I have been thinking about the importance of sleep for a while now (especially since I have definitely not been getting enough for quite some time! Pregnancy will do that to you!) 

I wanted to share some research I have been looking at concerning sleep and just how important it is. Many of us have grown up thinking that we can survive on very little sleep and are almost proud of the all nighter's we have pulled during highschool or college to get last minute assignments done on time, out having fun or other things. But did you know that having chronic lack of sleep can actually cause you to become quite sick over time?

In today's modern society where we have electricity, nice warm houses and plenty of entertainment (and work) to keep us up to all hours of the night, it is very difficult to maintain a healthy sleep pattern or go to bed early enough to actually be of use to our bodies. Sleeping on average from 9pm till 6 or 7am (8 or 9 hours sleep) would actually be the optimal time for most people to sleep, but because the evenings are often so packed with activity and it is so often the final time of the evening when you get any relax time for themselves or time without kids most people stay up way too late.

Here is an article that the Harvard Medical School has written about sleep:

Importance of Sleep : Six reasons not to scrimp on sleep January 2006 A recent survey found that more people are sleeping less than six hours a night, and sleep difficulties visit 75% of us at least a few nights per week. A short-lived bout of insomnia is generally nothing to worry about. The bigger concern is chronic sleep loss, which can contribute to health problems such as weight gain, high blood pressure, and a decrease in the immune system’s power, reports the Harvard Women’s Health Watch.

While more research is needed to explore the links between chronic sleep loss and health, it’s safe to say that sleep is too important to shortchange.

The Harvard Women’s Health Watch suggests six reasons to get enough sleep:

1. Learning and memory: Sleep helps the brain commit new information to memory through a process called memory consolidation. In studies, people who’d slept after learning a task did better on tests later.
2. Metabolism and weight: Chronic sleep deprivation may cause weight gain by affecting the way our bodies process and store carbohydrates, and by altering levels of hormones that affect our appetite.
3. Safety: Sleep debt contributes to a greater tendency to fall asleep during the daytime. These lapses may cause falls and mistakes such as medical errors, air traffic mishaps, and road accidents.
4. Mood: Sleep loss may result in irritability, impatience, inability to concentrate, and moodiness. Too little sleep can also leave you too tired to do the things you like to do.
5. Cardiovascular health: Serious sleep disorders have been linked to hypertension, increased stress hormone levels, and irregular heartbeat.
6. Disease: Sleep deprivation alters immune function, including the activity of the body’s killer cells. Keeping up with sleep may also help fight cancer.

http://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/importance_of_sleep_and_health

So you probably have heard about the controversy surrounding amalgam fillings - but did you know that basically every type of material used for fillings has certain toxicity issues? Its basically a matter of choosing your poison and which you would rather be exposed to, rather than being able to avoid all toxins all together.

I recently became interested in the subject when I found out I had to get 3 fillings for the first time in my life, as the result I think of my decline in health since having 3 children so close together and having to deal with the health effects of extreme fatigue, hormone changes and a lowered immune system as a result. Having to research which option I would choose for myself lead me to want to share this information with others as it was quite the process to find all the information about the various products that are available.

Here is a review of the various procedures and what they are composed of:

Amalgam: Mercury, Silver, Tin, Copper and Zinc  *Mercury is the main poison ;-) Amalgams tend to be rather hard wearing and relatively cheap filling material, making it widely used and available throughout the world.

Plastic Composite Fillings: Synthetic Plastic Resins which include a long list of various chemicals known to have very toxic, allergenic and cytotoxic potential, some of the highest concern is over Bisphenol A, a hormone mimicker. It is usually more expensive than Amalgam fillings, and has some inherant problems such as shrinkage, not sealing the hole properly resulting in continued degradation over time of the cavity etc. In Europe now in most places, Amalgam's are not even being used, so your options are usually limited to Plastic composites (Said to last between 5-8 years) or Porcelein, unless you ask specifically for Gold fillings.

Porcelein: Main concern is the radioactive metals added to the porcelain mixture in order to make it flourescant like real teeth as well as penetrable with xrays. Much more expensive than either Amalgams or Plastic Composites. They are usually used as veneers on the frontal teeth, as crowns and for artificial teeth, although because Porcelain is very fragile and solid, it can cause wear on the opposing teeth as well as being very susceptible to cracking. A typical dental feldspathic glass contains approximately the following proportion of constituents. (The porcelain contains refractory crystalline elements as well.) Composed of: Silica 60-65% Aluminum oxide 15-20% Boric oxide 5-10% Potash (K2O) 5-10% Soda (Na2O) 2-7% Other Oxides ** This is where the radioactive metals are incorporated, usually uranium, thorium.1-3% (oxides of iron impart a brown color, copper oxide produces a green color, small amounts of titanium oxide produce a yellowish brown color, cobalt oxide imparts a blue color, Manganese oxide produces a lavender color, Zirconium, uranium, cerium, titanium and tin oxides, when used as refractory crystals produce opacity

http://www.doctorspiller.com/ceramics_3.htm

GOLD as the final Option:
(And in my opinion for any work needing to be done that doesn't really get seen, it is the safest, most long lasting and durable as well as being the least toxic of all options)

Although Gold costs considerably more than Amalgams or Plastic Composites, considering the fact that it is likely to last most of your life, or longer, it is a very good investment as it likely will not need replacing (hence no replacement costs) and it shrinks and expands most like your other teeth, enabling it to adjust to your teeth without wearing down opposing teeth.

The average gold filling contains about 75% gold with the other main ingredients being palladium and silver. (There are a few other less common ingredients such as Platinum, Copper and Zinc.) These are far more preferable to the other metals included in porcelain and Plastic resins in order to cure the ingredients and add colour etc. Gold, Platinum, Copper and Zinc all have natural antibacterial properties, making it an even better choice for your dental work as they naturally prevent further bacterial infection in that area of the mouth and also likely in the whole mouth as saliva will be breaking down the metals in the mouth and creating a solution of ionic particles which helps to sterilize the whole mouth area.

As of course with any other information about toxins, the potential exposure and actual exposure can be quite different, so even if you do have any of these fillings in your mouth already, that doesn't mean you are definitely suffering effects from them, it depends on a number of factors - the rate of leaching, your body's overall health and well being, pH in your mouth, etc... so I hope no-one freaks out when reading this and thinks they need to get everything removed now and switch all to Gold!

I have had some clients who have come in with a mouth full of amalgam fillings that don't react at all to them, and don't exhibit any signs of toxicity from them at all, and others that are obviously sensitive to them, so it just depends on your body's tolerance levels, reactivity, sensitivity and overall health.

