Kiltz Blogs Archive

Phytic Acid: Everything You Need to Know

March 25, 2021/in Antinutrients and Plant Toxins Antinutrient, Nutrition, Phytic Acid, Plant Toxin /by Liam McAuliffe

Phytic acid is a common antinutrient naturally occurring in many plant foods that people regularly consume.

As an antinutrient, phytic acid can prevent you from absorbing important nutrients while inhibiting the enzymes you need for digestion.

Read on to learn more about phytic acid, and what you can do to protect yourself from its possible adverse effects.

What Is Phytic Acid?

Phytic acid, also known as phytate, is a compound found in the seeds of plants. Plants use phytic acid to store phosphorus, which is vital for their growth and reproduction.

Six-sided phytic acid molecule with a phosphorus atom in each arm. Image from westonaprice.org

Phytic Acid as Antinutrient

When consumed by people, phytates bind with certain nutrients and prevent their absorption in the gastrointestinal tract.

Studies show that for many people, phytic acid in whole grains blocks calcium, zinc, magnesium, iron, and copper. When the “arm” of the phytic acid molecule “chelate” or grab onto these other molecules, it becomes a phytate.

Molecular structure of phytic acid (InsP 6 ) and the establishment of complexes with dietary components. A) InsP 6 in an extremely basic environment, showing high anionic charge; B) InsP 6 bound to divalent cations such as calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese and zinc, in addition to proteins, carbohydrates and H + ions; C) InsP 6 completely protonated in an extremely acidic environment; D) sequential hydrolysis of the ester bounds that sustain phosphate groups linked to InsP 6 molecule, making phytate P and other components available for digestion and absorption. Image from researchgate.net

Phytates have also been shown to inhibit enzymes needed for digesting food including pepsin, amylase, and trypsin. Pepsin breaks down proteins in the stomach, amylase, breaks down starch into simple sugar, and trypsin is needed for the digestion of protein in the small intestine.

Image from researchgate.net

Phytate Immunity

Some people appear to be immune to the antinutrient effects of phytates. Researchers hypothesize this immunity may be due to the presence of beneficial gut flora that can break down phytic acid.

In addition, when consumed alongside animal fats that provide soluble vitamins A and D, the effects of phates are reduced.

Can Phytates be Beneficial?

Phytates also possess antioxidant properties. These properties have led researchers to explore their protective potential against diseases such as heart disease and cancer.

For example, researchers believe that phytic acid may be used therapeutically for the treatment of colon cancer and other cancers. But more studies need to be done to prove safety and effectiveness.

The chelating process by which phytates bond to iron and toxic minerals and removes them from the body has led to theories about their use for detoxification. Currently, phytic acid is used therapeutically to remove uranium.

However, the same ability that makes phytates able to remove uranian or iron from certain cancer cells, also depletes essential minerals from, and harms non-cancerous cells.

Foods High in Phytic Acid

All plant-based foods contain varying amounts of phytic acid that accumulates in the seeds and bran portion of plants as they ripen. Phytic acid makes up 50-85% of phosphorus in plants and is the prime source of phosphorous in legumes, oilseeds, nuts, and grains.

For humans and animals with one stomach, the tightly bound phosphorus minerals are not bioavailable.

Legumes

Legumes contain phytic acid in the inner layer of their seeds known as the endosperm. Depending on the type of legume, the phytic acid content varies from 0.22 to 2.38 grams per 100 grams.

Legumes that are high in phytic acid include:

Kidney beans
Peas
Chickpeas
Lentils
Peanuts

Oilseeds

Oilseeds are seeds that can produce cooking oils. Like legumes, the phytic acid in oilseeds is stored in the endosperm. Oilseeds contain 1.0 to 5.36 grams of phytic acid per 100 grams.

Oilseeds that contain high amounts of phytic acid include:

Soybeans
Linseeds
Sesame seeds
Sunflower meal

Nuts

Most nuts have a high phytic acid content. But the amount of phytic acid can differ considerably depending on the nut. In fact, the concentration of phytic acid can vary from 0.10 to 9.42 grams per 100 grams of nuts.

High phytic acid nuts include:

Almonds
Walnuts
Cashews

Grains

Phytic acid accumulates in the husk and bran of cereal grains. Unrefined grains have the highest amount of phytic acid because they contain the entire grain — the husk, bran, and endosperm. Maize germ, wheat bran, and rice bran have up to 6.39, 7.3, and 8.7 grams of phytic acid per 100 grams, respectively.

Other cereal grains that contain high levels of phytate include:

Wheat germ
Barley
Sorghum
Oat
Rye
Millet

FIGURE 1: FOOD SOURCES OF PHYTIC ACID

As a percentage of dry weight

FOOD	MINIMUM	MAXIMUM
Sesame seed flour	5.36	5.36
Brazil nuts	1.97	6.34
Almonds	1.35	3.22
Tofu	1.46	2.90
Linseed	2.15	2.78
Oatmeal	0.89	2.40
Beans, pinto	2.38	2.38
Soy protein concentrate	1.24	2.17
Soybeans	1.00	2.22
Corn	0.75	2.22
Peanuts	1.05	1.76
Wheat flour	0.25	1.37
Wheat	0.39	1.35
Soy beverage	1.24	1.24
Oats	0.42	1.16
Wheat germ	0.08	1.14
Whole wheat bread	0.43	1.05
Brown rice	0.84	0.99
Polished rice	0.14	0.60
Chickpeas	0.56	0.56
Lentils	0.44	0.50

FIGURE 2: PHYTIC ACID LEVELS

In milligrams per 100 grams of dry weight

FOOD	mg phytic acid/100 g dry weight
Brazil nuts	1719
Cocoa powder	1684-1796
Brown rice	12509
Oat flakes	1174
Almond	1138 – 1400
Walnut	982
Peanut roasted	952
Peanut ungerminated	821
Lentils	779
Peanut germinated	610
Hazelnuts	648 – 1000
Wild rice flour	634 – 752.5
Yam meal	637
Refried beans	622
Corn tortillas	448
Coconut	357
Corn	367
Entire coconut meat	270
White flour	258
White flour tortillas	123
Polished rice	11.5 – 66
Strawberries	12

Phytic Acid Risks: Impaired Mineral Absorption

Once ingested, phytic acid forms insoluble compounds with minerals, proteins, enzymes, and starches. This impairs the absorption of proteins and minerals such as iron, zinc, calcium, and magnesium.

Deficiencies in these minerals can result in health problems including:

Anemia
Fatigue
Weakness
Memory and concentration problems
Hair loss
Loss of appetite
Nausea
Vomiting
Low bone mass
Impotency in men
Reduced immune function

Is Phytic Acid a Health Concern?

Phytic acid is not a major health concern for people eating a nutrient dense diet. But if you have higher nutritional requirements, inadequate intake, or deficiencies of minerals and trace elements, you should limit phytic acid foods.

This is especially important if you follow a vegetarian or vegan diet. Eating a plant-based diet can increase your risk of nutritional iron and zinc-deficiency.

Iron naturally occurs in plants in the form of non-heme iron. This type of iron is poorly absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract due to the presence of phytic acid.

But is also found in whole animal products like red meat and organ meat. This type of iron is known as heme-iron and is not affected by phytic acid. For this reason, individuals who eat animal-meat based diets rarely experience mineral deficiencies from phytic acid.

And though zinc occurs in decent amounts in certain grains, the phytic acid in those grains dramatically inhibits the body’s ability to absorb it.

For vegetarians, vegans, and people who live in developing countries, low intakes of meat combined with high intakes of phytic acid foods like cereal grains and legumes can lead to serious deficiencies.

Researchers estimate that 17.3% of the world’s population is at risk of inadequate zinc intake. While almost the 30% are anaemic.

How Much Phytic Acid is Too Much?

Though we recommend reducing phytates as much as possible, there is no official Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of phytic acid.

The average phytate intake in the U.S. and the U.K. is between 631 and 800 mg per day. In Finland, it’s 370 mg. It is 219 mg in Italy and only 180 mg in Sweden.

In developing countries that must rely mainly on legumes and cereal grains, and in vegetarian and vegan populations that choose to rely on these nutrient sources, intake is often as high as 2,000 mg per day.

We recommend that if you have a diet based on quality animal fats and proteins along with bioavailable vitamin D, vitamin A, vitamin C, and zinc 400-800 mg per day may be safe.

For people with bone loss, mineral deficiencies, and tooth decay, we advise less than 400 mg. For children and pregnant women, it’s best to reduce phytic acid as much as possible.

Fortunately, there are ways to prepare phytate-rich foods in ways that reduce the presence of phytates.

Dephytinization and Nutrition

Dephytinization is a sustainable way to improve the nutrition of high phytate foods. Dephytinization is the process of breaking down phytic acid to increase the bioavailability of certain minerals.

This is done using phytase, an enzyme that makes minerals available for absorption. Interestingly, phytase naturally occurs in raw plants. You can increase phytase activity through food processing techniques such as milling, soaking, fermentation, and germination.

Milling and Soaking

Milling is the process of grinding cereal grains into flour. This removes the husk and bran, the protective outer layers of grains like wheat and rice that contain high amounts of phytic acid. Milling increases protein and mineral digestibility and reduces the phytic acid content of cereal grains. However, it doesn’t always increase mineral availability.

The nutritional content of milled grains varies depending on the concentration of minerals in the husk and bran. In fact, the concentrations of sodium, calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron, barium, and phosphorous decrease in milled wheat and rice.

On the other hand, minerals such as zinc and iron increase after milling barley, rye, and oat because they are more evenly distributed throughout the grain.

While milling can increase mineral digestibility and reduce phytic acid levels, it may be most beneficial in combination with soaking.

Soaking

Submerging legumes and grains in water for a certain period of time activates the enzyme phytase. This reduces phytate levels and improves mineral bioavailability. For example, soaking pearl millet can increase the availability of iron and zinc by up to 23%.

Soaking is also a popular preparation method for nuts. However, recent research suggests that soaking nuts in water may not improve mineral bioavailability or affect phytate levels. Instead, researchers found that soaking nuts results in lower mineral concentrations.

Fermentation

Fermentation is a common food processing technique to preserve foods, improve food safety, and increase nutritional value. Fermentation leads to the production of lactic acid, which increases the activity of phytase by lowering the PH.

Phytic acid is stable at a neutral PH of 6-7. When the PH becomes acidic, phytase can break the bonds between phytic acid and minerals. This enables the absorption of minerals in the small intestine.

Lactic acid bacteria can reduce phytic acid in pseudocereals like amaranth, canihua, and quinoa.

Interestingly, fermenting cereals in flour form results in higher degradation of phytic acid than fermenting them in grain form. The fermentation of raw cereal flours increases the mineral accessibility of iron, zinc, and calcium.

The fermentation of heat-treated grains also increases the availability of minerals, but to a lesser extent. This is because heat treatment deactivates the phytase in plants. However, the phytase produced by lactic acid fermentation breaks down some of the phytic acids.

Germination

Germination occurs when a seed grows into a seedling. You can germinate beans, seeds, nuts, and grains by soaking them in water until they grow sprouts. Another common method involves soaking seeds in a wet paper towel in a disinfected, dark cabinet.

Germinating seeds reduces phytic acid by up to 40%. Incredibly, it also increases total mineral content.

Grain legumes such as beans and peanuts have significantly higher phytase activity after germinating for 6-7 days. Cereal grains such as rice, maize, millet, sorghum, and wheat demonstrate the highest phytase activity after 5-8 days of germination. High phytase activity results in reduced phytate levels and an increase in phosphorus content.

The Takeaway

Phytic acid is a compound found in plant-based foods such as legumes, oilseeds, nuts, and grains.

Since humans cannot digest phytate in the gut, and because of its high capacity to bind with other essential nutrients in diet and in the body, phytate is classified as an antinutrient.2

However, there are studies exploring the positive roles of phytic acid. These revolve around its antioxidant properties and its ability to bind with other minerals. The later function suggests that it may be used to target certain cancer cells that need iron.

But for most people, the ingestion of phytic acid is a net negative. It reduces the absorption of iron, zinc, calcium, and magnesium. And in extreme cases, eating too many phytic acid foods can cause nutritional deficiencies.

The good news is that there are many ways to avoid most health problems associated with phytic acid by using different processing methods for foods high in phytic acids.

Or simply by reducing or eliminating high-phytate foods and replacing them with phytate-free, nutrient-dense animal-based foods.

Cholesterol: Everything You Need to Know

March 24, 2021/in Cholesterol Cholesterol, HDL, LDL, Nutrition /by Liam McAuliffe

Cholesterol: it’s a word that strikes fear into the hearts of health-conscious people everywhere.

This fear, however, isn’t grounded in science. The truth is that cholesterol is found in virtually every cell in your body and essential for every form of animal life.

In this guide, we’ll be looking at what the science says about cholesterol — no medical misinformation or fear-mongering included.

What is Cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a sterol lipid (fat) essential for the life of all animals, including humans. It’s found in virtually every cell of your body and fuels some of the most important physiological functions.

Image from wikipedia.org

Cholesterol fast facts

Cellular integrity | Cholesterol forms part of the phospholipid membrane of nearly all the cells in the body. It is integral to cell structure, fluidity, and permeability.
Myelin formation | The myelin sheath that ‘cushions’ nerve cells relies on cholesterol for its structure, too.
Hormone synthesis | Cholesterol is needed to make the hormone pregnenolone, which in turn makes cortisol, testosterone, progesterone, DHEA, estrogen, vitamin D3, and more.
Creation of bile acids | Cholesterol is converted into bile acids in your liver, which helps you digest dietary fats and absorb fat-soluble vitamins like A, D, E, and K2.

Where does cholesterol come from? Only 20% of the cholesterol in your bloodstream comes from dietary cholesterol — i.e. what you eat. Your liver makes the rest.

Image from Quora

Dietary cholesterol 101

Dietary cholesterol is mostly found in animal foods like meat, eggs, shellfish, cheese, and other dairy products. Organ meats are also very rich in cholesterol.

Yet even the richest food sources of cholesterol contain only trace amounts. Cholesterol is measured in milligrams, not grams, and it contains no calories.

