This 1 Thing Can Reduce Inflammation in Your Body!

Inflammation is something we all experience in our lifetime, as it’s the body’s response to things like pain, injury, or infection. That said, rather than turning to ibuprofen or Tylenol, there are natural ways to heal the body. The cure may already live in your kitchen cabinets in a spice bottle marked “turmeric.”

Used for centuries to heal, cure, and make delicious meals, turmeric is one superfood we could all use an extra dash of. Ahead, find out what causes inflammation and how the super spice can treat it.

But first, what is inflammation?

Everyone suffers from inflammation at some point. | iStock.com/andriano_cz

As we mentioned above, inflammation is a response the body has to pain, injury, or infection. Caused by a number of ailments — including: arthritis, stress, weight gain, and even food — if you’re not careful, it can wreak havoc on your body.

Inflammation-causing foods

Yes, pizza is not the best option for lunch. | iStock.com/monkeybusinessimages

In addition to food, stress, and bad lifestyle habits, what you put inside your body can cause a significant boost in inflammation. And while drinking alcohol and eating sugary foods are common, some others may take you by surprise.

Here are the foods that could be making matters worse:

• Pizza
• Processed snacks
• Mayonnaise
• White bread
• Asian food
• Pasta

What exactly is turmeric?

A sprinkle of this spice will do wonders for your body. | iStock.com

Derived from the root of the turmeric plant, the super spice has a yellowish-orange hue and is most commonly used in curry dishes. Related to the ginger family and native to India and Indonesia, the root’s powder has been used for centuries for medicinal healing and wedding ceremonies in South Asia.

Turmeric as an anti-inflammatory

It will do wonders for your body. | iStock.com/UberImages

Studies show that curcumin — a natural component of turmeric — has the power to fight inflammation by targeting the different molecules responsible. Because of this, turmeric houses the ability to protect the body from countless types of inflammation, including arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and more.

How to reap its benefits

Coconut oil will help you absorb all of turmeric’s benefits. | Rodrigo Bark/iStock/Getty Images

While turmeric can aid in inflammation, there is more to it than adding a dash to your food or taking a daily supplement. The medicinal properties of curcumin can be ineffective due to how quickly it is metabolized. That said, there are ways to counter this and ensure maximum absorption.

One way to do so is by combining turmeric with pepper. According to research, pepper can help your body better absorb the super spice.

As an added bonus, add coconut oil — or, another healthy fat — to the mix. Curcumin is fat-soluble so coconut oil can help it make its way to the intestines and be absorbed into the body’s bloodstream.

Easy ways to add it to your diet

Add it to your diet today. | iStock.com/demaerre

Turmeric is easy to add into your diet. Sprinkle it on top of your eggs, add it into a mac and cheese dish, or take a pepper and turmeric supplement. That said, one of our favorite ways to reap the benefits of this super spice is by making golden milk — aka, a turmeric latte.

Made from health-benefiting ingredients — think: turmeric, coconut oil, pepper, and cinnamon — the superfood-packed latte is as delicious as it is nourishing. Try this recipe from Domino.

Other health benefits of turmeric

Turmeric is good for your skin and body. | shironosov/iStock/Getty Images

From skin health to brain function to cancer prevention, turmeric can aid in a variety of ailments. Here are some of its most impressive benefits:

• Cancer prevention
• Alzheimer’s
• Heart disease
• Skin health

https://www.cheatsheet.com/health-fitness/turmeric-reduce-inflammation-in-your-body.html/?a=viewall

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Why the 5:2 diet works

Why the 5:2 diet works: Study shows 'feast and famine' DOES help you live longer - as long as you stay away from superfoods

• Fasting is thought to prevent diseases including cancer and diabetes 
• Starving body allows it to respond better to stress that might otherwise damage it, according to a study on 24 volunteers over 10 weeks
• It causes a small increase to SIRT 3, a gene that promotes longevity 
• When antioxidants were added, some of the benefits disappeared
• These can be found in high doses in superfoods such as chokeberries

By ELLIE ZOLFAGHARIFARD

The 5:2 diet claims to not only help people lose weight, but also guard against diseases including cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer's.

Created by scientist Michael Mosley, it involves women reducing their calorie intake to 500 for two days a week, and men to 600 calories. The rest of the time, they can eat normally.

