Learn How You Can Eat Your Way to a Calmer Mood and Better Blood Sugar Levels   Stress does not act as a singular force on your body but rather acts like a snowball rolling down a mountain, gradually building in size and speed until it’s virtually impossible to control. As stress builds in your body, it influences everything from your mood and brain function to your heart health and risk of both acute illness and chronic disease, including cancer. When you become stressed your body also secretes cortisol and glucagon, both of which affect your blood sugar levels as well.1 On a metabolic level, when you’re stressed and your body enters “fight or flight” mode, glucose is released in order to give your muscles the energy needed to run and escape whatever is threatening you. In the modern day, there’s a good chance that threat is more mental than physical, however, which means you won’t need that extra energy after all. The end result is that your body must produce more insulin to keep your blood sugar levels in check, and when you’re stressed out, your blood sugar levels will probably stay elevated much longer than they would otherwise, ultimately promoting weight gain and Type 2 diabetes. Blood Sugar Levels Take Six Times Longer to Return to Normal When You’re Stressed In a segment produced for BBC’s “Trust Me, I’m a Doctor” television series, researchers from the U.K.’s Leeds University subjected Dr. Giles Yeo, one of the show’s presenters, to what’s known as the Maastricht Acute Stress Test. First, Yeo was asked to quickly compute math problems in his head, such as subtracting 17 from 2,043. Along with the mental strain, Yeo then put his hand into a tub of ice-cold water, further stressing his body on a physical level. Meanwhile, the researchers had measured Yeo’s blood sugar levels following a meal, both on a nonstressful day and on the day of the stress tests. Although the meal was similar both days, Yeo’s blood sugar patterns were not. On the nonstressful day, Yeo’s blood sugar levels rose after the meal and then returned to normal within 30 minutes — a healthy response. But when he was stressed, his blood sugar levels took six times longer, or a total of three hours, to fall back within the normal range.2 It shows just how easily excess stress can throw your blood sugar out of whack, with detrimental effects on your overall health. The longer your blood sugar stays elevated, the more insulin your body will produce. When your cells become resistant to insulin, glucose (sugar) stays in your blood, raising your blood sugar levels and ultimately leading to the malfunction of leptin signaling. Leptin is a hormone produced by your fat cells. The function of leptin is to tell your brain you have enough fat stored, have eaten enough and to burn calories at a normal rate. Leptin doesn't function only with your metabolism and fat [...]

Why Vitamin K2 Is Important for Your Heart Health Too!   The suspected link between bone health and heart health is nothing new. In their attempts to uncover links between cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis, for example, researchers have looked at several areas, such as biochemical processes, genetic factors and shared risk factors. On a parallel path, other scientists are investigating how certain vitamins and minerals interact and affect the human body, including their impact on your heart. Again and again, the synergistic relationship among vitamin D, vitamin K2, calcium and magnesium, as well as the vital role of probiotics, continues to be highlighted. Given its universal importance, let's take a closer look at the surprising connection between the health of your bones and the health of your heart. A Healthy Gut = Strong Bones: Probiotics Shown to Influence Your Bone Mineral Density A 2018 study published in the Journal of Internal Medicine1 put probiotics — specifically Lactobacillus reuteri ATCC PTA 6475 (L. reuteri 6475) — to the test to evaluate its effects on human bone mineral density. Previously, scientists noted gut health positively influenced bone metabolism in lab mice.2 Seventy women aged 75 to 80 years old with low bone mineral density completed the study. The women received an oral daily dose of 1010 colony‐forming units of L. reuteri 6475 or a placebo. Those receiving the probiotic were found to suffer less bone loss (based on tibia total volumetric bone mineral density) than the placebo group. The study authors stated, "[S]upplementation with L. reuteri 6475 should be further explored as a novel approach to prevent age‐associated bone loss and osteoporosis."3 A Chinese study published in 20174 highlighted the important role healthy gut bacteria plays for women contending with postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMO). The researchers suggested bone loss with respect to PMO is closely associated with the health of your immune system and your gut. They noted:5 "Probiotics prevent bone resorption by restoring intestinal microbial diversity, enhancing the intestinal epithelial barrier and normalizing aberrant host immune responses, as well as facilitating intestinal calcium absorption and the potential production of estrogen-like metabolites … Hence, the intestinal microbiota serves as a key factor in the pathogenesis of PMO and will also serve as a new target in the treatment of PMO." Probiotics Also Linked to Improved Heart Health Researchers at Johns Hopkins University school of medicine suggest your gut bacteria not only influence your immune responses, metabolism and mood, but also your heart health.6 Jennifer Pluznick, Ph.D., assistant professor of physiology at the university, has been involved in a series of animal studies7,8,9 that suggest that during the process of eating metabolized chemicals from your gut bacteria activate receptors in your blood vessels to lower your blood pressure. As such, Pluznick underscores the value of eating both probiotic and prebiotic foods. Yogurt, she notes, is a great example of a probiotic food. Foods high in prebiotics (nondigestible food ingredients that promote the growth of your beneficial gut bacteria) include [...]

