Embracing My Health

Over the years, I’ve done a lot of random consulting for family, friends and acquaintances on how to improve or transform their health.  Over the last month, it’s become clear that it’s my turn. It’s my turn to do some self-consulting.  It may become clear that I need outside support and guidance as well. I don’t know yet.

My health has become something for me to work through and past. It’s not supporting me and what I want to do in this beautiful life of mine. Now, I’ve been learning the value of choosing my words and conversations because they bring an energy of their own sort into my life. Even if I don’t mean it in a self-defeating way, just their presence has a weight. That said, I’m going to list the health challenges I have. I’m doing this to put a line in the sand. I’m not willing to let things progress one step further.

• Most noticeable: My rosacea. I’ve had my rosacea managed fairly well for about 4-5 years. About 10-11 months ago, something changed and it is the worst it has been in 10+ years. My skin is swollen, angry, red, itchy and sore to the touch.  It took me 4 years to get my rosacea symptoms managed after the original onset. I’m not interested in it taking another 4 years before I am able to again. In addition, rosacea has a personal psychological impact on me that I don’t want to have to swim upstream against.
• Aching joints. I’m 40 and I feel much older when I try to move. It’s especially bad if I’ve been sitting a little while and then try to get up and go. I feel pain.
• Headaches. Some of this maybe residual damage from a car accident I was in years and years ago. But, my concern is that my headaches have been more frequent and intense over the last 6 months. At times, they have put me completely out of commission.
• Excess estrogen. About two years ago, I went into my naturopath’s office for breast thermography.  I had a small lump that was giving me some fright because my grandmother had a mastectomy and ultimately died from breast cancer. One of my aunt’s has also fought the disease. It’s in my family, so it isn’t something for me to ignore. The good news, it was fibrous tissue and not a growth. The concerning news, the thermography showed that my breasts were still vascularized as though I was still breast feeding (which I hadn’t been for 2+ years at that point). Heavy vascularization of the breasts can be an indicator and precursor to cancerous growth. My naturopath recommended I implement an anti-estrogenic treatment plan.  I haven’t been consistent with this plan. Given the potential health ramifications, not being committed to this lifestyle change isn’t the smartest choice I’ve made.
• Dysbiosis. Sounds intimidating, doesn’t it? Yes and no. It’s an imbalance in the digestive track. I have too many bad bacteria and not enough good bacteria. This came about because of the high-dosage Tetracycline (antibiotic) I was initially prescribed when first got rosacea.  Taking that antibiotic was one of the worst things I could have done for my long-term health. But, I didn’t know that at the time.  I was just following doctor’s orders. The list of symptoms caused by dysbiosis is lengthy.  You can read about it and the full list of symptoms here.  (Symptoms I experience include: dilated capillaries in the cheeks/nose, post-adolescent acne or other skin irritations such as rosacea, malabsorption/poor digestion of food, fatigue, muscle pain/cramps and joint pain.)

See what I mean by the power of words. Just going through that list (and it’s not comprehensive by any means), is dispiriting.   But I will not be discouraged.  And get this, just a couple weeks ago, I was given some thoughts that have already helped me as I think about my health journey ahead.  The pastor at our church shared with us some ideas from Frederick Wooleverton. They may not sound inspiring at first read, but they are already revolutionizing my path and thoughts as I think about transforming my health. This advice is for recovering addicts. Why do I find it applicable? I do because not living the healthy lifestyle I know is best for me is a sort of addiction. It’s subtle, but real all the same. I don’t want to give up some things because they fill “a need” – honestly, it’s a spiritual vacuum, an unwillingness to look at something in my life that needs to be loved, accepted and healed.

1. It’s good to feel lousy.
2. Learn how to suffer well.
3. Get an entourage: support!!
4. Beware of shuffle (swapping one bad habit for another)
5. Figure out what’s missing – for me, this is speaking of the spiritual growth and healing that needs to take place.
6. Sleep is a secret weapon.

I perceive a lot of this journey will be as much or more spiritual than it will be a diet, or working on physical fitness, or whatnot.

