Longevity For You

Are Vitamin Supplements Good for You?

Are vitamins and minerals important to your health? Absolutely! But supplements are something else.

Vitamin and mineral supplements don't necessarily make you live healthier or longer; after all, they're just "supplements," and as such, they should be treated only as supplements to your foods.

After all, dietary supplements may contain

• too little of the ingredients, especially if they are expensive.
• too much of the ingredients, if measuring the exact amount may be costly.
• the wrong ingredients, especially in herbal supplements, i.e. the wrong species of the same type of plant, or the wrong parts of the same plant.
• enhancement to make them more potent, e.g. caffeine may be added as a stimulant to ginseng.
• dangerous ingredients that are toxic, or have yet to be proved safe.
• contaminated residues of pesticides.

Or, they may even be useless due to poor absorption.

What: you need a cleansed body for better absorption of nutrients from your food, and then "supplement" them with appropriate vitamin supplements. There is nothing more damaging to your body than consuming processed food, refined foods, hybrid foods (delayed decay of foods), and genetically altered foods.

If your body is already saturated with chemicals from the environment and from the supermarket food you consume, there is no reason to add insult to injury by adding more chemicals to your body in the form of vitamin and mineral supplements.

If you must take vitamin supplements:

• choose reputable manufacturers of dietary supplements
• select dietary supplements with the most time left on the expiration date
• educate yourself and be knowledgeable of the specific names of herbs and other ingredients
• check recalls and warnings of the adverse side effects and toxicity of dietary supplements: www.consumerlab.com/recalls.asp
• read the labels ; watch out for misleading health claims
• beware of fortified vitamins in your foods and beverages (more may not be good)

There is a self-healing mechanism in your body. You are not meant to be sick. However, Nature cannot be rushed. Don't go for a quick fix. Taking supplements won't bring back your health. There is no miracle cure for any illness or disorder, if the problem is not eradicated.

Remember, vitamin supplements are only supplements. Go for the best if you need them. Herbal Remedies has the best of the best.

The Oriental Approach to Cancer

From the Chinese perspective, there may not be a disease as cancer. According to traditional Chinese medicine, patients with many symptoms quite similar to those that conventional Western medicine would diagnose as cancer are never identified as cancer patients; in fact, many of them might have recovered without ever knowing they had the disease called cancer by Western doctors.

In conventional Western medicine, cancer is diagnosed by its many symptoms; in traditional Chinese medicine, cancer is identified by the pathogenic conditions of the patient.

To illustrate, a patient diagnosed with stomach cancer might be described quite differently by Chinese physicians, because the pathogenic conditions of the patient could vary. The patient could be suffering from energy blockage of the spleen meridian, from poisonous heat in the stomach system, or from accumulation of fire at the intermediate level. In addition, Chinese physicians would be less concerned with the spread of the cancer or the level of its malignant growth than they would be with clearing blockage of the spleen system, eliminating poisonous heat in the stomach system, or dispersing fire at the intermediate level. Chinese physicians believe that upon removing these pathogenic causes from the patient, recovery will be only a matter of time.

In Chinese medicine, any disease is associated with “qi” (which is internal vital energy), which is responsible for transporting oxygen and nutrients to each of your cells. If there is any “blockage,” disease strikes.

The Oriental approach focuses on getting more internal life force into the body for rejuvenation and healing. You actually radiate vital life energy through your entire body if you breathe correctly. This is one of the reasons why Yoga, Qi Gong, and Zen meditations all focus on breathing as the basic principle for practice.

Oriental healers understand the most powerful force in living things: the power of qi. They have thousands of years of accomplishment of success of medical systems based on the management of qi.

When qi flows freely and smoothly, your body's organs and systems are in a state of harmony. When qi becomes blocked, imbalance and illness often result. 

That is why qi is the basis of so many Eastern-healing arts. They believe that healing and wellness stem from the care and management of that central life force, the energy system that is within every living creature.

Probably the most well known system of cure based on “qi” is acupuncture. Acupuncture charts show twelve major meridians (paths that qi flows through) in your body, as well as minor meridians and other points across your entire body. The acupuncturist uses hair-thin needles placed in designated spots along these meridians to stimulate your body's energy or life force, thereby instrumental in initiating the process of self-healing.

Healing cancer starts with healing the body first. The body must be cleansed of toxins accumulated from pollutants in the environment you live in, and from chemicals in the foods you consume. Cancer is no more than cell proliferation due to toxicity. Low-oxygen levels and high acidity in cells contribute to the growth of cancer cells. Therefore, to combat cancer, it is foremost to detoxify and alkalize the body.

Before you seriously consider any conventional treatment, such as surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy, you must stop completely poisoning your body.

Stephen Lau

Longevity For You

Invasive Cancer Treatments - Are They Right for You?

Every 30 seconds another American is diagnosed with cancer. Every 55 seconds or so, another American dies of cancer. Cancer occurrence is only too common. Being diagnosed of cancer is a devastating experience. Very often a new cancer patient is at a loss as to what to do next. Mainstream cancer treatments are all invasive, and may not be right for everyone!

Surgery removes cancer cells from your body; chemotherapy destroys cancer cells through the use of drugs; and radiotherapy, using high-energy rays, kills cancer cells.

All these cancer treatments are invasive: chemotherapy targets not only your cancer cells but also your good cells; radiotherapy is often used before surgery to shrink a cancerous cell, during a surgery to direct large doses of radiation at a tumor, or after surgery to inhibit the growth of any remaining cancer cells; and surgery is often used in conjunction with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. 

