Tom's Blog on Life

Your brain’s suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) serves as the master biological clock that regulates your body’s circadian rhythms.

Your body’s central circadian clock is not alone; peripheral clocks are found in various tissues and nearly every organ throughout your body, including the liver, lungs, heart and skeletal muscles.

Shift work, jet lag and many other factors can throw your circadian rhythm off kilter; your body relies on zeitgebers — external cues that help regulate and synchronize your circadian rhythms — to get back on track.

Exposure to bright light, ideally from sunlight, during the day and avoiding artificial light at night is a powerful method to keep your circadian rhythms in sync.

Meal timing also influences your circadian rhythms; it’s best to avoid eating before sunrise or after sunset and to stop eating at least three hours before bedtime.

Finish reading: https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/07/19/synchronize-circadian-rhythms.aspx

I recently interviewed Dr. Cate Shanahan, a board-certified family physician who is a leading authority on nutrition and human metabolism. Her new book, “Dark Calories,” discusses the dangers of seed oils — often referred to as the greenwashed term vegetable oils — insulin resistance, and the importance of proper nutrition for optimal health.

In our interview, Dr. Cate Shanahan explains that seed oils (vegetable oils) are highly toxic, promoting oxidative stress and damaging mitochondria, which are crucial for cellular energy production and overall health.

The HOMA-IR test is a valuable tool for measuring insulin resistance. Shanahan suggests a threshold of 1.0 or less indicates metabolic health, contrary to higher values often considered normal.

While previously advocating low-carb diets, Shanahan now recognizes the importance of proper carbohydrate intake for brain and overall health, recommending slow-digesting complex carbohydrates from whole foods.

Shanahan criticizes the American Heart Association for promoting vegetable oils as heart-healthy, arguing this has led to widespread health issues and suffering in the population
Returning to traditional, nutrient-dense whole foods, including raw dairy, bone broth and organ meats, while avoiding ultraprocessed foods and vegetable oils, supports optimal health.

By focusing on the quality of your food choices and moving away from heavily processed ingredients, you can take significant steps toward better health and cognitive function. As Shanahan concludes:

“When I improved by diet, I improved my metabolism, I improved my personality. Objectively, you could ask my husband. I improved my immune system function. I improved every aspect of my health. And it just came from getting these … main bad, big bad ingredients out of my diet.”

By understanding the hidden dangers in our modern food supply and making informed choices, you can work toward similar improvements in your own health and well-being. It’s a call to action for individuals to take control of their health through informed dietary choices and a return to more traditional, nutrient-dense foods.

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/07/28/seed-oils-insulin-resistance.aspx

Dr Paul Marik told me they’re compiling a list of the best prophylactic protocols to prevent cancer: “The first most effective is green tea…because of its effect on cancer cells, but also the tumor microenvironment. …Then we have curcumin, which acts on multiple biological pathways. We then have vitamin D…There’s a very strong association between vitamin D deficiency and cancer. And then number four is omega three fatty acids. …Our basic protocol—we call it root four—are these four drugs. …They’re reasonably cheap, there are no side effects. So I think people over the age of 60, even if you’re healthy, should consider taking these drugs, because it will significantly reduce your risk of developing cancer. Obviously, it won’t completely eliminate it, but think how cost-effective this is, because we know the cost of treating a patient with cancer with conventional chemotherapy and checkpoint inhibitors runs into the millions of dollars, let alone the lost time. …So it’s a highly cost-effective approach, and you would imagine that it would be an approach that public health would be interested in. …We should be preventing diabetes, obesity, and cancer.”

https://x.com/JanJekielek/status/1920807592432996468

Sunlight’s hidden benefits — Sunlight is crucial for our health, dramatically cutting the risk of dying or getting cancer, yet we’re always told to avoid it.

Beyond vitamin D — While we recognize the importance of vitamin D, many other critical functions of light in plants, animals, and humans remain largely unknown and will be explored in this article.

Modern light exposure — Our constant exposure to artificial light is mistakenly seen as harmless, but forgotten research shows it’s a root cause of many modern physical and behavioral issues.

Light and blood — Blood plays a key role in conducting light throughout our bodies. Disruptions in this process (e.g., from wearing glasses that block certain parts of the light spectrum) can lead to serious health problems.

Finish reading: https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/08/09/natural-light-health-benefits.aspx

Eating to nourish your body is vital to maintaining your health. This article explains why and how you can improve your diet.

Next month Dr Joseph Mercola hopes to publish his new book Cellular Health, The Unified Theory of All Disease for Ultimate Longevity and Joy. Till then you can implement the following to reap the benefits.

Lower your LA intake as low as possible by avoiding processed foods, seed oils, chicken, pork, seeds and nuts and review my classic article on LA.

Take progesterone and described in the linked article.

Make sure you’re eating healthy carbs such as ripe fruit, raw honey and maple syrup. My new book identifies 12 different classification of carbs so you can use the ones that are just right for your current state of health.

Reduce your stress, as chronic stress promotes cortisol release, which is a potent suppressor of mitochondrial function and biogenesis. Progesterone can be quite helpful here, as it’s a potent cortisol blocker.

Take supplemental niacinamide, as your mitochondria cannot make energy without it. I recommend taking 50 mg of niacinamide three times a day.

Finish reading: https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/08/19/mitochondrial-function-autoimmune-diseases.aspx