This is a rambling, unedited, stream-of-conscious post. So please give it the grace as such. I just want to share with you where I am and create with you the possibility of a life of health and vitality.  A friend of mine said today: “We are wired for survival. Thriving is optional and requires conscious choice.” My body is surviving best it can.  I’m committed to thriving!  And here’s me, making that conscious choice.

Having a healthy metabolism is an important component of being optimally health and fit. Metabolism is the amount of energy the body uses to run. More specifically, it involves a complex network of hormones and enzymes that take the food we eat and then convert it into build blocks that we use for energy. That energy is used for everything from cellular reproduction (which affects how our bodies age) to muscle building and repair.

Metabolism is one of the many catch words in the weight loss industry. You’ll see metabolizers, metabolism boosters, metabola-this and metabola-that. And it’s true that having a healthy metabolism is important to being right weighted. However there are some myths to uncover too.

One of the largest myths: if you are overweight, your metabolism is slow. The opposite is actually true. If you are overweight, you have a higher metabolism than the right-weighted person next to you. The more weight the body has, the more energy the body has to use to keep it running. That’s why when many go on a diet they initially lose a lot of weight quickly and then plateau. The body is revving at a high level so even a modest reduction in calories brings weight loss. The plateaus begin when the body realizes there is less to “run” and it slows down the metabolism. To continue weight loss, understanding what in your lifestyle helps or hinders your metabolism is important. In addition, the things that slow down our metabolism are the very things that challenge our optimal health and fitness from A to Z. Our body is a whole and there isn’t one thing that doesn’t impact another.

That said, and considering how a healthy metabolism is critical to ideal health… let’s look at what we know that slows our metabolism:

1) Age. The first is one we can’t do a blessed thing about and that’s our age. As we age, our metabolism slows. However, the reasons for that, we can control. Typically, as we age, we slow down our physical activity which in turn reduces our muscle mass and fitness. That’s a one-two punch to the metabolism.

2) Eating too much OR too little. Life, in every facet, requires balance. The quantity of food we eat is no exception. If we eat too much food, we give our body more calories or “energy” than our body can use and it is forced to store it as fat. This includes how much you eat at each meal. Eating your calories in three large meals a day will slow your metabolism. On the other hand, eating those same calories in 5-6 smaller meals through the day will increase your metabolism.

Now eating too little – this is the first way most people want to lose weight. The adage is the less calories the more weight you lose. And while it is true that if you expend more energy than you consume, you will lose weight, there is once again a balance of approach to take into consideration. Eating too little is counterproductive to weight loss goals. This is true for a couple of reasons:

• The first is that the body, when not given enough food, will conserve its resources and slow down the metabolic process.
• When you do lose weight, it isn’t fat but instead lean muscle mass (the very last thing you want to lose if you want to have a high-charged metabolism).
• We deprive our bodies of critical nutrition.

3) Lack of sufficient sleep. Not getting enough sleep reduces the amount of Leptin in our bodies and increases Ghrelin. Leptin is created at night while we sleep. Leptin is responsible for telling the brain that whether there is fat in the body. When leptin isn’t produced, the brain doesn’t know there is fat in the body. In turn, the lack of leptin signals the body (i.e. the appetite) that more food is needed when it isn’t. Simultaneously, Ghrelin is increases. Ghrelin is hormone that both increases our appetite and suppresses use of fat as a source of energy for our bodies. It’s a double-whammy. Leptin isn’t there to tell our bodies that we have enough fat and to slow down our appetite and Ghrelin increases and intensifies the bodies cravings for more food. In addition, if we skimp on sleep, we put ourselves at increasing risk for diabetes. Ghrelin has been found in recent years to play a key role in balancing our insulin and glucose levels.

4) Skipping breakfast. Our bodies are literal in their translation. We skip food in the morning and it assumes we are starving. The metabolism slows to a crawl to make sure that we aren’t losing and begin storing energy. That energy storage… yeah, it’s fat. The other problem, when skipping breakfast, most people tend to overeat the rest of the day.