But do these invasive cancer treatments work?

These conventional cancer treatments not only are invasive but also have devastating side effects, which may affect your long-term health and wellness. For example, chemotherapy may impair your immune system, making you more vulnerable to disease.  It makes little sense to me to use chemotherapy and radiation therapy that damage cells and weaken your immune system, especially when the problem in the first place is that your immune system is already too weak and that your cells are already damaged!

Even if tumors go into remission, these aggressive treatments may have damaged other healthy cells, making them more likely to turn cancerous later on.

Even worse, many people only do chemotherapy and radiation therapy, but do little to support their immune system to fight against cancer further down the road. All too often the cancer continues to grow, or may come back with a vengeance a few months to a couple of years later.

The decision whether or not to go for these invasive cancer treatments is yours.  Just remember the following facts:

Mainstream cancer treatments aim at removing only the symptoms, never at eradicating the causes.

The rate of success of invasive cancer treatments is often overrated.

Treating cancer is an extremely lucrative multi-billion dollar industry. Therefore, many get to profit from the treatment of cancer – maybe at your expense.

All pharmaceuticals are chemicals, and, therefore by nature, toxic.

There are other cancer treatment options.

Stephen Lau

Mineral Deficiency and Your Depression

Diet plays a pivotal role in your mental depression. What you put into your mouth affects your mind as much as it does your body.

According to Dr. James D. Gordon of Georgetown University School of Medicine, problems in the thyroid may cause depression as much as the dysfunction of neurotransmitters does. Your thyroid dysfunction could be a result of mineral deficiency, such as magnesium and calcium deficiency.

Magnesium is a youth-preserving mineral. As you age, your magnesium level declines due to poor absorption and inadequate diet. According to studies, about two-thirds of elderly Americans eat less than 75 percent of the RDA for magnesium, and only 25 percent of Americans meet the RDA for magnesium. If you crave chocolate, you may be deficient in magnesium, which is found in chocolate.

Magnesium is responsible for neurotransmission abnormalities, in addition to its implications in thyroid dysfunction.

Magnesium is found in whole grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes.

If necessary, take Natural Calm Magnesium, which is water soluble and assimilates instantly and thoroughly, and works even in cases of highly impaired digestion.  Magnesium is a powerful anti-stress mineral and its deficiency is associated with most irritability or stress cases. Use the supplement in those stressful times and high tension periods or use regularly to reduce them.

Calcium also plays a part in mental depression.

According to a study, depressed individuals with suicidal inclination show lower levels of calcium and magnesium. 

Many Americans do not have adequate calcium intake. To help solve the calcium crisis, an array of calcium-fortified foods and beverages flood the consumer market, from juices, drinks, cereals, snacks to dairy foods. They are all fortified with calcium. However, use of calcium-fortified foods is not the same as foods that are naturally rich in calcium. Exceeding the safety limit of “tolerable upper intake level” of 2,500 mg calcium per day may have negative effects on other nutrients, such as iron, zinc, and magnesium.

Get your vitamins to combat your depression.

Stephen Lau

http://www.stephenlau.name

Your Foods and Your Depression

Foods can affect your mood. Most notably, caffeine and sugar - they not only can manipulate your mood but also may cause food addiction.

Your choice of foods is often based on your taste or personal preferences. Sometimes you may have made unconscious food choices that alter your brain chemistry, and thus affecting your mood. Yes, foods can affect your neurotransmission (i.e. cell communication in the brain), especially with regard to serotonin, which are brain chemicals implicated in most depressive disorders. Low levels of your brain serotonin may account for your depressive and psychiatric symptoms.

The good news is that you can use your foods to stimulate the serotonin activity in your brain in order to prevent the occurrence or relapse of a depressive episode.

If you are suffering from SAD (seasonal affective disorder), also known as winter blues, a much milder form of depression, eating more carbohydrates will do the magic to lift your mood. That is why eating a bar of chocolate may instantly improve your mood; or rather, chocolate may become the comfort food for certain individuals suffering from mild depression.

The trade off of eating carbohydrates is that you may gain weight, or it may even be a health hazard to those who are diabetic.

The best alternative is to eat only complex carbohydrates, such as beans, wholegrain cereals, bread, pasta, and rice, instead of simple carbohydrates such as candies, sodas, and packaged cereals. Complex carbohydrates work too - just a little more slowly than simple carbohydrates in elevating your mood. But complex carbohydrates are healthy. Eat the Right Carbs shows you how to eat complex carbohydrates to increase energy, elevate your mood, and protect your immune system.

Many people also use the caffeine in coffee to medicate themselves against depression. The downside is that you may become addicted to caffeine, and that excessive caffeine may have the opposite effects, such as wrecking your mood, creating anxiety, and upsetting your sleep patterns - all these are just some of the symptoms of depression. Remember, caffeine only temporarily lifts your mood, and what goes up must also come down.

Stephen Lau
http://www.rethinkyourdepression.com
http://www.overcomingeatingdisorders.com

Get the Sun!

Recently, vitamin D has been in the news a lot. Scientific studies have attested to the critical role of vitamin D in maintaining strong bones. Research in the last few years suggested that vitamin D may play a role in preventing cancer, including breast, colon, and prostate cancers, diabetes, lupus and other diseases.

Eat foods rich in vitamin D. These include oily fish, such as salmon, tuna and mackerel.

