Inflammation, Insulin levels

Inflammation, infections and excessive levels of insulin in the body are major instigators of cancer. Often, they occur together, and most people in modern society suffer from some degree of all three. Yet, it is possible to reduce their influence upon the body and thereby dramatically lower cancer risk.

Inflammation can cause cancer because it generates free radicals that damage DNA and create cell mutations which lead to cancer. Many things cause inflammation, including: refined sugar, pasteurized dairy products, polyunsaturated oils, charred, overcooked and processed food, GMOs, pesticides, and artificial food additives like MSG. Since allergies cause inflammation, common food allergens, such as peanuts, soy and gluten, can be cancer-causing if a person is allergic to them. Environmental toxins, such as mercury, electromagnetic radiation and industrial chemicals, also cause inflammation as do infections.

Maintaining a diet free of the above, and which is high in free radical-quenching antioxidants and phytochemicals, reduces inflammation and thereby helps to prevent cancer. Colorful, cruciferous vegetables (ie, broccoli, cauliflower, garlic and onion) and fruits such as berries contain high levels of phytochemicals and antioxidants. Many high fiber foods, such as beans, brown rice, sesame seeds and wheat bran, have anti-cancer properties as well.

Consuming food in as natural a state as possible also keeps inflammation at bay. Vegetables, fruits, lean meat, legumes and complex carbohydrates should be organic, non-genetically-modified, and free of pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics. Additionally, many nutrients and spices, such as omega-3 fish oil, turmeric, ginger, and Vitamins A and D, contain anti-inflammatory substances which have proven to be beneficial for preventing cancer.

Removing toxins from the body and home is also important for reducing inflammation. Natural toxin binders such as chlorella, apple pectin and French green clay remove many environmental toxins from the body. DMSA and alpha-lipoic acid, when taken together, effectively remove heavy metals. Some ways to remove cancer-causing substances from the home include: getting rid of synthetic household cleaning products and replacing them with natural ones; living away from cell phone and microwave towers, and reducing cell and cordless phone use. Eliminating the body's exposure to DNA-damaging radiation and chemicals significantly reduces cancer risk.

Infections can also instigate cancer because the body's response to infection is to create inflammation. Some types of pathogens can also directly cause cell mutations, such as human papilloma viruses (HPV). People with chronic infections, such as Lyme disease, Epstein-Barr and XMRV viruses, Candida and mold, are at a higher risk for cancer than people who don't have such infections. Treating infections with antimicrobial herbs, homeopathy and other natural remedies, while maintaining a low-inflammatory diet, can reduce the effects of infections upon the body.

Finally, excess levels of insulin trigger cancer. This is because insulin is a hormone that encourages cellular growth, and cancer cells have 6-10 times the number of insulin receptors on the surface of their cell membranes as normal cells. Since we all have cancer cells in our bodies, nobody is exempt from developing cancer as a result of excessive amounts of insulin.

Swedish Bitters benefits

Swedish Bitters benefits: Swedish Bitters is an age old, old world herbal remedy in common use over almost all of Europe. Those who still believe will claim that it has magical curative powers which work wonders for one's overall body-mind equation. However, regardless of whether it is a wonder herb or not, Swedish Bitters has been scientifically proven to have qualities which help improve the digestive system, lessen stress and heal a host of skin related problems. Swedish Bitters is also known to prove particularly suitable for pregnant and lactating women in treating morning sickness and inflammation of the nipples respectively. Fever, epilepsy, liver and eye diseases are some other illnesses which Swedish Bitters helps relieve.

