It makes me a little nervous. As I grew up I heard more and more concern about over-use or mis-use. When my mom was in charge of my health I went to the doctor a lot more when I was sick with a bad cold or flu. The doctor took 10 minutes with us and then always prescribed an antibiotic or antiviral. We eventually just stopped filling the drugs. Now when I get colds or flu I don't go to the doctor, and I still get better. If I want to get better faster I get rest and eat more vitamins. Seems to work just as well to me... Now I don't know everyone's medical history who may be reading this so I'm not suggesting you follow my example. Antibiotic are definitely needed in many cases(i.e. surgery,) but based on my experience some doctors will order something everytime you come in. Maybe it's based on knowledge or maybe it's based on liability...I can't be sure. Antibiotics have now become a sort of crutch in the population that has inhibited our bodies from evolving with the bacteria. After all our bodies healing from these colds or flues IS our bodies getting strong with the bacteria on it's own. I would worry, but now I found nature(the best chemist) has still got somethings up its sleeve. One I will highlight in this here post; tea tree oil.
At first it to me was kinda freaky. At work when a bottle would break of the stuff you knew it immediately. It has such a strong and distinct odor. It's a kind of smell that someone could really hate. It certainly wasn't pleasant to me at first, but what I found out is the trend in nature that strong sensory stimulates are cues to sit up and pay attention to the pieces of nature that may effect us. I think soon I'll do some research on spices based on this principle. They have enough flavor and smell in a tsp. of spice to change the taste and smell of portions of food meant to feed 2-4 people! There has to be something to that.
Anyway back to tea tree oil. The first time I remember using a TTO product were the cleansing pads for your face. I was usually too lazy to wash my face at night so I figured it may be a way to get around that(btw I still don't wash my face at night and now I don't even bother with the cleansing pads, and I'm really OK with that). It seemed to really help clear up the little blemishes and blackheads I had. I was impressed. Since then I've found many ways to use the stuff instead of an AB. And that's really what TTO is, anti fugal/antibacterial/antiviral. Here are a list of things that you could use TTO instead of a prescription(that maybe harmful or useless).
cold sores
acne
nasal ulcers
dental abscess/toothache pain
sore throat/throat infection
cuts/scrapes/scratches/abrasions
ear infection
boils
ringworm
insect bites
athlete's foot
canker sores
oral hygiene
dandruff
ear mites
fleas
oily skin
blisters
sun burns
warts
rashes
runny nose
asthma
tuberculosis
bronchitis
chicken pox
shingles
measles
flu
strengthens the body's immune system
bad breath
inflamed gums
plaque
yeast infections
Now of course to treat with TTO there are different methods, and they hardly ever involve consuming it. A lot of the time you should dilute the stuff too. Do your own research, but meanwhile maybe pick some up to have on hand instead of some neosporen.
It seems to me that if this stuff has been working for a long time doing these jobs they may also last longer than the AB prescription. And I don't think TTO oil will turn your teeth gray either.
Another side note. It seems to me that there are a lot of antiseptic/antibacterials in nature besides TTO another one being raw honey. I read in my book Garlic, Honey and Apple cider Vinegar that honey has shown to be better at healing small cuts then the dressing they may give you at a hospital.
PS In creating these posts the editor and I talk about many different facets of my arguments and theories. I don't include everything in the interest or keeping it short and sweet. I encourage anyone with questions comments or even rebuttal to contribute these in "comments". I openly admit that I don't have supreme knowledge on any of said subjects, and am very open to learning more.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Azucar
I feel like peoples knowledge on it is almost nill. To me it's very frustrating, all the consumer products, to diets, to replacement sweeteners. We're getting ourselves in a lot of trouble. I touched on sugar in a previous blog post and now I'll go in a little more extensive into this sticky subject.
#1 we need sugar in some form and in fact our body makes sugar every time you eat something. Food is broken down into a sugar called glucose. It's what fuels the cells in our body. It's energy.
#2 If you have too much sugar whether from some pasta converting to sugar or from say high fructose corn syrup it'll eventually end up converted to fat. So even those fat free fruit snacks can cause trouble if you're watching your weight.
That's the pretty simple, maybe common knowledge about sugar. Where I find more people are lost is in the difference between refined sugar and unrefined sugar. Basically refined sugars are sugars without help. Your body needs vitamins and minerals to break down sugar already in food.
So lets say we eat an apple. The apple has lots of sugar in it but God also package the apple perfectly with vitamins and minerals that help you break down and use the sugar stored in it. Fine, the body knows what to do with the sugar when it is equip with all the vitamins and minerals, fiber, and enzymes and are gladly are gobbled up.
