BUTTER ME UP

Clients and friends alike often look at me with a skeptical, skideways glare when I tell them how much fat I eat - and how I encourage them to do the same. Don't be afraid of fat! This is just one of many articles explaining how fat got a bad rap.

By Paul John Scott

Right before the end of the school year, it finally occurred to me to ask my fourth-grader if she ever drank chocolate milk at school. It turns out she did every day. Her whole table drinks it, she told me at the time — it’s one big chocolate-milk party over there. She’s a good kid and wants to please her parents, so I told her to please, sweet darling, knock it off. I have my doubts. We try to pack her lunch, but since it’s hard to stock small cartons of the whole milk she ravishes at home, we don’t have a lot of control over what she drinks in the cafeteria during the school year. Those options are squarely in the hands of the USDA.

Uncle Sam is a very bad uncle when it comes to milk. Minneapolis schools may have ended the practice, but chocolate milk makes up 70 percent of the milk consumed in schools, according to a new report by food activist Michele Simon, and it is even offered right here in Rochester — Healthtown, USA. Thanks to the irreducible relationship linking the U.S. Department of Agriculture with food producers, there are schools in the United States hanging Orwellian posters like “Chocolate Milk Has Muscle” and “Raise Your Hands for Chocolate Milk.” In a way, it’s hard to argue with the kids. Their alternatives are the deeply unsatisfying skim and the equally nondelicious 1 percent. Still, if you believe sugar is on par with tobacco as a primary factor behind the poor health in our time — and if you haven’t, go see the documentary “Fed Up” — you have to ask: How did this happen?

It all happened because of the good intentions of an expert, a Minnesotan whose counterproductive influence on our well-being is becoming increasingly apparent. Besides a fatalistic appeal based on its calcium, chocolate milk in schools is defended on the premise that it is low in fat. Those last three words are proving to be the great delusion of our times. As “The Big Fat Surprise,” an unflinching new book by the journalist Nina Teicholz, makes clear, by allowing a Minnesotan-led clique of experts to set our dietary policy against saturated fat 50 years ago, we placed ourselves on a path to becoming fatter and sicker than ever.

We embraced the erroneous low-fat paradigm because a University of Minnesota-based expert named Ancel Keys had a gut feeling that saturated fat caused heart disease; collected carefully chosen data from dietary practices in Greece and Italy to back up his hunch, then brushed off all contrary evidence. Keys quickly developed alliances at the American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health, on Capitol Hill and at the USDA — with the help of an eager and unquestioning health press much like that of today. (Time magazine placed him on its cover, and this was back when people still read Time magazine.) In a less-known Minnesota connection to the tale, Teicholz describes how the largest-ever trial of the Keys hypothesis was conducted here in the 1960s. Most doctors do not know about the 9,000-patient Minnesota Coronary Survey, however, and that’s because it failed to find that cutting saturated fat reduced the risk of heart disease — whereupon the author kept the results to himself for 16 years. This is how science is treated in the dietary policy world: as publicity to be either promoted or suppressed depending upon what it finds.

Popular books on diet are often padded with recipes and platitudes, but Teicholz’s parsing of the force that was Keys and the fad science he set in motion is a substantive, decade-in-the-making work of synthesis and argument, a book that is cultural in its questions and that has drilled deep into the poor data used to justify the way we have been told to eat — ideas that are currently messing up my daughter’s lunchroom. Simply out of institutional atonement, “Big Fat Surprise” should become mandatory reading in every science class on the sprawling University of Minnesota campus. The book opens with a strange curiosity: The Inuit tossed the tenderloin of caribou they ate to their dogs. During the period they were studied at the turn of the century, the native people of the Arctic got 70 percent to 80 percent of their calories from fat, a meal plan that included no plants. According to Keys theory, the Inuit should have had hearts like ICU patients, but by 1951 a German doctor who studied the population would find no signs of cancer, diabetes, heart disease or hypertension. In a separate example, the Maasai warriors of Kenya ate only blood, meat and milk during a period in which they were studied in the early 1960s, yet had no heart disease or high cholesterol.

“On the surface, these stories from the Arctic and Africa … seem paradoxical, given what we think we know about animal fats and heart attack risk,” writes Teicholz, a carnivore who recently took a cholesterol profile for “Nightline” and learned that her numbers are better than when she was eating low-fat foods back in the 1990s. “Good health and high consumption of animal fats should be mutually exclusive.” According to the Keys logic, “dietary fat caused cholesterol to rise, which would eventually harden arteries and lead to a heart attack,” as she writes. “It turns out every step in this chain of events has failed to be substantiated.”

Gary Taubes reported large portions of this still surprising material in his 2007 book “Good Calories, Bad Calories,” but Teicholz describes the human story of how bad science became federal policy, especially concerning the question of heart disease. She also may have picked a better moment for the good news about bacon: A recent essay in the journal BMJ argued that “Saturated Fat is Not the Major Issue,” and a sprawling meta-analysis published in the Annals of Internal Medicine recently found no evidence of harm caused by eating saturated fats. The idea that Keys cherrypicked his data has been documented elsewhere, but Teicholz supplies the deed with a banquet of human detail.

When she asks a Keys contemporary why the biologist did not study diet and heart disease in butter-consuming France or cheese-eating Switzerland, she learns how “Keys just had a personal aversion to being in France and Switzerland.” She relays how good weather very likely influenced his choice of which diet to highlight — that his spirits lifted upon leaving behind the cold weather and rationed food where he had been teaching in Oxford, England. We learn how Keys ate steaks, chops and roasts three times a week while advocating a diet limited to 7 percent saturated fat. We learn how he conducted his research on the Mediterranean diet during an era of hardship following World War II, much of it during the meat-sparing season of Lent. And that he threw out the results he didn’t like from more than 600 questionnaires, leaving just 33 Cretans and another 34 men from Corfu as the basis for our entire dietary reversal.

Less-rigid dietary experts will often counter that butter in moderation may be fine, but that the “Mediterranean diet” is still preferable. “All things in moderation” is the great hiding place for those faced with discordant findings in dietary science, and the phrase is in heavy play these days. It might surprise the moderation-minded to read in “Big Fat Surprise” that olive oil gained its current fame thanks to a lot of gracious industry-sponsored press junkets; that it is less healthful for your good cholesterol than steak or whole milk, and that the Mediterranean diet may be neither Mediterranean nor demonstrably superior in terms of heart health.

Moreover, by shunning animal fats (undeservedly) and trans fats (deservedly), the changes of the past five decades have led us into uncharted waters. Lard was healthy for frying, but now food companies that are worried about the stigma of mandatory saturated-fat levels on food labels are cooking with seed and vegetable oils that oxidize at high heat, easily turn rancid and leave solids inside of fryers that require special industrial cleaning techniques. “The case against saturated fat has collapsed,” Teicholz writes, and late enough in the book to offer the brazen advice that follows: “Eat butter; drink milk whole, and feed it to the whole family. Stock up on creamy cheeses, offal, and sausage and yes, bacon. None of these foods have been demonstrated to cause obesity, diabetes or heart disease.”