Now a new study argues that the health benefits of 5:2 also exist when someone sticks to a 'feast and famine' diet, eating far more than they would one day and fasting another.

The 5:2 diet claims to not only help people lose weight, but also guard against diseases including cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer's. Created by scientist Michael Mosley, it involves women reducing their calorie intake to 500 for two days a week, and men to 600 calories. The rest of the time, they can eat normally

WHAT IS INTERMITTENT FASTING AND HOW CAN IT IMPROVE HEALTH?

Intermittent fasting is an umbrella term for various diets that cycle between a period of fasting and eating normally. 

Perhaps the most famous is the 5:2 diet which involves women reducing their calorie intake to 500 for two days a week, and men to 600 calories. The rest of the time, they can eat normally.

Previous animal studies suggest that intermittent fasting can guard against  diseases including cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer's.

Scientists believe it provides these benefits by allowing the body to respond better to stress that might otherwise damage it.

For instance, fasting could reduce inflammation, or improve the removal of damaged molecules, as well as starve tumors, according to previous research.

But the health benefits of the diet only appear if people don't increase their intake of antioxidants, which can be found in high doses in superfoods such as chokeberries, as well as vitamin C and vitamin E supplements.

During a three-week period, 24 participants alternated one day of eating 25 per cent of their daily caloric intake with one day of eating 175 per cent of their daily caloric intake.

The study by the University of Florida measured the participants' changes in weight, blood pressure, heart rate and glucose levels over 10 weeks.

They also looked at cholesterol, markers of inflammation and genes involved in protective cell responses.

'We found that intermittent fasting caused a slight increase to SIRT 3, a well-known gene that promotes longevity and is involved in protective cell responses,' said Michael Guo, a co-author at Harvard Medical School.

The SIRT3 gene encodes a protein also called SIRT3.

The protein SIRT3 belongs to a class of proteins called sirtuins which, if increased in mice, can extend their lifespans.

Researchers think proteins such as SIRT3 are activated by oxidative stress, which is triggered when there are more free radicals produced in the body than it can neutralise with antioxidants. 

However, small levels of free radicals can be beneficial: When the body undergoes stress - which happens during fasting - small levels of oxidative stress can trigger protective pathways, Guo said.

'The hypothesis is that if the body is intermittently exposed to low levels of oxidative stress, it can build a better response to it,' Wegman said.

The researchers found that the intermittent fasting decreased insulin levels in the participants, which means the diet could have an anti-diabetic effect as well.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2972548/Why-5-2-diet-works-Study-shows-feast-famine-DOES-help-live-longer-long-stay-away-superfoods.html

3 Ingredients in Wheat that make us Fat & Sick.

Via Mark Hyman

Editor’s Note: This website is not designed to, and should not be construed to, provide medical advice, professional diagnosis, opinion or treatment to you or any other individual, and is not intended as a substitute for medical or professional care and treatment. For serious.

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3 Ways Modern Wheat Makes Us Fat & Sick: Part 2

In my last blog, I described how even if you don’t have full-blown celiac disease, gluten contributes to inflammation and increases your risk for obesity and chronic disease. Yet wheat’s problems go beyond gluten.

Our bread is not what it used to be. It has become a Frankenfood: a by-product of industrial agriculture or “super-starch and super-gluten.” Combine that with the damage our guts have suffered from our diet, environment, lifestyle, and overuse of antibiotics, acid blockers, and anti-inflammatories, and you have the perfect storm for gluten intolerance, inflammation, obesity, and chronic disease.

Simply put, this is not wheat your great-grandmother used to bake her bread. FrankenWheat is a scientifically engineered food product developed in the last 50 years. This new modern wheat may look like wheat, but three crucial aspects differentiate it. Let’s briefly look at each of them.

Modern Wheat is a Super Starch

The Bible says, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Eating bread is nearly a religious commandment. Unfortunately, the Einkorn, heirloom, Biblical wheat of our ancestors is something modern humans never eat.

Instead, we eat dwarf wheat, the product of genetic manipulation and hybridization that created short, stubby, hardy, high-yielding wheat plants with much higher amounts of starch and gluten and many more chromosomes coding for all sorts of new odd proteins.

