FUN FACTS:
Decrease Aging by Avoiding Fattening Fructose
We’ve heard of the dangers of fructose and how it’s linked to
everything from obesity to liver disease. How can such a sweet thing be
so bad for us? Dr. Mercola recently explained the biochemistry of this
liver harming, appetite affecting, weight gaining substance:
Fructose Metabolism Basics
Anyone who still insists that “sugar is sugar” is way behind the
times… There are in fact major differences in how your body processes
different sugars, and it’s important to understand that when you
consume fructose, your body packs on pounds at a much higher rate than
it does when you consume glucose. The following summary details the
main metabolic differences between fructose and glucose to help you
understand how fructose can wreak such havoc with your health, and why
it’s considerably worse for you than glucose:
- After eating fructose, nearly all of the metabolic burden rests
on your liver. But with glucose, your liver has to break down only 20
percent. - Every cell in your body, including your brain, utilizes glucose.
Therefore, much of it is “burned up” immediately after you consume it.
By contrast, fructose is primarily converted into free fatty acids
(FFAs), VLDL (the damaging form of cholesterol), and triglycerides,
which get stored as fat. - The fatty acids created during fructose metabolism accumulate as
fat droplets in your liver and skeletal muscle tissues, causing
insulin resistance and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).
Insulin resistance progresses to metabolic syndrome and type II
diabetes. - Fructose is the most lipophilic carbohydrate. In other words,
fructose converts to activated glycerol (g-3-p), which is directly used
to turn FFAs into triglycerides. The more g-3-p you have, the more fat
you store. Glucose does not do this. - When you eat 120 calories of glucose, less than one calorie is
stored as fat. 120 calories of fructose results in 40 calories being
stored as fat. Fructose is essentially largely converted into fat! - The metabolism of fructose by your liver creates a long list of
waste products and toxins, including a large amount of uric acid, which
triggers your “fat switch,” causing you to gain more weight. - Glucose does not do this, as it suppresses the hunger hormone
ghrelin and stimulates leptin, which suppresses your appetite. Fructose
has no effect on ghrelin and interferes with your brain’s communication
with leptin, resulting in overeating.
Good news, there are ways to handle your sweet tooth. Dr. Mercola offers more suggestions on:
How to Tame Your Sugar Cravings
As mentioned earlier, I recommend
that you avoid as much sugar as possible. Do your best to keep your
fructose consumption below 15-25 grams a day. This is especially
important if you are overweight or have diabetes, high cholesterol, or
high blood pressure.
Sugar is highly addictive, so cutting
down can be a real challenge for some, especially if you’re consuming
very high amounts. If you’re struggling with sugar addiction, I highly
recommend trying an energy psychology technique called Turbo Tapping,
which has helped many “soda addicts” kick their sweet habit. If you
still want to use a sweetener occasionally, here’s what I recommend in
lieu of sugar:
- Use the sweet herb stevia.
- Use organic cane sugar in moderation.
- Use organic raw honey in moderation.
- Avoid ALL artificial sweeteners, which can damage your health even more quickly than fructose.
- Avoid agave syrup
since it is a highly processed sap that is almost all fructose. Your
blood sugar will spike just as it would if you were consuming regular
sugar or HFCS. Agave’s meteoric rise in popularity is due to a great
marketing campaign, but any health benefits present in the original
agave plant are processed out.
Source: Mercola, J. Avoid this Food to Help Slow Aging.
February 22, 2012.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/02/22/how-sugar-accelerates-aging.aspx?e_cid=20120222_DNL_art_1
Reducing EMF Exposure
There’s a great debate in medicine on exactly how EMFs (electromagnetic frequencies) affect our health. I wrote about this in a past blog
on my website (see contact information). Below is another excerpt from
Dr Mercola on his perspective on how modern technology is affecting our
health:
It’s worth remembering that the
telecommunication industry is much larger than the medical industrial
complex, and they have far more influence than the drug companies.
They’re also mirroring many of the same tactics as the tobacco industry
to pedal their wares. This includes attempting to discredit
researchers who publish unfavorable cell phone studies.
According to Camilla Rees, MBA of ElectromagneticHealth.org:
“We have seen a recent steep increase
in disparagement of scientific research where the research
demonstrates risks to public health from telecommunications
technologies. It is very clear that in the name of “debate” certain
parties are aggressively creating confusion and doubt about the
biological and health risks, shamefully supporting the interests of the
telecommunications industry.”
