Friday, April 13, 2018

RHUBARB..... VERY GOOD FOR YOU!

Here's How to Grow Rhubarb

April 13, 2018 • 99,265 views

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Story at-a-glance

If you’re looking for a hardy, problem-free perennial to add to your garden, consider rhubarb, which is both flavorful and nutrient-rich
While you may think of it as a fruit, especially given the tart-yet-sweet punch it gives to pies and other desserts, rhubarb is actually a vegetable
When planted in compost-rich, well-drained soil, rhubarb will thrive in a sunny, out-of-the-way corner of your garden or yard
Under ideal conditions, rhubarb plants can last eight to 15 years; however, to keep up with their prolific growth, you will need to divide the roots every four to five years

By Dr. Mercola

If you’re looking for a hardy, problem-free perennial to add to your garden, consider rhubarb. While you may think of it as a fruit, given the tart-yet-sweet punch it gives to pies and other desserts, rhubarb is actually a vegetable. Given the right soil and sun conditions, you can easily grow rhubarb from crowns or seeds.

For best results, choose a sunny, out-of-the-way corner of your garden that features compost-rich, well-drained soil. Once the plants are established, you can enjoy the red or green celery-like stalks of rhubarb as a springtime treat in jams, pies or smoothies. Avoid the foliage though; it’s poisonous. Here’s all you need to know to grow rhubarb.

What Is Rhubarb?

Rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum) is a species of plant in the buckwheat family that is a close relative of garden sorrel. It can be grown as a perennial in U.S. Department of Agriculture hardiness zones 3 to 8. Characterized by its large leaves and tart-tasting stalks, rhubarb loves cool weather. If you live in a cool climate, rhubarb will likely do well because it requires temperatures below 40 degrees F to come out of dormancy. Cold weather also stimulates bud growth.

It is possible to grow rhubarb as an annual in warmer areas. If you do so, keep in mind that too much heat will result in thinner leaves and stalks. This beautiful, ornamental plant grows 2 to 3 feet tall and wide, which is why you need to give it plenty of growing room. It will do best in a back corner of your vegetable garden or another low-traffic area where it can quietly produce year after year.

The red varieties are often preferred for their taste and tenderness, while the green varieties tend to be more productive. If you’ve yet to try rhubarb, the real joy of this hardy perennial is eating its fibrous leaf stalks. Although often mistaken as a fruit, with a composition similar to celery, rhubarb stalks boast a sweet-tart taste that can make your lips pucker.

You can enjoy the look of its leaves but do not eat them. Only rhubarb stalks are edible; the leaves are toxic to animals and humans. They contain a poisonous substance called oxalic acid, which can cause kidney failure if ingested in large amounts. Take care if your rhubarb becomes damaged by frost because The Spruce suggests the stalks may become inedible. “If the stems are not firm and upright, don’t eat them,” they said. “Frost damage can cause the oxalic acid crystals to move into the stalks.”1

The History of Rhubarb

According to the University of Illinois Extension,2 rhubarb is an ancient plant and Chinese rhubarb can be traced back to 2700 B.C. Based on its medicinal properties, it’s believed Chinese doctors employed rhubarb as a body cleansing agent, fever reducer and laxative. NPR3 validates its medicinal use in China and also suggests it has been around for possibly more than 4,000 years.

NPR noted rhubarb was also used in ancient times as a pot cleaner, hair dye and insecticide. Over the years, rhubarb has spread around the world, to Europe, Russia and many other places. It is thought to have arrived in America in the early 1800s.4

Rhubarb Varieties You May Want to Try

While you may be inclined to judge the sweetness of rhubarb according to its color, the two qualities are not so closely related. For example, many mistakenly assume red-stemmed rhubarb is sweeter than other colors, but some green varieties boast a fair amount of sweetness, too. Though there are many to choose from, including pink and speckled varieties, you may want to try one of the following types:5,6

Cherry Red: A sweet, tender variety with thick, cherry-red stalks that does well in areas with mild winters
Valentine: Known for its thick red stalks and disease resistance, as well as its vigorous growth
Victoria: A large, vigorous plant representing the green standard variety of rhubarb; it can produce sweet stems

Tips on Growing Rhubarb

When it comes to growing rhubarb your two biggest decisions are likely to involve location and planting method. Because it is a perennial, you’ll want to select a location where the plant can grow undisturbed year after year. With respect to the planting method, cultivating rhubarb from seed takes more time than growing it from root divisions, which are also known as crowns. Below are some tips from garden experts on how to grow this well-loved plant:7,8,9

Location

Given their perennial nature and the fact they are long-lived, you will want to choose a location for your rhubarb that is in a low-traffic, out-of-the-way area. A back corner of your garden or yard would be ideal.

Planting

You can dig a trench or prepare individual holes for each plant that are at least 1.5 feet deep and 3 feet wide. When using crowns, place them every 3 to 4 feet in rows that are spaced about 3 feet apart. Crowded plants will be smaller and less productive. Set each crown about 2 inches below the soil surface and pat the soil gently.

Seeds

Because you’ll have to wait about two years for your plants to mature when growing rhubarb from seed, you may want to start your plants from root divisions, also called crowns. You can purchase rhubarb crowns at your local garden center or nursery, or online.

