Carb Load of Bull: Paleo Running (part 1)

Today I tried something new.  I ran my half marathon on an empty stomach.  After my mostly paleo, wheat free week, all I had this morning before the race was a small cup of coffee and a pint of kombucha.  The result:  the easiest half marathon I've run yet, and a personal record (1:43), plus the knowledge that I could have gone a little faster and quite a bit farther with this plan.  What's the key?  Getting out of the carb/glucose/insulin cycle and getting into a mild state of ketosis, harnessing all the energy I needed for distance running.

If you've done any amount of running, I'm sure you've heard of the phrase 'carb loading' before.  You know... the pre-race ritual of eating as much starchy, white, pasty, calorie rich, nutrient poor crap as you can in the hopes of packing away enough energy to survive your race tomorrow.  Instead of carb loading, it should be called 'bull loading' or better yet, 'bull ony'... bologna.  If you're still carb loading before distance races, you're being duped into a slower than you could be, harder than it needs to, more painful method of running.  I'm going to use this time to persuade you to try a more natural alternative.  Here's why:

1. You're not getting as much out of carb loading as you think:  Your body cannot and will not keep glucose in your bloodstream long.  Why?  Because it's too damaging.  Chronic high blood glucose levels damage blood vessels and nerves.  Therefore your body will go to great lengths to get glucose out of your blood stream fast.  Some of that glucose will be stored in your muscles, which you will be able to use for race day, but much of it is transformed by your liver into triglycerides (fat) and transported to fat stores in your body.
2. Your muscle stores of glucose are finite... there is only so much to go around, and once it's gone you've put yourself in bad situation.  If you don't replace the glucose, your body will try to create it through a process called gluconeogenesis, where your body creates glucose to burn out of other molecules like body fat or muscle protein.  Now, obviously body fat would be nice, but here's the problem.  The night before you ate enough carbohydrates to feed a small army, so your fat cells are busy storing fat from all the extra calories you ate (your body is uber efficient... if you consume too many calories, it's going to bank them for later and the deposit box is your waistline and hips).  With all that depositing happening, there's no time for withdrawal.  That means, your muscle is the next target for creating glucose... not ideal while your running.
3. But, if you went down the carb loading path, you've probably planned for this.  You've got some fast absorbing glucose to get fuel to your muscles quickly.  Blood glucose levels up... uptake to the muscles... more energy.  Well, at least for a few minutes, until you use all that glucose and have to do it all over again.  Burn all the glucose, resupply with more calories, absorb, burn all the glucose.  An endless cycle of physiologically living paycheck to paycheck.

But what if I told you there was a better way? A more natural way.  More efficient.  Easier.  What if I told you all the energy you needed was already in your body?  You just need to learn how to tap into it.  How to harness it.  Seemingly endless supplies of energy without the highs and lows of the carb/glucose/insulin cycle.  The key is creating a mild state of ketosis in your body.  How do you do that?  Watch for part two of this article soon.

Intermittent Fasting

It's 9am on a Thursday and I'm finishing up a weekly intermittent fast (IF).  What is intermittent fasting you ask?  I'd say "it the greatest thing since sliced bread", but since sliced bread isn't so great for you... I won't.  How about, it's the greatest thing since low carb diets.  Truly, it is.  Many of us put a negative connotation on fasting, think it's hard, inconvenient, or even unhealthy for the average "gym rat".  But quite frankly, nothing could be further from the truth.  With that being said, let's dispel some myths.

