Top Ten Health Benefits of Whole Body Vibration...

Whole Body Vibration 
When I first saw a Power Plate in the gym... I was skeptical and wondered what this new fangled gizmo was all about, didn't think it could do anything - mind you I had no idea what it was or what it did, I had not done any due diligence to find out about it...my initial opinion was based purely on ignorance! Even after having a few goes on it as encouraged by my Personal Trainer (who didn't explain what the heck it was supposed to be doing for me...perhaps also due to ignorance?), I wasn't convinced.

However since I pride myself on being open minded, I decided to read up on it, see if there was any basis for its existence.

What I found impressed me so much, the evidence was so thoroughly convincing I had to get one of my own to use as I pleased, at home, as part of my exercise routine. My aim in writing this post, is to give you an overview of this piece of equipment so you can decide whether or not you'd like to use it next time you're at the gym or leisure centre.

WBV takes advantage of Newton's second law: Force = Mass x Acceleration.
It does it in such a way that you can achieve significant amount of fitness working out for just minutes a day. So if one of your excuses for not exercising is 'I don't have the time to exercise', read on cos after reading this article, you've got no more excuses buddy!

In conventional exercise, when you do weight training in order to improve your strength (Force), you challenge yourself by increasing the amount of weights you lift (ie you increase the mass you apply.) According to Newton's Law, if you increase the mass being applied, you get an increase in Force (Strength).

So that's all good. Whole Body Vibration, however, (WBV from now on), takes advantage of the 'Acceleration' side of the equation.  That's why it's also known as 'Acceleration Training'.  The machine you do this on is known as a Vibration Plate or a Power Plate, as made popular by the Power Plate brand. 

Before describing what this all means, here's how the machine looks:

My preferred brand (based on extensive research and comparison with other leading brands) is the JTX Pro-10, which looks like this:

WBV causes contraction of 95% or more of all your (individual) muscle fibres by vibrating at an accelerated rate. This is something you can't achieve by doing the regular strength training you'd do with weights. Having said this, I like to turbo charge my sessions by also doing weight training with weights while working on the plate (using the plate as the floor - this boosts each workout and gives me a much greater benefit per time...), however working out on the plate as is, gives you an enhanced and efficient workout, and you achieve in 10-20 minutes what you'd spend an hour in the gym (or on conventional exercise) trying to achieve.

There'll be more on how it works etc if you'd like me to write about it but for now let's cut to the chase and tell you what's in it for you - the true health benefits of WBV:

1. Increased bone density
2. Increased muscle mass and tone
3. Improved circulation - both blood and lymph
4. Weight management: you get to release excess fat as your metabolism is increased and more efficient...
5. Hormonal balance (decreases levels of stress hormone cortisol, increases levels of other hormones which help you look and feel good, fit and full of vitality (endorphins, serotonin, growth hormone, etc)
6. Decreases cellulite (likely due to its effect on improving circulation_
7. Improved physical performance 
8. Reduced pain and faster recovery after workouts, as well as for rehabilitation and recovery post-op
9. Improved balance and stability
10. Gives you a great massage too if you wish!

There are many more benefits, I just picked out my top 10. You can achieve these benefits by working out for just 10-20 minutes per day on your plate.

I'm particularly glad I got one because now that I'm recovering from major surgery and am not allowed to do my regular exercise just yet, I still get the full benefit with less strain on my body, by using my JTX Pro 10 plate. Then I round up my session with a massage. It's fantastic! Always ask your doctor though, if it's okay for you to use this machine, and if you've had any surgery, make sure you get the all-clear from your surgeon that you can do this.

Warning: Don't use the power plate if any of the following applies to you:

• pregnant
• pacemaker
• epilepsy
• metal or other implant eg in joints
• recent IUCD insertion
• severe heart failure or heart disease
• severe hypertension
• blood clots
• tumors which have chance of spreading
• recent surgery (less than 6 weeks) or wounds.

Otherwise it's a good way to get a whole body workout in a short time.

Pop into your local leisure centre and ask to be shown how to use one, see for yourself if the benefits listed above are things you wish to invest the time working for.

'Fat-free' or 'Low Fat' makes you FAT!

