Sunday, June 29, 2008

Balance the Omega 6 Fatty Acids and the Omega 3 Oils in Your Diet

We read about "good fats" and "bad fats". People attempting weight loss reduce their dietary fat, so it's important that they get the "good fat" only. And now that studies show that arthritis, depression, asthma, cancer, and diabetes are related to chronic inflammation in the blood and soft tissues, the balance of your intake of omega 6 and omega 3 fats becomes a bottom line factor of health.

Medical discoveries of the past decade have shown that that most major illnesses have one common factor -chronic inflammation in the body. This datum can have a hugely positive impact on your health and your ability to prevent debilitating conditions to develop in your body.

The killer illnesses in modern industrialized societies that affect about 70% of the populations - are cancer, heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, and stroke. All these diseases are related to chronic sub-clinical (not easily noticed) inflammation.

Inflammation is supposed to occur to promote healing from injury, and as part of our immune response in fighting invaders. These situations are acute and temporary. We get over it.

Omega 3 has proven to support anti-inflammatory pathways in the body, and omega 6 has been shown to support pro-inflammatory pathways. Omega 6 is more prevalent in our diet, but it is not essentially "bad".

If our body is full of particles that are not supposed to be there - partially digested food in the blood, metals from breathing smog irritating our lungs, and fats in the blood that our liver isn't processing because it is inflamed, then we are in a state of chronic inflammation. It never goes away.

Add in the presence of omega 6 fats that don't have the necessary amount of omega 3 fats to balance them, and inflammation is being promoted, not kept in check. Inflammation is silent turmoil, biochemically. In our tissues, in our blood, in our brain.

There is a marker in the blood called C-Reactive Protein that reflects the level of inflammation in the body. This marker, CRP is easily measured by a simple, inexpensive blood test.

As you increase your intake of Omega-3 fatty acids, it is necessary to cut back significantly on ingesting Omega-6 fatty acids that come from ;

*any bottled oil that you buy in the supermarket other than olive oil

*every bottled salad dressing that you buy

* all the processed foods that you buy

* all fried food that you eat (unless it's cooked in lard or hydrogenated oil)

* all of the grain fed beef and poultry that you buy. The animals pick up the Omega-6's from the grains they eat and store it in their flesh. Grass fed beef, however, is low in Omega 6 fatty acids.

A healthy old age with full muscle and brain power is so worth a lifestyle change. Preparing your own salad dressings from olive oil, flaxseed oil and lemon or vinegar isn't so hard. You make a big bottle for the week. It is so easy now to buy trimmed and cut vegetables and salads, to cut down on preparation time, and eat lots of them raw. Grass fed beef and free-range chicken is easier to find in the food stores than it was a decade ago.

Eating cold water wild caught fish like salmon, mackerel, tuna and others is easy - and yet they are polluted, so consumption must be limited.

Fortunately we can get ultra purified, or pharmaceutical grade fish oil to give us the nutrients we need to avoid a chronically inflamed system.

Wouldn't you do just about anything to avoid cancer, arthritis, diabetes, lung disease and heart disease? Depression
and stroke? Everything we need in the way of good food, anti-inflammatory education, and fine supplements, we have. How good is that!

Click here for a source of ultra purified fish oil, and get a FREE bottle for every one that you buy.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

How to Buy Nutritional Supplements Online

Some people are still hesitant to trust internet shopping. It does create inconveniences when you have to send something back. If you don't like something and even get to keep it, you have to go through getting your money back. But, for many, that is still more convenient than going back to a store. Shopping for nutritional supplements on line takes a little reading and checking out the quality of vitamins, omega 3 oils, diet shakes, etc.

How much that is available to us for nutritional supplements and diet or weight loss products is indeed overwhelming. There are many companies making excellent products. Competition to provide quality and excellent purchasing deals is high.

If you can bear with reading about products and searching for both good and bad reviews, you will find good nutritional supplements that will enhance your health, or help you gain or lose weight, safely.

Whatever you are looking for, it is best to check with your health practitioner to get pointed in the right direction for your optimum health improvements.

Some vitamin companies make vitamin combinations, or single vitamin pills that are all made in a lab. They are in the lower price ranges (most of the time). I have been told by doctors that I've spoken to about vitamin quality, that your body does not even recognize the lab made vitamins, and does not utilize them properly. They describe that a temporary lift in energy is often experienced, followed by an ongoing duration of low energy or even illness.

But do not mistake that phenomena with another one that occurs when you take a high powered whole food (not extracted from a food and isolated from its own digestive properties and other co-factors) supplement after a long period of deficiency: the de-toxification phenomena.

Your body will hang onto toxins created by the body in normal metabolism (daily energy burning processes) because without enough vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, good sleep patterns and good water, you don't have the energy to get rid of the waste products properly. You are full of sludge.