High cholesterol foods	Cholesterol mg per 100 grams
Beef brain	3100
Egg yolk	1085
Caviar	588
Fish oil	521
Foie Gras	515
Roe	479
Egg	373
Lamb kidney	337
Pork liver	301
Clarified butter / Ghee	256
Butter	215
Lobster	200
Heavy Whipping Cream	137

A food’s cholesterol and fat content can have unexpected relationships. For example, certain dairy products are high in fat and lower in cholesterol, while many shellfish are high in cholesterol yet low in fat.

The cholesterol found in meat or eggs is mostly in its esterified form, which means it can’t always be used by your body. And in the instances when esterified cholesterol is used, it doesn’t often correlate with increased serum cholesterol levels. That’s because eating more cholesterol triggers your liver to produce less cholesterol, resulting in overall cholesterol homeostasis.

Nonetheless, controversial guidelines to lower cholesterol by simply eating less of it have persisted.

Why is Cholesterol Controversial?

Not many food substances are as misunderstood as cholesterol. This can be attributed to two major factors: faulty initial research, and inaccurate measurement methods.

Faulty Initial Research

The cholesterol controversy began nearly 100 years ago when Russian scientists fed cholesterol to rabbits and found that they developed atherosclerosis–the build-up of plaques along the inner walls of the arteries.

This finding paved the way for mainstream medicine to identify high cholesterol as bad for the heart — but it was premature. Further studies found that rabbits respond to cholesterol differently than many other animals (including humans).

Yet even rabbits don’t develop atherosclerosis if their high-cholesterol diet is supplemented with thyroid hormone, which helps them process it.

By the mid 1930s it was generally accepted that high cholesterol was caused by hypothyroidism, not dietary cholesterol. Physician Broda Barnes had success treating cholesterol problems with thyroid — using little more than a patient’s body temperature as his guide!

Another confounding factor in these early studies is the possibility that the cholesterol they used was oxidized. Studies show that the immune system can mistake oxidized cholesterol for bacteria. The immune system responds by sending inflammatory cells that damage the inside of the arterial wall, and can lead to heart disease.

But dietary cholesterol from healthy whole-animal sources isn’t oxidized. So these early findings may be even less conclusive.

The science connecting hypercholesterolemia (high cholesterol) and hypothyroidism was largely forgotten by the time vegetable oil production began ramping up in the 1950s.

Vegetable oil, like many other semi-toxic substances, was shown to correlate with a modest lowering of cholesterol. This ‘finding’ happened to fit perfectly into the emerging medical narrative that low cholesterol was good and high cholesterol was bad.

In other words, consumerism drove science — not the other way around. Eventually a combination of shady marketing and selective science led people to believe the low-cholesterol=good narrative. This narrative is still confusing people today.

Margarine was hailed as a health food when it first came out. Image from Pinterest

Inaccurate Measurement Methods

Even if high serum cholesterol was harmful, the standard method of testing one’s cholesterol levels is prone to error.

“Standard cholesterol testing is largely irrelevant,” says MD Peter Attia. “You should have a lipoprotein analysis using NMR spectroscopy [instead].” Cholesterol’s role within the body is complex enough to warrant equally sophisticated testing methods. Anything short of this method can produce misleading results.

Making matters more complex, your cholesterol levels vary throughout the day depending on energy fluctuations. If you just ate a large, fatty meal, your serum cholesterol will be higher; if you’ve been practicing intermittent fasting, your cholesterol will be lower. So the the time at which you are tested makes a difference.

“Good” Cholesterol vs. “bad” Cholesterol

Not all cholesterol is created equal. Certain types of cholesterol are indeed a cause for concern. Cholesterol can’t move through the bloodstream without assistance from other substances, so it recruits the help of one of two lipoproteins: LDL and HDL.

“Bad” cholesterol: LDL

LDL (low-density lipoprotein) is the type of cholesterol referred to as “bad” cholesterol.

LDL’s primary role is to carry cholesterol and triglycerides to cells. Once delivered, these substances can provide energy and repair cellular damage.

Recent science shows that the most important cholesterol marker is the LDL-p, (LDL particle number). This number describes how many LDL particles are floating around in your bloodstream.

Despite the LDL-p’s importance, most standard blood tests only measure LDL-c, or how much cholesterol your LDL particles are carrying around. Another important metric is the relationship between your LDL-p and LDL-c numbers. If LDL-p is low, then you probably don’t need to worry about your cardiovascular health — even if LDL-c is high.

Just as important as the number of LDL particles in your bloodstream is their function. LDL are prone to shuttling cholesterol to the wrong place, which is when trouble can begin. LDL’s that dump cholesterol into artery walls over long periods of time can cause atherosclerosis, heart disease, and other problems.

To summarize, not even “bad” cholesterol is inherently bad. It usually only becomes a problem when it shuttles cholesterol to the wrong places. Otherwise, even LDL can contribute to the steroid synthesis and cellular structuring we mentioned earlier.

“Good” cholesterol: HDL

HDL (high-density lipoprotein) is the type of cholesterol referred to as “good” cholesterol.

HDL, however, isn’t actually cholesterol at all. It’s a lipid-carrying protein that transports cholesterol throughout the body. Compared to LDL, HDL seems to do a better job of shuttling cholesterol around.

HDL’s primary role is collecting excess cholesterol and transporting it to the liver, where it can be recycled or destroyed. This prevents the accumulation of cholesterol in the blood, which keeps cholesterol from building up in blood vessels and causing heart disease. Researchers call this process “cholesterol efflux.”

HDL particles also have anti-inflammatory and anti-clotting properties. The combination of these beneficial properties is why HDL is associated with cardiovascular health. HDL can protect against LDL — but, more than that, it protects against actual cardiovascular problems.

What are Healthy Cholesterol Levels?

Unfortunately, the faulty initial research and inaccurate measurement methods mentioned earlier have gone a long way towards shaping the cholesterol guidelines still in use today.

Before getting into these guidelines, let’s take a quick look at how cholesterol levels are quantified.

We measure cholesterol in denominations of milligrams per deciliter (1/10th of a liter) of blood. This metric is designated by mg/dL. To determine a person’s total cholesterol number, their HDL and LDL levels are added together.

So, what are considered healthy cholesterol levels?

Though controversial, blood cholesterol levels between 200 and 240 mg/dL have historically been considered ‘normal.’

But in older people, cholesterol levels much higher than this have been associated with longevity!

A 1989 study of elderly women found that those with levels over 270 mg/dL had the lowest mortality rates. Even roundworms live longer when they have their genes edited to produce more cholesterol.

While gene-editing methods are obviously unproven, this finding further supports cholesterol’s protective, anti-stress effect. Optimizing cholesterol levels may allow the body to make the right levels of hormones, like cortisol and cortisone, that facilitate a healthy stress response.

Despite these historic and scientific precedents, most mainstream sources today consider a total cholesterol level of under 200 ideal.

Breaking Down Cholesterol Recommendations

In order to stay under 200 mg/dL total, LDL (“bad” cholesterol) should be less than 110 mg/dL and HDL (“good” cholesterol) should be under 90.

With HDL, however, it’s important not to go too low. Your HDL should be at least 35 mg/dL — preferably higher. The more HDL you have, the better your protection against heart disease. Cardiologist John Higgins says that “the sweet spot” for HDL “is between 60 and 80 mg/dL.”

Other mainstream recommendations include:

Lowering LDL cholesterol to under 190 mg/dL
Raising HDL cholesterol to ~ 60 mg/dL
Lowering total cholesterol to under 200 mg/dL
Lowering triglycerides to under 150 mg/dL

What Causes High Cholesterol?

Some of the risk factors for high LDL (“bad” cholesterol) include:

Hypothyroidism
Poor food choices
Inactivity
Smoking

Hypothyroidism

In order to understand why thyroid health can impact cholesterol levels, it’s important to understand what dietary cholesterol actually becomes when it enters your body.

Earlier we mentioned that cholesterol is the precursor, or building block, for the “steroid hormones”: pregnenolone, testosterone, progesterone, DHEA, and estrogen.

The many hormones made from cholesterol. Image from ResearchGate

These conversions take place thanks to a person’s thyroid hormone, which converts cholesterol into other types of hormones in different areas of the body. Slow thyroid activity means steroid hormones don’t get produced quickly enough which can lead to a virtual backlog of cholesterol.

Food Choices and Cholesterol

Since the famous (or infamous) 1958 Seven Countries study by Ansel Keys, various dietary recommendations have been made to try to improve cholesterol levels. Keys’s observational study found a correlation (but not causation) between saturated fat intake and heart diseases.

Over the preceding decades, researchers have developed a more sophisticated understanding of cholesterol and devised better studies to test for the relationship between diet and cholesterol.

The link between diet and cholesterol, and how it affects our health is still a hotly debated topic within mainstream nutrition-science establishments. The two dietary factors most scrutinized are saturated fat and sugar.

Saturated Fat and Cholesterol

For decades saturated fat has been demonized because some studies demonstrated a causal link between saturated fat and moderate increases in LDL cholesterol. These findings are often coupled with other studies showing a causal link between LDL cholesterol and coronary heart disease.

However, there are no studies showing convincing evidence for a direct link between saturated fat and heart disease.

More recent and higher quality research reveals that the effects of saturated fat on heart disease are far more complicated and nuanced.

This outlook is highlighted by recent analysis of numerous studies leading to a shift in mainstream perceptions of saturated fat. A 2019 report by 19 leading researchers concluded that the scientific evidence does not support WHO guidelines for reducing dietary saturated fat.

The report states that these guidelines can weaken the effect of the overall guidelines on chronic disease incidence and mortality. Similar findings are voiced in a 2020 analysis published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

These studies reveal that factors including food sources of saturated fat (are you getting it from a steak or a cookie loaded with sugar?), individual responses to saturated fat intake, and overall diet changes in relation to increases in saturated fat intake need to be taken into account.

Sugar and Cholesterol

The average American eats the equivalent of about 26 teaspoons of added sugar a day. That’s nearly 3 times more than recent heart disease prevention guidelines.

And this is without including the carbohydrates (which all break down to simple sugars that raise blood sugar), that we get from fruits, grains, and all other vegetables.

For a long time, researchers have known that excess carbohydrates contributes to obesity, diabetes, and other conditions linked to heart disease. And recent research links excess carbs to unhealthy cholesterol and triglyceride levels and increased cardiovascular mortality.

In the study, people who consumed the most added sugar had the lowest HDL, or good cholesterol, the highest blood triglyceride levels, and were most likely to die from cardiovascular disease.

Participants who ate the least sugar had the highest HDL, and the lowest triglyceride levels.

Another 2010 study analyzed 6,113 adults who participated in the large, ongoing National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

The study showed that the more sugar participants ate, the lower their HDL and higher their triglycerides. And compared to people who ate the least sugar, people who ate the most sugar were three times more likely to have low HDL levels.

The study authors link the added sugar to an increase in processed foods, which are also high in another food that has negative effects on cholesterol levels–trans-fats.

Indeed, trans fats raise LDL far more than saturated fats do. Highly polyunsaturated fats (contained in many vegetable oils) may also contribute to high cholesterol more than originally thought, since their cholesterol content easily oxidizes to form harmful byproducts.

Inactivity

Chronic sitting and lack of movement can also have negative effects on your cholesterol levels. Even a few days of inactivity can result in higher LDL.

Thankfully, exercise can help. One study found that athletes have higher HDL cholesterol (“good” cholesterol) than their inactive counterparts. That’s just one more reason to pick up walking if you haven’t already. And if you’re looking for more low-impact intentional movement, yoga is a great practice to explore.

Smoking

The carcinogenic chemicals in smoke can make your blood thicker and less supple over time. Smoking can also raise your blood pressure and damage the delicate linings of your arteries.

All this damage makes it harder for cholesterol to be transported to the right places. Perhaps unsurprisingly, smoking lowers HDL cholesterol and raises your LDL cholesterol. This effect is most pronounced in women.

Can High Cholesterol be Beneficial?

Cholesterol is found in so many nourishing foods, produced naturally in large quantities by our bodies, processed into critical hormones by our thyroid glands, and strongly correlated with improved mental health and longevity.

This begs the question: Could high serum cholesterol levels be protective, and could they be one of the body’s tools it uses to protect against harm?

Some experts think so. And there’s a growing body of research investigating this question. One study of healthy young women found that those with low cholesterol were more likely to be depressed and anxious. The study’s researchers theorized that correspondingly low levels of vitamin D, the “sunshine hormone,” might be responsible.

Cholesterol may improve other facets of mental health, too. The Framingham heart study looking at 1948 people found that people with cholesterol levels in the ‘ideal’ sub-200 range have slightly lower “verbal fluency, attention/concentration, abstract reasoning, and a composite score measuring multiple cognitive domains” than those with ‘high’ cholesterol.

Other studies highlight a link between cholesterol and cognitive function, showing that cholesterol may promote neural growth and plasticity.

These findings bring us to a surprising possibility: far from being the cause of health problems, high cholesterol levels may be a protective, symptomatic response to issues like hypothyroidism and obesity.

How to Optimize your Cholesterol Levels

Getting your cholesterol levels back into the ideal 200-270 mg/dL range is often quite simple, regardless of whether they’re currently too high or too low. We’ll focus on four of the most elemental ways you can optimize your cholesterol:

Thyroid health
Weight loss
Exercise
Healthy fats

Thyroid health

This method is important, but implementing it can be challenging because medical guidance is usually required. If you exhibit the hallmark signs of hypothyroidism — including low body temperature, cold extremities, water retention, weight gain, high cholesterol, and even arthritis–you may want to ask your doctor to get check your thyroid.

The possibility of subclinical hypothyroidism shouldn’t be neglected, either. To promote thyroid health, consider eating iodine (seafood and salt are two great sources) and avoiding processed polyunsaturated fats.

Weight loss

A study done by the American Diabetes Association found that weight loss has several beneficial effects on cholesterol. Weight loss may increase the breakdown of bad cholesterol and have a sparing effect on good cholesterol, resulting in a much better lipid profile.

Another study found that the reduced blood pressure and reduced cholesterol levels seen in weight loss were closely related. The patients in this study lowered their cholesterol by up to 45 mg/dL as they lost weight and improved their health.