This just gives the information about what the possible effects are from each type. Ie. if you are already having hormonal problems or are estrogen dominant (ie. predisposition to breast cancer, uterine cancer or at risk for cancers), you might want to avoid plastic fillings which mimic estrogen hormone function, and if you are having immune problems, porcelain might be best avoided due to the suppressive effects of the radioactive metals, or if you are already very sensitive with your nervous system or impaired in your memory or mental function, it might be wise to avoid mercury amalgam fillings etc...
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So here are some details about the research I found and some snippets of articles that I read on what is in each type of filling and why it is of concern:
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Amalgam: (The typically referred to Silver fillings)

Amalgam is composed of 43% to 54% by weight of mercury and the remaining powder is made up of mainly silver (~20-35%)[2] and some tin, copper (~10%), and zinc (~2%).

Amalgam has been typically chosen in the past because it is predominantly cheap, easy to manipulate, place and is relatively long lasting. However, the main concerns with Amalgam fillings is the way in which the Mercury leaches out of the filling into the saliva and therefore into the body. Methyl Mercury vapour which is released from the mercury in the filling under certain conditions is also a major concern, as this is often more toxic to the body than the mercury metal itself.

Scientists agree that mercury amalgam fillings expose the bearers to a daily dose of mercury, but the level and effects of the chronic exposure are disputed. In the 1990s, several governments evaluated the effects of dental amalgam and concluded that the most likely health effects would be due to hypersensitivity or allergy. Germany, Austria, and Canada recommended against placing amalgam in certain individuals such as pregnant women, children, those with renal dysfunction, and those with an allergy to metals. In 2004, the Life Sciences Research Office analyzed studies related to dental amalgam published after 1996. Concluding that mean urinary mercury concentration (μg of Hg/L in urine, HgU) was the most reliable estimate of mercury exposure, it found those with dental amalgam were unlikely to reach the levels where adverse effects are seen from occupational exposure (35 μg HgU). 95% of study participants had μg HgU below 4-5. Chewing gum, particularly for nicotine, along with more amalgam, seemed to pose the greatest risk of increasing exposure; one gum-chewer had 24.8 μg HgU. However, from reviewing medical literature, the World Health Organization states mercury levels in biomarkers such as urine, blood, or hair do not represent levels in critical organs and tissues. Additionally, Gattineni et al. found that mercury levels do not correlate with the number or severity of symptoms. It concluded that there was not enough evidence to support or refute many of the other claims such as increased risk of autoimmune disorders, but stated that the broad and nonspecific illness attributed to dental amalgam is not supported by the data.[36] Mutter in Germany, however, concludes that "removal of dental amalgam leads to permanent improvement of various chronic complaints in a relevant number of patients in various trials."[37]

Some of the major health effects of Methyl Mercury are neurological - including impaired congnitive development and function, particularly for babies and young children who are exposed to mercury in the womb or in early development. In addition to the neurological problems it can cause, symptoms of methylmercury poisoning may include; impairment of the peripheral vision; disturbances in sensations ("pins and needles" feelings, usually in the hands, feet, and around the mouth); lack of coordination of movements; impairment of speech, hearing, walking; and muscle weakness. People concerned about their exposure to methylmercury should consult their physician.

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalgam_%28dentistry%29
http://www.epa.gov/mercury/effects.htm#meth

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White Composite Fillings (Synthetic Plastic Resin)

Just as amalgam fillings release mercury, so composite resin restorations have been shown to leach between 14 and 22 separate potentially hazardous compounds, including DL-camphorquinone; 4-dimethylaminobenzoic acid ethy ester, drometrizole; 1,7,7-trimethylbicyclo[2,2,1]heptane; 2,2-dimethoxy[1,2] diphenyletanone; ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate; and triethyleneglycol dimethacrylate [3].

In a study of 35 identifiable dental resin composite monomers/additives of commercial composite resin composites (Table 1), investigators found nine severely or moderately cytotoxic components [4]. Other studies have also shown composite resin components to be cytotoxic (causing damage or destruction of cells). [5-15] Several studies have shown that dentin bonding agents and their components are mutagenic (cause mutations in new generations). [16-19] Wataha et al stated, "the components of resin composites are hazardous in that they all cause significant toxicity in direct contact with fibroblasts." [20]

Table 1. Components of Resin Composites Abbreviation Compound BEA
BEMA
BHT
Bis-EMA
Bis-GMA Benzyl alcohol
Benzyl methacrylate
2,6-Di-t-butyl-4-methyl phenol
Ethoxylated bisphenol-A-di-methacrylate
Bowen monomer, isopropyliden-bis (2-hydroxy-3-(4-phenoxy)-propylmethacrylate Bis-MA
BL
BME
BPE
CA
CQ
DBPA
DCHA
DCHP
DDMA
DEAE
DEGDMA
DHEPT
DICH
DIPA
DMABEE
DMAPE
DMBZ
DMDDA
DMPT
DMTDA
EGDMA
HEMA
HMBP
TEG
TEGDMA
THA
TPP
TPSb
UDMA Bisphenol-A-dimethacrylate
Benzil
Benzoic-acid-methylester
Benzoic-acid-phenylester
Camphoric acid anhydride
Camphoroquinone
Dibenzoyl-peroxide
Dicyclo-hexylamine
Dicyclo-hexyl-phthalate
1,10-Decane-diol-dimethacrylate
Diethyl-amino-ethanol
Diethyleneglycol-di-methacrylate
Dihydroxy-ethyl-p-toluidine
1,6-Diisocyanato-hexane
2,6-Diisopropyl-aniline
4-Dimethylaminobenzoic acid ethyl ester
2-(4-Dimethyl-aminophenyl)ethanol
Dimethoxybenzoine
Dimethyl-dodecane-amine
Dimethyl-p-toluidine
N,N-Dimethyltetradecylamine
Ethyleneglycol-di-methacrylate
2-Hydroxy-ethyl-methacrylate
2-Hydroxy-4methoxy-benzophenone
Triethylenglycol
Triethylenglycol-di-methacrylate
Trihexylamine
Triphenylphosphine
Triphenylstibane
Urethane-di-methacrylate Reprinted with permission of Wiley-Liss, Inc., a subsidiary of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Adapted from Geurtsen W et al [4]

Resin composite components have been shown to cause immunosupression or immunostimulation [21] and to inhibit DNA [22] and RNA synthesis [23]. Resin composite restorative material was shown to be more cytotoxic than amalgam in a comparative in vitro study [24]. Various resin components of dentin bonding agents have been shown to suppress the mitochondrial acitivty of macrophages [25]. Various composite restorative materials implanted into animals have been shown to cause inflammatory responses, including an increase in lymphocytic infiltration as well as fibroblasts and epithelioid cells [26].