Did You Know Sound, Deep Sleep Builds Emotional Resilience?   Among all the factors contributing to poor health and early death, stress is perhaps the most pernicious yet commonly overlooked. While the stress response is a lifesaving biological function, enabling you to fight or flee an attacker, this "lifesaving" reaction ends up doing far more harm than good when triggered by financial worries, fear of public speaking, difficult bosses and traffic jams. The sheer number of stress-inducing situations that face us on a daily basis can make it difficult to turn the stress response off. As a result, you may be marinating in corrosive stress hormones around the clock, and this can have serious consequences, from compounding a weight problem to elevating your blood pressure and raising your risk of a heart attack.1,2 Emotional Resilience Helps Lessen the Impact of Stress Clearly, stress is an inescapable part of life; it's how you address it that will determine whether it will translate into health problems later on. The stress reaction should dissipate as quickly as possible after the perceived danger has passed. The scientific term for this is "resilience" — your ability to rapidly return to normal, physically and emotionally, after a stressful event. As explained by wellness coach Elizabeth Scott, diplomate at the American Institute of Stress and author of "8 Keys to Stress Management:"3 "More resilient people are able to 'roll with the punches' and adapt to adversity without lasting difficulties; less resilient people have a harder time with stress and life changes, both major and minor. It's been found that those who deal with minor stresses more easily can also manage major crises with greater ease, so resilience has its benefits for daily life as well as for the rare major catastrophe." Resilient People Are More Tuned in to Bodily Cues of Stress Some people are naturally more resilient than others, and researchers have long pondered the reasons why. One hypothesis is that people who are more resilient have learned to listen to their body. In one experiment,4 elite adventure athletes and special forces soldiers were placed in a brain scanning machine while wearing a face mask that made it difficult to breathe once the researcher pressed a button. What they discovered was that these people were able to closely monitor the signals from their body indicating rising panic, and suppress their physical response. In other words, they were acutely aware of their biological stress response, but didn't overreact. The same test was later administered on "normal" people, who had first completed a questionnaire to gauge their self-perceived resilience. Those whose scores suggested high resilience had brain activity very similar to the former group — the soldiers and elite athletes. Those with low resilience scores on the other hand, reacted in the converse way. As reported by The New York Times:5 "As their face masks threatened to close, they displayed surprisingly little activity in those portions of the brain that monitor signals from [...]

