For the answer, we must understand how the autonomic nervous system (ANS) works. This is what runs our body behind the scenes, not under our conscious control. The ANS regulates our heart-rate, our respiration, our immune system, our temperature control, our organ function, our hormones etc., all in the background while we carry on with our life. There are three parts to the ANS – the sympathetic system, the parasympathetic system and the enteric system. For our purposes today, we will discuss the sympathetic, otherwise known as the “fight or flight” system, and parasympathetic or “rest and repair” system and their interaction.

The SNS and the PNS generally have opposite functions – when we are under stress, the sympathetic system raises our heart-rate, increases our respiratory rate, releases cortisol, our stress hormone to help us cope, shunts the blood from the digestive tract into the muscles so that we can either run away from or fight whatever is threatening us.  If organ systems in the body are unhealthy and therefore stressed for one reason or another, or we are mentally or emotionally stressed, that increases sympathetic load as well.  The sympathetic system by its very nature is catabolic, meaning it breaks down muscle tissue due to the increased levels of cortisol secreted.  High-intensity physical exercise is also sympathetic in nature – the heart-rate goes up, respiration goes up, body temperature goes up, and cortisol is released into the blood stream.  I have explained in previous health tips how cortisol turns blood sugar into fat.  (No, I’m not saying exercise is bad!)  When the threat is dealt with, the parasympathetic system slows our heart-rate and respiration back down, brings the blood back to the digestive tract so that we can digest our food, and works to repair any tissue damage, increases libido etc.  Night time is when the parasympathetic system has lots of time to do its job, provided we go to bed early enough.  The sympathetic and parasympathetic systems should balance each other nicely, and in those people that have a balanced nervous system, high- intensity exercise will lead to fat loss, as the parasympathetic rest-time between workouts is when muscle tissue is built.

Those that are unable to lose fat by doing regular high-intensity exercise may have a dominant sympathetic nervous system, and consequently, an inhibited parasympathetic system.   There is too much systemic stress coming from somewhere, and for those people adding high-intensity exercise is counterproductive, as it adds to their sympathetic load pushing them even more out of balance.  Anxiety is very common today, frequently based in financial stressors, poor or inappropriate diet and its consequences, and/or poor relationship stressors, but one does not need to be anxious to be in sympathetic overload.  In my tip on dealing with health issues, I give a roadmap on an approach to reducing sympathetic load.  Anything that can be done to reduce the stressors is important for successful fat loss (and pain reduction).  As for exercise, yes, it should be done several times a week, but choose exercise like Qi Gong, Tai Chi, Yoga, Feldenkrais, Alexander Technique, etc., or any exercise that is done slowly and with the breath, which will increase the parasympathetic system and help balance the ANS. Later, when the body is in balance and healthier, the fat will come off.   The information in today’s tip is a summary of Paul Chek’s article Balancing the Autonomic Nervous System, so feel free to read the original, more detailed article. If you want to know if you are in sympathetic overload, which organ and glandular systems are stressed, and figure out what to do about it, find a Holistic Lifestyle Consultant near you.

If this occurs on the long term, for example, on calorie restricted or low carb diets, a process called starvation ketosis occurs. While weight loss may result, the health risks such as organ damage, kidney failure, brain injury (and in serious cases result in coma or death) are not worth damaging your overall health. It’s also common to see the pounds that have been shed return once the diet is no longer being followed.

In past experiences, I’ve noted the importance of differentiating between the two types of carbs. There are the simple carbs which mainly come from refined sugars and starches such as white rice, pasta, breads and commercially baked goods. They offer us zilch for nutritional value as most of the important nutrients are removed during the refining process. With the absence of fibre, their sugars are released very quickly into our blood stream. Consuming these types of carbs make our bodies work harder to keep us in balance and are not an ideal choice to sustain hunger since we don’t have those nutrients. So yes, these carbs are good to avoid!

Complex carbohydrates are the opposite. I’m referring to fruits such as pears, apples and berries, whole grains such as brown rice, quinoa and spelt, starchy vegetables such as yams and carrots, potatoes, leafy greens, beans and legumes.

These carbs are good guys and play many different roles in the body. They are packed with nutrients. Complex carbs contain fibre along with important vitamins and minerals which help the body detoxify, prevent illness and disease and provide us with long lasting energy. They keep you fuller on the long term, aid in digestion and thus, can lead to weight loss! These are just a few reasons why I consider them essential for optimal health and therefore should not be avoided.

When following diets with very high amounts of protein and fat (which are acidifying to the body when metabolized) and not enough fruits and vegetables to balance them out, the state of the body becomes acidic and nutrients are not properly absorbed.

An acidic body is susceptible to experiencing health symptoms and is the ideal state for illness to set in.

It’s also likely for carb cravings to result over time when the body is not getting the nutrients it’s asking for. This can likely lead to carb and/or sugar binges which pose negative impacts on both physical and psychological levels.

That being said, I truly believe that a diet balanced in protein, good quality fats and complex carbohydrates is a healthful way to achieve weight loss without enduring unnecessary health risks. Keeping your body in balance with a variety of nutrients from a variety of different foods is essential to your long term optimal health & well-being.