More importantly. get the sun!

Your brain is a most powerful computer in your body. Unfortunately, it is not adequately harnessed because part of your brain is dormant and relatively unused. Therefore, you need to harness your infinite brain power to your advantage.

Sun energy empowers your brain – a short spell of sunlight may dispel your depression. The sun energizes your brain.  just as green plants get their chlorophyll from the sun, you get your sun energy from foods. When you eat, you are absorbing sun energy from plants and animals indirectly. We all derive nutritional energy and health benefits from the sun.

There is, however, a more direct way of absorbing sun energy – sun gazing.

Sun gazing is a scientific phenomenon based on light therapy. Your brain power enters and exits through your eyes, which are the windows of your soul. The rainbow that you see is not in the sky, but actually in your eyes, which receive the spectrum of the sunlight.

Sun gazing is reaping the benefits of the sun without getting its adverse effects.

Sun gazing is staring a few seconds – extending the time with each passing day by 10 seconds – until you reach a total of 45 minutes over approximately nine months. You gaze at the sun moments before sunrise or sunset, so you don't get the harmful ultra-violet rays of the sun. In the process of sun gazing, you develop your pineal gland to convert sunlight into nutritional and beneficial sun energy for the brain and the body.

To get more information, go to Sun Gazing.

Stephen Lau

http://www.stephenlau.name

How To Stop Your Food Addiction

Eating disorder is commonplace in the Western world, where food is plentiful. People use or abuse food to serve their emotional needs, resulting in disorders such as food addiction, anorexia (not eating enough food) and bulimia (eating too much following by purging) Overcoming food addiction, like any other addiction, is never easy.

To stop food addiction, you need determination and will power, which many lack.

Use daily self-affirmations to reinforce your determination and will power to overcome food addiction. Don’t underestimate the power of visualization. Create the powerful images in your mind’s eye that you can and you will overcome your food addiction. Keep on keeping on.

Mental power is inadequate: you require ammunitions from the physical body. Rejuvenation is possible only if the body is willing to respond to recovery.

Regulate your blood sugar level: low blood sugar makes you easily succumb to junk food. Balance your body's acid and alkalinity: excessive acidity produces toxins, which play havoc with your body's bio-chemistry, especially your appetite-controlling hormone. If you are a woman, hormone swings due to fluctuating estrogens create food cravings.

Always eat enough. Eat three regular meals: a breakfast, a lunch, and a dinner. Eat at regular times as much as possible. Skipping a meal leads to a reduction of leptin (appetite-controlling hormone, also known as "thin" hormone) - your appetite may rebound and become out of control.

Eat at the least the minimum calories: don't starve yourself, and neither do you stuff yourself.

Any dieting may lead to abnormal or irregular bodily metabolism and derail your hormone production - the culprit in the development of an eating disorder down the road. 

To conquer food addiction, begin your day with a healthy breakfast to boost and energize your body for the day. Never SKIP a breakfast.

A balanced breakfast or meal consists of the following: proteins from beans, preferably not from eggs, bacons, or sausages, to repair your body tissues; carbohydrates to supply you with energy; fats (a small amount to nourish your cells; vitamins and minerals for your body’s metabolism; blood-sugar-stabilizing foods, such as oatmeal, to curb your food cravings; and fiber-rich foods for anti-snacking.

Stephen Lau

http://www.stephenlau.name

http://www.overcomingeatingdisorders.com

 

Is Soy Good for You?

The soy today is not the same soy traditionally grown and consumed in China thousands of years ago. Prior to its introduction into the United States, this 20th century version of soy was genetically manipulated in Europe. In fact, several decades ago soy was listed in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) handbook not as a food but as an industrial product. Not until recently did soy become touted as a miracle heath food to cure, from cancer to high blood pressure to hot flash. Don’t forget: America produces half the soybeans of the world, and, naturally, the soy industry is forever promoting the health benefits of soy.

But soy may not be a health food for healthy living.

Soy has high concentrations of certain chemicals that combine with essential minerals to deposit insoluble salts difficult for your kidneys to eliminate. In other word, it may be bad for your kidneys over the long haul.

Soy may adversely affect enzymes and hormones production in your body.

Soy protein is difficult for your digestion. Soybean is a seed. Like all other seeds, soybean is rich in enzyme inhibitors (anti-digestive) to protect it from the environment.

Soybean did not serve as a food until about 3,000 years ago when the ancient Chinese introduced the art of fermentation, neutralizing enzyme inhibitors and predigesting soybean with several fungus enzymes. The Chinese did not eat unfermented soybean as they did other legumes, such as lentils because soybean contains large quantities of natural toxins or “anti-nutrients.”

Only after the Chinese mastered the principle of pre-digesting soybean with natural substances to enhance its nutritional value during the Chou Dynasty (1134-246 B.C.), was soybean designated as one of the five sacred grains along with barley, wheat, millet, and rice.

Unfortunately, advances in technology, with the use of chemicals such as emulsifiers, flavorings, preservatives, and synthetic nutrients, have turned soybean into multiple soy products, while for centuries the Chinese have been consuming soy and its products only as a small portion of their diet.

Remember, the current tofu, soy milk and other soy products are highly processed foods, and as such, the nutritional value of soy has been considerably compromised.

If you must eat soy products, consume them moderately: they may not be the miracle foods you think they are.

For optimum health, always eat super foods. 

Stephen Lau

http://www.stephenlau.name

Is Cheese Nutritious for You?