5) Stress. Hormones are at the core of so much of our bodies function. Keeping them in balance and working correctly and all goes well. If they get out of whack, a domino effect begins and our health can deteriorate. An example of this is cortisol. Cortisol is a powerful hormone that is elevated when we are stressed. During times of stress, cortisol can overpower the rest of our hormones. At appropriate levels, cortisol is valuable and even provides a boost to our bodies. But when it periods of prolonged stress, overproduction of cortisol creates reduced mental clarity and ability, thyroid suppression, blood sugar imbalances, reduction in bone density, loss of muscle mass, lower immunity, increased abdominal fat, and of course, higher blood pressure.

Next post on metabolism: let’s get our bodies humming! We’ll cover what we can do to increase our metabolism.

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Sources:
http://ezinearticles.com/?What-Slows-Down-Your-Metabolism&id=753095
http://worldfitnessnetwork.com/index.php/diet-slow-metabolism/
http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/991202/sleep.shtml
http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=10875
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-ghrelin.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/05/060510091429.htm
http://www.alive.com/4320a12a2.php?subject_bread_cramb=150
http://stress.about.com/od/stresshealth/a/cortisol.htm
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Here in the Pacific NW, the last week has been dark, windy and wet. Did I mention dark? The forecast for the next week or so, more of the very same. It doesn’t typically bother me unless it continues on for a very long time. However, I’ve been conscientious of our weather because we have a lot of family here this week for Thanksgiving. And, all of them are from Southern California…

In talking about this, one of my friends mentioned that she’s been feeling the effects of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) where she lives. She asked: “Any natural remedies for that?”

Setting out to find out what there is to do, naturally, to help counteract SAD, here’s what I found:

• Lightbox, or any bright light – flood your space for a time each day with, ideally, bright full-spectrum lighting. There are specialized lightboxes made just for treating SAD. It takes as little as 30 minutes a day of sitting in front of these boxes to make an impact on your “winter blues”.
  • If you work at a desk, you might consider a desktop lamp. That would be an easy way to get your light time in… while simply sitting and working as you normally would.
• Get Great Nutrition – Eliminate sugar and refined flours and fill your diet with dark leafy vegetables (rich in B vitamins and folic acid), Omega 3s and high tryptophan foods like bananas, avocados, legumes, quinoa, and nutritional yeast.
• Vitamin D – Vit D, the “Sunshine Vitamin”, is what our bodies produce when we are in the sunlight. It’s critical for optimum health. When we lose out on regular sunshine exposure, our Vitamin D levels tend to plummet. Take 1,000 – 3,000 IUs a day of D3 (cholecalciferol) and not only will you help support your mood, but you’ll be reducing your risk of cancers like colon, prostate, breast and more. Because Vit D isn’t found naturally in many foods and where it is found… it is in such small amounts, taking a high quality Vit D supplement is the best way to go. *Note: Many health professionals recommend taking a break from Vitamin D supplementation on the weekends (or two days a week).
• Get outside – take every chance to get outside, 30 minutes or more, in the sun if possible, but do it regardless.
• Exercise – do some kind of aerobic exercise… walking or other type that you enjoy!
• Yoga – Yoga creates an energizing effect as well as mitigating and relieving stress. Many yoga meditations are thought to act on the pineal gland which controls circadian and seasonal rhythms. Yoga is a great practice/discipline anytime, but especially during the darker, shorter winter days.
• Sleep – Get adequate and consistent sleep. Sleep is critical for cellular repair from damage caused by stress, pollutants, infection and so on. it’s also important for creativity, memory, mental clarity, maintaining a healthy weight and heart heath. Sleep isn’t something you should scrimp on.
• Essential Oils – Jasmine essential oil is anti-depressant and euphoric. It stimulates beta brain wave activity as measured by EEG. Also helpful are citrus oils such as lemon, bergamot, lime, neroli, tangerine, and mandarin. Citrus oils stimulate the autonomic nervous system which helps with alertness, mood support, reduced anxiety, relieving stress and creating mental clarity.
• Laugh! – Laughter relaxes the body, boosts the immune system, triggers the release of endorphins (especially helpful for helping reduce SAD symptoms), protects the heart, and more. The saying “Laughter is the best medicine” really is more than just a nice sentiment.
• Other methods that have helped SAD sufferers:
  • Spend time with family and friends
  • St. John’s Wort, SAMe
  • massage
  • hot baths
  • counseling/psychotherapy
  • more sex (really? cool!…)
  • short afternoon power naps

Bottom line, do what works for you. Everyone is individual and the reasons why you are affected by the shorter, darker days varies. So how you treat it may very well be different than a person next to you who is also affected.

