This Addictive Commonly Used Food Feeds Cancer Cells, Triggers Weight Gain, and Promotes Premature Ageing

Is sugar a sweet old friend that is secretly plotting your demise?

There is a vast sea of research suggesting that it is. Science has now shown us, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that sugar in your food, in all its myriad of forms, is taking a devastating toll on your health.

The single largest source of calories for Americans comes from sugar—specifically high fructose corn syrup. Just take a look at the sugar consumption trends of the past 300 years:[1]

In 1700, the average person consumed about 4 pounds of sugar per year.
In 1800, the average person consumed about 18 pounds of sugar per year.
In 1900, individual consumption had risen to 90 pounds of sugar per year.
In 2009, more than 50 percent of all Americans consume one-half pound of sugar PER DAY—translating to a whopping 180 pounds of sugar per year!
Sugar is loaded into your soft drinks, fruit juices, sports drinks, and hidden in almost all processed foods—from bologna to pretzels to Worcestershire sauce to cheese spread. And now most infant formula has the sugar equivalent of one can of Coca-Cola, so babies are being metabolically poisoned from day one if taking formula.

No wonder there is an obesity epidemic in this country.

Today, 32 percent of Americans are obese and an additional one-third are overweight. Compare that to 1890, when a survey of white males in their fifties revealed an obesity rate of just 3.4 percent. In 1975, the obesity rate in America had reached 15 percent, and since then it has doubled.

Carrying excess weight increases your risk for deadly conditions such as heart disease, kidney disease and diabetes.

In 1893, there were fewer than three cases of diabetes per 100,000 people in the United States. Today, diabetes strikes almost 8,000 out of every 100,000 people.[1]

You don’t have to be a physician or a scientist to notice America’s expanding waistline. All you have to do is stroll through a shopping mall or a schoolyard, or perhaps glance in the mirror.

Sugars 101 -- Basics of How to Avoid Confusion on this Important Topic


It is easy to become confused by the various sugars and sweeteners. So here is a basic overview:

Dextrose, fructose and glucose are all monosaccharides, known as simple sugars. The primary difference between them is how your body metabolizes them. Glucose and dextrose are essentially the same sugar. However, food manufacturers usually use the term “dextrose” in their ingredient list.
The simple sugars can combine to form more complex sugars, like the disaccharide sucrose (table sugar), which is half glucose and half fructose.
High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is 55 percent fructose and 45 percent glucose.
Ethanol (drinking alcohol) is not a sugar, although beer and wine contain residual sugars and starches, in addition to alcohol.
Sugar alcohols like xylitol, glycerol, sorbitol, maltitol, mannitol, and erythritol are neither sugars nor alcohols but are becoming increasingly popular as sweeteners. They are incompletely absorbed from your small intestine, for the most part, so they provide fewer calories than sugar but often cause problems with bloating, diarrhea and flatulence.
Sucralose (Splenda) is NOT a sugar, despite its sugar-like name and deceptive marketing slogan, “made from sugar.” It’s a chlorinated artificial sweetener in line with aspartame and saccharin, with detrimental health effects to match.
Agave syrup, falsely advertised as “natural,” is typically HIGHLY processed and is usually 80 percent fructose. The end product does not even remotely resemble the original agave plant.
Honey is about 53 percent fructose[2], but is completely natural in its raw form and has many health benefits when used in moderation, including as many antioxidants as spinach.
Stevia is a highly sweet herb derived from the leaf of the South American stevia plant, which is completely safe (in its natural form). Lo han (or luohanguo) is another natural sweetener, but derived from a fruit.
All Sugars are Not Equal
Glucose is the form of energy you were designed to run on. Every cell in your body, every bacterium—and in fact, every living thing on the Earth—uses glucose for energy.

But as a country, sucrose is no longer the sugar of choice. It’s now fructose.

If your diet was like that of people a century ago, you’d consume about 15 grams per day—a far cry from the 73 grams per day the typical person gets from sweetened drinks. In vegetables and fruits, it’s mixed in with vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and beneficial phytonutrients, all which moderate the negative metabolic effects. Amazingly, 25 percent of people actually consume more than 130 grams of fructose per day.

Making matters worse, all of the fiber has been removed from processed foods, so there is essentially no nutritive value at all. And the very products most people rely on to lose weight—the low-fat diet foods—are often the ones highest in fructose.

It isn’t that fructose itself is bad—it is the MASSIVE DOSES you’re exposed to that make it dangerous.

There are two overall reasons fructose is so damaging:

Your body metabolizes fructose in a much different way than glucose. The entire burden of metabolizing fructose falls on your liver.
People are consuming fructose in enormous quantities, which has made the negative effects much more profound.
The explosion of soda consumption is the major cause of this.

Today, 55 percent of sweeteners used in food and beverage manufacturing are made from corn, and the number one source of calories in America is soda, in the form of high fructose corn syrup.

Food and beverage manufacturers began switching their sweeteners from sucrose to corn syrup in the 1970s when they discovered that HFCS was not only far cheaper to make, it’s about 20 percent sweeter than conventional table sugar that has sucrose.

HFCS contains the same two sugars as sucrose but is more metabolically risky to you, due to its chemical form.

The fructose and the glucose are not bound together in HFCS, as they are in table sugar, so your body doesn’t have to break it down. Therefore, the fructose is absorbed immediately, going straight to your liver.

Too Much Fructose Creates a Metabolic Disaster in Your Body
Dr. Robert Lustig, Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco, has been a pioneer in decoding sugar metabolism. His work has highlighted some major differences in how different sugars are broken down and used by the human body.

I highly recommend watching Lustig’s lecture in its entirety if you want to learn how fructose is ruining your health biochemically.

As I mentioned earlier, after eating fructose, most of the metabolic burden rests on your liver. This is NOT the case with glucose, of which your liver breaks down only 20 percent. Nearly every cell in your body utilizes glucose, so it’s normally “burned up” immediately after consumption.

So where does all of this fructose go, once you consume it?

Onto your thighs. It is turned into FAT (VLDL and triglycerides), which means more fat deposits throughout your body.

