What We Really Know About Antioxidants

 

At first I was going to call this post the truth about Antioxidants but we don't know what the truth is.

There is a lot of research but nothing that is 100% the truth.

I actually think that this is something very true about medicine in general.

Ok actually I take that back.

To more accurately explain what I am trying to say, a very large part of what we can say about medicine is hypothesis.

Let me just stop right there because that in itself is an entire book in my opinion.

But the story of Antioxidants is just one great example of this.

The bottom line is that we don't need to take Antioxidants. What we do need is balance and in some situations we may be able to create the needed balance by taking antioxidants.

The real question is not if you should take Antioxidants or not, but which antioxidants should you take when.

A healthy diet should always include a large amount of fresh fruits and vegetables. This should give the regular person a sufficient amount of antioxidants. But if you read this article, you will start to understand that at certain times we can increase our consumption of certain antioxidants for a specific result.

But on the other hand high levels of antioxidants can cause an unwanted effect on the body.

Here is a longer more in detail article stating clinical trials showing how not all antioxidants are the same. 

Knowing which antioxidants can be helpful for an individuals specific health goals is definitely something that I am going to be doing more extensive research on in the future.

Here are the links to the two articles I referred to above.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2016.00024/full

https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Triathlon/News/Blogs/Fuel-Station/2019/January/14/The-Truth-About-Antioxidants

Red Onions Vs White Onions

 

And now we are going to talk about flavonoids.

But first just a bit about onions in general.

I feel like onions are like garlic just bigger and juicer. But that's not really true. Onions and garlic have a completely different chemical makeup. 

But they are both super healthy foods when eaten raw, I know that a lot of people hate to hear that one because they are so tasty when they are cooked. Even tastier when fried, yum.

The problem is that when you cook them you lose those healthy flavonoids, that's what gives them that strong flavor.

Onions, red and white, as well as garlic are rich in vitamins, minerals and flavonoids. But red onions have an extra type of flavonoids called anthocyanins. These bad boys are a powerful plant pigment that may be helpful in fighting off some nasty diseases like heart disease and diabetes.

This is not fully proven but there is research to support the statement.

Here is just one example.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1082903/

Here is a short part of the article linked above.

"Research over the past decade has produced incontrovertible evidence for a vast array of health benefits arising from the consumption of fruits and vegetables. In an endeavor to identify the active health-promoting ingredients, many researchers have focused on the properties of the flavonoids, a large class of phenolic compounds that is abundant in such foods. Most prominent among the flavonoids are the anthocyanins—universal plant colorants responsible for the red, purple, and blue hues evident in many fruits, vegetables, cereal grains, and flowers. Represented by over 600 molecular structures as identified to date, anthocyanins are of particular interest to the food colorant industry due to their ability to impart vibrant colours to the product. Now it seems highly likely that they also enhance the health-promoting qualities of foods."

So in short the difference between red and white onions is the anthocyanins.

And in that little cut and paste I did there I also explained about the flavonoids, well they explained it for me. 

 

Peacefully Accenting - A Bit About Adaptogens

 

Many times change in our lives is met with difficulty, even when it is a good change.

Herbs which are considered Adaptogens help us to deal with the stress of such changes.

ASTRAGALUS is one such herb

But I think that there is a secret to easily move up the ladder of life, and this could be the financial, social or even spiritual ladder, without the difficulty of dealing with the change. Because let's face it moving up any of those ladders in itself is hard, why should we be having a hard time when we have actually achieved our goal and get to the next level.

I think the idea of a ladder is great because how you land on the next step or rung depends on how you left the one before it.

When we are trying to further ourselves in any field of life we seem to grow unhappy and perhaps even resentful of our current position.

This may just be my experience but I believe that most people go through this at some level.

The fine balance lies in the ability to be able to really appreciate where you are now while staying motivated to work toward a positive change. This is because just being happy about where you are has the chance of leading to stagnation.

But if you leave your current level with a feeling of unhappiness, that unhappiness can follow you to the next stage in the game in the form of stress.

So how can Adaptogens help?

Well in the end you are going to have to find a way to be happy with where you are now to be really happy with where you want to be, that's just the way it is in my humble opinion.

There are no major plants that are going to do that for you.

But herbal Adaptogens help to keep us in the peak state so that we can get the most done and in the best way. 

