The Importance of Vitamin D

The following information is an extract from a item on Catalyst:

Medical experts around the world are talking about a new epidemic, a health concern that may be dramatically increasing our risk of cancer, hypertension and even diabetes – it’s a lack of Vitamin D.

Some experts predict that up to 25 per cent of Australians could be Vitamin D deficient. The cause is something that’s been known for nearly a century, a lack of sunshine. There now seems to be a connection between breast, colon and prostate cancer and a lack of Vitamin D.

Even more amazing, one expert believes 25 per cent of breast cancer deaths could be avoided if the women had maintained adequate vitamin D levels throughout their life.

Catalyst’s Karina Kelly investigates research in Australia that appears to show that Vitamin D actually kills cancer cells while protecting healthy cells from sun damage.

Vitamin D can only be made by the body when sunlight falls on skin unprotected by sunscreen. This raises some big questions for Australians who have been living with the sun safe message for the last 20 years.

You can read the full interview here, it's very interesting and raises the question, "Is our sunsafe campaign to prevent skin cancer actually leaving us open to a whole host of other cancers?"

http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s805444.htm

You can also read another article on the BBC News here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/sci_tech/2002/boston_2002/1823457.stm

How Do I Know What My Vitamin D Levels Are?

You need to ask your doctor for a blood test to test your levels.  Your levels should be over 100nmol/L.  If they are not then you need to take a supplement or get some sun on a daily basis.

Inner Smile Meditation

I'm sitting at my computer listening to a movie on the TV, Eat Pray Love and it reminded me of a meditation that is given to the main character, to smile into her liver.  I Googled it, as I have a want to do with many subjects, and found the following:

Smile into your organs and dissolve negative emotions:

In case you don’t know Chinese medicine believes there is a connection between your organs and emotions. By simply giving your organs mindful attention and filling them with more healthy energy such as smiling and breathing (more oxygen and blood flow), you are in effect shifting emotional garbage trapped in your organs. I can honestly say it does work.

Following is a simple explanation as to the emotions linked to your main organs.

1: Smile into your liver and dissolve anger:

Smiling into your liver can not only help dissolve anger and resentment but greatly assist with the decision making process. Allow yourself to forgive, accept and feel kindness.

2: Smile into your kidneys and dissolve fear:

Allow yourself to feel safe and secure. Breathe into your kidneys, feel them soften as they release fear and stress.

3: Smile into your lungs and dissolve sadness or depression:

Fill your lungs on the inhale and totally empty them on the exhale. Allow fresh new air to fill your lungs as you inhale the smiling energy. Feel them relax and release any feelings of sadness and depression.

4: Smile into your stomach and dissolve anxiety:

The stomach can often be a place where we hold lots of worry. Smiling into your stomach can greatly help bring you into the present moment releasing worry and anxiety about the past and future. Continue breathing the smiling energy into your stomach until it feels totally relaxed. A relaxed stomach means improved digestion and a calmer you.

5: Smile into your heart and dissolve hate and impatience:

Smiling into your heart can help shift cruelty, hurt, hate and impatience. Feel your heart fill with joy, kindness and compassion with each breath cycle.

6: Smile into any body part:

Of course you can enjoy a quick 5 minute smiling break by breathing into any part of your body that is overworked, fatigued or stressed. Smile into your eyes if they are tired. Smile into your jaw if you are clenching your teeth. Smile into your shoulders if they are hunched and tight. Smile into your feet if they are tired. A smile encourages you to soften, release and improve energy flow.

For more information go to:  http://thehealthylivinglounge.com/

Where is the Research from Australia?

This is a very good question.  The large percentage of research into health and wellbeing is coming out of the US and unfortunately Australia seems to be lagging behind badly.   When you are researching any topic try to find more than one source of the information that you are looking for and always use reputable sites.  Subscribe to health newsletters from sites such as:

http://www.cabothealth.com.au/

http://www.liverdoctor.com/

http://www.sensible-alternative.com.au/index.php

http://www.strideintohealth.com/

or check out valuable information at:

http://www.drgregemerson.com/

all good Ozzie sites.

