Most people know that exercising regularly is healthy for you.  But have you ever considered meditating as part of your health routine?

Benefits of Meditation:

* Greater clarity of thought

* More peaceful states of mind

* Enhanced ability to concentrate

* Increased creativity and intuition

If you are new to meditation, here are some suggestions:

Meditation Suggestion #1 Be Consistent Choose one time of day that you can easily work into your schedule. The benefit of meditating at the same time each day is that your biorhythms will naturally adjust to it as a habit, like waking, eating and falling asleep. Your nervous system will grow accustomed to meditating at a particular time allowing you to enter deep meditative states more easily.

Make sure your phone is turned off. If you have children, set aside a time when they're at school or asleep.

Meditation Suggestion #2 Create Your Space Create a boundary between you and the outside world even if you're only meditating for ten minutes.

Meditation Suggestion #3 Where to Meditate? Reserve a special place in your home to meditate. It can be as simple as setting aside a comfortable chair or pillow, or an entire room if you have the space. Place a candle, flowers, or any special items that have spiritual meaning for you on a table as an altar.

Creating a place that is reserved for meditation helps because Spiritual Energies gather in the place where you meditate; making it easier each time you sit in the same spot. Like going to a temple, church, or place of worship, with regular practice all you will need to do is sit in that place to feel settled, calm, and relaxed.

It can take many months of meditation to attain theta levels consistently during your meditation practice. Sacred Ground helps you to achieve those levels sooner, so that you can begin to experience the life-changing benefits. Whether you're a new meditator, or are experienced, let Sacred Ground take you to your inner world.

Meditation Suggestion #4 Create a Reverent Atmosphere Invent your own soothing ritual before you meditate. Maybe it's at night after a bath, or at dawn before the rest of the world is awake. Light a candle, take a few deep breaths, and dedicate your meditation to the unfoldment of your highest potential. Say a prayer, chant or burn some incense if you wish. A tranquil and reverent atmosphere helps to induce a meditative state. Some people find Meditation Music helpful.

Meditation Suggestion #5 Position Yourself for Meditation Sit with your spine straight. Use pillows behind your back for support if needed. It's important to have your spine straight so energy can travel freely up and down your spine. You may sit cross-legged or on a comfortable chair with your feet flat on the floor. You can also lie down, placing a pillow under your knees. If you tend to fall asleep when meditating, it's best to sit up so you can stay awake.

Tip: Theta is the frequency of meditation. Because theta is right on the edge of delta, associated with sleep, it's common for beginning meditators to drift into a nap instead of meditation. If you fall asleep easily when meditating try using Brain Power. It harmonically layers theta waves with very high beta frequencies to keep you awake and alert.

Meditation Suggestion #6 How Long Should I Meditate? How long you meditate each day depends on you. A good beginning is 10 to 15 minutes per day. You might find that you naturally expand your meditation time by adding five minutes here and there. Another way to expand the time you meditate is to set a goal of adding five minutes each week until you adopt a natural rhythm of twenty to thirty minutes. One of the pitfalls of beginning meditators is to be too ambitious. Trust your intuition and start off with an amount of time that feels comfortable for you.

Advanced meditators usually spend an hour per day in meditation. If you can gradually work up to forty or sixty minutes the better your progress will be. Consistency brings remarkable long-term benefits.

The key is to do it every day. The effects of meditation are cumulative. Richard Davidson, a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin says, "Modern neuroscience is showing that our minds are as plastic as our bodies. Meditation can help you train your mind in the same way exercise can train your body." Therefore, each and every minute you meditate you're enhancing the biochemistry of your brain, building muscles that increase your mental, emotional and spiritual potential.

Meditation Suggestion #7 Sit, Breathe and Relax When you meditate, take long slow deep breaths. Send the breath deep into your abdomen and then breathe out. Each time you breathe in imagine cleansing energy infusing your body. When you breathe out, ask your body to let go of tension and stress.

Tip: To quiet a busy mind count each exhalation, starting with one going up until ten, then begin the cycle all over again. If you forget where you are, go back to one and begin again. Do this for ten minutes to slow down mental activity. In the beginning many thoughts will come and go. When you notice you are thinking, bring your attention back to your breath. Linger on the peaceful space that lies between your thoughts. In time the space will expand.

Meditation Suggestion #8 Relax with a Body Scan A body scan calms your nervous system, releases tension and helps you feel embodied - sometimes we spend so much time in our heads that we forget we have a body. Practicing this exercise for five or ten minutes is a meditation in itself. It's also a wonderful way to settle down before you meditate.