1. Fasting is Hard.  For your body, fasting is not hard.  In fact, it's quite easy.  Your body knows exactly how to deal with a period of time when no food is entering your mouth.  The hard part is the mental aspect of fasting and your current addiction to carbohydrates (especially wheat).  Too often in America, we look at food as a drug... something that makes us feel good, pass the time, prevent boredom, sometimes even exalt.  The truth is, FOOD IS NOURISHMENT.  That's it.  Food is there to nourish you.  If you rely on food for anything more than that, you've created an idol of it.  You've put it in place of prominence where it doesn't rightfully belong. (Of course we do this for many basic needs:  shelter, money, etc.)  Now that being said, there are foods that make fasting harder.  Wheat, for example reeks such havoc on your metabolism and brain chemistry that eating it before a fast is a ticket to failure.  If  you truly want to try Intermittent Fasting (IF), try eliminating wheat from your diet first.  Trust me, it will go a whole lot better than you think.
2. Fasting is Inconvenient.  No it's not.  Being uncomfortable is inconvenient.  You can find time to not eat.  With IF, it doesn't matter what time of day you choose to fast, and it's not required to fast for an entire day.  You need a minimum of 12 hours; ideally 14-18 hours; no need for more than 24 hrs.  If you eat Dinner at 6pm, you could feasibly consider fasting until 7am.  Not hard nor inconvenient.  Wait until noon, and you'll really see the benefits.  However, If your lunch is a giant plate of pasta after your fast... well, you missed the point.  Which brings me to...
3. Fasting is Unhealthy.  I usually hear this from the gym rats who have been sold on the idea that we need to eat every three hours or graze all day in order to keep our metabolisms up.  Not true.  Now, you can graze all day, and your metabolism will stay up because of it (because you're having to metabolize food into energy ALL DAY LONG).  Unfortunately, as fun as grazing is, our bodies aren't designed for it.  We're designed to go long period of time without food.  I mean, really do you think our ancestors sat on their bums and just ate all day?  (Actually, Egyptian royalty did, and thanks to their mummification process, we can see they were chock full of heart disease and other chronic lifestyle diseases that plague our nation).  We get plenty of calories in our Standard American Diet (SAD).  Taking a break from it for 18 hours isn't going to hurt anyone... I promise.  In fact if you eat a nutrient dense/ calorie rich diet full of fruits, veggies, fats, and proteins with little to no calorie rich/ nutrient poor grains, you won't even see a drop in energy when fasting.

Try it... You won't regret it.  Want more info, find it here. And if you're new to fasting, there's one rule.  Water, water, and more water.

Your Destination Please?

Do you think a true understanding of your current health is important to reach your goals?  Think of it as driving directions for you health.  What if Google Maps could chart a course for your health?  Just like driving directions, the program would need a current location and destination.  With both, the program can chart the fastest course, the one with the least amount of mileage, and even a few alternates.  But without a "current location", there is no course... no direction.  The program still knows where you want to end up, but it doesn't know how to get you there.  It has no idea where you are, and if you don't know where you are, it's a whole lot more difficult, if not impossible to get where you want to go!

Why Do You Run?

A year ago I started running.  Didn't like it before. Thought it was pointless.  But something has changed over these twelve months.  I've come to realize some truths about running, and because of them, some truths about me.
First, I have a strong will to win.  I like to win... like to be a 'winner'.  I've played competetive sports my entire life.  Loved the competetion.  Thrived on it, on winning, and beating the other guy.
Then a good friend asked me to run a half-marathon with him.  After much hesitation (did I mention I didn't like running) I accepted.  Come to find out, I love running.  Here's why:

• Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. -1Corinthians 9:24-29
• That strong will to win is more that just a will to win.  Really it's just a strong will.  Sometimes that equals stubborness ("eg. "strong willed child"), but other times its a great advantage.  It's especially advantageous when purposeful.  It allows me to practice discipline and perseverence.  
• Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. - Ephesians 4:17-24
• In running, there is no "other guy". No one to beat, and in these races no first prize. The opponent is me. Last year's me. Yesterday's me.  A number of years ago I chose a different way to live.  I placed my life in the hands of our Lord, Jesus.  Asked him for forgiveness, renewal, and a new direction.  I put an end to the old me and became a new creation in Him.  Running reminds me of that.   My distance or time or pace from yesterday or last month or last year are the old me.  Today is a new creation.  Possibilites are endless. 

My will is strong, but in reality I am weak.  My strength comes from the Lord, and in Him I am a new creation.  I don't run aimlessly.  My aim is to honor and glorify, and worship the Lord in all I do.

How to make Kombucha

Last week I posted a picture of some of my recently completed kombucha brews on FB, and received a few inquiries about it.  Some were wanting to know how to make the flavored brews I had created, others were wanting to know how to  start brewing it themselves, but most people simply asked "what in the world is kombucha?"  I thought a quick blog post could sum it up for all.

First, a quick history and overview of kombucha. 

