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Archive for March, 2010

More than 10 million Americans have the bone-weakening disease osteoporosis – approximately 15% of women and 4% of men over the age of 50. Another 34 million or so have osteopenia – bone density that is below normal and may lead to osteoporosis. And every year, two million people with osteoporosis have a so-called – “osteoporotic fracture,” usually of the hip, spine or wrist.

New finding: Experts know that an osteoporotic hip fracture is disastrous – 12% to 40% of victims die within six months (partly because they tend to become depressed and more sedentary). But when Australian researchers studied more than 4,000 people age 60 and older for 18 years, they found that almost any kind of osteoporotic fracture increased the risk for death. Focusing on people over age 75, they found that breaking a wrist increased mortality risk by 40% in women and 80% in men… a spinal fracture doubled mortality risk in both sexes… and a hip fracture more than doubled mortality risk in women and tripled it in men.

Another recent finding: Bone mineral density (BMD) does not accurately reflect fracture risk. A dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) test measures the BMD in your hip, spine and wrist. A score of -1 to -2.5 indicates osteopenia… a score under -2.5 signals osteoporosis. But in one study, 82% of women who reported fractures of the wrist, forearm, hip, rib or spine in the year after a BMD test did not have scores indicating osteoporosis (scores of -2.5 or lower).

Overall, BMD predicts only 44% of fractures in elderly women and 21% of fractures in elderly men.
New thinking: The BMD test indicates the hardness of bone, imparted by the minerals calcium and magnesium. But flexibility is what helps bones resist fracture – the bone’s ability to bend a bit and not break.

Flexibility is created by the bone’s collagen, the protein-rich infrastructure. To build bone collagen, you need vitamin K.

THE SECRET BONE-SAVER
Vitamin K (phylloquinone) is a fat-soluble nutrient (like vitamins A and D) found abundantly in leafy green vegetables. Vitamin K helps the liver manufacture proteins that control blood clotting. Vitamin K-2 (menaquinone) is formed in the body from vitamin K. Vitamin K-2 has many functions, including building collagen in bone – and preventing fractures.

New finding: Scientists at Harvard Medical School analyzed 10 years of health data on vitamin K intake and bone health in more than 70,000 women in the Nurses’ Health Study. Those with the highest intake of vitamin K had a 30% lower risk for hip fracture, compared with women who had the lowest intake. They also found that women who ate the most lettuce – the biggest source of vitamin K in most diets – had a 45% lower risk for hip fracture than those who ate the least.

What to do: The government’s recommendation for daily vitamin K intake is 90 micrograms (mcg) to 120 mcg. How do you maximize your intake? Eat your vegetables!

Top vegetables include kale (1,062 mcg per cup), spinach (889 mcg), turnip greens (851 mcg), collard greens (836 mcg), Swiss chard (299 mcg), broccoli (220 mcg), brussels sprouts (219 mcg), butterhead lettuce (167 mcg), cabbage (163 mcg) and asparagus (144 mcg). Among vegetable oils, soybean oil (3.4 mcg per tablespoon) and olive oil (8.1 mcg) score highest.

Don’t worry about cooking – it doesn’t destroy the vitamin.

If you want the greatest peace of mind about getting sufficient vitamin K to prevent bone fractures, you may want to take a daily supplement of the nutrient.

THE POWER OF MK4
Doctors from England analyzed the data from 13 studies on osteoporosis and a form of vitamin K called MK4. They found vitamin MK4 decreased hip fractures by 73%, spinal fractures by 60% and nonspinal fractures by 81%. Compare those results to the average 19% decrease in fracture risk from taking supplements of calcium and vitamin D (which aids in the absorption of calcium).

To help my patients, I developed a supplement that contains the same amount and type of the nutrient (45 mg of MK4) used in the clinical trials. The supplement, called Osteo-K, also contains calcium, vitamin D, magnesium and boron (available at nbihealth.com).

