cynthiamwashington

[cynthiamwashington]

Recipe Roundup: 7 Low-Carb Spring Salads

With warmer temps come lighter fare…and the spring produce to inspire it.

Whether you’re a Big-Ass Salad fan or more of a side salad connoisseur, we’ve got seven great tastes for you to enjoy this spring. Recreate them as pictured, or customize with your favorite ingredients, right down to DIY dressings.

Enjoy, everyone!

Strawberry Spinach and Basil Salad

We couldn’t think of a better salad to celebrate spring than this. Simple, fresh, and sweet, it’s a perfect accompaniment to an omelet breakfast or a grilled chicken dinner, but it’s also a satisfying light meal in its own right. With just 6 ingredients (including the dressing) and 10 minutes of prep time, you have a delicious salad (and nutrient powerhouse) on the table.

Wedge Salad With Blue Cheese Dressing

Salads can be as Big-Ass or as simple as mood and time dictate, but they always should be flavorful. We love this classic (and keto-friendly) recipe for a quick side or (topped with some bacon crumbles) a light lunch or dinner. The best part…it’s made with staple ingredients that are easy to keep on hand.

Bright, colorful, crisp and rich, it’s a great choice for a midweek family supper or even an impromptu dinner party.

Grilled Italian Chicken Salad

Are you (like us) rejoicing yet that it’s almost summer—a season of warm days and light meals? Throw together this beautiful salad with baby spinach leaves, avocado slices, cherry tomatoes, shredded carrots, grilled chicken and Dreamy Italian Dressing & Vinaigrette for a fragrant and delicious Mediterranean flavor.

Julienned Carrot and Kale Salad

Here’s proof that you don’t need a lot of ingredients for big nutrition, taste and presentation. Kale and carrot strips (use mixed color carrots for an even brighter look), your favorite crunchy seeds, along with a Honey Mustard Vinaigrette, and you’ve got the perfect accompaniment for pork, chicken and more.

Keto Chicken Citrus Salad

There’s something about spring and the fresh taste of citrus…. We love the blend of avocado and grapefruit in this hearty, simple salad. Just add leftover chicken and a healthy dose of Mark’s (current) favorite dressing, Lemon Turmeric.

Smoked Salmon and Caesar Salad

This upgraded classic can be plated at home like a regular salad, or cleverly brought to work in a glass jar. Layering the dressing and ingredients in a jar stores everything neatly (no salad dressing leaks!) and keeps the salad crisp and fresh. When it’s lunchtime, just shake the salad into a bowl. Sub grilled chicken for salmon if you prefer!

Thousand Island Kale and Radish Salad

As a light accompaniment to fish or poultry or a omelet, you can’t go wrong with spring greens and radishes—especially when topped with one of the most classic (and tangy) dressing tastes around.

What’s your favorite way to the lighter, fresher fare of spring? Or do you have a recipe you’d like us to whip up (or remake Primal or Primal-keto style)? Let us know down below, and thanks for stopping in today.

(function($) { $("#dfwm1Dn").load("https://www.marksdailyapple.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=dfads_ajax_load_ads&groups=675&limit=1&orderby=random&order=ASC&container_id=&container_html=none&container_class=&ad_html=div&ad_class=&callback_function=&return_javascript=0&_block_id=dfwm1Dn" ); })( jQuery );

window.onload=function(){ga('send', { hitType: 'event', eventCategory: 'Ad Impression', eventAction: '74506' });}

The post Recipe Roundup: 7 Low-Carb Spring Salads appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Article source here:Marks’s Daily Apple

[cynthiamwashington]

‘Why I wrote a feminist version of The Little Mermaid’

Thirty years after Disney’s The Little Mermaid film was first released, award winning novelist Louise O’Neill explains why she felt compelled to rewrite the classic fairy tale for the post  #metoo generation  

The post ‘Why I wrote a feminist version of The Little Mermaid’ appeared first on Healthista.

Article source here:Healthista

[cynthiamwashington]

8 ways walking can help depression and anxiety – the psyhotherapist’s guide

Psychotherapist Jonathan Hoban, author of Walk with Your Wolf, reveals the life-changing effects of a regular walking practice

The post 8 ways walking can help depression and anxiety – the psyhotherapist’s guide appeared first on Healthista.

Article source here:Healthista

[cynthiamwashington]

10 Natural Anxiety Remedies

Anxiety is normal. It’s something we all have experience with—to one degree or another. Most people are anxious about something that hangs over them and follows them around like a personal rain cloud. Then there’s the deeper but still familiar anxiety many of us carry. The anxiety about our self-worth. The anxiety of performance, of social situations. This type can grip us in an uncomfortable, but hopefully not chronic, way.

But not all anxiety is run-of-the-mill—or manageable. People with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, for instance, might have trouble leaving the house, ordering a coffee from Starbucks, going to work. Anxious thoughts cycling through their brains often keep them up at night. When untreated, people with this level of anxiety can end up living in a state of perpetual fear.

The conventional approach is to take anti-anxiety meds, which can be genuinely life-saving for some people. Nonetheless, these can come with downsides that vary depending on an individual’s dosage and reactions—and the nature of the particular medication itself. Some meds result in few side effects, but others’ effects can be heavy. For instance, there are the benzodiazepines, highly-addictive tranquilizers with the potential for abuse. They make driving unsafe. They lower productivity. They sedate you. When necessary for the severity of the condition, these side effects may be worth it.

In other cases, a person might have more space to experiment and want to explore a different route.

In some cases, people choose to try natural anxiety aids. These are supplements, nutrients, and herbs that have been designed across millennia by nature (and maybe some input from green-thumbed healers). They might not always be enough for something as serious as a clinical anxiety disorder (please talk to your doctor before making any adjustment or addition to your medication), but at least some may be important complements to a prescribed regimen.

For those who want or need an alternative strategy for anxiety beyond meditative practices and general good health, these natural remedies may be worth a try.

First, the NUTRIENTS….

