Role of Diet, Immune and Nutritional supplements in COVID-19 Pandemic

Social distancing ,regular handwashing and wearing mask are the most effective and proven methods to reduce risk and spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). However its equally important to understand the link between nutrition, immune system and supplements in COVID.

 Your immune system constantly defends your body against invading pathogens, including viruses, toxins, and bacteria.

Keeping your immune system healthy year-round is key to preventing infection and disease. Making healthy lifestyle choices by consuming nutritious foods and getting enough sleep and exercise are the most important ways to bolster your immune system.

Poorly nourished individuals are at a greater risk of various bacterial, viral, and other infections.

What factors can depress our immune system?

1. Old age
2. Poor nutrition
3. Lack of sleep and recovery
4. Lack of physical activities
5. Chronic stress
6. Excess weight
7. Chronic diseases
8. Environmental toxins

Eating enough nutrients as part of a varied diet is required for the health and function of all cells, including immune cells. In addition, research has shown that supplementing with certain vitamins, minerals, herbs, and other substances can improve immune response and potentially protect against illness.

A healthy and clean diet emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and nuts, moderate consumption of fish, and poultry, and limited intake of red and processed meat, refined carbohydrates, sugar and ultra processed food.

SMARTEST DOCTOR IS YOUR BODY. We all are blessed with a super power inner pharmacy which can be activated by FARMACY.

FARMACY

Your inner tube of life is your digestive system. Two wolf in your digestive system- Good bacteria and bad/wrong bacteria, whom you feed the most will grow and take the lead of your health. Processed foods are the treat for bad bacteria whereas whole unprocessed foods, probiotic, prebiotic, fermented foods are the treat for good bacteria.

The microbiome plays a key role in immune function. The gut is a major site of immune activity and the production of antimicrobial proteins. The diet plays a large role in determining what kinds of microbes live in our intestines. A high-fiber plant-rich diet with plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes appear to support the growth and maintenance of beneficial microbes.

Certain helpful microbes break down fibers into short chain fatty acids, which have been shown to stimulate immune cell activity. These fibers are sometimes called prebiotics because they feed microbes. Therefore, a diet containing probiotic and prebiotic foods may be beneficial. Probiotic foods like curd contain live helpful bacteria , and prebiotic foods contain fiber and oligosaccharides that feed and maintain healthy colonies of those bacteria.

In COVID pandemic, it is indispensable to keep our immune system healthy and vital.

Here are the few suggestions to boost your immune and keep COVID -19 at bay-

1. Vitamin D- A number of studies have found that those who have less vitamin D are more vulnerable to COVID. The smaller number of foods contain vitamin D and the human body produces the vitamin D when in contact with the direct sunlight. Since COVID- 19 pandemic induced lock downs have confined a large number of people to their houses it is very imp to get checked your vitamin D and start the supplement . When get in safe range then the best practice is sunning for 15- 20 mins daily when the UV index is not too high. About 20 minutes of daily sunshine on 40% of exposed skin produces ample vitamin D in general. Dark-skinned people need more exposure to produce the same amount of the vitamin.

United kingdom is giving free vitamin D supplements to more than 2.5 million “vulnerable people” COVID pandemic. Vitamin D is actually a hormone rather than a vitamin; it is required to absorb calcium from the gut into the bloodstream. Vitamin D is mostly produced in the skin in response to sunlight and is also absorbed from food eaten (about 10% of vitamin D is absorbed this way) as part of a healthy balanced diet. Less vitamin D less absorption of calcium. Now think what will happen to your bone and teeth?!

SUNSHINE VITAMIN

2.Probiotic foods: Kefir, yogurt with live active cultures, fermented vegetables, sauerkraut, tempeh, kombucha tea, kimchi, and miso.

3.Prebiotic foods: Garlic, onions, leeks, asparagus, Jerusalem artichokes, dandelion greens, bananas, and seaweed. However, a more general rule is to eat a variety of fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains for dietary prebiotics.

4.Zinc: Zinc is proven to be effective at slowing the rate that similar viruses such as SARS and common cold replicate in the body. As an essential micro nutrient for human health, zinc plays a key role in the immune system. Zinc is vital for more than 300 enzymes in the body.A daily intake of up to 15 mg of zinc is needed to maintain a steady state as there is no specific zinc storage system in the body.

5.Vitamin C: The body is not able to make vitamin C on its own. It does not store vitamin C. It is therefore important to include plenty of vitamin C-containing foods in your daily diet.Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant and is vital for the immune health.Supplementing with vitamin C has been shown to reduce the duration and severity of upper respiratory tract infections, including the common cold.

The upper limit for vitamin C is 2,000 mg. Supplemental daily doses typically range between 250 and 1,000 mg.

6. Medicinal mushroom: Over 270 recognized species of medicinal mushrooms are known to have immune-enhancing properties . Cordyceps, lion’s mane, maitake, shitake, reishi, and turkey tail are all types that have been shown to benefit immune health.

7.Turmeric and black pepper: Curcumin and black pepper helps up in boosting up the immunity and helps to fight against viral replication. Curcumin suppresses various inflammatory molecules which are responsible for the causes of the damage by viruses.

The addition of black pepper with turmeric increases the absorption of turmeric by 2000 percent when used in a 1:10 ratio of pepper to turmeric. Pretty amazing, right? Black pepper aids in combating respiratory conditions and rejuvenating the lungs.

8. Ashwagandha: It is an ancient herb commonly known as Indian Gingeng and is a powerful adaptogen. It enhances the body’s resilience to stress. Ashwagandha improves the body’s defense against disease by improving the immunity. It also possesses potent antioxidant properties that help protect against cellular damage caused by free radicals.

An herb used for more than 5,000 years in the practice of Ayurvedic medicine, can increase the body’s white blood cells, which help boost immunity.

9.B complex vitamins. B vitamins, including B12 and B6, are important for healthy immune response. Yet, many adults are deficient in them, which may negatively affect immune health.

10.Selenium: Selenium is a mineral that’s essential for immune health. Animal research demonstrates that selenium supplements may enhance antiviral defense against influenza strains, including H1N1 . Brazil nuts are good source of selenium. Two Brazil nuts are enough to boost your immune and take care of inflammation.

11. Sleep ,Rest and Recovery: This is a significant and required element for healthy immune, that you have to take care on daily basis. Without sleep ,rest and recovery neither you nor your immune can survive or thrive.

Studies show that people who don’t get quality sleep are more likely to get sick after being exposed to a virus. Lack of sleep can also affect how fast you recover if you do get sick. During sleep hours your body recovers from kryptonites. Poor and bad sleep can lead to long term chronic diseases.

12. Exercise: Stay physically active during quarantine. WHO recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity per week, or a combination of both. Physical activity may help flush bacteria out of the lungs and airways. This may reduce your chance of getting a cold, flu, or other illness. Exercise causes change in antibodies and white blood cells (WBC). WBCs are the body’s immune system cells that fight disease.

Supplementing is important to get on the wellness track,however, maintaining a balanced diet, getting enough sleep, engaging in regular physical activity, and not smoking and drinking are some of the most important ways to help keep your immune system healthy and reduce your chances of infection and disease.

More inflammations more you are vulnerable to infections. So eat more anti inflammatory foods such as kale ,green leafy vegetables, spices and herbs, fruits, cruciferous veggies, beans and lentils ,coconut oil,ghee…

A robust and diverse food supply is an essential part of the health and nutrition response to COVID-19 pandemic.

“Here are five simple rules for a powerful immune system that you should commit to memory: 1. Eat a large salad every day. 2. Eat at least a half-cup serving of beans/legumes in soup, salad, or another dish once daily. 3. Eat at least three fresh fruits a day, especially berries, pomegranate seeds, cherries, plums, oranges. 4. Eat at least one ounce of raw nuts and seeds a day. 5. Eat at least one large (double-size) serving of green vegetables daily, either raw, steamed, or in soups or stews.”
― Joel Fuhrman, Super Immunity: The Essential Nutrition Guide for Boosting Your Body’s Defenses to Live Longer, Stronger, and Disease

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TELOMERE: A PATHWAY TO PSYCHOLOGICAL WELLBEING AND HEALTHY AGING

Why do people age at different rates? Why are some people whip smart and energetic into old age, while other people, much younger, are sick, exhausted, and foggy?

Think of the human body as a barrel full of apples. A healthy human cell is like one of these fresh, shiny apples. But what if there is a rotten apple in that barrel? Not only can’t you eat it, but worse, it will start to make the other apples around it rotten, too.

A Rotten Apple in an Apple Barrel.

The aged and dead cells behave same as the rotten apple. It’s a jinx for the healthy cells. Aging and senescent lies in the complex interactions between genes, social relationships, environments, lifestyles, and your response to the changes. You’re born with a particular set of genes, but the way you live can influence how your genes express themselves. Lifestyle factors can turn genes on or shut them off.

“Genes load the gun, and environment pulls the trigger.”

TELOMERE AND HEALTHY AGEING:

Do you know the protective plastic tips at the ends of shoelaces? These are called aglets. The aglets are there to keep shoelaces from fraying. Now imagine that your shoelaces are your chromosomes, and aglet are your telomere

When your shoelace tips wear down too far, the shoelaces become unusable. You may as well throw them away. Something similar happens to cells. When telomeres become too short, the cell stops dividing altogether and die.

Telomeres do not simply carry out the commands issued by your genetic code. Your telomeres, it turns out, are listening to you. They absorb the instructions you give them. The way you live can, in effect, tell your telomeres to speed up the process of cellular aging. But it can also do the opposite. The foods you eat, your response to emotional challenges, the amount of exercise you get, whether you were exposed to childhood stress, and even the level of trust and safety in your neighborhood—all of these factors and more appear to influence your telomeres and can prevent premature aging at the cellular level.

The wonderful news is that you can step in and take some control of your telomere—

• Don’t threatened your telomere, challenge it. Reframe view of situations in a more positive way.
• Stress negatively affects your telomere. Several mind-body techniques, including meditation and Qigong, have been shown to reduce stress and to increase telomerase, the enzyme that replenishes telomeres.
• Exercise that promotes cardiovascular fitness is great for telomeres.
• Set your biological clock. Telomere need their sleep. Long sleep means long telomere. It’s Not Just Hours in Bed, Sleep Quality, Regularity, and Rhythm matters
• Telomeres hate processed meats like hot dogs, but fresh, whole foods are good for them.
• Neighbourhoods that are low in social cohesion—meaning that people don’t know and trust one another—are bad for telomeres.
• Children who are exposed to several adverse life events have shorter telomeres.
• Clinical depression and anxiety are linked to shorter telomeres.

SWITICHING LANES-Everyone’s cells become old and eventually we die. But imagine that you’re driving on a highway. There are fast lanes, there are slow lanes, and there are lanes in between. You can drive in the fast lane, barrelling toward the diseasespan at an accelerated pace. Or you can drive in a slower lane, taking more time to enjoy the weather, the music, and the company in the passenger seat. And, of course, you’ll enjoy your good health. Even if you are currently on a fast track to premature cellular aging, you can switch lanes.

One study has found that people who tend to focus their minds more on what they are currently doing have longer telomeres than people whose minds tend to wander more.

“A wandering mind is an unhappy mind.”

TELOMERES ARE THE PROTECTORS OF OUR CHROMOSOMES. The shorter your telomeres, the higher your risk of dying from cancer, cardiovascular disease, and of dying at younger ages generally, known as all-cause mortality

TELOMERASE are the solution of telomere shrinkage. Telomerase is the enzyme responsible for restoring the DNA lost during cell divisions. Telomerase makes and replenishes telomeres.

STRESS AND TELOMERE

Your cells are listening to your thoughts. People who respond to stress by feeling overly threatened have shorter telomeres than people who face stress with a rousing sense of challenge.

The more stress you are under, the shorter your telomeres and the lower your telomerase levels. It also meant that our life experiences, and the way we respond to those events, can change the lengths of our telomeres. In other words, we can change the way that we age, at the most elemental, cellular level.

