Thursday, September 4, 2014

Turmeric: The Spice That Can Potentially Help Your Health in 150 Different Ways

REMINDER: In The Archive is all of the articles that I
have posted since I started this blog. There is TONS OF
INFORMATION there for you to learn from. It's the type
of information that not only saved my life...It also has
given me a better quality of life.


PLEASE PASS THIS BLOG ON AND PLEASE TWEET THIS BLOG.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

                     "Nature Cures Cancer" - Here are 10 examples
                                       http://bit.ly/1k1N4Bg


Turmeric: The Spice That Can Potentially Help Your Health in 150 Different Ways


By Dr. Mercola


    Most spices have powerful medicinal properties, which is precisely why they've been used to promote healing for thousands of years prior to the advent of modern, synthetic drug-based medicine.

    One such spice is turmeric, the yellow-pigmented "curry spice" often used in Indian cuisine. Turmeric contains curcumin, the polyphenol identified as its primary active component and which exhibits over 150 potentially therapeutic activities, which include antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties.

    Curcumin is capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier, which is one reason why it holds promise as a neuroprotective agent in a wide range of neurological disorders. Researchers have investigated curcumin for its potential role in improving Parkinson's disease.

    Preliminary results indicate that it may hold even more promise than the drugs currently used for this disorder, many of which (ironically) have serious neurotoxic side effects, including dyskinesia a movement disorder identical to the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

Natural Curcumin Extract Outshines Parkinson's Drugs

    Parkinson's is a neurodegenerative disease caused by a steady depletion of dopamine-producing nerve cells, particularly in the area of your brain referred to as the substantia nigra. Most of the current drug treatments for Parkinson's disease, known as dopamine agonists, focus on replenishing dopamine.

    Although such treatments provide symptomatic relief during early Parkinson's disease, they are ineffective in the long term where they may actually increase symptoms such as tremor, postural instability and cognitive deficits that are common with this disease. They are also associated with motor complications and a laundry list of other strange and disturbing side effects, including:

Euphoria    

Nausea

Hallucinations    

Insomnia

Causing or worsening psychosis    

Unusual tiredness or weakness

Orthostatic hypotension (a dizzy spell caused by a sudden
drop in blood pressure)    

Dizziness, drowsiness, lightheadedness, or fainting

Increased orgasmic intensity    

Twitching, twisting, or other unusual body movements

Weight loss    

Pathological addiction (gambling, shopping, internet
pornography, hypersexuality)


    As researchers noted in the journal Current Pharmaceutical Design:

        "Most of the current pharmacotherapeutic approaches in PD [Parkinson's disease] are aimed at replenishing the striatal dopamine. Although these drugs provide symptomatic relief during early PD, many patients develop motor complications with long-term treatment. Further, PD medications do not effectively tackle tremor, postural instability and cognitive deficits.

        Most importantly, most of these drugs do not exhibit neuroprotective effects in patients. Consequently, novel therapies involving natural antioxidants and plant products/molecules with neuroprotective properties are being exploited for adjunctive therapy."

    Unlike Parkinson's drugs, curcumin is neuroprotective and several studies strongly support its use for the treatment of Parkinson's. For example:

        Curcumin showed neuroprotective properties in an animal model of Parkinson's disease; the beneficial effect was thought to be related, in part, to its antioxidant capabilities and its ability to penetrate the brain.
        Curcumin alleviated the effects of glutathione depletion, which causes oxidative stress, mitochondria dysfunction and cell death and is a feature of early Parkinson's disease.
        The c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling pathway is involved in dopaminergic neuronal degeneration, which is in turn associated with Parkinson's. Curcumin prevents dopaminergic neuronal death through inhibition of the JNK pathway, and thereby offers a neuroprotective effect that may be beneficial for Parkinson's.
        Slow-wriggling alpha-synuclein proteins can cause clumping, which is the first step for diseases such as Parkinson's. Curcumin helps prevent the proteins from clumping.

Curcumin Is a Powerful Ally for Your Brain Health

    For years now turmeric, and its active ingredient curcumin, have shown powerful benefits to your brain health. One of the ways that it works, similar to vitamin D, is modulating large numbers of your genes; in fact, curcumin has been shown to influence more than 700 genes.

    The potential healing power of this spice, which is an important part of Eastern cultural traditions including traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda, perhaps first came about when it was noticed that the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease among older adults in India is more than four times lower than the rate in the United States.  