To begin, direct your consciousness to explore your left foot. Feel the physical sensations inside and around your foot. Then move your consciousness up your left leg, to your knee, thigh and into your left hip. Imagine traveling through the arteries, tissues and bones. You might come across energy blocks or areas of numbness. You might feel tingling vibrations, as the cells come alive from your conscious attention. Observe the sensations. Experiment with how you can tell muscles to relax and let go simply by directing your will.

Do the same with the right foot and leg up into your right hip. Direct your awareness to the root chakra area - abdomen and buttocks. Next explore your stomach, heart and chest, traveling up to your throat. Then move down to your left hand, feel the sensations in each of your fingers, and travel up your arm to your left shoulder. Repeat with the right side. Explore your neck and throat; notice how you can relax and expand your throat. Travel into your brain, let your face and jaw relax. Allow the muscles around your scalp, temples and forehead to soften and relax.

Tip: EEG (electroencephalogram) research has revealed that when the forehead, temples and scalp are relaxed, theta activity moves more easily into the frontal cortex. When those muscles relax you are able to go deeper into a meditative state.

Meditation Suggestion #9 How to Deal with the Mind Gain the benefits of meditation even if you're a new meditator. Balance your Chakras, become positive and reduce anxiety; strengthen your immune system, and develop your creativity, just by listening to Deep Meditation.

The first goal of meditation is to notice and quiet random thoughts. In his book, Learn to Meditate, David Fontana, Ph.D. says, "By watching your thoughts and learning to identify them as distractions you have begun the path of meditation."

As you practice meditation you'll become aware of how your mind runs around in circles with many different thoughts and memories. At first your mind will be like a chatterbox, shifting from one concern to another, this is natural. You might catch yourself thinking about work or solving problems. You might worry about something that hasn't happened yet or remember things you forgot, like paying your credit card bill.

Meditation Suggestion #10 Label Your Thoughts Observe the quality of your thoughts and then label them. "These are busy, work thoughts," "These thoughts are negative and limiting," or "Here we go again with my To Do list." Then gently return your attention to your breath and expand into the space between your thoughts.

Each time you identify the quality of your thoughts, you are making enormous strides in meditation that will inevitably unfold in your life. In time you will become a keen observer of your inner world. You'll notice when you've fallen into negative thinking and you'll learn to redirect your attention to thoughts that expand and enhance your sense of self.

The highest level of thought is positive. Positive thoughts soothe your nervous system and encourage states of wholeness and well being. If negative emotions arise, such as anger, regret, fear or sorrow, label them and then gently shift your attention to something positive.

Meditation Suggestion #11 Meditate Upon Your Divine Self A powerful practice is to meditate upon your divine self, the self who holds vast potential and gifts. Use your imagination to discover the magnificent being within. Drink from the well of knowledge that will multiply your joy and fulfillment in life. Exploring and contacting your divine nature is what meditation is all about. Guided Meditations that will help you create nurturing states of being and contact your higher self: Guided Meditation, Retrieve Your Destiny, Fulfill Your Heart's Desire, Living Prayer.

Meditation Suggestion #12 Finish with Feeling At the end of your meditation session, just sit for a moment, feeling the energies moving in your body. This pause before you leap back into the world allows you to integrate the meditation session into your daily life.

Article reprinted with permission.

Kelly Howell, founder of Brain Sync (http://www.brainsync.com is internationally acclaimed for her pioneering work in healing and mind expansion. Her clinically proven, Brain Wave Audio Technology is used in hospitals, biofeedback clinics and by physicians and psychologists throughout the world.

"Kelly Howell is a masterful guide in helping to integrate body, mind, and spirit. In an age where life is becoming increasingly hectic, her instruction is invaluable."

- Larry Dossey, M D. Author: The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kelly_Howell

The Institute of Medicine (the medical branch of the US National Academies of Science) released a report brief on June 29, 2011 on the state of chronic pain in America, entitled Relieving Pain in America: A Blueprint for Transforming Prevention, Care, Education, and Research.  The purpose was to assess how pain affects people of different socioeconomic backgrounds, and what can be done on the national level to improve awareness and treatment.

Chronic pain affects at least 116 million American adults--more than the total affected by heart disease, cancer, and diabetes combined. Pain also costs the nation up to $635 billion each year in medical treatment and lost productivity.   It is  a major reason for taking medications, a major cause of disability, and a key factor in quality of life and productivity. Given the burden of pain in human lives, dollars, and social consequences, relieving pain should be a national priority.

The toll documented in the report is staggering. Childbirth, for example, is a common source of chronic pain.  The institute found that 18 per cent of women who have Caesarean deliveries and ten per cent who have vaginal deliveries report still being in pain a year later.