Exercise

Getting half an hour of physical activity per day can boost your HDL cholesterol and lower your LDL cholesterol. Some studies have shown that exercise’s beneficial impact on cholesterol levels grows more and more apparent with age, since exercise lowers cholesterol more in those above the age of 60.

Gentle exercises like yoga and pilates may be best since they provide cholesterol-lowering capabilities in a stress-free format. Walking, bicycling, and tennis are also good — as long as you enjoy them!

Inactive	Active
HDL at baseline	HDL up 20%
LDL at baseline	LDL down 15%

Eating Healthy Fats

When the average person thinks of heart-healthy dietary fats, they might see an image of vegetable oils high in polyunsaturated fats. But unfortunately, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Saturated fat appears to be more protective against heart disease than unsaturated fat, in spite of its potential effects on cholesterol levels. In 2014, the Japan Collaborative Cohort Study found an inverse relationship between saturated fat intake and cardiovascular problems.

Leading nutritional researcher Mary Enig, affirms that avoiding saturated fat may only make things worse. “If you are avoiding foods containing saturated fat and cholesterol, you will not only deprive your body of vital nutrients, but the foods that you consume as substitutes will contain many components—polyunsaturated oils, trans fatty acids, refined sugar—that have been associated with increased rates of heart disease,” she explains.

This concept leads us to what might be the best way to optimize cholesterol of all: a high fat, low-carb keto diet.

Low Carb, High-Fat diet, and Cholesterol

Eating a low-carb, high-fat diet almost always means eating high cholesterol foods like eggs, bacon (or better yet, fresh pork belly), full-fat dairy, and organ meats.

Although it may sound like common sense that eating a high-fat low-carb diet filled with cholesterol-rich foods would raise blood cholesterol levels, that’s not the way it actually works.

As we’ve discussed earlier, the body does a good job of regulating your blood cholesterol by controlling how much cholesterol it makes.

When you eat more cholesterol, your body makes less, and vice versa. Because of this regulating ability, studies show that foods high in dietary cholesterol have very little impact on blood cholesterol levels in most people.

For most people on high-fat low-carb diets, there is a slight increase in overall cholesterol due to an increase in heart-healthy HDL. Bad LDL particle concentrations decrease (LDL-P). And the size of LDL cholesterol particles increases–all positive markers for cardiovascular health.

At the same time, dangerous VLDL cholesterol concentrations in the blood generally decrease as well. Weighing the evidence, for most people the benefits of HFLC diets on cholesterol levels outweigh the negatives

The Verdict on Cholesterol Levels

Cholesterol is an essential substance that sustains life in all animals including humans.

When considering the evidence, it becomes clear that cholesterol is not the public enemy that the medical profession once thought it was.

Dietary cholesterol has little to no effect on blood cholesterol levels. In addition, high cholesterol levels may well be a downstream symptom of other chronic health issues including hypothyroidism, hormonal imbalances, obesity, and more.

On the other hand, more recent research has discovered a causal link between dietary carbohydrates and unhealthy cholesterol levels in humans.

A diet rich in whole foods that are naturally high in cholesterol and low in added sugars and other carbohydrates is likely protective against health problems associated with unhealthy cholesterol levels.

How to Practice Gratitude: 3 Proven Techniques

March 23, 2021/in Gratitude Gratitude, Journaling, meditation, mindfulness /by Liam McAuliffe

Learning how to practice gratitude has long-term positive effects on our lives. It has been shown to help our bodies stay healthy, balance our minds, and improve our relationships. After consistent gratitude practice, many of these benefits are reflected in changes to the structure of the brain.

Gratitude is a state of thankfulness and appreciation that all people are capable of feeling.

But gratitude doesn’t just feel good. It’s good for you.

Learning how to practice gratitude:

increases positive emotions.
strengthens your immune system.
improves your sleep.
increases your self-esteem.
leads to more and better relationships.
helps you stick with self-care routines like yoga and healthy eating.
increases productivity and satisfaction in the workplace.

Getting Started

For many people new to practicing gratitude, it can feel unnatural and challenging. That’s because the negative parts of our lives–the fears, resentments, and disappointments–can take up more of our attention than the positive parts.

Modern life is hyper-competitive, and we’re told that we can’t be happy until we attain external things like wealth, status, and material objects. This leads to shame and low-self esteem, which can make you feel like you’re not worth the effort.

Thankfully, we have gratitude practices that refocus our attention away from what we think we lack, and towards an appreciation of what we already have.

Give Gratitude Some Time

For many people practicing gratitude can feel really good the moment you begin. Yet the long-term positive benefits accrue over time. Hence the word “practice”.

And it’s worth it. When practicing gratitude the mental health benefits have been shown to increase in the long term, rather than plateau and decline, as is the case for many other positive activities.

So give gratitude some time, and it can give you back a completely different way of relating to life.

How to Practice Gratitude Journaling

A standard practice in hundreds of gratitude studies, all you need is a journal, something to write with, or a dedicated file on your computer or smartphone.

3×3 Approach

You can begin with what’s called a 3×3 approach. This means that 3 days out of each week you write down three things you are grateful for in your life.

Starting out this way can protect you from getting down on yourself if you forget a day, or when life gets too busy.

As you begin to feel the momentum of gratitude building, you can increase the frequency of your journaling by a day or two. If you find yourself journaling every day while still finding more things to be grateful for each day, bravo! If not, that’s totally fine too.

Just as there’s no right or wrong frequency for gratitude journaling, no one can tell you what you should or shouldn’t be grateful for. The things we feel grateful for are unique to each of us, and they change from day to day.

Another added benefit of gratitude journaling is that it doubles as a daily diary that you can look back on in order to gain deeper insights into the themes and patterns appearing in your life. All through the nurturing and inspiring lens of gratitude.

Journaling Prompts

Having trouble getting started? These prompts can help you learn how to practice gratitude. But remember it’s ok if you don’t have answers to any of these questions, they’re just here to help get the juices flowing.

What is there about a challenge you are experiencing right now that you can be thankful for?
Who has done something to help you this week for which you are grateful? How can you thank them?
What was the last great experience you had in nature?
What was the most delicious ketogenic meal you’ve had this last week?
How is your life today different than it was one year ago, and what about these changes are you grateful for?
List three people in your life you find it difficult to get along with and write down a positive quality you see in each of them that you are grateful for.
What is something new you’ve learned this week that you are grateful for?
What music did you listen to this week that you are grateful to have heard?
Something that made you smile today?
Something funny that made you laugh?
A favorite place you’ve visited?
A modern invention that you rely on and are grateful for?

How to Practice Guided Gratitude Meditations

Guided gratitude meditations are another proven way to activate the power of gratitude. But before jumping into the practice, you can make sure you get the most out of it by setting the “container”– a consistent and intentional time, space, and mindset.

Setting the Container

When people ask how much meditation they need to truly feel its effects, researchers liken it to other activities we use to keep our body healthy. Your body responds optimally to a few hours of intentional activity each week.

The same goes for your mind. This translates to around 20 minutes each day. But you can keep it fresh by experimenting with the focus of your meditation–not every meditation has to be explicitly on gratitude.

It’s also helpful to practice for at least 20-minute at a time. This is based on the fact that our brains take around 20 minutes to become fully focused.

Same time, Same place

Humans are creatures of habit. When it comes to practicing meditation, we can use this to our advantage. By choosing the same time and place to meditate each day, we are priming our bodies and brains to drop into focus more quickly and deeply.

Find a place that feels naturally comfortable, but sometimes the only space we have is our car. Sometimes you just have to take the space wherever you can get it.

Zero Judgment

There is no right or wrong way to meditate. There are no grades. Are you showing up and giving it your best effort? That’s all that matters.

6 Stage Gratitude Meditation

Settle into a relaxed posture. You can close your eyes if you want, but you don’t have to. Inhale for 5 seconds, hold for 5 seconds, release your breath slowly for 10 seconds. Repeat this sequence of breathing 3 times.
Think about something in your life you are very grateful for. Notice any sensations that arise in your body. Inhale for 5 seconds, hold for 5 seconds, release your breath slowly for 10 seconds.
Notice any sensations in your immediate surroundings. What do you smell, taste, touch, see, hear? Say to yourself: “For this, I am grateful.” Inhale for 5 seconds, hold for 5 seconds, release your breath slowly for 10 seconds.
Next, call into your mind an image of someone who you effortlessly feel love for—a close friend, a family member, your partner. Say to yourself, “For this, I am grateful.” Inhale for 5 seconds, hold for 5 seconds, release your breath slowly for 10 seconds.
Next, turn your attention to yourself: You are a unique being. You are able to feel a rich array of emotions; you can communicate with others, you have an imagination that allows you to learn from the past and prepare for the future. You have the resolve to focus right here and now on the gift of being you at this very moment. Maybe you have made it through hardship that has helped you to grow and given your strength. Say to yourself: “For this, I am grateful.” Inhale for 5 seconds, hold for 5 seconds, release your breath slowly for 10 seconds.
Finally, rest in the realization that your life is a gift. You are resilient in the face of challenge and gracious in the face of success. Say to yourself: “For this, I am grateful.” Inhale for 5 seconds, hold for 5 seconds, release your breath slowly for 10 seconds.

How to Practice Expressing Gratitude

Expressing gratitude is more than courtesy or good manners. When we make expressing gratitude a practice we are showing our authentic appreciation. This activates the two-step process of true gratitude: noticing something good in your life, and genuinely appreciating the people and circumstances outside of yourself that helped this good thing happen to you.

Show your appreciation to someone who did something that made you feel good.

You can express gratitude by saying:

“It was really kind of you to…”
“It was a really big help for me when you…”
“You did me a big favor that time when…”
“Thank you for taking the time to listen when…”
“I really appreciated that you taught me…”
“Thank you for being there when….”

You can even turn this into a letter-writing practice. In one study leading gratitude researchers had 411 participants write a letter to someone they felt appreciation for and personally deliver and read it to them.

Nearly all participants reported large increases in happiness. And better yet, their happiness increased as time went on.

The Outlook

These techniques can help you establish an attitude of gratitude that has been proven to benefit mind, body, careers, and relationships.

When learning how to practice gratitude, it takes time to reap the full rewards, so consistency is key.

However, feeling and expressing authentic gratitude isn’t dependent on these practices. As you go through your day see how many times you can notice that someone does something kind for you, and thank them for it!

Maybe it’s your partner who cooked you dinner. A simple, “wow, thank you for making me dinner, that’s really kind of you,” can create positive feelings that ripple out into every other part of life, while strengthening the periods of focused practice.

Phytohormones: molecular chemical structure of cytokinin

Phytohormones 101: Everything you Need to Know

March 22, 2021/in Antinutrients and Plant Toxins Fertility, Phytoestrogens, Phytohormones, Plant Chemical, Plant Toxin /by Liam McAuliffe

Phytohormones are a group of chemical messengers that help plants grow and reproduce.

Yet current phytohormone research shows that these compounds can be a significant factor in both animal and human reproductive disorders and infertility.

Let’s take a closer look at what phytohormones are, and how they affect humans.

[TOC]

What Are Phytohormones?

Phytohormones signal plant seeds to germinate and sprout. And once sprouted, phytohormones direct the plant to expand its roots and stems, grow taller, shoot out branches, make leaves, and eventually create flowers, fruit, and dormant seeds for next year’s growth.

Plants also use these self-made chemicals to respond to their local environment and the animals that lurk within their vicinity.

Since plants can’t run away from danger, they have evolved a very sophisticated array of chemical weapons to defend themselves against attacks. In fact, one of the main jobs for phytohormones is to respond to stress and help plants survive threats from insects and other predators.

As with all living organisms, stress can cause various physical and chemical reactions. For example, in humans, stress can increase the production of adrenaline and cortisol. Plants deal with stress by creating different types of phytohormones.

The Function of Phytohormones in Plants

The first phytohormones were discovered in the 1900s. These are known as the “classic five” and include:

Ethylene (1901)
Auxins (1926)
Gibberellians (1926)
Cytokinins (1950s)
Abscisic acid (1950s)

Many more phytohormones have been, and are still being discovered. Of the newer discoveries, several have been the subject of interesting research. These include:

Brassinosteroids
Jasmonates
Salicylates
Strigolactones

The Roles of Phytohormones in Plants

Some of these hormones, such as strigolactones and brassinosteroids are more active in response to plant stress. But most phytohormones play multiple roles and affect all parts of the plant’s life cycle.

Auxin, for example, helps the plant grow new root branches, get taller and bend itself towards sunlight.

Let’s take a look at some of the other key players and what they do.

Ethylene

In some plants, ethylene strongly affects the production of flowers and fruit ripening.

The presence of this phytohormone can cause cut flowers to die more quickly and fruit to ripen too quickly for transport. The little powder packets that come with cut flowers sometimes include compounds that interfere with ethylene production in the plant, to try and extend the time that the flowers remain beautiful. And many fruit varieties are picked green and then treated with ethylene once they arrive at their destinations. Ethylene is what causes bananas to ripen more quickly when they are placed in a paper bag.

Cytokinins

Cytokinins help plants move nutrients from their leaves to the seeds to enhance future reproduction.

As the nutrients are moved toward seed storage, the leaves begin to fail. This nutrient movement can be affected by drought, nutrient deficiencies, light availability, and more. For instance, some plants produce higher levels of cytokinin, which allows them to withstand drought conditions longer. And in response to various internal and external signals, cytokinins can act in opposition to auxin, for instance promoting shoot branches that auxin would inhibit.

Gibberellin

The gibberellin group of phytohormones strongly affect plant growth, seed germination, flower production, and fruit growth.

Gibberellic acid is the most active hormone in the group. Various commercial fruit growers use routine sprayings of this phytohormone to increase fruit size. Other commercial agriculture companies, such as sugarcane farmers and vegetable growers, apply gibberellic acid to their crops to increase leaf sizes and total crop yields.

Jamonates

These compounds fight off insects and other animal species that destroy plant structures.

For instance, jasmonates might induce the production of volatile chemicals which attract predator insects to kill the insect that is chewing on the plant. Or when a first leaf is attacked and damaged by a beetle, the plant may produce chemicals in its other leaves that will deter that type of insect from attacking the plant in the future.