    Why such a significant difference?

    Some researchers believe the answer for this drastic disparity in Alzheimer's disease prevalence is a direct result of curcumin. Research has shown that curcumin may help inhibit the accumulation of destructive beta amyloids in the brain of Alzheimer's patients, as well as break up existing plaques. People with Alzheimer's tend to have higher levels of inflammation in their brains, and curcumin is perhaps most known for its potent anti-inflammatory properties. The compound can inhibit both the activity and the inflammatory metabolic byproducts of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2) and 5-lipooxygenase (5-LOX) enzymes, as well as other enzymes and hormones that modulate inflammation.

    And that's not all. The growing interest in curcumin over the past 50 years is understandable when you consider the many health benefits researchers have found when studying this spice. According to an ever-expanding clinical body of studies, curcumin may help:

Support healthy cholesterol levels    

Prevent low-density lipoprotein oxidation    

Inhibit platelet aggregation

Suppress thrombosis and myocardial infarction    

Suppress symptoms associated with type 2 diabetes    

Suppress symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis

Suppress symptoms of multiple sclerosis    

Suppress symptoms of Alzheimer's disease    

Inhibit HIV replication

Suppress tumor formation    

Enhance wound healing    

Protect against liver damage

Increase bile secretion    

Protect against cataracts

Protect against pulmonary toxicity and fibrosis


 Two More Important Tools for Parkinson's: Vitamin D and Omega-3

    There is a correlation between insufficient levels of vitamin D and the development of early Parkinson's disease, and research has suggested that long-term deficiency may play a role in the pathogenesis of the disease. There are three major points you want to remember about vitamin D:

        Your best source for this vitamin is exposure to the sun, without sunblock on your skin, until your skin turns the lightest shade of pink. While this isn't always possible due to the change of the seasons and your geographic location (and your skin color), this is the ideal to aim for. A safe tanning bed is the next best option, followed by oral vitamin D3 supplementation.

        If you do supplement with vitamin D, you'll only want to supplement with natural vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol). Do NOT use the synthetic and highly inferior vitamin D2, which is the one most doctors will give you in a prescription most of the time unless you ask specifically for D3.

        Get your vitamin D blood levels checked! The only way to determine the correct dose is to have your blood tested since there are so many variables that influence your vitamin D status. I recommend using Lab Corp in the U.S. Getting the correct test is the first step in this process, as there are TWO vitamin D tests currently being offered: 1,25(OH)D and 25(OH)D.

    From my perspective, the preferred test your doctor needs to order is 25(OH)D, also called 25-hydroxyvitamin D, which is the better marker of overall D status. This is the marker that is most strongly associated with overall health. You'll want to optimize your levels according to the chart below. If you currently have Parkinson's disease you will want to keep your vitamin D level in the higher 70-100 ng/ml range to help fight the disease.

     Animal-based omega-3 fats are also a powerful defense against Parkinson's, as they contain two fatty acids crucial to human health, DHA and EPA. Most of the neurological benefits of omega-3 oils are derived from the DHA component rather than the EPA component.

    In fact, DHA is one of the major building blocks of your brain. About half of your brain and eyes are made up of fat, much of which is DHA -- making it an essential nutrient for optimal brain and eye function. Your brain activity actually depends greatly upon the functions provided by its outer, fatty waxy membrane to act as an electrical nerve-conduction cable. In your brain alone, DHA may help to ward off Parkinson's by:

    Reducing brain inflammation

        Stimulating neuron growth, and development and repair of synapses. (Your brain is a vast complex system of nerve cells sending and receiving electrical impulses across junctions called synapses. The small space between the two cells is where the action occurs. One neuron may synapse with as many as 1,000 other neurons.)
        DHA protects your brain's function by supporting optimal glutamate function. Glutamate and GABA are considered your brain's 'workhorse' neurotransmitters. They work together to control your brain's overall level of excitability, which controls many body processes.

    I believe krill oil is your best option for getting animal-based omega-3 fats because of the fact that the omega-3 is attached to phospholipids that dramatically increase its absorption, especially into brain tissue.