These are basic vitamins, minerals, and amino acids that your body needs to work. They are non-negotiable. You don’t have to get them through supplements—in fact, that should be a last resort after food—and I wouldn’t expect “drug-level” effects, but you do need to get them.

1. Long Chained Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Some human evolution experts maintain that the human brain wouldn’t be the human brain without steady and early access to coastal food resources—fish and shellfish rich in long chain omega-3s. If the long-chained omega-3s found in fatty fish and other sea creatures made our brains what they are today, it’s safe to assume that our brains work better when we eat them today. And if we’re talking about anxiety, that appears to be the case:

Studies in substance abusers find that supplementing with enough fish oil (and, yes, here’s what I use regularly) to raise serum levels of the long chain omega-3 fatty acid EPA reduces anxiety, while increases in DHA (the other long chain omega-3) reduce anger. Rising EPA levels after supplementation predicted the reduction in anxiety.

In healthy young medical students, omega-3 supplementation (2 grams EPA, 350 mg DHA) lowered inflammation and anxiety. Follow-up analyses revealed that reducing the serum omega-6:omega-3 ratio also reduced anxiety scores.

And in early pregnancy, high DHA levels predict low anxiety scores.

2. Magnesium

Magnesium deficiency is a risk factor for anxiety. The evidence, considered by some to be low quality, nonetheless suggests that supplementing with magnesium can reduce subjective anxiety. The mechanistic evidence is stronger, as magnesium is one of those minerals that plays a role in hundreds of very basic and essential physiological processes—including the generation of ATP, the body’s energy currency. Without adequate energy production, nothing works well. One’s mental health is no exception.

Magnesium supplementation reduces subjective anxiety (the only kind that matters) in the “mildly anxious” and in women with premenstrual syndrome.

Magnesium L-threonate, a form particularly good at getting into the brain, is worth trying for more immediate, noticeable effects.

3. Zinc

Zinc deficiency is common in people with anxiety, including Chinese males and Americans. And although mainlining oyster smoothies probably won’t fix serious anxiety, a follow-up in the group of Americans with low zinc levels found that zinc supplementation did reduce anxiety levels.

4. Vitamin B6

Vitamin B6, or pyridoxine, helps regulate production of serotonin and GABA—two neurotransmitters that control depression and anxiety. In mice exposed to anxiety-producing situations, pyridoxine increases GABA, reduces glutamate, and reduces anxiety. In humans, correcting a magnesium deficiency with magnesium and vitamin B6 has a stronger effect on anxiety than magnesium alone. (Good to note: women on hormonal birth control may be depleted of vitamin B6 as well as other vitamins and minerals.)

The best sources of vitamin B6 are turkey, beef, liver, pistachios, and tuna.

Now, the NATURAL INTERVENTIONS….

These aren’t essential nutrients. Rather, they’re plant compounds with pharmacological effects and, in most cases, hundreds of years of traditional usage for dampening, inhibiting, or resolving anxiety.

5. Kanna

Kanna comes from a succulent plant native to South Africa. The story goes that an anthropologist noticed elderly San Bushmen nibbling on a particular type of succulent plant while displaying incredible cognitive ability and remaining calm, cool, and collected. The fact that they weren’t dealing with daily commutes, traffic jams, annoying bosses, and mounting bills probably had something to do with it, but it turns out that the succulent plant wasn’t hurting the cause.

Kanna has been shown to dampen the subcortical threat response, which is normally heightened in anxious states. It also increased well-being and resistance to stress in health adults who took it in a safety study.

6. Theanine

Theanine, an amino acid found in green tea and available as a supplement, isn’t going to obliterate your nerves before a big performance. One study showed that it (along with the benzodiazepine Xanax) reduced resting state anxiety but not experimentally-induced anxiety. Then again, neither did Xanax.

Theanine is instead a mild anxiolytic. If you get anxiety from caffeine, take 200 mg of theanine with your coffee. It will smooth out the experience, reduce/remove the anxiety, and leave the stimulation.

7. Kava

Kava is a plant native to the South Pacific. Traditionally, its roots were chewed fresh with the resultant liquid often spit into communal bowls for consumption, pounded to release the moisture, or sun-dried, ground, and steeped in water to make an intoxicating, relaxing mild sedative. Nowadays, the active kavalactones are also extracted and pressed into capsules.

I don’t use kava, but I have tried it a couple times in the past. For what it’s worth, I don’t have anxiety issues but it did seem to pair well with caffeine (similar to theanine).

8. Rhodiola Rosea

Rhodiola rosea is a longtime favorite adaptogen of mine. It hails from the barren wastes of Siberia, where for millennia people from all over the ancient world coveted it. There’s something about the harsh environment of the northern tundra that made rhodiola rosea incredibly resilient—and bestows upon those who consume it a similar type of mental resilience.

A 2015 study sought to determine the impact of rhodiola on self-reported anxiety, stress, cognition, and a host of other mental parameters. Eighty subjects were divided into either a twice-daily commercial formula (containing 200 mg rhodiola) group or a control group. Compared to the controls, the rhodiola group showed notable improvements in mood and significant reductions in anxiety, stress, anger, confusion and depression after 14 days.

Rhodiola rosea, along with theanine, features prominently in my anti-stress (and anti-anxiety) supplement Adaptogenic Calm. (If you’re interested, here’s a video of me talking about how I use it.)

9. Lavender

There’s a great lavender farm on the island of Maui. One of the favorite memories from that trip is strolling through the fields of lavender, brushing against the leaves and flowers, just basking in the relaxing scent that permeated the entire property. A very low-stress environment, to be sure.

One study gave lavender oil capsules to major depressive disorder patients suffering from anxiety who were already taking antidepressants. Not only did adding the lavender reduce anxiety, it also improved sleep.

Perhaps the most impressive study is this one, where generalized anxiety disorder patients either received lavender oil or a benzodiazepine anti-anxiety drug. Patients receiving the lavender had the same beneficial effects as the benzo patients without the sedation.

Lavender oil aromatherapy also seems to reduce anxiety, at least in cancer patients. One weakness of aromatherapy research is the difficulty of giving a “placebo smell.” Essential oil scents are quite distinct.