I woke up thinking about this topic again (I wrote this originally at the beginning of this year):

I borrowed a book from my good friend Ahmis, Awareness Through Movement by Moshe Feldenkrais. There is a lot of fascinating material in this book… but some of the very first words in the book made it difficult for me to go any further. While I read more, I wasn’t really able to take in more. Apparently, I’m having to deal with first things first.

It started with these two sentences:

We act in accordance with our self-image.

Each one of us speaks, moves, thinks, and feels in a different way, each according to the image of himself that he has built up over the years. In order to change our mode of action we must change the image of ourselves that we carry within us.

Feldenkrais is talking here from the context of the educational system he created called the Feldenkrais Method. I know next to nothing about it… but what I’ve gathered so far is that how we move can influence how we are and who we are. There is a level of awareness about our lives that becomes available to us as we become aware of how we move physically. The method is used by athletes, dancers, artists and those simply interested in personal development.

Back to the two sentences above and let me add one more:

It should further be realized that as changes take place in the self, new and hitherto unrecognized difficulties will be discovered. The consciousness previously rejected them either from fear or because of pain, and it is only as self-confidence increases that it becomes possible to identify them.

I told Ahmis in an email today… after read this, I was impressed with three things:

1. We are whole and every way that we eat, think and move influences our minds and spirits… and vice versa.
2. We can be transformed in being aware. Feldenkrais is teaching about doing this through physical movement. I am struck that movement needs to be present in all aspects of ourselves… physical, mental and spiritual.
3. Journey! It’s all a journey and it’s good. There is no sudden arrival, quick fix, magic bullet or what have you. It’s a journey. I resist that idea, because I want instant results and transformation. At the same time, coming to grips with that truth, I can see an incredible amount of freedom and peace.

This has me thinking about where I am today. When I look at my health, my flexibility, fitness and agility (or lack thereof)… I see so much how my self-image has informed and created where I am today. When I look at my creativity and spirituality, I see clearly how I have acted out my self-image. It’s a make-me-sit-down-in-my-seat kind of realization.

I’ve allowed my self-image to sit in the corner, unattended to and neglected. Even worse, I’ve abused, shamed and humiliated it. I’ve been unaware and without movement. My health and my weight, my lost teeth and my lack of physical fitness, my tentative and squandered creativity, my lack of spiritual connection… it’s all clearer to me why these things are what I’ve become over the last 10+ years. I’ve chosen to not have a life of movement (in the literal and figurative senses). It has allowed me to avoid certain fears and pain, but at a deep cost.

It’s interesting. I started working out again 3 days ago after being away from it for a very long time. My muscles are oh-so-sore and my body aches. What kick started me back into exercising was a small but startling experience. I was cleaning our kitchen and wanted to hop up onto the counter to clean the window box behind the kitchen sink. I mentally began the hop and then physically felt my body say, “No. It’s not going to happen.” I might of been able to do it if I tried again. I don’t know. I was just so shocked that I couldn’t do it on impulse. My body couldn’t physically support what I wanted it to do. I haven’t been moving and so I couldn’t move. I haven’t been practicing movement that allows for strength, flexibility and grace.

Your difficulty and my difficulty and the difficulty of every individual who ever desired to achieve something worthwhile, comes in the movement.