Lifestyle Changes to Help Prevent Parkinson's

    Parkinson's disease is related to lifestyle factors, including the following:

Environmental toxins and pesticides    

Aspartame consumption

Petroleum-based hydrocarbon solvents, like paint and glue
    
Deficiencies in vitamin D and vitamin B folate

Excess iron in your body    

Pasteurized milk


In addition to avoiding these toxic exposures, lifestyle adjustments including:

    Exercise regularly, including high-intensity exercise like Peak Fitness. It's one of the best ways to protect against the onset of symptoms of Parkinson's disease

    Get plenty of sunshine to optimize your vitamin D levels
    Avoid pesticide and insecticide exposure (as well as exposure to other environmental toxins like solvents)

    Eat more organic vegetables, which are high in folate, the natural form of folic acid (folate after all comes from foliage)

    Make sure your body has healthy levels of iron and manganese (neither too much nor too little of either)

    Consider supplementing coenzyme Q10, which may help to fight the disease. But remember, the oxidized form of coenzyme Q10 called ubiquinone or plain CoQ10 is actually found in elevated levels in neurodegenerative conditions involving enhanced oxidative stress, as it is a residual marker of lipid peroxidation (brain rancidity). This is why ubiquinol, the reduced form that is capable of donating electrons to quench brain-damaging free radicals, while at the same time providing a boost to brain mitochondrial function, is the only logical choice in Parkinson's disease and related neurodegenerative conditions.

As for getting the full benefits that curcumin has to offer, look for a turmeric extract that contains 100 percent certified organic ingredients, with at least 95 percent curcuminoids. The formula should be free of fillers, additives and excipients (a substance added to the supplement as a processing or stability aid), and the manufacturer should use safe production practices at all stages: planting, cultivation, selective harvesting, and then producing and packaging the final product.

Unfortunately, at the present time there really are no formulations available for the use against cancer. This is because relatively high doses are required and curcumin is not absorbed that well. There is much work being done to provide a bioavailable formulation in the near future.

In the event you need higher doses (such as in the case of treating cancer), use the curcumin powder and make a microemulsion of it by combining a tablespoon of the powder and mixing it into 1-2 egg yolks and a teaspoon or two of melted coconut oil. Then use a high-speed hand blender to emulsify the powder (be careful when doing so as curcumin is a very potent yellow pigment and can permanently discolor surfaces if you aren't careful).

Another strategy that can help increase absorption is to put one tablespoon of the curcumin powder into a quart of boiling water. It must be boiling when you add the powder; it will not work as well if you put it in room temperature water and heat the water and curcumin. After boiling it for 10 minutes you will have created a 12 percent solution that you can drink once it has cooled down. It will have a woody taste. The curcumin will gradually fall out of the solution, however. In about six hours it will be a 6 percent solution, so it's best to drink the water within four hours.


Thank You  Dr. Mercola



 God Bless Everyone & God Bless The United States of America.

Larry Nelson
42 S. Sherwood Dr.
Belton, Tx. 76513
cancercurehere@gmail.com

Have a great day...unless you have made other plans.

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Helpful Tips for Sleeping Better This Summer


REMINDER: In The Archive is all of the articles that I
have posted since I started this blog. There is TONS OF
INFORMATION there for you to learn from. It's the type
of information that not only saved my life...It also has
given me a better quality of life.

PLEASE PASS THIS BLOG ON AND PLEASE TWEET THIS BLOG.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

         "Nature Cures Cancer" - Here are 10 examples
                       http://bit.ly/1k1N4Bg



By Dr. Mercola


 Helpful Tips for Sleeping Better This Summer

    If you’re like most Americans, you’re likely not getting
enough sleep. Nearly 41 million US adults are sleeping just six
hours or less each night, which recent research has linked to an
increased risk of chronic inflammation and heart disease in women.

    Over the course of the five-year long study, women who slept
poorly quantified as sleeping less than six hours per night had
2.5 times higher increases in inflammation levels compared to men
who slept poorly. As reported by the featured article:

      
    Researchers speculated that the gender difference may be due
to lower estrogen levels in the study's post-menopausal female
subjects, whereas men were protected by higher levels of
testosterone.

    But regardless of gender-based hormonal differences,
summertime can be a time of year when sleep becomes harder to come
by, courtesy of rising temperatures. This is just one of a whole
host of factors that can have an adverse effect on your sleep.

Restless legs syndrome is another ailment that can prevent you
from getting sufficient amounts of shut-eye.

    Interestingly, a recent observational study found that men
with restless legs syndrome have a whopping 40 percent higher risk
of total mortality. This finding was independent of other known
risk factors, including a variety of chronic diseases.

    The relationship between restless legs syndrome and all-cause
mortality was stronger for men who had symptoms 15 or more times
per month compared with those who had symptoms five to 14 times
per month.