Vitamin C

The cells of your body are under a lot of stress... oxidative stress. Oxidative stress occurs when highly unstable molecules called free radicals roam freely throughout your body.
Free radicals are a by-product of not only the normal metabolic processes of your cells but also your environment... things such as air pollution, sun exposure, industrial chemical exposure, ozone, nitrous oxide (from auto exhaust), cigarette smoke, alcohol consumption and so on.
Free radicals damage cell membranes and DNA and can result in changes to your cells that cause life threatening chronic diseases down the road. When your cells are being damaged by these free radicals, we say your cells are experiencing oxidative stress... and one of the facts about Vitamin C is that it is an antioxidant and can significantly neutralize the free radicals and the damage to your cells that cause oxidative stress.
Facts about Vitamin C and Heart Disease
One of the facts about Vitamin C that we feel is most significant is the role Vitamin C plays in the production of collagen.
Collagen is a protein. It is the connective tissue that holds our bodies together and keeps us from falling apart. Collagen is found in your skin, bones, ligaments, tendons, liver, cartilage, bone marrow and blood vessels.
Collagen is essential for the repair of our bodies. Without collagen our bodies don't heal. And without Vitamin C we don't make collagen.
What Does Collagen Production Have to Do With Heart Disease?
Remember the facts about Vitamin C above and the sailors with scurvy? They weren't getting any Vitamin C. So when their blood vessels cracked, no collagen was being produced to repair the cracks.
Why do your blood vessels crack in the first place? Well consider this. Your heart beats about 4000 times every hour. That's 96,000 times a day and 35,040,000 times every year (yes that's million)! The blood vessels of your heart are being squeezed and released that many times as well.
Imagine you were to run over a garden hose laying in your driveway that many times. Do you think it might soon develop some cracks?
Although your body has a difficult time repairing those cracks in the complete absence of Vitamin C (and hence scurvy), most folks in the developed world get just enough Vitamin C to keep scurvy at bay... but not much more.
Problem is, as this sub-optimal amount of Vitamin C in their body is repairing with collagen, it's not quite enough. Your liver then determines that the repairs are not being made quick enough and sets about to produce a special form of LDL called lipoprotein-a.
Lipoprotein-a is very sticky and acts as a putty to fill in the cracks that the lack of collagen left behind. Great right? Leak stopped.
Well the leak is stopped yes, but being as sticky as it is, lipoprotein-a catches and glues down all the other LDL (bad cholesterol) that floats by. This action results in plaque build-up inside the vessel walls and can eventually close off these blood vessels... and we all know what that means!
Facts about Vitamin C and Cholesterol
Can Vitamin C lower cholesterol? A relationship has been shown experimentally between high levels of Vitamin C and low levels of cholesterol. An article appearing in the National Library of Medicine shows that Vitamin C provides the same mechanism for inhibiting the production of cholesterol as do cholesterol lowering statin drugs.
The American Heart Association also reported that Vitamin C lowered LDL cholesterol in children who were predisposed to high cholesterol.
The facts about Vitamin C also show that Vitamin C lowers cholesterol without the dangerous side effects of these statin drugs. Statin drugs have been shown to inhibit the production of another essential nutrient called Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). Decreased levels of CoQ10 result in significant muscle myopathy (wasting away). And since the heart is a muscle, statin drugs have been linked to Congestive Heart Failure (CHF).
More Facts about Vitamin C
Vitamin C has been shown to lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of Alzheimer's when taken with Vitamin E and cut your chances of having a stroke.
Why is that? Remember the facts about Vitamin C above as an antioxidant? Well, most researchers agree that Vitamin C's powerful antioxidant properties are responsible. By neutralizing the cell damaging effects of those free radicals running around in your body, Vitamin C works to keep your cells healthy and free of damage. And if your cells are healthy, you are healthy!
Vitamin C is also known to protect the immune system. Vitamin C aids in the manufacture of white blood cells. White blood cells destroy viruses and bacteria.
Also remember the facts about Vitamin C as aiding in the manufacture of collagen? Well collagen being the connective tissue that holds our skin together, our skin is what keeps pathogens out in the first place.
Yeah, But I Drink My Glass of Orange Juice Everyday... Well Almost
What are the facts about Vitamin C concerning the amount you should take? Well who do you want to believe? The official U.S. Government RDA for Vitamin C is 60 to 90 mg. Some would argue that this level does nothing more than ward off scurvy. They would also argue that these levels do nothing to prevent chronic, long term, debilitating diseases.
An article in the American Journal for Clinical Nutrition reports on a study done on antioxidant vitamins and coronary heart disease risk. The study looked at 9 other studies which included participation by Harvard School of Public Health and Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Conclusions: "The results suggest a reduced incidence of major CHD (coronary heart disease) events at high supplemental vitamin C intakes."
How high was the daily Vitamin C intake of the 293,172 patients during this ten year study? Above 700 mg!