- Peter Nivio Zarlenga

I don’t think I would have seen it for what it was, had I not read what I did. What happened right there was the physical truth revealing the spiritual one. The literal became the knife that sliced clean through the stiff hoary hide of my self-image’s creation and what it has wrought. I wouldn’t have seen it had I not been made aware. My movement, even my inability to move, made me aware. And now it has, as Feldenkrais said it would, brought up a whole new set of difficulties. But these difficulties, these are the ones that make a difference (inside and out) as to what my life will be. A part of me is both hesitant and daunted. Yet, a larger and greater part of me feels excited… that excited you feel when you’ve bought your ticket, you’re buckled in, and you are at the tippy-top and you know the real ride is about to begin.

Embrace Love and Life. Embrace Your Health!

So, the l-lysine eliminated or at a minimum kept my abscesses from increasing or getting worse. I had no further pain after taking the lysine from the infection, all the way up to my surgery last Wednesday. I can’t tell you what a life-saver it was. My testimonial: when amoxicillan and clindamycin didn’t help reduce the abscess infections and with it the extreme pain I was experiencing… taking 10,000 mg of l-lysine daily did.

My regimen:  Zinc intake above 150 mg a day begins to be associated with zinc toxicity. Because of this, I took 5,000 mg of Solaray L-Lysine with Vitamin C, B-6 and Zinc. The remaining 5,000 mg a day came from pure Now Foods L-Lysine.

Here’s the skinny on l-lysine. It’s an essential amino acid that our bodies have to have but cannot make. It strengthens our immune systems , increases the body’s ability to manufacture antibodies and has anti-viral properties. (This is my guess as to why and how I personally found relief.)

L-lysine doesn’t stop there. It’s popular for treating and preventing cold sores, is critical for collagen formation (think less wrinkles!), provides energy and more. If you have a deficiency in lysine, these are some of the symptoms you are likely to have:

• bloodshot eyes
• fatigue
• moodiness
• anemia
• problems concentrating
• reproductive issues
• weakened skeletal, circulatory and immune systems
• kidney stones
• inability to breakdown and utilize dietary fat properly
• accelerated aging
• elongated healing processes

Typically, raw, vegan, vegetarians and extreme athletes are most at risk for lysine deficiency. But without a balanced and attentive diet, anyone can become low or deficient. For optimal lysine levels, add lysine in your diet by eating (in no particular order):

• meat
• wheat germ (but not wheat)
• cheese (Parmesan is best)
• eggs
• fish, particularly cod and sardines
• limas
• nuts
• spirulina
• fermented foods like miso and yogurt

If you aren’t getting enough of these in your diet – daily dosage recommendations are 12-30 mg per each 2 lbs of body weight. To treat symptoms: 3,000-9,0000 mg per day divided into doses.

Note: if you have cardiovascular diseases, elevated cholesterol and/or triglyceride levels – work with your naturopath. There is controversy for and against Linus Pauling’s therapy for cardiovascular disease consisting of megadoses of Vit C and Lysine. (Sources to begin your research: http://www.vitamincfoundation.org/vitcheart.htm, http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins/vitaminC/)

Embrace Love and Life. Embrace Your Health!

If you follow my personal blog, you know that I’m about to undergo oral surgery to have 7 teeth removed (my wisdom teeth, plus three more).  I have a chronic mouth infection caused by the caries bacteria.  All decay is caused by the caries bacteria, but in some people, an infection can take hold.  The four things that cause a chronic oral infection are:

1. Teeth. Well, duh, right? But it turns out that the condition of your teeth (sometimes determined by genetics) to begin with can and will either encourage or discourage bacterial growth
2. Presence of the caries-causing bacteria, which by the way, is communicable… mother to child, husband to wife, and so on
3. Fermentable carbohydrates
4. Time

So to recap: A chronic infection of acid-producing bacteria is caused when an individual has a long-term acidic oral environment caused by a predisposition, lack of saliva, a diet heavy in sugary and/or acidic foods.