Add Fiber to Your Diet to Optimize Digestion and ‘Up’ Your Immunity   While many people may find themselves succumbing to the common cold and other respiratory illnesses that are so prevalent in the winter, there are several things you can do (and not do) to help keep yourself in top form. Some may not even seem to be an important part of staying healthy, but they are. When it comes to averting sickness, even while all around you people might be coughing, sneezing and blowing their noses, successfully running the gauntlet of flu season may be simply a matter of keeping your immune system boosted by applying a few key health strategies. Besides going to school and work, times your immune system might be especially compromised include when you travel or are sleep deprived or stressed out. These are times you want to make sure your immune system is at its best. Nutrition may be the most vital component in maintaining — or gaining — a healthy immune system. It makes all the difference in the way your body fights off germs, but just as importantly, plays an important role in more minute functions like helping tissues repair and rebuild themselves and how your body reclaims flagging energy. Foods (and the Nutrients Therein) to Boost Your Immune System Not just vitamins and minerals, but proteins like collagen and free radical-fighting antioxidants can be introduced to your body through the foods you eat, and play vital roles in helping to keep your body functioning at its best. As the Chicago Tribune observes: “Collagen and its amino acids are essential to healing because they build tissues such as skin, muscles, tendons, ligaments, cartilage, blood vessels, bones and more. Antioxidants remove the harmful free radicals from the bloodstream that can impair the immune system, and vitamins and minerals play specialized roles in healing.”1 In the same way that cross training can keep your body fit and toned by working groups of different muscles, eating a variety of foods will target and work toward healing and restoring many different areas of your body, from your brain to your gut to your immune system. Protein found in lean meats, bone broth, fish, eggs, nuts and seeds help your body repair tissue and fight infection. Studies show that amino acids in protein, such as arginine and glutamine, increase your body’s ability to heal and decrease inflammation.2 In addition, the high antioxidant levels in chaga tea may also help boost your immune function. Chaga mushrooms are chockful with antioxidants and Beta-d-Glucans, which are compounds that increase macrophage and killer cell efficiency. Vitamins and Minerals to the Immune System Rescue Eating foods chock-full of vitamins is an excellent way to strengthen your immune system to stay healthy all season: Vitamin A boosts immunity, lowers your risk of infection and supports wound healing through collagen strength. Snack on carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, dark leafy greens, cantaloupe, wild-caught Alaskan salmon, organic pastured eggs and [...]

Do You Know What's Lurking in Your Silver Fillings?   About half of all dentists in the U.S. still use dental amalgam, which consists of 50 percent mercury combined with silver, tin, copper and other trace minerals. Mercury is the most volatile and toxic of the heavy metals, and the vapors released when chewing or brushing pose a clear and present danger to health, especially your brain and kidneys, as mercury is a neuro- and nephrotoxin. It’s also toxic to your reproductive system. Europe is now paving the way for the rest of the world by banning the use of amalgam fillings in pregnant or nursing women and children under the age of 15. The rule takes effect on July 1 this year, and will apply across the entire European Union (EU)1 a— 28 countries in all, with a population totaling more than half a billion people. It took years to get this ban through, but it was well worth it. Millions of European children will never be exposed to dental mercury as a result of this victory. American children, as of yet, are not so lucky. Despite great efforts to get the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to enforce the Minamata Convention rule on mercury, which states that proactive steps must be taken by all signatory countries to phase out the use of dental mercury, the agency continues to encourage the use of amalgam, even in children. Make Mercury-Free a Non-negotiable Requirement Dentists in the U.S. and elsewhere who are foolish enough to use amalgam do so primarily for financial reasons. It’s a quick and easy way to make a profit, and the long-term damage amalgam does to your teeth ensures repeat clientele. Consumers for Dental Choice, which has spent the last two decades advocating for the complete elimination of mercury from dentistry, has helped radically shift the playing field in favor of consumers who want mercury-free dentistry. If you’ve not yet made this switch, please consider doing it now. Don’t let another year go by without locating a qualified mercury-free dentist. Doing so will not only protect your own health; it will also push the entire industry of dentistry closer to the goal where absolutely no one will have to get toxic mercury implanted into their teeth. By refusing to work with dentists who still use this pernicious poison, they will be forced to “get with the times” and go mercury-free, or lose their practice. Insurance companies and government programs will also be forced to update their policies. At present, these third-party payers continue to promote amalgam use, and pose a major barrier to mercury-free dentistry in North America. This simply must come to an end, and consumer refusal of amalgam may be the quickest way to incite this change. Check Your Insurance Policy Did you know that, in the U.S., you’re actually more likely to receive mercury amalgam if you have dental insurance than if you’re uninsured? The reason for this [...]