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In case the low-fat craze has had you in it's grips and some of the bad fats have snuck in - fear not! According to this article from GreenMedInfo.com it's possible to prevent, reduce, and in some cases even reverse damage to arteries with the foods listed below.

Statistically, atherosclerosis (the progressive clogging of the arteries) is the #1 killer on the planet.  A complex process, involving autoimmunity, infection, dietary incompatibilities, and many known and unknown factors, it is – despite conventional medical opinion – entirely preventable, and in some cases reversible.

Here is the peer-reviewed, published research proving the fact:

• B Vitamins – yes, something as simple as adding a source of B-complex to your regimen can prevent the juggernaut of heart disease from taking your life prematurely. A doubled-blind, randomized study, published in 2005, in the journal Atherosclerosis found that a simple intervention using 2.5 mg folic acid, 25 mg Vitamin B6, and 0.5mg Vitamin B12 for 1 year, resulted in significant reductions in arterial thickness (as measured by intima media thickeness).[1] Even niacin[2]-[3]or folic acid[4]-[5] alone has been show to have this effect in patients. [Note: Always opt for natural sources of the B-group vitamins, including probiotic supplementation (which produce the entire complement for you), or a whole food extract, versus synthetic or semi-synthetic vitamins which, sadly, predominate on the market today].
• Garlic – as we have documented extensively previously, garlic can save your life. It has been found to regress plaque buildup in the arteries, among many other potentially life-saving health benefits.[6]
• Pomegranate – this super healing fruit has been found to regress plaque buildup in the arteries,[7]-[8] as well as being demonstrated to provide dozens of validated health benefits, including replacing the function of the mammalian ovary!
• Fermented Cabbage – Kimchi, a Korean recipe, which includes fermented cabbage, hot pepper, and various other ingredients, including fermented fish, appears to stall the atherosclerotic process in the animal model.[9] Additionally, strains of good bacteria in kimchi have been found capable ofdegrading toxic chemicals that can additional bodily harm.
• L-Arginine: This amino acid is capable of preventing arterial thickening – up to 24% reduction! -- in the animal model.[10]-[11]We have done an extensive literature review on arginine supplementation and have found that in over 30 studies demonstrating this fact addition to 150 known health benefits, it is capable of addressing the underlying dysfunction associated with cardiovascular disease: endothelial dysfunction, with no less than 20 studies proving this fact.
• Turmeric (curcumin): the primary polyphenol in the Indian spice turmeric known as curcumin has been found to be an excellent cardioprotective, with over 30 studies demonstrating this fact. One study found that curcumin prevented damage to the arteries associated with blockage (neointima formation).[12]
• Sesame Seed: probably one of the most underappreciated super foods on the planet, sesame seed, which we have shown is as effective as Tylenol for arthritic pain, may be an excellent cardioprotective substance, ideally suited for preventing the progression of atherosclerosis. One animal study found it was capable of preventing atherosclerosis lesion formation.[13]

This is a small sample of evidence-based natural interventions for cardiovascular disease prevention and/or regression. We have a much larger set of studies on over 200 natural substances capable of reducing the risk of heart attack and related heart disease related conditions.

Remember, heart disease is not a natural process, that we must accept as inevitable based on family history of an outdated gene-based model of human disease risk. Our daily decisions, especially regarding what we decide we are going to eat or do not eat, are first and foremost. We can use food as medicine, sloughing off the pharmaceutical industry meme that we need statins to stave off the 'inevitable.' Take back control of your health with nutrition, and realize that food is the only medicine that will both nourish us and heal our bodies in a way that will produce lasting health.

FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH

Here is yet another reason to peel your tukis off the couch and go get your sweat on. According to this article from the New York Times (below), the cruelty inflicted on our once-taught skin solely by the passage of time can actually be reversed with a regular exercise regimen. 

"Exercise not only appears to keep skin younger, it may also even reverse skin aging in people who start exercising late in life, according to surprising new research.

As many of us know from woeful experience, our skin changes as the years advance, resulting in wrinkles, crow’s feet and sagging. This occurs because of changes within our layers of skin. After about age 40, most of us begin to experience a thickening of our stratum corneum, the final, protective, outer layer of the epidermis, itself the top layer of your skin. The stratum corneum is the portion of the skin that you see and feel. Composed mostly of dead skin cells and some collagen, it gets drier, flakier and denser with age.

At the same time, the layer of skin beneath the epidermis, the dermis, begins to thin. It loses cells and elasticity, giving the skin a more translucent and often saggier appearance.

These changes are independent of any skin damage from the sun. They are solely the result of the passage of time.

But recently, researchers at McMaster University in Ontario began to wonder if such alterations were inevitable. Earlier studies at McMaster involving mice that were bred to age prematurely had shown that a steady regimen of exercise could stave off or even undo the signs of early aging in these animals. When members of this breed of mice remained sedentary, they rapidly grew wizened, frail, ill, demented, and graying or bald. But if they were given access to running wheels, they maintained healthy brains, hearts, muscles, reproductive organs, and fur far longer than their sedentary labmates. Their fur never even turned gray.

Of course, we humans long ago swapped our fur for naked skin. But if exercise could keep animals’ outer layer from changing with age, it might, the researchers speculated, do the same for our skin.

To test that possibility, the scientists first gathered 29 local male and female volunteers ages 20 to 84. About half of the participants were active, performing at least three hours of moderate or vigorous physical activity every week, while the others were resolutely sedentary, exercising for less than an hour per week. Then the researchers asked each volunteer to uncover a buttock.

“We wanted to examine skin that had not been frequently exposed to the sun,” said Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky, a professor of pediatrics and exercise science at McMaster who oversaw the study, which was presented this month at the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine annual meeting in New Orleans.

The scientists biopsied skin samples from each volunteer and examined them microscopically. When compared strictly by age, the skin samples overall aligned with what would be expected. Older volunteers generally had thicker outer layers of skin and significantly thinner inner layers.

But those results shifted noticeably when the researchers further subdivided their samples by exercise habits. They found that after age 40, the men and women who exercised frequently had markedly thinner, healthier stratum corneums and thicker dermis layers in their skin. Their skin was much closer in composition to that of the 20- and 30-year-olds than to that of others of their age, even if they were past age 65.

But as the researchers realized, other factors, including diet, genes and lifestyles, might have influenced the differences in skin condition between the exercising and sedentary groups. It was impossible to know whether exercise by itself had affected people’s skin or been incidental to lucky genetics and healthy lives.

So the researchers next set a group of sedentary volunteers to exercising, after first obtaining skin samples from their buttocks. The volunteers were aged at 65 or older and, at the study’s start, had normal skin for their age. They began a fairly straightforward endurance training program, working out twice a week by jogging or cycling at a moderately strenuous pace, equivalent to at least 65 percent of their maximum aerobic capacity for 30 minutes. This continued for three months. At the end of that time, the researchers again biopsied the volunteers’ skin.