Here is a link to an article on healthline.com that I felt explained that even better.

https://www.healthline.com/health/adaptogenic-herbs#takeaway

The Citron Fruit Health Benefits And My Random Thoughts

Today is the eve of the sukkot holidays and I actually have time to write and research a bit.

And of course to let my mind do it's own crazy rounds like it always does.

So the Citron Fruit is one of the four species that we Jews have a tradition to shake around.

So what was actually very interesting to read was that the Citron is one of the three original citrus fruits that all the rest of citrus fruits are just a combination of these original three.

And once again it is all about the three.

Ok before I go on with my own random thoughts.

Yes the Citron has lots of vitamin C and tons of bioflavonoids, I bet you are not surprised to hear that it strengthens the immune system not too different from the lemon or the orange just one of the original three.

It's crazy about three.

In Jewish mysticism you have the first three highest spheres that everything comes from.

At least all of creation, there are some even above these three but that is just other worldly stuff.

The Greeks had their three big gods.

Christianity has the holy trilogy.

And although I couldn't find the big three in the Muslim faith I'm sure it's there. Anyway the Muslim faith is the third of the Abrahamic religions.

So I didn't get to finish this before the holiday started, but lucky for me it's a long one, eight days.

The number eight has its own significance, not gonna get into that here though.

The fundamental idea behind monotheism, which is also the foundation of the three Abrahamic religions, is the same as that of holistic philosophy.

This is also the fundamental idea behind holistic medicine.

As a believer I try my best to look at the world as one entity.

The high holidays as well as sukkot are a time when we have a chance to connect with this on an even higher level.

May we all have the good fortune in these trying times to bring this down to our day to day lives on even a higher level than before.

Olive Leaf Extract - Health Benefits

Olive Leaf Extract - Health Benefits

gastroprotective (protects digestive system)

neuroprotective (protects central nervous system)

antimicrobial (inhibits microorganism growth)

anticancer (reduces risk of cancer)

anti-inflammatory (reduces risk of inflammation)

antinociceptive (reduces pain stimuli)

antioxidant (prevents oxidation or cell damage)

I was trying to think of herbal remedies that people don't hear about very often and I came up with the olive leaf. 

Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that it is almost the olive harvest here in the middle east, but I can't say for certain. 

All though the olives on the tree right in front of my house are looking nice and juicy, just about ready to be picked.

Last year was actually the first time that I actually pickled some, they came out pretty good, but this year they are going to be even better because I got some really good tips from friends on how to do it better. 

Yes back to the olive leaf.

A bunch of years ago I made an alcohol extract for my mother to help her with her sugar levels. 

Just for your general knowledge olive leaf extract is made using 90% alcohol. 

The extract that I had made for my mother back then was able to keep her blood sugar balanced for a while and the effects were very noticable in her blood work.

The list of health benefits that I have written at the top of this post is from a post that i read in healthline.com here is the link if you would like to go through it yourself. 

https://www.healthline.com/health/olive-leaf-extract

After reading an additional article I find the research pointing to the effects of olive leaf on heart health, inflammation, blood sugar levels and antimicrobials has the most amount of scientific backing. 

But it is very important to realise that the other health claims for olive leaf are very likely true as well just that there have not been documented clinical research done on them. 

 

Herbs That Help Stop Bleeding

Herbs that help stop bleeding are also known as astringents.

The way that they work is they cause a tightening of the tissue.

Many well known astringents are also referred to as warrior herbs because those wounded in battle knew which herbs that grew wild could help to stop the bleeding.

The four that are mentioned in the picture at the top are just a few of very many herbs that can be used to stop bleeding.

Lavender oil is a great fix for small cuts and burns and is also soothing.

Aloe Vera sap can be used fresh.

And chamomile and yarrow can be made into a poultice, wrapped in a clean cloth and applied directly to the skin.

Cardiotonic Herbs

 

The inspiration for this post came after a friend of mine, a very young guy not even thirty years old, had a minor heart attack.

He is doing fine and the doctors don't have any clear diagnosis of what caused it. 

I really would like to suggest that he take Hawthorn berries, even just for a few months to help strengthen his heart. 

But the truth be told I don't fully understand how these plants help and affect the heart. 

