THE GREATEST MEDICINE OF ALL IS TEACHING PEOPLE HOW NOT TO NEED IT
Eggs Help Prevent Diabetes
For decades, mainstream media has demonized foods like eggs
and meats, claiming they cause all sorts of metabolic diseases. The truth is, they were wrong all along, and
the science has consistently shown that in recent years (although
pasture-raised is the most important choice for max health benefits).
But let's take a look at something even more specific in
today's blog...the relationship between eggs and diabetes...
A study performed at The University of Eastern Finland, and
published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition studied the diets of
men aged 42 to 60, and followed them for 20 years on average to find out if
they developed Diabetes. The study
concluded that people who ate an average of 4 eggs per week had a 37% lower
risk of developing type 2 Diabetes compared to people that only ate 1 egg per
week (Hmm, I wonder how much lower the Diabetes risk would have been for people
eating 10-20 eggs per week!)...
They also concluded that egg eaters had lower blood sugar
levels on average. As a health follower,
this doesn't surprise me at all.. eggs are almost a perfect food (especially if
they're pasture-raised), and are loaded with appetite-controlling protein, a
plethora of vitamins & minerals, powerful antioxidants, healthy cholesterol
and saturated fats (yes, HEALTHY fats!), and other nutrients that all help to
benefit your hormones and control blood sugar levels.
In fact, other studies have shown that people that eat eggs
for breakfast (instead of carb-based breakfasts like cereals, muffins, or
bagels), have reduced appetite levels for the remainder of the day, and less
cravings for sugar and carbs, thereby successfully losing or maintaining weight
easier.
Why 80% of Us Are Deficient In Magnesium
Written By: Dr. Mark Sircus
Magnesium deficiency is often misdiagnosed because it does
not show up in blood tests - only 1% of the body's magnesium is stored in the
blood
Most doctors and laboratories don't even include magnesium
status in routine blood tests. Thus, most doctors don't know when their
patients are deficient in magnesium, even though studies show that the majority
of Americans are deficient in magnesium.
Consider Dr. Norman Shealy's statements, "Every known illness is associated with
a magnesium deficiency" and that, "magnesium is the most critical
mineral required for electrical stability of every cell in the body. A
magnesium deficiency may be responsible for more diseases than any other
nutrient."
The truth he states exposes a gaping hole in modern medicine
that explains a good deal about iatrogenic death and disease. Because magnesium
deficiency is largely overlooked, millions of Americans suffer needlessly or
are having their symptoms treated with expensive drugs when they could be cured
with magnesium supplementation.
Few people are aware of the enormous role magnesium plays in
our bodies. Magnesium is by far the most important mineral in the body. After
oxygen, water, and basic food, magnesium may be the most important element
needed by our bodies; vitally important, yet hardly known. It is more important
than calcium, potassium or sodium and regulates all three of them. Millions
suffer daily from magnesium deficiency without even knowing it.
In fact, there happens to be a relationship between what we
perceive as thirst and deficiencies in electrolytes. I remember a person
asking, "Why am I dehydrated and thirsty when I drink so much water?"
Thirst can mean not only lack of water but it can also mean that one is not
getting enough nutrients and electrolytes. Magnesium, Potassium, Bicarbonate,
Chloride and Sodium are some principle examples and that is one of the reasons
magnesium chloride is so useful.
Symptoms of Magnesium Deficiency
The first symptoms of deficiency can be subtle - as most
magnesium is stored in the tissues, leg cramps, foot pain, or muscle 'twitches'
can be the first sign. Other early signs of deficiency include loss of
appetite, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and weakness. As magnesium deficiency
worsens, numbness, tingling, seizures, personality changes, abnormal heart
rhythms, and coronary spasms can occur.
A full outline of magnesium deficiency was beautifully
presented in a recent article by Dr. Sidney Baker. "Magnesium deficiency can affect virtually every organ system of
the body. With regard to skeletal muscle, one may experience twitches, cramps,
muscle tension, muscle soreness, including back aches, neck pain, tension
headaches and jaw joint (or TMJ) dysfunction. Also, one may experience chest
tightness or a peculiar sensation that he can't take a deep breath. Sometimes a
person may sigh a lot."
"Symptoms
involving impaired contraction of smooth muscles include constipation; urinary
spasms; menstrual cramps; difficulty swallowing or a lump in the
throat-especially provoked by eating sugar; photophobia, especially difficulty
adjusting to oncoming bright headlights in the absence of eye disease; and loud
noise sensitivity from stapedius muscle tension in the ear."
Magnesium deficiency is synonymous with diabetes and is at
the root of many if not all cardiovascular problems.
Magnesium deficiency is a predictor of diabetes and heart
disease both. Diabetics both need more magnesium and lose more magnesium than
most people. In two new studies, in both men and women, those who consumed the
most magnesium in their diet were least likely to develop type 2 diabetes,
according to a report in the January 2006 issue of the journal Diabetes Care.