There have been several reports of allergy to composite resins and their ingredients [27-31]. It has been suggested that composite resins may be a cause of hand eczema and skin symptoms in dentists [32]. Vinyl, latex, and modified latex gloves are permeable to several resin composite materials [33]. Some resin monomers have been shown to encourage the growth of cariogenic microorganisms [34].

Resin composites [35], sealants [36], and glass ionomers [37] have been shown to release formaldehyde, a possible carcinogen [38]. One dentist, commenting on the fact that some anti-amalgamists describe composite resins as "mercury-free fillings," has called amalgam restorations "formaldehyde-free restorations." [39] Chemically cured composite resins contain the initiator benzoyl peroxide [40], which has been shown to be carcinogenic in many studies [41-43]. There is even concern that there may be environmental harm from the waste in dental offices using composite resin filling materials [44].

Glass ionomer cements have been shown to inhibit macromolecular synthesis [23]. In a review of the side-effects of dental ceramics, Mackert reported that ceramic dental restorations may cause silica granulomas and often contain radioactive fluorescing agents, both of which may cause systemic effects [45]. Even gold can be allergenic [46]. One study showed that the gold itself in gold foil restorations, and not the condensation of the gold foil, caused hemorrhage, destruction of odontoblasts, and inflammation of the pulp [47].

Most reviews have concluded that composite restorative materials are safe [48-51], but there is far more knowledge about dental amalgam than there is about composite resin and glass ionomer filling materials [52]. After extensively reviewing the toxicity of non-amalgam filling materials, Schmalz concluded, "it is not possible to rank dental filling materials in respect to their biocompatibility, and it is evident that biocompatibility must be considered to the same extent for both amalgams and commonly used or recommended alternative fillings materials." [53]

Another concern about Synthetic plastic composites is the release of Bisphenol A which is currently being banned all around the world for use in children's products and many other plastic products due to its endocrine (hormone) disrupting nature as it mimics the effects of natural estrogen in the body.

Bisphenol A is a potent endocrine disrupting chemical in lab animals at very low doses that is suspected of causing reproductive damage and birth defects that may lead to prostate and breast cancer. Studies have found that BPA can have adverse health effects at levels thousands of times lower than what the EPA considers safe. According to the low dose hypothesis, small and repeated exposures to bisphenol A can have an amplified effect on the human body by mimicking human sex hormones, or promoting cell proliferation. Bisphenol A has been found to cause estrogenic changes in animal cells at the same concentrations that are found in pregnant women and their fetuses.

Controversy over toxicity exists between public health advocates and the plastics industry, which describes bisphenol A as a weak estrogen, and says there is little concern with human exposure levels. Between 1998 and 2005, 115 studies of BPA were published. None of the 11 studies funded by industry reported adverse effects at low level exposures, whereas 94 of 104 government-funded studies found statistically significant effects on animals. Adverse effects were found at levels to which many people in the U.S. are currently exposed, levels much lower than the EPA's current acceptable level.

http://www.dentalwatch.org/hg/myths210.html

http://www.cleanandhealthyme.org/BodyofEvidenceReport/TheChemicals/BisphenolAHormoneDisrupter/tabid/99/Default.aspx

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Porcelein:

The main concern with Porcelain is the inclusion of radioactive metals which can have a negative effect on the immune system of the person, as well as concern over kidney toxicity and increased risk for cancer later in life.

The use of radioactive compounds in dental ceramics is one of long standing. In these materials radioactive ingredients are used for pure cosmetic reasons alone. Human dentine is weakly fluorescent and in an attempt to mimic this characteristic uranium has been added to both artificial teeth and ceramic powders for the manufacturing of crowns and bridges. Moore and MacCulloch reveal that this was done as early as 1925 (2).

According to the American Dental Association the use began before 1935 (3). In a patent by Lee and Müller in 1959 the inventors describes a mixture of cerium and uranium giving an improved shade of white (4). In recent years the question of radioactive ceramics has been addressed by Anusavice KJ (5): The degradation of dental ceramics generally occurs because of mechanical forces or chemical attack. The possible physiological side-effects of ceramics are their tendency to abrade opposing dental structures, resulting in the possible emission of radiation from radioactive components.

The only radioactive compound regulated for use in dental material is to my knowledge uranium when used in dental porcelain and porcelain teeth in the USA. This standard is explicitly limited to defining maximum uranium content in prefabricated artificial teeth made from fused porcelain and porcelain powders for making custom crowns and bridges. The uranium content is rather low and must not exceed 0.03% (3).

In recent years it seems as though depleted uranium, a waste product from the manufacturing of nuclear weapons and fuel has been favored. Natural uranium has however also been used.

Polymers used in dental composites are X-ray translucent. In composites X-ray opacity has been achieved by adding various heavy metal fillers, some being toxic, others being radioactive. Proposed fillers include uranium, thorium, lead, mercury, barium, bismuth etc. Fillers are also added to achieve wear-resistance, reduced shrinkage etc. The total amount of all sorts of fillers can be as high as 87% - the rest being polymer (1).

References for this above article can be found in the following article:
http://curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=1093552

Why You NEED to Understand Oxidative Stress -- and How to Avoid It
by www.SixWise.com


Oxidative stress is now recognized as a leading cause of chronic disease and aging. It occurs when free radicals -- toxic oxygen molecules produced by normal body processes but also via external sources like stress and pollution -- spiral out of control.

Antioxidants from healthy foods like fruits and vegetables are still your best line of defense against oxidative stress.

Even the healthiest among us have free radicals in our systems. However, free radicals are normally kept under wraps where they cannot cause great harm to the body. When free radicals exist in your body in excess, the harmful condition known as oxidative stress occurs.

"There is evidence that free radicals are a predominant factor in the etiology of a wide range of diseases and conditions such as cancer, diabetes, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer's disease and rheumatoid arthritis," says free radical and antioxidant expert Li Li Ji, Ph.D. of the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

How Free Radicals Take Over Your System

There are two major ways that free radicals can overwhelm your body. One is that you've been exposed to an abundance of them due to environmental pollutants and other toxins, including:

• Cigarette smoke
• Alcohol
• Automobile exhaust
• Air pollution
• Bacterial, fungal, or viral infections
• Asbestos
• Radiation

The other is that your body is lacking in the healthy compounds it needs to fight free radicals: antioxidants. Antioxidants can be vitamins, minerals or enzymes, and they exist in foods and certain supplements. Because most Americans do not eat healthy diets -- ones that include fruits, vegetables and other whole foods -- and instead eat diets rich in processed fast foods, many of us are seriously lacking in these health-giving compounds.