Ten per cent to 50 per cent of surgical patients who have pain after surgery go on to develop chronic pain, depending on the procedure, and for as many as ten per cent of those patients, the chronic postoperative pain is severe.

The risk of suicide is high among chronic pain patients. Two studies found that about 5 per cent of those with musculoskeletal pain had tried to kill themselves; among patients with chronic abdominal pain, the number was 14 per cent.

For patients, acknowledgement of the problem from the prestigious Institute of Medicine is a seminal event. Chronic pain often goes untreated because most doctors haven’t been trained to understand it. And it is isolating: family members and friends may lose patience with the constant complaints of pain sufferers. Doctors tend to throw up their hands, referring patients for psychotherapy or dismissing them as drug seekers trying to get opioids. 

“Most people with chronic pain are still being treated as if pain is a symptom of an underlying problem,” said Melanie Thernstrom, a chronic pain sufferer from Vancouver, Washington, who wrote The Pain Chronicles: Cures, Myths, Mysteries, Prayers, Diaries, Brain Scans, Healing and the Science of Suffering(Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2010) and was a patient representative on the committee. “If the doctor can’t figure out what the underlying problem is,” she went on, “then the pain is not treated, it’s dismissed and the patient falls down the rabbit hole.”


Among the important findings in the Institute of Medicine report is that chronic pain often outlasts the original illness or injury, causing changes in the nervous system that worsen over time. Doctors often cannot find an underlying cause because there isn’t one. Chronic pain becomes its own disease.

“Having pain that is not treated is like having diabetes that’s not treated,” said Ms. Thernstrom, who suffers from spinal stenosis and a form of arthritis in the neck. “It gets worse over time.”

Ms. Thernstrom compared the effect of chronic pain on the body to the rushing waters of a river carving out a new tributary. Pain, she says, also changes the body’s landscape.

“My pain is at the level where it’s manageable,” she said. “I do wish I had gotten aggressive treatment in the first year. There is a window of time to intervene, because pain changes your nervous system and pain pathways develop.”

“When pain becomes chronic, when it becomes persistent even after the tissue and injury have healed, then people are suffering from chronic pain” Mackey said. “We’re finding that there are significant changes in the central nervous system and spinal cord that cause pain to become amplified and persistent even after the injury has gone away.” 


The pain report is only a first step for the community of medical professionals who treat pain. It will be up to medical schools to begin better education of doctors in the treatment of pain, and the National Institutes of Health to decide whether to promote research into chronic pain.

—--

My comments:

This report is an important milestone in creating a national awareness of the “epidemic of pain” in this country.   Chronic pain is a very difficult problem to treat, because in most cases, there is nothing left for the doctor to do.  It truly frustrates doctors to see patients not getting any better over time.  Many primary care doctors dread having to see their chronic pain patients come in, because of the reasons stated in the article– suspicions of exaggerated symptoms, assumptions of pain reliever drug addiction, psychological problems, etc.

More attention is needed in formulating a strategy to prevent chronic pain from happening, and ways to better manage it.  This study is a good first step towards that direction.

If you have chronic pain, it still is a good idea to do the things that make the body healthier overall:  give it the building blocks to regenerate and repair tissue (high nutrient density foods); avoid ingesting toxins such as smoke, alcohol, preservatives, and pesticides; drink pure, clean water; get a good dose of Vitamin D every day by going outside in the sun; do short workouts that engage all body parts in unison every day, avoid negative people, negative media, and negative thoughts as best you can; engage in activities that require concentration; socialize with positive people; laugh to your heart’s desire, and get enough rest each and every day.  These activities may not cure chronic pain, but can make it more manageable.

At MDi Wellness center, we have several complementary medicine resources to help patients with chronic pain, including Ayurveda, acupuncture, chiropractic and nutrition therapy.

If you suffer from chronic pain, call the office and we'll put together a program for you to help you.

 Article originally appeared on The Pain & Injury Doctor blog

References:

The New York Times, Giving Chronic Pain a Platform of Its Own

The Institute of Medicine, Relieving Pain in America: A Blueprint for Transforming Prevention, Care, Education, and Research

The human brain is said to be the most complex structure in the universe.   Although scientists have a much better understanding of how the brain works compared to 50 years ago, much of it is still a mystery.  We do know that intelligence is related to the number of synaptic connections in the brain (interconnected neurons, or brain cells– Einstein’s was off the charts).   And thanks to technology that can measure neuronal activity within the brain, we have an idea where the various sensations such as anger, fear, and love are produced in the brain.

