are obviously different then ours.
The one we are all the most familiar with is Yogurt. But if its full of sugar and you are lactose intolerant than its not a good choice for you. You probably never gave it much thought but pickles, sauerkraut are also some more of the “good guys” I even read a post that said sauerkraut helps to prevent cancer cells from forming. But to be clear, I dont like to throw out stuff I read on blogs as truth unless I can find a real medical school study at the National Institute of Health, ( hang on I will check) Pubmed.com Ok there are some studies that show it does inhibit the expression of some cancers. And sorry for another detour, but Pubmed.com is like google for medicine. Dont listen to people trying to sell you stuff. And the studies literally pour in to that website. Every day the latest research from medical schools all over the world are being submitted to pubmed.com . This is the real deal, research that uses established standards of proof and many with placebo controls as well.
Back to fermented foods. sauerkraut, kefir, kimchi, miso soup, tempeh, kombucha, Pickles, Natto. Most people agree on these. But there are whole websites dedicated to probiotics. Many list dark chocolate and brine cured olives as well. This is a big topic. Suffice it to say find some that you like and introduce them into your diet. You may even find weight loss more easy when probiotics are part of your diet. PS beer and wine count too, in moderation.
December 2021 Women’s health. I think I have a valuable contribution to make. When it comes to vaginal health, who hasnt had an infection of some sort ? Ill give you a hint every female has dealt with this numerous times. I did some research today. I was actually surprised that its not only mainstream and countless products are being sold. But the research is all over PubMed The National Institute of Health website. The NIH website only shows published research with hard core data peer reviewed often with placebo groups, often from either med schools or major pharmaceutical companies. Which is one and the same since they fund the research in medical schools. I thought it was only fringe doctors. I remember 20 years ago sitting with my good friend Celebrity Nutritionist Oz Garcia when he was counseling a patient. At that time he counseled her to douche with probiotics and rotate the three different ones. He gave her a jar of each. By the way the patient was extremely wealthy and had gone to every top doctor in NY and was really in bad shape had to drop out of college. She had been working with Dr Oz for 10 years was not only back in college but had completed Med School. At that time we were considering me working with him in a more hands on way counseling patients. I did formulate his Longevity Pak. I put a lot of work into it. I even visited a number of vitamin manufacturing facilities from NJ to as far away as Arizona. I forget all of the experience I have had sometimes. Sorry for the segue. So fast forward to today. They do sell countless probiotics and probiotic suppositories. And if you want to read the research yourself, I made a search for probiotics and vaginal health on PubMed There were 447 articles and over a dozen in just the past 2 months. I tried reading for an hour and concluded that its almost impossible to standardize a treatment with living organisms and even harder is to get funding for that. Ironically but not surprising was that a drug maker had two groups one with the drug and one with the drug with probiotics. Thats often the only way they can get funding. So I went back and looked at gut health and probiotics. So its actually not that different yet I saw a promising article on alzheimers and gut health published just this month December 2021. I guess we are back to square one with probiotics as well as vitamins and my favorite expression. We all get to place our bets in life. I can find you someone over 100 years old that smokes cigarettes and another one that swears by a glass of scotch every day. Ironically when I googled vaginal health and probiotics a Harvard Health article popped up from 2018 which pretty much was negative about the idea. However when I googled how many people take probiotics ( 4 million by the way) another Harvard Health article from 2020 popped up which said how great they are for gut and vagina. So its obviously an evolving science. They did have one caveat to know the source of your probiotics. That goes double for vitamins as well. When I was helping Dr Oz Garcia with his vitamins the facility I visited in Arizona was also certified to make drugs. In fact we had to sign in and out, wear little booties and a paper like space suit to make sure we didnt contaminate anything. They pointed out to me how they inspected the “stainless steel mixing drums” yet later that month when I inspected a facility in NJ who manufactures for many common products that we all buy they were scooping protein powder with a shovel. So in my opinion you should take vitamins and enzymes and probiotics and you should look for some certifications like NSF, UL I like Consumerlab.com as well.
I didnt mean for it to get that complicated. Lets go old school for a moment and look for correlation ( which doesnt neccearily mean causation but its a good place to start) I dont know if you are old enough but there was a yogurt commmercial that featured Georgians. My parents are Armenian next door to Georgia in the middle east. They ate yogurt every day lived to their mid nineties. I recently asked my sister if my memory is any good because I dont remember either of them ever being sick not even a cold. Not only did she agree but she believes it was the yogurt. And she was having the same experience. PS it was home made. They actually always saved some yogurt to start the next batch. So you were literally saving the bacteria to “curdle” the next batch of milk with the same bacteria. No scientist measured what was in there but it was handed down for generations and each grandmother swore hers was the best. If you ate the last bit of it which was needed for the next batch all hell would come down on you.
