Rather Be Healthy

It’s probably no secret that gluten (a protein composite found in wheat, rye, and barley) is bad news for your health and fatloss goals alike. After all, gluten sensitivity affects more than 20 MILLION adults nationwide and has been linked to more than 130 symptoms, including some MAJOR conditions like skin diseases, lupus, multiple sclerosis, thyroid disease, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, migraine headaches, and a host of others.

And then of course there’s the even more common side effects associated with gluten to be wary of…symptoms like gas & bloating, constipation, fatigue, joint pain, inflammation, sugar cravings, weight gain, and obesity…and the list goes on!

But you probably ALSO know that gluten is found in just about everything, including many of the foods we’ve come to love and enjoy like pasta, bread, bagels, muffins, and other baked goods, couscous, cereal, soups, dressings, and crackers (including all whole-wheat versions of these products), as well as many of our “cheat day” favorites like cookies, cakes, pizza, and one of my personal favorites…BEER (even the non-alcoholic varieties).

Even worse, try going out to eat — virtually impossible to avoid gluten. If it’s not “obviously” part of the meal as something like bread or pasta, it’ll very likely be hidden in the dressings and sauces…it’s everywhere.

Of course, you could vow to never eat bread, pasta, and cereal again (highly unrealistic) as well as all of the other foods mentioned above (bagels, muffins, and other baked goods, crackers, tortillas, pizza, beer, and all those other goodies)…that’s one option.

Even so, knowing that gluten is hidden in so many foods that you would never even think or realize it’s in makes completely “eliminating” gluten a rather inconvenient, time-consuming, and unmanageable task in and of itself.

But what if you could have your cake and eat it, too? Yes, what if you could still eat gluten-containing foods while still avoiding the negative side effects of gluten consumption?

You see, at BioTrust we didn’t think that giving up gluten containing foods was a realistic, manageable solution to the gluten dilemma.

Now don’t get me wrong, some folks DO do it (like those with celiac disease who have no other choice), and if you personally plan on eliminating all of the above mentioned foods permanently from your diet while scientifically dissecting every meal you eat to determine whether or not it may contain gluten, then forgive me, the rest of this message doesn’t apply to you.

But if you’re like me and you still plan to enjoy pasta, bread, cereal, and/or a beer or piece of dessert from time to time, then you’ll be happy to know that we went to the drawing board to develop a better, easier solution for folks like us.

And that solution is called GlutenGone™: A dynamic duo of 2 unique digestive enzymes (Aspergillopepsin and DPPIV) that has been shown in very recent research to be unmatched in its ability to fully digest gluten.

You see, the problems with gluten only arise when your body fails to fully break down and digest gluten properly, and unfortunately many folks are deficient in the enzymes required to fully break down numerous nutrients, especially gluten. GlutenGone™ makes that a non-issue by providing you with those enzymes so you can “have your cake and eat it, too”.

GlutenGone™, as well as 14 other vital enzymes, can be found in BioTrust AbsorbMax™, an extremely unique, complete and comprehensive enzyme supplement ever that tackles ALL your digestive issues from 6 different angles. If you also have issues digesting lactose, starches, proteins or any number of foods that may cause bloating, gas and other discomforts, AbsorbMax™ will give your body everything it needs to effectively break down those foods so you’ll feel better and drop those stubborn pounds…faster.

And even better, when you choose to invest in AbsorbMax™ with GlutenGone™ today we’re going to give you F.REE shipping AND a freee copy of my 7 Day Rapid Fat Loss Diet that shows you how to slash up to 10+ pounds in just one short week.

And if that wasn’t enough, if you decide to invest in 2 bottles of AbsorbMax™ today, we’ll give you a 3rd bottle absolutely F.REE. Now that’s what I call a deal!

==> Have your cake and eat it, too with Gluten Gone™

Remember, you have two options to avoid the negative side effects, fatloss consequences, and health ailments associated with gluten:

1. Eliminate all gluten foods from your diet completely. This includes breads, pasta, cereals, baked goods, and a laundry list of other foods that you likely regularly enjoy.

OR

2. Just take one capsule of AbsorbMax™ with GlutenGone™ at the start of each meal. That’s it.

For us, the clear answer was #2…that’s why we had AbsorbMax™ with GlutenGone™ developed for our personal use and both Josh and I use it every day. Now you can benefit too, and at a huge discount today:

==> F.REE Shipping + Buy 2, Get 1 F.REE + The 7 Day Rapid Fat Loss Diet F.REE

Enjoy the results!

Joel

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CAUGHT RED HANDED –

Big Pharma’s Hormone Replacement DISASTER…

And the real secret to relief “they” don’t want you to know about

Special Report: By Dr. Mark Stengler

When you’re a multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical giant watching your customers ditch your risk-laden synthetic hormones for natural ones what do you do? Of course, the next step is to whine about it to the FDA (after all, they approved the drugs in the first place) and try to smear the competition in the process…

But you can’t un-shoot a silver bullet…

And that’s exactly what bioidentical hormones are – for both men and women.

When you think of hormone replacement, you probably think of menopause. But that’s just one of the many reasons why you might consider bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT).

Did you know that all of these signs, symptoms and conditions can stem from hormone imbalance? Your doctor probably doesn’t…

Uncontrolled blood sugar
High LDL cholesterol
High triglyceride levels
Ulcerative Colitis
Crohn’s Disease
Osteoporosis
Menopause
Andropause
Headaches

Erectile Dysfunction
Low sex drive (men and women)
Fatigue
Obesity
Unexplained weight gain or loss
Joint pain
Stiff joints
Poor memory
Inability to concentrate

Depression
Moodiness
Muscle weakness
Dry Skin
Hearing loss
Snoring
Anxiety
Belly fat
Loss of appetite
Constipation
Pale skin
Brittle nails

Men, this means you too…

I’m not surprised if you haven’t heard much about this considering most doctors receive relatively little training on the subject. That’s why I sought additional training in both bioidentical hormone testing and replacement therapy – and why so many of my patients come to me.

You see, even a slight hormone imbalance can throw a major wrench into your health. Just take a look at the list of symptoms and conditions on the right. Every single one of them could be a result of hormone imbalance – from joint pain and high cholesterol to poor memory, fatigue and even sexual problems for both men and women.

But more shocking than that, hormone imbalance can actually be mistaken for serious diseases and conditions like arthritis, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease.

You see, the signs of hormone imbalance can be hard to detect – and not all doctors are trained to see them. I know because I regularly encounter patients in my practice who come in thinking they’ve got one problem when in fact – it’s hormonal imbalance.