There is already robust scientific
evidence that cell phones and other wireless devices pose significant
health risks to all of us, and especially to children and pregnant
women. So while these findings are not being widely publicized as of
yet, it makes sense to take action now to protect yourself and your
children. You can help to minimize your exposure to electromagnetic
radiation from cell phones and other wireless devices by heeding the
following advice:
- Children Should Always Avoid Using Cell Phones:
Barring a life-threatening emergency, children should not use a cell
phone, or a wireless device of any type. Children are far more
vulnerable to cell phone radiation than adults, because of their thinner
skull bones. - Reduce Your Cell Phone Use: Turn your cell phone
off more often. Reserve it for emergencies or important matters. As
long as your cell phone is on, it emits radiation intermittently, even
when you are not actually making a call. If you’re pregnant, avoiding
or reducing your cell phone use may be especially important. - Use a Land Line at Home and at Work: Although more
and more people are switching to using cell phones as their exclusive
phone contact, it is a dangerous trend and you can choose to opt out of
the madness. SKYPE offers a portable number via your computer that can
plug into any Ethernet port while traveling. - Reduce or Eliminate Your Use of Other Wireless Devices:
You would be wise to cut down your use of these devices. Just as with
cell phones, it is important to ask yourself whether or not you really
need to use them as often as you do. And most importantly, do not even
consider having any electronic or wireless devices in the bedroom that
will interfere with the quality of your sleep.If you must use a
portable home phone, use the older kind that operates at 900 MHz. They
are not safer during calls, but at least many of them do not broadcast
constantly even when no call is being made.Note the only way to truly be
sure if there is an exposure from your cordless phone is to measure
with an electrosmog meter, and it must be one that goes up to the
frequency of your portable phone (so old meters won’t help much). As
many portable phones are 5.8 Gigahertz, we recommend you look for RF
meters that go up to 8 Gigahertz, the highest range now available in a
meter suitable for consumers.Alternatively you can be very careful with
the base station placement as that causes the bulk of the problem since
it transmits signals 24/7, even when you aren’t talking. So if you can
keep the base station at least three rooms away from where you spend
most of your time, and especially your bedroom, they may not be as
damaging to your health. Another option is to just simply turn the
portable phone off, only using it when you specifically need the
convenience of moving about while on a call.Ideally it would be helpful
to turn off your base station every night before you go to bed.You can
find RF meters as well as remediation supplies at www.emfsafetystore.com.
But you can pretty much be sure your portable phone is a problem if
the technology is DECT, or digitally enhanced cordless technology. - Use Your Cell Phone Only Where Reception is Good:
The weaker the reception, the more power your phone must use to
transmit, and the more power it uses, the more radiation it emits, and
the deeper the dangerous radio waves penetrate into your body. Ideally,
you should only use your phone with full bars and good reception. - Also Seek to Avoid Carrying Your Phone on Your Body
as that merely maximizes any potential exposure. Ideally put it in your
purse or carrying bag. Placing a cell phone in a shirt pocket over the
heart is asking for trouble, as is placing it in a man’s pocket if he
seeks to preserve his fertility. - Don’t Assume One Cell Phone is Safer Than Another: There’s no such thing as a “safe” cell phone.
- Keep Your Cell Phone Away From Your Body When it is On:
The most dangerous place to be, in terms of radiation exposure, is
within about six inches of the emitting antenna. You do not want any
part of your body within that area. - Respect Others Who are More Sensitive: Some people
who have become sensitive can feel the effects of others’ cell phones
in the same room, even when it is on but not being used. If you are in a
meeting, on public transportation, in a courtroom or other public
places, such as a doctor’s office, keep your cell phone turned off out
of consideration for the ‘second hand radiation’ effects. Children are
also more vulnerable, so please avoid using your cell phone near
children. - If you are using the Pong case, which redirects the cell phone
radiation away from the head and successfully lowers the SAR effect,
realize that in redirecting the radiation away from your head this may
be intensifying the radiation in another direction, perhaps toward the
person next to you, or, if in your pocket, increasing radiation
intensity toward your body. Caution is always advised in dealing with
any radiation-emitting device. We recommend cell phones be kept ‘Off’
except for emergencies. - Use Safer Headset Technology: Wired headsets will
certainly allow you to keep the cell phone farther away from your body.
However, if a wired headset is not well-shielded — and most of them
are not — the wire itself acts as an antenna attracting ambient radio
waves and transmitting radiation directly to your brain.Make sure that
the wire used to transmit the signal to your ear is shielded.The best
kind of headset to use is a combination shielded wire and air-tube
headset. These operate like a stethoscope, transmitting the information
to your head as an actual sound wave; although there are wires that
still must be shielded, there is no wire that goes all the way up to
your head.