Kombucha is a fermented sweet tea used for centuries as a healing elixir, having claims of almost miraculous properties that cure a myriad of ailments from arthritis to cancer.  The fermentation process happens due to the presence of a "kombucha mushroom" which is added to the tea and allowed to 'brew' for a short period of time.  This 'mushroom' isn't really a mushroom at all, but a Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast (SCOBY).  The SCOBY itself looks more like a pancake, and along with 'mushroom' and 'SCOBY' may be called a 'mother', 'pancake', 'disc', and others.  The healing properties do have some validity, but very little research has been done on it.  What we do know is this:

1) It's a probiotic.  As a culture that contains apparently ancient strains of bacteria and yeast, the brew itself even after being filtered and ready to drink contains significant amounts of probiotic organisms, and therefore seems to be a great source of good bacteria.  Our digestive system was, is, and always will be full of bacteria.  It's how our gut is designed to work.  There are good bacteria that are supposed to be there, that help us maintain health, help us digest food, absorb nutrients, and fend of invaders.  However, with a poor diet, radiation, or antibiotic use, those good bacteria fail to thrive and bad bacteria can take over and can reek havoc on our bodies and our health.  Drinking kombucha can help keep our gut populated with good bacteria.

2) It's a detoxifier.  Kombucha has been shown to contain glucuronic acid, which is an amino acid naturally produced in the liver and used for detoxification in our body.  Specifically, glucuronic acid binds toxins in the blood stream and allows for them to easily pass through the kidneys and out of the body.  Of most importance, glucuronic acid is one of only a few binding agents that effectively removes estrogen metabolites and estrogen like environmental toxins (think BPA and pesticides).  Given that fact alone, the cancer fighting claims of kombucha may have some validity.

3) It's a alkalizer.  We westerners have an acidic diet.  What kombucha does is help create a less acidic blood pH because even though the drink itself is "acidic" it leaves an alkaline ash.  To learn more about acid and alkaline ash click here.  There's certainly controversy on this topic, but in my opinion, it works.

From what I can gather, the origins of Kombucha are a mystery.  Some sources have it originating in China a few centuries before Christ.  Others claims put it first in Japan, Korea, and Russia.  It goes by a number of names (Kvas is Russia for example), but the name kombucha seems to originate in Japan where in the 4th Century Emperor Inyko was treated by a Korean physician called Kambu with the tea and it took his name, "Kombu" and "cha" meaning tea.

So, how do you make kombucha? 

First, you'll need to find a SCOBY.  Although you can find them as starter kits online, finding someone else who is already brewing it is the best solution.  SCOBYs continually grow and multiply while they're fermenting, and therefore anyone actively brewing tea will typically have extra SCOBYs as a result.  If you're fortunate enough to know someone who can give you a SCOBY, they'll give it to you in a container with some previously brewed tea in it already, and there you have your starter.

Second, you'll need to make some sweet tea and then the kombucha tea.  Here's the recipe I use:

• Bring 3 quarts of water to a boil. Remove from heat. 
• Add 1 cup raw organic sugar and stir into solution.
• Add 5 organic Oolong tea bags (or an equivalent of black, green, or white tea)
• NOTE:  many herbal teas will kill the SCOBY
• Let the tea steep for 10-30 minutes and cool to room temperature.
• Remove tea bags and pour sweet tea into GLASS storage vessel
• a one gallon jar works well; I prefer a larger vessel
• Add SCOBY 
• Cover with a barrier to allow air exchange ("breathing") but prevent particle contamination
• cheesecloth works well
• Store at room temperature for 7-10 days
• near the end of this time you should smell a vinegar like smell coming from the vessel.
• the length of time will determine the flavor. Short time will make a sweeter tea; longer time more sour.
• After 7-10 days pull out the SCOBY, filter the liquid (using cheese cloth or other filtering device) and store the finished product in a new vessel (preferably glass) in the refrigerator to prevent further growth.
• Start the process all over again.  Drinking the kombucha during the week while the new batch is brewing.

If you want to flavor your tea, you'll want to ferment it a second time.  NEVER ADD ANYTHING ELSE TO THE ORIGINAL BREW.  You will contaminate the SCOBY and likely kill it. 

First of all, if you're new to brewing kombucha, don't worry about flavoring it until you've mastered the steps above.  Enjoy it without flavoring for a while.  I think you'll find it extremely refreshing.

To flavor you tea, follow these simple steps:

• Once you have poured your tea into its final storage container (I typically use growlers and quart jars) leave enough room at the top to add your flavorings.
• Add your flavoring (fruit etc.) of choice to ferment again for 1-2 days at room temperature, again covering to prevent contamination but allowing to breathe.
• Once the time is up, filter off the mass of SCOBY and fruit and throw away. 
• Refrigerate final product to prevent further growth.
• Enjoy!