Yet, in spite of this alarming information, one Big Pharma juggernaut tried with all their might to get the FDA to impose restrictions on the pharmacies that create natural, bioidentical hormones – making it much harder for doctors to prescribe them – and for YOU to get them…

When you can’t beat them, try and put them out of business…

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, arguably one of the biggest profiteers of synthetic hormones, suffered a huge blow to their bottom line when researchers revealed they discovered an increased risk of breast cancer, stroke, heart disease and dementia in women taking synthetic hormones.

When customers found out, they turned away in droves from synthetic hormones in favor of bioidentical hormones – the only type of hormones I’ll recommend to my patients. I’ll explain why in just a moment. But first let me show you what Wyeth did in what looks like a last ditch effort to save their profits.

Rather than looking for ways to improve the safety of their synthetic hormones, Wyeth filed a complaint with the FDA, requesting they “initiate enforcement action” in a pathetic attempt to shut down the pharmacies that create the bioidentical hormones many people depend on to stay healthy. And they ALMOST robbed YOU of the chance to access these essential compounds that address every last one of the health complaints on that list I showed you earlier.

In the end, all it did was cause a big uproar among the many users of bioidentical hormones. More than 40,000 letters and emails poured into the FDA, pleading with them to reject Wyeth’s petition and protect their access to bioidentical hormones.

Then, in 2009, court documents revealed that between 1998 and 2005 Wyeth hired consulting firms to ghostwrite medical articles promoting their synthetic hormones and failed to disclose their role in journal articles. You’ve got to ask yourself, how could a natural product be such an immense threat to Big Pharma?

Well, there’s more to it than simply trying to make themselves look good. You see, it wasn’t just that the numerous dangers of synthetic hormones were exposed – it was also that there was NO evidence that bioidentical hormones shared those same dangers. So let me show you…

Why proper hormone balance so vital to your health –
and why I ONLY recommend “bioidentical” hormones…

According to the Endocrine Society, bioidentical hormones are “compounds that have exactly the same chemical and molecular structure as hormones that are produced in the human body.” So unlike synthetic hormones – bioidentical hormones don’t just mimic your own hormones, they’re designed to match them completely so your body won’t know the difference.

As I mentioned earlier, when most people think of hormones they probably think of estrogen and menopause or maybe testosterone for men. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

First of all, estrogen and testosterone are only two of about fifty known human hormones, all of which are responsible for different processes in your body – from overseeing your metabolism to influencing your immune system, the way you react to stress and even when you fall asleep.

But beyond that, hormones help regulate your blood sugar, cholesterol, blood pressure, heart rate, bone and muscle growth – just about every vital process in your body. That’s why even the slightest deficiency can impact your health in all those serious ways I mentioned above.

And deficiencies are increasingly common…

Some hormones like estrogen and testosterone will decline with age but there are many other reasons why you could have a hormone deficiency. Hormone imbalance can be triggered by prescription drugs or birth control pills, exposure to toxins, poor diet, illness or even stress.

So knowing whether or not your hormones are balanced is just as important as knowing things like your blood pressure and cholesterol numbers. And the tests are very easy – sometimes all you need to do is give a saliva sample or have a simple blood test.

While bioidentical hormones are natural, they should still be administered by your doctor. So if you think you might be suffering from a hormone imbalance, it’s important to talk to your doctor. To find a physician in your area, you can call the American College for Advancement in Medicine (ACAM) at 1-800-532-3688.

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Putting a television in your child’s bedroom may seem like a special treat, but it’s one that could be setting them up for a lifetime of poor sleep habits, and by association, obesity.

And it’s not only TVs that are to blame. Computers, video games, cell phones and other electronic gadgets are just as bad, and new research shows that if they’re in your kids’ rooms, it’s time to get them out.

Electronic Gadgets in Kids’ Rooms Promote Obesity and Unhealthy Lifestyles

In a survey of more than 3,000 fifth graders,1 half of the children said they had either a television, DVD player, or video game in their rooms, 21 percent said they had a computer and 17 percent said they had cellphones (and 5 percent of the kids said they had all three!).

If you think this doesn’t impact your child’s sleep habits … think again. More than half (57 percent) said they would use these devices even after they were supposed to be asleep, for instance staying up later to watch TV in bed. As you might suspect, those who had access to electronic devices generally slept less, and shorter sleep duration is linked to obesity.

Lost Sleep Contributes to Obesity

Getting just one extra hour of sleep a night was linked to a 28 percent lower risk of being overweight and a 30 percent lower risk of being obese, according to the study. On the other hand, kids who used electronic devices at bedtime were nearly 1.5 times more likely to be overweight. Among those who had three or more such devices in their bedroom (such as a TV, computer and video games), the risk jumped to over 2.5 times.

Part of the problem is that the kids are staying up later than they should to watch TV or play video games, and this means they’re sacrificing valuable sleep time. Your circadian rhythm has evolved over hundreds of generations to align your physiology with your environment. Your body clock is “set” to sleep at night and stay awake during daylight hours. If you are deprived of sleep, conflicting signals get sent to your body.

Too little sleep impacts your levels of thyroid and stress hormones, which in turn can affect your memory, immune system, heart and metabolism, and much more. Over time, lack of sleep can lead to:
•High blood sugar levels and an increased risk of diabetes — Sleep-deprived people tend to eat more sweet and starchy foods rather than vegetables and dairy products. Researchers suspect these cravings stem from the fact that your brain is fueled by glucose (blood sugar); therefore, when lack of sleep occurs, your brain searches for carbohydrates. In short, sleep deprivation puts your body into a pre-diabetic state, and makes you feel hungry, even if you’ve already eaten.
•Weight gain — When you are sleep deprived, your body decreases production of leptin, the hormone that tells your brain there is no need for more food. At the same time it increases levels of ghrelin, a hormone that triggers hunger.
•Accelerated aging
•Hypertension (high blood pressure) and depression
•Increased risk of cancer by altering the balance of hormones in your body, such as reducing the production of melatonin

TV also appears to be linked to health risks regardless of its impact on sleep, through other mechanisms, such as reducing physical activity. One study found, for instance, that the more hours spent in front of a television in early childhood, the more a child’s muscular fitness decreased and the larger their waistlines became as pre-teens.2

TV Watching Linked to 15 Health Risks in Kids

Much of the TV debate focuses on advertising messages and violent or sexually explicit programming, and their impacts on young minds. And while these certainly can be damaging, it turns out that TV may be harmful no matter what your kids are watching.

Dr. Aric Sigman, a British psychologist, analyzed 35 different scientific studies on television and its effect on the viewer.3 He found the damage comes not from the TV programs themselves, but from the vast amount of time kids are spending watching television and computer screens. This activity produces an almost narcotic effect on your brain, actually numbing areas that would be stimulated by other activities, like reading.