Is cheese nutritious for you?

Cheese is a part of the American culture. Americans enjoy eating cheese, and some are even addicted to it.

Cheese is concentrated protein: a 2-oz serving has about 15 grams of fat, most of which is saturated, giving you bad cholesterol and blocking your arteries. Stop eating cheese may help reduce your bad cholesterol level.

Too much cheese may give you arthritis and migraine attacks. Research showed that cheese triggers migraines in many patients, and that cheese is also responsible for some 50 percent of rheumatoid arthritis due to its high fat content.

Research also showed that cheese increases insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), which is an aggressive promoter of cancer and abnormal cell growth.

Milk products may affect your absorption of vitamin D, which is derived mainly from exposure to sunlight and which has to be activated by the liver and the kidneys. However, too much calcium from dairy products may suppress, instead of activating, the vitamin D in your body. Insufficient vitamin D increases the risk of prostate cancer.

In addition, cheese, which is rich in animal fat, increases the production of testosterone, which is linked to prostate cancer.

Cheese has much more casein (a protein that breaks down during digestion to form opiates - addictive substances) than is found in milk, ice cream, butter or other dairy products. Therefore, cheese, which has 70 percent of its calories from fat, make you not only addictive to cheese due to the presence of opiates (chemical substances responsible for the addiction), but also fattening. Yes, cheese makes you fat!

Cheese addiction may lead to high blood pressure. A 2-oz serving of cheddar cheese has about 350 milligrams of sodium, and a cup of low-fat cottage cheese has over 900 milligrams of sodium - and sodium is a critical contributing factor in high blood pressure.

The dairy industry has colluded with fast food restaurants to add more cheese to their foods to trigger your cheese craving. A case in point, SUBWAY signed a contract with the industry in 1996 to include cheese in some of the sandwiches.

The cheese industry may be promoting all the health benefits of cheese because it wants you to be hooked on to cheese.

Stop your cheese craving and break your cheese addiction! Learn how to overcome your food cravings.

Stephen Lau
http://www.stephenlau.name
http://www.overcomingeatingdisorders.com

Is Chocolate Good For You?

Is chocolate good for you?

The chocolate industry says chocolate is good for you. Many research studies have been conducted just to prove that point.

Chocolate comes from a fruit tree, which contains antioxidants with beneficial heart benefits, especially dark chocolate. According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, chocolate reduces your body's absorption of fat. Chocolate also contains flavonoids more potent than vitamin C in reducing your bad cholesterol.

Yes, chocolate is good for you, according to the chocolate industry. But wait a minute! Most of these scientific studies have been funded by the industry. This makes you wonder if the scientific findings of these studies are biased and maybe even distorted.

Chocolate comes from cocoa beans from a fruit tree. Yes, they contain antioxidants. But the problem is that cocoa beans are so bitter that loads of sugar and fat are added to make chocolate taste good and sweet. The high sugar content may not be good for you if you are diabetic; and the high calories (60 percent from fat) may increase your weight and cholesterol level.

In addiction to caffeine, chocolate contains other chemicals, such as theobromine, phenylethylamine, that make you become addicted to it. The caffeine in chocolate may irritate your kidneys, thin your blood and change your mood. Yes, chocolate is a mild version of an addicting drug that creates the real, compulsive attraction for you, especially when the chocolate seduction is reinforced by the smell, taste, and texture of chocolate. Trust me, the chocolate manufacturers know how to create the chocolate addiction in consumers.

Chocolate itself may not be bad for you, except the added ingredients. If you must eat chocolate, eat it sparingly.

Go to my website on Food Cravings and Food Addiction.

Stephen Lau

http://www.stephenlau.name

Is Beer Right For You?

America has a beer-drinking culture. It is “cool” to hold a bottle of beer in your hands.

But is beer right for you? 

Not all beers are alike: some have more calories while some have more carbohydrates than others. 

Does drinking beer make you fat? 

Well, for one thing, beer contains no fat and is extremely low in sugar. In addition, it has no cholesterol. So, why not bottoms up? 

Beer is an alcohol drink: it contains alcohol. Alcohol causes your blood sugar to drop, thus indirectly stimulating you to eat more. How about a slice of pizza to go with a bottle of beer? Drinking beer induces you to eat more. Your calories may not come from your beer, but it may come from the accompanying foods. 

Beer has about seven calories per gram of alcohol. Drinking one bottle after another, and year in and year out may add up your calories, adding 10 to 15 pounds a year. These extra pounds will only accumulate if you don’t burn them, leading to weight gain. 

In addition, your liver, in the process of detoxifying excessive quantities of alcohol, may work overtime. If you drink beer constantly, you should detoxify your liver regularly – otherwise a damaged liver may give you a host of health problems down the road. 

The beer industry has extolled the virtues of beer drinking, such as protecting you against cardiovascular diseases, and providing you with health benefits due to its barley content. However, red wine is more effective in protecting your heart than beer; and beer is made from inferior barley, which provides little nutrients or health benefits. 

According to studies, one in ten individuals who drink beer regularly may ultimately become an alcoholic.

  If you think you may have a problem, take steps to overcome your alcoholic addiction.

If you must drink beer, drink moderately.

Stephen Lau

http://www.longevityforyou.com
http://www.overcomingeatingdisorders.com

 

Why You Should Have Second Thoughts About Drinking Milk!

