HEALTH LIFE HAPPY LIFE

Health Diet

2007-11-03T07:04:00.000-07:00

Supersimple calorie slashers

Top 1 cup of apple slices, instead of 8 crackers, with cheese. Save 100 calories.
Choose a fresh spring roll instead of a fried egg roll. Save 100 calories.
Eat chocolate sorbet instead of chocolate ice cream. Save 140 calories per 1/2 cup.

Skip the crust on apple pie. Save 100 calories.
Swap pepperoni on your pizza for veggies like fresh tomatoes and peppers. Save 100 calories per 2 slices.
Choose steamed shrimp over fried. Save 122 calories per 3 ounces.

Make your sandwich open-faced (use only 1 slice of bread). Save 100 calories.
Leave blue cheese off your salad. Save 110 calories per 3-tablespoon serving.
Substitute 1/2 cup steamed veggies for 1/2 cup noodles in a pasta dish. Save 100 calories.

Use a 6-inch flour tortilla instead of a 10-inch one on your next burrito. Save 120 calories.
Skip the tortilla and put your filling on lettuce. Save 100 calories.
Eat a whole-wheat English muffin at breakfast instead of a bagel. Save 150 calories.

Top pancakes with 1/4 cup apple-sauce sprinkled with cinnamon instead of syrup. Save 180 calories.
Top ice cream with 1/2 cup fresh berries instead of 2 tablespoons strawberry syrup. Save 168 calories.
Leave 10 French fries on your plate. Save 100 calories.
Split a Krispy Kreme doughnut with a friend. Save 100 calories.

No-sweat calorie burners*

*Based on a 150-pound woman

Embrace your inner schoolgirl by jumping rope for 10 minutes. Burn 100 calories.
Tend your garden for 25 minutes. Burn 103 calories.
Schedule a 20-minute walk date with a buddy. Burn 102 calories.

Crank up the tunes and shake your groove thing for 20 minutes. Burn 100 calories.
Give your partner a 22-minute massage. Burn 103 calories.
Do your nails or knit while watching your favorite hour-long TV show. Burn 102 calories.

Spend 60 minutes typing e-mails to your friends. Burn 100 calories.
Write a letter to a friend by hand for 50 minutes. Burn 100 calories.
Push around a grocery cart for 40 minutes. Burn 103 calories.

Shoot pool or play darts for 35 minutes. Burn 100 calories.
Play fetch with your dog for 35 minutes. Burn 100 calories.
Do a little house-cleaning. Burn 107 calories.
Play a 35-minute round of putt-putt golf. Burn 180 calories.

Artemisia annua

2007-11-03T06:51:00.000-07:00

We are certain that the herb used by the researchers was Qing Hao, correctly identified as Artemisia annua, an herb that is widely used in the tropics for both prevention and treatment of malaria. In this role, it is relatively free of side effects.

Malaria, as most readers probably know, is introduced into the host by mosquito bites. The disease itself is caused by a protozoon. Studies in Thailand showed that the constituent used in the University of Washington study is 90% more effective than chloroquine in treating malaria.

These findings are interesting to me for two reasons:

First, some years ago, I had dinner with a rather famous doctor and his wife and friends. He discussed deliberate infection of cancer patients with malaria in order to induce fever, presumably an idea based on Coley's toxins and the many methods of hyperthermia that have been used to destroy malignancy; and
Second, because malaria is a parasitic infection and many cancers, even if not caused by parasitic infection, might occur in persons who are parasitized, the theory made popular by Hulda Clark though also not new.

These and a number of other tangential issues have been discussed with colleagues since the press release by the Environmental News Network.

No one really seems to understand the references to iron. In the holistic community, tumors are often regarded as storage depots for materials found in excess in the body— i.e., metabolic residuals—or for toxins, infectious organisms, and inorganic substances that the body cannot use. While some of these theories have not been examined in depth by conventional science, there is considerable accord that cancer patients will not fight cancer until infections are resolved. The assumption here is that the immune system prioritizes the acute illness at the expense of the perhaps more life-threatening chronic condition.