The 'Fat-free' Myth

The other day when I went grocery shopping, I decided to, for the fun of it, look through the labels of some 'fat-free' or 'low-fat' products at random, to reconfirm that what I teach and talk about is still the case. I was hoping things had changed, as information about true health is more available today than at any other time in our history...

Sure enough: every single one of those 'fat-free' or 'low fat' items had 'sugar' listed either as the first ingredient or the second one. (Remember that ingredients are listed in order of how much of each one is contained in a product - so if sugar is listed first, just know that your product is really just sugar with bits of other things added to it.)

I find it amazing that people still fall for this deception - they must still fall for it otherwise all these 'fat-free' and 'low-fat' things would not be on our shelves.

So here's the skinny on fat, folks - after today you cannot use ignorance as your excuse for continuing in this craziness.

Sugar makes you fat, not dietary fat.

(Bear in mind that trans-fats though, the sort found in margarine, and the sort of fat which vegetable oil turns into when it's heated...is dangerous for other health reasons such as cardiovascular disease...but it's not what makes you fat. Dietary saturated fats from healthy sources eg coconut oil, fat from grass-fed, hormone-free, antibiotic-free animals - actually serve numerous health functions, and can help you lose weight while you're at it...but that's for another post.)

 When you eat sugar, it triggers the release of insulin, a hormone which, among other functions, serves as a fat storage hormone; excess sugar gets converted to fat (the bad kind, including the so-called 'bad cholesterol'), which gets stored around your belly, and worse still - around your vital organs, not to mention the damage it causes your blood vessels.

Your sugar fix also suppresses the hormone glucagon, which among other functions, releases excess fat from your body.

So when you buy 'fat-free' or 'low-fat' products (you should always read the labels at the back to find out what you're really buying) - you're not really buying fat-free or low-fat. The sugar gets converted to fat which gets stored around your belly and is difficult to shift (not impossible, just more difficult). When you buy these products, you're actually buying 'unhealthy-fat' products. Nothing healthy about those products at all.

This is why your cholesterol levels reduce when you stop taking these products. It's also one reason why your healthy lifestyle efforts become more successful when you stop taking them.

Refuse to be fooled by slick marketing folks. The truth sets you free from being overweight and sick, so act on it today.

Your take home message today therefore is this: 'Fat-free', 'Diet products' or 'Low Fat' products, actually, make you FAT.

He who has ears to hear and eyes to read and a mind to understand, should do so.

Read The 8 Pillars of A Healthy Life to get an overview of what you should be doing, if true health is what you wish to enjoy. Details of the pillar will be available on this blog. To find out when this happens, sign up for the Health and Success Newsletter over at www.doctorkem.comhttp://doctorkem.com/.

PS: 
Don't be fooled by 'sugar-free' either: if it contains aspartame or other such sweeteners, your health is in danger from these toxins too. Keep your eyes peeled for more information on this blog.

Spice Up Your Life with this Wonder Ingredient!

Today I'd like to share with you some fascinating information - just an overview really - about the humble but oh-so-amazing spice, Turmeric.

Originating in India, where it was possibly originally used as a dye, over the past few centuries and decades, the health benefits of turmeric continue to be unravelled.

So let me cut to the chase and give you the low down already.

The active ingredient in turmeric is curcumin, and it's the substance that gives curry its yellow colour.

There is growing evidence that shows the health benefits of turmeric include the following:

• Powerful antioxidant effects - stronger than vitamin E, vitamin C, grape seed extract, pine bark extract, able to mop up one of the most reactive oxidants known to man, the hydroxyl radical.
• Promoting healthy blood and liver functions
• Immune system booster
• Skin health and healing
• Digestive system help, helps regulate intestinal flora so great to take if you've just had a course of antibiotics or a bout of candida infection...
• Shown to prevent breast cancer from spreading to lungs in mice: curcumin has antioestrogenic effects, and as many breast cancers are oestrogen dependent, this shows great promise in preventing or at least halting progression of the disease
• Arrests prostate cancer progression, prevents prostate cancer when used with cauliflower
• Antiseptic, antibacterial
• Natural anti-inflammatory and pain killer: great for arthritis type of pain too
• Is thermogenic (as many spices are), meaning it boosts your metabolism and helps you burn calories, which can be useful in weight management...
• Shows great promise in treating other cancers.
• Supports overall eye health
• Helps you maintain normal cholesterol levels
• Helps you maintain normal blood sugar levels

These are just a few of the health benefits of turmeric. To enjoy these benefits you should have some turmeric every day in some form or other.