Eating Fructose is Far Worse than Eating Fat
However, the physiological problems of fructose metabolism extend well beyond a couple of pant sizes:

Fructose elevates uric acid, which decreases nitric oxide, raises angiotensin, and causes your smooth muscle cells to contract, thereby raising your blood pressure and potentially damaging your kidneys.[1]

Increased uric acid also leads to chronic, low-level inflammation, which has far-reaching consequences for your health. For example, chronically inflamed blood vessels lead to heart attacks and strokes; also, a good deal of evidence exists that some cancers are caused by chronic inflammation. (See the next section for more about uric acid.)
Fructose tricks your body into gaining weight by fooling your metabolism—it turns off your body’s appetite-control system. Fructose does not appropriately stimulate insulin, which in turn does not suppress ghrelin (the “hunger hormone”) and doesn’t stimulate leptin (the “satiety hormone”), which together result in your eating more and developing insulin resistance.[3] [4]
Fructose rapidly leads to weight gain and abdominal obesity (“beer belly”), decreased HDL, increased LDL, elevated triglycerides, elevated blood sugar, and high blood pressure—i.e., classic metabolic syndrome.
Fructose metabolism is very similar to ethanol metabolism, which has a multitude of toxic effects, including NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease). It’s alcohol without the buzz.
These changes are not seen when humans or animals eat starch (or glucose), suggesting that fructose is a “bad carbohydrate” when consumed in excess of 25 grams per day. It is probably the one factor responsible for the partial success of many “low-carb” diets.

One of the more recent findings that surprised researchers is that glucose actually accelerates fructose absorption, making the potential health risks from HFCS even more profound.[1]

You can now see why fructose is the number one contributing factor to the current obesity epidemic.

Is Uric Acid the New Cholesterol?
By now you are probably aware of the childhood obesity epidemic in America—but did you know about childhood hypertension?

Until recently, children were rarely diagnosed with high blood pressure, and when they were, it was usually due to a tumor or a vascular kidney disease.

In 2004, a study showed hypertension among children is four times higher than predicted: 4.5 percent of American children have high blood pressure. Among overweight children, the rate is 10 percent. It is thought that obesity is to blame for about 50 percent of hypertension cases in adolescents today.[1]

Even more startling is that 90 percent of adolescents who have high blood pressure have elevated uric acid levels.

This has led researchers to ask, what does uric acid have to do with obesity and high blood pressure?

In his book, The Sugar Fix: The High-Fructose Fallout That is Making You Fat and Sick, Dr. Robert J. Johnson makes a compelling argument for a previously unrecognized connection between excess sugar consumption and high uric acid levels. However, he promotes artificial sweeteners as an alternative to sugar and makes other recommendations that I don't agree with.

Dr. Johnson is a conventional physician who has not accepted large parts of natural medicine, however, he is one of the leading researchers defining the extent of fructose toxicity. He has spent many years of his life dedicating himself to uncover this mystery.

There are more than 3,500 articles to date showing a strong relationship between uric acid and obesity, heart disease, hypertension, stroke, kidney disease, and other conditions. In fact, a number of studies have confirmed that people with elevated serum uric acid are at risk for high blood pressure, even if they otherwise appear to be perfectly healthy.

Uric acid levels among Americans have risen significantly since the early half of the 20th Century. In the 1920s, average uric acid levels were about 3.5 ml/dl. By 1980, average uric acid levels had climbed into the range of 6.0 to 6.5 ml/dl and are probably much higher now.

How Does Your Body Produce Uric Acid?
It’s a byproduct of cellular breakdown. As cells die off, DNA and RNA degrade into chemicals called purines. Purines are further broken down into uric acid.

Fructose increases uric acid through a complex process that causes cells to burn up their ATP rapidly, leading to “cell shock” and increased cell death. After eating excessive amounts of fructose, cells become starved of energy and enter a state of shock, just as if they have lost their blood supply. Massive cellular die-off leads to increased uric acid levels.

And cells that are depleted of energy become inflamed and more susceptible to damage from oxidative stress. Fat cells actually become “sickly,” bloating up with excessive amounts of fat.

There is a simple, inexpensive blood test for determining your uric acid level, which I recommend you have done as part of your routine health checkups. Your level should be between 3.0 and 5.5 mg/dl, optimally.

There is little doubt in my mind that your uric acid level is a more potent predictor of cardiovascular and overall health than your total cholesterol level is. Yet virtually no one is screening for this.

Now that you know the truth you don’t have to be left out in the cold, as this is a simple and relatively inexpensive test that you can get at any doctor’s office. Odds are very good your doctor is clueless about the significance of elevated uric acid levels, so it will not likely be productive to engage in a discussion with him unless he is truly an open-minded truth seeker.

Merely get your uric acid level, and if it is over 5 then eliminate as much fructose as you can (also eliminate all beer), and retest your level in a few weeks.

Sugar Sensitization Makes the Problem Even WORSE!
There is yet another problem with sugar—a self-perpetuating one.

According to Dr. Johnson1, sugar activates its own pathways in your body—those metabolic pathways become “upregulated.” In other words, the more sugar you eat, the more effective your body is in absorbing it; and the more you absorb, the more damage you’ll do.

You become “sensitized” to sugar as time goes by, and more sensitive to its toxic effects as well.

The flip side is, when people are given even a brief sugar holiday, sugar sensitization rapidly decreases and those metabolic pathways become “downregulated.” Research tells us that even two weeks without consuming sugar will cause your body to be less reactive to it.

Try it for yourself! Take a two-week sugar sabbatical and see how different you feel.

Are Fruits Good or Bad for You?
Keep in mind that fruits also contain fructose, although an ameliorating factor is that whole fruits also contain vitamins and other antioxidants that reduce the hazardous effects of fructose.

Juices, on the other hand, are nearly as detrimental as soda, because a glass of juice is loaded with fructose, and a lot of the antioxidants are lost.

It is important to remember that fructose alone isn’t evil as fruits are certainly beneficial. But when you consume high levels of fructose it will absolutely devastate your biochemistry and physiology. Remember the AVERAGE fructose dose is 70 grams per day which exceeds the recommend limit by 300 percent.

So please BE CAREFUL with your fruit consumption. You simply MUST understand that because HFCS is so darn cheap, it is added to virtually every processed food. Even if you consumed no soda or fruit, it is very easy to exceed 25 grams of hidden fructose in your diet.

If you are a raw food advocate, have a pristine diet, and exercise very well, then you could be the exception that could exceed this limit and stay healthy.

Dr. Johnson has a handy chart, included below, which you can use to estimate how much fructose you’re getting in your diet. Remember, you are also likely getting additional fructose if you consume any packaged foods at all, since it is hidden in nearly all of them.