Dr. Sigman has identified 15 negative effects that he believes can be blamed on watching television, stating:4

“Watching television, irrespective of the content, is increasingly associated with unfavorable biological and cognitive changes. These alterations occur at viewing levels far below the population norm. Given the population’s sheer exposure time to this environmental factor it is more than puzzling to consider how little awareness and action has resulted.”

The risks Dr. Sigman revealed include:

Obesity

Delayed healing

Heart trouble

Decreased metabolism

Damaged eyesight

Alzheimer’s disease

Decreased attention span

Hormone disturbances

Cancer

Early puberty

Autism

Sleep difficulties

Increased appetite

Limited brain growth

Diabetes

Even the Light from TVs and Other Glowing Gadgets Interferes With Your Child’s Sleep … and Health

Computer screens, televisions and most light bulbs emit blue light, to which your eyes are particularly sensitive because it’s the type of light most common outdoors during daytime hours. As a result, they can fool your brain into thinking it’s still daytime when it’s actually night, which disrupts your sleep patterns.

A study done with hamsters at Ohio State University Medical Center found that chronic exposure to dim light at night can cause signs of depression after just a few weeks.5 The study also showed changes in the hamsters’ hippocampus similar to brain changes seen in depressed people. They pointed out that rates of depression have risen along with exposure to artificial light at night.

The link could be due to the production of the hormone melatonin, which is interrupted when you’re exposed to light at night. There are many studies that suggest melatonin levels (and by proxy light exposures) control mood-related symptoms, such as those associated with depression — especially winter depression (aka, seasonal affective disorder, or SAD).

Exposure to light during the night can seriously impact your body’s internal clock, even leading to metabolic changes and weight gain. In fact, mice that were exposed to dim light during the night gained 50 percent more weight over an eight-week period than mice kept in complete darkness at night.6 They also had increased levels of glucose intolerance, a marker for pre-diabetes.

The weight gain occurred even though the mice were fed the same amount of food and had similar activity levels, and the researchers believe the findings may hold true for humans as well. So this is another issue to be aware of if your child has access to any type of glowing gadget at night.

The Solution is Simple…

Get the TV, computer, video games and cell phone out of your child’s bedroom, and limit their screen time during the day. Your child may protest, but this is a simple change that can help protect, and even improve, their health.

It’s a no-brainer that if your child has a TV in their room, they’re going to spend more time watching it, but one study really made that point clear, showing that having a TV in the bedroom increased viewing time by nearly nine hours a week.7

According to Dr. Sigman and other experts, children under age 3 should watch no TV at all, while those 3-7 should watch no more than 1.5 hours a day. For older kids, two hours of TV and/or computer/video game use should be the daily limit. In addition, once it’s bedtime, keep all light off at night (even if you get up to go to the bathroom) — and this includes your computer and TV.

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Processed food is perhaps the most damaging aspect of most people’s diet, contributing to poor health and chronic disease. One of the primary culprits is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), the dangers of which I touch on in virtually every article on diet I write.

The second culprit is partially hydrogenated soybean oil.

These two ingredients, either alone or in combination, can be found in virtually all processed foods and one can make a compelling argument that the reliance on these two foods is a primary contributing factor for most of the degenerative diseases attacking Americans today.

Part of the problem with partially hydrogenated soybean oil is the trans fat it contains. The other part relates to the health hazards of soy itself. And an added hazard factor is the fact that the majority of both corn and soybeans are genetically engineered.

As the negative health effects from trans fats have been identified and recognized, the agricultural- and food industry have scrambled to come up with new alternatives.

Partially hydrogenated soybean oil has been identified as the main culprit, and for good reason. Unfortunately, saturated fats are still mistakenly considered unhealthy by many health “experts,” so rather than embracing truly healthful tropical fats like coconut oil, which is mostly grown outside the US. The food industry has instead turned to domestic US alternatives offered by companies like Monsanto, which has developed modified soybeans that don’t require hydrogenation.

Why Hydrogenate?

Americans consume more than 28 billion pounds of edible oils annually, and soybean oil accounts for about 65 percent of it. About half of it is hydrogenated, as soybean oil is too unstable otherwise to be used in food manufacturing. One of the primary reasons for hydrogenating oil is to prolong its shelf life. Raw butter, for example, is likely to go rancid far quicker than margarine.

The process also makes the oil more stable and raises its melting point, which allows it to be used in various types of food processing that uses high temperatures.

Hydrogenated oil1 is made by forcing hydrogen gas into the oil at high pressure. Virtually any oil can be hydrogenated. Margarine is a good example, in which nearly half of the fat content is trans fat. The process that creates partially hydrogenated oil alters the chemical composition of essential fatty acids, such as reducing or removing linolenic acid, a highly reactive triunsaturated fatty acid, transforming it into the far less reactive linoleic acid, thereby greatly preventing oxidative rancidity when used in cooking.

In the late 1990’s, researchers began realizing this chemical alteration might actually have adverse health effects. Since then, scientists have verified this to the point of no dispute.

Beware that there’s a difference between “fully hydrogenated” and “partially hydrogenated” oils. Whereas partially hydrogenated oil contains trans fat, fully hydrogenated oil does not, as taking the hydrogenation process “all the way” continues the molecular transformation of the fatty acids from trans fat into saturated fatty acids. Fully hydrogenated soybean oil is still not a healthy choice however, for reasons I’ll explain below. The following slide presentation explains the technical aspects relating to the hydrogenation process.

This is a Flash-based video and may not be viewable on mobile devices.

The Health Hazards of Trans Fats Found in Partially Hydrogenated Oil

The completely unnatural man-made fats created through the partial hydrogenation process cause dysfunction and chaos in your body on a cellular level, and studies have linked trans-fats to:

Cancer, by interfering with enzymes your body uses to fight cancer

Chronic health problems such as obesity, asthma, auto-immune disease, cancer, and bone degeneration

Diabetes, by interfering with the insulin receptors in your cell membranes

Heart disease, by clogging your arteries (Among women with underlying coronary heart disease, eating trans-fats increased the risk of sudden cardiac arrest three-fold!)

Decreased immune function, by reducing your immune response

Increase blood levels of low density lipoprotein (LDL), or “bad” cholesterol, while lowering levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL), or “good” cholesterol

Reproductive problems by interfering with enzymes needed to produce sex hormones

Interfering with your body’s use of beneficial omega-3 fats

As usual, it took many years before conventional health recommendations caught up and began warning about the use of trans fats. Not surprisingly, as soon as the FDA required food manufacturers to list trans fat content on the label — which took effect on January 1, 2006 — the industry began searching for viable alternatives to appeal to consumers who increasingly began looking for the “No Trans Fat” designation. It didn’t take long before Monsanto had tinkered forth a genetically engineered soybean that is low in linolenic acid, which we’ll get to in a moment.

