It is Never too Late to Prevent Future Heart Failure

People who only become more aerobically fit beginning at midlife might reduce their risk of heart failure when they are older, U.S. researchers say.

Jarett Berry of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and colleagues tracked the fitness in 9,000 people for 18 years -- mean age 49.

Heart failure is when the heart can't pump enough blood, which is different from coronary heart disease when fatty deposits clog the coronary arteries.

Fitness was categorized into age- and sex-specific quintiles using Balke protocol treadmill time with the lowest quintile as low fitness. Fitness was also estimated in metabolic equivalents according to treadmill time.

Associations between midlife fitness and hospitalizations for heart failure and acute myocardial infarction -- heart attack -- after age 65 were assessed.

The researchers found the more fit people were while middle aged, the lower their risk of heart failure at age 65 and older.

"Low fitness levels earlier in life are particularly important for heart failure risk across the lifespan, and appear to be more important for heart failure risk than for coronary heart disease risk," Berry said in a statement.

The study was presented at an American Heart Association meeting.

Everyone's Nutritional Needs: Fruits and Vegetables

You could say that fruits and vegetables are a nutritional deal. Fruits and vegetables are packed with vitamins, minerals, and fiber. What’s more, most fruits and vegetables are naturally low in fat and calories, and are cholesterol-free. In addition, a diet with lots of fruits and vegetables may lower risks for some cancers and heart disease.
Fruits and vegetables supply the following health-promoting, disease-fighting nutrients:

•  Antioxidants, such as vitamins C and E and the minerals zinc and magnesium, which have been shown to increase immune function and possibly decrease the risk of infection or cancer
•  Carotenoids, including beta-carotene, which are pigments that give fruits and vegetables their color and may also offer health benefits
•  Phytochemicals, which are plant chemicals that may be disease fighters. Scientists also are trying to determine if other substances in plant foods protect against cancer.

If you’re trying to lose weight, you’re better off consuming more fruits and vegetables than eating packaged low-fat snacks, which usually are low in important vitamins and minerals. While fresh fruits and vegetables often taste best, frozen and canned products are also nutritious and may be more convenient throughout the year.
The following list matches fruits and vegetables with the essential vitamins and other nutrients they provide.

High in Vitamin A and/or carotenoids Apricots Broccoli Calabasa Cantaloupe Carrots Kale, collards Leaf lettuces Mangoes Mustard greens Papaya Pumpkins Red peppers Romaine lettuce Spinach Sweet potatoes Tomatoes Turnip greens Winter squash (acorn, hubbard)Good Fiber Sources Apples Bananas Blackberries Blueberries Brussels sprouts Carrots Cherries Cooked beans and peas Dates Grapefruit Kiwi fruit Pears Prunes Raspberries Spinach Strawberries Sweet potatoes High in Vitamin C Apricots Bell peppers Broccoli Brussels sprouts Cabbage Cantaloupe Cauliflower Chili peppers Collards Dark green leafy vegetables Grapefruit Honey dew melon Kiwi fruit Mangoes Mustard greens Oranges Orange juice Pineapples Plum Potatoes with skin Spinach Strawberries Tangerines Tomatoes Watermelon

Good Folate Sources Beets Blackberries Boysenberries Broccoli Brussels sprouts Cabbage Chickpeas Cow peas Dry beans Kiwi Leafy green vegetables Lentils Loose leaf lettuce Okra Oranges Orange juice Pineapple juice Plantains Peas Peanuts Strawberries Sweet cornGood Calcium Sources Dark-green leafy vegetables Kale Mustard greens Bok choy Turnip greens Good Potassium Sources Bananas Broccoli Cantaloupes Dates Dried apricots Dry beans, peas, lentils Grapefruit juice Mangoes Orange juice Parsnips Plantains Potatoes Prunes Raisins Spinach Sweet potatoes Swiss chard Winter squashes

The importance of resistance training

Resistance training, also referred to as strength training, increases strength, muscle mass and also improves bone density and metabolism. Additionally, most major health and government institutions recommend participating in a resistance training program to help prevent conditions like obesity and diabetes.

What Is Resistance Training
Resistance training can be defined as any exercise that uses an external resistance to cause the muscle to contract with the goal muscular strength, mass and/or endurance[1]. Resistance training can incorporate a wide range of devices from free weights to resistance bands or even your own body weight.
Minimum Recommendations
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that individuals participate resistance training every week for a minimum of[2]:

• One set of 8 to 10 reps
• One exercise for each major muscle group
• Two to Three days per week

Benefits Of Resistance Training
Resistance training has a wide range of benefits from muscular hypertrophy to preventing serious health conditions. The following is a list of some the most important reasons for resistance training:

• Arthritis: resistance training has been found to greatly aid individuals who suffer from arthritis, including both rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis[3]. It helps to strengthen the muscles and connective tissue that are impacted by arthritis. Additionally, resistance training helps to alleviate pain associated with arthritis and improve flexibility or range of motion.
• Obesity and Weight Loss: not only does resistance training help to prevent obesity, but it can also help to treat or reduce obesity[4]. Resistance training can help to increase your metabolism. Because muscles are active tissue, they consume calories for energy. The more muscle mass you have, the higher your metabolism will be. The CDC reports that resistance training can increase your metabolism by 15%, which means you will burn off more calories and lose weight[5].
• Heart Disease: The American Heart Association recommends resistance training to help improve your overall heart health, to prevent potential heart conditions and to treat various heart disease[6]. Resistance training can improve overall blood flow, reduce cholesterol and strengthen the heart.
• Lower Blood Pressure: resistance training, under the direct supervision of your doctor, can help to reduce blood pressure in the long run. However, the training must be done properly and not at a maximum effort[7]. Reduced blood pressure can prevent other serious health conditions like strokes. Hypertension (high blood pressure) is the number one cause for strokes[8] and the American Heart Association recommends both aerobic and resistance training as tools for preventing both high blood pressure and strokes.
• Diabetes: resistance training can help to improve your overall diabetic condition and also prevent the precursors that may lead to type 2 diabetes. In addition to the previously mentioned conditions (which directly impact diabetics and/or can lead to diabetes), resistance training can improve insulin sensitivity and aid in blood glucose control[9].
• Bone Density: as we get older, our bone density decreases. Resistance training can increase bone density and help to treat and/or prevent osteoporosis[10].
• Depression: resistance training releases natural hormones in the body called endorphins. These endorphins help to make us feel better. Additionally, resistance training can help to boost self-image, self-confidence and make us feel better about ourselves.
• Muscular: resistance training can directly improve our muscular size, strength and endurance.
• Other: resistance training has also been linked to improving our sleep quality, coordination and balance, and flexibility.

Before participating in a resistance training program, check with your physician to make sure it’s safe for you. Additionally, seek the professional assistance of a personal trainer to ensure you know how to safely perform the exercises and use the equipment.

---

[1] http://www.emedicinehealth.com/strength_training/article_em.htm

[2] http://www.mhhe.com/hper/nutrition/williams/student/appendix_i.pdf

[3] http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/arthritis.html

[4] http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jobes/2011/482564/

[5] http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/growingstronger/why/

[6] http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness_articles.asp?id=1612

[7] http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weightlifting/AN00637

[8] http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/WeightManagement/Obesity/Obesity—Stroke-Connection_UCM_311771_Article.jsp

[9] http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/diabetes.html

[10] http://www.thesportjournal.org/article/training-improve-bone-density-adults-review-and-recommendations

Dates And Health Benefits

Dates from more kinds of fruit spread a healthy diet center and normal, characterized by dates on many of the food its proximity nutrients beneficial to the human body and feeds on the fruit of many people around the world, r rich in sugary 65-75% as it is rich in minerals and several vitamins.