10. CBD Oil

As I wrote a couple weeks ago, CBD is the non-psychoactive cannabinoid found in cannabis.

Most recently, a large case series (big bunch of case studies done at once) was performed giving CBD to anxiety patients who had trouble sleeping. Almost 80% had improvements in anxiety and 66% had improvements in sleep (although the sleep improvements fluctuated over time).

In a five-year-old girl with PTSD (a category of patient that just shouldn’t exist) in whom pharmaceutical anxiety medications did not work, CBD oil provided lasting relief from anxiety.

Here’s how to find a good CBD oil.

What do you folks like for anxiety? What’s worked? What hasn’t? What did I miss?

Thanks for reading, everyone. Take care.

(function($) { $("#dfYD59z").load("https://www.marksdailyapple.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=dfads_ajax_load_ads&groups=956&limit=1&orderby=random&order=ASC&container_id=&container_html=none&container_class=&ad_html=div&ad_class=&callback_function=&return_javascript=0&_block_id=dfYD59z" ); })( jQuery );

window.onload=function(){ga('send', { hitType: 'event', eventCategory: 'Ad Impression', eventAction: '62377' });}

References:

Cunnane SC, Crawford MA. Energetic and nutritional constraints on infant brain development: implications for brain expansion during human evolution. J Hum Evol. 2014;77:88-98.

Boyle NB, Lawton CL, Dye L. The effects of magnesium supplementation on subjective anxiety. Magnes Res. 2016;29(3):120-125.

Mccarty MF. High-dose pyridoxine as an ‘anti-stress’ strategy. Med Hypotheses. 2000;54(5):803-7.

Walia V, Garg C, Garg M. Anxiolytic-like effect of pyridoxine in mice by elevated plus maze and light and dark box: Evidence for the involvement of GABAergic and NO-sGC-cGMP pathway. Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2018;173:96-106.

De souza MC, Walker AF, Robinson PA, Bolland K. A synergistic effect of a daily supplement for 1 month of 200 mg magnesium plus 50 mg vitamin B6 for the relief of anxiety-related premenstrual symptoms: a randomized, double-blind, crossover study. J Womens Health Gend Based Med. 2000;9(2):131-9.

Lu K, Gray MA, Oliver C, et al. The acute effects of L-theanine in comparison with alprazolam on anticipatory anxiety in humans. Hum Psychopharmacol. 2004;19(7):457-65.

Terburg D, Syal S, Rosenberger LA, et al. Acute effects of Sceletium tortuosum (Zembrin), a dual 5-HT reuptake and PDE4 inhibitor, in the human amygdala and its connection to the hypothalamus. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2013;38(13):2708-16.

Nell H, Siebert M, Chellan P, Gericke N. A randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, placebo-controlled trial of Extract Sceletium tortuosum (Zembrin) in healthy adults. J Altern Complement Med. 2013;19(11):898-904.

Fißler M, Quante A. A case series on the use of lavendula oil capsules in patients suffering from major depressive disorder and symptoms of psychomotor agitation, insomnia and anxiety. Complement Ther Med. 2014;22(1):63-9.

Woelk H, Schläfke S. A multi-center, double-blind, randomised study of the Lavender oil preparation Silexan in comparison to Lorazepam for generalized anxiety disorder. Phytomedicine. 2010;17(2):94-9.

Shannon S, Opila-lehman J. Effectiveness of Cannabidiol Oil for Pediatric Anxiety and Insomnia as Part of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Case Report. Perm J. 2016;20(4):16-005.

The post 10 Natural Anxiety Remedies appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Article source here:Marks’s Daily Apple

[cynthiamwashington]

Does Red Meat Give You Colon Cancer?

Have you heard? There’s a new “red meat will kill you” study. This time, it’s colorectal cancer.

Here’s the press release.

Here’s the full study.

I covered this a couple Sundays ago in “Sunday with Sisson.” If you haven’t signed up for that, I’d recommend it. SWS is where I delve into my habits, practices, and observations, health-related and health-unrelated—stuff you won’t find on the blog. Anyway, I thought I’d expand on my response to that study here today.

How the Study Was Conducted

It’s the basic story you see with most of these observational studies. Around 175,000 or so people were asked to recall what they ate on a regular basis—a food frequency questionnaire. This is the exact questionnaire, in fact. The research team took the answers, measured some baseline characteristics of all the subjects—socioeconomic status, exercise levels, whether they smoked, education level, occupation, family history of colorectal cancer, and a few others—and then followed up with participants an average of 5.7 years later to see how many had developed colorectal cancer.

What the Study “Showed”

Those who had moderate amounts of red meat had a 20% higher chance of getting cancer.

And in the end, the increased risk was a relative risk. It wasn’t a 20% absolute increase in risk. It was a relative increase in risk. The subjects started with a 0.5% risk of getting bowel cancer. In those who ate the most processed meat and red meat, that risk increased 20%—to 0.6%!

From 0.5 to 0.6%. Sure, that’s an increase, but is it something to overhaul your entire diet for? To give up the best sources of zinc, iron, B vitamins, protein, carnosine, creatine? All that for a measly 0.1% that hasn’t even been established as causal?

Study Findings Most News Outlets Won’t Include

One head scratcher that leaps out: the link between unprocessed red meat and colon cancer was not actually statistically significant. Only processed meat was significantly linked to colon cancer.

Another head scratcher: red meat, whether processed or unprocessed, had no significant association with colorectal cancer in women. Why didn’t they highlight the fact that in women, eating red meat was completely unrelated? That’s half the world’s population. That’s you or your mom, your daughter, your grandmother, your girlfriend. And unless they were to look at the full study and read the fine print, they’d never know that red meat actually had the opposite relationship. You’d think the authors would want to mention that in the abstract or see that the press releases and media treatments highlighted that fact.

It’s probably because mentioning that red meat was neutral in women and had no statistically significant link to colon cancer in men and women would have destroyed their case for red meat as an independent carcinogen. See, carcinogens are supposed to be carcinogens. There are many meaningful differences between men and women, but a poison is a poison.