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What is cooking? Granny had family staying recently, but was busy in the day so said “I won’t cook in the evening, I’ll do spaghetti.” My sister pointed out that she was cooking as she fried an onion, chopped garlic, tomatoes and mushrooms and cooked the pasta. Granny has always cooked from scratch; “I don’t eat processed food — never have — the meat started raw in the kitchen.” She eats butter too, “never liked margarine much.”

Just eat food! Granny is wise – eating intuitively I eat vegetables (including potatoes), bread (love you Purebread at the WestEnd Farmers’ market), fruit, meat, rice and cheese and I love a cup of tea. Perhaps you think our diet is dreadful, or normal, it depends how you look at it. What do your instincts tell you to eat and do you listen?  Many have lost touch with their body’s wisdom. Are we missing body cues and creating stress by mentally dividing foods into good versus bad? Years ago my grandmother was racing about (as she does!) on the newly polished, wooden floor; one foot wrong and she fell over the banisters, she broke a few ribs, but it could have been worse.

Intuitive eating Mum made her a cup of tea. I remember granny saying she “just felt like eating pineapple.” She duly ate a slice (core and all), but what is amazing about her eating intuitively is that pineapple contains bromelain, which has anti-inflammatory action. Being relaxed about food may be part of my grandmother’s secret. Do your food choices cause stress? Stress can suppress our digestion, yet good digestion is vital to utilize the food we eat. Granny is wise eating intuitively is sensible! Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch authors of Intuitive Eating say to “scream a loud ‘NO’ to thoughts in your head that declare you’re ‘good’ for eating minimal calories or ‘bad’ because you ate a piece of chocolate cake.” I think we are better to be grateful for the abundance of food we are blessed with, rather than divide food in to good and bad. Do you feel diet is a dirty word? Diet is often linked to another word — guilt. There are enough rules in our life without taking the joy away from food too. Surely? Are you ready to say goodbye to good and bad diet guilt? Why not free your mind to tune into joy and your body’s wisdom — it is there, honest. Now where was that salad? Just kidding. It’s tea time — I’m off to make a cup of tea and I may have a biscuit too.

Physical Benefits and Advantages for Men

Most men workout to build muscles and pump iron but this is only effective for the areas being worked. Traditional exercise routines are split into categories of appropriate size, weight, and which muscles will be worked. For instance, a buff and muscular man will certainly be able to lift heavier weights than one half his size. But within the context of yoga, both men would have equal playing field to learn and improve. More athletes are incorporating this relaxing form of fitness into their routine to help recover from strenuous sports activity. Yoga for men doesn’t mean that it replaces other types of workouts. In fact, practicing yoga has proven effective to relieve sore muscles, decrease stiffness, flush away unnecessary acids, and restore energy to the body. A great physical advantage of yoga for men is that specific poses can stimulate sexuality and enhance performance. By renewing oxygen and blood levels to the sex organ, sexual energy is uplifted and restored. Yoga also helps with improving flexibility and helps to boost cardiovascular activity as well as stamina. The most common misconception about yoga is that it is not intense. A type of yoga called Bikram, is designed for men or women and adds heat to the routine in order to flush out toxins in the system and rejuvenate the immune system. Even men who are accustomed to doing strenuous workout routines will have a lot to benefit from “hot yoga.”

Relaxation and Other Mental Benefits

There certainly are many physical benefits of yoga for men but in addition to that, there are various mental factors that improve as well. Mainly, this ancient practice is built on the philosophy that mind and body are one. This is likely the reason why women are often associated with this form of fitness and men with active and dynamic sports. Ironically, for many centuries, yoga has inspired and benefited many wise men by channeling anger properly. The main focus of yoga is to help clear the mind of daily stresses and pressures. It can also have positive results with concentration and overall focus at work, home, or while playing other sports. The philosophies of yoga not only improve the ability to focus but infuse the strengths of the physical, emotional, and mental factors into one. Many men may also be surprised to discover the great energy surrounding the yoga community. Since serenity is the center of this ancient form of fitness, individuals are calmer and easier to communicate with. A typical gym setting is usually a meeting ground for comparing muscles and inflating egos. Yoga offers a more relaxed and supportive energy for men who often play rough sports, have high stress levels, or simply want to maintain good health.

Expectations and Evolutions

Most men may be skeptical about yoga because there is little awareness and expectations for so many benefits. A majority may not associate spiritual health with physical aspects and see no contributions. The beauty of yoga is that it offers a plethora of positions that range from relaxing to vigorous. For example, Vinyasa yoga is a more aggressive variety but can do wonders for improving cardiac health and maintaining a healthy blood pressure level. Aside from positions that build strength and endurance, breathing techniques called pranayama help to balance brain activity and drastically reduce anxiety levels from daily pressures. Not many would expect it but even psychiatric problems like depression can be alleviated by practicing yoga. The ultimate proof of yoga’s effects is how it is becoming more popular worldwide. From everyday people to successful male athletes and celebrities, more are practicing yoga. Especially for professional sports players, the rejuvenation and serenity offered by yoga can help to reduce stress and allow for better performance during the next game. Aside from eliminating strain from intense sports, yoga can also maintain a healthy balance of sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. From the time this form of therapy and fitness was created thousands of years ago until present day; yoga has exceeded the expectations of many.