But when it comes to “mindset” issues involving weight loss (emotional eating, ingrained habits), rather than venture too deep into the mechanical workings of the brain, it is more practical to focus on the things within one’s power to change.   After all, there is a somewhat cynical saying in the field of neurology– “Science can explain how the brain works using various models, but (so far) we are helpless to cure any neurological disease or problem with our current knowledge.”  Think about that for a moment.  If the most highly skilled neurologists in the world can’t give you a pill capable of changing your brain, then they are no better off than you in correcting the problem.

If you are one of the millions of people mired in long-standing habits that are slowly destroying your health, the first thing to do is to admit it to yourself, and let it absorb into your consciousness.  Have a conversation with yourself when you are alone, with no distractions.

First calm down any scattered noise that may be occupying your mind– job worries, financial worries, relationship worries, health worries, vices, pleasures, and anything else.

Next, take a couple of deep breaths.  Find a mirror, look straight into your eyes and tell yourself you must stop _____ because it is hurting you; setting you up for poor health that will eventually impact your loved ones as well.  Then affirm, “From this moment on, I shall make a commitment to strive for a life of optimal health.”

Next, assess your home, work and car physical environments.  If they include any items that support/enable your bad habits; whether actual items, arrangement of items, or anything else, find a way to purge them or neutralize them.   If any have monetary value, realize that anything that drains your health actually costs you money.  Replace them with health-promoting items such as live plants, positive message posters and screen savers, calming music, and so on.   You must create “fertile ground” in your surroundings because this is where your senses take in information in the form of images, words, sounds, and actions.   If you can control certain sensory inputs in your environment, take advantage of it; you will need it because society is full of health-destroying temptations that can trip you and put you back into your old routine.  So, create that “protective bubble” around you as best you can, and it will be easier to stay on track.

Reprinted with permission from The Optimal Body System blog

So you decided you had enough of being overweight, tired all the time, and self-conscious of your appearance.    You read several popular books and blogs on how to lose weight,  have a good understanding of what you need to do, and are ready to move forward.  You psyche yourself up, purge your pantry and refrigerator of all those sinful, sugary treats and replace them with fresh organic vegetables, lean protein and healthy snacks.   For exercise, you diligently walk around your block three times every evening before dinner.  To your surprise and pleasure, after five days you weigh yourself and find that you have lost four pounds– “Awesome!” you shriek to yourself–  “Yeah!!”  And you’re on your way to a new life, until…

…your spouse or significant other comes into the kitchen as you are chopping red leaf lettuce.  “Hi Hon, how about a nice pint of Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia after dinner tonight?  You deserve it, come on!”  Or your co-worker drops by your cubicle at 11:30 AM and says, “Feel like going to the All You Can Eat Buffet for lunch?”

Suddenly thoughts of you eating that rich, creamy ice cream emerge, and you actually start salivating.  The image of the colorful tub of ice cream right before you reinforces those memories and you forget about the lettuce for a moment.  Or, you imagine rows of comfort food at the buffet line and start craving the assortment of all those sweet, salty, and fatty foods; a welcome taste after five days of salad and lean protein.

What is happening here is that your significant other/ co-worker is unwittingly acting as an enabler– a negative term used to describe someone who, through their actions, enables or encourages another person’s negative behavior.  It is the opposite of a good role model.  Instead of providing positive leadership and good example, the enabler is reinforcing your unwanted behavior by encouraging it in some way.   It can be a difficult situation on many levels since it involves a relationship.   What is one to do?

Here’s what you do:  Before you start your weight loss journey, inform all the people in your immediate circle (especially the person you are living with) of your intention to reach a healthy weight and achieve optimal health, and ask them for their support.   Be serious about it; no joking.  Make sure you say it in a way that leaves no other possible interpretation.   Don’t even be afraid to get emotional about it, because it is your life and your future well-being you are talking about.  Tell your partner/roommate specifically what you’ll be doing; how your daily routine will change and how he/she will be affected.   If it’s your spouse and he/she objects for any reason or attempts to downplay the need to lose weight (“I love you just the way you are”), tell him if he truly loved you, he would respect your wishes and offer encouragement.  Put the ball in his court so he feels an obligation.  Hopefully, your spouse will come around and choose to support your efforts.

What to say to your partner:

1.  I’ll use a male spouse as an example.  If you are following a particular diet plan, explain to him how it works.  If there is a book you are going by, ask him to read it so he can be on “the same page” as you, be knowledgeable of the procedure and offer assistance throughout your journey.  In an ideal situation, your spouse will go on the plan with you and both of you can motivate one another and serve as an accountability partner to the other.

