Calcium may lower mortality risk for women

Taking a calcium supplement of up to 1,000 milligrams per day can help women live longer, according to a Canadian study.

Although calcium is an essential nutrient for bone health, past studies have linked calcium supplements to heart disease risk, according to background information in the study, which is scheduled for publication in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Researchers analyzing data from the large-scale Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study sought to clarify this issue and found moderate doses of calcium supplements had a beneficial effect in women, although there was no statistical benefit for men. The researchers also found no conclusive evidence that vitamin D had an impact on mortality.

"Our study found daily use of calcium supplements was associated with a lower risk of death among women," the study’s senior author, David Goltzman, MD, of McGill University in Montreal, said in a news release. "The benefit was seen for women who took doses of up to 1,000 mg per day, regardless of whether the supplement contained vitamin D."

The longitudinal cohort study monitored the health of 9,033 Canadians between 1995 and 2007. During that period, 1,160 participants died. Women who took up to 1,000 mg per day of calcium had a 22% lower risk of dying compared with women who did not take calcium supplements.

"Higher amounts of calcium were potentially linked to longer lifespans in women, regardless of the source of the calcium," Goltzman said. "That is, the same benefits were seen when the calcium came from dairy foods, non-dairy foods or supplements."

The study fails to consider the quality of the calcium supplement. 1000mg of calcium carbonate is the same as 1000mg of limestone, the body doesn't assimilate it. It's like eating chalk. Is that really all that good for the body?

A good coral calcium that is harvested and processed without exposure to air is easily digested by the body. The other nutrients that are available also makes a difference. Calcium needs to be kept in balance with potassium and magnesium for ultimate use by the body.

Two excellent sources for your protein needs are Enriching Gifts Coral Coral Life and Enzyme Research Products Calcium, Magnesium and Potassium.

Breast Cancer

There has been a lot of talk lately about breast cancer. Angelina Jolie found out she had a genetic marker for breast cancer and announced to the world that she had both breast surgically removed to prevent her from getting breast cancer. If you don’t have breasts they can’t become cancerous. They also cannot feed a child nor do anything else they were intended to do. But has this really protected her from cancer, or just moved to another part of the body where she might not be as vigilant in watching?

You need to look at the cause of cancer. If you look to the media for information you will think that cancer is just bad luck or genetics, but that isn’t the truth. Cancer is a toxicity disease. Every time our cells encounter toxicity there is the possibility of mutation. Our immune system is designed to seek out and destroy those mutations. We get what we call cancer when there are more mutations than our immune system can destroy.

If you think of your genetic makeup as a piece of cloth there are weak and strong points in the cloth. The BRCA1 gene simply told Angelina that her breast tissue is one of her weak points. Her solution is to cut that portion out of the cloth. Now that cloth has a hole in it. The toxins are not going to happily slip through that hole and out of her body. They are going to accumulate in another part of the body.

Think about it. You live on the side of a hill in a beautiful house, with a swimming pool. One day raw sewage starts flowing down the hill and into your beautiful swimming pool. Do you simply get rid of the pool? Does that solve your problem? No, the sewage is going to simply start stacking up somewhere else. Any reasonable person is going to climb the hill and find out where the sewage is coming from. Then they are going to do everything they can to stop the sewage and to clean up what is already on their property.

We need to be a good property owner of our bodies. We need to look for sources of sewage in our lives and stop them. Where do we pick up sewage? It comes in many forms during our normal lifestyle. Eating foods that are genetically modified or covered in pesticides creates sewage. Eating food that is filled with hormones and antibiotics creates sewage. Eating and drinking from plastic containers creates sewage. Using chemicals on our hair, skin or nails creates sewage. Drinking chlorinated and fluoridated water creates sewage. Breathing polluted air, or smoking creates sewage. Living a stressful life creates sewage.

As you can see it is very difficult to avoid the sewage. Are we then simply doomed to have cancer? Many people believe we are. Others have found that if you give your body the tools that it needs it can clean up the sewage before it can do any damage. Think of a parade. If the pooper scooper is right behind the horse troupe, and if they are doing a good job, then none of the people marching behind the horses need to step in any poop. Our pooper scoopers come in several forms. They are called nutrients. Recent studies have shown that with the right nutrition we can keep our bodies clean.

One of these nutrients is known as Omega 3 fatty acids. When people hear that term they think of fish oil. Some people swear by a form known as krill oil. A krill is a tiny fish that lives in arctic waters. 

But, there are other ways to get your Omega 3’s. Flax seed is a plant source of Omega 3’s. Recent studies show that flax seeds can reduce breast cancer cells by 28%. This is after you have developed cancer! If we simply include some flax seeds in our daily living we have a good chance of avoiding the cancer in the first place. But, fish and flax are not the only sources of Omega 3’s. They have been found in meat and dairy. Organically grown meat and dairy have high rates of Omega 3’s instead of the Omega 6 fatty acids found in commercially grown meat and dairy.

B Vitamins have been shown to lower your risk of breast cancer. Part of this is due to their anti-inflammatory properties. They are also considered antioxidants.  B vitamins are found in leafy green vegetables and citrus fruits. Just make sure they are organic, and then they will have more of the good stuff, without the bad stuff.

Exercise is showing to be as important as nutrition in the prevention, and even in surviving cancer.  When it comes to women and breast cancer it is felt that exercise lowers the estrogen levels. Too much estrogen has had a strong link to cancer in numerous studies. Things that raise estrogen levels are soy products and plastics.

