Number one, they are common.

And number two, they are the leaders of hospitalization, disability and death — consequences we’d all prefer to avoid!

Stroke is perhaps the scariest of all vascular conditions because it can creep up on you unexpectedly. And since a stroke leads to the destruction of brain tissue, in some cases, the consequences can be severe and disabling.

The cold, hard truth is that one in six people are at risk of suffering a stroke at some point in their lives — so the odds are pretty high that it could be you.

These statistics have prompted researchers to explore whether dietary factors could provide protection.

And it turns out there are two particular elements of a healthy diet that can not only help lower the risk for the development of stroke but reduce the severity of a stroke should one happen…

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Your overall diet is important

Diet is one of the major factors that contribute to neurovascular disease.

A Western diet high in processed foods, added sugar, salt and hydrogenated fats is one of the fastest routes to both heart disease and stroke.

Conversely, the Mediterranean diet is a dietary pattern that has been shown time and time again to promote heart health.

The key divider between these two dietary patterns is the food sources the diets provide…

A stroke-protective diet is one made up of natural, whole food sources, particularly foods high in fiber and low in carbohydrate content.

Take the Mediterranean diet as an example. It’s made up of fruits, legumes, vegetables, whole grains, fish, seafood, poultry, eggs, milk, nuts and olive oil.

These foods are low glycemic index foods rich in bioactive compounds such as fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, polyphenols and antioxidants.

If you compare this to a modern Western diet of highly processed foods, you simply won’t consume any of these beneficial compounds.

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Feed your brain healthy fats to lower stroke risk

Once you’re eating a natural, whole foods diet, you’ll be making significant headway in consuming beneficial fats — and thank goodness, because the brain is made up of around 60 percent fat!

Two main kinds of fat that protect against stroke are oleic acid and omega-3 fatty acids.

Oleic acid is a monounsaturated fat found in olive oil, avocado and almonds. It’s been shown to reduce the risk of stroke, protect nerve cells in the brain and reduce the after-effects of stroke if one should occur.

Omega-3 fatty acids can be found in fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, sardines, tuna, fish oils, chia seeds, flax seeds and walnuts.

Omega-3s support optimal nervous system function and make up a large proportion of the membrane of nerve cells in the brain — or at least they should.

Where there is a lack of omega-3s, synaptic dysfunctions occur between brain cells and alterations in the nerve cells can occur.

But according to researchers, the fantastic thing about consuming more omega-3s is that you can restore optimal cell membrane function and prevent stroke development!

More than that, the combined effects of oleic acid, omega-3s and bioactive compounds called polyphenols protect the nerve cells in the brain, so that if a stroke does hit, the severity will likely be reduced.

When it comes to stroke, the message is clear: researchers are absolutely sure that your diet makes all the difference.

All it takes on your behalf is a switch to healthful, natural, whole food sources!

Source:

Ayuso MI, et al. Neuroprotective diets for stroke. — Neurochemistry International. 2017;107:4e10.

The post Two kinds of fat your brain needs to reduce stroke risk appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Every other time you test, your levels seem to be within range…

But those morning levels, sometimes they are sky high and it puts you in a panic, questioning what on earth you may be doing wrong.

Firstly, stop panicking — morning rises are a common occurrence in diabetics. However, it is important to understand why it happens and what you can do about it…

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The dawn phenomenon

Logically you’d think that your blood sugar reading should be at its lowest in the morning. After all, you’ve eaten nothing and done nothing but sleep. But regardless of whether you eat, glucose production continues anyway…

The reason for this is your body’s cells need fuel for your heart to beat, your brain to work and your organs to keep functioning. When you don’t eat, or when you’re asleep, the body can break down stores of available glucose (glycogenolysis) or enter a process called gluconeogenesis — a process that can use non-carbohydrate stores such as amino acids to produce glucose.

Various hormones such as glucagon, growth hormone and cortisol, are also involved in raising glucose levels. To wake you up every morning, your body naturally activates these hormones from around 3 am onwards, which explains why it’s called the dawn phenomenon.

In people without diabetes, insulin would normally counteract these hormones to prevent excessive glucose production. But since the insulin response and insulin sensitivity are altered in diabetes, your body may not compensate effectively.

The Somogyi effect

There is another phenomenon called the “Somogyi effect” or “rebound hyperglycemia.” This is when your body’s glucose levels decrease during the night (nocturnal hypoglycemia), which activates your emergency system, sending messages to hormones, like cortisol and glucogen to stimulate glucose production.

This can result in quite dramatic increases to blood sugar levels and morning readings. The Somogyi effect is more common in those who are insulin-dependent.

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How to lower morning levels

Gaining tight control over your daily blood sugar levels by eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, stressing less and getting good quality sleep, will all help control your morning readings.

But there is one simple trick that may help even more… especially with the dawn phenomenon.

In patients with non-insulin-dependent type 2 diabetes, researchers managed to reduce morning glucose levels by 4 to 6 percent. That means if your morning glucose is around 130 mg/dl, it would decrease to about 122 mg/dl.

What did they do?

Before bed, they gave patients two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar mixed with water, along with one ounce of cheese, which is just one slice of cheese.

Apple cider vinegar contains acetic acid, which is what researchers believe causes most of the effect. Other studies have shown that acetic acid reduces post-meal glucose levels and A1c, along with improving insulin sensitivity and insulin response.

Give this simple bedtime trick a try yourself. It’s easy to do and you never know… tomorrow you might wake up with lower morning levels, too.

Sources:

1. White, et al. Vinegar Ingestion at Bedtime Moderates Waking Glucose Concentrations in Adults With Well-Controlled Type 2 Diabetes — Diabetes Care. 2007;30(11):2814-2815.
2. Johnston, et al. Preliminary evidence that regular vinegar ingestion favorably influences hemoglobin A1c values in individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus — Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice. 2009;84:e15-e17.
3. Johnston, et al. Vinegar Improves Insulin Sensitivity to a High-Carbohydrate Meal in Subjects With Insulin Resistance or Type 2 Diabetes — Diabetes Care. 2004;27(1).
4. Mettler, et al. Additive postprandial blood glucose–attenuating and satiety-enhancing effect of cinnamon and acetic acid — Nutrition Research. 2009;29:723–727.

The post A simple trick to lower morning blood sugar appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

And when you’re pushing into your senior years, the list of problems may seem to rise even further.

Studies show that approximately 78 percent of people over 60 years have at least one chronic health condition. And nutrient deficiencies range from 10 percent to as much as 44 percent.

It is unfortunate that as we age, changes in the body may decrease nutrient absorption. And of course, if your diet is made up of processed and packaged foods — which is a habit a lot of empty-nesters fall into — this only increases your risk of nutrient deficiencies further.

In mature adults, more commonly known deficiencies include vitamin D and B12. But there is one nutrient that’s equally important and often forgotten — folate.

Now, you’re probably used to seeing young women urged to increase folate to ensure healthy pregnancies and babies. But it’s important for the proper functioning of the nervous system no matter your age.

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Age better with folate

In older folks, a deficiency can result in depression and possibly dementia, but that’s not all… Folate is essential for many metabolic functions, helping to support the functions of amino acids (proteins), as well as aiding in DNA reactions.

Your body needs at least 400 mcg of folate per day to fend off some pretty nasty illnesses and chronic conditions, including…

1. Cardiovascular disease. Initial studies connecting folate to heart disease show that getting an adequate intake each day could potentially decrease your risk of coronary artery disease, heart attack and stroke by 25 percent.
2. Cancer. Since folate is involved in DNA reactions and DNA stability, researchers suggest that a lack of folate could play a part in cancer development. In observational studies, data has consistently shown that low folate is associated with cancer risk, particularly colon and breast cancers.
3. Alzheimer’s and cognitive impairment. Folate is needed for normal brain development and function, not only in your younger years but in later life as well. Though we need further studies, some research has shown that those who supplement folic acid have a smaller loss of grey matter in the brain, which slows down cognitive decline.
4. Maintain muscle strength. Maintaining muscle strength as you age helps prevent falls. And preventing falls is important because falls can lead to fractures — in older age, broken bones take much longer to heal. In commonly used muscle strength tests, women with folate deficiency have been shown to have lower-than-average leg strength and lower-than-average grip strength.
5. Lead a higher quality of life. When researchers measured older people’s ability to self-care, along with their mobility activities, they found that 45 percent of the low folate group struggled, compared to just 9 percent of the group who had adequate folate intake.

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Where can you find folate?

Many vegetables and legumes contain folate, which is why it’s recommended you eat a whole foods diet over a processed, packaged foods diet.

Rich sources of folate include (mcg/per 1 cup):

• Edamame — 482
• Radish — 342
• Spinach — 263
• Asparagus — 263
• Mustard greens — 201
• Fava beans — 186
• Peas — 173
• Turnip greens — 170
• Brussels sprouts — 157
• Beets — 141
• Okra — 141
• Collards — 139

If you choose to supplement instead, folic acid can be taken as a standalone supplement or often comes combined with B vitamins. The recommended dose is 400 mcg per day and the maximum dose recommended is 1,000 mcg/day for adults 19 years and over.

And, if you find you have a deficiency, be especially cautious about drinking alcohol — it interferes with absorption and metabolism and accelerates its breakdown. According to a study, even just moderate alcohol consumption of a single eight-ounce glass of wine per day for two weeks significantly decreased folate concentrations in healthy men.

Sources:

Folate — Oregonstate.edu. (2014). Linus Pauling Institute. Retrieved 15 July, 2017.

Folate — (2017). Usda.gov. Retrieved 15 July, 2017

E H Reynolds. Folic acid, aging, depression, and dementia. BMJ. 2002; 1512-1515

Wee, AKH. Serum folate predicts muscle strength: a pilot cross-sectional study of the association between serum vitamin levels and muscle strength and gait measures in patients >65 years old with diabetes mellitus in a primary care setting. — Wee Nutrition Journal. 2016;15:89.

Gibson A, Woodside JV, Young IS, Sharpe PC, Mercer C, Patterson CC, et al. (2008). Alcohol increases homocysteine and reduces B vitamin concentration in healthy male volunteers–a randomized, crossover intervention study. QJM 101(11): 881-887.

The post 5 reasons you need more folate over 50 appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

And if you’ve beat around the bush for a while, you might be aware that beets contain a heart-healthy compound called nitrate.

These nitrates are a source of nitric oxide for your body, a compound that acts as a natural vasodilator, which means it helps to relax and dilate the blood vessels and arteries in your body.

Due to these effects, a natural consequence is lower blood pressure — a great advantage to decrease your risk of heart problems.

Beets are a very versatile vegetable and can be roasted or pan-fried, boiled and pickled, or eaten raw in a salad or juiced.

But have you ever stopped to consider if beets are best consumed cooked or raw?

Chances are you haven’t and not surprisingly. Because for the first time ever, that’s what researchers finally set out to explore…

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How do you take your beets?

The researchers set one group of participants with prehypertension the task of drinking 8 ounces of raw beet juice per day for two weeks, while the other group drank cooked beet juice. After the two weeks, both groups had a rest period of two weeks before they swapped and drank the opposite type of beet juice.

The results showed that while both preparations of juice do lower blood pressure, the raw beet juice has a greater influence on the relaxation of arteries. They also found raw beet juice reduced total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol while cooked beet juice showed no such effect.

And while both drinks lowered inflammatory molecules equally, the raw beet juice significantly increased participants’ total antioxidant status.

So the jury has reached a decision — while both cooked and raw beets provide benefits, it’s best to eat your beets as raw as they come!

Thankfully, incorporating a little raw beet into your life is pretty easy to do…

To make beet juice, simply wash or peel the rich purple vegetable, and put it through the juicer. Or enjoy with other healthy fruits and vegetables.

To make a beet side salad, shred one raw beet into a bowl, add 1-2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, a tablespoon of olive oil, along with salt and pepper to taste. Or create a tasty beet and hummus wrap.

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While the root of the beet contains the highest proportion of nitrates, don’t discount the beet greens as they provide higher nutritional value than the beets themselves.

Beet greens contain potent amounts of vitamins K, A, C and E, along with high levels of minerals such as copper, potassium, manganese and magnesium — vitamins and minerals that also provide several heart-healthy benefits.

Simply chop the greens up and add them alongside your raw shredded beets.

Sources:

1. Asgary S, et al. Improvement of hypertension, endothelial function and systemic inflammation following short-term supplementation with red beet (Beta vulgaris L.) juice: a randomized crossover pilot study. — Journal of Human Hypertension. 2016;30(10):627-632.
2. Coles L, et al. Effect of beetroot juice on lowering blood pressure in free-living, disease-free adults: a randomized, placebo-controlled trial. — Nutrition Journal. 2012;11(1):106-110.
3. Lidder S & Webb AJ. Vascular effects of dietary nitrate (as found in green leafy vegetables and beetroot) via the nitrate‐nitrite‐nitric oxide pathway. — Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2013;75(3):677–696.
4. Beet greens — (2017). Wholefoods.org. Retrieved 29 July, 2017.

The post For lowest BP, eat your beets this way appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

You may be taking a common medication right now that increases your risk of developing dementia by as much as 50 percent!

To date, a few studies have raised a number of medications into the dementia-causing spotlight. You may want to take this list and have a look in your medicine cabinet…

Oxybutynin (Ditropan XL) for bladder control

Anticholinergic drugs, like oxybutynin, are prescribed for the treatment of urinary incontinence. Essentially, they stop the involuntary nerve impulses that cause things like muscle cramps, urination, coughing and sneezing.

To do this, they block the neurotransmitter acetylcholine from binding to receptors on nerve cells. But acetylcholine is also critical for memory function.

That’s why using anticholinergics can put people at higher risk for developing Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), and possibly, dementia.

Researchers suggest there are other options but physicians turn to this drug because it’s a cheaper option. And it seems, at your expense…

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Taking these types of drugs for more than three years has been linked to a significantly increased risk of dementia.

What can you do for bladder control instead?

I’ve previously covered the use of pumpkin seed extract and Kegel exercises for bladder issues, two natural options with proven effectiveness.

Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) for allergies and colds

Reaching for those antihistamines to address your seasonal allergies — sneezing, runny nose, watery eyes, hives, skin rash, itching, and other cold symptoms — may seem like a good idea.

However, this commonly used medication is also an anticholinergic medication and may increase your dementia risk. That’s why it’s important to take the lowest dose possible for the shortest amount of time.

Try these natural allergy symptom-relievers.