The United States has a dairy-based culture. Everywhere you see multi-faceted images of celebrities with their “milk mustache” simply because the multi-billion dollar dairy industry is promoting the benefits of milk.

But milk may be toxic for several reasons. 

Modern breeding methods of cows use high-protein, soy-based feeds, and high-technology breeding to produce cows with abnormally large pituitary glands for more milk. 

In today’s milk, you will find drugs, antibiotics, hormones, forced feeding plans, etc. You certainly don’t want all those chemicals in your body when you drink milk. That’s why many people are allergic to milk, and for a good reason. Food allergy due to milk is manifested in diarrhea, constipation, and chronic fatigue. In addition, dairy products, in particular milk, may play a role in the development of asthma, insomnia, and migraine headache. 

In 1990, the U.S. FDA approved a genetically engineered hormone in cows to produce more milk, and the safety of this hormone has been recently challenged by the Canadian government.

Today’s milk is homogenized (no separation of cream), and as a result milk proteins, which are not broken down, are directly absorbed into your bloodstream, and undigested milk proteins may put you at risk for cancer and heart disease. To make matters worse, milk pasteurization (killing bacteria through heating) takes away enzymes, without which digestion is difficult, thereby unduly stressing your pancreas – one of the many factors making your more prone to diabetes later in life.

Milk is one the most controversial foods in that you have conflicting views that it is inexpensive and nutritious. Drink your milk with caution.

Given that milk may be a toxic food loaded with chemicals, you should detoxify your body. Follow the 12 Steps To A Complete Body Detox. 

Stephen Lau

http://www.longevityforyou.com

http://www.chinesenaturalhealing.com

http://www.zenhealthylifestyle.com

Corn Contamination - Have Second Thoughts About Eating Corn

 If plastic bottles may be toxic to the human body, you may have been exposed to other toxins not only from the environment but also from your daily foods. 

Did you know that corn, for example, may be contaminated? Yes, corn, one of the most common and popular foods, may be contaminated with fumonisins (caused by molds found mainly in corn). Corn may be a toxic food, instead of the nutritious food you think it is. 

Recently, there have been numerous cases of poisoning in dog food due to the contamination of corn, which is one of the main ingredients, resulting in animal fatality. If contaminated corn is bad for dogs, how about contamination of corn in human food? 

Of course, food experts and scientists say they have no strong evidence to prove that contaminated corn in human food is unsafe. 

Due to corn’s propensity to contamination, the FDA has recommended to the agricultural industry the maximum fumonisin levels for “self regulation” to protect both animal and human health. You know as well as I do that “self regulation” often means “no regulation” in the industry. 

The FDA is in fact tantamount to admitting that there is contamination. In the old Soviet Union, the comrades used to say, “Nothing is ever more certain when it has been officially denied.”  How bad the contamination may be is up to anyone’s guessing.

If you still think corn is a healthy food for healthy eating, think again! 

If corn is contaminated, corn may be universally contaminated in that corn products are found everywhere: a chicken nugget consists of corn-fed chicken with a corn-based batter sweetened with corn syrup. Look at all the processed foods in the supermarket: most of them contain some form of corn. Are they toxic foods if corn is contaminated? You just wonder.

The public has been presented with conflicting evidence: one medium ear of sweet corn contains about 80 calories, some vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, potassium, and dietary fiber, and other nutrients. Yes, corn may be a nutritious food, but it may also be contaminated.

What could consumers do to protect themselves? Avoid all processed foods which contain corn syrup (which is cornstarch composed of glucose). Detoxify your body regularly. Absolute Detox Naturally gives you all the information needed to cleanse yourself naturally on a regular basis to rid yourself of toxins from foods and the environment.
 

Stephen Lau
 

http://www.longevityforyou.com

http://www.zenhealthylifestyle.com

http://www.chinesenaturalhealing.com

BPA in Plastic Bottles - Just One of the Many Body Toxins!

Recently, there has been a lot of concern in the media over the health problems created by BPA, a chemical present in plastic bottles. In fact, over the years, the chemical industry has already expressed “some concern for neural and behavioral effects in fetuses, infants, and children at current human exposures.” (from the National Toxicology Program of the National Institutes of Health)

If parents are concerned over the lead poisoning of toys from China, shouldn't they be equally concerned over the toxicity of BPA in plastic bottles?

Given the bureaucracy of the whole system with the whole industry behind it, your concerns and protests may well fall on deaf ears. For years, the government has been poisoning you with toxins, ranging from your drinking water, your pharmaceutics, to the foods you consume, through lack of legislation and inadequate supervision. You cannot reply on the government, no more than you can reply on the medical establishment to maintain your health. You should take charge of your own health.

Your body can never be completely healthy if you are constantly and consistently exposed to different types of toxins, which may have come from different sources. Your body gets toxins through inhalation, absorption, and radiation.

Disease is caused by toxins, which inflict stress on your cells. In life, stress may come in different forms, such as radiation stress (a cause of cancer), emotional stress (a cause of mental illness), nutritional stress (a cause of eating disorders), and chemical stress (a cause of many types of disease).

Chemicals in the environment may come from the air you breathe, the water you drink, or anything you may have exposed yourself to, such as your daily shampoo and toothpaste. Chemicals are present in abundance in your daily food (emulsifiers, enhancers, preservatives) and in your pharmaceutics (e.g. a flu shot is loaded with chemicals, including lead).

If you are worried about plastic bottles, maybe you should also worry about the food in the supermarket. Any food item that comes in a box or a can may have been loaded with chemicals designed to lengthen its shelf life but to shorten yours.