Turmeric in the news:

• 2004: Research done in Loyola University Medical Centre in Chicago suggests that turmeric may have a protective effect against Leukaemia, which would explain the low incidence of this cancer in children in asian countries
  
  
• 2011: Research done in Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles shows that drug derived from turmeric may help the body repair some of the damage caused by stroke, in the immediate aftermath, once they found a way to make the curcumin cross the blood-brain barrier. According to the Stroke Association, this is the 'first significant research' showing that curcumin could help stroke patients. Human trials needed, as this study was done on rabbits...still very encouraging though.
  
  
• 2009: 'Eating Curry at least twice a week could slow down or prevent dementia' - paper presented at the Annual meeting of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, by Prof Murali Doraiswamy from North Carolina, citing the ability of curcumin to prevent spread of amyloid protein plaques in the brain (these plaques are implicated in dementia...)
  
  
• 2009: British Journal of Cancer - Turmeric kills off cancer cells in the gullet within 24 hours...
  
• 2007: Cancer Res 2007 Mar 1:67(5):1988: "Curcumin ...has emerged as one of the most powerful chemopreventative and anticancer agents. It's biological effects range from antioxidant and anti-inflammatory to inhibition of angiogenesis, and is shown to possess specific anti-tumoral activity."

Now that you have this information, what do you do with it? Here, let me help you out...

a) Where should you get your turmeric?
- Not necessarily in your local grocery store 'spice' rack, as this likely has the highly processed form of this spice, which is devoid of the health benefits listed above.

- Look for an organic source; if the one available to you cannot prove certified organic you may risk missing out on the health benefits of turmeric.

- Whenever possible, buy the actual root itself, ideally organically grown (this is available in some local grocery stores if you search carefully...otherwise health food shops may stock this.)

- If all else fails, find yourself a 'certified organically grown' turmeric supplement but please make sure it doesn't contain such chemicals and potential toxins as Magnesium Stearate, Dibasic Calcium Phosphate and other such substances with big sounding names.


b) How much turmeric per day, and how should you take it?
- You can take it in various ways, the principle to bear in mind is that you want to take it as close to its raw state as possible so if for instance you use it for cooking, add it to the meal when it's nearly ready to be eaten, rather than at the start of the cooking.

- So you can use it for cooking as described above: so many recipes are available to give you ideas on ways to use it. I use it to cook pretty much everything: chicken curries, egg salads, you name it.

- Or you can make a tea with the powder and drink it 2-3 times daily between meals. For this you'd need to use 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of the powder in a cup/pot, pour boiling water over it, let it infuse for about 5 minutes and drink. You could use honey as a sweetener but if you need to avoid sweeteners you can use Stevia instead to give it some taste. You could also add ginger to the tea for that extra 'kick'.

- You could also make a great tea by boiling the root directly and drinking the brew from there. Yum!

- Or you could take it a as a supplement, in which case you should take 250-500mg three times a day.


c) Are there any contraindications to taking turmeric?
- Don't take this without your doctor's advice, if you suffer from gall stones or biliary obstruction

- If you are on blood thinning medication you shouldn't take turmeric without your doctor's advice, as it's got blood thinning properties itself, and slows down clotting of blood

- If you're pregnant, talk to your doctor before taking turmeric as it can stimulate your uterus...Having said this, turmeric has been taken for millenia by pregnant women with no untoward effect. However it's just good practice that you should consult your doctor before you introduce anything new to your lifestyle if you are pregnant or otherwise unwell.

- "Curcumin has an outstanding safety profile and a number of multi-functional actions ..." Phase I clinical trials, using massive doses of curcumin, or turmeric extract (up to 8 grams/day for four months) "did not result in discernable toxicities."

Source: Adv Exp Med Biol 2007;565:471




Questions, Comments?
If you have any comments, questions or recipe ideas to do with turmeric, do please share in the space provided, thanks!

Book Review: The Healthy Home...