But now the samples looked quite different, with outer and inner layers that looked very similar to those of 20- to 40-year-olds. “I don’t want to over-hype the results, but, really, it was pretty remarkable to see,” said Dr. Tarnopolsky, himself a middle-aged exerciser. Under a microscope, the volunteers’ skin “looked like that of a much younger person, and all that they had done differently was exercise.”

How exercise changes skin composition is not completely clear, but in a separate portion of the study, the researchers checked for alterations in the levels of certain substances created by working muscles. Called myokines, these substances are known to enter the bloodstream and jump-start changes in cells far from the muscles themselves. In this case, the scientists found greatly augmented levels of a myokine called IL-15 in the skin samples of volunteers after exercise. Their skin samples contained almost 50 percent more IL-15 after they had been exercising than at the start of the study.

The researchers suspect that additional myokines and substances are also involved in the skin changes related to exercise, Dr. Tarnopolsky said, making it unlikely that any IL-15 pill, salve or injection will ever replicate the skin benefits of a workout.

Nor is there evidence that exercise reverses wrinkling and other damage from the sun, some of which many of us accumulate during outdoor exercise. Still, Dr. Tarnopolsky said, “it is astonishing to consider all of the intricate ways in which exercise changes our bodies” —including the skin beneath our shorts."

TOP 12 IMMUNE SYSTEM ASSASSINS

This list of the top 12 gnarliest immune system-wreckers might surprise you. Check out this article or have a perusal below. If it doesn't shock you, it will at least keep you on your toes (which happens to be one of my favorite places). 

1. Roundup Weed Killer

Immune System Assassin: In a major review published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, cancer researchers found a strong connection between Roundup and lymphoma. Used in many yards and farm fields to kill weeds,"excessive" levels of Roundup is also now detected in a popular U.S. food ingredient.

Researchers believe the chemical, once believed to be nontoxic, is mutating white blood cells, sending the body's immune system into a diseased state. 

Immunity Boost: Eat organic whenever possible. GMO seeds are designed to withstand heavy sprayings of glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup. That type of chemical assault is banned in organic agriculture. To steer clear of other toxic pesticides, avoid nonorganic produce on the 2014 "Dirty Dozen" list.

2. Microwavable Popcorn

Immune System Assassin: Microwavable popcorn bags are commonly coated in nonstick chemicals called perflurorinated compounds (PFCs) so grease doesn't penetrate the bag. A recent study inEnvironmental Health found levels the government considers "safe" are 100 to 1,000 times too high for children. These chemicals have been shown to mess up your immune system; vaccines given to people with higher levels of PFCs in their bodies were much less effective.

Immunity Boost: Make popcorn on the stovetop or use this microwave popcorn trick. These same chemicals hide out in many stain-repellent carpets and furniture treatments and greaseproof fast-food containers and wraps, so be sure to cut down on these exposures, too.

3. Pots and Pans

Immune System Assassin: Some of the same nonstick chemicals added to popcorn bags also hide out in many nonstick pots and pans. A recent study published in Environmental Health Perspectives found women with higher levels of hormone-disrupting perfluorinated compounds like perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) in their blood were more likely to have the autoimmune disease osteoarthritis.

Immunity Boost: Don't panic if you have nonstick pans, but when you start noticing scratches and chips, replace them with glass, made-in-the-USA cast iron, or stainless steel to avoid nonstick chemicals.

4. Loneliness 

Immune System Assassin: Your immune cells are social, and they want you to be, too. T cells scan your body for disease and then share information like honeybees, according to a recent scientific breakthrough. But if you're not so social, it could impact your ability to fight disease. Ohio State researchers recently found worrying about close relationships acts like a chronic stressor that suppresses your immunity. Previous research found we're more likely to get sick--and die earlier--when we have fewer social connections.

Immunity Boost: If you just can't seem to click with new people, try volunteering where you'll find generous and grateful folk, such as at a soup kitchen. You're not necessarily looking to make new friends there--though it's great if you do. But you may find it easier to lower your guard in an atmosphere of altruism and gratitude.

5. Lack of Sleep  

Immune System Assassin: Slacking in the sleep department can lower the number of killer cells your body needs to wipe out infections. A University of Chicago study found that sleeping just four hours a night for a week cut the number of flu-fighting antibodies in study participants' systems in half. 

Immunity Boost: Stay away from looking at screens for at least two hours before going to bed. The light from electronics' screens can trick your brain from easing into sleep mode. Aim for seven to nine hours of uninterrupted sleep. 

6. Antibiotics

Immune System Assassin: Taking antibiotics can slash your levels of cytokines, the hormonal messengers your immune system relies on during sickness.

Immunity Boost: Cold and flu and most middle ear and sinus infections are caused by viruses, so taking antibiotics will do nothing for your ailment and will wipe out immune-supporting bacteria in your gut. Find out when you actually need antibiotics, here. When you are on antibiotics, be sure to take doses on time and finish the entire course. Eat low-sugar yogurt and fermented foods to repopulate your gut flora.

7. Canned Food 

Immune System Assassin: Bisphenol A, or BPA, coats the inside lining of most canned foods. In 2010, University of Michigan School of Public Health researchers found that adults with higher levels of BPA also had higher cytomegalovirus antibody levels, suggesting that their cell-mediated immune system is malfunctioning.

Immunity Boost: To avoid BPA, opt for fresh or frozen foods, versus canned, or reach for soups and broths in Tetra Pak boxes.

8. Sugar 

Immune System Assassin: Eating 100 grams of sugar (think a bottle of soda, fruit yogurt, and a candy bar) significantly lowered the ability of white blood cells to kill bacteria for up to five hours, according to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Immunity Boost: Avoid foods with added sugar as much as possible, especially during cold and flu season. It's in obvious places, such as juices, sodas, and desserts, but significant amounts also hide out in many low-fat yogurts, bread, condiments, and salad dressings.

9. Dehydration 

Immune System Assassin: Fluids help flush your body of immune-damaging toxins and carry nutrients to any infection sites. Little-known fact? Many of us walk around mildly dehydrated most of the time without even knowing it.

Immunity Boost: If your pee is dark yellow in the morning, drink more water before bed--you're aiming for pale yellow for a visible sign of proper hydration. 

10. Antibacterial Soap

Immune System Assassin: Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center found children exposed to antibacterial chemicals are prone to food and environmental allergies. Children with higher levels of antibacterials in their urine experienced higher IgE blood antibody levels. High antibody counts signal a response to an allergen; the researchers believe the antibacterial chemicals alter healthy immune system development.

Immunity Boost: Children with more triclosan, a popular antibacterial soap chemical, in their blood high the highest allergy risk. Washing with regular soap and water works just as well, without the added risks. 

11. Air Pollution 

Immune System Assassin: Cutting-edge research is unearthing a connection between air pollution--specifically polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)--and damaged immune systems. PAHs pour from exhaust pipes and flake off of driveways, playgrounds, and parking lots treated with coal-tar sealant.