Until now, very few large studies have directly examined the long-term effects
of dietary magnesium on diabetes. Dr. Simin Liu of the Harvard Medical School
and School of Public Health in Boston says, "Our
studies provided some direct evidence that greater intake of dietary magnesium
may have a long-term protective effect on lowering risk," said Liu,
who was involved in both studies.
The thirst of diabetes is part of the body's response to
excessive urination. The excessive urination is the body's attempt to get rid
of the extra glucose in the blood. This excessive urination causes the
increased thirst. But we have to look at what is causing this level of
disharmony. We have to probe deeper into layers of cause. The body needs to
dump glucose because of increasing insulin resistance and that resistance is
being fueled directly by magnesium deficiency, which makes toxic insults more
damaging to the tissues at the same time.
Autism and Magnesium Deficiency
When dealing with autism spectrum and other neurological
disorders in children it is important to know the signs of low magnesium:
restless, can't keep still, body rocking, grinding teeth, hiccups, noise
sensitive, poor attention span, poor concentration, irritable, aggressive,
ready to explode, easily stressed. When it comes to children today we need to
assume a large magnesium deficiency for several reasons.
- The foods they are eating are stripped of magnesium because foods in general, as we shall see below are declining in mineral content in an alarming way.
- The foods many children eat are highly processed junk foods that do not provide real nutrition to the body.
- Because most children on the spectrum are not absorbing the minerals they need even when present in the gut. Magnesium absorption is dependent on intestinal health, which is compromised totally in leaky gut syndromes and other intestinal problems that the majority of autism syndrome disorders.
- Because the oral supplements doctors rely on are not easily absorbed, because they are not in the right form and because magnesium in general is not administered easily orally.
My Comment:
Supplementing your diet with a magnesium supplement is a very good
idea. The best way is to use a calcium/magnesium supplement because these two
nutrients work in tandem together. The best supplement available is called
Min-Tran by Standard Process. It can be hard to find as they are only sold to
doctors. You can sometimes find it online or have your chiropractor order it
for you. Min-Tran is the only supplement I have found that uses Calcium Lactate. Calcium Lactate is the only form that your body does not have to convert before it can utilize it. Almost all calcium supplements available use cheaper non-bioavailable forms that do not work well in your body and cause more problems than they solve. If you need help locating a source to buy any Standard Process product just let me know and I will connect you with a local provider.
5 Most Powerful Health Benefits of Ginger
Written By: GreenMedInfo Research Group
Our modern world is a difficult place to maintain a
healthful balance. Ginger is, hands down, one of the most broadly therapeutic
and familiar plant allies available to us to prevent and even reverse a wide
range of ailments, with the science supporting its safety and efficacy one of
the most robust.
Ginger root (Zingiber officinale) is a powerful medicinal
herb that has been used for centuries to keep mankind in balance. Rich in
bioactive terpenes, ginger belongs to the same powerhouse plant family,
Zingiberaceae, as turmeric and cardamom. Ginger became prized by herbalists
around the world during the days of the early spice trade, when it was first
exported from India and Southern Asia into Europe. Traditional Chinese Medicine
(TCM) and Ayurveda consider ginger to be warming to the system, thus
stimulating to the “digestive fire.” Traditional uses reflect this
understanding of ginger’s powerful healing properties: it’s known for relieving
nausea, aiding digestion, soothing cramps, and improving circulation. Ginger
also possesses potent detoxifying properties, stimulating elimination via bowel
release and perspiration.
If the benefits of ginger stopped there, it would be a
miracle plant food worthy of daily consumption. But modern science has not only
validated ginger’s traditional uses, it has put ginger into an elite
“superfood” category where the lines between food and medicine become blurred.
Sure, ginger can keep your tummy happily humming along. But did you know it may
also help prevent you from falling prey to some of the worst health conditions
plaguing people today?
A Remedy for What Ails You
With nearly 3,000 years of documented use and almost as many
scientific abstracts on ginger’s effectiveness, it can be difficult to narrow
down ginger’s five most powerful health benefits. One approach is to
cross-reference ginger’s healing properties with the worst disease threats in
our world today. The World Health Organization, whose stated mission is to
combat diseases around the world, publishes annual statistics on the top ten
causes of death, worldwide. In 2017, there are five diseases on the list for
which ginger has been shown to provide significant benefit:
Heart disease
Stroke
Lung cancer
Diabetes
Diarrheal diseases
Let’s examine the most impactful scientific research that
has been conducted on ginger in recent years, to see how ginger can be applied
therapeutically and proactively to ward-off and treat disease.