In reality, most of us experience a combination of these effects in daily life. In other words, your diet may not be the best and you're also exposed to regular second-hand cigarette smoke and alcohol during your daily happy-hour meeting with co-workers, or to exhaust fumes on your drive home. The result is most assuredly oxidative stress.

Mental Stress Leads to Oxidative Stress

Your emotions and exposure to external stress also impact the amount of oxidative stress going on in your body. Take one study of 39 women, aged 20 to 50, who had been experiencing extreme, ongoing stress while caring for a chronically ill child. When compared with 19 similar women who were not undergoing stress, the stressed women had significantly higher levels of oxidative stress in their bodies.

This oxidative stress, the researchers pointed out, damages DNA, including telomeres, the caps at the ends of chromosomes that carry genes. As we age, telomeres naturally shorten and die; however, chronic stress accelerates this process. As increasing numbers of cells reach the end of the telomeres and die, physical symptoms of aging appear, including:

• Weakened muscles
• Wrinkles
• Fading eyesight and hearing
• Organ failure
• Diminished thinking abilities

"Everybody's trying to figure out what causes aging and premature aging. We all know that stress seems to age people -- just look at the aging of our presidents after four years," said Dennis H. Novack of Drexel University College of Medicine, who studies the link between emotions and health. "[The study] demonstrated that there is no such thing as a separation of mind and body -- the very molecules in our bodies are responsive to our psychological environment."

The Toll of Oxidative Stress on Your Body

Aside from being a direct influence on the way your body ages, oxidative stress has been linked to a wide array of diseases, including:

• Heart disease
• Hypertension
• Cancer
• Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)
• Asthma
• Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
• Arthritis
• Diabetes
• Alzheimer's disease
• Parkinson's disease
• Huntington's disease
• Lou Gehrig's disease
• Autism
• Stroke

Oxidative Stress: Tips for Fighting Back

Although we all experience some level of oxidative stress -- it's normal and, in fact, necessary for our very existence -- this does not mean that you must sit idly by and let an excess level do its damage. Here are four key ways to help prevent oxidative stress and all of its related conditions:

1. Eat an antioxidant-rich diet. Antioxidants help prevent oxidation, but you must fortify your diet with them by eating fruits, vegetables, nuts and other whole foods regularly to get the benefit. You can check out our past article for a list of the top 20 antioxidant foods and six disease-fighting super antioxidants.
   
   
2. Exercise sensibly. Exercise does, in fact, cause oxidative stress in your body, which is why doing too much of it, or at too strenuous a level, can do your body more harm than good. However, "If you build your fitness level gradually, your body's antioxidant defenses will improve faster than the rate at which free-radical generation increases," says Alex Sevanian, Ph.D, professor of pathology in the department of molecular pharmacology and toxicology in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Southern California. "Exercise enhances the body's ability to handle stress more than it harms the body through stress."
   
   

Exercise does create oxidative stress, but while too much may be harmful, the right amount will improve your health in the long-run.

1. Consider chiropractic wellness care. People who have received chiropractic care had higher mean levels of serum thiol, primary antioxidants that serve as a measure of health status, than those who received no chiropractic care, according to a study in the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research. "Going through life, we experience physical, chemical, and emotional stress. These stresses affect the function of the nervous system. We hypothesized that these disturbances in nerve function could affect oxidative stress and DNA repair on a cellular level," said Dr. Christopher Kent, one of the study's authors. "Chiropractic care appears to improve the ability of the body to adapt to stress."
   
   
2. Take time to relax. A stressful, anxiety-filled daily routine will wear you down, no matter how healthy your lifestyle may otherwise be. Said Elissa Epel, a psychiatrist at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) who helped conduct the telomere study mentioned above, "The findings emphasize the importance of managing life stress, to take it seriously if one feels stressed, to give your body a break, and make life changes that promote well-being."
   
   

This is a very important article that helps to shed some light on the origins and development of some auto-immune disorders. I have been thinking about autoimmune disorders for a while and have been doing lots of research to look into how autoimmunity starts and what causes the body to attack itself.

From my own experience working with clients who have auto-immune diseases, it has been found each time that they have an underlying infection that has triggered the autoimmunity in the first place. Sadly, the general medical understanding is that the immune system is simply malfunctioning, rather than there being an underlying cause which is triggering the immune system's malfunction. This leads to auto-immune diseases  only being "managed" through the use of immune suppressant drugs, rather than trying to remove the hidden infectious agent that is triggering the immune system in the first place and supporting the immune system with nutrients to help it to function appropriately, rather than be overstimulated in certain functions.

The most effective method I have found is to first try and eradicate the infectious agent through the use of external herbal or other therapeutic agents, without stimulating the immune system directly, which helps to prevent any flare up of the immune system attacking the person's cells during the eradication of the infection. This gives the body the best chance of helping the immune system to calm down and stop attacking its own body.

In all my research I discovered that viruses and bacteria have the ability to damage the DNA of the host cell, and this can happen as the result of the virus being incorporated into the cell in some ways, as it replicates. This could be a possible cause of the reason for the body attacking its own cells, as they then contain some of the virus' properties within the cell itself.

Have a read of this article which sheds a bit of light on which infections are often involved in the development of various auto-immune disorders, it is very enlightening.
Rachael vdG

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Can Infections Lead to Autoimmune Disorders? Some evidence suggests that bacterial and viral infections may play a part in the development of autoimmune diseases.

By Krisha McCoy
Medically reviewed by
Lindsey Marcellin, MD, MPH


Autoimmune disorders occur when the body's immune system, which normally helps protect you against infections, instead turns against your organs and tissues. It’s not yet clear exactly what causes autoimmune disorders, but a number of factors appear to play a role.

Some researchers believe that people who have had certain infections may be at higher risk of developing several types of autoimmune disorders. In fact, scientific evidence has linked autoimmune disorders with infection for well over a century.

Infection and Autoimmune Disorders: What's the Connection?

If you have an autoimmune disorder, your immune system has essentially malfunctioned. And because it will no longer recognize your body's own tissues as healthy "self" tissues, it will begin to produce an immune response against them. This immune response involves the production of a type of antibody known as an auto-antibody, which causes the body to attack its own organs and tissues.

Since bacteria and viruses trigger a similar immune response, some researchers have suggested that antibodies produced in response to certain infections may also attack some of normal cells because they somehow resemble the bacteria or virus that caused the infection. Others say that infections may actually damage your immune system, leading to the development of autoimmune disorders.

