Laugh your way to Health!!

The story is told of a man who, When a child of two, lost his eyesight. For almost thirty years, he lived in utter darkness. He was denied the joy of beholding the beauties of nature – the bubbling brooks, the swaying of trees, the richness of many-hued flowers, the splendor of the morning sun and the serenity of the sunset. At the age of 32, he had a cornea transplant, which gave sight to his unseeing eyes. Suddenly, he found himself in a new world of beauty and radiance.

"What are your immediate reactions, now that you are able to see?" He was asked.

"So long as I dwelt in darkness, I always imagined that the faces of most men around me were bright, cheerful. Now that I am able to look around, I am shocked to find that most faces are sad and glum. Scarcely do my eyes behold a cheerful, smiling countenance. Children, I find, are happy and bubbling with joy. But when they grow up, their smiles disappear, their joy evaporates."

Today, many doctors are of the view that if a man is happy and light-hearted, cheerful and contented, positive and uncomplaining, disease will not draw close to him and, even if it does, it will not stay with him for long.

"Laughter," says Dr. Wilde, "provides a rhythmic movement of the abdominal muscles, gently massages the intestinal organs, improves digestion and blood circulation. "

At the Harvard and Yale Universities of America and at the UCLA's Neuropsychiatric Institute at West Los Angeles and at several other research institutions, neurobiologists and medical researchers have confirmed that smiling, laughing and cheerful expressions set in motion happy waves in the mind stuff and generate neuropeptides which revitalize the immunity system to prevent and fight disease. People who are free from jealousy, envy, greed, are more healthy than people who lead cloistered, unhappy lives.

New clinches and prescriptions given by modern physicians are being displayed in hospitals and clinics. "Laugh your way to health"; "Laughter may be hazardous to your illness"; "Cheerfulness is the new Wonder Drug" are some of them.

How TV is responsible for Obesity?

TEENAGERS who watch several hours of television on a school day are consuming worrying amounts of chips, chocolate and high-energy caffeine drinks, an Australian study has found.

The survey of more than 18,000 students aged between 12 and 17, to be published today in the journal Health Promotion International, found that 55 per cent of teenagers who watched more than three hours of television each day reported drinking high-energy drinks more than four times a week and 61 per cent were eating snack foods more than four times a week, compared with 38 per cent and 46 per cent for those watching less than two hours a day.

The study also found that only one in five was eating enough vegetables and only two in five were eating sufficient fruit.

The chief executive of the Cancer Council Australia, Professor Ian Olver, said the survey supported evidence that child obesity had doubled since 1985.

He said governments should take note of the results and focus on strategies to combat child obesity, including a ban on junk food advertising.

"We know that about 75 per cent of overweight or obese teenagers become overweight or obese adults," he said. "It would be far more cost-effective … to address this problem where it starts - with children."

The study's author, Dr Victoria White, from the Cancer Council Victoria, said it highlighted the need for students to exercise more. "We found that only 14 per cent engaged in recommended [physical activity] levels," she said.

The Hidden Truth about Cholestrol!!

We all know that heart disease is one of the leading killers of people around the world, particularly highest in countries such as the US and Australia.

However, did you know that there are several medical studies worldwide that clearly show that higher cholesterol levels in the body actually increases longevity instead of decreasing it? Yes, you heard that right! People with high cholesterol have been statistically shown to live longer and healthier than people with low cholesterol in several studies. There are multiple references for this phenomenon in Shane Ellison's controversial book, The Hidden Truth about Cholesterol Lowering Drugs, Dr. Uffe Ravnskov's (MD, PhD) book entitled The Cholesterol Myths, as well as Sally Fallon and Mary Enig's book, Nourishing Traditions.

So why in the world are the pharmaceutical and medical industry pushing for practically everyone on the planet to "lower their cholesterol"? Well, the first, and more innocent answer, is flawed medical studies from decades ago that have been accepted as fact and never fully analyzed for their validity. Another answer is that this practice of recommending that half of the damn planet takes a cholesterol lowering medication (currently, statins), regardless of whether they truly have any real risk for heart disease, creates insane multi-squillion dollar profits for the drug companies!

As a perfectly absurd example of how doctors have been wrongly influenced by the drug companies... a couple years ago, I was a perfectly healthy 28 yr old, in great shape, exercising daily, eating a balanced healthy diet full of antioxidants and quality nutrition, no smoking, and with no real risk factors for heart disease, and just because my cholesterol level has been consistently measured over 200 for my entire life, my doctor recommended I consider using a statin drug.

Consider how outlandish this scenario is! The drug companies have hypnotized doctors into prescribing unnecessary prescription drugs to healthy young people with perfectly normal cholesterol levels that just happen to be over this arbitrary number of 200 that they've come up with. Luckily, I refused to be a guinea pig and fork over my hard earned duckets for potentially dangerous drugs, and decided to start researching this whole cholesterol and heart disease connection myself. Consider also that my father, who is now 60 years old, has had cholesterol levels slightly over 200 his entire life also (just like me), yet he is perfectly healthy at his ripe age of 60.