Tricyclic antidepressants

Anticholinergic effects appear to be responsible for the cognitive effects of tricyclic antidepressants. The effects of these drugs appear to be dose-dependent, with low doses coinciding with subtle cognitive impairment and increasing to not-so-subtle impairment as dosages are increased

Some popular medications in this group include:

• Amitriptyline (Elavil, Endep)
• Clomipramine (Anafranil)
• Imipramine (Tofranil)
• Trimipramine (Surmontil)
• Doxepin (Sinequan, Adapin)

Taking antidepressants may be useful for those with severe clinical depression. However, there are other alternatives to tricyclic antidepressants. And since these have been shown to increase the risk of dementia, discussing alternatives with your physician is a great idea.

Since antidepressants are not all that useful to most people, consider trying proven alternatives. You may also be surprised to learn how much vitamin deficiencies affect depression.

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Doxepin hydrochloride (Silenor) for insomnia

If you have trouble staying asleep, your physician may prescribe you doxepin hydrochloride. But if you’re a regular user dosing around 10 mg per day and continue to do that for three years, your risk of dementia can skyrocket.

All of these medications are classed in the category of ‘anticholinergic’ medications and have an average usage between 8 to 37 percent. It’s not unknown that these meds cause immediate cognitive effects such as altered attention, changes to working memory, and slower cognitive speed. But when following your physician’s advice, you probably don’t expect to up your risk of dementia by more than 50 percent.

Unfortunately, there are too many drugs to list here… but you can learn about other prescriptions for amnesia and brain robbery that my colleague Margaret Cantwell wrote about, including Xanax and Lipitor to name a few.

Sometimes it’s the simplest of solutions that are the remedy, like adopting the bedtime routine of a toddler. You might be surprised at how well this works!

Sources:

1. 2017 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures — Alzheimer’s Association. Retrieved 2 June, 2017
2. Gray SL, et al. Cumulative Use of Strong Anticholinergics and Incident Dementia. — JAMA Intern Med. 2015;175(3):401-407.
3. Common anticholinergic drugs like Benadryl linked to increased dementia risk — Merz B. (2015). Harvard Health Blog. Retrieved 2 June, 2017

The post 4 drugs that can give you dementia appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

So instead of sitting down to a well-balanced meal three times a day, most of us may end up getting at least one meal a day in the drive-thru…

Or worse, you might miss a meal altogether and end up binging on a not-so-healthy snack to quell your gnawing hunger, like that box of doughnuts calling your name from the office breakroom.

Each of these scenarios can result in blood sugar spikes, or dips, that create dramatic ups and downs in your energy and mood.  That’s no fun for you — and not good for your insulin sensitivity.

Because reduced insulin sensitivity leads to insulin resistance — putting type 2 diabetes just a hop and a skip away.

But there’s a little (tiny, actually) food that can help…

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Tiny seed, big superfood

Chia seeds boast high amounts of protein, polyphenols, peptides, antioxidants, omega-3s, fiber and loads of vitamins and minerals — just a few of the reasons this little seed has superfood status!

But research has uncovered two more that can help keep all of us on track when it comes to maintaining healthier blood sugar levels — and eating better…

When researchers gave a group of healthy participants a glass of water containing 25 grams of ground chia after a meal containing 50 grams of carbohydrates (which is a lot for one meal), they found it not only helped reduce spikes in blood sugar but also helped them feel full.

Lower blood sugar with chia

The study, published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that “chia seed water” reduced peak glucose levels by 39 percent, following the study participants’ high carbohydrate meal.

That’s impressive, especially when you consider similar studies have shown that chia consumption with meals reduces peak glucose by an average of 35-41 percent. You might say the proof is in the overnight chia seed pudding!

These findings are incredibly important to blood sugar control because the results are not only the immediate blood sugar-lowering effect — but an indication that chia seeds may also prevent downward surges in blood sugar.

If you’re struggling with energy issues or fatigue, or have blood sugar regulation issues like prediabetes, adding 2 teaspoons of chia seeds to your meals may make a big impact — and that’s cheaper than those side effect-riddled injectable drugs we’ve all been reading about!  

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Feel fuller longer with chia

Satiety refers to your feeling of fullness. It’s how foods influence your hormones and hunger responses so your brain registers that you are full.

And you know how important that is to control cravings and decrease your appetite.

During the same research, scientists discovered that chia seed intake improved all satiety measurements, outdoing its closest competitor — flax seed, a superfood in its own right — by a mile, in all aspects of satiety measured, including:

1. Desire to eat
2. Hunger
3. Fullness
4. Prospective consumption
5. Overall appetite

While both seeds are high in dietary fiber, their “fiber makeup” is different. Flax actually consists of five times the amount of soluble fiber on a per-gram basis. Logically thinking, flax should outdo chia but that was obviously not what happened in this study.

Chia well and truly outperformed flax…

On further exploration, the researchers discovered that chia has a much higher viscous gel-like fiber content, practically 4 times higher than flax. The two seeds also consist of different fiber compounds and this affects their water-holding capacity and vulnerability in the acidic environment of your digestive tract — which is a big part of the chia’s success…

This viscous gel and superfood strength of chia seems to alter the rate at which carbohydrate is absorbed — and has a stronger impact on hormones and enzymes that control blood sugar and satiety.

So there you have it! This study and others keep fortifying the chia seed’s reputation as a “therapeutic weapon for metabolic disorders.”

Try adding a few seedy friends to your daily routine — both seeds have health benefits but chia seeds are the clear winner of the superfood-status race!

Sources:

Comparison of flax (Linum usitatissimum) and Salba-chia (Salvia hispanica L.) seeds on postprandial glycemia and satiety in healthy individuals: a randomized, controlled, crossover study — European Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Chia seeds (Salvia hispanica L.): A therapeutic weapon in metabolic disorders — Food, Science and Nutrition

The post What this tiny seed does to your big appetite appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

It’s one factor, above all others, that elevates your risk of some of the most dangerous conditions, including diabetes and heart disease.

But even though the subject of dieting to improve weight and health is discussed a lot, you don’t always hear the word “tea” thrown into the mix.

Sure, you’ve heard about the amazing polyphenol potential of green tea … but what about for preventing and treating obesity?

You bet! A study in Clinical Nutrition found green tea extract led not only to weight loss but reduced waistlines in women after 12 weeks. Magic? Not at all…

Green tea extract significantly lowers levels of the hunger hormone, ghrelin, acting like a natural appetite suppressor.

But you can drink too much green tea, so don’t consume more than 3 or 4 cups a day. Of course, green tea isn’t your only option for taming your appetite, boosting your metabolism or losing weight…

Many studies have shown that habitual tea drinkers have lower body mass indexes (BMIs) and waist-to-hip ratios and less body fat than non-tea drinkers.

In addition, teas offer protection against many of the health risks associated with obesity — which can be helpful while you’re working to lose weight. Some are even reported to help you sip away stroke and cholesterol.

Ready for tea time now? From common teas you know about, to more exotic options, you might want to consider making tea a daily drinking habit from now on…

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Black tea

Good ol’ black tea is an obvious choice, but even so, it still packs a punch of benefits.

For one, it alters the way fat is absorbed and assimilated into your body. In particular, it prevents the absorption of fats from the intestines, which influences three things — the amount of additional fat you store, the amount of liver fat you accumulate, and your cholesterol levels — all of which mean your metabolism functions better, and faster.

Secondly, black tea promotes improved blood glucose regulation by changing the way carbs are digested and absorbed. For instance, it prevents complex sugars from being broken down into simple sugars. Therefore, the absorption of glucose into the bloodstream can be reduced by as much as 25 percent.

Black tea also suppresses the liver’s production of glucose to further promote improved glucose regulation. That’s a huge win for avoiding the insulin resistance that can lead to prediabetes and eventually type 2 diabetes.

It also inhibits enzymes associated with carbohydrate digestion, which appears to reduce food intake, acting as an appetite suppressor.

And like most teas, black tea provides potent antioxidant properties.

Mango leaf tea

Mango leaves and fruits are full of bioactive compounds such as mangiferin, phenolics, and antioxidants.

In particular, mangiferin has been shown to reduce cholesterol and body weight in both animals and humans. It does so by targeting the liver where it assists in metabolism and energy use. The results of these effects are reduced belly fat accumulation and increased levels of enzymes that boost metabolism.

Mango leaf tea also provides powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

Hawk tea

This unusual tea, also known as eagle tea and laoying cha, originates from China where it’s been used to treat a number of ailments over the centuries. Derived from the L. coreana plant, the tea made from its leaves is rich in beneficial plant compounds, essential oils, and vitamins.

Obesity is often associated with a fatty liver and that’s one area hawk tea can really help. It protects against liver damage and liver inflammation and has even been shown to directly reduce liver fat, in animal studies.

Hawk tea can also help reduce blood glucose levels, another factor that can help control fat storage. And on top of all that it has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antiviral properties.

It’s not the easiest tea to get hold of but can be found in some Chinese/Asian supermarkets.

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Peruvian teas

Three Peruvian teas that have gained more attention in scientific studies are Uncaria tomentosa (cat’s claw), Phyllanthus niruri (chanca pidera), and Lepidium meyenii (maca).

Cellular inflammation is a well-known cause of obesity and its associated diseases — diabetes and heart disease. Peruvian teas offer several antioxidant compounds that have the power to target specific enzymes involved in the onset and progression of inflammation-induced issues of metabolism.

When you can drive down inflammation, your metabolism improves and therefore, your chances of losing weight increase, and your odds for weight gain decrease.

Matcha

Matcha is a powdered form of green tea. According to the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, drinking matcha the day before, then 2 hours before exercising can increase fat oxidation, which is the rate at which your body burns fat. In the study, the exercise was a 30-minute brisk walk.

The post 6 teas that boost metabolism, tame appetite and fight fat appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Tooth loss has also been associated with a higher risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease — and even death.

So, the reasons to be extra vigilant about what’s behind your dental health go far beyond protecting your pretty smile.

And if you think your daily brushing habits are keeping your teeth safe and sound — think again — there are deeper factors at play here!

The main cause of tooth loss in people over 40 is periodontitis. Periodontitis is an inflammatory condition that attacks the hard and soft tissues that surround and support the teeth, and eventually your teeth can just fall out.

Recently, researchers made a new discovery about peridontitis…

They’ve always thought the inflammation originated solely in the mouth. But when they assessed the dietary data of 6,887 participants, they discovered that perdontitis stems from low-grade systemic inflammation that’s occurring throughout the entire body.

Low grade inflammation that is triggered by eating a pro-inflammatory diet…

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What’s in your diet?

If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a million times from us, the inflammation abomination is the root of disease.

Under the influence of chronic low-grade inflammation, you run a greater risk for pain, illness, disease and accelerated signs and symptoms of aging — like tooth loss.

The common types of foods in the modern Western diet (sugar, refined carbs, processed meats, processed foods, additives, preservatives) represent a pro-inflammatory diet.

In fact, there are now numerous studies that support the notion that a Western-style diet is the number one dietary factor that drives systemic inflammation sky high. And of course, the sugar and refined carbs also increase risk for dental caries, tooth decay and disease.

So the first and most obvious step for you to take is switching to an anti-inflammatory diet. And indeed, the researchers clearly uncovered that people consuming an anti-inflammatory diet have much lower odds of tooth loss.

An anti-inflammatory diet is characterized by high intake of natural whole foods such as meat, poultry, fish, vegetables, fruits and whole grains.

But the insights into peridontitis go even further…

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Boost your bacteria

Researchers have also discovered that the development of periodontitis occurs due to an imbalance in gut bacteria — yes, gut bacteria, not just mouth bacteria!

And one way to ensure you encourage a good balance of bacteria is to consume adequate dietary fiber.

In an analysis of 9,042 participants, researchers discovered a very strong fiber-periodontitis connection. In those consuming higher fiber from whole grains, fruit and vegetables there was a 27 percent lower risk of periodontal disease!

So the second step you can take is to focus on nourishing your gut bugs by consuming a fiber-rich diet.

And by doing the above two things, which is eating a fiber-rich anti-inflammatory diet, you also address the third key factor that remedies peridontal issues…

You’ll be consuming high amounts of beta-carotene, vitamin C and vitamin E — nutrients that offer potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties to help stop dental health problems before they take hold!

Sources:

1. Kotsakis GA, et al. Diet-borne systemic inflammation is associated with prevalent tooth loss. — Clinical Nutrition. 2017:1-7.
2. Neilson SJ, et al. Dietary Fiber Intake Is Inversely Associated with Periodontal Disease among US Adults. — J Nutr 2016;146:2530–6.
3. Ricker MA, et al. Anti-Inflammatory Diet in Clinical Practice: A Review. — Nutrition in Clinical Practice. 2017;32(3):318-325.

The post Why this disease sign makes your teeth fall out appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

According to a report on statins trends published in 2023, following the implementation of the 2013 ACC/AHA guidelines, the number of individuals who used statins increased by 149%, from 37 million in 2012–2013 to 92 million users in 2018–2019.

The annual number of statins prescriptions increased from 461 million to 818 million between 2008 and 2019!

When your physician suggests you need medication, you likely trust their advice. After all, they are the medical experts.

You’d never expect them to prescribe you a drug that doesn’t work quite as well as they believe — much less one with links to other deadly diseases. But that’s just what has happened…

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A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine looked at statin treatment in 2,867 adults aged 65 years and alder with no history of heart disease. Their goal was to determine if prescribing statins does prevent heart attack, as it’s commonly suggested.

The researchers assessed the two groups, one taking Pravachol (pravastatin) daily and the other receiving usual care from their physician.

What they discover will surprise (and shock) you…

They found there were no differences between the two groups. And in fact, there were more deaths in the group taking the drugs.

Another bigger study looked at the data from 71,444 people in 19 large clinical trials and found that 3 percent of those taking a statin died from any cause compared to 3.6 percent of those taking a placebo. It’s an improvement, but barely.

Aside from scant evidence of effectiveness for the drugs, statin use may cause harm.

There’s one reason you hear less about that…

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When calculating risk, there are two ways to do it: relative risk and absolute risk.

When pharmaceutical companies want to make a small benefit seem as big as possible, they use relative risk. And when they want to downplay a side effect, they use absolute risk.

Here are five risks associated with statin use…

1. Statins cause muscle aches, pains and problems

Researchers have shown that statins produce a wide variety of adverse muscular effects — muscle cramps, muscle weakness, muscle pain, diseases of the tendons and autoimmune-related diseases.

And one important thing to note is that your heart is a muscle!