Beware that some food manufacturers have opted to simply fool buyers — a tactic allowed by the FDA as any product containing up to half a gram of trans fat per serving can still legally claim to have zero trans fat2. The trick is to reduce the serving size to bring it below this threshold. At times, this will result in unreasonably tiny serving sizes, so any time you check a label and a serving is something like 10 chips or one cookie, it probably contains trans fats.

The Health Hazards of Soybeans

Besides the health hazards related to the trans fats created by the partial hydrogenation process, soybean oil is, in and of itself, NOT a healthy oil. Add to that the fact that the majority of soy grown in the US is genetically engineered, which may have additional health consequences. When taken together, partially hydrogenated GE soybean oil becomes one of the absolute worst types of oils you can consume.

Years ago, tropical oils, such as palm and coconut oil, were commonly used in American food production. However, these are obviously not grown in the US. With the exception of Hawaii, our climate isn’t tropical enough. Spurred on by financial incentives, the industry devised a plan to shift the market from tropical oils to something more “home grown.” As a result, a movement was created to demonize and vilify tropical oils in order to replace them with domestically grown oils such as corn and soy.

The fat in soybean oil is primarily omega-6 fat. And while we do need some, it is rare for anyone to be deficient as it is pervasive in our diet. Americans in general consume FAR too much omega-6 in relation to omega-3 fat, primarily due to the excessive amount of omega-6 found in processed foods. Omega-6 fats are in nearly every animal food and many plants, so deficiencies are very rare. This omega-6 fat is also highly processed and therefore damaged, which compounds the problem of getting so much of it in your diet. The omega-6 found in soybean oil promotes chronic inflammation in your body, which is an underlying issue for virtually all chronic diseases.

What About Organic Soybean Oil?

Even if you were fortunate enough to find organic soybean oil, there are still several significant concerns that make it far from attractive from a health standpoint. Soy in and of itself, organically grown or not, contains a number of problematic components that can wreak havoc with your health, such as:
•Goitrogens – Goitrogens, found in all unfermented soy whether it’s organic or not, are substances that block the synthesis of thyroid hormones and interfere with iodine metabolism, thereby interfering with your thyroid function.
•Isoflavones: genistein and daidzein – Isoflavones are a type of phytoestrogen, which is a plant compound resembling human estrogen, which is why some recommend using soy therapeutically to treat symptoms of menopause. I believe the evidence is highly controversial and doubt it works. Typically, most of us are exposed to too much estrogen compounds and have a lower testosterone level than ideal, so it really is important to limit exposure to feminizing phytoestrogens. Even more importantly, there’s evidence it may disturb endocrine function, cause infertility, and promote breast cancer, which is definitely a significant concern.
•Phytic acid — Phytates (phytic acid) bind to metal ions, preventing the absorption of certain minerals, including calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc — all of which are co-factors for optimal biochemistry in your body. This is particularly problematic for vegetarians, because eating meat reduces the mineral-blocking effects of these phytates.

Sometimes it can be beneficial, especially in postmenopausal women and in most adult men because we tend to have levels of iron that are too high which can be a very potent oxidant and cause biological stress. However, phytic acid does not necessarily selectively inhibit just iron absorption; it inhibits all minerals. This is very important to remember, as many already suffer from mineral deficiencies from inadequate diets.

The soybean has one of the highest phytate levels of any grain or legume, and the phytates in soy are highly resistant to normal phytate-reducing techniques such as long, slow cooking. Only a long period of fermentation will significantly reduce the phytate content of soybeans.
•Natural toxins known as “anti-nutrients” — Soy also contains other anti-nutritional factors such as saponins, soyatoxin, protease inhibitors, and oxalates. Some of these factors interfere with the enzymes you need to digest protein. While a small amount of anti-nutrients would not likely cause a problem, the amount of soy that many Americans are now eating is extremely high.
•Hemagglutinin — Hemagglutinin is a clot-promoting substance that causes your red blood cells to clump together. These clumped cells are unable to properly absorb and distribute oxygen to your tissues.

Worst of All — Genetically Engineered Soybean Oil

The genetically engineered (GE) variety planted on over 90 percent of US soy acres is Roundup Ready — engineered to survive being doused with otherwise lethal amounts of Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide. The logic behind Roundup Ready crops such as soy is that you can decrease the cost of production by killing off everything except the actual soy plant.

However, animal studies reveal there may be significant adverse health effects from these GE soybeans, including progressively increased rates of infertility with each passing generation. By the third generation, virtually all the hamsters in one feeding study were found to be infertile. Second-generation hamsters raised on GE soy also had a five-fold higher infant mortality rate.

Are Low-Linolenic Soybeans the Answer?

We now also have other Monsanto-made soy crops to contend with. Responding to the growing demand for healthier diets, Monsanto launched Vistive low-linolenic soybeans in 2005. Most soybeans contain roughly seven percent linolenic acid. The new varieties contain one to three percent. As explained by Monsanto3:

“The oil from these beans can reduce or virtually eliminate trans fat in processed soybean oil… Vistive low-linolenic soybeans have lower levels of linolenic acid. Because of these lower levels, which were achieved through traditional breeding practices4, the oil produced by Vistive low-linolenic seeds does not require hydrogenation, the process that is used to increase shelf life and flavor stability in fried foods, baked goods, snack products and other processed foods.”

Yet another soybean variety created by Monsanto is the high stearate soybean, which also has the properties of margarine and shortening without hydrogenation. But are these soybeans any better or safer than either conventional soybeans or Roundup Ready soybeans, even though they don’t have to go through partial hydrogenation, and therefore do not contain trans fat? No one knows.

Another Hazard of GE Soybeans: Glyphosate

I keep stacking health risks upon health risks, and here’s another one: Research has shown that soybean oil from Roundup Ready soy is loaded with glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup — the broad-spectrum herbicide created by Monsanto.

According to a report in the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology, the highest MRL for glyphosate in food and feed products in the EU is 20 mg/kg. GE soybeans have been found to contain residue levels as high as 17 mg/kg, and malformations in frog and chicken embryos occurred at 2.03 mg/kg.5 That’s 10 times lower than the MRL.