GingerBerry Kombucha
Strawberry (L) and Raspberry (R)

Some of my favorites are listed below.  The measurements are per quart of tea.  If you use a growler or half gallon jar double the amount, but of course you can change to your liking, add/subtract or experiment on your own.  What I did learn the hard way is that cinnamon will kill your SCOBY, eliminate the probiotic properties, and leave you with a tea possessing a funky after-taste.  Of course, I forgot that cinnamon has anti-microbial properties.  Anyway, here's a few good recipes:






Blueberry:  add 1/4 cup of organic blueberries (fresh or frozen)
Raspberry Lime: 1/4 cup fresh or frozen Raspberry and two lime slices
Ginger Pear:  1 tablespoon of fresh chopped ginger and 1/4 cup of chopped pear
Ginger Berry: 1 tablespoon of fresh chopped ginger and 1/4 cup of an organic berry of your choice
PeachBerry: 1/4 cup frozen peaches and 1/4 cup berry of your choice (I like blueberries)
Cran-Strawberry: 1/4 cup each of cranberries and strawberries (note* dice the cranberries to get the flavor out of their tough skin).
                       
Anyone else have a favorite flavor?  Let us know!

What If We Have Autism All Wrong?



Remember me?

Do you remember your first computer? Really cool, right? Big box, BIG monitor, little screen, but thanks to that "new" machine (and AL Gore of course) you could surf the "web", send a note to your friend across the country and expect a reply the next day, and have more resources and tools at your fingertips than you ever thought imaginable. You could use your phone line to access a vast network of information within minutes. Now what if you used that technology today?  Dial up Internet, UGH! Ridiculously slow computing speeds. ARG! How frustrating would that be in our world of IM'ing, iPads, and smart phones. We now have instant access to everything... everyone... everywhere. We live in a world where information is processed at amazing speeds, and we can only expect in the years to come for it all to get faster ... more efficient ... more useful.

April is Autism Awareness Month, and today I want to pose to you this question:  What if Autism is a processor upgrade?

We all know someone with Autism.  Whether it's your child, your nephew, or your neighbor, it seems there are more and more children diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder each year.  The truth is there are.  In the 1990's autism rates in children were 1 in 350, but today in 2012 new data from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) shows that 1 in 88 children in America has autism, and even more frightening 1in 54 boys will develop it.  Now some of this is likely increased awareness and better diagnosis, but you'd have to be blind if you didn't believe we as a culture, a society, and even the human race didn't have a serious issue on our hand here.  That's a higher rate than cancer!

Why are so many children developing autism?  Why does it affect boys more than girls?  What's causing it?  How do we stop it?  These are all extremely important questions, and they ALL are unanswerable with our current level of understanding.  AND THERE MY FRIENDS LIES THE PROBLEM.

Do we have autism wrong?

Albert Einstein said, "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them," and he's absolutely right. What if we have autism all wrong?  What if autism isn't a disease at all, but more a shift... a response to the environment that we've created in our culture... in our society... in humanity?

New research from the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL in England found that those with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) had a higher capacity than us "normal" adults to process information.  In fact it's that ability that helps those with ASD excel at video gaming as children and IT jobs as adults.  The leading researcher, professor Nilli Lavie says this:

"Our work on perceptual capacity in the typical adult brain suggests a clear explanation for the unique cognitive profile that people with autism show," she says. "People who have higher perceptual capacity are able to process more information from a scene, but this may also include some irrelevant information which they may find harder to ignore. Our research suggests autism does not involve a distractibility deficit but rather an information processing advantage."

What?!? Is this research saying those with ASD have an advantage?  Yes, it is.  Not only that those with autism have been shown to have a larger brain than the rest of the population.  However, other markers clearly show a problem among this population.  Children with autism have lower HDL (good cholesterol) levels and their essential fatty acid ratios are off.  They're typically overweight (BMIs are too high), and they are at higher risk for diseases like diabetes and heart disease.  No, most of us would not call autism an advantage... not in our world.

But wait!  What if that's the problem.  What if these children with amazing brains aren't able to use them because they don't have to tools.  It would be like plugging a new super fast computer processor into an old machine with old technology on an old dial-up Internet system.  Do you think that processor would be used to its full potential?  Do you think there would be frustration?  A break down in communication?  Inability to relate? 