What the Research Says

Some research has supported this idea of a connection between infection and the development of autoimmune disorders. When researchers have studied the development of autoimmune disorders in identical twins, they have found that in many cases, both a genetic susceptibility and an environmental trigger (for example, infection) must be present for autoimmune disorders to develop.

And in one animal study, mice that were exposed to a certain virus (coxsackie virus B3, or CB3) were at increased risk of an autoimmune heart infection known as myocarditis. Similarly, researchers have experimentally linked the development of rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, and other autoimmune disorders, to infections.

No single infection has been found to be responsible for the development of autoimmune disorders. In fact, researchers have found that many different infections may be linked to a single autoimmune disorder. Some of the infections and their potential related autoimmune disorders include:

• Multiple sclerosis: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and measles virus
• Type 1 diabetes: coxsackievirus B4, cytomegalovirus (CMV), mumps virus, and rubella virus
• Rheumatoid arthritis: EBV, hepatitis C virus, Escherichia coli bacteria, mycobacteria
• Lupus: EBV
• Myocarditis: CB3, CMV, Chlamydia
• Myasthenia gravis: hepatitis C virus, herpes simplex virus
• Guillain-Barré syndrome: EBV, CMV, Campylobacter bacteria.

Of course, not everyone who gets these infections will develop an autoimmune disorder, since it seems that in addition to the infection, some sort of genetic predisposition is involved in the development of such conditions.

Many other infections may also be related to the development of autoimmune disorders. Because these infections usually occur well before any autoimmune disorder-associated symptoms develop, it can be difficult to determine a definitive link between one infection and a specific autoimmune disorder.

It is important to note that while the evidence is certainly mounting, researchers don't yet know for certain that previous infections increase the risk of developing autoimmune. But current studies are looking at exactly how infections may lead to the development of autoimmune disorders, and which specific infections may be responsible. The hope is that this research will one day lead to new strategies for preventing and treating autoimmune disorders.

Article source:
http://www.everydayhealth.com/autoimmune-disorders/understanding/are-autoimmune-diseases-caused-by-infections.aspx

A paper that will appear in the December issue of the Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, a peer-reviewed publication, argues that travelers who fly 85,000 miles a year or more should be classified as radiation workers.

At airliner altitudes, exposure to radiation from the sun and the stars can be hundreds of times higher than on the surface of the earth, where the atmosphere filters out radiation. “Airline crew members flying long-haul high-altitude routes receive, on average, greater exposures than the typical radiation workers in ground-based industries where radioactive sources or radiation producing machines are used,’’ write the authors, Robert J. Barish, a medical radiation expert, and Stephan Dilchert, an assistant professor at the business school at Baruch College of City University of New York.

In fact, business frequent fliers “may easily exceed the allowable levels of exposure that are enforced as a matter of law for medical and industrial facilities where radiation is encountered,” the paper said, citing estimates of dose from the Federal Aviation Administration.

Classifying Airline employees as radiation workers would allow their continued exposure to higher limits. But this would also require that the exposure be monitored and that employees receive information on the estimated risks.

Flying round trip from New York to Tokyo seven times a year would put a passenger or crew member at the limit enforced at industrial sites, the authors said.

Excerpt from NY TIMES Article

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This article points out that radiation exposure is not something that only industrial radiation workers or medical personnel have to be concerned about, but the general public encounters radiation in many different situations, and sometimes at levels that can actually affect their health!

If you are a frequent flyer and have suffered from excessive tiredness, inability to sleep well, or impaired sleep, immune system dysfunction (ie. many infections that don't go away easily, colds, flu, or worse infections or cancer. It is possible that you are suffering from low level radiation exposure and need to boost your system with antioxidants and key nutrients that support your immune health, enabling your body to get rid of the excess radiation.

Making sure that you are taking adequate nutrients around the time of each flight will also help to shield your body from the negative effects of the radiation you are exposed to during each flight.

You could take a higher dose of vitamin C, Zinc, Magnesium, Retinol, Alpha Lipoic Acid or other strong antioxidants just before flying and this would provide additional support.

What is Candida Albicans?
Candida Albicans is an opportunistic fungus (or form of yeast) that is the cause of many undesirable symptoms ranging from fatigue and weight gain, to joint pain and gas.
The Candida yeast is a part of the gut flora, a group of microorganisms that live in your mouth and intestines. When the Candida population starts getting out of control it weakens the intestinal wall, penetrating through into the bloodstream and spreading throughout the body.

As it spreads it produces toxic by-products that cause damage to your body tissues and organs, wreaking havoc on your immune system. The major waste product of yeast cell activity is Acetaldehyde, a poisonous toxin that promotes free radical activity in the body. Acetaldehyde is also converted by the liver into ethanol (drinking alcohol). Some people even report feeling a drunk or hungover feeling along with debilitating fatigue from the high amounts of ethanol is their system.

Do You Have Candida? Everyone has Candida, and a significant proportion of us may have Candidiasis, or an overgrowth of Candida. Candida starts to cause trouble when there is some change in your body that allows it to overgrow. This change could be anything from a few courses of antibiotics, a prolonged diet rich in carbohydrates and sugar, or even something as common as a lengthy period of stress at work.

So if you suspect that you have an overgrowth, the first place to look is your lifestyle to find what could have caused this imbalance. Antibiotics? Oral contraceptives? A diet high in sugar and carbohydrates? Alcohol and drugs? Stress? Or all of the above? Eliminating all of these risk factors is a crucial step in tackling your Candida problem.

Many sufferers of Candidiasis remain undiagnosed by their doctors and unaware of their condition. Unfortunately, many doctors don't recognize the systemic problems that Candidiasis causes and only treat the symptoms such as vaginal infection or oral thrush. Don't be surprised if your doctor thinks it's all in your head and sends you off with a anti-depression prescription. Some healthcare professionals don't believe in Candida, so you need to find a doctor with an open mind, or see a naturopath, homeopathic doctor or kinesiologist.

Is Candida Always a Bad Thing? So why is Candida a bad thing? Ordinarily it isn't - the Candida population is kept under control by the friendly bacteria in our gut. However, when your immune system is down, Candida starts to multiply and can quickly take over.

The overgrowth of Candida produces toxins that your body's immune system can struggle to cope with. The wide-ranging side effects of this battle range from headaches and fatigue to abdominal pain and depression.

The occurrence of Candidiasis has actually been increasing rapidly over the last few decades. Our modern diet of processed food and sweets is partly to blame, but so are the increased prevalence of obesity and diabetes, plus the much more frequent use of antibiotics.