Fruit Serving Size Grams of Fructose
Limes 1 medium 0
Lemons 1 medium 0.6
Cranberries 1 cup 0.7
Passion fruit 1 medium 0.9
Prune 1 medium 1.2
Apricot 1 medium 1.3
Guava 2 medium 2.2
Date (Deglet Noor style) 1 medium 2.6
Cantaloupe 1/8 of med. melon 2.8
Raspberries 1 cup 3.0
Clementine 1 medium 3.4
Kiwifruit 1 medium 3.4
Blackberries 1 cup 3.5
Star fruit 1 medium 3.6
Cherries, sweet 10 3.8
Strawberries 1 cup 3.8
Cherries, sour 1 cup 4.0
Pineapple 1 slice
(3.5" x .75") 4.0
Grapefruit, pink or red 1/2 medium 4.3
Fruit Serving Size Grams of Fructose
Boysenberries 1 cup 4.6
Tangerine/mandarin orange 1 medium 4.8
Nectarine 1 medium 5.4
Peach 1 medium 5.9
Orange (navel) 1 medium 6.1
Papaya 1/2 medium 6.3
Honeydew 1/8 of med. melon 6.7
Banana 1 medium 7.1
Blueberries 1 cup 7.4
Date (Medjool) 1 medium 7.7
Apple (composite) 1 medium 9.5
Persimmon 1 medium 10.6
Watermelon 1/16 med. melon 11.3
Pear 1 medium 11.8
Raisins 1/4 cup 12.3
Grapes, seedless (green or red) 1 cup 12.4
Mango 1/2 medium 16.2
Apricots, dried 1 cup 16.4
Figs, dried 1 cup 23.0



In addition to limiting your intake of fructose, you should eliminate all sweetened beverages and fruit juices (including all artificial sweeteners) and drink only pure water and raw milk.

You can buy pure glucose (dextrose) as a sweetener for about $1 a pound. It is only 70% as sweet as sucrose, so you’ll end up using a bit more of it for the same amount of sweetness, making it slightly more expensive than sucrose—but still well worth it for your health as it has ZERO grams of fructose.

Remember that glucose can be used directly by every cell in your body and as such is far safer than the metabolic poison fructose.

Beer is also a good beverage to AVOID since it increases uric acid levels, just like fructose does, resulting in many of the same toxic effects.

All alcoholic beverages cause you to produce excess uric acid (and block your kidneys from excreting it), but beer seems to have a more pronounced effect on uric acid levels because it’s a rich source of guanosine, the type of purine that is most readily absorbed by the body.1

76 Additional Ways Sugar Can Ruin Your Health
In addition to throwing off your body's homeostasis and wreaking havoc on your metabolic processes, excess sugar has a number of other significant consequences.

Nancy Appleton, PhD, author of the book Lick the Sugar Habit[5], contributed an extensive list of the many ways sugar can ruin your health from a vast number of medical journals and other scientific publications.

Sugar can suppress your immune system and impair your defenses against infectious disease.[6] [7]
Sugar upsets the mineral relationships in your body: causes chromium and copper deficiencies and interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium.[8] [9] [10] [11]
Sugar can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline, hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children.[12] [13]
Sugar can produce a significant rise in total cholesterol, triglycerides and bad cholesterol and a decrease in good cholesterol.[14] [15] [16] [17]
Sugar causes a loss of tissue elasticity and function.[18]
Sugar feeds cancer cells and has been connected with the development of cancer of the breast, ovaries, prostate, rectum, pancreas, biliary tract, lung, gallbladder and stomach.[19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25]
Sugar can increase fasting levels of glucose and can cause reactive hypoglycemia.[26] [27]
Sugar can weaken eyesight.[28] 1
Sugar can cause many problems with the gastrointestinal tract including: an acidic digestive tract, indigestion, malabsorption in patients with functional bowel disease, increased risk of Crohn's disease, and ulcerative colitis.[29] [30] [31] [32] [33]
Sugar can cause premature aging.[34] In fact, the single most important factor that accelerates aging is insulin, which is triggered by sugar. 1
Sugar can lead to alcoholism.[35]
Sugar can cause your saliva to become acidic, tooth decay, and periodontal disease.[36] [37] [38]
Sugar contributes to obesity. [39] 1
Sugar can cause autoimmune diseases such as: arthritis, asthma, and multiple sclerosis.[40] [41] [42]
Sugar greatly assists the uncontrolled growth of Candida Albicans (yeast infections) [43]
Sugar can cause gallstones.[44]
Sugar can cause appendicitis.[45]
Sugar can cause hemorrhoids.[46]
Sugar can cause varicose veins.[47]
Sugar can elevate glucose and insulin responses in oral contraceptive users.[48]
Sugar can contribute to osteoporosis.[49]
Sugar can cause a decrease in your insulin sensitivity thereby causing an abnormally high insulin levels and eventually diabetes.[50] [51] [52]
Sugar can lower your Vitamin E levels.[53]
Sugar can increase your systolic blood pressure.[54]
Sugar can cause drowsiness and decreased activity in children.[55]
High sugar intake increases advanced glycation end products (AGEs),which are sugar molecules that attach to and damage proteins in your body. AGEs speed up the aging of cells, which may contribute to a variety of chronic and fatal diseases. [56] 1
Sugar can interfere with your absorption of protein.[57]
Sugar causes food allergies.[58]
Sugar can cause toxemia during pregnancy.[59]
Sugar can contribute to eczema in children.[60]
Sugar can cause atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease.[61] [62]
Sugar can impair the structure of your DNA.[63]
Sugar can change the structure of protein and cause a permanent alteration of the way the proteins act in your body.[64] [65]
Sugar can make your skin age by changing the structure of collagen.[66]
Sugar can cause cataracts and nearsightedness.[67] [68]
Sugar can cause emphysema.[69]
High sugar intake can impair the physiological homeostasis of many systems in your body.[70]
Sugar lowers the ability of enzymes to function.[71]
Sugar intake is higher in people with Parkinson's disease.[72]
Sugar can increase the size of your liver by making your liver cells divide, and it can increase the amount of fat in your liver, leading to fatty liver disease.[73] [74]
Sugar can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney such as the formation of kidney stones.[75] [76] Fructose is helping to drive up rates of kidney disease. 1
Sugar can damage your pancreas.[77]
Sugar can increase your body's fluid retention.[78]
Sugar is enemy #1 of your bowel movement.[79]
Sugar can compromise the lining of your capillaries.[80]
Sugar can make your tendons more brittle.[81]
Sugar can cause headaches, including migraines.[82]
Sugar can reduce the learning capacity, adversely affect your children's grades and cause learning disorders.[83] [84]
Sugar can cause an increase in delta, alpha, and theta brain waves, which can alter your ability to think clearly.[85]
Sugar can cause depression.[86]
Sugar can increase your risk of gout.[87]
Sugar can increase your risk of Alzheimer's disease.[88] MRI studies show that adults 60 and older who have high uric acid are four to five times more likely to have vascular dementia, the second most common form of dementia after Alzheimer’s.1
Sugar can cause hormonal imbalances such as: increasing estrogen in men, exacerbating PMS, and decreasing growth hormone.[89] [90] [91] [92]
Sugar can lead to dizziness.[93]
Diets high in sugar will increase free radicals and oxidative stress.[94]
A high sucrose diet of subjects with peripheral vascular disease significantly increases platelet adhesion.[95]
High sugar consumption by pregnant adolescents can lead to a substantial decrease in gestation duration and is associated with a twofold-increased risk for delivering a small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infant.[96] [97]
Sugar is an addictive substance.[98]
Sugar can be intoxicating, similar to alcohol.[99]
Sugar given to premature babies can affect the amount of carbon dioxide they produce.[100]
Decrease in sugar intake can increase emotional stability.[101]
Your body changes sugar into 2 to 5 times more fat in the bloodstream than it does starch.[102]
The rapid absorption of sugar promotes excessive food intake in obese subjects.[103]
Sugar can worsen the symptoms of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).[104]
Sugar adversely affects urinary electrolyte composition.[105]
Sugar can impair the function of your adrenal glands.[106]
Sugar has the potential of inducing abnormal metabolic processes in normal, healthy individuals, thereby promoting chronic degenerative diseases.[107]
Intravenous feedings (IVs) of sugar water can cut off oxygen to your brain.[108]
Sugar increases your risk of polio.[109]
High sugar intake can cause epileptic seizures.[110]
Sugar causes high blood pressure in obese people.[111]
In intensive care units, limiting sugar saves lives.[112]
Sugar may induce cell death.[113]
In juvenile rehabilitation centers, when children were put on low sugar diets, there was a 44 percent drop in antisocial behavior.[114]
Sugar dehydrates newborns.[115]
Sugar can cause gum disease.[116]
It should now be crystal clear just how damaging sugar is. You simply cannot achieve your highest degree of health and vitality if you are consuming a significant amount of it.