Even after going through the research that has been done on these plants it is hard to understand the mechanism behind their effects on improving cardio health. 

Hawthorn is still at the top of the list of Cardiotonic herbs, while garlic even though I did not add it as one of the three cardiotonic herbs, is by many considered to be a cardiotonic as well. 

The second on the list of cardiotonic herbs is motherwort, the latin name for this plant is Leonurus cardiaca, so even the name implies its use as cardiotonic.

I found some very in depth research into effects of Motherwort that show how it actually helps protect the heart. 

Here is the link to that.

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2019/4303215/

The last on my list of cardiotonics is Convallaria, also known commonly as “Lily of the valley”.

The reason that I put it at the bottom of the list is because it seems to work like foxglove which is a strong heart stimulant and needs to be used with care.  

 

Four Immune Stimulating Herbs And A Bit On How They Work

My first idea for this post was to write about how certain herbs can help to strengthen our natural immune response. 

But then I thought to myself that someone else has already done that, I will just find it and give you all a link.

I could not find anything of the sort.

Ok, I do not think that I went further than the first page of search results, but who does.

Anyway, all I saw was stuff, kind of like this, listing off different herbs or giving recipes.

What is interesting though is there is not a lot of research proving that most of these herbs actually strengthen the immune system.

Let me explain.

For example, a herb such as thyme, is a very strong antimicrobial herb, which is very useful when trying to fight off an infection.

But it does not affect the immune system (as far as I know).

These kinds of plant medicines are very good to help fight disease, but that is not what I am talking about here. 

Also the four herbs that I am going to talk about.

• Garlic

• Elderberry

• Withania

• Astragalus

Are not herbs that strengthen the immune system by simply nourishing the body (those are great to).

But these are herbs that actually strengthen the body's natural immune response.

How do they do it?

Let me try and explain a few of the ways that they work without getting all scientific and boring.

Also because I can't be bothered to go and look up all those fancy names that I can never remember, let alone spell.

Even spell check doesn't know what they are. 

From what I understand there are two ways that they can work.

1 - they cause the body to produce more white blood cells which go around our body killing germ cells that might have found their way in.

2 - this one is a bit hard to understand but there is something beautifully poetic about it, they produce a sort of in check state of inflammation that is ready to go in a sort of controlled state at the first sign of trouble. 

Pretty cool right?

For any of you who would like all the big words and scientific lingo here are the links to each of these herbs research articles. 

Garlic

https://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/food-beverages/garlic

Elderberry

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1756464614002400

Ashwaganda(Withania) 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3252722/

Astragalus

https://cmjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13020-019-0234-0

 

Medical Mushrooms

Personally I don't have any experience with these Mushrooms.

Most of the multivitamins that I purchase do have a combination of a few of them and for me I feel that it's enough.

Their immune system strengthening properties are what sparked the idea for this post while researching immune stimulating herbs.

All of the medicinal mushrooms have more or less the same five health benefits.

This makes a lot of sense being that well in the end they are all mushrooms,right.

The Five Health Benefits Of Mushrooms

• Prevent diabetes

• Anti-aging

• Anti Cancer

• Keep The Heart Healthy

• Strengthen The Immune System

There is a good solid amount of research to back this up but still nothing has been scientifically proven 100%.

Here is the article that brought this all to my attention.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4684115/

Three Great Antispasmodic Herbs

 

When treating a dry hacking cough it is a good idea to add an Antispasmodic herb to the formula.

This helps to calm the cough.

But the interesting thing is that also when treating a wet, productive cough, you should have an Antispasmodic herb in your formula.

It might seem counterintuitive to some because if the cough is productive we are going to add expectorant Herbs to help clear the lungs.

The reason we still want an Antispasmodic herb is so that the coughing action is slow, steady and clearing.

This is one of those things that I learnt that stayed with me.

Truth be, it even resonates very well with me now. Not only physiologically, but also as a state of being.

We need to be in a way slow and consistent to be productive, not spasmodic.

Don't be such a spaz.

Ok a link to the clinical research is under each herb.

Tilia

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4147264/

Mint

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5814329/

Sage

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4003706/

Five Anti-inflammatory Herbs - With Clinical Research To Prove it

 

Anti inflammatory Herbs are extremely useful.