Stress is unavoidable. How much of it can we handle before our telomeres are damaged? A consistent lesson from the past decade of studies—and a lesson that echoes what the caregivers taught us—is that stress and telomeres have a Dose-response relationship. If you drink alcohol, you’re familiar with dose and response. An occasional glass of wine with dinner is rarely harmful to your health and may even be beneficial, as long as you’re not drinking and driving. Drink several glasses of wine or whiskey, night after night, and the story changes. As you “dose” yourself with more and more alcohol, the poisonous effects of alcohol take over, damaging your liver, heart, and digestive system and putting you at risk for cancer and other serious health problems. The more you drink, the more damage you do.

Stress and telomeres have a similar relationship. A small dose of stress does not endanger your telomeres. In fact, short-term, manageable stressors can be good for you, because they build your coping muscles. You develop skills and confidence that you can handle challenges. Physiologically, short-term stress can even boost your cells’ health (a phenomenon called hormesis, or toughening). The ups and downs of daily life are usually not wearing to your telomeres. But a high dose of chronic stress that wears on for years and years will take its toll.

SHORTER TELOMERE: Weaker immune system, More inflammation, Cell senescent and death, Disease tissues, Cancer, Aging, Disease and poor survival

PURPOSE IN LIFE AND HEALTHY TELOMERE:

When you have a sense of purpose, you wake up in the morning with a sense of mission, and it’s easier to make decisions and plans. The people with the strongest sense of purpose in life had a more resilient stress response, less reactivity, and faster recovery.

Stronger feelings of life purpose are also related to reduced risk of stroke and improved functioning of immune cells. Life purpose is even linked to less belly fat and lower insulin sensitivity. In addition, having a higher purpose in life may inspire us to take better care of ourselves. People with greater purpose tend to get more lifesaving tests to detect early disease (such as prostate exams and mammograms), and when they do get sick, they stay in the hospital fewer days.

“The purpose of life is not to be happy—but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you lived at all.”

People high in self-compassion react to stress with lower levels of stress hormones, and they have less anxiety and depression. It is found that women who wake up with feelings of joy have more telomerase.

DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY EFFECTS ON TELOMERE:

Clinical depression and anxiety are linked to shorter telomeres—and the more severe these disorders are, the shorter your telomeres. Heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes all develop earlier and faster in people with depression and anxiety. Good news is when the anxiety is resolved and the person feels better, telomeres eventually return to a normal length.

Depressed people have shorter telomeres but more telomerase in their immune cells. Give depressed people an antidepressant (an SSRI), and their high telomerase levels climb up even further! The more that telomerase goes up, the more likely it is that their depression will lift.

Depression is characterized by being stuck in the “doing mode” mind-set, including ruminative thoughts, which create a vicious cycle.

There are two basic modes of thinking, MBCT(Mindfulness based cognitive therapy) teaches- DOING MODE AND BEING MODE. There is the “doing mode,” which is what we do when we’re trying to get out of the gap between how life is and how we want it to be. But there is another mode, and that is the “being mode.” In the being mode, you can more easily control where you put your attention. Instead of frantically striving to change things, you can choose to do little things that bring you pleasure, and things that help you feel masterful and in control. Because “being” also allows you to pay more attention to people, you can more fully connect with them—a state that typically brings humans the most joy and contentment. Have you ever experienced the contentment of focusing all your attention on a small task, such as cleaning out a messy drawer? That’s what being mode feels like.

METABOLISM AND TELOMERE:

What really appears to matter to telomeres is your metabolic health. Insulin resistance and belly fat are your real enemies. IT’S THE BELLY, NOT THE BMI. Abdominal fat is more inflammatory than, say, thigh fat. The fat cells secrete proinflammatory substances that damage the cells of the immune system, making them senescent and shortening their telomeres.

Improving your metabolic health is more important than losing weight. Instead of dieting by restricting calories, focus on being physically active and eating nutritious foods.

INTENSIVE LIFESTYLE CHANGE FOR HEALHY TELOMERE:

1. Stress reduction
2. Nutrition
3. Exercise and recovery
4. Sleep
5. Social support

RENEWALE LAB

1.Stress reduction:

• Three minute breathing break– The lifetime of an emotion, even a very unpleasant one, is no longer than ninety seconds—unless you try to chase it away or engage with it. Then it lasts longer. It shifts your thinking away from self-focus and the doing mode and moves it toward the peaceful being mode.

• A heart focused meditation-When we breathe in, our heart rate goes up. When we exhale, our heart rate goes down. By having a longer exhalation than inhalation, we can slow our heart rate more, and we can also stimulate the vagus nerve. Breathing into our lower belly (abdominal breathing) stimulates the sensory pathways of the vagus nerve that go directly to our brain, which has an even more calming effect.
• Kirtan Kriya is a more traditional form of meditation from yoga principles that involves chanting and tapping of the fingers (called yoga mudras). Kirtan Kriya works by putting you into a state of deep concentration and producing a calm, integrated state of body and mind. Afterward, your mind feels sharper and refreshed, as if you’ve just awakened from a great night’s sleep.
• Yoga improves quality of life and mood for people across different types of illnesses, reduces blood pressure, and possibly inflammation and lipids. Yoga has recently been shown to increase spine bone density if practiced long term.

2. Nutrition:

A whole-foods diet that features fresh vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, legumes, and omega-3 fatty acids is not only good for your telomeres, it also helps reduce oxidative stress, inflammation, and insulin resistance. People with higher blood levels of omega 3, vitamin D,vitamins C and E have longer telomeres.

To get sufficient antioxidants in your diet, eat plenty of -especially citrus, berries, apples, plums, carrots, green leafy vegetables, tomatoes, and, in smaller portions, potatoes (red or white, with the skin on). Other plant-based sources of antioxidants are beans, nuts, seeds, whole grains, and green tea.

Choose more foods high in fiber, antioxidants, and flavenoids, like fruits and vegetables. Include foods high in omega-3, like seaweed and fish. Choose less refined sugars and red meat.

THREE CELLULAR ENEMIES- Inflammation, Insulin resistance, and Oxidative stress

MINDFUL EATING:

• Breathe. Bring your awareness to your entire body. Ask yourself: How physically hungry am I right now?
• Rate your physical hunger on the scale of 1-10
• When you do eat, fully savor the taste of the food and the experience of eating.
• Pay attention to the hunger in your stomach, to the physical sensations of fullness and distention (“listening to the stretch receptors.”)

3. Exercise and recovery:

Exercise reduces oxidative stress and inflammation. Exercise Can Keep You in the Healthspan Longer. Two kinds of exercise stood out. Moderate aerobic endurance exercise, performed three times a week for forty-five minutes at a time, for six months, increased telomerase activity twofold. So did high-intensity interval training (HIIT), in which short bursts of heart-pounding activity are alternated with periods of recovery.

Exercise releases a newly identified hormone, Irisin, that boosts metabolism and in one study was associated with longer telomeres. Moderate exercise and fitness are clearly wonderful for telomeres.

Overtraining is not good for your telomere. Overtraining is defined by too much training time relative to rest and recovery. And it happens when you don’t support your body with enough rest, nutrition, and sleep. Some warning signs of overtraining include fatigue, moodiness, irritability, trouble sleeping, and susceptibility to injuries and illness. The cure is rest!

What is good for one person may be harmful to another. Overtraining initially creates additional oxidative stress in the body.

Exercise charges up the cell clean-up crew, so that cells have less junk build-up, more efficient mitochondria, and fewer free radicals.

If you have a high-stress life, exercise is not just good for you. It is essential. It protects you from stress-shortened telomeres.

4. Sleep:

Set Your Biological Clock. Telomeres need their sleep. Like a delicate, handmade timepiece, the SCN(Suprachiasmatic nuclei) is highly sensitive. It needs information from you to keep itself well-tuned. SCN regulates your circadian rhythms.

Light signals, which are transmitted directly to the SCN through the optic nerve, allow the SCN to set itself to a proper day/night cycle. By getting light exposure during the day, and by dimming the lights at night, you keep your SCN on schedule.

Sleep is crucial to your mind, your metabolism, and your mood. Long sleep means long telomeres. If you feel sleepy during the day, you need more sleep at night .It’s Not Just Hours in Bed, Sleep Quality, Regularity, and Rhythm matters.

Your body also depends on deep, restorative REM sleep to regulate your appetite. During REM sleep, cortisol is suppressed, and your metabolic rate increases. When you don’t sleep well, you get less REM in the second half of the night, and that results in higher levels of cortisol and insulin, which stimulate appetite and lead to greater insulin resistance. In plain terms, this means that a bad night of sleep can throw you into a temporary prediabetic state.

5. Social support:

Social world shapes our telomere. People in neighborhoods with low social cohesion and who live in fear of crime have greater cellular aging in comparison to residents of communities that are the most trusting and safe.

To ensure healthy Telomere: eat lightly ,eat wholesome, breathe deeply, live moderately, cultivate cheerfulness, and maintain an interest in life.” – .

Reference:

Depression and the lifestyle intervention

“Natural forces within us are the true healers of disease” -Hippocrates

Depression is not a disease, it’s a symptom of poor lifestyle. Thinking that depression is a disease is a myth that will bring you a lot of suffering. If you struggle with feeling hopeless, sad, foggy, or mentally fragile, you’re not alone. Now a days depression has been the world’s number one public problem, like common cold. But there is grim difference between depression and a common cold. Depression can kill you, fortunately, it is also treatable.

“You can change the way you feel by changing your lifestyle”

Depression don’t hit you overnight. Body throws tantrum after extreme exhaustion and fatigue. Unhealthy lifestyles and depression are highly interrelated.

Let’s say from few days you are observing few symptoms- feeling low, fatigue, mood swings, emotionally imbalance, loss of appetite, despair …… and you go to see your doctor to find out what’s wrong with you?

UH OHHHH … you are back with depression diagnosis and few antidepressants. Case closed! But it isn’t.

For an example-You and your friend both have headache. Your headache is due to too much of drinking wine and your friend’s headache is from being hit on the wall. Both symptoms are same but root cause is different.

Obviously, these two chronic headaches can’t be cured in the same way, because their root causes are different. Ultimately, drugs like antidepressants don’t cure the disease; they just mask the symptoms. It makes things worst with side effects

Functional approaches take a radically different approach to depression; it tries to understand what creates it at the first level.

Your depression is not in your head. It is in your body .When you fix your body, you fix your broken brain. Your energy, memory, focus, and your joy will all increase. Depression will fade away like a bad dream.

“Udaram Vyadhi Mandiram”- Ayurveda (The stomach is abode of all disease)

“All disease begins in the gut”-Hippocrates

If your stomach is depressed ,so you are! Emerging research, reveals a gut-brain connection and depression.  Gut is your second brain. Your healing starts in your gut. Take care of your gut, your gut will take care of you.

Depression symptoms can vary from mild to severe and can include:

1. Feeling sad or having a depressed mood
2. Loss of interest or pleasure in activities once enjoyed
3. Changes in appetite — weight loss or gain unrelated to dieting
4. Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much
5. Loss of energy or increased fatigue
6. Increase in purposeless physical activity (e.g., hand-wringing or pacing) or slowed movements and speech (actions observable by others)
7. Feeling worthless or guilty
8. Difficulty thinking, concentrating or making decisions
9. Thoughts of death or suicide

The solution involves balancing the seven core systems –

1. Optimize nutrition
2. Balance hormones
3. Cool off inflammation
4. Fix digestion
5. Enhance detoxification
6. Boost energy metabolism
7. Calm the mind

When you struggle with depression, here are some checklist before you work-

• Do you have low thyroid function?
• Do you have a vitamin D deficiency?
• Do you have a folic acid or B12 deficiency?
• Do you have a deficiency of omega-3 fats?
• Do you have Gluten allergies?
• Do you have inflammation? 
• Do you have gut issues– leaky gut, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO)
• Do you have hormonal imbalances?

Its simple you eliminate things that cause imbalances in core systems and provide your body with the things it needs to heal.