If you’re taking corticosteroids: Medications called corticosteroids (cortisone, prednisone, hydrocortisone) are powerful anti-inflammatory agents. They are synthetic versions of cortisol, an adrenal hormone. They often are prescribed to help control the symptoms of chronic diseases with an inflammatory component, such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, lupus and severe asthma. Taken regularly for six months or more, corticosteroids can cause osteoporosis. Additionally, taking these medicines for more than six months increases the risk for vertebral fracture by up to 200%. Clinical trials have shown that taking 45 mg daily of MK4 decreases bone loss and fractures caused by corticosteroids.

Caution: If you are taking the anticoagulant warfarin (Coumadin), talk to your doctor before taking any type of supplemental vitamin K, which can block the action of the drug.

DO DRUGS WORK?
You might think that a vitamin K supplement would be a lightweight compared to the widely prescribed bisphosphonate drugs, such as alendronate (Fosamax), risedronate (Actonel), raloxifene (Evista) and zoledronic acid (Zometa).

But drugs are less effective at decreasing fracture risk than vitamin K.
Example: Fosamax decreases vertebral fracture risk by 47%, compared with a reduction of up to 60% for vitamin K.

And the latest research shows that these bone-building drugs can hurt your health…

- Esophageal cancer. In December 2008, the FDA said Fosamax and other bisphosphonates might increase the risk for esophageal cancer – and that no one with Barrett’s esophagus (an esophageal problem common among people with heartburn) should take these drugs.
- Heart problems. People taking bisphosphonates are twice as likely to experience life-threatening heart irregularities called arrhythmias.
- Increased fracture risk. New evidence shows that people who take bisphosphonates for several years may have an increased risk for sudden fractures during normal activity, such as standing or walking. Bisphosphonates improve bone quantity, not bone quality – and may affect bone growth in such a way as to eventually create weaker bones.
- Osteonecrosis of the jaw. In this disease – also called “dead jaw” – sections of the tissue of the jawbone die after a major dental procedure, such as a tooth implant or extraction. People taking a bisphosphonate have a 4% risk for this side effect after a dental procedure – and top dental experts are warning that anyone about to have such a procedure should stop taking the drug at least one month before the procedure.

Bottom line: Talk to your doctor about whether a bisphosphonate is right for you. You could take another type of bone-building medication, such as parathyroid hormone, which decreases fracture risk by 65%. Or you could add vitamin K to your regimen.

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If you have any concerns over the health of your prostate, I have found a few simple life changes that can reduce your chance of major health problems. The numbers about prostate issues are terrifying, one in five men over 50 have been found to have cancerous cells in their prostate. Of all men between the ages of 40 and 60, around half have an enlarged prostate.

What you can do to avoid these issues. Well, first of all drink lots of water. Men should drink about 3 liters of water every day. Water makes up 60 percent of your body and is absolutely vital to providing nutrients to your cells and removing toxins from your organs. Having enough water in your diet also helps keep your colon clear. If waste builds up in your colon, it can poison your body over time. To make sure that you are getting enough water each day, check your urine. It should be mostly colorless and odorless. If it is not, add a few more glasses of water to your daily routine.

Second, you need to set up yearly appointments with your doctor for prostate exams. Now I know that none of us want to suffer through these exams, but early detection is still the best way to defeat prostate cancer. Waiting may only give the cancer a chance to grow and spread.

Next, you need to add more fruit and veggies to your diet. Fruits to make sure that you add more of are watermelon, pink grapefruit, tomatoes, and guava. These fruits all contain lycopene which has been shown to reduce prostate ailments. Also add Brazil nuts and pumpkin seeds to your diet. Now, if you start eating all of these every day, you are going to probably get some nasty diarrhea. So, used moderation and just add one or two of these fruits every day to your diet. Also, nuts contain high amounts of fat, so just eat one or two Brazil nuts and a handful or so of pumpkin seeds every day.

The last tip for prostate health is to keep the rest of you body healthy. Exercise at least three times a week. Reduce the amount of red meat that you consume, and consider picking one day a week to go vegetarian to help your body flush toxins. Also, keep your alcohol consumption to a moderate level. There are tons of great prostate health tips, but make sure that you talk to your doctor before starting any questionable supplement regiments.