2. Statins may accelerate onset of Parkinson’s

Researchers discovered a strong association between statin use and risk of Parkinson’s, particularly in the first 2.5 years of taking the drugs, “suggesting that statins may facilitate the onset” of Parkinson’s disease. This is definitely contrary to previous research that attempted to hint that statins had a neuroprotective role.

For those of us who know cholesterol is a vital brain nutrient, and statins rob your brain of it, the realization that statins don’t help your brain is a no-brainer. Your brain needs cholesterol to grow new nerve cells and for these nerve cells to work properly. And when your brain is deprived of cholesterol, things don’t go so well up there.

If you’re concerned about Parkinson’s, add brain-boosting B vitamins to your health regimen. Most of the B vitamins have been shown in research to effectively fight the disease.

3. Statins increase risk of type 2 diabetes

In a large Finnish study of 8,749 non-diabetic participants aged 45-73 years, statin use was shown to increase risk of type 2 diabetes by 46 percent!

In those taking statins, the drug significantly increased blood glucose, decreased insulin sensitivity by 24 percent and decreased insulin secretion by 12 percent. And the drug’s effects on insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion were dose-dependent — meaning the higher dose a person takes, the worse their outcomes may be.

4. Statins increase risk of invasive breast cancer

A population-based study found that women 55 to 74 years of age, taking statins for an average of 10 years, had more than double the risk of breast cancer, particularly two invasive forms of breast cancer, invasive ductal carcinoma and invasive lobular carcinoma.

5. Statins can double dementia risk

Research has shown that patients with mild cognitive impairment (or even normal cognition) who used lipophilic statins were found to have more than double the risk of developing dementia compared to statin non-users.

PET imaging of lipophilic statin users showed a substantial decline in metabolism in the posterior cingulate cortex. This is the region of the brain known to decline the most significantly in the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

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Health is more than medicine

So, the question that is on everyone’s mind is why pharmaceutical companies push these drugs when there is little effectiveness and even potential for harm. It’s obvious: During 2019 alone, Pfizer’s Lipitor generated nearly two billion U.S. dollars of revenue.

The most important step for you is to weigh individual risks. How do these drugs make you feel? Do you include lifestyle interventions, like diet and exercise, in your heart health plan?

According to Robert M. Kaplan, Ph.D., a faculty member at Stanford University’s Clinical Excellence Research Center, a former associate director of the National Institutes of Health, former chief science officer for the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and author of “More than Medicine: The Broken Promise of American Health”, It would be wonderful if a pill could wipe away big threats to our health. But to achieve that goal, we need more than medicine.”

Sources:

1. Han B, et al. Effect of Statin Treatment vs Usual Care on Primary Cardiovascular Prevention Among Older Adults: The ALLHAT-LLT Randomized Clinical Trial. — JAMA Intern Med. 2017.
2. Mansi I, et al. Statins and Musculoskeletal Conditions, Arthropathies, and Injuries. — JAMA Intern Med. 2013;173(14):1318-1326.
3. Liu G, et al. Statins may facilitate Parkinson’s disease: Insight gained from a large, national claims database./em> — Mov. Disord. 2017;32:913–917.<
4. Cederberg H, et al. Increased risk of diabetes with statin treatment is associated with impaired insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion: a 6 year follow-up study of the METSIM cohort. —  Diabetologia. 2015;58:1109.
5. McDougall JA, et al. Long-term statin use and risk of ductal and lobular breast cancer among women 55-74 years of age. — Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2013 Sep; 22(9):1529–1537.
6. Preventing heart disease requires more than medicine — Stat, First Opinion; 2019 April 3.

The post Cholesterol drugs: Prescription for disease? appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

That’s because many of them — especially taken as tea — contain natural compounds with some serious health benefits…

Take pu-erh, for example, the tea that helps you drop pounds, cholesterol points and blood sugar levels. Like most well-known herbal teas, pu-erh originates from China.

But an unusual tea you’ve likely never heard of, from a different part of the world, may be stealing the show soon…

Originating in South Africa, rooibos tea (also known as red tea or red bush tea) is a caffeine-free beverage that comes from the Aspalathus linearis shrub. The leaves of the shrub are fermented to create an herbal tea that makes the perfect substitute for regular caffeinated tea.

Like green tea — a well-known potent cancer-fighter — rooibos contains high levels of flavonoids and polyphenols (209.1 ug/mg total compounds), coming in just above the content found in green tea (200.8 ug/mg).

The beneficial compounds in rooibos include aspalathin (the major compound), luteolin, rutin, vitexin, isoorientin and isovitexin, among others. And it’s these very compounds that pack a powerful punch against cancer…

Rooibos decreases inflammation in cells

The development of cancer has a very strong link to increased inflammation in the body’s cells. So anywhere you can find a healing food to help decrease the inflammation abomination, you’re onto a good thing…

Using green tea as a benchmark, researchers put rooibos tea to the test to see if it could decrease inflammatory markers that promote skin cancer. Their findings revealed that after exposure to the sun, rooibos provides protection to skin cells that could switch to cancer, aiding the body to remove any affected cells from the body.

Rooibos prevents oxidative stress

When cancer develops there is a direct imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants in the body. This leads to what’s known as oxidative stress and free radical damage to DNA cells.

Rooibos is a potent free radical scavenger, enhancing your antioxidant defences and acting on a variety of reactive oxygen disease-causing species — superoxide anions, hydroxyl radicals, and hydrogen peroxide.

Rooibos may stop the multiplication of cells

Methanol and aqueous extracts in rooibos tea stop proliferation of cancer cells, both premalignant and cancerous cells.

When compared to green tea, which is well known for its cancer preventative power, rooibos was found to have the highest activity against cancerous cell lines.

Rooibos may directly kill cancer cells

Compared to other herbal teas, rooibos can even cause apoptosis (cancer cell death), shown to affect more than 30 percent of cancerous cells.

This action is particularly strong for premalignant cells, where rooibos has been shown to target the genetically altered troublesome cells and give them a kick before they take hold.

Rooibos protects normal cells from becoming cancerous

Researchers have also discovered that rooibos is involved in the removal of precancerous cells, protecting normal cells by arresting the cell cycle progression and cell growth that leads to cancer.

Quite amazing for an herbal tea — rooibos lines up the army to stop those cancer cells charging forward!

You can purchase rooibos tea at any health food outlet and even many supermarkets. Just boil some water, infuse the tea bag or tea leaves for 2-5 minutes and start drinking the benefits. It’s best to drink plain but you can also add milk and sweetener if you prefer.

Sources:

1. Magcwebeba TU, et al. In Vitro Chemopreventive Properties of Green Tea, Rooibos and Honeybush Extracts in Skin Cells. Molecules. 2016;21(12):1622.

2. Magcwebeba T, et al. Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Aspalathus linearis and Cyclopia spp. Extracts in a UVB/Keratinocyte (HaCaT) Model Utilising Interleukin-1α Accumulation as Biomarker. Molecules. 2016;21(10):1323.

3. Waisundara VY, et al. Free radical scavenging ability of Aspalathus linearis in two in vitro models of diabetes and cancer. J Tradit Complement Med. 2015;5(3):174–178.

The post A cancer-killing tea you’ve never heard of appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Out of the crowd shines the vibrant red, yellow and orange tones. And have you ever wondered how they manage to achieve these vibrant shades?

It’s all due to carotenoids…

Carotenoids are the pigments responsible for the bright colors of fruits and vegetables. But more than giving them their beautiful hues, carotenoids are powerful antioxidants with a serious capacity to scavenge free radicals and protect your body’s cells and tissues from oxidative damage.

There are six major carotenoids — beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lutein, zeaxanthin and lycopene. And you’ll be amazed to discover that these carotenoids provide some seriously important health benefits…

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Protect your eyesight

Carotenoids can help protect your eyes against one of the leading causes of blindness, a condition called Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD).

In a large study following a collective of 102,046 participants for 24-26 years, higher consumption of two carotenoids (lutein and zeaxanthin) was shown to lower the risk of developing advanced AMD by 41 percent.

Lutein and zeaxanthin have the ability to stand guard and absorb a substantial amount of the blue light that causes macular damage. And the antioxidant properties of these carotenoids also shield the eyes from the oxidative effects after blue light exposure has already occurred.

Researchers suggest you need to consume at least 6 mg of carotenoids each day to gain these benefits. And you can easily do this by eating one sweet corn cob and one cup of summer or winter squash.

Prevent osteoporosis

Due to hormonal changes that occur during menopause, women over 50 are at greater risk of bone loss and osteoporosis. Thankfully, beta-cryptoxanthin is a carotenoid that can help prevent both these outcomes from occurring…

Beta-cryptoxanthin (found in peppers, pumpkin, spinach, papaya and tangerine) works to inhibit osteoclast cells from breaking down bone tissue in your body.

In fact, when researchers examined 457 postmenopausal women, those with the highest levels of the carotenoid beta-cryptoxanthin in their blood had a 93 percent lower risk of osteoporosis.

Another study found that out of 946 participants, those who consumed a higher amount of carotenoids (23.7 mg per day) had a 51 percent lower risk of hip fractures than those who consumed the lowest amount of carotenoids (7.3 mg or less per day).

To put these numbers into perspective, let’s note that consuming just one cup of spinach (13.8 mg) and drinking one cup of carrot juice (22 mg) would put you well over the 23.7 mg daily goal for carotenoids that you just saw above.

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Combat cardiovascular disease

Carotenoids have the unique ability to become soluble in both fat and water, which means they can circulate in lipids, cholesterol and fats in your body. This means carotenoids have the unique ability to directly influence arteries, decreasing thickness and stiffening that may lead to the development of atherosclerosis, one of the most common types of heart disease.

And according to researchers, the ability of carotenoids to reduce oxidative stress and inflammation has the potential to cut your risk of coronary heart disease by 12 percent, and your risk of stroke by 18 percent!

All you have to do to gain all the benefits that carotenoids have to offer is shop smart — head to the fresh produce section and fill your cart with brightly colored vegetables.

Top 10 carotenoid-rich foods

1. Carrots
2. Tomato
3. Pumpkin
4. Kale
5. Vegetable juice
6. Collards
7. Spinach
8. Sweet potato
9. Turnip greens
10. Apricots

The post Triple your disease protection with carotenoids appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

If you talk to your friends or family members, chances are one of them is taking medication for blood pressure or cholesterol.

And no doubt at least one person you know has type 2 diabetes or prediabetes.

It seems we’ve become so used to seeing and hearing about these conditions that they are just accepted as normal. And they are incredibly common…

Metabolic syndrome affects almost 35 percent of all adults over the age of 20. Hypertension afflicts 29 percent of adults. Prediabetes affects 86 million Americans, one in three adults.

As I share these stats you may be nodding your head thinking: “yep, I’m one of them!”

Well, according to new research, if you want to reverse some of this metabolic decline, it might be wise to get to know aloe vera as your new best friend…

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It’s a functional food                                              

Aloe vera, you say…

Yes, I know. The thought may conjure up memories of slathering it on after spending too many hours in the sun.

And while it is true that aloe is great for all types of skin ailments, it’s also considered a ‘functional food’ — a food that provides many health-boosting benefits, particularly for metabolic syndrome.

Aloe vera has a high water content (99 percent) that makes it virtually devoid of calories. Its second main component is dietary fiber. And next to both the water and fiber comes a range of micronutrients — A, C, E, B1, niacin, B2, choline, folic acid and B12.

In a recent clinical trial, 125 women with early metabolic syndrome (average age 47) were given a daily dose of aloe gel for 4 weeks. They were also required to follow a healthy diet consisting of around 1500 calories per day.

At the end of the study, researchers discovered that aloe has several metabolism-enhancing advantages…

The women had lower blood glucose levels — the average reduction was 18.7 mg/dl, compared to just 8.6 mg/dl in those who only followed a healthier diet.

This is not the only study to show aloe helps improve blood glucose regulation. A daily aloe drink has also been shown to help people with diabetes reduce HbA1c levels.

On top of improvements in blood sugar, the women also had markedly reduced inflammatory markers in their bloodstream, an indicator that they were entirely reversing their metabolism.

More than that, aloe seems to prevent the fatty liver that’s often a key player in metabolic dysfunction. It stops the inflammation in liver cells that promotes insulin resistance — one of the main precursors to prediabetes/ diabetes.

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And if that’s not enough, you’re going to love this…

Two particular phytosterols aloe contains (phenol and cycloartenol) reduce cholesterol production, along with increasing fat burning rate, helping to directly burn belly fat!

So if you’re looking for a functional food to help turn your metabolism in the opposite direction, looks like a daily dose of aloe could be the answer.

According to the researchers, the greatest improvements were seen at dosages of 30 mL per day. You can supplement or consider peeling a piece and adding it to your favorite smoothie recipe.

The post Aloe vera: The fat-burning blood sugar balancer appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Do you have one or more of the following symptoms?

• Abdominal weight gain
• Obesity
• High cholesterol
• High blood pressure
• Insulin resistance
• High blood sugar

If the answer is yes, you have an altered metabolism, otherwise known as metabolic syndrome.

Unfortunately, when your metabolism is altered, it dramatically increases your risk for more serious health problems like diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

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While you could turn to pharmaceutical medications to treat the above symptoms, a far better course of action is to turn to natural agents that provide therapeutic properties to combat these symptoms from the core.

And fortunately, there is one common herb containing 57 potent compounds that you can rely on as a metabolic remedy…

The simple culinary herb, rosemary.

Rosemary’s abundance of natural phytochemical compounds supplies numerous positive properties, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, hypolipidemic (fat-reducing) and hypoglycemic (blood sugar-reducing) — just to name a few.

Yes, according to research, this seemingly ordinary culinary herb is literally bursting with disease-fighting, metabolism-boosting potential…

Kick inflammation to the curb

Rosemary contains a compound called ursolic acid, which puts a direct halt on the production of several inflammatory molecules, along with reducing the number of them being produced in adipose (fat) tissue.

By reducing inflammation in your tissues, ursolic acid allows your body to restore its metabolism and chemistry to proper function.

Reducing inflammation also means your body won’t store every sugar in your body as extra fat around your middle. And in fact, you might just experience a little weight loss around the midsection as a bonus!

Sock it to blood sugar levels

Another highly active compound in rosemary, called carnosol, works to naturally lower blood sugar levels by suppressing the activity of certain enzymes.

This is particularly beneficial to people with type 2 diabetes as the suppression of these enzymes prevents the process called gluconeogenesis, a process where the liver produces glucose internally.

If you have type 2 diabetes, you may see the effects of gluconeogenesis reflected in high fasting blood sugar levels. But with the addition of rosemary, you could see the opposite — reduced fasting glucose, urine sugar and A1c levels.