2.  If your spouse does not want to change, or doesn’t need to, and has a rather neutral or nonchalant attitude towards your decision, ask him/her to at least not tempt you with the foods you are trying to avoid; i.e. desserts, soda, refined carbs, fat laden foods, etc.  Tell him to not eat it in front of you, as it will create a feeling of deprivation.  You may have to eat separately while you are starting out and still vulnerable to getting sidetracked.

3.  Unfortunately, some people will have spouses who will purposefully attempt to derail their weight loss efforts.  These are people who have an issue in their life (low self-esteem, lazy, no self-discipline, controlling, or other negative trait) and cannot stand seeing their partner experience success or happiness.    It is a “misery loves company” attitude.    Such a toxic relationship can be a huge obstacle to someone trying to lead a healthy life.  For situations like this, there are deeper issues that should be addressed.  You will need to draw on your inner strength and determination to make yourself immune to his actions.   Find people who will support your efforts; perhaps at work, in a local support group, and even on online health and weight loss forums.    Most national weight loss systems have a built-in support structure that goes along with the regimen.  Medifast™ has one of the best in the industry, offering a free personal health coach, online support forums, and even live weekly doctor and nurse calls to answer questions for customers.


Original article reprinted with permission, www.OptimalBodySystem.com/articles/

Neuropathy translates to “nerve disorder.”   It can be mechanical in nature, such as the common peripheral neuropathies carpal tunnel syndrome, thoracic outlet syndrome and cervical disc radiculopathy.   In these cases, the source of nerve pain is prolonged, direct pressure to the nerve from an abnormal constriction of some sort in the area of the nerve.  When nerves are subjected to even the slightest pressure for long durations, injury occurs resulting in permanent symptoms such as pain, tingling, numbness and weakness.  The scary thing about peripheral neuropathies is that you don’t feel the constriction to the nerve itself, just the symptoms of the damaged nerve which by that time may be too late to completely resolve.

Neuropathy can be caused by the Herpes virus; i.e. shingles, which does damage to the nerve itself.   It can be caused by disease processes; particularly late stage Type II diabetes where peripheral nerves (major nerves of the body responsible for sensing touch, hot, cold and movement) deteriorate from prolonged exposure to diabetic conditions (persistently high blood glucose, vascular disease, high insulin, inflammation).  Lyme Disease, inflammatory diseases, autoimmune diseases and toxicity/ poisoning can also cause neuropathy.

But the big thing that can cause you to develop neuropathy is over the counter and prescription medications.  There are hundreds of medicines that have side effects that include nerve degradation; whether it be from toxicity or from leaching nutrients the body needs to maintain nerve function.

  According to pharmacist Suzy Cohen, a leading expert on drug effects, some classic offenders include:

• antacids 
  
• acid blockers
  
• oral contraceptives
  
• hormone replacement therapy
  
• corticosteroids
  
• statin cholesterol reducers
  
• breast cancer drugs
  
• fluoroquinolone antibiotics
  

She adds that the fluoroquinolones (Cipro, Floxin, Avelox, Levaquin) have a fluoride backbone.  Fluoride is known to harm the thyroid gland, reduce thyroid production and cause irreversible damage to the nervous system.

As a side note, I find it amazing that some water districts still add fluoride, a known neurotoxin, to the water supply and that dentists still recommend it for cavities; even for young children– amazing!

If you have a history of taking any of the class of medications mentioned above and you suffer from neuropathy, it is quite possible that you have been inadvertently causing your neuropathy or making your body susceptible to it.  If this is the case, Suzy recommends the following supplements which may be helpful in reversing the damage (check with your doctor first).

Thiamine — Watch your wine consumption.  A glass of wine every night can steal nerve-protective nutrients like vitamin B1 (thiamine). You can also try benfotiamine, a fat-soluble form of thiamine.

Probiotics —  Probiotics allow you to make methylcobalamin (vitamin B12), which you need to produce myelin and protect the nerve cells.

My note:  it is extremely important that you ensure you maintain a healthy gut microflora.  Your gut is where nutrients are transferred from what you eat to your body’s cells.  If your microflora is out of balance, you run the risk of malabsorption, Vitamin B12 deficiency, and gut inflammation.  Taking probiotics, minimizing antibiotics, avoiding alcohol or drinking in moderation, and including cultured foods (sauerkraut, yogurt, etc.)  and raw vegetables in your diet are the key.

Methylcobalamin (B12) — When your body is starved of B12, you lose the myelin sheath and your nerves short circuit. This can cause neuropathy and depression. There are dozens of drug muggers of B12, including the diabetic medications as well as processed foods, sugar, antibiotics, estrogen hormones and acid blockers.

Lipoic Acid — You can buy it as “alpha” at any health food store, or “R” lipoic acid as a more bioavailable form. This antioxidant squashes free radicals that attack your myelin sheath and fray your nerve wiring. It reduces blood sugar, too.