Of benefits :

Easy to digest food not exhausting the stomach.
Limit feeling very hungry
Create stomach Dates for reception food
Prevent injury arrest constipation.
Diuretic and kidney wash.
Cleans the liver from toxins.
Calm nervous irritability
Dates and tonic for the liver and eat it on an empty stomach kills the worms and also with many different kinds of benefits
First: it is the element magnesium-rich foods that protect against cancer
Second: it has a significant impact on calm nerves for people with neurological diseases
Third: the natural mix of iron and calcium digest the body and easily received .

Nutritional Value of dates :

Composed of 21% water, and a large number of vitamins, 1.2% protein, 18% fat, and 73% sugars, fiber and 3%
Dates contain high nutritional value and are the fruits of dates from more fruits contain sugars, and vary the ingredients depending on the nature of the fruit, whether wet or semi-dry or dry, as well as by environmental conditions surrounding trees, as different components of fruits in different varieties and increase the proportion of sugars in it between 70 78% of the components of the fruit is characterized by these sugars quickly absorbed and transmission of blood directly digested and burned.


Here is a selection of the health benefits of dates, it is food and a cure for many diseases at the same time:

• general tonic for the body and addresses anemia and prevent nerve disorder, as it contains a high percentage of sugar and potassium.

• increase the secretion of hormones that stimulate the secretion of milk for nursing mothers (such as hormone Pro actin).

• used to treat chronic constipation to activate bowel movement and flexibility, including the content of cellulose fibers.

• prevents cancer and plays a protective role against cancer and what they contain fruits dates of phenols and antioxidants.


• contains anti-cancer and important hormones such as hormone Albetosen which has organized outdoor property in women as well as it prevents bleeding during and after birth and reduced blood pressure when they consume pregnant.

• contains vitamin A which doctors called the growth factor.

• Contains vitamin )B-1((b2)(bb) Such vitamins to strengthen the nerves and vascular softening and moisturizing and saved from bowel inflammation and weakness.

• Needless phosphorus by high.

• preserve eye moisture and luster and prevents blurred vision night vision and makes effective and incisive in the day as well as night.

• According to the elders who began to suffer from lack of hearing and sense of ringing ears or rather weak auditory nerves.

• brings serenity and tranquility to troubled souls worried.

• post stomach digest the dates and absorption of sugars in it within an hour or a few times.

Reasons why you can't lose weight no matter how hard you try

Have you been struggling to lose weight all of your life? You may have already learned the hard way that fad diets don’t work for the long run; they are just a quick fix. Once you’ve come to this realization, you should also be aware of the other reasons why you might not be losing weight no matter how hard you try; here are 5 of them.

1. One of the biggest mistakes people make when they’re trying to lose weight is not planning their meals. If you don’t carefully think about what you are going to eat tomorrow, you will end up eating the wrong foods out of hunger and convenience. Take a moment every Sunday and write down your meal plan for the week, buy the groceries and maybe even make a few dishes beforehand. Being aware of what you are putting into your body and how much you move each day are the two driving forces to losing weight.
2. Comparing yourself to others is a mistake. Just because your friend is able to maintain her weight and look great in a bikini by doing yoga and eating burgers doesn’t mean that’s going to work for you. This is your own personal journey. Everybody’s biological makeup is different so you have to find what works best for you and then stick with it. The rule of thumb in weight loss and maintaining a healthy lifestyle is to keep food as simple as possible. Low fat proteins like grilled chicken, lots of vegetables and a little whole grain will enable you to look and feel your best for life.
3. Eating when you’re not hungry because it’s “lunch time” is another reason why you can’t shed the pounds. It’s best to wait until you are actually hungry before eating something and keep in mind that it doesn’t have to be a big meal. Eating a snack every few hours is a healthier option than large portions of food at a specific time. Don’t let eating become a hobby to comfort yourself. Instead, learn to eat so that you are nourishing your body. This will also help you make better food choices.
4. Doing the same form of exercise everyday isn’t going to change anything. If you’re new to exercise you probably lost weight when you first started to workout. But once you commit to exercise for life one particular form of exercise isn’t going to continue to change your body. Switching up your workouts (muscle confusion) is essential to weight loss. Alternating between circuit training, cardiovascular exercise, yoga and weights will not only sculpt your body into it’s best self, it is how to look good naked for the rest of your life.
5. On that subject, a lot of women are afraid to incorporate weights into their workouts with the fear of a masculine look. This couldn’t be farther from the truth and is one of the biggest reasons why they aren’t losing weight. Muscle constantly burns calories even when you’re at rest. This makes it very difficult for you to put on weight. Incorporate Power Circuit Training with Jackie Warner into your routine and see your body change like never before.

Fruits, Vegetables, and Herbs and how they relate to the body part(s) they help.

The Law of Signatures

Understanding The Law of Signatures is an intuitive approach to the knowledge of how food relates to our health and well-being.
Here are a few examples:
Walnuts:  the “brain-boosting” nut.  Adding walnuts to your diet may help boost your memory according to a new Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease report. Researchers found that eating walnuts was associated with better memory and brain function. The antioxidants in walnuts may help counteract age-related cognitive decline and even reduce the risk of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s.

Avocados: Resembling the uterus targets the female reproductive system. It takes exactly nine months to ripen an avocado to ripened fruit. According to research, when a woman eats one avocado a week, it helps to balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. It is also a good source of folic acid, which decreases the risk of uterine dysplasia—a precancerous condition.


Tomatoes:  Lycopene, the bright red carotene found in tomatoes, decreases the risk of cardiovascular diseases. By adding a bit of fat to your tomatoes—toss them with olive oil or mix with avocado—the amount of lycopene digested by your body will increase tenfold.


Green Grapes:  Very effective for helping asthma, as the assimilatory benefits of grapes make the lungs more moist, opening bronchial tubes and making it far easier to breathe overall. Also helpful for aiding in getting over a cold or cough due to blocked airways, and helps to get rid of and break up mucous in the body while you are sick. Drinking grape juice can open your airways and help improve your lung function either due to asthma-related issues of a cough or cold.


Red Grapes: Help the heart by raising the nitric oxide levels in the blood. This helps to prevent blood clots, which keeps heart attacks and strokes at bay. Furthermore, the antioxidants in grapes help prevent the oxidation of bad cholesterol, keeping it from clogging the arteries to the heart and keeping the heart healthier overall.



Ginger:  Good for your stomach, spleen and intestines.  Ginger is extremely good for a good digestion and the burning of calories. Ginger contains a substance called zingibain.  There is no substance on earth that has such powerful protein digest enzymes as zingibain.



Kidney Beans:  Kidney beans are a rich source of fiber, which is extremely helpful in lowering cholesterol. The National Institute of Health discovered a link between high cholesterol levels and kidney disease.




Olives:  An Italian study found that women whose diets included a lot of olive oil had a 30% lower risk of ovarian cancer. The reasons are unclear, but the healthy fats in the oil may help suppress genes predisposed to causing cancer.


There are several more examples such as carrots are good for eye health, figs are good for testicles, etc.
The idea is to eat a variety of foods and you can cover most of your body parts with everything they need to function optimally.

Eat to Live!!