Soil

Rhubarb will do best in well-drained, slightly acid soil with a pH of 6.0 to 6.8. Because it prefers soil with a lot of rich organic matter, you’ll want to work bonemeal or compost into the area prior to planting. A side dressing of compost in midsummer and fall will ensure healthy, vigorous growth.

Sun

Rhubarb likes full sun. If you live in a warm climate, your plants will benefit from light shade, but keep in mind they may produce longer, thinner stems in warm weather.

Water

Water rhubarb crowns immediately after planting and provide enough water to keep the roots from drying out even when the plants are dormant. Mature plants are fairly drought resistant.

Another reason you may prefer to use crowns over seeds is because rhubarb grown from seed can produce plants that are not true to type. For example, if you are interested in a specific rhubarb variety due to its color or stem characteristics, you may not achieve those effects using seeds. On the other hand, if you use crowns you will be more likely to retain the desired attributes of the parent plant.

As soon as your plants sprout, you’ll want to apply a 2- to 3-inch layer of mulch to help keep the soil moist and suppress weeds. You’ll also want to apply mulch in the fall after the foliage dies to protect the plant’s roots from hard freezes during the offseason. As soon as they appear, be sure to remove the flower stalks, which are taller and thicker than leaf stalks. If allowed to mature and bloom, flower stalks will draw nutrients away from the leaf stalks, making them thinner.

How to Maintain Your Rhubarb Plants

Given their hardy nature and assuming they remain unaffected by diseases and pests, your rhubarb plants can remain productive for eight to 15 years.10 Every four or five years, when you notice your rhubarb leaf stalks are thin and the plants have become crowded, it’s time to divide the roots.11,12

Although you can divide in spring or fall, it’s easier in spring because the plant is coming out of dormancy and developing new roots. When the plant begins to sprout, dig up the roots and divide them so each crown has one to three eyes/buds. Then replant them.

Rhubarb Diseases and Pests

While rhubarb diseases are rare, according to Rodale’s Organic Life13 the plant can be vulnerable to Verticillium wilt, a condition that yellows the leaves early in the season or, at later times, can wilt the entire plant. If planted in shady, soggy soil, your plants may suffer from crown rot. With either disease, you’ll want to remove and destroy any infected plants.

You can help your plants resist disease by thinning the stalks regularly to promote good air circulation and removing dead plant material from around the crowns in fall. Fortunately, rhubarb is generally pest free. That said, your plants may occasionally be attacked by cabbage worms or European corn borers. Another likely pest is the rhubarb curculio (or rhubarb weevil),14 which is a distinctive rust-colored beetle with a long snout that you can easily remove by hand.

While this critter does not feed on rhubarb, it bores holes for egg laying into the stalks, roots and crown of not only rhubarb but also other large-stemmed plants. One method to contain this weevil is to remove any nearby wild plants in which it breeds, including dock, sunflower and thistle.

Harvesting Rhubarb: Ready for a Tart Treat?

Below is a summary of the collective wisdom about harvesting rhubarb, with the main goal being to allow the plant to mature fully and position itself for many years of bountiful harvests:15,16

Similar to asparagus and other garden perennials, you won’t harvest any rhubarb the first year
During the second year, you can harvest it lightly and only early in the season
In the third year, your plants will be able to tolerate about a monthlong harvest
By year four, you can harvest a full eight to 10 weeks

The only exception to the above guidelines relates to warm climates. If you are growing rhubarb as an annual, you can harvest all you want the first year because the plants will last only one year. For perennials, the main harvest season is spring. Weather permitting, you may be able to enjoy smaller harvests throughout the summer or fall, especially in cooler weather. For the tastiest, most tender stalks, remove them as soon as the leaf unfolds.

Limit your cuttings to only one-third of the stalks at a time and stop harvesting altogether whenever the plant is producing skinny stalks. Any decisions you make to allow your rhubarb plants to fully mature prior to harvesting will be more than rewarded. After all, it’s common for one full-sized plant to yield 2 to 6 pounds of tasty stalks each season. As you’d expect, weather plays a role in the harvest: Cool, moist weather increases productivity and warm, dry conditions tend to decrease it.

The best time to harvest rhubarb is in the spring when the leaves are fully developed. Use a knife to cut stalks off at the base or snap them off by twisting them sharply. Take care to avoid injuring underground buds. Due to their toxic nature, remove rhubarb leaves as you go. It is safe to compost the leaves because the oxalic acid crystals will dissipate in the soil long before they would ever be absorbed by other edible plants.17

Enjoying Your Rhubarb

If your palate can tolerate strong, tart flavors, you might enjoy chomping into a stalk of rhubarb right after it’s cut. Most people, however, prefer to blend rhubarb's tangy taste into dessert items such as crumbles, jams, jellies, pies, strudels and tarts.18

Some add it to stuffing, while others feel it brings unique flavor to sauces applied to fish and meat. Other options include adding it to smoothies or pickling the stalks. If you aren’t able to eat all of your harvest fresh, you might consider freezing rhubarb for later use, following these helpful instructions:19

Wash, trim and cut harvested stalks into 1- or 2-inch pieces
Blanch the pieces in boiling water for one minute
Remove the pieces from the boiling water and place in cold water to cool
Drain well and pack rhubarb pieces tightly in freezer-safe containers, allowing a half-inch of headspace
Seal, label and freeze; frozen rhubarb will keep for up to one year

Nutrition Facts for Rhubarb

The final reason you should seriously consider growing rhubarb relates to its nutritional profile. Assuming you can resist the temptation to dose it with sugar, rhubarb is a low-calorie, nutrient-rich food. When baking or cooking with rhubarb, try using a natural sweetener such as stevia instead of sugar.