The man who engineered this won the Nobel Prize. With modern wheat, he promised to feed millions of starving around the world. Well, it has, and it has also made them fat and sick.

Unlike Biblical wheat, dwarf wheat contains very high levels of a super starch called amylopectin A. This is how we get big fluffy Wonder™ bread. Two slices of whole wheat bread now raise your blood sugar more than two tablespoons of table sugar, and one rodent study found amylopectin starch promotes the development of insulin resistance.

Whole wheat is no better than white flour. A Harvard report that measured the glycemic index and glycemic load of 100 foods found almost no difference between how Wonder™ bread and wheat bread raise your blood sugar. High-glycemic foods make people store belly fat, trigger hidden fires of inflammation in the body, and give you a fatty liver leading the whole cascade of obesity, pre-diabetes, and diabetes.

The biggest scam perpetrated on the unsuspecting public is the inclusion of “whole grains” in many processed foods full of sugar and wheat giving the food a virtuous glow. The best way to avoid foods that are bad for you is to stay away from foods with health claims on the label. They are usually hiding something bad.

Modern Wheat Contains Super Gluten

Modern dwarf Franken Wheat also contains super gluten, which is much more likely to create inflammation in the body. As I discussed in my last blog, gluten creates a host of inflammatory and chronic diseases as well as obesity and diabetes.

The old 14 chromosome-containing Einkorn wheat codes for the small number of gluten proteins, and those it produces are the least likely to trigger celiac disease and inflammation. In contrast, the new dwarf wheat contains 28 (twice as many) chromosomes and produces a large variety of gluten proteins, including the ones most likely to cause celiac disease.

Modern Wheat Contains a Super Drug

Modern wheat also contains a super drug that makes you crazy, hungry, and addicted. Let me explain.

Digestion converts proteins in wheat into polypeptides, also known as exorphins. Similar to the endorphins you get from a runner’s high, these exorphins bind to opioid receptors in the brain, making you high and addicted just like a heroin addict.

These wheat polypeptides, called gluteomorphins, are absorbed into the bloodstream and cross the blood-brain barrier. Morphine-like opoids can cause multiple problems including schizophrenia and autism. But they also create cravings, bingeing, and other addictive behavior. No one binges on broccoli, but they binge on cookies or cake.

Even more alarming is that you can block these food cravings and addictive eating behaviors and reduce calorie intake by giving the same drug we use in the emergency room to block heroin or morphine in an overdose called naloxone. Binge eaters ate nearly 30% less food when given this drug.

The Elimination Diet

While testing can help identify gluten sensitivity, the only way you will know if this is really a problem for you is to eliminate all gluten (including wheat) for two to four weeks and see how you feel. Get rid of the following foods:

• Gluten (barley, rye, oats, spelt, kamut, wheat, triticale—see www.celiac.com for a complete list of foods that contain gluten, as well as often surprising and hidden sources of gluten.)
• Hidden gluten sources (soup mixes, salad dressings, sauces, as well as lipstick, certain vitamins, medications, stamps and envelopes you have to lick, and even Play-Doh.)

For this test to work you must eliminate 100 percent of the gluten from your diet. No exceptions, no hidden gluten, and not a single crumb of bread.

Then eat it again and see what happens. If you feel bad at all, you need to stay off gluten permanently. This will teach you better than any test about the impact gluten has in your body.

So now you see: that piece of bread may not be so wholesome after all! Simply eliminating this insidious substance from your diet may help you achieve lifelong vibrant health.

What foods or non-food substances were you shocked to learn contained gluten? Share yours below or on my Facebook page.

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References

Byrnes SE, Miller JC, Denyer GS. Amylopectin starch promotes the development of insulin resistance in rats. J Nutr. 1995 Jun;125(6):1430-7.

Nicole M. Avena, Pedro Rada, and Bartley G. Hoebel. Evidence for sugar addiction: Behavioral and neurochemical effects of intermittent, excessive sugar intake. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2008;32(1):20-39.

“New Releases.” Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load for 100+ Foods. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2014.

http://www.elephantjournal.com/2014/12/3-ingredients-in-wheat-that-make-us-fat-sick/

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World Renown Heart Surgeon Speaks Out On What Really Causes Heart Disease

by Doctor Dwight Lundell, M.D.
 We physicians with all our training, knowledge and authority often acquire a rather large ego that tends to make it difficult to admit we are wrong. So, here it is. I freely admit to being wrong.. As a heart surgeon with 25 years experience, having performed over 5,000 open-heart surgeries,today is my day to right the wrong with medical and scientific fact.