In my mouth, I had the perfect storm.  Problems with tooth enamel is in my genetic background.  I didn’t know this until very recently.  So, #1… genetic predisposition.  Check.  #2. Presence of caries-causing bacteria, check.  I could have gotten it from my mom, from a boyfriend, who knows.  But I got it.  #3. Fermentable carbohydrates.  Check.   Up until 4 years ago, I ate the traditional SAD (standard American diet)… filled with sugary sweets, lots of starchy breads and pastas, and so all.  I also drank, for years, more diet Coke than you can imagine (incredibly acidic!!).  All of these were turned into lactic acid by the bacteria in my mouth and immediately set to work on my teeth.  And finally, time.  Check.  Up until last year, I hadn’t been into a dentist for around 20 years.  The bacteria had 15-20 odd years to do it’s damage.  And do damage, it did!!

When I finally made it into the dentist last year, it was because of extreme pain tooth pain.  The dentist took one look at it and told me that it was abscessed.  The infection had punched a hole through my upper jawbone and was threatening to cause a systemic infection (which worse case scenario can be life-threatening).  The only choice was to pull the tooth.  Immediately.

When we could afford to, I went back into the dentist for a full comprehensive exam. It confirmed the chronic bacterial infection and the profound damage it had done to my teeth.  I had two more abscessed teeth, and a third tooth that was broken and beyond repair.  All three must come out.  My wisdom teeth are also in bad condition and given my infection, it’s best to have those pulled now too.

I’ve had my surgery scheduled for a while now.  July 22nd.  And, up until, two weeks ago, I had no pain. Then, suddenly, I did. And it was horrible. I’ve never had pain like that.  My dentist immediately put me on antibiotics (amoxicillian) and a pain killer (Vicoden).  Vicoden helped a little, although I hated how it made me feel.   A few days later, the pain returned, despite the antiobiotics and narcotics.  My dentist swapped out my antibiotic, putting me on Clindamycin.  He at the same time switched me off of Vicoden (because of the recent concerns with acetametaphin sited by FDA reports) and put me on Vicoprofen.  I seemed to do better on the new combination, but still *hated* how I felt on the narcotic.  And again, 2-3 days later, the intense pain returned.   One last time, the dentist switched my painkillers, this time to ketorolac.  The pain remained severe and I had to continue using the ketorolac at full dosages for 3 days.

Then… and this is a big THEN… I heard a health podcast by David Wolfe.  In passing, he mentioned that l-lysine, an amino acid, can help remove any kind of infection at a 10,000 mg dose.  Given the pain I continued to be in, and the fact that my surgery was still nearly 2 weeks away, I figured I had nothing to lose.

And presto. Within 24 hours, I was off my pain pill.  Now, as an acknowledgement, it’s possible that the antibiotic finally kicked in and made all the difference.  But, the standard rule of thumb is that antibiotics will kick in 24-48 hours after you start taking them.  I had been on them for 2 1/2 weeks with no improvement.  I started the l-lysine and within 24 hours, I was without pain and off pain killers completely.

I have 4 days left until my surgery.   I’m continuing the l-lysine at 10,000 mg a day.  I’ll let you know if the infection returns to the point of pain between now an then.  But, right now, I’m feeling confident that I will continue to stay ahead of the infection and have no pain.

Next post – so what exactly is l-lysine?

My question for you today: What surprise or little-known cure or health aid works for you?

Embrace Love and Life. Embrace Your Health!

Paul, my husband, sent an email to a work colleague who is battling cancer.  Here’s that email.  I’ll expound on each of his points below in posts to follow over the next few days, but this is a great introduction on how and why nutrition makes all the difference in our health – whether it be improved general well-being to battling disease.  So without further ado…   I present guest blogger: Paul Moment.

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DON’T let the final word on this cancer come from the doctors. Seriously. I strongly encourage you to, along with the doctors advice, take matters into your own hands and educate yourselves on alternatives and supportive regimes.

Specifically, raw food. Janece has been getting us into raw food and the anecdotal results are pretty startling. She just read me some stories tonight about raw food’s effect on cancer – specifically gynecological cancer and advanced leukemia in the stories we read. (Editorial note: These case studies can be found in Carol Alt’s The Raw 50: 10 Amazing Breakfasts, Lunches, Dinners, Snacks, and Drinks for Your Raw Food Lifestyle.)  In both cases the cancer was neutralized to the point of completely disappearing, while the body’s critical nutritional indexes skyrockets. We personally had a friend with a very aggressive brain tumor who extended her life expectancy from months to almost two years just with nutritional changes, even though she didn’t know about raw food. Again, these are all people with very very serious health issues and the scariest kinds of cancers.