Exercising with weights has many different benefits for women such as improve posture, strength, energy, protection and faster weight loss. One of the most important is to prevent osteoporosis throughout life especially post menopause. Osteoporosis attacks 1 in 3 women, leaving the bones to become thinner from the inside of the bone becoming more porous and less able to support the body, leading to breaks and fractures. By the time a woman reaches the age of 70, she may have lost as much as 30 percent of her bone density, something you really don’t won’t to lose in the years to come. Good strength, energy and bone density are essential for general health and fitness, now and in the future. It is very common for us to neglect what we cannot see. We spend hours looking at what we see from the mirror, such as your curves, muscle tone or neglected areas which may need some work! If we cannot see it we tend to ignore it! And that’s very common with our bones.

Having worked with many women, a large part of my work is to ensure bone density and muscular strength is at it highest. Lifting weights is not only to help break down body fat and elevate the metabolism but to also strengthen the main skeletal frame. No one wants to have curvature of the spine when we get older. We want to maintain a strong upright frame with muscles that support our strong bones.

Remember a strong body is healthy body and without strength your body will break down, due to the acids our body produces. So how do we prevent this from happening fast and effectively?

To prevent osteoporosis you need to follow these rules. If you don’t already, now is the time to change your lifestyle for the better. It’s never too late to get active or if you are already exercising then its time to step it up to the next level and not just through the motions of pushing machines in the gym.

Take part in exercise today and start lifting weights, free weights if possible.

Once a week push near maximum weights at around 80 percent of maximum lift.

Make sure you are taking enough calcium and vitamin D

Avoid drugs, to much alcohol, to much caffeine or fizzy drinks

And of course don’t smoke

The good news is that osteoporosis in women can be prevented by a combination of good nutrition and exercise. Weight bearing exercises help prevent bone loss and encourage bone growth. Remember this, always start slowly and consult your doctor or a certified fitness professional before taking part in any exercise to find out whats the best way to start.

An ideal programme should consist of bone loading and specific aerobic weight bearing exercises three to four days per week. You will need to take part in some walking, jogging, weight training, body weight exercises and aerobics depending on your capabilities. In fact any exercise that stimulates as many different bones as possible. Start to think about walking more often rather than driving and take stairs rather than lifts. Every little bit counts. If you like to walk long distances then use some hand weights or ankle weights. This is to increase the weight load placed on your bones. I have even told clients to take a small pair of plastic hand weights outside and power walk.

I don’t want big muscles!

If you are concerned about building too much muscle and getting to much muscle mass then don’t. It’s not that easy to build large muscles as a woman. Building big bulging muscles takes a lot more effort then just lifting weights. You need specific muscle building nutrition, a specific muscle building weight progressive designed programme and lots testosterone. Just think about firming, conditioning and strengthening and that’s what you will achieve. Don’t ruin the benefits of using weights with negative thoughts that will Improve the quality of your life in many ways.

Remember as the saying goes “only the strong survive in this world”. So get strong and you will find your energy will lift considerably, which will make your day much more positive, enjoyable and productive.

An important area that needs to be addressed is nutrition. Eat a high calcium, high fibre, and low in saturated fats diet. Did you know that two thirds of your bones are built up of by calcium?

Vitamin D helps to build calcium and one of the best sources of vitamin D is the sun, but beware of obvious skin damage. Milk and other dairy products offer the same benefits. Eat these foods that also help boost your calcium.

Nuts, seeds, beans, peas

Fish with bones

Lots of green vegetables

Quality Cod liver oil supplements.

By preventing osteoporosis and staying, strong, fit and healthy, start exercising with weights and follow a healthy diet. By taking care of your bones you will stay strong and healthy throughout your life and strong bones lead to a strong body which also means a healthy mind.

Kevin: We could talk for hours. I wanted you to talk a little bit more about “The Raw Gourmet” and your new book and what someone can find in there, because it’s a great book. It’s great for people who want to do parties, who want to do themes and all that sort of stuff. And I think it’s really missing in the palate of raw food cookbooks that are out there. This one is kind of needed. It kind of fits a pretty nice niche. So why don’t you talk about that a little bit.