Life style intervention:

1. Get your Thyroid tested.
2. Eat whole, real food. Feed your brain and body with a nutrient-dense, whole, fresh, plant-based diet that includes plenty of protein and healthy fats. Your brain is about 60 percent fat, so it makes sense eating plenty of healthy fats (and including anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids) and protein can help heal your brain.
3. Remove gluten and dairy products. Gluten and casein  found in dairy products has adverse effects on depression.
4. Eat anti-inflammatory food and omega 3 rich food.
5. Cut out sugar. 
6. Exercise and meditate regularly.
7. Get enough sleep
8. Take the right nutrients and supplements- Omega 3, Magnesium Citrate, saffron, coffee, Coconut oil, Folate rich food, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12, Vitamin C.
9. Make time for creativity.
10. Focus on AMP(Autonomy, mastery and purpose)
11. Take active rest and vacation

Magnesium the antidote for depression:

Think of magnesium as the relaxation mineral. Anything that is tight, irritable, crampy, and stiff — whether it is a body part or an even a mood — is a sign of magnesium deficiency. You don’t have to be in the hospital to get magnesium. You can start taking regular magnesium supplementation today and see results.

This critical mineral is actually responsible for over 300 enzyme reactions and is found in all of your tissues — but mainly in your bones, muscles, and brain. You must have it for your cells to make energy, for many different chemical pumps to work, to stabilize membranes, and to help muscles relax.

Omega 3 fatty acid and depression

Omega 3 are incredibly important for their many functions within the body, especially brain. Most studies are showing that omega-3s may be helpful in treating some forms of depression. Your brain needs the type of fatty acids that are in omega-3s for proper functioning. It’s believed by some that those who experience depression may not have enough EPA and DHA.

In 2009 researchers reviewed data from three studies that used EPA in the treatment of three different types of depression: recurrent major depression in adults, major depression in children, and bipolar depression. The large majority of subjects taking EPA in all types showed significant improvement and benefited from the EPA as compared to those with a placebo.

Meditation ,GABA and depression:

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is an amino acid and neurotransmitter that is naturally produced in the brain through meditation, yoga and exercise. GABA is the primary neurotransmitter responsible for providing calming effects. Research has found that people who experience major depression often have lower levels of the chemical. GABA also plays a role in regulating the immune system, appetite, and metabolism. When a person has low neurotransmitter activity, the result can be anxiety, depression, insomnia, and chronic stress.

Cold shower and depression:

Taking a cold shower for up to 5 minutes, daily or 2 to 3 times per week , was shown to help relieve symptoms of stress and depression in a clinical trial. For people with depression, cold showers can work as a kind of gentle electroshock therapy. The cold water sends many electrical impulses to your brain. By getting more noradrenaline, your brain releases more happy hormones into the body.

Sunlight ,serotonin and depression:

Sunlight and darkness trigger the release of hormones in your brain. Exposure to sunlight is thought to increase the brain’s release of a hormone called serotonin. Serotonin is associated with boosting mood and helping a person feel calm and focused. At night, darker lighting triggers the brain to make another hormone called melatonin. This hormone is responsible for helping you sleep.

Without enough sun exposure, your serotonin levels can dip. Low levels of serotonin are associated with a higher risk of depression

Sunlight cues special areas in retina that triggers the release of serotonin. So, sungazing and sunning seems to be beneficial in depression.

Give yourself phototherapy to heal!

Vitamin D and depression:

Studies shows that vitamin D deficiency – sunshine vitamin and depression may travel together, and that filling up the ” vitamin D tank” may help relieve some of the symptoms. Vitamin D insufficiency (≤20 ng/mL) has been associated with depression. If your depression is severe, you are more likely to benefit from correcting an insufficiency.

High antioxidant coconut oil and depression:

Coconut oil is made up of a mixture of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. The oil contains close to 12 g of saturated fat per tablespoon. This makes up nearly 60 percent of your daily recommended saturated fat intake. It contains about 6 g of lauric acid, a type of medium-chain fatty acid.

Studies shown that using a high quality virgin coconut oil can rival anti-depressant drugs without the dangerous side effects. It is encouraging to see researchers consider natural foods as alternatives, given the fact that they do not have all the serious side effects that psychiatric drugs do.

One area where virgin coconut oil really outperformed was in the area of oxidation and elimination of free radicals. 

Stress is known to increase oxidative stress, leading to neurological damage and death. Antioxidant and anti stress coconut oil , on the other hand, reverse this trend and help prevent further neurological damage and depression.

Attached testimonial on depression from one of my client from Delhi;

combating depression-Download

Self Assessment sheet–Burns depression-Checklist.pdf

DISCLAIMER: If you are at risk for suicide, or other harm or injury, please do not try and treat it on your own. There is help. 

References:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46674.Feeling_Good

https://www.lifehack.org/375978/cold-shower-powerful-way-to-improve-your-mental-health

https://www.firstforwomen.com/posts/health/cold-shower-benefits

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_ERDxxzvQE

https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20021205/unraveling-suns-role-in-depression

https://www.jabfm.org/content/28/2/249

https://www.jabfm.org/content/28/2/249

https://examine.com/nutrition/vitamin-d-and-depression/

Iodine- A Magic Bullet

“Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity”

—Hippocrates

Are you fatigue all the time? Feel cold? Do you feel that your brain is scrambled and you are suffering from brain fog? Do you constantly gain weight even when you are working hard? Do you feel less energetic?Then you need to know more about Iodine-the noteworthy element in Holistic wellness. So far ,Iodine is the most misunderstood nutrient.

We’ve become iodine deficient since the 1970’s because the anti iodine bromine has purged iodine from our bodies! The Iodine deficiency, may account for why more people are sick, IQ’s are dropping while thyroid and other diseases continue to worsen. Obesity may not have to do with overeating as much as a bromine-caused metabolic slow-down that causes weight gain.

“Everybody knows certain environmental toxins cause cancer. What people don’t know is these toxins also make you “sick, fat and stupid.”-Lynne Farrow

Where are bromines?

One of the main reasons everyone is so deficient in iodine is due to the fact that toxic halogens like fluoride, chlorine and bromine , are present in everywhere in our environment. There is Fluoride in your toothpaste, chlorine in public drinking water and Bromine in flour, food additives, fire-retardants, pesticides, certain foods and sodas, drugs and personal care products. what they do? They deplete Iodine by sitting on their receptors.

Iodine consumption has decreased 50 percent since the 1970’s after the discovery of Penicillin. When patent antibiotics penicillin came into use after World War II,Iodine was considered “old-fashioned,” a cardinal sin in the medical community.Iodine deficiency diseases of the breast, prostate and thyroid, have increased during that time.Iodine deficiency in pregnant women is producing less intelligent children.

Iodine is an essential micro-nutrient. This means it is needed in small amounts by every cell in the body.It is vulnerable to environmental toxins such as bromide, pesticides and food additives….

From medical records in 1906, iodine was considered “The Universal Medicine”and used to treat:

• Goiter
• Atherosclerosis
• Uterine fibroid
• Mercury and lead poisoning
• Swollen glands
• Bronchitis and Pneumonia
• Obesity and depression
• Breast cancer
• Ovarian cysts
• Tonsillitis
• Cough
• Brain fog
• Fatigueness
• Psoriasis
• Hypothyroidism
• Digestive problem
• As a first aid
• Hair loss
• Menstrual irregularities
• Fertility problem
• Improving libido

Think you get enough iodine in your salt? Are you sure? Iodine in iodized salt begins evaporating as soon as the salt is opened, and is depleted over time—and the government RDA for iodine doesn’t make sense.

The notion that refined iodized salt is sufficient is the most dangerous misconception about iodine. From the time iodized salt leaves the factory until it gets on grocery store shelves, half of the original iodide content is lost. Because once iodized salt is opened in your home, the iodine “sublimes” or escapes into the air in varying degrees, depending on humidity. After all that, when ingested, only 10 percent of the iodine in salt is absorbable. Then, after all that, again, women should be concerned that the “iodine” in salt is actually iodide. Iodine is preferred by the breasts, thus a combination of iodine and iodide is generally used. Also, cooking destroys iodine!

So—short answer: No, you can’t get enough iodine from iodized salt because you can’t be sure if you’re actually getting iodine—how much or what kind.

The RDA appears to be calculated from how much iodine the thyroid needs to avoid goiter. The requirements of the other organs aren’t factored into the number. Additionally, the effect of iodine-blocking polluters was never considered when 150 mcg was established.

Iodine and Thyroid

Iodine supports thyroid function. Every cell in the body depends upon thyroid hormones for regulation of their metabolism and thyroid hormone depends on Iodine. The function of the thyroid gland is to take iodine, and convert it into thyroid hormones: T4 and T3

Thyroid cells are the only cells in the body which can absorb iodine. These cells combine iodine to make T3 and T4. T3 and T4 are then released into the blood stream and are transported throughout the body where they control metabolism (conversion of oxygen and calories to energy).

Iodine is an essential mineral commonly found in sea foods. The human body cannot produce iodine, which is why it is important to include iodine-rich foods in the diet.Your thyroid gland uses it to make thyroid hormones, which help control growth, repair damaged cells and support a healthy metabolism.Unfortunately, up to a third of people worldwide are at risk of an iodine deficiency.

Those at the highest risk include-People who follow a vegetarian or vegan diet. An iodine deficiency can cause uncomfortable and even severe symptoms. They include depression,fatiguness and low energy,hair loss, diabetes, low libido, breast cancer, brain fog, pregnancy-related issues, weight gain and learning difficulties. Since iodine is used to make thyroid hormones, an iodine deficiency means your body can’t make enough of them, leading to hypothyroidism.

Signs and symptoms of Iodine deficiency-

• Reduced thyroid hormone production and hypothyroidism
• Goiter (enlarged thyroid gland)
• Intellectual disability
• Abnormal weight gain
• Decreased fertility
• Brain fog
• Decreased libido
• Fatigue and low energy
• Constipation
• Depression
• Stunted infant growth

“When I was a young student, iodine and potassium iodine were a universal medicine. Nobody knew how they worked, but we knew it worked exceptionally well”.

-Dr Albert Szent Gyorgyi (Nobel laureate who discovered Vitamin C)

Benefits of Iodine

• Balances hormones by enhancing your thyroid health.So, no more thyroid and other hormonal problems.
• No more brain fog and fatigueness. Helps Your Brain to Stay Sharp.
• Improves your focus.
• Clear thinking.
• Helps to Stabilize Your Mood
• Iodine was prescribed as a broad-spectrum antibiotic until pharmaceutical antibiotics were created. It works without harming the good gut bacteria, so it doesn’t weaken the immune system. It is particularly useful against food poisoning.
• A natural antiseptic
• A powerful antioxidant
•  Raises IQ
• Detoxifies Halogens and Heavy Metals
• Cancer Prevention-The Japanese have among the lowest cancer rates in the world and they consume on average 13 milligrams of iodine per day.
• Prevent Hair Loss
• Prevent depression
• Vital for Pregnancy
• Improve your libido

My testimonial:

I am writing this blog because Iodine motivated me to do so and I am finding it a bit difficult to keep it to myself. I was introduced to Iodine by my mentor and now forwarding this powerful bullet .

My Health issues –

• Serious brain fog
• low energy
• Poor memory
• Thyroid issues
• Severe hair fall
• Mood swings and irritation
• Irregular periods
• Fatigue through out the day
• Insomnia
• Back pain
• Asthma

These were the few problems I was dealing with ,with some more .I started my wellness journey in 2015 and here I am, ecstatically sharing my experiences . Now, I believe – You can’t be happy without being healthy!

With life style changes ,proper nourishment, good recovery, sufficient rest,restoration,healthy reading and predominantly under supervision and blessing of a good mentor, I got my health and wellness back.

Iodine has added new dimensions to my life. Now, I am full of life and energy, no more brain fog, feel charged through out the day, emotionally balanced, antifragile,clear, focused,relaxed,faster recovery,no more insomnia problem,better aerobic fitness, no more asthma symptoms, regular periods,healthy thyroid, improved memory……

Enjoying my wellness journey with IODINE. How about you?