If you’re not diabetic, rosemary’s blood glucose-regulating effects are equally important. The active compounds carnosol and carnosic acid aid glucose metabolism and liver function to prevent high cholesterol and obesity-related health problems.

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Beat high blood pressure

Rosemary’s potent compounds influence key enzymes involved in blood vessel constriction and relaxation, the effects of which are lower blood pressure and protection against cardiac hazards like heart attack and stroke.

Since rosemary is a culinary herb, it’s very easy to incorporate into your diet.

Here are a few creative ideas to consider:

• Steep some loose-leaf rosemary in an aromatic tea.
• Sprinkle the freshly chopped herb onto a piece of meat or fish at dinnertime.
• Add it to a Chickpea Salad alongside other beneficial herbs.
• Use rosemary in dressings and seasonings to spice up your savory dishes.
• Include a side dish of Rosemary and Garlic Mushrooms for breakfast or dinner.
• Mix some of the herb into your butter to spread on toast, breadsticks, dinner rolls, or to be slathered over steamed vegetables.
• Add generous amounts to a slow cooker meal of Rosemary-Garlic Chicken Leg Quarters.

The post The herb that crushes metabolic syndrome appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease, also known as GERD, is a condition where stomach acid splashes up into the esophagus.

If you suffer from reflux, you know it…

The heartburn sensation, the acid regurgitation and sometimes even chest pain… yep, to say it’s uncomfortable is an understatement. But it’s also dangerous… if you don’t get it under control, your risk of throat cancer is elevated.

These symptoms are often treated with a class of drugs called proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). But unfortunately this treatment still leaves up to 30 percent of sufferers with no relief, plus the meds can cause unwanted side effects…

Some acid reflux drugs have been shown to increase stroke risk by as much as 94 percent… increase your risk of heart attack and zap your energy.

Luckily, there are a variety of simple remedies that can help put out the fire naturally…

The post 4 natural (and safe!) reflux remedies appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Cholesterol does play a vital role in your body…

It’s important to all your cell membranes. It’s a precursor to your natural steroid and sex hormones. It’s needed to produce vitamin D and bile acids. And it’s also involved in a healthy nervous system and brain function.

If you take a visit to your physician, common measurements of assessment include total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL and HDL levels. It’s high total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL that have long been associated with increased risk of heart disease. But HDL cholesterol is vital to the body, especially for optimal cardiovascular health. The special job of HDL is transporting LDL cholesterol and plaque buildup from the arteries back to the liver for breakdown.

Fortunately, triglycerides and LDL are aspects of your health that can be influenced by your very own kitchen, using the great powers of nutrient-dense foods…

The post 4 kitchen tricks to lower your triglycerides (slideshow) appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Though you may not think about your kidneys all too often, they do play a vital role in your health.

One of their major roles is as your body’s filtering and waste disposal system…

Almost 7,000 ounces of blood cycles through the kidneys each day. And in their workings they produce urine from unwanted chemicals, excess fluid or waste.

It’s common practice these days to take medications for our ailments. And while medications may be designed to assist your body in some way, they also have to take a trip to the kidneys for filtering.

And if you think your kidneys are “safe” from the effects of those drugs, think again — around 20 percent of acute kidney failure (nephrotoxicity) is caused by prescription medications.

That’s why you should know about six common medications that can damage the kidneys more than others…

The post 6 worst medications for your kidneys (slideshow) appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

If it’s not shocking enough that dementia kills more people than breast and prostate cancer combined, how about this…

You may be taking a common medication right now that increases your risk of developing dementia by as much as 54 percent!

To date, a few studies have raised a number of medications into the dementia-causing spotlight. You may want to take this list and have a look in your medicine cabinet…

The post 4 dementia-causing drugs to avoid (slideshow) appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

But one thing you may not know is the role your liver plays in the development of all these conditions.

When too much fat gets deposited in liver cells, a condition called nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) emerges. And when NAFLD occurs it:

• Disrupts your ability to balance energy
• Promotes inflammation through the body
• Interferes with cell communication which frequently results in insulin resistance
• Promotes a higher rate of cholesterol production, among other things.

NAFLD affects around 30 percent of Americans. In people with type 2 diabetes this rate increases to 70 percent. And with obesity, this jumps even higher to 90 percent — it’s a big, and growing issue!

Fighting fat with fat?

Researchers know that diet is largely responsible for generation of this liver fat. And it would be easy to assume that it must be fats that would cause more liver fat deposits. But this isn’t exactly the case.

As it turns out, particular bioactive fatty acids are the one thing that offer the greatest protection…

First up, you’ll be excited to learn that you can enjoy rich creamy foods such as coconut oil, butter, cream and milk. These foods are full of medium chain fatty acids (MCFA) that are rapidly absorbed and transported straight to your liver.

On first impressions that may seem like a bad thing, but it’s not!

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These fats don’t get deposited as fat. Instead, they help induce thermogenesis, which actually speeds up your metabolic rate and helps you burn more fat, including liver fat. MCFAs also assist with repairing liver injury that may have been caused by NAFLD.

Secondly, make it a goal to include at least two serves of fatty fish each week (salmon, sardines and tuna), along with other omega 3-rich foods such as chia seeds and walnuts.

These can directly limit the amount of fat stored in the liver. And as a consequence, they help reduce belly fat, reducing the size of fat cells.

Bacteria is your backup

Lastly, you need to focus on nourishing your gut bacteria…

When you eat an unhealthy diet, bacteria in your gut shift off balance. And several studies have determined a strong link between NAFLD and an imbalance in gut bacteria.

But the good news is, you can influence this process in the opposite direction by consuming fiber-rich foods (veggies such as broccoli, carrots, asparagus, etc, along with nuts and seeds) and resistant starch (cooked and cooled potatoes, rice, beans and legumes, along with green bananas, plantain and uncooked oats).

These forms of fiber encourage the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) in the large intestine. SCFAs enhance the growth of beneficial gut bacteria and improve the utilization of nutrients, along with preventing liver inflammation.

SCFAs also influence liver cholesterol synthesis, regulating the production of HDL “good” cholesterol and LDL “bad” cholesterol. And they stimulate the liver to remove fat, which helps to reverse NAFLD.

Sources:

1. Juárez-Hernández E, et al. “Role of bioactive fatty acids in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease” — Nutrition Journal. 2016;15:72.
2. Ahmed M. “Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in 2015” — World J Hepatol. 2015 Jun 18; 7(11):1450-1459.

The post How to use fat to fight disease appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Yet people rarely stop to consider how nutrition affects their skin health…

The fact is, what you eat has a major influence over your rate of aging and the appearance of your skin.

Skin is one of the body’s major organs. It’s there to protect your internal organs from environmental challenges. It helps regulate your body temperature. And it controls water loss via sweat.

Because it is an organ, it needs energy to function. And it gets that energy from the food you eat…

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Various components offered by food in your diet can affect the structure and integrity of your skin. So if you want to avoid the visible signs of aging, it’s recommended you avoid junk foods and sugar, and focus on eating the healthiest diet you can.

Overall, studies show that high antioxidant levels and high micronutrient levels can help reduce the effects of aging. Antioxidants and micronutrients can be found in a wide range of whole food sources such as fresh fruits and vegetables, meat and eggs, nuts and seeds.

Related: 12 symptoms of a free-radical attack

But these foods in particular, provide mega antioxidant-nutrient strength for fighting those wrinkles…

1. Red bell pepper. One pepper contains 253 percent of your daily vitamin C requirements. Vitamin C plays a central role in making collagen, the main structural protein found in skin. Vitamin C is also required for growth and repair of tissues and is considered one of the most potent antioxidants. Antioxidants fight free radicals that damage cells and contribute to the aging process.
2. Berries. Like bell pepper, berries such as strawberries, blueberries and raspberries, are high in vitamin C to help with collagen formation.
3. Carrots. High in carotenoids — beta-carotene, which converts to vitamin A (retinol) — they preserve the skin’s structure and protect it against the sun’s harmful rays. Carotenoids also provide supercharged antioxidant power to scavenge those damaging free radicals.
4. Fatty fish. Salmon, sardines, halibut, tuna, mackerel, are all healthy proteins and a potent source of omega 3 fatty acids. Omega 3’s are highly anti-inflammatory and have been shown to protect the skin from UV damage, along with assisting in inflammatory skin conditions such as dermatitis, acne and psoriasis. Krill oil and fish oil supplements are good options.
5. Tomatoes/ tomato paste contain lycopene, which has been shown to reduce redness of the skin by 40 percent, along with having photo protective effects.
6. Yogurt/ kefir. These are great sources of probiotics to help regulate the absorption of nutrients from the gut and promote the growth of beneficial bacteria. The state of your gut bacteria is directly linked to your rate of aging. The more you can support the growth of good flora and keep the bad yeasts and bacteria at bay, the slower you’ll age overall.
7. Green leafy vegetables. These are considered among the most nutrient dense foods on the planet. Green leafy vegetables contain a huge variety of vitamins, minerals and trace nutrients that all join hands to provide you with huge antioxidant defenses.
8. Grape fruit. Citrus bioflavonoids have been shown to inhibit negative effects of UV light, decrease radical oxygen species and prevent DNA damage to skin cells.
9. Olive oil. Rich in vitamin E, which helps the body make red blood cells and prevents damage to the cells. Vitamin E has also been shown to reduce sun sensitivity and provide sun protection. And with its 36 powerful polyphenols, olive oil provides strong anti-inflammatory power to protect your skin cells.

The post 9 foods that fight skin aging appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

But as it turns out, there is quite a bit more to the story you might want to know if you’re trying to decide which may be better for your family.

For starters…

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Butter is a more natural substance

For centuries people have been milking cows, goats, and sheep to produce butter. Once the milk is obtained, the fat (buttercream) is separated from the liquid. This buttercream is then churned until butter is formed — plain and simple.

For margarines it’s not that simple…

Margarine is made from unsaturated fat, which in its natural form is a liquid. To make margarines solid the liquid oil needs to be hydrogenated, which changes the structure of the oil. This means they may contain trace elements of heart-destroying trans fats, which distort cell membranes and elevate risk of coronary heart disease. Margarines also contain the addition of various additives and preservatives.

With margarine, you’re consuming a highly processed product…

Quite simply, it doesn’t matter what the health authorities try to make you believe, because the truth is, the more processed a food sources is, the more unhealthy it is going to be, period.

So in this regard alone, butter wins hands down — it is just buttercream churned!

Butter contains natural vitamins and minerals

One tablespoon of butter contains 3 mg of calcium, phosphorus and potassium; small amounts of B vitamins and vitamin K; and substantial amounts of vitamins A and E.

Most margarines contains “added” vitamins, like vitamin D (but not the form that’s bioavailable), and vitamins A and E, while being devoid of all other nutrients.

Natural vitamins and minerals are always more bioavailable to the body because they are being consumed the way nature intended.

So again, butter wins the race in terms of nutritional quality.

Butterfat is healthier fat

While we’re all told that unsaturated vegetable fats are better for our health, we aren’t getting the whole story here either.

There are two main types of unsaturated fat — omega-3 and omega-6. It’s the omega-3 fats that are known for their anti-inflammatory, heart-protective and brain-boosting capacity. And although these fats are lumped under the same “unsaturated fat” banner, the same does not ring true for omega-6 fats.

Unsaturated fats used in margarine are predominantly proinflammatory omega-6 fatty acids such as soybean, safflower, peanut, or other generic vegetable oils.

During the processing of these oils, they are usually heated to high temperatures, which increase the oxidation of the sensitive unsaturated fats, and therefore promotes free radical damage and further increases their inflammatory potential.

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On the other hand, butter is a very stable fat, which does not easily oxidize. And although it is a saturated fat, there has been no conclusive evidence to show it contributes to heart disease.

Butter happens to contain healthy short-chain saturated fats such as butyric acid, making up around 11 percent of its composition. Butyric acid is a fuel source for the cells lining your intestine, supporting their healthy function, and preventing inflammatory processes that may lead to colon cancer and other health conditions.

Butter is also a rich source of conjugated linoleic acid, a family of ruminant trans fats that have been associated with various health benefits.

When you sum all this up, the evidence does point toward butter as the better choice.

Editor’s Note: You’re invited to join a tiny handful of Americans who enjoy rare, fresh-pressed olive oil all year long. Take my word for it, there’s a difference in taste, quality and benefit! Click here to learn more…

The post Butter or margarine on your Thanksgiving table? appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

A food that’s been used in traditional medicine for detoxification, asthma, cough, breast pain, and even suppressing cancer.

Now, modern medicine is showing this food can aid digestion, reduce cholesterol, stabilize blood sugar, encourage healthy gut bacteria, and help you lose weight.

Interested to know what this food is?

Gluccomman, more commonly known as konjac.

The konjac plant is a tuber that provides a carbohydrate that is very low in calories and carbohydrates but contains soluble fiber that produces a remarkable gel-like substance.

And it’s this fiber that exerts its extraordinary influence on the body….

Treat your digestive woes

The unique glucomannan fiber stimulates the digestive transit of food to help those who may suffer from constipation. So if that’s your struggle, it may improve your weekly frequency by as much as 30 percent.

But on the flip side, it also helps stabilize and bulk up stools in those who have frequent diarrhea. It’s even been shown to assist with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis!

One of the mechanisms by which glucomannan works for these conditions is its ability to influence gut bacteria in the colon, reducing inflammation and binding to any pathogens that cause irritation.

Prevent cancer and disease

Since the unique fiber travels to the large intestine intact, it leads to fermentation and feeds gut bacteria in the colon to produce short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) — propionate, butyrate and acetate.

These SCFAs not only help reduce inflammation in the colon, but reduce systemic inflammation and boost the immune system to help reduce risk of cancer and other inflammation-induced diseases (which is most of them).

Reduce cholesterol

Participants given glucomannan for 28 days saw a 7 percent reduction in total cholesterol and 10 percent lower LDL.

In terms of cholesterol, this unique fiber directly reduces cholesterol absorption from the digestive tract. And the SCFA propionate, helps decrease cholesterol production in your body.

As a weight loss tool and appetite satisfier

If you’re trying to cut back on calories but can’t get past that hungry feeling, get hold of glucomannan powder and use it as a pre-load before meals. Because glucomannan is predominantly a fiber-rich food, it provides a ‘full feeling.’

Simply add 1 gram of the powder to a full 8 ounce glass of water 15 minutes before meals, three times a day.

In an 8 week study where adults did this, they lost 5.5 pounds compared to the placebo group drinking water, who lost just 1.5 pounds.