Nomi: All right, thanks. Well, you know, I think that the “Raw Food Celebrations” is the first book out that is specifically for celebrating. And what we did, Sheryl and I broke it down, so that if you wanted to have a theme, it doesn’t have to you can pick a recipe from here or from there, it’s broken down into I forget how many themes, seven or eight — Italian, Thai…she did the Thai because she and her husband have been to Thailand many times and the food is incredible. She did stuff I never heard of, like [indecipherable] and stuff like that. And delicious coconut soup and stuff. Brunch, buffet, cocktail, if you just want to have a bunch of people over, and just sort of have hors dousers and drinks. You know, we have a few nice drinks in there. They don’t have alcohol in them, but you could put alcohol in them, if you wanted to.

And what we did is we did a timeline, so it’s like three weeks before the party dehydrate, cut up the red peppers and dehydrate them, because they’ll keep forever, and then you toss them in or throw them on top of the soup. Five days before, four days before, three days before, the day of. And we tried and succeeded in most of the categories to have the amount of work you do on the actual day of your event, if you choose to make, there’s probably seven to nine recipes in each grouping, and if you choose to do the whole thing like that, and have the event as we structured it, then we really made it so that you can plan a week ahead and on a Saturday or a Sunday have a nice event. Or you can just
pull out one recipe at a time.

And we worked very hard to make it. Like my lasagna recipe I showed a few of the sauces last, whatever day I did the food prep in Fort Bragg, I think it was Saturday, and I made three or four sauces in less than 45 minutes. And turned out they were all the sauces that go into the lasagna. But we start making them four days before. And then really what takes the time is assembling the lasagna, and you do that the day before. So it’s a fun book for that, and it’s a book for someone who is starting but they don’t want to have like an energy soup concept, or for someone who’s been making food for a while and would like to make a nice family meal or entertain their friends. It’s absolutely structured so that you don’t have to be raw to enjoy the food.

Kevin: That’s great.

Nomi: And then “The Raw Gourmet” is your basic, this is the best first book to get, or one of the first books, and if you really, literally read it from cover to cover, you will know everything you need to know to have a raw food kitchen. I don’t get into things like, you know, it’s a food book, I do not get into deep things like healing and cleansing and all that because it’s a food book. But it’s everything you need to know about a raw food kitchen. We’re actually going to reprint it, and someone asked a question about I used Braggs in the book. Well, I do use Braggs in that book because I didn’t know it was a bad product at the time I wrote the book. I would substitute Braggs now for Nama Shoyu, which is a supposedly raw soy sauce, or maybe a little sea salt, or something salty like that.

And I’m thinking well maybe those people at my publisher can change every Braggs in the book to Nama Shoyu, but that’s a big undertaking, so maybe that won’t happen.

Kevin: Yeah. And where can someone go to get that book?

Nomi: The best place to get the book, I mean, yeah, you can get them at places like Barnes and Noble, or health food stores and stuff like that, but the best place is to get them from my site, rawgourmet.com, and the reason for that is I give a free booklet with each book. With the purchase of “The Raw Gourmet” you get a soup booklet, which is thirteen to fifteen raw soup recipes, and with “Raw Food Celebrations” you get a book called Raw But Not Naked, and it’s a book of salad dressings.

Kevin: Wow, cool.

Nomi: And actually there’s no other way to get those booklets. And they are, each booklet is worth seven dollars. I did that purposely because you have to pay for shipping and so it’s a free gift, and it mitigates the cost of shipping plus. So, and then of course you’re supporting the author, so that’s always nice, too.

Kevin: That’s great. And that’s at Raw Food Gourmet dot com.

Nomi: Right.

Kevin: Where is that on the site, right on the front page?