Vitamin E

o Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that protects tissue against free radicals. Free radicals are unstable molecules that usually contain oxygen and can interaction with DNA and other molecules leading to an impaired cell function. Vitamin E, one of the chemical compounds that prevents oxygen from reacting with other compounds, neutralizes free radicals, and is, therefore, one of the body's natural defenses against cancer and cardiovascular disease.
o Vitamin E is also important in the formation of red blood cells and helps the body use vitamin K. Vitamin E improves circulation, is necessary in the repair of tissue, promotes normal blood clotting and healing, and can reduce scarring, too.
o Women find it useful in the treatment of premenstrual syndrome and fibrocystic disease of the breast.
o Older adults take it to help reduce blood pressure, relax leg cramps, help prevent cataracts, and, perhaps, to assist in reducing age spots.
o Vitamin E also helps prevent anemia, maintains healthy nerves and muscles, and promotes healthy skin and hair.
Where Do We Find It?
Food sources of vitamin E are nuts (e.g., almonds), sunflower seeds, cold pressed vegetable oils, whole grains (e.g., wheat germ), olives, legumes, and dark and leafy vegetable (e.g., asparagus and spinach). There are also significant quantities of this vitamin in such foods as brown rice, cornmeal, eggs, kelp, milk, and organ meats. Some herb vitamin E sources are alfalfa, bladderwrack, dandelion, flax, nettle, and rose hips.
Vitamin E, like all other vitamins, is not only available from food sources, but also as a supplement. It can be purchased in the form of a tablet, a capsule, or a liquid, and as a powder that can be mixed with water or juice or added to gels or bars. It can also be administered by injection. Read labels carefully so that you purchase only those supplements that have been extracted from a natural food source and have no harmful additives included. A proper balance of vitamins are needed in the body because they work in synergy, or cooperative action, and high doses of one vitamin can induce a depletion of another. You can take vitamin E safely in a one a day multivitamin, or as single vitamin supplement if you wish to take an amount higher than is included in a multivitamin. Visit a vitamin store and watch for the opportunity to purchase your vitamins at a discount.
How Much Do We Need?
The amount of vitamin E you need depends on your age, your weight, and the problems you are trying to solve or prevent. Remember that supplements should be taken daily, and should be taken with food so that you will receive other nutrients to assist in their assimilation. Keep your supplements in a cool, dark place to protect their potency, and take them as part of your mealtime routine:
o To maintain good health, you should take a minimum amount of 200 IUs daily.
o To help lower raised cholesterol levels, especially in young adults, take 300 to 600 IUs daily.
o For reducing menopausal symptoms, take 400 IUs daily.
o To help combat coronary artery disease and poor circulation, take 400 IUs daily.
Be Careful:
It is important to understand the different functions of vitamins if you are going to ingest them separately instead of within a multivitamin where the formulation will ensure a proper balance. In the case of vitamin E, there are a variety of concerns of which you should be aware:
o Vitamin E should be taken under medical supervision if you are also taking blood-thinning drugs (anticoagulant medication). Vitamin E acts as a blood thinner, too.
o Remember that vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin, and since it will be stored in the body in fatty tissue, it can reach toxic levels. People who decide to take mega-doses of vitamins and don't know what they're doing can suffer from too much of a good thing with this vitamin. If you are taking a multivitamin supplement and a separate vitamin E supplement, make sure you are not taking a toxic dose. Anything over 1200 IUs should not be taken without consulting a health professional.
o Be careful if you take iron as well as vitamin E. These two supplements should be taken at different times of the day because iron in the form of ferrous sulfate will destroy vitamin E. Organic forms of iron such as ferrous gluconate or ferrous fumarate, however, will not harm the vitamin. Read the label and make sure you know which form of iron you are taking.
o Diabetics, people with overactive thyroids, and those with rheumatic heart diseases should be especially careful not to take more than recommended dosages of vitamin E.
o If you suffer from high blood pressure, begin with 200 IUs of vitamin E per day and gradually increase the dose over a period of six weeks until you reach the desired level.
o If you are taking vitamin E, you must also take a minimum dose of zinc as well, and some supplements will include the necessary amount of zinc in the Vitamin E tablet or capsule.
Vitamin E is an important element in our arsenal of disease-battling nutrients, and there is an increasing lack of vitamin E in our diets because of our dependence on processed food and the depletion of nutrients in the soil. Fortunately, supplements allow us to obtain whatever amount of vitamin E we need to keep us healthy.