High doses are needed to improve nerve pain, however, if you take high doses, you need to also supplement with a little biotin. The reason is because lipoic acid is a drug mugger of biotin.

Bottom Line:  If you take prescription or over the counter medications, carefully read the “side effects;”  ask your doctor about them, and research them yourself on Physician’s Desk Reference.  

Reprinted from The Optimal Body System with permission.

By Dan Perez, D.C.

Most people understand that, as winter approaches, so does the chance of catching the flu or a cold.  As a result, they stock up on over-the-counter medications like NyQuil, Ibuprofen, Sudafed, Mucinex, and generic cold medicine.  However, they fail to question why colds and flu are more common in the winter months; they just accept it.  Are you one of them?

I’d like for you to contemplate exactly why more people get sick during the winter months.  Does cold weather somehow cause bacteria to divide faster and viruses to replicate at a higher rate, making them more abundant in our surroundings?  No, it does not.

Does cold weather somehow weaken your body, making it more susceptible to microbial invasion?  No, not cold in itself.  Your body maintains its temperature around 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit whether you feel cold or hot.

Having ruled out these false beliefs, the next step is to think about what changes occur in our environment and/or habits as winter approaches, that may open us up to infection.

Here is a list of pertinent factors, off the top of my head:

CHANGES THAT HAPPEN AS WINTER APPROACHES

1. Temperatures drop
2. People spend more time indoors
3. People wear more layers of clothing, covering more of their body
4. Days are shorter
5. The sun’s rays are less direct as they reach Earth’s surface
6. More cloud cover
7. More rain & snow
8. Less availability of seasonal fruits & vegetables
9. Holiday celebrations – eating high calorie foods
10. For some, holiday stress, depression

So, which ones do you think are responsible for the increase in colds and flu during the winter?

To me, numbers 3-6 are the main culprit.  These factors, altogether, result in less sun UV ray exposure to the skin.  The sun’s UV rays are needed in order for your skin to synthesize vitamin D.  Without adequate vitamin D levels, the body is more prone to disease.

Vitamin D’s main function is to enable calcium absorption in the gut to maintain balanced serum calcium and phosphate levels to ensure proper mineralization of bone, and provide calcium ions for proper neuromuscular function.

Other critical roles of vitamin D include modulation of cell growth, immune function, and reduction of inflammation.

Note:  Vitamin D itself is biologically inactive and must undergo conversion into 25(OH)D in the liver and then into the active form 1, 25 (OH2)D in the kidneys.  Serum 25(OH)D is the best indicator of your vitamin D levels and is what is measured in blood tests.

Could it be that the drop in vitamin D levels from decreased exposure to sunlight during the winter months somehow creates conditions in the body where bacteria and viruses can thrive, explaining why more people get sick in the winter?It makes logical sense.

According to the National Institute of Health, season, time of day, length of day, cloud cover, smog, skin melanin content, and sunscreen are among the factors that affect UV radiation exposure and vitamin D synthesis.

Laboratory and animal evidence as well as epidemiologic data suggest that vitamin D status could affect cancer risk. Strong biological and mechanistic bases indicate that vitamin D plays a role in the prevention of colon, prostate, and breast cancers.  How it does this is uncertain.  If vitamin D affords these powerful protective health benefits, it is plausible that it can do the same for the colds and flu.  In fact, a study done in Japan showed that schoolchildren taking 1,200 units of vitamin D per day during the winter time reduced their risk of getting influenza A infection by about 40 percent.

The factors that affect UV radiation exposure and research to date on the amount of sun exposure needed to maintain adequate vitamin D levels make it difficult to provide general guidelines; however, the conventional belief is that approximately 5–30 minutes of sun exposure between 10 AM and 3 PM (when the sun’s rays are strongest) at least twice a week to the arms, legs, or back without sunscreen usually lead to sufficient vitamin D synthesis.

Optimal levels of serum 25(OH)D are between 50-70 ng/ml; anything below 50 is considered deficient.

So, what can you do to avoid experiencing a drop in vitamin D during Winter? (and reduce your chances of getting a cold or the flu)Here are my suggestions:

1.  Increase your intake of Vitamin-D containing foods.  There are not many foods that contain Vitamin D, but they include sardines, mackerel, salmon, mushrooms, and cod liver oil (my favorite).