What if this ASD processing capacity is a natural response to our fast paced technology world?  What if autism is a form of micro-evolution?  What if the true problem is that we aren't giving our children the building blocks and tools they need to effectively develop or what if the tools we are giving them are simply inadequate. The research already shows that Omega 3 fatty acid levels in autistic children are consistently low.  What if there's more?  Not enough pure and sufficient nutrients... too many toxic and deficient factors.  What if God created these children EXACTLY the way he wanted them and for a very specific purpose, but we've muddied the water with our lifestyle choices and expectations for what "normal" is?

What can we do about it?  Only a new level of thinking will bring about the answer.

Liar, Liar. Feet on Fire. (confessions of a "barefoot runner")

Vibram Five Finger Komodo Sport

I'm a bare-footer. At least that's what I'll tell you. I've been running in minimalist running shoes ("barefoot shoes") for the last year.   For the most part, it's been a good experience. In fact it's really been great. I ran a half marathon in them last summer, and this year I plan to run a marathon in them. My shoe of choice is the Vibram Five Fingers Komodo Sport. Great "shoes"; I feel like I'm wearing nothing on my feet at all, like I'm barefoot. But really that's a lie; I'm not barefoot. Not in the purest sense of the word, and that became ever so real today.

Last Sunday I ran three miles truly barefoot. I was in Florida, and left the Vibrams at home... on purpose.  I figured, if I'm going to truly run barefoot, now's the time; white soft sand, warm weather.  Big mistake. B-I-G big.  My feet were raw Sunday. It hurt to walk; I know it would hurt to run again the next day.  I could do it if I had my Vibrams.  Maybe after a day off I'll run again and see how it goes - see if I can build up some callous on my feet or something. On Sunday night however... I sat and suffered. The ball of my left foot and the big toe on my right foot felt like they had rug burn; like I drug them down the road while riding a Harley. Funny though. Why the difference in my foot wear? Why is one spot on my left foot and another on my right painful, but the other areas seem OK?

I'm realizing my "barefoot shoes" really cover up some issues with my running technique. My true barefoot wear today reveal imbalance... dysfunction; something I'll need to fix if I want to continue to run distance in these shoes. Certainly, the imbalances exist in the shoes too, but I just don't feel them. The thin layer of rubber between me and the ground makes me less aware of this problem- insulates me from it.

As a chiropractor I see this a lot in other people; in fact I see it all the time. They come in with a pain in only their lower back, but on x-ray we see osteo-arthritis (spinal wear or degeneration) in their neck too. Or it can be the other way around, pain elsewhere, arthritis in the lower back.  Invariably they tell me, "but I don't have pain in my neck, Dr. Zach. Never have." And I tell them, "Arthritis in your spine doesn't have to be painful. In fact it often isn't. Spinal degeneration (or arthritis) often goes undetected because of this for years without causing a problem and then... WHAM, it surfaces.   That undected wear becomes a problem, and often a big one, but unfortunately it was preventable. A few simple tests and and some wellness chiropractic care would have prevented this if we would have caught it 10-20 years ago, but now it's too late.  We can get the pain to go away, but the degeneration...that's premanent." After that I usually tell them to bring in their kids or grand kids with them so they don't end up this way too. No one wants to see that stuff in their spines, and many of these people seek care in our office to assure they don't in the future.

You see just like my feet, imbalances in our spines can cause uneven wear.  Maybe you can visualize it better if the analogy was a tire on your car.  If a tire on your car is mounted out of balance it will wear in an uneven fashion.  You won't notice it right away.  It will take years and miles before you notice a difference.  And chances are you won't be the one to notice it either.  Your mechanic will likely point it out during a regular oil change or when you have the car in for other repairs (kind of like the patient with the back pain).

 "Oh, by the way sir, looks like your tires are wearing unevenly. You want us to rotate and balance them?"

"Sure Mack, go ahead and do that.  I'm sure it'll save some time and money later by doing that now."

Your tires, your feet, your spine, or even your life for that matter, when in balance are designed to be long lasting, extremely useful, and above all else purposeful.  Just a slight misalignment however, can throw everything out of balance and before you know it you've got a blow-out; broken down and disabled on the roadside of life.