Dave Wentz and his dad, Dr Myron Wentz have written a very important book for our times. "The Healthy Home", written in a pleasant, reader-friendly and easy to understand way, walks you through every room in your house, highlighting the hidden dangers there AND offering practical, realistic solutions to help you overcome those dangers.

I've just read through it but will read it again just to make sure I pick up even more points to act on.

Grab your copy from amazon today!

100% of the proceeds from sales of the book go to charity.

Exercise - VITAL for treating Type 2 Diabetes

It's not that we didn't know this before, but it's now been established such that the American Diabetes Association and the American College of Sports Medicine have issued brand new guidelines and recommendations for exercise.

Please note that what is to follow benefits not only people suffering from Type 2 Diabetes, but also anyone who desires to be healthy, particularly if you are a victim of the Metabolic Syndrome.

These are the key points from the latest guidance, as published in the December 2010  issues of 'Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise', and 'Diabetes Care' journals:

• Regular physical activity can prevent type 2 diabetes, improve glucose control, positively affect blood fat levels, blood pressure, improve cardiovascular disease and improve mortality.
  
  
• These improvements are because of the short and long term benefits of exercise on insulin activity.
  
  
• Most of these benefits are accomplished with a combination of aerobic and resistance exercises.
  
  
• The expert panel recommend at least 150 minutes of AEROBIC exercise each week, spread out over a minimum of 3 days, with no more than 2 consecutive days between physical activity.
  
  
• RESISTANCE TRAINING should  ALSO be done at least 2ce a week - ideally 3 x per week - every other day. See below for examples of resistance exercises that anyone can do..If you're just starting out, get a personal trainer to guide you to make sure you don't injure yourself, until you get the moves right.
  
  
• Using a pedometer regularly is a good idea as it helps you quantify your progress when you set a measurable goal eg to walk 10000 steps per day. Also, a study found that people who used a pedometer increased their physical activity by 27% over their baseline.
  
  
• You must exercise regularly to get the full benefits of it.
  
  
• Exercise improves your insulin activity for 2-72 hours after the exercise. It's got to be moderate to vigorous exercise to be of benefit.
  
  
• If you lead a sedentary life, you need a pre-exercise assessment if you plan to do exercise more than brisk walking. Visit your doctor and ask them to arrange this.
  
  
• If you are at high risk of cardiovascular disease (get your doctor to confirm this), and you have no symptoms, you may benefit from having an Exercise Stress ECG done before you commence your improved exercise program.
  
• Works best also if you're part of a support system of one or more people...

About Those Resistance Exercises...

Here's the link to a post I wrote, with pictures of 6 simple resistance training exercises you can do every other day...
Strength Training Blog Post

As For Aerobic Exercises...

Examples include:

• Walking
• Climbing up and down your stairs at home
• Cross trainer
• Treadmill
• Swimming
• Running
• Sports eg tennis, basketball, football, martial arts...

There are others of course. The point is you've got to pick one you enjoy and can stick to. Then do it for up to 150 minutes per week (break it down to say 30 minutes per day) - and add resistance training every other day to the mix.

Getting Started...First, choose your preferred aerobic activity or activities

• Break it down into baby steps.
  
• If you've been sedentary, don't expect to be able to easily exercise for 30 minutes each day from day 1.
  
• Start with 5 minutes of aerobic activity each day. This will get you into the habit of doing something each day. Setting aside a regular time to do it each day, works best for some people.
  
• When you've done 5 minutes exercise each day for 1 week, upgrade to 10 minutes each day.
   
• Do this for 2 weeks.
  
• Upgrade to 15 minutes each day
  
• Add in resistance training every other day: aim to go through the 6 exercises I mention in the article at least once every other day.
  
• Stick with 15 minutes aerobics daily and resistance training every other day - for 3 weeks
  
• After 3 weeks, upgrade your aerobics time to 20 minutes daily
  
• Stick with this for 4 weeks
  
• After 4 weeks, upgrade to 25 minutes of aerobic activity daily
  
• Do this for 2 weeks
  
• After 2 weeks, upgrade to 30 minutes of aerobic activity daily
  
• CONGRATULATIONS!!!!  You've just completed a 12-week jumpstart to a regular exercise program that has been proven to improve your blood sugar, blood pressure, reduce LDL cholesterol and improve quality of life overall!
  