When you begin a regimen of whole food supplements (or just whole food!) it is like your body has won the lottery. It goes into overdrive to get all that sludge out of you, any way it can. But you will feel tired, or worse. You make experience flu-like symptoms, aches and pains, have a few outstanding pimples, even feel nausea. If you do not understand how this happens, you will be inclined to go back to your previous routine. You might be thinking "that doctor's nuts!" or "that web product is a scam!".

Usually this passes in a few days. Your body gets used to the input of the good stuff, and doesn't get so crazy about getting all that sludge out at once; it knows the good stuff is the norm now.

Many doctors will advise you to work up to the recommended dosage of a new supplement. In other words you sneak it into your system slowly, maybe over a week or even a month. You probably won't experience anything drastic if you do this, you'll just start feeling better.

Do lengthy research on all the topics you want to know about. If you are ill, find a doctor who is familiar with the kind of treatment you feel is best for you. When you get experienced at researching products, you can trust internet shopping. You'll learn how to buy vitamins, omega 3 oils, and good diet products on line.

I think you'll find you have lots of choices for what you want, in your price range. And you will save time and gas!

Click here for information on anti-aging nutritional supplements.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Natural Anti-inflammatory Foods and Irritable Bowel Syndrome Or IBS

The causes of irritable bowel syndrome are unclear. However, the Western diet full of refined and chemical foods, is implicated. Emotional and stress related factors are also as issue. If you suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome some of the following information may help you improve your situation.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome or IBS, is more widespread than we might suppose. The main symptom of IBS is abdominal pain and cramps after eating. A sufferer may also experience diarrhea, constipation, gas or bloating. Sometimes mucous may be seen in the feces. These symptoms usually are ongoing for at least 90 days before an IBS diagnosis is considered by a medical doctor. For this diagnosis, the symptoms are present in spite of the absence of true structural damage to the intestines.

Most people have symptoms in the milder range, and fortunately, an improved diet can usually relieve the suffering considerably.

Contributing factors to an irritable bowel may be food allergies, altered bowel microflora (of the acidophilus type), intestinal parasites, lack of dietary fiber, and lack of digestive enzymes. Eating sugar, refined carbohydrates, and chemical non-foods (colorings and other additives, and foods made from petroleum products) is probably not going to improve the situation.

This syndrome is associated with emotional stresses like depression, hysteria, obsessive-compulsive traits, anxiety, resentment, marital conflicts, death of a loved one, or prolonged excessive anxiety over everyday matters. IBS occurs predominantly in women, at a ratio of 3:1 to men, and the average age of onset is 20-40.

Omega-3's are a type of essential fatty acids that the body cannot produce from what you eat. Therefore, you must get them in your daily diet in order to supply the many body functions that need them.

Wild caught cold water fish are an excellent source of omega 3 oils, but now that our industrialized world has contaminated ocean water, and consequently the fish and mammals that live in the oceans, it is recommended generally not to eat these fish more than 3-4 times a week. These recommendations can vary if you are pregnant, so check with your doctor.

Omega 3 oils are the components of eicosanoids, hormone-like compounds that regulate blood pressure, clotting, and many other biochemical functions.

Excellent vegetarian sources of omega 3 oils are flax seed oil and walnuts. Black currant seed oil, and evening primrose oil are also very good.

Currently, the best source of omega 3 fats from fish, is a purified fish oil in a nutritional supplement form. With the contaminants removed (mercury and others), you can have a daily dose and let omega-3's do what they have been reported to do well - balancing the immune system, decreasing inflammation, diminishing depression and anxiety and lowering some of the risk factors for heart disease.

This precious food is also healthy for normal skin, joints,and soft tissues. Omega 3 oils are anti-aging and anti-inflammatory. However, if you do suffer from IBS, you may experience some relief by including more omega 3's in your daily diet.

I hope this information stimulates your curiosity for more anti-aging education. If you have any health concerns, be sure to ask your health practitioner.

If you are a baby boomer, approaching menopause, or just curious about anti-aging, you can read more here.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

A No Brainer Brain Healing Nutritional Supplement

Dr. David Amen is a well known psychiatrist who has written books about brain healing. One nutritional supplement that he talks about is omega 3 oil. And there are so many other health practitioners writing and talking about brain healing, nutritive support, as well as addressing many other conditions as those which can be healed with omega 3 oils.

Recently I enjoyed Dr. Amen's "Change Your Brain Change Your Life" presentation on PBS. His experience with natural supplements for brain healing and other health benefits is extremely interesting.

The easy way to ingest omega 3 oils is to eat more fish like salmon, mackeral, tuna, and sardines. Cod liver oil has been a standard for supplements since "forever".

Unfortunately, since fish are now so horribly contaminated with mercury and other substances that can destroy our health, purified fish oils are a necessity. We can still eat fish, but not every day.

I searched "contaminants in fish" and 3 million references came up! We all need to learn about omega 3 oils and other brain healing foods, and how to choose safe supplements.