But now whats happened is people have isolated, extracted, or refined the sugar out of an apple(or corn) to make fructose. It's just the sugar and since it's only sugar you can put it in other things like gelatin and make a snack you can keep on a shelf for months without it going bad and then sell it. Cha-Ching! Well the problem is that all the great stuff that helps break down and convert the sugar into something good which it was previously made with the apple doesn't exist in the new snack. So what does the sugar do to get metabolized? It takes from your body's store of vitamins and minerals! A big thing sugar needs to break down??.. Calcium. Calcium however is also needed for your bones. Refinded sugar doesn't know this so it starts takin' the calcium that is rightfully your bones and your poor bones suffer. Kind of bad. And really there is a lot of other stuff it uses that could be needed elsewhere, that's just one. It can really overall deprive your whole body.
Refined sugar ..what makes it sticky? It really kind of fools your body or at least starts a bad cycle. If you notice when you eat a candy bar you may get what one calls a sugar high and in fact that's basically what it is. A lot of sugar in the blood. Refined sugar get metabolized faster and effects your energy level quickly. What then happens when it's used up(probably with 40 mins if not coupled with other whole foods or complex carbs) is low blood sugar. The glucose is burned up quickly and then there is nothing to digest. No glucose, no energy. Your body "freaks" and tells you it's uncomfortable with this change and prods you with a little thing called hunger. If there is a bowl of M&M's close by your body, remembering this food produces quick release sugar, will tell you to indulge. You then grab for the M&Ms, and the cycle starts again. What your body wants is glucose but in the throes of a low blood sugar spell doesn't care how. What it would be happier with is a whole food or real meal. A meal that includes starches, protein, fiber, and more vitamins.
And has this ever happened?... You start munchin on a bag of cookies and 10mins later it's all gone?! You haven't even realized and it certainly didn't bother you(yet) that you had eaten so much junk??? Now think how much that happens with fruit or veggies. Not that it wouldn't happen but it does considerably less. Your body recognizes whole foods and knows when to say "OK that'll be enough for now" a little better. I find that the exception to that rule comes when I haven't had a certain type of fruit(i.e. Pineapple) for a long time. And I reason that my body just probably needs something in it that I haven't been getting enough of in my diet.
MSG, not directly related to sugar, but a lot of time you can find them in the same box of processed foods, actually goes a step further and blocks off the part of the brain that signals that you're full. Otherwise I don't think you could eat that much Mickey-D's or sour cream and onion chips.
Remember it like this. Imagine that food is like guests at a pot luck. Generally everyone will bring a portion that will cover the amount of food they'll consume or more. Extra refined sugar foods are the kids, they keeps things fun but show up empty handed. Not only do they partake in the potluck but start to plunder you fridge and cabinet. If you invite too many of these children you'll be left in very bad shape. Invited the foods that have been around for at least as long as human kind, and invite them often.
#1 we need sugar in some form and in fact our body makes sugar every time you eat something. Food is broken down into a sugar called glucose. It's what fuels the cells in our body. It's energy.
#2 If you have too much sugar whether from some pasta converting to sugar or from say high fructose corn syrup it'll eventually end up converted to fat. So even those fat free fruit snacks can cause trouble if you're watching your weight.
That's the pretty simple, maybe common knowledge about sugar. Where I find more people are lost is in the difference between refined sugar and unrefined sugar. Basically refined sugars are sugars without help. Your body needs vitamins and minerals to break down sugar already in food.
So lets say we eat an apple. The apple has lots of sugar in it but God also package the apple perfectly with vitamins and minerals that help you break down and use the sugar stored in it. Fine, the body knows what to do with the sugar when it is equip with all the vitamins and minerals, fiber, and enzymes and are gladly are gobbled up.
But now whats happened is people have isolated, extracted, or refined the sugar out of an apple(or corn) to make fructose. It's just the sugar and since it's only sugar you can put it in other things like gelatin and make a snack you can keep on a shelf for months without it going bad and then sell it. Cha-Ching! Well the problem is that all the great stuff that helps break down and convert the sugar into something good which it was previously made with the apple doesn't exist in the new snack. So what does the sugar do to get metabolized? It takes from your body's store of vitamins and minerals! A big thing sugar needs to break down??.. Calcium. Calcium however is also needed for your bones. Refinded sugar doesn't know this so it starts takin' the calcium that is rightfully your bones and your poor bones suffer. Kind of bad. And really there is a lot of other stuff it uses that could be needed elsewhere, that's just one. It can really overall deprive your whole body.
Refined sugar ..what makes it sticky? It really kind of fools your body or at least starts a bad cycle. If you notice when you eat a candy bar you may get what one calls a sugar high and in fact that's basically what it is. A lot of sugar in the blood. Refined sugar get metabolized faster and effects your energy level quickly. What then happens when it's used up(probably with 40 mins if not coupled with other whole foods or complex carbs) is low blood sugar. The glucose is burned up quickly and then there is nothing to digest. No glucose, no energy. Your body "freaks" and tells you it's uncomfortable with this change and prods you with a little thing called hunger. If there is a bowl of M&M's close by your body, remembering this food produces quick release sugar, will tell you to indulge. You then grab for the M&Ms, and the cycle starts again. What your body wants is glucose but in the throes of a low blood sugar spell doesn't care how. What it would be happier with is a whole food or real meal. A meal that includes starches, protein, fiber, and more vitamins.