What’s the proposed mechanism for red meat triggering colon cancer in men but not in women? If they didn’t have one (and I imagine they wouldn’t have mentioned it if they did), then there’s probably something else going on.

Besides, the literature is far from unequivocal.

What Other Research Says About Red Meat and Bowel Cancer

In analyses that include consideration of cooking methods and other mitigating factors, red meat has no relationship with colon cancer.

Or what about this study, where colon cancer patients were more likely to eat red meat, but less likely to have type 2 diabetes? Should people avoid red meat and work toward getting diagnosed with type 2 diabetes?

Or how about this study, which found no difference in colorectal cancer rates between people who ate red meat-free diets and people who ate diets containing red meat? Shouldn’t the diet without any red meat at all have some effect?

Or this classic study, where rats on a bacon-based diet had the lowest rates of colon cancer. In fact, bacon protected them from colon cancer after they were dosed with a colon cancer promoter, while rats on normal “healthy” chow were not.

The Blind Spot In Red Meat Research

I don’t need to go into all the confounding factors that might predispose conventional red meat lovers to bowel cancer. Nor will I mention that it’s impossible to fully control for variables like the buns and bread and fries you eat the red meat with and the industrial seed oils it’s cooked in.

That last bit is crucial: the seed oils. It’s what nearly every cancer researcher misses. It’s not just a minor variable; it’s quite possibly the most important determinant of whether meat is carcinogenic in the colon or not. Heme iron—the compound unique to red meat that usually gets the blame for any increase in cancer—is most carcinogenic in the presence of the omega-6 fatty acid linoleic acid.

In one study, feeding heme iron to rats promoted colon cancer only when fed alongside high-linoleic acid safflower oil. Feeding MUFA-rich and far more oxidatively-stable olive oil alongside the heme prevented the colon carcinogenesis.

Another study had similar results, finding that meats containing medium to high amounts of heme—beef and beef blood sausage—promoted carcinogenic conditions in the colon when the fat sources were linoleic acid-rich corn and soybean oil.

And most recently is this paper. Mice were split into three groups. One group got heme iron plus omega-6 PUFA (from safflower oil). One group got heme iron plus omega-3 PUFA (from fish oil). The third group got heme iron plus saturated fat (from fully hydrogenated coconut oil, which contains zero PUFA). To determine the carcinogenicity of each feeding regimen, the researchers analyzed the effect the animals’ fecal water (which is exactly what it sounds like) had on colon cells. The fecal water of both PUFA groups was full of carcinogenic indicators and lipid oxidation byproducts, and exposing colonic epithelial cells to fecal water from PUFA-fed mice was toxic. The coconut oil-derived fecal water had no markers of toxicity or lipid oxidation.

I never see these (animal) studies cited in observational studies of meat and colon cancer. I think that’s a huge blindspot, and it’s one of the reasons I rarely put any stock in these scary-sounding studies.

That’s it for today, folks. Thanks for reading. Now go enjoy a steak.

(function($) { $("#dfGNJIv").load("https://www.marksdailyapple.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=dfads_ajax_load_ads&groups=674&limit=1&orderby=random&order=ASC&container_id=&container_html=none&container_class=&ad_html=div&ad_class=&callback_function=&return_javascript=0&_block_id=dfGNJIv" ); })( jQuery );

window.onload=function(){ga('send', { hitType: 'event', eventCategory: 'Ad Impression', eventAction: '84166' });}

References:

Bylsma LC, Alexander DD. A review and meta-analysis of prospective studies of red and processed meat, meat cooking methods, heme iron, heterocyclic amines and prostate cancer. Nutr J. 2015;14:125.

Alsheridah N, Akhtar S. Diet, obesity and colorectal carcinoma risk: results from a national cancer registry-based middle-eastern study. BMC Cancer. 2018;18(1):1227.

Rada-fernandez de jauregui D, Evans CEL, Jones P, Greenwood DC, Hancock N, Cade JE. Common dietary patterns and risk of cancers of the colon and rectum: Analysis from the United Kingdom Women’s Cohort Study (UKWCS). Int J Cancer. 2018;143(4):773-781.

The post Does Red Meat Give You Colon Cancer? appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Article source here:Marks’s Daily Apple

[cynthiamwashington]

This woman has had cystitis for 13 years – here’s what helps

Cystitis is bad enough but what if the pain never goes away?

The post This woman has had cystitis for 13 years – here’s what helps appeared first on Healthista.

Article source here:Healthista

[cynthiamwashington]

What to do about fibroids – the gynaecologist’s guide

Fibroids are not only common, affecting a staggering 77 per cent of women, they're also treatable. NHS gynaecologist Dr Fevzi Shakir reveals common fibroid symptoms and what can be done 

The post What to do about fibroids – the gynaecologist’s guide appeared first on Healthista.

Article source here:Healthista

[cynthiamwashington]

Fasting Gave Me a Better Approach To Maintain My Weight Without Restrictions

It’s Monday, everyone! And that means another Primal Blueprint Real Life Story from a Mark’s Daily Apple reader. If you have your own success story and would like to share it with me and the Mark’s Daily Apple community please contact me here. I’ll continue to publish these each Monday as long as they keep coming in. Thank you for reading!

My name is Garland Niblett and I am a nutritional consultant and co-owner of Fit & Faithful Wellness. This is my story.

In 2011 I was admitted to the Veterans Affairs hospital and diagnosed with PTSD. From there, I basically gave up on myself, both mentally and physically. I was once a 195 lbs., 3% body fat natural bodybuilder; and then, while I was in the VA hospital, I became a 301 lbs. “unrecognizable” individual. I had become overweight and was even classified as morbidly obese.

Benztropine, diazepam, cholecalciferol, Etodolac, methocarbamol, mirtazapine, amlodipine, aripiprazole, prazosin, quetiapine, and simvastatin. These were all prescribed to me while I was in the hospital. I had plenty of psychiatrists and psychologists but ultimately, I connected with a holistic therapist who helped me accept what happened to me in my past and how to manage my PTSD. Since 2016, I have managed to use only quetiapine for sleep.