Make Your Fat Loss Healthy And Sustainable By Avoiding These 4 Common Pitfalls

• Losing weight can end up making you gain more weight back.
  SAY WHAT?!!!!!
  OK, now that I have got your attention, what I meant to say was that women who lose a large amount of weight, the WRONG way, in a small period of time, can gain it back with interest, which is detriment to their health.
  Makes sense?
  Sure! But Why does this happen?
  Well, first we need to be aware that anyone can fall off the wagon and regress to where they started. There is no magic pill for this. What we can do, however, is decrease our chances or remission by securing proper habits that will ensure proper health and metabolism along the way.
  Here are the reasons why people usually fail. Simply do the opposite for healthy and sustainable weight loss:
  1) Too much aerobic work:
  

  • Although aerobic work can burn more calories than weight training during a single, isolated session, the effects stop soon afterwards. 
  • Aerobic work puts a lot of strain on our adrenal glands, leading to unnecessary belly fat in the end (fat+inflammation). When our adrenal glands get exhausted we usually give up and stop exercising.
  • Aerobic work is not intense enough to force our bodies into change. Thats right, you have to be forceful and exert some effort if you want better results. 
  • It’s just to easy for our bodies to adapt to aerobic exercise. This is why choosing this route will require fewer calories to continue in our fat loss goals. In addition, we will have to increase the distance we travel to make up for a lack of intensity. 
  • Aerobic work teaches your body to burn fat only. If you want to burn carbs, you must train harder.
  • Lastly, many people find walking on a treadmill boring and repetitive.

  2) Eating too little:
  

  • Burn more calories than you take in will mean efficient and long lasting weight loss, right? Wrong! The body is smart and will adjust to prevent starvation.
  • Most people cut their calories from fats and proteins, which will sacrifice lean body mass, leading to a slower metabolism and yet another necessary drop in calories, again, to see any results.
  • Whenever we take something away (i.e., carbs or protein) we have to put something back in so that our bodies do not fear the worst. If you take out protein, you have to increase the fat. If you take our carbs, add in some protein or fat. Also, you can’t go wrong with extra veggies! 

  3) No Weight Training:
  

  • "But I perform 100 reps with my 3 pound pink dumbbells Nikolas."…..Sorry, but that’s not enough intensity to cause a change.
  • Women fear gaining too much muscle. They must remember that muscle is more dense than fat and takes up less overall space, so even if you gain 10 lbs of muscle and lose 10 lbs of fat, the scale says the same thing, but your clothes, girth measurements and body fat percentage say another! 
  • Lean body mass (this includes muscle, bone, joint tissue and cellular fluids) play a huge role in preventing disease and keeping our metabolisms going even when we are NOT training. 
  • Using weight training for fat loss will not only create a more shapely body, it will prevent weight gain if you must stop for a small period of time (injury, vacation, etc). Aerobic work will NOT do this. 
  • Most importantly for all you cardio junkies, weight training, planned properly will become an aerobic workout, since your body will require oxygen as you travel shortly from exercise to exercise. However, the largest problem here is that people are not trained properly so they must use light weight (Find a good trainer that will bring you to the right level, so weight training can become cardio!)

  4) Not being honest with yourself:
  

  • Before you take out the tissue box, understand that I am not trying to play with your emotions. The reality is that we are all try losing weight for different reasons including personal health, vanity, our children, our family, for work, as a hobby or to take our minds off of something else. 
  • I think the primary reason should be yourself. When all is said and done, you have to look at yourself, you have to feel the pain of not achieving your goals and you have to live with your achievements or failures for the rest of your life. 
  • Remember, however, that no matter how strong our desire, we must find ways to stay on track. This could include hiring a trainer, training with a friend, signing up for an online program or something as easy as creating your own goal sheet and reviewing it every night. 
  • You just have to know why you are doing this. If that reason is the right reason, you should be set! 

  Making changes in any of these departments are easy as long as you do it slowly, safely and sustainably. Everyone’s ability to change will vary so don’t EVER follow someone else’s advice to the letter. Do it according to your own lifestyle.
  Science + Determination = Results!

Are Probiotics the New Prozac?

By Dr. Mercola

While many think of their brain as the organ in charge of their mental health, your gut may actually play a far more significant role.

The big picture many of us understand is one of a microbial world that we just happen to be living in. Our actions interfere with these microbes, and they in turn respond having more effects to our individual health as well as the entire environment.

There is some truth to the old expression, having 'dirt for brains'.  The microbes in our soil, on our plants, in our stomachs are all a result of our actions.  Antibiotics, herbicides, vaccines, and pesticides, and the tens of thousands of synthetic chemicals we've created all have impacts and result in reactions from these microbes.
Mounting research indicates that problems in your gut can directly impact your mental health, leading to issues like anxiety and depression.
The gut-brain connection is well-recognized as a basic tenet of physiology and medicine, so this isn't all that surprising, even though it's often overlooked. There's also a wealth of evidence showing intestinal involvement in a variety of neurological diseases.
With this in mind, it should also be crystal clear that nourishing your gut flora is extremely important, because in a very real sense you have two brains, one inside your skull and one in your gut, and each needs its own vital nourishment. A recent article¹ titled “Are Probiotics the New Prozac?” reviews some of the most recent supporting evidence.

Probiotics Alter Brain Function, Study Finds

The featured proof-of-concept study, conducted by researchers at UCLA, found that probiotics (beneficial bacteria) actually altered participants' brain function. The study² enlisted 36 women between the ages of 18 and 55 who were divided into three groups:

• The treatment group ate yogurt containing several probiotics thought to have a beneficial impact on intestinal health, twice a day for one month
• Another group ate a “sham” product that looked and tasted like the yogurt but contained no probiotics
• Control group ate no product at all

Before and after the four-week study, participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans, both while in a state of rest, and in response to an “emotion-recognition task.”
For the latter, the women were shown a series of pictures of people with angry or frightened faces, which they had to match to other faces showing the same emotions.

“This task, designed to measure the engagement of affective and cognitive brain regions in response to a visual stimulus, was chosen because previous research in animals had linked changes in gut flora to changes in affective behaviors,” the researchers explained.

Compared to the controls, the women who consumed probiotic yogurt had decreased activity in two brain regions that control central processing of emotion and sensation:

• The insular cortex (insula), which plays a role in functions typically linked to emotion (including perception, motor control, self-awareness, cognitive functioning, and interpersonal experience) and the regulation of your body's homeostasis, and
• The somatosensory cortex, which plays a role in your body’s ability to interpret a wide variety of sensations

During the resting brain scan, the treatment group also showed greater connectivity between a region known as the ‘periaqueductal grey’ and areas of the prefrontal cortex associated with cognition. In contrast, the control group showed greater connectivity of the periaqueductal grey to emotion- and sensation-related regions.
The fact that this study showed any improvement at all is remarkable, considering they used commercial yogurt preparations that are notoriously unhealthy; loaded with artificial sweeteners, colors, flavorings, and sugar. Most importantly, the vast majority of commercial yogurts have clinically insignificant levels of beneficial bacteria. Clearly, you would be far better off making your own yogurt from raw milk—especially if you’re seeking to address depression through dietary interventions.

Yes, Your Diet Affects Your Mood and Mental Health

According to lead author Dr. Kirsten Tillisch:^{3, 4}

“Time and time again, we hear from patients that they never felt depressed or anxious until they started experiencing problems with their gut. Our study shows that the gut–brain connection is a two-way street... 'When we consider the implications of this work, the old sayings 'you are what you eat' and 'gut feelings' take on new meaning.'”

The implications are particularly significant in our current era of rampant depression and emotional “malaise.” And as stated in the featured article, the drug treatments available today are no better than they were 50 years ago. Clearly, we need a new approach, and diet is an obvious place to start.
Previous studies have confirmed that what you eat can alter the composition of your gut flora. Specifically, eating a high-vegetable, fiber-based diet produces a profoundly different composition of microbiota than a more typical Western diet high in carbs and processed fats.