Fortunately, your body has an amazing ability to heal itself when given the basic nutrition it needs, and your liver has an incredible ability to regenerate. If you start making changes today, your health WILL begin to improve, returning you to the state of vitality that nature intended.

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Pesticide- and other chemical exposures Processed and artificial foods
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Do you have Diabetes ?

Much of what you have probably heard about diabetes from your health care provider may be incorrect. There is an enormous amount of misinformation circulating from seemingly knowledgeable sources about this epidemic disease.

The vast majority of diabetics are clueless about how to reverse it, and many don’t even realize that they can. They believe their fate has been sealed and all they can do now is “control” it. More than 50 percent of type 2 diabetics are also not even aware they have diabetes.

Diabetes rates for both adults and children are climbing out of control and one in four Americans either have diabetes or pre-diabetes. Unfortunately, by following conventional medical advise, you could be putting yourself on the path toward life-threatening health problems—and even premature death.

We are in the Midst of a Diabetes Epidemic
The latest statistics indicate the U.S. now has up to 24 million people with diagnosed diabetes, which is 8 percent of our total population. However, the picture is even grimmer when it comes to the prevalence of pre-diabetes (impaired fasting glucose).

Almost 26 percent of U.S. adults over the age of 20 and more than 35 percent of seniors (age 60 and older) are pre-diabetics. In total, that’s 57 million Americans walking around with pre-diabetes, in addition to the 24 million who have already crossed the line.

That means more than one in four Americans has either pre-diabetes or the full-blown disease!

Not only is type 2 diabetes completely preventable, it is usually curable if you are willing to make some simple, inexpensive lifestyle adjustments that will restore your insulin and leptin sensitivity.

Diabetes, Type 1 and Type 2: What’s the Difference?
Diabetes (also known as diabetes mellitus) is a chronic condition traditionally marked by high levels of glucose in your blood (high blood sugar).

Type 1 is called insulin-dependent diabetes (also known as juvenile onset diabetes), and Type 2 is called non-insulin-dependent diabetes (or adult onset diabetes).

Type 1: “Insulin Dependent” Diabetes
In Type 1 diabetes, your body’s own immune system destroys the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas, resulting in a complete deficiency of the hormone insulin. This deficiency of insulin is why Type 1 is called “insulin-dependent”—because more often than not, Type 1 Diabetics must give themselves supplemental insulin.

Type 1 is relatively uncommon, affecting only about 1 in 250 Americans. It usually occurs in people before the age of 20. There is no known cure.

However, recent research has shown that our preoccupation with sun avoidance may play a major role in the development of type 1 diabetes. The further you move away from the equator, the greater your risk for this disease.

Women can help reduce their children’s risk of type 1 diabetes by optimizing their vitamin D levels prior to, and during their pregnancy as vitamin D has been shown to suppress certain cells of the immune system that may play a role in the development of the disorder.

Type 2: “Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetes”
Type 2 diabetes is by far the more common form of the disease, affecting 90 to 95 percent of diabetics, and is completely preventable and nearly 100 percent curable.

If you have type 2, your body is producing some insulin but is unable to recognize insulin and use it properly. This is an advanced stage of insulin-resistance.

Since your insulin is inadequate, sugar can’t get into your cells and instead builds up in your blood, causing a variety of problems. This is why diabetics have elevated blood sugar levels.

Symptoms of type 2 diabetes include:

Excessive thirst Extreme hunger (even after eating)
Nausea and possible vomiting Unusual weight gain or loss
Increased fatigue Irritability
Blurred vision Slow healing of wounds
Frequent infections (skin, urinary, vaginal) Numbness or tingling in hands and/or feet



Medications and supplements are NOT the answer for type 2 diabetes; restoring your sensitivity to insulin and leptin is what’s needed.

Diabetes is NOT a Disease of Blood Sugar
Diabetes is a disease of insulin and leptin signaling, not a disease of blood sugar, which is why the medical community’s approach to its treatment is not getting us anywhere.

In addition to diabetes, elevated insulin levels are associated with a number of diseases, including:

Heart disease
Peripheral vascular disease
Stroke
High blood pressure
Cancer
Obesity
Diabetes, like all chronic disease, results from cellular miscommunication.

Leptin: Is It the Missing Link Between Obesity and Diabetes?
Leptin is a hormone produced in your fat cells.

One of leptin's primary roles is regulating your appetite and body weight. It tells your brain when to eat, how much to eat, and most importantly, when to stop eating. And leptin tells your brain what to do with the energy it has. Leptin is largely responsible for the accuracy of insulin signaling and whether or not you become insulin resistant.