• By now regular exercise should be a habit for you. You can't remember or imagine what your life was like without it.
  
• Now hook up that pedometer and let's see how many steps your 30 minutes get you. If you're not walking 10000 steps in your 30 minutes you'll need to gradually increase until you do.

Here's wishing you a fit, healthy and happy new year!

Blessings to ya.

The 8 Pillars of A Healthy Life...An Overview...

The 8 Pillars of A Healthy Life

1. Positive Mental Attitude

 
- This includes

• personal development, 
• stress management: what is YOUR biggest source of stress? Comment below please.
• self esteem and confidence building, 
• self-motivation,
• self-discipline and in general, the mindset that promotes health and success in life.
  
  I have a whole portion of this site www.doctorkem.com (Personal Development – and the corresponding blog) devoted to this pillar, it’s that important. You’re not truly healthy if this area is messed up.

- Optimists are generally more healthy than pessimists, likely because they interpret events in ways that are conducive to health in the body.

- Your body responds even at a cellular level, to your thoughts and mindset. Mind-body connection is for real.

- Cultivate a positive mental attitude, learn how to manage your stress and build a healthy self esteem, self-image, self-concept, discipline yourself to take appropriate actions and do what you know to do when you know to do it – and your health will improve. The newsletter and blog over at www.doctorkem.com teach you how to do all this.

- The Healthy Lifestyle Project (www.thehealthylifestyleproject.com) includes practical ways to help you out in this area too, so go check it out now!



2. Adequate Hydration
- You must drink enough water for your body size, each day, in order to function optimally.

- Dehydration causes many symptoms such as headaches, body and joint pain, heart burn, etc. Don’t treat these symptoms with drugs – treat them with water! If you’re well hydrated (see below) and you’ve still got the symptoms then go see a Doctor.

- Drink (33ml x your body weight in kg) of water each day. More if you exercise or drink anything that dehydrates you eg caffeine-containing drinks, alcohol, etc.



3. Adequate Nutrition
- You must eat the right types of healthy carbohydrates, healthy fats, healthy proteins, in a proportion that depends on your ‘metabolic type‘. No one ‘diet’ fits all.

- Adequate nutrition shall be your medicine, as Hippocrates wisely said all those years ago. Nutritional medicine is Preventive Medicine.

- You must also take high quality, comprehensive, complete and balanced nutritional supplements daily, to provide optimal levels of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants for your cells.

- According to 2 reviews published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in June 2002, “…it appears prudent for all adults to take nutritional supplements.”

- So start eating a healthy balanced diet according to your Metabolic Type, PLUS take high quality nutritional supplements such as the Essentials made by USANA Health Sciences (Visit the page on ‘Essentials!’ to learn more)

- What constitutes a healthy balanced diet? What are healthy carbs, proteins and fats? Sign up for the FREE Health & Success newsletter at www.doctorkem.com to find out!

- As a participant in The Healthy Lifestyle Project, we work with you to help you optimise your nutrition - you'll get to go through your larder and replace unhealthy, disease-promoting foods with healthy, life promoting ones. What fun! Apply to take part here: www.thehealthylifestyleproject.com - you get FREE consultations (worth £75 - £195) for the entire 3 months, as well as unlimited, FREE email support, and FREE weekly webinar attendance.



4. Adequate Physical Activity and Posture
- You must exercise regularly, and your exercise program must include aerobics, strength training and flexibility exercise.

- At least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise at least 3 times a day, strength training with weights for at least 20 minutes every other day (check out my health blog for pictures of 6 simple strength training exercises you can do at home), stretching for flexibility daily.

- Start today, don’t delay! Discipline will bridge the gap between your dreams and their realisation so get that butt moving!

- You must maintain correct posture at all times as well. Images of examples of good posture are found on my health blog over at www.doctorkem.com.


- The Healthy Lifestyle Project includes 2 powerful exercise resources that empower you to cultivate regular exercise habits at home or at the gym, up to you. You've got no excuse now! Apply to take part here: www.thehealthylifestyleproject.com


5. Adequate Oxygenation
- You must breathe well enough to ensure your cells have enough oxygen for you to function optimally. Many other benefits of being well oxygenated (see FREE newsletter when you sign up!)

- This includes deep breathing exercises and laughter.