How Phytohormones Affect Animals

We are just discovering the wide variety of phytohormones and all the ways they assist and defend the plants around us. Learning more about these compounds may help farmers develop stress and pathogen-resistance plants that yield greater quantities of food.

But not all of what we know about phytohormones is positive. There is one particular class of phytohormones that can affect humans and animals negatively. These are the phytoestrogens.

Phytoestrogens

These hormones are so named because they are very similar in structure to mammalian estrogen, and research has shown that phytoestrogens can affect human and animal fertility once ingested.

Historically, the interest in phytoestrogens stepped up after an incident in Australia in the 1940s.[6] Sheep ranchers found that ewes grazing upon a specific type of clover began spontaneously aborting their pregnancies.

It took them 20 years, but researchers finally figured out that the clover contained a hormone called formononetin. Formononetin breaks down into equol, a compound that is very similar to the mammalian estrogen estradiol-17 alpha and it was this estrogen-like compound that caused the spontaneous abortions.

Another example of this phytoestrogenic fertility effect is well-known by Western cattle ranchers. Cattle that eat Ponderosa pine needles can suffer late-term abortions, and without treatment, the pine needle consumption can kill the animal. Such is the power of a poisonous plant.

How Phytohormones Can Affect Humans

Clover and pine needles aside, there are also human foods that contain large amounts of potentially harmful phytoestrogens. Soy products are high in two specific isoflavone phytoestrogens (genistein and daidzein) which can bind to human estrogen receptors in the body.

Although there is a large body of research that reports that soy consumption can provide some benefits, other research has reported on the dangers of soy.

Studies have reported that the consumption of soy food products interferes with animal and human estrogen signaling pathways, and thus affects fertility and reproduction.

Phytohormones and Fertility: What the Science Says

Research in this area has pinned many of the fertility issues associated with soy on the isoflavone genistein. Various animal studies have shown that genistein consumption is linked to abnormal menstruation, altered ovarian function, early reproductive development and infertility.

The phytoestrogens in soy can affect active steroid levels in the human body as well, which can potentially distort the male androgen to female estrogen balance and affect egg and sperm production.

In one Harvard study, the authors reported that a high consumption of soy foods was associated with a lower sperm concentration in men, an outcome that points to phytoestrogen effects on males.

In other human studies, babies who were fed soy formulas showed up to 500 times more isoflavones in their system. Researchers found that infant girls who were fed soy formula versus cow-milk formula displayed larger wombs and vaginal cell changes.

Other research shows that infant girls fed soy formula are more likely to develop severe menstrual pain as young adults.

Other Plants High in Phytoestrogens

Although soybeans, soy milk, edamame, soy meal, soy flour and other food products made from soy are a well-known phytoestrogen source, there are other plant-based foods that contain estrogen isoflavones as well. These include :

Legumes
Currants
Raisins
Sesame seeds
Pistachio nuts.

Phytoandrogens

All this talk of estrogen begs a question about plants and testosterone. Are there plants that contain testosterone-like compounds?

Although there isn’t much research available, some herbs and plant supplements do contain phytohormones which mimic testosterone in mammals.

These are called phytoandrogens, and they can bind themselves to androgen receptors within the human body. Interestingly, one study reported that daidzein, the phytoestrogen cousin of genistein, can act as a phytoandrogen.

The bottom line on phytoestrogens and phytoandrogens is that anyone who is struggling with fertility issues should avoid soy and other phytohormone foods and supplements as well.

Summary

Phytohormones are a class of plant compounds that are essential for plant growth, development, and reproduction.

They act as signaling compounds to help plants survive changing environmental conditions. And they can also act as chemical weapons which plants can use to defend themselves from other living creatures, including humans.

Phytoestrogens are one class of plant hormones that can affect fertility and reproduction in both animals and humans.

As we learn more about phytohormones, other effects may be discovered. For now, we know enough to utilize them to benefit human agricultural goals and also to advise anyone having fertility issues to avoid consuming foods high in phytoestrogens.

Practicing Gratitude: A Beginner’s Guide

March 22, 2021/in Mind Gratitude, meditation, mindfulness /by Liam McAuliffe

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson

[TOC]

What is Gratitude?

Gratitude is a state of thankfulness and appreciation. The ability to feel gratitude is universal. It’s part of our evolutionary history, which means that gratitude is “hardwired” in the human brain.

Practicing Gratitude

To practice gratitude researchers identify a two-step process. (1)“recognizing that one has obtained a positive outcome” and (2) “recognizing that there is an external source for this positive outcome.”

More than a Feeling

Positive events like getting a raise or graduating college can inspire joyful feelings of accomplishment and satisfaction. But in order for you to turn these feelings into the practice of gratitude, you have to choose to recognize the outside sources of those events and be thankful for them.

This could mean bringing awareness to the support you’ve received from mentors, parents, family members, partners, friends, or a higher power.

Practicing gratitude means choosing to look at your life with a focus on the sources of your pleasures, joys, and accomplishments.

There are many different ways to practice. Here are a few:

Gratitude journaling
Meditating on the sources of happiness in your life
Telling someone that you are grateful for something they did
Doing something kind for someone as an expression of gratitude
Paying mindful attention to moment-by-moment sources of pleasure like bird song, trees, art, music, and other beautiful and pleasurable things
Giving thanks through prayer and spiritual rituals

Dr. Kiltz’s Gratitude Attitude

Dr. Kiltz sees practicing gratitude as cultivating a “gratitude attitude”. This attitude arises when you realize that you are endowed with a body that’s able to feel incredible sensations, an inquisitive mind, and a creative spirit that you can use to connect with others by expressing your thoughts and feelings.

All this adds up to gratitude for the gift of being you, right now, just as you are.

Yet many people are confused when it comes to gratitude. People often think they need to achieve status, wealth, power, and security before they can appreciate all that they are, and not just what they have.

But research reveals that happiness isn’t what brings you gratitude, gratitude is what brings you happiness.

The Many Benefits of Gratitude

People who regularly practice gratitude by noticing, reflecting upon, and sharing the things they’re thankful for an experience many benefits including:

More positive emotions
Stronger immune systems
Better sleep
Higher self-esteem
More and better relationships

Gratitude Increases Happiness and Other Positive Emotions

Research has shown that about 40% of our happiness is accounted for by intentional activity, 50% by genetics, and 10% by circumstances. This suggests that happiness is something that we can cultivate with gratitude practice.

To test this idea, leading gratitude researcher, Dr. Martin E. P. Seligman, assigned 411 people to write and personally deliver a letter of gratitude to someone they had not thanked before. Nearly all participants showed a large increase in happiness. And the benefits lasted for months.

In another study, researchers asked 3 groups of participants to write a few sentences each week on particular topics.

The first group wrote about things they were grateful for that happened during the week.

The second group wrote about things that irritated them. And the third wrote about things that affected them without an emphasis on positive or negative feelings.

After 10 weeks, participants who wrote about gratitude were more optimistic and felt better about their lives. Surprisingly, they also had fewer visits to the doctor and exercised more.

How Gratitude Benefits Your Health

The benefits of gratitude for your health can be understood in the context of mind-body-medicine. This evidence-based approach to health focuses on connections between our minds, bodies, and behaviours to support good health and activate healing.

Since the mind and body are deeply connected it’s no surprise that the benefits of gratitude extend to our health.

Gratitude Strengthens the Immune System

Practicing gratitude strengthens the immune system by:

Reducing stress
Improving Sleep
Increasing optimism

Stress Reduction

Chronic stress can disturb normal immune system responses leading to chronic inflammation–a major contributor to diseases responsible for the majority of deaths across the globe.

Studies show that daily gratitude practice can lead to a 23% reduction in the stress hormone cortisol. In short doses cortisol can act as an anti-inflammatory, but in when your body is in a chronic state of stress the constant presence of cortisol leads to chronic inflammation in the cardiovascular system and throughout the body.

A study looking at health-care practitioners–who work in high-stress environment–revealed that keeping a gratitude diary for two weeks produced sustained reductions in perceived stress (28%) and depression (16%).

Improves Sleep

Numerous studies show that good sleep is critical for a healthy immune system. Practicing gratitude has been shown to improve sleep, even for people with serious health issues and sleep disorders.

One study of people with neuromuscular disorders who made nightly lists of things they were grateful for, found that after 3 weeks participants reported longer and more refreshing sleep.

Another study by University of Manchester researchers looked at the effects of gratitude on sleep for over 400 people, 40% with sleep disorders. Researchers found that gratitude was linked to more positive thoughts and fewer negative thoughts. These thought changes were associated with falling asleep faster, sleeping longer, and higher sleep quality.

Increases Optimism

Studies suggest that optimism boosts the immune system, and can be a factor in healthy aging.

Thankfully, practicing gratitude can improve optimism, even if you’re not a naturally optimistic person.

Another study showed that after only 10 weeks of daily gratitude practice, participants felt more positive and optimistic about their present lives and their futures.

Gratitude Helps You Maintain Self-Care Routines

Self-care routines are key to health and wellbeing, but they’re notoriously hard to maintain. Studies show that 95% of diets fail, and many people find it hard to fulfill their daily goals for physical activity. Practicing gratitude can help.

Researchers have found a positive correlation between gratitude and the likelihood of sticking to self-care regimens, like doing yoga and healthy eating. 1

Gratitude practices have been shown to keep people focused on taking care of themselves by improving self-esteem and reducing the false-idea many people hold that they are not worth taking care of.

Gratitude Improves Relationships

Gratitude is an “other-oriented” emotion, so it makes sense that it would have positive effects on relationships.

A 2011 study looking at couples found that people who took time to express gratitude for their partner felt more positive towards them, and were more comfortable expressing concerns about their relationship.

A study looking at gratitude practice on the job, found that Managers who remember to say “thank you” to their employees find that employees are motivated to work harder for them.

Researchers at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania found that a group of fundraisers who were giving a pep-talk from the director expressing gratitude, made 50% more fundraising calls than the group that wasn’t thanked.

How Gratitude Affects the Brain

The power of gratitude practices to change the physical structure and chemical processes of the brain suggests that the benefits of gratitude are long lasting and strengthened over time.

Gratitude has been shown to :

Change the molecular structure of the brain, i.e. rewiring.
Increase grey matter in areas associated with better cognitive functioning.
Boosts the “feel good” neurotransmitter serotonin while
Stimulates the brain stem to produce dopamine
Enhances activity in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC): areas associated with empathy, decision making, impulse control, and will power.

Image from celiaroberts.com

How to Practice Gratitude?

Gratitude is a practice that refocuses your attention away from what you may think you lack, and towards an appreciation of what you already have.

For most people this is a revolutionary shift in perspective. The forces of society, careers, and even many of our own families, have trained us to feel inferior, insufficient, and unaccomplished.

So at first, expressing gratitude might feel unnatural or contrived. But with just a little practice the attitude of gratitude grows stronger and becomes more durable. Eventually it can be your default way of relating to life.

Here are a few ways to practice gratitude on a regular basis:

Journaling

The gold standard of gratitude practices, gratitude journaling has been used in hundreds of studies worldwide. All you need is a journal and something to write with, or a dedicated word processing file on your computer.

You can begin quite simply by writing down three things that you are grateful for in your life, three days a week.

This 3×3 approach protects you against feeling shame if you forget or aren’t able to practice everyday. Once you get the hang of it, you can increase your journaling daily.

When writing, try to be as detailed about everything associated with the event or person you are grateful for. See if your description can bring you back into the moment.

Thank Someone with a Note

Studies show that writing a thank-you-note to someone who has done something to positively impact your life, can make you happier, and strengthen your relationships. You can send it by mail, but it can be even more powerful to deliver it in person and read it.

To make thank-you-notes a practice, send one gratitude letter a month. It can also be a good practice to send one to yourself every so often.

Thank someone mentally

Finding the time to write can be tricky, so when you’re pinched for time, you can simply envision someone who has done something nice for you and thank them within the space of your imagination.

Count your Blessings

“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.”—Willie Nelson

Give yourself 15 minutes, three days each week to reflect in writing about the first thing that comes to mind that has gone right for you and that you’re grateful for.

As you write, focus on describing the specific sensations that you felt when that good thing happened to you–the feelings in your body, your emotions, the temperature, scents, and even tastes. Notice if you can feel them in your body again.

By focusing on the sensations around gratitude you are activating what psychologists call a “felt sense”, and it’s linked to many therapeutic benefits.

Pray

Whether you’re religious or not, praying can provide a consistent way to cultivate gratitude.

A simple prayer of gratitude is, “Thank you, God, for this awesome and amazing day you have gifted me.” Saying this each morning can set a tone of gratitude that carries through the day.

If the word “God” doesn’t resonate with you, try substituting the “universe” or “life”. What matters is that you’re acknowledging who you are and what you have as a gift.

The Outlook

Gratitude is a universal experience that when practiced can become an attitude–a consistent way of relating to ourselves and acting in the world.

Practicing gratitude benefits our physical and mental health, deepens our relationships, improves our careers, helps us follow through with healthy habits, and instills a durable sense of optimism and happiness.

The wonderful irony is that by choosing to notice and appreciate all that has been given to us, we are better able to take control of our own lives.

The Glycocalyx: Gatekeeper to Good Health?

March 21, 2021/in Body, Immune System Chronic Inflammation, Glycocalyx, Hormone /by Liam McAuliffe

The key to your health and longevity may lie in something you’ve likely never heard of before: the glycocalyx. Crazy to think that something so few of us have heard of could have such a profound impact on our health, so let’s get into it.

In this article, we will examine what they glycocalyx is, recent research reveals about this microscopic structure, and how it may be the most overlooked, yet critical factor for good health.

For decades, the organization of the glycocalyx and its interplay with the cellular state have remained enigmatic. This changed in recent years. The latest research has shown that the glycocalyx is an organelle of vital significance, actively involved in and functionally relevant for various cellular processes, that can be directly targeted in therapeutic contexts.

In this article, we’ll introduce glycocalyx biology and describe the specific challenges glycocalyx research faces. We’ll discuss the role of the glycocalyx in light of several breakthroughs in glycocalyx research.

What is the Glycocalyx?