Regulate blood sugar levels

Several studies in diabetic participants show that eating konjac products or consuming glucomannan supplements may help lower fasting blood sugar levels by as much as 23.2 percent!

You can readily purchase konjac fettuccine, angel hair noodles, lasagne sheets and even konjac rice. Konjac is also known as shirataki.

Konjac doesn’t taste like much on it’s own but can be added to soups, stews, noodles dishes, or eaten as a pasta and rice substitute.

And you can easily purchase glucomannan powder or capsules from a health food outlet or online store such as Amazon.

Editor’s note: 38.6 million Americans take a single drug every day that robs their brain of an essential nutrient required for optimal brain health, and it’s taking their memories. Are you one of them? Click here to find out!

The post A curious fiber with extraordinary benefits appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

But, according to researchers, there is a new silent killer on the block that’s leading to more premature deaths than smoking…

It’s called metabolic syndrome.

Around 40 percent of Americans have metabolic syndrome — that’s one in three people. And, if you’re not sure if that’s you, here are the symptoms…

1. Low levels of HDL
2. High triglycerides
3. High blood pressure
4. Elevated blood glucose
5. Large waist circumference

If you have three or more of these symptoms, you have metabolic syndrome. And that means heart disease and diabetes are knocking at your door.

Mistakenly, physicians commonly treat just the symptoms. For instance, if you have high cholesterol, they’ll likely prescribe you statins. If you have high blood pressure, they’ll likely prescribe you antihypertensive drugs.

Then, before you know it, you’re taking a daily drug cocktail, yet your problems really aren’t getting any better.

In fact, they’ll probably just get worse — because there really is just one factor, treatable without prescription — that’s negatively contributing to all 5 symptoms of metabolic syndrome…

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Lose one — Lose all

It’s the actual belly fat — that comes along with a larger waist circumference — that is causing all the problems. That fat doesn’t just sit there; it is active fat that produces hormones, proinflammatory molecules and non-esterified free fatty acids.

As a result of this, your entire metabolism changes…

Your body increases fat storage, increases cholesterol, increases insulin resistance, and as a result of all that blood pressure goes up and so does blood glucose, which can lead to type 2 diabetes.

When all this happens, there is a dramatically increased risk of all causes of death, particularly cardiovascular disease and cancer, the two leading killers.

This is really scary stuff!

But the good news is, it’s all preventable and reversible…

Drop 5 — Feel fine

By losing just 5 percent of your weight, you can instantly reduce your risk of dying from heart disease by around 18 percent.

If you’re currently 200 pounds, that’s just 10 pounds of weight loss to instantly prolong your life.

Then, if you can add in 20 minutes of walking each day, you can prolong your life even further — the walking will help with your weight loss, decrease inflammatory molecules, increase insulin sensitivity and improve your cardiovascular health — there’s a few more great years you’ve just added to your life.

If you can get your body mass index into the healthy range (18.5 to 24.9), you can even see all the symptoms of metabolic syndrome resolved.

More importantly though, aim to decrease your waist circumference to eliminate that active belly fat. The healthy measurements are below 40 inches for men and 35 inches for women.

Here’s some great weight loss advice from my colleagues here at Easy Health Options:

Dr. Michael Cutler talks about how to naturally gain control of your hormones for increased weight loss. He also covers different medications that can sabotage your weight loss efforts.

Debra Atkinson suggests hydration helps with weight loss in several ways. She also has some great suggestions on exercises you can do anywhere, so there’s no excuses.

Dr. Isaac Eliaz shares 5 secrets beyond diet and exercise that can dramatically increase weight loss.

Dr. Mark Wiley can teach you how to master mindful eating so the whole process of weight loss, and mastering the cravings of your body, becomes easier.

You’ll also want to read a previous article I wrote about the importance of food synergy as the best ‘no diet’ diet — it makes the whole process of healthy eating a breeze!

The post Do this one thing to beat 5 disease signs appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

But we do enjoy our snacks. So it’s no surprise that they make up a fair proportion of our daily calorie intake — almost 400 calories per day, or 24 percent of our average daily caloric intake.

Now, I would never ask you to stop eating snacks. But there is a good way to snack that rapidly increases your intake of valuable micronutrients such as vitamins A and C, folate, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, potassium and fiber.

And what’s really exciting is this snack not only satisfies hunger, it prevents weight gain, promotes weight loss, and even slows down aging…

The snack to eat more of

What is this all-so-powerful snack, you ask?

It’s tree nuts such as almonds, walnuts, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, pecans, cashews, and others.

Tree nuts are full of healthy fats, so when you eat them it triggers key gratification hormones, making them extremely satisfying to the appetite.

Because of this, research shows you’re more likely to reduce your intake of “empty” calories. By empty calories we’re talking about foods that provide ample energy but very little nutrients. Think: cookies, brownies, cakes, crackers, donuts, muffins, popcorn, pretzels, and candy bars.

When you put this in perspective and imagine all those empty snacks adding up over the course of a day, a week, or a year… the end result may be weight gain, nutrient deficiencies, and even health problems — all from some seemingly harmless snacking.

On the other hand, you can snack-switch your choice to any form of tree nut you choose. And believe me, it’s not only your appetite that will be content…

Your body on tree nuts

Since tree nuts are full of super satisfying healthy fat, your body naturally gets a much-needed oil change, receiving the anti-inflammatory benefits of monounsaturated and omega-3 fatty acids.

You might be thinking, “wait up, won’t all that extra fat in tree nuts make me fat?”

The answer is no. In fact, research shows that people who consume tree nuts two or more times per week have a lower risk of weight gain, by as much as 31 percent. And several more studies show that people who consume around one ounce of tree nuts per day have higher success with weight loss.

Another great benefit of switching to nutty snacks is you reduce your intake of refined carbohydrates and added sugars.

Eliminating these two ingredients from your diet produces countless health benefits including:

• Regulation of blood glucose
• Better hormone function
• Improved metabolism
• Reduced inflammation
• Heart protection
• And best of all… a slower rate of aging!

Yep, crazy right? To think that something as simple as a nutty-switch could help maintain your youthful glow — but it’s true!

The super nutrient content of tree nuts hits their anti-aging effects out of the ballpark — the fat, vitamins and minerals they contain provide antioxidant protection against the free radical and DNA damage that leads to more rapid aging.

Good excuse to ditch all those empty snacks? I think so.

Reach for a handful of tree nuts instead, your body will thank you for it!

Editor’s note: Mainstream medicine recently ‘announced’ that all type II diabetics will need insulin injections, eventually. Not so fast… I call that FAKE NEWS because you’ve just read that nuts can help regulate blood glucose. The truth is they don’t want you to know the proven, simple tricks that lower your blood sugar found in Dr. Michael Cutler’s guide, Forbidden Secrets From Nature’s Pharmacy to Reverse Diabetes and Blood Sugar Problems! To get your copy today, plus 3 FREE gifts, just click here!

The post The satisfying super-snack to eat more of appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

So let’s just lay down some eye-opening stats:

• One-third of Americans have prediabetes
• 5 million Americans are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes every year
• 29 million Americans currently have type 2 diabetes

To put these numbers into some kind of context, it was predicted the US would reach 29 million with diabetes in 2050, not 2017 — but here we are!

Diabetes is a HUGE problem. And it looks like part of the reason it is could be attributed to wrong-headed nutritional advice we’ve been given for years…

The “right” dairy and diabetes

We know that diet is one of the most critical factors for influencing health. And this is especially true for people with prediabetes or diabetes…

Most of us know that dairy products are considered healthy because they provide calcium for our bones, along with other nutrients such as protein, magnesium, potassium and vitamin D.

But, since full-fat dairy contains higher levels of saturated fat — over the years we’ve been led to believe that low-fat options such as skim milk or low-fat yogurt were a better choice.

Related: Your heart called and wants dairy back

However, as it turns out, researchers have again busted this deeply entrenched belief…

In a recent study of almost three thousand adults, researchers set out to determine the relationship between dairy consumption and long-term risk of prediabetes among healthy people, plus long-term risk of type 2 diabetes in those who already have prediabetes.

As expected, the results showed that dairy intake is popular: the average weekly consumption is approximately 10.8 serves, give or take 6 serves on either side.

But the results for the type of dairy that’s protective, were incredibly surprising…

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Risk of prediabetes in healthy people

Firstly, consuming dairy regularly was shown to reduce risk of prediabetes by 39 percent. In fact, the more dairy healthy participants consumed (14+ servings per week compared to <4), the less likely they were to develop prediabetes.

Secondly, if you’re one of the 36 percent of people who never consume yogurt, you may want to start…

An average 1.7 servings of yogurt per week was found to be protective, reducing risk by approximately 25 percent. Of course, it’s wise to avoid yogurts made with sugary fruit syrups on the bottom. Greek yogurts tend to have lower sugar content.

But best of all, if you love your cheese and cream — keep that love affair going: No associations were found between these foods and risk for prediabetes.

Risk of type 2 diabetes in those with prediabetes

Quite remarkably, high-fat dairy and cheese were the only type of dairy products associated with a lower risk of contributing to the development type 2 diabetes.

Not low-fat products, mind you — but the full, creamy, delicious fat options!

And the risk reduction wasn’t small either…

In fact, consuming full-fat dairy may reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes by as much as 70 percent!

And interestingly, the results of the study showed that it has a dose-dependent response — meaning, those with a higher intake (14+ servings per week compared to less than one serve) have the greatest risk reduction!

And one more piece of great news if you’re a cheese lover…

Even if you consume no other dairy, a higher intake of cheese (4+ servings per week compared to less than one serve) may reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes by as much as 63 percent!

Source:

1. Hruby A, et al. Associations of Dairy Intake with Incident Prediabetes or Diabetes in Middle-Aged Adults Vary by Both Dairy Type and Glycemic Status. — J Nutr 2017;147:1764–75.

The post The dairy that drops diabetes risk 70% appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

And unfortunately, if you’re over 40 you could be one in six that ends up with a vision problem called cataracts.

Once you hit 80 your risk of acquiring cataracts jumps to 50 percent. And even worse, if you have diabetes you have a 60 percent greater risk of developing cataracts, even in your younger years.

Cataracts are a condition where an opaque layer grows over the lens of the eye. If you have cloudy or misty vision, blurred vision, spots in your vision, get dazzled by bright lights or have yellowing in your vision, you may have the signs of cataract development — it’s recommended you have an eye exam.

While the exact cause of age-related cataracts could be any number of things. Experts know that the reason people with diabetes are at higher risk of cataracts is due to altered blood sugar balance.

Sugar in your eyes: not so sweet

The eye is fed by fluid that oxygenates and provides nutrients to assist the eye with proper function. High sugar in the bloodstream influences this eye fluid, affecting particular enzymes. And as a consequence, this changes the way structural proteins of the eye lens construct, causing them to group together and cloud over vision.

Thankfully, cataract surgery can now be performed, where they replace your lens with an artificial one. But while cataract surgery is now one of the most commonly performed surgeries, it’s still not a surgery you want to face, if you can avoid it…

The most important step you can take is to keep your blood sugar levels well controlled because if you can achieve even a 1 percent reduction in A1c levels, you can reduce your risk of cataracts by 19 percent.

But as it turns out, you can also focus on consuming particular foods that provide further protection…

Using animal eye lenses, researchers set out to conduct multiple experiments and discovered that certain flavonoids can protect against several sugar-induced processes that lead to the development of cataracts.

While some of these flavonoids are only available in fraction form in the lab, four particular flavonoids are readily available in a wide variety of foods.

Apigenin — found in parsley, celery, rosemary, oregano, thyme, basil, chamomile, cloves, lemon balm, artichoke, spinach, peppermint, red wine and licorice.

Baicalein — found in onions and two traditional chinese medicinal plants: skullcap and paeonia lactiflora.

Genistein — found in soy products such as tofu, soymilk, soy flour, textured soy protein, soy protein isolates, tempeh, natto, edamame and miso.

Chrysin — found in passion flower, chamomile, mushrooms and honeycomb.

Another interesting discovery was that while supplemental forms of flavonoids can be beneficial, one of the main challenges is making them more bioavailable — supplemental flavonoids just don’t seem to be absorbed as effectively as flavonoids directly consumed from foods.

So the best course of action is to use the food list above to include more cataract-fighting flavonoids in your daily diet.

The post Boost your flavonoids to beat cataracts appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Vitamin K.

Vitamin K is often referred to as one vitamin but it actually refers to a group of fat-soluble vitamins — K1 and K2 — that can help boost very different areas of your health.

And if you’re not getting both Ks, you’ll miss out on some major benefits…

Phylloquinone (K1) is found in green leafy vegetables. Menaquinone (K2) is found in butter, egg yolks, lard and animal-based foods, and can also be produced by your gut bacteria.

One of vitamin K’s roles, in which both K1 and K2 are helpful, is to act as a blood-clotting agent. Without vitamin K, getting a small cut while shaving could turn into a pool of red disaster. And undergoing any kind of surgery, well, that could be life-threatening.

But aside from its important role as a blood-clotting agent, it works in many other ways to keep your body working in tip-top shape…

Promote strong healthy bones

If you think vitamin D is all you need to healthy strong bones, think again…

• One study found that in patients with osteoporosis, vitamin K could prevent fractures of the vertebrae by 60 percent, fractures of the hip by 77 percent and prevent other fractures by 81 percent.
• Another study in osteoporosis patients given 45μg (micrograms) of vitamin K2 per day, in conjunction with a calcium supplement, found they had zero bone loss, maintained their bone density over a 2-year period and had a 65 percent reduced risk of fracture!
• In contrast, the patients who received only calcium supplements lost 2.5 percent of their lumbar bone density in the 2-year period.

K2 benefits bone health because it is helpful as directing calcium to places it’s needed, like bones, and away from places it’s not — which is why it also helps…

Reduce your risk of deadly heart conditions

Vascular calcification reduces the elasticity of the heart and the arteries, and it’s one of the risk factors connected to coronary heart disease. Vitamin K2 works its magic by reducing the risk of calcification from occurring…

• One study following 16,057 women for over 8 years found that for each 10μg increase in vitamin K intake, there was a 9 percent reduction in coronary events — meaning less chance of a heart attack or stroke.
• Another study evaluating what happens when people increase vitamin K2 found a 27 percent lower risk of coronary heart disease when consuming 21.6 to 32.7μg per day, and a whopping a 57 percent decreased risk when consuming more than 32.7μg per day!