Immunity Boost: Check local pollution levels and avoid exercising outdoors on high pollution days. Push for a coal-tar sealant ban in your city, state, or municipality to reduce PAH exposure from blacktop surfaces. (Safer alternatives without coal tar are readily available at most hardware stores.)

12. Insecticides 

Immune System Assassin: Using toxic insecticides to kill household and lawn pests could increase your risk of developing an autoimmune disease, according to data recently presented at an American College of Rheumatology meeting. Women who sprayed insecticides at least six times a year were about 2½ times more likely to develop lupus or rheumatoid arthritis. Those who hired a professional lawn service to apply insecticides to their yard had a two times greater risk.

Immunity Boost: Use nontoxic pest control measures and use these organic lawn-care tips to keep your house pest free without chemicals. Plant native plants in your garden to attract beneficial insects that prey on pests, too.

MIND OVER... EVERYTHING

The mind is a terrible thing to waste - and for good reason. More and more studies are reporting powerful links between our brains and our bodies. The following excerpt from Nothing: Surprising Insights Everywhere from Zero to Oblivion in Discover Magazine talks about these potentially healing connections.

1. Better believe it

“I talk to my pills,” says Dan Moerman, an anthropologist at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. “I say, ‘Hey guys, I know you’re going to do a terrific job.’”

That might sound eccentric, but based on what we’ve learned about the placebo effect, there is good reason to think that talking to your pills really can make them do a terrific job. The way we think and feel about medical treatments can dramatically influence how our bodies respond.

Simply believing that a treatment will work may trigger the desired effect even if the treatment is inert—a sugar pill, say, or a saline injection. For a wide range of conditions, from depression to Parkinson’s, osteoarthritis and multiple sclerosis, it is clear that the placebo response is far from imaginary. Trials have shown measurable changes such as the release of natural painkillers, altered neuronal firing patterns, lowered blood pressure or heart rate and boosted immune response, all depending on the beliefs of the patient.

It has always been assumed that the placebo effect only works if people are conned into believing that they are getting an actual active drug. But now it seems this may not be true. Belief in the placebo effect itself—rather than a particular drug—might be enough to encourage our bodies to heal.

In a recent study, Ted Kaptchuk of Harvard Medical School in Boston and his colleagues gave people with irritable bowel syndrome an inert pill. They told them that the pills were “made of an inert substance, like sugar pills, that have been shown in clinical studies to produce significant improvement in IBS symptoms through mind-body self-healing processes,” which is perfectly true. Despite knowing the pills were inert, on average the volunteers rated their symptoms as moderately improved after taking them, whereas those given no pills said there was only a slight change.

“Everybody thought it wouldn’t happen,” says the study’s co-author Irving Kirsch, a psychologist at the University of Hull. He thinks that the key was giving patients something to believe in. “We didn’t just say ‘here’s a sugar pill.’ We explained to the patients why it should work, in a way that was convincing to them.”

As well as having implications for the medical profession, the study raises the possibility that we could all use the placebo effect to convince ourselves that sucking on a sweet or downing a glass of water, for example, will banish a headache, clear up a skin condition or boost the effectiveness of any drugs that we take. “Our study suggests that might indeed help,” says Kirsch. While Moerman talks to his pills, Kirsch recommends visualizing the desired improvement and telling yourself that something is going to get better.

2. Think positive

“Everything’s going to be fine.” Go on, try to convince yourself, because realism can be bad for your health. Optimists recover better from medical procedures such as coronary bypass surgery, have healthier immune systems and live longer, both in general and when suffering from conditions such as cancer, heart disease and kidney failure.

It is well accepted that negative thoughts and anxiety can make us ill. Stress—the belief that we are at risk—triggers physiological pathways such as the “fight-or-flight” response, mediated by the sympathetic nervous system. These have evolved to protect us from danger, but if switched on long-term they increase the risk of conditions such as diabetes and dementia.

What researchers are now realizing is that positive beliefs don’t just work by quelling stress. They have a positive effect too—feeling safe and secure, or believing things will turn out fine, seems to help the body maintain and repair itself. A recent analysis of various studies concluded that the health benefits of such positive thinking happen independently of the harm caused by negative states such as pessimism or stress, and are roughly comparable in magnitude.

Optimism seems to reduce stress-induced inflammation and levels of stress hormones such as cortisol. It may also reduce susceptibility to disease by dampening sympathetic nervous system activity and stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system. The latter governs what’s called the “rest-and-digest” response—the opposite of fight-or-flight.

Just as helpful as taking a rosy view of the future is having a rosy view of yourself. High “self-enhancers”—people who see themselves in a more positive light than others see them—have lower cardiovascular responses to stress and recover faster, as well as lower baseline cortisol levels.

Some people are just born optimists. But whatever your natural disposition, you can train yourself to think more positively, and it seems that the more stressed or pessimistic you are to begin with, the better it will work.

David Creswell from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and his colleagues asked students facing exams to write short essays on times when they had displayed qualities that were important to them, such as creativity or independence. The aim was to boost their sense of self-worth. Compared with a control group, students who “self-affirmed” in this way had lower levels of adrenaline and other fight-or-flight hormones in their urine at the time of their exam. The effect was greatest in those who started off most worried about their exam results.

3. Trust people

Your attitude toward other people can have a big effect on your health. Being lonely increases the risk of everything from heart attacks to dementia, depression and death, whereas people who are satisfied with their social lives sleep better, age more slowly and respond better to vaccines. The effect is so strong that curing loneliness is as good for your health as giving up smoking, according to John Cacioppo of the University of Chicago, Illinois, who has spent his career studying the effects of social isolation.

“It’s probably the single most powerful behavioral finding in the world,” agrees Charles Raison of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, who studies mind–body interactions. “People who have rich social lives and warm, open relationships don’t get sick and they live longer.” This is partly because people who are lonely often don’t look after themselves well, but Cacioppo says there are direct physiological mechanisms too—related to, but not identical to, the effects of stress.

In 2011, Cacioppo reported that in lonely people, genes involved in cortisol signaling and the inflammatory response were up-regulated, and that immune cells important in fighting bacteria were more active, too. He suggests that our bodies may have evolved so that in situations of perceived social isolation, they trigger branches of the immune system involved in wound healing and bacterial infection. An isolated person would be at greater risk of physical trauma, whereas being in a group might favor the immune responses necessary for fighting viruses, which spread easily between people in close contact.

Crucially, these differences relate most strongly to how lonely people think they are, rather than to the actual size of their social network. That also makes sense from an evolutionary point of view, says Cacioppo, because being among hostile strangers can be just as dangerous as being alone. So ending loneliness is not about spending more time with people. Cacioppo thinks it is all about our attitude to others: lonely people become overly sensitive to social threats and come to see others as potentially dangerous. In a review of previous studies, published in 2010, he found that tackling this attitude reduced loneliness more effectively than giving people more opportunities for interaction, or teaching social skills.

If you feel satisfied with your social life, whether you have one or two close friends or quite a few, there is nothing to worry about. “But if you’re sitting there feeling threatened by others and as if you’re alone in the world, that’s probably a reason to take steps,” Cacioppo says.