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The first issue when it comes to health is one of personal responsibility. None of us are born with an instruction manual, and so it is very important to provide people with a model of health and personal health care that is easy to understand and practice, including both diet and lifestyle. I believe that medical science is too complex a model – too liable to shift and change opinions – to be a sustainable model for health care. You should not need to go to school and become a doctor to understand how your body works. Thus, the first task I believe is to provide people with a simple model that accurately represents effective health practices that work. Fortunately we have many examples of traditional health care models that do exactly that, including Ayurveda, TCM, Unani and other traditional systems of health care. I think researchers should spend more time investigating these models, as a way of leveraging the knowledge we already have.

In many traditional societies, health care wasn’t a commodity to be bought and sold like it is now. Recently, I just finished working on a new book written by the late Vaidya Mana Bajra Bajracharya called Ayurveda in Nepal. It was over 800 years ago that the patriarch of the family took up the consecration of “bajracharya”, and since then, this family has carried forward the tradition of hereditary Buddhist priests and Ayurvedic physicians. As part of the family’s commitment, they have provided free health care to the public since this time, relying upon donations from generous benefactors. The quality of health care wasn’t dependent upon the wealth of the patient. Thus, another way we can improve health care is to make it freely available to all. But while I do argue for socialized medicine, the infrastructure costs including technology and physician’s salaries are way out of line. I believe that much of this cost could be reduced if we emphasized personal responsibility, and then provided preventative strategies such as free harm-reduction, free home care for elders and subsidized maternity/paternity leave. At one time in North America, there wasn’t a large gap between the salaries of doctors and their patients, but over the decades this gap has grown steadily wider. Many people enter into the medical profession not from a sense of altruism but as a way to make money and solidify social status. But this is entirely the wrong reason to get into health care, and it is one of the base reasons why our health care system is unsustainable. A profit-driven health care model is inherently unethical. Perhaps we could resolve this issue is medical training was free, and was tied to a commitment to serve the community. With no student loans, doctors might find it easier get out of the business mentality that runs counter to the needs of their patients.

Another way I would change health care is to leverage the potential of the community for support. Any person with a new diagnosis should be directed to government-funded social support groups. These groups would be made up of survivors and their families, who would work collectively to educate and support each other, inviting experts and other clinicians that could provide them with a cornucopia of tools and strategies. The worse thing about getting a medical diagnosis is the sense of isolation and hopeless that it can engender. Actively engaging the energy of the community is a good way to overcome this sense of inertia, and can help facilitate a greater sense of personal responsibility. Very often the best support doesn’t come from a clinician, but from other people that have had success treating their own health issues. Successful patients and survivors need to be given a more active role in the health care delivery system. It is called mentorship.

Another way I would change the health care system is to get rid of the centralized institutions such as big hospitals that are not only costly to run, but more often than not, actually end up making patients sicker. For example, the CDC reports that over 99,000 people die each year in the US from hospital acquired infection. And this doesn’t even account for the effect of trying to recuperate from an illness in a building filled with thousands of other sick people, staffed by doctors, nurses and staff who are often stressed out and exhausted, while eating from an institutional menu that often doesn’t even meet basic nutritional requirements. Whoa!  How can we expect people to get better in such a dysfunctional, unhealthy environment?  While there is clearly a need for centralized, acute care facilities, patients should be referred as soon as possible to decentralized clinics and small hospitals. Not only would they have more flexibility in meeting the individual needs of the patient, but they could easily incorporate additional elements such as herb and vegetable gardens, domesticated animals and live music, all of which have been shown to promote healing and good health. If we expect a person to get better, we should create an environment that facilitates that. The hospital itself should be a place of healing, not just crisis management.

These are only a few ideas, and I have many more. But I am interested to hear what you think. How would you change health care for the better?

“There are no enzymes in coconut oil, nor any other edible oil for that matter.“ Mary Enig, Ph.D, a nutritionist/biochemist and the author of Know Your Fats. A good thing about coconut oil is that it isn’t damaged by heat. That’s why it’s so good for cooking. It’s the saturation that makes it stable. If coconut oil contains enzymes it would become very perishable just like all raw foods containing enzymes. Coconut oil contributes to better digestion and health because it is anti-microbial and therefore kills or inhibits the growth of harmful microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi or protozoans.

Enzymes: You are What You Digest

By Dr. Mercola

You’ve probably heard of enzymes, and you probably already know they are important for your digestion. But you may not be aware of just how necessary enzymes are to every cell in your body not just for digestion but for ALL your physiological processes.

Enzymes are composed of amino acids and are secreted by your body to help catalyze functions that would normally not occur at physiological temperatures. They literally make magic happen and are absolutely vital to your life.