And if those benefits aren’t enough to encourage you to eat vitamin K-rich foods, you’re going to love the following facts…

Beat arthritis, cancer and cognitive decline

• Sufficient daily vitamin K intake helps reduce joint narrowing in osteoarthritis by as much as 47 percent.
• Vitamin K has been shown to reduce the risk of diabetes by 51 percent, along with improving insulin function and decreasing insulin resistance.
• When researchers examined 11,000 patients they found those who had higher intakes of vitamin K had reduced risk of cancer.
• Vitamin K promotes cognitive function and may prevent the development of Alzheimer’s disease, as it plays an important role in the synthesis of fats in the brain.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg…

The recommended daily intake of vitamin K is 90μg (micrograms) for women and 120μg for men. But if you take a supplement, you should make sure it contains both K1 and K2.

That’s why I prefer to get my K from food. I load up on plenty of green leafy green vegetables — spinach, kale, collard greens, turnip greens and beet greens to cover K1. And make sure I’m eating eggs (and don’t skip the yolks) because that’s where you’ll find vitamin K2’s nourishing goodness. But for the food with the highest source of K2, you’ll have to reach for a traditional dish called natto, the Japanese secret to healthy circulation.

The post Vitamin K: The vitamin with a split personality appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Our magnesium intake has gone from 500 mg day to 175-225 mg day, which is well below the recommended intake.

In fact, a magnesium deficiency is one of the most common nutrient deficiencies in developed countries, most commonly among middle-aged and elderly folks. Experts blame industrialized agriculture and changing diets.

Considering that magnesium is involved in hundreds of enzymatic functions in your body — and also makes up about one percent of the mineral in your bones — it’s no wonder more of us are suffering from…

• Diabetes: Findings from the Harvard Nurses’ Health study, the Health Professional Follow-up study and the Iowa Women’s Health study, people with the highest magnesium levels had the lowest risk of developing diabetes.
• Heart disease: The journal Nutrition Research reported on a study of more than 10,000 people in the United States, which showed that those who consumed the daily recommended amount of magnesium “demonstrated lower levels of C-Reactive protein. Elevated C-Reactive protein is quickly becoming one of the most powerful predictors of heart disease.”
• Cholesterol: Clinical studies have shown magnesium to lower total serum cholesterol and lower elevated triglycerides levels. It decreases the “bad” LDL cholesterol and raises the “good” HDL cholesterol.

And our bones are really suffering too…

Researchers followed 2,245 middle-aged men over a 20-year period, tracking their magnesium levels and any bone fractures they experienced. The results revealed that the men who had lower blood levels of magnesium had an increased risk of experiencing fractures, especially hip fractures.

But not just a small risk, the risk of sustaining a fracture was 44 percent higher among the men who had lower levels of magnesium in their bodies.

I can only imagine how this is affecting women who already have a struggle on their hands when it comes to bone health.

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Getting and keeping your magnesium levels

The current recommended intake for magnesium is 320 mg a day for women and 420 mg a day for men, 31 years and over. But most people fall well below this mark.

To ensure you’re getting enough magnesium in your diet, consuming food sources that are high in this vital mineral is essential.

Magnesium-rich foods include:

• Pumpkin seeds, 3.5 ounce = 594 mg magnesium
• All bran, 1/2 cup = 112 mg
• Brazil nuts, 1 ounce = 107 mg
• Chia seeds, 1 ounce = 95 mg
• Brown rice, 1 cup = 86 mg
• Fish, mackerel, 3 ounces = 82 mg
• Spinach, 1/2 cup = 78 mg
• Almonds, 1 ounce (23 nuts) = 77 mg
• Swiss chard, 1/2 cup = 75 mg
• Lima beans, 1/2 cup = 63 mg
• Peanuts, 1 ounce = 48 mg
• Banana, 1 whole = 32 mg
• Beets, 1 cup = 31 mg
• Many other vegetables, fruits and nuts

Although consuming magnesium-rich foods is one beneficial strategy, another complicating factor is that as you age your body can’t absorb minerals as well as it used to, which means eating magnesium-rich foods may not be enough on its own.

So, you may also want to add a magnesium supplement to your daily routine. When choosing a supplement, look for the types that are more readily absorbed by the body — magnesium amino acid chelate, magnesium phosphate, magnesium glycinate, magnesium orotate, magnesium citrate, and magnesium threonate.

But you also need to watch out for things that steal it from you…

• Avoid caffeinated drinks and alcohol: Caffeine is a diuretic and can speed up the loss of minerals from your body. Acidic drinks, like coffee, can make it harder for your intestines to absorb nutrients.
• Manage your stress: It looks like people who experience chronic stress tend to be low in magnesium, and people with sufficient magnesium experience less stress. It’s a win-win situation to find ways to manage your stress better and to boost your magnesium.
• Think twice about a water softening system: Hard water can cause mineral build-up in pipes and fixtures, so many people install water softeners. But when you do that you cut down on a significant source of magnesium. One study found that 2 liters of some municipal tap waters could provide up to 30 percent of the daily requirement of magnesium for some adults.

You can also indulge in a warm Epsom salt bath to relax your muscles and increase your magnesium levels at the same time. Epsom salts are made of magnesium sulfate and the magnesium absorbs into your body via your skin.

Sources:

1. Magnificent Magnesium — Easy Health Options
2. Kunutsor S, et al. Low serum magnesium levels are associated with increased risk of fractures: a long-term prospective cohort study. — European Journal of Epidemiology. 2017;32(4):257-259.
3. Magnesium In Drinking Water Sources — Center for Magnesium Education & Research
4. Grober U, et al. Magnesium in Prevention and Therapy. — Nutrients. 2015;7(9):8199–8226.
5. Magnesium — Oregonstate.edu. (2014). Linus Pauling Institute. Retrieved 29 June, 2017.

The post What’s stealing your magnesium? appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

For instance, 33 percent of patients who visit a physician for a common cold receive a prescription for antibiotics. The common cold is a viral condition, but even at that, it’s a mild, short-term condition that a healthy immune system can generally overcome on its own.

Because they are so frequently prescribed, antibiotic resistance has become a big problem across the globe.

Not to mention, there are several consequences for your own health as well…

My colleague Craig Cooper has covered the negative health consequences of antibiotics before — which are many.

But, perhaps most concerning, though, is the damage they can do to your second brain, the body’s most vital forgotten organ — your gut — where a disruption in your bacterial balance can trigger reactions ranging from menopause to digestive diseases and even mood and immune system disorders.

Related: Take probiotics and this may happen to your brain

It is truly unfortunate that as a result of taking them, many patients are left dealing with newfound health problems.  Before you head to your general physician for your next round, try these two potent natural alternatives instead…

Echinacea

Used as a medicinal plant by Native Americans for centuries, echinacea (also known as the purple coneflower) is the third most popular herbal remedy sold in the US today.

Echinacea has been shown to stimulate fibroblasts, which are types of immune cells involved in repair. It activates the process of bacterial scavenging in the blood, a process known as phagocytosis. And it enhances respiratory activity, which mobilizes immune cells.

All of these actions make it the perfect solution for coughs, colds, flus and upper respiratory tract infections. Echinacea can be taken as a remedy for acute viral attacks or for prolonged periods to help boost immune function.

For example, used as a preventive cold treatment over the three to four month duration of winter, it’s been shown to reduce the number of colds by 58 percent.

And unlike antibiotics that can harm your good gut bacteria, the use of Echinacea purpurea was shown to increase Bifidobacterium — a friendly bacteria often included in probiotic supplements.

Echinacea can be taken as a tincture (added to water), in supplement form, or consumed as an herbal tea.

Pau D’arco

Pau d’arco (also known as red lapacho) comes in both tea and supplement form and is derived from the bark and heartwood of the Tabebuia impetiginosa tree. This bark and heartwood contain many powerful healing plant compounds.

It’s traditional use ranges from treatment of cancer, syphilis and malaria; through to fevers, fungal and bacterial infections, and stomach disorders. Popularized in the mid 1800’s by a Western doctor, it was used medically for the treatment of ulcers, fevers, rheumatic disorders, and all sorts of skin conditions.

One of its greatest influences is its ability to selectively modulate gut bacteria. One study compared pau d’arco to two antibiotics (chloramphenicol and tetracycline) and found that unlike antibiotics, which kill both good and bad intestinal bacteria, leading to decreased immune function; pau d’arco kills the bad bacteria but maintains the good bacteria to help support stronger immunity.

Throughout history the common method of intake has been to consume pau d’arco as a tea (known as a strong decoction) two to four times per day. For cancer fighting purposes, the recommended steep time is 5-10 minutes to extract the beneficial components. You can also purchase it in supplement form.

Next time you find yourself feeling blue, rather than consult with a general physician, try visiting an integrative doctor, nutritionist or alternative health practitioner that can advise you on an even wider range of alternative methods to enhance your immune function.

The post 2 antibiotic alternatives good for the gut appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

But, less familiar is the reality that many of our health problems may be the direct result of stress…

You see, this entire stress response is managed by your hormonal control center, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, or HPA axis for short.

From the brain to the organs, the HPA axis triggers the range of hormones and chemical reactions that occur throughout the body. But when one thing gets disrupted — as it can when under stress — it can cause a negative chain of events in return.

We’re talking weight gain, depression, anxiety, arthritis, diabetes, sexual dysfunction, osteoporosis, heart disease and stroke. These conditions can all arise due to the hormone dysregulation that comes alongside prolonged stress.

Thankfully, there is one powerful herb that can rebalance the HPA axis and have positive consequences on your health at the same time…

Ginseng — the “all-healing herb”

Ginseng has been used throughout traditional medicine for centuries. And being that it’s known as the “all-healing” herb, it has remained popular in modern medicine. In fact, approximately six million Americans ingest ginseng on a regular basis!

There are 11 species of ginseng, but American ginseng and Korean red ginseng are the most studied varieties. The roots, leaves, stems and fruit of the plant contain natural antioxidant compounds called ginsenosides, along with many other health-promoting agents.

And, it’s these compounds and agents that give ginseng it’s miraculous all-healing reputation…

Often termed an “adaptogenic” herb, ginseng helps the body adapt to almost any adverse situation. It’s potent effects on the HPA axis help the body to regulate both the hormonal and immune systems at the same time.

So, in terms of stress it can be used as both a tonic and rejuvenator, effectively suppressing the stress response, which of course, prevents the vicious stress cycle from occurring.

Because ginseng stops the stress response cycle, it also stops the subsequent immune response, which means it prevents the inflammatory cascade that occurs throughout the body’s cells that can lead to disease.

Ginseng’s reported benefits are many:

• Treating organ damage
• Improving metabolic health
• Boosting memory and brain function
• Enhancing athletic performance
• Stimulating immune function
• Decreasing acute and chronic inflammation
• Cardiovascular protection
• Anti-cancer agent
• Supporting optimal central nervous system function
• Enhancing well-being

Ginseng is available as supplements, extract or tea.

Just be aware that ginseng is potent and can interact with some medications, particularly blood thinners, antidepressants, antipsychotics, morphine and some diabetic medications. Always check with your doctor before taking supplements if you are on medications.

The post Ginseng: Best all-around herb appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

But truth be told, eggs are not villains… just a very misunderstood food.

You see, whole eggs are actually a super healthy nutrient-dense food, containing high-quality protein, vitamins A, B12, D and folate, choline, lutein, zeaxanthin and arginine.

Being that eggs have so much to offer, we’re fortunate that continued research is proving these entrenched beliefs wrong…

For instance, contrary to popular belief, eggs actually improve cholesterol levels.

And eating whole eggs, including the yolks, provides heart-protective benefits — even in people who already have coronary heart disease!

But it’s about to get even better…

According to new research, there is one more very important reason to let go of your fear of eating eggs…

Better way to get your disease-fighting D

Vitamin D is an essential vitamin required for normal bone development, muscles, and teeth, along with playing a role in immune, hormonal and cardiovascular systems.

But vitamin D deficiency is a growing phenomenon in the entire population — especially among diabetics…

In fact, it is estimated that 70 to 90 percent of people with type 2 diabetes have vitamin D insufficiency — levels between 30 and 50 nmol/L (12–20 ng/mL). Specifically, a lack of vitamin D has been connected to increased insulin resistance and altered pancreatic function.

But not only is it possible that a deficiency of D can lead to type 2 diabetes, there is also some evidence that improving those levels may be an effective treatment. Not surprising, since vitamin D has been tied to defeating numerous diseases.

So, more than ever, you absolutely need to ensure you have sufficient levels of vitamin D to maintain optimal health.

But, before you reach for a vitamin D supplement, new research revealed something remarkable about eggs and vitamin D…

You see, eggs are one of the few foods that contain vitamin D. One whole egg delivers 44 IU of vitamin D…

And, when researchers divided three groups of animals and fed them either a casein-based diet (milk protein-based), dried whole eggs, or a casein-based diet supplemented with vitamin D (cholecalciferol), they discovered two things…

Firstly, the animals who ate whole eggs didn’t gain weight. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Even though they had an average 7 percent higher calorie intake, compared to the other groups, they had a 20 percent reduction in weight.

And, better yet, whole egg consumption directly reduced body fat by 8 to 13 percent!

Secondly, whole egg consumption increased levels of vitamin D by 130 percent, compared to only 35 percent in the animals supplementing with vitamin D!

So, the overiding message here is: Do not fear eggs!

Eggs are a low-carb, protein-rich and nutrient-dense food that can be enjoyed on a daily basis.

The post Get your D this way to reduce weight, body fat and insulin resistance appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Every few years these “pillars of health knowledge” do their thorough review of research and deliver their next edition of the dietary guidelines.

They then distribute these guidelines to us. And as such, the guidelines are supposed to help us eat so we can avoid disease and protect our health.

But what they’ve been directing us to do is falling flat…

There’s actually very little evidence in what they’ve been promoting for the past 50 years, and, in actual fact, the type of foods the dietary guidelines suggest may be promoting your early death…

I know, it sounds dramatic and even shocking.

But, it’s absolutely true…

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Guidelines for death?

In the past three years alone, there have been over 20 scientific studies that have completely blown the dietary guidelines to dust, demonstrating there is a great need for them to be completely revised — based on actual evidence, not indoctrinated falsehoods that we’ve all been led to believe, like the low-fat myth

Now, another new study again urges that global dietary guidelines should be reconsidered…

The PURE study (Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology) reviewed the diets of 135,000 people across 18 countries, average age of 35 to 70 years, for an average of 7.4 years, with the primary goal of assessing the risk of all-cause death.