But the thing that can be confusing is knowing which plants that are used traditionally as anti inflammatory have actual clinical research to back up the tradition.

I obviously can't help with all plants that are known to be Anti-inflammatory but here are the first five that I was able to think of.

For the most part the anti inflammatory actions have to do with showing the activity of these things called prostaglandins which cause inflammation in the body.

I will write the name of each hey and a link to the research that I found below the name.

Ginger

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3665023/

Chamomile

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2995283/

Aloe Vera

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6330525/

Yarrow

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3232110/

Plantago

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5878035/

What Are Figs Good For?

 What Are Figs Good For?

Well they are good to eat and delicious.

But really now.

Figs are a great low calorie snack when eaten fresh, but try to stay away from the dried ones they are packed with sugar and that means calories.

Figs are great to get the digestive tract moving, making them a great help when dealing with constipation.

I have an uncle that got nicknamed the fig man because he ate a bunch of figs one weekend and well he found out what a great laxative they can be.

If you get what I'm saying.

Figs are also packed with vitamins and minerals.

Just take a look at the photo below.

There is also some research pointing out that figs may be helpful in keeping the heart healthy.

Here is a link to all that research if you are interested.

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/figs-benefits#2

The reason I actually thought about figs is because they are in season now and the figs growing on the tree in my yard are just so good.

 

The Placebo Effect And How We Can Use It

The placebo effect is a very interesting Phenomena.

It is the basis of any double blind clinical trial that is used to determine if a new drug is actually effective in treating a physical condition.

A placebo is a substance that contains no active ingredients that is administered to a group of people that think that they are actually taking a drug. 

“How Does the Placebo Effect Work?

Research on the placebo effect has focused on the relationship of mind and body. One of the most common theories is that the placebo effect is due to a person's expectations. If a person expects a pill to do something, then it's possible that the body's own chemistry can cause effects similar to what a medication might have caused.”

pubmed.com

In my opinion this is a perfect example of how our thoughts create our reality.

It goes to show us that what we expect to happen will very well manifest itself and become a reality. 

You may think that I am pulling this out of perspective, but if you look at the world of positive thinking philosophy you will see that I am far from the first to make this suggestion. 

What if we would just change what we want to what we expect?

The point that I am trying to make is that if we expect what we want then perhaps we will be able to create the future that we want. 

Easier said than done, yes. But the method is that simple. 

My suggestion is to feel the way you would if you were garounted that the future that you want was going to happen. 

This is what I have been working on doing in my life and I have found it to be effective. 

I hope that this can help you as well. 

Bacopa Monnieri - Nootropics - Brain Food

So I started taking this NOOTROPIC (just a fancy name for a food supplement aimed to help brain function) and I thought I would do a little bit of blogging about the stuff that it has inside the vegan capsules. 

It was actually interesting I felt like they helped me even the first time that I took them but my wife who took them as well said they were totally bogus and did not do anything. So who knows maybe it was just the placebo effect. 

What I really wanted to write about were the herbs that it has in it.

But maybe I'll get to the other stuff as well.

But I am always drawn to the botanicals.

Because Herbal Medicine was the first thing that really caught my interest  about this whole world of complementary medicine.

The first Herb written in the ingredients is Bacopa monnieri which is a herb that comes to us from ayurvedic medicine. 

I actually feel like a lot of the herbs that have a traditional use for strengthening brain function come to us from ayurvedic medicine but I am going to have to look into that further before I can say anything.

Ok let us cut to the chase here. 

Bacopa monnieri

There is a significant amount of research out there to show that this plant MAY BE helpful for the following six things. 

• Contains powerful antioxidants
• May reduce inflammation
• may boost brain function
• may help reduce adhd symptoms
• May prevent anxiety and stress
• May help lower blood pressure levels

I am not going to go and cite all the research but if you are interested here is the link.

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/bacopa-monnieri-benefits#section5

The one thing amongst the above list that I do want to touch upon is the first.

Why would the fact that it contains powerful antioxidants be helpful for brain function?

And why do we want antioxidants anyways?

I don't have the answer to these questions but I think it is important to ask the question.

The Good, Bad & Ugly of Natural Medicine

This is my second time working on this post, mainly the reason I trashed my first draft was because I got too sidetracked and lost focus.