It is important to go organic as much as possible.  Go Organic in 10 Steps gives you all the information you need to go organic. To stop ingesting toxins into your body is the first step towards good health. Stop autointoxication (which is self-poisoning).

Let’s face it. You have a toxic body, and we all have. No matter how careful you strive to be, toxins will find their way into the human body. There is no escape from toxins due to both external and internal sources. Some of the more obvious symptoms of a toxic body include the following: bad breath, chronic constipation, frequent fatigue, overweight, recurrent headaches, and overweight, among others.

In addition, to prevention, we should eliminate all toxins as much as possible through internal cleansing. 

 

 

Can Mint Leaves Cure Cancer?

Can mint leaves fight cancer?

In 2004, researchers in the United Kingdom discovered that an extract in the leaves of a mint-like Chinese herb can fight cancer. This groundbreaking discovery led scientists to initiate developing drugs, which have been tested in the laboratory on cancer cells from human breast and lung tumors.

Scientists now believe that mint herb has the medicinal potential of destroying only those blood vessels that promote the growth of cancerous cells, but without attacking the blood vessels of normal cells. This selective targeting of tumor cells may make mint leaves a unique anti-cancer agent. Conventional cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy, are invasive with too many undesirable side effects since they may target cancerous as well as normal cells.

Researchers from the Paterson Institute for Cancer Research of the United Kingdom said that the extract (scutellaria barbata) from mint leaves has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries to treat several illnesses, including tumors.

Mint is a fragrant herb that has become important medicinally due to its menthol ingredient, which promotes digestion by stimulating the flow of bile to your stomach. Mint has been called “the plant of happiness.”

Whether or not that the extract from mint leaves can actually cure cancer is still in its research stage. However, mint tea works well in treating colds, sore throat, minor mouth or throat irritations, headaches and migraines, diarrhea, heartburn, nausea, and stomachache.

For more information on herbal cures for cancer, visit my website on Cancer Treatment Resources and Herbal Cures.

Stephen Lau

http://www.longevityforyou.com

The Gender Difference and Weight Loss

 

Weight loss has become an obsession in the American culture. Americans are spending billions of dollars each year on weight loss. The gender difference may display a different attitude towards weight loss.

It has been erroneously believed that weight problem is a “woman’s problem” just as alcoholism was considered only a “man’s disease” several decades ago.  Nowadays, with the growing awareness of health issues, many individuals, irrespective of the gender, begin to look upon weight problem as a serious health problem.

According to studies, in the

United   States

, about 140 million people have body weight problems, and half of them are men. It is estimated that 10 percent of people suffering from eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia, are men.  In addition, men are becoming more increasingly aware of their body shape. This fascination with body image is partly due to aggressive promotion of the bodybuilding industry, and male models in men’s magazines showing off their fabulous abs.

Today, men and women are under the same pressure to be “shapely” in order to be sexually attractive. Body image and weight loss for both men and women has become the subject of research.

In weight loss, men and women view their bodies differently: men focus mostly on their chests, arms, and abs – the male muscular image; women, on the other hand, are more concerned with their waists, hips, and thighs.

In weight loss, irrespective of the gender, how you feel about yourself in important. If you are embarrassed by the roll of fat plopping over your waist, you may be spurred on to making a firm decision to embark on an aggressive diet and exercise program for ultimate weight loss. In a similar situation, however, you embarrassment may turn into despair, plunging you further into the mire of eating disorders and unhealthy eating patterns. 

Weight loss for both men and women begins with a healthy relationship with food. Everyone, irrespective of the gender, has both a physical and psychological relationship with food. The former has to do with satisfying the physical hunger, while the latter has to do with the appetite, that is, the “desire” for food, which is mostly psychological.

Men and women act and think differently, and they have different emotional needs. If such needs are not met, individuals, irrespective of the gender, may become more susceptible to unhealthy eating patterns, which will create health problems down the road. The gender difference in dealing with emotional needs may play a pivotal role in the psychological relationship with food.

For example, boredom often turns individuals into food addicts. Women who are not in the work force and who stay at home most of the time may be more vulnerable to food addiction out of sheer boredom. Men, on the other hand, may be stressed by work and financial pressure, which is also a common trigger for overeating. The gender difference may result in a different response to a given circumstance or situation: men and women often react differently to the same psychological problem. This subtle difference may result in a healthy or unhealthy psychological relationship with food.

Think Thin shows you how to win in your battle of the bulge: it is a comprehensive book on overcoming food addiction and managing your weight.

Stephen Lau

http://www.longevityforyou.com

Meditation and Longevity

Meditation is often associated with religion: it has been rooted in the traditions of the world’s great religions. Yes, when you think of meditation, you might naturally conjure up images of divinity or the metaphysical. However, meditation may be more than just spiritual: it may affect your longevity. Today, many people use meditation techniques outside of traditional religious or cultural settings as a form of mind-body medicine for longevity. Meditation therapy is receiving more attention in the medical setting.

Why is that?

Stress is an enemy of longevity. Contemporary life is stressful. Stress is unavoidable, creating emotional reactions, anxiety, anticipation, and worry. The past is often a breeding-ground for stress: thoughts of past difficulties or failures duplicated and projected into the future. Remember, in life, nearly all your thoughts, including your desires and fears, are based on either the past or the future. Your desires are no more than recollections of the past pleasure and hope of repeating them in the future. Similarly, your fears are also memories of past pain, and your desire to avoid them in the future. These festering thoughts may begin to feed on the mind, generating negative emotions that adversely affect the mind in its hormone production.

