As you read this, you’re probably sitting — a motion done by all of us countless times a day. We sit to eat, to work, to relax, to converse, to socialize … to engage in infinite moments of our lives.

Yet as research would have it, this very simple and often necessary act could be insidiously harmful to your health in a surprising number of ways.

“Chair time is an insidious hazard because people haven’t been told it’s a hazard,” Marc Hamilton, Ph.D., a professor of biomedical sciences at the University of Missouri in Columbia, told Ivanhoe Broadcast News.

According to Hamilton, numerous studies show rates of heart disease, diabetes and obesity are doubled and even tripled in people who sit a lot. Part of the problem with sitting is that it stops the circulation of lipase, an enzyme that breaks down fats. So instead of being burned by your muscles, when you’re sitting fat recirculates in your bloodstream where it may end up stored as body fat, clogging arteries or contributing to disease.

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At some point everyone searches to make positive changes in their life. Whether they are health-related, success-oriented or simply to get more happiness out of life, it is a constant quest.

Without having a roadmap or step-by-step instructions on how to accomplish these life changes many of us unfortunately give up trying, settling for the status quo and accepting things as they are.
The good news is there are some simple changes you can make in your life to garner success, happiness and good health. You CAN achieve the ideal you’ve been after — the trick is to focus on a few changes at a time and once you start noticing differences in your life learning how to use these positive changes for inspiration to take on some more.

Below you will find simple yet insightful tips on how to achieve success in every area of your life followed by practical habits to living a long and healthy life. Are you ready to get started?

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Take a break for a few minutes from whatever you were doing before reading this article. Clear your mind of errands to run, projects to complete, racing thoughts of all kinds. And think for a moment about your life and these two words:

1. Certainty
2. Uncertainty

These two premises, one being an outcome that is without doubt, the other a circumstance that nobody can predict or guarantee, are capable of explaining your whole life … and why it’s not exactly how you wish it were right now.

When we have great “certainty” there is an urge for most of us to seek “uncertainty.” For instance, some people when surrounded by great certainty — such as while in a steady, secure job or in a committed long-term relationship — say they are bored or are not feeling alive. They feel they’re not using their talents to the maximum, not feeling that excitement in their marriage, not feeling like they’re living the life they always imagined.

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For some time now I have been handing out to my patients, an article showing that our oceans are getting more and more polluted.

This article is the report I give my patients from several years ago that show increasingly high levels of mercury, cadmium, aluminum, chromium, lead, titanium and silver from tissue samples taken by dart gun from nearly 1000 whales over five years.

Roger Payne, PhD, led this group that went fro

m the polar areas down to the equator and took samples from whales documenting ingested pollutants that probably had been produced by humans thousands of miles away.

Dr. Payne who is the founder and president of Ocean Alliance stated “These contaminants, I think, are threatening the human food supply. They certainly are threatening the whales and other animals that live in the ocean.”

Specifically the researchers found mercury as high as 16 part per million, in the whales that they evaluated. By comparison, fish that are considered high in mercury such as shark and swordfish, which health experts warn children and pregnant women to avoid, typically have about one part per million of mercury.

The average level of mercury in the whales was 2.4 ppm but this was from their skin samples. Experts noted that their internal organs probably had a much higher level than the skin samples had.

Dr. Payne stated that “The entire ocean life is just loaded with a series of contaminants most of which have been released by human beings.” Dr. Payne further noted that what a mother whale is doing “is dumping her lifetime accumulation of that fat-soluble stuff into her baby.” And he pointed out that each generation passes on more to the next. This is also what is happening in human and our babies!

This is why I encourage my patients not to eat fish at all. Number one, almost all fish are full of mercury now. I will point out that a company called Vital Choice states that it’s fish are low in mercury, but I am not sure I agree with that. I am looking further into this.

I am seeing increasing levels of mercury in my young patients which, without cleaning them out, they will pass on to their children. Because Mercury is linked with so many neurological problems in children and adults I tell my patients not to eat fish.

Some of my conscientious patients point out that they’re doing something they think is very good for themselves. They are eating “farmed fish”. This is absolutely far from the truth. Farmed fish are fed corn and become loaded with pesticides in addition. Atlantic salmon for example is loaded with PCBs, which are known to be carcinogenic.