By accepting my PTSD, I was able to move forward with my life. My therapist taught me how to be mindful about what was around me, emotionally, mentally and of course, nutritionally. I was more conscious of what I was putting in my body. In 246 days, I was able to lose 105 lbs. I felt great, but I fluctuated with my weight and wanted to find a better approach to maintaining my weight without restrictions. I was used to consuming over 5,000 calories, spread out during the day, eating most of my calories in the morning. During this time, I wasn’t overweight, but I still had chronic pain throughout my body. My stomach was constantly upset, bloated and felt sore from my workouts and daily movement.

Looking into the research on Intermittent Fasting, I became fascinated and wondered if this would work for me. And so, the journey of fasting began.

I started with the basic 16/8, giving up my 2,000-caloric breakfast. I struggled and was a bit hungry and moody but was persistent and did not give into my cravings. Soon thereafter, I was doing 18/6, 20/4 and now, 24-48 hours fasting. I noticed a momentous change with my body composition but most importantly, I felt great. I had more energy, an incredible amount of endurance and basically no soreness or inflammation. I had become Fat Adapted. No hunger cravings, stable mood and plenty of energy. My average blood sugar levels are 64 ml/dl, with mental clarity, balanced hormones, low inflammatory levels and a healthy stress response. My current weight is 195 lbs. and I have maintained this weight for the past two years.

Intermittent Fasting has been part of life now for over two years. Before intermittent fasting, my weight fluctuated from 220-240 lbs. I would have never thought it would be possible for me to run 8-10 miles in the morning and not desire food until later in the evening. No muscle loss but plenty of body fat reduction. I truly believe that fasting may be an alternative for individuals that are seeking healthier lifestyle options, weight loss, better mood and mental awareness.

I recommend intermittent fasting to my clients that struggle with weight loss, type 2 diabetes, and if they have chronic inflammation. I also recommend to my clients that they read The Primal Blueprint and The Keto Reset Diet, which talk about fasting and being mindful of the nutrients you choose to put in your body.

Intermittent fasting is amazing and since the beginning of this year I no longer have to rely on Quetiapine to help me sleep. I am now 100% medication free, thanks to intermittent fasting.

The readers featured in our success stories share their experiences in their own words. The Primal Blueprint and Keto Reset diets are not intended as medical intervention or diagnosis. Nor are they replacements for working with a qualified healthcare practitioner. It’s important to speak with your doctor before beginning any new dietary or lifestyle program, and please consult your physician before making any changes to medication or treatment protocols. Each individual’s results may vary.

(function($) { $("#dfLWSNl").load("https://www.marksdailyapple.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=dfads_ajax_load_ads&groups=674&limit=1&orderby=random&order=ASC&container_id=&container_html=none&container_class=&ad_html=div&ad_class=&callback_function=&return_javascript=0&_block_id=dfLWSNl" ); })( jQuery );

window.onload=function(){ga('send', { hitType: 'event', eventCategory: 'Ad Impression', eventAction: '66337' });}

The post Fasting Gave Me a Better Approach To Maintain My Weight Without Restrictions appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Article source here:Marks’s Daily Apple

[cynthiamwashington]

Calling all health entrepreneurs – WIN a 3-day incubation programme in Paris for your team

Have you got an early stage wellness start-up or business idea? Healthista is giving you the chance to win an expenses-paid three day incubation programme in Paris for two of your team

The post Calling all health entrepreneurs – WIN a 3-day incubation programme in Paris for your team appeared first on Healthista.

Article source here:Healthista

[cynthiamwashington]

Meet a TV Dragon and grow your business

If you’ve always wanted to make money from your healthy passion, Healthista’s upcoming Health To Wealth event is your chance to grow your business and network with key business leaders   

The post Meet a TV Dragon and grow your business appeared first on Healthista.

Article source here:Healthista

[cynthiamwashington]

Body transformation week one – operation FAT LOSS

Healthista's Olivia Hartland-Robbins is kicking off a 12-week body transformation. The mission? Lose body fat and keep it off.

The post Body transformation week one – operation FAT LOSS appeared first on Healthista.

Article source here:Healthista

[cynthiamwashington]

Keto Pulled BBQ Ranch Chicken Sliders

“Pulled” BBQ is a classic for potlucks, parties, game day spreads and casual family dinners. No wonder—it’s easy to make ahead (in big batches no less) and even does well for leftovers.

Still, the sauce and buns traditionally haven’t been low-carb friendly…until now.

Today we’ve got another comfort food re-do. Healthy Primal and even keto complementary, this recipe puts another favorite back on the menu.

Servings: 8

Time in the Kitchen: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

Keto Buns:

¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter, softened + additional for greasing ramekins

¼ cup Primal Kitchen® Avocado Oil

1 tsp. honey

1.5 cup + 2 Tbsp. (70g) almond flour

10 Tbsp. (65g) ground flaxseed

½ Tbsp. baking powder

¾ tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. baking soda

6 eggs

2 Tbsp. full-fat coconut milk

BBQ Ranch Chicken:

1 cup Primal Kitchen BBQ Ranch

2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breast

2 tsp. onion powder

1/2 Tbsp. paprika

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil

1.5 cup water or broth

¼ cup thinly sliced scallions

Toppings (optional):

4 cups baby arugula

½ cup thinly sliced tomatoes

2 small avocados, sliced (about 1.5 cups, 400g)

Dressing of choice, if desired (We love Primal Kitchen Ranch Dressing with this recipe.)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 325 ºFahrenheit and grease 8 small ramekins (about 2.5” in diameter) well with butter. If you don’t have dedicated ramekins, you can also use small circular pyrex containers (they are approximately one cup in size).

Whisk the butter, Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil and honey together in a mixing bowl. Add the almond flour, ground flaxseed, baking powder, baking soda and salt together to the bowl and mix until combined. Whisk the eggs and coconut milk in a separate bowl and fold them into the mixing bowl until everything is well combined. Allow the mixture to rest for a minute or so and then give the batter another mix.