2.  Supplement with Vitamin D.  The Institute of Medicine recommends

• 600 IU of vitamin D a day for everyone ages 1 to 70
• 800 IU of vitamin D a day for those 71 and older

However, some people, especially natural healthcare advocates believe that these numbers are inadequate.  They believe that 3,000 IU of vitamin D per day is a better recommendation (for those with low Vitamin D levels – less than 20 ng/ml) in order to achieve appreciable therapeutic effect; the main reason being that much of oral Vitamin D does not make it into your cells; perhaps as much as 75%.  Since vitamin D is fat soluble, it helps to take your vitamin D after a meal rich in saturated fats, or better yet with fish oil.

3.  Deliberately expose large areas of your skin to the sun during the winter months (not your face, though because it gets enough exposure and is more susceptible to wrinkling from UVA rays).  Expose your trunk (back and front) and legs, primarily.  Remember, the sun’s rays are weaker during winter so 20-25 minutes at least 2x/ week is a good rule of thumb; being careful not to get sun burned.

If it is too cold outside, find an area in your home where the sun shines through a window onto your floor.  Open the window (most windows are UV tinted to block out UV rays, which you don’t want), place a mat on the floor where the sunlight lands and sun bathe on it.  Again, make sure to cover your face.

Another option, especially if you are in area that gets long bouts of rain, snow or overcast skies is to use anIndoor UVB Lamp.  This can be enough to encourage vitamin D synthesis when ambient light is low.

Other steps to take to avoid getting the flu during the winter:

Being aware of what’s around you and being conscious of what you are doing; i.e., being vigilant, can go a long way towards avoiding contracting a cold or the flu.

Here are my recommendations:

1.  Wash your hands frequently throughout the day.  Use warm running water, soap, and rub your hands vigorously under the running water, paying close attention to the fingertips and between the fingers.  Do for at least 1 minute.

2.  Avoid directly touching frequently handled items in public:  all doorknobs, levers and handles (especially bathroom door knobs), toilet flush handles, telephone handsets, chair backs, elevator buttons — anything in public that is meant to be touched or grabbed.  The same goes for currency — coins, bills.  These items have high concentration of germs.  Use a glove or napkin when handling them.

3.  Watch out for glasses and silverware in restaurants.  Potentially sick waiters/ waitresses handle them.  It annoys me when I see a waiter pick up a bunch of drinking glasses by sticking his/her fingers inside and pinching them together; or grabbing spoons and forks on their “business” end when setting a table.  Where were those fingers just a few minutes ago?, I wonder.  Also, I have seen on many occasions waiters delivering bowls of soup to a table where the soup touches their thumb as they  grasp the soup bowl.  This is a good way to get food-borne illness.

4.  Avoid touching your eyes and mucous membranes.  These areas are highly vascularized and don’t have the protection of a skin layer, making them ideal entry points for pathogens.

5.  Be especially vigilant whenever you are in the vicinity of large groups of people– busy stores, classes, lectures, restaurants, sidewalks.  If there is a lot of coughing and sneezing going on, consider breathing through a thin scarf.  Whenever someone sneezes, an invisible mist hangs in the air for several seconds; the fine droplets of lung fluid may contain transmittable viruses and/or bacteria and you can walk right into it without even knowing it.

6.  Use a humidifier at night and pour some eucalyptus oil into it.  Also, get a handkerchief and sprinkle a few drops of eucalyptus oil on it, keep it in your pocket and breathe the fumes periodically.  Eucalyptus has antibacterial properties, and it wouldn’t hurt to make it difficult for pathogens to settle in your body.

7.  Take anti-viral foods and immune-strengthening supplements.  My recommendations are high dose Vitamin C, garlic, onions, mushroom extract, elderberry extract (Sambucol) and zinc.

Now, isn’t it worthwhile to practice these behaviors and make it through the winter months without a day looking like this poor guy?

In summary, there are simple yet powerful and effective strategies you can implement that can guard you against the flu and colds during the winter.  The old adage “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” says it all.

by Dan Perez, D.C.

There are many factors that conspire to cause weight gain, and eventually obesity.  Some are frank and obvious like eating too much junk food, while others are subtle and under the radar, like the food industry’s efforts to market unhealthy food to young people to get them hooked for life. If you are overweight, here are six factors that you are up against.  Regain control over these six factors, and you will be in a much better position to lose weight, keep it off effortlessly and achieve optimal health.

1.  Habit.  A habit is a learned behavior that has taken residence in your subconscious mind.  Some habits are good while a lot are bad.  Smoking, alcohol and many other vices are the kings of bad habits. 

Perhaps you have a habit that drives you to eat a late night meal every day, right before bed.  Or, you have a habit to go to an all-you-can-eat buffet on Fridays.  When you repeat certain activities, they sort of become “programmed” into your brain and it takes some willpower to break the cycle; willpower that many people unfortunately fail to summon.  So, habit is the first conspirator to obesity.