• 

References:

https://www.amazon.in/Iodine-Crisis-What-about-Wreck/dp/098603200X

https://decentpropaganda.com/why-use-lugols-iodine-and-how-to-use-it/

https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/minerals/health-benefits-of-iodine.html

https://organixx.com/iodine-benefits/

Thyroid and lifestyle intervention

“The human body has been designed to resist an infinite number of changes and attacks brought about by its environment. The secret of good health lies in successful adjustment to changing stresses on the body.” – Harry J. Johnson

Thyroid is the most common chronic disease. Women are more likely than men to have thyroid diseases. Many parents are surprised to learn that thyroid problems are now very much common endocrine disorder among school-age kids,which is quite upsetting. The problem lies in our sedentary life style and eating habits. Changing your lifestyle , you can not only improve your thyroid but also can get rid of it.

Many of my clients are suffering from thyroid problem. By simple life style changes and functional approach,  with time not only their thyroid functions improved ,they are also back to  their normal life and enjoying  bountiful health. No more fatigues, constipation, weight gain,joint and muscle pain,puffy face,tiredness….

Before we talk about lifestyle changes by functional and holistic approach ,we need to know a little more about thyroid and its function.

What is thyroid?

Your thyroid is a small butterfly-shaped gland found at the base of your neck, just below your Adam’s apple. This gland makes thyroid hormone that travels in your blood to all parts of your body. The thyroid hormone controls your body’s metabolism in many ways, including how fast you burn calories and how fast your heart beats.

When your thyroid makes either too much or too little of these important hormones, it’s called a thyroid disease. There are several different types of thyroid disease, including hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, thyroiditis .

What is hypothyroidism?

Hypothyroidism is when your thyroid does not make enough thyroid hormones. It is also called under active thyroid. This slows down many of your body’s functions, like your metabolism.

The most common cause of hypothyroidism  is Hashimoto’s disease. In people with Hashimoto’s disease, the immune system mistakenly attacks the thyroid. This attack damages the thyroid so that it does not make enough hormones.

Symptoms of hypothyroidism develop slowly, often over several years. At first, you may feel tired and sluggish. Later, you may develop other signs and symptoms of a slowed-down metabolism, including:

• Feeling cold when other people do not
• Constipation
• Muscle weakness
• Weight gain, even though you are not eating more food
• Joint or muscle pain
• Feeling sad or depressed
• Feeling very tired
• Pale, dry skin
• Dry, thinning hair
• Slow heart rate
• Less sweating than usual
• A puffy face
• A hoarse voice
• More than usual menstrual bleeding

What is hyperthyroidism?

Hyperthyroidism, or overactive thyroid, causes your thyroid to make more thyroid hormone than your body needs. This speeds up many of your body’s functions, like your metabolism and heart rate.

The most common cause of hyperthyroidism is Graves’ disease. Graves’ disease is a problem with the immune system.At first, you might not notice the signs or symptoms of hyperthyroidism. Symptoms usually begin slowly. But, over time, a faster metabolism can cause symptoms such as:

• Weight loss, even if you eat the same or more food (most but not all people lose weight)
• Eating more than usual
• Pounding of your heart
• Feeling nervous or anxious
• Feeling irritable
• Trouble sleeping
• Trembling in your hands and fingers
• Increased sweating
• Feeling hot when other people do not
• Muscle weakness
• Diarrhea or more bowel movements than normal
• Fewer and lighter menstrual periods than normal
• Changes in your eyes that can include bulging of the eyes, redness, or irritation

Hyperthyroidism raises your risk for osteoporosis, a condition that causes weak bones that break easily. In fact, hyperthyroidism might affect your bones before you have any of the other symptoms of the condition.

Problems with the thyroid can be caused by: iodine deficiency.,autoimmune diseases, in which your immune system attacks your own body.

In women thyroid helps control your menstrual cycle. Too much or too little thyroid hormone can make your periods very light, heavy, or irregular. Thyroid disease also can cause your periods to stop for several months or longer, a condition called amenorrhea. If your body’s immune system causes thyroid disease, other glands, including your ovaries, may be involved. This can lead to early menopause.

You will be happy to learn that you may be able to treat autoimmune thyroid disease naturally by following a functional medicine approach. This means addressing the root cause of your issues and following some dietary and lifestyle strategies,

We  look for associated problems such as gluten intolerance, food allergies, and heavy metals, as well as deficiencies of vitamin D, selenium, vitamin A, zinc, and omega-3 fats. Correcting these problems requires an integrative approach. It involves more than simply taking a thyroid pill. As you’ll see, it involves nutritional support, exercise, stress reduction, supplements, reducing inflammation, and sometimes eliminating certain foods and detoxification from heavy metals.

Experiencing a lot of stress, sleeping very little, and eating junk food seems to be the norm in today’s fast-paced world. The problem is that such a lifestyle leads to inflammation and health issues, including autoimmune thyroid disease.

The functional medicine approach to autoimmune thyroid treatment requires dietary changes, adopting some lifestyle strategies, and appropriate supplementation to support your body.

Life style changes and functional approach 

“You can’t control what goes on outside, but you CAN control what goes on inside.”

Eliminate the causes of thyroid problems:

Carefully consider things that may interfere with your thyroid function and eliminate them. Diet is a good place to begin.

There are some misleading facts that soy foods and the broccoli family (broccoli, cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, and collard greens) have all been said to cause thyroid dysfunction, but they also have many other health benefits. Research on these foods to date has been less than conclusive. In one study, rats fed high concentrations of soy had problems with their thyroid.

The take-home message: If you are a rat, stay away from tofu. Human studies have shown no significant effect when soy is consumed in normal quantities(Dr Mark Hyman)

Check Gluten sensitivity:

Besides doing the blood test for gluten sensitivity, you can simply eliminate gluten from your diet for three weeks. If your symptoms go away, you have a clue that your system might not like this food. If you want to take this self-test a step further, reintroduce gluten into your diet and see if your symptoms recur. If they do, that is another major clue

Eat Foods That Provide Nutritional Support for Your Thyroid, and Avoid Those That Don’t:

Every step on your road to healing and weight loss depends on proper nutrition and using food to communicate the right information to your genes. Treating your thyroid is no exception. Choose foods that offer nutritional support for your thyroid.

The production of thyroid hormones requires :iodine and omega-3 fatty acids; converting the inactive T4 to the active T3 requires selenium; and both the binding of T3 to the receptor on the nucleus and switching it on require vitamins A and D, as well as zinc.

Thyroid-boosting foods include: seaweed and sea vegetables, which contain iodine. Fish (especially sardines and salmon) contains iodine, omega-3 fats, and vitamin D. Dandelion, mustard, and other dark leafy greens contain vitamin A. Smelt, herring, scallops, Brazil nuts contain selenium and coconut oil contain MCTs namely lauric acid.

Repair Your Gut:

Support your gut with a high fiber-rich and nutrient-dense diet. Eat plenty of probiotic-rich foods, and take probiotic supplements to support your gut flora.

Clean Up Your Diet:

Remove inflammatory foods, such as refined sugar, refined vegetable oils, processed foods, unhealthy fats, gluten, conventional dairy, animal products and any foods to which you may be sensitive. Instead, eat plenty of anti-inflammatory foods, such as greens, vegetables, fruits, spices ,herbs ,healthy fats and clean protein.

Lower Toxicity:

Our modern world is full of toxins that create inflammation and disease in your body. Minimize toxic exposure by using organic and natural cleaning and beauty products, reducing the use of plastics, avoiding smoking and second-hand smoke and spending time in nature.

Exercise Regularly:

Regular exercise supports your immune system and overall well-being. Aim to exercise 20 to 30 minutes five times a week and to move your body regularly. Get up and stretch at work. Go for a walk during lunch. Play outdoors with your kids or pets. Exercise stimulates thyroid gland secretion and increases tissue sensitivity to thyroid hormones throughout the body. Ideally, you will want to sweat, and the exercise should be vigorous

Relieve Stress:

Managing your stress levels is absolutely essential for a healthy immune system. Avoid stress as much as possible. Learn skills that help you to react to stressful situations more effectively. Engage in relaxing activities, including yoga, meditation, journaling, breath work, and nature walks. A common form of chronic stress – adrenal gland exhaustion or burnout – particularly becomes dangerous for hypothyroidism. Adrenal gland exhaustion occurs when your adrenal glands are unable to keep up with the physiological needs created by stress. To remedy this chronic stress, incorporate what I call active relaxation

“To ensure good health: eat lightly, breathe deeply, live moderately, cultivate cheerfulness, and maintain an interest in life.” -William Londen

Practice Restorative Sleep Habits Every Night:

 

Don’t get confused- Recovery with Rest. Recovery is an active process and rest is an passive process. For recovery you need to nourish your body and get mindful restorative sleep. Whereas for rest ,you just need to grab a coffee ,cookies and social media. It’s not necessary, that if you are resting means you are recovering. Getting regular quality sleep is essential for your overall well-being. Make sure to sleep 7 to 8 hours a night. Support your sleep cycle by having a regular bedtime. Develop a relaxing night-time routine that works for you to calm your mind and ease your body before bed. Meditation, journaling, light stretching, and a calming cup of chamomile tea are great ideas.

Use Supplements That Support Your Thyroid:

Key nutrients for healthy thyroid function includes basic supplement recommendations, including a multivitamin and mineral supplement that contains selenium, iodine, zinc, vitamins A and D, and omega 3 fats (fish oil).

One warning is that if your adrenal glands are burned out from long-term stress, treating the thyroid without supporting the adrenal glands through relaxation and adaptogenic herbs (such as ginseng, Ashwagandtha (indian ginseng) , or Siberian ginseng) can actually make you feel worse.

“Be your own thyroid warrior”!

 

Bulletproof lifestyle

Is your battery fully charged or low?! I am talking about your cellular battery,not your mobile cell battery!

In modern age we are bombarded with many information and often juggling too many balls in air at a time ,which leads to stress and so many overwhelming health issues such as blood pressure, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, heart attack, insomnia, depression and the list goes on.

We are taking extra care of our cell battery but what about our cellular battery?! In this super duper disruptive modern age ,we find it difficult to take out time to recharge and skillfully blame our biological process.

Don’t be a frog in burning water who don’t know when to jump!

To reprogram yourself for the bulletproof lifestyle we need to – UNPLUG- RECHARGE-RESET .

Only thinking is not going to help you ,you have to put things in action. You need to change your environment,make powerful decisions,remove everything that conflicts with your decisions,resist triggers and temptations(food,technology….) and make positive choices automatic.

“BE- DO AND HAVE”

Life is all about balance and being in tune with your mind and body, will help you to achieve the equilibrium.

To reprogram yourself for the bulletproof lifestyle–Challenges,Affirmations, visualization,imagination,belief system,action,determination, and learning is vital.

“Don’t join an easy crowd; you won’t grow. Go where the expectations and the demands to perform are high”- Jim Rohan

When you challenge yourself you feel more alive and happier.Remove the gravitational force, which is pulling you back!

Who you are?!

You would be surprised to know that,you are trillions of micro-organism living in a colony. If they are in harmony, so you are and if they are fucked off , then think who you would be ?! Your body is just a Petri-dish ,where these microorganism survives and thrives.

BIO-HACKS FOR LIVING A BULLETPROOF LIFE;

1. Fix your gut health
2. Metabolic relaxation day
3. Exercise
4. Meditation
5. Resting and recovering

FIX YOUR GUT HEALTH

Udaram vyadhi Mandi(The stomach is abode of all disease)
“All disease begins in the gut”- Hippocrates

Do your body function as a whole or in units? And if it function as a whole then why there are so many specialists in conventional medicine?! In ancient Ayurveda days, there used to be only one doctor ( Vadhay/Hakim) for all your problems.Now ,one patient ,too many doctors and the terrible expense of overspecialization. Conventional medicine now a days seems to be an uncoordinated mess!