Pour equal amounts of batter into each of the ramekins. Bake the buns in a 325 ºF oven for 18-20 minutes. The tops of the buns should be golden and fairly firm. Allow them to fully cool before running a knife around the inside of the ramekin. Gently twist the buns to help loosen them from the ramekins. Slice the buns in half lengthwise and set aside.

To prepare the chicken, flatten the chicken breasts by placing them between two pieces of parchment paper and pounding with a mallet until they are uniform in width (around ½” thick). Flattening the chicken breasts prior to cooking ensures that they are all the same thickness and therefore will cook evenly and in a similar time frame. The overall amount of time it takes for the chicken to cook will depend upon the size and thickness of the chicken breasts.

Combine the onion powder, paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, and salt in a bowl. Rub the mixture all over the chicken and place the chicken in the fridge to marinate for an hour.

Remove the chicken from the refrigerator. Heat the Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil in a pot or deep pan over medium heat. Once hot, add the chicken breasts to the pan, keeping them in a single layer so they aren’t overlapping. Sear the chicken for 2 minutes on each side.

Add the water or broth to the pot and bring the liquid to a boil. Reduce the heat so the liquid is simmering and cover with the lid. Allow the chicken to simmer for 5 minutes, then flip the chicken breasts over and cover again. Continue cooking until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 ºF (about 15-20 minutes total, depending on the size of the chicken breasts).

Remove the chicken breasts from the pot and shred them using two forks (or your hands, if you allow the chicken to cool a little first). Place the shredded chicken back into the pot and stir in the Primal Kitchen BBQ Ranch and half of the sliced scallions. Cover the pot and heat the chicken over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes. Uncover the pot and give the chicken a stir. If it looks too dry, you can add a little more dressing or water/broth. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the remaining scallions. Allow the chicken to cool for a few minutes, stirring once or twice to help the chicken absorb any remaining sauce.

Create your sliders by scooping a portion of the pulled chicken on one half of the bun. Stack a slice or two of tomato on top followed by a couple of slices of avocado. Serve alongside an arugula salad for a full meal.

If you’d prefer to keep this dish even lower in carbohydrates, you can forego the tomatoes and/or avocados in the garnish and salad. A bit of chopped radish and/or a thin slice of red onion would work well instead.

Nutritional Information (per Bun):

Calories: 215

Net Carbs: 2 grams

Fat: 21 grams

Protein: 4 grams

Nutritional Information (per serving of BBQ Ranch Chicken):

Calories: 244

Net Carbs: 2 grams

Fat: 14 grams

Protein: 27 grams

Nutritional Information (per serving)—1 Keto Bun, 1/8 portion of BBQ Ranch Chicken with Fixings and Salad

Calories: 610

Net Carbs: 7 grams

Fat: 47 grams

Protein: 37 grams

(function($) { $("#dflo27g").load("https://www.marksdailyapple.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=dfads_ajax_load_ads&groups=675&limit=1&orderby=random&order=ASC&container_id=&container_html=none&container_class=&ad_html=div&ad_class=&callback_function=&return_javascript=0&_block_id=dflo27g" ); })( jQuery );

window.onload=function(){ga('send', { hitType: 'event', eventCategory: 'Ad Impression', eventAction: '84451' });}

The post Keto Pulled BBQ Ranch Chicken Sliders appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Article source here:Marks’s Daily Apple

[cynthiamwashington]

Weekly Link Love — Edition 26

Research of the Week

Scientists generate speech from brain recordings.

In the U.S., sedentary behavior has remained stable or gotten more prevalent.

Visualizing coffee might be enough (not buying this one).

Pigs who eat chicken generate more lipid oxidation products than pigs who eat beef.

When we sleep, our brain distinguishes between important and unimportant sounds.

Thinking of your future self as similar to your present self produces better outcomes.

20 minutes of nature is enough.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 330: Gary E. Foresman, MD: Host Elle Russ chats with Dr. Foresman about heart disease, statins, and more.

Episode 331: Brad Kearns and Brian McAndrew Talk Carnivore and Balance: Host Brad Kearns chats with Primal video whiz Brian McAndrew about carnivory and balancing being strict with being happy.

Health Coach Radio Episode 9: Lauren Schwab: Lauren has mastered the art of the wellness retreat, not an easy task.

Each week, select Mark’s Daily Apple blog posts are prepared as Primal Blueprint Podcasts. Need to catch up on reading, but don’t have the time? Prefer to listen to articles while on the go? Check out the new blog post podcasts below, and subscribe to the Primal Blueprint Podcast here so you never miss an episode.

Media, Schmedia

First they came for the hot dogs and bologna, and I was silent….

Salt limits get even lower.

Interesting Blog Posts

How a knee bone that almost disappeared is coming back.

A novel tactic for getting teens to spurn junk food.

Lowering cholesterol with psyllium at every meal: one experience.

Hilarious.

Social Notes

If you’ve had success with the Primal Blueprint, Keto Reset, or any of the advice offered on this site, send in your success story. All submissions will receive a discount code for use on Primal Blueprint or Primal Kitchen.

Got named one of Healthline’s “Best Men’s Health Blogs.”

I hope this guy follows me.

Everything Else

If you’re not eating whole rattlesnakes, you can’t call yourself paleo.

Human composting up for a vote in Washington state.

A man’s beer-only fast for Lent ends up working out.

“The sudden passionate happiness which the natural world can occasionally trigger in us,” Michael McCarthy writes, “may well be the most serious business of all.”

“So I had a piece of salmon and my brain felt like a computer rebooting.”

Things I’m Up to and Interested In

This is awkward: Using CRISPR to edit DNA also causes off-target RNA alterations.

Article I found interesting: Neuronal life after death.

Video I enjoyed: 3 pro soccer players vs 100 kids.

I’m not surprised: Wildlife-friendly agriculture increases yield.

Why everyone needs to lift: Having muscle protects against progression from healthy to metabolically unhealthy.