Here’s why Donna (Editorial note: name changed) should strongly consider trying raw food:

1) Nutrition is literally who we are. The only thing our body has to build itself, maintain a internal environment conducive to energetic life, and battle disease is what we take in — food and vitamins. When food is cooked, the important enzymes, fats, and chemical makeup of the food are altered and depleted, leaving our body bereft of the vital compounds it needs for cell building and disease prevention. Cancers exploit damaged and weakened immune systems. An important way to hold back cancer is to build an unfriendly environment for it by increasing the body’s overall vitality. In addition to cancer-fighting, raw food also contributes to healthy hair and skin, reduction or elimination of allergic symptoms and even serious conditions like irritable bowel syndrome etc.

2) Doctors know shockingly little about nutrition and its medicinal importance. I heard a stat once that most doctors only take one nutrition course in their almost decade-long medical training, and most of their ongoing training is in drug therapies – chemicals that can further disable the body’s natural disease fighting abilities. I strongly believe (and I believe the evidence is clear) that food is medicine, and it’s a much more pleasurable medicine than the chemo that Donna is potentially facing. At the very least, I hope she will take it on as a vital part of supporting her return to health, and no doctor is going to tell her to not try and eat healthy during the next months.

3) Raw food contributes to a non-acidic internal composition. In the early 1900s a scientist (Dr. Otto Warburg) won a Nobel prize for his work on how cancer is starved off and rendered much less potent in alkaline blood environments. Meat, sugars, dairy and other foods contribute to highly acidic blood environments (which additionally contributes to systemic inflammation, also problematic) whereas plant-based foods are highly alkalized. This accounts for the startling results that cancer patients have experienced switching to raw food.

4) Raw food is more energy-generating. Raw food is not only rich in all of the vital nutritional compounds, but it also frees the body from taking its own resources to try and milk some nutrition from the food. Having strong nutritional support mitigates stress and anxiety, which I’m sure Jim and Linda are feeling in abundance.

5) Raw food is delicious. It’s pie, lasagna & raviolis, smoothies, juice, sashimi, raw cheese, and tons of other delicious food. I am/have been a meat and potatoes kinda guy, preferring that even to sweet stuff. When I first heard raw food, I imagined bitter skinny people chewing nuts, but it’s really delicious and deeply satisfying – way more than I would have imagined.

Janece and I have been seeing fundamental body results. The anecdotal and study evidence is very compelling. The resources to take on a raw food lifestyle are abundant and well-developed. It’s easy, delicious, quick-acting, and cheaper than drugs. If Donna introduced just raw juice cocktail and greens-based smoothies into her diet, that would be enormously beneficial.

I’m copying Janece on this. She is researching this pretty thoroughly and has a ton of important resources. We’d love to give you any support in this that we can. You have our email.  Janece also has a health blog called “Embracing My Health” – http://www.embracingmyhealth.com. A couple of books we’ve found helpful – “Green for Life” by Victoria Boutenko and ““Eating in the Raw” and “The Raw 50″ by Carol Alt.

Having a healthy metabolism is an important component of being optimally health and fit. Metabolism is the amount of energy the body uses to run. More specifically, it involves a complex network of hormones and enzymes that take the food we eat and then convert it into build blocks that we use for energy. That energy is used for everything from cellular reproduction (which affects how our bodies age) to muscle building and repair.

Metabolism is one of the many catch words in the weight loss industry. You’ll see metabolizers, metabolism boosters, metabola-this and metabola-that. And it’s true that having a healthy metabolism is important to being right weighted. However there are some myths to uncover too.