The featured research tells us that the composition of your gut flora not only affects your physical health, but also has a significant impact on your brain function and mental state. Previous research has also shown that certain probiotics can help alleviate anxiety:

• The Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility⁵ reported the probiotic known as Bifidobacterium longum NCC3001 normalized anxiety-like behavior in mice with infectious colitis by modulating the vagal pathways within the gut-brain.
• Other research⁶ found that the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus had a marked effect on GABA levels—an inhibitory neurotransmitter that is significantly involved in regulating many physiological and psychological processes—in certain brain regions and lowered the stress-induced hormone corticosterone, resulting in reduced anxiety- and depression-related behavior. It is likely other lactobacillus species also provide this benefit, but this was the only one that was tested.

It’s important to realize that you have neurons both in your brain and your gut -- including neurons that produce neurotransmitters like serotonin. In fact, the greatest concentration of serotonin, which is involved in mood control, depression and aggression, is found in your intestines, not your brain! Perhaps this is one reason why antidepressants, which raise serotonin levels in your brain, are often ineffective in treating depression, whereas proper dietary changes often help...

Your Gut Bacteria Are Vulnerable to Your Diet and Lifestyle

Processed, refined foods in general will destroy healthy microflora and feed bad bacteria and yeast, so limiting or eliminating these from your diet should be at the top of your list. Following my recently revised nutrition plan is a simple way to automatically reduce your intake of sugar from all sources. Processed foods wreak havoc on your gut in a number of different ways:

• First, they are typically loaded with sugar, and avoiding sugar (particularly fructose) is in my view, based on the evidence, a critical aspect of preventing and/or treating depression. Not only will sugar compromise your beneficial gut bacteria by providing the preferred fuel for pathogenic bacteria, it also contributes to chronic inflammation throughout your body, including your brain.
• Many contain artificial sweeteners and other synthetic additives that can wreak havoc with brain health. In fact, depression and panic attacks are two of the reported side effects of aspartame. Preliminary findings presented at the 65th annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology also report that drinking sweetened beverages―whether they’re sweetened with sugar or artificial sweeteners—is associated with an increased risk of depression.⁷
• Processed foods are also typically loaded with refined grains, which turn into sugar in your body. Wheat in particular has also been implicated in psychiatric problems, from depression to schizophrenia, due to Wheat Germ Agglutinin (WGA), which has neurotoxic activity.
• The majority of processed foods also contain genetically engineered (GE) ingredients (primarily corn and soy), which have been shown to be particularly detrimental to beneficial bacteria. There are several mechanisms of harm at work here. For example:
• Eating genetically engineered Bt corn may turn your intestinal flora into a sort of "living pesticide factory," essentially manufacturing Bt-toxin from within your digestive system on a continuing basis
• Beneficial gut bacteria are very sensitive to residual glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup). Due to mounting resistance, GE Roundup Ready crops are being drenched with increasing amounts of this toxic herbicide. Studies have already confirmed that glyphosate alters and destroys beneficial gut flora in animals, as evidenced by the increasing instances of lethal botulism in cattle
• Recent research also reveals that your gut bacteria are a key component of glyphosate’s mechanism of harm, as your gut microbes have the identical pathway used by glyphosate to kill weeds!

Your gut bacteria are also very sensitive to and can be harmed by:

Antibiotics, unless absolutely necessary (and when you do, make sure to reseed your gut with fermented foods and/or a probiotics supplement)	Conventionally-raised meats and other animal products, as CAFO animals are routinely fed low-dose antibiotics, plus genetically engineered grains, which have also been implicated in the destruction of gut flora
Chlorinated and/or fluoridated water	Antibacterial soap

How to Reseed Your Gut Flora

Considering the fact that an estimated 80 percent of your immune system is located in your gut, reseeding your gut with healthy bacteria is important for the prevention of virtually ALL disease, both physical and mental. The first step is to clean up your diet and lifestyle by avoiding the items listed above. Then, to actively reseed your gut with beneficial bacteria, you’ll want to:

• Radically reduce your sugar intake. I’m being repetitive here, to drive home the point that you can take the best fermented foods and/or probiotic supplements, but if you fail to reduce your sugar intake you will sabotage your efforts to rebuild your gut flora. This would be similar to driving your car with one foot on the accelerator and one on the brake simultaneously. Simply not a good strategy at all. When you consume sugar at the level of the typical American you are virtually guaranteed to have a preponderance of pathogenic bacteria, yeast and fungi, no matter what supplements you are taking.
• Eat traditionally fermented, unpasteurized foods: Fermented foods are the best route to optimal digestive health, as long as you eat the traditionally made, unpasteurized versions. Some of the beneficial bacteria found in fermented foods are also excellent chelators of heavy metals and pesticides, which will also have a beneficial health effect by reducing your toxic load. Healthy choices include:
• Fermented vegetables
• Lassi (an Indian yoghurt drink, traditionally enjoyed before dinner)
• Fermented milk, such as kefir
• Natto (fermented soy)
Ideally, you want to eat a variety of fermented foods to maximize the variety of bacteria you’re consuming. Fermented vegetables, which are one of my new passions, are an excellent way to supply beneficial bacteria back into our gut. And, unlike some other fermented foods, they tend to be palatable, if not downright delicious, to most people.
As an added bonus, they can also be a great source of vitamin K2 if you ferment your own using the proper starter culture. We tested samples of high-quality fermented organic vegetables made with our specific starter culture, and a typical serving (about two to three ounces) contained not only 10 trillion beneficial bacteria, it also had 500 mcg of vitamin K2, which we now know is a vital co-nutrient to both vitamin D and calcium. Most high-quality probiotics supplements will only supply you with a fraction of the beneficial bacteria found in such homemade fermented veggies, so it’s your most economical route to optimal gut health as well.

• Take a high-quality probiotic supplement. Although I'm not a major proponent of taking many supplements (as I believe the majority of your nutrients need to come from food), probiotics are an exception if you don’t eat fermented foods on a regular basis.

Nurture Your Gut for Optimal Health and Mental Well-Being

Foods have an immense impact on your body and your brain, and eating whole foods as described in my nutrition plan is the best way to support your mental and physical health.
Mounting research indicates the bacterial colonies residing in your gut may in fact play key roles in the development of brain, behavioral and emotional problems—from depression to ADHD, autism and more serious mental illness like schizophrenia. Certainly, when you consider the fact that the gut-brain connection is recognized as a basic tenet of physiology and medicine, and that there's no shortage of evidence of gastrointestinal involvement in a variety of neurological diseases, it's easy to see how the balance of gut bacteria can play a significant role in your psychology and behavior.
With this in mind, it should also be crystal clear that nourishing your gut flora is extremely important, from cradle to grave, because in a very real sense you have two brains, one inside your skull and one in your gut, and each needs its own vital nourishment.
Cultured foods like raw milk yogurt and kefir, some cheeses, and fermented vegetables are good sources of natural, healthy bacteria. So my strong recommendation would be to make cultured or fermented foods a regular part of your diet; this can be your primary strategy to optimize your body's good bacteria.
If you do not eat fermented foods on a regular basis, taking a high-quality probiotic supplement is definitely recommended. A probiotic supplement can be incredibly useful to help maintain a well-functioning digestive system when you stray from your healthy diet and consume excess grains or sugar, or if you have to take antibiotics.