The only known way to reestablish proper leptin (and insulin) signaling is through proper diet.

When your blood sugar becomes elevated, insulin is released to direct the extra energy into storage. A small amount is stored as a starch called glycogen, but the majority is stored as your main energy supply—fat.

Therefore, insulin's major role is not to lower your blood sugar, but rather to store the extra energy for future times of need. Insulin’s effect of lowering your blood sugar is merely a “side effect” of this energy storage process.

This is why diabetes treatments concentrating merely on lowering blood sugar can actually worsen, rather than remedy the actual problem of metabolic miscommunication.

Taking insulin is one of the WORST things you can do for type 2 diabetes, since it will actually worsen your insulin and leptin resistance over time.

Fructose—One of the Major Culprits in Obesity and Diabetes
The presence of massive amounts of fructose in today’s Western diet is a driving force behind our diabetes epidemic.

Regular table sugar is 50 percent fructose and 50 percent glucose, and the two are metabolized very differently. Nearly every cell in your body was designed to use glucose for energy—especially your brain cells—but fructose breaks down into a variety of toxins that can have devastating effects on your health.

Fructose has the following adverse metabolic effects:

Fructose does not stimulate a rise in leptin, so your satiety signals are suppressed.
Fructose raises your insulin and your triglycerides, which effectively reduces the amount of leptin crossing your blood-brain barrier. This interferes with the communication between leptin and your hypothalamus. Your brain senses starvation and prompts you to eat more.
Fructose does not suppress ghrelin like glucose does. Ghrelin is the “hunger hormone,” making you want more food.
All of this also sets the stage for overindulgence and hence overweight, placing you on the path toward diabetes.

I strongly advise keeping your total fructose consumption below 25 grams per day.

However, it would be wise for most people to limit fructose to 15 grams or less as it is virtually guaranteed you will be getting “hidden” sources of fructose from just about any processed food you eat.

This includes fruits, which also need to be carefully measured to make certain that you’re not inadvertently going over the fructose limit. For a helpful chart listing the fructose content of several common fruits, please see this previous article.

Diabetes Drugs Miss the Mark, and are Dangerous
Regardless of what you may have heard, you cannot successfully treat the underlying cause of diabetes with drugs.

For example, consider Avandia.

Avandia works by making diabetes patients more sensitive to their own insulin, helping to control blood sugar levels. In fact, most conventional treatments for type 2 diabetes utilize drugs that either raise insulin or lower blood sugar. Avandia, for example, reduces your blood sugar by increasing the sensitivity of your liver, fat and muscle cells to insulin.

The problem is, diabetes is not a blood sugar disease, as I have already explained. So, drugs that focus on the symptom of elevated blood sugar, rather than addressing the underlying cause, are doomed to fail in most cases.

Not only that, but drugs like Avandia have dangerous side effects, including causing extensive heart problems that have killed literally thousands of people. In fact, Avandia has been linked to a 43 percent increased risk of heart attack and a 64 percent higher risk of cardiovascular death compared to patients treated with other methods!

The good news?

Nearly 100 percent of type 2 diabetics can be successfully cured without medications.

Preventing or Reversing Diabetes in Six Simple Steps
Here are my top six actions to take for increasing your insulin and leptin sensitivity, thus reducing your chances for developing diabetes—or reversing it if you already have the disease:

Exercise
Exercise is an absolutely essential factor, and without it, you’re unlikely to get this devastating disease under control. It is one of the fastest and most powerful ways to lower your insulin and leptin resistance.

If you’re unsure of how to get started, I recommend reviewing my exercise program for tips and guidelines. It is also critical to work your way up to include some Peak 8 exercises.

Eliminate Grains and Sugars, Especially Fructose
A large reason for the failure of conventional diabetes treatment over the last 50 years has to do with seriously flawed dietary recommendations. Fructose and grains are largely responsible for your body’s adverse insulin reactions.

You will want to eliminate ALL sugars and grains—even “healthful” grains such as whole, organic or sprouted ones. This means avoiding all breads, pasta, cereals, rice, potatoes, and corn (which is in fact a grain).

You might even need to avoid fruits until your blood sugar is under control.

Eat Right for Your Nutritional Type
Exercising and avoiding grains and sugars might not be enough unless you balance your protein, carbohydrate and fat ratios for your specific genetic biochemistry. The first step is finding out your nutritional type, which then gives you information about your optimal protein/carbohydrate/fat ratio. I now offer the full nutritional typing program for FREE, so you can get started today!

Monitor Your Fasting Insulin Level
This is every bit as important as your fasting blood sugar. You’ll want your fasting insulin level to be between 2 and 4. The higher your level, the worse your insulin sensitivity is.

Optimize Your Vitamin D
Interestingly, optimizing your vitamin D levels not only treats type 2 diabetes but as already mentioned, can virtually eliminate your children's risk for type 1 diabetes if you are pregnant. It’s also vital for infants to receive the appropriate amounts of vitamin D in their early years for the same reason.

Ideally, you’ll want to do this by exposing a large amount of your skin to appropriate amounts of sunshine (or a safe tanning bed) on a regular basis, year-round. Your body can safely create up to 20,000 units of vitamin D a day by direct UV exposure. If you are not getting regular sun exposure on large amounts of your skin you may need anywhere from 5 to 20,000 units of oral vitamin D3 per day.

However, if neither of these options is available, you may want to use an oral vitamin D3 supplement. But remember, if you choose to take an oral supplement, it’s essential that you get your level tested regularly by a proficient lab to make sure it’s in the therapeutic range, which is 60 to 80 ng/ml.

Probiotics
Your gut is a living ecosystem, full of both good bacteria and bad.

Multiple studies have shown that obese people have different intestinal bacteria than lean people. The more good bacteria you have, the stronger your immune system will be and the better your body will function overall.

Fortunately, optimizing your gut flora is relatively easy. You can reseed your body with good bacteria by eating fermented foods (like natto, raw organic cheese, miso, and cultured vegetables) or by taking a high quality probiotic supplement.

For Further Information
This is just a brief overview of the causes, prevention, and treatment of diabetes.

Over the years, I have posted many articles that go into far greater detail on this subject. Below you will find a list of these articles, and I encourage you to do some further reading. Knowledge is power, and with that you can arm yourself against ignorance and misinformation—bringing you one step closer to taking charge of your health.