This makes Artemisia annua even more interesting due to its antibiotic properties. What concerned me is that its action may very well be more specific on cancers that have an infectious and/or parasitic component than on those tumors that perhaps lack these characteristics. If the response to treatment is due to the ability of Qing Hao to address parasites, then die of would occur.

Curious as always , I decided to try the herb myself. To the best of my knowledge, I have never had cancer, but I have had almost every tropical infection imaginable, including undulent fever, a disease that is similar to malaria except that the fever pattern is more intermittent. At the time I had that fever, I had been working in rural India and was ill enough to be medically evacuated (to Honolulu where I overheard the doctors say I was dying.)

I have always run fevers—almost without provocation—but I am well aware that frightening as this is to some people, it is healthier than most believe. The inability to run a fever suggests compromised immunity and a metabolism that is not efficient enough to throw off infection . . . and this is precisely the pattern I see with most cancer patients.

To explore this herb better, I obtained five different forms of Artemisia annua: tablets, tincture that includes the full essential oil, tincture with reduced essential oil, conventionally produced tincture, and dried leaf. I tried all of them and have to admit, I suffered in the beginning. I am certain that this is related to parasites, not cancer, but I have been running fevers and feeling like there is a war going on in my intestines. I have absolutely no doubt that these symptoms relate to the use of this herb, not to a contaminate but rather to a combination of die off and struggle for survival on the part of some unwanted creatures.

As I discuss on kitchendoctor.com, parasites sometimes die in the place where they had lived. They are then consumed by bacteria. This imposes elaborate demands on the immune system. I am so concerned about die off, both of malignant tissue and parasites, that I think adjunctive protocols are needed for people using herbs to address these conditions. Where tumors are concerned, detoxification will alleviate die off, but with parasites, immune boosting herbs and even herbs that help repair the tissues that harbored parasites are indicated for most if not all patients.

I have to admit that I felt absolutely terrible, so much so that I wanted to contact everyone who is using this treatment and suggest that additional herbs are used to support the results sought.

For myself, I reinvented the Sacred Bark Formula and added more detoxifying and immune boosting herbs. This solved most all the problems, but I have been taking propolis, colloidal silver, and intestinal flora as well. At times, I also used Indigo Drops and/or Whale's Tears.

I would like to invite others to share their experiences and will open up a discussion on the bulletin board for this subject. In the meantime, I would encourage fortitude because reactions to a product such as this no doubt indicate a need for something that addresses a condition that may or may not be recognized.

How to Brew a Cup of Green Tea

2007-11-01T05:37:00.000-07:00

Producing the perfect cup of green tea is a tricky process. If not handled properly, those same polyphenols that provide health benefits can ruin the flavor, making the tea taste "gassy." It's particularly important not to overbrew. While it's best to follow the manufacturer's instructions for each variety of green tea, here are some general instructions:

Use one tea bag, or 2 - 4 grams of tea,* per cup.
Fill a kettle with cold water and bring to a boil.
After unplugging the kettle, allow it to stand for up to 3 minutes.
Pour the heated water over the tea bag or tea, and allow it to steep for up to 3 minutes. If using a tea bag, remove the bag.
Allow the tea to cool for three more minutes.

*One to two teaspoons, depending on the variety of green tea you are brewing.

How much Green Tea should you drink

2007-11-01T05:32:00.000-07:00

There are as many answers to this question as there are researchers investigating the natural properties of green tea. For example, Herbs for Health magazine cites a Japanese report stating that men who drank ten cups of green tea per day stayed cancer-free for three years longer than men who drank less than three cups a day (there are approximately 240 - 320 mg of polyphenols in three cups of green tea). Meanwhile, a study by Cleveland's Western Reserve University concluded that drinking four or more cups of green tea per day could help prevent rheumatoid arthritis, or reduce symptoms in individuals already suffering from the disease. And Japanese scientists at the Saitama Cancer Research Institute discovered that there were fewer recurrances of breast cancer, and the disease spread less quickly, in women with a history of drinking five cups or more of green tea daily.