“Maybe you are searching among the branches, for what only appears in the roots”- Rumi

There is 500 species and three pounds of bacteria in your gut which helps digest food, regulate hormones, excrete toxins and produce vitamins and other healing compounds. SMARTEST DOCTOR IS YOUR BODY . We all are blessed with a super power inner pharmacy which can be activated by FARMACY.

Your inner tube of life is your digestive system. Two wolf in your digestive system- Good bacteria and bad/wrong bacteria, whom you feed the most will grow and take the lead of your health. Processed foods are the treat for bad bacteria whereas whole unprocessed foods,probiotic,prebiotic,fermented foods are the treat for good bacteria.

Your gut is your “second brain”. Did you know that your gut contains more neurotransmitters than your brain? In fact, the gut has a brain of its own. It is called the “enteric nervous system”. Messages constantly travel back and forth between your gut-brain and when those messages are interfered with inflammations caused due to oxidative stress ,your health will suffer.

Your healthy gut bacterial determines what nutrients are to be absorbed and what toxins ,allergens and microbes are to be thrown out. Your gut must break down all the food you eat into its individual components, separate out the vitamins and minerals, and shuttle everything across the one cell thick layer so it can get into your bloodstream and nourish your body and brain.

Your gut has to get rid of all the toxins produced as byproducts of your metabolism, if things get backed up when you are constipated, you will become toxic and your health will suffer.Your body is in harmony and biologically function well, only ,when it has to deal with less oxidative stress and less inflammation and when the insulin level is balanced.

Your bad/wrong bacteria ,with time ,has potential to make you sick and overweight.

Your gut has quite lot to manage. Even in a perfect world ,it is hard to keep all of this in balance. But ,in our modern world, there are endless obstacles that can knock our digestive system off balance ,making it much more difficult to maintain excellent digestive system.

There is gut immune system in your body. Your entire immune system and the rest of your body is protected from the toxic environment in your gut by a lining that is only one cell thick layer. If that barrier is damaged, you will get sick, your immune will become overactive, and it will begin producing inflammation throughout your body.

How to know if your gut is out of balance

To fix your digestion ,you first need to understand what is sending your gut out of balance in the first place-

• Our low fiber ,high sugar ,processed nutrient poor ,high calorie diet, which causes all the wrong bacteria and yeast to grow in our gut and damages the ecosystem in your intestines.
• Overuse of medications that damage the gut or block normal digestive function.
• Undetected gluten intolerance ,food allergies to foods such as dairy ,eggs ,or corn.
• Toxins like mercury and mold toxins, which damage the gut.
• STRESS ,which can alter the gut nervous system, causes leaky gut, and change the normal bacteria in the gut.

Steps to improve gut micro-biome-

• Eat whole, unprocessed foods. Make sure to include plenty of “FIBER” from foods like vegetables ,beans, nuts, seeds, and whole grains.
• Eliminate food allergies.
• Take broad spectrum digestive enzymes food. Foods that contain natural digestive enzymes include pineapples, papayas, mangoes, honey, bananas, avocados, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, miso, kiwifruit and ginger. Adding any of these foods to your diet may help promote digestion and better gut health.
• Rebuild your rain forest of friendly gut bacteria by taking probiotics , prebiotics, fermented foods. and less stress.
• Get good fat. Take extra omega 3,which help cool inflammation in the gut
• Heal your gut lining. Use gut-healing nutrients such as glutamine and zinc to repair the lining in your gut so it can resume its normal function.
• Take butyrate high food. Good bacteria thrives on butyrate. Butyrate lowers inflammation and heals the gut.

PROBIOTIC – Probiotics are live microorganisms that have health benefits when consumed. Probiotics- which are usually beneficial bacteria – provide all sorts of powerful benefits for your body and brain. Probiotic foods- Yogurt, lassi, kefir, buttermilk, sauerkraut, kimchi, miso, pickles,some types of cheese,Natto, soyasauce.

PREBIOTIC– Prebiotics are fibers and natural sugars that stimulate the good bacteria in the gut. Prebiotics help beneficial bacteria grow in the gut. They work with probiotics, which are healthful bacteria or yeasts, to improve health. Prebiotic foods- Vegetables(onion, garlic,spring onion, cabbage), legumes(chick peas, red kidney beans, baked beans, soyabeans) Lentils, fruits( apple, unripened banana, custard apples, watermelon,grape fruits),bran ,barley, nuts and seeds.

BUTYRATE RICH FOOD – Butyrate promote the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. Butyrate can be found naturally in several foods. Butyrate high food are grass feed butter, ghee, sweet potatoes carrot, pumpkin, seeds and nuts, all fruits and veggies with low GI.

Fixing your digestion may take some time, but it can be done. And its absolutely essential if you want to achieve vibrant health. So, listen your gut’s tantrum( constipation,loose stool…) and work on your inner tube.

METABOLIC RELAXATION DAY –Fasting without fear

• As the name suggests,it is a relaxing ,holidaying and rejuvenating day of your metabolism process. On these days your body recovers and heals from all type of common (physical,mental,environmental),chronic, or oxidative stress.
• It is a delicious recipe for fat loss and is an excellent elixir.
• “ He who eats until he is sick must fast until he is well”. There is always hidden sweetness in empty stomach.
• The powerful tool to drive inflammation level down.
• Loading the stomach with all junks is not less than a criminal act.
• Our basic problem today is that our digestive capacity or fire is diminishing and our consumption is increasing.
• Our ancestors circumstances and lifestyle gifted them “Metabolic flexibility” and our lifestyle have gifted us “Metabolic inflexibility”
• Click the following link if you want to explore MRD more-(METABOLIC RELAXATION DAY)

Improve Metabolic Flexibility

• Control your carb intake
• Take good fat
• Practice MRD
• Sleep/Nap
• Increase fiber intake
• Exercise regularly
• Stay hydrated
• Monitor your stress levels
• Track insulin and glucose levels
• Supplementation

BENEFITS OF MRD

• MRD can help you to lose belly fat by increasing the metabolism and maintain healthy body weight i.e. your lean muscle mass and bone density.
• Blood levels of insulin drop significantly ,which facilitates fat burning.
• The blood levels of growth hormone increase as much as 5 fold. Higher the level of growth hormone higher the fat burning and muscle gain.
• Lower insulin level and higher growth hormone in blood increase fat burning process.
• The body induces Autophagy ( imp cellular repair process) ,which removes toxin from our body.
• It changes the gene expression
• MRD switchs your body from sugar burner to a fat burner.
• MRD can effectively reduce oxidative stress and inflammation
• Most impressive benefits is it keeps your heart healthy by increasing HDL and decreasing LDL and Triglycerides
• It boost your mitochondrial function and increases your life span.
• It increases level of BDNF( Brain derived neurotrophic factor) and promotes neurogenesis. BDNF is an extremely fantastic fertilizer for your brain. Deficiency of BDNF can lead to depression and other brain related problem.BDNF prevents brain aging and enhances cognitive functions
• Balance Ghrelin and Leptin

Note – It is imp to eat mostly healthy foods during your eating window. This won’t work if you eat junk food or excessive amounts of calories.

EXERCISE

• Your exercise should be safe, intense, and purposeful.
• Do exercise with full intention,attention and awareness.
• HIIT(High intensity interval training) improves your metabolism and mitochondrial health.
• Resistance training helps you to build lean muscle mass and bone density. With improved metabolism and lean muscle mass you are able to burn fat even when you are sleeping.
• More the lean muscle mass more the fat loss.
• Exercisereleases neurotransmittors,HGH (Human growth hormone)and Irisin hormone.
• HGH helps to maintain ,build and repair healthy tissue in the brain and other organs. This hormone can help to speed up healing after injury and repair muscle tissue after exercise. This helps us to build muscle mass, boost metabolism, and burn fat. It is the fountain of youth.
• Irisin ;The ‘Exercise hormone” is fat fighting hormone. Researchers discover that Irisin burns fat and prevents fat cell formation.
• Exercise activates brown adipose tissue(BAT),which burns fat
• Regular exercise improves your cardio-vascular health. It is an insurance policy for your heart.
• Exercise keep your insulin level in check and also helps your sympathetic nervous system ( which controls your heart rate and blood pressure) to be less reactive.
• Exercise promotes the expression of BDNF.
• Exercise can kick start the natural detox process as it flushes out the lungs and cleanses the skin as we work up a sweat. It also increases blood flow promoting better circulation pumping white blood cells through the body in turn helping organs cleanse themselves effectively.
• Apply 80/20 Pareto principle; if 80 percent of the time you are doing the good stuff, that is eating well and exercising regularly then you can allow 20 percent of the time for the guilt free mindful overindulgence.

MEDITATION

Meditation is the best antioxidant. Meditation is anything you are doing with your full intention,attention and awareness! It is mindfulness of the present moment. It could be your any practices such as -mindful eating, exercising, taking rest, meditative walk, technology fasting, listening music, listening someone, breathing, self talk,sleeping,….

Meditation activates your parasympathetic nervous system and is excellent for vagal toning, which helps you to lower your blood pressure and take control of other medical issues.

It reduces stress and anxiety by reducing cortisol level.

It enhances self awareness and your vision and helps you stepping inwards.It is the gateway to all possibilities and gives you more head space.

Good thing about it is ,that you can do it anytime and anywhere!

BENEFITS OF MEDITATION

Finding it a bit difficult, to summarize, so many benefits of mediation in a limited space. Click the attached link to explore further –Physical ,mental,emotional and spiritual benefits of meditaion

REST AND RECOVERY

• After an intense exercise or day rest and recovery is must to recharge your battery and to bounce back with full enthu and energy in the marathon of life to fulfill purpose of your being.
• Rest and recovery is a process of regular emptying your stress bucket and preventing it from overflowing.
• Induce your immune system and metabolism in rest and recovery mode at least twice a week by following MRD.
• Continual stress puts your body in survival mode, making it store fat rather than burn it. You would be surprised to know that your smartphone addiction making you fat.
• If you want to be mentally and physically healthy, you need to rest ,recover and reset.

Elements of Rest and Recovery

1. SLEEP –Sleep is the most important aspect of health. You need to get enough sleep, which is seven to eight hours . Adequate sleep provide mental health, hormonal balance and muscular recovery.
2. HYDRATION– Drinking adequate amounts of water is critical to health,energy,recovery and performance. Water helps all of our functions.
3. NUTRITION– Everything you eat has the ability to help heal your body, or to poison it.
4. POSTURE– Due to prolonged sitting we have a bad posture. A bad posture is not a restful position, sitting or standing with bad posture is harmful. It can lead to injury.
5. STRETCHING– You need enough flexibility to move well and remain pain free.
6. SELF MYO-FASCIAL RELEASE- Tight muscles and trigger points sometimes need assistance to return healthy normal tissue by foam rolling.
7. HEAT ,ICE AND COMPRESSION- Use the techniques for recovering from injuries or a very stressful training.
8. MEDITATION is a self induced rest and recovery mode after a sweat session. Meditation enables you to embark on inward journey.
9. UNPLUG -Don’t be slave to your environment. Resist your temptations. We should restrict the use of mobiles and laptops before sleep for sound mind and good health. Just like you should fully unplug from work every night, you should fully unplug your body from food and your brain from technology.

“Happy Gut,Happy Butt.Happy Butt,Happier you!”

Wish you a bulletproof life!

I am grateful to my clients and readers, who not only inspire me but also give meaning and purpose to my life.

A special thanks to my mentor Rish Sharma and family members who are always by my side in need.

Alphabet Takeaway Concept for high blood pressure

ABCD Takeaway

A-Apple, Almond, Avocado, Apricot, Asparagus, Artichoke, Amaranths, allium family(garlic/Onion/leeks/shallots etc)

B-Brazil nuts, Banana, Beetroot, Berries, Beans(lentils/legumes/peanuts), Bok Choy, Brussels sprouts, Broccoli.

C-Carrots, Cashew nuts, citrus fruits, Cruciferous family(rocket, Cabbage, Cauliflower), Celery, Cucumber, Colourful Capsicum, Coconut, Cherries

D-Dates, Dry fruits not included elsewhere.