Candidiasis is a debilitating condition that prevents you from waking up strong, healthy and bursting with energy. Fortunately, there are many things you can do to fight it.

Article Source: http://www.thecandidadiet.com/whatiscandida.htm

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Further Links to Discover more Diets and Advice on how to deal with Candida here:

http://www.yeastconnection.com/fighting_diet.html

http://www.thecandidadiet.com/

Intestinal Parasites, Bacterial Dysbiosis and Leaky Gut
Excerpts from Power Healing by Leo Galland, M.D.

www.mdheal.org

The human intestine maintains within its inner cavity a complex, crowded environment of food remnants and microbial organisms (called "the intestinal flora") from which the body derives nourishment and against which the body must be protected. The relationship between the human host and her army of microbes is described by the Greek word, symbiosis, which means "living together". When symbiosis benefits both parties, it is called mutualism. When symbiosis becomes harmful, it is called dysbiosis. The first line of protection against dysbiosis and intestinal toxicity is strict control of intestinal permeability, the ability of the gut to allow some substances to pass through its walls while denying access to others. The healthy gut selectively absorbs nutrients and seals out those components of the normal internal milieu which are most likely to cause harm, except for a small sampling which it uses to educate and strengthen its mechanisms of immunity and detoxification.

Bacteria form the largest segment of the intestinal flora. The number of bacteria in the large bowel (about a hundred trillion) exceeds the number of cells in the human body. Intestinal bacteria perform some useful functions, so that our relationship with them is normally one of mutual benefit. They synthesize half a dozen vitamins, supplementing those which are obtained from food. They convert dietary fibre--that part of food which humans cannot digest--into small fatty acids which nourish the cells of the large intestine. They degrade dietary toxins like methyl mercury making them less harmful to the body. They crowd out pathogenic bacteria like Salmonella, decreasing the risk of food poisoning. They stimulate the development of a vigorous immune response. Four-fifths of the body's immune system is located in the lining of the small intestine.

Bacteria are dangerous tenants, however, so that dysbiosis is a common problem. As powerful chemical factories, bacteria not only make vitamins and destroy toxins, but also destroy vitamins and make toxins. Bacterial enzymes can inactivate human digestive enzymes and convert human bile or components of food into chemicals which promote the development of cancer. Some by-products of bacterial enzyme activity, like ammonia, hinder normal brain function. When absorbed into the body, they must be removed by the liver. People whose livers fail this task, because of conditions like cirrhosis, develop progressive neurologic dysfunction resulting in coma and death. For them, the administration of antibiotics which slow the production of nerve toxins by intestinal bacteria can be life saving.

The immune reactions provoked by normal intestinal bacteria may be harmful rather than helpful. Inflammatory diseases of the bowel, including ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease (ileitis), and several types of arthritis have been linked to aberrant immune responses provoked by intestinal bacteria. Two types of aberrancy have been described. First, intestinal bacteria contain proteins which look to the immune system very much like human proteins; they confuse the immune system and may fool the body into attacking itself. Second, fragments of dead bacteria may leak into the wall of the intestine or into the blood stream due to a breakdown in the mechanisms which regulate intestinal permeability. Circulating through the body, bacterial debris is deposited in tissues such as joints, provoking an attack on those tissues by an immune system trying to remove the foreign material.

Bacterial colonies in the human intestine co-exist with colonies of yeasts, which are no less dangerous, just far fewer in number. Bacterial colonization prevents yeasts from expanding their niche. Frequent or prolonged use of antibiotics decimates bacterial colonies, removing the natural brake on yeast growth. The most obvious effects of yeast overgrowth are local infections, like vaginitis, produced when yeast invade and disrupt cells which line the body's surface. Intestinal yeast infections can cause chronic diarrhea, although most gastroenterologists fail to recognize this. Yeast can also provoke allergic reactions, precipitating asthma, hives, psoriasis or abdominal pain. The occurrence of allergic symptoms or the aggravation of a pre-existing allergy which follows the use of antibiotics should always prompt an investigation into yeast overgrowth as a potential trigger. Neglect of this factor by allergists has left countless patients trapped in a spiral of increasing allergic reactivity, augmented each time antibiotics are prescribed.

In addition to bacteria and yeast, most of the world's four billion people are also colonized by intestinal parasites. Contrary to popular belief, parasitic infection is not unusual in the U.S. population. It is a common ocurrence, even among those who have never left the country.

Unlike bacteria, parasites appear to serve no useful function. The part of the immune system which they stimulate does not strengthen the organism to resist serious infection; instead it contributes to allergic reactions, so that parasitic infection increases allergic tendencies. There are two general groups of parasites. The first consists of worms--tapeworms and roundworms--which attach themselves to the lining of the small intestine, causing internal bleeding and loss of nutrients. People infested with worms may have no symptoms or may slowly become anemic. The second category is the protozoa, one-celled organisms like the amoeba which caused John Gerard's colitis. The first protozoa were discovered over three hundred years ago by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, the most famous of the early microscopists. When the inquisitive Dutchman set about to examine everything in the world that would fit under the lens of a microscope, he found organisms in his own stool that closely match the description later given to Giardia lamblia.

Giardia is the major cause of day-care diarrhea. Twenty to thirty per cent of workers in day care centers harbor Giardia. Most have no symptoms; they are merely carriers. A study at Johns Hopkins medical school a few years ago demonstrated antibodies against Giardia in twenty per cent of randomly chosen blood samples from patients in the hospital. This means that at least twenty per cent of these patients had been infected with Giardia at some time in their lives and had mounted an immune response against the parasite.

In 1990 I presented a paper before the American College of Gastroenterology which demonstrated Giardia infection in about half of a group of two hundred patients with chronic diarrhea, constipation, abdominal pain and bloating. Most of these patients had been told they had irritable bowel syndrome, which is commonly referred to as "nervous stomach". I reached two conclusions from this study: (1) Parasitic infection is a common event among patients with chronic gastrointestinal symptoms. (2) Many people are given a diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome without a thorough evaluation. My presentation was reported by numerous magazines and newspapers, including the New York Times. My office was flooded with hundreds of phone calls from people who were suffering with chronic gastrointestinal complaints. Most of them had been given a diagnosis of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) by their physicians. The standard treatment for this syndrome had not helped them. All they had received was a label. Many had been told there was no cure. In evaluating these patients, I found that the majority had intestinal parasites, food intolerance or a lack of healthy intestinal bacteria. These conditions were not mutually exclusive. Many patients had more than one reason for chronic gastrointestinal problems. Treating these abnormalities as they occurred in various patients produced remarkably good therapeutic results. A year later, researchers in the Department of Family Medicine at Baylor University in Houston reported findings similar to mine.