Fortunately there are "mechanics" for all areas of life.  Experts in finding imbalances and empowering you to restore balance.  For me, the first step is figuring out this uneven foot wear.  I know I'm going to need some outside help.  Someone to objectively look at where I'm at and what I'm doing.  Someone to point out the errors before this little imbalance leads to a lifetime of pain.  For you, it might be a chiropractor, a coach, a counselor, or your pastor.  Regardless of who it is, know this:

You can never live too long, be too useful, or have too much purpose. 

Vitamin D: The Real Young Gun

Do you remember the movie, "Young Guns"?  If you're a man I bet you remember the gritty 1988 action/ western with all-star cast members Emelio Estevez, Charlie Sheen, Keifer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, etc.  Or, maybe you women remember the Bon Jovi hit, "Blaze of Glory", from the sequel, Young Guns II.  Either way, this movie rocked, and I quoted it often (too often) as a teen trying impress.  Yet, here I am 25 years later quoting it, and again, I'm trying to impress.  But this time, what I want to impress is an idea into your mind.

In the movie Young Guns, this band of misfits called themselves "Regulators".  Maybe you remember the line,

"We're regulators. We regulate any stealin' of his property, we're damn good too. But you can't be any geek off the street. You've gotta be handy with the steel if you know what I mean, earn your keep." 

According to Merriam-Webster's online dictionary, regulators act as overseers, governors, or enforcers of the law or rules.  Regulators bring order, method, or uniformity to whatever they regulate.  There are regulators everywhere.  They are in your car, your thermostat, and your oven (just to mention a few).  They are in society (police), and they are also in your body.

Your body has a multitude of regulators and processes of regulation, but there's one particular regulator that's getting a whole lot of press these days... VITAMIN D.

As a vitamin, vitamin D is unique in the fact that it is actually a steroid hormone, and by design we manufacture vitamin D in our bodies when our skin is exposed to sunlight.  In fact with just 10-15 minutes of sunlight exposure to around half of our body, we can produce more than 10,000 i.u. (international units) of vitamin D. In recent years, vitamin D has also become readily available in supplement form too.  Vitamin D has historically been labeled as the "bone vitamin", and is needed in our bodies to effectively use calcium, and therefore create strong bones.  In reality however, vitamin D is responsible for so much more.  Not only is vitamin D absolutely necessary for normal bone growth (without it, children get rickets), but vitamin D also REGULATES other extremely important processes in our bodies including (but not limited to) cell division, immunity, digestion, and reproduction.  Not only that, but recent research has shown that low vitamin D levels play a role in cancer, inflammation, and even Alzheimer's.

So, why is all of this important?  It's important because according to research,  1 in every 10 children in America are vitamin D deficient, and just about as many adults are too! 

I really don't swear much, nor do I even pretend to.  BUT PEOPLE, WAKE UP! WE'RE FREAKING KILLING OURSELVES AND OUR CHILDREN WITH OUR LIFESTYLE CHOICES!

It is too easy to get vitamin D from our environment or as a supplement to be vitamin D deficient!  I mean, seriously, for at least half the year, it's free.  Just get outside in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt or less (with good taste of course) for 10-20 minutes a day.  In fact while your out there, exercise a little and you'll reap even more reward.  Also, don't believe the "sun is evil" people.  God created you to manufacture vitamin D via sunlight exposure.  Do you think He got it wrong?  The sun does need to be respected though.  Sunburn can increase your risk of skin cancer, but you cannot create vitamin D in skin you've smothered with sunscreen.  So, give you vitamin D factories a chance to work briefly each day, preferably in the morning or evening (protect your skin after 15 minutes if your out in the mid-day sun or if you'll be in the sun for an extended period of time).  If you're going to use sunscreen, make sure it's a physical block and not a chemical sunblock.  Chemical sunblock has itself been implicated in causing skin cancer recently too. In the fall, winter, and spring (times when you're not getting adequate sunlight exposure) supplement your diet with vitamin D.  And please if you need help with this stuff, let me know.  I'm always happy to help.

I Will Not Choose Cancer

I've been thinking a lot about my last blog post and the "there are no extra parts" statement.
  I was thinking, "Well what about cancer? Cancer... that's gotta be an extra part; gotta be a mistake, there can't truly be a purpose to cancer, can there?" So, I thought, I should try to understand cancer before I label it. Why do we get cancer? What causes it? How does CANCER happen?