Raw rhubarb contains many health-boosting properties such as polyphenolic flavonoids like beta-carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin, which are known to protect your eyes and skin from the damaging effects of free radicals.20 In addition to being a good source of B vitamins, 1 cup of raw, diced rhubarb contains:21

Calories: 26 grams (g)

Protein: 1.1 g

Carbohydrates: 5.5 g

Fiber: 2.2 g

Sugar: 1.3 g

Calcium: 105 milligrams (mg)

Magnesium: 15 mg

Potassium: 351 mg

Vitamin C: 9.8 mg

Vitamin K: 35.7 micrograms

AT LAST....FOR MADMAN OF SYRIA!!!

AT LAST....AT LAST.... AT LAST....

WE HAVE PRESIDENT TRUMP OF THE USA, ACTING LIKE A WINSTON CHURCHILL....

AT LAST THE USA, BRITAIN, AND FRANCE, HAVE DECIDED TO REALLY GET SERIOUS WITH THE MAD DOG DICTATOR OF SYRIA.....

AIR STRIKES ARE UNDER WAY AS I POST THIS BLOG.

AND FROM WHAT TRUMP HAS SAID IT MAY CONTINUE OVER AN INDEFINITE PERIOD.

THIS IS ALSO A WARNING TO RUSSIA AND IRAN..... TIME TO SMARTED UP AND GET YOUR HEAD SCREWED ON RIGHT!

FROM A SECULAR POINT I SAY IT IS ABOUT TIME, WELL OVERDUE, FOR THE DEMONIC SYRIAN DICTATOR TO REALLY GET SMASHED TO THE GROUND IN NO UNCERTAIN WAY!
..........

Sunday, April 1, 2018

FASTING AND DIABETES 2

Why Fasting Is Such a Powerful Treatment Strategy for Diabetes 2

Story at-a-glance

An estimated 30.3 million Americans, nearly 1 in 10, have Type 2 diabetes. Another 84 million American adults — about 1 in 3 — are prediabetic, defined as an elevation in blood glucose over 100 mg/dl
Any fasting blood sugar regularly over 90 mg/dl really suggests insulin resistance, and work by the late Dr. Joseph Kraft suggests 80 percent — 8 out of 10 — Americans are in fact insulin resistant
Type 2 diabetes is curable, and the cure is less than inexpensive — it’s free. You actually save money, as the remedy is to fast and not eat anything for a number of days on a regular basis
Type 2 diabetes should not be treated with insulin, as insulin forces glucose into cells that are already saturated with excess glucose and cannot take in more. Instead, the glucose gets turned into fat, which is why insulin injections result in dramatic weight gain
The answer for Type 2 diabetes is to stop feeding your body sugar and burn off the sugar already in your cells, and the most effective way to do this is fasting

By Dr. Mercola

We have an epidemic of diabetes in the United States. An estimated 30.3 million Americans, nearly 1 in 10, have Type 2 diabetes.1Another 84 million American adults — about 1 in 3 — are prediabetic, and most are unaware of this fact. Prediabetes2 is defined as an elevation in blood glucose over 100 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl) but lower than 125 mg/dl, at which point it formally becomes Type 2 diabetes.

However, any fasting blood sugar regularly over 90 mg/dl really suggests insulin resistance, and seminal work by the late Dr. Joseph Kraft, author of “Diabetes Epidemic and You: Should Everyone Be Tested?” suggests that 80 percent — 8 out of 10 — Americans are in fact insulin resistant,3 which means they’re already on their way toward developing diabetes.

That's the bad news. The good news is Type 2 diabetes is curable, and the cure is less than free. It actually saves you loads of time and money. In his book, “The Diabetes Code: Prevent and Reverse Type 2 Diabetes Naturally,” Dr. Jason Fung details how to address this exceptionally common problem.

Fung is a nephrologist (kidney specialist) with a practice in Toronto. Two years ago, I interviewed him about fasting, which is one of the most powerful interventions for Type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance. Fung was also one of the experts who peer reviewed my book, “Fat for Fuel,” which integrates some of his work.

Why Identifying Insulin Resistance Is so Important

There are two types of diabetes, Type 1, or insulin dependent diabetes, and Type 2 diabetes, which is lifestyle related. Type 2 diabetes accounts for 90 to 95 percent of all diabetes cases and is the topic of this particular discussion. Prevalence of Type 2 diabetes started to rise in the 1980s, at a time when obesity had yet to become a significant trend. However, as obesity became more prevalent, so did Type 2 diabetes.

