Personal "Energy Crisis?

Are You Having a Personal "Energy Crisis?"

What do you think is the most pressing health problem facing Americans today?

Cancer? Diabetes? Heart disease?

Those are certainly serious problems - but there's another health crisis that's being caused by the unprecedented stressbombarding us every single day and night

We're sleeping less and worrying more.

It's absolutely true.

Americans are so stressed-out...and all this stress is creating an epidemic of fatigue that's sapping their energy, stamina, and optimism.

America's other "energy crisis"

As a result, millions of adults are slogging through the day, feeling tired and worn-out -- half-awake and chronically exhausted.

To give you an idea of how widespread this problem is, sales of caffeinated energy drinks will top $9 billion this year! This is a product category that didn't even exist in 2002!

But caffeine just makes the problem worse!

That's because the underlying problem is that our adrenal glands have hit "burnout" due to the relentless stress we're under.

Consuming these energy drinks is like flogging an exhausted oarsman to make him row harder. "That's the real danger," according to Dr. Alan Pressman, "because this can cause a serious breakdown in the body's protective immunes system. That's the beginning of real health problems."

See Dr. Pressman's fascinating explanation here »

Other ways we're coping:

Even more troubling are the unhealthy ways people are coping with this barrage of stress-induced fatigue.

They're eating more to calm themselves (mostly fattening carbohydrate "comfort foods") ... drinking more alcohol and using recreational drugs ... turning to tobacco for stress-relief ... and gulping tranquilizers, painkillers, and sleeping pills in record numbers.

Of course, none of these can solve the "adrenal crisis" that's at the heart of the problem.

A new natural solution that does...

"When the adrenal glands are burned-out, the only solution is a ‘re-charge,'" as Dr. Pressman says, "like when you car battery is too weak to start the engine."

"Usually, the most effective remedy is a two-week vacation in the mountains or at the beach," he continued. "But few people take the time for that - so I came up with a solution that's the next best thing."

Written by Dr. Jonny Bowden

The war on Cancer by Dr. Mercola

Winning the War Against Cancer Begins with Your Personal Choices

You can do a lot, right now, to significantly decrease your cancer risk. Even the conservative American Cancer Society states that one-third of cancer deaths are linked to poor diet, physical inactivity, and carrying excess weight. So making the following healthy lifestyle changes can go a very long way toward ending the failure-streak and becoming one less statistic in this war against cancer:

1. Normalize your vitamin D levels with safe amounts of sun exposure. This works primarily by optimizing your vitamin D level. Ideally, monitor your vitamin D levels throughout the year.
2. Control your insulin levels by limiting your intake of processed foods and sugars/fructose as much as possible.
3. Get appropriate amounts of animal-based omega-3 fats.
4. Get appropriate exercise. One of the primary reasons exercise works is that it drives your insulin levels down. Controlling insulin levels is one of the most powerful ways to reduce your cancer risks.
5. Eat according to your nutritional type. The potent anti-cancer effects of this principle are very much underappreciated. When we treat cancer patients in our clinic this is one of the most powerful anti-cancer strategies we have.
6. Have a tool to permanently erase the neurological short-circuiting that can activate cancer genes. Even the CDC states that 85 percent of disease is caused by emotions. It is likely that this factor may be more important than all the other physical ones listed here, so make sure this is addressed. My particular favorite tool for this purpose, as you may know, is the Emotional Freedom Technique.
7. Only 25 percent of people eat enough vegetables, so by all means eat as many vegetables as you are comfortable with. Ideally, they should be fresh and organic. Cruciferous vegetables in particular have been identified as having potent anti-cancer properties. Remember that carb nutritional types may need up to 300 percent more vegetables than protein nutritional types.
8. Maintain an ideal body weight.
9. Get enough high-quality sleep.
10. Reduce your exposure to environmental toxins like pesticides, household chemical cleaners, synthetic air fresheners and air pollution.
11. Reduce your use of cell phones and other wireless technologies, and implement as many safety strategies as possible if/when you cannot avoid their use.
12. Boil, poach or steam your foods, rather than frying or charbroiling them.

The New Year

Its the new year, there is lots of talk of resolutions. Many people will make a resolution to concentrate on their health and many of my clients ask me, is it important to detox? In a word, Yes. Our bodies detoxify naturally with about 10% of that process occurring through the skin in conjunction with organs such as the liver, and kidneys. If one of those organs is stressed, you’ll get even less. We live in an environment with many chemicals in our homes, and in the air we breathe, we eat processed foods, and use microwave ovens, not to mention daily use of cell phones, TV's, radio’s and computers, we don't exercise as much as we should and we have increased levels of stress... This increased toxic load on our bodies means we absorb more than we can naturally get rid of, which may lead to increased rates of diseases like cancer or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

On our summer vacations, we typically eat well, drink more water, sit in sauna-like heat of 30 or 40 degrees, swim in ocean water heat to bath-like temperatures, and take cold showers that couldn’t be cold enough just to cool down. These are all really good ways to detoxify naturally – but we can’t be on vacation all the time!