4. Meditate

Monks have been meditating on mountaintops for millennia, hoping to gain spiritual enlightenment. Their efforts have probably enhanced their physical health, too.

Trials looking at the effects of meditation have mostly been small, but they have suggested a range of benefits. There is some evidence that meditation boosts the immune response in vaccine recipients and people with cancer, protects against a relapse in major depression, soothes skin conditions and even slows the progression of HIV.

Meditation might even slow the aging process. Telomeres, the protective caps on the ends of chromosomes, get shorter every time a cell divides and so play a role in aging. Clifford Saron of the Center for Mind and Brain at the University of California, Davis, and colleagues showed in 2011 that levels of an enzyme that builds up telomeres were higher in people who attended a threemonth meditation retreat than in a control group.

As with social interaction, meditation probably works largely by influencing stress response pathways. People who meditate have lower cortisol levels, and one study showed they have changes in their amygdala, a brain area involved in fear and the response to threat.

One of the co-authors of Saron’s study, Elissa Epel, a psychiatrist at the University of California, San Francisco, believes that meditation may also boost “pathways of restoration and health enhancement,” perhaps by triggering a release of growth and sex hormones.

If you don’t have time for a three-month retreat, don’t worry. Imaging studies show that meditation can cause structural changes in the brain after as little as 11 hours of training. Epel suggests fitting in short “mini-meditations” throughout the day, taking a few minutes at your desk to focus on your breathing, for example: “Little moments here and there all matter.”

5. Hypnotize yourself

Hypnotherapy has struggled for scientific acceptance ever since Franz Mesmer claimed in the 18th century that he could cure all manner of ills with what he termed “animal magnetism.” “The whole field is plagued by people who don’t feel research is necessary,” says Peter Whorwell of the University of Manchester.

Whorwell has spent much of his professional life building a body of evidence for the use of hypnosis to treat just one condition: irritable bowel syndrome. IBS is considered a “functional” disorder—a rather derogatory term used when a patient suffers symptoms but doctors can’t see anything wrong. Whorwell felt that his patients, some of whom had such severe symptoms they were suicidal, were being let down by the medical profession. “I got into hypnosis because the conventional treatment of these conditions is abysmal.”

Whorwell gives patients a brief tutorial on how the gut functions, then gets them to use visual or tactile sensations—the feeling of warmth, for example—to imagine their bowel working normally. It seems to work—IBS is the only condition for which hypnosis is recommended by the UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. Despite this, Whorwell still has trouble convincing doctors to prescribe it. “We’ve produced a lot of incontrovertible research,” he says. “Yet people are still loath to agree to it.”

Part of the problem is that it isn’t clear exactly how hypnosis works. What is clear is that when hypnotized, people can influence parts of their body in novel ways. Whorwell has shown that under hypnosis, some IBS patients can reduce the contractions of their bowel, something not normally under conscious control. Their bowel lining also becomes less sensitive to pain.

Hypnosis probably taps into physiological pathways similar to those involved in the placebo effect, says Kirsch. For one thing, the medical conditions that the two can improve are similar, and both are underpinned by suggestion and expectation—in other words, believing in a particular outcome. The downside is that some people do not respond as strongly to hypnosis as others.

Most clinical trials involving hypnosis are small, largely because of a lack of funding, but they suggest that hypnosis may help pain management, anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, obesity, asthma and skin conditions such as psoriasis and warts. Finding a good hypnotherapist can be tricky, as the profession is not regulated, but hypnotizing yourself seems to work just as well. “Self-hypnosis is the most important part,” says Whorwell.

6. Know your purpose

In a study of 50 people with advanced lung cancer, those judged by their doctors to have high “spiritual faith” responded better to chemotherapy and survived longer. More than 40 percent were still alive after three years, compared with less than 10 percent of those judged to have little faith. Are your hackles rising? You’re not alone. Of all the research into the healing potential of thoughts and beliefs, studies into the effects of religion are the most controversial.

There are thousands of studies purporting to show a link between some aspect of religion—such as attending church or praying—and better health. Religion has been associated with lower rates of cardiovascular disease, stroke, blood pressure and metabolic disorders, better immune functioning, improved outcomes for infections such as HIV and meningitis, and lower risk of developing cancer.

Critics of these studies, such as Richard Sloan of Columbia University Medical Center in New York, point out that many of them don’t adequately tease out other factors. For instance, religious people often have lower-risk lifestyles and churchgoers tend to enjoy strong social support, and seriously ill people are less likely to attend church. Nonetheless, a 2009 analysis of studies in the area concluded, after trying to control for these factors, that “religiosity/spirituality” does have a protective effect, though only in healthy people. The authors warned that there might be a publication bias, though, with researchers failing to publish negative results.

Even if the link between religion and better health is genuine, there is no need to invoke divine intervention to explain it. Some researchers attribute it to the placebo effect—trusting that some deity or other will heal you may be just as effective as belief in a drug or doctor. Others, like Paolo Lissoni of San Gerardo Hospital in Milan, who did the lung-cancer study mentioned above, believe that positive emotions associated with “spirituality” promote beneficial physiological responses.

Yet others think that what really matters is having a sense of purpose in life, whatever it might be. Having an idea of why you are here and what is important increases our sense of control over events, rendering them less stressful. In Saron’s three-month meditation study, the increase in levels of the enzyme that repairs telomeres correlated with an increased sense of control and an increased sense of purpose in life. In fact, Saron argues, this psychological shift may have been more important than the meditation itself.

He points out that the participants were already keen meditators, so the study gave them the chance to spend three months doing something important to them. Spending more time doing what you love, whether it’s gardening or voluntary work, might have a similar effect on health. The big news from the study, Saron says, is “the profound impact of having the opportunity to live your life in a way that you find meaningful.”

VITAMIN D, PLEASE

Have a look at this clever infographic on Dr. Rhonda Patrick's website, Found My Fitness. The importance of Vitamin D shouldn't be overlooked and here's why:

                                              Infographic design by Jason Wright Studios (Twitter, Facebook).

QUICHE ME, DARLING

I finally decided to get a CSA box delivered. It was originally a box designed for 3-4 people - which was then upgraded after the first delivery to the 6-person size... in order to accommodate  the ravenous appetites of two of us. This means veggies, glorious veggies - which also leads to finding a way to use them all before the next box arrives. Tonight I made the easiest quiche in history. It has no crust and no cheese - and lots of yum. I actually made two of them so I can have an easy meal for the next day or so. Here's how to do it:

Preheat oven to 375°

Left, mushroom & tomato. Right, broccoli & kale.

Grab a glass Pyrex pie plate and grease it up with coconut oil

Sauté up 1/4 cup of finely diced onion in 1 Tbs coconut oil

Dice up a cup or 2 of your favorite veggies and toss them in to sauté with the onion, salt to taste

Once veggies are cooked to your liking, spread them along the bottom of the Pyrex

Take 6 eggs and 1/3 to 2/3 cup of almond milk and blend. Seriously - it gives them a fabulously light texture. If no blender is available, just warm up your wrist properly and whisk the bejeezus out of them.