“But the fundamental underlying problem of Type 2 diabetes, which is insulin resistance, is actually much more widespread than that,” Fung says. “And the innovative thing Kraft did was that he took a standard glucose tolerance test, and measured blood insulin levels instead of blood glucose. Because if you think about what's happening, when you ingest 75 grams of glucose [the amount administered prior to the test], your blood glucose may stay normal.

But, your body may be producing a huge amount of insulin to really shove that glucose into the cell. Because one of the functions of insulin is to move the glucose from the blood into the cell. Insulin resistance refers to the fact that blood glucose is simply not getting in there. So, if your body needs to produce two, three, four, five times the amount of normal insulin to get that glucose in there, you have a problem, which is not detectable if you just measure blood glucose.

Because, yes, you are shoving all that glucose into the cell, but it took you a huge amount of effort to do so. And by [using the] Kraft assay, which looks at how much the insulin goes up, you can detect [insulin resistance] at a much earlier stage. This is important because there are things we can do about reversing … insulin resistance, and the sooner we get to it, the sooner we can get on the path to wellness.”

Ultimately, diabetes is just one symptom. Insulin resistance, which results in mitochondrial dysfunction, is also at the heart of cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's and other degenerative diseases, and it all starts because your body is unable to burn fat as a primary fuel. When your body relies primarily on sugar instead, more reactive oxygen species (ROS) are generated, which damage the mitochondria in your cells.

Why Fasting Resolves Insulin Resistance, the Cause of Diabetes

Fasting has been used for thousands of years to keep us well. Once you understand what insulin resistance actually is and what Type 2 diabetes is, then you'll understand why something so simple as abstaining from food for a period of time can be such a powerful intervention. Contrary to infectious diseases, you cannot treat metabolic disease with a pill, because metabolic diseases such as diabetes are predicated on lifestyle, primarily diet. As explained by Fung:

“You have to use metabolic treatments, which is why using fat for fuel is so important. It really gets to the point that you cannot follow this old paradigm [of drug treatment] because you're going to fail … Remember, the glucose goes into the cell, and insulin resistance is when the glucose doesn't go out of the cell. So, for years we’ve used this paradigm of lock and key.

That is, the cell is sort of gated off. Outside the cell there's blood, and when insulin comes around it turns the key, opens the gate and glucose goes in. So, if insulin is there, why is the glucose not going in? … You can measure the insulin and the insulin level is high. You can look at the insulin receptor, the gate is completely normal.

So, [conventional medicine] said something like, ‘Well, maybe there's something gumming up the mechanism. It's stuck in the lock so it doesn't open properly, therefore the glucose can't get into the cell. There's a huge problem with this sort of paradigm, because if that is happening, the cell has no glucose and should be starving.

You should be losing lots of weight; you’d have a very thin liver. All your fat should just melt away, because if you think about untreated Type 1 diabetes, where you don't have enough insulin, that's exactly what happens. The cell literally starves and everything just wastes away … But that's not what's happening here.

In Type 2 diabetes you see that people are generally obese, they have large abdomens … What's happening instead is that it's actually an overflow syndrome. The cell can't accept any more glucose because it's jam packed full of glucose already. That's the reason you have insulin resistance. Insulin is trying to move glucose into the cell but the cell is full … So, it's really an overflow mechanism …

That's also why your liver is full — it's a big fatty liver. The liver is busy trying to get rid of all this glucose by turning it into fat … Now, if Type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance are the same sort of thing, it's really about too much sugar. That's the bottom line.

And if you understand that the whole problem is too much sugar, then the solution is not to use more insulin to jam more glucose into an already full cell. The key is to get rid of it all. So, what you want to do is: 1) Don't put more sugar into your system, because you have too much sugar in already, and 2) Burn it off.”

Why Exercise Cannot Replace Fasting

To avoid adding sugar into your body it is important to adopt a cyclical low-carb, high-fat diet, which I detail in “Fat for Fuel.” Then, to burn off the sugar already in your system, intermittent fasting or time-restricted eating is a powerful tool. Exercise is not the solution for diabetes, and cannot replace fasting.

Remember, you can’t out-exercise your mouth. The reason for this is because you not only have insulin resistance in your muscles, but in all your tissues and organs, and to eliminate the excess glucose in your organs you need to temporarily “starve” the cells. Clearly, you should exercise, but that will only burn the glycogen in your muscles. It’s not going to address your fatty liver. As noted by Fung, fasting “gets rid of all the sort of excess nutrients.

That's why, historically, people called it a cleanse or a detox, because that's really what it is.” In his practice, Fung has used fasting for many years and can attest to the dramatic turnarounds possible. “We have people coming in with the most severe diabetes; they’re taking hundreds of units of insulin a day, and within three to four weeks we have them off everything.” Oftentimes, a severe diabetic can revert back to being nondiabetic within as little as two months.

Taking Insulin Worsens Type 2 Diabetes

This is not to say it’s easy. Fasting can be difficult when you’re used to eating multiple times a day. But it’s a natural way that will allow your body to heal itself. Meanwhile, taking insulin for Type 2 diabetes is about the worst thing you can do. As explained by Fung:

“What happens when you give insulin is that insulin lets your body use all that glucose, and when there's too much glucose, it's just going to [turn it into] fat. So, all these patients gain weight. And they always come back and say, ‘Whoa doc, you've told me I need to lose weight, then you give me insulin and I've gained 20 pounds. How is that good?’