Diabetes Articles/Links:
What You Know About Diabetes May Be All Wrong
Diabetes is Not a Disease of Blood Sugar! - Startling as that may seem, find out the real cause of diabetes from one of the country's leading experts in this original exclusive article.
The Diabetes Conundrum: What Physicians Are Teaching You May be Killing You - Read the surprising conclusion Dr. Rosedale, one of the leading diabetic doctors in the country, reaches about the current state of knowledge in diabetes.
Leptin: How Diabetes and Obesity Are Linked - Leptin, a hormone that regulates blood sugar in your body, may be the "missing link" between obesity and diabetes. Learn why normalizing leptin and insulin levels reduces your obesity-diabetes risk.
Insulin and Its Metabolic Effects - One of the most read articles on the entire web site; Great foundation for understanding how controlling insulin and leptin is the key to defeating diabetes.
5 Reasons Why Type One Diabetes is on the Rise
Diabetes Epidemic Expected to Double
Mayo Clinic DEAD Wrong on Diabetic Recommendations
This Hormone Makes Counting Calories Irrelevant
Is Insulin Condemning You to a Premature Death?
A Possible Cure for Diabetes Ignored by Big Pharma
Diabetes or Pre-Diabetes Now Strikes One in Four Americans
The Fructose/Uric Acid/Diabetes Connection
Is this Popular Natural Sweetener Worse than High Fructose Corn Syrup?
How Probiotics Can Help Diabetics
Diabetes Alert: Your Gut Microflora May Be Out of Balance
Friendly Bacteria Protect Against Type 1 Diabetes
Vitamin D Against Diabetes
Type 2 Diabetics Need More Sunshine
Vitamin D Lowers Risk of Type 1 Diabetes
The Benefits of Exercise
Diet and Exercise Beat Drugs for Diabetes Heart Risks
Beat Teen Diabetes With Exercise
Two Foods You Should Never, Ever Eat After Exercise
Choose Slow Carb Foods to Control Diabetes
How Carbohydrates & Obesity are Linked: The Kind, Not the Amount - Learn how achieving your optimal weight lies in the kind of carbs you consume, not the amount.
Eat Fast Food and Fight Diabetes? - Is a new compound to protect against high-fat food & diabetes all that it is cracked up to be?
Corn Syrup Linked to Diabetes - The startling jump in diabetes in America is mirrored by our growing consumption of refined carbohydrates.
Infants Fed Cereals May Have an Increased Risk of Diabetes - Although many pediatricians recommend starting young infants on cereal, the grain may present a number of problems, including an increased risk of diabetes. Find out what's a better option to feed your child.
Shocking! This 'Tequila' Sweetener is Far Worse than High Fructose Corn Syrup
Sugar May Be Bad, But This Sweetener is Far More Deadly
This Common Food Ingredient Can Really Mess Up Your Metabolism
Why High-Fructose Corn Syrup Causes Insulin Resistance
The Mediterranean Diet Can Stop Diabetes
Breast-Feeding Curbs Type 2 Diabetes
Insulin-Dependent Diabetes and Rheumatoid Arthritis Improved by Food Choices
How Diabetic Drugs Can Make Your Diabetes Worse and Further Endanger Your Health
Diabetes Drug Causing Deaths
8 Drugs Doctors Would Never Take
Deaths Halt Diabetes Study
Not Again! More Diabetes Drug Dangers...
Green Tea -- Beats Avandia for Diabetes, and No Deadly Side Effects
Diabetes Drug Avandia -- Side Effect Reports Triple
Merck's Latest Drug Scam a Worthless Diabetes Drug
Dangerous Antidepressants Elevate Diabetes Risk
Diabetes Doubles Among American Children
Prev: Dangerous Toxic Sunscreens

Dangers of Sunsceen Lotions

Sun Exposure Can Protect You Against Cancer
Over the years, several studies have already confirmed that appropriate sun exposure actually helps prevent skin cancer. In fact, melanoma occurrence has been found to decrease with greater sun exposure, and can be increased by sunscreens.

One such study revealed that melanoma patients who had higher levels of sun exposure were less likely to die than other melanoma patients, and patients who already had melanoma and got a lot of sun exposure were prone to a less aggressive tumor type.

Another Italian study, published in the European Journal of Cancer in June 2008, also confirms and supports earlier studies showing improved survival rates in melanoma patients who were exposed to sunlight more frequently in the time before their melanoma was diagnosed.

Also, Melanoma is actually more common in indoor workers than in outdoor workers, and is more common on regions of your body that are not exposed to the sun at all. Additionally, UVB radiation has been found to delay the appearance of melanoma if you are genetically predisposed or prone to skin cancer.

To Prevent Skin Damage You Have to Protect Against the Most Damaging Rays
Ultraviolet light from the sun comes in two main wavelengths – UVA and UVB. It's important for you to understand the difference between them, and your risk factors from each.

Consider UVB the 'good form' that helps your skin produce vitamin D.

UVA is considered the 'bad form' because it penetrates your skin more deeply and causes more free radical damage. Not only that, but UVA rays are quite constant during ALL hours of daylight, throughout the entire year -- unlike UVB, which are low in morning and evening, and high at midday.

If you've ever gotten a scorching sunburn on a cloudy day, you now understand why; it's from the deeply penetrating UVA!

Since UVA's are inherently more damaging AND persistently high during all daylight hours, wearing a sunscreen that doesn't protect you from UVA is going to give you virtually no benefit, and be detrimental to your overall health. So the first thing to understand about using sunscreen, when applicable, is to make certain you are actually getting UVA protection.

A Better Alternative to Sunscreen
One of the best strategies to protect yourself from the sun is actually not a sunscreen at all, it's wearing clothing or getting into the shade.

Why?

Because most sunscreens are loaded with toxic chemicals that can actually accelerate skin cancer, or get into your bloodstream where they can disrupt your hormones. Also, the protection sunscreen manufacturers claim is often misleading due to improper application.

So you don't always need to apply sunscreen, and you definitely do want to get some safe sunlight exposure every day, which has also been shown to help protect against as many as 16 different types of cancer, including; breast, colon, endometrial, esophageal, ovarian, bladder, gallbladder, gastric, pancreatic, prostate, rectal, and renal cancers, as well as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Cotton clothing provides about SPF 15, in other words, you will get about 15-times your skin's normal protection from the sun wherever you cover your body with clothing. Just remember that even with protective clothing on your body, it's still important to monitor your skin for the telltale signs of burning.

Remember, sunburn provides no benefit, and is never good for your skin.

So is Gisele Bundchen Right?
Until very recently all sunscreens did NOT filter out the UVA radiation. They filtered out UVB, ensuring that your body could not make any vitamin D, while letting the UVA through. So there was a strong recommendation from the medical community to use sunscreen, but this advice was actually increasing your risk of cancer while eliminating your body's ability to manufacture vitamin D!