One of the largest myths: if you are overweight, your metabolism is slow. The opposite is actually true. If you are overweight, you have a higher metabolism than the right-weighted person next to you. The more weight the body has, the more energy the body has to use to keep it running. That’s why when many go on a diet they initially lose a lot of weight quickly and then plateau. The body is revving at a high level so even a modest reduction in calories brings weight loss. The plateaus begin when the body realizes there is less to “run” and it slows down the metabolism. To continue weight loss, understanding what in your lifestyle helps or hinders your metabolism is important. In addition, the things that slow down our metabolism are the very things that challenge our optimal health and fitness from A to Z. Our body is a whole and there isn’t one thing that doesn’t impact another.

That said, and considering how a healthy metabolism is critical to ideal health… let’s look at what we know that slows our metabolism:

1) Age. The first is one we can’t do a blessed thing about and that’s our age. As we age, our metabolism slows. However, the reasons for that, we can control. Typically, as we age, we slow down our physical activity which in turn reduces our muscle mass and fitness. That’s a one-two punch to the metabolism.

2) Eating too much OR too little. Life, in every facet, requires balance. The quantity of food we eat is no exception. If we eat too much food, we give our body more calories or “energy” than our body can use and it is forced to store it as fat. This includes how much you eat at each meal. Eating your calories in three large meals a day will slow your metabolism. On the other hand, eating those same calories in 5-6 smaller meals through the day will increase your metabolism.

Now eating too little – this is the first way most people want to lose weight. The adage is the less calories the more weight you lose. And while it is true that if you expend more energy than you consume, you will lose weight, there is once again a balance of approach to take into consideration. Eating too little is counterproductive to weight loss goals. This is true for a couple of reasons:

• The first is that the body, when not given enough food, will conserve its resources and slow down the metabolic process.
• When you do lose weight, it isn’t fat but instead lean muscle mass (the very last thing you want to lose if you want to have a high-charged metabolism).
• We deprive our bodies of critical nutrition.

3) Lack of sufficient sleep. Not getting enough sleep reduces the amount of Leptin in our bodies and increases Ghrelin. Leptin is created at night while we sleep. Leptin is responsible for telling the brain that whether there is fat in the body. When leptin isn’t produced, the brain doesn’t know there is fat in the body. In turn, the lack of leptin signals the body (i.e. the appetite) that more food is needed when it isn’t. Simultaneously, Ghrelin is increases. Ghrelin is hormone that both increases our appetite and suppresses use of fat as a source of energy for our bodies. It’s a double-whammy. Leptin isn’t there to tell our bodies that we have enough fat and to slow down our appetite and Ghrelin increases and intensifies the bodies cravings for more food. In addition, if we skimp on sleep, we put ourselves at increasing risk for diabetes. Ghrelin has been found in recent years to play a key role in balancing our insulin and glucose levels.

4) Skipping breakfast. Our bodies are literal in their translation. We skip food in the morning and it assumes we are starving. The metabolism slows to a crawl to make sure that we aren’t losing and begin storing energy. That energy storage… yeah, it’s fat. The other problem, when skipping breakfast, most people tend to overeat the rest of the day.

5) Stress. Hormones are at the core of so much of our bodies function. Keeping them in balance and working correctly and all goes well. If they get out of whack, a domino effect begins and our health can deteriorate. An example of this is cortisol. Cortisol is a powerful hormone that is elevated when we are stressed. During times of stress, cortisol can overpower the rest of our hormones. At appropriate levels, cortisol is valuable and even provides a boost to our bodies. But when it periods of prolonged stress, overproduction of cortisol creates reduced mental clarity and ability, thyroid suppression, blood sugar imbalances, reduction in bone density, loss of muscle mass, lower immunity, increased abdominal fat, and of course, higher blood pressure.

Next post on metabolism: let’s get our bodies humming! We’ll cover what we can do to increase our metabolism.

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Sources:
http://ezinearticles.com/?What-Slows-Down-Your-Metabolism&id=753095
http://worldfitnessnetwork.com/index.php/diet-slow-metabolism/
http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/991202/sleep.shtml
http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=10875
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-ghrelin.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/05/060510091429.htm
http://www.alive.com/4320a12a2.php?subject_bread_cramb=150
http://stress.about.com/od/stresshealth/a/cortisol.htm
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