And the answer is that it's not. As you gain more weight your diabetes gets worse, which means you need to take more insulin, which means you're going to gain more weight. They can see themselves spiraling down the drain, and the doctors do nothing but give them more insulin. It doesn't even make any sense because the underlying issue is the hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance. That is, if you look at Type 2 diabetes, insulin levels are very high.

So [why give] more insulin in a situation where you have too much insulin already? If you have hyperthyroidism, if you have too much thyroid hormone, you don't give more thyroid hormone. If you have an alcoholic, you don't give more alcohol. It's the exact wrong thing to do. In fact, if your levels of insulin are too high and that's your disease, you need to lower insulin. By giving insulin, you're actually making the fundamental problem much worse.”

How Fasting Benefits Your Mitochondria

Fasting is the most profoundly effective metabolic intervention I’m aware of. It's like getting a free stem cell transplant, and it massively upregulates autophagy and mitophagy. It also stimulates mitochondrial biosynthesis during the refeeding phase, which allows your body to naturally regenerate. For these reasons, fasting is not only beneficial for Type 2 diabetes and obesity but also for health in general, and likely even longevity.

There’s even evidence to suggest fasting can help prevent or even reverse dementia, as it helps your body clean out toxic debris. As noted by Fung, “It's fundamentally one of the keys of wellness.” By lowering insulin, you also increase other important hormones, including growth hormone (aka the fitness hormone), which is important for muscle development and general vitality.

Other ailments that can benefit from fasting include polycystic ovaries, polycystic kidneys and fast growing cancer cells. The reason for this is because when autophagy increases, your body starts breaking down old protein, including fast growing cells. Then, during the refeeding phase, growth hormone increases, boosting the rebuilding of new proteins and cells. In other words, it reactivates and speeds up your body’s natural renewal cycle.

Getting Started

Most people fear being hungry and avoid it like the plague. Here, intermittent fasting can make the process a lot easier. Before I tried my first five-day water fast, I increased my intermittent daily fasting to the point that I was fasting for 20 hours a day for a few months, but one month is likely sufficient.

At that point, going several days without food was easy, since my body had had gained metabolic flexibility and was able to burn fat as my primary fuel, Most people get really hungry by Day Three on a water fast, yet I had no hunger at all. Fung agrees, saying:

“That's a great point. If you are fueling yourself primarily with carbohydrates, then you can't use fat very well … So, when you transition from a predominantly carbohydrate diet to a predominantly fat-based diet, your body can't store glycogen, because those are chains of glucose, it needs to burn body fat (or dietary fat). To your body it's sort of the same thing, they're just triglycerides.

When you biopsy muscle over a period of several weeks, you can actually see the that the machinery necessary to burn triglycerides for fuel increase. You see expression of genes increasing that are able to use the fat. So, if you go from a standard 50 or 60 percent carbohydrate diet to fasting … your muscles are going to be weaker, because they're used to glucose. They're like, ‘Where's my glucose?’

You have triglycerides [but] you can't use it at first. Some people call it keto flu. But, over a period of about two weeks or so, your body gets used to it. So, an easy transition is to switch over to a very low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet, so that your body is used to using fat.

You’re not fasting per se, but your body gets used to burning fat for fuel. The other thing is you can start lengthening your period of fast. You should be fasting every day … Whether it's 12 hours or 14 hours. There should be a period in there that you're fasting. Then you extend it, so that you gradually go to 16 hours, 18 hours, 20 hours and then 24 hours, and then kind of go into it from there. Those are two ways to ease the transition and make the fasting easier …

Even shorter periods of fasting of 24 to 36 hours have a lot of benefits. You start to get into that period where you're depleting your glycogen and you're getting into fat burning. You start to see autophagy start around 24 to 30 hours as well. One of the other benefits people talk about nowadays is this sort of bio-hacking.

People, especially in Silicon Valley, are fasting because it gives them more mental capacity. Their brain works better; they find they're clearer and they can think better. So, this is a free way to boost your brain power. So yeah, there's all different regimens, and there's all different ways to ease into it. But the key is to just get started.”

How to Minimize Side Effects

Gradually easing into longer fasts will naturally minimize most side effects associated with fasting, as will transitioning over to a high-fat, low-carb diet, to help your body to adjust to using fat as a primary fuel. The so-called “keto flu” is often related to sodium deficiency, so it’s recommended to take a high-quality unprocessed salt each day. I typically pour salt in my hand and lick it throughout the day when fasting, as I obviously can’t put it on food. This will also help reduce the likelihood of intractable muscle cramps at night.

Headaches are also common when you first start water fasting. These too can often be minimized by taking salt. An alternative to eating salt straight, or putting it in water, is to add it to a bit of bone broth. Another important mineral is magnesium. It’s particularly important if you are diabetic, as magnesium deficiency is very common among Type 2 diabetics. This is another possible culprit if you’re getting muscle cramps.