Nomi: The first thing you’ll see is on the left, when you look at the products, there will be a picture of “The Raw Gourmet” and “Raw Food Celebrations.” There’s also lots of recipe at my site, Kevin, and there’s articles. I’ve been writing a newsletter for about ten years and I’m gradually posting them it the archives. So there’s probably eight or ten up there now. There’s a lot of information at my website. There’s also, when you sign up there’s a free newsletter. It’s one of the first things you’ll see. If you haven’t been to my site, sign up for my free newsletter. That comes out sometimes once a week, sometimes less. The one I sent out today was “how to deal with your doctor,” your medical doctor. How to get the responses you need from him, or her.

Kevin: Cool.

Nomi: Last week I put out a bunch of recipes called “Summertime Recipes.” Sometimes I put specials out, I always have really good specials. But when you sign up for my newsletter you also receive a free seven-part course which is called The Raw Truth. And that gets emailed to you every other day or so until seven have arrived and it stops. It’s just little snippets of information about fat and other things like that, and each one will have a recipe with it.

Kevin: Oh, each one has a recipe! Oh that’s great. So where you can find that is when you go to Nomi’s site rawgourmet.com , you can go there right now and on the left-hand side, as of this recording it’s an orange box and it says “newsletter.” You can get seven recipes seven days in a row that you can prepare for your family or for your friends or for yourself.

Nomi: And if you want to see the most recent picture of me and my little grandson Seth go to, I think it’s just “The Raw Gourmet.” Because I never, I’m just the most un- photogenic person, and the picture of me is like ten years old, so my daughter sent me a picture and it wasn’t too horrible so I posted it last month and it’s a picture of me and the baby, who is almost a year old now.

Kevin: That’s great. Well, I want to thank you for time, I really appreciate it. For those of you who are listening you can go to Raw Gourmet on the web, and I would recommend getting the seven recipes and Nomi’s newsletter and definitely checking out the book. Ann Marie loves it and she’s going to be preparing some of those recipes. So you’re going to be hearing a lot about it on the Renegade Health Show. So Nomi I want to thank you for your time.

Nomi: My pleasure.

Many professionals spend several years in college being trained for their specific area of expertise. Unfortunately, very little of their program includes how to start and grow and business. The tips for growing a successful business are very important and are a vital part of making the years of training is fruitful. Many dental professionals begin businesses that quickly flounder because they have not had the appropriate training in how to build a business and work with staff effectively. Dental coaching is one way that the gap between technical knowledge and business knowledge can be bridged easily.

The critical components found in a successful business include a solid foundation of staff that has been encouraged to develop a personal investment in the success of the business. In the dental profession, this is even more important because the staff are often the most visible brand that your company will be providing to potential customers. When the infrastructure of a business is solidly in place and provides a positive impetus for creativity and growth, there is less turnover and lower net loss in the business.

When a team environment exists in an office, there is a shared respect that recognizes the unique abilities and expertise of the individuals making up the team. When a professional has spent their formative years in an academic setting that requires them to bear the sole burden for success and failure, they are not afforded the opportunity to develop the skills to organize, coordinate, and grow a team successfully.

When a person recognizes that they are a micro-manager that feels the need to monitor staff, they will have a more success in an office setting if they do not hire individuals that are highly skilled and self-motivated. Individuals who are highly skilled will not function effectively in this type of environment and the business will degenerate quickly. The staff who will work best with a micro-manager will be those that will not provide the personal investment or creativity needed to grow the business, but will also not generate any feelings of discord for the micro-manager.

Many training programs are available for professionals who wish to grow a business effectively. When the methods and techniques needed to coach staff and create a thriving business are implemented a small team can often generate revenue that exceeds the efforts of larger businesses. Motivated and creative staff often ensures a steady momentum that speeds a business forward.

The self-paced programs do not require an individual to leave their office or clients during the day. Many of the programs offered on the Internet give all the information and guides that are needed to build a solid foundation of team effort and growth through effective coaching. As changes are implemented the professional will often find that they are happier and more effective when they focus on the practice that they have worked hard to develop.

Developing a management team will require that the professional allow the professionals hired to focus on the day-to-day tasks of the business and to generate the kind of creative ideas that will allow the business to take advantage of marketing opportunities and implement new strategies for growth.