This is an alarming finding because glyphosate is easily one of the world’s most overlooked poisons. Research published in 2010 showed that the chemical, which works by inhibiting an enzyme called EPSP synthase that is necessary for plants to grow, causes birth defects in frogs and chicken embryos at far lower levels than used in agricultural and garden applications.6 The malformations primarily affected the:
•Skull
•Face
•Midline and developing brain
•Spinal cord

When applied to crops, glyphosate becomes systemic throughout the plant, so it cannot be washed off. And once you eat this crop, the glyphosate ends up in your gut where it can decimate your beneficial bacteria. This can wreak havoc with your health as 80 percent of your immune system resides in your gut (GALT – Gut Associated Lymph Tissue) and is dependent on a healthy ratio of good and bad bacteria. Separate research has also uncovered the following effects from glyphosate:

Endocrine disruption

DNA damage

Developmental toxicity

Neurotoxicity

Reproductive toxicity

Cancer

To Avoid Harmful Fats of All Kinds, Ditch Processed Foods

If you want to avoid dangerous fats of all kinds, your best bet is to eliminate processed foods from your diet. From there, use these tips to make sure you’re eating the right fats for your health:
•Use organic butter (preferably made from raw milk) instead of margarines and vegetable oil spreads. Butter is a healthy whole food that has received an unwarranted bad rap.
•Use coconut oil for cooking. It is far superior to any other cooking oil and is loaded with health benefits.
•Be sure to eat raw fats, such as those from avocados, raw dairy products, olive oil, olives, organic pastured eggs, and raw nuts, especially macadamia nuts which are relatively low in protein. Also take a high-quality source of animal-based omega-3 fat, such as krill oil.

Following my comprehensive nutrition plan will automatically reduce your trans-fat intake, as it will give you a guide to focus on healthy whole foods instead of processed junk food. Remember, virtually all processed foods will contain either HFCS (probably made from genetically engineered corn) and/or soybean oil — either in the form of partially hydrogenated soybean oil, which is likely made from GE soybeans, loaded with glyphosate, or from one of the newer soybean varieties that were created such that they do not need to be hydrogenated. They’re ALL bad news, if you value your health.

If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.

Over the weekend while out with a buddy we stopped in a local convenience store in an attempt to find a healthy snack (tall order, I know). While I made my way over to where the pistachios and other nuts were, he reached inside the frozen food case and pulled out a Skinny Cow vanilla ice cream sandwich made by Nestle®.

“Hey this is healthy”, he said. “It’s only got 140 calories, 1.5 grams of fat and 3 grams of fiber. It says it right here on the label.”

However, upon further review of the back of the label (there was a convenient fold covering up all of the unflattering nutrition information) this small ice cream sandwich is STUFFED with chemicals I call obesity additives.

Here are the whopping 33 ingredients and my comments after some of them: 1.Skim milk
2.Bleached wheat flour (acts like sugar in the body)
3.Sugar (the main cause of belly fat)
4.Caramel color (the same junk they color soft drinks with)
5.Dextrose (sugar)
6.Palm oil
7.Corn flour (most likely from genentically modified [GMO] corn)
8.High fructose corn syrup (causes extreme cravings; most likely GMO)
9.Corn syrup (ditto)
10.Baking soda
11.Modified corn starch (most likely GMO)
12.Mono and diglycerides
13.Soy lecithin
14.Cocoa
15.Sugar (again)
16.Corn syrup (again)
17.Polydextrose (sugar)
18.Whey protein
19.Cream
20.Calcium carbonate
21.Inulin
22.Natural flavor (this is a joke considering all the unnatural flavors)
23.Propylene glycol monostearate (ugh… more on this below)
24.Microcrystalline cellulose
25.Sodium carboxymethylcellulose (that’s a mouthful)
26.Guar gum
27.Monoglycerides
28.Sorbitol (a sugar alcohol)
29.Carob bean gum
30.Citric acid
31.Vitamin A palmitate
32.Carrageenan (a seaweed extract)
33.Salt

So as you can see, this may be a low fat ice cream sandwich, but don’t think for a second that this “Skinny Cow” is a healthy food choice that’s going to help you or your family lose flab. This is a nutrient dead “Frankenfood.” By this I mean that it’s not even a real food, it’s just a chemically-altered food-like substance.

They should call it “dead meat” instead of “skinny cow”. Really, really, bad.

And it gets worse: Propylene Glycol Monostearate (ingredient #23) is found…
•As a working fluid in hydraulic presses
•As a coolant in liquid cooling systems
•To regulate humidity in a cigar humidor
•As the killing and preserving agent in pitfall traps, usually used to capture ground beetles
•As an additive to pipe tobacco to prevent dehydration
•To treat livestock ketosis
•As the main ingredient in deodorant sticks
•As a solvent used in mixing photographic chemicals, such as film developers
•As an ingredient in the production of paintballs

The College of Health and Human Sciences at Oregon State says this about propylene glycol monostearate: “Slightly more toxic than propylene glycol in animals, and in large doses produces central nervous system depression and kidney injury.”

Yumbo!

So while my friend wolfed down this artificial piece of toxic waste, I stuck with all natural pistachios.

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You Could Be Reading
Without Your Glasses or
Contact Lenses Again!

Dear Reader,

Today, you may be ‘chained’ to your reading glasses… driving glasses… bifocals… trifocals… or even your ‘coke bottle’ glasses. But in just a few weeks, you could be seeing more clearly without your glasses — and without surgery or strenuous eye exercises.

And there’s only one thing standing between you and naturally stronger vision.

Your glasses!

Even though they’re called “corrective lenses,” they don’t correct your vision. They merely aid your vision temporarily… and they do NOT keep your sight from getting worse over time.

But poor vision is one of today’s most common health problems — over half of us wear glasses — and if you’re like millions of people today, you probably believe there’s nothing you can do to save your eyesight. That’s a crime. Because you already possess the power to enjoy clearer, stronger, unaided vision. And you can tap into that power immediately, thanks to an exciting program developed at an internationally acclaimed alternative vision health institute. You may even be able to discard your glasses — for life.

Even if you’ve been wearing glasses all your life, this revolutionary program can unlock your natural ability to…

Read, write, drive, and more
See brighter colors, experience clarity, contrast, and greater depth perception
Enjoy lasting relief from headache and fatigue due to eyestrain
Since the Cambridge Institute for Better Vision was founded in 1977, nearly 200,000 people from around the world have benefited from its revolutionary methods.

How can the Cambridge Institute help your poor vision…
when no one else can?

Because for the past 20 years, the specialists at the Cambridge Institute have pursued the truth about vision.

The fact is that 97 percent of those who wear glasses were not born with vision problems — or even an increased likelihood of suffering weak vision later in life. If you’re among that 97 percent, you simply “learned” how to NOT see. But it’s never too late for you to “relearn” to see clearly. And even if you’re among the 3 percent born with vision problems, you can still enjoy major improvements in just a few weeks.

The most common –and most dangerous —
myth about eyesight…

…is that the quality of your vision is determined only by the shape of the eye — that is, if your eyes are the “correct” shape, you’ll have clear vision for life. And if they’re misshapen or distorted, you’ll suffer vision problems.