    According to the researchers, one (of several) potential
mechanisms that might account for this increased mortality risk is
disturbed sleep. Previous research has also found that people with
chronic insomnia have a three times greater risk of dying from any
cause.

Sleep Deprivation Takes a Serious Toll on Your Health...

    You can have the healthiest diet on the planet, doing
vegetable juicing and using fermented veggies, be as fit as an
Olympic athlete, be emotionally balanced, but if you aren’t
sleeping well it is just a matter of time before it will
adversely, potentially seriously affect your health.

    Sleep deprivation is such a chronic condition these days that
you might not even realize you suffer from it. Science has now
established that a sleep deficit can have serious, far reaching
effects on your health. For example, interrupted or impaired sleep
can:
       
        Dramatically weaken your immune system

    Accelerate tumor growth—tumors grow two to three times faster
in laboratory animals with severe sleep dysfunctions, primarily
due to disrupted melatonin production. Melatonin inhibits the
proliferation of a wide range of cancer cell types, as well as
triggering cancer cell apoptosis (self destruction). The hormone
also interferes with the new blood supply tumors require for their
rapid growth (angiogenesis)

        Cause a pre-diabetic state, making you feel hungry even if
you've already eaten, which can wreak havoc on your weight

        Seriously impair your memory; even a single night of poor
sleep—meaning sleeping only 4 to 6 hours can impact your ability
to think clearly the next day. It’s also known to decrease your
problem solving ability

What You Need to Know About Sleeping Pills

    While it may be tempting to look for a pill to quickly help
you sleep, these will not address any of the underlying causes of
insomnia. In fact, researchers have repeatedly shown that sleeping
pills don’t work, but your brain is being tricked into thinking
they do...

    In one meta-analytic study, they found that, on average,
sleeping pills help people fall asleep approximately 10 minutes
sooner. From a biomedical perspective, this is an insignificant
improvement. On average, sleeping pills increase total sleep time
by about 15-20 minutes. But here is the catch: This study also
discovered that while most sleeping pills created poor, fragmented
sleep, they also created amnesia, so upon waking, the participants
could not recall how poorly they’d actually slept!

    Worse yet, sleeping pills have also been linked to a wide
variety of health hazards, including a nearly four-fold increase
in the risk of death, along with a 35 percent increased risk of

cancer.

    Additionally, most people do not realize that over-the-counter
(OTC) sleeping pills -- those containing Benadryl -- can have a
half life of about 18 hours. So, if you take them every night,
you're basically sedated much of the time. Not surprisingly,
they're associated with cognitive deficits in the morning. Trust
me, there are far better, safer and more effective ways to get a
good night's sleep...

Tips for High-Quality Shut-Eye from a Sleep Wellness Consultant

    As previously discussed by Dr. Rubin Naiman, a leader in
integrative medicine approaches to sleep and dreams, sleep is the
outcome of an interaction between two variables, namely sleepiness
and what he refers to as "noise. This is any kind of stimulation
that inhibits or disrupts sleep. In order to get a good night's
sleep, you want your sleepiness level to be high, and the noise
level to be low. Under normal conditions, your sleepiness should
gradually increase throughout the day and evening, peaking just
before you go to bed at night. However, if noise is conceptually
greater than your level of sleepiness, you will not be able to
fall asleep.

     Sleep wellness consultant Nancy Rothstein offered up six tips to
improve your sleep, wisely starting off by addressing environmental
noise in your bedroom (for the rest of her suggestions, please see the
original article):

        Create a sleep sanctuary. This means removing items
associated with entertainment, recreation, work and hobbies, and
turning your bedroom into a single-purpose space one for sleeping.
Of utmost importance: Make sure your bedroom is cool, dark and
quiet. These three factors can have a major impact on your sleep.

        In regards to temperature, studies show that the optimal
room temperature for sleep is quite cool, between 60 to 68 degrees
Fahrenheit, so keep the temperature in your bedroom no higher than
70 degrees.

        As for light, even the tiniest bit of light in the room
can disrupt your internal clock and your pineal gland's production
of melatonin and serotonin, hormones involved in your body’s
circadian rhythm of sleep and wakefulness. So close your bedroom
door, get rid of night-lights, and most importantly, cover your
windows. I recommend using blackout shades or heavy, opaque
drapes. Also cover up your clock if it has a lit display.

Alternatively, you could wear an eye mask to block out any stray
light.