The other issue is what type of chemicals does the sunscreen use to create the barrier against the UVA waves?

The synthetic chemicals often used in sunscreen preparations can get into your bloodstream and can cause all sorts of unwanted toxic side effects, including hormone disruption.

Some of these chemicals include:

OMC (Octyl methoxycinnamate) Octocrylene
Avobenzone Oxybenzone
Homosalate Octinoxatre
Octisalate


So if Gisele was referring to sunscreens containing these hormone-disrupting synthetic chemicals that do not even protect against UVA rays, then she was absolutely right!

Safer Sunscreen Alternatives
However, options do exist to provide safe protection from the sun during times when you may not be able to control the amount of sun exposure you are likely to receive. For instance, if you take your kids to an amusement park or the beach, you might just be in direct sunlight all day.

To get natural sun protection from both UVA and UVB rays, you will want to use a sunscreen product that contains the active ingredients of titanium dioxide and zinc oxide. My research team has put together what we think is superior sun protection and you can find more about it here.

You want to be cautious not to include any vitamin A in your sunscreen, or its derivatives retinol and retinyl palmitate.

Other safe ingredients that will nourish your skin include:

Coconut oil Jojoba oil
Sunflower oil Shea butter
Vitamins D and E Eucalyptus oil

Vitamin A—A Dangerous Sunscreen Additive
The sunscreen industry uses vitamin A in its formulations because it is an anti-oxidant that is thought to slow skin aging. But according to the AOL story cited above, the FDA's study of vitamin A's photocarcinogenic properties revealed that:

"tumors and lesions developed up to 21 percent faster in lab animals coated in a vitamin A-laced cream than animals treated with a vitamin-free cream."

This conclusion came from Environmental Working Group's analysis of the findings released the FDA and the National Toxicology Program.

Why hasn't the FDA released these findings and alerted the public to the possible dangers of using a sunscreen that includes vitamin A or its derivatives?

No one is really certain why the FDA again refuses to listen to its scientists and doctors. But this type of behavior has become standard operating procedure for the FDA, an agency that routinely protects the business interests of corporations instead of following their stated mandate to protect the public health.

Our sunscreen used to have vitamin A in it until I discovered its potential health problems. We immediately removed it, however many other brands still include it in their formulas, so beware, and always check the labels when shopping for sunscreen.

How to Research Your Sunscreen
Thanks to the Environmental Working Group, you are now able to see exactly how your sunscreen rates for safe ingredients and efficacy. Check out EWG's Sunscreen Guide here.

Their website also lists the titanium and zinc containing sunscreens receiving the highest ratings, as well as provides you with some non-mineral options that rank lowest on the toxicity scale.

The site is also a great reference for surprising facts about sunscreen, and also contains a sunscreen hall of shame, showing the absolute worst offenders on the toxicity scale. And lastly, according to their website, 1 in 8 sunscreens sold on the market today still offer no protection against UVA rays!

Astaxanthin as the Hottest New Internal Sunscreen
Yes, a specific nutrient has been identified as being profoundly useful in protecting against sun damage!

Astaxanthin has recently jumped to the front of the line in terms of its status as a "supernutrient," becoming the focus of a large and growing number of peer-reviewed scientific studies. It's produced from marine algae in response to exposure to UV light. This is the way the algae protects itself, so it makes perfect sense that this deeply pigmented substance would have the capacity to "shield" you when it is taken in large enough quantities for a long enough time to saturate your body's tissues. Typically this is several weeks.

One of the benefits of astaxanthin that has piqued the interest of researchers is its ability to reduce signs of aging, by helping protect your skin from sun damage.

Cyanotech Corporation funded a study through an independent consumer research laboratory to measure the skin's resistance to both UVA and UVB light, before and after astaxanthin supplementation. After taking 4mg per day for two weeks, subjects showed a significant increase in the amount of time necessary for UV radiation to redden their skin.

Animal studies lend further evidence to astaxanthin's effects as an internal sunscreen. Consider the following:

In 1995, hairless mice were fed various combinations of astaxanthin, beta-carotene and retinol for four months. After irradiation, astaxanthin alone or in combination with retinol was substantially effective in preventing photoaging of the skin (as measured by markers for skin damage).
In a 1998 study with rats, astaxanthin was found to be 100 times stronger than beta-carotene and 1000 times stronger than lutein in preventing UVA light-induced oxidative stress.
The Journal of Dermatological Science published a study in 2002 finding astaxanthin is able to protect against alterations in human DNA induced by UVA light exposure.
Some Other Tips to Decrease Your Risk of a Burn
Controlling your exposure to the sun is not always possible, and sometimes even the most vigilant of us forget to bring along the proper natural sunscreen when we face overexposure.

So what's the best way to ensure your body is primed to have the best defense against overexposure to the sun's harmful UVA rays?

Consuming a healthy diet full of natural antioxidants has always been a useful strategy in not only staying healthy but also providing your body with the resources to counter damage from exposure to ultraviolet radiation. Fresh, raw, unprocessed foods deliver the nutrients that your body needs to maintain a healthy balance of omega 6 and omega 3 oils in your skin, which is your first line of defense against sunburn.

If you are regularly consuming processed foods and your cells are loaded up mostly with damaged, oxidized fats, you simply aren't giving your skin the proper fat protection it needs at a cellular level.

Fresh, raw vegetables also provide your body with an abundance of powerful anti-oxidants that will help you fight the free radicals caused by sun damage that can lead to burns and cancer.

You can also make sure to wear a cap with a visor to protect your face and eyes from direct sunlight, along with enough clothing to protect your skin from direct sun contact. Most cotton clothing will provide you with about 15 SPF.

Also, I avoid using sunglasses, because I believe your eyes need to receive the full spectrum of light to function optimally, and sunglasses block out some essential waves of the light spectrum. So as you're getting your healthy and necessary daily exposure to direct sunlight to optimize your vitamin D levels, you want to be sure to leave the sunglasses behind.

The Root Cause of Cancer

We strongly believe the cancer rates are escalating because they are in no way shape or form addressing the underlying cause of most cancers. Instead, most of the research is directed towards expensive drugs that target late stages of the disease and greatly enrich the drug companies but simply do not prevent cancer.

If ever there was an area in which an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure it is cancer. I strongly believe that if you are able to work your way up to the advanced health plan, that you will virtually eliminate the risk of most cancers.