But the Cambridge Institute has shown that the key to your ability to see clearly is NOT the shape of your eye, nor is it the strength of your eye muscles. In fact, your eyes are actually 200 times stronger than they need to be — and they already contain all the muscles you need to focus with ease and clarity.

The key to your ability to focus and see objects at all distances clearly…is the flexibility of the muscles around your eye and your lens.

Even though there’s more to improving your vision than only eye exercises, The Program’s eye exercises are better for three reasons — because they are built around the fundamental law of vision:

Sophisticated Selection Process
Powerful Progression
Comprehensive Design

When you relieve tension and rigidity in and around your eye muscles — the lens, the muscles and ligaments that surround the eye, and the muscles that squeeze and move the eyes — an incredible thing happens. All the parts of your visual system work together and function in harmony… bringing the world into focus naturally.

So how do you release years of accumulated tension and rigidity?

To discover the answers to that question, you could travel to a Cambridge Institute seminar and spend hundreds — even thousands — to listen to their experts speak about the simple non-strenuous methods of visualization, relaxation, and muscle-coordination…that unfailingly generate clear vision.

Or you could take full advantage of this special offer. We’ve arranged for you to get all the healing benefits of the Cambridge Institute’s seminar program… without leaving your home. The Cambridge Institute will deliver, to your doorstep, an at-home program that guides you through its most effective techniques — techniques that painlessly “condition” your eyes back to their natural state of relaxation and clarity. It’s called The Program for Better Vision. Here’s what our satisfied customers have to say about it.

“Since completing The Program for Better Vision, I enjoy much more color, depth perception, and delineation of patterns. I just finished my first book without glasses and without undue effort.”
— Mardelle M., Lake Jackson, Texas

“Before I started The Program, I wore my glasses 14-15 hours every single day. I passed my driver’s test without them only five weeks after starting The Program. Now, I never need glasses.”
— Donna S., Havre, Montana

“It’s official! For the first time in 25 years, I passed my driver’s test without my glasses!”
— Howard S., Wilton, Connecticut

And The Program for Better Vision could start improving your vision almost immediately. In fact, some of the relaxation techniques may cause temporary “flashes” of crystal clear vision. This could be a sign that there is nothing “wrong” with your eyes, and that The Program for Better Vision has already begun to improve your ability to see.

The daily audio-taped “Vision Sessions”
guide you to naturally clear vision

The Program for Better Vision includes 6 audio “Vision Sessions” — each no longer than 20 minutes. The only requirements are that you take off your glasses, follow along, and never struggle to see.

And the Cambridge Institute experts have also devised a way to eliminate all guesswork. Along with your Audio Vision Sessions, you’ll get a Program Guide that uses photographs, illustrations, and simple explanations to outline your eight-week program.

Also included is the Cambridge Institute’s most innovative — and enjoyable — vision improvement tool, the “fusion string.” It’s been called “relaxing” and “fun,” but the fusion string is also a very powerful tool, because it develops your ability to focus at will.

And you’ll have access to ongoing personal support.

Free support from Cambridge Institute’s specialists…

If at any time you have questions, you are encouraged to call the support line so that a trained vision expert can help you achieve significant improvement…fast!

“After completing The Program for Better Vision, I never need bifocals to see! I can read and do close work for as long as I want.” — Dr. Olga H., Beverly, Massachusetts

“After using The Program, I notice more clarity, more contrast, more depth and bright color s… I see everything better. You would not believe how much this beautiful program has helped me!” — Evelyn B., Sheridan, Wyoming

“The thing that was most dramatic for me was when I took my glasses off in church and played the organ for more than two hours, reading every note perfectly with my own eyes. I don’t even need glasses to read phone numbers in the phone book. Thanks!” — Judy W., Madison, Wisconsin

Better results
– in less time & less effort – for:

Near-sightedness
Far-sightedness
Astigmatism
Poor night vision
“Middle-age” sight (reading glasses)
Crossed eye (strabismus)
Lazy eye (amblyopia)
Sensitivity to light, eyestrain, headaches, burning eyes

If you think you’re too old…
or your vision is just too hopeless to be improved…

Think again. The visual system — just like any other part of the body — can deteriorate with age. But this decline is not inevitable and it is not irreversible. In fact, nothing is further from the truth. And even those with “hopelessly” weak eyesight have seen dramatic improvements after using The Program for Better Vision for just a few weeks.

“I’m 85 years old and can focus very well and read for a long time without fatigue. Using The Program For Better Vision, I am recovered from amblyopia and astigmatism.”
— Aldo M., Boulogne, France

Laser surgery is not the answer!

Refractive eye surgery may seem like the quick answer to your eye troubles. But at a cost of thousands and with possible complications ranging from itching and dryness to improper correction of your eyesight to permanent glaucoma, it may be an unnecessary risk. Why take a chance on such a delicate and important part of your body when you can try The Program for Better Vision risk-free?

If for any reason at all you’re not satisfied, simply return the program for a full refund. You have 60 days to try it out, RISK-FREE.

Try out the program
— including the free Cambridge Institute support —
for the full 8 weeks, RISK-FREE!

Natural Health Magazine reports that The Program for Better Vision “…is like owning your own private vision seminar.” You’re saving hundreds, possibly thousands, on travel and lodging, plus you’re still paying only a fraction of the cost of a Vision Institute Seminar itself (a weekend seminar is almost $300.) And you won’t risk anything.

You may be able to see more clearly and with less effort. Your eyes may naturally stay relaxed and more open. You may get relief from headaches, tension, and fatigue related to strained vision. And, with your own, unaided eyes, you could be able to see colors more brightly and vividly than ever before. You could see objects — at any distance — with greater clarity. Once-blurred traffic signs or book print will sharpen into focus.

Or your money back. It’s that simple.

There’s no greater step you can take to strengthen and protect your eyesight. When you start reversing your eye age today, you can help prevent future, more serious vision problems from developing — and stay protected. Let us send you The Program for Better Vision, so you can start bringing your world into focus right away!

Sincerely,

Bruce Tennant
Agora Health Books

P.S. Up to 90 percent of the information you gather comes to you through your eyes. It’s your primary link to the world around you! The Program for Better Vision takes only 20 minutes a day. Use it to address your vision problems today and possibly enjoy freedom from glasses in just a few weeks. Try it risk-free for eight weeks, today!

If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.

I’d never fault anyone for doing everything they thought necessary to ward off dementia. If you’ve ever watched a loved one struggle with this debilitating condition, you know what a heartbreak it can be.

But, if like me, you believe that the first rule of medicine should still be, “Do no harm,” then you should be very concerned about a big push to use dangerous prescription beta blockers to prevent dementia.