There are several types of magnesium, some of which are more poorly absorbed than others. During water fasting, your best bet is to use Epsom salt baths, as this allows your body to absorb the magnesium through your skin rather than your digestive tract. Magnesium has a laxative effect in high doses, and when you’re not eating anything, oral magnesium can easily result in “disaster pants.” Multivitamins can also be useful during extended fasts, especially if you’re doing them regularly.

It is also important to understand that if you are on a multiday water fast you will liberate many toxins from your fat stores, so using an infrared sauna and taking effective binders, like chlorella, modified citrus pectin, cilantro or even activated charcoal can help eliminate these liberated toxins from your body and prevent their reabsorption.

Work With a Knowledgeable Physician if You’re on Any Medications

While fasting is a profoundly effective intervention for Type 2 diabetes, you do need to use caution if you’re diabetic. If you are taking medication, especially for your blood sugar, you have to make sure you talk to your doctor, because there's a risk your blood sugar may end up dipping too low. If you're taking insulin, and keep taking insulin while fasting, you could get into trouble.

“Some people say that for that reason, Type 2 diabetics should never fast. But that's not true,” Fung says. “What's true is that you need to adjust the medication in anticipation of [your blood] sugar going down … So, if you're on these medications for diabetes, you need to make sure you monitor very closely and make sure that your blood sugar doesn’t go too low.

Remember, the fasting is going to drive your blood sugars down, and your insulin or your medications will drive your blood sugars down, so you've got kind of two things driving your blood sugars down. All of a sudden you go low, you can have seizures, you can wind up in the emergency room and you could absolutely die.

And that's one of the things you have to be very careful of. So yes, you can do it, but you have to make sure you do it in a supervised setting with somebody who knows what they're doing.”

Why You Need Not Fear Starvation

Last but not least, one of the greatest fears people have about fasting is the concept of starvation and the loss of lean muscle mass. In his book, Fung explains why such fears are overblown. Your metabolic rate is the energy your body uses to generate body heat and keep your organs working. Your body basically needs a certain number of calories a day. People have a tendency to think that skipping a meal means your metabolic rate will decrease.

In reality, the exact opposite occurs. In studies looking at basal metabolic rate, people’s metabolic rate is actually 10 percent higher at the end of a four-day fast than at the beginning. So, your body is not shutting down, it's actually ramping itself up. The reason for this has to do with counterregulatory hormones. As insulin drops, counterregulatory hormones go up.

Some of these activate your sympathetic nervous system (the so-called fight or flight response). “So, as you fast, all these hormones are going up, your sympathetic nervous system is going up, your adrenaline is going up, your growth hormone's going up,” Fung says.

“Obviously, if you're pumping your body full of adrenaline, your basal metabolic rate is not going down. In fact, it maintains itself, which is in distinction to calorie restriction diets where, if you just try and cut a few calories a day, your metabolic rate will go down. The growth hormone is also important because of [its] protein sparing effect …

When you study people fasting, you don't see an increase in burning of protein. There is a normal turnover. But at the end of it, because your growth hormone is so high, when you eat again, you will make up these new proteins. So, it's actually much healthier for you because you're getting rid of all protein and you're bringing new protein.”

More Information

If you’re among the 80 percent of people who are insulin resistant, get yourself a copy of Fung’s brand-new book that comes out April 3, “The Diabetes Code: Prevent and Reverse Type 2 Diabetes Naturally.” Fung’s book, “The Complete Guide to Fasting,” is another excellent resource. As Fung says, we’ve known that fasting is beneficial for thousands of years. We just strayed away from it, and we need to re-embrace this foundational aspect of health.

“[A few years ago] somebody was telling me about fasting and I thought, ‘Well that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard of.’ And then I thought, why? Why was this so silly? I dug into the research and then I just started doing it.

I probably have more clinical experience, truthfully, than anybody in the world, and that's not hard because nobody was doing it a few years ago. And now it seems so obvious that [fasting is] the solution … You don't eat, then your blood sugar comes down, you lose weight and your diabetes gets better. There's the solution right there.”

Saturday, March 31, 2018

CONCERN ABOUT MODERRN WIRELESS DEVICES!!!

‘Wi-Fried’ — Is Wireless Technology Dooming a Generation to Ill Health?

March 31, 2018 • 106,551 views
Edition: English

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By Dr. Mercola

Most people today live in a sea of radiofrequencies (RF), emitted from wireless technologies of all kinds, from routers to smartphones, tablets, baby monitors, TVs, appliances, smart meters and more. In the featured ABC program “Wi-Fried,” originally aired in 2016, Maryanne Demasi, Ph.D., investigates the alleged safety of mobile devices.

According to many experts, chronic, heavy exposure could be having severe repercussions for our health, especially that of children, who are now being exposed even before birth.

As noted by Devra Davis, Ph.D., an epidemiologist and author of the book, “Disconnect: The Truth About Cell Phone Radiation,” children have never before been exposed to this level of pulsed radiation, and it’s still too early to determine the exact extent of the harm. Still, mounting evidence suggests harm is indeed occurring, so it would be foolish to wait until we’re in the midst of a global catastrophe.

External Interference Can Disrupt Your Body’s Natural Bioelectric Signals

While a number of different devices contribute to the overall radiation burden, those kept closest to your body on a regular basis, such as your cellphone, are of greatest concern. Worldwide, there are more than 6 billion cellphone subscriptions. In other words, we’re rapidly nearing total saturation, where every single person on the planet has one of these devices.