And has this ever happened?... You start munchin on a bag of cookies and 10mins later it's all gone?! You haven't even realized and it certainly didn't bother you(yet) that you had eaten so much junk??? Now think how much that happens with fruit or veggies. Not that it wouldn't happen but it does considerably less. Your body recognizes whole foods and knows when to say "OK that'll be enough for now" a little better. I find that the exception to that rule comes when I haven't had a certain type of fruit(i.e. Pineapple) for a long time. And I reason that my body just probably needs something in it that I haven't been getting enough of in my diet.
MSG, not directly related to sugar, but a lot of time you can find them in the same box of processed foods, actually goes a step further and blocks off the part of the brain that signals that you're full. Otherwise I don't think you could eat that much Mickey-D's or sour cream and onion chips.
Remember it like this. Imagine that food is like guests at a pot luck. Generally everyone will bring a portion that will cover the amount of food they'll consume or more. Extra refined sugar foods are the kids, they keeps things fun but show up empty handed. Not only do they partake in the potluck but start to plunder you fridge and cabinet. If you invite too many of these children you'll be left in very bad shape. Invited the foods that have been around for at least as long as human kind, and invite them often.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Fat Head!...And Thats OK
Proportion is everything in a diet and Americans are polarized when it comes to their relationship to fats. So I thought after a interaction with a family at work that it's a good subject to touch on.
The interaction went something like this; A family comprised of a husband, wife, and 11 yr old girl were searching through the bar section. I asked if I could help and they told me they were looking for a bar with low fats. I found them one that had 2grams of saturated fat, but they were still unsatisfied. The bar had a total of 11grams of fat. Too much. Finally the young girl came across the fruit leathers and exclaimed "these have no fat it them!" The family by the way had none of the usual tourist bulge. They looked fit to me so I finally curiously asked, "whats so bad about fat?" The father looked at me as if that were a very dumb question, repeated it back to me in a matching tone, so I shrunk off and let them rejoice in the foods with no fat.
For many reasons I thought this very odd. Is it still common thought that NO fat is good and that eating fat free energy bars is healthy?
I wondered about the motives. The nicer part of me likes to believe they were once a Wall-e sized family who had an ah-ha moment. They decided one day that fat was the enemy, and should be avoided at all costs. Who, through much overcoming and testing of will were able to purge fat almost completely from their diet and still now were only just lingering in between "slim" and "average" weight classes. I show up not understanding this and ask an apparently stupid question with evil motive to change perspective and am deemed idiotic.
Well sinister or not here is the other perspective. Fat is not all bad. It's good. And even needed to make your body work well. What parts? All of them. Your brain is 70% fatty. Fat is used to cushion your organs, absorb vitamins A,D,E,K, hold needed minerals, keep your eyesight, and aid a good immune system. That's a lot of stuff and I'm sure there is more. So never try to cut them out completely of your diet.
And what do we hear a lot lately? Omega 3-6-9s. Getting the right fats is key. So make mental notes(if you can) when you hear about food with these fats in them. Slim down your intake of land meats and dairy because the fats(saturated) found in those are responsible for clogging your heart up and junk like that. They're not even all bad either. We just can easily over do those fats.
The interaction went something like this; A family comprised of a husband, wife, and 11 yr old girl were searching through the bar section. I asked if I could help and they told me they were looking for a bar with low fats. I found them one that had 2grams of saturated fat, but they were still unsatisfied. The bar had a total of 11grams of fat. Too much. Finally the young girl came across the fruit leathers and exclaimed "these have no fat it them!" The family by the way had none of the usual tourist bulge. They looked fit to me so I finally curiously asked, "whats so bad about fat?" The father looked at me as if that were a very dumb question, repeated it back to me in a matching tone, so I shrunk off and let them rejoice in the foods with no fat.
For many reasons I thought this very odd. Is it still common thought that NO fat is good and that eating fat free energy bars is healthy?
I wondered about the motives. The nicer part of me likes to believe they were once a Wall-e sized family who had an ah-ha moment. They decided one day that fat was the enemy, and should be avoided at all costs. Who, through much overcoming and testing of will were able to purge fat almost completely from their diet and still now were only just lingering in between "slim" and "average" weight classes. I show up not understanding this and ask an apparently stupid question with evil motive to change perspective and am deemed idiotic.
Well sinister or not here is the other perspective. Fat is not all bad. It's good. And even needed to make your body work well. What parts? All of them. Your brain is 70% fatty. Fat is used to cushion your organs, absorb vitamins A,D,E,K, hold needed minerals, keep your eyesight, and aid a good immune system. That's a lot of stuff and I'm sure there is more. So never try to cut them out completely of your diet.
And what do we hear a lot lately? Omega 3-6-9s. Getting the right fats is key. So make mental notes(if you can) when you hear about food with these fats in them. Slim down your intake of land meats and dairy because the fats(saturated) found in those are responsible for clogging your heart up and junk like that. They're not even all bad either. We just can easily over do those fats.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