A new study released by the American Academy of Neurology looked at nearly 800 Japanese-American men over the course of 21 years and found that the men in the study who had taken beta blockers for high blood pressure had fewer brain abnormalities linked to dementia.

And then, suddenly before you could even say “Big Pharma” five times fast a new movement to promote beta blockers for dementia prevention was born.

After all, who could argue with such random “success,” right? Well, let me take a crack at it…

First, I’m always extremely suspicious of studies where some people eventually wind up on medication and others don’t, but then sweeping conclusions are drawn from the data. There can be too many other factors at play — maybe more members of the treated group have access to health care than the untreated group, maybe they ate different diets, maybe some were smokers and others weren’t. You get the idea.

Second, expanding the use of beta blockers is a downright frightening idea. As we’ve told you before, repeated exposure to beta blockers is kind of like juggling hand grenades — it’s not very smart, and there’s a good chance it won’t end well.

The list of side effects for beta blockers is long and unpleasant — they include dizziness, diarrhea, fatigue, depression and shortness of breath, to name just a few.

If you think that’s a fair price to pay for preventing dementia, allow me to make you a better offer. How does safe, natural dementia protection without the side effects sound?

There are plenty of natural solutions that have been found to keep your brain razor sharp as you age. One of those is lithium, which has been proven to help keep brain cells operating at peak performance — plus it reduces the risks for both Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Vitamin D, another of Dr. Wright’s favorites, has been shown to be a brain booster.

Research has found a strong link between niacin deficiency and dementia, so make sure you’re eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, chicken, and fish.

Big Pharma would prefer you believe that beta blockers are your best and only resort for preventing dementia. But you know now that you have other, safer options. Give them a try, and you could keep a nimble noggin well into your Golden Years.

Yours in good health,

Bob Reagan

If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.

Exercise is one of the “golden tickets” to preventing disease and slowing the aging process.

One reason for this is because exercise is one of the most effective ways to regain insulin and leptin sensitivity and reverse insulin and leptin-resistance, which is a key to staying healthy as you get older.

But another reason why exercise is sometimes regarded as a real-life fountain of youth is because, when done intensely, it boosts your body’s natural production of human growth hormone (HGH), a synergistic, foundational biochemical that addresses the serious muscle loss and atrophy that typically occurs with aging.

Intermittent fasting has many of the same benefits, including dramatically boosting HGH and optimizing insulin- and leptin sensitivity, which I’ll discuss more toward the end of this article.

Recent research1 also shows that ingesting carbohydrates (sucrose) with added whey protein isolate during short-term recovery from 90 minutes of treadmill running increases the growth hormone response to a second exhaustive exercise bout of similar duration.

However, I’ve previously discussed the issue of implementing an exercise and diet plan based on your desired goal, either:
•Athletic performance, or
•Health, longevity and reproductive success

If you are seeking to optimize competitive athletics, then carb-loading as used in the featured study can be useful. However it is not a wise strategy if you’re seeking long-term optimal health, as that requires a different approach. Avoiding carbs then becomes paramount, along with making sure you’re using only high quality protein sources. (Clearly, competitive athletes could also improve if they used high quality organic, grass-fed whey rather than the far inferior whey protein isolate.)

Interestingly, in the wake of Lance Armstrong being stripped of his seven titles and banned from cycling for life after being found guilty of doping, one study known as the Goldman Dilemma, showed that more than half of Olympic-level athletes would gladly use a drug that would kill them within five years as long as it guaranteed them a gold medal.2

To most people, however, this would be an unacceptable exchange. The featured approach clearly will not kill you in five years, and I suspect most of the adverse longevity consequences are reversible, but in my opinion carb-loading is not ideal for long-term health.

Why Carb-Loading is Not Recommended if You Exercise for Longevity

The idea behind carb-loading is to saturate yourself with carbs so your muscles will have plenty of glycogen to go on while you exercise. This works fine for really fit athletes that have an intense workout regimen. They also have the muscle mass that could accommodate large glucose surges as muscles can rapidly utilize glucose. Additionally most athletes have optimized insulin and leptin signaling and are exercising which also allows them to better use the carbs.

However, I believe it is totally inappropriate for the vast majority of non-athletes that exercise casually, or just to get healthy as their muscle mass isn’t as well developed and their insulin and leptin signaling is typically impaired. Another point to consider in this study is that, while whey is great for stimulating muscle protein synthesis, I disagree with the use of whey protein isolate as whey protein concentrates are clearly superior.

As I’ll discuss below, the focus on carbs is one of the most detrimental pieces of advice that is still widely promoted to athletes and non-athletes alike, and there are FAR better ways to boost HGH production than what was tested in the featured study, in which participants ran for 90 minutes with a four-hour long break in between repeated session.

First, it’s important to remember that what you eat can either add to or detract from your exercise benefits, and if you’re devoting the time to exercise for health and longevity, you’d be well advised to harness your meals to support your goals, not detract from them.

First and foremost, contrary to popular advice, to maximize the benefits of exercise you’ll want to avoid fructose and other sugars unless you are engaged in intensive and prolonged cardio exercises that will allow you to burn these sugars, especially fructose, and not store them as fat.

However, exercise, which in and of itself improves insulin and leptin sensitivity, will NOT completely compensate for excessive use of fructose.

This means that most casual exercisers and those seeking to improve their body composition and optimize health and fitness rather than boost athletic performance or competitiveness, need to ditch the energy drinks, sports drinks, most energy bars and even “healthy” drinks like vitamin water, as these will effectively sabotage your exercise benefits.

Fructose, which is found primarily in the form of high fructose corn syrup, is particularly detrimental as it tricks your body into gaining weight by turning off your body’s appetite-control system. This happens because fructose does not appropriately stimulate insulin, which in turn does not suppress ghrelin (the “hunger hormone”) and doesn’t stimulate leptin (the “satiety hormone”).

The end result is that you end up eating more, causing uncontrolled accumulation of sugar metabolites in your liver, which then leads to insulin resistance. Fructose also rapidly leads to decreased HDL (“good” cholesterol), increased LDL (“bad” cholesterol), elevated triglycerides, elevated blood sugar, and high blood pressure – i.e. classic metabolic syndrome. And if that’s not bad enough, fructose has shown to increase the levels of TNF-α, a pro-inflammatory cytokine known to inhibit fat burning and promote muscle wasting.

Eating Whey Protein During Your Exercise Recovery May Boost HGH

Your production of vital human growth hormone increases by up to 771 percent during a high-intensity, interval workout like Peak Fitness because you are stimulating your fast twitch muscle fibers, which are rarely used during most exercise programs. The higher your levels of HGH, the healthier and stronger you will be.