The glycocalyx is a dense layer of sugar molecules and the proteins and fats to which they attach that covers the outer membranes of all the cells in our bodies. The word glycocalyx literally means “sugar coat” (glykys = sweet, kalyx = husk), referring to its carbohydrate composition.

Under an electron microscope, the glycocalyx appears as a thin, fuzzy coating.

The glycocalyx is the hair-shaped substance seen above. Source: Online Library

While some functions of the glycocalyx have been none for decades, many of its important functions were only been discovered recently.

But the glycocalyx is responsible for many other critical functions:

Regulating circulation to either increase or decrease bloodflow
Protection: Cushions the plasma membrane of cells protecting against chemical injury.
Regulates Inflammation: Glycocalyx coating on endothelial walls in blood vessels prevents leukocytes from binding.
Fertility: Enables sperm to recognize and bind to eggs.
Embryo development: Guides embryonic cells to destinations in the body.
Immunity against infection: Enables the immune system to recognize and attack. foreign organisms.
Defends against cancer: Changes to the glycocalyx of cancerous cells allow the immune system to recognize and destroy them.
Transplant compatibility: Forms the basis for compatibility of tissue grafts, organ transplants, and blood transfusions.
Cell adhesion: Binds cells together, keeping tissues from falling apart.

Why am I just now hearing about this?

The concept of the glycocalyx dates back to the 1940s, though its structure was impossible to observe at that time. It wasn’t until decades later that electron microscopes became powerful enough to capture the glycocalyx in action.

Making things more complex, the glycocalyx is difficult to stain and visualize, and vanishes when tissue samples are removed for study. In times of shock, the glycocalyx can actually dissipate, making it even harder to find.

The next several decades saw researchers striving to learn more about the glycocalyx and its functions. Some initially theorized that glycocalyx formed a matrix with sieving properties on capillary walls.

Since then, electron microscopy has captured the presence of glycocalyx covering the luminal side (inner side) of capillary walls, though its full function is still unknown.

The glycocalyx serves as a ‘cushion’ for red blood cells. Source: Lymphatic Network

The glycocalyx is composed primarily of carbohydrates, but that’s not all it contains. It also harbors signaling molecules like cytokines, chemokines, receptors, and growth factors, as well as various enzymes, including superoxide dismutase (SOD). All of these interactions are important for cell function, maintenance, and communication.

So now we know a little about what the glycocalyx is made of. But what does it do?

3 major ways your glycocalyx keeps you healthy

Think of the glycocalyx as a cellular gatekeeper. Just as a gatekeeper keeps intruders out, the glycocalyx guards and protects some of the most delicate cells in your body.

How? Partly by working with the immune system to protect capillaries from invaders. Damaged or toxic cells have often had their glycocalyx stripped away — a testament to its protective abilities.

The benefits of the glycocalyx can be divided into three major categories:

Cardiovascular protection
Hormonal regulation
Increased blood flow

Cardiovascular protection

The glycocalyx protects the capillaries that nourish every cell in our bodies and make up 99% of the circulatory system.

Capillaries are tiny blood vessels that deliver nutrients and remove waste from hard-to-reach places. Capillaries aren’t just hollow pipes that allow blood to flow through them — they’re living, nutrient-exchanging structures. The average adult’s body contains nearly 100,000 miles of them!

With every heartbeat, capillaries transport vital nutrients and oxygen to each cell — and the glycocalyx’s presence facilitates it all.

Here are several more ways this structure protects cardiovascular function:

Its anti-adhesive properties prevent platelets from coagulating and leukocytes from sticking to vascular walls. Prevention of leukocyte adhesion is especially important because leukocytes move around from place to place as needed. The glycocalyx basically adds another layer to this very important immune function.
It’s involved in extracellular signaling (i.e. cell-to-cell communication), which may impair cancer cell growth throughout the cardiovascular system.

Hormonal regulation

The glycocalyx is a significant mediator of nitric oxide (NO) production from endothelial cells.

The glycocalyx seems to subject endothelial cells to just enough pressure to trigger NO production. NO, in turn, “‘informs’ the muscle cells around a blood vessel to contract or relax thus constricting or widening the vessel, so as to regulate the flow of blood.”

Nitric oxide is also involved in regulating the flow of nutrients and oxygen. Without a healthy glycocalyx, this regulation is compromised.

The glycocalyx’s effect on nitric oxide means it has a downstream effect on other hormones, including carbon dioxide, which works with oxygen to optimize your body’s oxygenation levels.

Increased blood flow

The glycocalyx can also increase blood flow, partially thanks to its ability to mediate nitric oxide. There are other pro-circulation benefits, too:

Allows the body to engage more of its capillaries, delivering more nutrients to and/or removing waste from organs as needed.
Protects the endothelial cells from direct pressure caused by blood flow, helping to regulate their shape.
Regulates the permeability of blood vessels, preventing an increased influx of proteins, water, and other blood-borne elements like low-density lipoprotein (“bad” cholesterol).

Why the glycocalyx health is so important

Simply put, the glycocalyx is essential for protecting the health of the circulatory system.

Circulatory health, in turn, has many downstream benefits.

There’s a potential problem, though: the glycocalyx is delicate. And while it degrades naturally over time or during certain stressful events, this process can be exacerbated by other factors, including:

High-carbohydrate diet
Lack of exercise
Genetic factors
Chronic inflammation
High blood pressure
Smoking
Trauma
ARDS
COVID-19

Damage to the glycocalyx can also cause shedding of the antioxidant enzyme SOD, which converts reactive oxygen species (ROS) to hydrogen peroxide. Without SOD, the balance of the endothelium is shifted to a pro-oxidant, hyper-inflammatory state.

Furthermore, damage to the glycocalyx can lead to further trauma to the vascular endothelium, leading to leaky capillaries that may lose function and/or die off.

What diseases have been linked to glycocalyx damage?

Without the vital nutrients and oxygen supplied by capillaries, tissues and vital organs starve. Impaired tissue perfusion has been repeatedly shown to be the root cause of major diseases and health complications, including but not limited to:

Sepsis
Diabetes (type 1 and type 2)
Heart failure
Lung disease
Kidney disease
Stroke
Dementia
Early-onset preeclampsia
Inflammatory disorders
Cancer progression

Unfortunately, medical researchers estimate that a large percentage of the world’s population is affected by glycocalyx breakdown.

Atherosclerosis

As we discussed earlier, inflammation can trigger the endothelial glycocalyx to dissipate, which only promotes further inflammation.

This dissipation can allow ‘bad’ cholesterol to enter the bloodstream, become oxidized, and form a lipid layer. This further promotes the shedding of the glycocalyx. Eventually, leukocytes and other types of white blood cells called monocytes and lymphocytes begin to infiltrate the intima or innermost coating of the endothelium.

Once monocytes enter the intima, they become macrophages, which consume oxidized LDL cholesterol to form a fibrous cap, thereby stabilizing the plaque. If this fibrous cap is disturbed, it can lead to cardiovascular events like heart attacks and strokes.

The steps described above are highly simplified versions of the complex process that is atherosclerosis. However, it’s clear that the glycocalyx plays a crucial role in resisting the build-up of plaques and keeping blood vessels healthy.

Why a high-carb diet damages the glycocalyx

Eating a diet high in carbohydrates can spell trouble by causing spikes in blood sugar levels.

In one research study, only 6 hours of exposure to high blood sugar reduced glycocalyx volume by a whopping 50%. The research team credited high blood sugar’s damaging effects to increased oxidation and inflammation. This was confirmed when they infused glucose with a strong antioxidant, and the glycocalyx volume remained unchanged.

Considering that glycocalyx damage is thought to be the “first step” towards atherosclerotic problems of all kinds, the speed with which high glucose can reduce glycocalyx volume is eye-opening.

High blood sugar may also cause the mitochondria (the energy factories in each cell) to overproduce too many free radicals, including reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS are key signaling molecules that regulate the natural inflammatory responses in our bodies.

In a healthy system, antioxidants quench ROS when they are no longer necessary, but too many and chronically high ROS can lead to oxidative stress, DNA damage, and eventually chronic diseases like cancer, and heart disease, among many others.

In short, a high-carb diet can devastate the glycocalyx — and your health.

How to eat for your glycocalyx

Given its significance, the glycocalyx may serve as a promising target in the treatment of chronic diseases. Researchers have been looking into ways to regenerate and/or protect the glycocalyx.

In the absence of any new breakthroughs, however, we know of one surefire way to protect your glycocalyx from breakdown: eat a low-carb, high-fat diet, ideally a carnivore diet.

When carbohydrate intake is reduced, blood sugar levels will stabilize, preventing damage to the glycocalyx and its sensitive glycolipids and glycoproteins.

Certain supplements may also help maintain a healthy glycocalyx. These include:

Hyaluronic acid
N-acetyl cysteine (NAC)
Chondroitin sulfate
Nitric oxide boosters
Activated protein C
Hydrocortisone
Progesterone

While these supplements may work, they shouldn’t be used as a bandaid solution. Consider taking the holistic route — eating a nourishing, anti-inflammatory diet — first. And always consult a healthcare professional before making drastic changes.

The Takeaway

Scientists are continuing to learn just how important the glycocalyx is for the cardiovascular system and for general health.

The more they learn, the clearer the dangers of regular sugar and starch consumption become. As we’ve seen, hyperglycemia can prematurely degrade the glycocalyx covering of capillaries. This simple-yet-serious occurrence may very well explain the high rates of cardiovascular diseases seen in our country.

Thankfully, protecting yourself is as easy as protecting your glycocalyx. You can get started by reducing your consumption of processed carbohydrates and focusing on healthy fats and proteins. Stress-reducing practices like walking, yoga, mindful eating, and meditation may also help.

Take care of your glycocalyx, and it’ll take care of you.

The Dangers of Sugar: Everything you Need to Know

March 19, 2021/in Carbohydrates, Sugar Cancer, carbohydrates, Diabetes, Hypertension, Insulin, Obesity, sugar /by Liam McAuliffe

The dangers of sugar aren’t confined to eating candy and junk food. Sugar occurs naturally in all foods that contain carbohydrates, including fruits, vegetables, grains, and dairy.

And just because something is “natural,” doesn’t mean it’s healthy. For sugar, as with most other addictive substances, the danger comes from a combination of how much sugar you eat, how often, and for how long.

When you follow the recommended diet of 3 meals a day based on high-carb plant foods like grains and fruits, you are consuming chronically high amounts of sugar.

The average American consumes a staggering 3 pounds of sugar each week, much of it hidden in plant-based products and processed foods. Many so-called “healthy,” low-fat food options, like tomato sauce and low-fat yogurt, are packed with sugar — even if they don’t seem all that sweet.

Here’s what you need to know about how and why sugar can be dangerous.

Where Sugar Comes From

Sugar was once a delicacy, restricted to a handful of tropical locales and islands where its namesake sugarcane plant grew. Since the 1800s, however, sugar has progressively crept into more and more foods.

Today, it’s common for food manufacturers to bump up the sugar content to maintain flavor and texture when they produce “low-fat” and “non-fat” products. That fancy drink from your coffee shop probably contains way more sugar than you’d expect. So does that “lite” dressing on that “healthy” salad you had for lunch.

What was once a rare substance has become nearly inescapable. Adding to the dangers of sugar are the types of sugar used today; much of it comes in the form of high-fructose corn syrup. HFCS seems to be even more metabolically damaging than other types of sugar, like sucrose or glucose. In addition, there are over 60 types of added sugars in the Standard American Diet.

Dangers of Sugar: Diseases of Civilization

These unexpected sugar sources add up quickly. The average American eats 126 grams of sugar a day — and the average American child eats even more.

All that sugar is in large part responsible for what doctors refer to as “the diseases of civilization :”

Obesity
heart disease
hypertension
type 2 diabetes
epithelial cell cancers
inflammatory diseases (including autoimmune diseases, bowel disorders, osteoporosis, infertility, and more)

We call these the diseases of civilization because they were virtually non-existent in hunter-gatherer societies. It’s no coincidence that the diets of disease-free hunter gatherer societies were fueled by animal fats , extremely low in natural sugars, and of course, completely free from processed sugars.

Sugar is Addictive

The addictive nature of sugar was once an evolutionary boon when, for the vast majority of human history, sweet and carbohydrate-dense food was extremely rare. But in our modern lives where carbs are everywhere, the same neural networks that once helped our ancestors survive, are now killing us.

The Carbohydrate Insulin Model of Sugar Addiction

When you eat carbohydrates–and remember all grains, fruits, and vegetables are carbohydrates–nearly all of them get broken down into glucose (simple sugar). These simple sugars are sent into the blood, raising blood sugar levels.

The body responds to high blood sugar by secreting a hormone called insulin. The job of insulin is to drive glucose into cells and convert excess sugar into fat. This fat accumulates in and around your organs and shows up on your bottom and belly.1

But even though sugar makes you fat, instead of feeling satiated, elevated insulin levels trigger more hormones that increase hunger and heighten the perceived pleasantness of sweet tastes.

Sugar Activates Opiate and Dopamine Receptors

At the same time sugar activates opiate and dopamine receptors in the brain. Ironically, these are the same “happy” chemicals that cause us to feel good when hanging out with loved ones and good friends.

Studies suggest that every time we eat sweets, we are reinforcing the neural pathways associated with addiction, causing the brain to become increasingly hardwired to crave sugar.

This is why one of the main dangers of sugar is that it creates an unhealthy addictive cycle like any other drug. Researchers in France have determined that the rewards experienced by the brain after consuming sugar are even “more rewarding and attractive” than the effects of cocaine.

Sugar on the brain? Image from factualfacts

These findings are also reflected in research on rats from Connecticut College showing that Oreo cookies activate more neurons in the brain’s pleasure center than cocaine. And yes — the rats would eat the filling first just like humans.

Sugar Addiction from an Evolutionary Perspective

When looking at both hormone and neurotransmitter pathways stimulated by consuming sugar, it becomes clear that we are hardwired for sugar addiction. But why?

As mentioned earlier, for most of human history, sweet foods and carbohydrates of any kind were extremely rare. Essentially none of the fruits and vegetables that we have today existed in the natural environments of our hunter-gatherer ancestors.

