For the most part, dietary fiber is pretty bland stuff. It’s indigestible, not very reactive and, when dissolved in water, it's known and prized for its ability to thicken gels without interfering with the chemistry of foods, medication or skin care products.
An exception to its ordinarily inert nature is my all-time favorite source of fiber, a fascinating biochemical called Beta Glucan (BG). Beta Glucan is produced in copious amounts by all plants, bacteria, yeast and fungi. Unlike other forms of fiber, Beta Glucan (a type of cellulose and one of the most common substances in the natural world) reacts quite readily with biological cells. In particular, Beta Glucan reacts with the “macrophages”, one of the most prominent players of the human immune system. In fact, Beta Glucan is, according to Dr. Arcie Mizelle, possibly “the most ubiquitous macrophage activator in nature”.
Technically speaking, Beta Glucan is a long chain of glucose molecules. Pieces of glucose molecules (also known as blood sugar) can transform from a source of quick energy, to an incredibly beneficial health tool, when they’re linked up into a long chain called a “glucan”. (They can also be a source of trouble when the body loses its ability to handle glucose molecules.) Once the little nuggets of glucose are strung together into a biochemical necklace, they can no longer be used for energy or stored as fat. Rather this new “glucan” structure can be arranged into a shape (scientists have dubbed “beta”) that becomes one of nature’s most important medicines in helping strengthen the body’s immune system, lower blood fats and lower cholesterol. It also supports skin health, anti-aging and wound healing.
Dry skin (technically called xerosis) is one of the most common of skin health complaints. Moisturizing products account for nearly 10 billion dollars in annual sales. Even though, according to the National Health Interview Survey, 3 or 4 percent of the population suffer from xerosis, it’s tough to find an adult American who doesn’t have at least some degree of skin dryness. Even kids are susceptible to the condition. According to an article published the September 2006 issue of Current Allergy and Asthma Reports, atopic dermatitis, a cutaneous disease characterized by dry skin, affects 10-20 % of American children.
Yet, despite its ubiquity, dry skin should never happen! The skin is exquisitely equipped with various mechanisms that are supposed to assure the tissue remains hydrated. When that doesn’t occur, something in the ordinarily resilient and responsive cutaneous biochemistry is tweaked. In other words, dry skin is much more than a superficial cosmetic concern. As insignificant as it may seem, it’s a fully-fledged health care issue. Dry skin is a symptom, and symptoms are the smoke which indicate a biochemical breakdown fire.
In this way the symptomology of xerosis is a message; it’s a harbinger and indicator that somewhere in the body something is wrong or something is missing. In this way, skin dryness, like other symptoms, should be regarded as a friend; it’s an announcement of increased risk of other, more significant health care challenges including heart disease, autoimmunity and even cancer!
Though all of the above diseases can be associated with xerosis, most of us believe that the symptoms of xerosis are merely superficial. So, to deal with the itchy flakes and uncomfortable dryness, we merely put a moisturizer on and forget about the matter. Even skin care professionals are entranced by the illusion. Dermatologists, estheticians and cosmetologists, like their patients, address skin issues by working topically.
If you’re gaining weight, feeling dizzy when you stand up, craving salt or not falling asleep even though you’re tired, you may be dealing with a health challenge both alternative and mainstream practitioners call “Adrenal Fatigue” (AF). You would be in good company. Although it’s impossible to know the full impact and incidence of the crisis, according to Dr. Kerry Saucer writing in the book “Exhausted & Drained? It's NOT Just in Your Brain”, estimates are that millions of Americans suffer some degree of AF.
The adrenal glands, two tiny pieces of tissue sitting atop the kidneys (renals) play an especially significant role in maintaining the movement of fluid through the circulatory system and can be thought of as a center for blood pressure monitoring and control. They accomplish this important job by constantly monitoring blood oxygen and carbon dioxide. When the former drops and the latter builds up, a hormone called “aldosterone” is secreted. In response, blood pressure (or the force of movement through the circulatory vessels) is adjusted, redirecting blood flow to the legs and arms and away from the skin, digestive and excretory systems.
I’ve been hearing a lot of commercials about beets lately, the latest darling of the nutritional supplement industry. Supplements using beets, particularly beet juice and beet powder, look to exploit recent research findings focused on the nutrient-dense tap root's ability to enhance athletic performance, strength and endurance.
The secret to the beet boost for athletes and workout warriors is in its nitrogen content, specifically in the form of nitrates and nitrites. Despite the conventional wisdom that these chemicals are best avoided, as it turns out the misunderstood molecules have been a valued medicinal asset for doctors and health care professionals for over a hundred years. They’re sources of nitrogen and, when transformed into the gas hormone nitric oxide (NO), they become a potent hormone-like biochemical that plays various important roles in keeping the body healthy. NO is especially important for heart health. It lowers blood pressure, supports the flow of fluid through the circulatory system, improves male sexual performance, fights cancer, destroys tumors and is anti-inflammatory. In addition to being a source of nitric oxide, nitrates may play an important role in eye health, particularly for patients dealing with glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness that affects 3 million Americans. A 1998 article published in the journal Vision concluded that the use of therapeutic nitrates in glaucoma patients may offer a protective effect. More recently, a study published in JAMA Ophthalmology found that American adults who ate the most nitrates were 21 percent less likely than those who ate the least nitrates to develop open-angle glaucoma by the time they were in their 60s and 70s.
Grapefruit Diet (Diet!)
Throw out the pizza and beer
Grapefruit Diet (Diet!)
Oh, get those jelly donuts out of here
Grapefruit Diet (Diet!)
Might seem a little severe
Grapefruit Diet (Diet!)
I’m gettin’ tired of my big fat rear…”
– “The Grapefruit Diet, Weird Al Yankovic
I don’t usually eat grapefruit, but every once a while I’ll get the urge to take a bite or two and as soon as the lip puckering tang gets in my mouth, I’ll remember why I don’t like the stuff. Apparently I’m not alone. Google “I hate grapefruit” and you’ll get nearly 578,00 hits! According to a poll of 8,066 respondents taken on the website Amplicate, 26 percent were grapefruit averse, many of whom would no doubt concur with the American playwright Harry Crews who wrote in his biography that when he first tasted the sour fruit, “I only had to touch my lips to my piece to know something was wrong, bad wrong.”
The grapefruit, which has been around for a couple of hundred years is the accidental love child of two types of citrus, the pomelo and the sweet orange which were inadvertently hybridized by Caribbean farmers in the early 1700’s. It’s Latin name “citrus paradisi” (citrus of paradise), refers to its tropical origins and it’s the only citrus fruit that did not originate in Asia. Originally called “The Forbidden Fruit”, possibly as result of its manmade, supposedly non-divine origins, it got the name “grapefruit” in the middle of the 19th century in reference to the grape like cluster in which it grows in.