Pour the egg mixture into the Pyrex, then give it a gentle stir for maximum vegetable distribution.

Bake for 30ish minutes. I let mine sit for a couple minutes before cutting, but if you're feeling wild, just dive in.

NATURAL HEALING

One of the best things about our bodies is their incredible capacity to heal and recover. We all have our favorite supplements or massage therapists to aid in the mending, but athletes who are training at an elite level or those who have sustained major injuries might need some extra help. There are a few of these techniques that I find fascinating and worth sharing.

CVAC Technology (Cyclic Variations in Adaptive Conditioning)

Used by top athletes and chronic pain sufferers alike, here's how it works: After entering a small pod, an individual is exposed to a 20-minute pattern of intricate and rapid altitude changes. The purported benefits include:

• Improved stamina
• Accelerated weight loss
• Increased feeling of alertness and mental acuity (cognitive fitness)
• Reduced inflammation and swelling
• Improved recovery after exertion
• Lactic Acid drainage (helps with pain reduction in fibromyalgia)
• Enhanced athletic performance
• Improved hormonal balance
• Improved sleep (deeper, more restful sleep; decreased wake-ups)
• Increased power and strength

Need more evidence? Read some personal stories in this article in Men's Journal, August 2013.

The Journal of Pain Research, August 2010 concludes, "the CVAC process, which is touchless, cycled, pneumatic, hypobaric compressions administered via a high-performance altitude simulator, may decrease tissue fluid and improve oxygen saturation resulting in decreased pain in people with AD. Although randomized, controlled trials are needed to confirm these data, the CVAC process could potentially help in treating AD, related chronic pain disorders, and painful lipedema."

Cryotherapy

This technique takes your measly ice pack to a whole new level. Everyone knows that icing an injured area post-workout can do wonders for reducing inflammation. But what if you could ice your entire body? Well, now you can. With Whole Body Cryotherapy, the individual steps into a vertical tube, and has their body temperature slowly lowered anywhere from 50° to 32°. It's a superficial chill, as your core temperature shouldn't drop too far. According to U.S. Chryotherapy, the benefits include:

• Faster muscle recovery
• Promotes healthier skin complexion
• Invigorates the mind
• Improves sleep pattern
• Assists with cellulite reduction
• Effective with chronic pain management
• Faster surgical recovery
• Reduces stress & anxiety

Watch as Rener Gracie, a fourth-degree black belt in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, tries out Whole Body Chryotherapy for the first time. 

Orthokine

Also known in the US as Regenokine, this is a process whereby a patient's blood is extracted and placed in a centrifuge to be separated. The yellow matter that results is then injected back into the patient's ailing area, and has untold anti-inflammatory properties. Although completely safe and  incredibly effective, treatment is not yet approved by the FDA and therefore unable to be advertised as such in the US. This process treats the root cause of the discomfort (inflammation) and uses the body's own ability to heal, instead of invasive surgeries that only fix the end-result of joint damage. For more details and a list of public figures who have had the treatment, click here.

Another similar injectable solution to chronic pain is Prolozone Therapy. According to Portal to Healing Naturopathic Clinic,  "Prolozone is a connective tissue injection therapy of collagen producing substances and ozone gas which can reconstruct damaged or weakened connective tissue in and around joints. These substances are injected into the damaged connective tissue in and around a joint to rebuild the damaged areas." This treatment is especially effective for:

• Chronic back pain
• Bulging or herniated disks
• Sciatica
• Overused joint injuries
• Weakened joints from prior injury

Happy healing.

THEN AND NOW

A quick infographic on some basic stats from 1900 to 2013. Discuss.

THE DOCTOR IS IN

Sometimes it's good to get a bit of encouragement that you're doing the right thing and your hard work will pay off.  In this adorable and informative video, Dr. Evans explains the benefits of preventative care. In other words, keep pushing yourself, and keep sweating it out. 

BUSY BEE

Hey there. It's been a minute or two. The past few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind, but here is what I've been focusing on.

Try something new.

In this case it was learning a hip-hop routine (gah!) and performing in the new season of Athleta gear for Gap corporate. It was incredibly challenging, but totally worth it. Met some amazing new friends on the gig, faced some severe nerves, AND got to keep the outfit. 

Work hard.

Eat well.

Again with the soup. I made a nutrient-rich broth by boiling grass-fed beef bones with some sea salt and veggies. Next, I roasted more of my favorite vegetables and then blended them with aforementioned hell broth and added a poached egg. The result was some serious yum.

Take a few minutes to de-stress.

It's so easy to get caught up in the chaos and bedlam of daily existence. Try and take a few minutes every day to stop, breathe, and appreciate everything around you. It could be as simple as taking a walk, petting your dog, or making your favorite snack. Being grateful and present can do wonders for your soul. 

HIIT IT

Happy Birthday, Kiki! 

One of my arse-kicking clients requested a pre-cake-and-wine sweat fest. I decided to grant her wish with a feisty  high-intensity-interval-training workout. In my own experience, this is the best style of training for fat loss while maintaining muscle mass. And I'm not alone. In his article on this very subject, Michael Matthews lists some other documented benefits of hiit:

-Increased resting metabolic rate for upwards of 24 hours after exercise.

-Improved insulin sensitivity in the muscles.

-Higher levels of fat oxidation in the muscles.

-Significant spikes in growth hormone levels (which aid in fat loss) and catecholamine levels (chemicals your body produces to directly induce fat mobilization).

-Post-exercise appetite suppression.

Here's to a hard-hiit-ing workout, and another year of making it look good.

LUNCH MONEY

Changing your diet can often feel like a strain on your willpower and your wallet. However, it's worth the switch. According to the Harvard School of Public Health, long-term negative effects from a poor diet can be far more costly. 

Meta-analysis pinpoints the price difference of consuming a healthy diet, which could be burden for low-income families but is trivial compared with health costs of eating an unhealthy diet

Boston, MA – The healthiest diets cost about $1.50 more per day than the least healthy diets, according to new research from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). The finding is based on the most comprehensive examination to date comparing prices of healthy foods and diet patterns vs. less healthy ones.

The study will be published online December 5, 2013 in BMJ (British Medical Journal) Open.

“People often say that healthier foods are more expensive, and that such costs strongly limit better diet habits,” said lead author Mayuree Rao, a junior research fellow in the Department of Epidemiology at HSPH. “But, until now, the scientific evidence for this idea has not been systematically evaluated, nor have the actual differences in cost been characterized.”

To address this question, the HSPH researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 27 existing studies from 10 high-income countries that included price data for individual foods and for healthier vs. less healthy diets. They evaluated the differences in prices per serving and per 200 calories for particular types of foods, and prices per day and per 2,000 calories (the United States Department of Agriculture’s recommended average daily calorie intake for adults) for overall diet patterns. Both prices per serving and per calorie were assessed because prices can vary depending on the unit of comparison.