Many of these mobile phones are smartphones, with apps that frequently receive and transmit pulsed electromagnetic signals. The human body also has natural electromagnetic fields (EMFs), as many of your bodily processes involves the transmission of electric signals, and as noted by Demasi, “External interference can disrupt those signals.” In a 2016 article, Jerry Phillips, Ph.D., a biochemist and director of the Excel Science Center at the University of Colorado, explained how living cells react to RF radiation:1

“The signal couples with … cells, although nobody really knows what the nature of that coupling is. Some effects of that reaction can be things like movement of calcium across membranes, the production of free radicals or a change in the expression of genes in the cell.

Suddenly important proteins are being expressed at times and places and in amounts that they shouldn’t be, and that has a dramatic effect on the function of the cells. And some of these changes are consistent with what’s seen when cells undergo conversion from normal to malignant.”

When you consider that your body runs on bioelectricity, it’s easier to understand how and why biological damage from wireless phones might occur.2 For starters, your body has natural EMFs, as many of your bodily processes involves the transmission of electric signals, and external interference can disrupt those signals.

In recent years, it’s become increasingly clear that mitochondrial dysfunction is at the root of most chronic disease, so in terms of public health, the effects of chronic EMF exposure may be far more profound than currently suspected. We may not only face an avalanche of brain cancer in coming decades, but also heart disease, neurological disease and infertility.

Your Heart and Brain Are Most Susceptible to EMF Damage

Two of the organs that are the most vulnerable to outside RF interference are your heart and your brain. Both of these organs also have the highest density of voltage gated calcium channels (VGCCs). Research.3,4,5,6 by Martin Pall, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of biochemistry and basic medical sciences at Washington State University,7 suggests VGCCs are activated by low-intensity EMFs such as those emitted from cellphones, triggering an excessive influx of calcium into the cell.

The excess intracellular calcium and the increased calcium signaling appears to be responsible for most if not all of the biological effects associated with EMF exposure, which include an increase in:

Neuropsychiatric disorders and diseases such as anxiety, depression, ADHD, autism and Alzheimer’s8	Hormonal effects	Cardiac effects	Chromosomal breaks
Impaired fertility especially in men	Oxidative stress	Changes in calcium signaling	Cellular DNA damage
Breakdown of the blood-brain barrier	Cancer	Melatonin depletion	Sleep disruption

Recent Research Confirms EMF-Induced Health Effects

As early as 1990, before there even was a consumer cellphone industry, at least two dozen epidemiological studies on humans indicated a link between EMF and/or RF and serious health problems, including childhood leukemia. Most recently, two government-funded studies9,10,11,12,13 — one on mice and one on rats — found evidence of heart tumors and damage to the brain and DNA.

This $25 million research, conducted by the National Toxicology Program — an interagency research program housed at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences — is said to be the most extensive to date, and it confirms that the heart and brain are key areas affected by high, chronic EMF exposure.

Earlier research14 by Allan Frey, Office of Naval Research, also revealed cellphone radiation weakens cell membranes, including your blood-brain barrier, placing your brain at further increased risk by allowing systemic toxins to enter.

Male testes are a third area with high VGCC density, and indeed, studies have linked EMF exposure to male fertility problems as well. Cellphone radiation has been linked to a reduction in sperm motility and viability,15,16 and Wi-Fi equipped laptops have been linked to sperm DNA fragmentation after just four hours of use.17

Disturbingly, most people will carry their cellphones either in their breast pocket or pants pocket, effectively radiating the most sensitive parts of their body — their heart and reproductive organs. Then, when talking on the phone, they will place it to their ear, exposing their brain.

Pregnant women are also exposing their unborn children to harmful radiation when carrying a cellphone on their body, or using it near their body. According to recent research, prenatal exposure to power-frequency fields can nearly triple a pregnant woman’s risk of miscarriage.18 Several other studies have also linked prenatal EMF exposure to an increased risk of miscarriage.19,20,21,22,23

Why We’re Not Seeing Dramatic Increases in Brain Cancer

With regard to brain cancer, it’s important to remember that brain cancer typically has a long latency period. According to Davis, it took 40 years before the brain cancer rate in the Japanese population spiked after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Compared to radioactive radiation, RF is likely far less carcinogenic, but the fact that we have not seen a dramatic increase in brain cancer rates as of yet is by no means proof that flooding your brain with RFs is harmless.

It simply means we haven’t been using cellphones long enough yet. In my view, it seems really foolish to make such a gamble with entire generations of people. Davis also points out that if you want to get an indication of how cellphone use is influencing brain cancer rates, you have to look at the types of brain tumors that have become predominant, and the groups in which they occur.

In recent years, we have in fact seen a statistically significant uptick in brain cancer in younger people and children. We’ve also seen an increase in tumors situated near the ear on the side people hold their phones.

Most People Breach the Safety Limits of Their Cellphones

Also noted in the featured video is that anytime you carry your phone on your body and it is not in airplane mode, you are, breaching the safety limits of your phone. This safety limit, known as the specific absorption rate (SAR), is typically buried in the legal section of your phone, but will state that you need to keep the phone at a specified distance from your body to prevent overexposure and potential heat damage.