Here's what I've come to understand. Cancer doesn't just happen. There are no cancer cells that magically appear in our bodies. Cancer cells begin as normal cells in our body. Maybe they were stem cells; maybe through mitosis (cell division); either way these cells began in normal fashion, and like all cells in our body, they follow a chain of command. That chain might be DNA driven specialization that created brain and stomach and skin cells when I was developing in my mother's womb. Or the chain of command may be environmentally driven stem cells transforming to replace the old cells who've done their job. In our bodies, new cells are constantly being developed and old cells are passing away. It's really an amazing thing when you pull back and look at it, and it works right every time.....EXCEPT.

Well, except, it doesn't work right every time. That's where cancer comes from. When these new cells are differentiating and dividing, something interferes with that chain of command. Something interferes with the communication needed for those cells to grow and function normally. They stop listening. In fact, not only do they stop listening to the chain of command outside themselves, but they stop listening to the chain of command inside too. You see, every cell in our body has a "suicide switch", a trigger that's supposed to go off if the cell is damaged. The process is called APOPTOSIS, but in cancer cells apoptosis doesn't happen, and these damages cells keep on living, and start damaging YOU. Now that "something" that caused all this is usually damage to the DNA inside the cell. But what caused that? The answer is usually the environment. Radiation, toxins, junk food, cigarettes, make-up, etc. etc. These rogue cells start living for themselves instead of the whole body (boy.. sounds like some people I know). They act on their own accord and start creating more of themselves, and given enough time they'll take over your body.

Back to my original question. Is cancer an extra part? NO. Cancer is a foreign part. It's the wrong part. It not supposed to be there, and wasn't in the design. Cancer in your body is like a virus on your computer, a mistress in your marriage, or the debt you carry on your credit card. A virus isn't in the computer's design and doesn't necessarily care if it destroys your machine. A marriage is designed for only two people, there's no room for a third. And there's nothing that will eat away more at financial security than debt. I didn't chose cancer any more than I chose my computer crashing, divorce, or bankruptcy, but in each case it's likely that something I did led to it. I downloaded the virus, I chose the mistress, I spent beyond my means.

 I am not a victim of any of these. They are a natural process of choice. We are not victims of cancer, either. We have a say in this. Our choices in life affect the outcomes. When I choose to smoke, or drink alcohol or soda, or fatty fried food I increase my risk of cancer. When I choose water, or fruits and vegetables, or exercise I lower my risk of cancer. Chemicals on my skin or Sunburn: increased. Vitamin D: decreased.

I can't control everything in life, but as for those things I can....well, it's time to start make the right choices.

Hugo Cabret gets it. DO YOU?

After the success of the movie Hugo at the Academy Awards, my wife and I decided to rent it the other night and watch it with the kids. The kid, Hugo Cabret, lives inside the guts of the largest train station in Paris and survives on his own, keeps the station clocks running, and has an adventure. Good movie. Maybe a great movie. I don't know, I'm not an expert on movies. I do know this, however. Hugo Cabret get's it. Hugo Cabret gets LIFE.

Hugo Cabret: "Right after my father died, I would come up here a lot. I'd imagine the whole world was one big machine. Machines never come with any extra parts, you know. They always come with the exact amount they need. So I figured, if the entire world was one big machine, I couldn't be an extra part. I had to be here for some reason. And that means you have to be here for some reason too."

There are no extra parts in life. Everything has a purpose. Do you think the basic elements of our universe have extra parts? An atom? Elements? Nope. None there. Oxygen has 8 neutrons, electrons, and protons. Take one away and what do you get? Nitrogen. No extra parts there. Every cell in your body has exactly the right amount of parts (organelles) to work. No more; no less.

You body has no extra organs either. Appendix you say? Need it. Tonsils maybe? Need them too. In fact new research shows just how much you need these once thought of "extra" parts of the body. Researchers at Ohio State University recently found that T lymphocytes (T cells) are manufactured in our tonsils. Why's that important you? T cells are a variety of white blood cells in our bodies, and are the primary agents of the immune system and cell mediated immunity. Without them, you would die. Until this research was completed, it was thought that t cells only came from the Thymus Gland. Unfortunately, if you had your tonsils removed, they do only come from your thymus gland. No extra parts. God doesn't make mistakes. Everything has purpose.