Walnuts May Reduce Cancer Risk

Consuming walnuts is a risk free way for preventing and controlling cancer. Walnuts are part of the nut tree family that includes Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts (filberts), macadamia nuts, pecans, pine nuts, and pistachios. There are over 20 varieties of walnuts. The Persian walnut is the kind found in the grocery stores. The walnut itself has a soft texture and lots of good taste due to the high fat content. The U.S. grows about 38% of all walnuts, and about 90% come from California.

Nutritional Value

Walnuts are a good source of protein, dietary fiber, omega 3 fatty acids, vitamin B6, thiamin, folate, and a good amount of minerals.

Approximately 90% of the phenols in walnuts are found in the skin. These include key phenolic acids, tannins, and flavonoids. There is a particular form of vitamin E called gamma-tocopherol, and studies have found this to offer significant protections from heart problems. Walnuts are a good source of this type vitamin E.

Walnuts are known for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits. Phytonutrients that the walnut provides has shown to be protective against metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular problems, and type 2 diabetes. Some of the phytonutrients found in walnuts are rarely found in other common foods. These are quinone juglone, tannin telllimagradin, and the flavonol morin. The walnut also provides potassium, calcium, and magnesium.

Penn State researchers found that a diet rich in walnuts and walnut oil helped the human body deal better with stress.

In 2006, researchers from the University of Barcelona’s Hospital Clínico, Spain, found that adding a handful of raw walnuts to meals high in saturated fat was more effective at limiting the ability of the harmful fat from damaging arteries than adding olive oil.

The walnut possesses a wide variety of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory nutrients, which are known to lower chronic oxidative stress, and chronic inflammation.

Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer affects one in six American men. Diet plays an important role. UC Davis and U.S. Department of Agriculture Western Regional Research Center in Albany, California have found that walnut consumption slows the growth of prostate cancer in mice. It also had beneficial effects on multiple genes that control tumor growth and metabolism. The study was done by Paul Davis, nutritionist in the Department of Nutrition and a researcher with the UC Davis Cancer Center. These findings were announced at the annual national meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Francisco. The study showed that when mice with prostate tumors consume an amount of walnuts that a man can easily eat, the tumor growth is controlled.

Davis fed a diet with whole walnuts to mice that had been genetically programmed to get prostate cancer. After 18 weeks, they found that consuming the human equivalent of 2.4 ounces of walnuts per day resulted in significantly smaller, slower-growing prostate tumors compared to mice consuming the same diet with an equal amount of fat, but not from walnuts.

Breast Cancer

In animal studies walnuts reduce breast cancer risk by half. Mice fed a diet which included walnuts every day had half the risk of developing breast cancer compared to those on a typical diet. Researchers from Marshal University School of Medicine reported this in the journal Nutrition and Cancer.

The mice were given the human equivalent of 2 ounces a day. They followed the mice through their lifespan from conception, weaning and eating the walnuts themselves. They found that the mice that were fed the walnuts developed breast cancer at half the rate, and their tumors were much smaller and they had less of them.

All cancer prevention may take is a hand full of walnuts, and a high quality diet.

This article was published on 20 October 2011 by Blanche Scarf on the following website http://www.naturalhealth365.com/

About the author Blanche has been a student of natural healing modalities for the last 25 years. She had the privilege of working with some of the greatest minds in Natural Healing including Naturopaths, Scientist, and Energy Healers. Having seen people miraculously heal from all kinds of dis-ease through non-invasive methods, her passion now is to help people become aware of what it takes to be healthy.