Demasi’s cellphone specified a safety limit of 10 millimeters, meaning she would need to keep it at least 1 centimeter from her body at all times. So, it’s important to realize that your cellphone no longer complies with safety regulations once it’s placed in your pocket or bra. It’s also worth noting that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) bases its thermal safety standards on a model that does not apply to the population at large, especially not children.

The standards are based on a model called “standard anthropomorphic man,” a model much larger than the average person. The larger the body, the shallower the penetration of the radiation, so SAR levels are likely too generous for most people. The experts interviewed believe it’s safe to say that most people breach the SAR limits of their phones on a daily basis, possibly exposing themselves to heat-induced cell damage.

However, it’s important to realize that the SAR value of your phone is worthless when it comes to assessing the safety of your phone, as the most significant damage is not caused by heating. In reality, there’s no such thing as a safe cellphone, as they all emit EMFs. The only way to make it safe is to turn it off, or keep it in airplane mode, which suspends RF signal transmissions. Pall calculates that the safety standards based on thermal damage, not molecular biology, are off by a factor of 7 million.

As noted in the video, safety standards are based on the decades old and now-debunked theory that no damage can occur unless the tissue is heated, but mounting evidence strongly suggests this simply isn’t true, and a number of different mechanisms of harm have been presented in the scientific literature in recent years.

Two Crucial Ways EMFs Harm Your Health

There’s even evidence suggesting that radiation affects your microbiome, turning what might otherwise be beneficial microbes pathogenic. This too can have far-ranging health effects, since we now know your microbiome plays an important role in health. Importantly, while the mechanisms may differ, the end result is often the same. In short, EMFs:

Increase oxidative stress, which can damage cell membranes and proteins, and break DNA bonds
Decrease ATP — the energy currency in your body, without which your cells cannot function properly

Protecting Yourself and Your Children From Excessive EMF Is a Health Priority

As of September 2018, France will impose a complete ban on cellphone use by primary and secondary school students during school hours.24 Students will not be permitted to use their phones even at breaks, lunch or between classes. California also recently issued consumer guidance on how to lower cellphone radiation exposure (after initially trying to cover up the hazards).25

Russia has also implemented laws to minimize Wi-Fi exposure in schools,26 and countries like Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Israel and China have RF exposure limits that are up to 10,000 times lower than the U.S.27

In my mind, EMF exposure is unquestionably a significant health hazard that needs to be addressed if you’re concerned about your health. Schools, especially, really should take a step back and begin to implement strategies to protect students. There’s simply no reason to flood children with wireless signals all day long.

In the featured video, an Australian school simply installed an on/off switch on the router in each classroom. Unless online access is required for a particular lesson, the Wi-Fi is turned off. If you have Wi-Fi in your home, I would recommend implementing a similar strategy at home.

Helpful Strategies to Reduce Your EMF Exposure

Here are several other suggestions that will also help reduce your EMF exposure:

Connect your desktop computer to the internet via a wired Ethernet connection and be sure to put your desktop in airplane mode. Also avoid wireless keyboards, trackballs, mice, game systems, printers and portable house phones and opt for wired versions.

If you must use Wi-Fi, shut it off when not in use, especially at night when you are sleeping. Ideally, work toward hardwiring your house so you can eliminate Wi-Fi altogether. If you have a notebook without any Ethernet ports, a USB Ethernet adapter will allow you to connect to the internet with a wired connection.

Shut off the electricity to your bedroom at night. This typically works to reduce electrical fields from the wires in your wall unless there is an adjoining room next to your bedroom. If that is the case, use an EMF meter to determine if you also need to power down the adjacent room.

Use a battery-powered alarm clock, ideally one without any light. I use a talking clock for the visually impaired.28

If you still use a microwave oven, consider replacing it with a steam convection oven, which will heat your food as quickly and far more safely.

Avoid using “smart” appliances and thermostats that depend on wireless signaling. This would include all new “smart” TVs. They are called smart because they emit a Wi-Fi signal, and unlike your computer, you cannot shut the Wi-Fi signal off. Consider using a large computer monitor as your TV instead, as they don’t emit Wi-Fi.

Refuse smart meters as long as you can, or add a shield to an existing smart meter, some of which have been shown to reduce radiation by 98 to 99 percent.29

Consider moving your baby’s bed into your bedroom instead of using a wireless baby monitor. Alternatively, use a hard-wired monitor.

Replace CFL bulbs with incandescent bulbs. Ideally remove all fluorescent lights from your house. Not only do they emit unhealthy light, but more importantly, they will actually transfer current to your body just being close to the bulbs.

Avoid carrying your cellphone on your body unless in airplane mode and never sleep with it in your bedroom unless it is in airplane mode. Even in airplane mode it can emit signals, which is why I put my phone in a Faraday bag.30

When using your cellphone, use the speaker phone and hold the phone at least 3 feet away from you. Seek to radically decrease your time on the cellphone. I typically use my cellphone less than 30 minutes a month, and mostly when traveling. Instead, use VoIP software phones that you can use while connected to the internet via a wired connection.