Dr. Louis Ignarro: NO-Boosting Fitness
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
NO-Boosting Fitness
Many people are beginning to understand that eating nutrients found in certain foods or taking supplements can be an effective way to boost Nitric Oxide levels in the body. But did you know that the easiest and most inexpensive way to boost NO production is through exercise? Exercise accelerates blood flow, stimulating the production of Nitric Oxide. In fact, boosting NO levels is known to increase the body’s anaerobic threshold, meaning you can work out for longer periods of time. Working out, in turn, boosts NO levels.
NO Fitness Benefits
- Exercising regularly can help to lower blood pressure. By exercising, the endothelial cells lining the blood vessels throughout the body produce sufficient NO to help prevent hypertension.
- Exercise can help to improve cholesterol levels by raising blood levels of the “good” HDL cholesterol. Research shows that regular exercise can boost HDL levels by a full 5 to 15%.
- Exercise-enhanced NO production can help to discourage blood platelets from sticking to the inner lining of blood vessels, reducing the risk of plaque accumulation and blood clots. This can reduce the chances of developing atherosclerosis.
Additional Fitness Benefits
Regular exercise….
- Can strengthen the heart and make it work more efficiently. This enables the heart to deliver more blood with each beat and lower the resting heart rate.
- Is critical to weight loss and preventing or reversing obesity.
- Lowers the risk of breast, prostate, and colon cancer.
- Reduces the risk of adult-onset diabetes.
- Reduces the chances of developing osteoporosis.
- Leads to a decline in stress and anxiety.
- Improves sleep quality.
- Heightens energy levels.
- Strengthens the immune system.
How Much Exercise?
It doesn’t take hours a day to receive the health benefits of exercise. The key to success is regularity and frequency. Twenty minutes, three times a week is the critical amount of exercise that every person needs to receive the benefits of NO production caused by exercise. Regular exercise can actually train the endothelial cells to produce additional Nitric Oxide even when the body is at rest. Exercise does not have to be particularly strenuous to be very effective. Walking, jogging, and biking are some of the easiest and most effective ways to regularly exercise.
Dr. Louis Ignarro: Eating Fresh
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Eating Fresh
What type of foods do you regularly eat? Are they fresh, natural foods? Or do you often eat processed food with ingredients you can barely pronounce? Our bodies were designed to eat fresh food, not processed food. As it turns out, fresh food actually tastes better than processed food though many people no longer remember what eating fresh tastes like. Eating fresh is one of the most fundamental aspects of staying healthy, having energy, and feeling good. Eating fresh, healthy food is only one part of the equation. Individuals need to re-learn how to enjoy preparing, cooking, and consuming delicious food.
How much fresh food should you eat? People need at least five to nine servings of fresh fruit and vegetables every single day to stay healthy and prevent cancer and other disease. This will provide a huge boost in vitamins, minerals, fiber, enzymes, and other nutrients necessary to thrive. Raw nuts and whole grains like brown rice are also nutrient-rich fresh foods.
No matter what you are eating, it is a substance that was alive at one time. Imagine, for instance, walking to your backyard and tugging a bunch of sweet, orange carrots from the ground. You take them inside, rinse them off, slice them and add them to your salad. In this scenario, you are eating food that was alive just half an hour before eating. As you eat these carrots, they are passing their life-giving vitality directly into your body. The less your food is refined, the more nutrients it shares with you. Now, consider the frozen carrots in your freezer right now. These carrots were alive a few months ago. After they were picked they were hauled to a processing plant where they were rinsed with chlorine and other chemicals to eliminate contamination. They were then boiled, frozen, and sat on a truck and in a freezer for months at a time. These frozen carrots simply do not offer the same vitality that fresh, living food delivers.
Next time you eat, ask yourself how you feel. Do you feel bloated and tired? Do you suffer from constipation, diarrhea, heartburn, or low energy? Simply adding more fresh fruit and vegetables to your meals can quickly reverse even the most irritating health woes.
Benefits of Fresh Veggies
- Fiber to cleanse your body of toxins
- Phytonutrients: health-protecting plant compounds
- Enzymes to fuel vital chemical reactions
- Essential fatty acids to help combat a host of diseases
Keys to Success
Eat the rainbow: Consume as many different colors of fresh foods as possible. Each color represents different nutritional contents. A big variety in color can help to provide the nutrients necessary for long term health and vitality.
Shop the perimeter: When visiting the grocery store, the healthiest and freshest foods are always around the outer edge of the store. Produce, dairy, seafood, and the butcher are areas to focus on. Avoid the middle aisles which typically contain processed food that isn’t likely to be as healthy as the fresh food around the outside aisles.