So on rare occasions when our ancestors came across a ripe fruit-bearing plant or a beehive, their bodies told them to eat as much as possible.

Since we know that one of the jobs of insulin is to turn sugar into fat, when the body is crying out for carbs it is really saying, “make me as fat as possible while this rare source of sugar is around.”

The bodies of our ancestors would use these small amounts of stored fat for energy during leaner times, and when they had to fast between successful hunts.

In contrast, modern eating is anything but lean. We live in an endless buffet of high-carbohydrates foods. In this environment sugar’s innate palatability is one of its greatest dangers.

Considering the addictive power of sugar, it’s no surprise that most of us eat too much of it. Let’s explore how too much sugar affects our physical and mental health.

What Makes Sugar So Dangerous

Once ingested, sugar begins a series of damaging chemical reactions within your body. Sugar triggers insulin production, raises stress hormones, and depletes minerals and endogenous antioxidants like glutathione. Sugar is pro-oxidant, pro-inflammatory, and pro-stress.

These effects are the root of how chronic sugar intake can lead to numerous chronic diseases. Let’s take a closer look.

Sugar Causes Metabolic Syndrome

Chances are you’ve never heard of metabolic syndrome. You may be surprised that it’s a problem afflicting over 70 million Americans.

The most obvious sign of metabolic syndrome is simply being overweight, but under the surface, biochemical chaos is taking place.

Sugars and other carbs spike blood sugar

How does Metabolic Syndrome Begin?

As we discussed above, when you eat carbohydrates they raise blood sugar. To keep your blood sugar from getting toxically high, your body secretes insulin that forces some of the sugar into your cells and turns the rest into body fat.

This process of insulin secretion and cellular response works well at first. But over years of eating foods high in carbohydrates and added sugars, the cells in your body become less and less responsive to insulin. Eventually, these cells can no longer ‘absorb’ sugar or process it into usable energy via mitochondrial respiration.

Sugar is left to linger in the bloodstream at toxic levels leading to glycation, inflammation, damage to your glycocalyx, and many associated diseases and disorders. Both complex carbs and simple sugars contribute to these effects because both are converted into glucose.

Sensing insulin’s failure to balance blood sugar, your pancreas responds by dumping more insulin into your bloodstream, but this type of overcompensation only compounds the problem. Insulin resistance has begun.

Metabolic disease describes the co-occurrence of related health issues including:

High fasting blood sugar
Excess insulin
Obesity
High triglyceride levels–a type of fat found in the blood associated with the risk of heart disease.
Low HDL cholesterol levels. HDL is often referred to as “good cholesterol” because it can clear fat from your arteries, protecting against heart disease.
High blood pressure.

Sugar and Diabetes

Features of metabolic disease including obesity, excess insulin, and high blood sugar, existing together is referred to as pre-diabetes. With continued consumption of high-carbohydrate foods, metabolic disease can develop into full-blown type-II diabetes.

Type-2 diabetes occurs when chronically high blood sugar levels are coupled with insulin resistance, and damaged insulin-creating cells in the pancreas. Type-2 diabetes is responsible for 90% of all diabetes cases, and consumption of refined sugars is a significant risk factor.

Studies show that consumption of sugar can directly lead to type-2 diabetes by causing inflammation, fatty liver disease, and insulin resistance.

Numerous studies have found that regularly drinking sugar-sweetened beverages increases your risk of type 2 diabetes by 25%.

Sugar-sweetened beverages are so harmful that having just one per day increases your risk of type-2 diabetes by 13%, even without the telltale weight gain.

We can also see the startling role that sugar plays in type 2 diabetes when considering that countries with the highest sugar consumption also have the highest rates of type 2 diabetes. And no surprise, countries with the lowest sugar consumption, have the lowest rates.

Sugar Causes Premature Aging

Another danger of sugar is that it contributes to the biochemical markers of premature aging. The chronic inflammation that sugar enables can wreak havoc on the way your body functions. It can even damage your mitochondria by forcing them to run off of highly reactive, highly oxidative fuel.

Sugar also ages the body when sugar molecules in our bloodstream combine with proteins and minerals to form advanced glycation end products, or AGES.

It is apt that these compounds are called AGE’s, given how directly they contribute to age-related diseases. Research shows that the glycation-oxidation process is strongly associated with:

Reduced immune system strength
Kidney failure
Eye damage, and other complications of diabetes
Diseases such as PCOS and insulin resistance
High blood pressure
Progressive heart disease
Cancer metastasis and resistance to chemotherapy

Skin Aging

The dangers of sugar can also leave their mark on your skin.

One of the most direct ways sugar can affect complexion is by triggering the production of stress hormones, including adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol. ] These hormones have a catabolic effect on one’s skin tissues, meaning they cause unwanted tissue breakdown.

The first area to show signs of hormonal damage? More often than not, it’s the thin, delicate skin of the face.

Sugar consumption can also lead to the development of age spots, also called lipofuscin. These spots are a visible manifestation of AGE’s and ALE’s: cross-linked networks of sugars, proteins, iron, and oxidized omega-6 fats.

You may have heard how antioxidants are good for the skin, yet sugar can ‘burn up’ minerals like zinc, and antioxidants like vitamin C during its metabolism. Low vitamin C levels lead to less cellular regeneration, lower collagen production, and reduced skin cell turnover.

If a high-sugar diet has aged your skin, switching to a high-fat, low carb keto diet may boost your body’s production of anti-aging hormones, like pregnenolone, that have a restorative effect.

Sugar Causes Cognitive Decline

That one of the most common dangers of sugar is its ability to cause cognitive problems might seem surprising at first. In people who are metabolically healthy, sugar intake can lead to short-term mental energy or even euphoria.

But these effects are transient and misleading. What people call a ‘sugar high’ may really be part of the stress response that many have grown accustomed to.

All this stress takes its toll. In the long run, sugar intake can inflame one’s brain and lead to a variety of inflammatory problems. High blood sugar has been so consistently associated with Alzheimer’s disease that some scientists call Alzheimer’s “type 3 diabetes.”

According to 2015 review looking at how insulin resistance factors in cognitive decline found that diabetes and Alzheimers overlap by around 80%.

Research has shown that chronically elevated blood sugar and insulin can damage the hippocampus, an area of the brain that shows signs of Alzheimer’s ealier than most. The brain of someone with Alzheimer’s may well be swimming in glucose, but unable to use it or process it due to insulin resistance.

Since this damage occurs along a continuum, insulin resistance may be both a cause and effect of neurological conditions. If you want your brain to stay healthy in the long run, keep those insulin spikes to a minimum by running on ketones instead.

Sugar Causes infertility

The dangers of sugar are not just confined to you–sugar can dramatically reduce your ability to bring life into the world.

The insulin spikes caused by sugar consumption can create imbalances in hormones critical to pregnancy, including pregnenolone and progesterone.

Considering that even healthy women become slightly less insulin sensitive during the later stages of pregnancy, it’s important to start off from a healthy (i.e, insulin-sensitive) baseline. Supplements like chromium and spices like cinnamon may help with insulin sensitivity, but not as much as a low-carb diet.

Sugar may also cause infertility in less direct ways. The AGE’s produced by sugar metabolism may reduce fertility in both men and women if they build up within the reproductive system.

PCOS

Diets high in carbohydrates and added sugars increase blood glucose levels resulting in high insulin levels and oxidative stress–primary factors leading to Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS).

High insulin can cause high levels of male hormones in women. These hormonal imbalances cause follicles that were supposed to mature and release from the ovary, to remain attached and continue to grow, or to leave behind a sac. The remaining sac can reseal and fill with fluid causing a cyst.

For women with PCOS, studies show that eating diets high in carbohydrates leads to oxidative stress and cellular inflammatory responses.

Thankfully, studies show that that adhering to a low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diet can reduce and even reverse PCOS.

Endometriosis

Like PCOS, endometriosis is correlated with hormone imbalances and inflammation. In this case, an excess of estrogen. Studies show that sugar intake is linked to endometrial cancer.

One of the ways that sugar factors in endometriosis is by triggering the immune system to produce high levels of inflammatory molecules called prostaglandins. These molecules may feed the already-inflammatory nature of endometriosis.

Sugar Leads to Obesity

One of the most common dangers of sugar is how it leads to obesity. At first glance, this might seem obvious, since sugary foods are usually hyper-palatable and lead to overeating. But sugar’s most obesogenic effect is actually its ability to cause metabolic problems.

New research has shown that sugar can promote insulin sensitivity in fat cells while simultaneously promoting insulin resistance in muscle cells and vital organs. In other words, sugar can hurt your body composition by diverting nutrients away from important areas and shuttling them towards fat.

Eating a diet rich in saturated fats, on the other hand, has the opposite effect. Many saturated fats promote an ideal balance: physiological insulin resistance in fat cells and insulin sensitivity in muscle cells. Over time, this unique combo may lead to better distribution of nutrients in the body.

Dangers of Sugar and Cancer

In the 1920s, future Nobel Prize-winner Otto Warburg discovered that certain cancers feed off of glucose via a specialized (i.e, highly selfish) metabolic pathway.

The implication, supported by an extensive 2017 review of numerous studies, is that some cancers can be ‘starved’ by avoiding any and all sugars.

According to cancer specialist Lewis Cantley from the Meyer Cancer Center in New York, “having high levels of insulin is likely to drive cancer. And what drives insulin levels is sugar.” Many MD’s — including Doctor Kiltz — agree.

Sugar is Dangerous for the Heart

Sugar has been shown to increase the risk of developing heart disease. It’s likely that this increased risk is a culmination of all of sugar’s other downsides: increased inflammation, higher triglycerides, higher, blood pressure.

Consuming too much sugar in the form of sugary drinks is also problematic: it’s been linked to atherosclerosis. One study of over 30,000 people found that those who consumed roughly twice as much sugar had a 38% greater chance of dying from heart disease.

Do we Need to Eat Sugar?

Now for some good news–the dangers of sugar are easy to avoid. This is because sugar, along with ALL carbohydrates, is completely non-essential. That means we do not need any carbs in our diet.

This is not a fringe belief. The 2005 textbook “Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy, Carbohydrate, Fiber, Fat, Fatty Acids, Cholesterol, Protein, and Amino Acids,” by the U.S. Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine, states, “The lower limit of dietary carbohydrate compatible with life apparently is zero, provided that adequate amounts of protein and fat are consumed.”

When we cut out sugar and other carbs, the body converts fat into fatty-acid molecules called ketones. These become the main energy source for most of your cells.

The remaining red blood cells, along with some of the cells in your brain and kidneys require glucose. But your body can make all the glucose it needs from protein and fat (amino acids and fatty acids) in a process called gluconeogenesis.7

High-Fat Low-Carb Diet for Reducing the Dangers of Sugar

The best way to reduce the risks of sugar consumption is a holistic one: avoid it. Complete avoidance is easier than you might think, especially if you follow a low carb, high fat way of eating.

Numerous studies show that reducing carbs and loading up on healthy fats reduce sugar cravings.

Additionally, HFLC diets have been shown to reduce and reverse many of the problems caused by high sugar consumption, including:

Lower fasting blood sugar
Lower fasting insulin levels
Less glycation
Reduced inflammation
A reduction in the likelihood of developing or worsening inflammation-related diseases, including heart disease, cancer or a metabolic disease such as diabetes.

Eating a low glycemic diet, high in healthy fats has the added benefit of making you feel fuller longer, which decreases cravings for processed foods, and helps you maintain a healthy weight.

Artificial Sweeteners: A Note of Caution

If you crave sweets, some non-sugar natural sweeteners can help fulfill cravings without playing havoc with your weight and blood sugar. But not without dangers of their own.

However, we recommend using sweeteners very sparingly. A recent study found that drinking two or more of any kind of artificially sweetened drink a day was linked to an increased risk of clot-based strokes, heart attacks, and early death in women over 50.

Sweeteners activate the same neural reward pathways as sugar. When you consume artificial sweeteners, you are interfering with your body’s natural reward centers. You eat and crave sweet things because sweet foods in the natural environment usually mean loads of quick calories.

But alternative sweeteners provide incomplete satisfaction by sending mixed signals through the metabolic system; The first signal is that you’ve eaten something sweet. The second is that you haven’t actually consumed the calories associated with the sweetness. The body responds by seeking more calories.

Common artificial sweeteners including aspartame, sucralose, or saccharin, cause insulin resistance by fertilizing toxic gut bacteria (firmicutes).

This bacteria takes energy from your food and stores it as fat. After a 5-day research period where participants were fed the FDA’s maximum dose of saccharine, 60% developed glucose intolerance. Stevia, monk fruit, xylitol, or erythritol are probably better choices.

Dangers of Sugar: The Takeaway

The average American gets around 50% of their calories from carbohydrates and 16% from added sugars alone.

This chronically high level of sugar consumption is a direct factor in numerous diseases and disorders, including diabetes, heart disease, cancer, infertility, and various autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases.

Therefore sugar is dangerous.

There are many different sugar-free and low-carb diet options to reduce and avoid sugar. Studies suggest that a low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diet can reduce sugar cravings while reducing the severity and even reversing diseases and other common problems associated with high sugar consumption.

Salt 101: Everything you Need to Know

March 18, 2021/in Keto, Carnivore, Nutrition Himalayan Salt, Kosher Salt, Salt, Sea Salt, Sodium /by Liam McAuliffe

Salt has long held an important place in human culture. Swedish wisdom holds that “the cure for anything is salt water — sweat, tears, or the sea.” There was a time when salt was literally worth its weight in gold. Salt even makes a cameo in the bible when Jesus encouraged his followers to be “the salt of the earth.”

In recent decades, however, the tide has turned. The same salt that was once treasured has come to be avoided and feared.

But are the recommendations for low-sodium eating based on sound medicine? Is it actually healthy or desirable for all people on all diets?

This article will take a closer look at salt and its functions.

[TOC]

What is Salt?

Most people think of salt simply as a white, crystalline substance that comes from oceans, lakes, or underground mines. . But if we look closer we see that salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl).

It is this chemical structure that allows salt to play its critical role in essential body functions, and to have profound effects on human health — many of which are still debated.