Question I’m Asking

What’s the best book you’ve read in the past year?

Another Question I’m Curious About

What would you do with a bunch of extra arugula?

Recipe Corner

Good old chicken satay.

Air fryer sweet plantains, way better than the oil-logged stuff I see around here.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Apr 21– Apr 27)

My 14 Favorite Keto-Friendly Snacks – What I’m munching on.

Does Coffee Break an Intermittent Fast? – Well, does it?

Comment of the Week

“I don’t think we should be drinking teas grown in ‘Shady Conditions’… all kidding aside, magnesium works well for me until about after 5pm, and then it wires me up and I can’t sleep.”

– You haven’t had tea grown in places with gunshots going off, discarded syringes littering the ground, and human fecal matter smeared everywhere? It’s the best, nocona!

(function($) { $("#dfaujO8").load("https://www.marksdailyapple.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=dfads_ajax_load_ads&groups=674&limit=1&orderby=random&order=ASC&container_id=&container_html=none&container_class=&ad_html=div&ad_class=&callback_function=&return_javascript=0&_block_id=dfaujO8" ); })( jQuery );

window.onload=function(){ga('send', { hitType: 'event', eventCategory: 'Ad Impression', eventAction: '74506' });}

The post Weekly Link Love — Edition 26 appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Article source here:Marks’s Daily Apple

[cynthiamwashington]

30 Gut Health Tips in 30 Days

Symptoms of IBS and can get worse if your gut health isn't in tip top shape. For IBS Awareness month Healthista will be bringing you 30 gut health tips for the next 30 days

The post 30 Gut Health Tips in 30 Days appeared first on Healthista.

Article source here:Healthista

[cynthiamwashington]

Dry Fasting: Is It Worth It?

Today’s post is about dry fasting. I’ve covered plenty of other aspects of intermittent fasting, including recommendations around longer fasts, but lately I’ve gotten enough questions about this particular angle that I thought I’d address it.

Dry fasting is going without both food and fluid. That means no coffee, no tea, no broth, and no water or liquid of any kind (except the saliva you manage to produce). It’s an extreme type of fast whose fans and practitioners are adamant that it can resolve serious health issues. But does it? Is it safe? And what kind of research is available on it?

Where Does the Idea of Therapeutic Dry Fasting Come From?

The main proponent of dry fasting is a Russian doctor named Sergei Filonov. Filonov is still practicing from what I can tell, somewhere in the Altai mountains that span Central Asia. I found a very rough English translation of his book—Dry Medical Fasting: Myths and Realities. Difficult to read in full because it’s not a professional translation, but manageable in small chunks.

His basic thesis is that dry fasting creates a competitive environment between healthy cells, unhealthy cells, and pathogens for a scarce resource: water. The dry fast acts as a powerful selective pressure, allowing the strong cells to survive and the weak and dangerous cells to die off. The end result, according to Filonov, is that the immune system burns through the weak cells for energy and to conserve water for the viable cells, leading to a stronger organism overall. He points to how animals in nature will hole up in a safe, comfortable spot and take neither food nor water when recovering from serious conditions, illness, or injuries that prevent them from moving around. But when they’re able to move while recovering from more minor issues, they’ll drink water and abstain from food. I’m partial to this naturalistic line of thought, but I don’t know if the claims about animal behavior during sickness are true.

Another claim is that dry fasting speeds up fat loss relative to fasts that include water. There may be something to this, as body fat is actually a source of “metabolic water”—internal water the body can turn to when exogenous water is limited. Burning 100 grams of fat produces 110 grams of water, whereas burning the same amount of carbohydrate produces just 50 grams of water.

Are There Any Dry Fasting Studies?

Unfortunately, we don’t have many long term dry fasting studies. In fact, we have one 5-day study in healthy adults. For five days, ten healthy adults refrained from eating food or drinking water. Multiple physiological parameters were tracked daily, including bodyweight, kidney function, heart rate, electrolyte status, and circumference of the waist, hip, neck, and chest.

Participants lost weight (over 2 pounds a day) and inches off of various circumferences, including waist, hip, neck, and chest. The drop in waist circumference was particularly large—about eight centimeters by day five. Blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen saturation, sodium and potassium levels, creatinine, and urea all remained stable throughout the study. Creatinine clearance—which can be a marker of muscle breakdown but also a normal artifact of fasting—increased by up to 167%.

The most voluminous research we have on dry fasting is the Ramadan literature. During the month of Ramadan, practicing Muslims complete a daily dry fast—from sunup to sundown—every single day. They eat no food and drink no fluids during daylight hours, which, in the countries where Islam originally arose, run about 15-16 hours. These are shorter dry fasts than the 5-day fast detailed above.

What happens to health markers during Ramadan? Mostly good things.

Almost everyone loses body fat. Few lose muscle. There’s no sign of overt dehydration.

In fatty liver patients, Ramadan fasting lowers blood glucose, insulin levels, inflammatory markers.

In obese and overweight subjects, Ramadan fasting lowers inflammatory markers, body weight, and insulin resistance.

In obese adults, Ramadan fasting improves the lipid profile.

Athletic performance is compromised during Ramadan (like impaired maximal force production of the muscles), though not as much as you’d expect.

A 15- or 16- hour dry fast isn’t very extreme, even in the hot climates of the Near East. Two or three day-long dry fasts, particularly in hot weather, is another thing entirely. What works and is safe across 16 hours might not be safe or effective over three or four days.

I wonder if there’s a genetic component to dry fasting tolerance, too. Have populations who’ve spent thousands of years in hot, dry, desert-like climates developed greater genetic tolerance of periods without water? I find it likely, though I haven’t seen any genetic data one way or the other. It’s an interesting thing to ponder.

Is Dry Fasting Safe?

Obviously, skipping water can be dangerous. While we’ve seen people go without food for as long as a year (provided you have enough adipose tissue to burn, take vitamins and minerals, and are under medical supervision), going without water is a riskier proposal. The number I’ve always heard was three weeks without food, three days without water, though I’ve never really seen it substantiated or sourced.

