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As I’m seeing the effects of these more and more, let's talk about: Energy drinks.
The effect that energy drinks and high levels of caffeine have on our bodies, our health, our sleep, our stress levels, our mood, our anxiety levels and our hormones is much more than most people think.
When continued over time, these can have a very significant impact on our long-term health and our body’s ability to function at optimal levels, not to mention our ability to lose fat and gain muscle.
And considering many people who drink these are in their teens or twenties, when their bodies are still developing, the damage they do there can be far worse, leading to acute or even chronic health conditions in the future.
It may seem small, but due to their prevalence and availability now, it’s very important.
So let’s dive in.
There is something called Metabolic Syndrome. And while you may or may not have heard of it, about one third of the US population has it.
And almost 90% of us are somewhere on our way to it.
As metabolic health can predict current or future health conditions and longevity, it’s pretty important to understand. So let’s define it.
The word “metabolic” means having to do with our metabolism, the whole range of chemical processes that occur within our body that keep it alive and functioning.
This would include energy creation and use, cellular creation and breakdown and even our hormones.
There are key things causing hormonal disruptions in men and women today, even in our children, affecting their overall growth.
Testosterone levels have been dropping for decades while estrogen levels have risen sharply. Levels of growth hormone and progesterone are lower and cortisol levels are too high. And hormonal imbalances are now much more than just being deficient in one or another hormone.
There are exact chemicals in the environment today which block hormones from being created, block them from being used, disrupt their normal action, or impersonate them entirely.
And they're increasing each year.
While this affects muscle-building and fat loss significantly, its effect goes far beyond this to our sleep, stress levels, overall health and how fast we age.
In this article we cover what's happening and what you can do about it.
In this article we covered the link between cholesterol and heart health or, more specifically, the lack of any link.
Now I want to go a bit further here, because there is something else that has gotten confused in this subject: saturated fats.
There is an idea that saturated fats raise cholesterol and so blood pressure, and this isn’t the case.
Your body needs saturated fats. About 25% of each of your cells are made from saturated fat. And they wouldn’t function without it.
Even more, it’s necessary if we want soft, healthy skin.
But there is another type of fat which has been confused with saturated fats, and which is very destructive: Trans Fats.
We aren’t hearing as much about them today, but they exist in many processed foods and we need to check for them as they cause inflammation in the blood vessels that does lead to high blood pressure.
So let’s see what these are and what they do.
You’ve probably heard of the Cholesterol Hypothesis.
This is a hypothesis that higher levels of cholesterol, particularly LDL Cholesterol, are associated with higher rates of Heart Disease.To prevent heart disease then, we take drugs known as statins that lower our liver’s ability to produce cholesterol.
This hypothesis has been so deeply ingrained in our understanding of how the body works, that the idea of challenging it is almost laughable. (Even though it’s still just a hypothesis after all these decades.)
As we covered in this article, we are born with specific cells, called stem cells, which are able to divide, creating new cells of any type needed in the body.
These are embryonic cells, in that they never became a specific cell type: muscle, bone, organ cell, etc.
Those cells are fixed. But these stem cells are not. They contain the full blueprints for every type of cell there is.
But… we only have so many of them, and they can each only divide so many times.
So when we injure our cells, accidentally, through workouts, or just through the normal hammer and pound activities of the day, these stem cells divide to create new cells to replace the old injured cells, or to create new muscle cells to grow muscle.
When we look at the fact of aging, or getting older, we often measure it in two ways:
The number of years we’ve been on this earth, chronologically.
And the amount of decay that’s set in: fatigue, lower energy, poor fitness levels, poor sleep, loss of muscle, worsening vision and hearing, digestive problems, memory loss, etc.
But, while we’ve come to see the second as the inevitable result of the first, it’s actually not. It’s the result of getting biologically older, accelerated aging before our time.
We don’t realize this because our view is obviously based on what we’ve seen for decades now. And what we’ve seen is not good.
But this isn’t a natural situation. It’s a created situation.
While we’ve all heard of Candida, most of us don’t actually know what it is and how it works.
But it’s something we do need to know, as almost all of us have it.
And when it gets out of control, as it often does with today’s diets, it can cause all sorts of trouble, affecting our mood, our sleep, our ability to recover both from illness and exercise and our overall health.
And it can create some pretty uncomfortable physical conditions.
If you have any of the following, read this article:
We’ve covered how toxins affect our digestive tract and microbiome.
But now we’re going to cover how the weed killer Glyphosate affects us, because this is one of the most toxic substances there is and, due to its widespread use, it’s in almost all processed foods and non-organic meats.
And it plays a very large roll in the destruction of our digestive tract, microbiome and overall health, leading to some of the worst physical conditions there are, as well as premature aging.
So let’s dive in.
I wanted to talk a little about inflammation.
Because, outside of very obvious causes, such as an injury or infection, few people know what actually causes it in general. And even fewer know what to do about it beyond ignoring it or taking a pain-killer.
Considering it has everything to do with your well being, it is something that does need to be known about.
When we look at problems, illnesses, or conditions of the body, if we’re smart, we look for their cause and address that, not just the symptom.
Aging is a natural process.
Over time, as the stem cells we're born with become used up, our body is less and less able to regenerate itself.
It's less and less able to replace damaged or dying cells and our organs slowly stop working, our skin becomes wrinkled and begins to sag, muscle becomes weaker and our energy levels and health deteriorate.
That's natural.
But then there is accelerated aging, premature aging, where this process happens years or decades before it should. And while this is definitely not natural, unfortunately, it’s becoming more and more common.
We're seeing people in their 30's look like they're in their 40s, and people in their 40's look and feel like they're 50.
It’s spring time with summer around the corner, and if you plan on getting out into the bush or into the mountains, then it’s important you know how to spot ticks and remove them, or prevent them from getting onto you in the first place.
Because their bite can potentially carry harmful bacteria that causes Lyme Disease, Spotted Fever, and a series of other illnesses.
This doesn’t mean you need to be scared at all. Far from it.
It just means that you need to be informed.
You need to know what they look like, where to look for them, and what to do if you find one.
Or, better yet, how to prevent them from getting onto you in the first place so you can have a safe adventure and enjoy the outdoors without worry.