Here are six ways to detoxify at home:

• Drink warm or hot water with lemon first thing in the morning, before anything else. This will wake up your body and the lemon gently flushes toxins out of your body. As an added bonus this helps keep your blood at an alkaline PH; an acidic body is more likely to get sick.
• Foot Pads - these pads have an adhesive backing that you stick to your feet. They encourage self-healing by promoting improved circulation of the blood and lymphatic system and absorb the excess toxins the body throws off. You can also stick these pads on any area of the body where you have pain or a rash, e.g. on the back, at the lungs for a cough, on the legs for itchiness.
• Hydrotherapy - Contrasting showers promotes detoxification and strengthens the immune system by increasing the white blood cells. Start with 3-5 minutes of hot water followed by less than a minute of cold water. Repeat at least once, finishing with cold.
• Salt Baths - soak in a tub to which you’ve added sea salt. Add one cup of sea salt to your bath and grab a book to read. Salts contain minerals and trace elements that are beneficial to our health
• Skin Brushing - stimulates the lymphatic system and white blood cells migrate to the skin, as well as increasing blood circulation. Use gloves or natural bristle brushes, start with the feet and work your way up the body, always brushing towards the heart.
• Exercise with yoga, jumping rope or qi gong.

Here are three more ways to help your body detoxify outside the home.

• Lymphatic Drainage Massage – the lymphatic system is responsible for cleansing soft tissue just under the skin. It’s a network of vessels that carry toxins to your lymph nodes which then break down and purify waste. Some signs that it is overworked are cellulite, puffiness and, mostly, dark circles under the eyes. This type of massage stimulates the lymphatic system to allow it to more effectively do its job.
• Foot Baths - An ionizer sits in a footbath with your feet; acting as a conductor it pulls neutralized particles (toxins, heavy metals, etc) out of your body.
  
• Infrared Sauna - Also called Heat Stress Detoxifaction - there are many powerful reasons to have an infrared sauna. When you sweat, your body eliminates toxins; this is a profound method of eliminating environmental chemicals that are stored in fat cells. Start out for only 15 minutes at 150 degrees. Regular use contributes to as much as a 75% reduction of harmful toxins.

Lymphatic Drainage

Each day the food that we eat and the air that we breathe causes a build up of toxins inside the body, causing many of us to feel tired, lethargic and unhealthy. Many health experts believe the toxins we take in are a primary cause of many health illnesses, pains and disease. Taking this into account, many people are making detoxing part of our regular routines. Detox treatments cleanse your body thereby helping prevent many of our current societal or cultural medical issues such as obesity, diabetes and even cancer. One detox treatment that I thoroughly believe in is Lymphatic Drainage Massage. This is a technique used to help increase lymph flow.

The Lymphatic system is the body's cleaner; it plays a critical role in helping our body keep healthy and prevent disease. We have lymph nodes all over our body and they work to move toxins through to the areas where there is a concentration of nodes such as the arm pit. The system moves in only one direction and is increased through movement. If there is not enough movement, even walking, the toxins become stagnant in the body. When this happens, we can become sick. Signs that you need Lymphatic drainage massage are frequent colds, joint pain, headaches, arthritis, loss of appetite, unexplainable fatigue, depression and even cellulite.

Postmenopausal Women Study

FYI In a study of 28,586 postmenopausal women, ages 50 to 76 years, researchers observed a 46% decrease in breast cancer risk among women reporting very frequent (more than 3 bowel movements per day) than those reporting 1 bowel movement per day.

Vitamin B5

Pantothenic acid helps turn carbohydrates and fats into usable energy and improves your ability to respond to stress by supporting your adrenal glands. Fatigue, listlessness, numbness and tingling or burning pain in the feet are all indications that you may need more vitamin B5 in your diet.

Calcium

People are always talking about getting enough Calcium but did you know that an excessive amount of poor quality protein promotes calcium loss. Yes really. Get your calcium sources from seed butter, arugula, kale, collards, seaweed, canned salmon. You can also get it from supplements. If you're already taking them, have a look at the ingredient list and look at the form for Calcium. It is not being maximally absorbed if it is Calcium Gluconate, Carbonate, Dolomite, Phosphate or most common, Calcium Citrate. Calcium Asparginate is a great form of Calcium.