How to Lose Weight and Lose Fat Fast

There’s nothing wrong with losing weight and fat fast, as long as you do it the right way. But, with all the different fad diets, reality shows, internet gimmicks and commercials telling you different ways how to lose weight and fat fast, which way is the right way, if any? Which approach to weight and fat loss do you trust? How many different approaches do you take to weight and fat loss before you end up back at square one or even heavier?

Doctors, dieticians and the best trainers say in the real world, without all the Technicolor glossy coating, you still can achieve outstanding results in losing weight and fat fast by doing it the right way. They suggest starting with the right mindset, asking questions, look for answers in valuable resources and setting realistic goals.
Let's take a look at what it takes to lose weight and fat fast by doing it the right way.

To Lose Weight and Fat Fast You Need 100% Commitment

70-80% of weight and fat loss will come from changing your diet into clean food habit. The other 30% will be the result from the exercise. In practice what you need to do, is to create caloric deficit. For example if your calorie deficit equals 500 calories per day, by eating fewer calories and increasing energy expenditure by physical activity you can safely expect 1-2 pounds of fat loss a week. If you want to accelerate this rate you need to increase exercise and decrease calories consumption without going below 1,050 to 1,200 and combining it with one hour of exercise a day.
Going below 1,050 to 1,200 calories is unsafe and also can sabotage your results by entering your body catabolic state. Catabolic state will drastically decrease your metabolic rate, and put you in danger of mood swings and cravings. With time your weight and fat loss can start to decent and hit a plateau. That’s where you need to start thinking of new strategies, like hiring a personal trainer or maybe joining a health club.

To Lose Weight and Fat Fast Keep Your Carbs and Protein in Check

Look at your consumption of carbs, not only sugar but also complex, starchy low GI carbs. Break down your meals and try to go for 5-6 meals a day. This will ensure your energy levels are kept throughout the day, so you don't have to look for quick energy fixes.
Protein distributed evenly throughout your eating plan will help maximize fat loss and restore your muscles, in turn increasing basic metabolic rate by forcing you to utilize more energy from fat stores just to maintain lean body.
Your diet for fast weight and fat loss should consist of protein from sources such as:

• Skin less poultry breast
• Egg whites
• Fish 95% lean meat
• Shellfish

Up your veggies intake, their content of fiber will keep your digestion healthy.
Your diet for fast weight and fat loss can be from veggie sources such as:

• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Green beans
• Sweet potatoes

These veggies are really low in calories but will help you to feel full longer.

Additional Ways to Lose Weight and Fat Fast

• Cut sodium intake, it contributes to water retention under your skin, and you would be surprised how much of it is hidden everywhere.
• Always read your food labels.
• Drink plenty of water. Sometimes we can think we are hungry which in fact a confusing aspect of thirst.
• Clear your house and cupboards of tempting foods.
• Always remind yourself of your goals, what are you doing this for, why is it important to you.
• Weighing yourself daily and keeping food diary will help you stay focused.

Exercise for Accelerated Weight and Fat Loss

Cardio burns a lot of calories. You should commit to an hour a day to cardio. Your cardio intensity will depend on your fitness level. You should aim to break a sweat after warm up and maintain it for the rest of the hour. Moderate intensity is good to start out at. In general your intensity is about 50-70% of your effort. In practice this means the effort you should generate is a bit more intense than your regular paced walk.
In time you may want to shuffle your cardio with High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). HIIT is a form of cardio training which elevates your cardiovascular capacity to the maximum for short bursts of time. Adding HIIT into your workouts will help you to burn more calories in less time.
You need to realize the misconception that cardio is all it takes for successful weight and fat loss. You should also include some resistance training along with your cardio. Resistance training will not burn fat, as it relies on glucogene (sugar), but it will increase metabolic rate. Your body will burn calories while supplying energy to recover broken down muscle fibers. Include at least 2-3 resistant training sessions a week to maintain muscle tone. Focus on compound movements, which include big muscle groups and multi joints actions such as squats, chest presses, and lat pulldowns. Compound exercises will shock your body and get you the best response you can achieve.

Prioritize what’s Important to You

Life is hectic for most of us. Many of us don’t have time for a rigorous diet and training schedule. But we all can prioritize what’s important to us. Is watching TV after work really more important than taking time out for yourself by going to the gym and meeting like minded people? If you surround yourself with positivity, that soon will change your life and make your ‘Weight and Fat Loss Success Story' a reality.

Bottom Line on Losing Weight and Fat Fast the Right Way

There's no magical fixes on losing weight and fat. You need to commit to your plan, surround yourself with tools of inspiration, and set example for others. Never stop challenging yourself, and always keep in mind ‘Moment on your lips is a lifetime on your hips.’

About the Author Ina Gutowska

Ina Gutowska is a former dancer originally from Poland, who started to explore all different levels of Fitness knowledge while living for 5 years in London.  Ina Gutowska currently resides in Australia where she works as Personal Trainer, Motivational Speaker, Writer and a Fitness Model sharing her deep understanding of psychological barriers and negative body image, as well as biomechanics of the body, nutrition, and supplementation.

What Testosterone Decline in Aging Men Is Normal?

Today there is a lot of talk of Low T in middle age men. With aging babyboomers there is a huge finacial market to market testosterone replacement in middle age to aging men.
However, the clinical importance of declining testosterone levels in older men is unclear. So what testosterone decline in aging men should be considered normal?

Low T and Aging

Serum testosterone levels gradually decline as men age, but the degree to which serum testosterone levels decline, as well as the extent of associated clinical changes (reduced libido, low bone mineral density and height loss, and decreased energy), is variable.
This age-related decline in serum testosterone levels has been confirmed in several cross-sectional and longitudinal studies and results from dysfunction in the hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular axis.2-4 The clinical importance of this decline is controversial, however. Recognizing this variability and understanding what may be considered changes in body function due to "normal aging" versus potentially treatable age-related testosterone (or androgen) deficiency is crucial in the care of older men. The role of evaluating testosterone levels and their clinical significance is reviewed here.
Aging is associated with declines in total serum testosterone concentration, increases in sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) concentration, and decreases in free testosterone. In one large cross-sectional study of more than 3000 men ages 40 to 79, serum testosterone concentration fell 0.4% per year, free testosterone concentration 1.3%.3 In another study, of 890 men, total testosterone levels were
Free testosterone is considered the biologically active form of the sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG). As men age, SHBG level rises, binding more testosterone and leaving less free testosterone available to act on target tissues. There is no uniformity in how aging men respond to this changing hormonal milieu, however. As a result, a controversy exists about whether this is a disease state. When it comes to low testosterone, what is normal senescence? What is illness?
Symptoms and signs suggestive of androgen deficiency in older men include reduced libido, low bone mineral density and height loss, and, less specifically, decreased energy, anemia, depressed mood, reduced muscle strength and bulk, and increased body fat.5 When these signs and symptoms accompany significantly lower levels of both types of testosterone, the patient may be diagnosed with late-onset hypogonadism. Cutoffs for the definition of low testosterone vary, although generally accepted values are =200 or =300 ng/dL of total testosterone.6
Unlike younger men with hypogonadism who present prominently with specific gonadal dysfunction (for example, infertility, incomplete or delayed sexual development), older men have nonspecific symptoms that can frequently be caused by other common disorders. For example, in the largest longitudinal study of testosterone deficiency, researchers found that up to 25% of elderly men who complained of sexual dysfunction, including low libido and erectile dysfunction, had normal-range testosterone levels for their age.7 In light of these findings, what is the best approach to patients who may—or may not—need treatment?
The Endocrine Society updated its clinical guidelines on androgen deficiency evaluation and treatment in 2010.6 It proposed a practical approach to evaluating testosterone deficiency in older men who present with low libido, decreased energy, depressed mood, osteoporosis, or recent fracture. If a clinician suspects testosterone deficiency, the first step should include an early morning total testosterone measurement. If the level is
To date, there are relatively few well-designed, large studies on hypogonadism in aging men. To better understand if this is a distinct clinical syndrome, future trials should be powered to assess whether testosterone deficiency in older men independently predicts important outcomes such as osteoporosis, muscle strength, mood disorders, and sexual dysfunction. This will best inform us as we try to move forward with treatment.
References:

• Medpage Today, Sanjai Sinha, MD. Testosterone Decline With Aging: What Is Normal? .
• Feldman HA, Longcope C, Derby CA, et al. Age trends in the level of serum testosterone and other hormones in middle-aged men: longitudinal results from the Massachusetts Male Aging Study. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2002;87:589-598.
• Wu FC, Tajar A, Pye SR, et al. Hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular axis disruptions in older men are differentially linked to age and modifiable risk factors: the European Male Aging Study. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2008;93:2737-2745.
• Harman SM, Metter EJ, Tobin JD, et al; Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. Longitudinal effects of aging on serum total and free testosterone levels in healthy men. Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2001;86:724-731.
• Bhasin S, Cunningham GR, Hayes FJ, et al. Testosterone therapy in men with androgen deficiency syndromes: an Endocrine Society clinical practice guideline. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2010; 95:2536–2559
• Araujo AB, Esche GR, Kupelian V, et al. Prevalence of symptomatic androgen deficiency in men. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2007;92:4241-4247
• Wu FC, Tajar A, Beynon JM, et al. Identification of late-onset hypogonadism in middle-aged and elderly men. N Engl J Med. 2010;363:123-135

SUPERFOODS Series: Honey & Cinnamon

Honey is the only food on the planet that will not spoil or rot. It will do what some call turning to sugar.  Never boil honey or put it in a microwave. To do so will kill the enzymes in the honey. Make sure your honey is untreated and unporcess and not heated. This will have the greatest benefit. Caution honey is a form of sugar so too much honey of any kind is not good for the body. But a little bit will help some of the following conditions.And the Cinamon should be organic. Chinese medicine says it is warming and nourishing for the Kidneys.

Weekly World News, a magazine in  Canada has given the following list of diseases that can be cured by honey and cinnamon as researched by western scientists: ARTHRITIS: Arthritis patients may take daily, morning and night, one cup of hot water with two spoons of honey and one small teaspoon of cinnamon powder. If taken regularly even chronic arthritis can be cured. In a recent research conducted at the  Copenhagen  University , it was found that when the doctors treated their patients with a mixture of one tablespoon Honey and half teaspoon Cinnamon powder before breakfast, they found that within a week, out of the 200 people so treated, practically 73 patients were totally relieved of pain, and within a month, mostly all the patients who could not walk or move around because of arthritis started walking without pain.
BLADDER INFECTIONS: Take two tablespoons of cinnamon powder and one teaspoon of honey in a glass of lukewarm water and drink it.  It destroys the germs in the bladder.
CHOLESTEROL: Two tablespoons of honey and three teaspoons of Cinnamon Powder mixed in 16 ounces of tea water, given to a cholesterol patient, was found to reduce the level of cholesterol in the blood by 10 percent within two hours.  As mentioned for arthritic patients, if taken three times a day, any chronic cholesterol is cured.  According to information received in the said Journal, pure honey taken with food daily relieves complaints of cholesterol.
COLDS: Those suffering from common or severe colds should take one tablespoon lukewarm honey with 1/4 spoon cinnamon powder daily for three days. This process will cure most chronic cough, cold, and clear the sinuses.  To make it lukewarm,  place it in a small jar and let it set in warm water for awhile.
HEART DISEASES: Make a paste of honey and cinnamon powder, apply on bread, instead of jelly and jam, and eat it regularly for breakfast. It reduces the cholesterol in the arteries and saves the patient from heart attack.
Regular use of the above process relieves loss of breath and strengthens the heart beat.   In  America and  Canada,  various nursing homes have  treated patients successfully and have found that as you age, the arteries and veins lose their flexibility and get clogged; honey and cinnamon revitalize the arteries and veins.
UPSET STOMACH: Honey taken with cinnamon powder cures stomach ache and also clears stomach ulcers from the root.
GAS: According to the studies done in  India and  Japan , it is revealed that if Honey is taken with cinnamon powder the stomach is relieved of gas.
IMMUNE SYSTEM: Daily use of honey and cinnamon powder strengthens the immune system and protects the body from bacteria and viral attacks. Scientists have found that honey has various vitamins and iron in large amounts. Constant use of Honey strengthens the white blood corpuscles to fight bacterial and viral diseases.
INDIGESTION: Cinnamon powder sprinkled on two tablespoons of honey taken before food relieves acidity and digests the heaviest of meals.
INFLUENZA – FLU: A scientist in  Spain has proved that honey contains a natural ‘ Ingredient’ which kills the influenza germs and saves the patient from flu.

LONGEVITY: Tea made with honey and cinnamon powder, when taken regularly, arrests the ravages of old age. Take four spoons of honey, one spoon of cinnamon powder, and three cups of water and boil to make like tea. Drink 1/4 cup, three to four times a day. It keeps the skin fresh and soft and arrests old age. Life spans also increase and even a 100 year old might start performing the chores of a 20-year-old.
PIMPLES: Three tablespoons of honey and one teaspoon of cinnamon powder paste. Apply this paste on the pimples before sleeping and wash it next morning with warm water.  If done daily for two weeks, it removes pimples from the root.
WEIGHT LOSS: Daily in the morning one half hour before breakfast on an empty stomach, and at night before sleeping, drink honey and cinnamon powder boiled in one cup of water. If taken regularly, it reduces the weight of even the most obese person. Also, drinking this mixture regularly does not allow the fat to accumulate in the body even though the person may eat a high calorie diet.

SKIN INFECTIONS: Applying honey and cinnamon powder in equal parts on the affected parts cures eczema, ringworm and all types of skin infections.
FATIGUE: Recent studies have shown that the sugar content of honey is more helpful rather than being detrimental to the strength of the body. Senior citizens, who take honey and cinnamon powder in equal parts, are more alert and flexible. Dr. Milton, who has done research, says that a half tablespoon of honey taken in a glass of water and sprinkled with cinnamon powder, taken daily after brushing and in the afternoon at about 3:00 P.M. when the vitality of the body starts to decrease, increases the vitality of the body within a week.
CANCER: Research in  Japan and  Australia has revealed that advanced cancer of the stomach and bones have been cured successfully. Patients suffering from these kinds of cancer should daily take one tablespoon of honey with one teaspoon of cinnamon powder for one month three times a day.
BAD BREATH: People in  South America first thing in the morning, gargle with one teaspoon of honey and cinnamon powder mixed in hot water, so their breath stays fresh throughout the day.
HEARING LOSS: Daily morning and night honey and cinnamon powder, taken in equal parts helps restore hearing.

More veges, fruit vital for long life

Many Kiwis don't eat enough of them and are on path to early death, research shows.

 

Eating too few fruits and vegetables was ranked eighth on a list of causes of death that was topped by smoking and on which obesity was number five.