More than 3,000 different enzymes have been identified, and some experts believe there may be another 50,000 we have yet to discover. Each enzyme has a different function like 3,000 specialized keys cut to fit 3,000 different locks. In this analogy, the locks are biochemical reactions.

Enzymes drive biological processes necessary for your body to build raw materials, circulate nutrients, eliminate unwanted chemicals, and the myriad of other biochemical processes that go on without your even thinking about it.

For starters, here are just some of the activities in your body requiring enzymes:

• Energy production
• Absorption of oxygen
• Fighting infections and healing wounds
• Reducing inflammation
• Getting nutrients into your cells
• Carrying away toxic wastes
• Breaking down fats in your blood, regulating cholesterol and triglyceride levels
• Dissolving blood clots
• Proper hormone regulation
• Slowing the aging process

And small amounts of enzymes can affect profound changes! Enzymes are the catalysts that cause many essential biochemical reactions to happen but they are not used up IN the reaction. They merely assist meaning, they accelerate reactions sometimes to a mind-boggling several million reactions per second!

Enzymes lower the amount of energy needed for a reaction to occur. Without them, some reactions simply would not function in your body.

But enzymes don’t work alone.

Enzymes rely on other elements to accomplish their tasks, such as certain vitamins and minerals. These elements are called coenzymes.

You are probably already familiar with one of these coenzyme Q10. CoQ10 is found in the mitochondria (power centers) of your cells where it is involved in making ATP, every cells principal energy source. Another example is magnesium, which participates in over 300 enzyme reactions.

The Concept of Enzyme Potential

Dr. Edward Howell spent his entire professional life studying enzymes and can be credited with catalyzing enzyme research.

Whether or not this is true, Howell believed you were born with a limited enzyme-producing capacity, and that your life expectancy depends on how well you preserve your enzyme potential. His theory was that if you don’t get enough enzymes from the food you eat, great strain is placed on your digestive system to “pick up the slack,” i.e., produce enough enzymes to accomplish the task.

A deficiency in digestive enzymes then reduces availability of your metabolic enzymes. Howell believed this metabolic enzyme deficit was at the root of most chronic health problems.

Enzyme Basics

There are three basic categories of enzymes:

1. Digestive
2. Metabolic
3. Food based

Digestive enzymes, as their name implies, help you break down food into smaller parts that can be absorbed, transported and utilized by every cell in your body. Digestive enzymes are extra-cellular meaning, they are found outside your cells.

Metabolic enzymes are intra-cellular meaning, inside your cells, where they help the cell carry out a variety of functions related to its reproduction and replenishment.

Your pancreas produces most of these digestive and metabolic enzymes.

Fortunately, you get (or should be getting) many enzymes from the foods you consume particularly, raw foods. These directly help with your digestive process.

The more raw foods you eat, the lower the burden on your body to produce the enzymes it needs, not only for digestion, but for practically everything. Whatever enzymes are not used up in digestion are then available to help with other important physiological processes.

Your Meals Journey through Your Digestive System

Once consumed, your meal begins a complicated, multi-phased journey of breakdown and conversion into nutrients your body can use. This process is, of course, called digestion, and enzymes play a key role.

There are eight primary digestive enzymes, each designed to help break down different types of food:

1. Protease: Digesting protein
2. Amylase: Digesting carbohydrates
3. Lipase: Digesting fats
4. Cellulase: Breaking down fiber
5. Maltase: Converting complex sugars from grains into glucose
6. Lactase: Digesting milk sugar (lactose) in dairy products
7. Phytase: Helps with overall digestion, especially in producing the B vitamins
8. Sucrase: Digesting most sugars

Digestion begins in your mouth, starting with saliva. Did you know that you produce about 1.7 liters of saliva each day? Your mouth is where enzymes (primarily amylase) begin to exert their action. Amylase in your saliva begins to break down carbohydrates.

As food passes into your stomach, proteins are worked on by protease. From there, the bolus of food passes into your small intestine, where lipase begins to break down fats, and amylase finishes off the carbohydrates.

Did you know that 90 percent of your digestion and absorption takes place in your small intestine?

From here, the micronutrients are absorbed into your bloodstream through millions of tiny villi in the wall of your gut. But what happens when this process goes awry?

Disease or dis-ease.

Aftermath of the Western Diet: Enzyme Deficiency

Insufficient enzyme production is at the root of much tummy trouble in our country. Digestive problems cost Americans $50 billion each year in both direct costs and absence from work.

It is a sad fact that 90 percent of the food Americans buy is processed food. Diets heavy in cooked, processed, and sugary foods, combined with overuse of pharmaceutical drugs such as antibiotics, deplete your body’s ability to make enzymes.

Enzymes may be relatively large, but their protein structures are fragile. The amino acids in the molecular chain link together to form certain patterns and shapes, which give enzymes their unique characteristics and functions. When something disrupts the chain’s structure, the enzyme becomes “denatured“—it changes shape and loses its ability to perform.

Heating your food above 116 degrees F renders most enzymes inactive.