The Benefits of Raw Honey

1. Raw honey never spoils! It can be used as a natural preservative; the Egyptians used it for such purposes.
2. No other sweeteners on the market have the same range of medicinal uses as honey does. It can be used to heal the skin; it has helped me with my psoriasis and is reported to have helped others with asthma and eczema. It can also be used with apple cyder vinegar as a health tonic to kill off intestinal parasites.
3. There are over 80 varieties of honey! This outnumbers other sweeteners by far - with honey you have more choice and don't get bored as easily as you would for example constantly eating agave syrup. Below are are ten popular honeys with a range of tastes that far exceeds any other sweetener. Acacia, Chestnut, Oak, Wild Thyme, Heather, Lemon Blossom, Orange Blossom, Lavender, Rosemary, Eucalyptus.
4. Honey may make you live longer! It is a longevity food of the highest order. Bee keepers in Russia are known to have lived long lives - well into their hundreds - there diet was rich in honey and pollen!
5. No other sweetener has the unique enzyme profile that honey does. Raw honey can contain over 5000 enzymes. Enzymes are the fuel of life which gives honey the edge as fuel source over other sweeteners.
6. Unlike honey no other sweeteners can be used topically. Honey can be used to heal cuts and wounds and also certain skin conditions. It does this by releasing a mild form of hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties which make extremely effective for such purposes.
7. No other sweeteners vary in appearance or consistency like honey do. There is set honey; this is thick and you can easily stand a knife in it. There is runny honey which is ideal for spreading on toast... and of course you have creamed honey which can be used for anything you like - tea, coffee, desserts and smoothies. When you buy honey you always get something fresh and new!
8. Honey unlike most other sweeteners will not drastically affect your blood sugar levels which tends to have the effect of leaving you low in energy after the initial high. With honey you get sustained energy and no lows!
9. Raw honey unlike most other sweeteners is not cooked and therefore gives it greater nutritional value than other sweeteners on the market. Cooked sweeteners are not as fresh nor pure as raw honey straight from the hive is!
10. Raw honeycomb is a wholefood! To my knowledge no other sweetener either exists, or, is as readily available as honey is in wholefood form. According to nutritionists Honeycomb has a wide enough range of nutrients to sustain human life for extended periods of time

Some Benefits of Coconut Oil

Coconut oil is full of healthy benefits. Next to mother’s milk, it is nature’s highest source of medium chain fatty acids (MTC’s), which raise the body’s metabolism, leading to weight loss. It has fatty acids such as lauric acid and monoglycerides, similar to mother’s breast milk.
When lauric acid is consumed in the body, whether through mother’s milk or coconut oil, it enhances the immune system to help the body fight infections, diseases, bad bacteria and yeast invasions. Lauric aid is known to be anti-viral, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial.
Coconut oil raises the metabolism, which helps people who are trying to lose weight and people suffering from thyroid problems. Coconut stabilizes the blood sugar levels, helping with diabetes. It also protects the heart cells from damage.
Coconut oil helps relieve the symptoms of menopause, and pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS). Many women who suffer the effects of PMS have found the symptoms lessened when coconut oil was consumed often in their diet.
Coconut oil does not raise cholesterol. Studies have shown that people who use coconut oil have lower cholesterol than those who do not, even when the people consuming coconut also eat other high cholesterol foods like eggs and meat.
Unlike refined vegetable oils, coconut oil does not become rancid easily. When oil becomes rancid it becomes toxic as it oxidizes and causes free-radical damage in the body. The unsaturated oils in cooked foods can become rancid within hours of cooking it, even in the refrigerator. Coconut oil is so stable that it can be left a room temperature for at least a year, and it will not become rancid. Some coconut oil producers say coconut oil will last at least 3 years at room temperature before becoming rancid. Since it is such a stable cooking oil, you can use coconut oil in place of other oils, margarine, butter and shortening, for all your cooking needs.
Coconut oil smells good, tastes pleasant and is so good for our bodies that some people consume it straight, by the tablespoon, and use it in place of other oils on their salads. Many people also use it as an ingredient when juicing or making smoothies.
If all this good news isn’t enough, coconut oil one of the best things you can apply directly on your skin and hair. It not only gives temporary relief to skin problems like rashes, but it aids in healing and restoring skin to a younger appearance. It has also been known to help with people who suffer from yeast infections in the skin, and there is solid research that shows the MCTs in coconut oil do overcome yeast infections. Coconut oil also makes an excellent massage oil.