One reason I’m skeptical of “three days” as a hard and fast rule is that most cases of people dying of dehydration occur in dire circumstances. People are lost out in the wilderness, hiking around in vain trying to find their way back to the trailhead. They’re thrown in jail after a night out drinking and forgotten by the guards for three days. They’re spending 24 hours dancing in a tent in the desert on multiple psychoactive drugs. These are extreme situations that really increase the need for water. Your water requirements will be much higher if you’re hiking around in hot weather bathing in stress-induced cortisol and adrenaline, or dancing hard for hours on end. Very rarely do we hear of people setting out to abstain from water on purpose for medical benefits, water on hand in case things go south, and ending up dehydrated. Part of the reason is that very few people are dry fasting, so the pool of potential evidence is miniscule. I imagine this last group will have more leeway.

Still, if you’re going to try dry fasting, you have to take some basic precautions.

6 Precautions To Take When Dry Fasting

1. Get Your Doctor’s Okay

Sure, most will be skeptical at best, but I’d still advise not skipping this step—particularly if you have a health condition or take any kind of medication. Diuretics (often used for blood pressure management), for one example, add another layer to this picture.

2. No Exercise

Avoid anything more intense than walking. For one, the hypohydration will predispose you to middling results, increasing cortisol and reducing testosterone. Two, the hypohydration may progress rapidly to dehydration. If you’re going to exercise during a dry fast, “break” the fast with water first and then train.

3. Keep It Brief

Yes, there was the 5-day study, but those people were being monitored by doctors every single day. I’d say 16-24 hours is a safe upper limit and probably provides most of the benefits (as Ramadan literature shows). Any longer, buyer beware. (And, of course, make sure you get fully hydrated in between any dry fasts you might do.)

4. Fast While You Sleep

Ramadan-style probably isn’t ideal from a pure physiological standpoint. The length (16 hours) is great, but the eating schedule is not. Those who observe Ramadan fasting ritual often wake up before sunrise to fit in food. They may stay up late to eat more. They go to sleep in a well-fed state, never quite taking advantage of the 8 hours of “free” fasting time sleep usually provides (and, of course, that’s not what their fasting practice is about). For a health-motivated dry fast, on the other hand, you should take advantage of it.

5. Take Weather Into Account

Hot, humid weather will generally cause the most water loss. Cold, dry weather will cause the least. Adjust your dry fasting duration accordingly.

6. Listen To Your Body

I’ve said this a million times, but it’s especially worth saying here. If you’re not feeling well during the dry fast, listen to your instinct rather than your agenda. (And don’t begin a dry fast when you’re ill. That should go without saying.) This is an optional tool. There are hundreds of other ways to serve your health and well-being. Don’t lose the forest through the trees because you’re drawn to a practice that feels more radical. Approach it smartly, but let your body’s intuition be the final arbiter.

That’s it for me. I haven’t done any dry fasting, not on purpose at least, and I’m not particularly interested in it for myself, but I am interested in your experiences. Do any of you do dry fasting? What have you noticed? What do you recommend?

As always, if you have any questions, direct them down below. Thanks for reading!

(function($) { $("#dfNazfL").load("https://www.marksdailyapple.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=dfads_ajax_load_ads&groups=674&limit=1&orderby=random&order=ASC&container_id=&container_html=none&container_class=&ad_html=div&ad_class=&callback_function=&return_javascript=0&_block_id=dfNazfL" ); })( jQuery );

window.onload=function(){ga('send', { hitType: 'event', eventCategory: 'Ad Impression', eventAction: '72277' });}

References:

Mascioli SR, Bantle JP, Freier EF, Hoogwerf BJ. Artifactual elevation of serum creatinine level due to fasting. Arch Intern Med. 1984;144(8):1575-6.

Fernando HA, Zibellini J, Harris RA, Seimon RV, Sainsbury A. Effect of Ramadan Fasting on Weight and Body Composition in Healthy Non-Athlete Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Nutrients. 2019;11(2)

Fahrial syam A, Suryani sobur C, Abdullah M, Makmun D. Ramadan Fasting Decreases Body Fat but Not Protein Mass. Int J Endocrinol Metab. 2016;14(1):e29687.

Aliasghari F, Izadi A, Gargari BP, Ebrahimi S. The Effects of Ramadan Fasting on Body Composition, Blood Pressure, Glucose Metabolism, and Markers of Inflammation in NAFLD Patients: An Observational Trial. J Am Coll Nutr. 2017;36(8):640-645.

Unalacak M, Kara IH, Baltaci D, Erdem O, Bucaktepe PG. Effects of Ramadan fasting on biochemical and hematological parameters and cytokines in healthy and obese individuals. Metab Syndr Relat Disord. 2011;9(2):157-61.

Saleh SA, El-kemery TA, Farrag KA, et al. Ramadan fasting: relation to atherogenic risk among obese Muslims. J Egypt Public Health Assoc. 2004;79(5-6):461-83.

Gueldich H, Zghal F, Borji R, Chtourou H, Sahli S, Rebai H. The effects of Ramadan intermittent fasting on the underlying mechanisms of force production capacity during maximal isometric voluntary contraction. Chronobiol Int. 2019;36(5):698-708.

Shephard RJ. Ramadan and sport: minimizing effects upon the observant athlete. Sports Med. 2013;43(12):1217-41.

The post Dry Fasting: Is It Worth It? appeared first on Mark's Daily Apple.

Article source here:Marks’s Daily Apple

[cynthiamwashington]

How to increase fertility – the doctor’s guide

In this week's Ask The Gynaecologist weekly series, consultant gynaecologist Dr Larisa Corda brings you 12 ways to increase fertility 

The post How to increase fertility – the doctor’s guide appeared first on Healthista.

Article source here:Healthista

[cynthiamwashington]

9 steps to creating a retreat at home

Time to unwind. Lucy Hill, Founder of Chaya Yoga Retreats and wellbeing expert, explains how to bring the retreat home 

The post 9 steps to creating a retreat at home appeared first on Healthista.

Article source here:Healthista