This is one of the reasons it’s so important to eat your foods raw. Raw foods are enzyme-rich, and consuming them decreases your body’s burden to produce its own enzymes. The more food that you can eat raw, the better. Ideally, you should get 75 percent of your digestive enzymes from your food.

In addition to heat, enzymes are also very sensitive to shifts in pH, which is why different enzymes work in different parts of your digestive tract, based on the pH each enzyme needs in order to function.

Enzyme deficiency results in poor digestion and poor nutrient absorption. This creates a variety of gastrointestinal symptoms, including:

• Constipation
• Bloating
• Cramping
• Flatulence and belching
• Heartburn and acid reflux

Chronic malabsorption can lead to a variety of illnesses. Think about it if your body doesn’t have the basic nutritional building blocks it needs, your health and ability to recover from illness will be compromised.

Besides breaking down food, enzymes (particularly the proteases) can help with gut healing, controlling pathogens, and immune support. Your immune system begins in your gut and if you have enzyme and digestive issues, chances are your immune system isn’t functioning as well as it should be.

Complicating matters, your capacity for enzyme production also declines with age.

How Aging Affects Your Enzyme Production

Research has shown that your natural enzyme production starts to decline by the time you’re about 20.

Studies show that, every ten years, your bodys production of enzymes decreases by 13 percent. So by age 40, your enzyme production could be 25 percent lower than it was when you were a child. And by the time you’re 70, you could be producing only ONE-THIRD of the enzymes you need.

Making matters worse, your stomach produces less hydrochloric acid as you age, and hydrochloric acid is crucial in activating your stomach’s digestive enzymes.

When digestion of foods requires such a heavy demand, enzyme supplies run short and your enzyme-producing capacity can become exhausted. Why does this matter? The high demand for digestive enzymes depletes your body’s production of metabolic enzymes, which every cell in your body needs in order to function.

The Many Roles of Metabolic Enzymes

Now that you know how important digestive enzymes are for getting nourishment, let’s take a look at another type of enzymatic activity—your metabolic enzymes. Metabolic enzymes are intimately involved with running your circulatory, lymphatic, cardiac, neurologic, endocrine, renal, hepatic, and reproductive systems, and maintaining your skin, bones, joints, muscles and other tissues.

Every one of your 10 trillion cells depends on these enzymes and their ability to catalyze energy production. As I said before, each of these enzymes is highly specialized as a function of its particular molecular structure.

Consider these two examples:

• RNA polymerase is an enzyme your body uses to transcribe DNA into RNA, which is used to make proteins.
• Lysosomal enzyme, produced in the lysosome of each cell (also called the suicide bag), breaks down macromolecules and other foreign particles the cell has ingested (such as bacteria) so they can be disposed of. The lysosome is a microscopic garbage disposal!

One of the most important functions of metabolic enzymes happens in your blood. If you think about it, it makes sense. We know that bacteria, fungi, and parasites are comprised of protein, as is the shell encompassing viruses. Enzymes in your blood primarily proteases (proteolytic enzymes)—serve to break down protein-based foreign bodies, effectively cleansing your blood.

As blood cleansers, these enzymes combat chronic inflammation, which left unchecked can lead to everything from autoimmune diseases, to cardiovascular disease and even cancer. Enzymes reduce inflammation in your body by:

1. Breaking down foreign proteins in the blood that cause inflammation and facilitating their removal via your blood stream and lymphatic system
2. Removing “fibrin,” a clotting material that can prolong inflammation
3. Reducing edema in the inflamed regions

It follows, then, that any disease caused by inflammation—which is practically every chronic disease we face today—can be benefited by increased levels of functional enzymes in your blood.

I will discuss oral enzyme supplementation shortly. Although taking an enzyme supplement may be helpful, NO manufactured product can duplicate the positive effects of a nutrient-rich diet.

Boosting Your Enzyme Levels Naturally

There are four ways to naturally increase your enzyme levels:

1. Increase your intake of raw, living foods
2. Eat fewer calories
3. Chew your food thoroughly
4. Avoid chewing gum

The very best way to get enzymes into your body is by consuming at least 75 percent of your foods raw. For many of you, you’ll have to work toward this goal gradually.

While all raw foods contain enzymes, the most powerful enzyme-rich foods are those that are sprouted (seeds and legumes). Sprouting increases the enzyme content in these foods tremendously. Besides sprouts, other enzyme-rich foods include:

• Papaya, pineapple, mango, kiwi, and grapes
• Avocado
• Raw honey (the enzymes actually come from the bee’s saliva)
• Bee pollen
• Extra virgin olive oil and coconut oil
• Raw meat and dairy

The best way to bump up your metabolic enzymes is to provide your body with the raw materials and energy it needs to make them. By eating these types of foods, you supply your body with the amino acids and the enzyme co-factors needed to boost your own natural enzyme production.

Another way to lower your body’s demand for enzymes is to reduce your caloric intake. Did you know the average person spends 80 percent of his available energy simply digesting food?

By reducing overall consumption, as well as introducing more living foods, you reduce your need for digestive enzymes, which allows your body to put more of its energy into producing metabolic enzymes.