Heart Disease
Ginger helps the heart in a myriad of ways. Studies have
verified ginger’s potent ability to lower blood pressure, also referred to as
cardiodepressant activity. Researchers have identified ginger’s “significant
intrinsic activity on smooth muscle” of the heart, which was observed by
researchers exploring ginger’s traditional uses for cardiopathy, high blood
pressure, palpitations. and as a vasodilator to improve circulation. An
eye-opening 2016 animal study demonstrated the powerful cardioprotective
properties of ginger as it relates to damage already done to the heart, in this
case by diabetes. Researchers unequivocally concluded that “ginger extract
significantly reduces heart structural abnormalities in diabetic rats.”
A 2017 cross-sectional study titled, Evaluation of daily
ginger consumption for the prevention of chronic diseases in adults, examined
whether daily ginger consumption - as well as how much ginger - impacted the
symptoms of chronic diseases like hypertension and coronary heart disease, or
CHD. Results showed that daily ginger consumption was associated with decreased
risk for hypertension and CHD, with the probability for both illnesses
decreasing when the amount of daily ginger intake increased. A September 2017
scientific review examined ginger and several other therapeutic herbs and
spices for evidence of antioxidant activity, and Impact on human health. Ginger
and garlic were determined to have “extensively therapeutic
effects...especially for cardiovascular diseases.” Ginger’s anti-carcinogenic
properties were also noted in this study.
Stroke
Described as a “brain attack,” cerebral apoplexy, otherwise
known as stroke, occurs when one or more areas of the brain are damaged due to
oxygen deprivation. The fifth-leading cause of death in the United States,
ginger’s usefulness for stroke lies in its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory
properties. In 2006, a human study was conducted on eighty-two adults suffering
stroke-induced brain damage which brought on urination disorders due to flaccid
or spastic bladder. Moxibustion treatment, a type of heat therapy where
materials are warmed and placed on or near the skin, using ginger and salt was
applied to the treatment group five times each week. After three weeks,
numerous factors improved for the treatment group which were not observed in
the control group, including less frequent urination, less urgency to urinate,
and decreased incontinence. Researchers concluded that “ginger-salt-partitioned
moxibustion is a safe and effective therapy for urination disorders post-stroke.”
A study released in October 2016 examined one of the active
constituents of ginger known as 6-Shogaol, an isolate known to have potent
anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Oxidative stress and inflammation
are closely associated with restricted blood supply, a primary factor of
stroke, and can eventually result in brain cell death. Conversely, substances
that are antioxidant and reduce inflammation are potentially therapeutic for
disorders of the brain and central nervous system. This study’s aim was to
evaluate if daily, oral doses of 6-shogaol exerts neuroprotective activity in
mice. After seven days, researchers observed that mice fed 6-shogaol
demonstrated “significantly reduced neurological deficit scores” as well as a
reduced “mean infarct area,” indicating a return of healthy blood flow to the
brain. Improved behavioral deficits were also observed, and inflammatory
markers in the brain were reduced. Researchers concluded that 6-shogaol can
improve outcomes of stroke-induced brain damage, and has demonstrated benefit
as a potential preventative of stroke.
Cancer
With over 420 PubMed abstracts on ginger’s usefulness for
cancer, science has clearly corroborated the chemoprotective properties of this
amazing herbal medicine. Some of the most promising studies include an October
2015 study exploring the potential to synthesize effective anticancer drugs
from ginger’s active constituents. Once again, the anti-inflammatory and
antioxidant actions of 6-shogaol were highlighted as presenting “a promising
opportunity to identify novel anticancer compounds originating from ginger.” Another landmark study on ginger’s potential
benefits for cancer sufferers found that ginger is 10,000 times stronger than
the chemotherapy drug Taxol. This study determined that 6-shogaol was more
effective than chemo at targeting the root cause of breast cancer malignancy,
namely, the stem cells or “mother cells” that are responsible for spawning
“daughter cells” that make-up the tumor colony. The contrast in ginger’s effectiveness
as compared to Taxol was staggering. Per the researchers: "Taxol...did not show activity against the [cancer cells] even at
10,000-fold higher concentration compared to 6-shogaol."
6-shogaol isn’t the only bioactive constituent in ginger
that cancer researchers are excited about. 6-Gingerol has also been reported to
exert antitumor activities. A 2014 study of 6-gingerol and its effect on cancer
cells, found that it was extensively metabolized by both human and animal
cancer cells, where it had a cytotoxic effect, inhibiting cancer cell growth,
and contributing to the death of cells. Further studies confirm that while these
active elements in ginger are toxic to cancer cells, they have no negative
effect on healthy cells, a far superior effect than toxic chemotherapy drugs. Multiple studies on ginger’s antiemetic
properties have found that ginger provides further therapeutic benefit to
cancer patients by helping to ease the nausea often associated with traditional
cancer treatments.