Salt is an Electrolyte

Salt is classified as an electrolyte. In the nutrition world “electrolyte” refers to minerals that when dissolved in the body’s fluids, create electrically charged ions.

Different electrolytes often work together to accomplish important tasks. For instance, sodium and potassium help conduct the electricity critical for nerve impulses and contraction of muscles. These two electrolytes also maintain the correct balance of fluids inside and outside of your cells, keeping them from shriveling up or exploding. Salt and other electrolytes also keep us hydrated, and balance our blood pH so it doesn’t become too acidic.

Salt vs. Sodium: There’s a Difference

The terms salt and sodium are often used interchangeably, but they’re not the same thing. Salt is food, while sodium is a mineral present in many foods, including meat, yogurt, vegetables, and more.

The salt/sodium confusion exists because salt is the richest source of sodium in our diets. Studies have found that 70% of the average person’s sodium intake comes from the salt in processed foods. Baking soda and foods that rely on it (baked goods, breads, cookies) also contain sodium.

Salt added while cooking	5% of daily intake
Salt added while eating	6% of daily intake
Salt from natural sources	12% of daily intake
Salt from processed foods	77% of daily intake

Data from heart.org

Yet salt isn’t just sodium. Its scientific name is sodium chloride since most common types of salt are roughly 40% sodium and 60% chloride. Doing the math, a tablespoon of salt weighs 15 grams and contains roughly 6 grams of pure sodium. Chloride is also an essential electrolyte, so the fact that they are packaged together in salt is a good thing.

Science-Backed Reasons We Need Salt

Both humans and animals naturally crave salt. That’s because sodium and chloride salt contains are essential minerals. In nutrition, the word “essential” means that our bodies can’t make it on their own.

Adequate salt intake has been shown to:

Maintain delicate fluid balances within and around cells
Maintain a healthy blood pressure
Help muscles contract efficiently
Help nerves send their signals

Salt is so critical to neurotransmission — the sending of signals from neuron to neuron — that low salt intake can increase seizures in those with epilepsy.

Though sodium levels are regulated by various organs and hormones, not consuming enough salt can trigger a stress response as the body tries to avoid a condition called hyponatremia.

Salt: One Substance, Many Types

There are many types of salt. Every part of the world has its own primary source of salt, and each source has its own look, taste, and characteristics.

Here are a few of the most popular types:

Table salt

Also known as rock salt, table salt is the most popular form of salt in many countries. It’s mined from underground areas that were once ancient seas. Table salt can be used to cure meat, fish, and other animal products. It’s usually fortified with iodine, a pro-thyroid element.

Sea salt

Sea salt has quickly become popular among health-conscious types. It comes from present-day seawater, from which it’s harvested through evaporation. Sea salt is coarser, flakier, and more flavorful than regular table salt. As an added plus, it often contains small amounts of naturally-occurring iodine.

Himalayan salt

Himalayan salt is a special type of rock salt. It comes from salt caves located deep in the Himalayas. This type of salt is known for its trace mineral content, which gives it a pink-hued color. Himalayan salt is also popular among health-conscious people.

Kosher salt

Kosher salt is basically table salt without the added iodine. It’s used by many ethnic groups, especially the Jewish, for dehydrating and preserving meat. Kosher salt may contain fewer impurities than other types of salt, though some varieties contain anti-caking agents. Its delightful taste makes kosher salt popular among chefs.

Why Sodium Recommendations are so Controversial

While mainstream health organizations acknowledge that sodium is essential, they tend to advocate for reduced salt consumption. This has led to confusion — and controversy — about how much sodium per day is ideal.

Major health organizations say that nearly all of us consume too much sodium, most of it from processed foods. By cutting back on salt, the thinking goes, we can reduce the risk of heart disease and other organ diseases.

But is this position accurate?

Not really. Early studies that appeared to highlight sodium’s dangers were really just revealing the dangers of processed foods high in carbs, added sugars, and trans fats–all things that have been linked with diseases including heart disease, obesity, cancer, and diabetes.

Yet these flawed studies were used to justify the low-sodium recommendations still in effect today. Making matters worse, many low sodium foods are also low in nutrients.

Below is a sampling of several mainstream sodium guidelines.

CDC guidelines

The CDC’s Guidelines for Americans say that people should eat 2.3 grams of sodium per day or less. That’s equivalent to one teaspoon of salt.

AMA guidelines

The American Heart Association goes even further than the CDC, saying that everyone should consume less than 1.5 grams of sodium per day. That’s just ¾ of a teaspoon of salt!

World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines

The WHO takes a more casual approach by recommending 2 grams of sodium per day or less. That’s equivalent to up to 5 grams of salt.

Dangerous guidelines?

These types of recommendations have guided the public perspective for decades, yet some experts suspect that a low sodium diet could have unexpected negative effects.

Could it be that low-sodium recommendations are missing something simple — but hugely important? Let’s take a closer look at the evidence, beginning with the connection between salt intake and disease.

Salt intake & Disease: Is There a Connection?

Hypertension

One of the most common downsides attributed to salt is its ability to cause high blood pressure. But does this pattern happen for everyone?

To put it simply, nope. Only a minority of people are sensitive to salt, and not everyone experiences higher blood pressure from eating it. Only 25% of people with normal baseline blood pressure are salt sensitive, implying that any salt-hypertension connections may be a symptom of hypertension, not a cause.

Conversely, reducing sodium intake appears to decrease blood pressure only slightly.

Additionally, there is no evidence to support that this small drop leads to fewer deaths or heart attacks. The benefits were merely assumed.

These same studies showed that increasing potassium in diets also reduced blood pressure and negated any benefit from cutting back on sodium.

Heart Disease

A 2011 article in Scientific American titled It’s Time to End the War on Salt, cited a meta-analysis of seven studies involving a total of 6,250 subjects in the American Journal of Hypertension. This analysis found “no strong evidence that cutting salt intake reduces the risk for heart attacks, strokes or death in people with normal or high blood pressure.”

Even so, some physicians argue that maintaining general low salt recommendations–even though it only leads to negligible drops in blood pressure for the vast majority of people– will save lives at the population level. This is because a small percentage of people, mostly elderly or from specific demographics, show hypersensitivity to salt.

However, applying this recommendation to everyone ignores the possible negative effects too little salt can have on the majority of the population.

It’s thought that any blood-pressure-lowering effects induced by a low-sodium diet are offset by surges in stress hormones like adrenaline and aldosterone, that carry their own cardiovascular risks.

Despite these findings, people with cardiovascular disease continue to be advised to reduce their salt intake.

Kidney Disease

The National Kidney Foundation recommends that people with kidney disease limit their sodium intake to 2 grams per day.

Research has shown, however, that the boosts in aldosterone associated with reducing sodium also reduce the kidneys’ ability to regulate blood pressure and electrolyte levels. As with hypertension, any negative link between sodium intake and kidney function may be more correlation than causation. In most cases the links are limited and mild at best. And better studies need to be done.

Diabetes

Diabetes can lead to both heart disease and kidney problems, so it’s unsurprising that people with diabetes are usually encouraged to limit their sodium intake.

The American Diabetes Association used to recommend that those with diabetes ingest less than 1,500 mg (⅓ Tsp) of sodium per day, but since 2019 they’ve upped their recommendation to 2,300 mg (1 Tsp) or less.

Once again, however, the link between diabetes and sodium seems to be correlative, not causative. Study after study has shown that sodium restriction can cause insulin resistance, and insulin resistance is known to precede type 2 diabetes.

Interestingly, when looking more closely at the research attributing negative health outcomes to salt intake, these effects begin to appear more accurately associated with carbohydrate intake.

Nutrition journalist Gary Taubes explains in his book Good Calories, Bad Calories,

“The laboratory evidence that carbohydrate-rich diets can cause the body to retain water and so raise blood pressure, just as salt consumption is supposed to do, dates back well over a century.”

The Dangers of a Low-sodium Diet

As we’ve seen, science suggests that high-sodium diets are mostly harmless for most people. But that’s not the end of the story: low-sodium diets can actually be harmful.

Speaking to official low-sodium recommendations, renowned cardiologist Salim Yusuf told the Sunday Express, “It is futile to target such low intakes and, moreover, it may well be harmful. Studies show below about three grams of sodium per day there is increased mortality, heart attack, and heart failure.”

Studies show that the negative effects of salt restriction can include:

Higher risk of heart disease
Increased insulin resistance
160% higher risk of heart failure
Higher mortality rates in type 2 diabetics
Elevated LDL cholesterol and triglycerides

Salt’s Most Interesting Health Benefits

In addition to being decidedly non-dangerous, salt has been tied to a wide variety of health benefits. Here are some of the most interesting ones.

Wound healing

Back in the days of wild-western-style medicine, seawater was used to treat wounds on the go. More recent research has shown that other salty solutions may also accelerate wound healing.

Improved athleticism

“Salt helps to increase blood volume so you have a better cardiovascular system, better stamina, better endurance, and better recovery from training,” strongman Stan Efferding explains to BarBend.

The research agrees. One Spanish study found that triathletes who drank salted water finished a race 26 minutes faster, on average than its non-salted control group!

Recovery from injuries

In addition to helping with recovery from exercise, salt may even help one recover from injuries.

Endocrinologist Ray Peat explains, “Rather than just increasing blood volume to restore circulation, hypertonic sodium restores cellular energy production, increasing oxygen consumption and heat production while reducing free radical production, improves the contraction and relaxation of the heart muscle, and reduces inflammation, vascular permeability, and edema.” All these factors contribute to a faster recovery.

Protective in pregnant women

The 1950s were a rough time for medicine. Smoking was thought to be good for the lungs, butter had just begun to be traded for the rancid vegetable fats called margarine, and pregnant women were given diuretics to reduce edema and swelling.

Along with the diuretics, women were encouraged to skimp on the salt in order to avoid unwanted weight gain. Eventually this recommendation was seen for what it was — dangerous!

“No convincing evidence has been produced to show that dietary salt reduction helps in the prevention and treatment of hypertension during pregnancy,” a 2018 study stated. On the contrary, supplementing with salt can lower a pregnant woman’s blood pressure and prevent the complications of toxemia.

Improved Hydration Status

Despite what you might think, the act of drinking more water hasn’t been directly tied to improved hydration status. (Most of the body’s water is produced by mitochondria, anyways.)

What has been tied to hydration? Eating more salt. Salt is such an effective hydrator that glucose + sodium “oral rehydration therapy” was called “potentially the most important medical advance this century” by a 1970’s edition of the Lancet Medical Journal.

Boosted mood & metabolism

One fascinating study from 1944 found another unexpected benefit to increased salt intake: improved mood.

“On the seventh day [of high salt intake] a rise in basal metabolism, a feeling of warmth, good appetite and energetic feeling of the body appeared. When the extra administration of the salt was discontinued, the basal metabolism returned to the initial level.”

More modern research has shown that salt may boost mood by helping modulate an important hormone called GABA.

Improved resistance to cold

Salt may also promote circulation, increase thermogenesis, and warm one’s extremities.

From the same 1944 study as above: “the present work demonstrates that a daily intake of 60 grams [of salt] can cause a rise in basal metabolism as well as in resistance to cold and frost-bite.”

60 grams of salt per day may seem too high, and maybe it is. But some ancient cultures, like the Manchurians, really ate this much to stay warm throughout the winter. [48: MATSUMOTO, H. J. Orient. Med., 1944]

Salt and High-Fat Low-Carb Diets

Salt becomes even more useful, and critical, on a high-fat low-carb (HFLC) keto diet. That’s because the low insulin levels that HFLC facilitates may cause extra sodium to be lost through the urine.

When it comes to keto, having too little sodium is usually more of a concern than having too much. Many keto dieters feel best when they ingest 4-7 grams of sodium (equal to 10–17 grams or roughly 2-3 teaspoons of salt) per day.

If you’re new to low-carb eating, this is even more important. Eating lots of salt may speed up the transition process and reduce symptoms of keto flu. Besides, getting your fat and salt in a single food is easy if you include moderate amounts of bacon and many cheeses.

The Takeaway

Both published research and observational evidence have shown that the optimal salt intake varies from person to person, and from diet to diet.

If you have salt-sensitive hypertension, heart problems, or kidney disease, it may be best to avoid eating more than four grams of sodium per day.

Finding the amount of salt that’s best for you may require some experimentation (in coordination with your medical provider, of course). And don’t neglect the possibility that eating a low-carb diet may improve your blood pressure, cardiovascular function, or kidney health much more than restricting salt will.1

If you don’t have any underlying conditions, however, there is no convincing evidence that sodium restriction is beneficial. Especially if you’re following a minimally processed low-carb, superfood-rich diet.

Consuming about 4 to 7 grams of sodium per day is where many people in the high-fat low-carb community look, feel, and perform their best. Or, you might way, when keto really becomes worth it’s salt.

8 Bedtime Yoga Poses for Better Sleep

March 17, 2021/in Yoga Relaxation, Sleep, Yoga /by Liam McAuliffe

Bedtime yoga is a gentle, restorative, and natural way to prepare your body and mind for a good night’s rest. A national survey found that over 55% of people who did any type of yoga got better sleep. Over 85% said that it helped reduce stress levels.

This bedtime yoga routine of eight yoga poses will help you destress, increase relaxation, and wind down at the end of your busy day. The more often you practice these bedtime yoga poses, the easier it will be to fall asleep.

1. Balasana (Child’s Pose)

Bring your knees to the outside edges of your mat and your big toes to touch behind you. Sit your hips down on your heels. Lower your torso down with your arms out long in front of you, palms face down.

Bring your forehead to some connection so that you can relax your neck and spine. You may need to use a block or pillow under your forehead to do so. You can also place a rolled towel under your knee creases to provide joint support.

Stay in this posture for three minutes and breathe normally.

2. Uttanasana (Forward Fold)

From Tadasana (Mountain Pose), fold forward at your hips. Bend your knees to allow for space to lengthen the backline of your body.

Ground down evenly through your feet and shift your weight forward so that your hips are stacked directly above your ankles. Relax your head and neck down heavy.

Stay in forward fold for five breaths and when you’re finished, slowly roll up, one vertebra at a time, to Mountain Pose.