I trained for many years with other prominent physicians labelled “opinion makers.” Bombarded with scientific literature, continually attending education seminars, we opinion makers insisted heart disease resulted from the simple fact of elevated blood cholesterol.

The only accepted therapy was prescribing medications to lower cholesterol and a diet that severely restricted fat intake. The latter of course we insisted would lower cholesterol and heart disease. Deviations from these recommendations were considered heresy and could quite possibly result in malpractice.

It Is Not Working!

These recommendations are no longer scientifically or morally defensible. The discovery a few years ago that inflammation in the artery wall is the real cause of heart disease is slowly leading to a paradigm shift in how heart disease and other chronic ailments will be treated.
The long-established dietary recommendations have created epidemics of obesity and diabetes, the consequences of which dwarf any historical plague in terms of mortality, human suffering and dire economic consequences.

Despite the fact that 25% of the population takes expensive statin medications and despite the fact we have reduced the fat content of our diets, more Americans will die this year of heart disease than ever before.

Statistics from the American Heart Association show that 75 million Americans currently suffer from heart disease, 20 million have diabetes and 57 million have pre-diabetes. These disorders are affecting younger and younger people in greater numbers every year.

Simply stated, without inflammation being present in the body, there is no way that cholesterol would accumulate in the wall of the blood vessel and cause heart disease and strokes. Without inflammation, cholesterol would move freely throughout the body as nature intended. It is inflammation that causes cholesterol to become trapped.

Inflammation is not complicated — it is quite simply your body’s natural defense to a foreign invader such as a bacteria, toxin or virus. The cycle of inflammation is perfect in how it protects your body from these bacterial and viral invaders. However, if we chronically expose the body to injury by toxins or foods the human body was never designed to process, a condition occurs called chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation is just as harmful as acute inflammation is beneficial.
What thoughtful person would willfully expose himself repeatedly to foods or other substances that are known to cause injury to the body? Well,smokers perhaps, but at least they made that choice willfully.
The rest of us have simply followed the recommended mainstream diet that is low in fat and high in polyunsaturated fats and carbohydrates, not knowing we were causing repeated injury to our blood vessels. This repeated injury creates chronic inflammation leading to heart disease, stroke, diabetes and obesity.

Let me repeat that: The injury and inflammation in our blood vessels is caused by the low fat diet recommended for years by mainstream medicine.

What are the biggest culprits of chronic inflammation? Quite simply, they are the overload of simple, highly processed carbohydrates (sugar, flour and all the products made from them) and the excess consumption of omega-6 vegetable oils like soybean, corn and sunflower that are found in many processed foods.

Take a moment to visualize rubbing a stiff brush repeatedly over soft skin until it becomes quite red and nearly bleeding. you kept this up several times a day, every day for five years. If you could tolerate this painful brushing, you would have a bleeding, swollen infected area that became worse with each repeated injury. This is a good way to visualize the inflammatory process that could be going on in your body right now.

Regardless of where the inflammatory process occurs, externally or internally, it is the same. I have peered inside thousands upon thousands of arteries. A diseased artery looks as if someone took a brush and scrubbed repeatedly against its wall. Several times a day, every day, the foods we eat create small injuries compounding into more injuries, causing the body to respond continuously and appropriately with inflammation.

While we savor the tantalizing taste of a sweet roll, our bodies respond alarmingly as if a foreign invader arrived declaring war. Foods loaded with sugars and simple carbohydrates, or processed withomega-6 oils for long shelf life have been the mainstay of the American diet for six decades. These foods have been slowly poisoning everyone.
http://www.curejoy.com/content/world-renown-heart-surgeon-speaks-out-on-what-really-causes-heart-disease/

Why You Should Never Eat Tilapia

Fish can either be one of the best foods for you or utterly detrimental to your health depending on where it is sourced. There is a vast difference between fish that is caught in the wild, farm-bred or farm-raised fish. Tilapia is almost entirely a farmed fish but as it is cheap, boneless and skinless is has now almost become an everyday fish for us in America.