My goal here is really to have a spot where I can refer to people where I have summed up in short my view on Natural Medicine. 

The way I got to this final draft was by recording myself speaking it out in less than five minutes, just in case that might help some-one I thought I would put it out there.

Staying focused now

Here are the bullet points.

The Good

• Focused on overall health
• Strengthening the body
• Medicine that is from nature and not a laboratory

The Bad

• Incorrect use of herbs and vitamins
• Not seeking proper medical care

The Ugly

• The big food supplement companies who focus on sales and not health

If you just read them you should be able to get the picture but I will expand on them shortly anyway.

The Good

Natural medicine is focused on the overall health of a person and not just the current issue that a person may be suffering from at the very moment. 

Health is not just the lack of disease but vibrance and energy that is balanced in all ways. 

A well trained practitioner will go through a lengthy questionnaire in order to properly judge a clients health. 

This should very well include blood test results.

Then a treatment plan is put together which would include dietary changes, exercises and possibly herbal and supplement prescriptions if needed. 

But the focus should not be just to solve the one thing that caused the client to seek the help of the practitioner but to move toward a state of health and well being.

The Bad

The bad side of natural medicine is usually the result of people who do not seek out the advice of a practitioner or the person that they are looking to for help is not properly trained. 

This is also why the whole world of natural medicine has such a bad name, because there are a lot of people who have very good intentions but not enough training.

Besides the possible bad side effects of certain herbs and vitamins, someone can be taking too much or even too little and not be getting the proper treatment.

In addition to all this because natural medicines are easy to get your hands on, some of them even growing wild in your yard, many people seem to take a DIY approach and try to treat themselves. 

While this may or may not be effective, problems arise when people are not seeking proper medical care as a result of this. 

The Ugly

Now that I am finally finishing this up I remembered that this is why I thought of this post to begin with.

The big vitamin companies that are just looking to make sales.

I am sure that no single person working for them thinks that way but the result is the same. 

Advertising gets put all over the internet that this herb, vitamin, mineral or whatever else is good for some thing and the fact is that most of the time just this one thing is not going to get the results. It has to be a combination of healthy habits as well as proper diet and perhaps if needed supplementation but that is only a small part of the equation but you will never hear that from a company that is trying to sell vitamins and herbal supplements*. 

*only when it's written like this if you are lucky.

Watch What You Think

It is not a new age theory that what we think and believe affects our health, just writing that I know that I have written it before but I guess a good statement is worth repeating. 

The physiological effects of stress on our health, such as high blood pressure and lower functioning of our immune system, are well known. 

I don't even feel the need to bring sources for these. Any internet search can show you documented proof of this and one can even do their own research by talking to people and observing to come to the same conclusion. 

What is even more interesting though is the fact that also our beliefs have such a strong effect on our health that in order for a drug to be officially recognized as being an effective cure for certain illness it needs to be tested with a double blind placebo test. 

This means that it has to be proved that it works in significantly more cases than a placebo, which is nothing more than a sugar pill. Because the fact that these people even just think that they are taking medicine causes their body to produce the desired results in some cases. 

The reason that I bring this up is because I feel like many of us are in need of a serious mental diet these days.

While the world is starting to ride the second wave of the so-called Covid-19, the fear and anxiety are more contagious than the virus itself. 

And it is my belief that they can be causing more of a health crisis as well.

But the situation is what it is and we are all in it. What is important is to be very aware of your mind and what you are letting it dwell upon.

Like I said - Watch What You Think

A few years ago I wrote a short article about the seven habits that I have used to stay healthy, I even paid a good friend to edit it for me so it would sound nicer than all of the run-on sentences in this blog post. 

For some reason though I never finished it off, it is kind of strange now that I think of it. I worked on it for so long, actually put money into it and left it 98% finished, but not all the way there. 

Anyway, here is the supper short version.

The Seven Habits For Staying Healthy And Young

• Eat fresh garlic
• Drink lots of water
• Eat leafy greens
• Drink fresh lemon juice in water first thing in the morning
• Take a multivitamin
• Get lots of exercise
• Think positive

In the full article I went into detailed clinical proof that these things work and also gave tips and examples on how they can be done. 

If you want to actually read it just let me know and maybe that will motivate me to finish it off and put it out there. 

For free don't worry.