Giardia contaminates streams and lakes throughout North America and has caused epidemics of diarrheal disease in several small cities by contaminating their drinking water. One epidemic, in Placerville, California, was followed by an epidemic of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which swept through the town's residents at the time of the Giardia epidemic. Possibly, this epidemic was due to failure of some people to eradicate the parasite. In 1991, my colleagues and I published a study of 96 patients with chronic fatigue and demonstrated active Giardia infection in 46 per cent.

Sometimes, the intestinal damage produced by giardiasis persists for months after the parasite has been successfully treated. The impairment of digestion and absorption which results from this damage may cause fatigue and other symptoms.

When I first began presenting the results of my clinical research on parasitic infection, in the mid-1980's, my reports were met with considerable skepticism. The present decade has witnessed an increased awareness of parasitic infection as a common public health problem in the United States, thanks largely to Cryptosporidium, which recently achieved notoriety for contaminating Milwaukee's water supply, causing the largest epidemic of diarrhea in U.S. history, infecting 400,000 people and causing over one hundred deaths. Most municipal water supplies in the U.S. today are home to protozoa like Giardia and Cryptosporidium and one in five Americans drinks water that violates federal health standards. Every year, almost a million North Americans become sick from water-borne diseases; about one per cent die. Further epidemics are inevitable. A recent epidemic occurred in Clark County, Nevada, despite state-of-the-art municipal water treatment.

How protozoa make people sick is not clear. Some directly invade the lining of the intestine, others provoke an allergic reaction that causes the damage. It appears certain that humans coexist quite readily with their parasites as long as the barrier formed by the intestinal lining remains fully intact, so that the parasites cannot attach to the wall of the bowel. Millions of people throughout the world are carriers of E. histolytica; the organism can be found in stool samples but it does not seem to make them ill. The variability of pathogenic potential recalls Pasteur's challenge to the French Academy: do the causes of disease lie within the microbe or do they lie within the host? When the attachment of a parasite initiates a series of injuries to the intestinal wall that increase its permeability, it generates a cascade of reactions that can shatter a person's health in many different ways. Excessive permeability permits excess absorption of antigens and microbial fragments from the gut, over-stimulating the immune response, fostering allergy and auto-immunity.

Excess permeability also allows excessive absorption of toxins derived from the chemical activity of intestinal bacteria, stressing the liver. All materials absorbed from the intestine must pass through the liver before entering the body's general circulation. Here, in the cells of the liver, toxic chemicals are destroyed or else prepared for excretion out of the body. The cost of detoxification is high; free radicals are generated and the liver's stores of anti-oxidants are depleted. The liver may be damaged by the products of its own attempts at detoxification. Damage may extend to the pancreas. Free radicals are excreted into bile; this "toxic" bile flows into the small intestine and can ascend into the ducts which carry pancreatic juices, damaging the pancreas, aggravating malnutrition.

The symptoms produced by excessive intestinal permeability may be limited to the abdomen or may involve the entire body. They may include fatigue and malaise, joint and muscle pain, headache and skin eruptions. The clinical disorders associated with increased intestinal permeability include any inflammation of the large or small intestine (colitis and enteritis), chronic arthritis , skin conditions like acne, eczema, hives or psoriasis, migraine headaches, chronic fatigue, deficient pancreatic function and AIDS . In most cases, it is incorrect to think of excessive permeability as the cause of these disorders. Instead, excess permeability occurs as part of the chain of events which causes disease and aggravates existing symptoms or produces new ones.

This is another excellent article that explains clearly why it is so important to eat a low carbohydrate diet, so as not to stimulate insulin production. Keeping your insulin levels low are a very critical componant to being able to maintain excellent health.

Raised Insulin and Insulin resistance causes huge problems in the body as it leads to hormone imbalance, diabetes, cravings, weight gain, bone demineralization, and the list goes on. This is an important article which gives a general understanding of how and why this happens.
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Insulin and insulin resistance

Each time we eat, insulin is released into the bloodstream. This vital hormone, secreted by special cells in the pancreas, encourages our tissues - our muscles in particular - to gobble up the glucose surging through the bloodstream after we eat a meal. That's good news, because glucose hanging around in the blood is dangerous stuff. It can stick to proteins and destroy their ability to do their job. Kidney damage, blindness, and amputations may result.

But insulin has many other vital roles. After a meal, insulin stops the liver from releasing any fat, a potential metabolic fuel, into the blood. Why after a meal? It turns out that just like glucose, these fats, released as triglycerides, are dangerous if they hang about in the blood too long.

In some organisms, insulin plays the role of controlling their lifespan. What is the purpose of insulin in humans? If you ask your physician, they will say that the role of insulin is to lower blood sugar and you must learn right now, that is one of insulin's many roles.

Insulin, sugar, and glycogen When your body notices that the sugar level is elevated, it is a sign that you have more sugar than you need right now, your body is not burning it and therefore it is accumulating in your blood. So insulin is released to take that sugar and store it. How does it store it? Glycogen? Your body stores very little glycogen at any one time. All the glycogen stored in your liver and muscles would not last you through 1 active day. Once you have filled up your glycogen stores, that sugar is stored as saturated fat.

So the idea of medical professionals recommending a high complex-carbohydrate, low-saturated-fat diet is absolutely a mistake. A high complex-carbohydrate diet is nothing more than a high-glucose diet, or a high-sugar diet. Your body is just going to store it as saturated fat, and the body makes it into saturated fat quite readily.

Your body's principal way of getting rid of sugar, because it is toxic, is to burn it. The sugar which your body can't burn will be rid of by storing it as glycogen, and when those glycogen reserves are full, sugar gets stored as fat. If you eat sugar your body will burn it and you stop burning fat. Another major effect of insulin on fat is it prevents you from burning it. What happens when you are insulin resistant and you have all this insulin floating around all the time? You wake up in the morning with an insulin level of 90.

High levels of insulin cause health problems High levels of insulin cause several problems: one of them is high blood pressure. One of the roles of insulin is to assist the storing of excess nutrients.  Insulin plays a role in storing magnesium. But if your cells become resistant to insulin, you can't store magnesium so you lose it through urination. Intra-cellular magnesium relaxes muscles. What happens when you can't store magnesium because the cell is resistant? You lose magnesium and your blood vessels constrict. This causes an increase in blood pressure. Insulin also causes the retention of sodium, which causes fluid retention, which causes high blood pressure and congestive heart failure.