AVOID/MINIMISE– 

A-Alcohol in all forms, B- Baked food-biscuits, bread and cake etc, C- cigarettes, D- Diary in all forms except milk in tea and coffee may be.

ABCD is a concept to keep things simple, sustainable and satisfying for those who are busy working full time or full time taking care of the family. This concept is based on the Pareto principle where you get 80% benefits from eating healthily by devoting only 20% time and resources! In this concept, you regulate only one meal of the day which is -breakfast.  It gives you flexibility and vast array of choices.

Scientific studies have shown that when you do something in the morning for your health or wellness, you feel confident, energetic and resourceful all day long. Healthy and highly productive people focus on getting up early, exercising in the morning and writing a few lines in the journal and then starting the day.

By regulating your one meal, you will feel like a champion all day and will have enough self-esteem and willpower to do other things well. You can exercise your creativity and imagination to make it wholesome and tasteful to your liking. The emphasis should be to choose at least five nuts from each category because that will give you nutrient density and satiated feeling. Rahim knew it long before our scientific community could prove it.

Rahim Ke dohe-                 

      एकै साधे सब सधै, सब साधे सब जाय।                         

      रहिमन मूलहिं सींचिबो, फूलै फलै अघाय।।

 Ekai sadhe sab sadhai, sab sadhe sab jay

 Rahiman mulahin seechibo, foolai falai aghaay

अर्थात (Meaning in Hindi): मन को एक समय में एम विषय पर केंद्रित किया जाए तो उसमें असफलता असंदिग्ध है। एक समय में अनेक विषयों में बुद्धि लगाने से किसी में भी सफलता अर्जित नहीं की जा सकती। कहा भी गया है कि जो आधे को छोड़ पूरे के चक्कर में भागता है, उसे पूरा तो नहीं मिलता, आधे से भी हाथ धो बैठता है। सदैव एकल सिद्धि करनी चाहिए, इसी से सब सिद्ध हो जाता है।

रहीम कहते हैं, एक को साधना ही पर्याप्त है, इससे सब सध हो जाते हैं। यदि सबको एकसाथ साधने का प्रयास किया गया तो सबसे हाथ धोना पड़ेगा। पौधे को सींचने के लिए आवश्यक नहीं कि उसके तने, पत्तियों व फूलों की पंखुड़ियों को अलग-अलग सींचा जाए। इससे तय है कि पौधा नष्ट हो जाएगा। पौधे के मूल (जड़) को सींचना पर्याप्त है, इससे पौधा तृप्त होकर फलता फूलता है।

If you have any Liver, kidney and heart problem, please contact your registered medical practitioner before following this concept.

Follow this concept for at least 6-8 weeks to perceive and enjoy sustainable results supported by recent research in London.

Stay tuned to follow the ABCD concept and its benefits in the future.

We would value your mindful feedback and thoughtful suggestions.

                    

 

Concept designed by Dr Rish Sharma

With Gratitude,

Gunjan Mishra

Your blood pressure is in your hand

Don’t treat disease,create health!-Dr Mark Hyman

It is illogical to think and believe that if your family history is heart disease,high blood pressure or high blood sugar, you will be a hereditary receiver. Genes are not your destiny for your chronic diseases. It’s all your environment, your lifestyle, your diet and other external factors working on your genes (EPIGENETIC). It’s how you live your life, shapes or determines whether your genes are switched Off or On or Expressed.

In other words, its the way you eat, its how much you exercise, how you handle stress and environmental toxins that are the underlying causes of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high sugar. High blood pressure is not a disease, it is a symptom that body reflects due to chronic stress, blockage/Plague in your arteries (caused due to poor eating habits), lack of magnesium, fibre, micronutrients, and dysfunction of the cardiopulmonary system due to lack of physical activities.

We have to think-

• What causes high cholesterol?
• What causes high blood pressure?
• Why we have to take medications for high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high cholesterol life long ? Why it doesn’t get permanently cure by conventional medicine?

Researches clearly explain by changing how we live is a powerful intervention for preventing heart disease and other chronic problem than any medication!

Our current medical paradigm is based more on managing disease and suppressing symptoms than it is on preventing and reversing the disease or promoting health. I encourage you to open my blog on -Functional Medicine for better understanding.   FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE-THE TRUE HEALER

Heart, Brain and Gut connection:

Most heart diseases begin in the gut and the most brain illness begin in the blood vessels. So these big three go together and determine overall health.

Healthy Heart condition

• Vessels stay wide open
• Vessels linning stays smooth
• Vessels wall stay flexible
• Heart muscles are strong
• Blood flows better

Four changes typically occur in middle age-

First stage– Arteries narrow– Gradually, sticky stuff what you eat, builds up, narrowing the arteries. Plague formation starts.

Second stage- Arteries harden- The vessels walls and the lining of the vessels become more rigid and less elastic. The heart has to pump harder to force blood through these stiff arteries, which lead to high blood pressure. Increased blood pressure puts a strain on the heart.

Third stage–Arteries become rough due to the plague.

Fourth stage-Blood thicken- Blood become thicker, less flexible and sticker due to sticky fats. As we age, the blood of the most people “clots too fast”  due to damage in blood vessels. Blood is supposed to clot only when it leaks out of a vessel, as in cut finger, not inside the vessel. So, everything inside blood vessels is congested and choked now.

What is Normal blood pressure?

• Normal: Less than 120 over 80 (120/80)
• Elevated: 120-129/less than 80
• Stage 1 high blood pressure: 130-139/80-89
• Stage 2 high blood pressure: 140 and above/90 and above
• Hypertension crisis: higher than 180/higher than 120 — See a doctor right away

Heart health depends on-

• The endothelium (inner lining ) of your blood vessels
• The walls of your blood vessels
• The blood
• The heart

Quiz time- Do you know the largest endocrine organ in your body?

Answer- It’s your Endothelium!

Endothelium-  Body’s largest internal medicine pharmacy.

Surprised??? I was thrilled with excitement when I came across internal medicine pharmacy-The Endothelium and wanted to explore more, guess you too! I was dumbfounded that we have an intrinsic medicine pharmacy and instead of exploring and activating it, we are dependent on extrinsic pharmacy, accepting its consequences as a victim throughout life. It’s a time for a revolution and brings changes to our lifestyle and understanding!

 

 

Searching for your fountain of youth? 

It’s inside your blood vessels. A person with healthy endothelium is “Young on the inside, which is reflected outside!”

Your circulatory system should be like the rivers in Alaska-clean and be flowing, with a smooth arterial wall. Putting junk in our mouth is like dumping garbage in a river. We may not feel the effects of arterial pollution(plague) right away but over time it builds up until the artery gets clogged.

You would be surprised to know that if we open up all the blood vessels and lay them out flat, they would occupy a surface area larger than several tennis courts.

How does endothelium function?

The endothelium is self-healing! Your blood vessels pharmacy secrets growth and repair substance called VEGF(Vascular endothelial growth factor).

Beautiful analogy, hope it gives clear and better understanding of your Endothelium and its function – Just as traffic causes wear and tear on the surface of a road. So can the constant high flow of the blood against the sensitive endothelial lining causes tiny tears and holes in the vessels walls. When this happens, the road crew which is standing by 24/7 make repairs, rushes into actions and quickly fills it. To keep traffic flow smoothly, the pothole must be filled with no rough edges and no overfilling. Healthy endothelium makes sure that potholes are filled correctly. If there is rough edges or uneven surface, platelets (the blood cells responsible for blood clotting when you cut a finger) get stuck and gradually build up a clot. The tiny balls of fat molecules(LDL) get stuck on the rough edges of the pothole. The fat + sticky platelets form a bump in the road causing plague-the number one cause of fatal”traffic accidents” in the bloodstream.

Please check this profound video by Dr William Sears, for better and comprehensive understanding!    PRIME-TIME HEALTH

Plague can build up gradually over years and slow or stop the blood flow to the organs, or break off and cause traffic jam(clot) resulting in a heart attack or stroke.

The inner lining of healthy blood vessels (Endothelium) is like a smooth highway over which the traffic of the blood passes. This linning contains billions of cells that don’t just sit there; they function like microscopic medicine bottles releasing nitric oxide and other hormones to maintain blood vessels healthy. Endothelium regulates blood pressure by releasing nitric oxide(vasodilators).

A healthy endothelium crew sees this bump developing and rushes to remove the plaque and clean up the pothole. They know how to quickly repair potholes and keep the traffic smooth and moving.

Two habits that influence whether those microscopic medicine bottles on the wall of endothelium will open and dispense the right medicine, in the right dose, in the right time-

• How we eat- keep sticky stuff (trans fat, dairy products, sugar, processed foods, refined carb etc) out of your bloodstream so that it doesn’t form plaque over the surface of the lids of medicinal bottles and prevent from opening.
• How we move- Exercises open the lids. When blood flows fast across the surface endothelium, it causes frictional force. The microscopic medicine bottles sense this extra blood flow and squirt out extra NITRIC OXIDE, which dilates the arteries (Vasodilation), optimizes blood pressure and delivers more blood flow and nutrients to organs. With exercises, you can train your endothelial cells to produce NITRIC OXIDE

How to control your high blood pressure?

First, evaluate your diet and sedentary lifestyle!!  Try lifestyle modifications, such as reducing body fat, limiting sodium, and alcohol intake, getting more exercise, and eating a healthier diet.

Steps towards a healthy heart and a normal blood pressure-

• Beginners ABCD plan by Dr Rish Sharma-The first step in preventing heart disease is to eat a healthy diet.  Many Novices in our centre practised ABCD plan reinforced by MRD for three to four months and the result was astonishing!

ABCD Takeaway

A-Apple, Almond, Avocado, Apricot, Asparagus, Artichoke, Amaranths, allium family(garlic/Onion/leeks/shallots etc

B-Brazil nuts, Banana, Beetroot, Berries, Beans(lentils/legumes/peanuts), Bok Choy, Brussels sprouts, Broccoli.

C-Carrots, Cashew nuts, citrus fruits, Cruciferous family(rocket, Cabbage, Cauliflower), Celery, Cucumber, Colourful Capsicum, Coconut, Cherries

D-Dates, Dry fruits not included elsewhere.

AVOID/MINIMISE

A- Alcohol in all forms, B- Baked food-biscuits, bread and cake etc, C- cigarettes, D- Diary in all forms except milk in tea and coffee may be.

Choose one or more ingredients from each rack and adore your real, fresh, vibrant food, an entire rainbow colour for a healthy living.

       

• Nutritarian diet(Nutrient dense food) Have a heart; don’t say NO to leafy vegetables! 
• Metabolic relaxation day- MRD is your decisive deviation(coined by Dr Rish) to give rest to your metabolism. It is fasting without fear!

There are two stages of digestion, the anabolic stage is when the body is busy digesting and the catabolic stage is when the body is repairing, detoxifying, and healing. … But eating again also stops the healing process because it sends us right back into the anabolic stage. Using the car example, the anabolic stage is when you fill the gas tank up and the catabolic stage is when you’re actually driving the car and burning the gas Joel Fuhrman 

• Nitric oxide and vitamin C rich food (Dark Chocolate, Raw cacao, Citrus-Oranges, lemons, and grapefruit contain high amounts of vitamin C, Pomegranate, Beets(Beetroot is loaded with nitrates), Garlic, Spinach, Watermelon, Walnuts  Remember, our body doesn’t make vitamin C like animals.