Environmental- and lifestyle factors are increasingly being pinpointed as the primary culprits fueling our cancer epidemic. This includes:

Pesticide- and other chemical exposures Processed and artificial foods
(plus the chemicals in the packaging) Wireless technologies, dirty electricity, and medical diagnostic radiation exposure
Pharmaceutical drugs Obesity, stress, and poor sleeping habits Lack of sunshine exposure and use of sunscreens



This is clearly not an exhaustive list as such a list would be exceedingly long. For more specifics on consumer products implicated as contributors to cancer, please review the Cancer Prevention Coalition's "Dirty Dozen" list.

The pharmaceutical researchers would like you to believe they're doing everything they can to come up with a solution. Yet all we see is research into newer drug therapies. Clearly they're not digging close enough to the root of the problem, because if they did, they'd touch on some of these lifestyle issues just mentioned.

From my perspective, you ignore lifestyle factors at your own peril when it comes to cancer... Because, clearly, drug-based "advances" are not making a dent in this progressively prevalent disease.

On the contrary, cancer drugs are notoriously toxic and come with devastating, including lethal, side effects. Conventional medicine is so desperate to give the illusion of fighting the good fight that many of these drugs are used despite the fact that they're not really doing much to prolong or improve the quality of life of those diagnosed with cancer.

The best-selling (and extremely expensive) cancer drug Avastin, for example, was recently phased out as a treatment for metastatic breast cancer after studies concluded its benefits were outweighed by its dangerous side effects. Treating a disease in large part caused by toxins with toxins seems ignorant at best.

We can do better than that.

Health Benefits Coconut Water

It may seem obvious to drink during heavy physical activity. But many people underestimate the magnitude of their fluid loss. It is very difficult to avoid dehydration during a long race or when working in the heat because of the rate of sweat loss usually exceeds the rate of absorption of ingested fluids. The maximum rate of fluid absorption by the gastrointestinal tract during exercise is approx 800 ml (27 oz) per hour. The rate of fluid loss through seating can easily reach 1 liter (34 oz per hour and soar to 2 liters per hour under very strenuous conditions thus, it is not possible to drink enough to stay hydrated and dehydration will occur despite drinking plenty of fluid.

So guzzling a liter of water every hour, besides causing discomfort and bloating will not replenish lost liquids. Also, realize that the more dehydrated you get, the harder it is for your digestive tract to absorb what you drink.

In addition to the need to replenish lost water, you must also replenish lost electrolytes. An electrolyte deficiency can be just as dangerous as a water deficiency. Drinking only water, without a source of electrolyte, can dilute the remaining electrolytes in your bloodstream causing hyponatremia, low blood sodium.

Electrolyte deficiency can cause severe reactions, which can send you the hospital or even worse, during exercise, in the heat. More salt is lost in sweat per hour than is usually replaced by food and fluid by commercial sports drinks. Many athletes who rely solely on water and sport drinks for hydration are, to some level, prone to hyponatremia. It is estimated that up to 30% of the finishers of the Hawaiian Iron Man Triathlon are both dehydrated and hyponatromic. Ultra distance athletes have similar track record.

Sweat contains between 2.25-3.4 grams of salt (Sodium Chloride) per liter and the rate of perspiration during strenuous exercise can easily average 1 liter per hour. Experts recommended that during a long, hot race, you should aim for a total sodium intake of about 1 gram per hour. To get 1 gram (1000 mg) of sodium in your body, you would need to drink 2-1/2 liters (84 ounces) of Gatorade every hour! To get one gram of sodium from table salt, you would need to ingest 2.5 grams (1 gram from sodium and 15 grams from chloride). A teaspoon of salt weighs approx. 66 grams. So you would need to consume 3/8 teaspoon of salt with a liter of water every hour.

To make sure the salt and water are properly absorbed, the beverage also needs to contain 4-8% sugar. But the beverage should not be too sweet. Sugar levels above 10% are poorly absorbed and can cause diarrhea. Commercial beverage and sports drink come up short on sodium and often have too much sugar. Coconut water is a better option. Although 1 liter of coconut water may or may not a full gram of sodium, extra sodium can be added, if desired, either in the water or separately. In addition, coconut water also replenishes lost trace of minerals, has the proper sugar content for optimum absorption, supplies amino acids and other nutrients which may also support proper hydration and to top it off, tastes good!

Daniel Mondschain was introduced to coconut water while training for his 5th Marathon. He said "Coconut water improved my performance. At first. I drank it only after my runs. I realized I was recovering more quickly and with less soreness."

Impressed with the results, he began drinking coconut water instead of water or sports beverage during his workouts. He drank only coconut water throughout the final 2 months of training and during the marathon. The result? "I set a personal record and beat my last time by 7 minutes. I had more energy, less fatigue and less pain the final miles and that made me see the difference.

Coconut water is now a permanent fixture in his training regimen. Commercial sports drink contains water, sugar (sucrose syrup), yellow ft (a chemical dye), ester gum (a stabilizer to keep oils in suspension in water used mostly in making varnish and soap), and Brominated vegetable oils. Brominated Vegetable Oil is a vegetable that is chemically bonded to Bromine, an emulsifier used in citrus flavored drinks to help flavors stay suspended and produce the cloudy appearance. Bromine is a halogen that blocks Iodine utilization in the thyroid and other tissues in the body. The adverse effect is usually fatigue, headaches, tremors, memory loss, hallucinations and seizures.

MALUNGGAY / MORINGA THERAPEUTICS

Sometimes, people think that solutions to their problems are expensive and hard to find. But more often than not, real solutions to basic problems are abundant, cheap and even free. Health problems are especially solvable with natural inexpensive gifts from nature.

Moringa, for example, is a wonderful blessing for us all. Locally, it is called malunggay and is easily available everywhere. Unfortunately, it is little appreciated by many Filipinos. Today, I would like to share with the good news about Moringa, as written by Mark Fritz of the Los Angeles Times.

"Scientifically speaking, Moringa sounds like magic. It can rebuild weak bones, enrich anemic blood and enable a malnourished mother to nurse her starving baby. Ounce for ounce, it has the calcium of four glasses of milk, the vitamin C of seven oranges and the potassium of three bananas.

"A dash of Moringa can make dirty water drinkable. Doctors use it to treat diabetes in West Africa and high blood pressure in India. Not only can it staunch a skin infection, but Moringa also makes an excellent fuel and fertilizer.

"Memo to Popeye: Moringa has triple the iron of spinach and more impressive attributes than olive oil. Both Moringa and the common carrot are diamonds in the roughage department, but Moringa has quadruple the beta carotene, which is good for the eyes and effective against cancer."