Other References:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/03/07/fda-says-walnuts-are-drugs.aspx?e_cid=20120318_WNL_art_1

http://www.survive2thrive.net/2011/09/05/walnuts-reduce-breast-cancer-risk/

http://www.naturalnews.com/034951_walnuts_prostate_cancer_osteoporosis.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5dDqCS_NiA&noredirect=1

 

Eggs Won't Harm Your Heart

There is a major misconception that you must avoid foods like eggs and saturated fat to protect your heart. While it's true that fats from animal sources contain cholesterol, this is not necessarily a health hazard. As I've discussed on many occasions, your body actually requires cholesterol, and artificially driving your cholesterol levels down is nearly always doing far more harm than good. Every cell in your body needs cholesterol. It helps to produce cell membranes, hormones, vitamin D and bile acids that help you to digest fat. Cholesterol also helps in the formation of memories and is vital for your neurological function. In other words, dietary cholesterol is your friend, not your enemy.

Besides, numerous studies support the conclusion that eggs have virtually nothing to do with raising your cholesterol anyway. For instance, research published in the International Journal of Cardiology showed that, in healthy adults, eating eggs daily did not produce a negative effect on endothelial function, an aggregate measure of cardiac risk, nor an increase in cholesterol levels.

Reference: Dr Mercola Website Newsletter, Monday 26 March 2012

How to Eat Your Eggs for Maximum Health Benefits

The CDC and other public health organizations will advise you to thoroughly cook your eggs to lower the risk of salmonella, but eating eggs RAW is actually the best in terms of your health. While this may sound like a scary proposition for many, it's important to realize that salmonella risk comes from chickens raised in unsanitary conditions. These conditions are the norm for CAFO's, but are extremely rare for small organic farms. In fact, one study by the British government found that 23 percent of farms with caged hens tested positive for salmonella, compared to just over 4 percent in organic flocks and 6.5 percent in free-range flocks.

So, as long as you're getting fresh pastured eggs, your risk of getting ill from a raw egg is quite slim. According to a study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, of the 69 billion eggs produced annually in the United States, some 2.3 million are contaminated with Salmonella—equivalent to just one in every 30,000 eggs.¹

While eggs are often one of your most allergenic foods, I believe this is because they are typically cooked too much. Heating the egg protein actually changes its chemical shape, and this distortion can easily lead to allergies. If you consume your eggs in their raw state, the incidence of egg allergy virtually disappears. I also believe eating eggs raw helps preserve many of the highly perishable nutrients such as lutein and zeaxanthin, which are powerful prevention elements for age-related macular degeneration, which is the most common cause of blindness.

Fresh raw egg yolk actually tastes like vanilla, in my opinion. The egg white is usually what most people object to when they say they don't like the texture of raw egg. If this is an issue, consider discarding the egg white, or simply blend the whole raw egg into a shake or smoothie. Personally, I eat just the raw egg yolks—I have four nearly every morning. I remove the whites because it's just too much protein for my challenged kidneys. Beware of consuming raw egg whites without the yolks as raw egg whites contain avidin, which can bind to biotin. If you cook the egg white the avidin is not an issue. Likewise, if you consume the whole raw egg (both yolk and egg white) there is more than enough biotin in the yolk to compensate for the avidin binding.

If you choose not to eat your eggs (or just egg yolk) raw, soft-boiled would be your next best option. Scrambling your eggs is one of the worst ways to eat eggs as it actually oxidizes the cholesterol in the egg yolk. If you have high cholesterol this may actually be a problem for you as the oxidized cholesterol may cause some damage in your body.

References: 

Dr Mercola Website Newsletter, Monday 26 March 2012

1. Risk Analysis April 2002 22(2):203-18)

Free Range Eggs are More Nutritious

Mother Earth News' 2007 egg testing project clearly demonstrated the nutritional differences between eggs from free-range pastured hens and commercially farmed hens. This difference is not an occasional fluke—it's the natural and inevitable result of the diet of the hen laying the egg. Compared to official U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) nutrient data for commercial eggs, eggs from hens raised on pasture may contain:

• 1/3 less cholesterol
• 2/3 more vitamin A
• 3 times more vitamin E
• 2 times more omega-3 fats
• 7 times more beta carotene
• 1/4 less saturated fat

Reference:  Dr Mercola Website Newsletter, Monday 26 March 2012