Many of us have dabbed in meditation by participating in conscious relaxation. Meditation is essentially “having complete time for oneself” – something which many of us have deprived ourselves of due to our hectic daily schedule. We simply have no time for our minds. We don’t let our minds rest. We erroneously think that our minds are at rest when we sleep: our minds still work in our dreams.

Meditating is actually easier than you might imagine. Start meditation by paying attention to your breathing. In meditation, you focus completely on your breathing to take your mind away from the "mind clutter" that constantly tries to invade your mind. You relax your mind through conscious breathing, just as you relax your physical body through exercise. If you have time for your physical workout, then you should make time for your mental workout through meditation.

There is no right or wrong behavior during your meditation. It is your time for you. Everyone deserves this kind of personal attention. This is a self-care mental activity; loving oneself!

Meditation helps you focus your mind on the present to the exclusion of past and future thoughts. If you are concentrating on solving a math problem or performing a complete mental task, you are focusing too, but that is not meditation. Meditation is concentrating on something seemingly insignificant (such as your breathing) or spontaneous (such as eating and even driving) such that your mind is conditioned to focusing on only the present moment. In this way, you mind concentration excludes all past and future thoughts, thereby instrumental in giving your mind a meaningful break. It is in this sublime state of mind that you are capable of understanding the true nature of things, and their relativity to the meaning of life.

The purpose of meditation is to make your mind calm and peaceful. If your mind is peaceful, you will be free from worries and mental anxiety, and so you will experience true happiness, which is essential to longevity.

Ultimate Meditations is a complete meditation kit with 5 pre-recorded guide meditations to prepare you ready for meditation. It teaches you everything you need to know about meditations, such as which type of meditation is most effective for you.

 

Heart Health Is Longevity Health

Heart disease or cardiovascular disease is the leading health problem in the Western world claiming more than one million lives annually. Heart disease is a threat to longevity health.

A heart attack occurs when your heart muscle experiences a severe or prolonged lack of oxygen caused by blocked blood flow to the heart muscle. The blockage is often a result of a buildup of cholesterol and other fatty substances, which obstruct the flow of blood and oxygen to your heart, thus reducing the flow to the rest of your body.

If the blood and oxygen supply is cut off severely or for a long period, the muscle cells of your heart may suffer damage and even die, the result of which is dysfunction of the muscles of your heart in the area affected by the lack of oxygen supply.

Western medicine often employs invasive procedures to treat the symptoms of heart disease. For example, every year in the United States, surgeons perform 1.2 million angioplasties, during which a cardiologist uses tiny balloons and implanted wire cages known as stents to unclog arteries.

However, according to the most recent report from Journal of the American Medical Association, at least 12,000 Americans die each year from unnecessary surgery, and tens of thousands more suffer complications as a result.

Dr. William Boden of the University of Buffalo School of Medicine,Buffalo,New York, and author of the study, pointed out that angioplasty did not appear to prevent heart attacks or save lives among non-emergency heart subjects.

Conventional Western medicine offers no miracle cures. Healing the heart has to be wholesome because it is the “residence” of the body, the mind, and the spirit. Therefore, medicines play only a minor role, if any, in the cure of heart disease. Modern Western medicine addresses only the symptoms, not the causes, of heart disease.

On the other hand, the Oriental approach to heart diseased is very different from that of Western medicine. Most importantly, the Oriental way does not use invasive procedures such as surgery, which is a trauma in which the body responds with major blood loss and swelling, and all manner of nerve and pain signals that can plague the patient for months, if not years.

According to Chinese philosophy, heaven and earth merge to make a human being, and the place where they merge is in the heart, which is the “center” of the human body, hence the importance of the heart. The Oriental treatment of heart disease is mainly through diet and acupuncture to unblock “qi” (the internal life energy).

Disturbances in the heart affect your whole body. The movement of blood throughout your body (circulation) is managed by multiple organs, which in turn interact with one another. A failure in any one part of this system can result in pathology. In Chinese medicine, the continual and smooth flow of “qi” and blood is critical to heart health.

If there is a circulation issue, all the organ systems in your body will be deprived of the nourishment supplied by your blood. Your heart has a dramatic effect on everything else in your body: it affects your overall longevity health.

The force that keeps life going is “qi” (internal vital energy), which is determined by the balance of “yin” and “yang.” Poor diet, stress, and lack of exercise can cause your “yin” and “yang” to become out of balance, thereby disrupting the flow of “qi.” One symptom is “thick” blood, which is the root cause of heart disease.

Severe stagnation in “qi” and in the blood may produce internal heat, which goes into your blood and steams your body, drying out your blood vessels as well as raising your blood pressure.

In Chinese medicine, the basic cause of chest pain is obstruction of the circulation of “qi” and blood. Chest pain may be due to either deficiency or excess patterns of “yin” and “yang.”

To avoid unsafe surgery, consider other alternatives to the invasive procedures of Western medicine. How To Prevent Or Even Reverse Heart Disease - Without Drugs Or Surgery is about preventing and reversing heart disease without drugs or invasive procedures. Robert D. Willix Jr., who has been a surgeon for 30 years, has pioneered preventive medicine and natural cures instrumental in preventing and reversing heart disease, without surgery or drugs. Some of his groundbreaking findings include: raising cholesterol level can protect the heart; and taking an aspirin a day can increase the risk for heart attack, among others. Robert D. Willix Jr. also reveals the “secrets” that the mainstream medicine and big pharmaceutical companies would not like you to know. This book is very interesting and informative on the subject of heart disease.