Once you hit the age of 30, you enter what’s called “somatopause,” at which point your levels of HGH begin to drop off quite dramatically. This decline of HGH is part of what drives your aging process, so maintaining your HGH levels gets increasingly important with age.

Some athletes choose to inject HGH for its performance enhancing potential, though it is a banned substance in nearly every professional sport. I do not recommend injecting HGH however, due to the potential side effects, the cost and, more importantly, its potential to cause more long-term harm than good. Besides, as we now know, taking such risks is unnecessary because if you eat and exercise correctly, you will naturally optimize your HGH.

What You Eat in the Two to Three Hours After You Exercise is Extremely Important

After an intense workout, there’s an exercise recovery phase of two to three hours during which you have to be somewhat careful about what foods you choose to eat. Specifically, in order to promote HGH release, you do need to restrict sugar intake post-exercise (although carbs can benefit those more interested in fast recovery, such as professional athletes). Fitness veteran Phil Campbell explains:

“What we recommend… is to get 25 grams of protein afterwards within that 30-minute golden window. There is a lot of research to support that, but there’s also some research done by Dr. John Ivy of the University of Texas, a great researcher on a young cyclist who made recovery. They’re not looking at growth hormone or maximizing growth hormone. They’re trying to get to recover as quickly as possible so they can cycle several days in a row.

They showed that getting a ratio of 4:1 carbs to protein is better for recovery… 4:1 starts recovery faster. If you’re going after recovery, that’s the best strategy… [if] you’re not looking for growth hormone, that is.

But on the other side, if your goal like most middle-aged adults and older is to maximize growth hormone, and to get this wonderful hormone circulating for that full two hours in the surging window for going after body fat (just about like you’re doing cardio for two hours), you can do that. …if you throw too many carbohydrates in… then that releases the hormones called somatostatin. That, for whatever reason, just shuts down growth hormone. That’s clear in the research.”

So it’s important to avoid carbs, especially sugar or fructose-containing foods, in the two hours after your workout, and this includes sports drinks, to be sure you’re getting the full HGH benefits. Consuming whey protein, however, appears to be nearly ideal, as it is a protein that assimilates very quickly, and will get to your muscles within 10-15 minutes of swallowing it, supplying your muscles with the right food at the right time to stop the catabolic process in your muscle and shift the process toward repair and growth.

Whey Helps With Muscle-Building, Too

An important review found that consumption of ~20–25 grams of a rapidly absorbed protein, such as whey protein, may serve to maximally stimulate muscle building after resistance exercise in young healthy individuals;3 high-quality leucine-rich proteins, such as whey, may be particularly important for the elderly to maximize muscle protein synthesis as well. Further, consuming whey not only immediately following your workout but also for up to 48 hours after resistance exercise may still offer some benefit:4

“…since resistance exercise increases MPS for up to ~48 h [hours] consumption of dietary amino acids 24-48 h post-exercise recovery would also likely convey the same synergistic effects on MPS [muscle protein synthesis] as those that are observed when amino acids are provided immediately after resistance exercise. The synergistic enhancement of pre-existing resistance exercise-induced elevations in MPS by protein provision is greatest immediately post-exercise and wanes over time, but may still be present up to 48 h later.

We have recently shown that feeding 15 g of whey protein, a less than optimally effective dose of protein for maximizing MPS, ~24 h after acute resistance exercise results in a greater stimulation of …protein synthesis than the same dose provided at rest. …We propose that there is, at least in young individuals, an extended ‘window of anabolic opportunity’ beyond the immediate post-exercise period that persists for at least 24 h…”

A recent study published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise demonstrated that consuming whey protein (20g protein / serving) 30 minutes before resistance training also boosts your body’s metabolism for as much as 24 hours after your workout.5 In practical terms, consuming 20 grams of whey protein before exercise and another serving afterward will most likely yield the double benefit of increasing both fat burning and muscle build-up at the same time.

Intermittent Fasting: Another Way to Boost HGH Naturally

Just as combining whey protein with high-intensity exercise appears to work together synergistically to boost HGH production, so too does exercising while in a fasted state. Research has found that fasting raised HGH by 1,300 percent in women and 2,000 percent in men!6 And the combination of fasting and exercising maximizes the impact of cellular factors and catalysts (cyclic AMP and AMP Kinases), which force the breakdown of fat and glycogen for energy.

It’s important to realize that this fitness-enhancing strategy is more about the timing of meals, as opposed to those fad plans where you essentially “starve” yourself for several days in a row.

On intermittent fasting, the longest time you’ll ever abstain from food is 36 hours, although 14-18 hours is more common. You can also opt to simply delay eating. For example, skipping breakfast may be just the step to get you off a plateau in your fitness routine. Personally, I’ve revised my own eating schedule to eliminate breakfast and restrict the time I eat food to a period of about six to seven hours each day, which is typically from noon to 6 or 7 pm. On the days that I weight train I will have one scoop of Pure Power Protein (20 grams of protein) about 30 minutes after the workout to provide nutrients, especially leucine, for muscle growth and repair.

For more information on healthy, safe intermittent fasting, read this.

Intermittent Fasting for General Health and Longevity

There’s plenty of research showing that fasting has a beneficial impact on longevity in animals. There are a number of mechanisms contributing to this effect. Normalizing insulin sensitivity is a major one as insulin sensitivity is critical for the activation of the mTOR pathway, which along with IGF-1 plays an important part in repairing and regenerating your tissues including your muscles and thereby counteracting the aging process. The fact that it improves a number of potent disease markers also contributes to fasting’s overall beneficial effects on general health.

Even if you take the exercise component out, modern science has confirmed there are many good reasons for fasting, including:
•Normalizing your insulin sensitivity, which is key for optimal health as insulin resistance (which is what you get when after prolonged periods of over-secreted and elevated insulin) is a primary contributing factor to nearly all chronic disease, from diabetes to heart disease and even cancer
•Normalizing ghrelin levels, also known as “the hunger hormone”
•Promoting human growth hormone (HGH) production, which plays an important part in health, fitness and slowing the aging process
•Lowering triglyceride levels
•Reducing inflammation and lessening free radical damage

Tying it All Together

Whether you seek to optimize your athletic performance or health and longevity, incorporating 1-3 sessions of high-intensity exercises per week will help you achieve your aims by significantly boosting HGH production. Adding intermittent fasting can kick it up another notch. The same cannot be said for your diet, however.

Whereas carb-loading can be useful for professional athletes, those seeking health and longevity will not benefit from this strategy. On the contrary, severely limiting sugars and grains is part and parcel of any diet designed to optimize overall health and prevent chronic disease. Furthermore, it’s important to note that consuming fructose within two hours prior to or after high-intensity exercise will nullify HGH production… So carb-loading while doing Peak Exercises will amount to wasted effort.

If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.