Month: August 2012

Rant warning! This got my dander up so be warned.
http://www.news.com.au/national/vitamins-often-a-waste-of-money-choice/story-fndo4eg9-1226444907313
That article is a grandstanding load of codswallop!
1. Surveys have shown even the humble multi-vitamin can slow the aging process by reducing the speed of telomere shortening (a primary factor of aging). People who take a multi-vitamin have telomeres 5% longer than people who don’t. So the article title is a complete lie.
2. The RDI of most vitamins and minerals is about what 85% of people need as an absolute minimum to prevent deficiency diseases like scurvy or rickets. That is NOTHING like what is optimum for a body. For instance, Linus Pauling, the twice Nobel Prize winning researcher of vitamin C died of prostate cancer at age 93. He said it would have taken him out 20 years earlier except for the vitamin C he consumed. How much vitamin C did he take I hear you ask? Between 5 and 30 grams a day, every day. What is the RDI I hear you ask? 45 milligrams! So he took between 111 and 666 times the RDI EVERY DAY! Do you think a two times Nobel Prize winning researcher might know just a smidgen more about vitamin C than some drug educated shill recommending you consult a (mostly) non-nutritionally trained, drug pushing GP rather than someone who know tuppence h’penny worth about vitamins?
Example number 2. the RDI of vitamin D3, the sunshine vitamin, is 400 milligrams a day. That will prevent rickets in the vast majority of people. A survey of 1,000 women in rural Nebraska gave the suypplement group 1,000 IU of D3 a day (250% of the RDI) and 1,500 milligrams of calcium. Compared to the control group (who received no supplements) the vitamin group suffered less cancer. How much less? Are you ready for this? SEVENTY-SEVEN percent less! I have read that up to 40,000 IU a day will not produce any negative reactions.
DO NOT TRUST THE RUBBISH DISHED OUT TO AN UNSUSPECTING PUBLIC BY THE DRUG COMPANY\MEDIA SHILS. Do educate yourself on the benefits of vitamins and minerals and make up your own mind. Consult a nutritionally trained health care professional. DO NOT RELY ONLY ON YOUR GP!
I wondered the average life expectancy of GPs versus nutritionists so went searching on the internet but came up empty handed. While looking I came across this great story: http://en.allexperts.com/q/Aging-3579/2008/10/Studies-Average-Age-Death.htm
Surveys have shown even the humble multi-vitamin can slow the aging process by reducing the speed of telomere shortening (a primary factor of aging). People who take a multi-vitamin have telomeres 5% longer than people who don’t. My guess is that the vast majority of those multi-vitamins are less than optimal. They would be mostly synthetioc because that is cheaper.
I contend that doing SOMETHING is ALWAYS better than doing nothing. And there is a gradient scale of actions you can take. Some people want t start at the top and go all out. Good for them. No disagreement from me.
Some feel more comfortable taking gradient steps and building on them. Good for them too! No disagreement from me.
You have to do what works for you. That’s the acid test. Does it work. Is what you are doing working for you? If not, change something.
My research indicates that the absolute best source of most nutrients is usually raw, whole foods. Some foods need to be cooked to make them more palatble, digestible or to remove toxins.
So I eat next to no processed or packaged food. Therefore I am not consuming empty calories that provide little to no nutrition.
Only the whole food delivers all the cofactors (other nutrients that aid the core nutrient) that are responsible for maximum absorption and utilisation of each nutrient THAT THAT FOOD PROVIDES.
Toxins are poisonous to the body so organic fruit and veggies are better for two reasons. They are proven to provide more nutrients and they contain no pesticides toxic to the body.
The next gradient step in improved nutrition is the combining of multiple foods in the one meal. For instance meat and three veggies does not deliver as many benefits as meat and smaller portions of 6 veggies. Example 2: Broccoli contains potent anticancer compounds, so does chicken. Eaten together their effect is 13 times greater than eaten separately. Example 3: Vitamin C and E are cofactors for one and other. They are more beneficial as antioxidants when taken together. According to Hort research that holds true for each of 4 different antioxidants they tested. It is a case of one and one makes three, not two.
So, I eat mostly organic fruit and veggies, one of my eXtreme Nutrition Bars each day and some organic meat, fish or organic chicken but I still take a handful of vitamins to ensure that I get optimal nutrition. I confess to being an extremist on this score. I am not going for minimum daily requirements or average intake, I am going for optimal.
So I am hedging my bets. I am aiming for the best nutrition from the food I eat as well as taking supplements to boost my intake of key nutrients.
But becaue I know that nutrition is only one of the twelve pillars of optimal health I also exercise.
This moring I did about 1,200 limbering and resistance exercise including 100 pushups, 100 dips, 100 lunges, 15 standing vaults, 45 standing jumps, 10 burpees, 150 arm walking on parallel bars and 12 stretching exercises as well as a personal highest ever of 60 chinups.
Why? Several reasons.
I know that only strenuous exercise (to 85%+ of capacity) will increase lung capacity and lung capacity is the single biggest determinant of longevity.
Only strenuous exercise helps motivate the body to increase its production of Glutathione, the master antioxidant.
People who exercise have a lower resting heart rate. Last time I took it on waking it was 57 beats per minute. As I sit here I just took mine. It is about 62 beats a minute. From http://www.heart.com/heart-rate-chart.html “Your resting heart rate indicates your basic overall heart health and fitness level. The more conditioned your body is, the less effort it needs to make to pump blood thru (sic) your body.”
So for a sixty year old body, what I am doing to it seems to be working.

Here are four emergency disaster supplies you should store up—hoard, if you like—to better face the unexpected:
http://blog.allstate.com/4-emergency-disaster-supplies-to-hoard-for-an-emergency/