FASTING..what exactly do you mean?

How “Scheduled Eating” Can Promote General Health and Longevity

What Exactly is a Fast?   

“A fast is considered to start about 10 to 12 

hours after a meal, when you have used up all 

the available glucose in your blood and start 

converting glycogen stored in liver and muscle

 cells into glucose to use for energy. If the fast

continues, there is a gradual move toward

breaking down stored body fat, (and the liver

 produces 'ketone bodies,' short molecules that 

are byproducts of the breakdown of fatty acids.)

These can be used by the brain as fuel.”

                            Mark Mattson at the National Institute on Aging Washington Post

Growing evidence indicates that both fasting and exercise trigger genes and growth factors that recycle and rejuvenate your brain and muscle tissues.

Give Intermittent Fasting a Try

Consider skipping breakfast eat lunch and dinner and make sure you stop eating three hours before you go to sleep, so you’re eating within an 8-hour time frame every day. In the 6-8 hours that you do eat, you want to have healthy protein, minimize your carbs like pasta and bread and potatoes and exchange them for HEALTHY fats like butter, eggs, avocado, coconut oil, olive oil and nuts. The type of fats the media and “experts" tell you to avoid.

This will help shift you to fat burning mode from carb burning mode. Remember it takes a few weeks, and you have to do it gradually, but once you succeed to switch to fat burning mode, you will be easily able to fast for 18 hours and not feel hungry. Your cravings for sugar will magically disappear and it will be much easier to achieve your ideal weight.

The other “magical” benefit that occurs is that you will radically improve the beneficial bacteria in your gut. Why is this a good thing? Because supporting healthy gut bacteria, which actually outnumber your cells 10 to one—is one of the most important things you can do to improve your immune system so you won’t get sick, or get coughs, colds and flus. You will sleep better, have more energy, have increased mental clarity and concentrate better. Essentially every aspect of your health will improve.

Aside from removing your cravings for sugar and snack foods, melting the pounds of excess fat away, and making it far easier to maintain a healthy body weight, modern science has also confirmed there are many other good reasons to fast intermittently, such as:

• Normalizing your insulin and leptin sensitivity, which is key for optimal health as insulin resistance (which is what you get when your insulin sensitivity plummets) is a primary contributing factor to nearly all chronic disease, from diabetes to heart disease and even cancer
• Normalizing ghrelin levels, also known as "the hunger hormone"
• Promoting human growth hormone (HGH) production, which plays an important part in health, fitness and slowing the aging process
• Lowering triglyceride levels
• Reducing inflammation and lessening free radical damage

Back Pain and Posture

Article By Dr. Mercola at a glance:

• Most cases of back pain are a result of mechanical problems, such as poor posture or improper movement that are best prevented and managed by regular exercise and strengthening your back and abdominal muscles
• Well-established guidelines for the treatment of back pain require very conservative management ; in most cases, no more than aspirin or acetaminophen (Tylenol) and physical therapy
• Recent research shows that many doctors do not follow these guidelines. Over the past decade, use of Tylenol and NSAID’s declined by about 50 percent, while prescriptions for opiates rose by more than 50 percent
• One of the most effective strategies to prevent or address back pain is posture training like Foundation Training or Esther Gokhale.
• Other alternatives include chiropractic and osteopathic adjustments, Neuro-structural integration technique (NST), non-exercise activities, and yoga
• Read the Full Article here.....
• http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2013/08/16/back-pain-overtreatment.aspx

How you can look 10 times Thinner, Smarter, and Sexier

POSTURE- the importance of it is crucial to your health and appearance.
Wall Street Journal Article on LUMOback

This new device is something I have been looking for!  I spend countless hours on the computer doing billing, marketing, socializing, and editing photos. It happens everyday, the pain sets in! It comes from slouching, leaning, twisting, basically not paying attention to my posture. The worst part...I am married to a Chiropractor. Like the mechanics wife who's car is broken. No matter what treatments I do to feel better my constant slouching and bad posture pulls everything out of whack!    The LumoBack from Lumo Body Tech is a $150 sensor that straps around your lower waist to track your posture, sending you a vibrating nudge whenever you start slouching. This device is worn on the back inside clothing and works by Bluetooth with your "smartphone".  It tracks your sitting, standing, calories burned so lits like a pedometer but better!

How to Manage Inflammation by Eating the Right Foods

Chronic inflammation is the “common denominator” of age-related disease — including heart disease, many cancers, and Alzheimer's disease. Now you’re probably familiar with inflammation on the surface of your body as local redness, heat, swelling and pain. But what you may not know is this:       Inflammation also happens on the inside of your body, and this is where it can be the most dangerous to your health.

Inflammation is characterized by an increased blood flow to an area of infection or injury. In this process, your blood carries white blood cells, nourishment and repair cells to the injury site to aid in recovery. But when inflammation persists, it can actually damage your body and cause illnesses.

So what causes chronic inflammation? Stress, lack of exercise, genetic predisposition, and exposure to toxins are all common culprits. However, there’s another major cause that’s often overlooked: the foods that you put into your body. Below, we’ll examine this in detail.