Here’s what they found:

• A higher carbohydrate intake was associated with a 28 percent higher risk of death.
• A higher intake of total fat was associated with a 23 percent lower risk of death.
• A higher intake of saturated fat was associated with a 14 percent lower risk of death.
• A higher intake of monounsaturated fat was associated with a 19 percent lower risk of death.
• A higher intake of polyunsaturated fat was associated with a 20 percent lower risk of death.

As you’re no doubt aware, the dietary guidelines have always promoted a low-fat diet, but as the results show, eating fat reduces risk of death!

Additionally, one key point made by the researchers of the PURE study was that: “Collectively, the available data do not support the recommendation to limit saturated fatty acids to less than 10 percent of intake and that a very low intake (ie, below about 7 percent of energy) might even be harmful.”

This research has again, completely busted the dietary guidelines bubble.

It should be noted that this is a population study, which only demonstrates association, not causation. However, several randomized clinical trials have also clearly demonstrated that despite popularly held assumptions, restricting dietary fat has absolutely no effect on risk of death.

Quite frankly, our fear of fat is entirely misconceived…

It’s time to take a stand and choose your health over the status quo.

The post A deadly mistake about an innocent nutrient appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

You’re not thinking about how those foods influence the lining of your intestines.

Nope. Once it’s gobbled down, it’s gone from sight. And as the saying goes — out of sight, out of mind!

But just because your daily indulgences are out of your mind, doesn’t mean they aren’t having a big impact on your health…

How does your food make you feel?

After you eat do get an immediate reaction from your body? Or do you generally just feel “off your game?” Or worse, have you been hit recently with an illness you doctor can’t quite put his finger on?

Because what you can’t see is that the lining of your intestines may be leaking food particles back into your bloodstream.

That’s right. The tight junctions that hold the cells together along the intestinal wall can become loose and allow food particles to pass the barrier.

When these particles, such as bacteria, gluten, food additives and even bits of undigested food pass through your intestinal barrier, your body sees them as foreign invaders and starts an immune cascade to fight them off.

And when this happens, your health suffers…

You’ve heard us talk again and again about the inflammation abomination at the center of most disease. And the truth is, your leaky gut could be one of the greatest contributors to the increased inflammation in your body — and the cause of all your health woes.

Leaky gut making you sick?

How can you know if you’re suffering the effects of a leaky gut?

You might have frequent headaches and make frequent trips to the restroom — or not. You might feel gassy. Or maybe it affects you a little more subtly…

Gaining weight? Yep, if you’re packing on the pounds or can’t lose them, it’s probably your leaky gut.

Then there are the signs you can’t always see, like your fatty liver or insulin resistance — until it turns to full-fledged type 2 diabetes. The list of health conditions goes on…

The point is, instead of waiting for external signs, and instead of popping pills to mask the symptoms — take care of your gut.

An easy way to do that is to just remember the 5 foods to stay away from — and 5 foods to eat more of…

The 5 sinister foods to avoid are:

1. Sugar – all forms of sugar are enemy #1. Sugar, and other simple carbohydrates, feed yeast organisms that can overgrow in your gut, disrupt digestion and damage your intestinal walls, making them more permeable.
2. Refined and processed grains –A group of proteins known as amylase-trypsin inhibitors (ATIs) may be just as bad as the infamous gluten when it comes to triggering inflammation, digestive problems and chronic health conditions. You’ll find ATIs and gluten in wheat products, white flour, white bread, pastries, cakes, and so forth.
3. Cheap cooking oils and unhealthy fats – safflower, soy, corn, cottonseed, peanut, rice bran, vegetable oil, canola oil, and all types of margarine — to put it plainly, omega-6 fatty acids cause inflammation.
4. Trans fats – fried foods, fast foods, commercially baked goods, and items prepared with partially hydrogenated oil, margarine and vegetable oil.
5. Artificial sweeteners, food additives, preservatives – aspartame (aka Equal and Nutrasweet), saccharin (aka Sweet N Low), and acesulfame K (aka Sweet One), MSG (monosodium glutamate), hydrolyzed vegetable protein, food coloring, glutamate, parabens, yeast, plus the long list of preservatives — these are not substances that promote health.

When you look at the list above, you see the makings of a sad Western-style diet. And that’s the big issue. The fake processed diet most of us eat in modern times is literally killing us.

Instead, a good place to start to fix leaky gut is eat a paleo diet. Because the paleo diet eliminates all the nasty, harmful foods and zones right in on eating fresh whole food sources, it has the potential to create the perfect digestive environment.

But whatever particular diet you choose to follow, for optimal gut health you should include the five soothing foods that can help repair leaky gut:

1. Bone broth – broth contains amino acids and collagen that help heal the damaged lining of your gut. Check out Kelley Martin’s bone broth recipe.
2. Green leafy veggies – these top nutritional powerhouses provide potent amounts of nutrients, enzymes, and compounds to decrease inflammation and promote faster healing.
3. Fermented foods – sauerkraut, kimchi, yogurt, kefir, miso, and apple cider vinegar are powerful prebiotic foods that encourage beneficial bacteria in the gut, along with encouraging short chain fatty acid production in the large intestine.
4. Sprouted seeds – are full of life force and ample amounts of fiber that help promote beneficial gut bacteria.
5. Omega 3 fatty acids – omega-3 fats help calm inflammation and rebuild healthy cell walls. Omega-3 sources include chia, flaxseed, salmon, sardines, walnuts, and tuna.

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The post How leaky gut makes you sick and how to stop it appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Now, researchers have discovered an unusual reason this occurs and an equally unusual way to cope…

Most of us fall victim to coping mechanisms like “emotional eating” when we’re stressed.  Comfort foods seems to make us feel better, but if we choose the wrong ones — like sweets — we end up sinking lower than when we started.

But that desire to be comforted by food may not be too far off. We just need to focus on another kind of food…

And that would be prebiotics.

You may have heard of probiotics — the friendly bacteria that live in your gut and keep it healthy — but prebiotics may be something you’re less familiar with.

Prebiotics are certain types of non-digestible fibers that probiotic bacteria feed on. You can think of the probiotics in your gut as soldiers that work day in and day out to fight off bad bacteria. Prebiotics are fuel for those soldiers so they can keep going about their work full-strength.

And new research shows they’re a valuable tool in helping your body handle stress…

Prebiotics help your body deal with stress

A new animal study investigated the effects that prebiotic foods have on the stress response — and the findings were quite interesting…

One group was fed prebiotics for several weeks before encountering a stressful situation. Surprisingly, they experienced much less stress-induced disruption in their biological systems than the group who missed out on the prebiotic nourishment.

In the animals lacking prebiotic nourishment, loss of sleep and a disrupted gut microbiome were two common stress responses. The animals provided prebiotics experienced no such effects.

In response to stress, sleep disturbance is common. But poor sleep for any length of time has been shown to increase your risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, stroke and dementia. The researchers found that prebiotics can help you recover normal sleep patterns after a stressful situation.

And it’s all linked to the health of your gut…

The far-reaching importance of your gut

Research has shown both acute and chronic stress can disrupt your gut microbiome. Whether it’s a sudden acute stress like a car accident or chronic stress from slaving away in your demanding job, the ratio of good to bad bacteria in your gut can get thrown out of proportion.

When your gut houses too many bad bacteria you are more prone to develop health problems like allergies, gut inflammation and poor sleep.

Boosting the health of your gut microbiome may help “absorb the shock” from a stressful situation and keep your sleep-wake cycle on track.

To make your gut — and your body — stress resistant, just add plenty of prebiotic foods to your daily diet.

There is no recommended amount to eat every day, but if you mix and match the following foods you can ensure you get your daily dose:

• Jerusalem artichokes
• Chicory
• Green peas
• Leeks
• Onions
• Shallots
• Spring onions
• Dandelion greens
• Fennel bulb
• Beets
• Cashews
• Garlic
• Pistachio nuts

If you’re wondering how to incorporate these foods into your everyday life, here are some inspirational ideas:

• Shallots, spring onions and garlic can be added to savory sauces, soups and dips.
• Jerusalem artichokes are a great salad topper.
• Dandelion greens can be a fun addition to your salad.
• Leeks can be the star of main dishes like soups, pastas and savory pies.
• Chicory can be made into a tasty coffee substitute.

Or, give Kelley’s great recipes a try:

• Beet wraps with hummus
• Crockpot cauliflower-stuffed artichoke
• White bean garlic dip
• Garlic roasted mushrooms

The post The best comfort foods for stress management appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

If you suffer with reflux, you know it…

The heartburn sensation, the acid regurgitation and sometimes even chest pain… yep, to say it’s uncomfortable is an understatement. But it’s also dangerous… if you don’t get it under control, your risk of throat cancer is elevated.

These symptoms are often treated with a class of drugs called proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). But unfortunately this treatment still leaves up to 30 percent of sufferers with no relief, plus the meds can cause unwanted side effects…

Some acid reflux drugs have been shown to increase stroke risk by as much as 94 percent… increase your risk of heart attack and zap your energy.

Luckily, there are a variety of simple remedies that can help put out the fire naturally…

Apple cider vinegar. Since vinegar is an acidic food, it may seem contradictory to take it as a supplement for reflux. However, consuming around one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in water before meals can help balance the production of stomach acid in some people, having a similar effect as antacid.

A special note though: make sure you drink it through a straw to avoid prolonged contact with your teeth, as the acidity can damage tooth enamel over the long term.

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Carob. If you’ve never tried carob, now might be the time. With an appearance similar to cocoa, carob powder is naturally sweet and can be used as a cocoa replacement in beverages, mixed with yogurt or as an addition to cereal.

A number of clinical trials have shown that carob decreases the acid pH in the stomach, helps decrease the amount of regurgitation and reduces overall reflux symptoms.

Carob powder is readily available in most grocery store outlets or health food stores. Roasted carob powder is the most flavorful.

Quince. Quince fruit is rich with flavonoids, which are natural chemical compounds that have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects.

A study in children compared quince syrup to a traditional PPI drug therapy. The results showed that quince was just as effective as the drug therapy in reducing all the symptoms of GERD. Even better, the soothing effects of the natural remedy were still effective for up to two weeks after the dose was given!

Quince paste is readily available from stores such as Trader Joes and Walmart. With a flavor crossed between an apple and a pear, it’s perfect eaten with cheese or as a healthier substitute for jams and jellies. Quince syrup can be purchased via online stores like Amazon — try taking 1-2 teaspoons before meals.

Olive oil. Olive oil contains more than 36 phenolic compounds, with a variety of those being well known for their potent anti-inflammatory properties — oleocanthal, oleic acid, tyrosol and hydroxytyrosol. In fact, it’s these compounds that are responsible for olive oils anti-cancer effect.

In patients who saw no improvement from PPIs, 2 to 6 months of consuming 3 teaspoons of olive oil 4 to 6 times per day, saw most patients completely symptom free. And the remaining patients all had significantly reduced symptoms.

Try dosing up on some quality virgin olive oil at least 3 times per day before meals.

The important thing to recognize with natural remedies for reflux is that different people respond to different treatments. So if one method doesn’t work, don’t give up, try another and see if you respond better.

The post 4 reflux remedies that won’t give you a stroke appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Due to the metabolic alterations that have occurred in your body, it’s not only blood sugar levels that can be a problem, but weight, cholesterol, inflammation and blood pressure can also be coinciding problems, too.

Although there is no “cure,” there are some nutraceuticals that bestow almost miraculous powers to help restore the balance of your metabolism.

And one such nutraceutical is bitter melon…

Bitter melon is also known by several other names — bitter squash, bitter gourd, bitter apple, and it’s botanical name momordica charantia.

And with more than 32 known beneficial phytochemicals, this unusual-looking fruit is now becoming increasingly popular as a potential treatment for balancing blood sugar levels…

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Lower blood sugar levels and A1c

When diabetic patients were given either 2 or 4 grams of bitter melon over 10 weeks, hemoglobin A1c levels reduced by 0.85 percent in the group taking 2 grams, and 1.15 percent in the group taking 4 grams.

Fasting blood glucose also reduced by an average 15 mg/dl for both groups.

Battle the bulge

These same two groups also showed a significant amount of weight loss over the 10 weeks of supplementing with bitter melon…

Those taking 2 grams per day lost 4.07 pounds and those taking 4 grams lost 6.83 pounds!

Additionally, researchers discovered that bitter melon is especially effective at fighting visceral belly fat — the type of fat that produces dangerous pro-inflammatory molecules that make your health decline faster.

Improve the function of insulin

Bitter melon contains compounds called triterpenes that act as insulin sensitizers.

This is great news because insulin resistance is one of the major factors that prevents your body from using glucose effectively.

On top of sensitizing your cells, bitter melon also acts as an insulin substitute, helping to clear more glucose out of the bloodstream. And it also helps enhance the function of the pancreas — the organ that produces insulin.

Improve liver function

One organ that doesn’t get talked about enough with diabetes is the liver.

Your liver is strongly involved in insulin sensitivity, cholesterol regulation, blood sugar regulation, inflammation control and detoxification.

And thankfully, bitter melon also shines in its ability to improve liver function…

Due to bitter melon’s potent antioxidant capacity, it knocks down the inflammation abomination, helps normalize all the important liver enzymes that help regulate metabolism, improves liver insulin sensitivity and helps balance cholesterol levels.

According to research, the recommended dosage for bitter melon ranges from 1 to 3 grams per day, which is best taken via several smaller doses throughout the day.

Since bitter melon is a blood sugar-lowering agent, you should check with your doctor if you’re taking medications that already lower blood sugar.

The post Bitter melon for better blood sugar appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

And while it’s easy to get hung up on hot flashes and such, that estrogen drop also has some very serious implications…

Low estrogen puts you at higher risk of many dangerous conditions — obesity, metabolic syndrome, heart disease, osteoporosis, cancer (particularly breast, endometrial and gastric) and altered brain function.

But even before you reach menopause, your gut health could be involved in increasing your risk of all of the above conditions…

That’s because the bacteria in your gut play a role in your body’s estrogen levels…

Collectively, your gut bacteria help regulate the balance of estrogen in your body by secreting an enzyme that changes estrogen into its active unbound form so that it can enter the bloodstream and bind to two different types of estrogen receptors found in the intestines, brain, bone and belly fat tissue.

From there estrogen is involved in influencing nerve development, heart health, bone density and the potential for diseases such as cancer.

But when your gut bacteria aren’t in the best shape (more bad guys to good guys), the estrobolome — the fancy name for gut bacteria involved in estrogen regulation in the gut — lose their ability to secrete the enzyme that converts estrogen.

This results in a decrease in circulating estrogens in your body — similar to what occurs in menopause… though you may not even be menopausal yet!