I urge my patients, who choose to eat fish, to choose only small fish that are wild-caught.

Remember, mercury is just part of the picture. Chromium, aluminum, and Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) were found in the whales as well. Chromium is an industrial pollutant that causes cancer in humans.

Dr. Payne went on to state in his interview that “You could make a fairly tight argument to say that is the single greatest health threat is ever face the human species. I suspect this will shorten lives, if it turns out that this is what’s going on.

I urge you to read the original article which you can find HERE.

The real event that made me bring up the subject of what’s happening to our ocean in this issue, is a recent episode on the Bill Maher show on HBO in which he and his panel discussed the ocean.

Here is the selection from the show, where Bill talks about what has happened to the oceans.

Here is another great video about what is happening to our oceans.

And one more by world-renowned ciematographer Bob Talbot-“The Fish are Gone”.

I also refer you to the additional resources in the references below.

Please talk to your family. Please talk to your friends. Please talk to your politicians to see if we can turn this catastrophe in the ocean that is about to occur, around.

References

Seachange-The Pacific’s Perilous Turn

Ocean Alliance

Deep ocean communities impacted by changing
climate over 24 y

Our Oceans are Dying

The Oceans are Dying

Please let me know your thoughts on this important issue!

In last week’s newsletter I talked about the relationship
Between Particulate Air Pollution (smog) and Alzheimer’s disease.

I discussed the importance for city dwellers, which is most of my patients and readers, to get and use an air filter in their house and certainly at least in their bedroom when they are sleeping.

Now new information is coming out increasingly, to show the relationship between air pollution and infertility. It is currently estimated by the CDC that 6.7 million women have impaired ability to get pregnant or to carry a baby to term. This represents 10.9% of women between the ages of 15 and 44.

Now air pollution is getting linked to infertility.

In men, air pollution has been linked to DNA damage, abnormal sperm morphology, and reduce sperm performance.

More and more studies are showing that exposure to environmental air pollutants affect reproductive functions and, in particular, produce adverse effects on pregnancy outcomes, fertility and fetal health.

“Epidemiological studies demonstrate that exposure to ambient levels of air pollutants are associated with low birth weight, intrauterine growth retardation, prematurity, neonatal death, and decreased fertility in males.”

In a very recent study it was shown that short-term decreases in a couple’s ability to conceive was associated with airborne particles of the size PM2.5 as well as nitrous oxide which is part of ordinary smog.

Another recent article from last month is showing that living in a city with air pollution lowers sperm quality and can affect fertility. The author of the article said that it “can take up to three months from being exposed to pollution until effects on the sperm are seen.”

Another recent article has shown a 2.6 fold increase in the risk of miscarriage from a brief exposure to high levels of ambient particulate matter, as in smog of a size smaller then PM10.

Putting all this information together has certainly helped me to understand why young couples are having so much trouble conceiving and carrying a baby to term. Increasingly we see miscarriages and and many other fertility problems in the young women of today.

All this information led a colleague of mine Walter Crinnion, ND, to say semi-jokingly to me “We can now recommend air filters in our patients’ houses as fertility aids!”

For this reason, I encourage all my patients and readers who are trying to conceive to purchase a high quality air filter, which will be under $1000, and use it nightly in your bedroom with the windows and doors closed while you sleep.

It just might help you have a baby!

See the next article on my Recommended Air Filters for your house.

References

Ambient air pollution exposure and damage to male gametes

Air pollution and effects on reproductive-system functions

Environmental factors and semen quality.

Short-term impact of atmospheric pollution on fecundability

Air pollution lowers sperm quality

Effects of exposure to high levels of particulate air
pollution during the follicular phase of the conception
cycle on pregnancy outcome in couples undergoing in
vitro fertilization and embryo transfer

Effects of exposure to high levels of particulate air pollution during the follicular phase of the conception cycle

What does PM2.5 and PM10 Mean?

Now that I have written articles that show that the particles in city smog affect young people by impairing fertility, and old people by impairing their memory, I hope you understand why it is so imperative to get a high quality air filter at least for your bedroom.