Nearly one in three New Zealanders are eating themselves to an early grave by not consuming enough fruit and vegetables, research suggests.
Broccoli, kiwifruit and most other fruits and vegetables are at the centre of recommendations for a healthy diet and people are urged to fill half their plate with them at each meal and snack on them in between.
Eating plenty of fruit and vegetables helps protect against some cancers, heart disease and stroke - the biggest killers of New Zealanders - through their vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fibre.
But in the latest national adults health survey, only 68 per cent reported eating the recommended three or more servings of fruit and two or more of vegetables per day. The rates for children were even lower in an earlier survey.
Those eating too few fruits and vegetables are on a path to premature death, according to a Swedish study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Nearly 72,000 people aged 45 to 83 recorded what they ate and researchers checked on death data in 13 years of follow-up.

Those who ate:
• Five servings of fruit and vegetables a day lived three years longer than those who ate none.
• One serving of fruit a day lived 19 months longer than those who ate none.
• Three servings of vegetables a day lived 32 months longer than those who ate none.
One serving is roughly what fits in one palm, such as a medium-sized apple weighing 130g or half a cup of stewed fruit or three heaped tablespoons of cooked vegetables (although potatoes don't count); a child's serving is based on the child's palm.
A New Zealand study in 2003 - whose findings the Health Ministry says cannot be compared to the Swedish research - estimated that up to 9000 deaths a year in this country reflected poor diet. That included 1559 deaths that were attributable to inadequate fruit and vegetable intake, with an average loss of 10.6 years of life for each death.
Eating too few fruits and vegetables was ranked eighth on a list of causes of death that was topped by smoking and on which obesity was number five.
After that study, one of the authors said if everyone in New Zealand ate one more apple a day, it would save "a couple of hundred lives a year".
Public health researcher Rob Quigley said eating plenty of fruit and vegetables helped to reduce sodium (salt) intake and to obtain many vitamins and minerals and fibre.
"They are nutrient dense and energy poor," Mr Quigley said. "There's a lot of stuff in fruit and vegetables that we don't know a lot about, so when people try to put them in a pill, they don't work too well."
The Cancer Society says antioxidants in fruit and vegetables but not in other foods help to protect cells from damage.
"Perhaps even more important than the antioxidants in fruit and vegetables is the way they help maintain a healthy body weight when they replace other foods high in sugar, fat and energy. Being overweight or obese increases the risk of many chronic diseases like [type 2] diabetes, heart disease, stroke and some kinds of cancers."
Obesity is linked to an elevated risk of bowel, breast and other cancers.
What they contain
*Vitamin C in broccoli, spinach, kiwifruit, strawberries, oranges and melon.
*Folate in spinach and oranges.
*Thiamin in dried peas and beans.
*Calcium in broccoli and spinach.

How Exercise Can Calm Anxiety

By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS

Gretchen Reynolds on the science of fitness.

In an eye-opening demonstration of nature’s ingenuity, researchers at Princeton University recently discovered that exercise creates vibrant new brain cells — and then shuts them down when they shouldn’t be in action.
For some time, scientists studying exercise have been puzzled by physical activity’s two seemingly incompatible effects on the brain. On the one hand, exercise is known to prompt the creation of new and very excitable brain cells. At the same time, exercise can induce an overall pattern of calm in certain parts of the brain.
Most of us probably don’t realize that neurons are born with certain predispositions. Some, often the younger ones, are by nature easily excited. They fire with almost any provocation, which is laudable if you wish to speed thinking and memory formation.
But that feature is less desirable during times of everyday stress. If a stressor does not involve a life-or-death decision and require immediate physical action, then having lots of excitable neurons firing all at once can be counterproductive, inducing anxiety.
Studies in animals have shown that physical exercise creates excitable neurons in abundance, especially in the hippocampus, a portion of the brain known to be involved in thinking and emotional responses.
But exercise also has been found to reduce anxiety in both people and animals.
How can an activity simultaneously create ideal neurological conditions for anxiety and leave practitioners with a deep-rooted calm, the Princeton researchers wondered?
So they gathered adult mice, injected them with a substance that marks newborn cells in the brain, and for six weeks, allowed half of them to run at will on little wheels, while the others sat quietly in their cages.
Afterward, the scientists determined each group’s baseline nervousness. Given access to cages with open, well-lighted areas, as well as shadowy corners, the running mice were more willing to cautiously explore and spend time in open areas, an indication that they were more confident and less anxious than the sedentary animals.
The researchers also checked the brains of some of the runners and the sedentary mice to determine how many and what varieties of new neurons they contained.
As expected, the runners’ brains teemed with many new, excitable neurons. The sedentary mice’s brains also contained similar, volatile newborn cells, but not in such profusion.
The runners’ brains, however, also had a notable number of new neurons specifically designed to release the neurotransmitter GABA, which inhibits brain activity, keeping other neurons from firing easily. In effect, these are nanny neurons, designed to shush and quiet activity in the brain.
In the runners’ brains, there were large new populations of these cells in a portion of the hippocampus, the ventral region, associated with the processing of emotions. (The rest of the hippocampus, the dorsal region, is more involved with thinking and memory.)
What role these nanny neurons were playing in the animals’ brains and subsequent behavior was not altogether clear.
So the scientists next gently placed the remaining mice in ice-cold water for five minutes. Mice do not enjoy cold water. They find immersion stressful and anxiety-inducing, although it is not life-threatening.
Then the scientists checked these animals’ brains. They were looking for markers, known as immediate early genes, that indicate a neuron has recently fired.
They found them, in profusion. In both the physically fit and the sedentary mice, large numbers of the excitable cells had fired in response to the cold bath. Emotionally, the animals had become fired up by the stress.
But with the runners, it didn’t last long. Their brains, unlike those of the sedentary animals, showed evidence that the shushing neurons also had been activated in large numbers, releasing GABA, calming the excitable neurons’ activity and presumably keeping unnecessary anxiety at bay.
In effect, the runners’ brains had responded to the relatively minor stress of a cold bath with a quick rush of worry and a concomitant, overarching calm.
What all of this suggests, says Elizabeth Gould, director of the Gould Lab at Princeton, who wrote the paper with her graduate student Timothy Schoenfeld, now at the National Institute of Mental Health, and others, “is that the hippocampus of runners is vastly different from that of sedentary animals. Not only are there more excitatory neurons and more excitatory synapses, but the inhibitory neurons are more likely to become activated, presumably to dampen the excitatory neurons, in response to stress.” The findings were published in The Journal of Neuroscience.
It’s important to note, she adds, that this study examined long-term training responses. The runners’ wheels had been locked for 24 hours before their cold bath, so they would gain no acute calming effect from exercise. Instead, the difference in stress response between the runners and the sedentary animals reflected fundamental remodeling of their brains.
Of course, as we all know, mice are not men or women. But, Dr. Gould says, other studies “show that physical exercise reduces anxiety in humans,” suggesting that similar remodeling takes place in the brains of people who work out.
“I think it’s not a huge stretch,” she concludes, “to suggest that the hippocampi of active people might be less susceptible to certain undesirable aspects of stress than those of sedentary people.

Addictive Nature of Processed Carbs

A staggering two-thirds of Americans are now overweight, and one in four are either diabetic or pre-diabetic.
Carb-rich processed foods are a primary driver of these statistics, and while many blame Americans’ overindulgence of processed junk foods on lack of self-control, scientists are now starting to reveal the truly addictive nature of such foods.
Most recently, researchers at the Boston Children's Hospital concluded that highly processed carbohydrates stimulate brain regions involved in reward and cravings, promoting excess hunger.¹ As reported by Science Daily:²

“These findings suggest that limiting these 'high-glycemic index' foods could help obese individuals avoid overeating.”