It gets more confusing. A University of California study on the cancer-preventative qualities of green tea concluded that you could probably attain the desired level of polyphenols by drinking merely two cups per day. On the other hand, a company selling a green tea capsule formula insists that ten cups per day are necessary to reap the maximum benefits.

How can you make sense of these conflicting claims? Given all the evidence, it is probably safe to plan on drinking four to five cups of green tea per daily. If you're a real devotee, by all means drink more; but whether or not you'll derive added health benefits remains to be determined by further research.

Health with green tea

2007-11-01T04:57:00.000-07:00

Is any other food or drink reported to have as many health benefits as green tea? The Chinese have known about the medicinal benefits of green tea since ancient times, using it to treat everything from headaches to depression. In her book Green Tea: The Natural Secret for a Healthier Life, Nadine Taylor states that green tea has been used as a medicine in China for at least 4,000 years.

Today, scientific research in both Asia and the west is providing hard evidence for the health benefits long associated with drinking green tea. For example, in 1994 the Journal of the National Cancer Institute published the results of an epidemiological study indicating that drinking green tea reduced the risk of esophageal cancer in Chinese men and women by nearly sixty percent. University of Purdue researchers recently concluded that a compound in green tea inhibits the growth of cancer cells. There is also research indicating that drinking green tea lowers total cholesterol levels, as well as improving the ratio of good (HDL) cholesterol to bad (LDL) cholesterol.

To sum up, here are just a few medical conditions in which drinking green tea is reputed to be helpful:

cancer

rheumatoid arthritis

high cholesterol levels

cariovascular disease

infection

impaired immune function

What makes green tea so special?

The secret of green tea lies in the fact it is rich in catechin polyphenols, particularly epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). EGCG is a powerful anti-oxidant: besides inhibiting the growth of cancer cells, it kills cancer cells without harming healthy tissue. It has also been effective in lowering LDL cholesterol levels, and inhibiting the abnormal formation of blood clots. The latter takes on added importance when you consider that thrombosis (the formation of abnormal blood clots) is the leading cause of heart attacks and stroke.

Links are being made between the effects of drinking green tea and the "French Paradox." For years, researchers were puzzled by the fact that, despite consuming a diet rich in fat, the French have a lower incidence of heart disease than Americans. The answer was found to lie in red wine, which contains resveratrol, a polyphenol that limits the negative effects of smoking and a fatty diet. In a 1997 study, researchers from the University of Kansas determined that EGCG is twice as powerful as resveratrol, which may explain why the rate of heart disease among Japanese men is quite low, even though approximately seventy-five percent are smokers.

Why don't other Chinese teas have similar health-giving properties? Green, oolong, and black teas all come from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. What sets green tea apart is the way it is processed. Green tea leaves are steamed, which prevents the EGCG compound from being oxidized. By contrast, black and oolong tea leaves are made from fermented leaves, which results in the EGCG being converted into other compounds that are not nearly as effective in preventing and fighting various diseases.

Other Benefits

New evidence is emerging that green tea can even help dieters. In November, 1999, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published the results of a study at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. Researchers found that men who were given a combination of caffeine and green tea extract burned more calories than those given only caffeine or a placebo.

Green tea can even help prevent tooth decay! Just as its bacteria-destroying abilities can help prevent food poisoning, it can also kill the bacteria that causes dental plaque. Meanwhile, skin preparations containing green tea - from deodorants to creams - are starting to appear on the market.

Harmful Effects?

To date, the only negative side effect reported from drinking green tea is insomnia due to the fact that it contains caffeine. However, green tea contains less caffeine than coffee: there are approximately thirty to sixty mg. of caffeine in six - eight ounces of tea, compared to over one-hundred mg. in eight ounces of coffee.