        Turn off your gadgets well before bedtime. Again, the
artificial glow from your TV,  iPad, computer or smartphone can
serve as a stimulus for keeping you awake well past your bedtime
by disrupting melatonin production. I recommend turning off all
electronic gadgets at least one hour before bed. As Rothstein
suggests, that time is far better spent reading a good old
fashioned book, practicing relaxation techniques or meditating.

        Some people find the sound of white noise or nature
sounds, such as the ocean or forest, to be soothing and sleep-
promoting. An excellent relaxation/meditation option to listen to
before bed is the Insight audio CD. Another favorite is the Sleep
Harmony CD, which uses a combination of advanced vibrational
technology and guided meditation to help you effortlessly fall
into deep delta sleep within minutes. The CD works on the
principle of "sleep wave entrainment" to assist your brain in
gearing down for sleep.

        Exercise to sleep better, but do it early! Exercising for
at least 30 minutes per day can improve your sleep, but if you
exercise too close to bedtime (generally within the three hours
before), it may keep you awake instead.

        Party-goers beware: alcohol tends to prevent good sleep...
Summertime tends to spark party invitations, but as Rothstein
warns, it would be wise to consider how a few drinks will affect
your sleep pattern. Although alcohol will make you drowsy, the
effect is short lived and you will often wake up several hours
later, unable to fall back asleep. Alcohol can also keep you from
entering the deeper stages of sleep, where your body does most of
its healing.

        The same applies to eating. Ideally, you’ll want to avoid
eating or snacking at least three hours before bed. Especially
troublesome are grains and sugars, as these will raise your blood
sugar and delay sleep. Later, when your blood sugar drops, you may
wake up and be unable to fall back asleep.

Two More Aces Up Your Sleeve When Sleep Becomes Elusive...

    My personal favorite fix for insomnia is the Emotional Freedom
Techniques (EFT). Most people can learn the basics of this gentle
tapping technique in a few minutes. EFT can help balance your
body's bioenergy system and resolve some of the emotional stresses
that are contributing to your insomnia at a very deep level. The
results are typically long lasting and improvement is remarkably
rapid.

    Another strategy that can help is to increase your melatonin.

Ideally it is best to increase your levels naturally, by exposing
yourself to bright sunlight during daytime hours (along with full
spectrum fluorescent bulbs in the winter) followed by absolute
complete darkness at night. If that isn't possible, you may want
to consider a melatonin supplement. In scientific studies,
melatonin has been shown to increase sleepiness, help you fall
asleep more quickly and stay asleep, decrease restlessness, and
reverse daytime fatigue. Melatonin is a completely natural
substance, made by your body, and has many health benefits in
addition to sleep.

    If you decide to give melatonin supplements a try, start with
a very small dose, about an hour before bed as little as 0.25 mg
can be sufficient for some. Many end up taking too much right off
the bat, which could end up having the reverse effect you’re
looking for. Taking too much could also result in side effects
such as drowsiness, confusion, headache, nightmares, and more. So,
start with a tiny dose, and if after three nights you notice no
improvement, take a little more. The tips discussed so far are
among the most important for a restful night's sleep, but they are
only the beginning. For more, please read my comprehensive sleep
guide: 33 Secret's to a Good Night's Sleep.

Improving Your Sleep Hygiene Pays Off in Health Dividends

    There's convincing evidence showing that if you do not sleep
enough, you're really jeopardizing your health. Everybody loses
sleep here and there, and your body can adjust for temporary
shortcomings. But if you develop a chronic pattern of sleeping
less than five or six hours a night, then you're increasing your
risk of a number of health conditions, including heart disease.

    To make your bedroom into a suitable sleep sanctuary, begin by
making sure it’s pitch-black, cool, and quiet. Remember, even the
tiniest bit of light can disrupt your pineal gland's production of
melatonin and serotonin. For this reason, I highly recommend
adding room-darkening blinds or drapes to your bedroom, or if this
is not possible wearing an eye mask to block out any stray light.

    For even more helpful guidance on how to improve your sleep,
please review my 33 Secrets to a Good Night's Sleep. If you're
even slightly sleep deprived, I encourage you to implement some of
these tips tonight, as high-quality sleep is one of the most
important factors in your health and quality of life.


Thank You  Dr. Mercola


 God Bless Everyone & God Bless The United States of America.


Larry Nelson
42 S. Sherwood Dr.
Belton, Tx. 76513
cancercurehere@gmail.com

Have a great day...unless you have made other plans.