As time goes on and scientists continue to learn more about heart disease, it has become quite clear over the recent years that inflammation within the body (NOT cholesterol levels) is what causes plaque build up in the arteries and eventual heart disease. Inflammation can be caused by many personal factors such as stress, smoking, viruses, consumption of refined and/or hydrogenated fats (man-made trans fats), an imbalance of omega-6 polyunsaturated fats to omega-3 polyunsaturated fats in the diet, excess refined sugars in the diet, etc.

Here's a quick and dirty of how it works in general. Cholesterol is a healing substance within the body (among many other important functions), and responds to arterial inflammation by getting deposited in combination with other substances, forming "plaque" as a healing agent on the artery lining.

Levels of inflammation in your body can be measured with what's called a CRP test (c-reactive protein). The accuracy of this test still has room for improvement, as it can vary depending on the time of day and other factors, but it is a much better indication of heart disease risk than a cholesterol test (which is practically useless for determining heart disease risk).

Another more important test than cholesterol levels for heart disease risk is a test for serum homocysteine levels. The next time your doctor wants you to get blood cholesterol tests, request CRP and homocysteine tests instead. He/she should be well aware of the validity of these tests if they are up to date.

Basically, if you have significant internal inflammation, this plaque will be deposited as a healing agent regardless of whether you have high or low cholesterol. On the other hand, if you don't have inflammation, high cholesterol levels just keep circulating without getting deposited on the artery linings. Therefore, it is more important to control inflammation rather than trying to lower your cholesterol.

Lowering your cholesterol doesn't attack the root of the problem (what is actually causing the inflammation in you). Lowering your cholesterol does nothing except to make the drug companies rich, and possibly leave you with a whole assortment of possible negative side-effects.

The good news is that preventing heart disease is about living a healthy lifestyle, not about throwing down a drug pill everyday. Controlling your inflammation to prevent heart disease is as easy as reducing the stress in your life (try deep breathing exercises, Qigong, yoga, etc.), maintaining a healthy weight, eating a high-antioxidant, highly nutritious unprocessed diet (as recommended in my Truth about Six Pack Abs program), and avoiding smoking and other causes of heavy free radical production in the body.

I hope this article has given you some helpful info about the real causes of heart disease and not the propaganda that has been shoved down your throat for years, based on flawed medical studies from 40-50 years ago, making drug companies filthy rich.

If you or anyone you care about is currently taking statins, or if you just want to learn more about cholesterol and the scandal that is revolving currently around statin drugs, please see The Cholesterol Myths.

On a related topic, were you aware that there is also quite a controversy these days in the health industry over the fact that saturated fat is not necessarily bad for you, and can actually be downright good for you in some cases? I posted this article a few months ago, but thought I would mention this article again - The Truth about Saturated Fats

Give up Sugar and live longer!!

Passing on sweets and avoiding vitamins could help you live longer, German researchers have discovered.

They found that restricting glucose - a simple sugar found in foods such as sweets that is a primary source of energy for the body - set off a process that extended the life span of some worms by up to 25 per cent.

The key was boosting the level of ``free radicals'' - unstable molecules that can damage the body and which people often try to get rid of by consuming food or drinks rich in anti-oxidants such as vitamin E, they said in a study published in the journal Cell Metabolism.

Restricting glucose first spurred the worms to generate more free radicals, but then they quickly built up long-lasting defences against them, said Michael Ristow, an endocrinologist at the University of Jena and the German Institute of Human Nutrition, who led the study.

``During the process, the worm generates more free radicals, which activates defences against free radicals within the worm,'' he said in a telephone interview. ``The bad thing in the end promotes something good.''
The body needs glucose, but taking in too much was unhealthy, Ristow said.

Scientists have long known that restricting calorie intake in worms and monkeys increases longevity, and the study narrowed that idea further, to glucose.

The study also for the first time points to a possible reason why antioxidants - long thought to promote health - might do more harm than good, Ristow said.

The German team used a chemical that blocked the worms' ability to process glucose in a treatment that extended their life span by up to 25 per cent, the equivalent of 15 years in humans.

The worms unable to depend on glucose increased energy power sources in certain cells for fuel. That activity produced more free radicals, which in turn generated enzymes that strengthened long-time protection against the harmful molecules, Ristow said.

However, antioxidants and vitamins given to some worms erased these benefits by neutralising free radicals and preventing the body from generating the defences, Ristow said.

``These latter findings tentatively suggest that the widespread use of antioxidants as human food supplements may exert undesirable effects,'' the researchers wrote.

Moderating your Diet!!