We do know that your body is an ecosystem that has mostly non human cells trillions of them. Here is a revised estimate its not 10 to 1 but an average 150lb man is about 30 trillion human cells and 39 trillion bacteria, say Ron Milo and Ron Sender at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, and Shai Fuchs at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada. I think our science it going to continue to evolve on the majority of the cells in our body which are non human and killing them with an “Antibiotic” which does kill certain infections is not the most elegant way to treat your body. However it is often necessary and life saving. Dont fall into the trap of 100% holistic. Sometimes you need an antibiotic to kill off a life threatening pneumonia and countless other diseases that can kill you. However a little self care can go a long way. My conclusion is do your best with going crazy. Actually back to where I started the article try to eat some fermented foods even yogurt. I believe activia did a study, oops they got sued and lost here is their revised claim from the lawsuit “As part of the settlement, Dannon agreed to make changes to its ad campaign to bring it in line with the product’s actual benefits (or lack thereof). Dannon will change the wording on the Activia® yogurt products. The company also promised to make changes to the yogurt’s labels and packaging. It will now say that the Activia® yogurt will help to regulate your digestive system if you take it for 2 weeks and also participate in a healthy lifestyle. They will remove the statement that says that it has a positive effect on the immune system. But some supplements and probiotics will do the body good. Actually check out my research on vitamin D. Sorry its complicated but its easy to take a few supplements and eat some fermented foods even if its merely a yogurt. PS try plain yogurt and add what you like fruit, jam or even honey. Ooh great idea for another topic love the benefits of honey, pollen and propolis.
I just read Diet Evolution by Dr Gundry. It was a fascinating read. One of my other all time favorites is Lights Out. Lights Out, Sleep Sugar and Survival has a huge bibliography and references countless studies that correlate the advent of electricity the invention of the light bulb and pretty much every disease that has afflicted modern man. Basically all animals and man have circadium rhythms. The body is engaged in critical repair at night and producing hormones. If you interupt that critical repair with artificial light you will be more susceptible to disease. He has so many studies that show the long lived people are often rural that wake up and go to sleep with natural light. ( although others ascribe the foods that these remote people eat. It also tracks what happened when electricity and light came to the most remote farm lands in our country. So you had places with same diet and the only variation was upsetting the sleep wake cycles with electricity and lights. Its a really fascinating read. PS if you dont feel like reading it just try to be a little more in tune with natural light. So you can party til midnite in the summer but try to get to sleep early ( even 9pm) 2 nights a week during the winter.
Many books talk about our genetics. It actually makes a lot of sense your ancestors date back millions of years to the beginning of our appearance on earth however long ago you believe that to be. The ones that did not have efficient fat storage died off. The ones that didnt have an intelligent sweet tooth ate some bitter poison and died off. I think we can agree those ideas make sense. Dr Guthry the author of the diet evolution puts forth an even more radical idea. He says that just like we witness all kinds of incredibly intelligent behviour for survival of species and propagation in the animal an plant kingdom, human genes are as intelligent if not more so. He says once you reproduce, its actually in the best interest of your genes ( that want to live forever) to get rid of you. Especially if you are gluttonous, your genes are going to assume that you are going to starve your babies so it will kill you off… Really stuff that makes you feel like you are reading science fiction. However Dr Gundry is a really famous Heart Surgeon and the book is chock full of examples of patients that were supposed to die, with extreme blockages that he cured with diet alone in a few short months. It was so fascinating I read it in 2 days. So I will have to go back re read it and take out excerpts. The other reason I loved this book is because he embraces high protein ( Atkins) and vegetarian ( Pritkin Ornish) He says that start with Atkins to lose the weight but after you plateau you need to segue into a more vegetarian diet. Really makes a lot of sense.
Have to mention Eat for Your Blood Type. You dont even have to read the book just determine your blood type, google search foods that are supposedly good for you and bad for you and see if you feel that way when you eat those foods. PS the interesting part of it, is that everyone was blood type O up until 10,000 years ago. At that time type A and B were mutations. That also coincides with the advent of farming. So supposedly type O’s cant possibly tolerate grains since grain never existed durring their reign on earth. But then again if you subscribing to some of the other book’s theories it is somewhat irrelevant. But its definitely worth having a peek at the foods that are suppossed to be avoided by your blood type and see if indeed they do or dont agree with you.
At the end of the day its all about being self aware. You can spend $20,000 a year and work with my best friend Oz Garcia for a year, like many of the rich and famous. But he will insist that you keep a food log and notice how you feel after eating various foods.
Happiness Health and Beauty Secrets 