Which brings us to chewing. Quite apart from the esthetic pleasure of an unhurried meal, there are important physiological reasons to chew your food well.

Chewing stimulates saliva production, and the more time you spend chewing, the longer your saliva enzymes have to work in your mouth, lessening the workload of your stomach and small intestine. Chewing also stimulates a reflex that sends a message to your pancreas and other digestive organs, “Gear up—we’ve got incoming!”

And don’t chew gum.

Chewing gum fools your body into believing it is digesting something, so it pumps out digestive enzymes unnecessarily. Why waste those precious resources?

Digestive Enzyme Supplementation

If you suffer from occasional bloating, minor abdominal discomfort, and occasional constipation and suspect your enzyme production is low, you might want to consider a digestive enzyme supplement in addition to eating more of your foods raw.

Digestive enzymes should be taken WITH a meal. There are hundreds on the market, so how do you choose a good one? You should look for an enzyme formula with the following characteristics:

• It should contain a mixture of different types of enzymes, to help digest all of the different components of your diet (including lipase, protease, and amylase)
• The ingredients should be high quality, all-natural, and free of allergens and additives
• The supplement should be labeled as to the enzymatic strength of each ingredient, not just its weight
• It should be made by a reputable company with rigorous quality control and testing for potency

Besides digestive enzyme supplementation, there is another way to use oral enzymes—for systemic use. This requires taking enzymes between meals so they can be absorbed through your gut and into your bloodstream, where your cells can use them metabolically.

Systemic Enzymes—Playing Catch-Up with European Medicine

Getting enzymes from your digestive tract into your bloodstream isn’t as easy as it would seem. As I’ve already discussed, enzymes are very susceptible to denaturing and must be helped to survive the highly acidic environment in your stomach. They are often given an “enteric coating” to help them survive the journey through your digestive tract.

And then, there is the matter of absorption.

For nearly 100 years, medical dogma insisted that enzymes taken orally were too large to pass through the digestive tract wall.

However, there is now a good deal of research that they can indeed pass through your intestine intact and into your bloodstream and lymphatic system, where they can deliver their services to the rest of your body… one of the mysteries of medical science.

Now that we know this is possible, systemic oral enzymes have been used to treat problems ranging from sports injuries to arthritis to heart disease and cancer, particularly in European countries. But most of the research has been published in non-English language journals.

This systemic use of enzymes is just now taking off in the United States.

It is crucial that, in order for enzymes to be used systemically, they must be ingested on an empty stomach. Otherwise, your body will use them for digesting your food, instead of being absorbed into the blood and doing their work there.

Let’s take a look at how systemic enzymes can benefit your health by examining their applications for two major health problems we face today: heart disease and cancer.

How Systemic Enzymes Battle Heart Disease

It is now fairly well recognized that heart attacks and strokes are related to inflammation, which is why C-reactive protein (an inflammatory marker) can be predictive of cardiac events.

However, according to an excellent article about systemic enzymes by Michael Sellar, French researchers have proposed that bacteria might be a causative factor in coronary artery disease. Very high levels of bacteria were found in their patients arterial plaques, possibly explaining elevations in C-reactive protein.

C-reactive protein functions to stop the spread of bacteria in your body.

Since enzymes inhibit platelet aggregation, help your immune system combat pathogens, and break down fibrin (which makes up clots), they may offer significant benefits for vascular diseases like thrombosis, phlebitis, and varicose veins.

Sellar quotes enzyme researcher Rudolph Kunze:

“Although enzymes reduce inflammation and we used to think that was all they did, we now believe that the central target of systemic enzymes is the immune system. It is my belief that heart disease is an immune disease very much, although obviously not totally, related to bacterial pathogens and other invaders.”

Systemic Enzymes in the Treatment of Cancer

The use of enzymes to treat cancer has its roots all the way back to 1911 with John Beard’s The Enzyme Treatment of Cancer and Its Scientific Basis. Beard believed cancer was a result of diminished pancreatic enzymes, impairing your immune response.

A study in 1999 suggests he may have been right on target.

Ten patients with inoperable pancreatic cancer were treated with large doses of oral pancreatic enzymes (along with detoxification and an organic diet), and their survival rates were 3 to 4 times higher than patients receiving conventional treatment. Proteolytic enzymes can be helpful in treating cancer because they help restore balance to your immune system.

Dr. Nick Gonzalez in New York City, NY has also done a lot of work on enzymes in cancer treatment and has written a book on the subject.

Some of the ways proteolytic enzymes can be helpful in the fight against cancer are:

• Boosting cytokines, particularly interferon and tumor necrosis factor, which are very important warriors in destroying cancer cells.
• Decreasing inflammation.
• Dissolving fibrin: Cancer cells hide under a cloak of fibrin to escape detection. Once the cancer cells are “uncloaked,” they can be spotted and attacked by your immune system. It is also thought that fibrin makes cancer cells “stick together,” which increases the chance for metastases.
• German studies have shown that systemic enzymes increase the potency of macrophages and killer cells 12-fold.