More on Oriental approach to healing next time.

Stephen Lau

http://www.longevityforyou.com

Weight Control And Aging

Weight control is anti-aging. You don’t find overweight centenarians, do you?  So, to look healthier and younger, you need to lose weight, or at least control it.

Most recently, ALLI, the first FDA-approved over-the-counter weight-loss drug, was launched, creating a sensation in the media, aided by a multimillion advertising campaign to promote this miracle drug that would stave consumers off their craving for food.

If an individual were overweight, all sorts of health problems would set in. Obesity is the culprit of most degenerative diseases. So weight control puts you in better shape, not only in appearance but also in health. Indeed, weight loss is a multi-billion dollar industry because everybody wants to look healthier and younger.

Unfortunately, ALLI is no magic bullet. “This isn’t a pill, it’s a plan,” says Pat Barid, a registered dietitian and consultant for the drug manufacturer. Apparently, the drug is efficacious in guiding and preparing you to lose weight gradually by eating smaller portions, following a reduced-calorie, low-fat diet, and becoming more physically active. If that is the scenario, then why do you need to take the drug? A drug is still a drug because it is a chemical – you don’t want to take it unless you absolutely must.

Ah, but you want to lose weight. – and you also know that losing weight is difficult, if not impossible.

Like most consumers, you may begin to become obsessed with numbers – such as calories and weight.

Sadly, these numbers mean little as far as your weight is concerned because they always fluctuate. Forget about numbers!

Weight loss or weight control has little to do with numbers; it has everything to do with calories and toxicity.

As far as calories are concerned, to be able to lose weight or manage weight, you need to eat less – or your body must expend more calories than you consume. There are only two scenarios: one, you eat less; the other, you exercise more to offset the extra calories gained from eating more. Any diet to circumvent these is doomed to fail.

The question is: how do you control your food craving? Or, why do you crave for food in the first place? These have to do with your body toxicity. That is to say, you crave for food because your body is toxic; and your body is toxic because you have eaten too much, especially unhealthful food.  So it is a vicious circle.

Over the years, your body has accumulated toxins from the environment, the chemicals in your food, and the pharmaceutical drugs you have taken. To lose weight, you must detoxify your body first. Once you have removed the accumulated toxins from your body, then stopping your food craving may become less difficult.

Intestinal Cleansing is a comprehensive book on how to detoxify your body internally, and how to control your weight permanently.

Detoxification is the first step to weight loss.

Next time, I'll talk about how to stop your food craving.

Stephen Lau

http://www.longevityforyou.com

Acidity and Aging

If your body is acidic, it ages fast. Pharmaceutical drugs and animal proteins are acidic and therefore toxic.

 

Each of your body cells has a different “half-life” of survival; meaning, it constantly dies and replaces itself throughout your whole lifespan.

 

The health of your newly regenerated cells is dependent on the building materials you fed to their previous cells. In other words, if your previous cells were living in a toxic condition, the next-generation cells in your body may become much weaker. So healthy cells regenerate healthy cells, and unhealthy cells beget only inferior and weaker next-generation ones.

 

One of the most important functions of cells is to balance and regulate the acid-and-alkaline level (pH) of your body. Your pH level is the best indicator of the conditions of your health. In fact, some medical experts believe that a balanced and regulated pH level precludes you from any disease.

 

The pH level of your body stands for power of hydrogen. A pH test measures the concentration of hydrogen ions in your body. The more positively charged hydrogen ions are present, the more acidic your body becomes; the fewer hydrogen ions present, the more alkaline your body is.

 

The pH of your blood, tissues and bodily fluids directly affects the state of your cellular health. When your pH levels are in proper balance, you will experience a high level of healthiness and wellness. This is because every metabolic and system function, including digestion, respiration, hormone release, neurotransmitter release and immunity, depends entirely on a balanced and regulated pH level. Hence, acid spells death, while alkali embraces life and longevity; acid is aging, and alkali is anti-aging.

 

When your body is too acidic, your body’s built-in defense mechanism may make different attempts to neutralize the excess. When all these attempts fail, the accumulated acid wastes will then begin to push themselves into different parts of your body, making deposits that will ultimately cause body pain. Are you experiencing regular body aches and pains? If you are, your body may have become too acidic, and hence toxic. Excess acidity may make your tissues and joints more hypersensitive and vulnerable to pain and outside influences. Your body aches and pain may have nothing to do with your age.

 

In addition, over acidity may also deplete the mineral reserves in your body, leading to minerals deficiency, thereby further depriving your body cells of the nutrient components necessary for optimum health and regeneration.

 

Furthermore, excess acid wastes will severely compromise cellular function in your body by shutting off oxygen and nutrient uptake, and disrupting cellular frequency for communication. This may lead to a complete metabolic and system breakdown, manifesting serious health problems in your body. Such overloads often adversely affect your filtration systems and elimination routes (your liver and kidneys), cells, and immune system in your body, leading to disease and even premature death.

 

A balanced diet produces a balanced acid and alkaline level in your body for optimum health. Acid and Alkaline Diet provides useful information on how to alkalize your body to keep your cells young and healthy.

Stephen Lau

http://www.longevityforyou.com