Diabetes
A great amount of focus has been paid to ginger’s ability to
normalize digestive processes, such as soothing nausea and stimulating
digestive fluids. With half-a-billion people at risk for Type-2 diabetes, a
less well-known but vitally important superpower is ginger’s ability to
regulate cholesterol and blood sugar. A 2014 study on glycemic status, lipids,
and inflammatory markers examined seventy, Type-2 diabetes patients, with half
the group consuming 1600 mg ginger versus placebo group. Results showed that ginger significantly
reduced fasting plasma glucose, insulin, triglycerides, and total cholesterol,
as compared with placebo group, and can be considered as an effective treatment
for prevention of complications from diabetes. Another 2014 study sought to
identify the effect of ginger supplementation on insulin resistance and
glycemic indices in diabetes mellitus. In a randomized, double-blind,
placebo-controlled trial in which 88 diabetic participants were randomly
assigned into ginger and placebo groups, powdered ginger was given three times
per day in 1-gram capsules for eight weeks. The dramatic results showed that
fasting blood sugar mean average of the ginger group decreased 10.5%, whereas
the mean blood sugar of placebo group had an increase of 21%.
Numerous studies support ginger’s anti-diabetic and
lipid-lowering properties, including the seven studies on our database
providing proof of its efficacy. Ginger delivers added benefits in the
prevention and treatment of diabetes. Studies like this one in 2012 show that
regular consumption of dietary ginger helps protect against and improve
systemic diabetic complications. Ginger imparts a beneficial effect on the
kidneys, an organ that is frequently damaged as a side-effect of uncontrolled
diabetes. Researchers noted that a function of diabetes is to “disturb
homeostasis of metabolic enzymes” regulated by the kidneys. This study
demonstrated that extract of ginger could lower blood glucose levels, as well
as improve activities of mitochondrial enzymes in diabetic rats, thus providing
nephro-protective (kidney-protective) properties that have the potential to
reverse diabetic-induced complications.
Diarrheal Diseases
Diarrhea is typically an infection in the intestinal tract
that causes three or more loose stools per day. Diarrheal diseases can be
caused by a variety of bacterial, viral, and parasitic organisms, and are the
second-leading cause of death in children under five. If a positive aspect of this disease can be
found, it’s that it is entirely preventable, and also highly treatable. Ginger
is an exceptional herbal medicinal for the prevention and treatment of all
types of diarrheal diseases.
Food poisoning is one of the most common causes of diarrhea,
and bacterial contamination from fish and shellfish is one of the easiest ways
to get food poisoning. An October 2016 study isolated several bacterial strains
common to fish and shellfish, and tested the efficacy of treatment with
essential oil extracted from Zingiber officinale rhizomes. Researchers found
that only a small amount of essential oil was needed to inhibit the growth of
the selected bacteria, and that ginger oil “can be used as a good natural
preservative in fish food due to antioxidant and antibacterial activities.”
In diarrheal diseases, the bacteria itself is not what poses
the threat to human life, but rather the toxins that are released by the
bacteria’s metabolic processes. Zingerone, another potent compound in ginger,
binds to these toxins so that they cannot interact with the gut, effectively
preventing diarrhea and its associated risks. Ginger can also come to the
rescue when other drugs are introduced to the system. In 2016, researchers
wanted a way to ameliorate the nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting that accompanied
treatment with an anti-tuberculosis drug. Results showed that ginger had a
soothing effect on these symptoms, and could be an effective adjutant when
pharmaceutical drugs are not well-tolerated.
Diarrheal diseases are extremely common in areas of the
world plagued by contaminated drinking water. Bangladesh is one such area, and
local researchers wanted to find out if certain traditional spices possessed
antibacterial and antimicrobial properties. Samples of drug-resistant Escherichia
coli were isolated from the drinking water, and tested against isolates of lime
juice, garlic, ginger, onion, coriander, and black pepper. While none of these
isolates alone had a significant inhibitory effect, a combination of lime,
garlic, and ginger suppressed all bacteria samples. Researchers concluded that
these isolates might form an effective barrier against enteric pathogens and
could be used for prevention of diarrheal diseases.
While ginger is very safe, there are a few contraindications
to be aware of. Rare cases of allergic
reaction have been noted, and it can interact with many drugs, including heart
medications, blood thinners, and diabetes medications. Ask your doctor or
consult a naturopath if you would like to add ginger to your health regimen and
are taking any of these medications.
The ameliorative potential of ginger is explored in depth in
GreenMedInfo’s 145-pg research paper. There are over 2100 published studies on
the medicinal properties of ginger in the scientific literature, and the
Greenmedinfo.com database contains evidence of ginger’s value in over 170
different health conditions, with more than 50 beneficial physiological
effects.
Until next time, stay healthy and happy
JD Roma
The information on this blog is provided for educational
purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical care, and
medical advice and services are not being offered. If you have, or suspect you
have, a health problem you should consult your physician (preferably a
Naturopath).
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