For more about the difference between digestive enzymes and systemic enzymes, click here for a video interview with enzyme expert Nena Dockery.

Hopefully you can now appreciate just how important enzymes are to your overall health, right down to the cellular level. Once you understand this, you may begin to see just how important it is to eat a diet rich in fresh, organic, raw foods. You may even want to try juicing some of your vegetables as a way of getting more nutrients and enzymes into your body.

It has been said, You are what you eat. But really, You are what you digest is closer to the truth.

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1. Improve your mood with food.  Certain foods have proven relationships to brain function.  Healthy Omega-3 fatty acids, complex carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, amino acids, and lean protein are essential parts of a healthy diet that can also improve your mood.  Snack on nuts or dark chocolate, feast on turkey or salmon with a spinach and quinoa salad, add colorful vegetables to everything, eat fruit for breakfast, and drink your milk for a happier mood in no time!
2. Boost happiness with exercise.  Physical activity – both cardio and weight or resistance training – helps tell your brain to produce feel-good chemicals and hormones.  These chemicals help regulate mood, boost energy levels, and improve feelings of contentment.  Working out on a regular basis can help give your brain a steady supply of feel-good chemicals to keep you happy all winter long.

Try aromatherapy.  Scents can have a powerful effect on brain function, promoting positive thinking or pleasant memories, easing tension and reducing anxiety or frustration, calming your mind and promoting clear thinking or restful sleep.  Different scents may have different stimulating effects on your thought process, so consult a professional to get the most benefit out of your aromatherapy.

1. Consult an acupuncturist.  This ancient treatment has been used to heal mental and physical ailments and is rapidly gaining popularity in Western cultures.  Professional acupuncture sessions can help release tension, relieve anxiety, and stimulate feelings of peace and clarity.
2. Hop in the water.  Hydrotherapy is an alternative or complementary treatment for depressive symptoms.  Hot tubs, pools, and even jet-massage tubs can help provide stress relief and boost energy levels.  So take a bath, a swim, or sign up for some professional hydrotherapy to reap the benefits of good old H2O.
3. Start a journal.  Writing about your feelings or experiences just a few times a week during your SAD months may help reduce depressive symptoms.  Experts believe that working through your emotions and channeling your thoughts through a diary or journal can help you cope with the change in your brain’s chemical processes.
4. Go outside!  Light is a key factor in reducing symptoms of SAD – that is why the primary treatment for SAD involves light therapy.  To boost your chances of reducing feelings of depression, up your intake of natural light by taking a walk during lunchtime or exercising outside on the weekends.
5. Talk it out.  To further relieve feelings of depression and sadness during the winter months, try talking about it.  Most people are willing to lend support to their loved ones who are suffering, so reach out to your friends and family and let them know what you are experiencing.  Sometimes just letting others know about your pain or unhappiness can help reduce the mental burden you are carrying.  If you do not want to discuss your feelings with people who are close to you, consider counseling sessions or group therapy, where you will have the opportunity to share your experiences with other who know exactly how you feel.

Seasonal Affective Disorder is a challenging condition, but it does not have to ruin your entire season.  By taking these steps to make positive lifestyle changes and complementing your traditional light therapy treatments, you will be giving yourself the best possible chance at beating your disorder and escaping the symptoms of SAD.

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Plastic is all around us. Much of the clothing we wear today contains or is exclusively made of synthetic fibers – clothing for example that that contains neurotoxic polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) – at least judging from the fact that dryer lint is the single greatest source for everyday exposure. But it’s not just clothing – PBDEs are found in carpeting, electronics, mattresses, bedding and furniture, permeating our home and work environment as a fine dust that we eat and inhale everyday. PBDEs are classified as a persistent organic pollutant (POP), with environmental contamination doubling every five years. Children in particular are targets for the neurotoxic effects PDBEs, which is alarming considering that their brains and nervous system are still developing. And that’s just PBDEs…

Perhaps the biggest concern these days is food storage, with a lot of media attention focused on bisphenol-A (BPA). And while many of you probably choose ceramic or glass containers over the old margarine tubs and tupperware that my grandmother had stacked so neatly in her cupboards, the fact is that plastic is found in so many other sources that this probably isn’t anything except a feel good maneuver unless you are also careful about other things like canned food, tetrapaks, milk cartons, and basically any food stored in plastic – from oil and milk, to meat and vegetables – you will have to work hard to avoid it.