- Now you know why laughter is like medicine! So find reasons to laugh each day.

- Do daily deep breathing exercises. An example is described in an earlier post on this blog.



6. Adequate Sunlight
- Vitamin D is now known to do more than just give you strong bones and teeth: it affects the functioning of most every cell in your body, and boosts your immunity, therefore a host of illnesses occur when your levels are lower than normal. Certainly if you feel ‘tired all the time’, get your doctor to add this to the other blood tests they’re doing to see if low levels are contributing to your symptoms.

- Pregnant women also MUST have their Vitamin D levels checked as low levels have not only been associated with hypertension in pregnancy, but are also known to lead to deficiency in the baby, with sometimes serious health consequences for the baby.

- You must ensure you have optimal levels of Vitamin D (ask your doctor to test for ’serum (25, OH) Vitamin D’ levels. If insufficient, order USANA’s Essentials today – the HealthPak alone contains enough vitamin D per serving (2000IU Vit D3) to keep you from having insufficient levels of this important vitamin, and to treat you if you ARE already insufficient or if deficient, order USANA’s Essentials PLUS USANA’s Vitamin D3 supplements, then go have your blood levels tested again after a month on the supps. to make sure they’re improving.)

- It's 'flu season'. One reason why flu and colds are more common in the winter seasons is that there isn't much Vitamin D being made at this time, so you've gotta make sure your levels are optimal, to boost your immunity.

- Again, as a participant of The Healthy Lifestyle Project, this will get checked and optimised for you. Sign up NOW for these FREE sessions www.thehealthylifestyleproject.com


7. Adequate Rest
- You must get enough sleep each night. A lot of your body’s restorative and growth processes take place while you sleep. Certain hormones are released at night while you sleep, to aid in the said processes.

- Just as a point of interest, inadequate sleep has been linked with weight gain…

-’Experts’ seem to agree that 6-7 hours of sleep minimum per night, are enough for most adults.



8. Support: Receive support, Give support
- Studies show that being part of a support system helps you maintain a good habit. Studies also show that people in a stable relationship are generally healthier than those who are not.

-’Support’ could be in form of a spouse/partner, friends, coaching group, Personal coach, church fellowship, etc.

- You must be plugged into a proactively support system if you are to establish, build and maintain 8 strong Pillars for your Healthy Life. Isolation is bad for your health! You’ve got to have at least someone you can confide in and offload/share your burdens with. ‘No man is an island’ may be cliche, but it’s true. We were not created to be loners. And disease (either mental or physical) ALWAYS results when we go against the way God designed us to function, as a general principle…

- You should also seek out ways to be a source of support to others. Give of your time, talents, money, to those in need. This is a powerful therapeutic habit. Volunteering. Certainly does wonders for you if you suffer from depression: it’s hard to feel depressed if you’re focused on others and what you can do for them…(this mindset ties in with the first pillar, however the taking action bit of it is under Pillar 8.). Seek ways to bless others and you too will be blessed: it’s an undeniable and irrefutable spiritual law.

If you find yourself feeling unwell, go through the above 8 pillars and honestly ask yourself where you’ve gone wrong. Contact me if you need help in working through this. Better yet, sign up now for The Healthy Lifestyle Project and you'll be coached to optimal health, for life!

Sign up over at www.thehealthylifestyleproject.com

HOW TO SHRINK YOUR FIBROIDS NATURALLY

I get asked a lot to advice women on how to shrink their fibroids without surgery. So here're my top tips. But first, a bit of background on the issue.


WHAT IS A FIBROID?
A fibroid is a benign (non-deadly) tumour of the smooth muscle cells of your uterus (womb). A woman can have just one or multiple fibroids as you can see in the image below:

Fibroids in multiple locations in the womb...

However the point of this article is not to tell you all about what a fibroid is - the focus is to tell you how to get rid of it without getting rid of your womb!


Symptoms of fibroid include these main ones: (if you have any of these symptoms, see your doctor to make sure there's no other cause for them)
- Heavy periods
- Painful periods
- Pelvic pain
- If large and pressing on your urinary bladder you may experience the feeling of going to pee often, and not emptying your bladder completely


NATURAL WAYS TO SHRINK FIBROIDS
The basis for this is controlling oestrogen levels in your body because one major factor in fibroids is excess oestrogens and oestrogen-like effects. This is why fibroids naturally shrink when a woman reaches the menopause.