10 foods to Boost Nitric Oxide.                                                                       

Beetroot lowers blood pressure    

Beetroot juice helps heart failure patients recover more quickly

• Go nuts, seeds and berries- Brazil nuts rich in selenium and berries full of phytos (anti-rust nutrients, antioxidants) are an elixir! Flax seeds rich in lignan have been demonstrated in clinical studies to help control cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood sugar levels; reduce inflammation, and successfully treat constipation.
• Phyto-nutrient, anti-inflammatory, fibre rich diet- Plant eaters out live animal eaters. There appears to be a stepwise drop in hypertension rates the more plant-based foods you eat. Those eating completely plant-based diets appeared to have thrown three -quarters of their risk for developing this major killer out the wind. Think of animal protein as condiments!
• Magnesium rich foods.
• Hibiscus tea -Evidence shows that adding the hibiscus tea to your daily routine may offer additional benefits, comparable even to that provided by antihypertensive drugs. Tested head to head against a leading blood pressure drug, two cups of strong hibiscus tea every morning (using a total of five tea bags) was effective in lowering blood pressure as a starting dose of the drug Captopril taken twice a day. If you drink it, make sure to rinse your mouth with water afterwards to keep the natural acids in the tea from softening the enamel on your teeth. More than a litre a day is not recommended. (How not to Die, Dr Michael Greger)
• Sodium and potassium balance. Replace your conventional salt with Himalayan salt. Salt is a compound made up of about 40% sodium and 60 % chloride. Sodium is an essential nutrient, but vegetables and other natural foods provide the small amounts of sodium you need in your diet. If you consume too much, it can cause water retention, and your body may respond by raising your blood pressure to push excess fluid and salt out of your system. An ancient Chinese medical text(The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine)-“If too much salt is used in food, the pulse hardens.
• Eliminate dairy products, processed foods, trans/hydrogenated fat, sugar, juices and diet drinks. Fermented dairy products such as curd, kefir and a moderate amount of cheese are ok to some extent.
• Vitamin D and Omega-3 fatty acids play a pivotal role in lowering high blood pressure. Include flaxseeds by using two to four tablespoons of ground flaxseeds every day in your food. This can lower cholesterol by 18 per cent. Flax is tasty in shakes or sprinkled on salads or whole grain cereal.
• Eat high-fiber foods, ideally at least 50 grams per day. Beans, whole grains, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and fruit all contain beneficial fiber.
• Combine protein, fat, and carbohydrates in every meal. Never eat carbohydrates alone. To avoid the blood sugar imbalances that increase your risk for heart disease, eat adequate protein with every meal, even at breakfast.
• Don’t allow yourself to get hungry. Graze — don’t gorge — by eating every three to four hours to keep your insulin and blood sugar normal.
• Try not to eat three hours before bed.
• Drink green, chamomile and dandelion tea which can help lower cholesterol.
• Regular exercises. I encourage 30 to 45 minutes of cardiovascular exercise at least five times a week.  I also encourage strength training to build muscle and reduce body fat composition.

Exercise is a necessity, not a luxury, in preventing almost all chronic disease, from heart disease to cancer, from dementia to diabetes, from osteoporosis to osteoarthritis. You cannot age successfully without it. It is how we are designed. Dr Mark Hyman

• Stop stressing out your heart too much. Stressing alone can cause heart problems. Learn to reduce stress by doing regular relaxation exercises such as yoga, tai chi, meditation, breathing, guided imagery, or whatever it takes to engage the relaxation nervous system, which can lower cholesterol, reduce your overall level of inflammation.
• Limit toxins– Tobacco, alcohol, Stress, late-night screening, sedentary lifestyle.

How Nitric oxide, Fibre, MRD and Meditation can help you to reverse your High Blood Pressure?

• More nitric oxide causes blood vessels to relax and dilate, which lowers blood pressure. A deficiency of nitric oxide can lead to tense blood vessels and cause problems including high blood pressure, erectile dysfunction, and impaired kidney filtering. 
• Role of fiber–

How fiber lower cholesterol

Micheal Greger-How fiber lower cholesterol

• Why MRD?– From my experience of a few yrs, I will declare MRD, the invincible medicine for high blood pressure! For further exploration of MRD request you to read my blog on MRD and its health benefits –  Metabolic Relaxation Day
•  The role of Meditation in lowering blood pressure– 

Meditation and blood pressure

Meditation and cardiovascular risk reduction

Beyond medications and diets; Alternative approaches to lowering blood pressure

I am thankful to my dear ones and extended family for their enormous love and support. A special thanks to Dr Rish Sharma!

Disclaimer-

This blog is only for educational purpose and general understanding of wellness, not to provide you with any medical advice. By using this blog site you understand that there is no attorney-client relationship between you and the blog site publisher. The blog site should not be used as a substitute for competent medical/wellness advice from a licensed professional attorney in your state. Request you to use your common sense and practice things mindfully.

References:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17170603:

http://www.documentarymania.com/player.php?title=Forks%20Over%20Knives

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/12/08/magnesium-health-benefits.aspx

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2017/09/06/magnesium-deficiency-effects.aspx

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3593772/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25875025

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3068764/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4548432/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3235507/

LIFESTYLE INTERVENTION FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE, DIABETES AND METABOLIC SYNDROME

Everyone has a doctor in him or her; we just have to help it in its work. The natural healing force within each one of us is the greatest force in getting well. Our food should be our medicine. Our medicine should be our food. But to eat when you are sick, is to feed your sickness -Hippocrates

Do you want to cherish the delights of the world or do you want your prime-time years(40+) to be brief, and your calendar littered with doctors appointments? The choice is entirely yours.

This makes me downhearted that in our prime time, we are focused and working too hard, to secure our declining years, that we have forgotten to live in the present moment and are busy, like a honeybee, for the reassurance of retirement security. We have literally no time to eat healthy, breath, sleep, and relax. With such a mindset, exercise is a distracted thought. We are investing money and time in the old-age retirement plans. But what about Health retirement plans?

Do you have any Health retirement plans?!

We are working too hard towards saving money for the retirement, but not saving our bodies to enjoy it better. Not everyone can save as much money as they would like to, or have as much free time as they want. But you can work to save your health to enjoy all these! How will you enjoy your pension/retirement plan with collapsed health conditions? All your savings will be taken care of by Doctors and hospitals! Am I making sense?

The human body is resilient and can bounce back and repair itself with the right care. In my previous post, I have shared my transformation story. Be an asset to your family, not a liability. Make health your priority and hobby! Otherwise, 
WUSS-WAIT UNTIL YOU GET SICK STUPID– William Sears

I read Dr William Sears’ incredible book – Prime-Time Health – two years ago, which gave me new insights on wellness. Sharing golden nuggets of the book –
Create a new account -IRAH-(Individual retirement accounts for health )and deposits your health in this account on daily basis.

Metabolic syndrome, High blood pressure and diabetics are becoming an epidemic. India has been declared as the diabetes capital of the world! Isn’t this nasty and concerning?

India is the diabetes capital of the world!
World Health Day: India among top 3 countries with high diabetic population

Fortunately, these conditions are 100% preventable and reversible with your lifestyle changes, which need persistence, commitment and determination to the changes to achieve your desired health goal; but tragically, these measures remain unknown. We are bombarded by the media, Google and the scientific community with too much confusing, unhelpful messages. The key question is to ask-Is it working for you? Healthy living does not have to be complicated and expensive. It has to be simple, sane, enjoyable, efficient and sustainable! 

A vital meaning of Longevity comes from –LEAN
L– Lifestyle-How we live?
E-Exercise -How consistently we move?
A– Attitude-How we think?
N-Nutrition-How we eat?

If you are not your own doctor, you are a fool – Hippocrates

Stay tuned for my next blog on Lifestyle intervention for High blood pressure. Meanwhile, I would recommend, Dr William Sears profound book for your longevity and ultra Wellness!!

Stay focused, stay healthy!

Metabolic Relaxation Day

“Fasting and natural diet,though essentially unknown as a therapy,should be the first treatment when someone discovers that he or she has a medical problem”- Joel Fuhrman

Tradition and culture are an invincible part of our society. We too are so used to following them but most of the time blindly. This is the reason why many people think today that these traditional practices are mere superstitions. However, with the visitation of science, it has become quite evident that these practices do have a significant reason behind them. One such practice is “Metabolic Relaxation Day”. In this blog, I will try to modify the way fasting has always been looked upon in recent years and introduce a new dimension of fasting -which is not only reasonable due to traditions but due to its biological, physiological.neurological and spiritual benefits. 

This blog is actually an insight into my journey from fasting to Metabolic Relaxation Day. A few years ago, I used to do traditional fasting, where you fast, pray and bribe God for the fulfilment of your desires and dreams (Bangalow, salary, desired life partner, good grades in exams, nice car and the malarkies goes on). You pray and fast out of fear or just for the shake of your customs, not for the love of your mind, body, soul. I did traditional fasting for the past many years and was getting mentally weak with time. The very thought of fasting triggered hunger, fidgety and adrenal fatigue in me.

Then I was introduced to the practice of METABOLIC RELAXATION DAY by my mentor, Rish Sharma.I was influenced by his scientific and spiritual approach of MRD. I noticed a profound contribution of lingo in my mindset and discovered a new dimension and broader perspective of fasting. I REPLACE THE WORD FASTING WITH METABOLIC RELAXATION DAY. With this new scientific, spiritual, contemporary understanding and newborn mindset, I started enjoying my MRD and began to reap its health benefits in a few weeks.

What is Metabolic relaxation or intermittent fasting is?

Metabolic relaxation day, as the name suggests, is a relaxing, holidaying and rejuvenating day of your metabolism process. In simpler words, it is calorie restriction or restricted feeding day. On these days your body recovers and heals from all type of common(Physical, mental, environmental ), chronic or oxidative stress. It is actually a delicious recipe for fat loss and is a quintessential healer.

Now, I do flexible MRD’s once a week, Twice a week, every alternate day or sometimes a whole week(and yes I am the person who earlier felt exhausted by the mere thought of fasting). How you practice depends on you and your well-formed outcomes. Remember to have a good track of all the changes you begin to feel post starting any new practice! 

In our wellness centre to prevent and heal from the chronic diseases like- blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome, inflammations, thyroid, asthma, arthritis etc, and weight management, we focus on the following practices-

• Metabolic relaxation day
• Emphasis on Bio-individuality. What works for one person may not work for another, so we focus on customized training.
• Exercises with varieties and intensity.
• Cutting out process foods, refined grains, sugar, milk products and fruit juices.
• Adding real, whole, Low glycemic index, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory rich foods.
• Encourage our clients to eat mostly plants and think of meat and animal product as condiments.
• Eating weird grains( buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa, brown rice ) and avoid gluten.
• 10,000 min step diet
• Moving your body every after 30 mins.
• Advise prioritizing 7-8 hours of good sleep.
• Recommend to actively relax.
• Enlighten to get connected with your body’s original design i.e hunter-gather lifestyle

“He who eats until he is sick must fast until he is well”

In the plethora of health and fitness, we have one thing in common – INFLAMMATION. Heart disease, autoimmune conditions, arthritis, diabetes, cancer, digestive problems, anxiety, depression, brain fog, and hormonal problems all are an inflammatory response. And as a functional medicine practitioner, I see the immense impact of inflammation on the health of people around the world every single day.
The powerful tool to drive inflammation level down is –Metabolic Relaxation Day!
It has worked equally well for me and my clients. Below you will find an experience of MRD by one of our clients, Kalpana Chahar, who lost 13kg in five months with the support of this tool. This tool works well with exercise. 

Kalpana progress sheet

Kalpana’s experience of MRD

As I mentioned above, I personally use this tool weekly, sometimes twice a week. Once I did it for 21 days, relishing one nutrient dense meal a day(no need to be manic like me) and here are my personal experiences of MRD which I would like to share-

• Now, I feel more energized, empowered, enthusiastic, lighter, and great throughout the day.
• Calm and relaxed breathing. My resting heart rate(RHR) and breathing rate are lower.
• My body acts like a machine, well tuned and more energy efficient.
• Fast healing. Now, I understand my body has the potential to make its own internal medicines. I gradually gained a sense of control over my health and knew that I could help my body make its own longevity medicine.
• Clearer vision
• More sensitive nose.
• Fat loss.
• Leaner body.
• Improved body composition and fitness.
• Healthier skin.
• Emotional detox-Better Emotional hygiene.
• Improved sense of taste.
• Improved triglycerides.
• Thyroid test report normal.
• Self-control and improved willpower.
• Better resilience.
• Good gut feelings.
• Gut and brain working together and telling me if you stay committed to your practices i.e -eating well, eating right, practising MRDs, adequate sleep and proper rest, you will feel good. Always listen to your gut and brain voice- Eat right, eat less and chew longer. There is a hidden sweetness in the empty stomach.
• Now, I believe, I could greatly influence my destiny- Ageing healthfully and gracefully.