Americans Love Pro-Inflammatory Foods

The typical American diet is rich in animal protein, which is a source of Arachidonic acid — a polyunsaturated omega-6 fat that can increase inflammation. Arachidonic acid generates a number of potent inflammatory compounds, including the following:

• Prostaglandins
• Prostacyclins
• Leukotrienes
• Thromboxanes

It’s really important for people with inflammatory conditions to do everything they can to avoid increasing Arachidonic acid levels. Below is a short list of foods that anyone with an inflammatory condition should limit or even avoid entirely:

• Red Meat – Especially fatty red meat
• White Meat – Chicken, duck & wild fowl
• Dairy – Any animal milk
• Eggs – Avoid the yolk
• Cheeses – Especially hard cheeses
• Certain fish – Tilapia, catfish, yellowtail

Please note that a healthy diet usually contains a balance of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids help reduce inflammation, and some omega-6 fatty acids tend to promote inflammation.

Unfortunately, the typical American diet tends to contain far more omega-6 fatty acids than omega-3 fatty acids.¹ Fixing this balance can go a long way toward easing inflammation.

What Foods are Anti-Inflammatory?

Fortunately, nature offers us plenty of foods that can help ease inflammation. Even better, these foods work without side effects while supplying us with essential vitamins and minerals that can boost our overall health.

The table below includes some natural foods and beverages that are known to ease inflammation:

Type of Food or Beverage	Food Source	Supporting Research
Omega-3 Fatty Acids	Oily fish like salmon, tuna, sardines, anchovies	Suppress multiple steps in the inflammatory process and limit the production of inflammatory cytokines.2,3
Monounsaturated Fat-Oils	Olive oil, canola, walnut, grape seed oil	Olive oil, for instance, decreases C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation.4
Seeds & Nuts	Flax seeds, pumpkin, walnuts	Flax seeds contains alpha-linolenic acidwhich has been shown to lower CRP.5
Whole Grains	Quinoa, bulgur wheat, barley, oats, rye	Lower CRP and are helpful in different types of arthritis.6
Dark Fruits	Tart cherries & dark berries	Tart cherry anthocyanins provide protection against pain and inflammation. The effect is actually comparable to that of the anti-inflammatory drug indomethacin.7
Green & black tea	Camellia sinensis	Black tea theaflavins, for instance, can help turn off specific genes in your DNA that express inflammatory cytokines.8
Seaweed	Brown kelp, wakame, arame	Seaweed is rich in fucoidan, a natural compound that reduces inflammation.9 It’s also one of the key nutrients thought to be responsible for the exceptionally long lives of people living in Okinawa.10

Is Your Own Diet Pro-Inflammatory?

Want to measure up your own diet as it relates to inflammation? Try this: keep a food diary for 1 week. Create a table with 5 columns — meats, dairy, fruits, vegetables and grains. Place a checkmark in the appropriate column every time you eat a serving of food from that category. At the end of the week, simply tally your checkmarks to see where you land.

Here’s an example diary:

If you have more checkmarks to the left of the table, you’re eating what we’d consider to be a pro-inflammatory diet. If you have more checkmarks to the right, you’re eating an anti-inflammatory diet.

Please note: This table is not an exact science. It’s just a simple means of helping you assess your own diet!

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How does your diet measure up in terms of inflammation? Have you ever considered this before? Let us know in the comments!

By Michael A. Smith, MD

References

1. Nutr Hosp. 2011 Mar-Apr;26(2):323-9.
2. J Nutr Biochem. 2003 Sep;14(9):513–21.
3. Nutr Clin Pract. 2009 Aug-Sep;24(4):508-12.
4. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2009 Dec;19(10):697-706.
5. Obes Surg. 2007 Mar;17(3):341-7.
6. J Nutr. 2010 Mar;140(3):587-94.
7. Behav Brain Res. 2004 Aug 12;153(1):181-8.
8. Crit Care Med. 2004 Oct;32(10):2097-103.
9. Immunol Cell Biol. 1994 Oct;72(5):367-74.
10. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2001;10(2):159-64.

Intermittent Fasting Basics infographic

REAL RESULTS WITH ACE

REAL RESULTS WITH ACE, a set on Flickr.

Real Results
Real People
Be the Next Face Of ACE

Why it is important to add strength training to your routine

Story at-a-glance

• Cardio exercises alone are not enough to truly optimize your health. it is helpful to incorporate a form of strength training into your exercise regimen.
• The surest way to build and maintain more muscle mass as you age is through strength training. Working your muscles is also key to firing up your metabolism.
• Your muscles follow the ‘use it or lose it’ principle and profoundly impacts how many calories your body burns, how efficient you are at exercise, and how well your body will make it through the aging process.
• There are easy ways to add strength training into your life without feeling like you have to force yourself at the gym to hoist the kind of barbells that professional weight lifters do.
• http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2013/08/09/freytag-strength-training.aspx

Girls Gone Slim

1. Eat Less
2. Work Hard
3. Envision the body you want
4. Have faith and dedication

Sand between my toes, its for my health!!

Story at-a-glance

• When you walk barefoot, free electrons are transferred from the earth into your body, and this grounding effect is one of the most potent antioxidants we know of.
• Inflammation thrives when your blood is thick, and you have a lot of free radical stress, and a lot of positive charges in your body. Grounding effectively alleviates inflammation because it thins your blood and infuses you with negatively charged ions through the soles of your feet.
• Surfaces that allow for proper grounding include sand, grass, bare dirt, and untreated concrete, brick and ceramic tile. Leather-soled shoes also allow you to ground while walking, whereas rubber-soled shoes disconnect you from the earth and block beneficial electron transfer.
• Grounding helps thin your blood by improving its zeta potential, which means it improves the energy between your red blood cells. Research has demonstrated it takes about 80 minutes for the free electrons from the earth to reach your blood stream and transform your blood.
• Grounding is contraindicated if you take Coumadin, as it may thin your blood too much.
• Why being Barefoot is so good for you.    -Article from Mercola.com