3. Utthan Pristhasana (Lizard Pose)

From Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog), bring your right foot forward between your hands and lower your left knee to the floor. Walk your right foot to the outer edge of your mat and place your elbows on a block or the floor.

Stay in the posture for ten to fifteen breaths. When you’re finished, place your weight into your palms and step your right foot back into Downward-Facing Dog. Repeat this on the other side.

4. Bananasana (Reclined Side Bend)

Lie down on your back and stretch your arms up overhead. Shift your feet and upper body over to the left, while keeping your hips to the right. Cross your right foot over your left and keep both shoulders flat on the floor. Feel a stretch along the right side of your body.

Hold this pose for ten to fifteen breaths. Repeat the same on the opposite side.

5. Supta Matsyendrasana (Supine Spinal Twist)

Lie down on your back and bend your knees into your chest. Extend your left leg straight while you keep your right knee bent and pulled in. Gently cross your knee over your midline to the left side of your body.

Extend your right arm out horizontally. Place your left hand on your right knee to add extra weight for the twist.

Turn your head to the right and look past your fingertips or close your eyes. Keep your right shoulder down on the mat. Hold the pose for ten breaths.

To come out of the pose and reset, lower your right hip back down to the mat and bend both knees into your chest. Repeat the same on the opposite side.

6. Supta Baddha Konasana (Reclined Bound Angle Pose)

Sit on your glutes with your knees bent and the soles of your feet touching. Place your hands behind you and slowly lower down to your mat, one vertebra at a time. Allow gravity to help lower your knees and open your hips.

Lay your arms on the floor angled down at a diagonal with your palms face up. Hold this pose for fifteen breaths.

To come out of the pose, bring your thighs together and roll over onto one side. Slowly push yourself away from the floor, lifting your head up last.

7. Viparita Karani (Legs Up the Wall)

Lie down on your back with your sit bones facing a wall. Scoot yourself closer until you can place your heels on the wall with your legs straight or slightly bent. Place your arms by your sides with your palms face up. Add a booster or blanket under your lower back to provide support there.

Stay here for ten to fifteen breaths. To come out, roll over onto one side and bring your legs down with you. Slowly push yourself up to a seated position.

8. Savasana (Corpse Pose)

Lie down on your back with your heels out wide and palms face up. Pull your shoulder blades slightly toward your midline to broaden across your collarbones.

Stay here for as long as you like. Place your mind on a chosen object of focus like your breath.

When your mind wanders, return it to the breath. This builds a single-pointed focus that calms the mind down before you drift off to sleep.

Proven Benefits of Bedtime Yoga

Bedtime yoga isn’t just calming, it provides plenty of other transformative benefits. And yoga isn’t a “one size fits all practice”, so it can be useful to get familiar with these benefits so that you can pursue the type of yoga that works best for your needs. If you need more help this quiz can match you with a suitable style.

Bedime Yoga Enhances Quality of Life

Yoga has been shown to improve your overall wellbeing. One study exploring the therapeutic effects of yoga showed that it improves numerous physical and mental functions including:

Muscular strength and flexibility
Respiratory and cardiovascular function
Recovery from and treatment of addiction
Stress, anxiety, depression, chronic pain reduction
Sleep patterns

Bedtime Yoga Reduces Insomnia

Practicing yoga regularly has been shown to reduce insomnia. Yoga helps practitioners fall asleep faster and sleep for longer periods of time. It has also been shown to help with falling back to sleep more easily if you wake up in the middle of the night.

A 2004 study on 20 participants suffering from insomnia found that those who completed a yoga sequence showed statistically significant improvements in sleep efficiency, total sleep time, total wake time, sleep onset latency, and wake time after sleep onset.

Another study conducted between 2004 and 2018 on 4,506 participants who practiced meditation, tai chi, qigong, and yoga for four to twenty-four weeks found a statistically significant enhancement in sleep quality and reduction in insomnia severity.

Bedtime Yoga Promotes Weight Loss

Even short-term yoga practices of up to six weeks have been shown to promote weight loss. Studies have also shown that people who sleep less are more likely to be obese.

Keeping up a consistent yoga practice can lead to better quality sleep, and getting better quality sleep can help prevent weight gain.

Research has also shown that yoga promotes the adoption of positive health and eating habits. Evidence suggests that yoga is associated with mindful eating and maintenance of regular physical activity and weight management.

Bedtime Yoga Improves Sleep Quality

In a study conducted between 2005 and 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that 4.1% of United States (US) adults who were at least twenty years old had taken a prescription sleep aid in the past month.

In a separate 2009 study, researchers found that people who practiced yoga postures (asana) and breathwork (pranayama) consistently displayed better quality sleep and higher blood cortisol levels than control subjects. Blood cortisol helps your body respond to stress, regulate blood sugar, and fight infections.

Bedtime Yoga Boosts Relaxation

Consistently practicing bedtime yoga will help to put your body in a calm state, known as the relaxation response (also called “rest and digest”). This response is triggered by the parasympathetic nervous system which is activated when you feel safe and secure. This is the opposite of the sympathetic nervous system, or the fight-or-flight response, triggered when you feel threatened, stressed, and anxious.

Practicing calming yoga poses before bed may help you to relax and enter a lower state of nervous system arousal so that you can get better sleep.

A study conducted with male practitioners who participated in two yoga sessions showed a host of markers for deep relaxation including:

Significant decrease in oxygen consumption and increase in breath volume.
Reduction in heart rate and skin conductance.
Reduction in sympathetic nervous system activity.

Bedtime Yoga: The Takeaway

Yoga is an ancient practice aimed at increasing physical and mental wellbeing. Having made its way into the modern world, studies have shown yoga to improve many of the health issues we face in our fast-paced lives.

Practicing a bedtime yoga routine can reduce insomnia, promote weight loss, soothe the nervous system while enhancing many markers of overall health.

Whether you’re new to the practice and looking for an introduction to bedtime yoga, or you’re an experienced yogi seeking deep relaxation techniques, these eight poses are available and effective for you at any time.

Mindful Eating: A Guide for Beginners

March 16, 2021/in Mindfulness diet, Eating, meditation, mindfulness, Nutrition /by Liam McAuliffe

Mindful eating is a group of techniques that can help you become more aware and gain control over why, how, and what you eat.

This article explains what mindful eating is, how it benefits you, and what you can do to start mindful eating today.

[TOC]

What is Mindful Eating?

Mindful eating is based on the Buddhist principles of mindfulness: Bringing non-judgmental moment-by-moment awareness to your actions and sensations.

By incorporating mindfulness with eating you are bringing your attention to your emotions, thoughts, and sensations around food. This helps to creae more enjoyment, increase gratitude, and support nourishing choices and habits.

Mindful eating means bringing awareness to:

experiences in our lives that can lead to habitual emotions.
how emotions can influence food cravings.
how cravings can result in eating habits.
how the body feels after eating certain foods.
the expression of gratitude for the meal.
the larger context of the meal: where and who the food came from, how it was made, and by who.
the moment-by-moment experience of flavor, texture, and satiation.
deep breathing as you eat–in certain practices.

Why Try Mindful Eating?

In modern Western society, stress management and weight control are challenged by the busy, fast-paced lives we live. With the popularity of fast and ultra-processed food, microwavables, and meal replacement bars, for many people eating has become mindless.

A 2011 USDA study found that most Americans spend some portion of their day eating while doing other things like watching TV, working, grooming, and driving. In fact, 20% of all American meals are consumed in the car.

As part of the Standard American Diet, at least 1 in 4 people eat fast food on a daily basis. And Americans consume 31% more packaged food than fresh food.

All this mindless consumption of processed foods contributes to numerous diseases and disorders including diabetes, heart disease, infertility, cancers, and autoimmune diseases.

When eating foods high in addictive added sugars, and when distraced, you can override and miss cues from your body that tell you when you’ve had enough to eat. Just as importantly, mindful eating is a powerful tool for enhancing deep enjoyment of healthy foods while bringing the profound benefits of mindfulness into your daily life.

How Mindful Eating Works

At the most basic level, mindful eating works by bringing awareness to the ways that experiences in life result in bodily and emotional desires, and how these desires result in cravings and eating choices.

To understand how the simple practice of noticing and tracking the cause and effect cycle around food can have profound outcomes for well-being, you need to know a bit more about Buddhis philosophy–specifically how Buddhists understand what “you” are in the first place. This brings us to the Buddhist concept called “dependent origination.”

Buddhists understand “you” as the momentary experience of a changing cycle. It works like this:

You have an experience.
Your experience triggers a memory.
Your memory triggers an emotional response landing somewhere on a spectrum from pleasant to unpleasant.
A desire or craving arises in the form of an urge to take action or behave in ways that either bring about the cessation of unpleasant feelings or maintain pleasant feelings.
You identify with this entire process from experience to feeling to craving to action.
This circuit of experience is your self-identity–what you experience as “I”.

Dependent origination. From Judson Brewer Ph.D

By becoming aware of each part of this cycle, you create spaces between them. In these spaces you can bring in healthy intentions and greater sensitivity to your body: Are you physically hungry? Or just emotionally hungry? Is there a better way to honor and feed that emotion?

Mindless Eating	Mindful Eating
Eating while multitasking (i.e. driving, working, listening to a podcast, talking on the phone)	Being with your food and noticing the tastes, smells, textures, and how your body responds.
Eating impulsively when you have uncomfortable emotions	Eating only when you are physically hungry
Eating fast and feeling overly-stuffed	Eating slowly and noticing when you have had enough
Eating based on immediate cravings, usually foods that are high in processed carbs, extra salty, and sweet	Eating for the health of your body and wellbeing of your mind: low-carb, high-fat, whole foods
Eating based on external cues like when your plate is empty; when you see a drive-thru; when there is a box of donuts at work	Eating based on internal cues such as physical feelings of hunger or satiation

Mindful Eating Health Benefits

Studies have shown that mindful eating can aid in the treatment of obesity, weight loss, eating disorders, and binge eating.

Weight Loss

Losing weight is hard, but keeping the weight off can be even more challenging. Researchers found that 85% of people with obesity who lose weight will return to or exceed their original weight in a few years.

Part of the challenge is that maintaining a lower weight requires long-term lifestyle changes.

Mindful eating improves weight loss by

Rewiring habitual patterns of reacting to negative feelings
Replacing impulsivity with awareness
Improving self-control
Increasing feelings of contentment

The effectiveness of mindful eating on weight loss is proven in numerous studies. For example, when a group of obese people attended a 6-week seminar on mindful eating, they lost an average of 9 pounds during the seminar and at the 12-week follow-up.

Even more dramatic results were achieved at a 6-month seminar for obese people that resulted in an average weight loss of 26lbs. 3 months after the seminar the participants showed no weight gain.

These mindful eating weight-loss results are remarkable when considering that around 85% of obese people who lose weight gain back what they lost or increase weight within a few years of a weight loss regimen.

Binge Eating

The stress hormone cortisol is directly involved with appetite regulation. When cortisol is high, it can trigger the body to cue hunger.

Binge eating is compulsive overeating used to cope with stress and anxiety. Studies find that higher levels of stress are associated with same-day binge eating.

Not surprisingly, research shows that obese patients report that stress is a trigger for binge eating.

Numerous studies show that mindful eating can dramatically reduce the severity and frequency of binge eating.

Mindful eating exercises have been shown to help people to differentiate stress triggers from physical hunger and make healthier choices.

How to Practice Mindful Eating?

Here are a few ideas to incorporate mindful eating exercises into your daily life:

Slow down – Prior to eating, take a moment to pause, close your eyes, take 3 breaths. With each breath notice how it feels in your body. Then practice bringing this level of awareness to each bite. Studies show that eating slowly can increase your satiation reducing the likelihood of overeating.

Practice gratitude – Take a look at everything you are about to eat. Imagine the path your food took to arrive at your plate. Offer gratitude to all the people responsible for growing your meal, packaging it, and preparing it. After your meal, take a moment to place your hand on your belly and offer gratitude to your body for its ability to eat, taste, and digest your food.

Ritualize your trip to the grocery store – First, carve some time from your schedule to sit down and create your grocery list. Perhaps even light a candle or set an intention before you begin. Consider the health value of what you are purchasing and the benefit it will have on your body. When at the store, stick to your intention.

Chew thoroughly – Chewing is the first step of your digestive process, and the more carefully you chew, the better your digestion will be. Chewing mindfully helps you slow down and respond more wisely to your body’s cues.

Prepare with care – As you make your meal, let it be a present-centered experience. Instead of music, tune in to the process. Listen to the sounds of slicing vegetables or the meat sizzling in the pan. Smell the richness of the herbs and spices. By savoring the experience of preparation, you may find the meal tastes better and you need less to feel satisfied.

Approach each bite with a beginner’s mind – Mindfulness teacher Jon Kabat-Zinn provided a mindfulness exercise known as the raisin-eating experience. Take one raisin and place it in front of you. Imagine you have just landed on planet earth for the first time. Pick up the raisin and experience it from this new lens – what do you notice? How does it feel in your hand? As you place the raisin between your lips and hold it there, what happens inside of you? As you take your first bite, what do you notice? This practice does not tell you what you should notice, but invites you to notice your own experience.

Enjoy a family meal – Sustaining a practice of mindful eating can be easier when you practice with others. One study found that family meals centered around mindful eating showed immense potential in addressing youth obesity. Sharing stories about our food experiences can increase accountability and a sense of support.

As you can see, mindful eating is all about focusing your attention. If you’re just starting out you may find your attention wandering. But don’t be discouraged. If your attention wanders, just gently bring it back. Think of attention as a muscle. Each time you bring it back, it gets a little stronger.

The Takeaway

Mindful eating creates space between your triggers and responses, allowing you to break unhealthy habits, chose more nourishing foods, while bringing greater enjoyment and gratitude to your meals.

Incorporating consistent mindfulness exercises, such as meditation, yoga, mindful eating, and deep breathing, work together to improve the overall quality of your life.

DISCLAIMER: THIS WEBSITE DOES NOT PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE

The information, including but not limited to text, PDFs, graphics, images, and other material contained on this website are for general educational purposes only. No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, and does not create a patient-doctor relationship. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, lifestyle or dietary changes, treatments, and before undertaking a new health care regimen. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.