Keep fresh food in sight: Keep fruit, vegetables, and nuts on countertops and coffee tables whenever possible. Seeing these healthy items means you’re more likely to snack on them.
Add fruit to dessert and breakfast: Instead of trying to eliminate cereal and ice cream from your diet simply use it as a vehicle for delivering fresh fruit. Add strawberries, bananas, or blueberries to your regular meals for an easy extra serving of fresh food.
Dr. Andrew Myers: Redefining Disease
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Redefining Disease
The word disease simply means the sum of a variety of symptoms that, together, are referred to traditionally as a diagnosis. Unfortunately, conventional medicine focuses on preventing symptoms rather than on addressing the underlying, systemic cause of the symptoms. Every symptom has a foundational principle that is the root cause of the symptom. Merely treating symptoms and not the underlying cause of the symptoms does little to truly treat a problem.
Symptoms are merely a communication device that our bodies use to tell us what is wrong with its functionality. Whether we choose to listen to the information being conveyed or simply try to cover it up is a decision left for the individual. Symptoms are actually a step or two away from the actual causes or dysfunctions that result in symptoms. They are the superficial layer covering up the true cause of dysfunction.
Each individual must be personally evaluated in terms of diet, exercise, behavior, and genetic history. All too often a one-size-fits-all approach is taken to attempt to alleviate patients of symptoms. These treatments may temporarily mask the symptoms of an underlying condition, however without taking the full lifestyle and history of an individual into account it is nearly impossible to properly treat a core dysfunction.
Patients and physicians are often preoccupied with identifying and discussing symptoms rather than root conditions. For example, it is increasingly common to hear folks discuss having “high blood pressure”. While the symptom of high blood pressure may be correctly identified, the underlying cause that is rarely if ever mentioned, even by physicians, may be “endothelial dysfunction due to obesity and a pro-inflammatory diet.” Endothelial dysfunction is the condition, not high blood pressure. High blood pressure is merely how endothelial dysfunction superficially presents itself.
What is a Syndrome?
A syndrome is an accumulation of symptoms and syndromes originate from the progression of what is known as the 3D Effect. What conventional medicine calls “diseases” is actually dysfunction brought on by the chronic, long-term nutritional deficiency we call Nutrient Deficiency Syndrome.
Nutrient depletion leads to nutrient deficiency which leads to dysfunction. Dysfunctions are the underlying cause of symptoms, and multiple interrelated symptoms result in a syndrome. Syndromes manifest as multiple dysfunctions that appear simultaneously in a patient as a result of the same deficiencies or lifestyle choices.
Metabolic Syndrome is a great example of what a syndrome truly is. Obesity around the waist, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol are the visible symptoms of the underlying dysfunction. Attempts at correcting any one of these symptoms without taking a broad approach to the 3 interrelated symptoms will not correct the problem at hand; it will merely mask the underlying issues.
Dr. Andrew Myers: CoQ10 Powering The Body
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
CoQ10: Powering The Body
Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is an antioxidant essential to converting fats and sugars into energy in the body. This powerful vitamin-like substance is found in every plant and animal cell, and is concentrated in the human heart. CoQ10 is the second most important nutrient in the cardiovascular system after Nitric Oxide and research suggests that at least three out of four cardiovascular patients suffer from CoQ10 deficiency. When the body is deficient of CoQ10, metabolic function is impaired. This leads to tissues such as the heart, brain, and kidneys to suffer damage.
Heart of the Matter
Science is finding that CoQ10 benefits a growing set of health concerns from cancer and diabetes to immune deficiency and the effects of aging. The single greatest benefit, though, is the promotion of a better functioning heart. CoQ10 can actually reverse or prevent the degeneration of the heart which often occurs in cardiovascular disease as a result of inflammation and free radical damage. Coenzyme Q10 provides optimal nutrition at the cellular level. It also acts as an antioxidant to prevent damage to healthy heart cells.
Statin Drug Connection
Many individuals are prescribed statin drugs which are designed to lower cholesterol levels. While there are natural alternatives to statin medications (such as Red Yeast Rice), it is important to follow the advice of your physician and, if necessary, follow a statin drug regimen. Of critical importance when taking a statin medication is CoQ10 levels. Statins deplete the body of CoQ10 which can negate any positive effects that the prescription offers. Anyone who takes a statin drug absolutely must supplement with CoQ10.
Recommended Dosage
Antioxidant support for optimal health: 200mg per day
Cardiovascular dysfunction: 400mg per day