If you have not lived a clean life you will probably want to think about detoxifying your body. The Gerson Group has had wonderful success in treating cancer through an intensive program of detoxification and nutrition. There are numerous websites and books that can walk you through their system of colon hydrotherapy and coffee enemas that they link with specific juicing protocols.

What doesn’t work in preventing breast cancer is mammography. The concept of mammography is to locate the cancer early, but it doesn’t really work that way. Numerous women have had intensive treatment for cancer that they found out later wasn’t really there. In other cases the doctor’s realized the cancer had never been there, but didn’t tell the women. That isn’t the worst part. The radiation absorbed into the breast tissue actually causes cancer! If you are an ‘at risk’ woman who is told to start mammography early in life and are diligent to have it yearly you are almost certain to develop breast cancer. You are causing it with the radiation they are telling you will prevent it. Thermography does a better job of finding the cancer, without the risks.

The key to being cancer free is detoxification and fortification. You can think of it as cleaning up the sewage that has already come down the hill, and stopping any more from coming. In that way your body’s defenses can patrol the area and keep it clean of any additional sewage.

Sources:

http://www.naturalnews.com/039545_cancer_prevention_men.html

http://www.naturalnews.com/039779_mammograms_breast_cancer_prevention.html

You Have Diabetes? Now What?

If you find yourself confused and uncertain about the best health choices now that you have diabetes, let me share some strategies and tips that can help.

Prescriptions drugs are available to help with all of these, but the more you can do with safe and natural solutions, the better off you'll be.

Type-2 diabetes is the result of genetics to some degree. But lifestyle choices also contribute to its development and progression in a big way. Eating a diet high in processed foods, sugary snacks, and low-fiber carbohydrates can contribute to the onset of diabetes and make your condition worse.

Carbohydrates, especially simple sugars and starches, spike your blood sugar levels. Your body responds by producing insulin to move the excess glucose from your blood into your cells where it can be burned as energy. The development of insulin resistance isn't well understood, but once it takes hold, your blood sugar and blood insulin level become chronically high, and that puts you on the path to diabetes.

The first step in controlling your blood sugar levels is to eat a smarter diet. First, cut out processed carbohydrates except on special occasions. White bread, white rice, baked goods, and sugary drinks can spike your glucose levels. Foods high in fiber – even carbohydrates – tend to help control your blood sugar levels. 

Whole grains, beans, nuts, and seeds are all excellent options. In studies, people who eat more fiber on a regular basis are less likely to develop diabetes because of better blood sugar control. Fruits and vegetables are also an important part of a healthy diet, but seem to have less effect on blood sugar management. Build your meals around whole grains, lean proteins like fish, vegetables, and healthy fats like olive oil. This is the best approach to eating for blood sugar control and overall health.

For optimum blood sugar control, what you eat is important, but so is when you eat it. You want to give your body steady nutrition throughout the day, including plenty of slow-burn carbohydrates to keep your blood sugar even. Plan your meal times and snack times, and try to eat at the same times each day. Also have roughly the same serving sizes of carbohydrates day over day. For example, a bowl of old-fashioned oatmeal has 27 grams of carbs.

The older many people get, the greater tendency there is to seek pleasure and avoid getting outside their comfort zone. Resist this at all costs by embracing anabolic stress. Working with weights and stressing your body with rigorous exercise is the best thing you can do to just say no to premature old age.

No magic pills. At least thirty minutes a day of exercise, whether it's walking, cardio, interval training, or weight training, can go a long way to helping you become more fit and to lose weight if you need to. It also helps manage your blood sugar. When you exercise, your body burns stores of glycogen. When you burn off glycogen, it allows your body to use glucose more efficiently.

The third step is to try natural supplements that have proven to have a positive effect on blood sugar, insulin levels, and overall metabolism. Some supplements to consider include:

• Chromium: Improves the action of insulin in your body and may help with blood sugar management. Take up to 1000 micrograms a day.
  
  
• Cinnamon: A quarter teaspoon of cinnamon each day helps to lower blood sugar.
  
  
• Alpha Lipoic Acid: Reduces insulin resistance and also protects your nerves and cells from damage caused by high blood sugar and insulin. Take 600 grams a day.
  
  
• Magnesium: Lowers insulin resistance and helps protect you against complications like eye problems. Men should take 420 milligrams per day. Women should take 320 mg daily.

The great thing about eating, exercising and taking supplements to control your blood sugar is that these steps also help to control your cholesterol levels, protect your heart from disease, and lower your blood pressure. A diet rich in fiber, lean protein, and healthy fats is an effective way to control cholesterol levels. And regular exercise can help you maintain healthy blood pressure levels. No medication your doctor can prescribe offer this many benefits.

But there are some additional steps you can take to protect yourself even further:

1. Add in a fish oil supplement. The omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil can support good heart health and lower your triglyceride levels.
   
   
2. Try a ginseng supplement. In small studies, ginseng has helped to lower LDL cholesterol and raise HDL cholesterol levels significantly. More research is still needed, but initial results are promising.

Living with type-2 diabetes is serious business. But it's very manageable if you take charge. By making a commitment to eat right, exercise and take supplements to help control your blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure levels, you'll make strides toward maintaining good health and preventing the devastating complications diabetes can cause.