The concern is that chemicals found in food-grade plastics migrate into food during storage and heating. Some of these chemicals including bisphenol-A (BPA) and phthalates have only recently been found to be endocrine disruptors, suspected of playing a role in breast cancer, prostate cancer, obesity, asthma, neurobehavioural issues, male infertility, uterine fibroids and endometriosis. And while some manufacturers applaud themselves for no longer using chemicals like bisphenol-A (BPA), the fact is that BPA was used for more than 50 years before its negative effects were realized. This should raise very serious concerns that a host of other compounds in plastic have not been adequately recognized or tested. This includes the supposedly benign polyethylene terephthalate (PET), used in a wide variety of food storage and also polar fleece clothing, which has only recently identified as an endocrine disruptant. But instead government agencies and industry assure us with confident claims about the safety of food plastics – but the reality is that they don’t really know what the effects are and especially the synergistic effects of all these plastics in our bodies. Recently there was a blog post passed around on facebook that identified companies that produced canned food with cans that are BPA-free. This is a good thing, except that the substitutes being touted as safe are probably no better. Instead of BPA, these cans are lined with an “oleoresinous c-enamel”, which is contains a petrochemical-based plasticizer trademarked as Neville LX-782 for which there is no sufficient safety data. The same blog post also suggested that polyethylene (LDPE/HDPE) is safe, used in tetrapaks and milk jugs, but once again, there is very limited safety data on this. Furthermore, we need to include that plastics like polyethylene don’t just contain polyethylene, but also a host of additives, residues and decomposition products.

Since 100% plastic avoidance is next to impossible nowadays, I guess we should all bank on evolutionary processes to provide us with the capacity to adapt to the nanoparticle soup of plastics floating in our bloodstream. But it still makes sense to avoid plastics wherever possible. This means avoiding non-stick aluminum cookware (e.g. polytetrafluoroethylene), and getting all of your food as fresh as possible. Always prefer glass over any plastic (and even stainless steel, which contains nickel and other heavy metals that migrate into your food), and learn to make things like yogurt and sour cream at home. Also, avoid all plastic water bottles, tetrapaks dripping with synthetic dyes that migrate into your organic almond milk, and especially avoid all canned food – BPA free or not – there is NO evidence that any petrochemical plasticizer is safe for human health. An absence of data should not inspire confidence.

Much of the research for this post comes from my book Food As Medicine: The Theory and Practice of Food. If you have any comments or contributions to the discussion I would love to hear them!

References

Myofascial release therapy, alternatively known as ‘skin rolling’ is a treatment designed to help make sprains disappear, and has been proven to work effectively in a way that many similar treatments for those type of injuries have failed. How it works is that the fascia, the layer of tissue between your skin and muscles, is lift up a small roll of skin on your back and push up so that a roll is still apparent across the length of your spine.

This therapy is something that is used alongside massage, stretching and even forms of manipulation, and for anyone who exercises on a daily basis and wants to recover quickly from strains and sprains, is a godsend. The fitter you are, the less likely you are to need myofascial release therapy.

It comes with a number of benefits. Myofascial release can be easy to do, is relatively pain-free, can release any of the tension built up in your fascia, restores healthy flow between your fascia and your skin and helps to improve your blood flow. This form of treatment doesn’t take too long to receive either, while the effects can be felt gradually as the pressure is released. If you have a sprain for whatever reason, then myofascial release may be the treatment for you.

Can I do it myself?

Self myofascial release therapy can be done using a foam roller, these are the thick tubes of brightly colored foam you probably see around your gym. With the roller on the floor position the muscles which need treating onto it and start slowly rolling the tight knots out (like a rolling pin on dough). If there’s an area which is quite tender remain still and apply pressure for 5 seconds and continue to roll it out, repeat this 3-5 times for the area.

About the Author

Puneet is a personal trainer and nutritionist from Leeds, United Kingdom. You can visit his fitness blog at ReflexionsOfAPT.com and follow on Twitter: @ReflexionsOfAPT

There is some truth to the assertion that supplementation has become necessary due to the fact modern agricultural practices don’t preserve the quality and nutrition of the soil, and hence, the abundance and diversity of nutrients in our food has declined since the introduction of synthetic fertilizers. This is bolstered by evidence that organically grown foods have been shown to have a greater density of nutrients. Thus, my recommendation is to choose organic foods, and create a diet that is naturally rich in nutrients, including fresh vegetables, grass-fed organic meats and organ meats, wild fish, sea vegetables and culinary herbs. Supplementation may be necessary however in a conventional diet, also known as the “Standard American Diet”, or SAD for short. For these people, taking a well-balanced multivitamin and mineral, along with essential fatty acids, seems like a good insurance policy – but in my estimation, still falls short of a healthy, sustainable approach. In my new book, Food As Medicine: The Theory and Practice of Food, I describe how to create an optimal diet based on the patterns described in traditional medicine. One key supplement that I frequently recommend however is vitamin D3, since it is very clear that we are not getting enough. Mostly this is because we spend less time outside, and when we do, we cover our bodies in sunscreen for fear of developing skin cancer. But it is also due to the fact that we don’t eat foods rich in vitamin D3 anymore, including oily fish and foods made with blood (e.g. blood sausage, black pudding). Such foods at one time formed an important part of the traditional diet.

I do use supplements in my practice, but I have become increasingly concerned about their quality, particularly because many of the starting ingredients are industrial chemicals (e.g. niacin). Wherever possible, I recommend whole food supplements. The key thing to be aware of is that whole food supplements rarely contain the same strength as conventional vitamins. True – they might be absorbed better, but they might not have the same therapeutic potential unless they are taken in very high dosages, which makes the costs involved prohibitive. This is why a dietary-based approach makes the most sense.