The researchers found that healthier diet patterns—for example, diets rich in fruits, vegetables, fish, and nuts—cost significantly more than unhealthy diets (for example, those rich in processed foods, meats, and refined grains). On average, a day’s worth of the most healthy diet patterns cost about $1.50 more per day than the least healthy ones.

The researchers suggested that unhealthy diets may cost less because food policies have focused on the production of “inexpensive, high volume” commodities, which has led to “a complex network of farming, storage, transportation, processing, manufacturing, and marketing capabilities that favor sales of highly processed food products for maximal industry profit.” Given this reality, they said that creating a similar infrastructure to support production of healthier foods might help increase availability—and reduce the prices—of more healthful diets.

“This research provides the most complete picture to-date on true cost differences of healthy diets,” saidDariush Mozaffarian, the study’s senior author and associate professor at HSPH and Harvard Medical School. “While healthier diets did cost more, the difference was smaller than many people might have expected. Over the course of a year, $1.50/day more for eating a healthy diet would increase food costs for one person by about $550 per year. This would represent a real burden for some families, and we need policies to help offset these costs. On the other hand, this price difference is very small in comparison to the economic costs of diet-related chronic diseases, which would be dramatically reduced by healthy diets.”

GLUTEN FREE PIZZA CRUST

Dear Pizza, 

I think about you a lot. I miss the time we used to spend together. It didn't matter what we did, as long as you were by my side. Whether it was hanging out with friends or just staying in and watching a movie, there was never a dull moment when we were near each other. But we've grown apart. I had to let you go. I often wonder how can you be so good, and yet so tragically bad for me?

I've met someone else. Someone who is amazing, and much better for me. They're different than you, and though they can never fill the void you left, they come pretty, pretty, pretty close. I'm not left wanting more, and I don't regret anything the next morning. In fact - I'm happy. I feel amazing. And I guess I wanted you to know.

-M-

 CAULIFLOWER CRUST PIZZA (from in the kitchen with amy jo)

I'm going to put my version in parentheses so you know how I did it, and show some pictures. Normally I don't encourage eating cheese of any kind, so this is quite the treat. I did manage to keep it organic, raw and from goat's milk, so minimal damage.

Cauliflower Crust

2 cups cauliflower, grated or food processed into rice size pieces

1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated (I used raw goat's milk cheddar)

1 egg, beaten

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tsp. oregano

1. Coat a cookie sheet with a thin layer of olive oil (I used coconut oil - less toxic at high heat)

2. Spread grated cauliflower across oil-glazed cookie sheet and bake in oven at 400 degrees F for 15-20 minutes.

3. In a bowl, mix cauliflower, cheese, egg, garlic and oregano until well combined and dough-like in texture.

4. Spread mixture onto a parchment paper-covered pizza pan and create a circular crust. Bake at 400 degrees F for 25 minutes.

Toppings

I made two different pizzas. Both used sweet potato as the "sauce." One had cheese, roasted chicken and fresh basil. The other had cheese, bacon and fig jam. It's definitely a choose-your-own-adventure moment. 

1 sweet potato, medium-sized

2 tbs. raw goat cheese, grated

Fresh basil

Fig jam

Roasted chicken

3 strips of bacon, fried and diced

1. Bake sweet potato in oven at 400 degrees for 1 hour, or dice and steam until soft

2. Remove sweet potato from skin and mix in a bowl with Himalayan sea salt

3. Spread sweet potato mash onto pizza crust

4. Divide ingredients and write that love letter to your tummy

5. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes

6. Let cool for 5 minutes

7. Fight off your friends with a stick

AN APPLE STREUSEL A DAY...

I've been exploring the Practical Paleo cookbook that's been sitting in my kitchen for months, and came upon this  quick and easy recipe. It's a little naughty with the apples, but a lot of nice with the egg. This is what mine looked like ---------->

PREP TIME: 15 minutes
COOKING TIME: 40 minutes
YIELD: 12 muffins
NUTRITION INFO: here.

Ingredients:

• 3 large green apples, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces (approximately 2 cups) – peeled if you like
• 3 tablespoons warm water
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon, divided
• 1 1/2 tablespoons butter or coconut oil (to make it dairy-free), melted
• 9 eggs (organic & pastured if you can)
• 3 tablespoons coconut milk
• 1 1/2 tablespoons coconut flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 350F.
• In a medium skillet, sautée the apples, water,  1 1/2 teaspoons of the cinnamon, and butter or coconut oil until the apples are the consistency of chunky applesauce or apple pie filling. Allow the mixture to cool before combining with the egg mixture.
• In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, butter, coconut milk, coconut flour, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, baking soda, and salt until well combined. Add the cooled apples, reserving 1/4 cup for a garnish.
• Spoon egg and apple mixture into parchment cup lined muffin tins—1/4 cup each. Gently spoon about one teaspoon of the remaining apple mixture onto the top of each muffin.
• Bake for 40 minutes.

Change it up:

• Substitute lightly cooked pears or bananas instead of apples.
• Add 1/4 cup of chopped nuts (preferably raw, organic almonds!) or coconut for texture and healthy fats.

 I added more butter and sprinkled some Xylitol on top for extra yum.

GIVE YOURSELF THE GIFT OF OUCH

Investing in a foam roller could be one of the best things you do for yourself all year. Clear some space, and your schedule... and maybe even your roommates, because you are in for a curse-laden, deep breathing, teeth-gnashing good time. Just push through it and I promise, your body will thank you later. 

LET'S NERD OUT ON TURMERIC FOR A MINUTE

I'm a big fan of vitamins and supplements, particularly those with anti-inflammatory properties. Inflammation can be the root of SO many health problems - from the mildly uncomfortable to the critically serious. One of my staple magic pills is Curcumin (which is chiefly responsible for giving turmeric it's bright yellow color). The impressive range of health benefits are listed here. Taking turmeric or curcumin is great, but if they don't absorb, you're not going to get the full perks. Check outthis article for tips on getting the most out of this li'l miracle molecule. Or if you're in the mood for a sweet treat, give this recipe from Healthy Holistic Living a try:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Coconut Milk (or almond)
• ½ tspn Cinnamon
• ½ tspn Turmeric
• 1/8 tspn Nutmeg
• Dash of Cayenne Pepper
• Raw honey to taste

Put coconut milk, spices and honey in a sauce pan; heat up slowly

CHEW ON THIS

I was once a vegetarian. Cut to last night's dinner: me gnawing on the bones of a roasted chicken to extract what is considered by some the healthiest part of the animal: the marrow. Others toss away this miracle paste having not yet experienced it's incredible power to nourish. Never had the guts to use the bones? One easy and beneficial way to utilize them is by making a bone broth. A brilliant soup is only a few steps away - and with the weather taking a turn for the FREEZING, you'll be glad you did. Another way to experience your future fave is to go somewhere that makes you feel caveman-chic: Hog & Rocks. You can achieve the same result at home by buying grass-fed beef bones from your local butcher (WholeFoods usually has them). Request them cut length-wise. Roast, grab a spoon and get after it. Last night I ate the marrow from organic chicken bones (stick to organic animals when possible). My preferred technique is not so dainty. I crunch through the top part of the leg then work my way down the bone, biting and squeezing like a savage. Waste not, want not. 