2.  Mindset.  Mindset refers to your existing set of attitudes and beliefs and is closely related to habits.  Your life experience to date made you the person you are today, including your values, priorities, habits, and so on.  These factors form the basis of your mindset.   Mindset determines your physical appearance and health, because what you think determines what you do.  

Mindset is the driver of emotional eating– eating rich, high-calorie comfort foods when you’re sad, happy, lonely, or depressed.   A mindset that promotes obesity can also be one where there is little concern or fear of getting sick and dying; or one that thinks that being overweight is perfectly fine.  As long as you have a mindset that fosters obesity, it is virtually impossible to maintain a healthy weight.

3.  Addiction.  Do you know that added sugar is more addictive than cocaine?  An experiment using mice that were fed sugar showed that the mice continued to go for the sugar despite being given electrical shocks whenever they went for it.  It is that powerful.  Most processed and packaged food has some type of added sugar, which can go by sneaky names such as evaporated cane juice, maltodextrin, agave syrup, molasses, turbinado sugar, fructose, corn syrup, and corn starch.  So when your diet is comprised of more than 20% or so of processed food, you are likely developing an addiction for it.  Most people deny it and convince themselves that they like the taste of, let’s say Doritos, bread, cookies, milk chocolate, Starbucks mocha lattes and so on, but the real reason is that they have acquired an addiction. 

Of course, added sugar is also high in calories.  Fructose, the sweetest variety, does not metabolize like glucose does; it goes to the liver and muscles and forms fat droplets.  A 2009 study from the University of California, Davis shows how a high-fructose diet can cause you to build new fat cells around your heart, liver, and digestive organs in just 10 weeks, plunging you into the early stages of diabetes and heart disease (whereas a high glucose diet did not have the same effects)

4.  Time constraints.  This really shouldn’t be an excuse for failing to eat healthy, but is mentioned here because time constraint is a real challenge faced by many.  People who have long commute times, are raising small children, have high-pressure jobs, and/or simply have lost control over their time claim that there is no time to prepare and eat a healthy meal.    However, this is rubbish.   This is related to #2 above, mindset.  It’s all about your perspective in life.  What is more important, your health or answering an email that can wait?  There are many ways to eat healthy and also exercise even if you have the tightest schedule.  It requires advanced planning and preparing healthy food in advance, and of course, changing your mindset in a way that puts your health at the top.

5.  Confusing advice on nutrition.  Let’s face it, there is no shortage of dietary advice on the internet.  It’s all over the place.   Gurus have sprung up left and right to offer their advice.  Internet portals like Yahoo, AOL, MSN and so on have dedicated health writers cranking out articles with catchy titles like “The Top Ten Foods for a Flat Stomach.”  You can’t escape it.  Most have good advice, but sometimes there is conflicting advice.  The main controversy is whether or not grains/carbohydrates should be avoided when trying to lose weight, and if red meat, butter and other fat laden foods are good for you.  Also, whether or not skipping breakfast or fasting is a good idea.  Some say it isn’t; others say no.  What is a dieter to do?

6. Primitive genetic tendencies.  I don’t like to suggest to those who are trying to lose weight that genes are responsible for their situation, because it creates a “victim” mentality and can make one feel powerless.   While there are genetic components to weight gain, they can easily be “inactivated” simply by adopting a healthy lifestyle.   But it is good to be aware of genetic tendencies related to eating, because you can recognize them and turn them off. 

You see, humans are wired to eat as much as they can when they are faced with food.  This harkens from the caveman days when the tribe came onto food only every couple of days.  It was either feast or famine.  So when the tribe had a successful mastodon kill, they likely tried to eat the whole thing, because it wasn’t certain when the next meal would be.  Plus, they had to consume the whole animal because it would later spoil, or predators would take it. 

You can sense this genetic tendency at work whenever you go to a party where there is a nice spread of food– you feel anticipation and excitement, your mood goes up, you salivate, and when you come upon all those colors and smells of the bounty of food– roasted chicken, lamb, prime rib, stuffing, potatoes, breads and the dessert section, it’s hard to avoid stacking your plate and going for seconds and thirds.  BUT, this genetic tendency is misplaced, because of the overabundance and easy access to food.  So when you notice your brain telling you to stuff yourself, remind yourself that this urge is simply your primitive genes in action, and that there is no need to “eat as much as you can,” because you most definitely aren't going to starve.  

So that about wraps it up.  There are other factor that promote weight gain, like peer pressure and pain that prohibits exercise, but these six are the big ones. 
Now that you know what they are, what can you do to deal with them?

There is a new system I created that can help you overcome these six conspirators to weight gain.  It’s called the Optimal Body System.