While I don’t agree with the concept of high glycemic foods, it is important that they are at least thinking in the right direction. Also, the timing is ironic, considering the fact that the American Medical Association (AMA) recently declared obesity a disease, treatable with a variety of conventional methods, from drugs to novel anti-obesity vaccines...
The featured research is on the mark, and shows just how foolhardy the AMA’s financially-driven decision really is. Drugs and vaccines are clearly not going to do anything to address the underlying problem of addictive junk food.

Brain Imaging Shows Food Addiction Is Real

The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition³ examined the effects of high-glycemic foods on brain activity, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). One dozen overweight or obese men between the ages of 18 and 35 each consumed one high-glycemic and one low-glycemic meal. The fMRI was done four hours after each test meal. According to the researchers:

“Compared with an isocaloric low-GI meal, a high-glycemic index meal decreased plasma glucose, increased hunger, and selectively stimulated brain regions associated with reward and craving in the late postprandial period, which is a time with special significance to eating behavior at the next meal.”

The study demonstrates what many people experience: After eating a high-glycemic meal, i.e. rapidly digesting carbohydrates, their blood sugar initially spiked, followed by a sharp crash a few hours later. The fMRI confirmed that this crash in blood glucose intensely activated a brain region involved in addictive behaviors, known as the nucleus accumbens.
Dr. Robert Lustig, Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at the University of California, a pioneer in decoding sugar metabolism, weighed in on the featured research in an article by NPR:⁴

“As Dr. Robert Lustig... points out, this research can’t tell us if there’s a cause and effect relationship between eating certain foods and triggering brain responses, or if those responses lead to overeating and obesity.

'[The study] doesn’t tell you if this is the reason they got obese,' says Lustig, 'or if this is what happens once you’re already obese.' Nonetheless... he thinks this study offers another bit of evidence that 'this phenomenon is real.'”

Previously, Dr. Lustig has explained the addictive nature of sugar as follows:

"The brain's pleasure center, called the nucleus accumbens, is essential for our survival as a species... Turn off pleasure, and you turn off the will to live... But long-term stimulation of the pleasure center drives the process of addiction... When you consume any substance of abuse, including sugar, the nucleus accumbens receives a dopamine signal, from which you experience pleasure. And so you consume more.

The problem is that with prolonged exposure, the signal attenuates, gets weaker. So you have to consume more to get the same effect -- tolerance. And if you pull back on the substance, you go into withdrawal. Tolerance and withdrawal constitute addiction. And make no mistake, sugar is addictive."

The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food

Previous research has demonstrated that refined sugar is more addictive than cocaine, giving you pleasure by triggering an innate process in your brain via dopamine and opioid signals. Your brain essentially becomes addicted to stimulating the release of its own opioids.
Researchers have speculated that the sweet receptors located on your tongue, which evolved in ancestral times when the diet was very low in sugar, have not adapted to the seemingly unlimited access to a cheap and omnipresent sugar supply in the modern diet.

Therefore, the abnormally high stimulation of these receptors by our sugar-rich diets generates excessive reward signals in your brain, which have the potential to override normal self-control mechanisms, thus leading to addiction.
But it doesn’t end there. Food manufacturers have gotten savvy to the addictive nature of certain foods and tastes, including saltiness and sweetness, and have turned addictive taste into a science in and of itself.
In a recent New York Times article,⁵ Michael Moss, author of Salt Sugar Fat, dished the dirt on the processed food industry, revealing that there’s a conscious effort on behalf of food manufacturers to get you hooked on foods that are convenient and inexpensive to make.

I recommend reading his article in its entirety, as it offers a series of case studies that shed light on the extraordinary science and marketing tactics that make junk food so hard to resist.
Sugar, salt and fat are the top three substances making processed foods so addictive. In a Time Magazine interview⁶ discussing his book, Moss says:

“One of the things that really surprised me was how concerted and targeted the effort is by food companies to hit the magical formulation. Take sugar for example. The optimum amount of sugar in a product became known as the 'bliss point.' Food inventors and scientists spend a huge amount of time formulating the perfect amount of sugar that will send us over the moon, and send products flying off the shelves. It is the process they've engineered that struck me as really stunning.”

It’s important to realize that added sugar (typically in the form of high fructose corn syrup) is not confined to junky snack foods. For example, most of Prego’s spaghetti sauces have one common feature, and that is sugar—it’s the second largest ingredient, right after tomatoes. A half-cup of Prego Traditional contains the equivalent of more than two teaspoons of sugar.

Novel Flavor-Enhancers May Also Contribute to Food Addiction

Another guiding principle for the processed food industry is known as “sensory-specific satiety.” Moss describes this as “the tendency for big, distinct flavors to overwhelm your brain, which responds by depressing your desire to have more.” The greatest successes, whether beverages or foods, owe their “craveability” to complex formulas that pique your taste buds just enough, without overwhelming them, thereby overriding your brain’s inclination to say “enough.”
Novel biotech flavor companies like Senomyx also play an important role.
Senomyx specializes in helping companies find new flavors that allow them to use less salt and sugar in their foods. But does that really make the food healthier? This is a questionable assertion at best, seeing how these “flavor enhancers” are created using secret, patented processes. They also do not need to be listed on the food label, which leaves you completely in the dark. As of now, they simply fall under the generic category of artificial and/or natural flavors, and they don’t even need to be tested for safety, as they’re used in minute amounts.

This is a Flash-based video and may not be viewable on mobile devices.

How to Combat Food Addiction and Regain Your Health

To protect your health, I advise spending 90 percent of your food budget on whole foods, and only 10 percent on processed foods. It’s important to realize that refined carbohydrates like breakfast cereals, bagels, waffles, pretzels, and most other processed foods quickly break down to sugar, increase your insulin levels, and cause insulin resistance, which is the number one underlying factor of nearly every chronic disease and condition known to man, including weight gain.
By taking the advice offered in the featured study and cutting out these high-glycemic foods you can retrain your body to burn fat instead of sugar. However, it’s important to replace these foods with healthy fats, not protein—a fact not addressed in this research. I believe most people may need between 50-70 percent of their daily calories in the form of healthful fats, which include:

Olives and olive oil	Coconuts and coconut oil	Butter made from raw, organic grass-fed milk
Organic raw nuts, especially macadamia nuts, which are low in protein and omega-6 fat	Organic pastured eggs and pastured meats	Avocados

I've detailed a step-by-step guide to this type of healthy eating program in my comprehensive nutrition plan, and I urge you to consult this guide if you are trying to lose weight. A growing body of evidence also suggests that intermittent fasting is particularly effective if you’re struggling with excess weight as it provokes the natural secretion of human growth hormone (HGH), a fat-burning hormone. It also increases resting energy expenditure while decreasing insulin levels, which allows stored fat to be burned for fuel. Together, these and other factors will turn you into an effective fat-burning machine.
Best of all, once you transition to fat burning mode your cravings for sugar and carbs will virtually disappear, as if by magic... While you’re making the adjustment, you could try an energy psychology technique called Turbo Tapping, which has helped many sugar addicts kick their sweet habit. Other tricks to help you overcome your sugar cravings include:

• Exercise: Anyone who exercises intensely on a regular basis will know that significant amounts of cardiovascular exercise is one of the best "cures" for food cravings. It always amazes me how my appetite, especially for sweets, dramatically decreases after a good workout. I believe the mechanism is related to the dramatic reduction in insulin levels that occurs after exercise.
• Organic black coffee: Coffee is a potent opioid receptor antagonist, and contains compounds such as cafestrol -- found plentifully in both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee -- which can bind to your opioid receptors, occupy them and essentially block your addiction to other opioid-releasing foods.⁷ This may profoundly reduce the addictive power of other substances, such as sugar.