Note that the reasons for fibroids in your case may be different for the reasons in another woman, as you will see below from the lists of causes of increased oestrogens. So you'd need to have a discussion with a Healthy Lifestyle Medicine practitioner to ascertain what is the cause in your case, if it's not clear to you after reading this post:


Causes of increased oestrogens
- Stress
- Overweight/obesity
- Contraceptive pills
- Pregnancy

Causes of increased oestrogen effect
- Substances that mimic oestrogens in your body, such as pesticides used in non-organic foods,
- hormones used in non organic beef, poultry, etc.


HOW TO SHRINK YOUR FIBROIDS NATURALLY...
(First make sure your doctor has assessed you to confirm there is no other gynaecological condition you're suffering from, apart from the fibroids).


The 8 Pillars of A Healthy Life (www.doctorkem.com) will guarantee you to be free from symptoms of fibroid, because it takes care of these components:

a) Healthy Liver
This includes avoiding things which not only contain oestrogens, but also things which mimic oestrogens, such as certain toxins (such as the pesticides used in non-organic foods) and pollutants (which is why a healthy liver is essential to your total health: it helps your body get rid of these toxins, thus contributes to shrinking your fibroids if this is the cause in your case.)

Practising the 8 Pillars keeps your liver detoxified. In addition, if you suffer from fibroids, I would recommend that you take a high quality supplement that contains nutrients that support your liver function.


b) Healthy Weight
Excess oestrogens are stored in fat cells. Fibroids have been shown to occur more often in overweight women. If this is the cause for your fibroids, then when you lose weight, your fibroids will shrink.

An overweight body is an unhealthy body. The whole point of The 8 Pillars of a Healthy Life is to empower you to transform your body into a healthy body: weight loss is a 'side effect' of this process.


c) Anti inflammatory state
If your fibroids are due to your being in a hyperinflammatory state (which can be the case if you're, among other things, eating the wrong types of food)…eating naturally anti-inflammatory foods may help, eg purified fish oil capsules, cumin, rosemary, hops, oat.

Certain lifestyle habits keep your body in a hyperinflammatory state. For instance eating a lot of processed foods, eg refined carbohydrates, processed meats, etc contribute to this. Lack of physical activity also contributes to this because then your body is unable to produce the substances that protect you from this effect.


d) Healthy Nutrition
The 4th Pillar.
In addition to the basic healthy nutrition guidelines you follow in The 8 Pillars of A Healthy Life, you need to :Avoid food that has been injected with hormones eg meat, poultry. Eat only organic foods as these are free from pesticides. Include non GM soy isoflavones (about 80mg/day) in your diet. Take complete, balanced, bioavailable, comprehensive, high quality nutritional supplements daily.


e) Stress Management
This is part of the 1st Pillar of A Healthy Life.Stress leads to release of cortisol. Cortisol increases fatty tissues and fat cells. Fat cells store excess oestrogens. Stress management is a way to manage your weight also.


f) Sunshine!
The 6th Pillar of A Healthy Life. Vitamin D has been shown to halt the growth of fibroid cells, which could explain why fibroids are commoner in black women - dark skinned people make less vitamin D and thus have insufficient levels in their bodies for it to do its protective work.

Vitamin D helps your immune system suppress tumour activity. Fibroids are tumours (benign ones)

So take a blood test with your doctor (ask for 'Serum (25,OH) Vitamin D levels) and if your levels are below normal, take a good vitamin D3 supplement at a dose of 2000IU per day.


g) Miscellaneous
Needless to say you must stop smoking and other such unhealthy habits, and keep your alcohol intake to the barest minimum, as these contribute to your worsening fibroids.


You CAN beat this, ladies!
You CAN shrink your fibroid!
You CAN avoid needless surgery!


Give your body a chance to do what it does best: heal and restore itself. However, it can't do this if it is receiving less than optimal treatment from you.


That's why I've written this overview on The 8 Pillars of a Healthy Life to stir you up to treating your body the right way - when you do, your body will reward you with health. No more fibroids!


Here's to your Total Health!


Dr Kem
www.doctorkem.com
www.thehealthylifestyleproject.com