And disturbingly, researchers are discovering this altered gut bacteria may produce increased health problems in women of all ages. If this leads to further decreases in estrogen during menopause, well, your chances of health issues are compounded.

The good news is, researchers suggest that re-altering gut bacteria (more good guys to bad guys) might be an effective therapeutic target to prevent, or at least reduce risk of, all those health-destroying conditions just waiting to take hold.

Hopefully you’re already taking probiotics, or eating more fermented foods, like yogurt, to boost the live and active “good” bacteria in your gut. That’s a great first step. But there are a couple of other ways to really shore up these important bacteria…

1. Feed your gut bacteria.

Prebiotics, basically food for the bacteria in your gut, are comprised of two types of carbohydrates called galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) and fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS). These are particularly beneficial for encouraging the good guys to multiply. Prebiotic food sources include:

• Jerusalem artichokes
• Chicory
• Green peas
• Leeks
• Onions
• Shallots
• Spring onions
• Dandelion greens
• Fennel bulb
• Beets
• Cashews
• Garlic
• Pistachio nuts

2. Increase butyrate in your diet.

Butyrate is a short chain fatty acid that helps to strengthen the gut barrier, reduce inflammation in the body, and support the function of gut bacteria. Therefore, your job is to generate more butyrate in your gut.

You can do this by consuming an abundance of fiber-rich foods, along with the prebiotic foods listed above. And additionally, consumption of resistant starch is recommended.

Resistant starch can be found in foods such as:

• Cooked and cooled rice
• Cooked and cooled potatoes
• Cooked and cooled beans and legumes
• Raw oats
• Green bananas
• Hi-maize flour
• Raw potato starch

And you might be surprised by the last food… butter! Butter contains 3 to 4 percent butyric acid — it’s the richest dietary source of butyrate available to us!

Menopause is an inevitable part of life. But at least you now know that boosting your gut health, a relatively easy thing to do, can help you promote better health during and after this transition.

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The post The weird way bacteria can trigger menopause appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

But what is less understood is how fat accumulation occurs.

We’ve been led to believe it’s because we eat too much. And while that is partially true, there is a bit more to it. Once you understand how fat accumulation occurs, it makes it much easier to beat the bulge…

Sneaky hormone

What most people don’t know is that the sneaky hormone insulin plays a major role in the process of fat accumulation. Basically, it’s involved in…

• The uptake of fat
• The retention of fat
• And storage of fat.

With elevated levels of insulin in your body, fat won’t burn and is instead, stored.

What causes elevated levels of insulin?

Carbohydrate intake

You’ve probably been going along thinking a low-fat diet is best but as it turns out this isn’t the case. When people eat low-fat, they tend to increase their carbohydrate intake.

And most of the time those carbs aren’t things like vegetables and whole grains. They are carbs like sugar and refined grains (all the white stuff).

When people are put on lower carb diets without energy restriction (meaning they can eat as much as they want), they generally have a much larger short-term weight loss —when you slow down the production of insulin, you slow down fat accumulation and encourage fat burning.

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Certainly, insulin is not the only factor because your endocrine system works in harmony with the rest of your body. But when insulin is altered, various other hormones are also affected.

For instance, leptin (the energy regulation/satiety hormone) and ghrelin (the hunger hormone) are also influenced.

Research shows that increases in insulin levels also lead to decreased energy expenditure (a lack of desire to exercise) and increased hunger (you eat more) so the cycle continues.

But particular nutrients cause more harm…

Sugar and refined carbohydrates, as we already pointed out above.

Therefore, the solution is to eliminate or at least cut down on those types of foods and make a few dietary changes.

Can you still eat some carbs?

When we think of carbs most of us automatically think bread, pasta, rice and potatoes. We don’t realize that fiber-rich vegetables are also carbohydrate foods — and they are the best type of carbohydrates to eat.

What type of fiber-rich vegetables are we talking about here?

Artichoke, asparagus, celery, tomatoes, bell peppers, carrots, onions, leeks, kohlrabi, green onions, eggplant, cauliflower, broccoli, cucumber, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, okra, zucchini, yellow summer squash, radish, snow peas, mushrooms, green beans, and leafy greens such as lettuce, alfalfa, bean sprouts, spinach, collard greens, kale, beet greens, mustard greens, Swiss chard, watercress, arugula, bok choy, Chinese cabbage and silverbeet.

Collectively there is a huge selection to choose from and these should make up the bulk of your diet, they should be the predominant source of carbohydrates in your diet.

Not a bad trade-off off… giving up a few bad carbs for that long list of delicious one, right?

And fiber-rich vegetables don’t cause high elevations in insulin. They provide vitamins, minerals, and compounds that balance hormones and enzymes in your body, which helps increase your fat-burning potential. And they help regulate your appetite and decrease hunger.

On top of all that, they are well-known as powerful preventative foods for all types of diseases. Even better for you.

All it takes is a simple switch in your food sources to boost your metabolism and improve your overall health.

The post This sneaky hormone helps your body store fat appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

That means it’s never too early to do things now to try and prevent it from ever happening to you.

Risk factors for Alzheimer’s dementia include age, genetics, environment, lifestyle and metabolic disease such as obesity and diabetes. And one very modifiable thing you do daily plays a significant role…

Feed your brain better

That thing is your diet. While making changes such as quitting the processed packaged junk and switching to real whole foods is a recommended goal, there is one tropical fruit that we know has brain-boosting benefits above and beyond most others — the coconut.

Over the last several decades so-called health experts have tried to scare us away from coconut oil — and the American Heart Association recently joined them… all because coconut is high in saturated fat. But they are dead wrong about coconut oil…

It’s certainly true that coconut is 92 percent saturated fat. But it’s not true that it needs to be avoided…

You see, 62 to 70 percent of that fat is made up of medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs). MCFAs are metabolized more rapidly than other types of fats. They don’t form lipoproteins and contribute to cholesterol. Instead, they get sent straight to the liver where they are immediately used as a valuable source of fuel for organs and muscles.

And amazingly, this rapid utilization has serious benefits for your brain…

Around 98 percent of all drugs, chemicals and substances cannot go beyond the blood-brain barrier (a protective layer that surrounds the brain). This makes it very difficult in terms of assisting with the treatment of Alzheimer’s. The unfortunate thing is, many therapeutic endeavors just can’t reach into those deep brain regions they need to go.

So you’ll be amazed to learn, coconut’s MCFAs can get in — and here’s why…

Caprylic acid, a component of coconut oil, is able to cross the blood-brain barrier, enter the central energy core of cells and provide neuroprotective effects.

And it offers other great advantages…

Alzheimer’s disease develops when tangles in neurons and deposits of beta amyloid proteins occur in the brain. These alterations influence nerve connections and even cause neuronal death — two major reasons people’s behavior and cognition is affected. Miraculously, researchers have discovered coconut oil oil has the capacity to directly prevent beta amyloid toxicity and prolong neuronal survival.

But the benefits don’t stop with coconut oil…

Coconut water is brain-saving too

In the Islands, cracking open a fresh coconut and enjoying its juice is common practice. And while a fresh coconut may be out of your reach, bottled coconut water is now readily available so you might want to make drinking it a common practice, too.

Coconut water contains amino acids, enzymes, growth factors and nutrients. But it also contains something that’s showing promising benefits to beat Alzheimer’s — phytohormones.

Researchers have been studying two particular types of phytohormones found in coconut water and have found their potent antioxidant activity directly protects nerve cells in the brain. And in animal studies, these phytohormones have even been shown to help reduce amnesia, improving brain recall and function.

Coconut really is the best brain food. Add it to your daily diet today for a better tomorrow.

Editor’s note: 38.6 million Americans take a single drug every day that robs their brain of an essential nutrient required for optimal brain health, and it’s taking their memories. Are you one of them? Click here to find out!

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It’s your body’s ability to effectively carry out a range of complex chemical reactions that allow you to sustain life.

For instance, the body needs fuel. But to get that fuel you need to eat food, which your body then breaks down into elements it can use. There are literally millions of chemical reactions that occur, every second of every day!

Therefore, if you want to avoid heart disease and chronic health conditions like type 2 diabetes, you have to take care of your metabolism.

There are now many known nutraceuticals that can help reverse/ protect your metabolism. For instance, foods containing anthocyanins (blueberries, eggplant, plums), omega-3 fatty acids (salmon, tuna, chia seeds), oleocanthal, tyrosol and hydroxytyrosol (olive oil components), along with prebiotics and probiotics.

It’s also common to hear about the benefits of micronutrients — vitamins D, E, C, B and A, and minerals such as magnesium, calcium, zinc and iron. Micronutrients are cofactors and enzymes that help control metabolism.

However, one aspect that’s less commonly talked about is the trace elements in your diet. These are nutrients that are only required in very small amounts.

But even so, you’ll be surprised that they also offer significant metabolism-boosting powers…

Selenium

One of selenium’s major roles is as an antioxidant. When paired with vitamin E in the body, it helps to keep your body’s antioxidant balance in check.

Studies have shown that selenium deficiency can diminish your antioxidant defenses, which as a consequence, can contribute to metabolic alterations such as hypertension and the development of heart disease.

Thankfully, when you consume enough selenium, its has some amazing benefits for metabolism…

In patients with type 2 diabetes (a state of altered metabolism), selenium supplemented 200 mcg/day showed insulin-mimicking effects, along with dramatically increasing blood levels of antioxidants, particularly glutathione — the body’s master antioxidant.

The recommended dosage is 55 mcg/day for adults, with an upper limit of 400 mcg/day.

Selenium-rich food sources include:

• Brazil nuts
• Wheat germ
• Butter
• Liver
• Fish
• Shellfish
• Garlic
• Sunflower seeds
• Black tea
• Mushrooms
• Broccoli
• Bamboo shoots

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Vanadium

This may be a trace mineral you’ve never heard of, and not surprisingly.

Vanadium is not considered an essential mineral and its role in nutrition is still controversial. However, in terms of its influence on metabolic health, it’s shown some pretty impressive outcomes…

When animals were given vanadium over a 4-week period, their glucose intolerance completely reversed, their body weight reduced by a whopping 20 percent, and their fatty liver significantly improved.

Another study in diabetic rats given vanadium also saw them achieve complete regulation of blood sugar levels and improved glucose tolerance.

Similarly, one study in patients with non-insulin dependent diabetes given vanadium (vanadyl sulfate) for 2 to 4 weeks, showed decreases in fasting blood sugar levels of 15 to 20 percent!

And it also provides heart-healthy benefits such as improving overall heart function and lowering blood pressure!

The estimated requirement is 60 mcg/day, with an upper level of intake of 1.8 mg per day.

You can gain sufficient vanadium by consuming vanadium-rich food sources such as:

• Mushrooms
• Parsley
• Shellfish
• Dill weed
• Beer
• Wine
• Whole grains
• Black pepper

Chromium

Although most people aren’t deficient in chromium, up to 90 percent of American diets are low in chromium.

And that’s not great news because chromium plays an important role in both carbohydrate and fat metabolism in your body.

In carbohydrate metabolism, researchers suggest it acts as a second messenger in cellular responses to insulin. Or in other words, it helps enhance the function of insulin.

Insulin is the hormone that unlocks cells so that glucose can be shifted out of the bloodstream into the cells.

And indeed, when type 2 diabetic patients were given chromium picolinate 600 mcg/day, it reduced their fasting blood glucose levels, postprandial blood glucose levels and HbA1c, which does demonstrate its effects on improving the function of insulin.

Several studies have also shown it may influence body weight, cholesterol, triglycerides, cortisol and hypertension.

The suggested daily intake is 35 mcg/ day for men and 25 mcg/day for women.

If you are going to supplement, choose chromium picolinate, as it’s the most highly absorbed form of chromium.

Chromium-rich foods include:

• Whole grain breads and cereals
• Lean meats
• Cheeses
• Black pepper
• Thyme
• Cinnamon
• Brewer’s yeast

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In the US, the estimated new cases of breast cancer in 2017 are 252,710 women, and for colon cancer, 135,430.

As you may be aware, cancer occurs in the bodies cells. And there are two particular cellular pathways that commonly become deregulated in cancer — mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs).

When these cellular pathways become upregulated, it allows cancer cells to develop, survive and progress. Therefore, the objective of any treatment is to downgrade these pathways so that cells are protected.

According to new cellular research, there’s one energizing substance that may halt these two pathways completely…

Guarana goes after colon and breast cancer cells

If you’ve ever reached for an energy drink to help boost your stamina, you may have noticed one unusual ingredient in the list… guarana.

Guarana is a plant from the Amazon region that’s been consumed for thousands of years for it’s caffeine-rich energizing properties, along with the catechins and bioactive molecules it contains.

Due to these properties, research has shown that guarana offers antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antiplatelet, antidepressant and cytotoxic effects.

And in this recent scientific exploration, researchers tested both cancer cells and healthy cells to determine whether guarana may be a functional food with therapeutic advantages for cancer.

And it turns out, it absolutely does have advantages…

They found that guarana inhibits the mTOR pathway to block cancer progression. And it provides powerful antioxidant molecules that prevent the reactive oxygen species that switch on the MAPK pathway.

Quite astounding, guarana works on specific cells in those pathways to provide potent anti-tumor influences that inhibit tumor colony formation and cancer cell proliferation.

Interestingly though, the anti-cancer effects of guarana are not due to the caffeine, but to it’s catechins such as epigallocatechin-3-gallate, the same powerful catechin that makes green tea a cancer-fighting agent; and its bioactive compounds eicosapentaenoic acid and proanthocyanidins.

But the best discovery of all, is that guarana has no effect on healthy cells. It leaves them intact so they can assist the immune system to keep functioning optimally.

This is incredibly good news because many medication-based cancer treatments influence both cancer cells and healthy cells, which leaves people’s immune system compromised and can reduce the efficacy of cancer treatment.

While guarana supplementation is considered safe for most, just be wary that doses greater than 250-300 mg daily has been linked to side effects such as insomnia, nervousness and restlessness, stomach irritation, nausea, vomiting, increased heart rate and blood pressure and rapid breathing.

And I wouldn’t suggest reaching for an energy drink to get it. Instead guarana powder can be ordered online and stirred into water.

Editor’s note: As you’ve just read, potent natural cancer fighters exist in nature, but if you wait for them to go from lab to pharmacy it could be too late. Dr. Michael Cutler lists more natural ways to avoid and beat cancer, including the best minerals, herbs, supplements, foods and proven therapies allowed in other countries — but denied to you by American mainstream medicine — all in his comprehensive cancer guide, Surviving Cancer! To get your copy today — plus 3 FREE reports — click here!

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