MY SECRET WEAPONS

 I'm choosing to give the gift of health this year to friends, family and clients. I don't need more useless material things, and I imagine that I'm not alone. These are some of the best products I have come across  for heath and well being, as far as supplements go. (I also order their fitness equipment but that's because I'm a maniac - and it's my job.) I'm not a doctor, so I'm merely suggesting that you give any of these products a try. They really are the best on the market, and I use them every day.  Looks like they're having a crazy sale Friday through Monday, so I thought I'd pass it along. You just might find that perfect combination to help take you to the next level. Why not make your body into the most optimal performance machine possible? 

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SKIN DEEP

What we put on our bodies is almost as important as what we put in them. All my friends know that I'm a big fan of makeup, hair products, glitter, lotion, nail polish... and the list goes on. In the past few years, however, it has come to my attention that most of the mainstream products we use to enhance our exterior beauty can have incredibly negative effects on our health due to toxic ingredients. In my attempt at a bio-overhaul, it's become clear that not only diet and exercise need examining. Check out this site from the Environmental Working Group. Curious about your favorite lipstick or deodorant? Type it into the Search field and see if it's doing more harm than good. A great site that I rely on to find fabulous organic products from shower gel to shimmery shadow isVitaCost. Let's just say that my local delivery guys and I are on a first-name basis. 

TOP 6 WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR SLEEP WITH FOOD

Rest is an often overlooked part of a healthy lifestyle; it's just as important as your workouts and your diet. Sleep is crucial to helping your body recharge and repair the mental and physical exertions that we are managing in our daily lives. According to Dave Asprey, the Bulletproof Executive, there are 6 healthier alternatives to grabbing the Tylenol PM to help catch those crucial Z's.

"1. FILL UP WITH FAT AT DINNER

Fat is like diesel fuel for your mind and body.  If your brain is always running on sugar, you get large blood sugar swings that make you tired, but also hungry, which is exactly what you don’t want If you’re trying to fall asleep.

Filling up with clean fats before bedtime gives you a steady stream of energy that prevents hunger and blood sugar swings.  Grass-fed butter, animal fat, and coconut oil are all good choices, but MCT oil is my personal favorite.  MCT oil is converted into ketones, which are immediately used as fuel for your brain.  MCT oil also helps burn body fat while you sleep.

I’ve also noticed that I think faster and more clearly the next morning if I eat 1-2 tablespoons of MCT the night before with dinner, or even right before bed.  It works even better with protein.

2. PRIME YOUR SYSTEM WITH PROTEIN.

We use protein for muscle repair and immune function.  Your body repairs muscle tissue at night during deep sleep, and you want to make sure it has everything it needs to heal and grow new tissue.  The problem is that most forms of protein are not well digested before bed.  A lot of protein powders, and even most animal protein sources are fairly digestion intensive, so they can leave you with a heavy feeling during the night.  They also take resources to digest that would be better used fueling your brain.

I recommend taking 1-2 tablespoons of hydrolyzed grass-fed collagen peptide before bed.  Hydrolyzing the proteins makes them more digestible, so they don’t cause the problems listed above. When hydrolysis is done right (with enzymes not acids), it doesn’t create MSG.

Collagen protein is even better if you take it with some Upgraded Whey protein.

3. ENJOY THE POWER OF WHEY PROTEIN.

Upgraded Whey has some unique benefits in terms of sleep.  It’s easily digested, full of essential amino acids for repairing your body, and it contains bioactive milk peptides (BMPs).  BMPs are one of the most promising new supplements for improving sleep and reducing stress.  BMPs are actually sourced from whey protein, but they’re a lot more expensive after processing.  These proteins are most effective in their undenatured form.  Heating and pressurizing them actually reduces their effects, which is why I’ve always preferred to get BMPs from cold-processed whey protein concentrate rather than pill form.  The most effective whey protein I’ve tested for improving sleep is Upgraded Whey, which also has added bovine serum albumin to increase glutathione levels. More glutathione helps your liver remove toxins that interfere with sleep.

4. TRY A TAD OF RAW HONEY.

During the night, your brain uses a lot of energy.  One efficient form of brain energy comes from sugar stored in your liver, called liver glycogen.  Your brain taps your liver glycogen before hitting your muscle glycogen (stored sugar in your muscles), so having a little extra sugar before bed can help your brain function better at night.  Raw honey is preferentially used to stock liver glycogen, so it is used first for brain function.

Raw honey is 22% better at making liver glycogen than the cooked, conventional stuff you’re likely to find at the supermarket.  Taken without protein, a small amount of honey will raise blood glucose while you sleep too. I was skeptical of this trick when I first heard about it in The Honey Revolution, but I found it does work well as long as you don’t combine it with protein.

Especially when you’re doing BP Intermittent Fasting or eating very few carbs, you can  get more deep sleep when you take a small amount of raw honey.  At first I assumed that taking raw honey before bed would throw me out of fat burning mode, but as long as MCT oil was taken with the honey, enough ketones were produced to stay in fat burning mode. Take 1-2 teaspoons of raw honey before bed if it helps with your sleep.

5. FUEL UP WITH LOW-MERCURY FISH (OR KRILL OIL).

You’ve already learned how DHA can protect against the negative effects of fructose on brain function, but it can also help improve your sleep.  Omega-3s have been shown to improve mood and reduce anxiety and depression.  They also improve insulin sensitivity and muscle growth.  Consuming omega-3s before bed gives your brain the substrates it needs for growth and repair.

The best sources of omega-3s are Bulletproof foods like low-mercury fish and seafood.  These foods also provide the protein you need for muscle repair before bed.  However, I’ve found that krill oil gives me the best sleep.  I’ve experimented with various kinds of fish oil, and pretty much every other omega-3 supplement you can think of, and only krill oil has made a noticeable impact.  I recommend consuming your fish or Krill oil at least two hours before bedtime. Avoid flax oil and hempseed oil because they are high in omega 6 and low in DHA and EPA. They are not Bulletproof foods.

6. ENJOY YOUR COFFEE… IN THE MORNING.

In general, don’t drink coffee after 2:00 PM, or at least 8 hours before bedtime, which ever comes first.  This will make sure you get all of the cognitive benefits of caffeine without sacrificing your sleep. Some people need more than 8 hours of caffeine avoidance to sleep with maximum performance.

It’s pretty simple. Some MCT oil before bed gives your brain the short chain fats is craves to function during the night.  Taking a few scoops of collagen protein mixed with whey protein gives you essential amino acids for repair, and bioactive milk peptides for calming your nervous system.  Raw honey stocks your liver glycogen so your brain has that little bit of extra fuel to help deep sleep.  Krill oil gives your neurons the fertilizer they need to function optimally.  Timing your coffee intake to the morning hours makes sure you keep your brain sharp when you need it, but still give it rest during the night."