The farming of Tilapia is usually done on an industrial scale, with thousands of fish being harvested every day. If found in the wild, tilapia would eat algae and lake plants, but the way they are farmed gives them nothing natural in their diet. They are fattened up on soy pellets and GMO corn thus producing a fish containing virtually no healthy fish oil – the main reason we are all encouraged to eat plenty fish in our diets. 

WHY IS FARMED TILAPIA SO BAD FOR OUR HEALTH ?

1. Recent Studies showed that farm-raised Tilapia may lead to more inflammation. This can then lead to heart disease, arthritis, asthma as well as other serious health problems. Many of us turn to fish as a way to increase our intake of omega-3-fatty-acids and thus lessen our risk of heart attacks. However, scientists have found that the inflammatory potential of tilapia is in fact far greater than that of a hamburger or pork bacon!

2. Farmed fish have been found to contain more than 10 times the amount of dangerous cancer causing organic pollutants compared to wild fish. This is most probably linked to the cocktail of chemicals and gmo ingredients that farmed fish are fed on. Research has proven that one of the main ingredients in farm fish food is, shocklingly, chicken faeces. In addition, pig and duck waste are also commonly used.

3. Farm-bred fish have been found to have dangerously high concentrations of antibiotics and pesticides. Farm fed fish are treated with high doses of antibiotics as they are very susceptible to many diseases owing to the intensity of such crowded farming. In addition they are given pesticides to protect them from sea lice. These pesticides are so toxic that they have been fatal to wild salmon that are accidentally exposed to them. Eventually, through the digestion systems of these farmed fish, those same toxic pesticides eventually find their way into the ocean at large thus contaminating other marine life.

4. Farm-bred fish contain far lower levels of healthy nutrients than wild or organically farmed fish. So far from being a good source of omega-3 fatty acids for us, the omega-3 that these fish contain is actually not processed in our bodies in the same way as from wild fish so is not nutritionally beneficial. The protein levels are also lower as well as a far higher fat content, mainly caused by the lack of movement that is allowed to these intensively raised fish who are usually kept in huge numbers in cages.

5. Dioxin levels are up to 11 times higher in farm-bred fish when compared to wild fish. Dioxin is actually a very toxic chemical that has been shown to be a contributory factor in cancer and other serious health complications. When dioxins enters our bodies its toxic effects can go on causing damage as it has a half life of between 7-11 years so remains in our bodies causing potential damage long after we have ingested it.
Fish can be an incredible health building food if you eat with wild caught fish. Please choose the source of your fish carefully and pass this information on.
http://www.naturalcuresnotmedicine.com/2014/04/never-eat-tilapia.html

10 Symptoms of Gluten Intolerance

By Dr. Amy Myers

More than 55 diseases have been linked to gluten, the protein found in wheat, rye, and barley. It’s estimated that 99% of the people who have either gluten intolerance or celiac disease are never diagnosed.

It is also estimated that as much as 15% of the US population is gluten intolerant. Could you be one of them?

If you have any of the following symptoms it could be a sign that you have gluten intolerance:

1. Digestive issues such as gas, bloating, diarrhea and even constipation. I see the constipation particularly in children after eating gluten.
   

2. Keratosis Pilaris, (also known as ‘chicken skin’ on the back of your arms). This tends be as a result of a fatty acid deficiency and vitamin A deficiency secondary to fat-malabsorption caused by gluten damaging the gut.
   

3. Fatigue, brain fog or feeling tired after eating a meal that contains gluten.

4. Diagnosis of an autoimmune disease such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Rheumatoid arthritis, Ulcerative colitis, Lupus, Psoriasis, Scleroderma or Multiple sclerosis.
   

5. Neurologic symptoms such as dizziness or feeling of being off balance.
   

6. Hormone imbalances such as PMS, PCOS or unexplained infertility.
   

7. Migraine headaches.
   

8. Diagnosis of chronic fatigue or fibromyalgia. These diagnoses simply indicate your conventional doctor cannot pin point the cause of your fatigue or pain.
   

9. Inflammation, swelling or pain in your joints such as fingers, knees or hips.
   

10. Mood issues such as anxiety, depression, mood swings and ADD.

http://eatlocalgrown.com/article/11266-wheat-gluten-the-culprit-for-so-many-ills.html