In less than two minutes, Pharmacist Ben Fuchs offers advice if you struggle with maintaining a healthy body weight.
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One of the most interesting aspects of the cells that make up the surface of the skin is their multi-functionality. While mostly known for their protective barrier properties, the living beings colloquially known as “skin cells” (and more technically as “keratinocytes” in honor of their most prolific extrusion, the fingernail like protein called keratin) are much more than a cellular shield. “Skin cells” are biochemical dynamos, each one producing, secreting and becoming ultimately a wide range of very functional chemicals.
“Skin cells” make vitamin D, they produce prodigious quantities of skin fats (lipids), and they are also the source of many hormone chemicals. Some, like cortisol, are involved in obvious skin functions like protection. Others, like the nervous system's serotonin and dopamine, make the skin a type of brain appendage. Not to forget pheromones, which are involved in less obvious skin functions, like signaling, sexual attraction and fertility.
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Pharmacist and nutritionist Benjamin Fuchs discussed the dangers of prescription drugs and what we can do to avoid becoming another tragic statistic. According to Fuchs, there are "millions of adverse reactions, serious ones, every year" due to prescription medications, including paralysis, organ damage, and death. Despite the shocking number of injurious effects of these medications, he lamented, "we have them branded on television as if they were selling Happy Meals." To that end, Fuchs decried such advertising of prescription drugs because it causes the public to lose perspective on the powerful nature of the medications they see nonchalantly promoted in television commercials.
He argued that "the human body is a healing system" and relying on pharmaceutical medications to cure illnesses ignores this critical aspect of improving overall health. As such, Fuchs advocated using foods, nutritional supplements, and emotional as well as mental strategies to better treat diseases. "I think of anything that we can apply to restore the body back to its God-given state of balance as medicine," he declared. Ultimately, Fuchs advised that people should learn to be more attuned to their own bodies so that they can better understand the messages being conveyed and then become proactive in finding natural solutions to improve their wellness without using harmful drugs.
If you love butter and cheese, you’re gonna love this! Recently a study was published in the respected British Medical Journal showing evidence that 60 years of government and medical convention that linked cardiovascular disease to fat consumption was based on bad science.
The article scientifically corroborated last years’ Time Magazine cover story on the failures of the so-called “Lipid Hypothesis” (lipid is the scientific designation for fat), which incorrectly blamed excessive consumption of dairy products, meat and other fatty foods for heart attacks. The article entitled “Eat Butter” admitted that after years of proclaiming fats as villains, it turns out, they may have been mistaken. Now in fairness, Time Magazine and representatives of the medical model can be forgiven for their ignorance. Fats are confusing! There’s good fats, bad fats, shorts fat, long fats, saturated fats and unsaturated fats. Because of their tremendous diversity and functionality, no aspect of nutrition or diet is harder to understand than the chemistry of lipids.
Everyone wants great skin. We are bombarded daily by advertisements and marketing proclamations that claim to deliver it. The skin care industry is a 10 billion dollar business made up mostly of products containing oils and waxes, solvents, emulsifiers and chemical ingredients that allow for the creation of cosmetic commodities that modify the superficial appearance of the skin, without actually creating real changes.
Yet skin is naturally dynamic and normally regenerates itself on daily, weekly and monthly basis. It is the quintessential renewing organ and this assures a constant supply of youthful, healthy tissue. Within 4-8 weeks old skin cells have been completely replaced. This ultimately means that, with the right products and techniques, the characteristics of less than healthy skin can be transformed and your skin's naturally beautiful, radiant and healthy appearance can be restored.
To best leverage your skin's inherent healing and renewing capacity, we need to understand how the skin is constructed. While to the naked eye it appears like a covering that protects the inside of the body, in reality it is a complex organ that is structured in multiple sheets that can be generally classified into two major strata. The upper is referred to as the epidermis, which makes up about 10% or so of the skin, and underneath that, the remaining 90% is called the dermis. The surface of the epidermis is made up of a protective coating called the stratum corneum.