A recent study(1) showed that overweight children with high levels of insulin in their blood are also likely to have high levels of homocysteine, a substance which appears to raise the risk of heart disease, stroke, and birth defects.

Osteoporosis is another potential problem resulting from insulin resistance. Insulin is a master hormone which controls many anabolic hormones such as growth hormone, testosterone, and progesterone. In insulin resistance, the anabolic process is reduced. Bone is built upon the command of such hormones. When these hormones are reduced, the amount of bone building is reduced, and the amount of calcium excreted is increased.

Insulin increases cellular proliferation. How does this affect cancer? It helps it grow. And there are some pretty strong studies(2,3) which show that one of the strongest correlations to breast and colon cancers are levels of insulin.


Insulin Resistance
When your cells are exposed to insulin at all, they get a little bit more resistant to it. So the pancreas just puts out more insulin. Cells become insulin resistant because they are trying to protect themselves from the toxic effects of high insulin. They down-regulate their receptor activity and number of receptors so that they don't have to be subjected to all that stimuli all the time. Different cells respond to insulin differently. Some cells are more resistant than others, as some cells are incapable of becoming very resistant. The liver becomes resistant first, followed by the muscle tissue and lastly the fats. As all these major tissues, become insulin resistant your pancreas is putting out more insulin to compensate. Any time your cell is exposed to insulin it is going to become more insulin resistant. That is inevitable, we cannot stop this process, but the rate we can control.

But the pancreas can't always keep up that high level of insulin production forever. Once the production of insulin starts slowing down, or the resistance goes up, then blood sugar goes up and the person becomes a diabetic.

"Insulin resistance syndrome" refers to a combination of risk factors for type 2 diabetes, including chronically elevated insulin levels, low HDL ("good") cholesterol, abdominal obesity and high blood pressure.

Excessive intake of all carbohydrates, especially the high-glycemic type, is the primary culprit in the development of insulin resistance.

Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body no longer responds to insulin. As a result, levels of insulin in the blood become elevated and over time, can raise the risk for kidney failure and blindness, as well as heart disease.

A recent study(4) has found that insulin resistance syndrome, or "syndrome X," is found in families with a history of early heart disease - a heart attack or blood vessel blockage before age 55 in men and before age 65 in women.

Symptoms of insulin resistance:
Here is a list of some of the most common symptoms of people with Insulin Resistance. Many symptoms manifest themselves immediately following a meal of carbohydrates, and others are more or less always present. Keep in mind that these symptoms may also be related to other problems.

1. Fatigue. The most common feature of Insulin Resistance is that it wears people out. Some are tired just in the morning or afternoon, others are exhausted all day.

2. Brain fogginess. Sometimes the fatigue of Insulin Resistance is physical, but often it's mental. The inability to focus is the most evident symptom. Poor memory, loss of creativity, poor grades in school often accompany Insulin Resistance, as do various forms of "learning disabilities."

3. Low blood sugar. Mild, brief periods of low blood sugar are normal during the day, especially if meals are not eaten on a regular schedule. But prolonged periods of this "hypoglycemia," accompanied by many of the symptoms listed here, especially physical and mental fatigue, are not normal.

Feeling agitated, jittery and moody is common in Insulin Resistance, with almost immediate relief once food is eaten.

4. Intestinal bloating. Most intestinal gas is produced from carbohydrates in the diet. Insulin Resistance sufferers who eat carbohydrates suffer from gas, lots of it.

5. Sleepiness. Many people with Insulin Resistance get sleepy immediately after eating a meal containing more than 20% or 30% carbohydrates. This means typically a pasta meal, or even a meat meal which includes potatoes or bread and a sweet dessert.

6. Increased weight and fat storage. For most people, too much weight is too much fat. In males, a large abdomen is the more obvious and earliest sign of Insulin Resistance. In females, it's prominent buttocks.

7. Increased triglycerides. High triglycerides in the blood are often found in overweight persons. But even those who are not overweight may have stores of fat in their arteries as a result of Insulin Resistance.

These triglycerides are the direct result of carbohydrates in the diet being converted by insulin.

8. Increased blood pressure. It is a fact that most people with hypertension have too much insulin and are Insulin Resistant. It is often possible to show a direct relationship between the level of insulin and blood pressure: as insulin levels elevate, so does blood pressure.

9. Depression. Because carbohydrates are a natural "downer," depressing the brain, it is not uncommon to see many depressed persons who also have Insulin Resistance.

Insulin and Aging
Centenarians, people who have lived over 100 years, don't have much in common. Many are smokers, for example. They come from all over the world without a favoring any geographic location in particular. However, there are 3 consistent blood metabolic indicators of all centenarians which are relatively consistent: low sugar, low triglycerides, and low insulin. All 3 are relatively low for age. Among these 3 variables, insulin is the common denominator. The level of insulin sensitivity of the cell is one of the most important markers of lifespan.

Controlling your insulin levels is one of the most powerful anti-aging strategies you can possibly implement. Sugar and grains cause your body to produce insulin and high insulin levels are the single largest physical cause of accelerated aging. If you want to slow down aging and be healthy then you need to change your grains for greens.

Insulin resistance is the basis of all of the chronic diseases of aging, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, obesity, diabetes, cancer, all the so-called chronic diseases of aging.

Fortunately insulin is the variable most easily influenced by a healthy diet and exercise. Traditional doctors will prescribe drugs to lower blood sugar in type 2 diabetics and give verbal acknowledgment to exercise.

A low grain, no sugar diet is one of the most effective ways to lower one's insulin levels. This is especially effective when combined with an aerobic exercise program which increases the heart rate to about 75% of its maximum and maintains it there for 45 minutes, 5 times a week.

In addition to the steps we discussed related to diet and exercise, you may want to consider chromium supplementation. Chromium helps insulin to work efficiently. Many well-controlled clinical studies through the years show blood glucose improvements in the patients tested.

Your goals should be: Reduce insulin levels as much as possible, through diet and exercise, and control your weight. 90% of those with insulin resistance are obese.

Article Source: http://www.healingdaily.com/detoxification-diet/insulin.htm

** Rachael's Disclaimer: Although this article about sugar is brilliant, and the author has a brilliant understanding of how to communicate health issues in layman's terms on a variety of great topics, I do not necessarily agree with all the articles or the viewpoints of the healingdailywebsite or its author, particularly the author's religious affiliations. 

References (1) Diabetes Care 2000;23:1348-1352

(2) Annual meeting of American Society of Clinical Oncology, New Orleans, May 23

(3) National Cancer Institute 2002 September 4;94(17):1293-300

(4) Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology August 2001;21:1346-1352