Tip1
TRY AND UNDERSTAND THE WAY YOUR BODY WORKS

Do not eat too much of low calorie food, or too much of high calorie food. Just avoid extremely high or extremely low food intake. If you make a habit of consuming fewer calories than your body requires, your body will automatically go into 'starvation mode'. In effect, your body says, 'If I am not getting enough food, then I'd better slow things down by burning fewer calories until there's enough food again.' Your weight will certainly drop, but you will be losing water and muscle (not fat). The results? Lethargy, hunger pangs, headaches, early fatigue and loss of concentration.

Tip 2
BALANCE YOUR FOOD INTAKE

a. Eat more of low calorie, high fibre foods such as salads and fresh fruits (with-low fat or non-fat dressings) with each meal. Opt for more whole grains (freshly baked breads, pasta) in the form of great tasting foods. Hot 'n' spicy foods can help you to slim down! Clear soups, vegetable soups are highly recommended.

b. Cut back on the portion sizes of red meat, and substitute with lean meats in the form of skinned chicken, fish, egg whites, etc. (egg yolk is a concentrated source of saturated fats). Note that red meat (beef pork, ham, sausages), organ meat (liver, brain and kidney) and egg yolks fall into the 'saturated fat' category.

c. Saturated fats, oils and sweets are foods to be kept to an absolute minimum. Dry fruits and peanuts, puddings, jellies, marmalades for breakfast, sauces, oily parathas, for lunch, and pizzas, croissants, pastries, wafers and chips as snacks are a strict no-no!

TIP 3
IDENTIFY WHEN TO EAT AND WHEN NOT TO EAT

If an individual is exercising for weight loss, it is advisable not to consume any food for 1-2 hours prior to the activity, because then the body preferentially uses the circulating blood sugars and not the fat as a source of energy. Watch your caloric intake and count your calories.

Breakfast is one meal that's very important. This is because as the first meal of the day, breakfast helps you to raise your energy levels and provides you energy for the rest of the day. Dinner should always be the lightest meal of the day because the body burns only a few calories while you sleep. Hence the excess calories that you consume, particularly in the form of rich desserts, fried foods etc., can easily get stored in the body as fat.

TIP 4
WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH, THE TOUGH GET GOING

Use past failures as learning experiences on the way to successful weight control. Pick yourself up and restart, this time better equipped to manage the next bump on the road to permanent weight loss and good health. As the old saying goes, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." The decision is yours. In fact, it could be one of the biggest decisions you ever make!

Stay slim while relishing your food!!

• Drink plenty of water. In terms of a health benefit, water is second only to oxygen. Drinking two glasses of water before each meal helps in good digestion. It also makes it easier to eat less.
• Make it a point to eat slowly, chewing more than what you normally do. This gives the feeling of satiety.
• Try using a teaspoon instead of your fingers. This will also give you the feeling of fullness when you would have actually consumed less food.
• Always opt for a fresh fruit for dessert. This will prevent the craving for desserts, which are high in sugar and starch.
• Use fresh fruits in your desserts whenever possible. Substitute fresh fruit juice for syrup from canned fruits.
• Drinking cucumber juice in between meals helps to curb appetite. The alkaline content of cucumber will relax the body and make you feel full.
• Vegetable juices, clear soups and broth are low in calories. They should be taken regularly as healthy appetisers.
• Blend paneer (cottage cheese) in a blender. Use it instead of sour cream as a base for your salad or for your dip.
• Use skimmed milk in cooking and for drinking. You could have buttermilk instead of curds.
• Keep your milk container in the refrigerator overnight. Skim off the fat that rises to the top and then use the milk.
• Drinking black coffee or tea without milk or sugar curbs appetite.

Stay slim while relishing your food!!

• Drink plenty of water. In terms of a health benefit, water is second only to oxygen. Drinking two glasses of water before each meal helps in good digestion. It also makes it easier to eat less.
• Make it a point to eat slowly, chewing more than what you normally do. This gives the feeling of satiety.
• Try using a teaspoon instead of your fingers. This will also give you the feeling of fullness when you would have actually consumed less food.
• Always opt for a fresh fruit for dessert. This will prevent the craving for desserts, which are high in sugar and starch.
• Use fresh fruits in your desserts whenever possible. Substitute fresh fruit juice for syrup from canned fruits.
• Drinking cucumber juice in between meals helps to curb appetite. The alkaline content of cucumber will relax the body and make you feel full.
• Vegetable juices, clear soups and broth are low in calories. They should be taken regularly as healthy appetisers.
• Blend paneer (cottage cheese) in a blender. Use it instead of sour cream as a base for your salad or for your dip.
• Use skimmed milk in cooking and for drinking. You could have buttermilk instead of curds.
• Keep your milk container in the refrigerator overnight. Skim off the fat that rises to the top and then use the milk.
• Drinking black coffee or tea without milk or sugar curbs appetite.