In actuality, Years of unhealthy eating and less physical activities had blocked all my senses and the helpful signals. It was as if my body was screaming – to hell with her and her nonsense. She is not going to listen to us anyway so let’s stop telling her what good and bad to eat and do and the consequences were following-

• I suffered from insomnia for 15-16 years.
• Unbearable pain in my joints
• Nagging lower back pain
• Severe neck pain
• Thyroid problem
• Daunting knee pain
• Muscle spasm
• Most of the time headaches and use to take painkillers.
•  Itchy, Irritating Vaginal infections.
• Poor posture.
• Brain fog
• Asthma(For a period of 6 months I was on steroid and Asthalin inhaler)

Starting days were a bit taxing but with determination, discipline, and limbic impulse control, I started enjoying MRD. I noticed that now I crave for the good quality of plants food, I also noticed that I was satisfied with less.
Eating less but good quality of food with all ingredients required by your body to function efficiently, your body has less food to metabolize, less oxidation(wear and tear on the body) and healthier ageing.

“Fasting is the first principle of medicine,fast and see the strength of the spirit reveal itself”-Rumi

Now my body seems to know that all real foods and spices are full of Phyto, natural anticancer, antiaging, and anti-inflammatory substance.
We all born with a sixth sense–The wisdom of the body. But decades of not listening to it has caused our awareness to fade. Now my sixth sense is turned on due to MRD. I keep reading lots of books, articles and research papers to find why real foods or exercises or breathing or mindful living or eating clean or MRD are good for me. The more you read, the more you become committed to achieving your real goal.

UNLEARN, LEARN AND RETRAIN YOUR METABOLISM TO KEEP YOU FIT AND HEALTHY-

“Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own”- Bruce Lee

We pay very little attention to our metabolism. But why? Is it because it never immediately attack us? or is it because of our unawareness? We have all heard of heart attacks but have we ever heard of metabolism attacks? Actually neither the heart attacks nor the metabolism, it is we who attack them with our habits, lifestyle, lack of activities, exercises, sedentary lifestyle and the list go on.

Unfortunately, we share a very abusive relationship with our stomach and digestive system. And I think we don’t care much about this abuse because it doesn’t lead to our sudden death. Loading the stomach with all junks is criminal.

In Ayurveda, 13 different types of Agni is mentioned and one of them is Jatharagni(Digestive fire or metabolism). Majority of diseases are the outcome of malfunctioning of digestive fire which leads to poor digestion, languid blood circulation, poor complexion, brain fog, low energy level, weak immunity against diseases. Thus in Aryuveda, promoting proper functioning of digestive fire is used for treating the root cause of most diseases.

“Udaram Vyadhi Mandiram”- Ayurveda (The stomach is abode of all disease)

“All disease begins in the gut”-Hippocrates

This means that your digestive fire i.e metabolism should be active and efficient. You can keep the fire active through a metabolic relaxation day ( or intermittent fasting), disciplined lifestyle, nutrient dense food, regular exercises and dynamic attitude. Our basic problem today is that our digestive capacity (or fire) is diminishing and our consumption is increasing!

Our ancestors had a very different approach than us. At that time availability of food was not easily within reach, they went for long periods without eating.Their circumstances and lifestyle gifted them “Metabolic flexibility” and our lifestyle have gifted us “Metabolic Inflexibility”. They were able to withstand harsh conditions and long periods of time without food through metabolic flexibility.

Metabolic flexibility is the ability to respond or adapt to conditional changes in metabolic demand by shifting back and forth between using glucose (from carbohydrates) and fatty acids (from fat) for fuel.
The human metabolism is a complex system, but here’s what you need to know to understand how our bodies use food to produce energy: When we eat (especially carbohydrate-loaded foods) our insulin levels rise, which stimulates our cells to take in glucose. The cell’s mitochondria, then, use this glucose to make ATP or energy. Amount glucose that is extra than what the body needs gets stored as glycogen and fat that isn’t utilized gets stored as well. During periods of MRD, the body calls upon this stored energy. And the longer the MRD period lasts, the more the body will eventually break down the fats to fatty acids to use as fuel.

If you can’t stay without food for long, feel like you need to take a snooze after a meal, hard time to lose weight despite all efforts, feel lethargic most of the time, then you may be experiencing metabolic inflexibility. The good news is that you can reset your metabolism by changing your lifestyle behaviour and feeding habits. Take charge of your metabolism and shift your gear from metabolic inflexibility to metabolic flexibility!

MANY WAYS TO DO MRD :

MRD has been very popular and trendy in recent years. There are many ways to practice MRD and all of them are equally effective but which one fits best will depend on the individual.
Note-It is very important to eat mostly healthy foods during your eating window. This won’t work if you eat lots of junk food or excessive amounts of calories.

8-12 WINDOW PLAN-

This method is also known as the Leangains protocol and was popularized by fitness expert Martin Berkhan. Doing this method of fasting can actually be as simple as not eating anything after dinner, and skipping breakfast.

For example, if you finish your last meal at 8 pm and then don’t eat until 12 noon the next day, then you are technically fasting for 16 hours between meals. In your eating window, you can have 2,3 or more meals.

I drink a cup of black coffee without sugar, lots of water and herbal tea on my MRD.

5:2 DIET: FAST FOR TWO DAYS PER WEEK-

This diet is also called the Fast diet and was popularized by British journalist and doctor Michael Mosley.

The 5:2 diet involves eating normally 5 days of the week while restricting calories to 500-600 on two days of the week. For example, you might eat normally on all days except Mondays and Thursdays, where you eat two small meals (250 calories per meal for women, and 300 for men), but eat regular clean foods the other 5 days.

THE WARRIOR DIET: FASTING DURING THE DAY, EAT A HUGE MEAL AT NIGHT-

The Warrior Diet was popularized by fitness expert Ori Hofmekler.
This diet also emphasizes food choices that are quite similar to a paleo diet – whole, unprocessed foods that resemble what they looked like in nature.

ALTERNATE DAY FASTING: FAST EVERY ALTERNATE DAY-

A bit extreme, so I don’t recommend beginners. Alternate-day fasting means fasting every other day, either by not eating anything or only eating a few hundred calories.

FASTING MIMICKING DIET-

It is a modified, scientifically based and nutrient dense plan. Instead of abstaining from food completely like a traditional fast, you still consume small amounts of food in a way that produces the therapeutic benefits of fasting.
Black coffee, tea, buttermilk is typically allowed, although not necessary—and make sure they don’t contain any added creams or sugars. You can also take Coconut oil and some dry fruits.

VOLUNTARILY FASTING; SKIP MEAL WHEN CONVENIENT-

Another option is to simply skip meals from time to time when you don’t feel hungry or are too busy to cook and eat.
It is a myth that people need to eat every few hours or they will hit “starvation mode” or lose muscle.

The human body is smart to handle long periods of famine, it is just missing one or two meals from time to time! 

So if you’re really not hungry one day, skip breakfast and just eat a healthy lunch and dinner. Or if you’re travelling somewhere and can’t find anything you want to eat, do a short fast i.e spontaneous MRD.
Just make sure to eat healthy foods at the other meals. Food quality is still absolutely crucial.
If you are already content with your health conditions and not find much room for improvement then please feel free to safely ignore all of this. And if you decide to try this out, then keep in mind that you need to eat healthy as well.
It is not possible to binge on junk foods during the eating periods and expect to lose weight and improve health.

BENEFITS OF MRD-

• MRD can help you to lose belly fat and maintain healthy body weight i.e your lean muscle mass and bone density.
• Blood levels of insulin drop significantly during MRD, which facilitates fat burning
• The blood levels of growth hormone may increase as much as 5-fold. Higher levels of this hormone facilitate fat burning and muscle gain and have numerous other benefits.
• Lower insulin, higher growth hormone levels and increased amounts of norepinephrine (noradrenaline) all increase the breakdown of body fat and facilitate its use for energy.
• The body induces important cellular repair processes(Autophagy), which removes waste toxic from cells.
• There are beneficial changes in several genes expression and molecules related to longevity and protection against disease.
• Promising evidence from animal studies indicates that MRD may help prevent cancer.
  (Fasting cycles retard the growth of tumours)
• Short-term fasting actually increases your metabolic rate by 3.6-14%, helping you burn even more calories. When your digestive fire is nice, bright, active and strong you can digest and assimilate all the nutrients from the food you eat and not just that the fire also helps you get rid of the toxins from the food.
• MRD can reduce insulin resistance, lowering your type 2 diabetes.(Intermittent fasting vs daily calorie restriction for type 2 diabetes prevention)
• MRD switch your body from being a sugar-burner to a fat-burner.
• Studies show that MRD can reduce oxidative stress and inflammation in the body which slow down ageing and prevent the development of numerous chronic diseases
• One of the most impressive benefits is it keeps your heart healthy by increasing HDL(good cholesterol ) and decreasing LDL and triglycerides(bad cholesterol) MRD improve numerous risk factors for heart disease such as blood pressure, cholesterol levels, triglycerides and inflammatory markers.
• MRD may extend your lifespan helping you live longer by boosting mitochondrial function.
• More resilient to stress.
• Excellent for your brain health. It promotes neurogenesis( growth of new nerve cells) and also increases the level of BDNF(Brain-derived neurotrophic factor) which is the fertilizer for your brain cells. Deficiency of BDNF has been implicated in depression and other brain-related problems. It prevents brain ageing and enhances the cognitive function. (Fasting promotes brain health)
• Balance Ghrelin and leptin hormone. Ghrelin is your hunger hormone, whereas, Leptin as your Satiety hormone. Ghrelin has been found to increase appetite and weight gain. Leptin is the hormone produced by fat cells which turn off appetite and makes us stop eating. Your leptin levels drop when you’re hungry and increase when you’re feeling full. So, if you want to lose weight on a long-term basis, you need to tune down ghrelin and tune up your leptin.
  Eating all the time sounds like it will turn off hunger and ghrelin. Surprisingly, the answer is the opposite – fasting. Eating, remember, does not necessarily make you less hungry. In my personal experience, eating makes you more hungry.

Final thoughts:

If you are looking forward to kickstarting your metabolism, lose body fat, improve your lean muscle mass, brain health, enhanced cognitive function while getting some more extra bonus overall health benefits as an incentive, the practice of metabolic relaxation days is right for you.

As mentioned above, There are many ways to do MRD, choose your own plan with the variation that fits your lifestyle and helps you to prosper in the best way possible. Remember,  everything does not suit everyone. 
MRD may not be a good fit and ideal for everyone. If you suffer from low blood sugar, for example, going without eating all day may lead to dangerous drops in blood sugar causing symptoms like fatigue, heart palpitations and shakiness. If you have diabetes, it’s best to work with your doctor to determine if MRD is right for you.
If you are a child or teenager and still growing, intermittent fasting is not recommended either.

I hope this will help you to lead a better life. Thank you.

Invited Comments from Rish Sharma on MRD

For the further exploration of this captivating topic, I encourage you to click the following links:

–Dr Mosely on fasting

-Intermittent fasting for fat loss-Dr Jason Fung

-Dr Jason Fung – ‘Therapeutic Fasting – Solving the Two-Compartment Problem’

-Fasting: An Ancient Solution for Modern Problems

-Fasting for Health & Healing | Dr Fuhrman

I am grateful to Harshi Kumar for her support in editing this blog! And Kalpana Chahar for sharing her MRD experience! 

I am thankful for all my present and past clients who are providing me with the opportunity to learn, to grow and enhance my skill. Without their invaluable support and feedback, our mission of goodness propagation would be incomplete.