My patients and readers have asked me what air filters I recommend and I would like to now give you my two recommendations.

1.RabbitAir makes an excellent and aesthetically lovely air filter. It is very high-quality and does not take up a lot of room. In addition some of the models have a “silent” mode for those who have trouble sleeping with a low-level fan blowing in their bedroom.

By working with the people at rabbit air I have been able to set up an affiliate agreement that allows me to pass on a discount to my patients and readers.

If you go to their website (the only way to buy one) and buy an air purifier and use the code SK1259, they will give you $30 off the price of your purchase along with free shipping.

They have an excellent website with clear explanations, including videos, on how to set up and use their filters.

This is personally the filter I use in my home and my office and I am very happy with them.

Click Here to Go To Their Site

2.IQAir

The other filter that I can recommend is the IQAir. This filter is more expensive than the RabbitAir and physically takes up much more space in your room. They have great demonstrations, that they show at conventions, using a particulate air meter, on just how fresh the air coming out of their filter is.

IQ air has a good website but it is not quite as user-friendly as the RabbitAir site.

I have also been able to arrange an affiliate agreement with IQ air. If you use the code IQ23608 on their Web site they will give you 5% off all of their filters.

Click Here to Visit their Website

The choice of which filter to buy,is really up to you. However, if you live in a big city with lots of smog, based on all the studies that I’ve shown you, I strongly encourage you to buy one of these for your house and for at least your bedroom. If you have children, certainly they should have one in their bedroom as well.

There are about 150,000 new cases of colon cancer each year in the United States. Colon cancer is cancer of the inner lining of the colon. The colon makes up about 5 feet of the large intestine, connecting to about 6 inches of rectum.

Colon cancer, colorectal cancer, and rectal cancer are all pretty much the same disease — colorectal and rectal cancers affect the area of the colon that is closest to the rectum. The American Cancer Society states that poor dietary habits, obesity, and inactivity will be responsible for at least 1/3 of all cancer deaths this year.

Because colon cancer occurs in part of the digestive tract, what you decide to eat has a lot to do with your risk factor for this disease. With that in mind, here are some top tips to lower your risk.

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 The number of bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract greatly outnumber the cells in your body; your gut has 100 trillion microorganisms while you have about 10 trillion cells in your body!

What this means is that the microflora in your gut is a powerful and compelling force in your body, one that may influence far more than how well your food gets digested. This living inner ecosystem is becoming a favorite topic among scientists and nutritionists alike, and you may be wise to listen to what the newest research is revealing.

Your Gut Bacteria May Influence How Many Calories You Absorb From Your Food

Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis found that obese people have more of a family of bacteria called firmicutes than lean people. Among normal weight people, bacteria called bacteroidetes were less plentiful. And it appears the bacteria were having a major impact on weight.

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Under the guidance of my long-time colleague Walter Crinnion, ND, the annual environmental medicine update convention took place in Phoenix Arizona last weekend.

All aspects of how environmental toxicity is being proven to affect our health were discussed by many speakers.

Everything from longtime pesticides like DDT to solvents in the paint we use in our house, to the phthalates in our personal care products and our houses, were discussed and their connections with disease were documented.

Alzheimer’s Disease

In this issue of my newsletter I will talk about the newest findings from the convention in Alzheimer’s disease.

In my practice, Alzheimer’s disease is the number one fear of my patients over age 50.

See the slide below from Dr. Crinnion’s lecture.

[Read more…]

Flowers have been used as a delicate food among many cultures for thousands of years. Romans commonly used violets in their dishes, Hispanic cultures ate stuffed squash blossoms, Asian Indians used rose petals, and the French liqueur Chartreuse contains carnation petals.
Today, edible flowers are usually reserved for chic restaurants and wedding cakes, not your typical meal at home. But, edible flowers can be quite tasty, and they make a welcome addition raw in salads, cooked with an appetizer or main course, infused into sauces or added to desserts.

Because edible flowers are so delicate, they don’t keep well in the refrigerator (if you must store them, put them between two moist paper towels, wrap the package in plastic wrap, the put it in the fridge). Instead, they’re best cooked as soon as you get them home, after carefully rinsing them in cold water.

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